diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/14068-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/14068-h.htm | 18332 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 221525 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/frontispiece.jpg | bin | 0 -> 85296 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p068.jpg | bin | 0 -> 72076 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p140.jpg | bin | 0 -> 80946 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p204.jpg | bin | 0 -> 84411 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p254.jpg | bin | 0 -> 78828 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p356.jpg | bin | 0 -> 83241 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p422.jpg | bin | 0 -> 68052 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14068-h/images/p546.jpg | bin | 0 -> 83704 bytes |
10 files changed, 18332 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/14068-h/14068-h.htm b/old/14068-h/14068-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..25f327b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/14068-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18332 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gordon Keith, by Thomas Nelson Page</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + .loc { TEXT-ALIGN: right; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Gordon Keith, by Thomas Nelson Page, +Illustrated by George Wright</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Gordon Keith</p> +<p>Author: Thomas Nelson Page</p> +<p>Release Date: November 17, 2004 [eBook #14068]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GORDON KEITH***</p> +<br><br><h3>E-text prepared by Rick Niles, Kat Jeter, Charlie Kirschner,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<a name="cover.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src= +"images/cover.jpg" width="55%" alt=""></a></p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="frontispiece.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"><img src= +"images/frontispiece.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></a></p> +<br> +<h1>GORDON KEITH</h1> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>THOMAS NELSON PAGE</h3> +<br> +<h5>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY</h5> +<h4>GEORGE WRIGHT</h4> +<h5><i>Published May, 1903</i></h5> +<br> +<br> +<center>TO<br> +<br> +A GRANDDAUGHTER<br> +<br> +OF ONE LOIS HUNTINGTON</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td align="right">CHAPTER</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">GORDON KEITH'S PATRIMONY</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">GENERAL KEITH BECOMES AN +OVERSEER</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">THE ENGINEER AND THE SQUIRE</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">TWO YOUNG MEN</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">THE RIDGE COLLEGE</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">ALICE YORKE</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">MRS. YORKE FINDS A GENTLEMAN</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">MR. KEITH'S IDEALS</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">MR. KEITH IS UNPRACTICAL</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">MRS. YORKE CUTS A KNOT</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">GUMBOLT</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">KEITH DECLINES AN OFFER</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">KEITH IN NEW YORK</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">THE HOLD-UP</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">MRS. YORKE MAKES A MATCH</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI</a>.</td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">KEITH VISITS NEW YORK, AND MRS. +LANCASTER SEES A GHOST</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">KEITH MEETS NORMAN</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">MRS. LANCASTER</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">WICKERSHAM AND PHRONY</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">MRS. LANCASTER'S WIDOWHOOD</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">THE DIRECTORS' MEETING</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">MRS. CREAMER'S BALL</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">GENERAL KEITH VISITS STRANGE +LANDS</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">KEITH TRIES HIS FORTUNES +ABROAD</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">THE DINNER AT MRS. WICKERSHAM'S</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">A MISUNDERSTANDING</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">PHRONY TRIPPER AND THE REV. MR. +RIMMON</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">ALICE LANCASTER FINDS PHRONY</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">XXX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">"SNUGGLERS' ROOST"</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">TERPY'S LAST DANCE AND WICKERSHAM'S +FINAL THROW</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">THE RUN ON THE BANK</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">RECONCILIATION</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">THE CONSULTATION</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">THE MISTRESS OF THE LAWNS</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">XXXVI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">THE OLD IDEAL</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td><a href="#frontispiece.jpg">She was the first to break the +silence (frontispiece)</a> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p068.jpg">"If you don't go back to your seat I'll +dash your brains out," said Keith</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p140.jpg">"Then why don't you answer me?"</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p204.jpg">Sprang over the edge of the road into the +thick bushes below</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p254.jpg">"Why, Mr. Keith!" she exclaimed</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p356.jpg">"Sit down. I want to talk to you"</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p422.jpg">"It is he! 'Tis he!" she cried</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#p546.jpg">"Lois—I have come—" he began</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h1>GORDON KEITH</h1> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<h3><i>INTRODUCTORY</i></h3> +<h3>GORDON KEITH'S PATRIMONY</h3> +<br> +<p>Gordon Keith was the son of a gentleman. And this fact, like the +cat the honest miller left to his youngest son, was his only +patrimony. As in that case also, it stood to the possessor in the +place of a good many other things. It helped him over many rough +places. He carried it with him as a devoted Romanist wears a sacred +scapulary next to the heart.</p> +<p>His father, General McDowell Keith of "Elphinstone," was a +gentleman of the old kind, a type so old-fashioned that it is +hardly accepted these days as having existed. He knew the Past and +lived in it; the Present he did not understand, and the Future he +did not know. In his latter days, when his son was growing up, +after war had swept like a vast inundation over the land, burying +almost everything it had not borne away, General Keith still +survived, unchanged, unmoved, unmarred, an antique memorial of the +life of which he was a relic. His one standard was that of a +gentleman.</p> +<p>This idea was what the son inherited from the father along with +some other old-fashioned things which he did not know the value of +at first, but which he came to understand as he grew older.</p> +<p>When in after times, in the swift rush of life in a great city, +amid other scenes and new manners, Gordon Keith looked back to the +old life on the Keith plantation, it appeared to him as if he had +lived then in another world.</p> +<p>Elphinstone was, indeed, a world to itself: a long, rambling +house, set on a hill, with white-pillared verandahs, closed on the +side toward the evening sun by green Venetian blinds, and on the +other side looking away through the lawn trees over wide fields, +brown with fallow, or green with cattle-dotted pasture-land and +waving grain, to the dark rim of woods beyond. To the westward "the +Ridge" made a straight, horizontal line, except on clear days, when +the mountains still farther away showed a tenderer blue scalloped +across the sky.</p> +<p>A stranger passing through the country prior to the war would +have heard much of Elphinstone, the Keith plantation, but he would +have seen from the main road (which, except in summer, was +intolerably bad) only long stretches of rolling fields well tilled, +and far beyond them a grove on a high hill, where the mansion +rested in proud seclusion amid its immemorial oaks and elms, with +what appeared to be a small hamlet lying about its feet. Had he +turned in at the big-gate and driven a mile or so, he would have +found that Elphinstone was really a world to itself; almost as much +cut off from the outer world as the home of the Keiths had been in +the old country. A number of little blacks would have opened the +gates for him; several boys would have run to take his horse, and +he would have found a legion of servants about the house. He would +have found that the hamlet was composed of extensive stables and +barns, with shops and houses, within which mechanics were plying +their trades with the ring of hammers, the clack of looms, and the +hum of spinning-wheels-all for the plantation; whilst on a lower +hill farther to the rear were the servants' quarters laid out in +streets, filled with children.</p> +<p>Had the visitor asked for shelter, he would have received, +whatever his condition, a hospitality as gracious as if he had been +the highest in the land; he would have found culture with +philosophy and wealth with content, and he would have come away +charmed with the graciousness of his entertainment. And yet, if +from any other country or region than the South, he would have +departed with a feeling of mystification, as though he had been +drifting in a counter-current and had discovered a part of the +world sheltered and to some extent secluded from the general +movement and progress of life.</p> +<p>This plantation, then, was Gordon's world. The woods that rimmed +it were his horizon, as they had been that of the Keiths for +generations; more or less they always affected his horizon. His +father appeared to the boy to govern the world; he governed the +most important part of it--the plantation--without ever raising his +voice. His word had the convincing quality of a law of nature. The +quiet tones of his voice were irresistible. The calm face, lighting +up at times with the flash of his gray eyes, was always commanding: +he looked so like the big picture in the library, of a tall, +straight man, booted and spurred, and partly in armor, with a steel +hat over his long curling hair, and a grave face that looked as if +the sun were on it. It was no wonder, thought the boy, that he was +given a sword by the State when he came back from the Mexican War; +no wonder that the Governor had appointed him Senator, a position +he declined because of his wife's ill health. Gordon's wonder was +that his father was not made President or Commander-in-Chief of the +army. It no more occurred to him that any one could withstand his +father than that the great oak-trees in front of the house, which +it took his outstretched arms six times to girdle, could fall.</p> +<p>Yet it came to pass that within a few years an invading army +marched through the plantation, camped on the lawn, and cut down +the trees; and Gordon Keith, whilst yet a boy, came to see +Elphinstone in the hands of strangers, and his father and himself +thrown out on the world.</p> +<p>His mother died while Gordon was still a child. Until then she +had not appeared remarkable to the boy: she was like the +atmosphere, the sunshine, and the blue, arching sky, all-pervading +and existing as a matter of course. Yet, as her son remembered her +in after life, she was the centre of everything, never idle, never +hurried; every one and everything revolved about her and received +her light and warmth. She was the refuge in every trouble, and her +smile was enchanting. It was only after that last time, when the +little boy stood by his mother's bedside awed and weeping silently +in the shadow of the great darkness that was settling upon them, +that he knew how absolutely she had been the centre and breath of +his life. His father was kneeling beside the bed, with a face as +white as his mother's, and a look of such mingled agony and +resignation that Gordon never forgot it. As, because of his +father's teaching, the son in later life tried to be just to every +man, so, for his mother's sake, he remembered to be kind to every +woman.</p> +<p>In the great upheaval that came just before the war, Major Keith +stood for the Union, but was defeated. When his State seceded, he +raised a regiment in the congressional district which he had +represented for one or two terms. As his duties took him from home +much of the time, he sent Gordon to the school of the noted Dr. +Grammer, a man of active mind and also active arm, named by his +boys, from the latter quality, "Old Hickory."</p> +<p>Gordon, like some older men, hoped for war with all his soul. A +great-grandfather an officer of the line in the Revolution, a +grandfather in the navy of 1812, and his father a major in the +Mexican War, with a gold-hilted sword presented him by the State, +gave him a fair pedigree, and he looked forward to being a great +general himself. He would be Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great +at least. It was his preference for a career, unless being a +mountain stage-driver was. He had seen one or two such beings in +the mountains when he accompanied his father once on a canvass that +he was making for Congress, enthroned like Jove, in clouds of +oil-coats and leather, mighty in power and speech; and since then +his dreams had been blessed at times with lumbering coaches and +clanking teams.</p> +<p>One day Gordon was sent for to come home. When he came +down-stairs next morning his father was standing in the +drawing-room, dressed in full uniform, though it was not near as +showy as Gordon had expected it to be, or as dozens of uniforms the +boy had seen the day before about the railway-stations on his +journey home, gorgeous with gold lace. He was conscious, however, +that some change had taken place, and a resemblance to the +man-in-armor in the picture over the library mantel suddenly struck +the boy. There was the high look, the same light in the eyes, the +same gravity about the mouth; and when his father, after taking +leave of the servants, rode away in his gray uniform, on his bay +horse "Chevalier," with his sword by his side, to join his men at +the county-seat, and let Gordon accompany him for the first few +miles, the boy felt as though he had suddenly been transported to a +world of which he had read, and were riding behind a knight of old. +Ah! if there were only a few Roundheads formed at the big-gate, how +they would scatter them!</p> +<p>About the third year of the war, Mr. Keith, now a +brigadier-general, having been so badly wounded that it was +supposed he could never again be fit for service in the field, was +sent abroad by his government to represent it in England in a +semi-confidential, semi-diplomatic position. He had been abroad +before--quite an unusual occurrence at that time.</p> +<p>General Keith could not bring himself to leave his boy behind +him and have the ocean between them, so he took Gordon with +him.</p> +<p>After a perilous night in running the blockade, when they were +fired on and escaped only by sending up rockets and passing as one +of the blockading squadron, General Keith and Gordon transferred at +Nassau to their steamer. The vessel touched at Halifax, and among +the passengers taken on there were an American lady, Mrs. +Wickersham of New York, and her son Ferdy Wickersham, a handsome, +black-eyed boy a year or two older than Gordon. As the two lads +were the only passengers aboard of about their age, they soon +became as friendly as any other young animals would have become, +and everything went on balmily until a quarrel arose over a game +which they were playing on the lower deck. As General Keith had +told Gordon that he must be very discreet while on board and not +get into any trouble, the row might have ended in words had not the +sympathy of the sailors been with Gordon. This angered the other +boy in the dispute, and he called Gordon a liar. This, according to +Gordon's code, was a cause of war. He slapped Ferdy in the mouth, +and the next second they were at it hammer-and-tongs. So long as +they were on their feet, Ferdy, who knew something of boxing, had +much the best of it and punished Gordon severely, until the latter, +diving into him, seized him.</p> +<p>In wrestling Ferdy was no match for him, for Gordon had wrestled +with every boy on the plantation, and after a short scuffle he +lifted Ferdy and flung him flat on his back on the deck, jarring +the wind out of him. Ferdy refused to make up and went off crying +to his mother, who from that time filled the ship with her abuse of +Gordon.</p> +<p>The victory of the younger boy gave him great prestige among the +sailors, and Mike Doherty, the bully of the fore-castle, gave him +boxing lessons during all the rest of the voyage, teaching him the +mystery of the "side swing" and the "left-hand upper-cut," which +Mike said was "as good as a belaying-pin."</p> +<p>"With a good, smooth tongue for the girlls and a good upper-cut +for thim as treads on your toes, you are aall right," said Mr. +Doherty; "you're rigged for ivery braize. But, boy, remimber to be +quick with both, and don't forgit who taaught you."</p> +<p>Thus, it was that, while Gordon Keith was still a boy of about +twelve or thirteen, instead of being on the old plantation rimmed +by the great woods, where his life had hitherto been spent, except +during the brief period when he had been at Dr. Grammer's school, +he found himself one summer in a little watering-place on the +shores of an English lake as blue as a china plate, set amid ranges +of high green hills, on which nestled pretty white or brown villas +surrounded by gardens and parks.</p> +<p>The water was a new element for Gordon. The home of the Keiths +was in the high country back from the great watercourses, and +Gordon had never had a pair of oars in his hands, nor did he know +how to swim; but he meant to learn. The sight of the boats rowed +about by boys of his own age filled him with envy. And one of them, +when he first caught sight of it, inspired him with a stronger +feeling than envy. It was painted white and was gay with blue and +red stripes around the gunwale. In it sat two boys. One, who sat in +the stern, was about Gordon's age; the other, a little larger than +Gordon, was rowing and used the oars like an adept. In the bow was +a flag, and Gordon was staring at it, when it came to him with a +rush that it was a "Yankee" flag. He was conscious for half a +moment that he took some pride in the superiority of the oarsman +over the boys in the other boats. His next thought was that he had +a little Confederate flag in his trunk. He had brought it from home +among his other treasures. He would show his colors and not let the +Yankee boys have all of the honors. So away he put as hard as his +legs could carry him. When he got back to the waterside he hired a +boat from among those lying tied at the stairs, and soon had his +little flag rigged up, when, taking his seat, he picked up the oars +and pushed off. It was rather more difficult than it had looked. +The oars would not go together. However, after a little he was able +to move slowly, and was quite elated at his success when he found +himself out on the lake. Just then he heard a shout:</p> +<p>"Take down that flag!"</p> +<p>Gordon wished to turn his boat and look around, but could not do +so. However, one of the oars came out of the water, and as the boat +veered a little he saw the boys in the white boat with the Union +flag bearing down on him.</p> +<p>The oarsman was rowing with strong, swift strokes even while he +looked over his shoulder, and the boat was shooting along as +straight as an arrow, with the clear water curling about its prow. +Gordon wished for a moment that he had not been so daring, but the +next second his fighting--blood was up, as the other boy called +imperiously:</p> +<p>"Strike that flag!"</p> +<p>Gordon could see his face now, for he was almost on him. It was +round and sunburnt, and the eyes were blue and clear and flashing +with excitement. His companion, who was cheering him on, was Ferdy +Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Strike that flag, I say," called the oarsman.</p> +<p>"I won't. Who are you? Strike your own flag."</p> +<p>"I am Norman Wentworth. That's who I am, and if you don't take +that flag down I will take it down for you, you little +nigger-driving rebel."</p> +<p>Gordon Keith was not a boy to neglect the amenities of the +occasion.</p> +<p>"Come and try it then, will you, you nigger-stealing Yankees!" +he called. "I will fight both of you." And he settled himself for +defence.</p> +<p>"Well, I will," cried his assailant. "Drop the tiller, Ferdy, +and sit tight. I will fight fair." Then to Gordon again: "I have +given you fair warning, and I will have that flag or sink you."</p> +<p>Gordon's answer was to drop one oar as useless, seize the other, +and steadying himself as well as he could, raise it aloft as a +weapon.</p> +<p>"I will kill you if you try it," he said between clinched +teeth.</p> +<p>However, the boy rowing the other boat was not to be frightened. +He gave a vigorous stroke of his oars that sent his boat straight +into the side of Gordon's boat.</p> +<p>The shock of the two boats coming together pitched Gordon to his +knees, and came near flinging him into the water; but he was up +again in a second, and raising his oar, dealt a vicious blow with +it, not at the boy in the boat, but at the flag in the bow of the +boat. The unsteadiness of his footing, however, caused him to miss +his aim, and he only splintered his oar into fragments.</p> +<p>"Hit him with the oar, Norman," called the boy in the stern. +"Knock him out of the boat."</p> +<p>The other boy made no answer, but with a quick turn of his wrist +twisted his boat out of its direct course and sent it skimming off +to one side. Then dropping one oar, he caught up the other with +both hands, and with a rapid, dexterous swing swept a cataract of +water in Gordon's face, drenching him, blinding him, and filling +his eyes, mouth, and ears with the unexpected deluge. Gordon gasped +and sputtered, and before he could recover from this unlooked-for +flank movement, another turn of the wrist brought the attacking +boat sharp across his bow, and, with a shout of triumph, Norman +wrenched the defiant flag out of its socket.</p> +<p>Gordon had no time for thought. He had time only to act. With a +cry, half of rage, half of defiance, he sprang up on the point of +the bow of his boat, and with outstretched arms launched himself at +the bow of the other, where the captor had flung the flag, to use +both oars. His boat slipped from under his feet, and he fell short, +but caught the gunwale of the other, and dragged himself up to it. +He held just long enough to clutch both flags, and the next second, +with a faint cheer, he rolled off and sank with a splash in the +water.</p> +<p>Norman Wentworth had risen, and with blazing eyes, his oar +uplifted, was scrambling toward the bow to repel the boarder, when +the latter disappeared. Norman gazed at the spot with staring eyes. +The next second he took in what was happening, and, with an +exclamation of horror, he suddenly dived overboard. When he came to +the top, he was pulling the other boy up with him.</p> +<p>Though Norman was a good swimmer, there was a moment of extreme +danger; for, half unconscious, Gordon pulled him under once. But +fortunately Norman kept his head, and with a supreme effort +breaking the drowning boy's hold, he drew him to the top once more. +Fortunately for both, a man seeing the trouble had brought his boat +to the spot, and, just as Norman rose to the surface with his +burden, he reached out and, seizing him, dragged both him and the +now unconscious Gordon aboard his boat.</p> +<p>It was some days before Gordon was able to sit up, and meanwhile +he learned that his assailant and rescuer had been every day to +make inquiry about him, and his father, Mr. Wentworth, had written +to Gordon's father and expressed his concern at the accident.</p> +<p>"It is a strange fate," he wrote, "that should after all these +years have arrayed us against each other thus, and have brought our +boys face to face in a foreign land. I hear that your boy behaved +with the courage which I knew your son would show."</p> +<p>General Keith, in turn, expressed his gratitude for the +promptness and efficiency with which the other's son had +apprehended the danger and met it.</p> +<p>"My son owes his life to him," he said. "As to the flag, it was +the fortune of war," and he thought the incident did credit to both +combatants. He "only wished," he said, "that in every fight over a +flag there were the same ability to restore to life those who +defended it."</p> +<p>Gordon, however, could not participate in this philosophic view +of his father's. He had lost his flag; he had been defeated in the +battle. And he owed his life to his victorious enemy.</p> +<p>He was but a boy, and his defeat was gall and wormwood to him. +It was but very little sweetened by the knowledge that his victor +had come to ask after him.</p> +<p>He was lying in bed one afternoon, lonely and homesick and sad. +His father was away, and no one had been in to him for, perhaps, an +hour. The shrill voices of children and the shouts of boys floated +in at the open window from somewhere afar off. He was not able to +join them. It depressed him, and he began to pine for the old +plantation--a habit that followed him through life in the hours of +depression.</p> +<p>Suddenly there was a murmur of voices outside the room, and +after a few moments the door softly opened, and a lady put her head +in and looked at him. She was a stranger and was dressed in a +travelling-suit. Gordon gazed at her without moving or uttering a +sound. She came in and closed the door gently behind her, and then +walked softly over to the side of the bed and looked down at him +with kind eyes. She was not exactly pretty, but to Gordon she +appeared beautiful, and he knew that she was a friend. Suddenly she +dropped down on her knees beside him and put her arm over him +caressingly.</p> +<p>"I am Norman's mother," she said, "and I have come to look after +you and to take you home with me if they will let me have you." She +stooped over and kissed him.</p> +<p>The boy put up his pinched face and kissed her.</p> +<p>"I will go," he said in his weak voice.</p> +<p>She kissed him again, and smiled down at him with moist eyes, +and talked to him in tender tones, stroking his hair and telling +him of Norman's sorrow for the trouble, of her own unhappiness, and +of her regret that the doctors would not let him be moved. When she +left, it was with a promise that she would come back again and see +him; and Gordon knew that he had a friend in England of his own +kind, and a truth somehow had slipped into his heart which set at +odds many opinions which he had thought principles. He had never +thought to feel kindly toward a Yankee.</p> +<p>When Gordon was able to be out again, his father wished him to +go and thank his former foe who had rescued him. But it was too +hard an ordeal for the boy to face. Even the memory of Mrs. +Wentworth could not reconcile him to this.</p> +<p>"You don't know how hard it is, father," he said, with that +assurance with which boyhood always draws a line between itself and +the rest of the world. "Did you ever have to ask pardon of one who +had fought you?"</p> +<p>General Keith's face wore a singular expression. Suddenly he +felt a curious sensation in a spot in his right side, and he was +standing in a dewy glade in a piece of woodland on a Spring +morning, looking at a slim, serious young man standing very +straight and still a few paces off, with a pistol gripped in his +hand, and, queerly enough, his name, too, was Norman Wentworth. But +he was not thinking of him. He was thinking of a tall girl with +calm blue eyes, whom he had walked with the day before, and who had +sent him away dazed and half maddened. Then some one a little to +one side spoke a few words and began to count, "One, two--" There +was a simultaneous report of two pistols, two little puffs of +smoke, and when the smoke had cleared away, the other man with the +pistol was sinking slowly to the ground, and he himself was +tottering into the arms of the man nearest him.</p> +<p>He came back to the present with a gasp.</p> +<p>"My son," he said gravely, "I once was called on and failed. I +have regretted it all my life, though happily the consequences were +not as fatal as I had at one time apprehended. If every generation +did not improve on the follies and weaknesses of those that have +gone before, there would be no advance in the world. I want you to +be wiser and stronger than I."</p> +<p>Gordon's chance of revenge came sooner than he expected. Not +long after he got out of doors again he was on his way down to the +lake, where he was learning to swim, when a number of boys whom he +passed began to hoot at him. In their midst was Ferdy Wickersham, +the boy who had crossed the ocean with him. He was setting the +others on. The cry that came to Gordon was: "Nigger-driver! +Nigger-driver!" Sometimes Fortune, Chance, or whatever may be the +deity of fortuitous occurrence, places our weapons right to hand. +What would David have done had there not been a stony brook between +him and Goliath that day? Just as Gordon with burning face turned +to defy his deriders, a pile of small stones lay at his feet. It +looked like Providence. He could not row a boat, but he could fling +a stone like young David. In a moment he was sending stones up the +hill with such rapidity that the group above him were thrown into +confusion.</p> +<p>Then Gordon fell into an error of more noted generals. Seizing a +supply of missiles, he charged straight up the hill. Though the +group had broken at the sudden assault, by the time he reached the +hill-top they had rallied, and while he was out of ammunition they +made a charge on him. Wheeling, he went down the hill like the +wind, while his pursuers broke after him with shouts of triumph. As +he reached the stone-pile he turned and made a stand, which brought +them to a momentary stop. Just then a shout arose below him. Gordon +turned to see rushing up the hill toward him Norman Wentworth. He +was picking up stones as he ran. Gordon heard him call out +something, but he did not wait for his words. Here was his +arch-enemy, his conqueror, and here, at least, he was his equal. +Without wasting further time with those above him, Gordon sprang +toward his new assailant, and steadying himself, hurled his +heaviest stone. Fortunately, Norman Wentworth had been reared in +the country and knew how to dodge as well as to throw a stone, or +his days might have ended then and there.</p> +<p>"Hold on! don't throw!" he shouted "I am coming to help you," +and, without waiting, he sent a stone far over Gordon's head at the +party on the height above. Gordon, who was poising himself for +another shot, paused amazed in the midst of his aim, open-mouthed +and wide-eyed.</p> +<p>"Come on," cried Norman. "You and I together can lick them. I +know the way, and we will get above them." So saying, he dashed +down a side alley, Gordon close at his heels, and, by making a +turn, they came out a few minutes later on the hill above their +enemies, who were rejoicing in their easy victory, and, catching +them unprepared, routed them and scattered them in an instant.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham, finding himself defeated, promptly surrendered +and offered to enlist on their side. Norman, however, had no idea +of letting him off so easy.</p> +<p>"I am going to take you prisoner, but not until I have given you +a good kicking. You know better than to take sides against an +American."</p> +<p>"He is a rebel," said Ferdy.</p> +<p>"He is an American," said Norman. And he forthwith proceeded to +make good his word, and to do it in such honest style that Ferdy, +after first taking it as a joke, got angry and ran away +howling.</p> +<p>Gordon was doubtful as to the wisdom of this severity.</p> +<p>"He will tell," he said.</p> +<p>"Let him," said Norman, contemptuously. "He knows what he will +get if he does. I was at school with him last year, and I am going +to school with him again. I will teach him to fight with any one +else against an American!"</p> +<p>This episode made the two boys closer allies than they would +have been in a year of peace.</p> +<p>General Keith, finding his mission fruitless, asked leave to +return home immediately, so that Gordon saw little more of his +former foe and new ally.</p> +<p>A few days before their departure, Gordon, passing along a road, +came on a group of three persons, two children and a French +governess with much-frizzled hair, very black eyes, and a small +waist. One of the children was a very little girl, richly dressed +in a white frock with a blue sash that almost covered it, with big +brown eyes and yellow ringlets; the other child was a ragged girl +several years older, with tangled hair, gray eyes, and the ruddy, +chubby cheeks so often seen in children of her class. The governess +was in a state of great excitement, and was talking French so fast +that it was a wonder any tongue could utter the words. The little +girl of the fine frock and brown eyes was clutching to her bosom +with a defiant air a large doll which the governess was trying to +get from her, while the other child stood by, looking first toward +one of them and then toward the other, with an expression divided +between timidity and eagerness. A big picture of a ballet-dancer +with a gay frock and red shoes in a flaring advertisement on a +sign-board had something to do with the trouble. Now the girl drew +nearer to the other child and danced a few steps, holding out her +hand; now she cast a look over her shoulder down the hill, as if to +see that her retreat were not cut off.</p> +<p>"<i>Mais, c'est à moi</i>--it's <i>my</i> doll. I +<i>will</i> have it," insisted the little girl, backing away and +holding it firmly; at which the governess began again almost +tearing her hair in her desperation, though she ended by giving it +a pat to see that it was all right.</p> +<p>The approach of Gordon drew her attention to him.</p> +<p>"Oh," she exclaimed in desperation, "<i>c'est +épouvantable</i>--it ees terr-e-ble! Dese young ladie weel +give de doll to dat meeseerable creature!"</p> +<p>"She is not a 'meeseerable creature'!" insisted the little girl, +mocking her, her brown eyes flashing. "She danced for me, and I +will give it to her--I like her."</p> +<p>"Oh, <i>ciel</i>! What shall I do! Madame weel abuse me--weel +keel me!"</p> +<p>"Mamma will not mind; it is <i>my</i> doll. Aunt Abby gave it to +me. I can get a plenty more, and I will give it to her," insisted +the little girl again. Then suddenly, gaining more courage, she +turned quickly, and, before the governess could stop her, thrust +the doll into the other child's arms.</p> +<p>"Here, you <i>shall</i> have it."</p> +<p>The governess, with a cry of rage, made a spring for the child, +but too late: the grimy little hands had clutched the doll, and +turning without a word of thanks, the little creature sped down the +road like a frightened animal, her ragged frock fluttering behind +her.</p> +<p>"Why, she did not say 'Thank you'!" exclaimed the child, in a +disappointed tone, looking ruefully after the retreating +figure.</p> +<p>The governess broke out on her vehemently in French, very +comically mingling her upbraidings of her charge, her abuse of the +little girl, and her apprehension of "Madame."</p> +<p>"Never mind; she does not know any better," said Gordon.</p> +<p>The child's face brightened at this friendly encouragement.</p> +<p>"She is a nasty little creature! You shall not play with her," +cried the governess, angrily.</p> +<p>"She is not nasty! I like her, and I will play with her," +declared the child, defiantly.</p> +<p>"What is your name?" asked the boy, much amused by such +sturdiness in so small a tot.</p> +<p>"Lois Huntington. What is your name?" She looked up at him with +her big brown eyes.</p> +<p>"Gordon Keith."</p> +<p>"How do you do, Gordon Keith?" She held out her hand.</p> +<p>"How do you do, Lois Huntington?"</p> +<p>She shook hands with him solemnly.</p> +<p>A day or two later, as Gordon was passing through one of the +streets in the lower part of the village, he came upon a +hurdy-gurdy playing a livelier tune than most of them usually gave. +A crowd of children had gathered in the street. Among them was a +little barelegged girl who, inspired by the music, was dancing and +keeping perfect time as she tripped back and forth, pirouetted and +swayed on the tips of her bare toes, flirting her little ragged +frock, and kicking with quite the air of a ballet-dancer. She +divided the honors with the dismal Savoyard, who ground away at his +organ, and she brought a flicker of admiration into his bronzed and +grimy face, for he played for her the same tune over and over, +encouraging her with nods and bravas. She was enjoying her triumph +quite as much as any prima donna who ever tripped it on a more +ambitious stage.</p> +<p>Gordon recognized in the little dancer the tangled-haired child +who had run away with the little girl's doll a few days before.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<h3>GENERAL KEITH BECOMES AN OVERSEER</h3> +<br> +<p>When the war closed, though it was not recognized at first, the +old civilization of the South passed away. Fragments of the +structure that had once risen so fair and imposing still stood for +a time, even after the foundations were undermined: a bastion here, +a tower there; but in time they followed the general overthrow, and +crumbled gradually to their fall, leaving only ruins and decay.</p> +<p>For a time it was hoped that the dilapidation might be repaired +and the old life be lived again. General Keith, like many others, +though broken and wasted in body, undertook to rebuild with +borrowed money, but with disastrous results. The conditions were +all against him.</p> +<p>Three or four years' effort to repair his fallen fortunes only +plunged him deeper in debt. General Keith, like most of his +neighbors and friends, found himself facing the fact that he was +hopelessly insolvent. As soon as he saw he could not pay his debts +he stopped spending and notified his creditors.</p> +<p>"I see nothing ahead of me," he wrote, "but greater ruin. I am +like a horse in a quicksand: every effort I make but sinks me +deeper."</p> +<p>Some of his neighbors took the benefit of the bankrupt-law which +was passed to give relief. General Keith was urged to do likewise, +but he declined.</p> +<p>"Though I cannot pay my debts," he said, "the least I can do is +to acknowledge that I owe them. I am unwilling to appear, even for +a short time, to be denying what I know to be a fact."</p> +<p>He gave up everything that he owned, reserving nothing that +would bring in money.</p> +<p>When Elphinstone was sold, it brought less than the debts on it. +The old plate, with the Keith coat-of-arms on it, from which +generations of guests had been served, and which old Richard, the +butler, had saved during the war, went for its weight in silver. +The library had been pillaged until little of it remained. The old +Keith pictures, some of them by the best artists, which had been +boxed and stored elsewhere until after the war, now went to the +purchaser of the place for less than the price of their frames. +Among them was the portrait of the man in the steel coat and hat, +who had the General's face.</p> +<p>What General Keith felt during this transition no one, perhaps, +ever knew; certainly his son did not know it, and did not dream of +it until later in life.</p> +<p>It was, however, not only in the South that fortunes were lost +by the war. As vast as was the increase of riches at the North +among those who stayed at home, it did not extend to those who took +the field. Among these was a young officer named Huntington, from +Brookford, a little town on the sunny slope that stretches +eastwardly from the Alleghanies to the Delaware. Captain +Huntington, having entered the army on the outbreak of the war, +like Colonel Keith rose to the rank of general, and, like General +Keith, received a wound that incapacitated him for service. His +wife was a Southern woman, and had died abroad, just at the close +of the war, leaving him a little girl, who was the idol of his +heart. He was interested in the South, and came South to try and +recuperate from the effects of his wound and of exposure during the +war.</p> +<p>The handsomest place in the neighborhood of Elphinstone was +"Rosedale," the family-seat of the Berkeleys. Mr. Berkeley had been +killed in the war, and the plantation went, like Elphinstone and +most of the other old estates, for debt. And General Huntington +purchased it.</p> +<p>As soon as General Keith heard of his arrival in the +neighborhood, he called on him and invited him to stay at his house +until Rosedale should be refurnished and made comfortable again. +The two gentlemen soon became great friends, and though many of the +neighbors looked askance at the Federal officer and grumbled at his +possessing the old family-seat of the Berkeleys, the urbanity and +real kindness of the dignified, soldierly young officer soon made +his way easier and won him respect if not friendship. When a man +had been a general at the age of twenty-six, it meant that he was a +man, and when General Keith pronounced that he was a gentleman, it +meant that he was a gentleman. Thus reasoned the neighbors.</p> +<p>His only child was a pretty little girl of five or six years, +with great brown eyes, yellow curls, and a rosebud face that +dimpled adorably when she laughed. When Gordon saw her he +recognized her instantly as the tot who had given her doll to the +little dancer two years before. Her eyes could not be mistaken. She +used to drive about in the tiniest of village carts, drawn by the +most Liliputian of ponies, and Gordon used to call her +"Cindy,"--short for Cinderella,--which amused and pleased her. She +in turn called him her sweetheart; tyrannized over him, and finally +declared that she was going to marry him.</p> +<p>"Why, you are not going to have a rebel for a sweetheart?" said +her father.</p> +<p>"Yes, I am. I am going to make him Union," she declared +gravely.</p> +<p>"Well, that is a good way. I fancy that is about the best system +of Reconstruction that has yet been tried."</p> +<p>He told the story to General Keith, who rode over very soon +afterwards to see the child, and thenceforth called her his fairy +daughter.</p> +<p>One day she had a tiff with Gordon, and she announced to him +that she was not going to kiss him any more.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, you are," said he, teasing her.</p> +<p>"I am not." Her eyes flashed. And although he often teased her +afterwards, and used to draw a circle on his cheek which, he said, +was her especial reservation, she kept her word, even in spite of +the temptation which he held out to her to take her to ride if she +would relent.</p> +<p>One Spring General Huntington's cough suddenly increased, and he +began to go downhill so rapidly as to cause much uneasiness to his +friends. General Keith urged him to go up to a little place on the +side of the mountains which had been quite a health-resort before +the war.</p> +<p>"Ridgely is one of the most salubrious places I know for such +trouble as yours. And Dr. Theophilus Balsam is one of the best +doctors in the State. He was my regimental surgeon during the war. +He is a Northern man who came South before the war. I think he had +an unfortunate love-affair."</p> +<p>"There is no place for such trouble as mine," said the younger +man, gravely. "That bullet went a little too deep." Still, he went +to Ridgely.</p> +<p>Under the charge of Dr. Balsam the young officer for a time +revived, and for a year or two appeared on the way to recovery. +Then suddenly his old trouble returned, and he went down as if +shot. The name Huntington had strong association for the old +physician; for it was a Huntington that Lois Brooke, the younger +sister of Abigail Brooke, his old sweetheart, had married, and +Abigail Brooke's refusal to marry him had sent him South. The +Doctor discovered early in his acquaintance with the young officer +that he was Abigail Brooke's nephew. He, however, made no reference +to his former relation to his patient's people.</p> +<p>Division bitterer than that war in which he had fought lay +between them, the division that had embittered his life and made +him an exile from his people. But the little girl with her great, +serious eyes became the old physician's idol and tyrant, and how he +worked over her father! Even in those last hours when the end had +unexpectedly appeared, and General Huntington was making his last +arrangements with the same courage which had made him a noted +officer when hardly more than a boy, the Doctor kept his counsel +almost to the end.</p> +<p>"How long have I to live, Doctor?" panted the dying man, when he +rallied somewhat from the attack that had struck him down.</p> +<p>"Not very long."</p> +<p>"Then I wish you to send for General Keith. I wish him to take +my child to my aunt, Miss Abigail Brooke."</p> +<p>"I will attend to it" said the Doctor.</p> +<p>"So long as she lives she will take care of her. But she is now +an old woman, and when she dies, God knows what will become of +her."</p> +<p>"I will look after her as long as I live," said the Doctor.</p> +<p>"Thank you, Doctor." There was a pause. "She is a saint." His +mind had gone back to his early life. To this Dr. Balsam made no +reply. "She has had a sad life. She was crossed in love but instead +of souring, it sweetened her."</p> +<p>"I was the man," said the Doctor, quietly. "I will look after +your child."</p> +<p>"You were! I never knew his name. She never married."</p> +<p>He gave a few directions, and presently said: "My little girl? I +wish to see her. It cannot hurt me?"</p> +<p>"No, it will not hurt you," said the Doctor, quietly.</p> +<p>The child was brought, and the dying man's eyes lit up as they +rested on her pink face and brown eyes filled with a vague +wonder.</p> +<p>"You must remember papa."</p> +<p>She stood on tiptoe and, leaning over, kissed him.</p> +<p>"And you must go to Aunt Abby when I have gone."</p> +<p>"I will take Gordon Keith with me," said the child.</p> +<p>The ghost of a smile flickered about the dying man's eyes. Then +came a fit of coughing, and when it had passed, his head, after a +few gasps, sank back.</p> +<p>At a word from the Doctor, an attendant took the child out of +the room.</p> +<p>That evening the old Doctor saw that the little girl was put to +bed, and that night he sat up alone with the body. There were many +others to relieve him, but he declined them and kept his vigil +alone.</p> +<p>What memories were with him; what thoughts attended him through +those lonely hours, who can tell!</p> +<p>General Keith went immediately to Ridgely on hearing of General +Huntington's death. He took Gordon with him, thinking that he would +help to comfort the little orphaned girl. The boy had no idea how +well he was to know the watering-place in after years. The child +fell to his care and clung to him, finally going to sleep in his +arms. While the arrangements were being made, they moved for a day +or two over to Squire Rawson's, the leading man of the Ridge +region, where the squire's granddaughter, a fresh-faced girl of ten +or twelve years, took care of the little orphan and kept her +interested.</p> +<p>The burial, in accordance with a wish expressed by General +Huntington, took place in a corner of the little burying-ground at +Ridgely, which lay on a sunny knoll overlooking the long slope to +the northeastward. The child walked after the bier, holding fast to +Gordon's hand, while Dr. Balsam and General Keith walked after +them.</p> +<p>As soon as General Keith could hear from Miss Brooke he took the +child to her; but to the last Lois said that she wanted Gordon to +come with her.</p> +<p>Soon afterwards it appeared that General Huntington's property +had nearly all gone. His plantation was sold.</p> +<p>Several times Lois wrote Gordon quaint little letters scrawled +in a childish hand, asking about the calves and pigeons and +chickens that had been her friends. But after a while the letters +ceased to come.</p> +<p>When Elphinstone was sold, the purchaser was a certain Mr. Aaron +Wickersham of New York, the father of Ferdy Wickersham, with whom +Gordon had had the rock-battle. Mr. Wickersham was a stout and +good-humored man of fifty, with a head like a billiard-bail, and a +face that was both shrewd and kindly. He had, during the war, made +a fortune out of contracts, and was now preparing to increase it in +the South, where the mountain region, filled with coal and iron, +lay virgin for the first comer with sufficient courage and +astuteness to take it. He found the new legislature of the State an +instrument well fitted to his hands. It could be manipulated.</p> +<p>The Wickershams had lately moved into a large new house on Fifth +Avenue, where Fashion was climbing the hill toward the Park in the +effort to get above Murray Hill, and possibly to look down upon the +substantial and somewhat prosaic mansions below, whose doors it had +sometimes been found difficult to enter. Mrs. Wickersham was from +Brookford, the same town from which the Huntingtons came, and, when +a young and handsome girl, having social ambitions, had married +Aaron Wickersham when he was but a clerk in the banking-house of +Wentworth & Son. And, be it said, she had aided him materially +in advancing his fortunes. She was a handsome woman, and her social +ambitions had grown. Ferdy was her only child, and was the joy and +pride of her heart. Her ambition centred in him. He should be the +leader of the town, as she felt his beauty and his smartness +entitled him to be. It was with this aim that she induced her +husband to build the fine new house on the avenue. She knew the +value of a large and handsome mansion in a fashionable quarter. +Aaron Wickersham knew little of fashion; but he knew the power of +money, and he had absolute confidence in his wife's ability. He +would furnish the means and leave the rest to her. The house was +built and furnished by contract, and Mrs. Wickersham took pride in +the fact that it was much finer than the Wentworth mansion on +Washington Square, and more expensive than the house of the Yorkes, +which was one of the big houses on the avenue, and had been the +talk of the town when it was built ten years before. Will Stirling, +one of the wags, said that it was a good thing that Mr. Wickersham +did not take the contract for himself.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham, having spent a considerable sum in planning and +preparing his Southern enterprise, and having obtained a charter +from the legislature of the State that gave him power to do almost +anything he wished, suddenly found himself balked by the fact that +the people in the mountain region which he wished to reach with his +road were so bitterly opposed to any such innovation that it +jeopardized his entire scheme. From the richest man in that +section, an old cattle-dealer and lumberman named Rawson, to Tim +Gilsey, who drove the stage from Eden to Gumbolt Gap, they were all +opposed to any "newfangled" notions, and they regarded everything +that came from carpet-baggers as "robbery and corruption."</p> +<p>He learned that "the most influential man down there" was +General Keith, and that his place was for sale.</p> +<p>"I can reach him," said Mr. Wickersham, with a gleam in his eye. +"I will have a rope around his neck that will lead him." So he +bought the place.</p> +<p>Fortunately, perhaps, for Mr. Wickersham, he hinted something of +his intentions to his counsel, a shrewd old lawyer of the State, +who thought that he could arrange the matter better than Mr. +Wickersham could.</p> +<p>"You don't know how to deal with these old fellows," he +said.</p> +<p>"I know men," said Mr. Wickersham, "and I know that when I have +a hold on a man--"</p> +<p>"You don't know General Keith," said Mr. Bagge. The glint in his +eye impressed the other and he yielded.</p> +<p>So Mr. Wickersham bought the Keith plantation and left it to +Greene Bagge, Esq., to manage the business. Mr. Bagge wrote General +Keith a diplomatic letter eulogistic of the South and of Mr. +Wickersham's interest in it, and invited the General to remain on +the place for the present as its manager.</p> +<p>General Keith sat for some time over that letter, his face as +grave as it had ever been in battle. What swept before his mental +vision who shall know? The history of two hundred years bound the +Keiths to Elphinstone. They had carved it from the forest and had +held it against the Indian. From there they had gone to the highest +office of the State. Love, marriage, death--all the sanctities of +life--were bound up with it. He talked it over with Gordon.</p> +<p>Gordon's face fell.</p> +<p>"Why, father, you will be nothing but an overseer."</p> +<p>General Keith smiled. Gordon remembered long afterwards, with +shame for his Speech, how wistful that smile was.</p> +<p>"Yes; I shall be something more than that. I shall be, at least, +a faithful one. I wish I could be as successful a one."</p> +<p>He wrote saying that, as he had failed for himself, he did not +see how he could succeed for another. But upon receiving a very +flattering reassurance, he accepted the offer. Thus, the General +remained as an employé on the estate which had been renowned +for generations as the home of the Keiths. And as agent for the new +owner he farmed the place with far greater energy and success than +he had ever shown on his own account. It was a bitter cup for +Gordon to have his father act as an "overseer"; but if it contained +any bitterness for General Keith, he never gave the least evidence +of it, nor betrayed his feeling by the slightest sign.</p> +<p>When Mr. Wickersham visited his new estate he admitted that Mr. +Bagge knew better than he how to deal with General Keith.</p> +<p>When he was met at the station by a tall, gray-haired gentleman +who looked like something between a general and a churchwarden, he +was inclined to be shy; but when the gentleman grasped his hand, +and with a voice of unmistakable sincerity said he had driven out +himself to meet him, to welcome him among them, he felt at +home.</p> +<p>"It is gentlemen like yourself to whom we must look for the +preservation of our civilization," said General Keith, and +introduced him personally to every man he met as, "the gentleman +who has bought my old place--not a 'carpet-bagger,' but a gentleman +interested in the development of our country, sir."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham, in fact, was treated with a distinction to which +he had been a stranger during his former visits South. He liked it. +He felt quite like a Southern gentleman, and with one or two +Northerners whom he met held himself a little distantly.</p> +<p>Once or twice the new owner of Elphinstone came down with +parties of friends--"to look at the country." They were interested +in developing it, and had been getting sundry acts passed by the +legislature with this in view. (General Keith's nose always took a +slight elevation when the legislature was mentioned.) General Keith +entertained the visitors precisely as he had done when he was the +master, and Mr. Wickersham and his guests treated him, in the main, +as if he were still the master. General Keith sat at the foot of +the table opposite Mr. Wickersham, and directed the servants, who +still called him "Master," and obeyed him as such.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham conceived a great regard for General Keith, not +unmingled with a certain contempt for his inability to avail +himself of the new conditions. "Fine old fellow," he said to his +friends. "No more business-sense than a child. If he had he would +go in with us and make money for himself instead of telling us how +to make it." He did not know that General Keith would not have +"gone in" with him in the plan he had carried through that +legislature to save his life. But he honored the old fellow all the +more. He had stood up for the General against Mrs. Wickersham, who +hated all Keiths on Ferdy's account. The old General, who was as +oblivious of this as a child, was always sending Mrs. Wickersham +his regards.</p> +<p>"Perhaps, she might like to come down and see the place?" he +suggested. "It is not what it used to be, but we can make her +comfortable." His glance as it swept about him was full of +affection.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham said he feared that Mrs. Wickersham's health +would not permit her to come South.</p> +<p>"This is the very region for her," said the General. "There is a +fine health-resort in the mountains, a short distance from us. I +have been there, and it is in charge of an old friend of mine, Dr. +Balsam, one of the best doctors in the State. He was my regimental +surgeon. I can recommend him. Bring her down, and let us see what +we can do for her."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham thanked him with a smile. Time had been when Mrs. +Wickersham had been content with small health-resorts. But that +time was past. He did not tell General Keith that Mrs. Wickersham, +remembering the fight between her son and Gordon, had consented to +his buying the place from a not very noble motive, and vowed that +she would never set her foot on it so long as a Keith remained +there. He only assured the General that he would convey his +invitation.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham's real interest, however, lay in the mountains to +the westward. And General Keith gave him some valuable hints as to +the deposits lying in the Ridge and the mountains beyond the +Ridge.</p> +<p>"I will give you letters to the leading men in that region," he +said. "The two most influential men up there are Dr. Balsam and +Squire Rawson. They have, like Abraham and Lot, about divided up +the country."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham's eyes glistened. He thanked him, and said that +he might call on him.</p> +<p>Once there came near being a clash between Mr. Wickersham and +General Keith. When Mr. Wickersham mentioned that he had invited a +number of members of the legislature--"gentlemen interested in the +development of the resources of the State"--to meet him, the +General's face changed. There was a little tilting of the nose and +a slight quivering of the nostrils. A moment later he spoke.</p> +<p>"I will have everything in readiness for your--f--for your +guests; but I must ask you to excuse me from meeting them."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham turned to him in blank amazement.</p> +<p>"Why, General?"</p> +<p>The expression on the old gentleman's face answered him. He knew +that at a word he should lose his agent, and he had use for him. He +had plans that were far-reaching, and the General could be of great +service to him.</p> +<p>When the statesmen arrived, everything on the place was in +order; they were duly met at the station, and were welcomed at the +house by the owner. Everything for their entertainment was +prepared. Even the fresh mint was in the tankard on the old +sideboard. Only the one who had made these preparations was +absent.</p> +<p>Just before the vehicles were to return from the railway, +General Keith walked into the room where Mr. Wickersham was +lounging. He was booted and spurred for riding.</p> +<p>"Everything is in order for your guests, sir. Richard will see +that they are looked after. These are the keys. Richard knows them +all, and is entirely reliable. I will ask you to excuse me +till--for a day or two."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham had been revolving in his mind what he should say +to the old gentleman. He had about decided to speak very plainly to +him on the folly of such narrowness. Something, however, in the +General's air again deterred him: a thinning of the nostril; an +unwonted firmness of the mouth. A sudden increase in the +resemblance to the man-in-armor over the mantel struck him--a +mingled pride and gravity. It removed him a hundred years from the +present.</p> +<p>The keen-eyed capitalist liked the General, and in a way honored +him greatly. His old-fashioned ideas entertained him. So what he +said was said kindly. He regretted that the General could not stay; +he "would have liked him to know his friends."</p> +<p>"They are not such bad fellows, after all. Why, one of them is a +preacher," he said jocularly as he walked to the door, "and a very +bright fellow. J. Quincy Plume is regarded as a man of great +ability."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir; I have heard of him. His doctrine is from the 'Wicked +Bible'; he omits the 'not.' Good morning." And General Keith bowed +himself out.</p> +<p>When the guests arrived, Mr. Wickersham admitted to himself that +they were a strange lot of "assorted statesmen." He was rather +relieved that the General had not remained. When he looked about +the table that evening, after the juleps were handed around and the +champagne had followed, he was still more glad. The set of old +Richard's head and the tilt of his nose were enough to face. An old +and pampered hound in the presence of a pack of puppies could not +have been more disdainful.</p> +<p>The preacher he had mentioned, Mr. J. Quincy Plume, was one of +the youngest members of the party and one of the most +striking--certainly one of the most convivial and least abashed. +Mr. Plume had, to use his own expression, "plucked a feather from +many wings, and bathed his glistening pinions in the iridescent +light of many orbs." He had been "something of a doctor"; then had +become a preacher--to quote him again, "not exactly of the gospel +as it was understood by mossbacked theologians, of 'a creed +outworn,'" but rather the "gospel of the new dispensation, of the +new brotherhood--the gospel of liberty, equality, fraternity." Now +he had found his true vocation, that of statesmanship, where he +could practise what he had preached; could "bask in the light of +the effulgent sun of progress, and, shod with the sandals of +Mercury, soar into a higher empyrean than he had yet attained." All +of which, being translated, meant that Mr. Plume, having failed in +several professions, was bent now on elevating himself by the votes +of the ignorant followers whom he was cajoling into taking him as a +leader.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham had had some dealing with him and had found him +capable and ready for any job. When he had been in the house an +hour Mr. Wickersham was delighted with him, and mentally decided to +secure him for his agent. When he had been there a day Mr. +Wickersham mentally questioned whether he had not better drop him +out of his schemes altogether.</p> +<p>One curious thing was that each guest secretly warned him +against all the others.</p> +<p>The prices were much higher than Mr. Wickersham had expected. +But they were subject to scaling.</p> +<p>"Well, Richard, what do you think of the gentlemen?" asked Mr. +Wickersham of the old servant, much amused at his disdain.</p> +<p>"What gent'mens?"</p> +<p>"Why, our guests." He used the possessive that the General +used.</p> +<p>"Does you call dem 'gent'mens?'" demanded the old servant, +fixing his eyes on him.</p> +<p>"Well, no; I don't think I do--all of them."</p> +<p>"Nor, suh; dee ain't gent'mens; dee's scalawags!" said Richard, +with contempt. "I been livin' heah 'bout sixty years, I reckon, an' +I never seen nobody like dem eat at de table an' sleep in de beds +in dis house befo'."</p> +<p>When the statesmen were gone and General Keith had returned, old +Richard gave Mr. Wickersham an exhibition of the manner in which a +gentleman should be treated.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<h3>THE ENGINEER AND THE SQUIRE</h3> +<br> +<p>Marius amid the ruins of Carthage is not an inspiring figure to +us while we are young; it is Marius riding up the Via Sacra at the +head of his resounding legions that then dazzles us. But as we grow +older we see how much greater he was when, seated amid the ruins, +he sent his scornful message to Rome. So, Gordon Keith, when a boy, +thought being a gentleman a very easy and commonplace thing. He had +known gentlemen all his life--had been bred among them. It was only +later on, after he got out into the world, that he saw how fine and +noble that old man was, sitting unmoved amid the wreck not only of +his life and fortunes, but of his world.</p> +<p>General Keith was unable to raise even the small sum necessary +to send the boy to college, but among the débris of the old +home still remained the relics of a once choice library, and +General Keith became himself his son's instructor. It was a very +irregular system of study, but the boy, without knowing it, was +browsing in those pastures that remain ever fresh and green. There +was nothing that related to science in any form.</p> +<p>"I know no more of science, sir, than an Indian," the General +used to say. "The only sciences I ever thought I knew were politics +and war, and I have failed in both."</p> +<p>He knew very little of the world--at least, of the modern world. +Once, at table, Gordon was wishing that they had money.</p> +<p>"My son," said his father, quietly, "there are some things that +gentlemen never discuss at table. Money is one of them." Such were +his old-fashioned views.</p> +<p>It was fortunate for his son, then, that there came to the +neighborhood about this time a small engineering party, sent down +by Mr. Wickersham to make a preliminary survey for a railroad line +up into the Ridge country above General Keith's home. The young +engineer, Mr. Grinnell Rhodes, brought a letter to General Keith +from Mr. Wickersham. He had sent his son down with the young man, +and he asked that the General would look after him a little and +would render Mr. Rhodes any assistance in his power. The tall young +engineer, with his clear eyes, pleasant voice, and quick ways, +immediately ingratiated himself with both General Keith and Gordon. +The sight of the instruments and, much more, the appearance of the +young "chief," his knowledge of the world, and his dazzling +authority as, clad in corduroy and buttoned in high yellow gaiters, +he day after day strode forth with his little party and ran his +lines, sending with a wave of his hand his rodmen to right or left +across deep ravines and over eminences, awakened new ambitions in +Gordon Keith's soul. The talk of building great bridges, of +spanning mighty chasms, and of tunnelling mountains inspired the +boy. What was Newton making his calculations from which to deduce +his fundamental laws, or Galileo watching the stars from his +Florentine tower? This young captain was Archimedes and Euclid, +Newton and Galileo, all in one. He made them live.</p> +<p>It was a new world for Gordon. He suddenly awoke.</p> +<p>Both the engineer and Gordon could well have spared one of the +engineer's assistants. Ferdy Wickersham had fulfilled the promise +of his boyhood, and would have been very handsome but for an +expression about the dark eyes which raised a question. He was +popular with girls, but made few friends among men, and he and Mr. +Rhodes had already clashed. Rhodes gave some order which Ferdy +refused to obey. Rhodes turned on him a cold blue eye. "What did +you say?"</p> +<p>"I guess this is my father's party; he's paying the freight, and +I guess I am his son."</p> +<p>"I guess it's my party, and you'll do what I say or go home," +said Mr. Rhodes, coldly. "Your father has no 'son' in this party. I +have a rodman. Unless you are sick, you do your part of the +work."</p> +<p>Ferdy submitted for reasons of his own; but his eyes lowered, +and he did not forget Mr. Rhodes.</p> +<p>The two youngsters soon fell out. Ferdy began to give orders +about the place, quite as if he were the master. The General +cautioned Gordon not to mind what he said. "He has been spoiled a +little; but don't mind him. An only child is at a great +disadvantage." He spoke as if Gordon were one of a dozen +children.</p> +<p>But Ferdy Wickersham misunderstood the other's concession. He +resented the growing intimacy between Rhodes and Gordon. He had +discovered that Gordon was most sensitive about the old plantation, +and he used his knowledge. And when Mr. Rhodes interposed it only +gave the sport of teasing Gordon a new point.</p> +<p>One morning, when the three were together, Ferdy began, what he +probably meant for banter, to laugh at Gordon for bragging about +his plantation.</p> +<p>"You ought to have heard him, Mr. Rhodes, how he used to blow +about it."</p> +<p>"I did not blow about it," said Gordon, flushing.</p> +<p>Rhodes, without looking up, moved in his seat uneasily.</p> +<p>"Ferdy, shut up--you bother me. I am working."</p> +<p>But Ferdy did not heed either this warning or the look on +Gordon's face. His game had now a double zest: he could sting +Gordon and worry Rhodes.</p> +<p>"I don't see why my old man was such a fool as to want such a +dinged lonesome old place for, anyhow," he said, with a little +laugh. "I am going to give it away when I get it."</p> +<p>Gordon's face whitened and flamed again, and his eyes began to +snap.</p> +<p>"Then it's the only thing you ever would give away," said Mr. +Rhodes, pointedly, without raising his eyes from his work.</p> +<p>Gordon took heart. "Why did you come down here if you feel that +way about it?"</p> +<p>"Because my old man offered me five thousand if I'd come. You +didn't think I'd come to this blanked old place for nothin', did +you? Not much, sonny."</p> +<p>"Not if he knew you," Said Mr. Rhodes, looking across at him. +"If he knew you, he'd know you never did anything for nothing, +Ferdy."</p> +<p>Ferdy flushed. "I guess I do it about as often as you do. I +guess you struck my governor for a pretty big pile."</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes's face hardened, and he fixed his eyes on him. "If I +do, I work for it honestly. I don't make an agreement to work, and +then play 'old soldier' on him."</p> +<p>"I guess you would if you didn't have to work."</p> +<p>"Well, I wouldn't," said Mr. Rhodes, firmly, "and I don't want +to hear any more about it. If you won't work, then I want you to +let me work."</p> +<p>Ferdy growled something under his breath about guessing that Mr. +Rhodes was "working to get Miss Harriet Creamer and her pile"; but +if Mr. Rhodes heard him he took no notice of it, and Ferdy turned +back to the boy.</p> +<p>Meantime, Gordon had been calculating. Five thousand dollars! +Why, it was a fortune! It would have relieved his father, and maybe +have saved the place. In his amazement he almost forgot his anger +with the boy who could speak of such a sum so lightly.</p> +<p>Ferdy gave him a keen glance. "What are you so huffy about, +Keith?" he demanded. "I don't see that it's anything to you what I +say about the place. You don't own it. I guess a man has a right to +say what he chooses of his own."</p> +<p>Gordon wheeled on him with blazing eyes, then turned around and +walked abruptly away. He could scarcely keep back his tears. The +other boy watched him nonchalantly, and then turned to Mr. Rhodes, +who was glowering over his papers. "I'll take him down a point or +two. He's always blowing about his blamed old place as if he still +owned it. He's worse than the old man, who is always blowing about +'before the war' and his grandfather and his old pictures. I can +buy better ancestors on Broadway for twenty dollars."</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes gathered up his papers and rose to his feet.</p> +<p>"You could not make yourself as good a descendant for a +million," he said, fastening his eye grimly on Ferdy.</p> +<p>"Oh, couldn't I? Well, I guess I could. I guess I am about as +good as he is, or you either."</p> +<p>"Well, you can leave me out of the case," said Mr. Rhodes, +sharply. "I will tell you that you are not as good as he, for he +would never have said to you what you have said to him if your +positions had been reversed."</p> +<p>"I don't understand you."</p> +<p>"I don't expect you do," said Mr. Rhodes. He stalked away. "I +can't stand that boy. He makes me sick," he said to himself. "If I +hadn't promised his governor to make him stick, I would shake +him."</p> +<p>Ferdy was still smarting under Mr. Rhodes's biting sarcasm when +the three came together again. He meant to be even with Rhodes, and +he watched his opportunity.</p> +<p>Rhodes was a connection of the Wentworths, and had been helped +at college by Norman's father, which Ferdy knew. One of the +handsomest girls in their set, Miss Louise Caldwell, was a cousin +of Rhodes, and Norman was in love with her. Ferdy, who could never +see any one succeeding without wishing to supplant him, had of late +begun to fancy himself in love with her also, but Mr. Rhodes, he +knew, was Norman's friend. He also knew that Norman was Mr. +Rhodes's friend in a little affair which Mr. Rhodes was having with +one of the leading belles of the town, Miss Harriet Creamer, the +daughter of Nicholas Creamer of Creamer, Crustback & +Company.</p> +<p>Ferdy had received that day a letter from his mother which +stated that Louise Caldwell's mother was making a set at Norman for +her daughter. Ferdy's jealousy was set on edge, and he now began to +talk about Norman. Rhodes sniffed at the sneering mention of his +name, and Gordon, whose face still wore a surly look, pricked up +his ears.</p> +<p>"You need not always be cracking Norman up," said Wickersham to +Rhodes. "You would not be if I were to tell you what I know about +him. He is no better than anybody else."</p> +<p>"Oh, he is better than some, Ferdy," said Mr. Rhodes. Gordon +gave an appreciative grunt which drew Ferdy's eyes on him.</p> +<p>"You think so too, Keith, I suppose?" he said. "Well, you +needn't. You need not be claiming to be such a friend of his. He is +not so much of a friend of yours, I can tell you. I have heard him +say as many mean things about you as any one."</p> +<p>It was Gordon's opportunity. He had been waiting for one.</p> +<p>"I don't believe it. I believe it's a lie," he declared, his +face whitening as he gathered himself together. His eyes, which had +been burning, had suddenly begun to blaze.</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes looked up. He said nothing, but his eyes began to +sparkle.</p> +<p>"You're a liar yourself," retorted Wickersham, turning red.</p> +<p>Gordon reached for him. "Take it back!" At the same moment +Rhodes sprang and caught him, but not quite in time. The tip of +Gordon's fingers as he slapped at Ferdy just reached the latter's +cheek and left a red mark there.</p> +<p>"Take it back," he said again between his teeth as Rhodes flung +his arm around him.</p> +<p>For answer Ferdy landed a straight blow in his face, making his +nose bleed and his head ring.</p> +<p>"Take that!"</p> +<p>Gordon struggled to get free, but in vain. Rhodes with one arm +swept Wickersham back. With the other he held Gordon in an iron +grip. "Keep off, or I will let him go," he said.</p> +<p>The boy ceased writhing, and looked up into the young man's +face. "You had just as well let me go. I am going to whip him. He +has told a lie on my friend, who saved my life. And he's hit me. +Let me go." He began to whimper.</p> +<p>"Now, look here, boys," said Rhodes; "you have got to stop right +here and make up. I won't have this fighting."</p> +<p>"Let him go. I can whip him," said Ferdy, squaring himself, and +adding an epithet.</p> +<p>Gordon was standing quite still. "I am going to fight him," he +said, "and whip him. If he whips me, I am going to fight him again +until I do whip him."</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes's face wore a puzzled expression. He looked down at +the sturdy face with its steady eyes, tightly gripped mouth, and +chin which had suddenly grown squarer.</p> +<p>"If I let you go will you promise not to fight?"</p> +<p>"I will promise not to fight him here if he will come out behind +the barn," said Gordon. "But if he don't, I'm going to fight him +here. I am going to fight him and I am going to whip him."</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes considered. "If I go out there with you and let you +have two rounds, will you make up and agree never to refer to the +subject again?"</p> +<p>"Yes," said Wickersham.</p> +<p>"If I whip him," said Gordon.</p> +<p>"Come along with me. I will let you two boys try each other's +mettle for two rounds, but, remember, you have got to stop when I +call time."</p> +<p>So they came to a secluded spot, where the two boys took off +their coats.</p> +<p>"Come, you fellows had better make up now," said Mr. Rhodes, +standing above them good-humored and kindly.</p> +<p>"I don't see what we are fighting about," said Ferdy.</p> +<p>"Take back what you said about Norman," demanded Gordon.</p> +<p>"There is nothing to take back," declared Ferdy.</p> +<p>"Then take that!" said Gordon, stepping forward and tapping him +in the mouth with the back of his hand.</p> +<p>He had not expected the other boy to be so quick. Before he +could put himself on guard, Ferdy had fired away, and catching him +right in the eye, he sent him staggering back. He was up again in a +second, however, and the next moment was at his opponent like a +tiger. The rush was as unlooked for on Wickersham's part as +Wickersham's blow had been by Gordon, and after a moment the +lessons of Mike Doherty began to tell, and Gordon was ducking his +head and dodging Wickersham's blows; and he began to drive him +backward.</p> +<p>"By Jove! he knows his business," said Rhodes to himself.</p> +<p>Just then he showed that he knew his business, for, swinging out +first with his right, he brought in the cut which was Mr. Doherty's +<i>chef d'oeuvre</i>, and catching Wickersham under the chin, he +sent him flat on his back on the ground.</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes called time and picked him up.</p> +<p>"Come, now, that's enough," he said.</p> +<p>Gordon wiped the blood from his face.</p> +<p>"He has got to take back what he said about Norman, or I have +another round."</p> +<p>"You had better take it back, Ferdy. You began it," said the +umpire.</p> +<p>"I didn't begin it. It's a lie!"</p> +<p>"You did," said Mr. Rhodes, coldly. He turned to Gordon. "You +have one more round."</p> +<p>"I take it back," growled Ferdy.</p> +<p>Just then there was a step on the grass, and General Keith stood +beside them. His face was very grave as he chided the boys for +fighting; but there was a gleam in his eyes that showed Mr. Rhodes +and possibly the two combatants that he was not wholly displeased. +At his instance and Mr. Rhodes's, the two boys shook hands and +promised not to open the matter again.</p> +<p>As Wickersham continued to shirk the work of rodman, Rhodes took +Gordon in his party, instructed him in the use of the instruments, +and inspired him with enthusiasm for the work, none the less eager +because he contrasted him with Ferdy. Rhodes knew what General +Keith's name was worth, and he thought his son being of his party +would be no hindrance to him.</p> +<p>The trouble came when he proposed to the General to pay Gordon +for his work.</p> +<p>"He is worth no salary at present, sir," said the General. "I +shall be delighted to have him go with you, and your instruction +will more than compensate us."</p> +<p>The matter was finally settled by Rhodes declining positively to +take Gordon except on his own terms. He needed an axeman and would +pay him as such. He could not take him at all unless he were under +his authority.</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes was not mistaken. General Keith's name was one to +conjure with. Squire Rawson was the principal man in all the Ridge +region, and he had, as Rhodes knew, put himself on record as +unalterably opposed to a railroad. He was a large, heavy man, +deep-chested and big-limbed, with grizzled hair and beard, a mouth +closer drawn than might have been expected in one with his +surroundings, and eyes that were small and deep-set, but very keen. +His two-storied white house, with wings and portico, though not +large, was more pretentious than most of those in the section, and +his whitewashed buildings, nestled amid the fruit-trees on a green +hill looking up the valley to the Gap, made quite a settlement. He +was a man of considerable property and also of great influence, and +in the Ridge region, as elsewhere, wealth is a basis of position +and influence. The difference is one of degree. The evidences of +wealth in the Ridge country were land and cattle, and these Squire +Rawson had in abundance. He was esteemed the best judge of cattle +in all that region.</p> +<p>Consistency is a jewel; but there are regions where Hospitality +is reckoned before Consistency, and as soon as the old squire +learned that General Keith's son was with the surveying party, even +though it was, to use a common phrase, "comin' interferin'" with +that country, he rode over to their camp and invited Gordon and his +"friends" to be his guests as long as they should remain in that +neighborhood.</p> +<p>"I don't want you to think, young man," he said to Rhodes, "that +I'm goin' to agree to your dod-rotted road comin' through any land +of mine, killin' my cattle; but I'll give you a bed and somethin' +to eat."</p> +<p>Rhodes felt that he had gained a victory; Gordon was +doubtful.</p> +<p>Though the squire never failed to remind the young engineer that +the latter was a Yankee, and as such the natural and necessary +enemy of the South, he and Rhodes became great friends, and the +squire's hospitable roof remained the headquarters of the +engineering party much longer than there was any necessity for its +being so.</p> +<p>The squire's family consisted of his wife, a kindly, bustling +little old dame, who managed everything and everybody, including +the squire, with a single exception. This was her granddaughter, +Euphronia Tripper, a plump and fresh young girl with light hair, a +fair skin, and bright eyes. The squire laid down the law to those +about him, but Mrs. Rawson--"Elizy"-laid down the law for him. This +the old fellow was ready enough to admit. Sometimes he had a +comical gleam in his deep eyes when he turned them on his guests as +he rose at her call of "Adam, I want you."</p> +<p>"Boys, learn to obey promptly," he said; "saves a sight o' +trouble. It's better in the family 'n a melojeon. It's got to come +sooner or later, and the sooner the better for you. The difference +between me and most married men around here is that they lies about +it, and I don't. I know I belongs to Eliza. She owns me, but then +she treats me well. I'm sort o' meek when she's around, but then I +make up for it by bein' so durned independent when I'm away from +home. Besides, it's a good deal better to be ordered about by +somebody as keers for you than not to have anybody in the world as +keers whether you come or stay."</p> +<p>Besides Mrs. Rawson, there were in the family a widowed +daughter, Mrs. Tripper, a long, pale, thin woman, with sad eyes, +who had once been pretty, and her daughter Euphronia, already +referred to, who, in right of being very pretty, was the old +squire's idol and was never thwarted in anything. She was, in +consequence, a spoiled little damsel, self-willed, very vain, and +as susceptible as a chameleon. The ease with which she could turn +her family around her finger gave her a certain contempt for them. +At first she was quite enamoured of the young engineer; but Mr. +Rhodes was too busy to give any thought to a girl whom he regarded +as a child, and she turned her glances on Gordon. Gordon also was +impervious to her charms. He was by no means indifferent to girls; +several little damsels who attended St. Martin's Church had at one +time or another been his load-stars for a while; but he was an +aristocrat at heart, and held himself infinitely above a girl like +Miss Euphronia.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham had no such motives for abstaining from a +flirtation with the young girl as those which restrained Rhodes and +Keith.</p> +<p>Euphronia had not at first taken much notice of him. She had +been inclined to regard Ferdy Wickersham with some disfavor as a +Yankee; but when the other two failed her, Wickersham fell heir to +her blandishments. Her indifference to him had piqued him and +awakened an interest which possibly he might not otherwise have +felt. He had seen much of the world for a youngster, and could make +a good show with what he knew. He could play on the piano, and +though the aged instrument which the old countryman had got at +second-hand for his granddaughter gave forth sounds which might +have come from a tinkling cymbal, yet Ferdy played with a certain +dash and could bring from it tunes which the girl thought very +fine. The two soon began to be so much together that both Rhodes +and Keith fell to rallying Ferdy as to his conquest. Ferdy accepted +it with complacency.</p> +<p>"I think I shall stay here while you are working up in the +mountains," he said to his chief as the time drew near for them to +leave.</p> +<p>"You will do nothing of the kind. I promised to take you with +me, and I will take you dead or alive."</p> +<p>A frown began on the youngster's face, but passed away quickly, +and in its place came a look of covert complacency.</p> +<p>"I thought your father had offered you five thousand dollars if +you would stick it out through, the whole trip?" Keith said.</p> +<p>Ferdy shut one eye slowly and gazed at Gordon with the +other.</p> +<p>"Sickness was barred. I'll tell the old man I've studied. He'd +never drop on to the game. He is a soft old bird, anyway."</p> +<p>"Do you mean you are going to lie to him?" asked Gordon.</p> +<p>"Oh, you are sappy! All fellows lie to their governors," +declared Ferdy, easily. "Why, I wouldn't have any fun at all if I +did not lie. You stay with me a bit, my son, and I'll teach you a +few useful things."</p> +<p>"Thank you. I have no doubt you are a capable teacher," sniffed +Gordon; "but I think I won't trouble you."</p> +<p>That evening, as Keith was coming from his work, he took a +cross-cut through the fields and orchard, and under an +overshadowing tree he came on Ferdy and Euphronia. They were so +deeply engaged that Keith hastily withdrew and, making a detour, +passed around the orchard to the house.</p> +<p>At supper Mrs. Tripper casually inquired of her daughter where +she had been, a remark which might have escaped Keith's observation +had not Ferdy Wickersham answered it in some haste.</p> +<p>"She went after the cows," he said, with a quick look at her, +"and I went fishing, but I did not catch anything."</p> +<p>"I thought, Phrony, I saw you in the orchard," said her +mother.</p> +<p>Wickersham looked at her quickly again.</p> +<p>"No, she wasn't in the orchard," he said, "for I was there."</p> +<p>"No, I wasn't in the orchard this evening," said Euphronia. "I +went after the cows." She looked down in her plate.</p> +<p>Keith ate the rest of his supper in silence. He could not tell +on Ferdy; that would not be "square." He consulted his mentor, his +chief, who simply laughed at him.</p> +<p>"Leave 'em alone," he counselled. "I guess she knew how to lie +before he came. Ferdy has some sense. And we are going to leave for +the mountains in a little while. I am only waiting to bring the old +squire around."</p> +<p>Gordon shook his head.</p> +<p>"My father says you mistake his hospitality for yielding," he +said. "You will never get him to consent to your plan."</p> +<p>Rhodes laughed.</p> +<p>"Oh, won't I! I have had these old countrymen to deal with +before. Just give them time and show them the greenbacks. He will +come around. Wait until I dangle the shekels before him."</p> +<p>But Mr. Rhodes found that in that provincial field there were +some things stronger than shekels. And among these were prejudices. +The more the young engineer talked, the more obstinate appeared the +old countryman.</p> +<p>"I raise cattle," he said in final answer to all his +eloquence.</p> +<p>"Raise cattle! You can make more by raising coal in one year +than you can by raising cattle all your life. Why, you have the +richest mineral country back here almost in the world," said the +young diplomat, persuasively.</p> +<p>"And that's the reason I want to keep the railroads out," said +the squire, puffing quietly. "I don't want the Yankees to come down +and take it away from us."</p> +<p>Rhodes laughed. "I'd like to see any one take anything from you. +They will develop it for you."</p> +<p>"I never seen anybody develop anything for another man, +leastways a Yankee," said Squire Rawson, reflectively.</p> +<p>Just then Ferdy chipped in. He was tired of being left out.</p> +<p>"My father'll come down here and show you old mossbacks a thing +or two," he laughed.</p> +<p>The old man turned his eyes on him slowly. Ferdy was not a +favorite with him. For one thing, he played on the piano. But there +were other reasons.</p> +<p>"Who is your father, son?" The squire drew a long whiff from his +pipe.</p> +<p>"Aaron Wickersham of Wickersham & Company, who is setting up +the chips for this railroad. We are going to run through here and +make it one of the greatest lines of the country."</p> +<p>"Oh, you're <i>goin'</i> to run it! From the way you talked I +thought maybe you <i>had</i> run it. Was a man named Aaron once +thought he knew more 'bout runnin' a' expedition than his brother +did. Ever heard what became of him?"</p> +<p>"No," said Ferdy.</p> +<p>"Well, he run some of 'em in the ground. He didn't have sense to +know the difference between a calf and God."</p> +<p>Ferdy flushed.</p> +<p>"Well, my old man knows enough to run this railroad. He has run +bigger things than this."</p> +<p>"If he knows as much as his son, he knows a lot. He ought to be +able to run the world." And the squire turned back to Rhodes:</p> +<p>"What are you goin' to do, my son, when you've done all you say +you're goin' to do for us? You will be too good to live among them +Yankees; you will have to come back here, I reckon."</p> +<p>"No; I'm going to marry and settle down," said Rhodes, +jestingly. "Maybe I'll come back here sometime just to receive your +thanks for showing you how benighted you were before I came, and +for the advice I gave you."</p> +<p>"He is trying to marry a rich woman," said Ferdy, at which +Rhodes flushed a little.</p> +<p>The old man took no notice of the interruption.</p> +<p>"Well, you must," he said to Rhodes, his eyes resting on him +benevolently. "You must come back sometime and see me. I love to +hear a young man talk who knows it all. But you take my advice, my +son; don't marry no rich man's daughter. They will always think +they have done you a favor, and they will try to make you think so +too, even if your wife don't do it. You take warnin' by me. When I +married, I had just sixteen dollars and my wife she had seventeen, +and I give you my word I have never heard the last of that one +dollar from that day to this."</p> +<p>Rhodes laughed and said he would remember his advice.</p> +<p>"Sometimes I think," said the old man, "I have mistaken my +callin'. I was built to give advice to other folks, and instid of +that they have been givin' me advice all my life. It's in and about +the only thing I ever had given me, except physic."</p> +<p>The night before the party left, Ferdy packed his kit with the +rest; but the next morning he was sick in his bed. His pulse was +not quick, but he complained of pains in every limb. Dr. Balsam +came over to see him, but could find nothing serious the matter. +He, however, advised Rhodes to leave him behind. So, Ferdy stayed +at Squire Rawson's all the time that the party was in the +mountains. But he wrote his father that he was studying.</p> +<p>During the time that Rhodes's party was in the mountains Squire +Rawson rode about with them examining lands, inspecting coal-beds, +and adding much to the success of the undertaking.</p> +<p>He appeared to be interested mainly in hunting up cattle, and +after he had introduced the engineers and secured the tardy consent +of the landowners for them to make a survey, he would spend hours +haggling over a few head of mountain cattle, or riding around +through the mountains looking for others.</p> +<p>Many a farmer who met the first advances of the stranger with +stony opposition yielded amicably enough after old Rawson had spent +an hour or two looking at his "cattle," or had conversed with him +and his weather-beaten wife about the "craps" and the +"child'en."</p> +<p>"You are a miracle!" declared young Rhodes, with sincere +admiration. "How do you manage it?"</p> +<p>The old countryman accepted the compliment with becoming +modesty.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; ain't no miracle about it. All I know I learned at the +Ridge College, and from an old uncle of mine, and in the war. He +used to say, 'Adam, don't be a fool; learn the difference between +cattle.' Now, before you come, I didn't know nothin' about all them +fureign countries--they was sort of vague, like the New +Jerusalem--or about coal. You've told me all about that. I had an +idea that it was all made jest so,--jest as we find it,--as the +Bible says 'twas; but you know a lot--more than Moses knowed, and +he was 'skilled in all the learnin' of the Egyptians.' You haven't +taken to cattle quite as kindly as I'd 'a' liked, but you know a +lot about coal. Learn the difference between cattle, my son. +There's a sight o' difference between 'em."</p> +<p>Rhodes declared that he would remember his advice, and the two +parted with mutual esteem.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3>TWO YOUNG MEN</h3> +<br> +<p>The young engineer, on his return to New York, made a report to +his employer. He said that the mineral resources were simply +enormous, and were lying in sight for any one to pick up who knew +how to deal with the people to whom they belonged. They could be +had almost for the asking. But he added this statement: that the +legislative charters would hardly hold, and even if they did, it +would take an army to maintain what they gave against the will of +the people. He advised securing the services of Squire Rawson and a +few other local magnates.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham frowned at this plain speaking, and dashed his +pen through this part of the report. "I am much obliged to you for +the report on the minerals. The rest of it is trash. You were not +paid for your advice on that. When I want law I go to a +lawyer."</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes rose angrily.</p> +<p>"Well, you have for nothing an opinion that is worth more than +that of every rascally politician that has sold you his opinion and +himself, and you will find it out."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham did find it out. However much was published about +it, the road was not built for years. The legislative charters, +gotten through by Mr. J. Quincy Plume and his confrères, +which were to turn that region into a modern Golconda, were swept +away with the legislatures that created them, and new charters had +to be obtained.</p> +<p>Squire Rawson, however, went on buying cattle and, report said, +mineral rights, and Gordon Keith still followed doggedly the track +along which Mr. Rhodes had passed, sure that sometime he should +find him a great man, building bridges and cutting tunnels, +commanding others and sending them to right or left with a swift +wave of his arm as of old. Where before Gordon studied as a task, +he now worked for ambition, and that key unlocked unknown +treasures.</p> +<p>Mr. Rhodes fell in with Norman just after his interview with Mr. +Wickersham. He was still feeling sore over Mr. Wickersham's +treatment of his report. He had worked hard over it. He attributed +it in part to Ferdy's complaint of him. He now gave Norman an +account of his trip, and casually mentioned his meeting Gordon +Keith.</p> +<p>"He's a good boy," he said, "a nice kid. He licked Ferdy-a very +pretty little piece of work. Ferdy had both the weight and the +reach on him."</p> +<p>"Licked Ferdy! It's an old grudge, I guess?" said Norman.</p> +<p>"No. They started in pretty good friends. It was about you."</p> +<p>"About me?" Norman's face took on new interest.</p> +<p>"Yes; Ferdy said something, and Keith took it up. He seems +pretty fond of you. I think he had it in for Ferdy, for Ferdy had +been bedevilling him about the place. You know old Wickersham owns +it. Ferdy's strong point is not taste. So I think Gordon was +feeling a bit sore, and when Ferdy lit into you, Keith slapped +him."</p> +<p>Norman was all alert now.</p> +<p>"Well? Which licked?"</p> +<p>"Oh, that was all. Keith won at the end of the first round. He'd +have been fighting now if he had not licked him."</p> +<p>The rest of the talk was of General Keith and of the hardship of +his position.</p> +<p>"They are as poor as death," said Rhodes. He told of his +surroundings.</p> +<p>When Norman got home, he went to his mother. Her eye lighted up +as it rested on the alert, vigorous figure and fresh, manly, eager +face. She knew he had something on his mind.</p> +<p>"Mother, I have a plan," he said. "You remember Gordon Keith, +the boy whose boat I sank over in England--'Keith the rebel'?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth remembered well. She remembered an older fight +than that, between a Keith and a Wentworth.</p> +<p>"Well, I have just heard of him. Rhodes--you remember Rhodes? +Grinnell Rhodes? Used to be stroke, the greatest stroke ever was. +Well, Rhodes has been down South and stayed at Keith's father's +home. He says it's a beautiful old place, and now belongs to Mr. +Wickersham, Ferdy's father, and the old gentleman, General Keith, +who used to own it farms it for him. Think of that! It's as if +father had to be a bookkeeper in the bank! Rhodes says he's a fine +old fellow, and that Gordon is one of the best. He was down there +running a railway line for Mr. Wickersham, and took Gordon with +him. And he says he's the finest sort of a fellow, and wants to go +to college dreadfully, but hasn't a cent nor any way to get +anything. Rhodes says it's awful down there. They are so poor."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth smiled. "Well?"</p> +<p>Norman blushed and stammered a little, as he often did when he +was embarrassed.</p> +<p>"Well, you know I have some money of my own, and I thought if +you don't mind it I'd like to lend him a little. I feel rather +piggish just spending it right and left for nothing, when a fellow +like that would give his eyes for the chance to go to college. +Grinnell Rhodes says that he is ever so fond of me; that Ferdy was +blowing once and said something against me, and Gordon jumped right +into him--said I was a friend of his, and that Ferdy should not say +anything against me in his presence. He knocked Ferdy down. I tell +you, when a fellow is ready to fight for another years after he has +seen him, he is a good friend."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth's face showed that she too appreciated such a +friend.</p> +<p>"How do you know he needs it, or would accept it if he did?"</p> +<p>"Why, Rhodes says we have no idea of the poverty down there. He +says our poorest clerks are rich compared with those people. And +I'll write him a letter and offer to lend it to him. I'll tell him +it's mine."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth went over and kissed the boy. The picture rose to +her mind of a young man fresh from fields where he had won renown, +honored by his State, with everything that wealth and rank could +give, laying his honors at the feet of a poor young girl.</p> +<p>"All right, my son."</p> +<p>That night Norman sat down and wrote a letter.</p> +<p>A few days later than this, Gordon Keith received a letter with +the post-mark "New York." Who was there in New York who could know +him? Not his young engineer. He knew his hand. He was now abroad. +As he read the letter he wondered yet more. It was from Norman +Wentworth. He had met an old friend, he said, who had told him +about Gordon and about his father's misfortunes. He himself, he +said, was at college, and he found himself in a position to be able +to help a friend. He did not know to what extent aid might be of +service; but he had some means of his own, and he asked that Gordon +would allow him to make him a loan of whatever might be necessary +to relieve his father and himself.</p> +<p>When Gordon finished reading the letter there were tears in his +eyes.</p> +<p>He laid the letter in his father's lap, and the old gentleman +read it through slowly. He sat lost in reflection for a few moments +and then handed the letter back to Gordon.</p> +<p>"Write to him and thank him, my son--thank him warmly for both +of us. I will never forget his kindness. He is a gentleman."</p> +<p>This was all; but he too showed in his face that that far-off +shaft of light had reached his heart and rested there.</p> +<p>The General afterwards meditated deeply as to the wisdom of this +action. Just then, however, Providence seemed to come to his +aid.</p> +<p>Old Adam Rawson, hearing that he was hard up, or moved by some +kindly impulse, offered to make him a loan. He "happened to have," +he wrote, "a little pile lying by that he didn't have any +particular use for just then, and it had come to him that, maybe, +the General might be able to use it to advantage. He didn't care +anything about security or interest."</p> +<p>The General was perplexed. He did not need it himself, but he +was glad to borrow enough to send Gordon to college for a year. He +sent Gordon up to old Rawson's with a letter.</p> +<p>The old man read the letter and then looked Gordon over; he read +it and looked him over again, much as if he were appraising a young +steer.</p> +<p>"Well, I didn't say I'd lend it to you," he said; "but, maybe, +I'll do it if 'twill help the General. Investin' in a young man is +kind of hazardous; it's like puttin' your money in a +harry-dick--you don't know what he's goin' to be. All you has to go +on is the frame and your jedgment."</p> +<p>Fortunately for Keith, the old cattle-dealer had a good opinion +of his "jedgment." He went on: "But I admit blood counts for +somethin', and I'm half minded to adventure some on your +blood."</p> +<p>Gordon laughed. He would be glad to be tried on any account, he +said, and would certainly repay the money.</p> +<p>"Well, I b'lieve you will if you can," said the squire. "And +that's more than I can say of everybody. I'll invest a leetle money +in your future, and I want to say this to you, that your future +will depend on whether you pay it back or not. I never seen a young +man as didn't pay his debts come to any good in my life, and I +never seen one as did as didn't. I've seen many a man'd shoot you +if you dared to question his honor, an' wouldn't pay you a dollar +if he was lousy with 'em." He took out his wallet, and untying the +strings carefully, began to count out the greenbacks.</p> +<p>"I have to carry a pretty good pile to buy calves with," he +chuckled; "but I reckon you'll be a fair substitute for one or two. +How much do you want--I mean, how little can you git along +with?"</p> +<p>Gordon told him the amount his father had suggested. It was not +a great sum.</p> +<p>"That seems a heap of money to put in book-learnin'," said the +old man, thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on Gordon. "My whole +edication didn't cost twenty-five dollars. With all that learnin', +you'd know enough to teach the Ridge College."</p> +<p>Gordon, who had figured it out, began to give his necessary +expenses. When he had finished, the old man counted out his bills. +Gordon said he would give him his note for it, and his father would +indorse it. The other shook his head.</p> +<p>"No; I don't want any bond. I'll remember it and you'll remember +it. I've known too many men think they'd paid a debt when they'd +given their bond. I don't want you to think that. If you're goin' +to pay me, you'll do it without a bond, and if you ain't, I ain't +goin' to sue you; I'm jest goin' to think what a' o'nery cuss you +are."</p> +<p>So Gordon returned home, and a few weeks later was delving deep +into new mysteries.</p> +<p>Gordon's college life may be passed over. He worked well, for he +felt that it was necessary to work.</p> +<p>Looking around when he left college, the only thing that +appeared in sight for Gordon Keith was to teach school. To be sure, +the business; "the universal refuge of educated indigents," as his +father quoted with a smile, was already overcrowded. But Gordon +heard of a school which up to this time had not been overwhelmed +with applicants. There was a vacancy at the Ridge College. Finally +poor Gunn, after holding out as long as he could, had laid down his +arms, as all soldiers must do sooner or later, and Gordon applied +for the position. The old squire remembered the straight, +broad-shouldered boy with his father's eyes and also remembered the +debt he owed him, and with the vision of a stern-faced man with +eyes of flame riding quietly at the head of his men across a +shell-ploughed field, he wrote to Gordon to come.</p> +<p>"If he's got half of his daddy in him he'll straighten 'em out," +he said.</p> +<p>So, Gordon became a school-teacher.</p> +<p>"I know no better advice to give you," said General Keith to +Gordon, on bidding him good-by, "than to tell you to govern +yourself, and you will be able to govern them. 'He that is slow to +anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than +he that taketh a city.'"</p> +<p>During the years in which Gordon Keith was striving to obtain an +education as best he might, Ferdy Wickersham had gone to one of the +first colleges of the land. It was the same college which Norman +Wentworth was attending. Indeed, Norman's being there was the main +reason that Ferdy was sent there. Mr. Wickersham wished his son to +have the best advantages. Mrs. Wickersham desired this too, but she +also had a further motive. She wished her son to eclipse Norman +Wentworth. Both were young men of parts, and as both had unlimited +means at their disposal, neither was obliged to study.</p> +<p>Norman Wentworth, however, had applied himself to secure one of +the high class-honors, and as he was universally respected and very +popular, he was regarded as certain to have it, until an unexpected +claimant suddenly appeared as a rival.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham never took the trouble to compete for anything +until he discovered that some one else valued it. It was a trait he +had inherited from his mother, who could never see any one +possessing a thing without coveting it.</p> +<p>The young man was soon known at college as one of the leaders of +the gay set. His luxuriously furnished rooms, his expensive suppers +and his acquaintance with dancing-girls were talked about, and he +soon had a reputation for being one of the wildest youngsters of +his class.</p> +<p>"Your son will spend all the money you can make for him," said +one of his friends to Mr. Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Well," said the father, "I hope he will have as much pleasure +in spending it as I have had in making it, that's all."</p> +<p>He not only gave Ferdy all the money he suggested a need for, +but he offered him large bonuses in case he should secure any of +the honors he had heard of as the prizes of the collegiate +work.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wickersham was very eager for him to win this particular +prize. Apart from her natural ambition, she had a special reason. +The firm of Norman Wentworth & Son was one of the oldest and +best-known houses in the country. The home of Norman Wentworth was +known to be one of the most elegant in the city, as it was the most +exclusive, and both Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth were recognized as +representatives of the old-time gentry. Mrs. Wickersham might have +endured the praise of the elegance of the mansion. She had her own +ideas as to house-furnishing, and the Wentworth mansion was +furnished in a style too quiet and antiquated to suit her more +modern tastes. If it was filled with old mahogany and hung with +damask-satin, Mrs. Wickersham had carved walnut and gorgeous +hangings. And as to those white marble busts, and those books that +were everywhere, she much preferred her brilliant figures which she +"had bought in Europe," and books were "a nuisance about a house." +They ought to be kept in a library, as she kept hers--in a +carved-walnut case with glass doors.</p> +<p>The real cause of Mrs. Wickersham's dislike of Mrs. Wentworth +lay deeper.</p> +<p>The elder lady had always been gracious to Mrs. Wickersham when +they met, as she was gracious to every one, and when a very large +entertainment was given by her, had invited Mrs. Wickersham to it. +But Mrs. Wickersham felt that Mrs. Wentworth lived within a charmed +circle. And Mrs. Wickersham was envious.</p> +<p>It must be said that Ferdy needed no instigation to supersede +Norman in any way that did not require too much work. He and Norman +were very good friends; certainly Norman thought so; but at bottom +Ferdy was envious of Norman's position and prestige, and deep in +his heart lurked a long-standing grudge against the older boy, to +which was added of late a greater one. Norman and he fancied the +same girl, and Louise Caldwell was beginning to favor Norman.</p> +<p>Ferdy announced to his father that the class-honor would be won +if he would give him money enough, and the elder Wickersham, +delighted, told him to draw on him for all the money he wanted. +This Ferdy did promptly. He suddenly gave up running away from +college, applied himself to cultivating the acquaintance of his +fellow-students, spent his money lavishly in entertainments, and +for a time it appeared that he might wrest the prize from Norman's +grasp.</p> +<p>College boys, however, are a curious folk. The mind of youth is +virtuous. It is later on in life that it becomes sordid. Ferdy +wrote his father that he had the prize, and that Norman, his only +rival, had given up the fight. Mrs. Wickersham openly boasted of +her son's success and of her motive, and sent him money lavishly. +Young Wickersham's ambition, however, like that of many another +man, o'erleaped itself. Wickersham drew about him many companions, +but they were mainly men of light weight, roisterers and loafers, +whilst the better class of his fellow-students quickly awoke to a +true realization of the case. A new element was being introduced +into college politics. The recognition of danger was enough to set +the best element in the college to meet it. At the moment when +Ferdy Wickersham felt himself victor, and abandoned himself to +fresh pleasures, a new and irresistible force unexpectedly arose +which changed the fate of the day. Wickersham tried to stem the +current, but in vain. It was a tidal wave. Ferdy Wickersham faced +defeat, and he could not stand it. He suddenly abandoned college, +and went off, it was said, with a coryphée. His father and +mother did not know of it for some time after he had left.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham received the first intimation of it in the shape +of a draft which came to him from some distant point. When Mrs. +Wickersham learned of it, she fell into a consuming rage, and then +took to her bed. The downfall of her hopes and of her ambition had +come through the person she loved best on earth. Finally she became +so ill that Mr. Wickersham telegraphed a peremptory order to his +son to come home, and after a reasonable time the young man +appeared.</p> +<p>His mother's joy at meeting him overshadowed everything else +with her, and the prodigal was received by her with that +forgiveness which is both the weakness and the strength of a +mother's heart. The father, however, had been struck as deeply as +the mother. His ambition, if of a different kind, had been quite as +great as that of Mrs. Wickersham, and the hard-headed, keen-sighted +man, who had spent his life fighting his way to the front, often +with little consideration for the rights of others, felt that one +of his motives and one of his rewards had perished together.</p> +<p>The interview that took place in his office between him and his +son was one which left its visible stamp on the older man, and for +a time appeared to have had an effect even on the younger, with all +his insolence and impervious selfishness. When Aaron Wickersham +unlocked his private door and allowed his son and heir to go out, +the clerks in the outer office knew by the young man's face, quite +as well as by the rumbles of thunder which had come through the +fast-closed door, that the "old man" had been giving the young one +a piece of his mind.</p> +<p>At first the younger man had been inclined to rebel; but for +once in his life he found that he had passed the limit of license, +and his father, whom he had rather despised as foolishly pliable, +was unexpectedly his master. He laid before Ferdy, with a power +which the latter could not but acknowledge, the selfishness and +brutality of his conduct since he was a boy. He told him of his own +earlier privations, of his labors, of his ambitions.</p> +<p>"I have worked my heart out," he said, "for your mother and for +you. I have never known a moment of rest or of what you call 'fun.' +I set it before me when your mother promised to marry me that I +would make her as good as the first lady in the land--that is, in +New York. She should have as big a house and as fine a carriage and +as handsome frocks as any one of them--as old Mrs. Wentworth or old +Mrs. Brooke of Brookford, who were the biggest people I ever knew. +And I have spent my life for it. I have grown old before my time. I +have gotten so that things have lost their taste to me; I have done +things that I never dreamed I would do to accomplish it. I have +lost the power to sleep working for it, and when you came I thought +I would have my reward in you. I have not only never stinted you, +but I have lavished money on you as if I was the richest man in New +York. I wanted you to have advantages that I never had: as good as +Norman Wentworth or any one else. I have given you things, and seen +you throw them away, that I would have crawled on my knees from my +old home to this office to get when I was a boy. And I thought you +were going to be my pride and my stay and my reward. And you said +you were doing it, and your mother and I had staked our hearts on +you. And all the time you were running away and lying to me and to +her, and not doing one honest lick of work."</p> +<p>The young man interrupted him. "That is not so," he said +surlily.</p> +<p>His father pulled out a drawer and took from it a letter. +Spreading it open on his desk, he laid the palm of his open hand on +it. "Not so? I have got the proof of it here." He looked at the +young man with level eyes, eyes in which was such a cold gleam that +Ferdy's gaze fell.</p> +<p>"I did not expect you to do it for <i>me</i>," Aaron Wickersham +went on slowly, never taking his eyes from his son's face, "for I +had discovered that you did not care a button for my wishes; but I +did think you would do it for your mother. For she thought you were +a god and worshipped you. She has been talking for ten years of the +time when she would go to see you come out at the head of your +class. She was going to Paris to get the clothes to wear if you +won, and you--" His voice broke--"you won't even graduate! What +will you think next summer when Mrs. Wentworth is there to see her +son, and all the other men and women I know who have sons who +graduate there, and your mother--?" The father's voice broke +completely, and he looked away. Even Ferdy for a moment seemed +grave and regretful. Then after a glance at his father he recovered +his composure.</p> +<p>"I'm not to blame," he said surlily, "if she did. It was her +fault."</p> +<p>Aaron Wickersham turned on him.</p> +<p>"Stop," he said in a quiet voice. "Not another word. One other +word, and, by God! I'll box your head off your shoulders. Say what +you please about me, but not one word against her. I will take you +from college and put you to sweeping the floor of this office at +twenty dollars a month, and make you live on your salary, too, or +starve, if you say one other word."</p> +<p>Ferdy's face blanched at the implacable anger that blazed in his +father's eyes, but even more at the coldness of the gleam. It made +him shiver.</p> +<p>A little later young Wickersham entered his father's office, and +though he was not much liked by the older clerks, it soon appeared +that he had found a congenial occupation and one for which he had a +natural gift. For the first time in his life he appeared inclined +to work.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> +<h3>THE RIDGE COLLEGE</h3> +<br> +<p>The school over which Gordon had undertaken to preside was not a +very advanced seminary of learning, and possibly the young teacher +did not impart to his pupils a great deal of erudition.</p> +<p>His predecessors in the schoolmaster's chair had been, like +their patrons, the product of a system hardly less conservative +than that of the Locrians. Any one who proposed an innovation would +have done so with a rope about his neck, and woe to him if it +proved unsuccessful.</p> +<p>When Gordon reported first to the squire, the old man was +manifestly pleased.</p> +<p>"Why, you've growed considerable. I didn't have no idea you'd be +so big a man." He measured him with satisfaction. "You must be nigh +as big as your pa."</p> +<p>"I'm broader across the shoulders, but not so tall," said the +young man.</p> +<p>"He is a pretty tall man," said the squire, slowly, with the +light of reflection in his eye. "You're a-goin' to try the Ridge +College, are you?" He had a quizzical twinkle in his eye as it +rested on the younger man's face.</p> +<p>"I'm going to try it." And Gordon's face lit up. "I don't know +much, but I'll do the best I can."</p> +<p>His modesty pleased the other.</p> +<p>"You know more than Jake Dennison, I reckon, except about +devilment. I was afred you mightn't be quite up to the place here; +you was rather young when I seen you last." He measured him as he +might have done a young bullock.</p> +<p>"Oh, I fancy I shall be," interrupted the young man, flushing at +the suggestion.</p> +<p>"You've got to learn them Dennison boys, and them Dennison boys +is pretty hard to learn anything. You will need all the grit you've +got."</p> +<p>"Oh, I'll teach them," asserted Gordon, confidently. The old +man's eye rested on him.</p> +<p>"'Tain't <i>teachin'</i> I'm a-talkin' about. It's +<i>learnin'</i> I'm tellin' you they need. You've got to learn 'em +a good deal, or they'll learn you. Them Dennison boys is pretty +slow at learnin'."</p> +<p>The young man intimated that he thought he was equal to it.</p> +<p>"Well, we'll see," grunted the old fellow, with something very +like a twinkle in his deep eyes. "Not as they'll do you any harm +without you undertake to interfere with them," he drawled. "But +you're pretty young to manage 'em jest so; you ain't quite big +enough either, and you're too big to git in through the cat-hole. +And I allow that you don't stand no particular show after the first +week or so of gittin' into the house any other way."</p> +<p>"I'll get in, though, and I won't go in through the cat-hole +either. I'll promise you that, if you'll sustain me."</p> +<p>"Oh, I'll sustain you," drawled the squire. "I'll sustain you in +anything you do, except to pizon 'em with <i>slow</i> pizon, and I +ain't altogether sure that wouldn' be jest manslaughter."</p> +<p>"All right." Keith's eyes snapped, and presently, as the outer +man's gaze rested on him, his snapped also.</p> +<p>So the compact was struck, and the trustee went on to give +further information.</p> +<p>"Your hours will be as usual," said he: "from seven to two and +fo' to six in summer, and half-past seven to two and three to five +in winter, and you'll find all the books necessary in the +book-chist. We had to have 'em locked up to keep 'em away from the +rats and the dirt-daubers. Some of 'em's right smartly de-faced, +but I reckon you'll git on with 'em all right."</p> +<p>"Well, those are pretty long hours," said Gordon. "Seems to me +they had better be shortened. I shall--"</p> +<p>"Them's the usual hours," interrupted the old man, positively. +"I've been trustee now for goin' on twenty-six year, an' th'ain't +never been any change in 'em. An' I ain't see as they've ever been +too long--leastways, I never see as the scholars ever learned too +much in 'em. They ain't no longer than a man has to work in the +field, and the work's easier."</p> +<p>Gordon looked at the old man keenly. It was his first battle, +and it had come on at once, as his father had warned him. The +struggle was bitter, if brief, but he conquered--conquered himself. +The old countryman's face had hardened.</p> +<p>"If you want to give satisfaction you'd better try to learn them +scholars an' not the trustees," he said dryly. "The Dennison boys +is hard, but we're harder."</p> +<p>Gordon looked at him quickly. His eyes were resting on him, and +had a little twinkle in them.</p> +<p>"We're a little like the old fellow 'at told the young preacher +'at he'd better stick to abusin' the sins of Esau and Jacob and +David and Peter, an' let the sins o' that congregation alone."</p> +<p>"I'll try and give you satisfaction," said Keith.</p> +<p>The squire appeared pleased. His face relaxed and his tone +changed.</p> +<p>"<i>You</i> won't have no trouble," he said good-humoredly. "Not +if you're like your father. I told 'em you was his son, an' I'd be +responsible for you."</p> +<p>Gordon Keith looked at him with softened eyes. A mention of his +father always went to his heart.</p> +<p>"I'll try and give you satisfaction," he said earnestly. "Will +you do me a favor?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"Will you come over to the examination of the school when it +opens, and then let me try the experiment of running it my way for, +say, two months, and then come to another examination? Then if I do +not satisfy you I'll do anything you say; I'll go back to the old +way."</p> +<p>"Done," said the trustee, cordially. And so, Gordon Keith won +another victory, and started the school under favorable +auspices.</p> +<p>Adam Rawson asked him to come and live at his house. "You might +give Phrony a few extra lessons to fit her for a bo'din'-school," +he said. "I want her to have the best edvantages."</p> +<p>Keith soon ingratiated himself further with the old squire. He +broke his young horses for him, drove his wagon, mended his +vehicles, and was ready to turn his hand to anything that came up +about the place.</p> +<p>As his confidence in the young man grew, the squire let Keith +into a secret.</p> +<p>"You mind when you come up here with that young man from the +North,--that engineer fellow,--what come a-runnin' of a railroad +a-hellbulgin' through this country, and was a-goin' to carry off +all the coal from the top of the Alleghanies spang down to +Torment?" Keith remembered. "Well, he was right persuasive," +continued the squire, "and I thought if all that money was a-goin' +to be made and them railroads had to come, like he said, jest as +certain as water runnin' down a hill, I might as well git some of +it. I had a little slipe or two up there before, and havin' a +little money from my cattle, lumber, and sich, I went in and bought +a few slipes more, jest to kind of fill in like, and Phrony's +growin' up, and I'm a-thinkin' it is about time to let the +railroads come in; so, if you kin git your young man, let him know +I've kind o' changed my mind."</p> +<p>Miss Euphronia Tripper had grown up into a plump and pretty +country girl of fifteen or sixteen, whose rosy cheeks, flaxen hair, +and blue eyes, as well as the fact that she was the only heiress of +the old squire, who was one of the "best-fixed" men in all that +"country," made her quite the belle of the region. She had already +made a deep impression on both big Jake Dennison and his younger +brother Dave. Dave was secretly in love with her, but Jake was +openly so, a condition which he manifested by being as plainly and +as hopelessly bound in her presence as a bear cub tangled in a net. +For her benefit he would show feats of strength which might have +done credit to a boy-Hercules; but let her turn on him the glow of +her countenance, and he was a hopeless mass of perspiring +idiocy.</p> +<p>Keith found her a somewhat difficult pupil to deal with. She was +much more intent on making an impression on him than on progressing +in her studies.</p> +<p>After the first shyness of her intercourse with the young +teacher had worn off, she began for a while rather to make eyes at +him, which if Keith ever dreamed of, he never gave the least sign +of it. She, therefore, soon abandoned the useless campaign, and for +a time held him in mingled awe and disdain.</p> +<p>The Ridge College was a simple log-building of a single room, +with a small porch in front, built of hewn logs and plastered +inside.</p> +<p>Gordon Keith, on entering on his new duties, found his position +much easier than he had been led to expect.</p> +<p>Whether it was the novelty of the young teacher's quiet manner, +clear eyes, broad shoulders, and assured bearing, or the idea of +the examination with which he undertook to begin the session, he +had a week of surprising quiet. The school filled day after day, +and even the noted Dennison boys, from Jacob Dennison, the +strapping six-foot senior, down to Dave, who was the youngest and +smartest of the three, appeared duly every morning, and treated the +young teacher with reasonable civility, if with somewhat insolent +familiarity.</p> +<p>The day of the examination Squire Rawson attended, solemn and +pompous with a superfluity of white shirt-front. Brief as was the +examination, it revealed to Keith an astonishing state of ignorance +of the simplest things. It was incredible to him that, with so many +hours of so-called study, so little progress had been made. He +stated this in plain language, and outlined his plan for shorter +hours and closer application. A voice from the boys' side muttered +that the owner did not see anything the matter with the old hours. +They were good enough for them. Keith turned quickly:</p> +<p>"What is that?"</p> +<p>There was no answer.</p> +<p>"What is that, Dennison?" he demanded. "I thought I heard you +speak."</p> +<p>"Wall, if you did, I warn't speakin' to you," said Jacob +Dennison, surlily.</p> +<p>"Well, when you speak in school, address yourself to me," said +Keith. He caught Euphronia Tripper's eyes on him.</p> +<p>"I mought an' I moughtn't," said Jacob, insolently.</p> +<p>"I propose to see that you do."</p> +<p>Jacob's reply was something between a grunt and a sneer, and the +school rustled with a sound very much like applause.</p> +<p>Next morning, on his arrival at school, Keith found the door +fastened on the inside. A titter from within revealed the fact that +it was no accident, and the guffaw of derision that greeted his +sharp command that the door should be opened immediately showed +that the Dennison boys were up to their old tricks.</p> +<p>"Open the door, Jake Dennison, instantly!" he called.</p> +<p>The reply was sung through the keyhole:</p> +<p>"'Ole Molly hyah, what you doin' dyah? Settin' in de cordner, +smokin' a ciggyah.'"</p> +<p>It was little Dave's voice, and was followed by a puff of +tobacco smoke through the keyhole and a burst of laughter led by +Phrony Tripper.</p> +<p>An axe was lying at the woodpile near by, and in two minutes the +door was lying in splinters on the school-house floor, and Keith, +with a white face and a dangerous tremble in his voice, was calling +the amazed school to order. He heard the lessons through, and at +noon, the hour he had named the day before, dismissed all the +younger scholars. The Dennisons and one or two larger boys he +ordered to remain. As the scholars filed out, there was a colloquy +between Jacob Dennison and his younger brother Dave. Dave had the +brains of the family, and he was whispering to Jake. Keith moved +his chair and seated himself near the door. There was a brief +muttered conversation among the Dennisons, and then Jake Dennison +rose, put on his hat slowly, and, addressing the other boys, +announced that he didn't know what they were going to do, but he +was "a-gwine home and git ready to go and see the dance up at +Gates's."</p> +<p>He swaggered toward the door, the others following in his +wake.</p> +<p>Keith rose from his seat.</p> +<p>"Go back to your places." He spoke so quietly that his voice +could scarcely be heard.</p> +<p>"Go nowhere! You go to h--l!" sneered the big leader, +contemptuously. "'Tain't no use for you to try to stop me--I kin +git away with two like you."</p> +<p>Perhaps, he could have done so, but Keith was too quick for him. +He seized the split-bottomed chair from which he had risen, and +whirling it high above his head, brought it crashing down on his +assailant, laying him flat on the floor. Then, without a second's +hesitation, he sprang toward the others.</p> +<p>"Into your seats instantly!" he shouted, as he raised once more +the damaged, but still formidable, weapon. By an instinct the +mutineers fell into the nearest seats, and Keith turned back to his +first opponent, who was just rising from the floor with a dazed +look on his face. A few drops of blood were trickling down his +forehead.</p> +<br> +<a name="p068.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p068.jpg"><img src="images/p068.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"If you don't go back to your seat, I'll dash your brains out," +said Keith.</b></p> +<br> +<p>"If you don't go to your seat instantly, I'll dash your brains +out," said Keith, looking him full in the eye. He still grasped the +chair, and as he tightened his grip on it, the crestfallen bully +sank down on the bench and broke into a whimper about a grown man +hitting a boy with a chair.</p> +<p>Suddenly Keith, in the moment of victory, found himself attacked +in the rear. One of the smaller boys, who had gone out with the +rest, hearing the fight, had rushed back, and, just as Keith drove +Jake Dennison to his seat, sprang on him like a little wild-cat. +Turning, Keith seized and held him.</p> +<p>"What are you doing, Dave Dennison, confound you?" he demanded +angrily.</p> +<p>"I'm one of 'em," blubbered the boy, trying to reach him with +both fist and foot. "I don't let nobody hit my brother."</p> +<p>Keith found that he had more trouble in quelling Dave, the +smallest member of the Dennison tribe, than in conquering the +bigger brothers.</p> +<p>"Sit down and behave yourself," he said, shoving him into a seat +and holding him there. "I'm not going to hit him again if he +behaves himself."</p> +<p>Keith, having quieted Dave, looked to see that Jake was not much +hurt. He took out his handkerchief.</p> +<p>"Take that and wipe your face with it," he said quietly, and +taking from his desk his inkstand and some writing-paper, he seated +himself on a bench near the door and began to write letters. It +grew late, but the young teacher did not move. He wrote letter +after letter. It began to grow dark; he simply lit the little lamp +on his desk, and taking up a book, settled down to read; and when +at last he rose and announced that the culprits might go home, the +wheezy strains of the three instruments that composed the band at +Gates's had long since died out, and Gordon Keith was undisputed +master of Ridge College.</p> +<p>His letter to the trustees was delivered that morning, saying +that if they would sustain his action he would do his best to make +the school the best in that section; but if not, his resignation +was in their hands.</p> +<p>"I guess he is the sort of medicine those youngsters need," said +Dr. Balsam. "We'd better let it work."</p> +<p>"I reckon he can ride 'em," said Squire Rawson.</p> +<p>It was voted to sustain him.</p> +<p>The fact that a smooth-faced boy, not as heavy as Jake Dennison +by twenty pounds, had "faced down" and quelled the Dennisons all +three together, and kept Jake Dennison from going where he wanted +to go, struck the humor of the trustees, and they stood by their +teacher almost unanimously, and even voted to pay for a new door, +which he had offered to pay for himself, as he said he might have +to chop it down again. Not that there was not some hostility to him +among those to whom his methods were too novel; but when he began +to teach his pupils boxing, and showed that with his fists he was +more than a match for Jake Dennison, the chief opposition to him +died out; and before the year ended, Jake Dennison, putting into +practice the art he had learned from his teacher, had thrashed Mr. +William Bluffy, the cock of another walk high up across the Ridge, +for ridiculing the "newfangled foolishness" of Ridge College, and +speaking of its teacher as a "dom-fool furriner." Little Dave +Dennison, of all those opposed to him, alone held out. He appeared +to be proof against Keith's utmost efforts to be friends.</p> +<p>One day, however, Dave Dennison did not come to school. Keith +learned that he had fallen from a tree and broken his leg--"gettin' +hawks' eggs for Phrony," Keith's informant reported. Phrony was +quite scornful about it, but a little perky as well.</p> +<p>"If a boy was such a fool as to go up a tree when he had been +told it wouldn't hold him, she could not help it. She did not want +the eggs, anyhow," she said disdainfully. This was all the reward +that little Dave got for his devotion and courage.</p> +<p>That afternoon Keith went over the Ridge to see Dave.</p> +<p>The Dennison home was a small farm-house back of the Ridge, in +what was known as a "cove," an opening in the angle between the +mountains, where was a piece of level or partly level ground on the +banks of one of the little mountain creeks. When Keith arrived he +found Mrs. Dennison, a small, angular woman with sharp eyes, a thin +nose, and thin lips, very stiff and suspicious. She had never +forgiven Keith for his victory over her boys, and she looked now as +if she would gladly have set the dogs on him instead of calling +them off as she did when he strode up the path and the yelping pack +dashed out at him.</p> +<p>She "didn' know how Dave was," she said glumly. "The Doctor said +he was better. She couldn' see no change. Yes, he could go in, she +s'posed, if he wanted to," she said ungraciously.</p> +<p>Keith entered. The boy was lying on a big bed, his head resting +against the frame of the little opening which went for a window, +through which he was peeping wistfully out at the outside world +from which he was to be shut off for so many weary weeks. He +returned Keith's greeting in the half-surly way in which he had +always received his advances since the day of the row; but when +Keith sat down on the bed and began to talk to him cheerily of his +daring in climbing where no one else had ventured to go, he thawed +out, and presently, when Keith drifted on to other stories of +daring, he began to be interested, and after a time grew almost +friendly.</p> +<p>He was afraid they might have to cut his leg off. His mother, +who always took a gloomy view of things, had scared him by telling +him she thought it might have to be done; but Keith was able to +reassure him. The Doctor had told him that, while the fracture was +very bad, the leg would be saved.</p> +<p>"If he had not been as hard as a lightwood knot, that fall would +have mashed him up," said the Doctor. This compliment Keith +repeated, and it evidently pleased Dave. The pale face relaxed into +a smile. Keith told him stories of other boys who had had similar +accidents and had turned them to good account--of Arkwright and Sir +William Jones and Commodore Maury, all of whom had laid the +foundation for their future fame when they were in bed with broken +legs.</p> +<p>When Keith came away he left the boy comforted and cheered, and +even the dismal woman at the door gave him a more civil parting +than her greeting had been.</p> +<p>Many an afternoon during the boy's convalescence Keith went over +the Ridge to see him, taking him story-books, and reading to him +until he was strong enough to read himself. And when, weeks later, +the lame boy was able to return to school, Keith had no firmer +friend in all the Ridge region than Dave Dennison, and Dave had +made a mental progress which, perhaps, he would not have made in as +many months at school, for he had received an impulse to know and +to be something more than he was. He would show Phrony who he +was.</p> +<p>It was fine to Gordon to feel that he was earning his own +living. He was already making his way in the world, and often from +this first rung of the ladder the young teacher looked far up the +shining steep to where Fame and Glory beckoned with their radiant +hands. He would be known. He would build bridges that should +eclipse Stevenson's. He would be like Warren Hastings, and buy back +the home of his fathers and be a great gentleman.</p> +<p>The first pay that he received made him a capitalist. He had no +idea before of the joy of wealth. He paid it to old Rawson.</p> +<p>"There is the first return for your investment," he said.</p> +<p>"I don' know about its bein' the first return," said the squire, +slowly; "but an investment ain't done till it's all returned." His +keen eyes were on Keith's face.</p> +<p>"I know it," said Keith, laughing.</p> +<p>But for Dr. Balsam, Keith sometimes thought that he must have +died that first winter, and, in fact, the young man did owe a great +deal to the tall, slab-sided man, whose clothes hung on him so +loosely that he appeared in the distance hardly more than a rack to +support them. As he came nearer he was a simple old countryman with +a deeply graved face and unkempt air. On nearer view still, you +found the deep gray eyes both shrewd and kindly; the mouth under +its gray moustache had fine lines, and at times a lurking smile, +which yet had in it something grave.</p> +<p>To Dr. Balsam, Keith owed a great deal more than he himself knew +at the time. For it is only by looking back that Youth can gauge +the steps by which it has climbed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<h3>ALICE YORKE</h3> +<br> +<p>It is said that in Brazil a small stream which rises under a +bank in a gentleman's garden, after flowing a little distance, +encounters a rock and divides into two branches, one of which flows +northward and empties into the Amazon, whilst the other, turning to +the southward, pours its waters into the Rio del Plata. A very +small obstruction caused the divergence and determined the course +of those two streams. So it is in life.</p> +<p>One afternoon in the early Spring, Gordon Keith was walking home +from school, his books under his arm, when, so to speak, he came on +the stone that turned him from his smooth channel and shaped his +course in life.</p> +<p>He was going to break a colt for Squire Rawson that afternoon, +so he was hurrying; but ever as he strode along down the winding +road, the witchery of the tender green leaves and the odors of +Spring filled eyes and nostrils, and called to his spirit with that +subtle voice which has stirred Youth since Youth's own Spring awoke +amid the leafy trees. In its call were freedom, and the charm of +wide spaces, and the unspoken challenge of Youth to the world, and +haunting vague memories, and whisperings of unuttered love, and all +that makes Youth Youth.</p> +<p>Presently Gordon became aware that a little ahead of him, under +the arching boughs, were two children who were hunting for +something in the road, and one of them was crying. At the same +moment there turned the curve beyond them, coming toward him, a +girl on horseback. He watched her with growing interest as she +galloped toward him, for he saw that she was young and a stranger. +Probably she was from "the Springs," as she was riding one of +Gates's horses and was riding him hard.</p> +<p>The rider drew in her horse and stopped as she came up to the +children. Keith heard her ask what was the matter with the little +one, and the older child's reply that she was crying because she +had lost her money. "She was goin' to buy candy with it at the +store, but dropped it."</p> +<p>The girl sprang from her horse.</p> +<p>"Oh, you poor little thing! Come here, you dear little kitten. +I'll give you some money. Won't you hold my horse? He won't hurt +you." This to the elder child.</p> +<p>She threw herself on her knees in the road, as regardless of the +dust as were the children, and drawing the sobbing child close to +her, took her handkerchief from her pocket and gently wiped its +little, dirty, smeared face, and began comforting it in soothing +tones. Keith had come up and stood watching her with quickening +breath. All he could see under her hat was an oval chin and the +dainty curve of a pink cheek where it faded into snow, and at the +back of a small head a knot of brown hair resting on the nape of a +shapely neck. For the rest, she had a trim figure and wore new +gloves which fitted perfectly. Keith mentally decided that she must +be about sixteen or seventeen years old, and, from the glimpse he +had caught of her, must be pretty. He became conscious suddenly +that he had on his worst suit of clothes.</p> +<p>"Good evening," he said, raising his hand to his hat.</p> +<p>The girl glanced up just as the hat was lifted.</p> +<p>"How do you do?"</p> +<p>Their eyes met, and the color surged into Keith's face, and the +hat came off with quite a flourish.</p> +<p>Why, she was beautiful! Her eyes were as blue as wet +violets.</p> +<p>"I will help you hunt for it," he said half guilefully, half +kindly. "Where did she drop it?" He did not take his eyes from the +picture of the slim figure on her knees.</p> +<p>"She has lost her money, poor little dear! She was on her way to +the store to buy candy, and lost all her money."</p> +<p>At this fresh recital of her loss, the little, smeared face +began to pucker again. But the girl cleared it with a kiss.</p> +<p>"There, don't cry. I will give you some. How much was it? A +nickel! A whole nickel!" This with the sweetest smile. "Well, you +shall have a quarter, and that's four nickels--I mean five."</p> +<p>"She is not strong on arithmetic," said Keith to himself. "She +is like Phrony in that."</p> +<p>She began to feel about her skirt, and her face changed.</p> +<p>"Oh, I haven't a cent. I have left my purse at the hotel." This +was to Keith.</p> +<p>"Let me give it to her." And he also began to feel in his +pocket, but as he did so his countenance fell. He, too, had not a +cent.</p> +<p>"I have left my purse at home, too," he said. "We shall have to +do like the woman in the Bible, and sweep diligently till we find +the money she lost."</p> +<p>"We are a pauper lot," said Alice Yorke, with a little laugh. +Then, as she glanced into the child's big eyes that were beginning +to be troubled again, she paused. The next second she drew a small +bracelet from her wrist, and began to pull at a small gold charm. +"Here, you shall have this; this is gold."</p> +<p>"Oh, don't do that," said Keith. "She wouldn't appreciate it, +and it is a pity to spoil your bracelet."</p> +<p>She glanced up at him with a little flash in her blue eyes, as a +vigorous twist broke the little gold piece from its chain.</p> +<p>"She shall have it. There, see how she is smiling. I have +enjoyed it, and I am glad to have you have it. Now, you can get +your candy. Now, kiss me."</p> +<p>Somehow, the phrase and the tone brought back to Keith a +hill-top overlooking an English village, and a blue lake below, set +like a mirror among the green hills. A little girl in white, with +brown eyes, was handing a doll to another child even more grimy +than this one. The reminiscence came to him like a picture thrown +by a magic lantern.</p> +<p>The child, without taking her eyes from the tiny bit of metal, +put up her little mouth, and the girl kissed her, only to have the +kiss wiped off with the chubby, dirty little hand.</p> +<p>The next moment the two little ones started down the road, their +heads close together over the bit of yellow gold. Then it was that +Alice Yorke for the first time took a real look at Keith,--a look +provoked by the casual glance she had had of him but a moment +before,--and as she did so the color stole up into her cheeks, as +she thought of the way in which she had just addressed him. But for +his plain clothes he looked quite a gentleman. He had a really good +figure; straight, broad shoulders, and fine eyes.</p> +<p>"Can you tell me what time it is?" she asked, falteringly. "I +left my watch at the hotel."</p> +<p>"I haven't a watch; but I think it must be about four +o'clock--it was half-past three when I left school, by the school +clock; I am not sure it was just right."</p> +<p>"Thank you." She looked at her horse. "I must get back to the +hotel. Can you--?"</p> +<p>Keith forestalled her.</p> +<p>"May I help you up?'</p> +<p>"Thanks. Do you know how to mount me?"</p> +<p>"I think so," he said airily, and stepped up close to her, to +lift her by the elbows to her saddle. She put out a foot clad in a +very pretty, neat shoe. She evidently expected Keith to let her +step into his hand. He knew of this mode of helping a lady up, but +he had never tried it. And, though he stooped and held his hand as +if quite accustomed to it, he was awkward about it, and did not +lift her; so she did not get up.</p> +<p>"I don't think you can do it that way," said the girl.</p> +<p>"I don't think so either," said Keith. "I must learn it. But I +know how to do it this way." He caught her by both elbows. "Now +jump!"</p> +<p>Taken by surprise she gave a little spring, and he lifted her +like a feather, and seated her in her saddle.</p> +<p>As she rode away, he stood aside and lifted his hat with an air +that surprised her. Also, as she rode away, he remarked that she +sat her horse very well and had a very straight, slim figure; but +the picture of her kneeling in the dust, with her arm around the +little sobbing child, was what he dwelt on.</p> +<p>Just as she disappeared, a redbird in its gorgeous uniform +flitted dipping across the road, and, taking his place in a bush, +began to sing imperiously for his mate.</p> +<p>"Ah, you lucky rascal," thought Keith, "you don't get caught by +a pretty girl, in a ragged coat. You have your best clothes on +every day."</p> +<p>Next second, as the bird's rich notes rang out, a deeper feeling +came to him, and a wave of dissatisfaction with his life swept over +him. He suddenly seemed lonelier than he had been. Then the picture +of the girl on her knees came back to him, and his heart softened +toward her. He determined to see her again. Perhaps, Dr. Balsam +knew her?</p> +<p>As the young girl rode back to the hotel she had her reward in a +pleasant sensation. She had done a good deed in helping to console +a little child, and no kindness ever goes without this reward. +Besides, she had met a young, strange man, a country boy, it was +true, and very plainly dressed, but with the manner and tone of a +gentleman, quite good-looking, and very strong. Strength, mere +physical strength, appeals to all girls at certain ages, and Miss +Alice Yorke's thoughts quite softened toward the stranger. Why, he +as good as picked her up! He must be as strong as Norman Wentworth, +who stroked his crew. She recalled with approval his good +shoulders.</p> +<p>She would ask the old Doctor who he was. He was a pleasant old +man, and though her mother and Mrs. Nailor, another New York lady, +did not like the idea of his being the only doctor at the Springs, +he had been very nice to her. He had seen her sitting on the ground +the day before and had given her his buggy-robe to sit on, saying, +with a smile, "You must not sit on the wet ground, or you may fall +into my hands."</p> +<p>"I might do worse," she had said. And he had looked at her with +his deep eyes twinkling.</p> +<p>"Ah, you young minx! When do you begin flattering? And at what +age do you let men off?"</p> +<p>When Miss Alice Yorke arrived at the hotel she found her mother +and Mrs. Nailor engaged in an animated conversation on the +porch.</p> +<p>The girl told of the little child she had found crying in the +road, and gave a humorous account of the young countryman trying to +put her on her horse.</p> +<p>"He was very good-looking, too," she declared gayly. "I think he +must be studying for the ministry, like Mr. Rimmon, for he quoted +the Bible."</p> +<p>Both Mrs. Yorke and Mrs. Nailor thought it rather improper for +her to be riding alone on the public roads.</p> +<p>The next day Keith put on his best suit of clothes when he went +to school, and that afternoon he walked home around the Ridge, as +he had done the day before, thinking that possibly he might meet +the girl again, but he was disappointed. The following afternoon he +determined to go over to the Springs and see if she was still there +and find out who she was. Accordingly, he left the main road, which +ran around the base of the Ridge, and took a foot-path which led +winding up through the woods over the Ridge. It was a path that +Gordon often chose when he wanted to be alone. The way was steep +and rocky, and was so little used that often he never met any one +from the time he plunged into the woods until he emerged from them +on the other side of the Ridge. In some places the pines were so +thick that it was always twilight among them; in others they rose +high and stately in the full majesty of primeval growth, keeping at +a distance from each other, as though, like another growth, the +higher they got the more distant they wished to hold all others. +Trees have so much in common with men, it is no wonder that the +ancients, who lived closer to both than we do nowadays, fabled that +minds of men sometimes inhabited their trunks.</p> +<p>Gordon Keith was in a particularly gloomy frame of mind on this +day. He had been trying to inspire in his pupils some conception of +the poetry contained in history. He told them the story of +Hannibal--his aim, his struggles, his conquest. As he told it the +written record took life, and he marched and fought and lived with +the great Carthaginian captain--lived for conquest.</p> +<p>"Beyond the Alps lies Italy." He had read the tale with lips +that quivered with feeling, but as he looked up at his little +audience, he met only listless eyes and dull faces. A big boy was +preparing a pin to evoke from a smaller neighbor the attention he +himself was withholding. The neighbor was Dave Dennison. Dave was +of late actually trying to learn something. Dave was the only boy +who was listening. A little girl with a lisp was trying in vain to +divide her attention between the story and an imprisoned fly the +boy next her was torturing, whilst Phrony was reading a novel on +the sly. The others were all engaged in any other occupation than +thinking of Hannibal or listening to the reader.</p> +<p>Gordon had shut the book in a fit of disappointment and disgust +and dismissed the school, and now he was trying with very poor +success to justify himself for his outbreak of impatience. His +failure spoiled the pleasure he had anticipated in going to the +Springs to find out who the Madonna of the Dust was.</p> +<p>At a spot high up on the rocky backbone, one could see for a +long way between the great brownish-gray trunks, and Gordon turned +out of the dim path to walk on the thick brown carpet of +pine-needles. It was a favorite spot with Gordon, and here he read +Keats and Poe and other poets of melancholy, so dear to a young +man's heart.</p> +<p>Beyond the pines at their eastern edge, a great crag jutted +forth in a sort of shoulder, a vast flying-buttress that supported +the pine-clad Ridge above--a mighty stone Atlas carrying the hills +on its shoulder. From this rock one looked out eastward over the +rolling country below to where, far beyond sloping hills covered +with forest, it merged into a soft blue that faded away into the +sky itself. In that misty space lay everything that Gordon Keith +had known and loved in the past. Off there to the eastward was his +old home, with its wide fields, its deep memories. There his +forefathers had lived for generations and had been the leaders, +making their name always the same with that of gentleman.</p> +<p>Farther away, beyond that dim line lay the great world, the +world of which he had had as a boy a single glimpse and which he +would yet conquer.</p> +<p>Keith had climbed to the crest of the Ridge and was making his +way through the great pines to the point where the crag jutted out +sheer and massive, overlooking the reaches of rolling country +below, when he lifted his eyes, and just above him, half seated, +half reclining against a ledge of rock, was the very girl he had +seen two days before. Her eyes were closed, and her face was so +white that the thought sprang into Keith's mind that she was dead, +and his heart leaped into his throat. At the distance of a few +yards he stopped and scanned her closely. She had on a +riding-habit; her hat had fallen on her neck; her dark hair, +loosened, lay about her throat, increasing the deep pallor of her +face. Keith's pity changed into sorrow. Suddenly, as he leaned +forward, his heart filled with a vague grief, she opened her +eyes--as blue as he remembered them, but now misty and dull. She +did not stir or speak, but gazed at him fixedly for a little space, +and then the eyes closed again wearily, her head dropped over to +the side, and she began to sink down.</p> +<p>Gordon sprang forward to keep her from rolling down the bank. As +he gently caught and eased her down on the soft carpeting of +pine-needles, he observed how delicate her features were; the blue +veins showed clearly on her temples and the side of her throat, and +her face had that refinement that unconsciousness often gives.</p> +<p>Gordon knew that the best thing to do was to lower her head and +unfasten her collar. As he loosened the collar, the whiteness of +her throat struck him almost dazzlingly. Instinctively he took the +little crumpled handkerchief that lay on the pine carpet beside +her, and spread it over her throat reverently. He lifted her limp +hand gently and felt her little wrist for her pulse.</p> +<p>Just then her eyelids quivered; her lips moved slightly, +stopped, moved again with a faint sigh; and then her eyelids opened +slowly, and again those blue eyes gazed up at him with a vague +inquiry.</p> +<p>The next second she appeared to recover consciousness. She drew +a long, deep breath, as though she were returning from some unknown +deep, and a faint little color flickered in her cheek.</p> +<p>"Oh, it's you?" she said, recognizing him. "How do you do? I +think I must have hurt myself when I fell. I tried to ride my horse +down the bank, and he slipped and fell with me, and I do not +remember much after that. He must have run away. I tried to walk, +but--but I am better now. Could you catch my horse for me?"</p> +<p>Keith rose and, followed the horse's track for some distance +along the little path. When he returned, the girl was still seated +against the rock.</p> +<p>"Did you see him?" she asked languidly, sitting up.</p> +<p>"I am afraid that he has gone home. He was galloping. I could +tell from his tracks."</p> +<p>"I think I can walk. I must."</p> +<p>She tried to rise, but, with the pain caused by the effort, the +blood sprang to her cheek for a second and then fled back to her +heart, and she sank back, her teeth catching her lip sharply to +keep down an expression of anguish.</p> +<p>"I must get back. If my horse should reach, the hotel without +me, my mother will be dreadfully alarmed. I promised her to be back +by--"</p> +<p>Gordon did not hear what the hour was, for she turned away her +face and began to cry quietly. She tried to brush the tears away +with her fingers; but one or two slipped past and dropped on her +dress. With face still averted, she began to feel about her dress +for her handkerchief; but being unable to find it, she gave it +up.</p> +<p>There was something about her crying so quietly that touched the +young man very curiously. She seemed suddenly much younger, quite +like a little girl, and he felt like kissing her to comfort her. He +did the next thing.</p> +<p>"Don't cry," he said gently. "Here, take mine." He pressed his +handkerchief on her. He blessed Heaven that it was uncrumpled.</p> +<p>Now there is something about one's lending another a +handkerchief that goes far toward breaking down the barriers of +conventionality and bridges years. Keith in a moment had come to +feel a friendliness for the girl that he might not have felt in +years, and he began to soothe her.</p> +<p>"I don't know what is the matter--with me," she said, as she +dried her eyes. "I am not--usually so--weak and foolish. I was only +afraid my mother would think something had happened to me--and she +has not been very well." She made a brave effort to command +herself, and sat up very straight. "There. Thank you very much." +She handed him his handkerchief almost grimly. "Now I am all right. +But I am afraid I cannot walk. I tried, but--. You will have to go +and get me a carriage, if you please."</p> +<p>Keith rose and began to gather up his books and stuff them in +his pockets.</p> +<p>"No carriage can get up here; the pines are too thick below, and +there is no road; but I will carry you down to where a vehicle can +come, and then get you one."</p> +<p>She took a glance at his spare figure. "You cannot carry me, you +are not strong enough I want you to get me a carriage or a wagon, +please. You can go to the hotel. We are stopping at the +Springs."</p> +<p>By this time Gordon had forced the books into his pocket, and he +squared himself before her.</p> +<p>"Now," he said, without heeding her protest; and leaning down, +he slipped his arms under her and lifted her as tenderly and as +easily as if she had been a little girl.</p> +<p>As he bore her along, the pain subsided, and she found +opportunity to take a good look at his face. His profile was +clean-cut; the mouth was pleasant and curved slightly upward, but, +under the weight he was carrying, was so close shut as to bring out +the chin boldly. The cheekbones were rather high; the gray eyes +were wide open and full of light. And as he advanced, walking with +easy strides where the path was smooth, picking his way carefully +where it was rough, the color rose under the deep tan of his +cheeks.</p> +<p>She was the first to break the silence. She had been watching +the rising color in his face, the dilation of his nostrils, and +feeling the quickening rise and fall of his chest.</p> +<p>"Put me down now and rest; you are tired."</p> +<p>"I am not tired." He trudged on. He would show her that if he +had not been able to mount her on her horse, at least it was not +from lack of strength.</p> +<p>"Please put me down; it pains me," she said guilefully. He +stopped instantly, and selecting a clear place, seated her +softly.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon. I was a brute, thinking only of myself."</p> +<p>He seated himself near her, and stole a glance at her face. +Their eyes met, and he looked away. He thought her quite +beautiful.</p> +<p>To break the silence, she asked, a little tone of politeness +coming into her voice: "May I inquire what your name is? I am Miss +Yorke--Miss Alice Yorke," she added, intending to make him feel at +ease.</p> +<p>"Gordon Keith is my name. Where are you from?" His manner was +again perfectly easy.</p> +<p>"From New York."</p> +<p>"I thought you were."</p> +<p>She fancied that a little change came over his face and into his +manner, and she resented it. She looked down the hill. Without a +word he rose and started to lift her again. She made a gesture of +dissent. But before she could object further, he had lifted her +again, and, with steady eyes bent on the stony path, was picking +his way down the steep hill.</p> +<p>"I am dreadfully sorry," he said kindly, as she gave a start +over a little twinge. "It is the only way to get down. No vehicle +could get up here at present, unless it were some kind of a flying +chariot like Elijah's. It is only a little farther now."</p> +<p>What a pleasant voice he had! Every atom of pride and protection +in his soul was enlisted.</p> +<p>When they reached the road, the young lady wanted Gordon to go +off and procure a vehicle at the hotel. But he said he could not +leave her alone by the roadside; he would carry her on to a house +only a little way around the bend.</p> +<p>"Why, I can carry a sack of salt," he said, with boyish pride, +standing before her very straight and looking down on her with +frank eyes.</p> +<p>Her eyes flashed in dudgeon over the comparison.</p> +<p>"A girl is very different from a sack of salt."</p> +<p>"Not always--Lot's wife, for instance. If you keep on looking +back, you don't know what may happen to you. Come on."</p> +<p>Just then a vehicle rapidly driven was heard in the distance, +and the next moment it appeared in sight.</p> +<p>"There comes mamma now," said the girl, waving to the lady in +it.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke sprang from the carriage as soon as it drew up. She +was a handsome woman of middle age and was richly dressed. She was +now in a panic of motherly solicitude.</p> +<p>"Oh, Alice, how you have frightened me!" she exclaimed. "You +were due at the hotel two hours ago, and when your horse came +without you! You will kill me!" She clapped her hands to her heart +and panted. "You know my heart is weak!"</p> +<p>Alice protested her sorrow, and Keith put in a word for her, +declaring that she had been dreadfully troubled lest the horse +should frighten her.</p> +<p>"And well she might be," exclaimed Mrs. Yorke, giving him a bare +glance and then turning back to her daughter. "Mrs. Nailor was the +first who heard your horse had come home. She ran and told me. And, +oh, I was so frightened! She was sure you were killed."</p> +<p>"You might be sure she would be the first to hear and tell you," +said the girl. "Why, mamma, one always sprains one's knee when +one's horse falls. That is part of the programme. This--gentleman +happened to come along, and helped me down to the road, and we were +just discussing whether I should go on farther when you came up. +Mother, this is Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>Keith bowed. He was for some reason pleased that she did not say +anything of the way in which he had brought her down the Ridge.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke turned and thanked him with graciousness, possibly +with a little condescension. He was conscious that she gave him a +sweeping glance, and was sorry his shoes were so old. But Mrs. +Yorke took no further notice of him.</p> +<p>"Oh, what will your father say! You know he wanted us to go to +California; but you would come South. After Mr. Wickersham told you +of his place, nothing else would satisfy you."</p> +<p>"Oh, papa! You know I can settle him," said the girl.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke began to lament the wretchedness of a region where +there was no doctor of reputation.</p> +<p>"There is a very fine surgeon in the village. Dr. Balsam is one +of the best surgeons anywhere," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Oh, I know that old man. No doubt, he is good enough for little +common ailments," said Mrs. Yorke, "but in a case like this! What +does he know about surgery?" She turned back to her daughter. "I +shall telegraph your father to send Dr. Pilbury down at once."</p> +<p>Keith flushed at her manner.</p> +<p>"A good many people have to trust their lives to him," he said +coldly. "And he has had about as much surgical practice as most +men. He was in the army."</p> +<p>The girl began again to belittle her injury.</p> +<p>It was nothing, absolutely nothing, she declared.</p> +<p>"And besides," she said, "I know the Doctor. I met him the other +day. He is a dear old man." She ended by addressing Keith.</p> +<p>"One of the best," said Keith, warmly.</p> +<p>"Well, we must get you into the vehicle and take you home +immediately," said her mother. "Can you help put my daughter into +the carriage?" Mrs. Yorke looked at the driver, a stolid colored +man, who was surly over having had to drive his horses so hard.</p> +<p>Before the man could answer, Gordon stepped forward, and, +stooping, lifted the girl, and quietly put her up into the vehicle. +She simply smiled and said, "Thank you," quite as if she were +accustomed to being lifted into carriages by strange young men whom +she had just met on the roadside.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke's eyes opened wide.</p> +<p>"How strong you must be!" she exclaimed, with a woman's +admiration for physical strength.</p> +<p>Keith bowed, and, with a flush mounting to his cheeks, backed a +little away.</p> +<p>"Oh, he has often lifted sacks of salt," said the girl, half +turning her eyes on Keith with a gleam of satisfaction in them.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke looked at her in astonishment.</p> +<p>"Why, Alice!" she exclaimed reprovingly under her breath.</p> +<p>"He told me so himself," asserted the girl, defiantly.</p> +<p>"I may have to do so again," said Keith, dryly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke's hand went toward the region of her pocket, but +uncertainly; for she was not quite sure what he was. His face and +air belied his shabby dress. A closer look than she had given him +caused her to stop with a start.</p> +<p>"Mr.--ah--?" After trying to recall the name, she gave it up. "I +am very much obliged to you for your kindness to my daughter," she +began. "I do not know how I can compensate you; but if you will +come to the hotel sometime to-morrow--any time--perhaps, there is +something--? Can you come to the hotel to-morrow?" Her tone was +condescending.</p> +<p>"Thank you," said Keith, quietly. "I am afraid I cannot go to +the village to-morrow. I have already been more than compensated in +being able to render a service to a lady. I have a school, and I +make it a rule never to go anywhere except Friday evening or +Saturday." He lifted his hat and backed away.</p> +<p>As they drove away the girl said, "Thank you" and "Good-by," +very sweetly.</p> +<p>"Who is he, Alice? What is he?" asked her mother.</p> +<p>"I don't know. Mr. Keith. He is a gentleman."</p> +<p>As Gordon stood by the roadside and saw the carriage disappear +in a haze of dust, he was oppressed with a curious sense of +loneliness. The isolation of his position seemed to strike him all +on a sudden. That stout, full-voiced woman, with her rich clothes, +had interposed between him and the rest of his kind. She had +treated him condescendingly. He would show her some day who he was. +But her daughter! He went off into a revery.</p> +<p>He turned, and made his way slowly and musingly in the direction +of his home.</p> +<p>A new force had suddenly come into his life, a new land had +opened before him. One young girl had effected it. His school +suddenly became a prison. His field was the world.</p> +<p>As he passed along, scarcely conscious of where he was, he met +the very man of all others he would rather have met--Dr. Balsam. He +instantly informed the Doctor of the accident, and suggested that +he had better hurry on to the Springs.</p> +<p>"A pretty girl, with blue eyes and brown hair?" inquired the +Doctor.</p> +<p>"Yes." The color stole into Gordon's cheeks.</p> +<p>"With a silly woman for a mother, who is always talking about +her heart and pats you on the back?"</p> +<p>"I don't know. Yes, I think so."</p> +<p>"I know her. Is the limb broken?" he asked with interest.</p> +<p>"No, I do not think it is; but badly sprained. She fainted from +the pain, I think."</p> +<p>"You say it occurred up on the Ridge?"</p> +<p>"Yes, near the big pines--at the summit."</p> +<p>"Why, how did she get down? There is no road." He was gazing up +at the pine-clad spur above them.</p> +<p>"I helped her down." A little color flushed into his face.</p> +<p>"Ah! You supported her? She can walk on it?"</p> +<p>"Ur--no. I brought her down. I had to bring her. She could not +walk--not a step."</p> +<p>"Oh! ah! I see. I'll hurry on and see how she is."</p> +<p>As he rode off he gave a grunt.</p> +<p>"Humph!" It might have meant any one of several things. Perhaps, +what it did mean was that "Youth is the same the world over, and +here is a chance for this boy to make a fool of himself and he will +probably do it, as I did." As the Doctor jogged on over the rocky +road, his brow was knit in deep reflection; but his thoughts were +far away among other pines on the Piscataqua. That boy's face had +turned the dial back nearly forty years.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<h3>MRS. YORKE FINDS A GENTLEMAN</h3> +<br> +<p>When Mrs. Yorke arrived at the hotel, Dr. Balsam was nowhere to +be found. She was just sending off a messenger to despatch a +telegram to the nearest city for a surgeon, when she saw the Doctor +coming up the hill toward the hotel at a rapid pace.</p> +<p>He tied his horse, and, with his saddle-pockets over his arm, +came striding up the walk. There was something reassuring in the +quick, firm step with which he came toward her. She had not given +him credit for so much energy.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke led the way toward her rooms, giving a somewhat +highly colored description of the accident, the Doctor following +without a word, taking off his gloves as he walked. They reached +the door, and Mrs. Yorke flung it open with a flurry.</p> +<p>"Here he is at last, my poor child!" she exclaimed.</p> +<p>The sight of Alice lying on a lounge quite effaced Mrs. Yorke +from the Doctor's mind. The next second he had taken the girl's +hand, and holding it with a touch that would not have crumpled a +butterfly's wings, he was taking a flitting gauge of her pulse. +Mrs. Yorke continued to talk volubly, but the Doctor took no heed +of her.</p> +<p>"A little rest with fixation, madam, is all that is necessary," +he said quietly, at length, when he had made an examination. "But +it must be rest, entire rest of limb and body--and mind," he added +after a pause. "Will you ask Mrs. Gates to send me a kettle of hot +water as soon as possible?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke had never been so completely ignored by any +physician. She tossed her head, but she went to get the water.</p> +<p>"So my young man Keith found you and brought you down the +Ridge?" said the Doctor presently to the girl.</p> +<p>"Yes; how do you know?" she asked, her blue eyes wide open with +surprise.</p> +<p>"Never mind; I may tell you next time I come, if you get well +quickly," he said smiling.</p> +<p>"Who is he?" she asked.</p> +<p>"He is the teacher of the school over the Ridge--what is known +as the Ridge College," said the Doctor, with a smile.</p> +<p>Just at this moment Mrs. Yorke bustled in.</p> +<p>"Alice, I thought the Doctor said you were not to talk."</p> +<p>The Doctor's face wore an amused expression.</p> +<p>"Well, just one more question," said the girl to him. "How much +does a sack of salt weigh?"</p> +<p>"About two hundred pounds. To be accurate,--"</p> +<p>"No wonder he said I was light," laughed the girl.</p> +<p>"Who is a young man named Keith--a school-boy, who lives about +here?" inquired Mrs. Yorke, suddenly.</p> +<p>"The Keiths do not live about here," said the Doctor. "Gordon +Keith, to whom you doubtless refer, is the son of General Keith, +who lives in an adjoining county below the Ridge. His father was +our minister during the war--"</p> +<p>At this moment the conversation was interrupted by the +appearance of Mrs. Gates with the desired kettle of hot water, and +the Doctor, stopping in the midst of his sentence, devoted all of +his attention to his patient.</p> +<p>The confidence which he displayed and the deftness with which he +worked impressed Mrs. Yorke so much that when he was through she +said: "Doctor, I have been wondering how a man like you could be +content to settle down in this mountain wilderness. I know many +fashionable physicians in cities who could not have done for Alice +a bit better than you have done--indeed, nothing like so well--with +such simple appliances."</p> +<p>Dr. Balsam's eyes rested on her gravely. "Well, madam, we could +not all be city doctors. These few sheep in the wilderness need a +little shepherding when they get sick. You must reflect also that +if we all went away there would be no one to look after the city +people when they come to our mountain wilderness; they, at least, +need good attendance."</p> +<p>By the time Gordon awoke next morning he had determined that he +would see his new acquaintance again. He must see her; he would not +allow her to go out of his life so; she should, at least, know who +he was, and Mrs. Yorke should know, too.</p> +<p>That afternoon, impelled by some strange motive, he took the +path over the Ridge again. It had been a long day and a wearing +one. He had tried Hannibal once more; but his pupils cared less for +Hannibal than for the bumble-bees droning in the window-frame. For +some reason the dull routine of lessons had been duller than usual. +The scholars had never been so stupid. Again and again the face +that he had seen rest on his arm the day before came between him +and his page, and when the eyes opened they were as blue as +forget-me-nots. He would rouse himself with a start and plunge back +bravely into the mysteries of physical geography or of compound +fractions, only to find himself, at the first quiet moment, picking +his way through the pines with that white face resting against his +shoulder.</p> +<p>When school was out he declined the invitation of the boys to +walk with them, and settled himself in his chair as though he meant +to prepare the lessons for the next day. After a quarter of an +hour, spent mostly in revery, he rose, put up his books, closed the +door, and took the same path he had followed the day before. As he +neared the spot where he had come on the girl, he almost expected +to find her propped against the rock as he had found her the +afternoon before. He was conscious of a distinct shock of +loneliness that she was not there. The woods had never appeared so +empty; the soughing of the pines had never sounded so dreary.</p> +<p>He threw himself down on the thick brown carpet. He had not felt +so lonely in years. What was he! And what chance did he have! He +was alone in the wilderness. He had been priding himself on being +the superior of those around him, and that strange woman had +treated him with condescension, when he had strained his heart out +to get her daughter to the road safely and without pain.</p> +<p>His eyes rested on the level, pale line of the horizon far below +him. Down there lay all he had ever known and loved. All was +changed; his home belonged to an alien. He turned his face away. On +the other side, the distant mountains lay a mighty rampart across +the sky. He wondered if the Alps could be higher or more beautiful. +A line he had been explaining the day before to his scholars +recurred to him: "Beyond those mountains lies Italy."</p> +<p>Gradually it came to him that he was duller than his scholars. +Those who were the true leaders of men surmounted difficulties. +Others had crossed the mountains to find the Italy of their +ambition. Why should not he? The thought strung him up sharply, and +before he knew it he was standing upright, his face lifted to the +sky, his nerves tense, his pulses beating, and his breath coming +quickly. Beyond that blue rim lay the world. He would conquer and +achieve honors and fame, and win back his old home, and build up +again his fortune, and do honor to his name. He seized his books, +and, with one more look at the heights beyond, turned and strode +swiftly along the path.</p> +<p>It was, perhaps, fortunate that the day had been a dull one for +both Mrs. Yorke and Alice. Alice had been confined to her lounge, +and after the first anxiety was over Mrs. Yorke had been inclined +to scold her for her carelessness and the fright she had given her. +They had not agreed about a number of matters. Alice had been +talking about her adventure until Mrs. Yorke had begun to criticise +her rescuer as "a spindling country boy."</p> +<p>"He was strong enough to bring me down the mountain a mile in +his arms," declared the girl. "He said it was half a mile, but I am +sure it was a mile."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke was shocked, and charged Alice with being susceptible +enough to like all men.</p> +<p>"All those who are strong and good-looking," protested +Alice.</p> +<p>Their little difference had now been made up, and Alice, who had +been sitting silent, with a look of serious reflection on her face, +said:</p> +<p>"Mamma, why don't you invite him over to dinner?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke gave an exclamation of surprise.</p> +<p>"Why, Alice, we know nothing about him."</p> +<p>But the girl was insistent.</p> +<p>"Why, mamma, I am sure he is a gentleman. Dr. Balsam said he was +one of the best people about here, and his father was a clergyman. +Besides, he is very interesting. His father was in the war; I +believe he was a general."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke pondered a moment, her pen in the air. Her thoughts +flew to New York and her acquaintances there. Their view was her +gauge.</p> +<p>"Well," she said doubtfully, "perhaps, later I will; there is no +one here whom we know except Mrs. Nailor. I have heard that the +people are very interesting if you can get at them. I'll invite him +first to luncheon Saturday, and see how he is."</p> +<p>It is, doubtless, just as well that none of us has the magic +mirror which we used to read of in our childhood, which showed what +any one we wished to know about was doing. It would, no doubt, +cause many perplexities from which, in our ignorance, we are +happily free. Had Gordon Keith known the terms on which he was +invited to take a meal in the presence of Mrs. Yorke, he would have +been incensed. He had been fuming about her condescension ever +since he had met her; yet he no sooner received her polite note +than he was in the best humor possible. He brushed up his well-worn +clothes, treated himself to a new necktie, which he had been saving +all the session, and just at the appointed hour presented himself +with a face so alight with expectancy, and a manner which, while +entirely modest, was so natural and easy, that Mrs. Yorke was +astonished. She could scarcely credit the fact that this +bright-eyed young man, with his fine nose, firm chin, and melodious +voice, was the same with the dusty, hot-faced, dishevelled-looking +country boy to whom she had thought of offering money for a +kindness two days before.</p> +<p>When Keith first entered the room Alice Yorke was seated in a +reclining-chair, enveloped in soft white, from which she gave him a +smiling greeting. For years afterwards, whenever Gordon Keith +thought of beauty it was of a girl smiling up at him out of a cloud +of white. It was a charming visit for him, and he reproached +himself for his hard thoughts about Mrs. Yorke. He aired all of his +knowledge, and made such a favorable impression on the good lady +that she became very friendly with him. He did not know that Mrs. +Yorke's kindness to him was condescension, and her cordiality +inspired as much by curiosity as courtesy.</p> +<p>"Dr. Balsam has been telling us about you, Mr. Keith," said Mrs. +Yorke, with a bow which brought a pleased smile to the young man's +face.</p> +<p>"He has? The Doctor has always been good to me. I am afraid he +has a higher opinion of me than I deserve," he said, with a boy's +pretended modesty, whilst his eyes strongly belied his words.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke assured him that such could not be the case.</p> +<p>"Don't you want to know what he said?" asked Miss Alice, with a +bell-like laugh.</p> +<p>"Yes; what?" he smiled.</p> +<p>"He said if you undertook to carry a bag of salt down a +mountain, or up it either, you would never rest until you got +there."</p> +<p>Her eyes twinkled, and Gordon appeared half teased, though he +was inwardly pleased.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke looked shocked.</p> +<p>"Oh, Alice, Dr. Balsam did not say that, for I heard him!" she +exclaimed reprovingly. "Dr. Balsam was very complimentary to you, +Mr. Keith," she explained seriously. "He said your people were +among the best families about here." She meant to be gracious; but +Gordon's face flushed in spite of himself. The condescension was +too apparent.</p> +<p>"Your father was a pre--a--a--clergyman?" said Mrs. Yorke, who +had started to say "preacher," but substituted the other word as +more complimentary.</p> +<p>"My father a clergyman! No'm. He is good enough to be one; but +he was a planter and a--a--soldier," said Gordon.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke looked at her daughter in some mystification. Could +this be the wrong man?</p> +<p>"Why, he said he was a clergyman?" she insisted.</p> +<p>Gordon gazed at the girl in bewilderment.</p> +<p>"Yes; he said he was a minister," she replied to his unspoken +inquiry.</p> +<p>Gordon broke into a laugh.</p> +<p>"Oh, he was a special envoy to England after he was +wounded."</p> +<p>The announcement had a distinct effect upon Mrs. Yorke, who +instantly became much more cordial to Gordon. She took a closer +look at him than she had given herself the trouble to take before, +and discovered, under the sunburn and worn clothes, something more +than she had formerly observed. The young man's expression had +changed. A reference to his father always sobered him and kindled a +light in his eyes. It was the first time Mrs. Yorke had taken in +what her daughter meant by calling him handsome.</p> +<p>"Why, he is quite distinguished-looking!" she thought to +herself. And she reflected what a pity it was that so good-looking +a young man should have been planted down there in that +out-of-the-way pocket of the world, and thus lost to society. She +did not know that the kindling eyes opposite her were burning with +a resolve that not only Mrs. Yorke, but the world, should know him, +and that she should recognize his superiority.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<h3>MR. KEITH'S IDEALS</h3> +<br> +<p>After this it was astonishing how many excuses Gordon could find +for visiting the village. He was always wanting to consult a book +in the Doctor's library, or get something, which, indeed, meant +that he wanted to get a glimpse of a young girl with violet eyes +and pink cheeks, stretched out in a lounging-chair, picturesquely +reclining amid clouds of white pillows. Nearly always he carried +with him a bunch of flowers from Mrs. Rawson's garden, which were +to make patches of pink or red or yellow among Miss Alice's +pillows, and bring a fresh light into her eyes. And sometimes he +took a basket of cherries or strawberries for Mrs. Yorke. His +friends, the Doctor and the Rawsons, began to rally him on his new +interest in the Springs.</p> +<p>"I see you are takin' a few nubbins for the old cow," said +Squire Rawson, one afternoon as Gordon started off, at which Gordon +blushed as red as the cherries he was carrying. It was just what he +had been doing.</p> +<p>"Well, that is the way to ketch the calf," said the old farmer, +jovially; "but I 'low the mammy is used to pretty high feedin'." He +had seen Mrs. Yorke driving along in much richer attire than +usually dazzled the eyes of the Ridge neighborhood, and had gauged +her with a shrewd eye.</p> +<p>Miss Alice Yorke's sprain turned out to be less serious than had +been expected. She herself had proved a much less refractory +patient than her mother had ever known her.</p> +<p>It does not take two young people of opposite sexes long to +overcome the formalities which convention has fixed among their +seniors, especially when one of them has brought the other down a +mountain-side in his arms.</p> +<p>Often, in a sheltered corner of the long verandah, Keith read to +Alice on balmy afternoons, or in the moonlit evenings sauntered +with her through the fields of their limited experience, and quoted +snatches from his chosen favorites, poems that lived in his heart, +and fancied her the "maid of the downward look and sidelong +glance."</p> +<p>Thus, by the time Alice Yorke was able to move about again, she +and Keith had already reached a footing where they had told each +other a good deal of their past, and were finding the present very +pleasant, and one of them, at least, was beginning, when he turned +his eyes to the future, to catch the glimmer of a very rosy +light.</p> +<p>It showed in his appearance, in his face, where a new expression +of a more definite ambition and a higher resolution was beginning +to take its place.</p> +<p>Dr. Balsam noted it, and when he met Gordon he began to have a +quizzical light in his deep-gray eyes. He had, too, a tender tone +in his voice when he addressed the girl. Perhaps, a vision came to +him at times of another country lad, well-born like this one, and, +like this one, poor, wandering on the New England hills with +another young girl, primmer, perhaps, and less sophisticated than +this little maiden, who had come from the westward to spend a brief +holiday on the banks of the Piscataqua, and had come into his life +never to depart--of his dreams and his hopes; of his struggles to +achieve the education which would make him worthy of her; and then +of the overthrow of all: of darkness and exile and wanderings.</p> +<p>When the Doctor sat on his porch of an evening, with his pipe, +looking out over the sloping hills, sometimes his face grew almost +melancholy. Had he not been intended for other things than this +exile? Abigail Brooke had never married, he knew. What might have +happened had he gone back? And when he next saw Alice Yorke there +would be a softer tone in his voice, and he would talk a deeper and +higher philosophy to her than she had ever heard, belittling the +gaudy rewards of life, and instilling in her mind ideas of +something loftier and better and finer than they. He even told her +once something of the story of his life, and of the suffering and +sorrow that had been visited upon the victims of a foolish pride +and a selfish ambition. Though he did not confide to her that it +was of himself he spoke, the girl's instinct instantly told her +that it was his own experience that he related, and her interest +was deeply excited.</p> +<p>"Did she ever marry, Doctor?" she asked eagerly. "Oh, I hope she +did not. I might forgive her if she did not; but if she married I +would never forgive her!"</p> +<p>The Doctor's eyes, as they rested on her eager face, had a +kindly expression in them, and a look of amusement lurked there +also.</p> +<p>"No; she never married," he said. "Nor did he."</p> +<p>"Oh, I am glad of that," she exclaimed; and then more softly +added, "I know he did not."</p> +<p>Dr. Balsam gazed at her calmly. He did not pursue the subject +further. He thought he had told his story in such a way as to +convey the moral without disclosing that he spoke of himself. Yet +she had discovered it instantly. He wondered if she had seen also +the moral he intended to convey.</p> +<p>Alice Yorke was able to walk now, and many an afternoon Gordon +Keith invited her to stroll with him on the mountain-side or up the +Ridge, drawing her farther and farther as her strength +returned.</p> +<p>The Spring is a dangerous season for a young man and a pretty +girl to be thrown closely together for the first time, and the +budding woods are a perilous pasture for their browsing thoughts. +It was not without some insight that the ancient poets pictured +dryads as inhabitants of the woods, and made the tinkling springs +and rippling streams the abiding-places of their nymphs.</p> +<p>The Spring came with a burst of pink and green. The mountains +took on delicate shades, and the trees blossomed into vast flowers, +feathery and fine as lace.</p> +<p>An excursion in the budding woods has been dangerous ever since +the day when Eve found a sinuous stranger lurking there in gay +disguise, and was beguiled into tasting the tempting fruit he +offered her. It might be an interesting inquiry to collect even the +most notable instances of those who, wandering all innocent and +joyous amid the bowers, have found the honey of poisonous flowers +where they meant only innocence. But the reader will, perhaps, +recall enough instances in a private and unrecorded history to fill +the need of illustration. It suffices, then, to say that, each +afternoon that Gordon Keith wandered with Alice Yorke through the +leafy woods, he was straying farther in that perilous path where +the sunlight always sifts down just ahead, but the end is veiled in +mist, and where sometimes darkness falls.</p> +<p>These strolls had all the charm for him of discovery, for he was +always finding in her some new trait, and every one was, he +thought, an added charm, even to her unexpected alternations of +ignorance and knowledge, her little feminine outbreaks of caprice. +One afternoon they had strolled farther than usual, as far even as +the high pines beyond which was the great rock looking to the +northeastward. There she had asked him to help her up to the top of +the rock, but he had refused. He told her that she had walked +already too far, and he would not permit her to climb it.</p> +<p>"Not permit me! Well, I like that!" she said, with a flash of +her blue eyes; and springing from her seat on the brown carpet, +before he could interpose, she was climbing up the high rock as +nimbly as if she were a boy.</p> +<p>He called to her to stop, but she took no heed. He began to +entreat her, but she made no answer. He was in terror lest she +might fall, and sprang after her to catch her; but up, up she +climbed, with as steady a foot and as sure an eye as he could have +shown himself, until she reached the top, when, looking down on him +with dancing eyes, she kissed her hand in triumph and then turned +away, her cheeks aglow. When he reached the top, she was standing +on the very edge of the precipice, looking far over the long reach +of sloping country to the blue line of the horizon. Keith almost +gasped at her temerity. He pleaded with her not to be so +venturesome.</p> +<p>"Please stand farther back, I beg you," he said as he reached +her side.</p> +<p>"Now, that is better," she said, with a little nod to him, her +blue eyes full of triumph, and she seated herself quietly on the +rock.</p> +<p>Keith began to scold her, but she laughed at him.</p> +<p>He had done it often, she said, and what he could do she could +do.</p> +<p>The beauty of the wide landscape sank into both their minds, and +after a little they both took a graver tone.</p> +<p>"Tell me where your old home is," she said presently, after a +long pause in which her face had grown thoughtful. "You told me +once that you could see it from this rock."</p> +<p>Keith pointed to a spot on the far horizon. He did not know that +it was to see this even more than to brave him that she had climbed +to the top of the rock.</p> +<p>"Now tell me about it," she said. "Tell me all over what you +have told me before." And Keith related all he could remember. +Touched with her sympathy, he told it with more feeling than he had +ever shown before. When he spoke of the loss of his home, of his +mortification, and of his father's quiet dignity, she turned her +face away to keep him from seeing the tears that were in her +eyes.</p> +<p>"I can understand your feeling a little," she said presently; +"but I did not know that any one could have so much feeling for a +plantation. I suppose it is because it is in the country, with its +trees and flowers and little streams. We have had three houses +since I can remember. The one that we have now on Fifth Avenue is +four times as large--yes, six times as large--and a hundred times +as fine as the one I can first remember, and yet, somehow, I always +think, when I am sad or lonely, of the little white house with the +tiny rooms in it, with their low ceilings and small windows, where +I used to go when I was a very little girl to see my father's +mother. Mamma does not care for it; she was brought up in the city; +but I think my father loves it just as I do. He always says he is +going to buy it back, and I am going to make him do it."</p> +<p>"I am going to buy back mine some day," said Keith, very +slowly.</p> +<p>She glanced at him. His eyes were fastened on the far-off +horizon, and there was that in his face which she had never seen +there before, and which made her admire him more than she had ever +done.</p> +<p>"I hope you will," she said. She almost hated Ferdy Wickersham +for having spoken of the place as Keith told her he had spoken.</p> +<p>When Keith reached home that evening he had a wholly new feeling +for the girl with whom accident had so curiously thrown him. He was +really in love with her. Hitherto he had allowed himself merely to +drift with the pleasant tide that had been setting in throughout +these last weeks. But the phases that she had shown that afternoon, +her spirit, her courage, her capricious rebelliousness, and, above +all, that glimpse into her heart which he had obtained as she sat +on the rock overlooking the wide sweep where he had had his home, +and where the civilization to which it belonged had had its home, +had shown him a new creature, and he plunged into love. Life +appeared suddenly to open wide her gates and flood him with her +rosy light.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<h3>MR. KEITH IS UNPRACTICAL, AND MRS. YORKE GIVES HIM GOOD +ADVICE</h3> +<br> +<p>The strolls in the budding woods and the glimpses shown her of a +spirit somewhat different from any she had known were beginning to +have their influence on Alice. It flattered her and filled her with +a certain content that the young school-teacher should like her so +much; yet, knowing herself, it gave her a vague feeling that he was +wanting in that quality of sound judgment which she recognized in +some of her other admirers. It rather frightened her to feel that +she was on a pedestal; and often he soared away from her with his +poetry and his fancies, and she was afraid that he would discover +it and think she was a hypocrite. Something that her mother had +said remained in her mind.</p> +<p>"He knows so much, mamma," said Alice one day. "Why, he can +quote whole pages of poetry."</p> +<p>"He is too romantic, my dear, to be practical," said Mrs. Yorke, +who looked at the young men who approached her daughter with an eye +as cool as a physician's glass. "He, perhaps, does know more about +books than any boy of his age I am acquainted with; but poetry is a +very poor thing to live on; and if he were practical he would not +be teaching that wretched little school in the wilderness."</p> +<p>"But, mamma, he will rise. You don't know how ambitious he is, +and what determination he has. They have lost everything. The place +that Ferdy Wickersham told me about his father owning, with its old +pictures and all that, was his old home. Old Mr. Keith, since he +lost it, has been farming it for Mr. Wickersham. Think of +that!"</p> +<p>"Just so," said Mrs. Yorke. "He inherits it. They are all +unpractical. Your father began life poor; but he was practical, and +he had the ability to succeed."</p> +<p>Alice's face softened. "Dear old dad!" she said; "I must write +to him." Even as she thought of him she could not but reflect how +absorption in business had prevented his obtaining the culture of +which this young school-teacher had given her a glimpse, and had +crushed, though it could not wholly quench, the kindliness which +lived in his big heart.</p> +<p>Though Alice defended Keith, she felt in her heart there was +some truth in her mother's estimate. He was too romantic. She soon +had proof of it.</p> +<p>General Keith came up to the Ridge just then to see Gordon. At +least, he gave this out as the reason for his visit, and Gordon did +not know until afterwards that there was another reason for +it--that he had been in correspondence for some time with Dr. +Balsam. He was looking thin; but when Gordon spoke of it, he put it +by with a smile.</p> +<p>"Oh, I am very well. We need not worry about my troubles. I have +but two: that old wound, and Old Age; both are incurable."</p> +<p>Gordon was very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce his +father to Mrs. Yorke and Miss Alice. As he scanned the thin, fine +face with its expression of calm and its lines of fortitude, he +felt that it was a good card to play. His resemblance to the +man-in-armor that hung in the old dining-room had increased.</p> +<p>The General and Miss Alice promptly became great friends. He +treated her with a certain distinction that pleased her. Mrs. +Yorke, too, was both pleased and flattered by his gracious manner. +She was, however, more critical toward him than her daughter +was.</p> +<p>General Keith soon discovered Gordon's interest in the young +girl. It was not difficult to discover, for every moment of his +spare time was devoted to her in some way. The General observed +them with a quiet smile in his eyes. Now and then, however, the +smile died out as he heard Gordon expressing views which were +somewhat new to him. One evening they were all seated on the +verandah together, and Gordon began to speak of making a fortune as +a high aim. He had heard Mrs. Yorke express the same sentiments a +few days before.</p> +<p>"My son," said his father, gently, looking at him with grave +eyes, "a fortune is a great blessing in the hands of the man who +knows how to spend it. But riches considered as something to +possess or to display is one of the most despicable and debasing of +all the aims that men can have."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke's eyes opened wide and her face hardened a little. +Gordon thought of the toil and patience it had cost him to make +even his little salary, and wealth appeared to him just then a very +desirable acquisition.</p> +<p>"Why, father," he said, "it opens the world to a man. It gives +such great opportunities for everything; travel, knowledge, art, +science, power, the respect and esteem of the world, are obtained +by it."</p> +<p>Something like this Mrs. Yorke had said to him, meaning, kindly +enough, to encourage him in its pursuit.</p> +<p>The old General smiled gravely.</p> +<p>"Opportunity for travel and the acquirement of knowledge wealth +undoubtedly gives, but happily they are not dependent upon wealth, +my son. The Columbuses of science, the Galileos, Newtons, Keplers; +the great benefactors of the world, the great inventors, the great +artists, the great poets, philosophers, and statesmen have few of +them been rich."</p> +<p>"He appears to have lived in another world, mamma," said Alice +when he had left. "He is an old dear. I never knew so unworldly a +person."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke's chin tilted a little.</p> +<p>"Now, Alice, don't you be silly. He lives in another world now, +and certainly, of all the men I know, none appears less fitted to +cope with this world. The only real people to him appear to be +those whom he has read of. He never tried wealth."</p> +<p>"He used to be rich--very rich. Don't you remember what that +lady told you?"</p> +<p>"I don't believe it," said Mrs. Yorke, sententiously.</p> +<p>Alice knew that this closed the argument. When her mother in +such cases said she did not believe a thing, it meant that the door +of her mind was fast shut and no reason could get into it.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke could not but notice that some change had taken place +in Alice of late. In a way she had undoubtedly improved. She was +more serious, more thoughtful of Mrs. Yorke herself, less wilful. +Yet it was not without some misgiving that Mrs. Yorke noted the +change.</p> +<p>She suddenly had her eyes opened. Mrs. Nailor, one of her New +York friends, performed this amiable office. She assigned the +possible cause, though not directly--Mrs. Nailor rarely did things +directly. She was a small, purring lady, with a tilt of the head, +and an insinuating voice of singular clearness, with a +question-mark in it. She was of a very good family, lived in a big +house on Murray Hill, and had as large a circle of acquaintance as +any one in New York. She prided herself on knowing everybody worth +knowing, and everything about everybody. She was not lacking in +amiability; she was, indeed, so amiable that she would slander +almost any absent friend to please one who was present. She had a +little grudge against Keith, for she had been struck from the first +by his bright eyes and good manners; but Keith had been so much +engrossed by his interest in Alice Yorke that he had been remiss in +paying Mrs. Nailor that attention which she felt her position +required. Mrs. Nailor now gave Mrs. Yorke a judicious hint.</p> +<p>"You have such a gift for knowing people?" she said to her, "and +your daughter is so like you?" She showed her even teeth.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke was not quite sure what she meant, and she answered +somewhat coldly that she was glad that Mrs. Nailor thought so. Mrs. +Nailor soon indicated her meaning.</p> +<p>"The young schoolmaster--he is a schoolmaster in whom your +daughter is interested, isn't he? Yes? He appears so well-read? He +brought your daughter down the mountain the day her horse ran off +with her? So romantic to make an acquaintance that way--I quite +envy you? There is so little real romance these days! It is +delightful to find it?" She sighed, and Mrs. Yorke thought of +Daniel Nailor and his little bald head and round mouth. "Yes, I +quite envy you--and your daughter. Who is he?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke said he was of a very old and distinguished family. +She gave him a pedigree that would have done honor to a +Derby-winner.</p> +<p>"I am so glad," declared Mrs. Nailor. "I knew he must be, of +course. I am sure you would never encourage such an intimacy unless +he were?" She smiled herself off, leaving Mrs. Yorke fuming.</p> +<p>"That woman is always sticking pins into people," she said to +herself. But this pin had stuck fast, and Mrs. Yorke was in quite a +panic.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke determined to talk to Alice on the first occasion +that offered itself; but she would not do it too abruptly. All that +would be needed would be a hint judiciously given. For surely a +girl of such sound sense as Alice, a girl brought up so wisely, +could not for a moment think of acting so foolishly. And really +Mrs. Yorke felt that she herself was very fond of this young man. +She might do something for him--something that should be of use to +him in after life. At first this plan took the form in her mind of +getting her husband to give him a place; but she reflected that +this would necessitate bringing him where his acquaintance with +them might prove inconvenient. She would aid him in going to +college for another year. This would be a delicate way to discharge +the obligation under which his kindness had placed her.</p> +<p>Keith, meantime, was happily ignorant of the plot that was +forming against him. The warm weather was coming, and he knew that +before long Mrs. Yorke and Alice would be flitting northward. +However, he would make his hay while the sun shone for him. So one +afternoon Keith had borne Miss Alice off to his favorite haunt, the +high rock in the Ridge woods. He was in unusual spirits; for he had +escaped from Mrs. Nailor, who of late had appeared to be rather +lying in wait for him. It was the spot he loved best; for the pines +behind him seemed to shut out the rest of the world, and he felt +that here he was in some sort nearer to having Alice for his own +than anywhere else. It was here that he had caught that glimpse of +her heart which he felt had revealed her to him.</p> +<p>This afternoon he was talking of love and of himself; for what +young man who talks of love talks not of himself? She was dressed +in white, and a single red rose that he had given her was stuck in +her dress. He had been reading a poem to her. It contained a +picture of the goddess of love, decked out for "worship without +end." The book now lay at his side, and he was stretched at her +feet.</p> +<p>"If I ever am in love," he said suddenly, "it will be with a +girl who must fill full the measure of my dreams." He was looking +away through the pine-trees to the sky far beyond; but the soft +light in his face came not from that far-off tent of blue. He was +thinking vaguely how much bluer than the sky were her eyes.</p> +<p>"Yes?" Her tone was tender.</p> +<p>"She must be a beauty, of course." He gazed at her with that in +his eyes which said, as plainly as words could have said it, "You +are beautiful."</p> +<p>But she was looking away, wondering to herself who it might +be.</p> +<p>"I mean she must have what <i>I</i> call beauty," he added by +way of explanation. "I don't count mere red and white beauty. +Phrony Tripper has that." This was not without intention. Alice had +spoken of Phrony's beauty one day when she saw her at the +school.</p> +<p>"But she is very pretty," asserted the girl, "so fresh and such +color!"</p> +<p>"Oh, pretty! yes; and color--a wine-sap apple has color. But I +am speaking of real beauty, the beauty of the rose, the freshness +that you cannot define, that holds fragrance, a something that you +love, that you feel even more than you see."</p> +<p>She thought of a school friend of hers, Louise Caldwell, a tall, +statuesque beauty, with whom another friend, Norman Wentworth, was +in love, and she wondered if Keith would think her such a beauty as +he described.</p> +<p>"She must be sweet," he went on, thinking to himself for her +benefit. "I cannot define that either, but you know what I +mean?"</p> +<p>She decided mentally that Louise Caldwell would not fill his +measure.</p> +<p>"It is something that only some girls have in common with some +flowers--violets, for instance."</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't care for sweet girls very much," she said, thinking +of another schoolmate whom the girls used to call <i>eau +sucré</i>.</p> +<p>"You do," he said positively. "I am not talking of that kind. It +is womanliness and gentleness, fragrance, warmth, beauty, +everything."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. That kind?" she said acquiescingly. "Well, go on; you +expect to find a good deal."</p> +<p>"I do," he said briefly, and sat up. "I expect to find the +best."</p> +<p>She glanced at him with new interest. He was very good-looking +when he was spirited. And his eyes now were full of light.</p> +<p>"Well, beauty and sweetness," she said; "what else? I must know, +for I may have to help you find her. There don't appear to be many +around Ridgely, since you have declined to accept the only pretty +girl I have seen."</p> +<p>"She must be good and true. She must know the truth as--" His +eye fell at that instant on a humming-bird, a gleaming jewel of +changing sapphire that, poised on half-invisible wings, floated in +a bar of sunlight before a sprig of pink honeysuckle. "--As that +bird knows the flowers where the honey lies."</p> +<p>"Where do you expect to find this paragon?"</p> +<p>As if in answer, the humming-bird suddenly caught sight of the +red rose in her dress, and, darting to it, thrust its bill deep +into the crimson heart of the flower. They both gave an exclamation +of delighted wonder.</p> +<p>"I have found her," he said firmly, leaning a little toward her, +with mantling cheeks and close-drawn lips, his glowing eyes on her +face. "The bird has found her for me."</p> +<p>The bird darted away.</p> +<p>"Ah, it is gone! What will you give her in return?" She turned +to him, and spoke half mockingly, wishing to get off such delicate +ground.</p> +<p>He turned and gazed into her eyes.</p> +<p>"'Worship without end.'" There was that in his face that made +her change color. She looked away and began to think of her own +ideal. She found that her idea of the man she loved had been of +height of figure and breadth of shoulders, a handsome face and +fashionable attire. She had pictured him as tall and straight, +taller than this boy and larger every way, with a straight nose, +brown eyes, and dark hair. But chiefly she had thought of the style +of his clothes. She had fancied the neckties he should wear, and +the pins that should be stuck in them. He must be brave, of course, +a beautiful dancer, a fine tennis-player. She had once thought that +black-eyed, handsome young Ferdy Wickersham was as near her ideal +as any one else she knew. He led germans divinely. But he was +selfish, and she had never admired him as much as another man, who +was less showy, but was, she knew, more of a man: Norman Wentworth, +a bold swimmer, a good horseman, and a leader of their set. It +suddenly occurred to her now how much more like this man Norman +Wentworth was than Ferdy Wickersham, and following her thought of +the two, she suddenly stepped up on a higher level and was +conscious of a certain elation, much like that she had had the day +she had climbed up before Gordon Keith on the out-jutting rock and +looked far down over the wide expanse of forest and field, to where +his home had been.</p> +<p>She sat for a little while in deep reflection. Presently she +said, quite gravely and a little shyly:</p> +<p>"You know, I am not a bit what you think I am. Why, you treat me +as if I were a superior being. And I am not; I am a very +matter-of-fact girl."</p> +<p>He interrupted her with a gesture of dissent, his eyes full of +light.</p> +<p>"Nonsense! You don't know me, you don't know men, or you would +know that any girl is the superior of the best man," he +reiterated.</p> +<p>"You don't know girls," she retorted.</p> +<p>"I know one, at least," he said, with a smile that spoke his +admiration.</p> +<p>"I am not sure that you do," she persisted, speaking slowly and +very seriously. She was gazing at him in a curious, reflective +way.</p> +<p>"The one I know is good enough for me." He leaned over and shyly +took her hand and raised it to his lips, then released it. She did +not resist him, but presently she said tentatively:</p> +<p>"I believe I had rather be treated as I am than as something I +am not. I like you too much to want to deceive you, and I think you +are deceived."</p> +<p>He, of course, protested that he was not deceived. He "knew +perfectly well," he said. She was not convinced; but she let it go. +She did not want to quarrel with him for admiring her.</p> +<p>That afternoon, when Alice came in, her manner was so different +from what it had been of late that her mother could not but observe +it. One moment she was distraite; the next she was impatient and +even irritable; then this mood changed, and she was unusually gay; +her cheeks glowed and her eyes sparkled; but even as she reflected, +a change came, and she drifted away again into a brown study.</p> +<p>Next day, while Mrs. Yorke was still considering what to do, a +card was handed her. It was a name written simply on one of the +slips of paper that were kept on the hotel counter below. Keith of +late had not been sending up his card; a servant simply announced +his name. This, then, decided her. It was the most fortunate thing +in the world that Alice had gone off and was out of the way. It +gave Mrs. Yorke the very opportunity she desired. If, as she +divined, the young man wished to talk to her about anything +personal, she would speak kindly to him, but so plainly that he +could never forget it. After all, it would be true kindness to him +to do so. She had a virtuous feeling as she smoothed her hair +before a mirror.</p> +<p>He was not in the sitting-room when she came down; so she sought +for him on one of the long verandahs where they usually sat. He was +seated at the far end, where he would be more or less secluded, and +she marched down on him. He was evidently on the watch for her, and +as soon as she appeared he rose from his seat. She had made up her +mind very clearly what she would say to him; but as she approached +him it was not so easy to say as she had fancied it. There was +something in his bearing and expression that deterred her from +using the rather condescending words she had formulated. His face +was somewhat pale; his mouth was firmly set, throwing out the chin +in a way to make it quite strong; his eyes were anxious, but +steady; his form was very erect, and his shoulders were very square +and straight. He appeared to her older than she had considered him. +It would not do to patronize this man. After greeting her, he +handed her a chair solemnly, and the next moment plunged straight +into his subject. It was so sudden that it almost took her breath +away; and before she knew it he had, with the blood coming and +going in his cheeks, declared his love for her daughter, and asked +her permission to pay her his addresses. After the first gulp or +two he had lost his embarrassment, and was speaking in a +straightforward, manly way. The color had come rushing back into +his face, and his eyes were filled with light. Mrs. Yorke felt that +it was necessary to do something. So, though she felt some +trepidation, she took heart and began to answer him. As she +proceeded, her courage returned to her, and seeing that he was much +disturbed, she became quite composed.</p> +<p>She regretted extremely, she said, that she had not foreseen +this. It was all so unexpected to her that she was quite +overwhelmed by it. She felt that this was a lie, and she was not +sure that he did not know it. Of course, it was quite impossible +that she could consent to anything like what he had proposed.</p> +<p>"Do you mean because she is from the North and I am from the +South?" he asked earnestly.</p> +<p>"No; of course not. I have Southern blood myself. My grandmother +was from the South." She smiled at his simplicity.</p> +<p>"Then why?"</p> +<p>This was embarrassing, but she must answer.</p> +<p>"Why, you--we--move in--quite different--spheres, and--ah, it's +really not to be thought of Mr. Keith," she said, half +desperately.</p> +<p>He himself had thought of the different spheres in which they +moved, but he had surmounted that difficulty. Though her father, as +he had learned, had begun life as a store-boy, and her mother was +not the most learned person in the world, Alice Yorke was a lady to +her finger-tips, and in her own fine person was the incontestable +proof of a strain of gentle blood somewhere. Those delicate +features, fine hands, trim ankles, and silken hair told their own +story.</p> +<p>So he came near saying, "That does not make any difference"; but +he restrained himself. He said instead, "I do not know that I +understand you."</p> +<p>It was very annoying to have to be so plain, but it was, Mrs. +Yorke felt, quite necessary.</p> +<p>"Why, I mean that my daughter has always moved in the--the +most--exclusive society; she has had the best advantages, and has a +right to expect the best that can be given her."</p> +<p>"Do you mean that you think my family is not good enough for +your daughter?"</p> +<p>There was a tone in his quiet voice that made her glance up at +him, and a look on his face that made her answer quickly:</p> +<p>"Oh, no; not that, of course. I have no doubt your family +is--indeed, I have heard it is--ur--. But my daughter has every +right to expect the best that life can give. She has a right to +expect--an--establishment."</p> +<p>"You mean money?" Keith asked, a little hoarsely.</p> +<p>"Why, not in the way in which you put it; but what money stands +for--comforts, luxuries, position. Now, don't go and distress +yourself about this. You are nothing but a silly boy. You fancy +yourself in love with my daughter because she is the only pretty +girl about here."</p> +<p>"She is not; but she is the prettiest I know," ejaculated Keith, +bitterly.</p> +<p>"You think that, and so you fancy you are in love with her."</p> +<p>"It is no fancy; I am," asserted Keith, doggedly. "I would be in +love with her if she were as ugly as--as she is beautiful."</p> +<p>"Oh, no, you wouldn't," declared Mrs. Yorke, coolly. "Now, the +thing for you to do is to forget all about her, as she will in a +short time forget all about you."</p> +<p>"I know she will, though I hope she will not," groaned the young +man. "I shall never forget her--never."</p> +<p>His voice and manner showed such unfeigned anguish that the lady +could not but feel real commiseration for him, especially as he +appeared to be accepting her view of the case. She glanced at him +almost kindly.</p> +<p>"Is there nothing I can do for you? I should like very much to +do something--something to show my appreciation of what you have +done for us to make our stay here less dreary than it would have +been."</p> +<p>"Thank you. There is nothing," said Keith. "I am going to turn +my attention now to--getting an establishment." He spoke half +sarcastically, but Mrs. Yorke did not see it.</p> +<p>"That is right," she said warmly.</p> +<p>"It is not right," declared Keith, with sudden vehemence. "It is +all wrong. I know it is all wrong."</p> +<p>"What the world thinks is right can't be all wrong." Mrs. Yorke +spoke decisively.</p> +<p>"When are you going away?" the young man asked suddenly.</p> +<p>"In a few days." She spoke vaguely, but even as she spoke, she +determined to leave next day.</p> +<p>"I thank you for all your kindness to me," said Keith, standing +very straight and speaking rather hoarsely.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke's heart smote her. If it were not for her daughter's +welfare she could have liked this boy and befriended him. A vision +came to her from out of the dim past; a country boy with broad +shoulders suddenly flashed before her; but she shut it off before +it became clear. She spoke kindly to Keith, and held out her hand +to him with more real sincerity than she had felt in a long +time.</p> +<p>"You are a good boy," she said, "and I wish I could have +answered you otherwise, but it would have been simple madness. You +will some day know that it was kinder to you to make you look +nakedly at facts."</p> +<p>"I suppose so," said Keith, politely. "But some day, Mrs. Yorke, +you shall hear of me. If you do not, remember I shall be dead."</p> +<p>With this bit of tragedy he turned and left her, and Mrs. Yorke +stood and watched him as he strode down the path, meaning, if he +should turn, to wave him a friendly adieu, and also watching lest +that which she had dreaded for a quarter of an hour might happen. +It would be dreadful if her daughter should meet him now. He did +not turn, however, and when at last he disappeared, Mrs. Yorke, +with a sigh of relief, went up to her room and began to write +rapidly.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> +<h3>MRS. YORKE CUTS THE KNOT</h3> +<br> +<p>When Alice Yorke came from her jaunt, she had on her face an +expression of pleasant anticipation. She had been talking to Dr. +Balsam, and he had said things about Gordon Keith that had made her +cheeks tingle. "Of the best blood of two continents," he had said +of him. "He has the stuff that has made England and America." The +light of real romance was beginning to envelop her.</p> +<p>As she entered the hall she met Mrs. Nailor. Mrs. Nailor smiled +at her knowingly, much as a cat, could she smile, might smile at a +mouse.</p> +<p>"I think your mother is out on the far end of the verandah. I +saw her there a little while ago talking with your friend, the +young schoolmaster. What a nice young man he is? Quite uncommon, +isn't he?"</p> +<p>Alice gave a little start. "The young schoolmaster" indeed!</p> +<p>"Yes, I suppose so. I don't know." She hated Mrs. Nailor with +her quiet, cat-like manner and inquisitive ways. She now hated her +more than ever, for she was conscious that she was blushing and +that Mrs. Nailor observed it.</p> +<p>"Your mother is very interested in schools? Yes? I think that is +nice in her? So few persons appreciate education?" Her air was +absolute innocence.</p> +<p>"I don't know. I believe she is--interested in everything," +faltered Alice. She wanted to add, "And so you appear to be +also."</p> +<p>"So few persons care for education these days," pursued Mrs. +Nailor, in a little chime. "And that young man is such a nice +fellow? Has he a good school? I hear you were there? You are +interested in schools, too?" She nodded like a little Japanese +toy-baby.</p> +<p>"I am sure I don't know. Yes; I think he has. Why don't you go?" +asked the girl at random.</p> +<p>"Oh, I have not been invited." Mrs. Nailor smiled amiably. +"Perhaps, you will let me go with you sometime?"</p> +<p>Alice escaped, and ran up-stairs, though she was eager to go out +on the porch. However, it would serve him right to punish him by +staying away until she was sent for, and she could not go with Mrs. +Nailor's cat-eyes on her.</p> +<p>She found her mother seated at a table writing busily. Mrs. +Yorke only glanced up and said, "So you are back? Hope you had a +pleasant time?" and went on writing.</p> +<p>Alice gazed at her with a startled look in her eyes. She had +such a serious expression on her face.</p> +<p>"What are you doing?" She tried to speak as indifferently as she +could.</p> +<p>"Writing to your father." The pen went on busily.</p> +<p>"What is the matter? Is papa ill? Has anything happened?"</p> +<p>"No; nothing has happened. I am writing to say we shall be home +the last of the week."</p> +<p>"Going away!"</p> +<p>"Yes; don't you think we have been here long enough? We only +expected to stay until the last of March, and here it is almost +May."</p> +<p>"But what is the matter? Why have you made up your mind so +suddenly? Mamma, you are so secret! I am sure something is the +matter. Is papa not well?" She crossed over and stood by her +mother.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke finished a word and paused a moment, with the end of +her silver penholder against her teeth.</p> +<p>"Alice," she said reflectively, "I have something I want to say +to you, and I have a mind to say it now. I think I ought to speak +to you very frankly."</p> +<p>"Well, for goodness' sake, do, mamma; for I'm dying to know what +has happened." She seated herself on the side of a chair for +support. Her face was almost white.</p> +<p>"Alice--"</p> +<p>"Yes, mamma." Her politeness was ominous.</p> +<p>"Alice, I have had a talk with that young man--"</p> +<p>Alice's face flushed suddenly.</p> +<p>"What young man?" she asked, as though the Ridge Springs were +thronged with young men behind every bush.</p> +<p>"That young man--Mr. Keith," firmly.</p> +<p>"Oh!" said Alice. "With Mr. Keith? Yes, mamma?" Her color was +changing quickly now.</p> +<p>"Yes, I have had a quite--a very extraordinary conversation with +Mr. Keith." As Mrs. Yorke drifted again into reflection, Alice was +compelled to ask:</p> +<p>"What about, mamma?"</p> +<p>"About you."</p> +<p>"About me? What about me?" Her face was belying her assumed +innocence.</p> +<p>"Alice, I hope you are not going to behave foolishly. I cannot +believe for a minute that you would--a girl brought up as you have +been--so far forget yourself--would allow yourself to become +interested in a perfectly unknown and ignorant and obscure young +man."</p> +<p>"Why, mamma, he is not ignorant; he knows more than any one I +ever saw,--why, he has read piles of books I never even heard +of,--and his family is one of the best and oldest in this country. +His grandfathers or great-grandfathers were both signers of the +Decla--"</p> +<p>"I am not talking about that," interrupted Mrs. Yorke, hastily. +"I must say you appear to have studied his family-tree pretty +closely."</p> +<p>"Dr. Balsam told me," interjected Alice.</p> +<p>"Dr. Balsam had very little to talk of. I am talking of his +being unknown."</p> +<p>"But I believe he will be known some day. You don't know how +clever and ambitious he is. He told me--"</p> +<p>But Mrs. Yorke had no mind to let Alice dwell on what he had +told her. He was too good an advocate.</p> +<p>"Stuff! I don't care what he told you! Alice, he is a perfectly +unknown and untrained young--creature. All young men talk that way. +He is perfectly gauche and boorish in his manner--"</p> +<p>"Why, mamma, he has beautiful manners!" exclaimed Alice "I heard +a lady saying the other day he had the manners of a +Chesterfield."</p> +<p>"Chester-nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Yorke.</p> +<p>"I think he has, too, mamma."</p> +<p>"I don't agree with you," declared Mrs. Yorke, energetically. +"How would he appear in New York? Why, he wears great heavy shoes, +and his neckties are something dreadful."</p> +<p>"His neckties are bad," admitted Alice, sadly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke, having discovered a breach in her adversary's +defences, like a good general directed her attack against it.</p> +<p>"He dresses horribly; he wears his hair like a--countryman; and +his manners are as antiquated as his clothes. Think of him at the +opera or at one of Mrs. Wentworth's receptions! He says 'madam' and +'sir' as if he were a servant."</p> +<p>"I got after him about that once," said the girl, reflectively. +"I said that only servants said that."</p> +<p>"Well, what did he say?"</p> +<p>"Said that that proved that servants sometimes had better +manners than their masters."</p> +<p>"Well, I must say, I think he was excessively rude!" asserted +Mrs. Yorke, picking up her fan and beginning to fan rapidly.</p> +<p>"That's what I said; but he said he did not see how it could be +rude to state a simple and impersonal fact in a perfectly +respectful way."</p> +<p>Alice was warming up in defence and swept on.</p> +<p>"He said the new fashion was due to people who were not sure of +their own position, and were afraid others might think them servile +if they employed such terms."</p> +<p>"What does he know about fashion?"</p> +<p>"He says fashion is a temporary and shifting thing, sometimes +caused by accident and sometimes made by tradesmen, but that good +manners are the same to-day that they were hundreds of years ago, +and that though the ways in which they are shown change, the basis +is always the same, being kindness and gentility."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke gasped.</p> +<p>"Well, I must say, you seem to have learned your lesson!" she +exclaimed.</p> +<p>Alice had been swept on by her memory not only of the words she +was repeating, but of many conversations and interchanges of +thought Gordon Keith and she had had during the past weeks, in +which he had given her new ideas. She began now, in a rather low +and unsteady voice, her hands tightly clasped, her eyes in her +lap:</p> +<p>"Mamma, I believe I like him very much--better than I shall +ever--"</p> +<p>"Nonsense, Alice! Now, I will not have any of this nonsense. I +bring you down here for your health, and you take up with a +perfectly obscure young countryman about whom you know nothing in +the world, and--"</p> +<p>"I know all about him, mamma. I know he is a gentleman. His +grandfather--"</p> +<p>"You know <i>nothing</i> about him," asserted Mrs. Yorke, +rising. "You may be married to a man for years and know very little +of him. How can you know about this boy? You will go back and +forget all about him in a week."</p> +<p>"I shall never forget him, mamma," said Alice, in a low tone, +thinking of the numerous promises she had made to the same effect +within the past few days.</p> +<p>"Fiddlesticks! How often have you said that? A half-dozen times +at least. There's Norman and Ferdy Wickersham and--"</p> +<p>"I have not forgotten them," said Alice, a little impressed by +her mother's argument.</p> +<p>"Of course, you have not. I don't think it's right, Alice, for +you to be so--susceptible and shallow. At least once every three +months I have to go through this same thing. There's Ferdy +Wickersham--handsome, elegant manners, very ri--with fine prospects +every way, devoted to you for ever so long. I don't care for his +mother, but his people are now received everywhere. Why--?"</p> +<p>"Mamma, I would not marry Ferdy Wickersham if he were the last +man in--to save his life--not for ten millions of dollars. And he +does not care for me."</p> +<p>"Why, he is perfectly devoted to you," insisted Mrs. Yorke.</p> +<p>"Ferdy Wickersham is not perfectly devoted to any one except +himself--and never will be," asserted Alice, vehemently. "If he +ever cared for any one it is Louise Caldwell."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke shifted her ground.</p> +<p>"There's Norman Wentworth? One of the best--"</p> +<p>"Ah! I don't love Norman. I never could. We are the best of +friends, but I just like and respect him."</p> +<p>"Respect is a very safe ground to marry on," said Mrs. Yorke, +decisively. "Some people do not have even that when they +marry."</p> +<p>"Then I am sorry for them," said Miss Alice. "But when I marry, +I want to love. I think it would be a crime to marry a man you did +not love. God made us with a capacity to form ideals, and if we +deliberately fall below them--"</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke burst out laughing.</p> +<p>"Oh, stuff! That boy has filled your head with enough nonsense +to last a lifetime. I would not be such a parrot. I want to finish +my letter now."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke concluded her letter, and two mornings later the +Yorkes took the old two-horse stage that plied between the Springs +and the little grimy railway-station, ten miles away at the foot of +the Ridge, and metaphorically shook the dust of Ridgely from their +feet, though, from their appearance when they reached the railway, +it, together with much more, must have settled on their +shoulders.</p> +<p>The road passed the little frame school-house, and as the stage +rattled by, the young school-teacher's face changed. He stood up +and looked out of the window with a curious gaze in his burning +eyes. Suddenly his face lit up: a little head under a very pretty +hat had nodded to him. He bowed low, and went back to his seat with +a new expression. That bow chained him for years. He almost forgave +her high-headed mother.</p> +<p>Alice bore away with her a long and tragic letter which she did +not think it necessary to confide to her mother at this time, in +view of the fact that the writer declared that in his present +condition he felt bound to recognize her mother's right to deny his +request to see her; but that he meant to achieve such success that +she would withdraw her prohibition, and to return some day and lay +at her feet the highest honors life could give.</p> +<p>A woman who has discarded a man is, perhaps, nearer loving him +just afterwards than ever before. Certainly Miss Alice Yorke +thought more tenderly of Gordon Keith when she found herself being +borne away from him than she had ever done during the weeks she had +known him.</p> +<p>It is said that a broken heart is a most valuable possession for +a young man. Perhaps, it was so to Keith.</p> +<p>The rest of the session dragged wearily for him. But he worked +like fury. He would succeed. He would rise. He would show Mrs. +Yorke who he was.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke, having reached home, began at once to lead her +daughter back to what she esteemed a healthier way of thinking than +she had fallen into. This opportunity came in the shape of a +college commencement with a consequent boat-race, and all the +gayeties that this entailed.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke was, in her way, devoted to her daughter, and had a +definite and what she deemed an exalted ambition for her. This +meant that she should be the best-dressed girl in society, should +be a belle, and finally should make the most brilliant marriage of +her set--to wit, the wealthiest marriage. She had dreamed at times +of a marriage that should make her friends wild with envy--of a +title, a high title. Alice had beauty, style, wealth, and vivacity; +she would grace a coronet, and mamma would be "Madam, the +Countess's mother." But mamma encountered an unexpected +obstacle.</p> +<p>When Mrs. Yorke, building her air-castles, casually let fall her +idea of a title for Alice, there was a sudden and unexpected storm +from an unlooked-for quarter. Dennis Yorke, usually putty in his +wife's hands, had two or three prejudices that were principles with +him. As to these he was rock. His daughter was his idol.</p> +<p>For her, from the time she had opened her blue eyes on him and +blinked at him vaguely, he had toiled and schemed until his hair +had turned from brown to gray and then had disappeared from his +round, strongly set head. For the love he bore her he had served +longer than Jacob served for Rachel, and the time had not appeared +long. The suggestion that the money he had striven for from youth +to age should go to some reprobate foreigner, to pay his +gambling-debts, nearly threw him into a convulsion. His ancestors +had been driven from home to starve in the wilderness by such +creatures. "Before any d--d foreign reprobate should have a dollar +of his money he would endow a lunatic asylum with it." So Mrs. +Yorke prudently refrained from pressing this subject any further at +this time, and built her hopes on securing the next most +advantageous alliance--a wealthy one. She preferred Norman +Wentworth to any of the other young men, for he was not only rich, +but the Wentworths were an old and established house, and Mrs. +Wentworth was one of the old aristocrats of the State, whose word +was law above that of even the wealthiest of the new leaders. To +secure Norman Wentworth would be "almost as good as a title." An +intimacy was sedulously cultivated with "dear Mrs. Wentworth," and +Norman, the "dear boy," was often brought to the house.</p> +<p>Perversely, he and Alice did not take to each other in the way +Mrs. Yorke had hoped. They simply became the best of friends, and +Mrs. Yorke had the mortification of seeing a tall and statuesque +schoolmate of Alice's capture Norman, while Alice appeared totally +indifferent to him. What made it harder to bear was that Mrs. +Caldwell, Louise Caldwell's mother, a widow with barely enough to +live respectably on, was quietly walking off with the prize which +Mrs. Yorke and a number of other mothers were striving to secure, +and made no more of it than if it had been her right. It all came +of her family connections. That was the way with those old +families. They were so selfishly exclusive and so proud. They held +themselves superior to every one else and appeared to despise +wealth. Mrs. Yorke did not believe Mrs. Caldwell really did despise +wealth, but she admitted that she made a very good show of doing +it.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke, foreseeing her failure with Norman Wentworth, was +fain to accept in his place Ferdy Wickersham, who, though certainly +not Norman's equal in some respects, was his superior in +others.</p> +<p>To be sure, Ferdy was said to be a somewhat reckless young +fellow, and Mr. Yorke did not fancy him; but Mrs. Yorke argued, +"Boys will be boys, and you know, Mr. Yorke, you have told me you +were none too good yourself." On this, Dennis Yorke growled that a +man was "a fool ever to tell his wife anything of the kind, and +that, at least, he never was in that young Wickersham's class."</p> +<p>All of which Mrs. Yorke put aside, and sacrificed herself +unstintedly to achieve success for her daughter and compel her to +forget the little episode of the young Southern schoolmaster, with +his tragic air.</p> +<p>Ah, the dreams of the climbers! How silly they are! Golden +clouds at the top, and just as they are reached, some little Jack +comes along and chops down the beanstalk, clouds and all.</p> +<p>So, Mrs. Yorke dreamed, and, a trifle anxious over Alice's +persistent reference to the charms of Spring woods and a Southern +climate, after a week or two of driving down-town and eager +choosing of hats and wearying fitting of dresses, started off with +the girl on the yacht of Mr. Lancaster, a wealthy, dignified, and +cultivated friend of her husband's. He had always been fond of +Alice, and now got up a yacht-party for her to see the +boat-race.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Keith had thought that the time when he should leave the region +where he had been immersed so long would be the happiest hour of +his life. Yet, when the day came, he was conscious of a strange +tugging at his heart. These people whom he was leaving, and for +whom he had in his heart an opinion very like contempt on account +of their ignorance and narrowness, appeared to him a wholly +different folk. There was barely one of them but had been kind to +him. Hard they might appear and petty; but they lived close +together, and, break through the crust, one was sure to find a warm +heart and often a soft one.</p> +<p>He began to understand Dr. Balsam's speech: "I have lived in +several kinds of society, and I like the simplest best. One can get +nearer to men here. I do not ask gratitude. I get affection."</p> +<p>Keith had given notice that the school would close on a certain +day. The scholars always dropped off as summer came, to work in the +crops; and the attendance of late had been slim. This last day he +hardly expected to have half a dozen pupils. To his surprise, the +school-house was filled.</p> +<p>Even Jake Dennison, who had been off in the mountains for some +little time getting out timber, was on hand, large and +good-humored, sitting beside Phrony Tripper in her pink ribbons, +and fanning her hard enough to keep a mine fresh. A little later in +the day quite a number of the fathers and mothers of the children +arrived in their rickety vehicles. They had come to take leave of +the young teacher. There were almost as many as were present at the +school celebration. Keith was quite overcome, and when the hour +arrived for closing the school, instead of, as he had expected, +tying up the half-dozen books he kept in his desk, shaking hands +with the dozen children eager to be turned loose in the delightful +pasturage of summer holiday, turning the key in the lock, and +plodding alone down the dusty road to Squire Rawson's, he now found +the school-room full, not of school-children only, but of grown +people as well. He had learned that they expected him to say +something, and there was nothing for him to do but to make the +effort. For an hour, as he sat during the last lessons,--which were +in the nature of a review,--the pages before him had been mere +blurred spaces of white, and he had been cogitating what he should +say. Yet, when he rose, every idea that he had tried so faithfully +to put into shape fled from his brain.</p> +<p>Dropping all the well-turned phrases which he had been trying to +frame, he said simply that he had come there two years before with +the conceit of a young man expecting to teach them a good deal, and +that he went away feeling that he had taught very little, but that +he had learned a great deal; he had learned that the kindest people +in the world lived in that region; he should never forget their +kindness and should always feel that his best friends were there. A +few words more about his hopes for the school and his feeling for +the people who had been so good to him, and he pronounced the +school closed. To his surprise, at a wink from Squire Rawson, one +of the other trustees, who had formerly been opposed to Keith, +rose, and, addressing the assemblage, began to say things about him +that pleased him as much as they astonished him.</p> +<p>He said that they, too, had begun with some doubt as to how +things would work, as one "could never tell what a colt would do +till he got the harness on him," but this colt had "turned out to +be a pretty good horse." Mr. Keith, maybe, had taught more than he +knew. He had taught some folks--this with a cut of his eye over +toward where Jake Dennison sat big and brown in the placid content +of a young giant, fanning Euphronia for life--he had "taught some +folks that a door had to be right strong to keep out a teacher as +knowed his business." Anyhow, they were satisfied with him, and the +trustees had voted to employ him another year, but he had declined. +He had "business" that would take him away. Some thought they knew +that business. (At this there was a responsive titter throughout +the major portion of the room, and Gordon Keith was furious with +himself for finding that he suddenly turned hot and red.) He +himself, the speaker said, didn't pretend to know anything about +it, but he wanted to say that if Mr. Keith didn't find the business +as profitable as he expected, the trustees had determined to hold +the place open for him for one year, and had elected a successor +temporarily to hold it in case he should want to come back.</p> +<p>At this there was a round of approval, as near general applause +as that stolid folk ever indulged in.</p> +<p>Keith spent the next day in taking leave of his friends.</p> +<p>His last visit that evening was to Dr. Balsam. He had not been +to the village often in the evening since Mrs. Yorke and her +daughter had left the place. Now, as he passed up the walk, the +summer moonlight was falling full on the white front of the little +hotel. The slanting moonlight fell on the corner of the verandah +where he had talked so often to Alice Yorke as she lay reclining on +her lounge, and where he had had that last conversation with Mrs. +Yorke, and Keith saw a young man leaning over some one enveloped in +white, half reclining in an arm-chair. He wondered if the same talk +were going on that had gone on there before that evening when Mrs. +Yorke had made him look nakedly at Life.</p> +<p>When Keith stated his errand, the Doctor looked almost as grave +as he could have done had one of his cherished patients refused to +respond to his most careful treatment.</p> +<p>"One thing I want to say to you," he said presently "You have +been eating your heart out of late about something, and it is +telling on you. Give it up. Give that girl up. You will have to +sooner or later. They will prove too strong for you. Even if you do +not, she will not suit you; you will not get the woman you are +after. She is an attractive young girl, but she will not remain so. +A few years in fashionable society will change her. It is the most +corroding life on earth!" exclaimed the Doctor, bitterly. +"Convention usurps the place of every principle, and becomes the +only god. She must change. All is Vanity!" repeated the Doctor, +almost in a revery, his eyes resting on Keith's face.</p> +<p>"Well," he said, with a sigh, "if you ever get knocked down and +hurt badly, come back up here, and I will patch you up if I am +living; and if not, come back anyhow. The place will heal you +provided you don't take drugs. God bless you! Good-by." He walked +with Keith to the outer edge of his little porch and shook hands +with him again, and again said, "Good-by: God bless you!" When +Keith turned at the foot of the hill and looked back, he was just +reentering his door, his spare, tall frame clearly outlined against +the light within. Keith somehow felt as if he were turning his back +on a landmark.</p> +<p>Just as Keith approached the gate on his return home, a figure +rose up from a fence-corner and stood before him in the +starlight.</p> +<p>"Good even'n', Mr. Keith." The voice was Dave Dennison's. Keith +greeted him wonderingly. What on earth could have brought the boy +out at that time of the night? "Would you mind jest comin' down +this a-way a little piece?"</p> +<p>Keith walked back a short distance. Dave was always mysterious +when he had a communication to make. It was partly a sort of +shyness and partly a survival of frontier craft.</p> +<p>Dave soon resolved Keith's doubt. "I hear you're a-goin' away +and ain't comin' back no more?"</p> +<p>"How did you hear that--I mean, that I am not coming back +again?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"Well, you're a-sayin' good-by to everybody, same's if they were +all a-goin' to die. Folks don't do that if they're a-comin' back." +He leaned forward, and in the semi-darkness Keith was aware that he +was scrutinizing his face.</p> +<p>"No, I do not expect to come back--to teach school again; but I +hope to return some day to see my friends."</p> +<p>The boy straightened up.</p> +<p>"Well, I wants to go with you."</p> +<p>"You! Go with me?" Keith exclaimed. Then, for fear the boy might +be wounded, he said: "Why, Dave, I don't even know where I am +going. I have not the least idea in the world what I am going to +do. I only know I am going away, and I am going to succeed."</p> +<p>"That's right. That's all right," agreed the boy. "You're +a-goin' somewheres, and I want to go with you. You don't know where +you're a-goin', but you're a-goin'. You know all them outlandish +countries like you've been a-tellin' us about, and I don't know +anything, but I want to know, and I'm a-goin' with you. Leastways, +I'm a-goin', and I'm a-goin' with you if you'll let me."</p> +<p>Keith's reply was anything but reassuring. He gave good reasons +against Dave's carrying out his plan; but his tone was kind, and +the youngster took it for encouragement.</p> +<p>"I ain't much account, I know," he pleaded. "I ain't any account +in the <i>worl'</i>," he corrected himself, so that there could be +no mistake about the matter. "They say at home I used to be some +account--some little account--before I took to books--before I +<i>sorter</i> took to books," he corrected again shamefacedly; "but +since then I ain't been no manner of account. But I think--I kinder +think--I could be some account if I knowed a little and could go +somewheres to be account."</p> +<p>Keith was listening earnestly, and the boy went on:</p> +<p>"When you told us that word about that man Hannibal tellin' his +soldiers how everything lay t'other side the mountains, I begin to +see what you meant. I thought before that I knowed a lot; then I +found out how durned little I did know, and since then I have tried +to learn, and I mean to learn; and that's the reason I want to go +with you. You know and I don't, and you're the only one as ever +made me want to know."</p> +<p>Keith was conscious of a flush of warm blood about his heart. It +was the first-fruit of his work.</p> +<p>The boy broke in on his pleasant revery.</p> +<p>"You'll let me go?" he asked. "Cause I'm a-goin' certain sure. I +ain't a-goin' to stay here in this country no longer. See here." He +pulled out an old bag and poked it into Keith's hand. "I've got +sixteen dollars and twenty-three cents there. I made it, and while +the other boys were spendin' theirn, I saved mine. You can pour it +out and count it."</p> +<p>Keith said he would go and see his father about it the next +day.</p> +<p>This did not appear to satisfy Dave.</p> +<p>"I'm a-goin' whether he says so or not," he burst forth. "I want +to see the worl'. Don't nobody keer nothin' about me, an' I want to +git out."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes! Why, I care about you," said Keith.</p> +<p>To his surprise, the boy began to whimper.</p> +<p>"Thankee. I'm obliged to you. I--want to go away--where Phrony +ner nobody--ner anybody won't never see me no more--any more."</p> +<p>The truth dawned on Keith. Little Dave, too, had his troubles, +his sorrows, his unrequited affections. Keith warmed to the +boy.</p> +<p>"Phrony is a lot older than you," he said consolingly.</p> +<p>"No, she ain't; we are just of an age; and if she was I wouldn't +keer. I'm goin' away."</p> +<p>Keith had to interpose his refusal to take him in such a case. +He said, however, that if he could obtain his father's consent, as +soon as he got settled he would send for him. On the basis of this +compromise the boy went home.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<h3>GUMBOLT</h3> +<br> +<p>With the savings of his two years of school-teaching Keith found +that he had enough, by practising rigid economy, to give himself +another year at college, and he practised rigid economy.</p> +<p>He worked under the spur of ambition to show Alice Yorke and +those who surrounded her that he was not a mere country clod.</p> +<p>With his face set steadily in the direction where stood the +luminous form of the young girl he had met and come to worship amid +the blossoming woods, he studied to such good purpose that at the +end of the session he had packed two years' work into one.</p> +<p>Keith had no very definite ideas, when he started out at the end +of his college year, as to what he should do. He only knew that he +had strong pinions, and that the world was before him. He wished to +bury himself from observation until he should secure the success +with which he would burst forth on an astonished world, overwhelm +Mrs. Yorke, and capture Alice. His first intention had been to go +to the far West; but on consideration he abandoned the idea.</p> +<p>Rumors were already abroad that in the great Appalachian +mountain-range opportunity might be as golden as in that greater +range on the other side of the continent.</p> +<p>Keith had a sentiment that he would rather succeed in the South +than elsewhere.</p> +<p>"Only get rifles out and railroads in, and capital will come +pouring after them," Rhodes had said. "Old Wickersham knows his +business."</p> +<p>That was a good while ago, and at last the awakening had begun. +Now that carpet-bagging was at an end, and affairs were once more +settled in that section, the wealth of the country was again being +talked of in the press.</p> +<p>The chief centre of the new life was a day's drive farther in +the mountains than Eden, the little hamlet which Keith had visited +once with Dr. Balsam when he attended an old stage-driver, Gilsey +by name, and cut a bullet out of what he called his "off-leg." This +was the veiled Golconda. To the original name of Humboldt the +picturesque and humorous mountaineer had given the name of +"Gumbolt."</p> +<p>This was where old Adam Rawson, stirred by the young engineer's +prophecy, had taken time by the forelock and had bought up the +mineral rights, and "gotten ahead" of Wickersham & Company.</p> +<p>Times and views change even in the Ridge region, and now, after +years of delay, Wickersham & Company's railroad was about to be +built. It had already reached Eden.</p> +<p>Keith, after a few days with his father, stopped at Ridgely to +see his old friends. The Doctor looked him over with some +disapproval.</p> +<p>"As gaunt as a greyhound," he muttered. "My patient not married +yet, I suppose? Well, she will be. You'd better tear her out of +your memory before she gets too firmly lodged there."</p> +<p>Keith boldly said he would take the chances.</p> +<p>When old Rawson saw him he, too, remarked on his thinness; but +more encouragingly.</p> +<p>"Well, 'a lean dog for a long chase,'" he said.</p> +<p>"How are cattle?" inquired Keith.</p> +<p>The old fellow turned his eyes on him with a keen look.</p> +<p>"Cattle's tolerable. I been buyin' a considerable number up +toward Gumbolt, where you're goin'. I may get you to look after 'em +some day," he chuckled.</p> +<p>Gordon wrote to Dave Dennison that he was going to Gumbolt and +would look out for him. A little later he learned that the boy had +already gone there.</p> +<p>The means of reaching Gumbolt from Eden, the terminus of the +railroad which Wickersham & Company were building, was still +the stage, a survivor of the old-time mountain coach, which had +outlasted all the manifold chances and changes of fortune.</p> +<p>Happily for Keith, he had been obliged, though it was raining, +to take the outside seat by the driver, old Tim Gilsey, to whom he +recalled himself, and by his coolness at "Hellstreak Hill," where +the road climbed over the shoulder of the mountain along a sheer +cliff, and suddenly dropped to the river below, a point where old +Gilsey was wont to display his skill as a driver and try the nerves +of passengers, he made the old man his friend for life.</p> +<p>When the stage began to ascend the next hill, the old driver +actually unbent so far as to give an account of a "hold-up" that +had occurred at that point not long before, "all along of the +durned railroad them Yankees was bringin' into the country," to +which he laid most of the evils of the time. "For when you run a +stage you know who you got with you," declared Mr. Gilsey; "but +when you run a railroad you dunno who you got."</p> +<p>"Well, tell me about the time you were held up."</p> +<p>"Didn't nobody hold me up," sniffed Mr. Gilsey. "If I had been +goin' to stop I wouldn't 'a' started. It was a dom fool they put up +here when I was down with rheumatiz. Since then they let me pick my +substitute.</p> +<p>"Well," he said, as a few lights twinkled below them, "there she +is. Some pretty tough characters there, too. But you ain't goin' to +have no trouble with 'em. All you got to do is to put the curb on +'em onct."</p> +<p>As Keith looked about him in Gumbolt, the morning after his +arrival, he found that his new home was only a rude mining-camp, +raw and rugged; a few rows of frame houses, beginning to be +supplanted by hasty brick structures, stretched up the hills on the +sides of unpaved roads, dusty in dry weather and bottomless in wet. +Yet it was, for its size, already one of the most cosmopolitan +places in the country. Of course, the population was mainly +American, and they were beginning to pour in--sharp-eyed men from +the towns in black coats, and long-legged, quiet-looking and +quiet-voiced mountaineers in rusty clothes, who hulked along in +single file, silent and almost fugitive in the glare of daylight. +Quiet they were and well-nigh stealthy, with something of the +movement of other denizens of the forest, unless they were crossed +and aroused, and then, like those other denizens, they were fierce +almost beyond belief. A small cavil might make a great quarrel, and +pistols would flash as quick as light.</p> +<p>The first visit that Keith received was from J. Quincy Plume, +the editor of the <i>Gumbolt Whistle</i>. He had the honor of +knowing his distinguished father, he said, and had once had the +pleasure of being at his old home. He had seen Keith's name on the +book, and had simply called to offer him any services he or his +paper could render him. "There are so few gentlemen in this ---- +hole," he explained, "that I feel that we should all stand +together." Keith, knowing J. Quincy's history, inwardly smiled.</p> +<p>Mr. Plume had aged since he was the speaker of the carpet-bag +legislature; his black hair had begun to be sprinkled with gray, +and had receded yet farther back on his high forehead, his hazel +eyes were a little bleared; and his full lips were less resolute +than of old. He had evidently seen bad times since he was the +facile agent of the Wickersham interests. He wore a black suit and +a gay necktie which had once been gayer, a shabby silk hat, and +patent-leather shoes somewhat broken.</p> +<p>His addiction to cards and drink had contributed to Mr. Plume's +overthrow, and after a disappearance from public view for some time +he had turned up just as Gumbolt began to be talked of, with a +small sheet somewhat larger than a pocket-handkerchief, which, in +prophetic tribute to Gumbolt's future manufactures, he christened +the <i>Gumbolt Whistle</i>.</p> +<p>Mr. Plume offered to introduce Keith to "the prettiest woman in +Gumbolt," and, incidentally, to "the best cocktail" also. +"Terpsichore is a nymph who practises the Terpsichorean art; +indeed, I may say, presides over a number of the arts, for she has +the best faro-bank in town, and the only bar where a gentleman can +get a drink that will not poison a refined stomach. She is, I may +say, the leader of Gumbolt society."</p> +<p>Keith shook his head; he had come to work, he declared.</p> +<p>"Oh, you need not decline; you will have to know Terpy. I am +virtue itself; in fact, I am Joseph--nowadays. You know, I belong +to the cloth?" Keith's expression indicated that he had heard this +fact. "But even I have yielded to her charms--intellectual, I mean, +of course."</p> +<p>Mr. Plume withdrew after having suggested to Keith to make him a +small temporary loan, or, if more convenient, to lend him the use +of his name on a little piece of bank-paper "to tide over an +accidental and unexpected emergency," assuring Keith that he would +certainly take it up within sixty days.</p> +<p>Unfortunately for Keith, Plume's cordiality had made so much +impression on him that he was compliant enough to lend him the use +of his name, and as neither at the expiration of sixty days, nor at +any other time, did Mr. Plume ever find it convenient to take up +his note, Keith found himself later under the necessity of paying +it himself. This circumstance, it is due to Mr. Plume to say, he +always deplored, and doubtless with sincerity.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Women were at a premium in Gumbolt, and Mr. Plume was not the +only person who hymned the praises of "Terpsichoar," as she was +mainly called. Keith could not help wondering what sort of a +creature she was who kept a dance-house and a faro-bank, and yet +was spoken of with unstinted admiration and something very like +respect by the crowd that gathered in the "big room of the +Windsor." She must be handsome, and possibly was a good dancer, but +she was no doubt a wild, coarse creature, with painted cheeks and +dyed hair. The mental picture he formed was not one to interfere +with the picture he carried in his heart.</p> +<p>Next day, as he was making a purchase in a shop, a neat and +trim-looking young woman, with a fresh complexion and a mouth full +of white teeth, walked in, and in a pleasant voice said, "Good +mornin', all." Keith did not associate her at all with Terpsichore, +but he was surprised that old Tim Gilsey should not have known of +her presence in town. He was still more surprised when, after +having taken a long and perfectly unabashed look at him, with no +more diffidence in it than if he had been a lump of ore she was +inspecting, she said:</p> +<p>"You're the fellow that come to town night before last? Uncle +Tim was tellin' me about you."</p> +<p>"Yes; I got here night before last. Who is Uncle Tim?"</p> +<p>"Uncle Tim Gilsey."</p> +<p>She walked up and extended her hand to him with the most perfect +friendliness, adding, with a laugh as natural as a child's:</p> +<p>"We'll have to be friends; Uncle Tim says you're a white man, +and that's more than some he brings over the road these days +are."</p> +<p>"Yes, I hope so. You are Mr. Gilsey's nieces I am glad to meet +you"</p> +<p>The young woman burst out laughing.</p> +<p>"Lor', <i>no</i>. I ain't anybody's niece; but he's my +uncle--I've adopted <i>him</i>. I'm Terpy--Terpsichore, run +Terpsichore's Hall," she said by way of explanation, as if she +thought he might not understand her allusion.</p> +<p>Keith's breath was almost taken away. Why, she was not at all +like the picture he had formed of her. She was a neat, +quiet-looking young woman, with a fine figure, slim and straight +and supple, a melodious voice, and laughing gray eyes.</p> +<p>"You must come and see me. We're to have a blow-out to-night. +Come around. I'll introduce you to the boys. I've got the finest +ball-room in town--just finished--and three fiddles. We christen it +to-night. Goin' to be the biggest thing ever was in Gumbolt."</p> +<p>Keith awoke from his daze.</p> +<p>"Thank you, but I am afraid I'll have to ask you to excuse me," +he said.</p> +<p>"Why?" she inquired simply.</p> +<p>"Because I can't come. I am not much of a dancer."</p> +<p>She looked at him first with surprise and then with +amusement.</p> +<p>"Are you a Methodist preacher?"</p> +<p>"No."</p> +<p>"Salvation?"</p> +<p>"No."</p> +<p>"I thought, maybe, you were like Tib Drummond, the Methodist, +what's always a-preachin' ag'in' me." She turned to the +storekeeper. "What do you think he says? He says he won't come and +see me, and he ain't a preacher nor Salvation Army neither. But he +will, won't he?"</p> +<p>"You bet," said the man, peeping up with a grin from behind a +barrel. "If he don't, he'll be about the only one in town who +don't."</p> +<p>"No," said Keith, pleasantly, but firmly. "I can't go."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, you will," she laughed. "I'll expect you. By-by"; and +she walked out of the store with a jaunty air, humming a song about +the "iligint, bauld McIntyres."</p> +<p>The "blow-out" came off, and was honored with a column in the +next issue of the Whistle--a column of reeking eulogy. But Keith +did not attend, though he heard the wheezing of fiddles and the +shouting and stamping of Terpsichore's guests deep into the +night.</p> +<p>Keith was too much engrossed for the next few days in looking +about him for work and getting himself as comfortably settled as +possible to think of anything else.</p> +<p>If, however, he forgot the "only decent-looking woman in +Gumbolt," she did not forget him. The invitation of a sovereign is +equivalent to a command the world over; and Terpsichore was as much +the queen regnant of Gumbolt as Her Majesty, Victoria, was Queen of +England, or of any other country in her wide realm. She was more; +she was absolute. She could have had any one of a half-dozen men +cut the throat of any other man in Gumbolt at her bidding.</p> +<p>The mistress of the "Dancing Academy" had not forgotten her +boast. The institution over which she presided was popular enough +almost to justify her wager. There were few men of Keith's age in +Gumbolt who did not attend its sessions and pay their tribute over +the green tables that stretched along the big, low room.</p> +<p>In fact, Miss Terpsichore was not of that class that forget +either friends or foes; whatever she was she was frankly and +outspokenly. Mr. Plume informed Keith that she was "down on +him."</p> +<p>"She's got it in for you," he said. "Says she's goin' to drive +you out of Gumbolt."</p> +<p>"Well, she will not," said Keith, with a flash in his eye.</p> +<p>"She is a good friend and a good foe," said the editor. "Better +go and offer a pinch of incense to Diana. She is worth cultivating. +You ought to see her dance."</p> +<p>Keith, however, had made his decision. A girl with eyes like +dewy violets was his Diana, and to her his incense was offered.</p> +<p>A day or two later Keith was passing down the main street, when +he saw the young woman crossing over at the corner ahead of him, +stepping from one stone to another quite daintily. She was holding +up her skirt, and showed a very neat pair of feet in perfectly +fitting boots. At the crossing she stopped. As Keith passed her, he +glanced at her, and caught her eye fastened on him. She did not +look away at all, and Keith inclined his head in recognition of +their former meeting.</p> +<p>"Good morning," she said.</p> +<p>"Good morning." Keith lifted his hat and was passing on.</p> +<p>"Why haven't you been to see me?" she demanded.</p> +<p>Keith pretended not to hear.</p> +<p>"I thought I invited you to come and see me?"</p> +<p>Still, Keith did not answer, but he paused. His head was +averted, and he was waiting until she ceased speaking to go on.</p> +<p>Suddenly, to his surprise, she bounded in front of him and +squared her straight figure right before him.</p> +<p>"Did you hear what I said to you?" she demanded +tempestuously.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<br> +<a name="p140.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p140.jpg"><img src="images/p140.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"Then why don't you answer me?"</b></p> +<br> +<p>"Then why don't you answer me?" Her gaze was fastened on his +face. Her cheeks were flushed, her voice was imperative, and her +eyes flashed.</p> +<p>"Because I didn't wish to do so," said Keith, calmly.</p> +<p>Suddenly she flamed out and poured at him a torrent of vigorous +oaths. He was so taken by surprise that he forgot to do anything +but wonder, and his calmness evidently daunted her.</p> +<p>"Don't you know that when a lady invites you to come to see her, +you have to do it?"</p> +<p>"I have heard that," said Keith, beginning to look amused.</p> +<p>"You have? Do you mean to say Tam not a lady?"</p> +<p>"Well, from your conversation, I might suppose you were a man," +said Keith, half laughing.</p> +<p>"I will show you that I am man enough for you. Don't you know I +am the boss of this town, and that when I tell you to do a thing +you have to obey me?"</p> +<p>"No; I do not know that," said Keith. "You may be the boss of +this town, but I don't have to obey you."</p> +<p>"Well, I will show you about it, and ---- quick, too. See if I +don't! I will run you out of this town, my young man."</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't think you will," said Keith, easily.</p> +<p>"Yes, I will, and quick enough, too. You look out for me."</p> +<p>"Good morning," said Keith, raising his hat.</p> +<p>The loudness of her tone and the vehemence of her manner had +arrested several passers-by, who now stood looking on with +interest.</p> +<p>"What's the matter, Terpy?" asked one of them. "What are you so +peppery about? Bank busted?"</p> +<p>The young woman explained the matter with more fairness than +Keith would have supposed.</p> +<p>"Oh, he is just a fool. Let him alone," said the man; whilst +another added: "He'll come around, darlin'; don't you bother; and +if he don't, I will."</p> +<p>"---- him! He's got to go. I won't let him now. You know when I +say a thing it's got to be, and I mean to make him know it, too," +asserted the young Amazon. "I'll have him driven out of town, and +if there ain't any one here that's man enough to do it, I'll do it +myself." This declaration she framed with an imprecation +sufficiently strong if an oath could make it so.</p> +<p>That evening Tim Gilsey came in to see Keith. He looked rather +grave.</p> +<p>"I am sorry you did not drop in, if it was for no more than to +git supper," he said. "Terpy is a bad one to have against you. +She's the kindest gal in the world; but she's got a temper, and +when a gal's got a temper, she's worse'n a fractious leader."</p> +<p>"I don't want her against me; but I'll be hanged if I will be +driven into going anywhere that I don't want to go," asserted +Keith.</p> +<p>"No, I don't say as you should," said the old driver, his eye +resting on Keith with a look that showed that he liked him none the +less for his pluck. "But you've got to look out. This ain't back in +the settlements, and there's a plenty around here as would cut your +throat for a wink of Terpy's eye. They will give you a shake for +it, and if you come out of that safe it will be all right. I'll see +one or two of the boys and see that they don't let 'em double up on +you. A horse can't do nothin' long if he has got a double load on +him, no matter what he is."</p> +<p>Tim strolled out, and, though Keith did not know it for some +time, he put in a word for him in one or two places which stood him +in good stead afterwards.</p> +<p>The following day a stranger came up to Keith. He was a thin man +between youth and middle age, with a long face and a deep voice, +and light hair that stuck up on his head. His eyes were deep-set +and clear; his mouth was grave and his chin strong. He wore a rusty +black coat and short, dark trousers.</p> +<p>"Are you Mr. Keith?" His voice was deep and melancholy.</p> +<p>Keith bowed. He could not decide what the stranger was. The +short trousers inclined him to the church.</p> +<p>"I am proud to know you, sir. I am Mr. Drummond, the Methodist +preacher." He gripped Keith's hand.</p> +<p>Keith expressed the pleasure he had in meeting him.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir; I am proud to know you," repeated Mr. Drummond. "I +hear you have come out on the right side, and have given a +righteous reproof to that wretched dancing Jezebel who is trying to +destroy the souls of the young men of this town."</p> +<p>Keith said that he was not aware that he had done anything of +the kind. As to destroying the young men, he doubted if they could +be injured by her--certainly not by dancing. In any event, he did +not merit his praise.</p> +<p>Mr. Drummond shook his head. "Yes, sir. You are the first young +man who has had the courage to withstand the wiles of that person. +She is the most abandoned creature in this town; she beguiles the +men so that I can make no impression on them. Even when I am +holding my meetings, I can hear the strains of her fiddles and the +shouts of the ribald followers that throng her den-of-Satan. I have +tried to get her to leave, but she will not go."</p> +<p>Keith's reply was that he thought she had as much right there as +any one, and he doubted if there were any way to meet the +difficulty.</p> +<p>"I am sorry to hear you say that," said the preacher. "I shall +break up her sink of iniquity if I have to hold a revival meeting +at her very door and call down brimstone and fire upon her den of +wickedness"</p> +<p>"If you felt so on the subject of dancing, why did you come +here?" demanded Keith. "It seems to me that dancing is one of the +least sins of Gumbolt."</p> +<p>The preacher looked at him almost pensively. "I thought it my +duty. I have encountered ridicule and obloquy; but I do not mind +them. I count them but dross. Wherever I have found the print of my +Lord's shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my feet +also."</p> +<p>Keith bowed. The speech of Mr. Valiant-for-Truth carried its +cachet with it. The stiff, awkward figure had changed. The +preacher's sincerity had lent him dignity, and his simple use of a +simple tinker's words had suddenly uplifted him to a higher +plane.</p> +<p>"Do not you think you might go about it in a less uncompromising +spirit? You might succeed better and do more good," said Keith.</p> +<p>"No, sir; I will make no compromise with the devil--not even to +succeed. Good-by. I am sorry to find you among the obdurate." As he +shook hands, his jaw was set fast and his eye was burning. He +strode off with the step of a soldier advancing in battle.</p> +<p>Keith had not long to wait to test old Gilsey's advice. He was +sitting in the public room of the Windsor, a few evenings later, +among the motley crew that thronged that popular resort, who were +discoursing of many things, from J. Quincy Plume's last editorial +on "The New Fanny Elssler," to the future of Gumbolt, when Mr. +Plume himself entered. His appearance was the signal for some +humor, for Mr. Plume had long passed the time when any one but +himself took him seriously.</p> +<p>"Here comes somebody that can tell us the news," called some +one. "Come in, J. Quincy, and tell us what you know."</p> +<p>"That would take too long," said Mr. Plume, as he edged himself +toward the stove. "You will find all the news in the <i>Whistle</i> +to-morrow."</p> +<p>Just then another new arrival, who had pushed his way in toward +the stove, said: "I will tell you a piece of news: Bill Bluffy is +back."</p> +<p>"Come back, has he?" observed one of the company. "Well, that is +more interesting to J. Quincy than if the railroad had come. They +are hated rivals. Since J. Quincy has taken to writing editorials +on Terpy, Bill says there ain't no show for him. He threatened to +kill Terp, I heard."</p> +<p>"Oh, I guess he has got more sense than that, drunk or sober. He +had better stick to men; shootin' of women ain't popular in most +parts, an' it ain't likely to get fashionable in Gumbolt, I +reckon."</p> +<p>"He is huntin' for somebody," said the newcomer.</p> +<p>"I guess if he is going to get after all of Terpy's ardent +admirers, he will have his hands pretty full," observed Mr. +Plume--a sentiment which appeared to meet with general +approval.</p> +<p>Just then the door opened a little roughly, and a man entered +slowly whom Keith knew intuitively to be Mr. Bill Bluffy himself. +He was a young, brown-bearded man, about Keith's size, but more +stockily built, his flannel shirt was laced up in front, and had a +full, broad collar turned over a red necktie with long ends. His +slouch-hat was set on the back of his head. The gleaming butts of +two pistols that peeped out of his waistband gave a touch of +piquancy to his appearance. His black eyes were restless and +sparkling with excitement. He wavered slightly in his gait, and his +speech was just thick enough to confirm what his appearance +suggested, and what he was careful to declare somewhat +superfluously, that he was "on a ---- of a spree."</p> +<p>"I am a-huntin' for a ---- furriner 'at I promised to run out of +town before to-morrow mornin'. Is he in here!" He tried to stand +still, but finding this difficult, advanced.</p> +<p>A pause fell in the conversation around the stove. Two or three +of the men, after a civil enough greeting, hitched themselves into +a more comfortable posture in their chairs, and it was singular, +though Keith did not recall it until afterwards, that each of them +showed by the movement a pistol on his right hip.</p> +<p>After a general greeting, which in form was nearer akin to an +eternal malediction than to anything else, Mr. Bluffy walked to the +bar. Resting himself against it, he turned, and sweeping his eye +over the assemblage, ordered every man in the room to walk up and +take a drink with him, under penalties veiled in too terrific +language to be wholly intelligible. The violence of his invitation +was apparently not quite necessary, as every man in the room pulled +back his chair promptly and moved toward the bar, leaving Keith +alone by the stove. Mr. Bluffy had ordered drinks, when his casual +glance fell on Keith standing quietly inside the circle of chairs +on the other side of the stove. He pushed his way unsteadily +through the men clustered at the bar.</p> +<p>"Why in the ---- don't you come up and do what I tell you? Are +you deaf?"</p> +<p>"No," said Keith, quietly; "but I'll get you to excuse me."</p> +<p>"Excuse ----! You aren't too good to drink with me, are you? If +you think you are, I'll show you pretty ----d quick you ain't."</p> +<p>Keith flushed.</p> +<p>"Drink with him," said two or three men in an undertone. "Or +take a cigar," said one, in a friendly aside.</p> +<p>"Thank you, I won't drink," said Keith, yet more gravely, his +face paling a little, "and I don't care for a cigar."</p> +<p>"Come on, Mr. Keith," called some one.</p> +<p>The name caught the young bully, and he faced Keith more +directly.</p> +<p>"Keith?--Keith!" he repeated, fastening his eyes on him with a +cold glitter in them. "So you're Mr. Keith, are you?"</p> +<p>"That is my name," said Keith, feeling his blood tingling.</p> +<p>"Well, you're the man I'm a-lookin' for. No, you won't drink +with me, 'cause I won't let you, you ---- ---- ----! You are the +---- ---- that comes here insultin' a lady?"</p> +<p>"No; I am not," said Keith, keeping his eyes on him.</p> +<p>"You're a liar!" said Mr. Bluffy, adding his usual expletives. +"And you're the man I've come back here a-huntin' for. I promised +to drive you out of town to-night if I had to go to hell a-doin' +it."</p> +<p>His white-handled pistol was out of his waistband with a +movement so quick that he had it cocked and Keith was looking down +the barrel before he took in what had been done. Quickness was Mr. +Bluffy's strongest card, and he had played it often.</p> +<p>Keith's face paled slightly. He looked steadily over the pistol, +not three feet from him, at the drunken creature beyond it. His +nerves grew tense, and every muscle in his frame tightened. He saw +the beginning of the grooves in the barrel of the pistol and the +gray cones of the bullets at the side in the cylinder; he saw the +cruel, black, drunken eyes of the young desperado. It was all in a +flash. He had not a chance for his life. Yes, he had.</p> +<p>"Let up, Bill," said a voice, coaxingly, as one might to soothe +a wild beast. "Don't--"</p> +<p>"Drop that pistol!" said another voice, which Keith recognized +as Dave Dennison's.</p> +<p>The desperado half glanced at the latter as he shot a volley of +oaths at him. That glance saved Keith. He ducked out of the line of +aim and sprang upon his assailant at the same time, seizing the +pistol as he went, and turning it up just as Bluffy pulled the +trigger. The ball went into the remote corner of the ceiling, and +the desperado was carried off his feet by Keith's rush.</p> +<p>The only sounds heard in the room were the shuffling of the feet +of the two wrestlers and the oaths of the enraged Bluffy. Keith had +not uttered a word. He fought like a bulldog, without noise. His +effort was, while he still gripped the pistol, to bring his two +hands together behind his opponent's back. A sudden relaxation of +the latter's grip as he made another desperate effort to release +his pistol favored Keith, and, bringing his hands together, he +lifted his antagonist from his feet, and by a dexterous twist +whirled him over his shoulder and dashed him with all his might, +full length flat on his back, upon the floor. It was an old trick +learned in his boyish days and practised on the Dennisons, and +Gordon had by it ended many a contest, but never one more +completely than this. A buzz of applause came from the bystanders, +and more than one, with sudden friendliness, called to him to get +Bluffy's pistol, which had fallen on the floor. But Keith had no +need to do so, for just then a stoutly built young fellow snatched +it up. It was Dave Dennison, who had come in just as the row began. +He had been following up Bluffy. The desperado, however, was too +much shaken to have used it immediately, and when, still stunned +and breathless, he rose to his feet, the crowd was too much against +him to have allowed him to renew the attack, even had he then +desired it.</p> +<p>As for Keith, he found himself suddenly the object of universal +attention, and he might, had he been able to distribute himself, +have slept in half the shacks in the camp.</p> +<p>The only remark Dave made on the event was characteristic:</p> +<p>"Don't let him git the drop on you again."</p> +<p>The next morning Keith found himself, in some sort, famous. +"Tacklin' Bill Bluffy without a gun and cleanin' him up," as one of +his new friends expressed it, was no mean feat, and Keith was not +insensible to the applause it brought him. He would have enjoyed it +more, perhaps, had not every man, without exception, who spoke of +it given him the same advice Dave had given--to look out for +Bluffy. To have to kill a man or be killed oneself is not the +pleasantest introduction to one's new home; yet this appeared to +Keith the dilemma in which he was placed, and as, if either had to +die, he devoutly hoped it would not be himself, he stuck a pistol +in his pocket and walked out the next morning with very much the +same feeling he supposed he should have if he had been going to +battle. He was ashamed to find himself much relieved when some one +he met volunteered the information that Bluffy had left town by +light that morning. "Couldn't stand the racket. Terpy wouldn't even +speak to him. But he'll come back. Jest as well tote your gun a +little while, till somebody else kills him for you." A few mornings +later, as Keith was going down the street, he met again the "only +decent-lookin' gal in Gumbolt." It was too late for him to turn +off, for when he first caught sight of her he saw that she had seen +him, and her head went up, and she turned her eyes away. He hoped +to pass without appearing to know her; but just before they met, +she cut her eye at him, and though his gaze was straight ahead, she +said, "Good morning," and he touched his hat as he passed. That +afternoon he met her again. He was passing on as before, without +looking at her, but she stopped him. "Good afternoon." She spoke +rather timidly, and the color that mounted to her face made her +very handsome. He returned the salutation coldly, and with an +uneasy feeling that he was about to be made the object of another +outpouring of her wrath. Her intention, however, was quite +different. "I don't want you to think I set that man on you; it was +somebody else done it." The color came and went in her cheeks.</p> +<p>Keith bowed politely, but preserved silence.</p> +<p>"I was mad enough to do it, but I didn't, and them that says I +done it lies." She flushed, but looked him straight in the +face.</p> +<p>"Oh, that's all right," said Keith, civilly, starting to move +on.</p> +<p>"I wish they would let me and my affairs alone," she began.' +"They're always a-talkin' about me, and I never done 'em no harm. +First thing they know, I'll give 'em something to talk about."</p> +<p>The suppressed fire was beginning to blaze again, and Keith +looked somewhat anxiously down the street, wishing he were anywhere +except in that particular company. To relieve the tension, he +said:</p> +<p>"I did not mean to be rude to you the other day. Good +morning."</p> +<p>At the kind tone her face changed.</p> +<p>"I knew it. I was riled that mornin' about another +thing--somethin' what happened the day before, about Bill," she +explained. "Bill's bad enough when he's in liquor, and I'd have +sent him off for good long ago if they had let him alone. But +they're always a-peckin' and a-diggin' at him. They set him on +drinkin' and fightin', and not one of 'em is man enough to stand up +to him."</p> +<p>She gave a little whimper, and then, as if not trusting herself +further, walked hastily away. Mr. Gilsey said to Gordon soon +afterwards:</p> +<p>"Well, you've got one friend in Gumbolt as is a team by herself; +you've captured Terp. She says you're the only man in Gumbolt as +treats her like a lady."</p> +<p>Keith was both pleased and relieved.</p> +<p>A week or two after Keith had taken up his abode in Gumbolt, Mr. +Gilsey was taken down with his old enemy, the rheumatism, and Keith +went to visit him. He found him in great anxiety lest his removal +from the box should hasten the arrival of the railway. He +unexpectedly gave Keith evidence of the highest confidence he could +have in any man. He asked if he would take the stage until he got +well. Gordon readily assented.</p> +<p>So the next morning at daylight Keith found himself sitting in +the boot, enveloped in old Tim's greatcoat, enthroned in that high +seat toward which he had looked in his childhood-dreams.</p> +<p>It was hard work and more or less perilous work, but his +experience as a boy on the plantation and at Squire Rawson's, when +he had driven the four-horse wagon, stood him in good stead.</p> +<p>Old Tim's illness was more protracted than any one had +contemplated, and, before the first winter was out, Gordon had a +reputation as a stage-driver second only to old Gilsey himself.</p> +<p>Stage-driving, however, was not his only occupation, and before +the next Spring had passed, Keith had become what Mr. Plume called +"one of Gumbolt's rising young sons." His readiness to lend a hand +to any one who needed a helper began to tell. Whether it was Mr. +Gilsey trying to climb with his stiff joints to the boot of his +stage, or Squire Rawson's cousin, Captain Turley, the +sandy-whiskered, sandy-clothed surveyor, running his lines through +the laurel bushes among the gray débris of the crumbled +mountain-side; Mr. Quincy Plume trying to evolve new copy from a +splitting head, or the shouting wagon-drivers thrashing their teams +up the muddy street, he could and would help any one.</p> +<p>He was so popular that he was nominated to be the town +constable, a tribute to his victory over Mr. Bluffy.</p> +<p>Terpy and he, too, had become friends, and though Keith stuck to +his resolution not to visit her "establishment," few days went by +that she did not pass him on the street or happen along where he +was, and always with a half-abashed nod and a rising color.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<h3>KEITH DECLINES AN OFFER</h3> +<br> +<p>With the growth of Gumbolt, Mr. Wickersham and his friends +awakened to the fact that Squire Rawson was not the simple +cattle-dealer he appeared to be, but was a man to be reckoned with. +He not only held a large amount of the most valuable property in +the Gap, but had as yet proved wholly intractable about disposing +of it. Accordingly, the agent of Wickersham & Company, Mr. +Halbrook, came down to Gumbolt to look into the matter. He brought +with him a stout, middle-aged Scotchman, named Matheson, with keen +eyes and a red face, who was represented to be the man whom +Wickersham & Company intended to make the superintendent of +their mines as soon as they should be opened.</p> +<p>The railroad not having yet been completed more than a third of +the way beyond Eden, Mr. Halbrook took the stage to Gumbolt.</p> +<p>Owing to something that Mr. Gilsey had let fall about Keith, Mr. +Halbrook sent next day for Keith. He wanted him to do a small piece +of surveying for him. With him was the stout Scotchman, +Matheson.</p> +<p>The papers and plats were on a table in his room, and Keith was +looking at them.</p> +<p>"How long would it take you to do it?" asked Mr. Halbrook. He +was a short, alert-looking man, with black eyes and a decisive +manner. He always appeared to be in a hurry.</p> +<p>Keith was so absorbed that he did not answer immediately, and +the agent repeated the question with a little asperity in his +tone.</p> +<p>"I say how long would it take you to run those lines?"</p> +<p>"I don't know," said Keith, doubtfully. "I see a part of the +property lies on the mountain-side just above and next to Squire +Rawson's lands. I could let you know to-morrow."</p> +<p>"To-morrow! You people down here always want to put things off. +That is the reason you are so behind the rest of the world. The +stage-driver, however, told me that you were different, and that is +the reason I sent for you."</p> +<p>Keith straightened himself. "Dr. Chalmers said when some one +praised him as better than other Scotchmen, 'I thank you, sir, for +no compliment paid me at the expense of my countrymen." He half +addressed himself to the Scotchman.</p> +<p>Matheson turned and looked him over, and as he did so his grim +face softened a little.</p> +<p>"I know nothing about your doctors," said Mr. Halbrook; "what I +want is to get this work done. Why can't you let me know to-day +what it will cost? I have other things to do. I wish to leave +to-morrow afternoon."</p> +<p>"Well," said Keith, with a little flush in his face, "I could +guess at it to-day. I think it will take a very short time. I am +familiar with a part of this property already, and--"</p> +<p>Mr. Halbrook was a man of quick intellect; moreover, he had many +things on his mind just then. Among them he had to go and see what +sort of a trade he could make with this Squire Rawson, who had +somehow stumbled into the best piece of land in the Gap, and was +now holding it in an obstinate and unreasonable way.</p> +<p>"Well, I don't want any guessing. I'll tell you what I will do. +I will pay you so much for the job." He named a sum which was +enough to make Keith open his eyes. It was more than he had ever +received for any one piece of work.</p> +<p>"It would be cheaper for you to pay me by the day," Keith +began.</p> +<p>"Not much! I know the way you folks work down here. I have seen +something of it. No day-work for me. I will pay you so many dollars +for the job. What do you say? You can take it or leave it alone. If +you do it well, I may have some more work for you." He had no +intention of being offensive; he was only talking what he would +have called "business"; but his tone was such that Keith answered +him with a flash in his eye, his breath coming a little more +quickly.</p> +<p>"Very well; I will take it."</p> +<p>Keith took the papers and went out. Within a few minutes he had +found his notes of the former survey and secured his assistants. +His next step was to go to Captain Turley and take him into +partnership in the work, and within an hour he was out on the +hills, verifying former lines and running such new lines as were +necessary. Spurred on by the words of the newcomer even more than +by the fee promised him, Keith worked with might and main, and sat +up all night finishing the work. Next day he walked into the room +where Mr. Halbrook sat, in the company's big new office at the head +of the street. He had a roll of paper under his arm.</p> +<p>"Good morning, sir." His head was held rather high, and his +voice had a new tone in it.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham's agent looked up, and his face clouded. He was +not used to being addressed in so independent a tone.</p> +<p>"Good morning. I suppose you have come to tell me how long it +will take you to finish the job that I gave you, or that the price +I named is not high enough?"</p> +<p>"No," said Keith, "I have not. I have come to show you that my +people down here do not always put things off till to-morrow. I +have come to tell you that I have done the work. Here is your +survey." He unrolled and spread out before Mr. Halbrook's +astonished gaze the plat he had made. It was well done, the +production of a draughtsman who knew the value of neatness and +skill. The agent's eyes opened wide.</p> +<p>"Impossible! You could not have done it, or else you--"</p> +<p>"I have done it," said Keith, firmly. "It is correct."</p> +<p>"You had the plat before?" Mr. Halbrook's eyes were fastened on +him keenly. He was feeling a little sore at what he considered +having been outwitted by this youngster.</p> +<p>"I had run certain of the lines before," said Keith: "these, as +I started to tell you yesterday. And now," he said, with a sudden +change of manner, "I will make you the same proposal I made +yesterday. You can pay me what you think the work is worth. I will +not hold you to your bargain of yesterday."</p> +<p>The other sat back in his chair, and looked at him with a +different expression on his face.</p> +<p>"You must have worked all night?' he said thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"I did," said Keith, "and so did my assistant, but that is +nothing. I have often done that for less money. Many people sit up +all night in Gumbolt," he added, with a smile.</p> +<p>"That old stage-driver said you were a worker." Mr. Halbrook's +eyes were still on him. "Where are you from?"</p> +<p>"Born and bred in the South," said Keith.</p> +<p>"I owe you something of an apology for what I said yesterday. I +shall have some more work for you, perhaps."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The agent, when he went back to the North, was as good as his +word. He told his people that there was one man in Gumbolt who +would do their work promptly.</p> +<p>"And he's straight," he said. "He says he is from the South; but +he is a new issue."</p> +<p>He further reported that old Rawson, the countryman who owned +the land in the Gap, either owned or controlled the cream of the +coal-beds there. "He either knows or has been well advised by +somebody who knows the value of all the lands about there. And he +has about blocked the game. I think it's that young Keith, and I +advise you to get hold of Keith."</p> +<p>"Who is Keith? What Keith? What is his name?" asked Mr. +Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Gordon Keith."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham's face brightened. "Oh, that is all right; we can +get him. We might give him a place?"</p> +<p>Mr. Halbrook nodded.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham sat down and wrote a letter to Keith, saying that +he wished to see him in New York on a matter of business which +might possibly turn out to his advantage. He also wrote a letter to +General Keith, suggesting that he might possibly be able to give +his son employment, and intimating that it was on account of his +high regard for the General.</p> +<p>That day Keith met Squire Rawson on the street. He was dusty and +travel-stained.</p> +<p>"I was jest comin' to see you," he said.</p> +<p>They returned to the little room which Keith called his office, +where the old fellow opened his saddle-bags and took out a package +of papers.</p> +<p>"They all thought I was a fool," he chuckled as he laid out deed +after deed. "While they was a-talkin' I was a-ridin'. They thought +I was buyin' cattle, and I was, but for every cow I bought I got a +calf in the shape of the mineral rights to a tract of land. I'd buy +a cow and I'd offer a man half as much again as she was worth if +he'd sell me the mineral rights at a fair price, and he'd do it. He +never had no use for 'em, an' I didn't know as I should either; but +that young engineer o' yourn talked so positive I thought I might +as well git 'em inside my pasture-fence." He sat back and looked at +Keith with quizzical complacency.</p> +<p>"Come a man to see me not long ago," he continued; "Mr. +Halbrook--black-eyed man, with a face white and hard like a +tombstone. I set up and talked to him nigh all night and filled him +plumb full of old applejack. That man sized me up for a fool, an' I +sized him up for a blamed smart Yankee. But I don't know as he got +much the better of me."</p> +<p>Keith doubted it too.</p> +<p>"I think it was in and about the most vallyble applejack that I +ever owned," continued the old landowner, after a pause. "You know, +I don't mind Yankees as much as I used to--some of 'em. Of course, +thar was Dr. Balsam; he was a Yankee; but I always thought he was +somethin' out of the general run, like a piebald horse. That young +engineer o' yourn that come to my house several years ago, he give +me a new idea about 'em--about some other things, too. He was a +very pleasant fellow, an' he knowed a good deal, too. It occurred +to me 't maybe you might git hold of him, an' we might make +somethin' out of these lands on our own account. Where is he +now?"</p> +<p>Keith explained that Mr. Rhodes was somewhere in Europe.</p> +<p>"Well, time enough. He'll come home sometime, an' them lands +ain't liable to move away. Yes, I likes some Yankees now pretty +well; but, Lord! I loves to git ahead of a Yankee! They're so kind +o' patronizin' to you. Well," he said, rising, "I thought I'd come +up and talk to you about it. Some day I'll git you to look into +matters a leetle for me."</p> +<p>The next day Keith received Mr. Wickersham's letter requesting +him to come to New York. Keith's heart gave a bound.</p> +<p>The image of Alice Yorke flashed into his mind, as it always did +when any good fortune came to him. Many a night, with drooping eyes +and flagging energies, he had sat up and worked with renewed +strength because she sat on the other side of the hot lamp.</p> +<p>It is true that communication between them had been but rare. +Mrs. Yorke had objected to any correspondence, and he now began to +see, though dimly, that her objection was natural. But from time to +time, on anniversaries, he had sent her a book, generally a book of +poems with marked passages in it, and had received in reply a +friendly note from the young lady, over which he had pondered, and +which he had always treasured and filed away with tender care.</p> +<p>Keith took the stage that night for Eden on his way to New York. +As they drove through the pass in the moonlight he felt as if he +were soaring into a new life. He was already crossing the mountains +beyond which lay the Italy of his dreams.</p> +<p>He stopped on his way to see his father. The old gentleman's +face glowed with pleasure as he looked at Gordon and found how he +had developed. Life appeared to be reopening for him also in his +son.</p> +<p>"I will give you a letter to an old friend of mine, John +Templeton. He has a church in New York. But it is not one of the +fashionable ones; for</p> +<blockquote>"'Unpractised he to fawn or seek for power<br> +By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour:<br> +Far other aims his heart had learned to prize,<br> +More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise.'</blockquote> +<p>"You will find him a safe adviser. You will call also and pay my +respects to Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth."</p> +<p>On his way, owing to a break in the railroad, Keith had to +change his train at a small town not far from New York. Among the +passengers was an old lady, simply and quaintly dressed, who had +taken the train somewhere near Philadelphia. She was travelling +quite alone, and appeared to be much hampered by her bags and +parcels. The sight of an old woman, like that of a little girl, +always softened Keith's heart. Something always awoke in him that +made him feel tender. When Keith first observed this old lady, the +entire company was streaming along the platform in that haste which +always marks the transfer of passengers from one train to another. +No one appeared to notice her, and under the weight of her bags and +bundles she was gradually dropping to the rear of the crowd. As +Keith, bag in hand, swung past her with the rest, he instinctively +turned and offered his services to help carry her parcels. She +panted her thanks, but declined briefly, declaring that she should +do very well.</p> +<p>"You may be doing very well," Keith said pleasantly, "but you +will do better if you will let me help you."</p> +<p>"No, thank you." This time more firmly than before. "I am quite +used to helping myself, and am not old enough for that yet. I +prefer to carry my own baggage," she added with emphasis.</p> +<p>"It is not the question of age, I hope, that gives me the +privilege of helping a lady," said Keith. He was already trying to +relieve her of her largest bag and one or two bundles.</p> +<p>A keen glance from a pair of very bright eyes was shot at +him.</p> +<p>"Well, I will let you take that side of that bag and this +bundle--no; that one. Now, don't run away from me."</p> +<p>"No; I will promise not," said Keith, laughing; and relieved of +that much of her burden, the old lady stepped out more briskly than +she had been doing. When they finally reached a car, the seats were +nearly all filled. There was one, however, beside a young woman at +the far end, and this Keith offered to the old lady, who, as he +stowed her baggage close about her, made him count the pieces +carefully. Finding the tale correct, she thanked him with more +cordiality than she had shown before, and Keith withdrew to secure +a seat for himself. As, however, the car was full, he stood up in +the rear of the coach, waiting until some passengers might alight +at a way-station. The first seat that became vacant was one +immediately behind the old lady, who had now fallen into a cheerful +conversation with the young woman beside her.</p> +<p>"What do you do when strangers offer to take your bags?" Keith +heard her asking as he seated himself.</p> +<p>"Why, I don't know; they don't often ask. I never let them do +it," said the young woman, firmly.</p> +<p>"A wise rule, too. I have heard that that is the way nowadays +that they rob women travelling alone. I had a young man insist on +taking my bag back there; but I am very suspicious of these civil +young men." She leaned over and counted her parcels again. Keith +could not help laughing to himself. As she sat up she happened to +glance around, and he caught her eye. He saw her clutch her +companion and whisper to her, at which the latter glanced over her +shoulder and gave him a look that was almost a stare. Then the two +conferred together, while Keith chuckled with amusement. What they +were saying, had Keith heard it, would have amused him still more +than the other.</p> +<p>"There he is now, right behind us," whispered the old lady.</p> +<p>"Why, he doesn't look like a robber."</p> +<p>"They never do. I have heard they never do. They are the most +dangerous kind. Of course, a robber who looked it would be arrested +on sight."</p> +<p>"But he is very good-looking," insisted the younger woman, who +had, in the meantime, taken a second glance at Keith, who pretended +to be immersed in a book.</p> +<p>"Well, so much the worse. They are the very worst kind. Never +trust a good-looking young stranger, my dear. They may be all right +in romances, but never in life."</p> +<p>As her companion did not altogether appear to take this view, +the old lady half turned presently, and taking a long look down the +other side of the car, to disarm Keith of any suspicion that she +might be looking at him, finally let her eyes rest on his face, +quite accidentally, as it were. A moment later she was whispering +to her companion.</p> +<p>"I am sure he is watching us. I am going to ask you to stick +close beside me when we get to New York until I find a +hackney-coach."</p> +<p>"Have you been to New York often?" asked the girl, smiling.</p> +<p>"I have been there twice in the last thirty years; but I spent +several winters there when I was a young girl. I suppose it has +changed a good deal in that time?"</p> +<p>The young lady also supposed that it had changed in that time, +and wondered why Miss Brooke--the name the other had given--did not +come to New York oftener.</p> +<p>"You see, it is such an undertaking to go now," said the old +lady. "Everything goes with such a rush that it takes my breath +away. Why, three trains a day each way pass near my home now. One +of them actually rushes by in the most impetuous and disdainful +way. When I was young we used to go to the station at least an hour +before the train was due, and had time to take out our knitting and +compose our thoughts; but now one has to be at the station just as +promptly as if one were going to church, and if you don't get on +the train almost before it has stopped, the dreadful thing is gone +before you know it. I must say, it is very destructive to one's +nerves."</p> +<p>Her companion laughed.</p> +<p>"I don't know what you will think when you get to New York."</p> +<p>"Think! I don't expect to think at all. I shall just shut my +eyes and trust to Providence."</p> +<p>"Your friends will meet you there, I suppose?"</p> +<p>"I wrote them two weeks ago that I should be there to-day, and +then my cousin wrote me to let her know the train, and I replied, +telling her what train I expected to take. I would never have come +if I had imagined we were going to have this trouble."</p> +<p>The girl reassured her by telling her that even if her friends +did not meet her, she would put her in the way of reaching them +safely. And in a little while they drew into the station.</p> +<p>Keith's first impression of New York was dazzling to him. The +rush, the hurry, stirred him and filled him with a sense of power. +He felt that here was the theatre of action for him.</p> +<p>The offices of Wickersham & Company were in one of the large +buildings down-town. The whole floor was filled with pens and +railed-off places, beyond which lay the private offices of the +firm. Mr. Wickersham was "engaged," and Keith had to wait for an +hour or two before he could secure an interview with him. When at +length he was admitted to Mr. Wickersham's inner office, he was +received with some cordiality. His father was asked after, and a +number of questions about Gumbolt were put to him. Then Mr. +Wickersham came to the point. He had a high regard for his father, +he said, and having heard that Gordon was living in Gumbolt, where +they had some interests, it had occurred to him that he might +possibly be able to give him a position. The salary would not be +large at first, but if he showed himself capable it might lead to +something better.</p> +<p>Keith was thrilled, and declared that what he most wanted was +work and opportunity to show that he was able to work. Mr. +Wickersham was sure of this, and informed him briefly that it was +outdoor work that they had for him--"the clearing up of titles and +securing of such lands as we may wish to obtain," he added.</p> +<p>This was satisfactory to Keith, and he said so.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham's shrewd eyes had a gleam of content in them.</p> +<p>"Of course, our interest will be your first consideration?" he +said.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir; I should try and make it so."</p> +<p>"For instance," proceeded Mr. Wickersham, "there are certain +lands lying near our lands, not of any special value; but still you +can readily understand that as we are running a railroad through +the mountains, and are expending large sums of money, it is better +that we should control lands through which our line will pass."</p> +<p>Keith saw this perfectly. "Do you know the names of any of the +owners?" he inquired. "I am familiar with some of the lands about +there."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham pondered. Keith was so ingenuous and eager that +there could be no harm in coming to the point.</p> +<p>"Why, yes; there is a man named Rawson that has some lands or +some sort of interest in lands that adjoin ours. It might be well +for us to control those properties."</p> +<p>Keith's countenance fell.</p> +<p>"It happens that I know something of those lands."</p> +<p>"Yes? Well, you might possibly take those properties along with +others?"</p> +<p>"I could certainly convey any proposition you wish to make to +Mr. Rawson, and should be glad to do so," began Keith.</p> +<p>"We should expect you to use your best efforts to secure these +and all other lands that we wish," interrupted Mr. Wickersham, +speaking with sudden sharpness. "When we employ a man we expect him +to give us all his services, and not to be half in our employ and +half in that of the man we are fighting."</p> +<p>The change in his manner and tone was so great and so unexpected +that Keith was amazed. He had never been spoken to before quite in +this way. He, however, repressed his feeling.</p> +<p>"I should certainly render you the best service I could," he +said; "but you would not expect me to say anything to Squire Rawson +that I did not believe? He has talked with me about these lands, +and he knows their value just as well as you do."</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham looked at him with a cold light in his eyes, +which suddenly recalled Ferdy to Keith.</p> +<p>"I don't think that you and I will suit each other, young man," +he said.</p> +<p>Keith's face flushed; he rose. "I don't think we should, Mr. +Wickersham. Good morning." And turning, he walked out of the room +with his head very high.</p> +<p>As he passed out he saw Ferdy. He was giving some directions to +a clerk, and his tone was one that made Keith glad he was not under +him.</p> +<p>"Haven't you any brains at all?" Keith heard him say.</p> +<p>"Yes, but I did not understand you."</p> +<p>"Then you are a fool," said the young man.</p> +<p>Just then Keith caught his eye and spoke to him. Ferdy only +nodded "Hello!" and went on berating the clerk.</p> +<p>Keith walked about the streets for some time before he could +soothe his ruffled feelings and regain his composure. How life had +changed for him in the brief interval since he entered Mr. +Wickersham's office! Then his heart beat high with hope; life was +all brightness to him; Alice Yorke was already won. Now in this +short space of time his hopes were all overthrown. Yet, his +instinct told him that if he had to go through the interview again +he would do just as he had done.</p> +<p>He felt that his chance of seeing Alice would not be so good +early in the day as it would be later in the afternoon; so he +determined to deliver first the letter which his father had given +him to Dr. Templeton.</p> +<p>The old clergyman's church and rectory stood on an ancient +street over toward the river, from which wealth and fashion had +long fled. His parish, which had once taken in many of the +well-to-do and some of the wealthy, now embraced within its +confines a section which held only the poor. But, like an older and +more noted divine, Dr. Templeton could say with truth that all the +world was his parish; at least, all were his parishioners who were +needy and desolate.</p> +<p>The rectory was an old-fashioned, substantial house, rusty with +age, and worn by the stream of poverty that had flowed in and out +for many years.</p> +<p>When Keith mounted the steps the door was opened by some one +without waiting for him to ring the bell, and he found the passages +and front room fairly filled with a number of persons whose +appearance bespoke extreme poverty.</p> +<p>The Doctor was "out attending a meeting, but would be back +soon," said the elderly woman, who opened the door. "Would the +gentleman wait?"</p> +<p>Just then the door opened and some one entered hastily. Keith +was standing with his back to the door; but he knew by the movement +of those before him, and the lighting up of their faces, that it +was the Doctor himself, even before the maid said: "Here he is +now."</p> +<p>He turned to find an old man of medium size, in a clerical dress +quite brown with age and weather, but whose linen was spotless. His +brow under his snow-white hair was lofty and calm; his eyes were +clear and kindly; his mouth expressed both firmness and gentleness; +his whole face was benignancy itself.</p> +<p>His eye rested for a moment on Keith as the servant indicated +him, and then swept about the room; and with little more than a nod +to Keith he passed him by and entered the waiting-room. Keith, +though a little miffed at being ignored by him, had time to observe +him as he talked to his other visitors in turn. He manifestly knew +his business, and appeared to Keith, from the scraps of +conversation he heard, to know theirs also. To some he gave +encouragement; others he chided; but to all he gave sympathy, and +as one after another went out their faces brightened.</p> +<p>When he was through with them he turned and approached Keith +with his hands extended.</p> +<p>"You must pardon me for keeping you waiting so long; these poor +people have nothing but their time, and I always try to teach them +the value of it by not keeping them waiting."</p> +<p>"Certainly, sir," said Keith, warmed in the glow of his kindly +heart. "I brought a letter of introduction to you from my father, +General Keith."</p> +<p>The smile that this name brought forth made Keith the old man's +friend for life.</p> +<p>"Oh! You are McDowell Keith's son. I am delighted to see you. +Come back into my study and tell me all about your father."</p> +<p>When Keith left that study, quaint and old-fashioned as were it +and its occupant, he felt as though he had been in a rarer +atmosphere. He had not dreamed that such a man could be found in a +great city. He seemed to have the heart of a boy, and Keith felt as +if he had known him all his life. He asked Gordon to return and +dine with him, but Gordon had a vision of sitting beside Alice +Yorke at dinner that evening and declined.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<h3>KEITH IN NEW YORK</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith and Norman Wentworth had, from time to time, kept up a +correspondence, and from Dr. Templeton's Keith went to call on +Norman and his mother.</p> +<p>Norman, unfortunately, was now absent in the West on business, +but Keith saw his mother.</p> +<p>The Wentworth mansion was one of the largest and most dignified +houses on the fine old square--a big, double mansion. The door, +with its large, fan-shaped transom and side-windows, reminded Keith +somewhat of the hall door at Elphinstone, so that he had quite a +feeling of old association as he tapped with the eagle knocker. The +hall was not larger than at Elphinstone, but was more solemn, and +Keith had never seen such palatial drawing-rooms. They stretched +back in a long vista. The heavy mahogany furniture was covered with +the richest brocades; the hangings were of heavy crimson damask. +Even the walls were covered with rich crimson damask-satin. The +floor was covered with rugs in the softest colors, into which, as +Keith followed the solemn servant, his feet sank deep, giving him a +strange feeling of luxuriousness. A number of fine pictures hung on +the walls, and richly bound books lay on the shirting tables amid +pieces of rare bric-à-brac.</p> +<p>This was the impression received from the only glance he had +time to give the room. The next moment a lady rose from behind a +tea-table placed in a nook near a window at the far end of the +spacious room. As Gordon turned toward her she came forward. She +gave him a cordial hand-shake and gracious words of welcome that at +once made Keith feel at home. Turning, she started to offer him a +chair near her table, but Keith had instinctively gone behind her +chair and was holding it for her.</p> +<p>"It is so long since I have had the chance," he said.</p> +<p>As she smiled up at him her face softened. It was a high-bred +face, not always as gentle as it was now, but her smile was +charming.</p> +<p>"You do not look like the little, wan boy I saw that morning in +bed, so long ago. Do you remember?"</p> +<p>"I should say I did. I think I should have died that morning but +for you. I have never forgotten it a moment since." The rising +color in his cheeks took away the baldness of the speech.</p> +<p>She bowed with the most gracious smile, the color stealing up +into her cheeks and making her look younger.</p> +<p>"I am not used to such compliments. Young men nowadays do not +take the trouble to flatter old ladies."</p> +<p>Her face, though faded, still bore the unmistakable stamp of +distinction. Calm, gray eyes and a strong mouth and chin recalled +Norman's face. The daintiest of caps rested on her gray hair like a +crown, and several little ringlets about her ears gave the charm of +quaintness to the patrician face. Her voice was deep and musical. +When she first spoke it was gracious rather than cordial; but after +the inspective look she had given him it softened, and from this +time Keith felt her warmth.</p> +<p>The easy, cordial, almost confidential manner in which she soon +began to talk to him made Keith feel as if they had been friends +always, and in a moment, in response to a question from her, he was +giving quite frankly his impression of the big city: of its +brilliance, its movement, its rush, that keyed up the nerves like +the sweep of a swift torrent.</p> +<p>"It almost takes my breath away," he said. "I feel as if I were +on the brink of a torrent and had an irresistible desire to jump +into it and swim against it."</p> +<p>She looked at the young man in silence for a moment, enjoying +his sparkling eyes, and then her face grew grave.</p> +<p>"Yes, it is interesting to get the impression made on a fresh +young mind. But so many are dashed to pieces, it appears to me of +late to be a maelstrom that engulfs everything in its resistless +and terrible sweep. Fortune, health, peace, reputation, all are +caught and swept away; but the worst is its heartlessness--and its +emptiness."</p> +<p>She sighed so deeply that the young man wondered what sorrow +could touch her, intrenched and enthroned in that beautiful +mansion, surrounded by all that wealth and taste and affection +could give. Years afterwards, that picture of the old-time +gentlewoman in her luxurious home came back to him.</p> +<p>Just then a cheery voice was heard calling outside:</p> +<p>"Cousin?--cousin?--Matildy Carroll, where are you?"</p> +<p>It was the voice of an old lady, and yet it had something in it +familiar to Keith.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth rose, smiling.</p> +<p>"Here I am in the drawing-room," she said, raising her voice the +least bit. "It is my cousin, a dear old friend and schoolmate," she +explained to Keith. "Here I am. Come in here." She advanced to the +door, stretching out her hand to some one who was coming down the +stair.</p> +<p>"Oh, dear, this great, grand house will be the death of me yet!" +exclaimed the other lady, as she slowly descended.</p> +<p>"Why, it is not any bigger than yours," protested Mrs. +Wentworth.</p> +<p>"It's twice as large, and, besides, I was born in that and +learned all its ups and downs and passages and corners when I was a +child, just as I learned the alphabet. But this house! It is as +full of devious ways and pitfalls as the way in 'Pilgrim's +Progress,' and I would never learn it any more than I could the +multiplication table. Why, that second-floor suite you have given +me is just like six-times-nine. When you first put me in there I +walked around to learn my way, and, on my word, I thought I should +never get back to my own room. I thought I should have to sleep in +a bath-tub. I escaped from the bath-room only to land in the +linen-closet. That was rather interesting. Then when I had +calculated all your sheets and pillow-cases, I got out of that to +what I recognized as my own room. No! it was the +broom-closet--eight-times-seven! That was the only familiar thing I +saw. I could have hugged those brooms. But, my dear, I never saw so +many brooms in my life! No wonder you have to have all those +servants. I suppose some of them are to sweep the other servants +up. But you really must shut off those apartments and just give me +one little room to myself; or, now that I have escaped from the +labyrinth, I shall put on my bonnet and go straight home."</p> +<p>All this was delivered from the bottom step with a most amusing +gravity.</p> +<p>"Well, now that you have escaped, come in here," said Mrs. +Wentworth, laughing. "I want a friend of mine to know you--a young +man--"</p> +<p>"A gentleman!"</p> +<p>"Yes; a young gentleman from--"</p> +<p>"My dear!" exclaimed the other lady. "I am not fit to see a +young gentleman--I haven't on my new cap. I really could not."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, you can. Come in. I want you to know him, too. He +is--m--m--m--"</p> +<p>This was too low for Keith to hear. The next second Mrs. +Wentworth turned and reëntered the room, holding by the hand +Keith's old lady of the train.</p> +<p>As she laid her eyes on Keith, she stopped with a little shriek, +shut both eyes tight, and clutched Mrs. Wentworth's arm.</p> +<p>"My dear, it's my robber!"</p> +<p>"It's what?"</p> +<p>"My robber! He's the young man I told you of who was so +suspiciously civil to me on the train. I can never look him in the +face--never!" Saying which, she opened her bright eyes and walked +straight up to Keith, holding out her hand. "Confess that you are a +robber and save me."</p> +<p>Keith laughed and took her hand.</p> +<p>"I know you took me for one." He turned to Mrs. Wentworth and +described her making him count her bundles.</p> +<p>"You will admit that gentlemen were much rarer on that train +than ruffians or those who looked like ruffians?" insisted the old +lady, gayly. "I came through the car, and not one soul offered me a +seat. You deserve all the abuse you got for being so hopelessly +unfashionable as to offer any civility to a poor, lonely, ugly old +woman."</p> +<p>"Abby, Mr. Keith does not yet know who you are. Mr. Keith, this +is my cousin, Miss Brooke."</p> +<p>"Miss Abigail Brooke, spinster," dropping him a quaint little +curtsy.</p> +<p>So this was little Lois's old aunt, Dr. Balsam's sweetheart--the +girl who had made him a wanderer; and she was possibly the St. +Abigail of whom Alice Yorke used to speak!</p> +<p>The old lady turned to Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>"He is losing his manners; see how he is staring. What did I +tell you? One week in New York is warranted to break any gentleman +of good manners."</p> +<p>"Oh, not so bad as that," said Mrs. Wentworth. "Now you sit down +there and get acquainted with each other."</p> +<p>So Keith sat down by Miss Brooke, and she was soon telling him +of her niece, who, she said, was always talking of him and his +father.</p> +<p>"Is she as pretty as she was as a child?" Keith asked.</p> +<p>"Yes--much too pretty; and she knows it, too," smiled the old +lady. "I have to hold her in with a strong hand, I tell you. She +has got her head full of boys already."</p> +<p>Other callers began to appear just then. It was Mrs. Wentworth's +day, and to call on Mrs. Wentworth was in some sort the cachet of +good society. Many, it was true, called there who were not in +"society" at all,--serene and self-contained old residents, who +held themselves above the newly-rich who were beginning to crowd +"the avenues" and force their way with a golden wedge,--and many +who lived in splendid houses on the avenue had never been admitted +within that dignified portal. They now began to drop in, elegantly +dressed women and handsomely appointed girls. Mrs. Wentworth +received them all with that graciousness that was her native +manner. Miss Brooke, having secured her "new cap," was seated at +her side, her faded face tinged with rising color, her keen eyes +taking in the scene with quite as much avidity as Gordon's. Gordon +had fallen back quite to the edge of the group that encircled the +hostess, and was watching with eager eyes in the hope that, among +the visitors who came in in little parties of twos and threes, he +might find the face for which he had been looking. The name +Wickersham presently fell on his ear.</p> +<p>"She is to marry Ferdy Wickersham," said a lady near him to +another. They were looking at a handsome, statuesque girl, with a +proud face, who had just entered the room with her mother, a tall +lady in black with strong features and a refined voice, and who +were making their way through the other guests toward the hostess. +Mrs. Wentworth greeted them cordially, and signed to the elder lady +to take a seat beside her.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; she is flying for higher game than that." They both put +up their lorgnons and gave her a swift glance.</p> +<p>"You mean--" She nodded over toward Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"Why, she would not allow him to. She has not a cent in the +world. Her mother has spent every dollar her husband left her, +trying to get her off."</p> +<p>"Yes; but she has spent it to good purpose. They are old +friends. Mrs. Wentworth does not care for money. She has all she +needs. She has never forgotten that her grandfather was a general +in the Revolution, and Mrs. Caldwell's grandfather was one also, I +believe. She looks down on the upper end of Fifth Avenue--the +Wickershams and such. Don't you know what Mrs. Wentworth's cousin +said when she heard that the Wickershams had a coat-of-arms? She +said, 'Her father must have made it.'"</p> +<p>Something about the placid voice and air of the lady, and the +knowledge she displayed of the affairs of others, awoke old +associations in Keith, and turning to take a good look at her, he +recognized Mrs. Nailor, the inquiring lady with the feline manner +and bell-like voice, who used to mouse around the verandah at +Gates's during Alice Yorke's convalescence.</p> +<p>He went up to her and recalled himself. She apparently had some +difficulty in remembering him, for at first she gave not the +slightest evidence of recognition; but after the other lady had +moved away she was more fortunate in placing him.</p> +<p>"You have known the Wentworths for some time?"</p> +<p>Keith did not know whether this was a statement or an inquiry. +She had a way of giving a tone of interrogation to her statements. +He explained that he and Norman Wentworth had been friends as +boys.</p> +<p>"A dear fellow, Norman?" smiled Mrs. Nailor. "Quite one of our +rising young men? He wanted, you know, to give up the most +brilliant prospects to help his father, who had been failing for +some time. Not failing financially?" she explained with the +interrogation-point again.</p> +<p>"Of course, I don't believe those rumors; I mean in health?"</p> +<p>Keith had so understood her.</p> +<p>"Yes, he has quite gone. Completely shattered?" She sighed +deeply. "But Norman is said to be wonderfully clever, and has gone +in with his father into the bank?" she pursued. "The girl over +there is to marry him--if her mother can arrange it? That tall, +stuck-up woman." She indicated Mrs. Caldwell, who was sitting near +Mrs. Wentworth. "Do you think her handsome?"</p> +<p>Keith said he did. He thought she referred to the girl, who +looked wonderfully handsome in a tailor-made gown under a big white +hat.</p> +<p>"Romance is almost dying out?" she sighed. "It is so beautiful +to find it? Yes?"</p> +<p>Keith agreed with her about its charm, but hoped it was not +dying out. He thought of one romance he knew.</p> +<p>"You used to be very romantic? Yes?"</p> +<p>Keith could not help blushing.</p> +<p>"Have you seen the Yorkes lately?" she continued. Keith had +explained that he had just arrived. "You know Alice is a great +belle? And so pretty, only she knows it too well; but what pretty +girl does not? The town is divided now as to whether she is going +to marry Ferdy Wickersham or Mr. Lancaster of Lancaster & +Company. He is one of our leading men, considerably older than +herself, but immensely wealthy and of a distinguished family. Ferdy +Wickersham was really in love with"--she lowered her voice--"that +girl over there by Mrs. Wentworth; but she preferred Norman +Wentworth; at least, her mother did, so Ferdy has gone back to +Alice? You say you have not been to see her? No? You are going, of +course? Mrs. Yorke was so fond of you?"</p> +<p>"Which is she going to--I mean, which do people say she +prefers?" inquired Keith, his voice, in spite of himself, betraying +his interest.</p> +<p>"Oh, Ferdy, of course. He is one of the eligibles, so +good-looking, and immensely rich, too; They say he is really a +great financier. Has his father's turn? You know he came from a +shop?"</p> +<p>Keith admitted his undeniable good looks and knew of his wealth; +but he was so confounded by the information he had received that he +was in quite a state of confusion.</p> +<p>Just then a young clergyman crossed the room toward them. He was +a stout young man, with reddish hair and a reddish face. His plump +cheeks, no less than his well-filled waistcoat, showed that the +Rev. Mr. Rimmon was no anchoret.</p> +<p>"Ah, my dear Mrs. Nailor, so glad to see you! How well you look! +I haven't seen you since that charming evening at Mrs. +Creamer's."</p> +<p>"Do you call that charming? What did you think of the dinner?" +asked Mrs. Nailor, dryly.</p> +<p>He laughed, and, with a glance around, lowered his voice.</p> +<p>"Well, the champagne was execrable after the first round. Didn't +you notice that? You didn't notice it? Oh, you are too amiable to +admit it. I am sure you noticed it, for no one in town has such +champagne as you."</p> +<p>He licked his lips with reminiscent satisfaction.</p> +<p>"No, I assure you, I am not flattering you. One of my cloth! How +dare you charge me with it!" he laughed. "I have said as much to +Mrs. Yorke. You ask her if I haven't."</p> +<p>"How is your uncle's health?" inquired Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>The young man glanced at her, and the glance appeared to satisfy +him.</p> +<p>"Robust isn't the word for it. He bids fair to rival the +patriarchs in more than his piety."</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor smiled. "You don't appear as happy as a dutiful +nephew might."</p> +<p>"But he is so good--so pious. Why should I wish to withhold him +from the joys for which he is so ripe?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor laughed.</p> +<p>"You are a sinner," she declared.</p> +<p>"We are all miserable sinners," he replied. "Have you seen the +Yorkes lately?"</p> +<p>"No; but I'll be bound you have."</p> +<p>"What do you think of the story about old Lancaster?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I think she'll marry him if mamma can arrange it."</p> +<p>"'Children, obey your parents,'" quoted Mr. Rimmon, with a +little smirk as he sidled away.</p> +<p>"He is one of our rising young clergymen, nephew of the noted +Dr. Little," explained Mrs. Nailor. "You know of him, of course? A +good deal better man than his nephew." This under her breath. "He +is his uncle's assistant and is waiting to step into his shoes. He +wants to marry your friend, Alice Yorke. He is sure of his uncle's +church if flattery can secure it."</p> +<p>Just then several ladies passed near them, and Mrs. Nailor, +seeing an opportunity to impart further knowledge, with a slight +nod moved off to scatter her information and inquiries, and Keith, +having made his adieus to Mrs. Wentworth, withdrew. He was not in a +happy frame of mind over what he had heard.</p> +<p>The next visit that Keith paid required more thought and +preparation than that to the Wentworth house. He had thought of it, +had dreamed of it, for years. He was seized with a sort of +nervousness when he found himself actually on the avenue, in sight +of the large brown-stone mansion which he knew must be the abode of +Miss Alice Yorke.</p> +<p>He never forgot the least detail of his visit, from the shining +brass rail of the outside steps and the pompous little hard-eyed +servant in a striped waistcoat and brass buttons, who looked at him +insolently as he went in, to the same servant as he bowed to him +obsequiously as he came out. He never forgot Alice Yorke's first +appearance in the radiance of girlhood, or Mrs. Yorke's affable +imperviousness, that baffled him utterly.</p> +<p>The footman who opened the door to Keith looked at him with +keenness, but ended in confusion of mind. He stood, at first, in +the middle of the doorway and gave him a glance of swift +inspection. But when Keith asked if the ladies were in he suddenly +grew more respectful. The visitor was not up to the mark in +appointment, but there was that in his air and tone which Bower +recognized. He would see. Would he be good enough to walk in?</p> +<p>When he returned after a few minutes, indifference had given +place to servility.</p> +<p>Would Mr. Keats please be good enough to walk into the +drawing-room? Thankee, sir. The ladies would be down in a few +moments.</p> +<p>Keith did not know that this change in bearing was due to the +pleasure expressed above-stairs by a certain young lady who had +flatly refused to accept her mother's suggestion that they send +word they were not at home.</p> +<p>Alice Yorke was not in a very contented frame of mind that day. +For some time she had been trying to make up her mind on a subject +of grave importance to her, and she had not found it easy to do. +Many questions confronted her. Curiously, Keith himself had played +a part in the matter. Strangely enough, she was thinking of him at +the very time his card was brought up. Mrs. Yorke, who had not on +her glasses, handed the card to Alice. She gave a little scream at +the coincidence.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith! How strange!"</p> +<p>"What is that?" asked her mother, quickly. Her ears had caught +the name.</p> +<p>"Why, it is Mr. Keith. I was just--." She stopped, for Mrs. +Yorke's face spoke disappointment.</p> +<p>"I do not think we can see him," she began.</p> +<p>"Why, of course, I must see him, mamma. I would not miss seeing +him for anything in the world. Go down, Bower, and say I will be +down directly." The servant disappeared.</p> +<p>"Now, Alice," protested her mother, who had already exhausted +several arguments, such as the inconvenience of the hour, the +impoliteness of keeping the visitor waiting, as she would have to +do to dress, and several other such excuses as will occur to mammas +who have plans of their own for their daughters and unexpectedly +receive the card of a young man who, by a bare possibility, may in +ten minutes upset the work of nearly two years--"Now, Alice, I +think it very wrong in you to do anything to give that young man +any idea that you are going to reopen that old affair."</p> +<p>Alice protested that she had no idea of doing anything like +that. There was no "old affair." She did not wish to be rude when +he had taken the trouble to call--that was all.</p> +<p>"Fudge!" exclaimed Mrs. Yorke. "Trouble to call! Of course, he +will take the trouble to call. He would call a hundred times if he +thought he could get--" she caught her daughter's eye and +paused--"could get you. But you have no right to cause him +unhappiness."</p> +<p>"Oh, I guess I couldn't cause him much unhappiness now. I fancy +he is all over it now," said the girl, lightly. "They all get over +it. It's a quick fever. It doesn't last, mamma. How many have there +been?"</p> +<p>"You know better. Isn't he always sending you books and things? +He is not like those others. What would Mr. Lancaster say?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Mr. Lancaster! He has no right to say anything," pouted the +girl, her face clouding a little. "Mr. Lancaster will say anything +I want him to say," she added as she caught sight of her mother's +unhappy expression. "I wish you would not always be holding him up +to me. I like him, and he is awfully good to me--much better than I +deserve; but I get awfully tired of him sometimes: he is so +serious. Sometimes I feel like breaking loose and just doing +things. I do!" She tossed her head and stamped her foot with +impatience like a spoiled child.</p> +<p>"Well, there is Ferdy?--" began her mother.</p> +<p>The girl turned on her.</p> +<p>"I thought we had an understanding on that subject, mamma. If +you ever say anything more about my marrying Ferdy, I <i>will</i> +do things! I vow I will!"</p> +<p>"Why, I thought you professed to like Ferdy, and he is certainly +in love with you."</p> +<p>"He certainly is not. He is in love with Lou Caldwell as much as +he could be in love with any one but himself; but if you knew him +as well as I do you would know he is not in love with any one but +Ferdy."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke knew when to yield, and how to do it. Her face grew +melancholy and her voice pathetic as she protested that all she +wished was her daughter's happiness.</p> +<p>"Then please don't mention that to me again," said the girl.</p> +<p>The next second her daughter was leaning over her, soothing her +and assuring her of her devotion.</p> +<p>"I want to invite him to dinner, mamma."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke actually gasped.</p> +<p>"Nonsense! Why, he would be utterly out of place. This is not +Ridgely. I do not suppose he ever had on a dress-coat in his life!" +Which was true, though Keith would not have cared a button about +it.</p> +<p>"Well, we can invite him to lunch," said Alice, with a sigh.</p> +<p>But Mrs. Yorke was obdurate. She could not undertake to invite +an unknown young man to her table. Thus, the want of a dress-suit +limited Mrs. Yorke's hospitality and served a secondary and more +important purpose for her.</p> +<p>"I wish papa were here; he would agree with me," sighed the +girl.</p> +<p>When the controversy was settled Miss Alice slipped off to gild +the lily. The care she took in the selection of a toilet, and the +tender pats and delicate touches she gave as she turned before her +cheval-glass, might have belied her declaration to her mother, a +little while before, that she was indifferent to Mr. Keith, and +might even have given some comfort to the anxious young man in the +drawing-room below, who, in default of books, was examining the +pictures with such interest. He had never seen such a sumptuous +house.</p> +<p>Meantime, Mrs. Yorke executed a manoeuvre. As soon as Alice +disappeared, she descended to the drawing-room. But she slipped on +an extra diamond ring or two. Thus she had a full quarter of an +hour's start of her daughter.</p> +<p>The greeting between her and the young man was more cordial than +might have been expected. Mrs. Yorke was surprised to find how +Keith had developed. He had broadened, and though his face was +thin, it had undeniable distinction. His manner was so dignified +that Mrs. Yorke was almost embarrassed.</p> +<p>"Why, how you have changed!" she exclaimed. What she said to +herself was: "What a bother for this boy to come here now, just +when Alice is getting her mind settled! But I will get rid of +him."</p> +<p>She began to question him as to his plans.</p> +<p>What Keith had said to himself when the step on the stair and +the rustling gown introduced Mrs. Yorke's portly figure was: +"Heavens! it's the old lady! I wonder what the old dragon will do, +and whether I am not to see Her!" He observed her embarrassment as +she entered the room, and took courage.</p> +<p>The next moment they were fencing across the room, and Keith was +girding himself like another young St. George.</p> +<p>How was his school coming on? she asked.</p> +<p>He was not teaching any more. He had been to college, and had +now taken up engineering. It offered such advantages.</p> +<p>She was so surprised. She would have thought teaching the very +career for him. He seemed to have such a gift for it.</p> +<p>Keith was not sure that this was not a "touch." He quoted Dr. +Johnson's definition that teaching was the universal refuge of +educated indigents. "I do not mean to remain an indigent all my +life," he added, feeling that this was a touch on his part.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke pondered a moment.</p> +<p>"But that was not his name. His name was Balsam. I know, because +I had some trouble getting a bill out of him."</p> +<p>Keith changed his mind about the touch.</p> +<p>Just then there was another rustle on the stair and another +step,--this time a lighter one,--and the next moment appeared what +was to the young man a vision.</p> +<p>Keith's face, as he rose to greet her, showed what he thought. +For a moment, at least, the dragon had disappeared, and he stood in +the presence only of Alice Yorke.</p> +<p>The girl was, indeed, as she paused for a moment just in the +wide doorway under its silken hangings,--the minx! how was he to +know that she knew how effective the position was?--a picture to +fill a young man's eye and flood his face with light, and even to +make an old man's eye grow young again. The time that had passed +had added to the charm of both face and figure; and, arrayed in her +daintiest toilet of blue and white, Alice Yorke was radiant enough +to have smitten a much harder heart than that which was at the +moment thumping in Keith's breast and looking forth from his eager +eyes. The pause in the doorway gave just time for the picture to be +impressed forever in Keith's mind.</p> +<p>Her eyes were sparkling, and her lips parted with a smile of +pleased surprise.</p> +<p>"How do you do?" She came forward with outstretched arm and a +cordial greeting.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke could not repress a mother's pride at seeing the +impression that her daughter's appearance had made. The expression +on Keith's face, however, decided her that she would hazard no more +such meetings.</p> +<p>The first words, of course, were of the surprise Alice felt at +finding him there. "How did you remember us?"</p> +<p>"I was not likely to forget you," said Keith, frankly enough. "I +am in New York on business, and I thought that before going home I +would see my friends." This with some pride, as Mrs. Yorke was +present.</p> +<p>"Where are you living?"</p> +<p>Keith explained that he was an engineer and lived in +Gumbolt.</p> +<p>"Ah, I think that is a splendid profession," declared Miss +Alice. "If I were a man I would be one. Think of building great +bridges across mighty rivers, tunnelling great mountains!"</p> +<p>"Maybe even the sea itself," said Mr. Keith, who, so long as +Alice's eyes were lighting up at the thought of his profession, +cared not what Mrs. Yorke thought.</p> +<p>"I doubt if engineers would find much to do in New York," put in +Mrs. Yorke. "I think the West would be a good field--the far West," +she explained.</p> +<p>"It was so good in you to look us up," Miss Alice said sturdily +and, perhaps, a little defiantly, for she knew what her mother was +thinking.</p> +<p>"If that is being good," said Keith, "my salvation is assured." +He wanted to say, as he looked at her, "In all the multitude in New +York there is but one person that I really came to see, and I am +repaid," but he did not venture so far. In place of it he made a +mental calculation of the chances of Mrs. Yorke leaving, if only +for a moment. A glance at her, however, satisfied him that the +chance of it was not worth considering, and gloom began to settle +on him. If there is anything that turns a young man's heart to lead +and encases it in ice, it is, when he has travelled leagues to see +a girl, to have mamma plant herself in the room and mount guard. +Keith knew now that Mrs. Yorke had mounted guard, and that no power +but Providence would dislodge her. The thought of the cool woods of +the Ridge came to him like a mirage, torturing him.</p> +<p>He turned to the girl boldly.</p> +<p>"Sha'n't you ever come South again?" he asked. "The +humming-birds are waiting."</p> +<p>Alice smiled, and her blush made her charming.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke answered for her. She did not think the South agreed +with Alice.</p> +<p>Alice protested that she loved it.</p> +<p>"How is my dear old Doctor? Do you know, he and I have carried +on quite a correspondence this year?"</p> +<p>Keith did not know. For the first time in his life he envied the +Doctor.</p> +<p>"He is your--one of your most devoted admirers. The last time I +saw him he was talking of you."</p> +<p>"What did he say of me? Do tell me!" with exaggerated +eagerness.</p> +<p>Keith smiled, wondering what she would think if she knew.</p> +<p>"Too many things for me to tell."</p> +<p>His gray eyes said the rest.</p> +<p>While they were talking a sound of wheels was heard outside, +followed by a ring at the door. Keith sat facing the door, and +could see the gentleman who entered the hail. He was tall and a +little gray, with a pleasant, self-contained face. He turned toward +the drawing-room, taking off his gloves as he walked.</p> +<p>"Her father. He is quite distinguished-looking," thought Keith. +"I wonder if he will come in here? He looks younger than the +dragon." He was in some trepidation at the idea of meeting Mr. +Yorke.</p> +<p>When Keith looked at the ladies again some change had taken +place in both of them. Their faces wore a different expression: +Mrs. Yorke's was one of mingled disquietude and relief, and Miss +Alice's an expression of discontent and confusion. Keith settled +himself and waited to be presented.</p> +<p>The gentleman came in with a pleased air as his eye rested on +the young lady.</p> +<p>"There is where she gets her high-bred looks--from her father," +thought Keith; rising.</p> +<p>The next moment the gentleman was shaking hands warmly with Miss +Alice and cordially with Mrs. Yorke. And then, after a pause,--a +pause in which Miss Alice had looked at her mother,--the girl +introduced "Mr. Lancaster." He turned and spoke to Keith +pleasantly.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith is--an acquaintance we made in the South when we were +there winter before last," said Mrs. Yorke.</p> +<p>"A friend of ours," said the girl. She turned back to Keith.</p> +<p>"Tell me what Dr. Balsam said."</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith knows the Wentworths--I believe you know the +Wentworths very well?" Mrs. Yorke addressed Mr. Keith.</p> +<p>"Yes, I have known Norman since we were boys. I have met his +mother, but I never met his father."</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke was provoked at the stupidity of denying so +advantageous an acquaintance. But Mr. Lancaster took more notice of +Keith than he had done before. His dark eyes had a gleam of +amusement in them as he turned and looked at the young man. +Something in him recalled the past.</p> +<p>"From the South, you say?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir." He named his State with pride.</p> +<p>"Did I catch your name correctly? Is it Keith?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> +<p>"I used to know a gentleman of that name--General Keith."</p> +<p>"There were several of them," answered the young man, with +pride. "My father was known as 'General Keith of Elphinstone.'"</p> +<p>"That was he. I captured him. He was desperately wounded, and I +had the pleasure of having him attended to, and afterwards of +getting him exchanged. How is he? Is he still living?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> +<p>Mr. Lancaster turned to the ladies. "He was one of the bravest +men I have known," he said. "I was once a recipient of his gracious +hospitality. I went South to look into some matters there," he +explained to the ladies.</p> +<p>The speech brought a gratified look into Keith's eyes. Mrs. +Yorke was divided between her feeling of relief that Mr. Lancaster +should know of Keith's social standing and her fear that such +praise might affect Alice. After a glance at the girl's face the +latter predominated.</p> +<p>"Men have no sense at all," she said to herself. Had she known +it, the speech made the girl feel more kindly toward her older +admirer than she had ever done before.</p> +<p>Gordon's face was suffused with tenderness, as it always was at +any mention of his father. He stepped forward.</p> +<p>"May I shake hands with you, sir?" He grasped the hand of the +older man. "If I can ever be of any service to you--of the least +service--I hope you will let my father's son repay a part of his +debt. You could not do me a greater favor." As he stood straight +and dignified, grasping the older man's hand, he looked more of a +man than he had ever done. Mr. Lancaster was manifestly +pleased.</p> +<p>"I will do so," he said, with a smile.</p> +<p>Mrs. Yorke was in a fidget. "This man will ruin everything," she +said to herself.</p> +<p>Seeing that his chance of seeing Alice alone was gone, Keith +rose and took leave with some stateliness. At the last moment Alice +boldly asked him to take lunch with them next day.</p> +<p>"Thank you," said Keith, "I lunch in Sparta to-morrow. I am +going South to-night." But his allusion was lost on the ladies.</p> +<p>When Keith came out, a handsome trap was standing at the door, +with a fine pair of horses and a liveried groom.</p> +<p>And a little later, as Keith was walking up the avenue looking +at the crowds that thronged it in all the bravery of fine apparel, +he saw the same pair of high-steppers threading their way proudly +among the other teams. He suddenly became aware that some one was +bowing to him, and there was Alice Yorke sitting up beside Mr. +Lancaster, bowing to him from under a big hat with great white +plumes. For one moment he had a warm feeling about his heart, and +then, as the turnout was swallowed up in the crowd, Keith felt a +sudden sense of loneliness, and he positively hated Mrs. Yorke. A +little later he passed Ferdy Wickersham, in a long coat and a high +hat, walking up the avenue with the girl he had seen at Mrs. +Wentworth's. He took off his hat as they passed, but apparently +they did not see him. And once more that overwhelming loneliness +swept over him.</p> +<p>He did not get over the feeling till he found himself in Dr. +Templeton's study. He had promised provisionally to go back and +take supper with the old clergyman, and had only not promised it +absolutely because he had thought he might be invited to the +Yorkes'. He was glad enough now to go, and as he received the old +gentleman's cordial greeting, he felt his heart grow warm again. +Here was Sparta, too. This, at least, was hospitality. He was +introduced to two young clergymen, both earnest fellows who were +working among the poor. One of them was a High-churchman and the +other a Presbyterian, and once or twice they began to discuss +warmly questions as to which they differed; but the old Rector +appeared to know just how to manage them.</p> +<p>"Come, my boys; no division here," he said, with a smile, +"Remember, one flag, one union, one Commander. Titus is still +before the walls."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<h3>THE HOLD-UP</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith returned home that night. He now and then thought of +Lancaster with a little misgiving. It was apparent that Mrs. Yorke +was his friend; but, after all, Alice would never think of marrying +a gray-haired man. She could not do it.</p> +<p>His father's pleasure when he told him of the stand he had taken +with Mr. Wickersham reassured him.</p> +<p>"You did exactly right, sir; as a gentleman should have done," +he said, as his face lighted up with pride and affection. "Go back +and make your own way. Owe no man anything."</p> +<p>Gordon went back to his little office filled with a +determination to succeed. He had now a double motive: he would win +Alice Yorke, and he would show Mr. Wickersham who he was. A visit +from Squire Rawson not long after he returned gave him new hope. +The old man chuckled as he told him that he had had an indirect +offer from Wickersham for his land, much larger than he had +expected. It had only confirmed him in his determination to hold +on.</p> +<p>"If it's worth that to him," he said, "it's worth that to me. +We'll hold on awhile, and let him open a track for us. You look up +the lines and keep your eye on 'em. Draw me some pictures of the +lands. I reckon Phrony will have a pretty good patrimony before I'm +through." He gave Keith a shrewd glance which, however, that young +man did not see.</p> +<p>Not long afterwards Gordon received an invitation to Norman's +wedding. He was to marry Miss Caldwell.</p> +<p>When Gordon read the account of the wedding, with the church +"banked with flowers," and the bridal couple preceded by +choristers, chanting, he was as interested as if it had been his +brother's marriage. He tried to picture Alice Yorke in her +bridesmaid's dress, "with the old lace draped over it and the +rosebuds festooned about her."</p> +<p>He glanced around his little room with grim amusement as he +thought of the difference it might make to him if he had what Mrs. +Yorke had called "an establishment." He would yet be Keith of +Elphinstone.</p> +<p>One fact related disturbed him. Ferdy Wickersham was one of the +ushers, and it was stated that he and Miss Yorke made a handsome +couple.</p> +<p>Norman had long ago forgotten Ferdy's unfriendly action at +college, and wishing to bury all animosities and start his new life +at peace with the whole world, he invited Ferdy to be one of his +ushers, and Ferdy, for his own reasons, accepted. Ferdy Wickersham +was now one of the most talked-of young men in New York. He had +fulfilled the promise of his youth at least in one way, for he was +one of the handsomest men in the State. Mrs. Wickersham, in whose +heart defeat rankled, vowed that she would never bow so low as to +be an usher at that wedding. But her son was of a deeper nature. He +declared that he was "abundantly able to manage his own +affairs."</p> +<p>At the wedding he was one of the gayest of the guests, and he +and Miss Yorke were, as the newspapers stated, undoubtedly the +handsomest couple of all the attendants. No one congratulated Mrs. +Wentworth with more fervid words. To be sure, his eyes sought the +bride's with a curious expression in them; and when he spoke with +her apart a little later, there was an air of cynicism about him +that remained in her memory. The handsomest jewel she received +outside of the Wentworth family was from him. Its centre was a +heart set with diamonds.</p> +<p>For a time Louise Wentworth was in the seventh heaven of ecstasy +over her good fortune. Her beautiful house, her carriages, her +gowns, her husband, and all the equipage of her new station filled +her heart. She almost immediately took a position that none other +of the young brides had. She became the fashion. In Norman's +devotion she might have quite forgotten Ferdy Wickersham, had Ferdy +been willing that she should do so. But Ferdy had no idea of +allowing himself to be forgotten. For a time he paid quite devoted +attention to Alice Yorke; but Miss Alice looked on his attentions +rather as a joke. She said to him:</p> +<p>"Now, Ferdy, I am perfectly willing to have you send me all the +flowers in New York, and go with me to the theatre every other +night, and offer me all the flattery you have left over from +Louise; but I am not going to let it be thought that I am going to +engage myself to you; for I am not, and you don't want me."</p> +<p>"I suppose you reserve that for my fortunate rival, Mr. +Lancaster?" said the young man, insolently.</p> +<p>Alice's eyes flashed. "At least not for you."</p> +<p>So Ferdy gradually and insensibly drifted back to Mrs. +Wentworth. For a little while he was almost tragic; then he settled +down into a state of cold cynicism which was not without its +effect. He never believed that she cared for Norman Wentworth as +much as she cared for him. He believed that her mother had made the +match, and deep in his heart he hated Norman with the hate of +wounded pride. Moreover, as soon as Mrs. Wentworth was beyond him, +he began to have a deeper feeling for her than he had ever admitted +before. He set before himself very definitely just what he wanted +to do, and he went to work about it with a patience worthy of a +better aim. He flattered her in many ways which, experience had +told him, were effective with the feminine heart.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham estimated Mrs. Wentworth's vanity at its true +value; but he underestimated her uprightness and her pride. She was +vain enough to hazard wrecking her happiness; but her pride was as +great as her vanity.</p> +<p>Thus, though Ferdy Wickersham flattered her vanity by his +delicate attentions, his patient waiting, he found himself, after +long service, in danger of being balked by her pride. His apparent +faithfulness had enlisted her interest; but she held him at a +distance with a resolution which he would not have given her credit +for.</p> +<p>Most men, under such circumstances, would have retired and +confessed defeat; but not so with Ferdy Wickersham. To admit defeat +was gall and wormwood to him. His love for Louise had given place +to a feeling almost akin to a desire for revenge. He would show her +that he could conquer her pride. He would show the world that he +could humble Norman Wentworth. His position appeared to him +impregnable. At the head of a great business, the leader of the +gayest set in the city, and the handsomest and coolest man in +town--he was bound to win. So he bided his time, and went on paying +Mrs. Wentworth little attentions that he felt must win her in the +end. And soon he fancied that he began to see the results of his +patience. Old Mr. Wentworth's health had failed rapidly, and Norman +was so wholly engrossed in business, that he found himself unable +to keep up with the social life of their set. If, however, Norman +was too busy to attend all the entertainments, Ferdy was never too +busy to be on hand, a fact many persons were beginning to note.</p> +<p>Squire Rawson's refusal of the offer for his lands began to +cause Mr. Aaron Wickersham some uneasiness. He had never dreamed +that the old countryman would be so intractable. He refused even to +set a price on them. He "did not want to sell," he said.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham conferred with his son. "We have got to get +control of those lands, Ferdy. We ought to have got them before we +started the railway. If we wait till we get through, we shall have +to pay double. The best thing is for you to go down there and get +them. You know the chief owner and you know that young Keith. You +ought to be able to work them. We shall have to employ Keith if +necessary. Sometimes a very small lever will work a big one."</p> +<p>"Oh, I can work them easy enough," said the young man; "but I +don't want to go down there just now--the weather's cold, and I +have a lot of engagements and a matter on hand that requires my +presence here now."</p> +<p>His father's brow clouded. Matters had not been going well of +late. The Wentworths had been growing cooler both in business and +in social life. In the former it had cost him a good deal of money +to have the Wentworth interest against him; in the latter it had +cost Mrs. Wickersham a good deal of heart-burning. And Aaron +Wickersham attributed it to the fact, of which rumors had come to +him, that Ferdy was paying young Mrs. Wentworth more attention than +her husband and his family liked, and they took this form of +resenting it.</p> +<p>"I do not know what business engagement you can have more +important than a matter in which we have invested some millions +which may be saved by prompt attention or lost. What engagements +have you?"</p> +<p>"That is my affair," said Ferdy, coolly.</p> +<p>"Your affair! Isn't your affair my affair?" burst out his +father.</p> +<p>"Not necessarily. There are several kinds of affairs. I should +be sorry to think that all of my affairs you had an interest +in."</p> +<p>He looked so insolent as he sat back with half-closed eyes and +stroked his silken, black moustache that his father lost his +temper.</p> +<p>"I know nothing about your affairs of one kind," he burst out +angrily, "and I do not wish to know; but I want to tell you that I +think you are making an ass of yourself to be hanging around that +Wentworth woman, having every one talking about you and laughing at +you."</p> +<p>The young man's dark face flushed angrily.</p> +<p>"What's that?" he said sharply.</p> +<p>"She is another man's wife. Why don't you let her alone?" +pursued the father.</p> +<p>"For that very reason," said Ferdy, recovering his composure and +his insolent air.</p> +<p>"---- it! Let the woman alone," said his father. "Your fooling +around her has already cost us the backing of Wentworth & +Son--and, incidentally, two or three hundred thousand."</p> +<p>The younger man looked at the other with a flash of rage. This +quickly gave way to a colder gleam.</p> +<p>"Really, sir, I could not lower myself to measure a matter of +sentiment by so vulgar a standard as your ---- money."</p> +<p>His air was so intolerable that the father's patience quite gave +way.</p> +<p>"Well, by ----! you'd better lower yourself, or you'll have to +stoop lower than that. Creamer, Crustback & Company are out +with us; the Wentworths have pulled out; so have Kestrel and +others. Your deals and corners have cost me a fortune. I tell you +that unless we pull through that deal down yonder, and unless we +get that railroad to earning something, so as to get a basis for +rebonding, you'll find yourself wishing you had my 'damned +money.'"</p> +<p>"Oh, I guess we'll pull it through," said the young man. He rose +coolly and walked out of the office.</p> +<p>The afternoon he spent with Mrs. Norman. He had to go South, he +told her, to look after some large interests they had there. He +made the prospects so dazzling that she laughingly suggested that +he had better put a little of her money in there for her. She had +quite a snug sum that the Wentworths had given her.</p> +<p>"Why do not you ask Norman to invest it?" he inquired, with a +laugh.</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't know. He says bonds are the proper investment for +women."</p> +<p>"He rather underestimates your sex, some of them," said +Wickersham. And as he watched the color come in her cheeks, he +added: "I tell you what I will do: I will put in fifty thousand for +you on condition that you never mention it to a soul."</p> +<p>"I promise," she said half gratefully, and they shook hands on +it.</p> +<p>That evening he informed his father that he would go South. +"I'll get those lands easy enough," he said.</p> +<p>A few days later Ferdy Wickersham got off the train at Ridgely, +now quite a flourishing little health-resort, and in danger of +becoming a fashionable one, and that afternoon he drove over to +Squire Rawson's.</p> +<p>A number of changes had taken place in the old white-pillared +house since Ferdy had been an inmate. New furniture of black walnut +supplanted, at least on the first floor, the old horsehair sofa and +split-bottomed chairs and pine tables; a new plush sofa and a new +piano glistened in the parlor; large mirrors with dazzling frames +hung on the low walls, and a Brussels carpet as shiny as a bed of +tulips, and as stiff as the stubble of a newly cut hay-field, was +on the floor.</p> +<p>But great as were these changes, they were not as great as that +which had taken place in the young person for whom they had been +made.</p> +<p>When Ferdy Wickersham drove up to the door, there was a cry and +a scurry within, as Phrony Tripper, after a glance out toward the +gate, dashed up the stairs.</p> +<p>When Miss Euphronia Tripper, after a half-hour or more of +careful and palpitating work before her mirror, descended the old +straight stairway, she was a very different person from the +round-faced, plump school-girl whom Ferdy, as a lad, had flirted +with under the apple-trees three or four years before. She was +quite as different as was the new piano with its deep tones from +the rattling old instrument that jingled and clanged out of tune, +or as the cool, self-contained, handsome young man in faultless +attire was from the slim, uppish boy who used to strum on it. It +was a very pretty and blushing young country maiden who now entered +quite accidentally the parlor where sat Mr. Ferdy Wickersham in +calm and indifferent discourse with her grandfather on the crops, +on cattle, and on the effect of the new railroad on products and +prices.</p> +<p>Several sessions at a boarding-school of some pretension, with +ambition which had been awakened years before under the +apple-trees, had given Miss Phrony the full number of +accomplishments that are to be gained by such means. The years had +also changed the round, school-girl plumpness into a slim yet +strong figure; and as she entered the parlor,--quite casually, be +it repeated,--with a large basket of flowers held carelessly in one +hand and a great hat shading her face, the blushes that sprang to +her cheeks at the wholly unexpected discovery of a visitor quite +astonished Wickersham.</p> +<p>"By Jove! who would have believed it!" he said to himself.</p> +<p>Within two minutes after she had taken her seat on the sofa near +Wickersham, that young envoy had conceived a plan which had vaguely +suggested itself as a possibility during his journey South. Here +was an ally to his hand; he could not doubt it; and if he failed to +win he would deserve to lose.</p> +<p>The old squire had no sooner left the room than the visitor laid +the first lines for his attack.</p> +<p>Why was she surprised to see him? He had large interests in the +mountains, and could she doubt that if he was within a thousand +miles he would come by to see her?</p> +<p>The mantling cheeks and dancing eyes showed that this took +effect.</p> +<p>"Oh, you came down on business? That was all! I know," she +said.</p> +<p>Wickersham looked her in the eyes.</p> +<p>Business was only a convenient excuse. Old Halbrook could have +attended to the business; but he preferred to come himself. +Possibly she could guess the reason? He looked handsome and sincere +enough as he leant over and gazed in her face to have beguiled a +wiser person than Phrony.</p> +<p>She, of course, had not the least idea.</p> +<p>Then he must tell her. To do this he found it necessary to sit +on the sofa close to her. What he told her made her blush very rosy +again, and stammer a little as she declared her disbelief in all he +said, and was sure there were the prettiest girls in the world in +New York, and that he had never thought of her a moment. And no, +she would not listen to him--she did not believe a word he said; +and--yes, of course, she was glad to see any old friend; and no, he +should not go. He must stay with them. They expected him to do +so.</p> +<p>So Ferdy sent to Ridgely for his bags, and spent several days at +Squire Rawson's, and put in the best work he was capable of during +that time. He even had the satisfaction of seeing Phrony treat +coldly and send away one or two country bumpkins who rode up in all +the bravery of long broad-cloth coats and kid gloves.</p> +<p>But if at the end of this time the young man could congratulate +himself on success in one quarter, he knew that he was balked in +the other. Phrony Tripper was heels over head in love with him; but +her grandfather, though easy and pliable enough to all outward +seeming, was in a land-deal as dull as a ditcher. Wickersham spread +out before him maps and plats showing that he owned surveys which +overlapped those under which the old man claimed.</p> +<p>"Don't you see my patents are older than yours?"</p> +<p>"Looks so," said the old man, calmly. "But patents is somethin' +like folks: they may be too old."</p> +<p>The young man tried another line.</p> +<p>The land was of no special value, he told him; he only wanted to +quiet their titles, etc. But the squire not only refused to sell an +acre at the prices offered him, he would place no other price +whatever on it.</p> +<p>In fact, he did not want to sell. He had bought the land for +mountain pasture, and he didn't know about these railroads and +mines and such like. Phrony would have it after his death, and she +could do what she wished with it after he was dead and gone.</p> +<p>"He is a fool!" thought Wickersham, and set Phrony to work on +him; but the old fellow was obdurate. He kissed Phrony for her +wheedling, but told her that women-folks didn't understand about +business. So Wickersham had to leave without getting the lands.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The influx of strangers was so great now at Gumbolt that there +was a stream of vehicles running between a point some miles beyond +Eden, which the railroad had reached, and Gumbolt. Wagons, +ambulances, and other vehicles of a nondescript character on good +days crowded the road, filling the mountain pass with the cries and +oaths of their drivers and the rumbling and rattling of their +wheels, and filling Mr. Gilsey's soul with disgust. But the vehicle +of honor was still "Gilsey's stage." It carried the mail and some +of the express, had the best team in the mountains, and was known +as the "reg'lar." On bad nights the road was a little less crowded. +And it was a bad night that Ferdy Wickersham took for his journey +to Gumbolt.</p> +<p>Keith had been elected marshal, but had appointed Dave Dennison +his deputy, and on inclement nights Keith still occasionally +relieved Tim Gilsey, for in such weather the old man was sometimes +too stiff to climb up to his box.</p> +<p>"The way to know people," said the old driver to him, "is to +travel on the road with 'em. There is many a man decent enough to +pass for a church deacon; git him on the road, and you see he is a +hog, and not of no improved breed at that. He wants to gobble +everything": an observation that Keith had some opportunity to +verify.</p> +<p>Terpsichore appeared suddenly to have a good deal of business +over in Eden, and had been on the stage several times of late when +Keith was driving it, and almost always took the box-seat. This had +occurred often enough for some of his acquaintances in Gumbolt to +rally him about it.</p> +<p>"You will have to look out for Mr. Bluffy again," they said. +"He's run J. Quincy off the track, and he's still in the ring. He's +layin' low; but that's the time to watch a mountain cat. He's on +your track."</p> +<p>Mr. Plume, who was always very friendly with Keith, declared +that it was not Bluffy, but Keith, who had run him off the track. +"It's a case where virtue has had its reward," he said to Keith. +"You have overthrown more than your enemy, Orlando. You have +captured the prize we were all trying for. Take the goods the gods +provide, and while you live, live. The epicurean is the only true +philosopher. Come over and have a cocktail? No? Do you happen to +have a dollar about your old clothes? I have not forgotten that I +owe you a little account; but you are the only man of soul in +this--Gehenna except myself, and I'd rather owe you ten dollars +than any other man living."</p> +<p>Keith's manner more than his words shut up most of his teasers. +Nothing would shut up J. Quincy Plume.</p> +<p>Keith always treated Terpsichore with all the politeness he +would have shown to any lady. He knew that she was now his friend, +and he had conceived a sincere liking for her. She was shy and very +quiet when a passenger on his stage, ready to do anything he asked, +obedient to any suggestion he gave her.</p> +<p>It happened that, the night Wickersham chose for his trip to +Gumbolt, Keith had relieved old Gilsey, and he found her at the +Eden end of the route among his passengers. She had just arrived +from Gumbolt by another vehicle and was now going straight back. As +Keith came around, the young woman was evidently preparing to take +the box-seat. He was conscious of a feeling of embarrassment, which +was not diminished by the fact that Jake Dennison, his old pupil, +was also going over. Jake as well as Dave was now living at +Gumbolt. Jake was in all the splendor of a black coat and a gilded +watch-chain, for he had been down to the Ridge to see Miss +Euphronia Tripper.</p> +<p>It had been a misty day, and toward evening the mist had changed +into a drizzle.</p> +<p>Keith said to Terpsichore, with some annoyance:</p> +<p>"You had better go inside. It's going to be a bad night."</p> +<p>A slight change came over her face, and she hesitated. But when +he insisted, she said quietly, "Very well."</p> +<p>As the passengers were about to take their seats in the coach, a +young man enveloped in a heavy ulster came hurriedly out of the +hotel, followed by a servant with several bags in his hands, and +pushed hastily into the group, who were preparing to enter the +coach in a more leisurely fashion. His hat partly concealed his +face, but something about him called up memories to Keith that were +not wholly pleasant. When he reached the coach door Jake Dennison +and another man were just on the point of helping in one of the +women. The young man squeezed in between them.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said.</p> +<p>The two men stood aside at the polite tone, and the other +stepped into the stage and took the back seat, where he proceeded +to make himself comfortable in a corner. This, perhaps, might have +passed but for the presence of the women. Woman at this mountain +Eden was at a premium, as she was in the first.</p> +<p>Jake Dennison and his friend both asserted promptly that there +was no trouble about three of the ladies getting back seats, and +Jake, putting his head in at the door, said briefly:</p> +<p>"Young man, there are several ladies out here. You will have to +give up that seat."</p> +<p>As there was no response to this, he put his head in again.</p> +<p>"Didn't you hear? I say there are some ladies out here. You will +have to take another seat."</p> +<p>To this the occupant of the stage replied that he had paid for +his seat; but there were plenty of other seats that they could +have. This was repeated on the outside, and thereupon one of the +women said she supposed they would have to take one of the other +seats.</p> +<p>Women do not know the power of surrender. This surrender had no +sooner been made than every man outside was her champion.</p> +<p>"You will ride on that back seat to Gumbolt to-night, or I'll +ride in Jim Digger's hearse. I am layin' for him anyhow." The voice +was Jake Dennison's.</p> +<p>"And I'll ride with him. Stand aside, Jake, and let me git in +there. I'll yank him out," said his friend.</p> +<p>But Jake was not prepared to yield to any one the honor of +"yanking." Jake had just been down to Squire Rawson's, and this +young man was none other than Mr. Ferdy Wickersham. He had been +there, too.</p> +<p>Jake had left with vengeance in his heart, and this was his +opportunity. He was just entering the stage head foremost, when the +occupant of the coveted seat decided that discretion was the better +part of valor, and announced that he would give up the seat, +thereby saving Keith the necessity of intervening, which he was +about to do.</p> +<p>The ejected tenant was so disgruntled that he got out of the +stage, and, without taking any further notice of the occupants, +called up to know if there was a seat outside.</p> +<p>"Yes. Let me give you a hand," said Gordon, leaning down and +helping him up. "How are you?"</p> +<p>Wickersham looked at him quickly as he reached the boot.</p> +<p>"Hello! You here?" The rest of his sentence was a malediction on +the barbarians in the coach below and a general consignment of them +all to a much warmer place than the boot of the Gumbolt stage.</p> +<p>"What are you doing here?" Wickersham asked.</p> +<p>"I am driving the stage."</p> +<p>"Regularly?" There was something in the tone and look that made +Keith wish to say no, but he said doggedly:</p> +<p>"I have done it regularly, and was glad to get the +opportunity."</p> +<p>He was conscious of a certain change in Wickersham's manner +toward him.</p> +<p>As they drove along he asked Wickersham about Norman and his +people, but the other answered rather curtly.</p> +<p>Norman had married.</p> +<p>"Yes." Keith had heard that. "He married Miss Caldwell, didn't +he? She was a very pretty girl."</p> +<p>"What do you know about here?" Wickersham asked. His tone struck +Keith.</p> +<p>"Oh, I met her once. I suppose they are very much in love with +each other?"</p> +<p>Wickersham gave a short laugh. "In love with Norman! Women don't +fall in love with a lump of ice."</p> +<p>"I do not think he is a lump of ice," said Keith, firmly.</p> +<p>Wickersham did not answer at first, then he said sharply:</p> +<p>"Well, she's worth a thousand of him. She married him for his +money. Certainly not for his brains."</p> +<p>"Norman has brains--as much as any one I know," defended +Keith.</p> +<p>"You think so!"</p> +<p>Keith remembered a certain five minutes out behind the stables +at Elphinstone.</p> +<p>He wanted to ask Wickersham about another girl who was uppermost +in his thoughts, but something restrained him. He could not bear to +hear her name on his lips. By a curious coincidence, Wickersham +suddenly said: "You used to teach at old Rawson's. Did you ever +meet a girl named Yorke--Alice Yorke? She was down this way +once."</p> +<p>Keith said that he had met "Miss Yorke." He had met her at +Ridgely Springs and also in New York. He was glad that it was dark, +and that Wickersham could not see his face. "A very pretty girl," +he hazarded as a leader, now that the subject was broached.</p> +<p>"Yes, rather. Going abroad--title-hunting."</p> +<p>"I don't expect Miss Yorke cares about a title," said Keith, +stiffly.</p> +<p>"Mamma does. Failing that, she wants old Lancaster and +perquisites."</p> +<p>"Who does? Why, Mr. Lancaster is old enough to be her +father!"</p> +<p>"Pile's old, too," said Wickersham, dryly.</p> +<p>"She doesn't care about that either," said Keith, shortly.</p> +<p>"Oh, doesn't she! You know her mother?"</p> +<p>"No; I don't believe she does. Whatever her mother is, she is a +fine, high-minded girl."</p> +<p>Ferdy gave a laugh which might have meant anything. It made +Keith hot all over. Keith, fearing to trust himself further, +changed the subject and asked after the Rawsons, Wickersham having +mentioned that he had been staying with them.</p> +<p>"Phrony is back at home, I believes She has been off to school. +I hear she is very much improved?"</p> +<p>"I don't know; I didn't notice her particularly," said +Wickersham, indifferently.</p> +<p>"She is very pretty. Jake Dennison thinks so," laughed +Keith.</p> +<p>"Jake Dennison? Who is he?"</p> +<p>"He's an old scholar of mine. He is inside now on the front +seat; one of your friends."</p> +<p>"Oh, that's the fellow! I thought I had seen him before. Well, +he had better try some other stock, I guess. He may find that +cornered. She is not going to take a clod like that."</p> +<p>Wickersham went off into a train of reflection.</p> +<p>"I say, Keith," he began unexpectedly, "maybe, you can help me +about a matter, and if so I will make it worth your while."</p> +<p>"About what matter?" asked Keith, wondering.</p> +<p>"Why, about that old dolt Rawson's land. You see, the governor +has got himself rather concerned. When he got this property up here +in the mountains and started to build the railroad, some of these +people here got wind of it. That fool, Rhodes, talked about it too +much, and they bought up the lands around the old man's property. +They think the governor has got to buy 'em out. Old Rawson is the +head of 'em. The governor sent Halbrook down to get it; but +Halbrook is a fool, too. He let him know he wanted to buy him out, +and, of course, he raised. You and he used to be very thick. He was +talking of you the other night."</p> +<p>"He and I are great friends. I have a great regard for him, and +a much higher opinion of his sense than you appear to have. He is a +very shrewd man."</p> +<p>"Shrewd the deuce! He's an old blockhead. He has stumbled into +the possession of some property which I am ready to pay him a fair +price for. He took it for a cow-pasture. It isn't worth anything. +It would only be a convenience to us to have it and prevent a row +in the future, perhaps. That is the only reason I want it. Besides, +his title to it ain't worth a ----, anyhow. We have patents that +antedate his. You can tell him that the land is not worth anything. +I will give you a good sum if you get him to name a price at, say, +fifty per cent. on what he gave for it. I know what he gave for it. +You can tell him it ain't worth anything to him and that his title +is faulty."</p> +<p>"No, I could not," said Keith, shortly.</p> +<p>"Why not?"</p> +<p>"Because I think it is very valuable and his title perfect. And +he knows it."</p> +<p>Wickersham glanced at him in the dusk.</p> +<p>"It isn't valuable at all," he said after a pause. "I will give +you a good fee if you will get through a deal for it at any price +we may agree on. Come!"</p> +<p>"No," said Keith; "not for all the money you own. My advice to +you is to go to Squire Rawson and either offer to take him in with +you to the value of his lands, or else make him a direct offer for +what those lands are really worth. He knows as much about the value +of those lands as you or Mr. Halbrook or any one else knows. Take +my word for it."</p> +<p>"Rats!" ejaculated Wickersham, briefly. "I tell you what," he +added presently: "if he don't sell us that land he'll never get a +cent out of it. No one else will ever take it. We have him +cornered. We've got the land above him, and the water, too, and, +what is more, his title is not worth a damn!"</p> +<p>"Well, that is his lookout. I expect you will find him able to +take care of himself."</p> +<p>Wickersham gave a grunt, then he asked Keith suddenly:</p> +<p>"Do you know a man named Plume over there at Gumbolt?"</p> +<p>"Yes," said Keith; "he runs the paper there."</p> +<p>"Yes; that's he. What sort of a man is he?"</p> +<p>Keith gave a brief estimate of Mr. Plume: "You will see him and +can judge for yourself."</p> +<p>"I always do," said Wickersham, briefly. "Know anybody can work +him? The governor and he fell out some time ago, but I want to get +hold of him."</p> +<p>Keith thought he knew one who might influence Mr. Plume; but he +did not mention the name or sex.</p> +<p>"Who is that woman inside?" demanded Wickersham. "I mean the +young one, with the eyes."</p> +<p>"They call her Terpsichore. She keeps the dance-hall."</p> +<p>"Friend of yours?"</p> +<p>"Yes." Keith spoke shortly.</p> +<p>The stage presently began to descend Hellstreak Hill, which +Keith mentioned as the scene of the robbery which old Tim Gilsey +had told him of. As it swung down the long descent, with the lights +of the lamps flashing on the big tree-tops, and with the roar of +the rushing water below them coming up as it boiled over the rocks, +Wickersham conceived a higher opinion of Keith than he had had +before, and he mentally resolved that the next time he came over +that road he would make the trip in the daytime. They had just +crossed the little creek which dashed over the rocks toward the +river, and had begun to ascend another hill, when Wickersham, who +had been talking about his drag, was pleased to have Keith offer +him the reins. He took them with some pride, and Keith dived down +into the boot. When he sat up again he had a pistol in his +hand.</p> +<p>"It was just about here that that 'hold-up' occurred."</p> +<p>"Suppose they should try to hold you up now, what would you do?" +asked Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't think there is any danger now," said Keith. "I have +driven over here at all hours and in all weathers. We are getting +too civilized for that now, and most of the express comes over in a +special wagon. It's only the mail and small packages that come on +this stage."</p> +<p>"But if they should?" demanded Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Well, I suppose I'd whip up my horses and cut for it," said +Keith.</p> +<p>"I wouldn't," asserted Wickersham. "I'd like to see any man make +me run when I have a gun in my pocket."</p> +<p>Suddenly, as if in answer to his boast, there was a flash in the +road, and the report of a pistol under the very noses of the +leaders, which made them swerve aside with a rattling of the +swingle-bars, and twist the stage sharply over to the side of the +road. At the same instant a dark figure was seen in the dim light +which the lamp threw on the road, close beside one of the horses, +and a voice was heard:</p> +<p>"I've got you now, ---- you!"</p> +<p>It was all so sudden that Wickersham had not time to think. It +seemed to him like a scene in a play rather than a reality. He +instinctively shortened the reins and pulled up the frightened +horses. Keith seized the reins with one band and snatched at the +whip with the other; but it was too late. Wickersham, hardly +conscious of what he was doing, was clutching the reins with all +his might, trying to control the leaders, whilst pandemonium broke +out inside, cries from the women and oaths from the men.</p> +<p>There was another volley of oaths and another flash, and +Wickersham felt a sharp little burn on the arm next Keith.</p> +<p>"Hold on!" he shouted. "For God's sake, don't shoot! Hold on! +Stop the horses!"</p> +<br> +<a name="p204.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p204.jpg"><img src="images/p204.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Sprang over the edge of the road into the thick bushes +below.</b></p> +<br> +<p>At the same moment Keith disappeared over the wheel. He had +fallen or sprung from his seat.</p> +<p>"The ---- coward!" thought Wickersham. "He is running."</p> +<p>The next second there was a report of a pistol close beside the +stage, and the man in the road at the horses' heads fired again. +Another report, and Keith dashed forward into the light of the +lantern and charged straight at the robber, who fired once more, +and then, when Keith was within ten feet of him, turned and sprang +over the edge of the road into the thick bushes below. Keith sprang +straight after him, and the two went crashing through the +underbrush, down the steep side of the hill.</p> +<p>The inmates of the stage poured out into the road, all talking +together, and Wickersham, with the aid of Jake Dennison, succeeded +in quieting the horses. The noise of the flight and the pursuit had +now grown more distant, but once more several shots were heard, +deep down in the woods, and then even they ceased.</p> +<p>It had all happened so quickly that the passengers had seen +nothing. They demanded of Wickersham how many robbers there were. +They were divided in their opinion as to the probable outcome. The +men declared that Keith had probably got the robber if he had not +been killed himself at the last fire.</p> +<p>Terpsichore was in a passion of rage because the men had not +jumped out instantly to Keith's rescue, and one of them had held +her in the stage and prevented her from poking her head out to see +the fight. In the light of the lantern Wickersham observed that she +was handsome. He watched her with interest. There was something of +the tiger in her lithe movement. She declared that she was going +down into the woods herself to find Keith. She was sure he had been +killed.</p> +<p>The men protested against this, and Jake Dennison and another +man started to the rescue, whilst a grizzled, weather-beaten fellow +caught and held her.</p> +<p>"Why, my darlint, I couldn't let you go down there. Why, you'd +ruin your new bonnet," he said.</p> +<p>The young woman snatched the bonnet from her head and slung it +in his face.</p> +<p>"You coward! Do you think I care for a bonnet when the best man +in Gumbolt may be dying down in them woods?"</p> +<p>With a cuff on the ear as the man burst out laughing and put his +hand on her to soothe her, she turned and darted over the bank into +the woods. Fortunately for the rest of her apparel, which must have +suffered as much as the dishevelled bonnet,--which the grizzled +miner had picked up and now held in his hand as carefully as if it +were one of the birds which ornamented it,--some one was heard +climbing up through the bushes toward the road a little distance +ahead.</p> +<p>The men stepped forward and waited, each one with his hand in +the neighborhood of his belt, whilst the women instinctively fell +to the rear. The next moment Keith appeared over the edge of the +road. As he stepped into the light it was seen that his face was +bleeding and that his left arm hung limp at his side.</p> +<p>The men called to Terpy to come back: that Keith was there. A +moment later she emerged from the bushes and clambered up the +bank.</p> +<p>"Did you get him?" was the first question she asked.</p> +<p>"No." Keith gave the girl a swift glance, and turning quietly, +he asked one of the men to help him off with his coat. In the light +of the lamp he had a curious expression on his white face.</p> +<p>"Terpy was that skeered about you, she swore she was goin' down +there to help you," said the miner who still held the hat.</p> +<p>A box on the ear from the young woman stopped whatever further +observation he was going to make.</p> +<p>"Shut up. Don't you see he's hurt?" She pushed away the man who +was helping Keith off with his coat, and took his place.</p> +<p>No one who had seen her as she relieved Keith of the coat and +with dexterous fingers, which might have been a trained nurse's, +cut away the bloody shirt-sleeve, would have dreamed that she was +the virago who, a few moments before, had been raging in the road, +swearing like a trooper, and cuffing men's ears.</p> +<p>When the sleeve was removed it was found that Keith's arm was +broken just above the elbow, and the blood was pouring from two +small wounds. Terpy levied imperiously on the other passengers for +handkerchiefs; then, not waiting for their contributions, suddenly +lifting her skirt, whipped off a white petticoat, and tore it into +strips. She soon had the arm bound up, showing real skill in her +surgery. Once she whispered a word in his ear--a single name. Keith +remained silent, but she read his answer, and went on with her work +with a grim look on her face. Then Keith mounted his box against +the remonstrances of every one, and the passengers having +reëntered the stage, Wickersham drove on into Gumbolt. His +manner was more respectful to Keith than it had ever been +before.</p> +<p>Within a half-hour after their arrival the sheriff and his +party, with Dave Dennison at the head of the posse, were on their +horses, headed for the scene of the "hold-up." Dave could have had +half of Gumbolt for posse had he desired it. They attempted to get +some information from Keith as to the appearance of the robber; but +Keith failed to give any description by which one man might have +been distinguished from the rest of the male sex.</p> +<p>"Could they expect a man to take particular notice of how +another looked under such circumstances? He looked like a pretty +big man."</p> +<p>Wickersham was able to give a more explicit description.</p> +<p>The pursuers returned a little after sunrise next morning +without having found the robber.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> +<h3>MRS. YORKE MAKES A MATCH</h3> +<br> +<p>The next day Keith was able to sit up, though the Doctor refused +to let him go out of the house. He was alone in his room when a +messenger announced that a woman wished to see him. When the +visitor came up it was Terpy. She was in a state of suppressed +excitement. Her face was white, her eyes glittered. Her voice as +she spoke was tremulous with emotion.</p> +<p>"They're on to him," she said in a husky voice. "That man that +comed over on the stage with you give a description of him, this +mornin', 't made 'em tumble to him after we had throwed 'em off the +track. If I ever git a show at him! They knows 'twas Bill. That +little devil Dennison is out ag'in."</p> +<p>"Oh, they won't catch him," said Keith; but as he spoke his face +changed. "What if he should get drunk and come into town?" he asked +himself.</p> +<p>"If they git him, they'll hang him," pursued the girl, without +heeding him. "They're all up. You are so popular.</p> +<p>"Me?" exclaimed Keith, laughing.</p> +<p>"It's so," said the girl, gravely. "That Dave Dennison would +kill anybody for you, and they're ag'in' Bill, all of 'em."</p> +<p>"Can't you get word to him?" began Keith, and paused. He looked +at her keenly. "You must keep him out of the way.'</p> +<p>"He's wounded. You got him in the shoulder. He's got to see a +doctor. The ball's still in there."</p> +<p>"I knew it," said Keith, quietly.</p> +<p>The girl gazed at him a moment, and then looked away.</p> +<p>"That was the reason I have been a-pesterin' you, goin' +back'ards and for'ards. I hope you will excuse me of it," she said +irrelevantly.</p> +<p>Keith sat quite still for a moment, as it all came over him. It +was, then, him that the man was after, not robbery, and this girl, +unable to restrain her discarded suitor without pointing suspicion +to him, had imperilled her life for Keith, when he was conceited +enough to more than half accept the hints of strangers that she +cared for him.</p> +<p>"We must get him away," he said, rising painfully. "Where is +he?"</p> +<p>"He's hid in a house down the road. I have flung 'em off the +track by abusin' of him. They know I am against him, and they think +I am after you," she said, looking at him with frank eyes; "and I +have been lettin' 'em think it," she added quietly.</p> +<p>Keith almost gasped. Truly this girl was past his +comprehension.</p> +<p>"We must get him away," he said.</p> +<p>"How can we do it?" she asked. "They suspicion he's here, and +the pickets are out. If he warn't hit in the shoulder so bad, he +could fight his way out. He ain't afraid of none of 'em," she +added, with a flash of the old pride. "I could go with him and help +him; I have done it before; but I would have to break up here. He's +got to see a doctor."</p> +<p>Keith sat in reflection for a moment.</p> +<p>"Tim Gilsey is going to drive the stage over to Eden to-night. +Go down and see if the places are all taken."</p> +<p>"I have got a place on it," she said, "on the boot."</p> +<p>As Keith looked at her, she added in explanation:</p> +<p>"I take it regular, so as to have it when I want it."</p> +<p>Under Keith's glance she turned away her eyes.</p> +<p>"I am going to Eden to-night," said Keith.</p> +<p>She looked puzzled.</p> +<p>"If you could get old Tim to stop at that house for five minutes +till I give Bluffy a letter to Dr. Balsam over at the Springs, I +think we might arrange it. My clothes will fit him. You will have +to see Uncle Tim."</p> +<p>Her countenance lit up.</p> +<p>"You mean you would stop there and let him take your place?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>The light of craft that must have been in Delilah's eyes when +Samson lay at her feet was in her face. She sprang up.</p> +<p>"I will never forgit you, and Bill won't neither. He knows now +what a hound he has been. When you let him off last night after he +had slipped on the rock, he says that was enough for him. Before he +will ever pull a pistol on you ag'in, he says he will blow his own +brains out; and he will, or I will for him." She looked capable of +it as she stood with glowing eyes and after a moment held out her +hand. She appeared about to speak, but reflected and turned +away.</p> +<p>When the girl left Keith's room a few moments later, she carried +a large bundle under her arm, and that night the stage stopped in +the darkness at a little shanty at the far end of the fast-growing +street, and Keith descended painfully and went into the house. +Whilst the stage waited, old Tim attempted to do something to the +lamp on that side, and in turning it down he put it out. Just then +Keith, with his arm in a sling and wrapped in a heavy coat, came +out, and was helped by old Tim up to the seat beside him. The stage +arrived somewhat ahead of time at the point which the railroad had +now reached, and old Tim, without waiting for daylight, took the +trouble to hire a buggy and send the wounded man on, declaring that +it was important that he should get to a hospital as soon as +possible.</p> +<p>Amusements were scarce in Gumbolt, and Ferdy Wickersham had been +there only a day or two when, under Mr. Plume's guidance, he sought +the entertainment of Terpsichore's Hall. He had been greatly struck +by Terpy that night on the road, when she had faced down the men +and had afterwards bound up Keith's arm. He had heard from Plume +rumors of her frequent trips over the road and jests of her fancy +for Keith. He would test it. It would break the monotony and give +zest to the pursuit to make an inroad on Keith's preserve. When he +saw her on the little stage he was astonished at her dancing. Why, +the girl was an artist! As good a figure, as active a tripper, as +high a kicker, as dainty a pair of ankles as he had seen in a long +time, not to mention a keen pair of eyes with the devil peeping +from them. To his surprise, he found Terpy stony to his advances. +Her eyes glittered with dislike for him.</p> +<p>He became one of the highest players that had ever entered the +gilded apartment on Terpsichore's second floor; he ordered more +champagne than any man in Gumbolt; but for all this he failed to +ingratiate himself with its presiding genius. Terpsichore still +looked at him with level eyes in which was a cold gleam, and when +she showed her white teeth it was generally to emphasize some gibe +at him. One evening, after a little passage at arms, Wickersham +chucked her under the chin and called her "Darling." Terpsichore +wheeled on him.</p> +<p>"Keep your dirty hands to yourself" she said, with a flash in +her eye, and gave him such a box on the ear as made his head ring. +The men around broke into a guffaw.</p> +<p>Wickersham was more than angry; he was enraged. He had heard a +score of men call her by endearing names. He had also seen some of +them get the same return that he received; but none so vicious. He +sprang to his feet, his face flushed. The next second his senses +returned, and he saw that he must make the best of it.</p> +<p>"You vixen!" he said, with a laugh, and caught the girl by the +wrist. "I will make you pay for that." As he tried to draw her to +him, she whipped from her dress a small stiletto which she wore as +an ornament, and drew it back.</p> +<p>"Let go, or I'll drive it into you," she said, with fire darting +from her eyes; and Wickersham let go amid the laughter and jeers of +those about them, who were egging the girl on and calling to her to +"give it to him."</p> +<p>Wickersham after this tried to make his peace, but without +avail. Though he did not know it, Terpsichore had in her heart a +feeling of hate which was relentless. It was his description that +had set the sheriff's posse on the track of her dissipated lover, +and though she had "washed her hands of Bill Bluffy," as she said, +she could not forgive the man who had injured him.</p> +<p>Then Wickersham, having committed one error, committed another. +He tried to get revenge, and the man who sets out to get revenge on +a woman starts on a sad journey. At least, it was so with +Wickersham.</p> +<p>He attributed the snubbing he had received to the girl's liking +for Keith, and he began to meditate how he should get even with +them. The chance presented itself, as he thought, when one night he +attended a ball at the Windsor. It was a gay occasion, for the +Wickershams had opened their first mine, and Gumbolt's future was +assured. The whole of Gumbolt was there--at least, all of those who +did not side with Mr. Drummond, the Methodist preacher. Terpsichore +was there, and Keith, who danced with her. She was the +handsomest-dressed woman in the throng, and, to Wickersham's +surprise, she was dressed with some taste, and her manners were +quiet and subdued.</p> +<p>Toward morning the scene became hilarious, and a call was made +for Terpsichore to give a Spanish dance. The girl held back, but +her admirers were in no mood for refusal, and the call became +insistent. Keith had gone to his room, but Wickersham was still +there, and his champagne had flowed freely. At length the girl +yielded, and, after a few words with the host of the Windsor, she +stepped forward and began to dance.</p> +<p>She danced in such a way that the applause made the brass +chandeliers ring. Even Wickersham, though he hated her, could not +but admire her.</p> +<p>Keith, who had found it useless to try to sleep even in a remote +corner of the hotel, returned just then, and whether it was that +Terpsichore caught sight of him as she glanced his way, or that she +caught sight of Wickersham's hostile face, she faltered and stopped +suddenly.</p> +<p>Wickersham thought she had broken down, and, under the influence +of the champagne, turned with a jeer to Plume.</p> +<p>"She can't dance, Plume," he called across to the editor, who +was at some little distance in the crowd.</p> +<p>Those nearest to the dancer urged her to continue, but she had +heard Wickersham's jeer, and she suddenly faced him and, pointing +her long, bare arm toward him, said: "Put that man out, or I won't +go on."</p> +<p>Wickersham gave a laugh. "Go on? You can't go on," he said, +trying to steady himself on his feet. "You can't dance any more +than a cow."</p> +<p>He had never heard before the hum of an angry crowd.</p> +<p>"Throw him out! Fling him out of the window!" were the words he +caught.</p> +<p>In a second a score of men were about him, and more than a score +were rushing in his direction with a sound that brought him quickly +to his senses.</p> +<p>Fortunately two men with cool heads were near by. With a spring +Keith and a short, stout young fellow with gray eyes were making +their way to his side, dragging men back, throwing them aside, +expostulating, ordering, and, before anything else had happened +than the tearing of his coat half off of his back, Wickersham found +himself with Keith and Dave Dennison standing in front of him, +defending him against the angry revellers.</p> +<p>The determined air of the two officers held the assailants in +check long enough for them to get their attention, and, after a +moment, order was restored on condition that Wickersham should +"apologize to the lady and leave town."</p> +<p>This Wickersham, well sobered by the handling he had received, +was willing to do, and he was made to walk up and offer a humble +apology to Terpsichore, who accepted it with but indifferent +grace.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>That winter the railroad reached Gumbolt, and Gumbolt, or New +Leeds, as it was now called, sprang at once, so to speak, from a +chrysalis to a full-fledged butterfly with wings unfolding in the +sun of prosperity.</p> +<p>Lands that a year or two before might have been had for a song, +and mineral rights that might have been had for less than a song, +were now held at fabulous prices.</p> +<p>Keith was sitting at his table, one day, writing, when there was +a heavy step outside, and Squire Rawson walked in on him.</p> +<p>When all matters of mutual interest had been talked over, the +squire broached the real object of his visit; at least, he began to +approach it. He took out his pipe and filled it.</p> +<p>"Well, it's come," he said.</p> +<p>"What has come?"</p> +<p>"The railroad. That young man Rhodes said 'twas comin', and so +it's done. He was something of a prophet." The old fellow chuckled +softly and lit his pipe. "That there friend of yours, Mr. +Wickersham, is been down here ag'in. Kind o' hangs around. What's +he up to?"</p> +<p>Keith laughed.</p> +<p>"Well, it's pretty hard to tell what Wickersham is up to,--at +least, by what he says,--especially when you don't tell me what he +is doing."</p> +<p>The old man looked pleased. Keith had let him believe that he +did not know what he was talking of, and had expressed an opinion +in which he agreed.</p> +<p>"That's what I think. Well, it's about my land up here."</p> +<p>Keith looked relived.</p> +<p>"Has he made you another offer for it?"</p> +<p>"No; he ain't done that, and he won't do it. That's what I tells +him. If he wants it, let him make me a good offer; but he won't do +that. He kind o' circles around like a pigeon before he lights, and +talks about what I paid for it, and a hundred per cent. advance, +and all that. I give a sight for that land he don't know nothin' +about--years of hard work on the mountain-side, sweatin' o' days, +and layin' out in the cold at nights, lookin' up at the stars and +wonderin' how I was to git along--studin' of folks jest as I +studied cattle. That's what I paid for that land. He wants me to +set him a price, and I won't do that--he might give it." He looked +shrewdly at Keith. "Ain't I right?"</p> +<p>"I think so."</p> +<p>"He wants me to let him have control of it; but I ain't a-goin' +to do that neither."</p> +<p>"That's certainly right," said Keith, heartily.</p> +<p>"I tell him I'm a-goin' to hold to that for Phrony. Phrony says +she wants me to sell it to him, too. But women-folks don't know +about business."</p> +<p>Keith wondered what effect this piece of information had on +Wickersham, and also what further design the old squire had in +mind.</p> +<p>"I think it's about time to do something with that land. If all +he says is true,--not about <i>my</i> land (he makes out as +<i>my</i> land is situate too far away ever to be much +account--fact is, he don't allow I've got any land; he says it's +all his anyway), but about other lands--everybody else's land but +mine,--it might be a good time to look around. I know as my land is +the best land up here. I holds the key to the situation. That's +what we used to call it durin' the war.</p> +<p>"Well, there ain't but three ways to git to them coal-lands back +up yonder in the Gap: one's by way of heaven, and I 'lows there +ain't many land-speculators goin' by that way; the other is through +hell, a way they'll know more about hereafter; and the third's +through my land."</p> +<p>Keith laughed and waited.</p> +<p>"He seems to be hangin' around Phrony pretty considerable?"</p> +<p>Keith caught the gleam in the old fellow's deep eye, and looked +away.</p> +<p>"I can't make it out. Phrony she likes him."</p> +<p>Keith fastened his gaze on something out of the window.</p> +<p>"I don't know him," pursued the squire; "But I don't think--he'd +suit Phrony. His ways ain't like ours, and--." He lapsed into +reflection, and Keith, with his eyes still fastened on something +outside the window, sighed to think of the old man's innocence. +That he should imagine that Wickersham had any serious idea of +marrying the granddaughter of a backwoods magistrate! The old +squire broke the silence.</p> +<p>"You don't suppose he could be hankerin' after Phrony for her +property, do you?"</p> +<p>"No, I do not," said Keith, positively, relieved that at last a +question was put which he could answer directly.</p> +<p>"Because she ain't got any," asserted the squire. "She's got +prospects; but I'm goin' to remove them. It don't do for a young +woman to have too much prospects. I'm goin' to sell that land and +git it down in cash, where I can do what I want with it. And I want +you to take charge of it for me."</p> +<p>This, then, was the real object of his visit. He wanted Keith to +take charge of his properties. It was a tempting offer to make +Keith. The old man had been a shrewd negotiator.</p> +<p>There is no success so sweet as that which comes to a young +man.</p> +<p>That night Keith spent out under the stars. Success had come. +And its other name was Alice Yorke.</p> +<p>The way before Keith still stretched steep enough, but the light +was on it, the sunshine caught peak after peak high up among the +clouds themselves, and crowning the highest point, bathed in +perpetual sunlight, was the image of Alice Yorke.</p> +<p>Alice Yorke had been abroad now for some time; but he had +followed her. Often when his work was done he had locked his door +and shut himself in from the turmoil of the bustling, noisy throng +outside to dream of her--to read and study that he might become +worthy of her.</p> +<p>He had just seen by the papers that Alice Yorke had +returned.</p> +<p>She had escaped the dangers of a foreign service; but, by the +account, she was the belle of the season at the watering-place +which she was honoring with her presence. As he read the account, a +little jealousy crept into the satisfaction which he had felt as he +began. Mr. Lancaster was spoken of too pointedly; and there was +mention of too many yacht-parties and entertainments in which their +names appeared together.</p> +<p>In fact, the forces exerted, against Alice Yorke had begun to +tell. Her mother, overawed by her husband's determination, had +reluctantly abandoned her dreams of a foreign title with its +attendant honors to herself, and, of late, had turned all her +energies to furthering the suit of Mr. Lancaster. It would be a +great establishment that he would give Alice, and no name in the +country stood higher. He was the soul of honor, personal and +commercial; and in an age when many were endeavoring to amass great +fortunes and make a dazzling display, he was content to live +modestly, and was known for his broad-minded philanthropy. What did +it matter that he was considerably older than Alice? reflected Mrs. +Yorke. Mrs. Creamer and half the mothers she knew would give their +eyes to secure him for their daughters; and certainly he had shown +that he knew how to enter into Alice's feelings.</p> +<p>Even Mr. Yorke had begun to favor Mr. Lancaster after Mrs. Yorke +had skilfully pointed out that Alice's next most attentive admirer +was Ferdy Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Why, I thought he was still trying to get that Caldwell girl," +said he.</p> +<p>"You know he cannot get her; she is married," replied Mrs. +Yorke.</p> +<p>"I guess that would make precious little difference to that +young man, if she would say the word. I wish he would keep away +from here."</p> +<p>"Oh, Ferdy is no worse than some others; you were always unjust +to him. Most young men sow their wild oats."</p> +<p>No man likes to be charged with injustice by his wife, and Mr. +Yorke's tone showed that he was no exception to this rule.</p> +<p>"He is worse than most others <i>I</i> know, and the crop of +oats he is sowing, if he does not look out, he will reap somewhere +else besides in New York. Alice shall marry whom she pleases, +provided it is not that young man; but she shall not marry him if +she wants to."</p> +<p>"She does not want to marry him," said Mrs. Yorke; "if she had +she could have done it long ago."</p> +<p>"Not while I lived," said Mr. Yorke, firmly. But from this time +Mr. Yorke began to acquiesce in his wife's plans touching Mr. +Lancaster.</p> +<p>Finally Alice herself began to yield. The influences were very +strong, and were skilfully exerted. The only man who had ever made +any lasting impression on her heart was, she felt, out of the +question. The young school-teacher, with his pride and his scorn of +modern ways, had influenced her life more than any one else she had +ever known, and though under her mother's management the feeling +had gradually subsided, and had been merged into what was merely a +cherished recollection, Memory, stirred at times by some picture or +story of heroism and devotion, reminded her that she too might, +under other conditions, have had a real romance. Still, after two +or three years, her life appeared to have been made for her by +Fate, and she yielded, not recognizing that Fate was only a very +ambitious and somewhat short-sighted mamma aided by the conditions +of an artificial state of life known as fashionable society.</p> +<p>Keith wrote Alice Yorke a letter congratulating her upon her +safe return; but a feeling, part shyness, part pride, seized him. +He had received no acknowledgment of his last letter. Why should he +write again? He mailed the letter in the waste-basket. Now, +however, that success had come to him, he wrote her a brief note +congratulating her upon her return, a stiff little plea for +remembrance. He spoke of his good fortune: he was the agent for the +most valuable lands in that region, and the future was beginning to +look very bright. Business, he said, might take him North before +long, and the humming-birds would show him the way to the fairest +roses. The hope of seeing her shone in every line. It reached Alice +Yorke in the midst of preparation for her marriage.</p> +<p>Alice Yorke sat for some time in meditation over this letter. It +brought back vividly the time which she had never wholly forgotten. +Often, in the midst of scenes so gay and rich as to amaze her, she +had recalled the springtime in the budding woods, with an ardent +boy beside her, worshipping her with adoring eyes. She had lived +close to Nature then, and Content once or twice peeped forth at her +from its covert with calm and gentle eyes. She had known pleasure +since then, joy, delight, but never content. However, it was too +late now. Mr. Lancaster and her mother had won the day; she had at +last accepted him and an establishment. She had accepted her fate +or had made it.</p> +<p>She showed the letter to her mother. Mrs. Yorke's face took on +an inscrutable expression.</p> +<p>"You are not going to answer it, of course?" she said.</p> +<p>"Of course, I am; I am going to write him the nicest letter that +I know how to write. He is one of the best friends I ever had."</p> +<p>"What will Mr. Lancaster say?"</p> +<p>"Mr. Lancaster quite understands. He is going to be reasonable; +that is the condition."</p> +<p>This appeared to be satisfactory to Mrs. Yorke, or, at least, +she said no more.</p> +<p>Alice's letter to Keith was friendly and even kind. She had +never forgotten him, she said. Some day she hoped to meet him +again. Keith read this with a pleasant light in his eyes. He turned +the page, and his face suddenly whitened. She had a piece of news +to tell him which might surprise him. She was engaged to be married +to an old friend of her family's, Mr. Lancaster. He had met Mr. +Lancaster, she remembered, and was sure he would like him, as Mr. +Lancaster had liked him so much.</p> +<p>Keith sat long over this letter, his face hard set and very +white. She was lost to him. He had not known till then how largely +he had built his life upon the memory of Alice Yorke. Deep down +under everything that he had striven for had lain the foundation of +his hope to win her. It went down with a crash. He went to his +room, and unlocking his desk, took from his drawer a small package +of letters and other little mementos of the past that had been so +sweet. These he put in the fire and, with a grim face, watched them +blaze and burn to ashes. She was dead to him. He reserved +nothing.</p> +<p>The newspapers described the Yorke-Lancaster wedding as one of +the most brilliant affairs of the season. They dwelt particularly +on the fortunes of both parties, the value of the presents, and the +splendor of the dresses worn on the occasion. One journal mentioned +that Mr. Lancaster was considerably older than the bride, and was +regarded as one of the best, because one of the safest, matches to +be found in society.</p> +<p>Keith recalled Mr. Lancaster: dignified, cultivated, and coldly +gracious. Then he recalled his gray hair, and found some +satisfaction in it. He recalled, too, Mrs. Yorke's friendliness for +him. This, then, was what it meant. He wondered to himself how he +could have been so blind to it. When he came to think of it, Mr. +Lancaster came nearer possessing what others strove for than any +one else he knew. Yet, Youth looks on Youth as peculiarly its own, +and Keith found it hard to look on Alice Yorke's marriage as +anything but a sale.</p> +<p>"They talk about the sin of selling negroes," he said; "that is +as very a sale as ever took place at a slave-auction."</p> +<p>For a time he plunged into the gayest life that Gumbolt offered. +He even began to visit Terpsichore. But this was not for long. Mr. +Plume's congratulations were too distasteful to him for him to +stomach them; and Terpy began to show her partiality too plainly +for him to take advantage of it. Besides, after all, though Alice +Yorke had failed him, it was treason to the ideal he had so long +carried in his heart. This still remained to him.</p> +<p>He went back to his work, resolved to tear from his heart all +memory of Alice Yorke. She was married and forever beyond his +dreams. If he had worked before with enthusiasm, he now worked with +fury. Mr. Lancaster, as wealthy as he was, as completely equipped +with all that success could give, lacked one thing that Keith +possessed: he lacked the promise of the Future. Keith would show +these Yorkes who he was.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +<h3>KEITH VISITS NEW YORK, AND MRS. LANCASTER SEES A GHOST</h3> +<br> +<p>For the next year or two the tide set in very strong toward the +mountains, and New Leeds advanced with giant strides. What had been +a straggling village a year or two before was now a town, and was +beginning to put on the airs of a city. Brick buildings quite as +pretentious as the town were springing up where a year before there +were unsightly frame boxes; the roads where hogs had wallowed in +mire not wholly of their own kneading were becoming well-paved +streets. Out on the heights, where had been a forest, were +sprinkled sightly dwellings in pretty yards. The smoke of panting +engines rose where but a few years back old Tim Gilsey drew rein +over his steaming horses. Pretty girls and well-dressed women began +to parade the sidewalks where formerly Terpsichore's skirts were +the only feminine attire seen. And "Gordon Keith, civil and mining +engineer," with his straight figure and tanned, manly face, was not +ignored by them. But locked in his heart was the memory of the girl +he had found in the Spring woods. She was forever beyond him; but +he still clung to the picture he had enshrined there.</p> +<p>When he saw Dr. Balsam, no reference was made to the +verification of the latter's prophecy; but the young man knew from +the kind tone in the older man's voice that he had heard of it. +Meantime Keith had not been idle. Surveys and plats had been made, +and everything done to facilitate placing the Rawson properties on +the market.</p> +<p>When old man Rawson came to New Leeds now, he made Keith's +little office his headquarters, and much quaint philosophy Keith +learned from him.</p> +<p>"I reckon it's about time to try our cattle in the New York +market," he said at length to Keith. It was a joke he never gave +up. "You go up there and look around, and if you have any trouble +send for me."</p> +<p>So, taking his surveys and reports and a few letters of +introduction Keith went to New York.</p> +<p>Only one thought marred Keith's joy: the dearest aim he had so +long had in view had disappeared. The triumph of standing before +Alice Yorke and offering her the reward of his endeavor was gone. +All he could do was to show her what she had lost. This he would +do; he would win life's highest honors. He grew grim with +resolve.</p> +<p>Something of this triumphant feeling showed in his mien and in +his face as he plunged into the crowded life of the city. From the +time he passed into the throng that streamed up the long platforms +of the station and poured into the wide ferry-boats, like grain +pouring through a mill, he felt the thrill of the life. This was +what he had striven for. He would take his place here and show what +was in him.</p> +<p>He had forgotten how gay the city life was. Every place of +public resort pleased him: theatres, hotels, beer-gardens; but best +of all the streets. He took them all in with absolute freedom and +delight.</p> +<p>Business was the watchword, the trade-mark. It buzzed +everywhere, from the Battery to the Park. It thronged the streets, +pulsating through the outlets and inlets at ferries and +railway-stations and crossings, and through the great buildings +that were already beginning to tower in the business sections. It +hummed in the chief centres. And through it all and beyond it all +shone opulence, opulence gilded and gleaming and dazzling in its +glitter: in the big hotels; in the rich shops; in the gaudy +theatres; along the fine avenues: a display of wealth to make the +eyes ache; an exhibition of riches never seen before. It did Keith +good at first just to stand in the street and watch the pageant as +it passed like a gilded panorama. Of the inner New York he did not +yet know: the New York of luxurious homes; of culture and of art; +of refinement and elegance. The New York that has grown up since, +with its vast wealth, its brazen glitter, its tides that roll up +riches as the sea rolls up the sand, was not yet. It was still in +its infancy, a chrysalis as yet sleeping within its golden +cocoon.</p> +<p>Keith had no idea there were so many handsome and stylish young +women in the world as he now saw. He had forgotten how handsome the +American girl is in her best appointment. They sailed down the +avenue looking as fine as young fillies at a show, or streamed +through the best shopping streets as though not only the shops, but +the world belonged to them, and it were no longer the meek, but the +proud, that inherit the earth.</p> +<p>If in the throngs on the streets there were often marked +contrasts, Keith was too exhilarated to remark it--at least, at +first. If women with worn faces and garments unduly thin in the +frosty air, carrying large bundles in their pinched hands, hurried +by as though hungry, not only for food, but for time in which to +earn food; if sad-eyed men with hollow cheeks, sunken chests, and +threadbare clothes shambled eagerly along, he failed to note them +in his first keen enjoyment of the pageant. Old clothes meant +nothing where he came from; they might be the badge of perilous +enterprise and well-paid industry, and food and fire were at least +common to all.</p> +<p>Keith, indeed, moved about almost in a trance, absorbing and +enjoying the sights. It was Humanity in flood; Life at full +tide.</p> +<p>Many a woman and not a few men turned to take a second look at +the tanned, eager face and straight, supple figure, as, with +smiling, yet keen eyes, he stalked along with the free, swinging +gait caught on the mountains, so different from the quick, short +steps of the city man. Beggars, and some who from their look and +apparel might not have been beggars, applied to him so often that +he said to one of them, a fairly well-dressed man with a nose of a +slightly red tinge:</p> +<p>"Well, I must have a very benevolent face or a very credulous +one!"</p> +<p>"You have," said the man, with brazen frankness, pocketing the +half-dollar given him on his tale of a picked pocket and a +remittance that had gone wrong.</p> +<p>Keith laughed and passed on.</p> +<p>Meantime, Keith was making some discoveries. He did not at first +call on Norman Wentworth. He had a feeling that it might appear as +if he were using his friendship for a commercial purpose. He +presented his business letters. His letters, however, failed to +have the weight he had expected. The persons whom he had met down +in New Leeds, during their brief visits there, were, somehow, very +different when met in New York. Some whom he called on were civil +enough to him; but as soon as he broached his business they froze +up. The suggestion that he had coal-property to sell sent them down +to zero. Their eyes would glint with a shrewd light and their faces +harden into ice. One or two told him plainly that they had no money +to embark in "wild-cat schemes."</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer of Creamer, Crustback & Company, Capitalists, a +tall, broad-shouldered man, with a strongly cut nose and chin and +keen, gray eyes, that, through long habitude, weighed chances with +an infallible appraisement, to whom Keith had a letter from an +acquaintance, one of those casual letters that mean anything or +nothing, informed him frankly that he had "neither time nor +inclination to discuss enterprises, ninety-nine out of every +hundred of which were frauds, and the hundredth generally a +failure."</p> +<p>"This is not a fraud," said Keith, hotly, rising. "I do not +indorse frauds, sir." He began to draw on his gloves. "If I cannot +satisfy any reasonable man of the fact I state, I am willing to +fail. I ought to fail." With a bow, he turned to the door.</p> +<p>Something in Keith's assurance went further with the shrewd-eyed +capitalist than his politeness had done. He shot a swift glance as +he was retiring toward the door.</p> +<p>"Why didn't Wickersham make money down there?" he demanded, half +in query, half in denial, gazing keenly over his gold-rimmed +glasses. "He usually makes money, even if others lose it."</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer had his own reasons for not liking Wickersham.</p> +<p>Keith was standing at the door.</p> +<p>"For two or three reasons. One was that he underestimated the +people who live down there, and thought he could force them into +selling him their lands, and so lost the best properties +there."</p> +<p>"The lands you have, I suppose?" said the banker, looking again +at Keith quickly.</p> +<p>"Yes, the lands I have, though you don't believe it," said +Keith, looking him calmly in the eyes.</p> +<p>The banker was gazing at the young man ironically; but, as he +observed him, his credulity began to give way.</p> +<p>That stamp of truth which men recognize was written on him +unmistakably. Mr. Creamer's mind worked quickly.</p> +<p>"By the way, you came from down there. Did you know a young man +named Rhodes? He was an engineer. Went over the line."</p> +<p>Keith's eyes brightened. "He is one of my best friends. He is in +Russia now."</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer nodded. "What do you think of him?"</p> +<p>"He is one of the best."</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer nodded. He did not think it necessary to tell Keith +that Rhodes was paying his addresses to his daughter.</p> +<p>"You write to him," said Keith. "He will tell you just what I +have. Tell him they are the Rawson lands."</p> +<p>Keith opened the door. "Good morning, sir."</p> +<p>"One moment!" Mr. Creamer leaned back in his chair. "Whom else +do you know here?" he asked after a second.</p> +<p>Keith reflected a moment.</p> +<p>"I know Mr. Wentworth."</p> +<p>"Norman Wentworth?"</p> +<p>"Yes; I know him very well. He is an old friend of mine."</p> +<p>"Have you been to him?"</p> +<p>"No, sir."</p> +<p>"Why not?"</p> +<p>"Because my relations with him are entirely personal. We used to +be warm friends, and I did not wish to use his friendship for me as +a ground on which to approach him in a commercial enterprise."</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer's countenance expressed more incredulity than he +intended to show.</p> +<p>"He might feel under obligations to do for me what he would not +be inclined to do otherwise," Keith explained.</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't think you need have any apprehension on that +score," Mr. Creamer said, with a glint of amusement in his eyes. +"It is a matter of business, and I don't think you will find +business men here overstepping the bounds of prudence from motives +of sentiment."</p> +<p>"There is no man whom I would rather have go into it with me; +but I shall not ask him to do it, for the reason I have given. Good +morning."</p> +<p>The banker did not take his eyes from the door until the sound +of Keith's steps had died away through his outer office. Then he +reflected for a moment. Presently he touched a bell, and a clerk +appeared in the door.</p> +<p>"Write a note to Mr. Norman Wentworth and ask him to drop in to +see me--any time this afternoon."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> +<p>When Norman Wentworth called at Mr. Creamer's office he found +the financier in a good humor. The market had gone well of late, +and Mr. Creamer's moods were not altogether unlike the mercury. His +greeting was more cordial than usual. After a brief discussion of +recent events, he pushed a card across to his visitor and asked +casually:</p> +<p>"What do you know about that man?"</p> +<p>"Gordon Keith!" exclaimed the younger man, in surprise. "Is he +in New York, and I have not seen him! Why, I know all about him. He +used to be an old friend of mine. We were boys together ever so +long ago."</p> +<p>He went on to speak warmly of him.</p> +<p>"Well, that was long ago," said Mr. Creamer, doubtfully. "Many +things have happened in that time. He has had time to change."</p> +<p>"He must have changed a good deal if he is not straight," +declared Norman. "I wonder why he has not been to see me?"</p> +<p>"Well, I'll tell you what he said," began Mr. Creamer.</p> +<p>He gave Keith's explanation.</p> +<p>"Did he say that? Then it's true. You ought to know his father. +He is a regular old Don Quixote."</p> +<p>"The Don was not particularly practical. He would not have done +much with coal and iron lands," observed the banker. "What do you +know about this man's knowledge of such things?"</p> +<p>Norman admitted that on this point he had no information.</p> +<p>"He says he knows Wickersham--your friend," said Mr. Creamer, +with a sly look at Norman.</p> +<p>"Yes, I expect he does--if any one knows him. He used to know +him. What does he say of him?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I think he knows him. Well, I am much obliged to you for +coming around," he said in a tone of dismissal. "You are coming to +dine with us soon, I believe? The Lancasters are coming, too. And +we expect Rhodes home. He's due next week."</p> +<p>"One member of your family will be glad to see him," said +Norman, smiling. "The wedding is to take place in a few weeks, I +believe?"</p> +<p>"I hear so," said the father. "Fine young man, Rhodes? Your +cousin, isn't he? Been very successful?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>Once, as Keith passed along down Broadway, just where some of +the great shops were at that time, before the tide had rolled so +far up-town, a handsome carriage and pair drew up in front of one +of the big shops, and a lady stepped from it just behind him. She +was a very pretty young woman, and richly dressed. A straight back +and a well-set head, with a perfect toilet, gave her distinction +even among the handsomely appointed women who thronged the street +that sunny morning, and many a woman turned and looked at her with +approval or envy.</p> +<p>The years, that had wrought Keith from a plain country lad into +a man of affairs of such standing in New Leeds that a shrewd +operator like Rawson had selected him for his representative, had +also wrought a great change in Alice Lancaster. Alice had missed +what she had once begun to expect, romance and all that it meant; +but she had filled with dignity the place she had chosen. If Mr. +Lancaster's absorption in serious concerns left her life more +sombre than she had expected, at least she let no one know it. +Association with a man like Mr. Lancaster had steadied and elevated +her. His high-mindedness had lifted her above the level of her +worldly mother and of many of those who constituted the set in +which she lived.</p> +<p>He admired her immeasurably. He was constantly impressed by the +difference between her and her shallow-minded and silly mother, or +even between her and such a young woman as Mrs. Wentworth, who +lived only for show and extravagance, and appeared in danger of +ruining her husband and wrecking his happiness.</p> +<p>It was Mrs. Lancaster who descended from her carriage as Keith +passed by. Just as she was about to enter the shop, a well-knit +figure with square shoulders and springy step, swinging down the +street, caught her eye. She glanced that way and gave an +exclamation. The door was being held open for her by a blank-faced +automaton in a many-buttoned uniform; so she passed in, but pausing +just inside, she glanced back through the window. The next instant +she left the shop and gazed down the street again. But Keith had +turned a corner, and so Alice Lancaster did not see him, though she +stood on tiptoe to try and distinguish him again in the crowd.</p> +<p>"Well, I would have sworn that that was Gordon Keith," she said +to herself, as she turned away, "if he had not been so +broad-shouldered and good-looking." And wherever she moved the rest +of the day her eyes wandered up and down the street.</p> +<p>Once, as she was thus engaged, Ferdy Wickersham came up. He was +dressed in the tip of the fashion and looked very handsome.</p> +<p>"Who is the happy man?"</p> +<p>The question was so in keeping with her thought that she blushed +unexpectedly.</p> +<p>"No one."</p> +<p>"Ah, not me, then? But I know it was some one. No woman looks so +expectant and eager for 'no one.'"</p> +<p>"Do you think I am like you, perambulating streets trying to +make conquests?" she said, with a smile.</p> +<p>"You do not have to try," he answered lazily. "You do it simply +by being on the street. I am playing in great luck to-day."</p> +<p>"Have you seen Louise this morning?" she asked.</p> +<p>He looked her full in the face. "I see no one but you when you +are around."</p> +<p>She laughed lightly.</p> +<p>"Ferdy, you will begin to believe that after a while, if you do +not stop saying it so often."</p> +<p>"I shall never stop saying it, because it is true," he replied +imperturbably, turning his dark eyes on her, the lids a little +closed.</p> +<p>"You have got so in the habit of saying it that you repeat it +like my parrot that I taught once, when I was younger and vainer, +to say, 'Pretty Alice.' He says it all the time."</p> +<p>"Sensible bird," said Mr. Wickersham, calmly. "Come and drive me +up to the Park and let's have a stroll. I know such a beautiful +walk. There are so many people out to-day. I saw the lady of the +'cat-eyes and cat-claws' go by just now, seeking some one whom she +can turn again and rend." It was the name she had given Mrs. +Nailor.</p> +<p>"I do not care who is out. Are you going to the Wentworths' this +evening?" she asked irrelevantly.</p> +<p>"No; I rarely go there. Will you mention that to Mrs. Nailor? +She apparently has not that confidence in my word that I could have +expected in one so truthful as herself."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster laughed.</p> +<p>"Ferdy--" she began, and then paused irresolute. "However--"</p> +<p>"Well, what is it? Say it."</p> +<p>"You ought not to go there so often as you do."</p> +<p>"Why?" His eyes were full of insolence.</p> +<p>"Good-by. Drive home," she said to the coachman, in a tone +intentionally loud enough for her friend to hear.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham strolled on down the street, and a few minutes +later was leaning in at the door of Mrs. Wentworth's carriage, +talking very earnestly to the lady inside.</p> +<p>Mr. Wickersham's attentions to Louise Wentworth had begun to be +the talk of the town. Young Mrs. Wentworth was not a person to +allow herself to be shelved. She did not propose that the older +lady who bore that name should be known by it. She declared she +would play second fiddle to no one. But she discovered that the old +lady who lived in the old mansion on Washington Square was "Mrs. +Wentworth," and that Mrs. Wentworth occupied a position from which +she was not to be moved. After a little she herself was known as +"Mrs. Norman." It was the first time Mrs. Norman had ever had +command of much money. Her mother had made a good appearance and +dressed her daughter handsomely, but to carry out her plans she had +had to stint and scrape to make both ends meet. Mrs. Caldwell told +one of her friends that her rings knew the way to the pawnbroker's +so well that if she threw them in the street they would roll into +his shop.</p> +<p>This struggle Louise had witnessed with that easy indifference +which was part her nature and part her youth. She had been brought +up to believe she was a beauty, and she did believe it. Now that +she had the chance, she determined to make the most of her triumph. +She would show people that she knew how to spend money; +embellishment was the aim of her life, and she did show them. Her +toilets were the richest; her equipage was the handsomest and best +appointed. Her entertainments soon were among the most splendid in +the city.</p> +<p>Those who were accustomed to wealth and to parade wondered both +at Mrs. Norman's tastes and at her gratification of them.</p> +<p>All the town applauded. They had had no idea that the +Wentworths, as rich as they knew them to be, had so much money.</p> +<p>"She must have Aladdin's lamp," they said. Only old Mrs. +Wentworth looked grave and disapproving at the extravagance of her +daughter-in-law. Still she never said a word of it, and when the +grandson came she was too overjoyed to complain of anything.</p> +<p>It was only of late that people had begun to whisper of the +frequency with which Ferdy Wickersham was seen with Mrs. Norman. +Certain it was that he was with her a great deal.</p> +<p>That evening Alice Lancaster was dining with the Norman +Wentworths. She was equally good friends with them and with their +children, who on their part idolized her and considered her to be +their especial property. Her appearance was always the signal for a +romp. Whenever she went to the Wentworths' she always paid a visit +to the nursery, from which she would return breathless and +dishevelled, with an expression of mingled happiness and pain in +her blue eyes. Louise Wentworth knew well why the longing look was +there, and though usually cold and statuesque, she always softened +to Alice Lancaster then more than she was wont to do.</p> +<p>"Alice pines for children," she said to Norman, who pinched her +cheek and, like a man, told her she thought every one as romantic +and as affectionate as herself. Had Mrs. Nailor heard this speech +she would have blinked her innocent eyes and have purred with +silent thoughts on the blindness of men.</p> +<p>This evening Mrs. Lancaster had come down from the nursery, +where shouts of childish merriment had told of her romps with the +ringletted young brigand who ruled there, and was sitting quite +silent in the deep arm-chair in an attitude of profound reflection, +her head thrown back, her white arms resting languidly on the arms +of the chair, her face unusually thoughtful, her eyes on the gilded +ceiling.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth watched her for a moment silently, and then +said:</p> +<p>"You must not let the boy tyrannize over you so."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster's reply was complete:</p> +<p>"I love it; I just love it!"</p> +<p>Presently Mrs. Wentworth spoke again.</p> +<p>"What is the matter with you this evening? You seem quite +distraite."</p> +<p>"I saw a ghost to-day." She spoke without moving.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth's face took on more interest.</p> +<p>"What do you mean? Who was it?"</p> +<p>"I mean I saw a ghost; I might say two ghosts, for I saw in +imagination also the ghost of myself as I was when a girl. I saw +the man I was in love with when I was seventeen."</p> +<p>"I thought you were in love with Ferdy then?"</p> +<p>"No; never." She spoke with sudden emphasis.</p> +<p>"How interesting! And you congratulated yourself on your escape? +We always do. I was violently in love with a little hotel clerk, +with oily hair, a snub-nose, and a waxed black moustache, in the +Adirondacks when I was that age."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster made no reply to this, and her hostess looked at +her keenly.</p> +<p>"Where was it? How long before--?" She started to ask, how long +before she was married, but caught herself. "What did he look like? +He must have been good-looking, or you would not be so +pensive."</p> +<p>"He looked like--a man."</p> +<p>"How old was he--I mean, when he fell in love with you?" said +Mrs. Wentworth, with a sort of gasp, as she recalled Mr. +Lancaster's gray hair and elderly appearance.</p> +<p>"Rather young. He was only a few years older than I was; a +young--what's his name?--Hercules, that brought me down a mountain +in his arms the second time I ever saw him."</p> +<p>"Alice Lancaster!"</p> +<p>"I had broken my leg--almost I had got a bad fall from a horse +and could not walk, and he happened to come along."</p> +<p>"Of course. How romantic! Was he a doctor? Did you do it on +purpose?" Mrs. Lancaster smiled.</p> +<p>"No; a young schoolmaster up in the mountains. He was not +handsome--not then. But he was fine-looking, eyes that looked +straight at you and straight through you; the whitest teeth you +ever saw; and shoulders! He could carry a sack of salt!" At the +recollection a faint smile flickered about her lips.</p> +<p>"Why didn't you marry him?"</p> +<p>"He had not a cent in the world. He was a poor young +school-teacher, but of a very distinguished family. However, mamma +took fright, and whisked me away as if he had been a +pestilence."</p> +<p>"Oh, naturally!"</p> +<p>"And he was too much in love with me. But for that I think I +should not have given him up. I was dreadfully cut up for a little +while. And he--" She did not finish the sentence.</p> +<p>On this Mrs. Wentworth made no observation, though the +expression about her mouth changed.</p> +<p>"He made a reputation afterwards. I knew he would. He was bound +to succeed. I believed in him even then. He had ideals. Why don't +men have ideals now?"</p> +<p>"Some of them do," asserted Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>"Yes; Norman has. I mean unmarried men. I heard he made a +fortune, or was making one--or something."</p> +<p>"Oh!"</p> +<p>"He knew more than any one I ever saw--and made you want to +know. All I ever read he set me to. And he is awfully good-looking. +I had no idea he would be so good-looking. But I tell you this: no +woman that ever saw him ever forgot him."</p> +<p>"Is he married?"</p> +<p>"I don't think so--no. If he had been I should have heard it. He +really believed in me."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth glanced at her with interest.</p> +<p>"Where is he staying?"</p> +<p>"I do not know. I saw him through a shop-window."</p> +<p>"What! Did you not speak to him?"</p> +<p>"I did not get a chance. When I came out of the shop he was +gone."</p> +<p>"That was sad. It would have been quite romantic, would it not? +But, perhaps, after all, he did not make his fortune?" Mrs. +Wentworth looked complacent.</p> +<p>"He did if he set his mind to it," declared Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"How about Ferdy Wickersham?" The least little light of +malevolence crept into Mrs. Wentworth's eyes.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster gave a shrug of impatience, and pushed a +photograph on a small table farther away, as if it incommoded +her.</p> +<p>"Oh, Ferdy Wickersham! Ferdy Wickersham to that man is a heated +room to the breath of hills and forests." She spoke with real +warmth, and Mrs. Wentworth gazed at her curiously for a few +seconds.</p> +<p>"Still, I rather fancy for a constancy you'd prefer the heated +rooms to the coldness of the hills. Your gowns would not look so +well in the forest."</p> +<p>It was a moment before Mrs. Lancaster's face relaxed.</p> +<p>"I suppose I should," she said slowly, with something very like +a sigh. "He was the only man I ever knew who made me do what I did +not want to do and made me wish to be something better than I was," +she added absently.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth glanced at her somewhat impatiently, but she went +on:</p> +<p>"I was very romantic then; and you should have heard him read +the 'Idylls of the King.' He had the most beautiful voice. He made +you live in Arthur's court, because he lived there himself."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth burst into laughter, but it was not very +merry.</p> +<p>"My dear Alice, you must have been romantic. How old were you, +did you say?"</p> +<p>"It was three years before I was married," said Mrs. Lancaster, +firmly.</p> +<p>Her friend gazed at her with a puzzled expression on her +face.</p> +<p>"Oh! Now, my dear Alice, don't let's have any more of this +sentimentalizing. I never indulge in it; it always gives me a +headache. One might think you were a school-girl."</p> +<p>At the word a wood in all the bravery of Spring sprang into +Alice's mind. A young girl was seated on the mossy ground, and +outstretched at her feet was a young man, fresh-faced and +clear-eyed, quoting a poem of youth and of love.</p> +<p>"Heaven knows I wish I were," said Mrs. Lancaster, soberly. "I +might then be something different from what I am!"</p> +<p>"Oh, nonsense! You do nothing of the kind. Here are you, a rich +woman, young, handsome, with a great establishment; perfectly free, +with no one to interfere with you in any way. Now, I--"</p> +<p>"That's just it," broke in Mrs. Lancaster, bitterly. "Free! Free +from what my heart aches for. Free to dress in sables and diamonds +and die of loneliness." She had sat up, and her eyes were glowing +and her color flashing in her cheeks in her energy.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth looked at her with a curious expression in her +eyes.</p> +<p>"I want what you have, Louise Caldwell. In that big house with +only ourselves and servants--sometimes I could wish I were dead. I +envy every woman I see on the street with her children. Yes, I am +free--too free! I married for respect, and I have it. But--I want +devotion, sympathy. You have it. You have a husband who adores you, +and children to fill your heart, cherish it." The light in her eyes +was almost fierce as she leaned forward, her hands clasped so +tightly that the knuckles showed white, and a strange look passed +for a moment over Mrs. Wentworth's face.</p> +<p>"You are enough to give one the blue-devils!" she exclaimed, +with impatience. "Let's have a liqueur." She touched a bell, but +Mrs. Lancaster rose.</p> +<p>"No; I will go."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes; just a glass." A servant appeared like an automaton at +the door.</p> +<p>"What will you have, Alice?" But Mrs. Lancaster was obdurate. +She declined the invitation, and declared that she must go, as she +was going to the opera; and the next moment the two ladies were +taking leave of each other with gracious words and the formal +manner that obtains in fashionable society, quite as if they had +known each other just fifteen minutes.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster drove home, leaning very far back in her +brougham.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth, too, appeared rather fatigued after her guest +departed, and sat for fifteen minutes with the social column of a +newspaper lying in her lap unscanned.</p> +<p>"I thought she and Ferdy liked each other," she said to herself; +"but he must have told the truth. They cannot have cared for each +other. I think she must have been in love with that man."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +<h3>KEITH MEETS NORMAN</h3> +<br> +<p>The day after Keith's interview with Mr. Creamer he was walking +up-town more slowly than was his wont; for gloom was beginning to +take the place where disappointment had for some time been holding +session. His experience that day had been more than usually +disheartening. These people with all their shrewdness appeared to +him to be in their way as contracted as his mountaineers. They +lived to amass wealth, yet went like sheep in flocks, and were so +blind that they could not recognize a great opportunity when it was +presented. They were mere machines that ground through life as +monotonously as the wheels in their factories, turning out riches, +riches, riches.</p> +<p>This morning Keith had come across an article in a newspaper +which, in a measure, explained his want of success. It was an +article on New Leeds. It praised, in florid sentences, the place +and the people, gave a reasonably true account of the rise of the +town, set forth in a veiled way a highly colored prospectus of the +Wickersham properties, and asserted explicitly that all the lands +of value had been secured by this company, and that such as were +now being offered outside were those which Wickersham had refused +as valueless after a thorough and searching examination. The +falsity of the statements made Keith boil with rage. Mr. J. Quincy +Plume immediately flashed into his mind.</p> +<p>As he walked along, the newspaper clutched in his hand, a man +brushed against him. Keith's mind was far away on Quincy Plume and +Ferdy Wickersham; but instinctively, as his shoulder touched the +stranger's, he said:</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon."</p> +<p>At the words the other turned and glanced at him casually; then +stopped, turned and caught up with him, so as to take a good look +at his face. The next second a hand was on Keith's shoulder.</p> +<p>"Why, Gordon Keith!"</p> +<p>Keith glanced up in a maze at the vigorous-looking, well-dressed +young man who was holding out his gloved hand to him, his blue eyes +full of a very pleasant light. Keith's mind had been so far away +that for a second it did not return. Then a light broke over his +face. He seized the other's hand.</p> +<p>"Norman Wentworth!"</p> +<p>The greeting between the two was so cordial that men hurrying by +turned to look back at the pleasant faces, and their own set +countenances softened.</p> +<p>Norman demanded where Keith had just come from and how long he +had been in town, piling his questions one on the other with eager +cordiality.</p> +<p>Keith looked sheepish, and began to explain in a rather +shambling fashion that he had been there some time and "intended to +hunt him up, of course"; but he had "been so taken up with +business," etc., etc.</p> +<p>"I heard you were here on business. That was the way I came to +know you were in town," explained Norman, "and I have looked +everywhere for you. I hope you have been successful?" He was +smiling. But Keith was still sore from the treatment he had +received in one or two offices that morning.</p> +<p>"I have not been successful," he said, "and I felt sure that I +should be. I have discovered that people here are very much like +people elsewhere; they are very like sheep."</p> +<p>"And very suspicious, timid sheep at that," said Norman "They +have often gone for wool and got shorn. So every one has to be +tested. An unknown man has a hard time here. I suppose they would +not look into your plan?"</p> +<p>"They classed me with 'pedlers, book-agents, and beggars'--I saw +the signs up; looked as if they thought I was a thief. I am not +used to being treated like a swindler."</p> +<p>"The same old Keith! You must remember how many swindlers they +have to deal with, my boy. It is natural that they should require a +guarantee--I mean an introduction of some kind. You remember what +one of them said not long ago? 'A man spends one part of his life +making a fortune and the rest of it trying to keep others from +stealing it from him.' You ought to have come to me. You must come +and dine with me this evening, and we will talk it over. Perhaps, I +can help you. I want to show you my little home, and I have the +finest boy in the world."</p> +<p>At the tone of cordial sincerity in his voice, Keith softened. +He laid his hand on the back of Norman's and closed it tightly.</p> +<p>"I knew I could always count on you, and I meant, of course, to +come and see you. The reason I have not come before I will explain +to you sometime. I was feeling a little sore over a matter--sheer +lies that some one has written." He shook the newspaper in his +hand.</p> +<p>"Oh, don't mind that paper," said Norman. "The columns of that +paper are for hire. They belong at present to an old acquaintance +of ours. They do <i>me</i> the honor to pay their compliments to my +affairs now and then."</p> +<p>Keith walked up the street with a warm feeling about his heart. +That friendly face and kindly pressure of the hand had cheered him +like sunshine in a wintry day, and transformed the cold, cheerless +city into an abode of life and happiness. The crowds that thronged +by him once more took on interest for him. The faces once more +softened into human fellowship.</p> +<p>That evening, when Keith arrived at Norman Wentworth's, he found +that what he had termed his "little house" was, in fact, a very +ample and commodious mansion on one of the most fashionable avenues +in the city. Outside there was nothing to distinguish it +particularly from the scores of other handsome houses that +stretched for blocks up and down the street with ever-recurrent +brown-stone monotony. They were as much alike as so many box-stalls +in a stable.</p> +<p>"If I had to live in one of these," thought Keith, as he was +making his way to keep his appointment, "I should have to begin and +count my house from the corner. No wonder the people are all so +much alike!"</p> +<p>Inside, however, the personal taste of the owner counted for +much more, and when Keith was admitted by the velvety-stepped +servant, he found himself in a scene of luxury for which nothing +that Norman had said had prepared him.</p> +<p>A hall, rather contracted, but sumptuous in its furnishings, +opened on a series of drawing-rooms absolutely splendid with gilt +and satin. One room, all gold and yellow, led into another all blue +satin, and that into one where the light filtered through +soft-tinted shades on tapestries and rugs of deep crimson.</p> +<p>Keith could not help thinking what a fortunate man Norman was, +and the difference between his friend's situation in this bower of +roses, and his own in his square, bare little box on the windy +mountain-side, insensibly flashed over him. This was "an +establishment"! How unequally Fortune scattered her gifts! Just +then, with a soft rustle of silk, the portières were parted, +and Mrs. Wentworth appeared. She paused for a second just under the +arch, and the young man wondered if she knew how effective she was. +She was a vision of lace and loveliness. A figure straight and +sinuous, above the middle height, which would have been quite +perfect but for being slightly too full, and which struck one +before one looked at the face; coloring that was rich to +brilliance; abundant, beautiful hair with a glint of lustre on it; +deep hazel eyes, the least bit too close together, and features +that were good and only just missed being fine Keith had remembered +her as beautiful, but as Mrs. Wentworth stood beneath the azure +portières, her long, bare arms outstretched, her lips parted +in a half-smile of welcome, she was much more striking-looking than +Keith's memory had recorded. As he gazed on her, the expression on +his face testified his admiration.</p> +<p>She came forward with the same gratified smile on her face and +greeted him with formal words of welcome as Norman's old friend. +Her thought was, "What a strong-looking man he is! Like a picture I +have seen somewhere. Why doesn't Ferdy like him?"</p> +<p>As she sank into a soft divan, and with a sudden twist her train +fell about her feet, making an artistic drapery, Keith experienced +a sense of delight. He did not dream that Mrs. Wentworth knew much +better than he precisely the pose to show the curve of her white +full throat and round arm. The demands of notorious beauty were +already beginning to tell on her, and even while she spoke gracious +words of her husband's friendship for him, she from time to time +added a touch here and a soft caress there with her long white, +hands to make the arrangement the more complete. It was almost too +perfect to be unconscious.</p> +<p>Suddenly Keith heard Norman's voice outside, apparently on the +stair, calling cheerily "Good-by" to some one, and the next second +he came hastily into the drawing-room. His hair was rumpled and his +necktie a trifle awry. As he seized and wrung Keith's hand with +unfeigned heartiness, Keith was suddenly conscious of a change in +everything. This was warmth, sincerity, and the beautiful room +suddenly became a home. Mrs. Wentworth appeared somewhat shocked at +his appearance.</p> +<p>"Well, Norman, you are a sight! Just look at your necktie!"</p> +<p>"That ruffian!" he laughed, feeling at his throat and trying to +adjust the crooked tie.</p> +<p>"What will Mr. Keith think?"</p> +<p>"Oh, pshaw! Keith thinks all right. Keith is one of the men I +don't have to apologize to. But if I do"--he turned to Keith, +smiling--"I'll show you the apology. Come along." He seized Keith +by the hand and started toward the door.</p> +<p>"You are not going to take Mr. Keith up-stairs!" exclaimed his +wife. "Remember, Mr. Keith may not share your enthusiasm."</p> +<p>"Wait until he sees the apology. Come along, Keith." He drew +Keith toward the door.</p> +<p>"But, Norman, I don't think--" began Mrs. Wentworth. What she +did not think was lost to the two men; for Norman, not heeding her, +had, with the eagerness of a boy, dragged his visitor out of the +door and started up the stairs, telling him volubly of the treat +that was in store for him in the perfections of a certain small +young gentleman who had been responsible for his tardiness in +appearing below.</p> +<p>When Norman threw back a silken portière up-stairs and +flung open a door, the scene that greeted Keith was one that made +him agree that Norman was fully justified. A yellow-haired boy was +rolling on the floor, kicking up his little pink legs in all the +abandon of his years, while a blue-eyed little girl was sitting in +a nurse's lap, making strenuous efforts to join her brother on the +floor.</p> +<p>At sight of his father, the boy, with a whoop, scrambled to his +feet, and, with outstretched arms and open mouth, showing all his +little white teeth, made a rush for him, while the young lady +suddenly changed her efforts to descend, and began to jump up and +down in a frantic ecstasy of delight.</p> +<p>Norman gathered the boy up, and as soon as he could disentwine +his little arms from about his neck, turned him toward Keith. The +child gave the stranger one of those calm, scrutinizing looks that +children give, and then, his face suddenly breaking into a smile, +with a rippling laugh of good-comradeship, he sprang into Keith's +outstretched arms. That gentleman's necktie was in danger of +undergoing the same damaging process that had incurred Mrs. +Norman's criticism, when the youngster discovered that lady +herself, standing at the door. Scrambling down from his perch on +Keith's shoulder, the boy, with a shout, rushed toward his mother. +Mrs. Wentworth, with a little shriek, stopped him and held him off +from her; she could not permit him to disarrange her toilet; her +coiffure had cost too much thought; but the pair were evidently on +terms of good-fellowship, and the light in the mother's eyes even +as she restrained the boy's attempt at caresses changed her, and +gave Keith a new insight into her character.</p> +<p>Keith and the hostess returned to the drawing-room before +Norman, and she was no longer the professional beauty, the cold +woman of the world, the mere fashionable hostess. The doors were +flung open more than once as Keith talked warmly of the boy, and +within Keith got glimpses of what was hidden there, which made him +rejoice again that his friend had such a treasure. These glimpses +of unexpected softness drew him nearer to her than he had ever +expected to be, and on his part he talked to her with a frankness +and earnestness which sank deep into her mind, and opened the way +to a warmer friendship than she usually gave.</p> +<p>"Norman is right," she said to herself. "This is a man."</p> +<p>At the thought a light flashed upon her. It suddenly came to +her.</p> +<p>This is "the ghost"! Yet could it be possible? She solved the +question quickly.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith, did you ever know Alice Lancaster?"</p> +<p>"Alice Lancaster--?" For a bare second he looked puzzled. "Oh, +Miss Alice Yorke? Yes, a long time ago." He was conscious that his +expression had changed. So he added: "I used to know her very +well."</p> +<p>"Decidedly, this is the ghost," reflected Mrs. Wentworth to +herself, as she scanned anew Keith's strong features and sinewy +frame. "Alice said if a woman had ever seen him, she would not be +likely to forget him, and I think she was right."</p> +<p>"Why do you ask me?" inquired Keith, who had now quite recovered +from his little confusion. "Of course, you know her?"</p> +<p>"Yes, very well. We were at school together. She is my best +friend, almost." She shut her mouth as firmly as though this were +the last sentence she ever proposed to utter; but her eyes, as they +rested on Keith's face, had the least twinkle in them. Keith did +not know how much of their old affair had been told her, but she +evidently knew something, and it was necessary to show her that he +had recovered from it long ago and yet retained a friendly feeling +for Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"She was an old sweetheart of mine long ago; that is, I used to +think myself desperately in love with her a hundred years ago or +so, before she was married--and I was, too," he added.</p> +<p>He gained not the least idea of the impression this made on Mrs. +Wentworth.</p> +<p>"She was talking to me about you only the other day," she said +casually.</p> +<p>Keith again made a feint to open her defence.</p> +<p>"I hope she said kind things about me? I deserve some kindness +at her hands, for I have only pleasant memories of her."</p> +<p>"I wonder what he means by that?" questioned Mrs. Wentworth to +herself, and then added:</p> +<p>"Oh, yes; she did. Indeed, she was almost enthusiastic about +your--friendship." Her eyes scanned his face lightly.</p> +<p>"Has she fulfilled the promise of beauty that she gave as a +school-girl? I used to think her one of the most beautiful +creatures in the world; but I don't know that I was capable of +judging at that time," he added, with a smile, "for I remember I +was quite desperate about her for a little while." He tried to +speak naturally.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth's eyes rested on his face for a moment.</p> +<p>"Why, yes; many think her much handsomer than she ever was. She +is one of the married beauties, you know." Her eyes just swept +Keith's face.</p> +<p>"She was also one of the sweetest girls I ever knew," Keith +said, moved for some reason to add this tribute.</p> +<p>"Well, I don't know that every one would call her that. Indeed, +I am not quite sure that I should call her that myself always; but +she can be sweet. My children adore her, and I think that is always +a good sign."</p> +<p>"Undoubtedly. They judge correctly, because directly."</p> +<p>The picture of a young girl in a riding-habit kneeling in the +dust with a chubby, little, ragged child in her arms flashed before +Keith's mental vision. And he almost gave a gasp.</p> +<p>"Is she married happily?'" he asked "I hope she is happy."</p> +<p>"Oh, as happy as the day is long," declared Mrs. Wentworth, +cheerfully. Deep down in her eyes was a wicked twinkle of malice. +Her face wore a look of content. "He is not altogether indifferent +yet," she said to herself. And when Keith said firmly that he was +very glad to hear it, she did him the honor to disbelieve him.</p> +<p>"Of course, you know that Mr. Lancaster is a good deal older +than Alice?"</p> +<p>Yes, Keith had heard so.</p> +<p>"But a charming man, and immensely rich."</p> +<p>"Yes." Keith began to look grim.</p> +<p>"Aren't you going to see here?" inquired Mrs. Wentworth, finding +that Keith was not prepared to say any more on the subject.</p> +<p>Keith said he should like to do so very much. He hoped to see +her before going away; but he could not tell.</p> +<p>"She is married now, and must be so taken up with her new duties +that I fear she would hardly remember me," he added, with a laugh. +"I don't think I ever made much impression on her."</p> +<p>"Alice Yorke is not one to forget her friends. Why, she spoke of +you with real friendship," she said, smiling, thinking to herself, +Alice likes him, and he is still in love with her. This begins to +be interesting.</p> +<p>"A woman does not have to give up all her friends when she +marries?" she added, with her eyes on Keith.</p> +<p>Keith smiled.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; only her lovers, unless they turn into friends."</p> +<p>"Of course, those," said Mrs. Wentworth, who, after a moment's +reflection, added, "They don't always do that. Do you believe a +woman ever forgets entirely a man she has really loved?"</p> +<p>"She does if she is happily married and if she is wise."</p> +<p>"But all women are not happily married."</p> +<p>"And, perhaps, all are not wise," said Keith.</p> +<p>Some association of ideas led him to say suddenly:</p> +<p>"Tell me something about Ferdy Wickersham. He was one of your +ushers, wasn't he?" He was surprised to see Mrs. Wentworth's +countenance change. Her eyelids closed suddenly as if a glare were +turned unexpectedly on them, and she caught her breath.</p> +<p>"Yes--I have known him since we were children. Of course, you +know he was desperately in love with Alice Lancaster?"</p> +<p>Keith said he had heard something of the kind.</p> +<p>"He still likes her."</p> +<p>"She is married," said Keith, decisively.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>A moment later Mrs. Wentworth drew a long breath and moistened +her lips.</p> +<p>"You knew him at the same time that you first knew Norman, did +you not?" She was simply figuring for time.</p> +<p>"Yes, I met him first then," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Don't you think Ferdy has changed since he was a boy?" she +demanded after a moment's reflection.</p> +<p>"How do you mean?" Keith was feeling very uncomfortable, and, to +save himself an answer, plunged along:</p> +<p>"Of course he has changed." He did not say how, nor did he give +Mrs. Wentworth time to explain herself. "I will tell you one thing, +though," he said earnestly: "he never was worthy to loose the +latchet of your husband's shoe."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth's face changed again; she glanced down for a +second, and then said:</p> +<p>"You and Norman have a mutual admiration society."</p> +<p>"We have been friends a long time," said Keith, +thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"But even that does not always count for so much. Friendships +seem so easily broken these days."</p> +<p>"Because there are so few Norman Wentworths. That man is blessed +who has such a friend," said the young man, earnestly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth looked at him with a curious light in her eyes, +and as she gazed her face grew more thoughtful. Then, as Norman +reappeared she changed the subject abruptly.</p> +<p>After dinner, while they were smoking, Norman made Keith tell +him of his coal-lands and the business that had brought him to New +York. To Keith's surprise, he seemed to know something of it +already.</p> +<p>"You should have come to me at first," he said. "I might, at +least, have been able to counteract somewhat the adverse influence +that has been working against you." His brow clouded a little.</p> +<p>"Wickersham appears to be quite a personage here. I wonder he +has not been found out," said Keith after a little reverie.</p> +<p>Norman shifted slightly in his chair. "Oh, he is not worth +bothering about. Give me your lay-out now."</p> +<p>Keith put him in possession of the facts, and he became deeply +interested. He had, indeed, a dual motive: one of friendship for +Keith; the other he as yet hardly confessed even to himself.</p> +<p>The next day Keith met Norman by appointment and gave him his +papers. And a day or two afterwards he met a number of his friends +at lunch.</p> +<p>They were capitalists and, if General Keith's old dictum, that +gentlemen never discussed money at table, was sound, they would +scarcely have met his requirement; for the talk was almost entirely +of money. When they rose from the table, Keith, as he afterwards +told Norman, felt like a squeezed orange. The friendliest man to +him was Mr. Yorke, whom Keith found to be a jovial, sensible little +man with kindly blue eyes and a humorous mouth. His chief +cross-examiner was a Mr. Kestrel, a narrow-faced, parchment-skinned +man with a thin white moustache that looked as if it had led a +starved existence on his bloodless lip.</p> +<p>"Those people down there are opposed to progress," he said, +buttoning up his pockets in a way he had, as if he were afraid of +having them picked. "I guess the Wickershams have found that out. I +don't see any money in it."</p> +<p>"It is strange that Kestrel doesn't see money in this," said Mr. +Yorke, with a twinkle in his eye; "for he usually sees money in +everything. I guess there were other reasons than want of progress +for the Wickershams not paying dividends."</p> +<p>A few days later Norman informed Keith that the money was nearly +all subscribed; but Keith did not know until afterwards how warmly +he had indorsed him.</p> +<p>"You said something about sheep the other day; well, a sheep is +a solitary and unsocial animal to a city-man with money to invest. +My grandfather's man used to tell me: 'Sheep is kind of gregarious, +Mr. Norman. Coax the first one through and you can't keep the +others out.' Even Kestrel is jumping to get in."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +<h3>MRS. LANCASTER</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith had not yet met Mrs. Lancaster. He meant to call on her +before leaving town; for he would show her that he was successful, +and also that he had recovered. Also he wanted to see her, and in +his heart was a lurking hope that she might regret having lost him. +A word that Mrs. Wentworth had let fall the first evening he dined +there had kept him from calling before.</p> +<p>A few evenings later Keith was dining with the Norman +Wentworths, and after dinner Norman said:</p> +<p>"By the way, we are going to a ball to-night. Won't you come +along? It will really be worth seeing."</p> +<p>Keith, having no engagement, was about to accept, but he was +aware that Mrs. Wentworth, at her husband's words, had turned and +given him a quick look of scrutiny, that swept him from the top of +his head to the toe of his boot.</p> +<p>He had had that swift glance of inspection sweep him up and down +many times of late, in business offices. The look, however, +appeared to satisfy his hostess; for after a bare pause she +seconded her husband's invitation.</p> +<p>That pause had given Keith time to reflect, and he declined to +go. But Norman, too, had seen the glance his wife had given, and he +urged his acceptance so warmly and with such real sincerity that +finally Keith yielded.</p> +<p>"This is not one of <i>the</i> balls," said Norman, laughingly. +"It is only <i>a</i> ball, one of our subscription dances, so you +need have no scruples about going along."</p> +<p>Keith looked a little mystified.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Creamer's balls are <i>the</i> balls, my dear fellow. +There, in general, only the rich and the noble enter--rich in +prospect and noble in title--"</p> +<p>"Norman, how can you talk so!" exclaimed Mrs. Wentworth, with +some impatience. "You know better than that. Mrs. Creamer has +always been particularly kind to us. Why, she asks me to receive +with her every winter."</p> +<p>But Norman was in a bantering mood. "Am not I rich and you +noble?" he laughed. "Do you suppose, my dear, that Mrs. Creamer +would ask you to receive with her if we lived two or three squares +off Fifth Avenue? It is as hard for a poor man to enter Mrs. +Creamer's house as for a camel to pass through the needle's eye. +Her motions are sidereal and her orbit is as regulated as that of a +planet."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth protested.</p> +<p>"Why, she has all sorts of people at her house--!"</p> +<p>"Except the unsuccessful. Even planets have a little +eccentricity of orbit."</p> +<p>An hour or two later Keith found himself in such a scene of +radiance as he had never witnessed before in all his life. Though, +as Norman had said, it was not one of the great balls, to be +present at it was in some sort a proof of one's social position and +possibly of one's pecuniary condition.</p> +<p>Keith was conscious of that same feeling of novelty and +exhilaration that had come over him when he first arrived in the +city. It came upon him when he first stepped from the cool outer +air into the warm atmosphere of the brilliantly lighted building +and stood among the young men, all perfectly dressed and appointed, +and almost as similar as the checks they were receiving from the +busy servants in the cloak-room. The feeling grew stronger as he +mounted the wide marble stairway to the broad landing, which was a +bower of palms and flowers, with handsome women passing in and out +like birds in gorgeous plumage, and gay voices sounding in his +ears. It swept over him like a flood when he entered the spacious +ball-room and gazed upon the dazzling scene before him.</p> +<p>"This is Aladdin's palace," he declared as he stood looking +across the large ball-room. "The Arabian Nights have surely come +again."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth, immediately after presenting Keith to one or two +ladies who were receiving, had been met and borne off by Ferdy +Wickersham, and was in the throng at the far end of the great +apartment, and some one had stopped Norman on the stairway. So +Keith was left for a moment standing alone just inside the door. He +had a sense of being charmed. Later, he tried to account for it. +Was it the sight before him? Even such perfect harmony of color +could hardly have done it. It must be the dazzling radiance of +youth that almost made his eyes ache with its beauty. Perhaps, it +was the strain of the band hidden in the gallery among those palms. +The waltz music that floated down always set him swinging back in +the land of memory. He stood for a moment quite entranced. Then he +was suddenly conscious of being lonely. In all the throng before +him he could not see one soul that he knew. His friends were far +away.</p> +<p>Suddenly the wheezy strains of the fiddles and the blare of the +horns in the big dining-room of the old Windsor back in the +mountains sounded in his ears, and the motley but gay and joyous +throng that tramped and capered and swung over the rough boards, +setting the floor to swinging and the room to swaying, swam in a +dim mist before his eyes. Girls in ribbons so gay that they almost +made the eyes ache, faces flushed with the excitement and joy of +the dance; smiling faces, snowy teeth, dishevelled hair, tarlatan +dresses, green and pink and white; ringing laughter and whoops of +real merriment--all passed before his senses.</p> +<p>As he stood looking on the scene of splendor, he felt lost, +lonely, and for a moment homesick. Here all was formal, stiff +repressed; that gayety was real, that merriment was sincere. With +all their crudeness, those people in that condition were all human, +hearty, strong, real. He wondered if refinement and elegance meant +necessarily a suppression of all these. There, men came not only to +enjoy but to make others enjoy as well. No stranger could have +stood a moment alone without some one stepping to his side and +drawing him into a friendly talk. This mood soon changed.</p> +<p>Still, standing alone near the door waiting for Norman to +appear, Keith found entertainment watching the groups, the +splendidly dressed women, clustered here and there or moving about +inspecting or speaking to each other. One figure at the far end of +the room attracted his eye again and again. She was standing with +her back partly toward him, but he knew that she was a pretty woman +as well as a handsome one, though he saw her face only in profile, +and she was too far off for him to see it very well. Her hair was +arranged simply; her head was set beautifully on her shoulders. She +was dressed in black, the bodice covered with spangles that with +her slightest movement shimmered and reflected the light like a +coat of flexible mail. A number of men were standing about her, and +many women, as they passed, held out their hands to her in the way +that ladies of fashion have. Keith saw Mrs. Wentworth approach her, +and a very animated conversation appeared to take place between +them, and the lady in black turned quickly and gazed about the +room; then Mrs. Wentworth started to move away, but the other +caught and held her, asking her something eagerly. Mrs. Wentworth +must have refused to answer, for she followed her a few steps; but +Mrs. Wentworth simply waved her hand to her and swept away with her +escort, laughing back at her over her shoulder.</p> +<p>Keith made his way around the room toward Mrs. Wentworth. There +was something about the young lady in black which reminded him of a +girl he had once seen standing straight and defiant, yet very +charming, in a woodland path under arching pine-boughs. Just then, +however, a waltz struck up and Mrs. Wentworth began to dance, so +Keith stood leaning against the wall. Presently a member of a group +of young men near Keith said:</p> +<p>"The Lancaster looks well to-night."</p> +<p>"She does. The old man's at home, Ferdy's on deck."</p> +<p>"Ferdy be dashed! Besides, where is Mrs. Went--?"</p> +<p>"Don't lay any money on that."</p> +<p>"She's all right. Try to say anything to her and you'll find +out."</p> +<p>The others laughed; and one of them asked:</p> +<p>"Been trying yourself, Stirling?"</p> +<p>"No. I know better, Minturn."</p> +<p>"Why doesn't she shake Ferdy then?" demanded the other. "He's +always hanging around when he isn't around the other."</p> +<p>"Oh, they have been friends all their lives. She is not going to +give up a friend, especially when others are getting down on him. +Can't you allow anything to friendship?"</p> +<p>"Ferdy's friendship is pretty expensive," said his friend, +sententiously.</p> +<p>Keith took a glance at the speakers to see if he could by +following their gaze place Mrs. Lancaster. The one who defended the +lady was a jolly-looking man with a merry eye and a humorous mouth. +The other two were as much alike as their neckties, their collars, +their shirt-fronts, their dress-suits, or their shoes, in which +none but a tailor could have discovered the least point of +difference. Their cheeks were smooth, their chins were round, their +hair as perfectly parted and brushed as a barber's. Keith had an +impression that he had seen them just before on the other side of +the room, talking to the lady in black; but as he looked across, he +saw the other young men still there, and there were yet others +elsewhere. At the first glance they nearly all looked alike. Just +then he became conscious that a couple had stopped close beside +him. He glanced at them; the lady was the same to whom he had seen +Mrs. Wentworth speaking at the other end of the room. Her face was +turned away, and all he saw was an almost perfect figure with +shoulders that looked dazzling in contrast with her shimmering +black gown. A single red rose was stuck in her hair. He was waiting +to get a look at her face, when she turned toward him.</p> +<br> +<a name="p254.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p254.jpg"><img src="images/p254.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"Why, Mr. Keith!" she exclaimed.</b></p> +<br> +<p>"Why, Mr. Keith!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes open wide with +surprise. She held out her hand. "I don't believe you know me?"</p> +<p>"Then you must shut your eyes," said Keith, smiling his +pleasure.</p> +<p>"I don't believe I should have known you? Yes, I should; I +should have known you anywhere."</p> +<p>"Perhaps, I have not changed so much," smiled Keith.</p> +<p>She gave him just the ghost of a glance out of her blue +eyes.</p> +<p>"I don't know. Have you been carrying any sacks of salt lately?" +She assumed a lighter air.</p> +<p>"No; but heavier burdens still."</p> +<p>"Are you married?"</p> +<p>Keith laughed.</p> +<p>"No; not so heavy as that--yet."</p> +<p>"So heavy as that <i>yet</i>! Oh, you are engaged?"</p> +<p>"No; not engaged either--except engaged in trying to make a lot +of people who think they know everything understand that there are +a few things that they don't know."</p> +<p>"That is a difficult task," she said, shaking her head, "if you +try it in New York."</p> +<blockquote>"'John P. Robinson, he<br> +Says they don't know everything down in Judee,'"</blockquote> +<p>put in the stout young man who had been standing by waiting to +speak to her.</p> +<p>"But this isn't Judee yet," she laughed, "for I assure you we do +know everything here, Mr. Keith." She held out her hand to the +gentleman who had spoken, and after greeting him introduced him to +Keith as "Mr. Stirling."</p> +<p>"You ought to like each other," she said cordially.</p> +<p>Keith professed his readiness to do so.</p> +<p>"I don't know about that," said Stirling, jovially. "You are too +friendly to him."</p> +<p>"What are you doing? Where are you staying? How long are you +going to be in town?" demanded Mrs. Lancaster, turning to +Keith.</p> +<p>"Mining.--At the Brunswick.--Only a day or two," said Keith, +laughing.</p> +<p>"Mining? Gold-mining?"</p> +<p>"No; not yet."</p> +<p>"Where?"</p> +<p>"Down South at a place called New Leeds. It's near the place +where I used to teach. It's a great city. Why, we think New York is +jealous of us."</p> +<p>"Oh, I know about that. A friend of mine put a little money down +there for me. You know him? Ferdy Wickersham?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I know him."</p> +<p>"Most of us know him," observed Mr. Stirling, turning his eyes +on Keith.</p> +<p>"Of course, you must know him. Are you in with him? He tells me +that they own pretty much everything that is good in that region. +They are about to open a new mine that is to exceed anything ever +known. Ferdy tells me I am good for I don't know how much. The +stock is to be put on the exchange in a little while, and I got in +on the ground-floor. That's what they call it--the lowest floor of +all, you know.</p> +<p>"Yes; some people call it the ground-floor," said Keith, wishing +to change the subject.</p> +<p>"You know there may be a cellar under a ground-floor," observed +Mr. Stirling, demurely.</p> +<p>Keith looked at him, and their eyes met.</p> +<p>Fortunately, perhaps, for Keith, some one came up just then and +claimed a dance with Mrs. Lancaster. She moved away, and then +turned back.</p> +<p>"I shall see you again?"</p> +<p>"Yes. Why, I hope so-certainly."</p> +<p>She stopped and looked at him.</p> +<p>"When are you going away?"</p> +<p>"Why, I don't exactly know. Very soon. Perhaps, in a day or +two."</p> +<p>"Well, won't you come to see us? Here, I will give you my +address. Have you a card?" She took the pencil he offered her and +wrote her number on it. "Come some afternoon--about six; Mr. +Lancaster is always in then," she said sedately. "I am sure you +will like each other." Keith bowed.</p> +<p>She floated off smiling. What she had said to Mrs. Wentworth +occurred to her.</p> +<p>"Yes; he looks like a man." She became conscious that her +companion was asking a question.</p> +<p>"What is the matter with you?" he said. "I have asked you three +times who that man was, and you have not said a word."</p> +<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon. Mr. Keith, an old friend of mine," she +said, and changed the subject.</p> +<p>As to her old friend, he was watching her as she danced, winding +in and out among the intervening couples. He wondered that he could +ever have thought that a creature like that could care for him and +share his hard life. He might as soon have expected a +bird-of-paradise to live by choice in a coal-bunker.</p> +<p>He strolled about, looking at the handsome women, and presently +found himself in the conservatory. Turning a clump, of palms, he +came on Mrs. Wentworth and Mr. Wickersham sitting together talking +earnestly. Keith was about to go up and speak to Mrs. Wentworth, +but her escort said something under his breath to her, and she +looked away. So Keith passed on.</p> +<p>A little later, Keith went over to where Mrs. Lancaster stood. +Several men were about her, and just after Keith Joined her, +another man walked up, if any movement so lazy and sauntering could +be termed walking.</p> +<p>"I have been wondering why I did not see you," he drawled as he +came up.</p> +<p>Keith recognized the voice of Ferdy Wickersham. He turned and +faced him; but if Mr. Wickersham was aware of his presence, he gave +no sign of it. His dark eyes were on Mrs. Lancaster. She turned to +him.</p> +<p>"Perhaps, Ferdinand, it was because you did not use your eyes. +That is not ordinarily a fault of yours."</p> +<p>"I never think of my eyes when yours are present," said he, +lazily.</p> +<p>"Oh, don't you?" laughed Mrs. Lancaster. "What were you doing a +little while ago in the conservatory--with--?"</p> +<p>"Nothing. I have not been in the conservatory this evening. You +have paid some one else a compliment."</p> +<p>"Tell that to some one who does not use her eyes," said Mrs. +Lancaster, mockingly.</p> +<p>"There are occasions when you must disbelieve the sight of your +eyes." He was looking her steadily in the face, and Keith saw her +expression change. She recovered herself.</p> +<p>"Last time I saw you, you vowed you had eyes for none but me, +you may remember?" she said lightly.</p> +<p>"No. Did I? Life is too awfully short to remember. But it is +true. It is the present in which I find my pleasure."</p> +<p>Up to this time neither Mrs. Lancaster nor Mr. Wickersham had +taken any notice of Keith, who stood a little to one side, waiting, +with his eyes resting on the other young man's face. Mrs. Lancaster +now turned.</p> +<p>"Oh, Mr. Keith." She now turned back to Mr. Wickersham. "You +know Mr. Keith?"</p> +<p>Keith was about to step forward to greet his old acquaintance; +but Wickersham barely nodded.</p> +<p>"Ah, how do you do? Yes, I know Mr. Keith.--If I can take care +of the present, I let the past and the future take care of +themselves," he continued to Mrs. Lancaster. "Come and have a turn. +That will make the present worth all of the past."</p> +<p>"Ferdy, you are discreet," said one of the other men, with a +laugh.</p> +<p>"My dear fellow," said the young man, turning, "I assure you, +you don't know half my virtues."</p> +<p>"What are your virtues, Ferdy?"</p> +<p>"One is not interfering with others." He turned back to Mrs. +Lancaster. "Come, have a turn." He took one of his hands from his +pocket and held it out.</p> +<p>"I am engaged," said Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"Oh, that makes no difference. You are always engaged; come," he +said.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon. It makes a difference in <i>this</i> case," +said Keith, coming forward. "I believe this is my turn, Mrs. +Lancaster?"</p> +<p>Wickersham's glance swept across, but did not rest on him, +though it was enough for Keith to meet it for a second, and, +without looking, the young man turned lazily away.</p> +<p>"Shall we find a seat?" Mrs. Lancaster asked as she took Keith's +arm.</p> +<p>"Delighted, unless you prefer to dance."</p> +<p>"I did not know that dancing was one of your accomplishments," +she said as they strolled along.</p> +<p>"Maybe, I have acquired several accomplishments that you do not +know of. It has been a long time since you knew me," he answered +lightly. As they turned, his eyes fell on Wickersham. He was +standing where they had left him, his eyes fastened on them +malevolently. As Keith looked he started and turned away. Mrs. +Lancaster had also seen him.</p> +<p>"What is there between you and Ferdy?" she asked.</p> +<p>"Nothing."</p> +<p>"There must be. Did you ever have a row with him?"</p> +<p>"Yes; but that was long ago."</p> +<p>"I don't know. He has a good memory. He doesn't like you." She +spoke reflectively.</p> +<p>"Doesn't he?" laughed Keith. "Well, I must try and sustain it as +best I can."</p> +<p>"And you don't like him? Few men like him. I wonder why that +is?"</p> +<p>"And many women?" questioned Keith, as for a moment he recalled +Mrs. Wentworth's face when he spoke of him.</p> +<p>"Some women," she corrected, with a quick glance at him. She +reflected, and then went on: "I think it is partly because he is so +bold and partly that he never appears to know any one else. It is +the most insidious flattery in the world. I like him because I have +known him all my life. I know him perfectly."</p> +<p>"Yes?" Keith spoke politely.</p> +<p>She read his thought. "You wonder if I really know him? Yes, I +do. But, somehow, I cling to those I knew in my girlhood. You don't +believe that, but I do." She glanced at him and then looked +away.</p> +<p>"Yes, I do believe it. Then let's be friends--old friends," said +Keith. He held out his hand, and when she took it grasped hers +firmly.</p> +<p>"Who is here with you to-night?" he asked.</p> +<p>"No one. Mr. Lancaster does not care for balls."</p> +<p>"Won't you give me the pleasure of seeing you home?" She +hesitated for a moment, and then said:</p> +<p>"I will drop you at your hotel. It is right on my way home."</p> +<p>Just then some one came up and joined the group.</p> +<p>"Ah, my dear Mrs. Lancaster! How well you are looking this +evening!"</p> +<p>The full voice, no less than the words, sounded familiar to +Keith, and turning, he recognized the young clergyman whom he had +met at Mrs. Wentworth's when he passed through New York some years +before. The years had plainly used Mr. Rimmon well. He was dressed +in an evening suit with a clerical waistcoat which showed that his +plump frame had taken on an extra layer, and a double chin was +beginning to rest on his collar.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster smiled as she returned his greeting.</p> +<p>"You are my stand-by, Mr. Rimmon. I always know that, no matter +what others may say of me, I shall be sure of at least one +compliment before the evening is over if you are present."</p> +<p>"That is because you always deserve it." He put his head on one +side like an aldermanic robin. "Ah, if you knew how many +compliments I do pay you which you never hear! My entire life is a +compliment to you," declared Mr. Rimmon.</p> +<p>"Not your entire life, Mr. Rimmon. You are like some other men. +You confound me with some one else; for I am sure I heard you +saying the same thing five minutes ago to Louise Wentworth."</p> +<p>"Impossible. Then I must have confounded her with you," sighed +Mr. Rimmon, with such a look at Mrs. Lancaster out of his +languishing eyes that she gave him a laughing tap with her fan.</p> +<p>"Go and practise that on a débutante. I am an old married +woman, remember."</p> +<p>"Ah, me!" sighed the gentleman. "'Marriage and Death and +Division make barren our lives.'"</p> +<p>"Where does that come from?" asked Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"Ah! from--ah--" began Mr. Rimmon, then catching Keith's eyes +resting on him with an amused look in them, he turned red.</p> +<p>She addressed Keith. "Mr. Keith, you quoted that to me once; +where does it come from? From the Bible?"</p> +<p>"No."</p> +<p>"I read it in the newspaper and was so struck by it that I +remembered it," said Mr. Rimmon.</p> +<p>"I read it in 'Laus Veneris,'" said Keith, dryly, with his eyes +on the other's face. It pleased him to see it redden.</p> +<p>Keith, as he passed through the rooms, caught sight of an old +lady over in a corner. He could scarcely believe his senses; it was +Miss Abigail. She was sitting back against the wall, watching the +crowd with eyes as sharp as needles. Sometimes her thin lips +twitched, and her bright eyes snapped with inward amusement. Keith +made his way over to her. She was so much engaged that he stood +beside her a moment without her seeing him. Then she turned and +glanced at him.</p> +<p>"'A chiel's amang ye takin' notes,'" he said, laughing and +holding out his hand.</p> +<p>"'An', faith! she'll prent 'em,'" she answered, with a nod. "How +are you? I am glad to see you. I was just wishing I had somebody to +enjoy this with me, but not a man. I ought to be gone; and so ought +you, young man. I started, but I thought if I could get in a corner +by myself where there were no men I might stay a little while and +look at it; for I certainly never saw anything like this before, +and I don't think I ever shall again. I certainly do not think you +ought to see it."</p> +<p>Keith laughed, and she continued:</p> +<p>"I knew things had changed since I was a girl; but I didn't know +it was as bad as this. Why, I don't think it ought to be +allowed."</p> +<p>"What?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"This." She waved her hand to include the dancing throng before +them. "They tell me all those women dancing around there are +married."</p> +<p>"I believe many of them are."</p> +<p>"Why don't those young women have partners?"</p> +<p>"Why, some of them do. I suppose the others are not attractive +enough, or something."</p> +<p>"Especially <i>something</i>," said the old lady. "Where are +their husbands?"</p> +<p>"Why, some of them are at home, and some are here."</p> +<p>"Where?" The old lady turned her eyes on a couple that sailed by +her, the man talking very earnestly to his companion, who was +listening breathlessly. "Is that her husband?"</p> +<p>"Well, no; that is not, I believe."</p> +<p>"No; I'll be bound it is not. You never saw a married man +talking to his wife in public in that way--unless they were talking +about the last month's bills. Why, it is perfectly brazen."</p> +<p>Keith laughed.</p> +<p>"Where is her husband?" she demanded, as Mrs. Wentworth floated +by, a vision of brocaded satin and lace and white shoulders, +supported by Ferdy Wickersham, who was talking earnestly and +looking down into her eyes languishingly.</p> +<p>"Oh, her husband is here."</p> +<p>"Well, he had better take her home to her little children. If +ever I saw a face that I distrusted it is that man's."</p> +<p>"Why, that is Ferdy Wickersham. He is one of the leaders of +society. He is considered quite an Adonis," observed Keith.</p> +<p>"And I don't think Adonis was a very proper person for a young +woman with children to be dancing with in attire in which only her +husband should see her." She shut her lips grimly. "I know him," +she added. "I know all about them for three generations. One of the +misfortunes of age is that when a person gets as old as I am she +knows so much evil about people. I knew that young man's +grandfather when he was a worthy mechanic. His wife was an uppish +hussy who thought herself better than her husband, and their +daughter was a pretty girl with black eyes and rosy cheeks. They +sent her off to school, and after the first year or two she never +came back. She had got above them. Her father told me as much. The +old man cried about it. He said his wife thought it was all right; +that his girl had married a smart young fellow who was a clerk in a +bank; but that if he had a hundred other children he'd never teach +them any more than to read, write, and figure. And to think that +her son should be the Adonis dancing with my cousin Everett +Wentworth's daughter-in-law! Why, my Aunt Wentworth would rise from +her grave if she knew it!"</p> +<p>"Well, times have changed," said Keith, laughing. "You see they +are as good as anybody now."</p> +<p>"Not as good as anybody--you mean as rich as anybody."</p> +<p>"That amounts to about the same thing here, doesn't it?"</p> +<p>"I believe it does, here," said the old lady, with a sniff. +"Well," she said after a pause, "I think I will go back and tell +Matilda what I have seen. And if you are wise you will come with +me, too. This is no place for plain, country-bred people like you +and me."</p> +<p>Keith, laughing, said he had an engagement, but he would like to +have the privilege of taking her home, and then he could +return.</p> +<p>"With a married woman, I suppose? Yes, I will be bound it is," +she added as Keith nodded. "You see the danger of evil association. +I shall write to your father and tell him that the sooner he gets +you out of New York the better it will be for your morals and your +manners. For you are the only man, except Norman, who has been so +provincial as to take notice of an unknown old woman."</p> +<p>So she went chatting merrily down the stairway to her carriage, +making her observations on whatever she saw with the freshness of a +girl.</p> +<p>"Do you think Norman is happy?" she suddenly asked Keith.</p> +<p>"Why--yes; don't you think so? He has everything on earth to +make him happy," said Keith, with some surprise. But even at the +moment it flitted across his mind that there was something which he +had felt rather than observed in Mrs. Wentworth's attitude toward +her husband.</p> +<p>"Except that he has married a fool," said the old lady, briefly. +"Don't you marry a fool, you hear?"</p> +<p>"I believe she is devoted to Norman and to her children," Keith +began, but Miss Abigail interrupted him.</p> +<p>"And why shouldn't she be? Isn't she his wife? She gives him, +perhaps, what is left over after her devotion to herself, her +house, her frocks, her jewels, and--Adonis."</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't believe she cares for him," declared Keith. "It is +impossible."</p> +<p>"I don't believe she does either, but she cares for herself, and +he flatters her. The idea of a Norman-Wentworth's wife being +flattered by the attention of a tinker's grandson!"</p> +<p>When the ball broke up and Mrs. Lancaster's carriage was called, +several men escorted her to it. Wickersham, who was trying to +recover ground which something told him he had lost, followed her +down the stairway with one or two other men, and after she had +entered the carriage stood leaning in at the door while he made his +adieus and peace at the same moment.</p> +<p>"You were not always so cruel to me," he said in a low tone.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster laughed genuinely.</p> +<p>"I was never cruel to you, Ferdy; you mistake leniency for +harshness."</p> +<p>"No one else would say that to me."</p> +<p>"So much the more pity. You would be a better man if you had the +truth told you oftener."</p> +<p>"When did you become such an advocate of Truth? Is it this +man?"</p> +<p>"What man?"</p> +<p>"Keith. If it is, I want to tell you that he is not what he +pretends."</p> +<p>A change came over Mrs. Lancaster's face.</p> +<p>"He is a gentleman," she said coldly.</p> +<p>"Oh, is he? He was a stage-driver."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster drew herself up.</p> +<p>"If he was--" she began. But she stopped suddenly, glanced +beyond Wickersham, and moved over to the further side of the +carriage.</p> +<p>Just then a hand was laid on Wickersham's arm, and a voice +behind him said:</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon."</p> +<p>Wickersham knew the voice, and without looking around stood +aside for the speaker to make his adieus. Keith stepped into the +carriage and pulled to the door before the footman could close +it.</p> +<p>At the sound the impatient horses started off, leaving three men +standing in the street looking very blank. Stirling was the first +to speak; he turned to the others in amazement.</p> +<p>"Who is Keith?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"Oh, a fellow from the South somewhere."</p> +<p>"Well, Keith knows his business!" said Mr. Stirling, with a nod +of genuine admiration.</p> +<p>Wickersham uttered an imprecation and turned back into the +house.</p> +<p>Next day Mr. Stirling caught Wickersham in a group of young men +at the club, and told them the story.</p> +<p>"Look out for Keith," he said. "He gave me a lesson."</p> +<p>Wickersham growled an inaudible reply.</p> +<p>"Who was the lady? Wickersham tries to capture so many prizes, +what you say gives us no light," said Mr. Minturn, one of the +men.</p> +<p>"Oh, no. I'll only tell you it's not the one you think," said +the jolly bachelor. "But I am going to take lessons of that man +Keith. These countrymen surprise me sometimes."</p> +<p>"He was a d----d stage-driver," said Wickersham.</p> +<p>"Then you had better take lessons from him, Ferdy," said +Stirling. "He drives well. He's a veteran."</p> +<p>When Keith reached his room he lit a cigar and flung himself +into a chair. Somehow, the evening had not left a pleasant +impression on his mind. Was this the Alice Yorke he had worshipped, +revered? Was this the woman whom he had canonized throughout these +years? Why was she carrying on an affair with Ferdy Wickersham? +What did he mean by those last words at the carriage? She said she +knew him. Then she must know what his reputation was. Now and then +it came to Keith that it was nothing to him. Mrs. Lancaster was +married, and her affairs could not concern him. But they did +concern him. They had agreed to be old friends--old friends. He +would be a true friend to her.</p> +<p>He rose and threw away his half-smoked cigar.</p> +<p>Keith called on Mrs. Lancaster just before he left for the +South. Though he had no such motive when he put off his visit, he +could not have done a wiser thing. It was a novel experience for +her to invite a man to call on her and not have him jump at the +proposal, appear promptly next day, frock-coat, kid gloves, smooth +flattery, and all; and when Keith had not appeared on the third day +after the ball, it set her to thinking. She imagined at first that +he must have been called out of town, but Mrs. Norman, whom she +met, dispelled this idea. Keith had dined with them informally the +evening before.</p> +<p>"He appeared to be in high spirits," added the lady. "His scheme +has succeeded, and he is about to go South. Norman took it up and +put it through for him."</p> +<p>"I know it," said Mrs. Lancaster, demurely.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth's form stiffened slightly; but her manner soon +became gracious again. "Ferdy says there is nothing in it."</p> +<p>Could he be offended, or afraid--of himself? reflected Mrs. +Lancaster. Mrs. Wentworth's next observation disposed of this +theory also. "You ought to hear him talk of you. By the way, I have +found out who that ghost was."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster threw a mask over her face.</p> +<p>"He says you have more than fulfilled the promise of your +girlhood: that you are the handsomest woman he has seen in New +York, my dear," pursued the other, looking down at her own shapely +figure. "Of course, I do not agree with him, quite," she laughed. +"But, then, people will differ."</p> +<p>"Louise Wentworth, vanity is a deadly sin," said the other, +smiling, "and we are told in the Commandments--I forget which +one--to envy nothing of our neighbor's."</p> +<p>"He said he wanted to go to see you; that you had kindly invited +him, and he wished very much to meet Mr. Lancaster," said Mrs. +Wentworth, blandly.</p> +<p>"Yes, I am sure they will like each other," said Mrs. Lancaster, +with dignity. "Mamma also is very anxious to see him. She used to +know him when--when he was a boy, and liked him very much, too, +though she would not acknowledge it to me then." She laughed softly +at some recollection.</p> +<p>"He spoke of your mother most pleasantly," declared Mrs. +Wentworth, not without Mrs. Lancaster noticing that she was +claiming to stand as Keith's friend.</p> +<p>"Well, I shall not be at home to-morrow," she began. "I have +promised to go out to-morrow afternoon."</p> +<p>"Oh, sha'n't you? Why, what a pity! because he said he was going +to pay his calls to-morrow, as he expected to leave to-morrow +night. I think he would be very sorry not to see you."</p> +<p>"Oh, well, then, I will stay in. My other engagement is of no +consequence."</p> +<p>Her friend looked benign.</p> +<p>Recollecting Mrs. Wentworth's expression, Mrs. Lancaster +determined that she would not be at home the following afternoon. +She would show Mrs. Wentworth that she could not gauge her so +easily as she fancied. But at the last moment, after putting on her +hat, she changed her mind. She remained in, and ended by inviting +Keith to dinner that evening, an invitation which was so graciously +seconded by Mr. Lancaster that Keith, finding that he could take a +later train, accepted. Mrs. Yorke was at the dinner, too, and how +gracious she was to Keith! She "could scarcely believe he was the +same man she had known a few years before." She "had heard a great +deal of him, and had come around to dinner on purpose to meet him." +This was true.</p> +<p>"And you have done so well, too, I hear. Your friends are very +pleased to know of your success," she said graciously.</p> +<p>Keith smilingly admitted that he had had, perhaps, better +fortune than he deserved; but this Mrs. Yorke amiably would by no +means allow.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Wentworth--not Louise--I mean the elder Mrs. +Wentworth--was speaking of you. You and Norman were great friends +when you were boys, she tells me. They were great friends of ours, +you know, long before we met you."</p> +<p>He wondered how much the Wentworths' indorsement counted for in +securing Mrs. Yorke's invitation. For a good deal, he knew; but as +much credit as he gave it he was within the mark.</p> +<p>It was only her environment. She could no more escape from that +than if she were in prison. She gauged every one by what others +thought, and she possessed no other gauge. Yet there was a certain +friendliness, too, in Mrs. Yorke. The good lady had softened with +the years, and at heart she had always liked Keith.</p> +<p>Most of her conversation was of her friends and their position. +Alice was thinking of going abroad soon to visit some friends on +the other side, "of a very distinguished family," she told +Keith.</p> +<p>When Keith left the Lancaster house that night Alice Lancaster +knew that he had wholly recovered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +<h3>WICKERSHAM AND PHRONY</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith returned home and soon found himself a much bigger man in +New Leeds than when he went away. The mine opened on the Rawson +property began to give from the first large promises of +success.</p> +<p>Keith picked up a newspaper one day a little later. It announced +in large head-lines, as befitted the chronicling of such an event, +the death of Mr. William Lancaster, capitalist. He had died +suddenly in his office. His wife, it was stated, was in Europe and +had been cabled the sad intelligence. There was a sketch of his +life and also of that of his wife. Their marriage, it was recalled, +had been one of the "romances" of the season a few years before. He +had taken society by surprise by carrying off one of the belles of +the season, the beautiful Miss Yorke. The rest of the notice was +taken up in conjectures as to the amount of his property and the +sums he would be likely to leave to the various charitable +institutions of which he had always been a liberal patron.</p> +<p>Keith laid the paper down on his knee and went off in a revery. +Mr. Lancaster was dead! Of all the men he had met in New York he +had in some ways struck him the most. He had appeared to him the +most perfect type of a gentleman; self-contained, and inclined to +be cold, but a man of elegance as well as of brains. He felt that +he ought to be sorry Mr. Lancaster was dead, and he tried to be +sorry for his wife. He started to write her a letter of condolence, +but stopped at the first line, and could get no further. Yet +several times a day, for many days, she recurred to him, each time +giving him a feeling of dissatisfaction, until at length he was +able to banish her from his mind.</p> +<p>Prosperity is like the tide. It comes, each wave higher and +higher, until it almost appears that it will never end, and then +suddenly it seems to ebb a little, comes up again, recedes again, +and, before one knows it, is passing away as surely as it came.</p> +<p>Just when Keith thought that his tide was in full flood, it +began to ebb without any apparent cause, and before he was aware of +it, the prosperity which for the last few years had been setting in +so steadily in those mountain regions had passed away, and New +Leeds and he were left stranded upon the rocks.</p> +<p>Rumor came down to New Leeds from the North. The Wickersham +enterprises were said to be hard hit by some of the failures which +had occurred.</p> +<p>A few weeks later Keith heard that Mr. Aaron Wickersham was +dead. The clerks said that he had had a quarrel with his son the +day after the panic and had fallen in an apoplectic fit soon +afterwards. But then the old clerks had been discharged immediately +after his death. Young Wickersham said he did not want any +dead-wood in his offices. Also he did not want any dead property. +Among his first steps was the sale of the old Keith plantation. +Gordon, learning that it was for sale, got a friend to lend him the +money and bought it in, though it would scarcely have been known +for the same place. The mansion had been stripped of its old +furniture and pictures soon after General Keith had left there, and +the plantation had gone down.</p> +<p>Rumor also said that Wickersham's affairs were in a bad way. +Certainly the new head of the house gave no sign of it. He opened a +yet larger office and began operations on a more extensive scale. +The <i>Clarion</i> said that his Southern enterprises would be +pushed actively, and that the stock of the Great Gun Mine would +soon be on the New York Exchange.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham suddenly returned to New Leeds, and New Leeds +showed his presence. Machinery was shipped sufficient to run a +dozen mines. He not only pushed the old mines, but opened a new +one. It was on a slip of land that lay between the Rawson property +and the stream that ran down from the mountain. Some could not +understand why he should run the shaft there, unless it was that he +was bent on cutting the Rawson property off from the stream. It was +a perilous location for a shaft, and Matheson, the superintendent, +had protested against it.</p> +<p>Matheson's objections proved to be well founded. The mine was +opened so near the stream that water broke through into it, as +Matheson had predicted, and though a strong wall was built, the +water still got in, and it was difficult to keep it pumped out +sufficiently to work. Some of the men struck. It was known that +Wickersham had nearly come to a rupture with the hard-headed +Scotchman over it; but Wickersham won. Still, the coal did not +come. It was asserted that the shafts had failed to reach coal. +Wickersham laughed and kept on--kept on till coal did come. It was +heralded abroad. The <i>Clarion</i> devoted columns to the success +of the "Great Gun Mine" and Wickersham.</p> +<p>Wickersham naturally showed his triumph. He celebrated it in a +great banquet at the New Windsor, at which speeches were made which +likened him to Napoleon and several other generals. Mr. Plume +declared him "greater than Themistocles, for he could play the lute +and make a small city a great one."</p> +<p>Wickersham himself made a speech, in which he professed his joy +that he had silenced the tongue of slander and wrested from +detraction a victory not for himself, but for New Leeds. His +enemies and the enemies of New Leeds were, he declared, the same. +They would soon see his enemies suing for aid. He was applauded to +the echo. All this and much more was in the <i>Clarion</i> next +day, with some very pointed satire about "rival mines."</p> +<p>Keith, meantime, was busy poring over plats and verifying +lines.</p> +<p>The old squire came to town a morning or two later. "I see Mr. +Wickersham's struck coal at last," he said to Keith, after he had +got his pipe lit. His face showed that he was brimming with +information.</p> +<p>"Yes--<i>our</i> coal." Keith showed him the plats. "He is over +our line--I do not know just where, but in here somewhere."</p> +<p>The old fellow put on his spectacles and looked long and +carefully.</p> +<p>"He says he owns it all; that he'll have us suin' for +pardon?"</p> +<p>"Suing for damages."</p> +<p>The old squire gave a chuckle of satisfaction. "He is in and +about <i>there</i>." He pointed with a stout and horny finger.</p> +<p>"How did you know?"</p> +<p>"Well, you see, little Dave Dennison--you remember Dave? You +taught him."</p> +<p>"Perfectly--I mean, I remember him perfectly. He is now in New +York."</p> +<p>"Yes. Well, Dave he used to be sweet on Phrony, and he seems to +be still sweet on her."</p> +<p>Mr. Keith nodded.</p> +<p>"Well, of course, Phrony she's lookin' higher than Dave--but you +know how women air?"</p> +<p>"I don't know--I know they are strange creatures," said Keith, +almost with a sigh, as his past with one woman came vividly before +him.</p> +<p>"Well, they won't let a man go, noway, not entirely--unless he's +in the way. So, though Phrony don't keer nothin' in the world about +Dave, she sort o' kep' him on-an'-off-like till this here young +Wickersham come down here. You know, I think she and him like each +other? He's been to see her twicet and is always a--writin' to +her?" His voice had an inquiry in it; but Keith took no notice of +it, and the old man went on.</p> +<p>"Well, since then she's sort of cooled off to Dave--won't have +him around--and Dave's got sort of sour. Well, he hates Wickersham, +and he up and told her t'other night 't Wickersham was the biggest +rascal in New York; that he had 'most broke his father and had put +the stock of this here new mine on the market, an' that he didn't +have coal enough in it to fill his hat; that he'd been down in it +an' that the coal all come out of our mine."</p> +<p>Keith's eyes glistened.</p> +<p>"Exactly."</p> +<p>"Well, with that she got so mad with Dave, she wouldn't speak to +him; and Dave left, swearin' he'd settle Wickersham and show him +up, and he'll do it if he can."</p> +<p>"Where is he?" asked Keith, in some anxiety. "Tell him not to do +anything till I see him."</p> +<p>"No; I got hold of him and straightened him out. He told me all +about it. He was right much cut up. He jest cried about +Phrony."</p> +<p>Keith wrote a note to Wickersham. He referred to the current +rumors that the cutting had run over on their side, suggesting, +however, that it might have been by inadvertence.</p> +<p>When this letter was received, Wickersham was in conference with +his superintendent, Mr. Matheson. The interview had been somewhat +stormy, for the superintendent had just made the very statement +that Keith's note contained. He was not in a placid frame of mind, +for the work was going badly; and Mr. Plume was seated in an +arm-chair listening to his report. He did not like Plume, and had +wished to speak privately to Wickersham; but Wickersham had told +him to go ahead, that Plume was a friend of his, and as much +interested in the success of the work as Matheson was. Plume's +satisfaction and nonchalant air vexed the Scotchman. Just then +Keith's note came, and Wickersham, after reading it, tossed it over +first to Plume. Plume read it and handed it back without the least +change of expression. Then Wickersham, after some reflection, +tossed it to Matheson.</p> +<p>"That's right," he nodded, when he had read it. "We are already +over the line so far that the men know it."</p> +<p>Wickersham's temper gave way.</p> +<p>"Well, I know it. Do you suppose I am so ignorant as not to know +anything? But I am not fool enough to give it away. You need not go +bleating around about it everywhere."</p> +<p>Plume's eye glistened with satisfaction.</p> +<p>The superintendent's brow, which had clouded, grew darker. He +had already stood much from this young man. He had followed his +orders in running the mine beyond the lines shown on the plats; but +he had accepted Wickersham's statement that the lines were wrong, +not the workings.</p> +<p>"I wush you to understand one thing, Mr. Wickersham," he said. +"I came here to superintend your mines and to do my work like an +honest man; but I don't propose to soil my hands with any dirrty +dealings, or to engage in any violation of the law; for I am a +law-abiding, God-fearing man, and before I'll do it I'll go."</p> +<p>"Then you can go," said Wickersham, angrily. "Go, and be d----d +to you! I will show you that I know my own business."</p> +<p>"Then I will go. I do not think you do know it. If you did, you +would not--"</p> +<p>"Never mind. I want no more advice from you," snarled +Wickersham.</p> +<p>"I would like to have a letter saying that the work that has +been done since you took charge has been under your express +orders."</p> +<p>"I'll see you condemned first. I suppose it was by my orders +that the cutting ran so near to the creek that that work had to be +done to keep the mine from being flooded?"</p> +<p>"It was, by your <i>express</i> orders."</p> +<p>"I deny it. I suppose it was by my orders that the men were set +on to strike?"</p> +<p>"You were told of the danger and the probable consequences of +your insisting."</p> +<p>"Oh, you are always croaking--"</p> +<p>"And I will croak once more," said the discharged official. "You +will never make that mine pay, for there is no coal there. It is +all on the other side of the line."</p> +<p>"I won't! Well, I will show you. I, at least, stand a better +chance to make it pay than I ever did before. I suppose you propose +now to go over to Keith and tell him all you know about our work. I +imagine he would like to know it--more than he knows already."</p> +<p>"I am not in the habit of telling the private affairs of my +employers," said the man, coldly. "He does not need any information +from me. He is not a fool. He knows it."</p> +<p>"Oh, he does, does he! Then you told him," asserted Wickersham, +furiously.</p> +<p>This was more than the Scotchman could bear. He had already +stood much, and his face might have warned Wickersham. Suddenly it +flamed. He took one step forward, a long one, and rammed his +clinched and hairy fist under the young man's nose.</p> +<p>"You lie! And, ---- you! you know you lie. I'm a law-abiding, +God-fearing man; but if you don't take that back, I will break +every bone in your face. I've a mind to do it anyhow."</p> +<p>Wickersham rolled back out of his chair as if the knotted fist +under his nose had driven him. His face was white as he staggered +to his feet.</p> +<p>"I didn't mean--I don't say--. What do you mean anyhow?" he +stammered.</p> +<p>"Take it back." The foreman advanced slowly.</p> +<p>"Yes--I didn't mean anything. What are you getting so mad +about?"</p> +<p>The foreman cut him short with a fierce gesture. "Write me that +paper I want, and pay me my money."</p> +<p>"Write what--?"</p> +<p>"That the lower shaft and the last drift was cut by your order. +Write it!" He pointed to the paper on the desk. Wickersham sat down +and wrote a few lines. His hand trembled.</p> +<p>"Here it is," he said sullenly.</p> +<p>"Now pay me," said the glowering Scotchman.</p> +<p>The money was paid, and Matheson, without a word, turned and +walked out.</p> +<p>"D--- him! I wish the mine had fallen in on him," Wickersham +growled.</p> +<p>"You are well quit of him," said Mr. Plume, consolingly.</p> +<p>"I'll get even with him yet."</p> +<p>"You have to answer your other friend," observed Mr. Plume.</p> +<p>"I'll answer him." He seized a sheet of paper and began to +write, annotating it with observations far from complimentary to +Keith and Matheson. He read the letter to Plume. It was a curt +inquiry whether Mr. Keith meant to make the charge that he had +crossed his line. If so, Wickersham & Company knew their remedy +and would be glad to know at last the source whence these +slanderous reports had come.</p> +<p>"That will settle him."</p> +<p>Mr. Plume nodded. "It ought to do it."</p> +<p>Keith's reply to this note was sent that night.</p> +<p>It stated simply that he did make the charge, and if Mr. +Wickersham wished it, he was prepared to prove it.</p> +<p>Wickersham's face fell. "Matheson's been to him."</p> +<p>"Or some one else," said Mr. Plume. "That Bluffy hates you like +poison. You've got to do something and do it quick."</p> +<p>Wickersham glanced up at Plume. He met his eye steadily. +Wickersham's face showed the shadow of a frown; then it passed, +leaving his face set and a shade paler. He looked at Plume again +and licked his lips. Plume's eye was still on him.</p> +<p>"What do you know!" he asked Plume.</p> +<p>"Only what others know. They all know it or will soon."</p> +<p>Wickersham's face settled more. He cursed in a low voice and +then relapsed into reflection.</p> +<p>"Get up a strike," said Plume. "They are ripe for it. Close her +down and blow her up."</p> +<p>Wickersham's countenance changed, and presently his brow +cleared.</p> +<p>"It will serve them right. I'll let them know who owns these +mines."</p> +<p>Next morning there was posted a notice of a cut of wages in the +Wickersham mines. There was a buzz of excitement in New Leeds and +anger among the mining population. At dinner-time there were +meetings and much talking. That night again, there were meetings +and whiskey and more talking,--louder talking,--speeches and +resolutions. Next morning a committee waited on Mr. Wickersham, who +received the men politely but coldly. He "thought he knew how to +manage his own business. They must be aware that he had spent large +sums in developing property which had not yet begun to pay. When it +began to pay he would be happy, etc. If they chose to strike, all +right. He could get others in their places."</p> +<p>That night there were more meetings. Next day the men did not go +to work. By evening many of them were drunk. There was talk of +violence. Bill Bluffy, who was now a miner, was especially +savage.</p> +<p>Keith was surprised, a few days later, as he was passing along +the street, to meet Euphronia Tripper. He spoke to her cordially. +She was dressed showily and was handsomer than when he saw her +last. The color mounted her face as he stopped her, and he wondered +that Wickersham had not thought her pretty. When she blushed she +was almost a beauty. He asked about her people at home, inquiring +in a breath when she came, where she was staying, how long she was +going to remain, etc.</p> +<p>She answered the first questions glibly enough; but when he +inquired as to the length of her visit and where she was staying, +she appeared somewhat confused.</p> +<p>"I have cousins here, the Turleys."</p> +<p>"Oh! You are with Mr. Turley?" Keith felt relieved.</p> +<p>"Ur--no--I am not staying with them. I am with some other +friends." Her color was coming and going.</p> +<p>"What is their name?"</p> +<p>"Their name? Oh--uh--I don't know their names."</p> +<p>"Don't know their names!"</p> +<p>"No. You see it's a sort of private boarding-house, and they +took me in."</p> +<p>"Oh, I thought you said they were friends," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Why, yes, they are, but--I have forgotten their names. Don't +you understand?"</p> +<p>Keith did not understand.</p> +<p>"I only came a few days ago, and I am going right away."</p> +<p>Keith passed on. Euphronia had clearly not changed her nature. +Insensibly, Keith thought of Ferdy Wickersham. Old Rawson's +conversation months before recurred to him. He knew that the girl +was vain and light-headed. He also knew Wickersham.</p> +<p>He mentioned to Mr. Turley having seen the girl in town, and the +old fellow went immediately and took her out of the little +boarding-house where she had put up, and brought her to his +home.</p> +<p>Keith was not long in doubt as to the connection between her +presence and Wickersham's.</p> +<p>Several times he had occasion to call at Mr. Turley's. On each +occasion he found Wickersham there, and it was very apparent that +he was not an unwelcome visitor.</p> +<p>It was evident to Keith that Wickersham was trying to make an +impression on the young girl.</p> +<p>That evening so long ago when he had come on her and Wickersham +in the old squire's orchard came back to him, and the stalwart old +countryman, with his plain ways, his stout pride, his straight +ideas, stood before him. He knew his pride in the girl; how close +she was to his heart; and what a deadly blow it would be to him +should anything befall her. He knew, moreover, how fiercely he +would avenge any injury to her.</p> +<p>He determined to give Wickersham a hint of the danger he was +running, if, as he believed, he was simply amusing himself with the +girl. He and Wickersham still kept up relations ostensibly +friendly. Wickersham had told him he was going back to New York on +a certain day; but three days later, as Keith was returning late +from his mines, he came on Wickersham and Phrony in a byway outside +of the town. His arm was about her. They were so closely engaged +that they did not notice him until he was on them. Phrony appeared +much excited. "Well, I will not go otherwise," Keith heard her say. +She turned hastily away as Keith came up, and her face was scarlet +with confusion, and even Wickersham looked disconcerted.</p> +<p>That night Keith waited for Wickersham at the hotel till a late +hour, and when at length Wickersham came in he met him.</p> +<p>"I thought you were going back to New York?" he said.</p> +<p>"I find it pleasanter here," said the young man, with a +significant look at him.</p> +<p>"You appear to find it pleasant."</p> +<p>"I always make it pleasant for myself wherever I go, my boy. You +are a Stoic; I prefer the Epicurean philosophy."</p> +<p>"Yes? And how about others?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I make it pleasant for them too. Didn't it look so to-day?" +The glance he gave him authorized Keith to go on.</p> +<p>"Did it ever occur to you that you might make it too pleasant +for them--for a time?"</p> +<p>"Ah! I have thought of that. But that's their lookout."</p> +<p>"Wickersham," said Keith, calmly, "that's a very young girl and +a very ignorant girl, and, so far as I know, a very innocent +one."</p> +<p>"Doubtless you know!" said, the other, insolently.</p> +<p>"Yes, I believe she is. Moreover, she comes of very good and +respectable people. Her grandfather--"</p> +<p>"My dear boy, I don't care anything about the grandfather! It is +only the granddaughter I am interesting myself in. She is the only +pretty girl within a hundred miles of here, unless you except your +old friend of the dance-hall, and I always interest myself in the +prettiest woman about me."</p> +<p>"Do you intend to marry her?"</p> +<p>Wickersham laughed, heartily and spontaneously.</p> +<p>"Oh, come now, Keith. Are you going to marry the dance-hall +keeper, simply because she has white teeth?"</p> +<p>Keith frowned a little.</p> +<p>"Never mind about me. Do you propose to marry her? She, at +least, does not keep a dance-hall."</p> +<p>"No; I shall leave that for you." His face and tone were +insolent, and Keith gripped his chair. He felt himself flush. Then +his blood surged back; but he controlled himself and put by the +insolence for the moment.</p> +<p>"Leave me out of the matter. Do you know what you are doing?" +His voice was a little unsteady.</p> +<p>"I know at least what you are doing: interfering in my business. +I know how to take care of myself, and I don't need your +assistance."</p> +<p>"I was not thinking of you, but of her--"</p> +<p>"That's the difference between us. I was," said Ferdy, coolly. +He rolled a cigarette.</p> +<p>"Well, you will have need to think of yourself if you wrong that +girl," said Keith. "For I tell you now that if anything were to +happen to her, your life would not be worth a button in these +mountains."</p> +<p>"There are other places besides the mountains," observed +Wickersham. But Keith noticed that he had paled a little and his +voice had lost some of its assurance.</p> +<p>"I don't believe the world would be big enough to hide you. I +know two men who would kill you on sight."</p> +<p>"Who is the other one?" asked Wickersham.</p> +<p>"I am not counting myself--yet," said Keith, quietly. "It would +not be necessary. The old squire and Dave Dennison would take my +life if I interfered with their rights."</p> +<p>"You are prudent," said Ferdy.</p> +<p>"I am forbearing," said Keith.</p> +<p>Wickersham's tone was as insolent as ever, but as he leaned over +and reached for a match, Keith observed that his hand shook +slightly. And the eyes that were levelled at Keith through the +smoke of his cigarette were unsteady.</p> +<p>Next morning Ferdy Wickersham had a long interview with Plume, +and that night Mr. Plume had a conference in his private office +with a man--a secret conference, to judge from the care with which +doors were locked, blinds pulled down, and voices kept lowered. He +was a stout, youngish fellow, with a low forehead, lowering eyes, +and a sodden face. He might once have been good-looking, but drink +was written on Mr. William Bluffy now in ineffaceable characters. +Plume alternately cajoled him and hectored him, trying to get his +consent to some act which he was unwilling to perform.</p> +<p>"I don't see the slightest danger in it," insisted Plume, "and +you did not use to be afraid. Your nerves must be getting +loose."</p> +<p>The other man's eyes rested on him with something like +contempt.</p> +<p>"My nerves're all right. I ain't skeered; but I don't want to +mix up in your ---- business. If a man wants trouble with me, he +can get it and he knows how to do it. I don't like yer man +Wickersham--not a little bit. But I don't want to do it that way. +I'd like to meet him fair and full on the street and settle which +was the best man."</p> +<p>Plume began again. "You can't do that way here now. That's broke +up. But the way I tell you is the real way." He pictured +Wickersham's wealth, his hardness toward his employés, his +being a Yankee, his boast that he would injure Keith and shut up +his mine.</p> +<p>"What've you got against him?" demanded Mr. Bluffy. "I thought +you and him was thick as thieves?"</p> +<p>"It's a public benefit I'm after," declared Plume, unblushingly. +"I am for New Leeds first, last, and all the time."</p> +<p>"You must think you are New Leeds," observed Bluffy.</p> +<p>Plume laughed.</p> +<p>"I've got nothing against him particularly, though he's injured +me deeply. Hasn't he thrown all the men out of work!" He pushed the +bottle over toward the other, and he poured out another drink and +tossed it off. "You needn't be so easy about him. He's been mean +enough to you. Wasn't it him that gave the description of you that +night when you stopped the stage?"</p> +<p>Bill Bluffy's face changed, and there was a flash in his +eye.</p> +<p>"Who says I done it?"</p> +<p>Plume laughed. "I don't say you did it. You needn't get mad with +me. He says you did it. Keith said he didn't know what sort of man +it was. Wickersham described you so that everybody knew you. I +reckon if Keith had back-stood him you'd have had a harder time +than you did."</p> +<p>The cloud had gathered deeper on Bluffy's brow. He took another +drink.</p> +<p>"---- him! I'll blow up his ---- mine and him, too!" he growled. +"How did you say 'twas to be done?"</p> +<p>Plume glanced around at the closed windows and lowered his voice +as he made certain explanations.</p> +<p>"I'll furnish the dynamite."</p> +<p>"All right. Give me the money."</p> +<p>But Plume demurred.</p> +<p>"Not till it's done. I haven't any doubt about your doing it," +he explained quickly, seeing a black look in Bluffy's eyes. "But +you know yourself you're liable to get full, and you mayn't do it +as well as you otherwise would."</p> +<p>"Oh, if I say I'll do it, I'll do it."</p> +<p>"You needn't be afraid of not getting your money."</p> +<p>"I ain't afraid," said Bluffy, with an oath. "If I don't get it +I'll get blood." His eyes as they rested on Plume had a sudden +gleam in them.</p> +<p>When Wickersham and Plume met that night the latter gave an +account of his negotiation. "It's all fixed," he said, "but it +costs more than I expected--a lot more," he said slowly, gauging +Wickersham's views by his face.</p> +<p>"How much more? I told you my limit."</p> +<p>"We had to do it," said Mr. Plume, without stating the +price.</p> +<p>Wickersham swore.</p> +<p>"He won't do it till he gets the cash," pursued Plume. "But I'll +be responsible for him," he added quickly, noting the change in +Wickersham's expression.</p> +<p>Again Wickersham swore; and Plume changed the subject.</p> +<p>"How'd you come out?" he asked.</p> +<p>"When--what do you mean?"</p> +<p>Plume jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "With the lady?"</p> +<p>Wickersham sniffed. "All right." He drifted for a moment into +reflection. "The little fool's got conscientious doubts," he said +presently, with a half-smile. "Won't go unless--." His eyes rested +on Plume's with a gauging expression in them.</p> +<p>"Well, why not? That's natural enough. She's been brought up +right. They're proud as anybody. Her grandfather--"</p> +<p>"You're a fool!" said Wickersham, briefly.</p> +<p>"You can get some one to go through a ceremony for you that +would satisfy her and wouldn't peach afterwards--"</p> +<p>"What a damned scoundrel you are, Plume!" said Mr. Wickersham, +coldly.</p> +<p>Plume's expression was between a smile and a scowl, but the +smile was less pleasant than the frown.</p> +<p>"Get her to go to New York--When you've got her there you've got +her. She can't come back. Or I could perform it myself? I've been a +preacher-am one now," said Plume, without noticing the interruption +further than by a cold gleam in his eyes.</p> +<p>Wickersham laughed derisively.</p> +<p>"Oh, no, not that. I may be given to my own diversions somewhat +recklessly, but I'm not so bad as to let you touch any one I--I +take an interest in."</p> +<p>"As you like," said Plume, curtly. "I just thought it might be a +convenience to you. I'd help you out. I don't see 't you need be +so--squeamish. What you're doing ain't so pure an' lofty 't you can +set up for Marcus Aurelius and St. Anthony at once."</p> +<p>"At least, it's better than it would be if I let you take a hand +in it," sneered Wickersham.</p> +<p>The following afternoon Wickersham left New Leeds somewhat +ostentatiously. A few strikers standing sullenly about the station +jeered as he passed in. But he took no notice of them. He passed on +to his train.</p> +<p>A few nights later a tremendous explosion shook the town, +rattling the windows, awakening people from their beds, and calling +the timid and the curious into the streets.</p> +<p>It was known next morning that some one had blown up the Great +Gun Mine, opened at such immense cost. The dam that kept out the +water was blown up; the machinery had been wrecked, and the mine +was completely destroyed.</p> +<p>The <i>Clarion</i> denounced it as the deed of the strikers. The +strikers held a meeting and denounced the charge as a foul slander; +but the <i>Clarion</i> continued to denounce them as <i>hostes +humani generis</i>.</p> +<p>It was, however, rumored around that it was not the strikers at +all. One rumor even declared that it was done by the connivance of +the company. It was said that Bill Bluffy had boasted of it in his +cups, But when Mr. Bluffy was asked about it he denied the story in +toto. He wasn't such a ---- fool as to do such a thing as that, he +said. For the rest, he cursed Mr. Plume with bell, book, and +candle.</p> +<p>A rumor came to Keith one morning a few days later that Phrony +Tripper had disappeared.</p> +<p>She had left New Leeds more than a week before, as was supposed +by her relatives, the Turleys, to pay a visit to friends in the +adjoining State before returning home. To others she had said that +she was going to the North for a visit, whilst yet others affirmed +that she had given another destination. However this might be, she +had left not long after Wickersham had taken his departure, and her +leaving was soon coupled with his name. One man even declared that +he had seen the two together in New York.</p> +<p>Another name was connected with the girl's disappearance, though +in a different way. Terpsichore suggested that Mr. Plume had had +something to do with it, and that he could give information on the +subject if he would. Mr. Plume had been away from New Leeds for +several days about the time of Phrony's departure.</p> +<p>"He did that Wickersham's dirty work for him; that is, what he +didn't do for himself," declared the young woman.</p> +<p>Plume's statement was that he had been off on private business +and had met with an accident. The nature of this "accident" was +evident in his appearance.</p> +<p>Keith was hardly surprised when, a day or two after the rumor of +the girl's disappearance reached him, a heavy step thumping outside +his office door announced the arrival of Squire Rawson. When the +old man opened the door, Keith was shocked to see the change in +him. He was haggard and worn, but there was that in his face which +made Keith feel that whoever might be concerned in his +granddaughter's disappearance had reason to beware of meeting +him.</p> +<p>"You have heard the news?" he said, as he sank into the chair +which Keith offered him.</p> +<p>Keith said that he had heard it, and regretted it more than he +could express. He had only waited, hoping that it might prove +untrue, to write to him.</p> +<p>"Yes, she has gone," added the old man, moodily. "She's gone off +and married without sayin' a word to me or anybody. I didn't think +she'd 'a' done it."</p> +<p>Keith gasped with astonishment. A load appeared to be lifted +from him. After all, she was married. The next moment this hope was +dashed by the squire.</p> +<p>"I always thought," said the old man, "that that young fellow +was hankerin' around her a good deal. I never liked him, because I +didn't trust him. And I wouldn't 'a' liked him anyway," he added +frankly; "and I certainly don't like him now. But--." He drifted +off into reflection for a moment and then came back +again--"Women-folks are curious creatures. Phrony's mother she +appeared to like him, and I suppose we will have to make up with +him. So I hev come up here to see if I can git his address."</p> +<p>Keith's heart sank within him. He knew Ferdy Wickersham too well +not to know on what a broken reed the old man leaned.</p> +<p>"Some folks was a-hintin'," pursued the old fellow, speaking +slowly, "as, maybe, that young man hadn't married her; but I knowed +better then that, because, even if Phrony warn't a good +girl,--which she is, though she ain't got much sense,--he knowed +<i>me</i>. They ain't none of 'em ever intimated that to +<i>me</i>," he added explanatorily.</p> +<p>Keith was glad that he had not intimated it. As he looked at the +squire, he knew how dangerous it would be. His face was settled +into a grimness which showed how perilous it would be for the man +who had deceived Phrony, if, as Keith feared, his apprehensions +were well founded.</p> +<p>But at that moment both Phrony and Wickersham were far beyond +Squire Rawson's reach.</p> +<p>The evening after Phrony Tripper left New Leeds, a young woman +somewhat closely veiled descended from the train in Jersey City. +Here she was joined on the platform a moment later by a tall man +who had boarded the train at Washington, and who, but for his +spruced appearance, might have been taken for Mr. J. Quincy Plume. +The young woman having intrusted herself to his guidance, he +conducted her across the ferry, and on the other side they were met +by a gentleman, who wore the collar of his overcoat turned up. +After a meeting more or less formal on one side and cordial on the +other, the gentleman gave a brief direction to Mr. Plume, and, with +the lady, entered a carriage which was waiting and drove off; Mr. +Plume following a moment later in another vehicle.</p> +<p>"Know who that is?" asked one of the ferry officials of another. +"That's F.C. Wickersham, who has made such a pile of money. They +say he owns a whole State down South."</p> +<p>"Who is the lady?"</p> +<p>The other laughed. "Don't ask me; you can't keep up with him. +They say they can't resist him."</p> +<p>An hour or two later, Mr. Plume, who had been waiting for some +time in the café of a small hotel not very far up-town, was +joined by Mr. Wickersham, whose countenance showed both irritation +and disquietude. Plume, who had been consoling himself with the +companionship of a decanter of rye whiskey, was in a more jovial +mood, which further irritated the other.</p> +<p>"You say she has balked? Jove! She has got more in her than I +thought!"</p> +<p>"She is a fool!" said Wickersham.</p> +<p>Plume shut one eye. "Don't know about that. Madame de Maintenon +said: 'There is nothing so clever as a good woman.' Well, what are +you going to do?"</p> +<p>"I don't know."</p> +<p>"Take a drink," said Mr. Plume, to whom this was a frequent +solvent of a difficulty.</p> +<p>Wickersham followed his advice, but remained silent.</p> +<p>In fact, Mr. Wickersham, after having laid most careful plans +and reached the point for which he had striven, found himself, at +the very moment of victory, in danger of being defeated. He had +induced Phrony Tripper to come to New York. She was desperately in +love with him, and would have gone to the ends of the earth for +him. But he had promised to marry her; it was to marry him that she +had come. As strong as was her passion for him, and as vain and +foolish as she was, she had one principle which was stronger than +any other feeling--a sense of modesty. This had been instilled in +her from infancy. Among her people a woman's honor was ranked +higher than any other feminine virtue. Her love for Wickersham but +strengthened her resolution, for she believed that, unless he +married her, his life would not be safe from her relatives. Now, +after two hours, in which he had used every persuasion, Wickersham, +to his unbounded astonishment, found himself facing defeat. He had +not given her credit for so much resolution. Her answer to all his +efforts to overcome her determination was that, unless he married +her immediately, she would return home; she would not remain in the +hotel a single night. "I know they will take me back," she said, +weeping.</p> +<p>This was the subject of his conversation, now, with his agent, +and he was making up his mind what to do, aided by more or less +frequent applications to the decanter which stood between them.</p> +<p>"What she says is true," declared Plume, his courage stimulated +by his liberal potations. "You won't be able to go back down there +any more. There are a half-dozen men I know, would consider it +their duty to blow your brains out."</p> +<p>Wickersham filled his glass and tossed off a drink. "I am not +going down there any more, anyhow."</p> +<p>"I suppose not. But I don't believe you would be safe even up +here. There is that devil, Dennison: he hates you worse than +poison."</p> +<p>"Oh--up here--they aren't going to trouble me up here."</p> +<p>"I don't know--if he ever got a show at you--Why don't you let +me perform the ceremony?" he began persuasively. "She knows I've +been a preacher. That will satisfy her scruples, and then, if you +ever had to make it known--? But no one would know then."</p> +<p>Wickersham declined this with a show of virtue. He did not +mention that he had suggested this to the girl but she had +positively refused it. She would be married by a regular preacher +or she would go home.</p> +<p>"There must be some one in this big town," suggested Plume, "who +will do such a job privately and keep it quiet? Where is that +preacher you were talking about once that took flyers with you on +the quiet? You can seal his mouth. And if the worst comes to the +worst, there is Montana; you can always get out of it in six weeks +with an order of publication. <i>I</i> did it," said Mr. Plume, +quietly, "and never had any trouble about it."</p> +<p>"You did! Well, that's one part of your rascality I didn't know +about."</p> +<p>"I guess there are a good many of us have little bits of history +that we don't talk about much," observed Mr. Plume, calmly. "I +wouldn't have told you now, but I wanted to help you out of the fix +that--"</p> +<p>"That you have helped me get into," said Wickersham, with a +sneer.</p> +<p>"There is no trouble about it," Plume went on. "You don't want +to marry anybody else--now, and meantime it will give you the +chance you want of controlling old Rawson's interest down there. +The old fellow can't live long, and Phrony is his only heir. You +will have it all your own way. You can keep it quiet if you wish, +and if you don't, you can acknowledge it and bounce your friend +Keith. If I had your hand I bet I'd know how to play it."</p> +<p>"Well, by ----! I wish you had it," said Wickersham, +angrily.</p> +<p>Wickersham had been thinking hard during Plume's statement of +the case, and what with his argument and an occasional application +to the decanter of whiskey, he was beginning to yield. Just then a +sealed note was handed him by a waiter. He tore it open and +read:</p> +<blockquote>"I am going home; my heart is broken. Good-by."<br> +<blockquote>"PHRONY."</blockquote> +</blockquote> +<br> +<p>With an oath under his breath, he wrote in pencil on a card: +"Wait; I will be with you directly."</p> +<p>"Take that to the lady," he said. Scribbling a few lines more on +another card, he gave Plume some hasty directions and left him.</p> +<p>When, five minutes afterwards, Mr. Plume finished the decanter, +and left the hotel, his face had a crafty look on it. "This should +be worth a good deal to you, J. Quincy," he said.</p> +<p>An hour later the Rev. Mr. Rimmon performed in his private +office a little ceremony, at which, besides himself, were present +only the bride and groom and a witness who had come to him a +half-hour before with a scribbled line in pencil requesting his +services. If Mr. Rimmon was startled when he first read the +request, the surprise had passed away. The groom, it is true, was, +when he appeared, decidedly under the influence of liquor, and his +insistence that the ceremony was to be kept entirely secret had +somewhat disturbed Mr. Rimmon for a moment. But he remembered Mr. +Plume's assurance that the bride was a great heiress in the South, +and knowing that Ferdy Wickersham was a man who rarely lost his +head,--a circumstance which the latter testified by handing him a +roll of greenbacks amounting to exactly one hundred dollars,--and +the bride being very pretty and shy, and manifestly most eager to +be married, he gave his word to keep the matter a secret until they +should authorize him to divulge it.</p> +<p>When the ceremony was over, the bride requested Mr. Rimmon to +give her her "marriage lines." This Mr. Rimmon promised to do; but +as he would have to fill out the blanks, which would take a little +time, the bride and groom, having signed the paper, took their +departure without waiting for the certificate, leaving Mr. Plume to +bring it.</p> +<p>A day or two later a steamship of one of the less popular +companies sailing to a Continental port had among its passengers a +gentleman and a lady who, having secured their accommodations at +the last moment, did not appear on the passenger list.</p> +<p>It happened that they were unknown to any of the other +passengers, and as they were very exclusive, they made no +acquaintances during the voyage. If Mrs. Wagram, the name by which +the lady was known on board, had one regret, it was that Mr. Plume +had failed to send her her marriage certificate, as he had promised +to do. Her husband, however, made so light of it that it reassured +her, and she was too much taken up with her wedding-ring and new +diamonds to think that anything else was necessary.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> +<h3>MRS. LANCASTER'S WIDOWHOOD</h3> +<br> +<p>The first two years of her widowhood Alice Lancaster spent in +retirement. Even the busy tongue of Mrs. Nailor could find little +to criticise in the young widow. To be sure, that accomplished +critic made the most of this little, and disseminated her opinion +that Alice's grief for Mr. Lancaster could only be remorse for her +indifference to him during his life. Every one knew, she said, how +she had neglected him.</p> +<p>The idea that Alice Lancaster was troubled with regrets was not +as unfounded as the rest of Mrs. Nailor's ill-natured charge. She +was attached to her husband, and had always meant to be a good wife +to him.</p> +<p>She was as good a wife as her mother and her friends would +permit her to be. Gossip had not spared some of her best friends. +Even as proud a woman as young Mrs. Wentworth had not escaped. But +Gossip had never yet touched the name of Mrs. Lancaster, and Alice +did not mean that it should. It was not unnatural that she should +have accepted the liberty which her husband gave her and have gone +out more and more, even though he could accompany her less and +less.</p> +<p>No maelstrom is more unrelenting in its grasp than is that of +Society. Only those who sink, or are cast aside by its seething +waves, escape. And before she knew it, Alice Lancaster had found +herself drawn into the whirlpool.</p> +<p>An attractive proposal had been made to her to go abroad and +join some friends of hers for a London season a year or two before. +Grinnell Rhodes had married Miss Creamer, who was fond of European +society, and they had taken a house in London for the season, which +promised to be very gay, and had suggested to Mrs. Lancaster to +visit them. Mr. Lancaster had found himself unable to go. A good +many matters of importance had been undertaken by him, and he must +see them through, he said. Moreover, he had not been very well of +late, and he had felt that he should be rather a drag amid the +gayeties of the London season. Alice had offered to give up the +trip, but he would not hear of it. She must go, he said, and he +knew who would be the most charming woman in London. So, having +extracted from him the promise that, when his business matters were +all arranged, he would join her for a little run on the Continent, +she had set off for Paris, where "awful beauty puts on all its +arms," to make her preparations for the campaign.</p> +<p>Mr. Lancaster had not told her of an interview which her mother +had had with him, in which she had pointed out that Alice's health +was suffering from her want of gayety and amusement. He was not one +to talk of himself.</p> +<p>Alice Lancaster was still in Paris when a cable message +announced to her Mr. Lancaster's death. It was only after his death +that she awoke to the unselfishness of his life and to the +completeness of his devotion to her.</p> +<p>His will, after making provision for certain charities with +which he had been associated in his lifetime, left all his great +fortune to her; and there was, besides, a sealed letter left for +her in which he poured out his heart to her. From it she learned +that he had suffered greatly and had known that he was liable to +die at any time. He, however, would not send for her to come home, +for fear of spoiling her holiday.</p> +<p>"I will not say I have not been lonely," he wrote. "For God +knows how lonely I have been since you left. The light went with +you and will return only when you come home. Sometimes I have felt +that I could not endure it and must send for you or go to you; but +the first would have been selfishness and the latter a breach of +duty. The times have been such that I have not felt it right to +leave, as so many interests have been intrusted to me.... It is +possible that I may never see your face again. I have made a will +which I hope will please you. It will, at least, show you that I +trust you entirely. I make no restrictions; for I wish you greater +happiness than I fear I have been able to bring you.... In business +affairs I suggest that you consult with Norman Wentworth, who is a +man of high integrity and of a conservative mind. Should you wish +advice as to good charities, I can think of no better adviser than +Dr. Templeton. He has long been my friend."</p> +<p>In the first excess of her grief and remorse, Alice Lancaster +came home and threw herself heart and soul into charitable work. As +Mr. Lancaster had suggested, she consulted Dr. Templeton, the old +rector of a small and unfashionable church on a side street. Under +his guidance she found a world as new and as diverse from that in +which she had always lived as another planet would have been.</p> +<p>She found in some places a life where vice was esteemed more +honorable than virtue, because it brought more bread. She found +things of which she had never dreamed: things which appeared +incredible after she had seen them. These things she found within a +half-hour's walk of her sumptuous home; within a few blocks of the +avenue and streets where Wealth and Plenty took their gay pleasure +and where riches poured forth in a riot of splendid +extravagance.</p> +<p>She would have turned back, but for the old clergyman's +inspiring courage; she would have poured out her wealth +indiscriminately, but for his wisdom--but for his wisdom and Norman +Wentworth's.</p> +<p>"No, my dear," said the old man; "to give lavishly without +discrimination is to put a premium on beggary and to subject +yourself to imposture."</p> +<p>This Norman indorsed, and under their direction she soon found +ways to give of her great means toward charities which were +far-reaching and enduring. She learned also what happiness comes +from knowledge of others and knowledge of how to help them.</p> +<p>It was surprising to her friends what a change came over the +young woman. Her point of view, her manner, her face, her voice +changed. Her expression, which had once been so proud as to mar +somewhat her beauty, softened; her manner increased in cordiality +and kindness; her voice acquired a new and sincerer tone.</p> +<p>Even Mrs. Nailor observed that the enforced retirement appeared +to have chastened the young widow, though she would not admit that +it could be for anything than effect.</p> +<p>"Black always was the most bewilderingly becoming thing to her +that I ever saw. Don't you remember those effects she used to +produce with black and just a dash of red? Well, she wears black so +deep you might think it was poor Mr. Lancaster's pall; but I have +observed that whenever I have seen her there is always something +red very close at hand. She either sits in a red chair, or there is +a red shawl just at her back, or a great bunch of red roses at her +elbow. I am glad that great window has been put up in old Dr. +Templeton's church to William Lancaster's memory, or I am afraid it +would have been but a small one."</p> +<p>Almost the first sign that the storm, which, as related, had +struck New York would reach New Leeds was the shutting down of the +Wickersham mines. The <i>Clarion</i> stated that the shutting down +was temporary and declared that in a very short time, when the men +were brought to reason, they would be opened again; also that the +Great Gun Mine, which had been flooded, would again be opened.</p> +<p>The mines belonging to Keith's company did not appear for some +time to be affected; but the breakers soon began to reach even the +point on which Keith had stood so securely. The first "roller" that +came to him was when orders arrived to cut down the force, and cut +down also the wages of those who were retained. This was done. +Letters, growing gradually more and more complaining, came from the +general office in New York.</p> +<p>Fortunately for Keith, Norman ran down at this time and looked +over the properties again for himself. He did not tell Keith what +bitter things were being said and that his visit down there was +that he might be able to base his defence of Keith on facts in his +own knowledge.</p> +<p>"What has become of Mrs. Lancaster?" asked Keith, casually. "Is +she still abroad?"</p> +<p>"No; she came home immediately on hearing the news. You never +saw any one so changed. She has gone in for charity."</p> +<p>Keith looked a trifle grim.</p> +<p>"If you thought her pretty as a girl, you ought to see her as a +widow. She is ravishing."</p> +<p>"You are enthusiastic. I see that Wickersham has returned?"</p> +<p>Norman's brow clouded.</p> +<p>"He'd better not come back here," said Keith.</p> +<p>It is a trite saying that misfortunes rarely come singly, and it +would not be so trite if there were not truth in it. Misfortunes +are sometimes like blackbirds: they come in flocks.</p> +<p>Keith was on his way from his office in the town to the mines +one afternoon, when, turning the shoulder of the hill that shut the +opening of the mine from view, he became aware that something +unusual had occurred. A crowd was already assembled about the mouth +of the mine, above the tipple, among them many women; and people +were hurrying up from all directions.</p> +<p>"What is it?" he demanded of the first person he came to.</p> +<p>"Water. They have struck a pocket or something, and the drift +over toward the Wickersham line is filling up."</p> +<p>"Is everybody out?" Even as he inquired, Keith knew hey were +not.</p> +<p>"No, sir; all drowned."</p> +<p>Keith knew this could not be true. He hurried forward and pushed +his way into the throng that crowded about the entrance. A gasp of +relief went up as he appeared.</p> +<p>"Ah! Here's the boss." It was the expression of a vague hope +that he might be able to do something. They gave way at his voice +and stood back, many eyes turning on him in helpless appeal. Women, +with blankets already in hand, were weeping aloud; children hanging +to their skirts were whimpering in vague recognition of disaster; +men were growling and swearing deeply.</p> +<p>"Give way. Stand back, every one." The calm voice and tone of +command had their effect, and as a path was opened through the +crowd, Keith recognized a number of the men who had been in and had +just come out. They were all talking to groups about them. One of +them gave him the first intelligent account of the trouble. They +were working near the entrance when they heard the cries of men +farther in, and the first thing they knew there was a rush of water +which poured down on them, sweeping everything before it.</p> +<p>"It must have been a river," said one, in answer to a question +from Keith. "It was rising a foot a minute. The lights were all put +out, and we just managed to get out in time."</p> +<p>According to their estimates, there were about forty men and +boys still in the mine, most of them in the gallery off from the +main drift. Keith was running over in his mind the levels. His face +was a study, and the crowd about him watched him closely, as if to +catch any ray of hope that he might hold out. As he reflected, his +face grew whiter. Down the slant from the mine came the roar of the +water. It was a desperate chance.</p> +<p>Half turning, he glanced at the white, stricken faces about +him.</p> +<p>"It is barely possible some of the men may still be alive. There +are two elevations. I am going down to see."</p> +<p>At the words, the sound through the crowd hushed suddenly.</p> +<p>"Na, th' ben't one alive," said an old miner, contentiously.</p> +<p>The murmur began again.</p> +<p>"I am going down to see," said Keith. "If one or two men will +come with me, it will increase the chances of getting to them. If +not, I am going alone. But I don't want any one who has a +family."</p> +<p>A dead silence fell, then three or four young fellows began to +push their way through the crowd, amid expostulations of some of +the women and the urging of others.</p> +<p>Some of the women seized them and held on to them.</p> +<p>"There are one or two places where men may have been able to +keep their heads above water if it has not filled the drift, and +that is what I am going to see," said Keith, preparing to +descend.</p> +<p>"My brother's down there and I'll go," said a young light-haired +fellow with a pale face. He belonged to the night shift.</p> +<p>"I ain't got any family," said a small, grizzled man. He had a +thin black band on the sleeve of his rusty, brown coat.</p> +<p>Several others now came forward, amid mingled expostulations and +encouragement; but Keith took the first two, and they prepared to +enter. The younger man took off his silver watch, with directions +to a friend to send it to his sister if he did not come back. The +older man said a few words to a bystander. They were about a +woman's grave on the hillside. Keith took off his watch and gave it +to one of the men, with a few words scribbled on a leaf from a +memorandum-book, and the next moment the three volunteers, amid a +deathly silence, entered the mine.</p> +<p>Long before they reached the end of the ascent to the shaft they +could hear the water gurgling and lapping against the sides as it +whirled through the gallery below them. As they reached the water, +Keith let himself down into it. The water took him to about his +waist and was rising.</p> +<p>"It has not filled the drift yet," he said, and started ahead. +He gave a halloo; but there was no sound in answer, only the +reverberation of his voice. The other men called to him to wait and +talk it over. The strangeness of the situation appalled them. It +might well have awed a strong man; but Keith waded on. The older +man plunged after him, the younger clinging to the cage for a +second in a panic. The lights were out in a moment. Wading and +plunging forward through the water, which rose in places to his +neck, and feeling his way by the sides of the drift, Keith waded +forward through the pitch-darkness. He stopped at times to halloo; +but there was no reply, only the strange hollow sound of his own +voice as it was thrown back on him, or died almost before leaving +his throat. He had almost made up his mind that further attempt was +useless and that he might as well turn back, when he thought he +heard a faint sound ahead. With another shout he plunged forward +again, and the next time he called he heard a cry of joy, and he +pushed ahead again, shouting to them to come to him.</p> +<p>Keith found most of the men huddled together on the first level, +in a state of panic. Some of them were whimpering and some were +praying fervently, whilst a few were silent, in a sort of dazed +bewilderment. All who were working in that part of the mine were +there, they said, except three men, Bill Bluffy and a man named +Hennson and his boy, who had been cut off in the far end of the +gallery and who must have been drowned immediately, they told +Keith.</p> +<p>"They may not be," said Keith. "There is one point as high as +this. I shall go on and see."</p> +<p>The men endeavored to dissuade him. It was "a useless risk of +life," they assured him; "the others must have been swept away +immediately. The water had come so sudden. Besides, the water was +rising, and it might even now be too late to get out." But Keith +was firm, and ordering them back in charge of the two men who had +come in with him, he pushed on alone. He knew that the water was +still rising, though, he hoped, slowly. He had no voice to shout +now, but he prayed with all his might, and that soothed and helped +him. Presently the water was a little shallower. It did not come so +high up on him. He knew from this that he must be reaching the +upper level. Now and then he spoke Bluffy's and Hennson's names, +lest in the darkness he should pass them.</p> +<p>Presently, as he stopped for a second to take breath, he thought +he heard another sound besides the gurgling of the water as it +swirled about the timbers. He listened intently.</p> +<p>It was the boy's voice. "Hold me tight, father. Don't leave +me."</p> +<p>Then he heard another voice urging him to go. "You can't do any +good staying; try it." But Hennson was refusing.</p> +<p>"Hold on. I won't leave you."</p> +<p>"Hennson! Bluffy!" shouted Keith, or tried to shout, for his +voice went nowhere; but his heart was bounding now, and he plunged +on. Presently he was near enough to catch their words. The father +was praying, and the boy was following him.</p> +<p>"'Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,'" Keith heard +him say.</p> +<p>"Hennson!" he cried again.</p> +<p>From the darkness he heard a voice.</p> +<p>"Who is that? Is that any one?"</p> +<p>"It is I,--Mr. Keith,--Hennson. Come quick, all of you; you can +get out. Cheer up."</p> +<p>A cry of joy went up.</p> +<p>"I can't leave my boy," called the man.</p> +<p>"Bring him on your back," said Keith. "Come on, Bluffy."</p> +<p>"I can't," said Bluffy. "I'm hurt. My leg is broke."</p> +<p>"God have mercy!" cried Keith, and waded on.</p> +<p>After a moment more he was up with the man, feeling for him in +the darkness, and asking how he was hurt.</p> +<p>They told him that the rush of the water had thrown him against +a timber and hurt his leg and side.</p> +<p>"Take the boy," said Bluffy, "and go on; leave me here."</p> +<p>The boy began to cry.</p> +<p>"No," said Keith; "I will take you, too: Hennson can take the +boy. Can you walk at all?"</p> +<p>"I don't think so."</p> +<p>Keith made Hennson take the boy and hold on to him on one side, +and slipping his arm around the injured man, he lifted him and they +started back. He had put new courage into them, and the force of +the current was in their favor. They passed the first high level, +where he had found the others. When they reached a point where the +water was too deep for the boy, Keith made the father take him on +his shoulder, and they waded on through the blackness. The water +was now almost up to his chin, and he grew so tired under his +burden that he began to think they should never get out; but he +fought against it and kept on, steadying himself against the +timbers. He knew that if he went down it was the end. Many thoughts +came to him of the past. He banished them and tried to speak words +of encouragement, though he could scarcely hear himself.</p> +<p>"Shout," he said hoarsely; and the boy shouted, though it was +somewhat feeble.</p> +<p>A moment later, he gave a shout of an entirely different +kind.</p> +<p>"There is a light!" he cried.</p> +<p>The sound revived Keith's fainting energies, and he tried to +muster his flagging strength. The boy shouted again, and in +response there came back, strangely flattened, the shrill cry of a +woman. Keith staggered forward with Bluffy, at times holding +himself up by the side-timbers. He was conscious of a light and of +voices, but was too exhausted to know more. If he could only keep +the man and the boy above water until assistance came! He summoned +his last atom of strength.</p> +<p>"Hold tight to the timbers, Hennson," he cried; "I am +going."</p> +<p>The rest was a confused dream. He was conscious for a moment of +the weight being lifted from him, and he was sinking into the water +as if into a soft couch. He thought some one clutched him, but he +knew nothing more.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Terpsichore was out on the street when the rumor of the accident +reached her. Any accident always came home to her, and she was +prompt to do what she could to help, in any case. But this was Mr. +Keith's mine, and rumor had it that he was among the lost. +Terpsichore was not attired for such an emergency; when she went on +the streets, she still wore some of her old finery, though it was +growing less and less of late. She always acted quickly. Calling to +a barkeeper who had come to his front door on hearing the news, to +bring her brandy immediately, she dashed into a dry-goods store +near by and got an armful of blankets, and when the clerk, a +stranger just engaged in the store, made some question about +charging them to her, she tore off her jewelled watch and almost +flung it at the man.</p> +<p>"Take that, idiot! Men are dying," she said. "I have not time to +box your jaws." And snatching up the blankets, she ran out, stopped +a passing buggy, and flinging them into it, sprang in herself. With +a nod of thanks to the barkeeper, who had brought out several +bottles of brandy, she snatched the reins from the half-dazed +driver, and heading the horse up the street that led out toward the +mine, she lashed him into a gallop. She arrived at the scene of the +accident just before the first men rescued reappeared. She learned +of Keith's effort to save them. She would have gone into the mine +herself had she not been restrained. Just then the men came +out.</p> +<p>The shouts and cries of joy that greeted so unexpected a +deliverance drowned everything else for a few moments; but as man +after man was met and received half dazed into the arms of his +family and friends, the name of Keith began to be heard on all +sides. One voice, however, was more imperative than the others; one +figure pressed to the front--that of the gayly dressed woman who +had just been comforting and encouraging the weeping women about +the mine entrance.</p> +<p>"Where is Mr. Keith?" she demanded of man after man.</p> +<p>The men explained. "He went on to try and find three more men +who are down there--Bluffy and Hennson and his boy."</p> +<p>"Who went with him?"</p> +<p>"No one. He went alone."</p> +<p>"And you men let him go?"</p> +<p>"We could not help it. He insisted. We tried to make him come +with us."</p> +<p>"You cowards!" she cried, tearing off her wrap. "Of course, he +insisted, for he is a <i>man</i>. Had one woman been down there, +she would not have let him go alone." She sprang over the fencing +rope as lightly as a deer, and started toward the entrance. A cry +broke from the crowd.</p> +<p>"She's going! Stop her! She's crazy! Catch her!"</p> +<p>Several men sprang over the rope and started after her. Hearing +them, Terpsichore turned. With outstretched arms spread far apart +and blazing eyes, she faced them.</p> +<p>"If any man tries to stop me, I will kill him on the spot, as +God lives!" she cried, snatching up a piece of iron bar that lay +near by. "I am going to find that man, dead or alive. If there is +one of you man enough to come with me, come on. If not, I will go +alone."</p> +<p>"I will go with you!" A tall, sallow-faced man who had just come +up pushed through the throng and overtook her. "You stay here; I +will go." It was Tib Drummond, the preacher. He was still panting. +The girl hardly noticed him. She waved him aside and dashed on.</p> +<p>A dozen men offered to go if she would come back.</p> +<p>"No; I shall go with you," she said; and knowing that every +moment was precious, and thinking that the only way to pacify her +was to make the attempt, the men yielded, and a number of them +entered the mine with her, the lank preacher among them.</p> +<p>They had just reached the bottom when the faint outline of +something black was seen in the glimmer that their lights threw in +the distance. Terpy, with a cry, dashed forward, and was just in +time to catch Keith as he sank beneath the black water.</p> +<p>When the rescuing party with their burdens reached the surface +once more, the scene was one to revive even a flagging heart; but +Keith and Bluffy were both too far gone to know anything of it.</p> +<p>The crowd, which up to this time had been buzzing with the +excitement of the reaction following the first rescue, suddenly +hushed down to an awed silence as Keith and Bluffy were brought out +and were laid limp and unconscious on a blanket, which Terpsichore +had snatched from a man in the front of the others. Many women +pressed forward to offer assistance, but the girl waved them +back.</p> +<p>"A doctor!" she cried, and reaching for a brandy-bottle, she +pressed it first to Keith's lips. Turning to Drummond, the +preacher, who stood gaunt and dripping above her, she cried +fiercely: "Pray, man; if you ever prayed, pray now. Pray, and if +you save 'em, I'll leave town. I swear before God I will. Tell Him +so."</p> +<p>But the preacher needed no urging. Falling on his knees, he +prayed as possibly he had never prayed before. In a few moments +Keith began to come to. But Bluffy was still unconscious, and a +half-hour later the Doctor pronounced him past hope.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It was some time before Keith was able to rise from his bed, and +during this period a number of events had taken place affecting +him, and, more or less, affecting New Leeds. Among these was the +sale of Mr. Plume's paper to a new rival which had recently been +started in the place, and the departure of Mr. Plume (to give his +own account of the matter) "to take a responsible position upon a +great metropolitan journal." He was not a man, he said, "to waste +his divine talents in the attempt to carry on his shoulders the +blasted fortunes of a 'bursted boom,' when the world was pining for +the benefit of his ripe experience." Another account of the same +matter was that rumor had begun to connect Mr. Plume's name with +the destruction of the Wickersham mine and the consequent disaster +in the Rawson mine. His paper, with brazen effrontery, had declared +that the accident in the latter was due to the negligence of the +management. This was too much for the people of New Leeds in their +excited condition. Bluffy was dead; but Hennson, the man whom Keith +had rescued, had stated that they had cut through into a shaft when +the water broke in on them, and an investigation having been begun, +not only of this matter, but of the previous explosion in the +Wickersham mine, Mr. Plume had sold out his paper hastily and +shaken the dust of New Leeds from his feet.</p> +<p>Keith knew nothing of this until it was all over. He was very +ill for a time, and but for the ministrations of Dr. Balsam, who +came up from Ridgely to look after him, and the care of a devoted +nurse in the person of Terpsichore, this history might have ended +then. Terpsichore had, immediately after Keith's accident, closed +her establishment and devoted herself to his care. There were many +other offers of similar service, for New Leeds was now a +considerable town, and Keith might have had a fair proportion of +the gentler sex to minister to him; but Dr. Balsam, to whom +Terpsichore had telegraphed immediately after Keith's rescue, had, +after his first interview with her in the sick-room, decided in +favor of the young woman.</p> +<p>"She has the true instinct," said the Doctor to himself. "She +knows when to let well enough alone, and holds her tongue."</p> +<p>Thus, when Keith was able to take notice again, he found himself +in good hands.</p> +<p>A few days after he was able to get up, Keith received a +telegram summoning him to New York to meet the officers of the +company. As weak as he was, he determined to go, and, against the +protestations of doctor and nurse, he began to make his +preparations.</p> +<p>Just before Keith left, a visitor was announced, or rather +announced himself; for Squire Rawson followed hard upon his knock +at the door. His heavy boots, he declared, "were enough to let +anybody know he was around, and give 'em time to stop anything they +was ashamed o' doin'."</p> +<p>The squire had come over, as he said, "to hear about things." It +was the first time he had seen Keith since the accident, though, +after he had heard of it, he had written and invited Keith to come +"and rest up a bit at his house."</p> +<p>When the old man learned of the summons that had come to Keith, +he relit his pipe and puffed a moment in silence.</p> +<p>"Reckon they'll want to know why they ain't been a realizin' of +their dreams?" he said, with a twinkle in his half-shut eyes. "Ever +notice, when a man is huntin', if he gits what he aims at, it's +himself; but if he misses, it's the blamed old gun?"</p> +<p>Keith smiled. He had observed that phenomenon.</p> +<p>"Well, I suspicionate they'll be findin' fault with their gun. I +have been a-watchin' o' the signs o' the times. If they do, don't +you say nothin' to them about it; but I'm ready to take back my +part of the property, and I've got a leetle money I might even +increase my herd with."</p> +<p>The sum he mentioned made Keith open his eyes.</p> +<p>"When hard times comes," continued the old man, after enjoying +Keith's surprise, "I had rather have my money in land than in one +of these here banks. I has seen wild-cat money and Confederate +money, and land's land. I don't know that it is much of a +compliment to say that I has more confidence in you than I has in +these here men what has come down from nobody-knows-where to open a +bank on nobody-knows-what."</p> +<p>Keith expressed his appreciation of the compliment, but thought +that they must have something to bank on.</p> +<p>"Oh, they've got something," admitted the capitalist. "But you +know what it is. They bank on brass and credulity. That's what I +calls it."</p> +<p>The old man's face clouded. "I had been puttin' that by for +Phrony," he said. "But she didn't want it. <i>My</i> money warn't +good enough for her. Some day she'll know better."</p> +<p>Keith waited for his humor to pass.</p> +<p>"I won't ever do nothin' for her; but if ever you see her, I'd +like you to help her out if she needs it," he said huskily.</p> +<p>Keith promised faithfully that he would.</p> +<p>That afternoon Terpy knocked at his door, and came in with that +mingled shyness and boldness which was characteristic of her.</p> +<p>Keith offered her a chair and began to thank her for having +saved his life.</p> +<p>"Well, I am always becoming indebted to you anew for saving my +life--"</p> +<p>"I didn't come for that," declared the girl. "I didn't save your +life. I just went down to do what I could to help you. You know how +that mine got flooded?"</p> +<p>"I do," said Keith.</p> +<p>"They done it to do you," she said; "and they made Bill believe +it was to hurt Wickersham. Bill's dead now, an' I don't want you to +think he had anything against you." She began to cry.</p> +<p>All this was new to Keith, and he said so.</p> +<p>"Well, you won't say anything about what I said about Bill. J. +Quincy made him think 'twas against Wickersham, and he was that +drunk he didn't know what a fool they was makin' of him.--You are +going away?" she said suddenly.</p> +<p>"Oh, only for a very little while--I am going off about a little +business for a short time. I expect to be back very soon."</p> +<p>"Ah! I heard--I am glad to hear that you are coming back." She +was manifestly embarrassed, and Keith was wondering more and more +what she wanted of him. "I just wanted to say good-by. I am going +away." She was fumbling at her wrap. "And to tell you I have +changed my business. I'm not goin' to keep a dance-house any +longer."</p> +<p>"I am glad of that," said Keith, and then stuck fast again.</p> +<p>"I don't think a girl ought to keep a dance-house or a +bank?"</p> +<p>"No; I agree with you. What are you going to do?"</p> +<p>"I don't know; I thought of trying a milliner. I know right +smart about hats; but I'd wear all the pretty ones and give all the +ugly ones away," she said, with a poor little smile. "And it might +interfere with Mrs. Gaskins, and she is a widder. So I thought I'd +go away. I thought of being a nurse--I know a little about that. I +used to be about the hospital at my old home, and I've had some +little experience since." She was evidently seeking his advice.</p> +<p>"You saved my life," said Keith. "Dr. Balsam says you are a born +nurse."</p> +<p>She put this by without comment, and Keith went on.</p> +<p>"Where was your home?"</p> +<p>"Grofton."</p> +<p>"Grofton? You mean in England? In the West Country?"</p> +<p>She nodded. "Yes. I was the girl the little lady gave the doll +to. You were there. Don't you remember? I ran away with it. I have +it now--a part of it. They broke it up; but I saved the body."</p> +<p>Keith's eyes opened wide.</p> +<p>"That Lois Huntington gave it to?"</p> +<p>"Yes. I heard you were going to be married?" she said +suddenly.</p> +<p>"I! Married! No! No such good luck for me." His laugh had an +unexpected tone of bitterness in it. She gave him a searching +glance in the dusk, and presently began again haltingly.</p> +<p>"I want you to know I am never going back to that any more."</p> +<p>"I am glad to hear it."</p> +<p>"You were the first to set me to thinkin' about it."</p> +<p>"I!"</p> +<p>"Yes; I want to live straight, and I'm goin' to."</p> +<p>"I am sure you are, and I cannot tell you how glad I am," he +said cordially.</p> +<p>"Yes, thankee." She was looking down, picking shyly at the +fringe on her wrap. "And I want you to know 'twas you done it. I +have had a hard life--you don't know how hard--ever since I was a +little bit of a gal--till I run away from home. And then 'twas +harder. And they all treated me's if I was just a--a dog, and the +worst kind of a dog. So I lived like a dog. I learned how to bite, +and then they treated me some better, because they found I would +bite if they fooled with me. And then I learned what fools and +cowards men were, and I used 'em. I used to love to play 'em, and I +done it. I used to amuse 'em for money and hold 'em off. But I knew +sometime I'd die like a dog as I lived like one--and then you +came--." She paused and looked away out of the window, and after a +gulp went on again: "They preached at me for dancin'. But I don't +think there's any harm dancin'. And I love it better'n anything +else in the worl'."</p> +<p>"I do not, either," said Keith.</p> +<p>"You was the only one as treated me as if I was--some'n' I +warn't. I fought against you and tried to drive you out, but you +stuck, and I knew then I was beat. I didn't know 'twas you when +I--made such a fool of myself that time--."</p> +<p>Keith laughed.</p> +<p>"Well, I certainly did not know it was you."</p> +<p>"No--I wanted you to know that," she went on gravely, +"because--because, if I had, I wouldn' 'a' done it--for old times' +sake." She felt for her handkerchief, and not finding it readily, +suddenly caught up the bottom of her skirt and wiped her eyes with +it as she might have done when a little girl.</p> +<p>Keith tried to comfort her with words of assurance, the tone of +which was at least consoling.</p> +<p>"I always was a fool about crying--an' I was thinkin' about +Bill," she said brokenly. "Good-by." She wrung his hand, turned, +and walked rapidly out of the room, leaving Keith with a warm +feeling about his heart.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +<h3>THE DIRECTORS' MEETING</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith found, on his arrival in New York to meet his directors, +that a great change had taken place in business circles since his +visit there when he was getting up his company.</p> +<p>Even Norman, at whose office Keith called immediately on his +arrival, appeared more depressed than Keith had ever imagined he +could be. He looked actually care-worn.</p> +<p>As they started off to attend the meeting, Norman warned Keith +that the meeting might be unpleasant for him, but urged him to keep +cool, and not mind too much what might be said to him.</p> +<p>"I told you once, you remember, that men are very unreasonable +when they are losing." He smiled gloomily.</p> +<p>Keith told him of old Rawson's offer.</p> +<p>"You may need it," said Norman.</p> +<p>When Keith and Norman arrived at the office of the company, they +found the inner office closed. Norman, being a director, entered at +once, and finally the door opened and "Mr. Keith" was invited in. +As he entered, a director was showing two men out of the room by a +side door, and Keith had a glimpse of the back of one of them. The +tall, thin figure suggested to him Mr. J. Quincy Plume; but he was +too well dressed to be Mr. Plume, and Keith put the matter from his +mind as merely an odd resemblance. The other person he did not +see.</p> +<p>Keith's greeting was returned, as it struck him, somewhat coldly +by most of them. Only two of the directors shook hands with +him.</p> +<p>It was a meeting which Keith never forgot. He soon found that he +had need of all of his self-control. He was cross-examined by Mr. +Kestrel. It was evident that it was believed that he had wasted +their money, if he had not done worse. The director sat with a +newspaper in his lap, to which, from time to time, he appeared to +refer. From the line of the questioning, Keith soon recognized the +source of his information.</p> +<p>"You have been misled," Keith said coldly, in reply to a +question. "I desire to know the authority for your statement."</p> +<p>"I must decline," was the reply. "I think I may say that it is +an authority which is unimpeachable. You observe that it is one who +knows what he is speaking of?" He gave a half-glance about him at +his colleagues.</p> +<p>"A spy?" demanded Keith, coldly, his eye fixed on the other.</p> +<p>"No, sir. A man of position, a man whose sources of knowledge +even you would not question. Why, this has been charged in the +public prints without denial!" he added triumphantly.</p> +<p>"It has been charged in one paper," said Keith, "a paper which +every one knows is for sale and has been bought--by your +rival."</p> +<p>"It is based not only on the statement of the person to whom I +have alluded, but is corroborated by others."</p> +<p>"By what others?" inquired Keith.</p> +<p>"By another," corrected Mr. Kestrel.</p> +<p>"That only proves that there are two men who are liars," said +Keith, slowly. "I know but two men who I believe would have been +guilty of such barefaced and brazen falsehoods. Shall I name +them?"</p> +<p>"If you choose."</p> +<p>"They are F.C. Wickersham and a hireling of his, Mr. J. Quincy +Plume."</p> +<p>There was a stir among the directors. Keith had named both men. +It was a fortunate shot.</p> +<p>"By Jove! Brought down a bird with each barrel," said Mr. Yorke, +who was one of the directors, to another in an undertone.</p> +<p>Keith proceeded to give the history of the mine and of its rival +mine, the Wickersham property.</p> +<p>During the cross-examination Norman sat a silent witness. Beyond +a look of satisfaction when Keith made his points clearly or +countered on his antagonist with some unanswerable fact, he had +taken no part in the colloquy. Up to this time Keith had not +referred to him or even looked at him, but he glanced at him now, +and the expression on his face decided Keith.</p> +<p>"Mr. Wentworth, there, knows the facts. He knows F.C. Wickersham +as well as I do, and he has been on the ground."</p> +<p>There was a look of surprise on the face of nearly every one +present. How could he dare to say it!</p> +<p>"Oh, I guess we all know him," said one, to relieve the +tension.</p> +<p>Norman bowed his assent.</p> +<p>Mr. Kestrel shifted his position.</p> +<p>"Never mind Mr. Wentworth; it's <i>your</i> part in the +transaction that we are after," he said insolently.</p> +<p>The blood rushed to Keith's face; but a barely perceptible +glance from Norman helped him to hold himself in check. The +director glanced down at the newspaper.</p> +<p>"How about that accident in our mine? Some of us have thought +that it was carelessness on the part of the local management. It +has been charged that proper inspection would have indicated that +the flooding of an adjacent mine should have given warning; in +fact, had given warning." He half glanced around at his associates, +and then fastened his eyes on Keith.</p> +<p>Keith's eyes met his unflinchingly and held them. He drew in his +breath with a sudden sound, as a man might who has received a slap +full in the face. Beyond this, there was no sound. Keith sat for a +moment in silence. The blow had dazed him. In the tumult of his +thought, as it returned, it seemed as if the noise of the stricken +crowd was once more about him, weeping women and moaning men; and +he was descending into the blackness of death. Once more the roar +of that rushing water was in his ears; he was once more plunging +through the darkness; once more he was being borne down into its +depths; again he was struggling, gasping, floundering toward the +light; once more he returned to consciousness, to find himself +surrounded by eyes full of sympathy--of devotion. The eyes changed +suddenly. The present came back to him. Hostile eyes were about +him.</p> +<p>Keith rose from his chair slowly, and slowly turned from his +questioner toward the others.</p> +<p>"Gentlemen, I have nothing further to say to you. I have the +honor to resign my position under you."</p> +<p>"Resign!" exclaimed the director who had been badgering him. +"Resign your position!" He leaned back in his chair and +laughed.</p> +<p>Keith turned on him so quickly that he pushed his chair back as +if he were afraid he might spring across the table on him.</p> +<p>"Yes. Resign!" Keith was leaning forward across the table now, +resting his weight on one hand. "Anything to terminate our +association. I am no longer in your employ, Mr. Kestrel." His eyes +had suddenly blazed, and held Mr. Kestrel's eyes unflinchingly. His +voice was calm, but had the coldness of a steel blade.</p> +<p>There was a movement among the directors. They shifted uneasily +in their chairs, and several of them pushed them back. They did not +know what might happen. Keith was the incarnation of controlled +passion. Mr. Kestrel seemed to shrink up within himself. Norman +broke the silence.</p> +<p>"I do not wonder that Mr. Keith should feel aggrieved," he said, +with feeling. "I have held off from taking part in this interview +up to the present, because I promised to do so, and because I felt +that Mr. Keith was abundantly able to take care of himself; but I +think that he has been unjustly dealt with and has been roughly +handled."</p> +<p>Keith's only answer was a slow wave of the arm in protest toward +Norman to keep clear of the contest and leave it to him. He was +standing quite straight now, his eyes still resting upon Mr. +Kestrel's face, with a certain watchfulness in them, as if he were +expecting him to stir again, and were ready to spring on him should +he do so.</p> +<p>Unheeding him, Norman went on.</p> +<p>"I know that much that he says is true." Keith looked at him +quickly, his form stiffening. "And I believe that <i>all</i> that +he says is true," continued Norman; "and I am unwilling to stand by +longer and see this method of procedure carried on."</p> +<p>Keith bowed. There flashed across his mind the picture of a boy +rushing up the hill to his rescue as he stood by a rock-pile on a +hillside defending himself against overwhelming assailants, and his +face softened.</p> +<p>"Well, I don't propose to be dictated to as to how I shall +conduct my own business," put in Mr. Kestrel, in a sneering voice. +When the spell of Keith's gaze was lifted from him he had +recovered.</p> +<p>If Keith heard him now, he gave no sign of it, nor was it +needed, for Norman turned upon him.</p> +<p>"I think you will do whatever this board directs," he said, with +almost as much contempt as Keith had shown.</p> +<p>He took up the defence of the management to such good purpose +that a number of the other directors went over to his side.</p> +<p>They were willing to acquit Mr. Keith of blame, they said, and +to show their confidence in him. They thought it would be necessary +to have some one to look after the property and prevent further +loss until better times should come, and they thought it would be +best to get Mr. Keith to remain in charge for the present.</p> +<p>During this time Keith had remained motionless and silent, +except to bow his acknowledgments to Norman. He received their new +expression of confidence in silence, until the discussion had +ceased and the majority were on his side. Then he faced Mr. +Yorke.</p> +<p>"Gentlemen," he said, "I am obliged to you for your expression; +but it comes too late. Nothing on earth could induce me ever again +to assume a position in which I could be subjected to what I have +gone through this morning. I will never again have any business +association with--" he turned and looked at Mr. Kestrel--"Mr. +Kestrel, or those who have sustained him."</p> +<p>Mr. Kestrel shrugged his shoulders.</p> +<p>"Oh, as to that," he laughed, "you need have no trouble. I shall +get out as soon as I can. I have no more desire to associate with +you than you have with me. All I want to do is to save what you +mis--"</p> +<p>Keith's eyes turned on him quietly.</p> +<p>"--what I was misled into putting into your sink-hole down +there. You may remember that you told me, when I went in, that you +would guarantee me all I put in." His voice rose into a sneer.</p> +<p>"Oh, no. None of that, none of that!" interrupted Norman, +quickly. "You may remember, Mr. Kestrel,--?"</p> +<p>But Keith interrupted him with a wave of his hand.</p> +<p>"I do remember. I have a good memory, Mr. Kestrel."</p> +<p>"That was all done away with," insisted Norman, his arm +outstretched toward Mr. Kestrel. "You remember that an offer was +made you of your input and interest, and you declined?"</p> +<p>"I am speaking to <i>him</i>," said Mr. Kestrel, not turning his +eyes from Keith.</p> +<p>"I renew that offer now," said Keith, coldly.</p> +<p>"Then that's all right." Mr. Kestrel sat back in his chair. "I +accept your proposal, principal and interest."</p> +<p>Protests and murmurs went around the board, but Mr. Kestrel did +not heed them. Leaning forward, he seized a pen, and drawing a +sheet of paper to him, began to scribble a memorandum of the terms, +which, when finished, he pushed across the table to Keith.</p> +<p>Keith took it against Norman's protest, and when he had read it, +picked up a pen and signed his name firmly.</p> +<p>"Here, witness it," said Mr. Kestrel to his next neighbor. "If +any of the rest of you want to save your bones, you had better come +in."</p> +<p>Several of the directors agreed with him.</p> +<p>Though Norman protested, Keith accepted their proposals, and a +paper was drawn up which most of those present signed. It provided +that a certain time should be given Keith in which to raise money +to make good his offer, and arrangements were made provisionally to +wind up the present company, and to sell out and transfer its +rights to a new organization. Some of the directors prudently +insisted on reserving the right to withdraw their proposals should +they change their minds. It may be stated, however, that they had +no temptation to do so. Times rapidly grew worse instead of +better.</p> +<p>But Keith had occasion to know how sound was Squire Rawson's +judgment when, a little later, another of the recurrent waves of +depression swept over the country, and several banks in New Leeds +went down, among them the bank in which old Rawson had had his +money. The old man came up to town to remind Keith of his +wisdom.</p> +<p>"Well, what do you think of brass and credulity now?" he +demanded.</p> +<p>"Let me know when you begin to prophesy against me," said Keith, +laughing.</p> +<p>"'Tain't no prophecy. It's jest plain sense. Some folks has it +and some hasn't. When sense tells you a thing, hold on to it.</p> +<p>"Well, you jest go ahead and git things in shape, and don't +bother about me. No use bein' in a hurry, neither. I have observed +that when times gits bad, they generally gits worse. It's sorter +like a fever; you've got to wait for the crisis and jest kind o' +nurse 'em along. But I don't reckon that coal is goin' to run away. +It has been there some time, accordin' to what that young man used +to say, and if it was worth what they gin for it a few years ago, +it's goin' to be worth more a few years hence. When a wheel keeps +turnin', the bottom's got to come up sometime, and if we can stick +we'll be there. I think you and I make a pretty good team. You let +me furnish the ideas and you do the work, and we'll come out ahead +o' some o' these Yankees yet. Jest hold your horses; keep things in +good shape, and be ready to start when the horn blows. It's goin' +to blow sometime."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The clouds that had begun to rest in Norman Wentworth's eyes and +the lines that had written themselves in his face were not those of +business alone. Fate had brought him care of a deeper and sadder +kind. Though Keith did not know it till later, the little rift +within the lute, that he had felt, but had not understood, that +first evening when he dined at Norman's house, had widened, and +Norman's life was beginning to be overcast with the saddest of all +clouds. Miss Abigail's keen intuition had discovered the flaw. Mrs. +Wentworth had fallen a victim to her folly. Love of pleasure, love +of admiration, love of display, had become a part of Mrs. +Wentworth's life, and she was beginning to reap the fruits of her +ambition.</p> +<p>For a time it was mighty amusing to her. To shop all morning, +make the costliest purchases; to drive on the avenue or in the Park +of an afternoon with the latest and most stylish turnout, in the +handsomest toilet; to give the finest dinners; to spend the evening +in the most expensive box; to cause men to open their eyes with +admiration, and to make women grave with envy: all this gave her +delight for a time--so much delight that she could not forego it +even for her husband. Norman was so occupied of late that he could +not go about with her as much as he had done. His father's health +had failed, and then he had died, throwing all the business on +Norman.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham had returned home from abroad not long +before--alone. Rumor had connected his name while abroad with some +woman--an unknown and very pretty woman had "travelled with him." +Ferdy, being rallied by his friends about it, shook his head. "Must +have been some one else." Grinnell Rhodes, who had met him, said +she declared herself his wife. Ferdy's denial was most +conclusive--he simply laughed.</p> +<p>To Mrs. Wentworth he had told a convincing tale. It was a +slander. Norman was against him, he knew, but she, at least, would +believe he had been maligned.</p> +<p>Wickersham had waited for such a time in the affairs of Mrs. +Wentworth. He had watched for it; striven to bring it about in many +almost imperceptible ways; had tendered her sympathy; had been +ready with help as she needed it; till he began to believe that he +was making some impression. It was, of all the games he played, the +dearest just now to his heart. It had a double zest. It had +appeared to the world that Norman Wentworth had defeated him. He +had always defeated him--first as a boy, then at college, and later +when he had borne off the prize for which Ferdy had really striven. +Ferdy would now show who was the real victor. If Louise Caldwell +had passed him by for Norman Wentworth, he would prove that he +still possessed her heart.</p> +<p>It was not long, therefore, before society found a delightful +topic of conversation,--that silken-clad portion of society which +usually deals with such topics,--the increasing intimacy between +Ferdy Wickersham and Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>Tales were told of late visits; of strolls in the dusk of +evenings on unfrequented streets; of little suppers after the +opera; of all the small things that deviltry can suggest and +malignity distort. Wickersham cared little for having his name +associated with that of any one, and he was certainly not going to +be more careful for another's name than for his own. He had grown +more reckless since his return, but it had not injured him with his +set. It flattered his pride to be credited with the conquest of so +cold and unapproachable a Diana as Louise Wentworth.</p> +<p>"What was more natural?" said Mrs. Nailor. After all, Ferdy +Wickersham was her real romance, and she was his, notwithstanding +all the attentions he had paid Alice Yorke. "Besides," said the +amiable lady, "though Norman Wentworth undoubtedly lavishes large +sums on his wife, and gives her the means to gratify her +extravagant tastes, I have observed that he is seen quite as much +with Mrs. Lancaster as with her, and any woman of spirit will +resent this. You need not tell me that he would be so complacent +over all that driving and strolling and box-giving that Ferdy does +for her if he did not find his divertisement elsewhere."</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor even went to the extent of rallying Ferdy on the +subject.</p> +<p>"You are a naughty boy. You have no right to go around here +making women fall in love with you as you do," she said, with that +pretended reproof which is a real encouragement.</p> +<p>"One might suppose I was like David, who slew his tens of +thousands," answered Ferdy. "Which of my victims are you attempting +to rescue?"</p> +<p>"You know?"</p> +<p>As Ferdy shook his head, she explained further.</p> +<p>"I don't say that it isn't natural she should find you +more--more--sympathetic than a man who is engrossed in business +when he is not engrossed in dangling about a pair of blue eyes; but +you ought not to do it. Think of her."</p> +<p>"I thought you objected to my thinking of her?" said Mr. +Wickersham, lightly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor tapped him with her fan to show her displeasure.</p> +<p>"You are so provoking. Why won't you be serious?"</p> +<p>"Serious? I never was more serious in my life. Suppose I tell +you I think of her all the time?" He looked at her keenly, then +broke into a laugh as he read her delight in the speech. "Don't you +think I am competent to attend to my own affairs, even if Louise +Caldwell is the soft and unsophisticated creature you would make +her? I am glad you did not feel it necessary to caution me about +her husband?" His eyes gave a flash.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor hastened to put herself right--that is, on the side +of the one present, for with her the absent was always in the +wrong.</p> +<p>Wickersham improved his opportunities with the ability of a +veteran. Little by little he excited Mrs. Wentworth's jealousy. +Norman, he said, necessarily saw a great deal of Alice Lancaster, +for he was her business agent. It was, perhaps, not necessary for +him to see her every day, but it was natural that he should. The +arrow stuck and rankled. And later, at an entertainment, when she +saw Norman laughing and enjoying himself in a group of old friends, +among whom was Alice Lancaster, Mrs. Norman was on fire with +suspicion, and her attitude toward Alice Lancaster changed.</p> +<p>So, before Norman was aware of it, he found life completely +changed for him. As a boatman on a strange shore in the night-time +drifts without knowing of it, he, in the absorption of his +business, drifted away from his old relation without marking the +process. His wife had her life and friends, and he had his. He made +at times an effort to recover the old relation, but she was too +firmly held in the grip of the life she had chosen for him to get +her back.</p> +<p>His wife complained that he was out of sympathy with her, and he +could not deny it. She resented this, and charged him with +neglecting her. No man will stand such a charge, and Norman +defended himself hotly.</p> +<p>"I do not think it lies in your mouth to make such a charge," he +said, with a flash in his eye. "I am nearly always at home when I +am not necessarily absent. You can hardly say as much. I do not +think my worst enemy would charge me with that. Even Ferdy +Wickersham would not say that."</p> +<p>She fired at the name.</p> +<p>"You are always attacking my friends," she declared. "I think +they are quite as good as yours."</p> +<p>Norman turned away. He looked gloomily out of the window for a +moment, and then faced his wife again.</p> +<p>"Louise," he said gravely, "if I have been hard and +unsympathetic, I have not meant to be. Why can't we start all over +again? You are more than all the rest of the world to me. I will +give up whatever you object to, and you give up what I object to. +That is a good way to begin." His eyes had a look of longing in +them, but Mrs. Wentworth did not respond.</p> +<p>"You will insist on my giving up my friends," she said.</p> +<p>"Your friends? I do not insist on your giving up any friend on +earth. Mrs. Nailor and her like are not your friends. They spend +their time tearing to pieces the characters of others when you are +present, and your character when you are absent. Wickersham is +incapable of being a friend."</p> +<p>"You are always so unjust to him," said Mrs. Wentworth, +warmly.</p> +<p>"I am not unjust to him. I have known him all my life, and I +tell you he would sacrifice any one and every one to his +pleasure."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth began to defend him warmly, and so the quarrel +ended worse than it had begun.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +<h3>MRS. CREAMER'S BALL</h3> +<br> +<p>The next few years passed as the experience of old Rawson had +led him to predict. Fortunes went down; but Fortune's wheel is +always turning, and, as the old countryman said, "those that could +stick would come up on top again."</p> +<p>Keith, however, had prospered. He had got the Rawson mine to +running again, and even in the hardest times had been able to make +it pay expenses. Other properties had failed and sold out, and had +been bought in by Keith's supporters, when Wickersham once more +appeared in New Leeds affairs. It was rumored that Wickersham was +going to start again. Old Adam Rawson's face grew dark at the +rumor. He said to Keith:</p> +<p>"If that young man comes down here, it's him or me. I'm an old +man, and I ain't got long to live; but I want to live to meet him +once. If he's got any friends, they'd better tell him not to come." +He sat glowering and puffing his pipe morosely.</p> +<p>Keith tried to soothe him; but the old fellow had received a +wound that knew no healing.</p> +<p>"I know all you say, and I'm much obliged to you; but I can't +accept it. It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with me. +He has entered my home and struck me in the dark. Do you think I +done all I have done jest for the money I was makin'! No; I wanted +revenge. I have set on my porch of a night and seen her wanderin' +about in them fureign cities, all alone, trampin' the +streets--trampin', trampin', trampin'; tired, and, maybe, sick and +hungry, not able to ask them outlandish folks for even a piece of +bread--her that used to set on my knee and hug me with her little +arms and call me granddad, and claim all the little calves for +hers--jest the little ones; and that I've ridden many a mile over +the mountains for, thinkin' how she was goin' to run out to meet me +when I got home. And now even my old dog's dead--died after she +went away.</p> +<p>"No!" he broke out fiercely. "If he comes back here, it's him or +me! By the Lord! if he comes back here, I'll pay him the debt I owe +him. If she's his wife, I'll make her a widow, and if she ain't, +I'll revenge her."</p> +<p>He mopped the beads of sweat that had broken out on his brow, +and without a word stalked out of the door.</p> +<p>But Ferdy Wickersham had no idea of returning to New Leeds. He +found New York quite interesting enough for him about this +time.</p> +<p>The breach between Norman and his wife had grown of late.</p> +<p>Gossip divided the honors between them, and some said it was on +Ferdy Wickersham's account; others declared that it was Mrs. +Lancaster who had come between them. Yet others said it was a +matter of money--that Norman had become tired of his wife's +extravagance and had refused to stand it any longer.</p> +<p>Keith knew vaguely of the trouble between Norman and his wife; +but he did not know the extent of it, and he studiously kept up his +friendly relations with her as well as with Norman. His business +took him to New York from time to time, and he was sensible that +the life there was growing more and more attractive for him. He was +fitting into it too, and enjoying it more and more. He was like a +strong swimmer who, used to battling in heavy waves, grows stronger +with the struggle, and finds ever new enjoyment and courage in his +endeavor. He felt that he was now quite a man of the world. He was +aware that his point of view had changed and (a little) that he had +changed. As flattering as was his growth in New Leeds, he had a +much more infallible evidence of his success in the favor with +which he was being received in New York.</p> +<p>The favor that Mrs. Lancaster had shown Keith, and, much more, +old Mrs. Wentworth's friendship, had a marked effect throughout +their whole circle of acquaintance. That a man had been invited to +these houses meant that he must be something. There were women who +owned large houses, wore priceless jewels, cruised in their own +yachts, had their own villas on ground as valuable as that which +fronted the Roman Forum in old days, who would almost have licked +the marble steps of those mansions to be admitted to sit at their +dinner-tables and have their names appear in the Sunday issues of +the newly established society journals among the blessed few. So, +as soon as it appeared that Gordon was not only an acquaintance, +but a friend of these critical leaders, women who had looked over +his head as they drove up the avenue, and had just tucked their +chins and lowered their eyelids when he had been presented, began +to give him invitations. Among these was Mrs. Nailor. Truly, the +world appeared warmer and kinder than Keith had thought.</p> +<p>To be sure, it was at Mrs. Lancaster's that Mrs. Nailor met him, +and Keith was manifestly on very friendly terms with the pretty +widow. Even Mrs. Yorke, who was present on the occasion with her +"heart," was impressively cordial to him. Mrs. Nailor had no idea +of being left out. She almost gushed with affection, as she made a +place beside her on a divan.</p> +<p>"You do not come to see all your friends," she said, with her +winningest smile and her most bird-like voice. "You appear to +forget that you have other old friends in New York besides Mrs. +Lancaster and Mrs. Yorke. Alice dear, you must not be selfish and +engross all his time. You must let him come and see me, at least, +sometimes. Yes?" This with a peculiarly innocent smile and +tone.</p> +<p>Keith declared that he was in New York very rarely, and Mrs. +Lancaster, with a slightly heightened color, repudiated the idea +that she had anything to do with his movements.</p> +<p>"Oh, I hear of you here very often," declared Mrs. Nailor, +roguishly. "I have a little bird that brings me all the news about +my friends."</p> +<p>"A little bird, indeed!" said Alice to herself, and to Keith +later. "I'll be bound she has not. If she had a bird, the old cat +would have eaten it."</p> +<p>"You are going to the Creamers' ball, of course?" pursued Mrs. +Nailor.</p> +<p>No, Keith said: he was not going; he had been in New York only +two days, and, somehow, his advent had been overlooked. He was +always finding himself disappointed by discovering that New York +was still a larger place than New Leeds.</p> +<p>"Oh, but you must go! We must get you an invitation, mustn't we, +Alice?" Mrs. Nailor was always ready to promise anything, provided +she could make her engagement in partnership and then slip out and +leave the performance to her friend.</p> +<p>"Why, yes; there is not the least trouble about getting an +invitation. Mrs. Nailor can get you one easily."</p> +<p>Keith looked acquiescent.</p> +<p>"No, my dear; you write the note. You know Mrs. Creamer every +bit as well as I," protested Mrs. Nailor, "and I have already asked +for at least a dozen. There are Mrs. Wyndham and Lady Stobbs, who +were here last winter; and that charming Lord Huckster, who was at +Newport last summer; and I don't know how many more--so you will +have to get the invitation for Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>Keith, with some amusement, declared that he did not wish any +trouble taken; he had only said he would go because Mrs. Nailor had +appeared to desire it so much.</p> +<p>Next morning an invitation reached Keith,--he thought he knew +through whose intervention,--and he accepted it.</p> +<p>That evening, as Keith, about dusk, was going up the avenue on +his way home, a young girl passed him, walking very briskly. She +paused for a moment just ahead of him to give some money to a poor +woman who, doubled up on the pavement in a black shawl, was +grinding out from a wheezy little organ a thin, dirge-like +strain.</p> +<p>"Good evening. I hope you feel better to-day," Keith heard her +say in a kind tone, though he lost all of the other's reply except +the "God bless you."</p> +<p>She was simply dressed in a plain, dark walking-suit, and +something about her quick, elastic step and slim, trim figure as +she sailed along, looking neither to the right nor to the left, +attracted his attention. Her head was set on her shoulders in a way +that gave her quite an air, and as she passed under a lamp the +light showed the flash of a fine profile and an unusual face. She +carried a parcel in her hand that might have been a roll of music, +and from the lateness of the hour Keith fancied her a shop-girl on +her way home, or possibly a music-teacher.</p> +<p>Stirred by the glimpse of the refined face, and even more by the +carriage of the little head under the dainty hat, Keith quickened +his pace to obtain another glance at her. He had almost overtaken +her when she stopped in front of a well-lighted window of a +music-store. The light that fell on her face revealed to him a face +of unusual beauty. Something about her graceful pose as, with her +dark brows slightly knitted, she bent forward and scanned intently +the pieces of music within, awakened old associations in Keith's +mind, and sent him back to his boyhood at Elphinstone. And under an +impulse, which he could better justify to himself than to her, he +did a very audacious and improper thing. Taking off his hat, he +spoke to her. She had been so absorbed that for a moment she did +not comprehend that it was she he was addressing. Then, as it came +to her that it was she to whom this stranger was speaking, she drew +herself up and gave him a look of such withering scorn that Keith +felt himself shrink. Next second, with her head high in the air, +she had turned without a word and sped up the street, leaving Keith +feeling very cheap and subdued.</p> +<p>But that glance from dark eyes flashing with indignation had +filled Keith with a sensation to which he had long been a stranger. +Something about the simple dress, the high-bred face with its fine +scorn; something about the patrician air of mingled horror and +contempt, had suddenly cleaved through the worldly crust that had +been encasing him for some time, and reaching his better self, +awakened an emotion that he had thought gone forever. It was like a +lightning-flash in the darkness. He knew that she had entered his +life. His resolution was taken on the instant. He would meet her, +and if she were what she looked to be--again Elphinstone and his +youth swept into his mind. He already was conscious of a sense of +protection; he felt curiously that he had the right to protect her. +If he had addressed her, might not others do so? The thought made +his blood boil. He almost wished that some one would attempt it, +that he might assert his right to show her what he was, and thus +retrieve himself in her eyes. Besides, he must know where she +lived. So he followed her at a respectful distance till she ran up +the steps of one of the better class of houses and disappeared +within. He was too far off to be able to tell which house it was +that she entered, but it was in the same block with Norman +Wentworth's house.</p> +<p>Keith walked the avenue that night for a long time, pondering +how he should find and explain his conduct to the young +music-teacher, for a music-teacher he had decided she must be. The +next evening, too, he strolled for an hour on the avenue, scanning +from a distance every fair passer-by, but he saw nothing of +her.</p> +<p>Mrs. Creamer's balls were, as Norman had once said, <i>the</i> +balls of the season. "Only the rich and the noble were +expected."</p> +<p>Mrs. Creamer's house was one of the great, new, brown-stone +mansions which had been built within the past ten years upon "the +avenue." It had cost a fortune. Within, it was so sumptuous that a +special work has been "gotten up," printed, and published by +subscription, of its "art treasures," furniture, and +upholstery.</p> +<p>Into this palatial residence--for flattery could not have called +it a home--Keith was admitted, along with some hundreds of other +guests.</p> +<p>To-night it was filled with, not flowers exactly, but with +floral decorations; for the roses and orchids were lost in the +designs--garlands, circles, and banks formed of an infinite number +of flowers.</p> +<p>Mrs. Creamer, a large, handsome woman with good shoulders, stood +just inside the great drawing-room. She was gorgeously attired and +shone with diamonds until the eyes ached with her splendor. Behind +her stood Mr. Creamer, looking generally mightily bored. Now and +then he smiled and shook hands with the guests, at times drawing a +friend out of the line back into the rear for a chat, then +relapsing again into indifference or gloom.</p> +<p>Keith was presented to Mrs. Creamer. She only nodded to him. +Keith moved on. He soon discovered that a cordial greeting to a +strange guest was no part of the convention in that society. One or +two acquaintances spoke to him, but he was introduced to no one; so +he sauntered about and entertained himself observing the people. +The women were in their best, and it was good.</p> +<p>Keith was passing from one room to another when he became aware +that a man, who was standing quite still in the doorway, was, like +himself, watching the crowd. His face was turned away; but +something about the compact figure and firm chin was familiar to +him. Keith moved to take a look at his face. It was Dave +Dennison.</p> +<p>He had a twinkle in his eye as he said: "Didn't expect to see me +here?"</p> +<p>"Didn't expect to see myself here," said Keith.</p> +<p>"I'm one of the swells now"; and Dave glanced down at his +expensive shirt-front and his evening suit with complacency. +"Wouldn't Jake give a lot to have such a bosom as that? I think I +look just as well as some of 'em?" he queried, with a glance about +him.</p> +<p>Keith thought so too. "You are dressed for the part," he said. +Keith's look of interest inspired him to go on.</p> +<p>"You see, 'tain't like 'tis down with us, where you know +everybody, and everything about him, to the number of drinks he can +carry."</p> +<p>"Well, what do you do here?" asked Keith, who was trying to +follow Mr. Dennison's calm eye as, from time to time, it swept the +rooms, resting here and there on a face or following a hand. He was +evidently not merely a guest.</p> +<p>"Detective."</p> +<p>"A detective!" exclaimed Keith.</p> +<p>Dave nodded. "Yes; watchin' the guests, to see they don't carry +off each other. It is the new ones that puzzle us for a while," he +added. "Now, there is a lady acting very mysteriously over there." +His eye swept over the room and then visited, in that casual way it +had, some one in the corner across the room. "I don't just seem to +make her out. She looks all right--but--?"</p> +<p>Keith followed the glance, and the blood rushed to his face and +then surged back again to his heart, for there, standing against +the wall, was the young girl whom he had spoken to on the street a +few evenings before, who had given him so merited a rebuff. She was +a patrician-looking creature and was standing quite alone, +observing the scene with keen interest. Her girlish figure was +slim; her eyes, under straight dark brows, were beautiful; and her +mouth was almost perfect. Her fresh face expressed unfeigned +interest, and though generally grave as she glanced about her, she +smiled at times, evidently at her own thoughts.</p> +<p>"I don't just make her out," repeated Mr. Dennison, softly. "I +never saw her before, as I remember, and yet--!" He looked at her +again.</p> +<p>"Why, I do not see that she is acting at all mysteriously," said +Keith. "I think she is a music-teacher. She is about the prettiest +girl in the room. She may be a stranger, like myself, as no one is +talking to her."</p> +<p>"Don't no stranger git in here," said Mr. Dennison, decisively. +"You see how different she is from the others. Most of them don't +think about anything but themselves. She ain't thinkin' about +herself at all; she is watchin' others. She may be a reporter--she +appears mighty interested in clothes."</p> +<p>"A reporter!"</p> +<p>The surprise in Keith's tone amused his old pupil. "Yes, a +sassiety reporter. They have curious ways here. Why, they pay money +to git themselves in the paper."</p> +<p>Just then so black a look came into his face for a second that +Keith turned and followed his glance. It rested on Ferdy +Wickersham, who was passing at a little distance, with Mrs. +Wentworth on his arm.</p> +<p>"There's one I am watchin' on my own account," said the +detective. "I'm comin' up with him, and some day I'm goin' to light +on him." His eye gave a flash and then became as calm and cold as +usual. Presently he spoke again:</p> +<p>"I don't forgit nothin'--'pears like I can't do it." His voice +had a new subtone in it, which somehow sent Keith's memory back to +the past. "I don't forgit a kindness, anyway," he said, laying his +hand for a second on Keith's arm. "Well, see you later, sir." He +moved slowly on. Keith was glad that patient enemy was not +following him.</p> +<p>Keith's inspection of the young girl had inflamed his interest. +It was an unusual face--high-bred and fine. Humor lurked about the +corners of her mouth; but resolution also might be read there. And +Keith knew how those big, dark eyes could flash. And she was +manifestly having a good time all to herself. She was dressed much +more simply than any other woman he saw, in a plain muslin dress; +but she made a charming picture as she stood against the wall, her +dark eyes alight with interest. Her brown hair was drawn back from +a brow of snowy whiteness, and her little head was set on her +shoulders in a way that recalled to Keith an old picture. She would +have had an air of distinction in any company. Here she shone like +a jewel.</p> +<p>Keith's heart went out to her. At sight of her his youth +appeared to flood over him again. Keith fancied that she looked +weary, for every now and then she lifted her head and glanced about +the rooms as though looking for some one. A sense of protection +swept over him. He must meet her. But how? She did not appear to +know any one. Finally he determined on a bold expedient. If he +succeeded it would give him a chance to recover himself as nothing +else could; if he failed he could but fail. So he made his way over +to her. But it was with a beating heart.</p> +<p>"You look tired. Won't you let me get you a chair?" His voice +sounded strange even to himself.</p> +<p>"No, thank you; I am not tired." She thanked him civilly enough, +but scarcely looked at him. "But I should like a glass of +water."</p> +<p>"It is the only liquid I believe I cannot get you," said Keith. +"There are three places where water is scarce: the desert, a +ball-room, and the other place where Dives was."</p> +<p>She drew herself up a little.</p> +<p>"But I will try," he added, and went off. On his return with a +glass of water, she took it.</p> +<p>As she handed the glass back to him, she glanced at him, and he +caught her eye. Her head went up, and she flushed to the roots of +her brown hair.</p> +<p>"Oh!--I beg your pardon! I--I--really--I don't--Thank you very +much. I am very sorry." She turned away stiffly.</p> +<p>"Why?" said Keith, flushing in spite of himself. "You have done +me a favor in enabling me to wait on you. May I introduce myself? +And then I will get some one to do it in person--Mrs. Lancaster or +Mrs. Wentworth. They will vouch for me."</p> +<p>The girl looked up at him, at first with a hostile expression on +her face, which changed suddenly to one of wonder.</p> +<p>"Isn't this Gordon Keith?"</p> +<p>Gordon's eyes opened wide. How could she know him?</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"You don't know me?" Her eyes were dancing now, and two dimples +were flitting about her mouth. Keith's memory began to stir. She +put her head on one side.</p> +<p>"'Lois, if you'll kiss me I'll let you ride my horse,'" she said +cajolingly.</p> +<p>"Lois Huntington! It can't be!" exclaimed Keith, delighted. "You +are just so high." Keith measured a height just above his left +watch-pocket. "And you have long hair down your back."</p> +<p>With a little twist she turned her head and showed him a head of +beautiful brown hair done up in a Grecian knot just above the nape +of a shapely little neck.</p> +<p>"--And you have the brightest--"</p> +<p>She dropped her eyes before his, which were looking right into +them--though not until she had given a little flash from them, +perhaps to establish their identity.</p> +<p>"--And you used to say I was your sw--"</p> +<p>"Did I?" (this was very demurely said). "How old was I +then?"</p> +<p>"How old are you now?"</p> +<p>"Eighteen," with a slight straightening of the slim figure.</p> +<p>"Impossible!" exclaimed Keith, enjoying keenly the picture she +made.</p> +<p>"All of it," with a flash of the eyes.</p> +<p>"For me you are just all of seven years old."</p> +<p>"Do you know who I thought you were?" Her face dimpled.</p> +<p>"Yes; a waiter!"</p> +<p>She nodded brightly.</p> +<p>"It was my good manners. The waiters have struck me much this +evening," said Keith.</p> +<p>She smiled, and the dimples appeared again.</p> +<p>"That is their business. They are paid for it."</p> +<p>"Oh, I see. Is that the reason others are--what they are? Well, +I am more than paid. My recompense is--you."</p> +<p>She looked pleased. "You are the first person I have met!--Did +you have any idea who I was the other evening?" she asked +suddenly.</p> +<p>Keith would have given five years of his life to be able to +answer yes. But he said no. "I only knew you were some one who +needed protection," he said, trying to make the best of a bad +situation. You are too young to be on the street so late."</p> +<p>"So it appeared. I had been out for a walk to see old Dr. +Templeton and to get a piece of music, and it was later than I +thought."</p> +<p>"Whom are you here with?" inquired Keith, to get off of delicate +ground. "Where are you staying?"</p> +<p>"With my cousin, Mrs. Norman Wentworth. It is my first +introduction into New York life."</p> +<p>Just then there was a movement toward the supper-room.</p> +<p>Keith suggested that they should go and find Mrs. Norman. Miss +Huntington said, however, she thought she had better remain where +she was, as Mrs. Norman had promised to come back.</p> +<p>"I hope she will invite you to join our party," she said +naïvely.</p> +<p>"If she does not, I will invite you both to join mine," declared +Keith. "I have no idea of letting you escape for another dozen +years."</p> +<p>Just then, however, Mrs. Norman appeared. She was with Ferdy +Wickersham, who, on seeing Keith, looked away coldly. She smiled, +greatly surprised to find Keith there. "Why, where did you two know +each other?"</p> +<p>They explained.</p> +<p>"I saw you were pleasantly engaged, so I did not think it +necessary to hasten back," she said to Lois.</p> +<p>Ferdy Wickersham said something to her in an undertone, and she +held out her hand to the girl.</p> +<p>"Come, we are to join a party in the supper-room. We shall see +you after supper, Mr. Keith?"</p> +<p>Keith said he hoped so. He was conscious of a sudden wave of +disappointment sweeping over him as the three left him. The young +girl gave him a bright smile.</p> +<p>Later, as he passed by, he saw only Ferdy Wickersham with Mrs. +Norman. Lois Huntington was at another table, so Keith joined +her.</p> +<p>After the supper there was to be a novel kind of entertainment: +a sort of vaudeville show in which were to figure a palmist, a +gentleman set down in the programme with its gilt printing as the +"Celebrated Professor Cheireman"; several singers; a couple of +acrobatic performers; and a danseuse: "Mlle. Terpsichore."</p> +<p>The name struck Keith with something of sadness. It recalled old +associations, some of them pleasant, some of them sad. And as he +stood near Lois Huntington, on the edge of the throng that filled +the large apartment where the stage had been constructed, during +the first three or four numbers he was rather more in Gumbolt than +in that gay company in that brilliant room.</p> +<p>"Professor Cheireman" had shown the wonders of the trained hand +and the untrained mind in a series of tricks that would certainly +be wonderful did not so many men perform them. Mlle. de Voix +performed hardly less wonders with her voice, running up and down +the scale like a squirrel in a cage, introducing trills into songs +where there were none, and making the simplest melodies appear as +intricate as pieces of opera. The Burlystone Brothers jumped over +and skipped under each other in a marvellous and "absolutely +unrivalled manner." And presently the danseuse appeared.</p> +<p>Keith was standing against the wall thinking of Terpy and the +old hail with its paper hangings in Gumbolt, and its benches full +of eager, jovial spectators, when suddenly there was a roll of +applause, and he found himself in Gumbolt. From the side on which +he stood walked out his old friend, Terpy herself. He had not been +able to see her until she was well out on the stage and was making +her bow. The next second she began to dance.</p> +<p>After the first greeting given her, a silence fell on the room, +the best tribute they could pay to her art, her grace, her abandon. +Nothing so audacious had ever been seen by certainly half the +assemblage. Casting aside the old tricks of the danseuse, the +tipping and pirouetting and grimacing for applause, the dancer +seemed oblivious of her audience and as though she were trying to +excel herself. She swayed and swung and swept from side to side as +though on wings.</p> +<p>Round after round of applause swept over the room. Men were +talking in undertones to each other; women buzzed behind their +fans.</p> +<p>She stopped, panting and flushed with pride, and with a certain +scorn in her face and mien glanced over the audience. Just as she +was poising herself for another effort, her eye reached the side of +the room where Keith stood just beside Miss Huntington. A change +passed over her face. She nodded, hesitated for a second, and then +began again. She failed to catch the time of the music and danced +out of time. A titter came from the rear of the room. She looked in +that direction, and Keith did the same. Ferdy Wickersham, with a +malevolent gleam in his eye, was laughing. The dancer flushed +deeply, frowned, lost her self-possession, and stopped. A laugh of +derision sounded at the rear.</p> +<p>"For shame! It is shameful!" said Lois Huntington in a low voice +to Keith.</p> +<p>"It is. The cowardly scoundrel!" He turned and scowled at +Ferdy.</p> +<p>At the sound, Terpy took a step toward the front, and bending +forward, swept the audience with her flashing eyes.</p> +<p>"Put that man out."</p> +<p>A buzz of astonishment and laughter greeted her outbreak.</p> +<p>"Cackle, you fools!"</p> +<p>She turned to the musicians.</p> +<p>"Play that again and play it right, or I'll wring your +necks!"</p> +<p>She began to dance again, and soon danced as she had done at +first.</p> +<p>Applause was beginning again; but at the sound she stopped, +looked over the audience disdainfully, and turning, walked coolly +from the stage.</p> +<p>"Who is she?" "Well, did you ever see anything like that!" +"Well, I never did!" "The insolent creature!" "By Jove! she can +dance if she chooses!" buzzed over the room.</p> +<p>"Good for her," said Keith, his face full of admiration.</p> +<p>"Did you know her?" asked Miss Huntington.</p> +<p>"Well."</p> +<p>The girl said nothing, but she stiffened and changed color +slightly.</p> +<p>"You know her, too," said Keith.</p> +<p>"I! I do not."</p> +<p>"Do you remember once, when you were a tot over in England, +giving your doll to a little dancing-girl?--When your governess was +in such a temper?"</p> +<p>Lois nodded.</p> +<p>"That is she. She used to live in New Leeds. She was almost the +only woman in Gumbolt when I went there. Had a man laughed at her +there then, he would never have left the room alive. Mr. Wickersham +tried it once, and came near getting his neck broken for it. He is +getting even with her now."</p> +<p>As the girl glanced up at him, his face was full of suppressed +feeling. A pang shot through her.</p> +<p>Just then the entertainment broke up and the guests began to +leave. Mrs. Wentworth beckoned to Lois. Wickersham was still with +her.</p> +<p>"I will not trust myself to go within speaking distance of him +now," said Keith; "so I will say good-by, here." He made his adieus +somewhat hurriedly, and moved off as Mrs. Wentworth approached.</p> +<p>Wickersham, who, so long as Keith remained with Miss Huntington, +had kept aloof, and was about to say good night to Mrs. Wentworth, +had, on seeing Keith turn away, followed Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>Every one was still chatting of the episode of the young +virago.</p> +<p>"Well, what did you think of your friend's friend?" asked +Wickersham of Lois.</p> +<p>"Of whom?"</p> +<p>"Of your friend Mr. Keith's young lady. She is an old flame of +his," he said, turning to Mrs. Wentworth and speaking in an +undertone, just loud enough for Lois to hear. "They have run her +out of New Leeds, and I think he is trying to force her on the +people here. He has cheek enough to do anything; but I think +to-night will about settle him."</p> +<p>"I do not know very much about such things; but I think she +dances very well," said Lois, with heightened color, moved to +defend the girl under an instinct of opposition to Wickersham.</p> +<p>"So your friend thinks, or thought some time ago," said +Wickersham. "My dear girl, she can't dance at all. She is simply a +disreputable young woman, who has been run out of her own town, as +she ought to be run out of this, as an impostor, if nothing else." +He turned to Mrs. Wentworth: "A man who brought such a woman to a +place like this ought to be kicked out of town."</p> +<p>"If you are speaking of Mr. Keith, I don't believe that of him," +said Lois, coldly.</p> +<p>Wickersham looked at her for a moment. A curious light was in +his eyes as he said:</p> +<p>"I am not referring to any one. I am simply generalizing." He +shrugged his shoulders and turned away.</p> +<p>As Mrs. Wentworth and Lois entered their carriage, a gentleman +was helping some one into a hack just behind Mrs. Wentworth's +carriage. The light fell on them at the moment that Lois stepped +forward, and she recognized Mr. Keith and the dancer, Mile. +Terpsichore. He was handing her in with all the deference that he +would have shown the highest lady in the land.</p> +<p>Lois Huntington drove home in a maze. Life appeared to have +changed twice for her in a single evening. Out of that crowd of +strangers had come one who seemed to be a part of her old life. +They had taken each other up just where they had parted. The long +breach in their lives had been bridged. He had seemed the old +friend and champion of her childhood, who, since her aunt had +revived her recollection of him, had been a sort of romantic hero +in her dreams. Their meeting had been such as she had sometimes +pictured to herself it would be. She believed him finer, higher, +than others. Then, suddenly, she had found that the vision was but +an idol of clay. All that her aunt had said of him had been dashed +to pieces in a trice.</p> +<p>He was not worthy of her notice. He was not a gentleman. He was +what Mr. Wickersham had called him. He had boasted to her of his +intimacy with a common dancing-girl. He had left her to fly to her +and escort her home.</p> +<p>As Keith had left the house, Terpsichore had come out of the +side entrance, and they had met. Keith was just wondering how he +could find her, and he considered the meeting a fortunate one. She +was in a state of extreme agitation. It was the first time that she +had undertaken to dance at such an entertainment. She had refused, +but had been over-persuaded, and she declared it was all a plot +between Wickersham and her manager to ruin her. She would be even +with them both, if she had to take a pistol to right her +wrongs.</p> +<p>Keith had little idea that the chief motive of her acceptance +had been the hope that she might find him among the company. He did +what he could to soothe her, and having made a promise to call upon +her, he bade her good-by, happily ignorant of the interpretation +which she who had suddenly sprung uppermost in his thoughts had, +upon Wickersham's instigation, put upon his action.</p> +<p>Keith walked home with a feeling to which he had been long a +stranger. He was somehow happier than he had been in years. A young +girl had changed the whole entertainment for him--the whole +city--almost his whole outlook on life. He had not felt this way +for years--not since Alice Yorke had darkened life for him. Could +love be for him again?</p> +<p>The dial appeared to have turned back for him. He felt younger, +fresher, more hopeful. He walked out into the street and tried to +look up at the stars. The houses obscured them; they were hardly +visible. The city streets were no place for stars and sentiment. He +would go through the park and see them. So he strolled along and +turned into a park. The gas-lamps shed a yellow glow on the trees, +making circles of feeble light on the walks, and the shadows lay +deep on the ground. Most of the benches were vacant; but here and +there a waif or a belated homegoer sat in drowsy isolation. The +stars were too dim even from this vantage-ground to afford Keith +much satisfaction. His thoughts flew back to the mountains and the +great blue canopy overhead, spangled with stars, and a blue-eyed +girl amid pillows whom he used to worship. An arid waste of years +cut them off from the present, and his thoughts came back to a +sweet-faced girl with dark eyes, claiming him as her old friend. +She appeared to be the old ideal rather than the former.</p> +<p>All next day Keith thought of Lois Huntington. He wanted to go +and see her but he waited until the day after. He would not appear +too eager.</p> +<p>He called at Norman's office for the pleasure of talking of her; +but Norman was still absent. The following afternoon he called at +Norman's house. The servant said Mrs. Norman was out.</p> +<p>"Miss Huntington?"</p> +<p>"She left this morning."</p> +<p>Keith walked up the street feeling rather blank. That night he +started for the South. But Lois Huntington was much in his +thoughts. He wondered if life would open for him again. When a man +wonders about this, life has already opened.</p> +<p>By the time he reached New Leeds, he had already made up his +mind to write and ask Miss Abby for an invitation to Brookford, and +he wrote his father a full account of the girl he had known as a +child, over which the old General beamed.</p> +<p>He forgave people toward whom he had hard feelings. The world +was better than he had been accounting it. He even considered more +leniently than he had done Mrs. Wentworth's allowing Ferdy +Wickersham to hang around her. It suddenly flashed on him that, +perhaps, Ferdy was in love with Lois Huntington. Crash! went his +kind feelings, his kind thoughts. The idea of Ferdy making love to +that pure, sweet, innocent creature! It was horrible! Her +innocence, her charming friendliness, her sweetness, all swept over +him, and he thrilled with a sense of protection.</p> +<p>Could he have known what Wickersham had done to poison her +against him, he would have been yet more enraged. As it was, Lois +was at that time back at her old home; but with how different +feelings from those which she had had but a few days before! +Sometimes she hated Keith, or, at least, declared to herself that +she hated him; and at others she defended him against her own +charge. And more and more she truly hated Wickersham.</p> +<p>"So you met Mr. Keith?" said her aunt, abruptly, a day or two +after her return. "How did you like him?"</p> +<p>"I did not like him," said Lois, briefly, closing her lips with +a snap, as if to keep the blood out of her cheeks.</p> +<p>"What! you did not like him? Girls are strange creatures +nowadays. In my time, a girl--a girl like you--would have thought +him the very pink of a man. I suppose you liked that young +Wickersham better?" she added grimly.</p> +<p>"No, I did not like him either. But I think Mr. Keith is +perfectly horrid."</p> +<p>"Horrid!" The old lady's black eyes snapped. "Oh, he didn't ask +you to dance! Well, I think, considering he knew you when you were +a child, and knew you were my niece, he might--"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, I danced with him; but he is not very nice. +He--ah--Something I saw prejudiced me."</p> +<p>Miss Abby was so insistent that she should tell her what had +happened that she yielded.</p> +<p>"Well, I saw him on the street helping a woman into a +carriage."</p> +<p>"A woman? And why shouldn't he help her in? He probably was the +only man you saw that would do it, if you saw the men I met."</p> +<p>"A dis--reputable woman," said Lois, slowly.</p> +<p>"And, pray, what do you know of disreputable women? Not that +there are not enough of them to be seen!"</p> +<p>"Some one told me--and she looked it," said Lois, blushing. The +old lady unexpectedly whipped around and took her part so warmly +that Lois suddenly found herself defending Gordon. She could not +bear that others should attack him, though she took frequent +occasion to tell herself that she hated him. In fact, she hated him +so that she wanted to see him to show him how severe she would +be.</p> +<p>The occasion might have come sooner than she expected; but alas! +Fate was unkind. Keith was not conscious until he found that Lois +Huntington had left town how much he had thought of her. Her +absence appeared suddenly to have emptied the city. By the time he +had reached his room he had determined to follow her home. That +rift of sunshine which had entered his life should not be shut out +again. He sat down and wrote to her: a friendly letter, expressing +warmly his pleasure at having met her, picturing jocularly his +disappointment at having failed to find her. He made a single +allusion to the Terpsichore episode. He had done what he could, he +said, to soothe his friend's ruffled feelings; but, though he +thought he had some influence with her, he could not boast of +having had much success in this. In the light in which Lois read +this letter, the allusion to the dancing-girl outweighed all the +rest, and though her heart had given a leap when she first saw that +she had a letter from Keith, when she laid it down her feeling had +changed. She would show him that she was not a mere country chit to +be treated as he had treated her. His "friend" indeed!</p> +<p>When Keith, to his surprise, received no reply to his letter, he +wrote again more briefly, asking if his former letter had been +received; but this shared the fate of the first.</p> +<p>Meantime Lois had gone off to visit a friend. Her mind was not +quite as easy as it should have been. She felt that if she had it +to go over, she would do just the same thing; but she began to +fancy excuses for Keith. She even hunted up the letters he had +written her as a boy.</p> +<p>It is probable that Lois's failure to write did more to raise +her in Keith's estimation and fix her image in his mind than +anything else she could have done. Keith knew that something +untoward had taken place, but what it was he could not conceive. At +least, however, it proved to him that Lois Huntington was different +from some of the young women he had met of late. So he sat down and +wrote to Miss Brooke, saying that he was going abroad on a matter +of importance, and asking leave to run down and spend Sunday with +them before he left. Miss Brooke's reply nearly took his breath +away. She not only refused his request, but intimated that there +was a good reason why his former letters had not been acknowledged +and why he would not be received by her.</p> +<p>It was rather incoherent, but it had something to do with +"inexplicable conduct." On this Keith wrote Miss Brooke, requesting +a more explicit charge and demanding an opportunity to defend +himself. Still he received no reply; and, angry that he had +written, he took no further steps about it.</p> +<p>By the time Lois reached home she had determined to answer his +letter. She would write him a severe reply.</p> +<p>Miss Abby, however, announced to Lois, the day of her return, +that Mr. Keith had written asking her permission to come down and +see them. The blood sprang into Lois's face, and if Miss Abby had +had on her spectacles at that moment, she must have read the tale +it told.</p> +<p>"Oh, he did! And what--?" She gave a swallow to restrain her +impatience. "What did you say to him, Aunt Abby? Have you answered +the letter?" This was very demurely said.</p> +<p>"Yes. Of course, I wrote him not to come. I preferred that he +should not come."</p> +<p>Could she have but seen Lois's face!</p> +<p>"Oh, you did!"</p> +<p>"Yes. I want no hypocrites around me." Her head was up and her +cap was bristling. "I came very near telling him so, too. I told +him that I had it from good authority that he had not behaved in +altogether the most gentlemanly way--consorting openly with a hussy +on the street! I think he knows whom I referred to."</p> +<p>"But, Aunt Abby, I do not know that she was. I only heard she +was," defended Lois.</p> +<p>"Who told you?"</p> +<p>"Mr. Wickersham."</p> +<p>"Well, <i>he</i> knows," said Miss Abigail, with decision. +"Though I think he had very little to do to discuss such matters +with you."</p> +<p>"But, Aunt Abby, I think you had better have let him come. We +could have shown him our disapproval in our manner. And possibly he +might have some explanations?"</p> +<p>"I guess he won't make any mistake about that. The hypocrite! To +sit up and talk to me as if he were a bishop! I have no doubt he +would have explanation enough. They always do."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +<h3>GENERAL KEITH VISITS STRANGE LANDS</h3> +<br> +<p>Just then the wheel turned. Interest was awaking in England in +American enterprises, and, fortunately for Keith, he had friends on +that side.</p> +<p>Grinnell Rhodes now lived in England, dancing attendance on his +wife, the daughter of Mr. Creamer of Creamer, Crustback & +Company, who was aspiring to be in the fashionable set there.</p> +<p>Matheson, the former agent of the Wickershams, with whom Ferdy +had quarrelled, had gone back to England, and had acquired a +reputation as an expert. By one of the fortuitous happenings so +hard to account for, about this time Keith wrote to Rhodes, and +Rhodes consulted Matheson, who knew the properties. Ferdy had +incurred the Scotchman's implacable hate, and the latter was urged +on now by a double motive. To Rhodes, who was bored to death with +the life he was leading, the story told by the Wickershams' old +superintendent was like a trumpet to a war-horse.</p> +<p>Out of the correspondence with Rhodes grew a suggestion to Keith +to come over and try to place the Rawson properties with an English +syndicate. Keith had, moreover, a further reason for going. He had +not recovered from the blow of Miss Brooke's refusal to let him +visit Lois. He knew that in some way it was connected with his +attention to Terpsichore; he knew that there was a +misunderstanding, and felt that Wickersham was somehow connected +with it. But he was too proud to make any further attempt to +explain it.</p> +<p>Accordingly, armed with the necessary papers and powers, he +arranged to go to England. He had control of and options on lands +which were estimated to be worth several millions of dollars at any +fair valuation.</p> +<p>Keith had long been trying to persuade his father to accompany +him to New York on some of his visits; but the old gentleman had +never been able to make up his mind to do so.</p> +<p>"I have grown too old to travel in strange lands," he said. "I +tried to get there once, but they stopped me just in sight of a +stone fence on the farther slope beyond Gettysburg." A faint flash +glittered in his quiet eyes. "I think I had better restrain my +ambition now to migrations from the blue bed to the brown, and +confine my travels to 'the realms of gold'!"</p> +<p>Now, after much urging, as Gordon was about to go abroad to try +and place the Rawson properties there, the General consented to go +to New York and see him off. It happened that Gordon was called to +New York on business a day or two before his father was ready to +go. So he exacted a promise that he would follow him, and went on +ahead. Though General Keith would have liked to back out at the +last moment, as he had given his word, he kept it. He wrote his son +that he must not undertake to meet him, as he could not tell by +what train he should arrive.</p> +<p>"I shall travel slowly," he said, "for I wish to call by and see +one or two old friends on my way, whom I have not seen for +years."</p> +<p>The fact was that he wished to see the child of his friend, +General Huntington, and determined to avail himself of this +opportunity to call by and visit her. Gordon's letter about her had +opened a new vista in life.</p> +<p>The General found Brookford a pleasant village, lying on the +eastern slope of the Piedmont, and having written to ask permission +to call and pay his respects, he was graciously received by Miss +Abby, and more than graciously received by her niece. Miss Lois +would probably have met any visitor at the train; but she might not +have had so palpitating a heart and so rich a color in meeting many +a young man.</p> +<p>Few things captivate a person more than to be received with real +cordiality by a friend immediately on alighting at a strange +station from a train full of strangers. But when the traveller is +an old and somewhat unsophisticated man, and when the friend is a +young and very pretty girl, and when, after a single look, she +throws her arms around his neck and kisses him, the capture is +likely to be as complete as any that could take place in life. When +Lois Huntington, after asking about his baggage, and exclaiming +because he had sent his trunk on to New York and had brought only a +valise, as if he were only stopping off between trains, finally +settled herself down beside the General and took the reins of the +little vehicle that she had come in, there was, perhaps, not a more +pleased old gentleman in the world than the one who sat beside +her.</p> +<p>"How you have grown!" he said, gazing at her with admiration. +"Somehow, I always thought of you as a little girl--a very pretty +little girl."</p> +<p>She thought of what his son had said at their meeting at the +ball.</p> +<p>"But you know one must grow some, and it has been eleven years +since then. Think how long that has been!"</p> +<p>"Eleven years! Does that appear so long to you?" said the old +man, smiling. "So it is in our youth. Gordon wrote me of his +meeting you and of how you had changed."</p> +<p>I wonder what he meant by that, said Lois to herself, the color +mounting to her cheek. "He thought I had changed, did he?" she +asked tentatively, after a moment, a trace of grimness stealing +into her face, where it lay like a little cloud in May.</p> +<p>"Yes; he hardly knew you. You see, he did not have the greeting +that I got."</p> +<p>"I should think not!" exclaimed Lois. "If he had, I don't know +what he might have thought!" She grew as grave as she could.</p> +<p>"He said you were the sweetest and prettiest girl there, and +that all the beauty of New York was there, even the beautiful +Mrs.--what is her name? She was Miss Yorke."</p> +<p>Lois's face relaxed suddenly with an effect of sunshine breaking +through a cloud.</p> +<p>"Did he say that?" she exclaimed.</p> +<p>"He did, and more. He is a young man of some discernment," +observed the old fellow, with a chuckle of gratification.</p> +<p>"Oh, but he was only blinding you. He is in love with Mrs. +Lancaster."</p> +<p>"Not he."</p> +<p>But Lois protested guilefully that he was.</p> +<p>A little later she asked the General:</p> +<p>"Did you ever hear of any one in New Leeds who was named +Terpsichore?"</p> +<p>"Terpsichore? Of course. Every one knows her there. I never saw +her until she became a nurse, when she was nursing my son. She +saved his life, you know?"</p> +<p>"Saved his life!" Her face had grown almost grim. "No, I never +heard of it. Tell me about it."</p> +<p>"Saved his life twice, indeed," said the old General. "She has +had a sad past, but she is a noble woman." And unheeding Lois's +little sniff, he told the whole story of Terpsichore, and the brave +part she had played. Spurred on by his feeling, he told it well, no +less than did he the part that Keith had played. When he was +through, there had been tears in Lois's eyes, and her bosom was +still heaving.</p> +<p>"Thank you," she said simply, and the rest of the drive was in +silence.</p> +<p>When General Keith left Brookford he was almost as much in love +with his young hostess as his son could have been, and all the rest +of his journey he was dreaming of what life might become if Gordon +and she would but take a fancy to each other, and once more return +to the old place. It would be like turning back the years and +reversing the consequences of the war.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The General, on his arrival in New York, was full of his visit +to Brookford and of Lois. "There is a girl after my own heart," he +declared to Gordon, with enthusiasm. "Why don't you go down there +and get that girl?"</p> +<p>Gordon put the question aside with a somewhat grim look. He was +very busy, he said. His plans were just ripening, and he had no +time to think about marrying. Besides, "a green country girl" was +not the most promising wife. There were many other women who, etc., +etc.</p> +<p>"Many other women!" exclaimed the General. "There may be; but I +have not seen them lately. As to 'a green country girl'--why, they +make the best wives in the world if you get the right kind. What do +you want? One of these sophisticated, fashionable, strong-minded +women--a woman's-rights woman? Heaven forbid! When a gentleman +marries, he wants a lady and he wants a wife, a woman to love him; +a lady to preside over his home, not over a woman's meeting."</p> +<p>Gordon quite agreed with him as to the principle; but he did not +know about the instance cited.</p> +<p>"Why, I thought you had more discernment," said the old +gentleman. "She is the sweetest creature I have seen in a long +time. She has both sense and sensibility. If I were forty years +younger, I should not be suggesting her to you, sir. I should be on +my knees to her for myself." And the old fellow buttoned his coat, +straightened his figure, and looked quite spirited and young.</p> +<p>At the club, where Gordon introduced him, his father soon became +quite a toast. Half the habitués of the "big room" came to +know him, and he was nearly always surrounded by a group listening +to his quaint observations of life, his stories of old times, his +anecdotes, his quotations from Plutarch or from "Dr. Johnson, +sir."</p> +<p>An evening or two after his appearance at the club, Norman +Wentworth came in, and when the first greetings were over, General +Keith inquired warmly after his wife.</p> +<p>"Pray present my compliments to her. I have never had the honor +of meeting her, sir, but I have heard of her charms from my son, +and I promise myself the pleasure of calling upon her as soon as I +have called on your mother, which I am looking forward to doing +this evening."</p> +<p>Norman's countenance changed a little at the unexpected words, +for half a dozen men were around. When, however, he spoke it was in +a very natural voice.</p> +<p>"Yes, my mother is expecting you," he said quietly. Mrs. +Wentworth also would, he said, be very glad to see him. Her day was +Thursday, but if General Keith thought of calling at any other +time, and would be good enough to let him know, he thought he could +guarantee her being at home. He strolled away.</p> +<p>"By Jove! he did it well," said one of the General's other +acquaintances when Norman was out of ear-shot.</p> +<p>"You know, he and his wife have quarrelled," explained Stirling +to the astonished General.</p> +<p>"Great Heavens!" The old gentleman looked inexpressibly +shocked.</p> +<p>"Yes--Wickersham."</p> +<p>"That scoundrel!"</p> +<p>"Yes; he is the devil with the women."</p> +<p>Next evening, as the General sat with Stirling among a group, +sipping his toddy, some one approached behind him.</p> +<p>Stirling, who had become a great friend of the General's, +greeted the newcomer.</p> +<p>"Hello, Ferdy! Come around; let me introduce you to General +Keith, Gordon Keith's father."</p> +<p>The General, with a pleasant smile on his face, rose from his +chair and turned to greet the newcomer. As he did so he faced Ferdy +Wickersham, who bowed coldly. The old gentleman stiffened, put his +hand behind his back, and with uplifted head looked him full in the +eyes for a second, and then turned his back on him.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Stirling, for declining to recognize any +one whom you are good enough to wish to introduce to me, but that +man I must decline to recognize. He is not a gentleman."</p> +<p>"I doubt if you know one," said Ferdy, with a shrug, as he +strolled away with affected indifference. But a dozen men had seen +the cut.</p> +<p>"I guess you are right enough about that, General," said one of +them.</p> +<p>When the General reflected on what he had done, he was +overwhelmed with remorse. He apologized profusely to Stirling for +having committed such a solecism.</p> +<p>"I am nothing but an irascible old idiot, sir, and I hope you +will excuse my constitutional weakness, but I really could not +recognize that man."</p> +<p>Stirling's inveterate amiability soon set him at ease again.</p> +<p>"It is well for Wickersham to hear the truth now and then," he +said. "I guess he hears it rarely enough. Most people feed him on +lies."</p> +<p>Some others appeared to take the same view of the matter, for +the General was more popular than ever.</p> +<p>Gordon found a new zest in showing his father about the city. +Everything astonished him. He saw the world with the eyes of a +child. The streets, the crowds, the shop-windows, the shimmering +stream of carriages that rolled up and down the avenue, the +elevated railways which had just been constructed, all were a +marvel to him.</p> +<p>"Where do these people get their wealth?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Some of them get it from rural gentlemen who visit the town," +said Gordon, laughing.</p> +<p>The old fellow smiled. "I suspect a good many of them get it +from us countrymen. In fact, at the last we furnish it all. It all +comes out of the ground."</p> +<p>"It is a pity that we did not hold on to some of it," said +Gordon.</p> +<p>The old gentleman glanced at him. "I do not want any of it. My +son, Agar's standard was the best: 'neither poverty nor riches.' +Riches cannot make a gentleman."</p> +<p>Keith laughed and called him old-fashioned, but he knew in his +heart that he was right.</p> +<p>The beggars who accosted him on the street never turned away +empty-handed. He had it not in his heart to refuse the outstretched +hand of want.</p> +<p>"Why, that man who pretended that he had a large family and was +out of work is a fraud," said Gordon. "I'll bet that he has no +family and never works."</p> +<p>"Well, I didn't give him much," said the old man. "But remember +what Lamb said: 'Shut not thy purse-strings always against painted +distress. It is good to believe him. Give, and under the personate +father of a family think, if thou pleasest, that thou hast relieved +an indigent bachelor.'"</p> +<p>A week later Gordon was on his way to England and the General +had returned home.</p> +<p>It was just after this that the final breach took place between +Norman Wentworth and his wife. It was decided that for their +children's sake there should be no open separation; at least, for +the present. Norman had business which would take him away for a +good part of the time, and the final separation could be left to +the future. Meanwhile, to save appearances somewhat, it was +arranged that Mrs. Wentworth should ask Lois Huntington to come up +and spend the winter in New York, partly as her companion and +partly as governess for the children. This might stop the mouths of +some persons.</p> +<p>When the proposal first reached Miss Abigail, she rejected it +without hesitation; she would not hear of it. Curiously enough, +Lois suddenly appeared violently anxious to go. But following the +suggestion came an invitation from Norman's mother asking Miss +Abigail to pay her a long visit. She needed her, she said, and she +asked as a favor that she would let Lois accept her +daughter-in-law's invitation. So Miss Abby consented. "The Lawns" +was shut up for the winter, and the two ladies went up to New +York.</p> +<p>As Norman left for the West the very day that Lois was +installed, she had no knowledge of the condition of affairs in that +unhappy household, except what Gossip whispered about her. This +would have been more than enough, but for the fact that the girl +stiffened as soon as any one approached the subject, and froze even +such veterans as Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth was far too proud to refer to it. All Lois knew, +therefore, was that there was trouble and she was there to help +tide it over, and she meant, if she could, to make it up. +Meanwhile, Mrs. Wentworth was very kind, if formal, to her, and the +children, delighted to get rid of the former governess, whom they +insisted in describing as an "old cat," were her devoted +slaves.</p> +<p>Yet Lois was not as contented as she had fondly expected to +be.</p> +<p>She learned soon after her arrival that one object of her visit +to New York would be futile. She would not see Mr. Keith. He had +gone abroad.--"In pursuit of Mrs. Lancaster," said Mrs. Nailor; for +Lois was willing enough to hear all that lady had to say on this +subject, and it was a good deal. "You know, I believe she is going +to marry him. She will unless she can get a title."</p> +<p>"I do not believe a title would make any difference to her," +said Lois, rather sharply, glad to have any sound reason for +attacking Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>"Oh, don't you believe it! She'd snap one up quick enough if she +had the chance."</p> +<p>"She has had a plenty of chances," asserted Lois.</p> +<p>"Well, it may serve Mr. Keith a good turn. He looked very low +down for a while last Spring--just after that big Creamer ball. But +he had quite perked up this Fall, and, next thing I heard, he had +gone over to England after Alice Lancaster, who is spending the +winter there. It was time she went, too, for people were beginning +to talk a good deal of the way she ran after Norman Wentworth."</p> +<p>"I must go," said Lois, suddenly rising; "I have to take the +children out."</p> +<p>"Poor dears!" sighed Mrs. Nailor. "I am glad they have some one +to look after them." Lois's sudden change prevented any further +condolence. Fortunately, Mrs. Nailor was too much delighted with +the opportunity to pour her information into quite fresh ears to +observe Lois's expression.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The story of the trouble between Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth was soon +public property. Wickersham's plans appeared to him to be working +out satisfactorily. Louise Wentworth must, he felt, care for him to +sacrifice so much for him. In this assumption he let down the +barriers of prudence which he had hitherto kept up, and, one +evening when the opportunity offered, he openly declared himself. +To his chagrin and amazement, she appeared to be shocked and even +to resent it.</p> +<p>Yes, she liked him--liked him better than almost any one, she +admitted; but she did not, she could not, love him. She was +married.</p> +<p>Wickersham ridiculed the idea.</p> +<p>Married! Well, what difference did that make? Did not many +married women love other men than their husbands? Had not her +husband gone after another?</p> +<p>Her eyes closed suddenly; then her eyelids fluttered.</p> +<p>"Yes; but I am not like that. I have children." She spoke +slowly.</p> +<p>"Nonsense," cried Wickersham. "Of course, we love each other and +belong to each other. Send the children to your husband."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth recoiled in horror. There was that in his manner +and look which astounded her. "Abandon her children?" How could +she? Her whole manner changed. "You have misunderstood me."</p> +<br> +<a name="p356.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p356.jpg"><img src="images/p356.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"Sit down. I want to talk to you."</b></p> +<br> +<p>Wickersham grew angry.</p> +<p>"Don't be a fool, Louise. You have broken with your husband. +Now, don't go and throw away happiness for a priest's figment. Get +a divorce and marry me, if you want to; but at least accept my +love."</p> +<p>But he had overshot the mark. He had opened her eyes. Was this +the man she had taken as her closest friend!--for whom she had +quarrelled with her husband and defied the world!</p> +<p>Wickersham watched her as her doubt worked its way in her mind. +He could see the process in her face. He suddenly seized her and +drew her to him.</p> +<p>"Here, stop this! Your husband has abandoned you and gone after +another woman."</p> +<p>She gave a gasp, but made no answer.</p> +<p>She pushed him away from her slowly, and after a moment rose and +walked from the room as though dazed.</p> +<p>It was so unexpected that Wickersham made no attempt to stop +her.</p> +<p>A moment later Lois entered the room. She walked straight up to +him. Wickersham tried to greet her lightly, but she remained +grave.</p> +<p>"Mr. Wickersham, I do not think you--ought to come here--as +often as you do."</p> +<p>"And, pray, why not?" he demanded.</p> +<p>Her brown eyes looked straight into his and held them +steadily.</p> +<p>"Because people talk about it."</p> +<p>"I cannot help people talking. You know what they are," said +Wickersham, amused.</p> +<p>"You can prevent giving them occasion to talk. You are too good +a friend of Cousin Louise to cause her unhappiness." The honesty of +her words was undoubted. It spoke in every tone of her voice and +glance of her eyes. "She is most unhappy."</p> +<p>Wickersham conceived a new idea. How lovely she was in her soft +blue dress!</p> +<p>"Very well, I will do what you say There are few things I would +not do for you." He stepped closer to her and gazed in her eyes. +"Sit down. I want to talk to you."</p> +<p>"Thank you; I must go now."</p> +<p>Wickersham tried to detain her, but she backed away, her hands +down and held a little back.</p> +<p>"Good-by."</p> +<p>"Miss Huntington--Lois--" he said; "one moment."</p> +<p>But she opened the door and passed out.</p> +<p>Wickersham walked down the street in a sort of maze.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> +<h3>KEITH TRIES HIS FORTUNES IN ANOTHER LAND</h3> +<br> +<p>In fact, as usual, Mrs. Nailor's statement to Lois had some +foundation, though very little. Mrs. Lancaster had gone abroad, and +Keith had followed her.</p> +<p>Keith, on his arrival in England, found Rhodes somewhat changed, +at least in person. Years of high living and ease had rounded him, +and he had lost something of his old spirit. At times an expression +of weariness or discontent came into his eyes.</p> +<p>He was as cordial as ever to Keith, and when Keith unfolded his +plans he entered into them with earnestness.</p> +<p>"You have come at a good time," he said. "They are beginning to +think that America is all a bonanza."</p> +<p>After talking over the matter, Rhodes invited Keith down to the +country.</p> +<p>"We have taken an old place in Warwickshire for the hunting. An +old friend of yours is down there for a few days,"--his eyes +twinkled,--"and we have some good fellows there. Think you will +like them--some of them," he added.</p> +<p>"Who is my friend?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"Her name was Alice Yorke," he replied, with his eyes on Keith's +face.</p> +<p>At the name another face sprang to Keith's mind. The eyes were +brown, not blue, and the face was the fresh face of a young girl. +Yet Keith accepted.</p> +<p>Rhodes did not tell him that Mrs. Lancaster had not accepted +their invitation until after she had heard that he was to be +invited. Nor did he tell him that she had authorized him to +subscribe largely to the stock of the new syndicate.</p> +<p>On reaching the station they were met by a rich equipage with +two liveried servants, and, after a short drive through beautiful +country, they turned into a fine park, and presently drove up +before an imposing old country house; for "The Keep" was one of the +finest mansions in all that region. It was also one of the most +expensive. It had broken its owners to run it. But this was nothing +to Creamer of Creamer, Crustback & Company; at least, it was +nothing to Mrs. Creamer, or to Mrs. Rhodes, who was her daughter. +She had plans, and money was nothing to her. Rhodes was manifestly +pleased at Keith's exclamations of appreciation as they drove +through the park with its magnificent trees, its coppices and +coverts, its stretches of emerald sward and roll of gracious hills, +and drew up at the portal of the mansion. Yet he was inclined to be +a little apologetic about it, too.</p> +<p>"This is rather too rich for me," he said, between a smile and a +sigh. "Somehow, I began too late."</p> +<p>It was a noble old hall into which he ushered Keith, the +wainscoting dark with age, and hung with trophies of many a chase +and forgotten field. A number of modern easy-chairs and great rich +rugs gave it an air of comfort, even if they were not altogether +harmonious.</p> +<p>Keith did not see Mrs. Rhodes till the company were all +assembled in the drawing-room for dinner. She was a rather pretty +woman, distinctly American in face and voice, but in speech more +English than any one Keith had seen since landing. Her hair and +speech were arranged in the extreme London fashion. She was +"awfully keen on" everything she fancied, and found most things +English "ripping." She greeted Keith with somewhat more formality +than he had expected from Grinnell Rhodes's wife, and introduced +him to Colonel Campbell, a handsome, broad-shouldered man, as "an +American," which Keith thought rather unnecessary, since no one +could have been in doubt about it.</p> +<p>Keith found, on his arrival in the drawing-room, that the house +was full of company, a sort of house-party assembled for the +hunting.</p> +<p>Suddenly there was a stir, followed by a hush in the +conversation, and monocles and lorgnons went up.</p> +<p>"Here she comes," said a man near Keith.</p> +<p>"Who is she?" asked a thin woman with ugly hands, dropping her +monocle with the air of a man.</p> +<p>"La belle Américaine," replied the man beside her, "a +friend of the host."</p> +<p>"Oh! Not of the hostess?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't know. I met her last night--"</p> +<p>"Steepleton is ahead--wins in a walk."</p> +<p>"Oh, she's rich? The castle needs a new roof? Will it be in time +for next season?"</p> +<p>The gentleman said he knew nothing about it.</p> +<p>Keith turned and faced Alice Lancaster.</p> +<p>She was dressed in a black gown that fitted perfectly her +straight, supple figure, the soft folds clinging close enough to +show the gracious curves, and falling away behind her in a train +that, as she stood with her head uplifted, gave her an appearance +almost of majesty. Her round arms and perfect shoulders were of +dazzling whiteness; her abundant brown hair was coiled low on her +snowy neck, showing the beauty of her head; and her single ornament +was one rich red rose fastened in her bodice with a small diamond +clasp. It was the little pin that Keith had found in the Ridgely +woods and returned to her so long ago; though Keith did not +recognize it. It was the only jewel about her, and was worn simply +to hold the rose, as though that were the thing she valued. Keith's +thoughts sprang to the first time he ever saw her with a red rose +near her heart--the rose he had given her, which the humming-bird +had sought as its chalice.</p> +<p>The other ladies were all gowned in satin and velvet of rich +colors, and were flaming in jewels, and as Mrs. Lancaster stood +among them and they fell back a little on either side to look at +her, they appeared, as it were, a setting for her.</p> +<p>After the others were presented, Keith stepped forward to greet +her, and her face lit up with a light that made it suddenly +young.</p> +<p>"I am so glad to see you." She clasped his hand warmly. "It is +so good to see an old friend from our ain countree."</p> +<p>"I do not need to say I am glad to see you," said Keith, looking +her in the eyes. "You are my ain countree here."</p> +<p>At that moment the rose fell at her feet. It had slipped somehow +from the clasp that held it. A half-dozen men sprang forward to +pick it up, but Keith was ahead of them. He took it up, and, with +his eyes looking straight into hers, handed it to her.</p> +<p>"It is your emblem; it is what I always think of you as being." +The tone was too low for any one else to hear; but her mounting +color and the light in her eyes told that she caught it.</p> +<p>Still looking straight into his eyes without a word, she stuck +the rose in her bodice just over her heart.</p> +<p>Several women turned their gaze on Keith and scanned him with +sudden interest, and one of them, addressing her companion, a +broad-shouldered man with a pleasant, florid face, said in an +undertone:</p> +<p>"That is the man you have to look out for, Steepleton."</p> +<p>"A good-looking fellow. Who is he?"</p> +<p>"Somebody, I fancy, or our hostess wouldn't have him here."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The dinner that evening was a function. Mrs. Rhodes would rather +have suffered a serious misfortune than fail in any of the social +refinements of her adopted land. Rhodes had suggested that Keith be +placed next to Mrs. Lancaster, but Mrs. Rhodes had another plan in +mind. She liked Alice Lancaster, and she was trying to do by her as +she would have been done by. She wanted her to make a brilliant +match. Lord Steepleton appeared designed by Providence for this +especial purpose: the representative of an old and distinguished +house, owner of a famous--indeed, of an historic--estate, unhappily +encumbered, but not too heavily to be relieved by a providential +fortune. Hunting was his most serious occupation. At present he was +engaged in the most serious hunt of his career: he was hunting an +heiress.</p> +<p>Mrs. Rhodes was his friend, and as his friend she had put him +next to Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>Ordinarily, Mrs. Lancaster would have been extremely pleased to +be placed next the lion of the occasion. But this evening she would +have liked to be near another guest. He was on the other side of +the board, and appeared to be, in the main, enjoying himself, +though now and then his eyes strayed across in her direction, and +presently, as he caught her glance, he lifted his glass and smiled. +Her neighbor observed the act, and putting up his monocle, looked +across the table; then glanced at Mrs. Lancaster, and then looked +again at Keith more carefully.</p> +<p>"Who is your friend?" he asked.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster smiled, with a pleasant light in her eyes.</p> +<p>"An old friend of mine, Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>"Ah! Fortunate man. Scotchman?"</p> +<p>"No; an American."</p> +<p>"Oh!--You have known him a long time?"</p> +<p>"Since I was a little girl."</p> +<p>"Oh!--What is he?"</p> +<p>"A gentleman."</p> +<p>"Yes." The Englishman took the trouble again to put up his +monocle and take a fleeting glance across the table. "He looks it," +he said. "I mean, what does he do? Is he a capitalist like--like +our host? Or is he just getting to be a capitalist?"</p> +<p>"I hope he is," replied Mrs. Lancaster, with a twinkle in her +eyes that showed she enjoyed the Englishman's mystification. "He is +engaged in mining."</p> +<p>She gave a rosy picture of the wealth in the region from which +Keith came.</p> +<p>"All your men do something, I believe?" said the gentleman.</p> +<p>"All who are worth anything," assented Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"No wonder you are a rich people."</p> +<p>Something about his use of the adjective touched her.</p> +<p>"Our people have a sense of duty, too, and as much courage as +any others, only they do not make any to-do about it. I have a +friend--a <i>gentleman</i>--who drove a stage-coach through the +mountains for a while rather than do nothing, and who was held up +one night and jumped from the stage on the robber, and chased him +down the mountains and disarmed him."</p> +<p>"Good!" exclaimed the gentleman. "Nervy thing!"</p> +<p>"Rather," said Mrs. Lancaster, with mantling cheeks, stirred by +what she considered a reflection on her people. And that was not +all he did. "He had charge of a mine, and one day the mine was +flooded while the men were at work, and he went in in the darkness +and brought the men out safe."</p> +<p>"Good!" said the gentleman. "But he had others with him? He did +not go alone?"</p> +<p>"He started alone, and two men volunteered to go with him. But +he sent them back with the first group they found, and then, as +there were others, he waded on by himself to where the others were, +and brought them out, bringing on his shoulder the man who had +attempted his life."</p> +<p>"Fine!" exclaimed the gentleman. "I've been in some tight places +myself; but I don't know about that. What was his name?"</p> +<p>"Keith."</p> +<p>"Oh!"</p> +<p>Her eyes barely glanced his way; but the Earl of Steepleton saw +in them what he had never been able to bring there.</p> +<p>The Englishman put up his monocle and this time gazed long at +Gordon.</p> +<p>"Nervy chap!" he said quietly. "Won't you present me after +dinner?"</p> +<p>In his slow mind was dawning an idea that, perhaps, after all, +this quiet American who had driven his way forward had found a +baiting-place which he, with all his titles and long pedigrees, +could not enter. His honest, outspoken admiration had, however, +done more to make him a place in that guarded fortress than all +Mrs. Rhodes's praises had effected.</p> +<p>A little later the guests had all departed or scattered. Those +who remained were playing cards and appeared settled for a good +while.</p> +<p>"Keith, we are out of it. Let's have a game of billiards," said +the host, who had given his seat to a guest who had just come in +after saying good night on the stair to one of the ladies.</p> +<p>Keith followed him to the billiard-room, a big apartment +finished in oak, with several large tables in it, and he and Rhodes +began to play. The game, however, soon languished, for the two men +had much to talk about.</p> +<p>"Houghton, you may go," said Rhodes to the servant who attended +to the table. "I will ring for you when I want you to shut up."</p> +<p>"Thank you, sir"; and he was gone.</p> +<p>"Now tell me all about everything," said Rhodes. "I want to hear +everything that has happened since I came away--came into exile. I +know about the property and the town that has grown up just as I +knew it would. Tell me about the people--old Squire Rawson and +Phrony, and Wickersham, and Norman and his wife."</p> +<p>Keith told him about them. "Rhodes," he said, as he ended, "you +started it and you ought to have stayed with it. Old Rawson says +you foretold it all."</p> +<p>Suddenly Rhodes flung his cue down on the table and straightened +up. "Keith, this is killing me. Sometimes I think I can't stand it +another day. I've a mind to chuck up the whole business and cut for +it."</p> +<p>Keith gazed at him in amazement. The clouded brow, the burning +eyes, the drawn mouth, all told how real that explosion was and +from what depths it came. Keith was quite startled.</p> +<p>"It all seems to me so empty, so unreal, so puerile. I am bored +to death with it. Do you think this is real?" He waved his arms +impatiently about him. "It is all a sham and a fraud. I am +nothing--nobody. I am a puppet on a hired stage, playing to +amuse--not myself!--the Lord knows I am bored enough by it!--but a +lot of people who don't care any more about me than I do about +them. I can't stand this. D--n it! I don't want to make love to any +other man's wife any more than I will have any of them making love +to my wife. I think they are beginning to understand that. I showed +a little puppy the front door not long ago--an earl, too, or next +thing to it, an earl's eldest son--for doing what he would no more +have dared to do in an Englishman's house than he would have tried +to burn it. After that, I think, they began to see I might be +something. Keith, do you remember what old Rawson said to us once +about marrying?"</p> +<p>Keith had been thinking of it all the evening.</p> +<p>"Keith, I was not born for this; I was born to <i>do</i> +something. But for giving up I might have been like Stevenson or +Eads or your man Maury, whom they are all belittling because he did +it all himself instead of getting others to do it. By George! I +hope to live till I build one more big bridge or run one more long +tunnel. Jove! to stand once more up on the big girders, so high +that the trees look small below you, and see the bridge growing +under your eyes where the old croakers had said nothing would +stand!"</p> +<p>Keith's eyes sparkled, and he reached out his hand; and the +other grasped it.</p> +<p>When Keith returned home, he was already in sight of +victory.</p> +<p>The money had all been subscribed. His own interest in the +venture was enough to make him rich, and he was to be general +superintendent of the new company, with Matheson as his manager of +the mines. All that was needed now was to complete the details of +the transfer of the properties, perfect his organization, and set +to work. This for a time required his presence more or less +continuously in New York, and he opened an office in one of the +office buildings down in the city, and took an apartment in a +pleasant up-town hotel.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>When Keith returned to New York that Autumn, it was no longer as +a young man with eyes aflame with hope and expectation and face +alight with enthusiasm. The eager recruit had changed to the +veteran. He had had experience of a world where men lived and died +for the most sordid of all rewards--money, mere money.</p> +<p>The fight had left its mark upon him. The mouth had lost +something of the smile that once lurked about its corners, but had +gained in strength. The eyes, always direct and steady, had more +depth. The shoulders had a squarer set, as though they had been +braced against adversity. Experience of life had sobered him.</p> +<p>Sometimes it had come to him that he might be caught by the +current and might drift into the same spirit, but self-examination +up to this time had reassured him. He knew that he had other +motives: the trust reposed in him by his friends, the +responsibility laid upon him, the resolve to justify that +confidence, were still there, beside his eager desire for +success.</p> +<p>He called immediately to see Norman. He was surprised to find +how much he had aged in this short time. His hair was sprinkled +with gray. He had lost all his lightness. He was distrait and +almost morose.</p> +<p>"You men here work too hard," asserted Keith. "You ought to have +run over to England with me. You'd have learned that men can work +and live too. I spent some of the most profitable time I was over +there in a deer forest, which may have been Burnam-wood, as all the +trees had disappeared-gone somewhere, if not to Dunsinane."</p> +<p>Norman half smiled, but he answered wearily: "I wish I had been +anywhere else than where I was." He turned away while he was +speaking and fumbled among the papers on his desk. Keith rose, and +Norman rose also.</p> +<p>"I will send you cards to the clubs. I shall not be in town +to-night, but to-morrow night, or the evening after, suppose you +dine with me at the University. I'll have two or three fellows to +meet you--or, perhaps, we'll dine alone. What do you say? We can +talk more freely."</p> +<p>Keith said that this was just what he should prefer, and Norman +gave him a warm handshake and, suddenly seating himself at his +desk, dived quickly into his papers.</p> +<p>Keith came out mystified. There was something he could not +understand. He wondered if the trouble of which he had heard had +grown.</p> +<p>Next morning, looking over the financial page of a paper, Keith +came on a paragraph in which Norman's name appeared. He was +mentioned as one of the directors of a company which the paper +declared was among those that had disappointed the expectations of +investors. There was nothing very tangible about the article; but +the general tone was critical, and to Keith's eye unfriendly.</p> +<p>When, the next afternoon, Keith rang the door-bell at Norman's +house, and asked if Mrs. Wentworth was at home, the servant who +opened the door informed him that no one of that name lived there. +They used to live there, but had moved. Mrs. Wentworth lived +somewhere on Fifth Avenue near the Park. It was a large new house +near such a street, right-hand side, second house from the +corner.</p> +<p>Keith had a feeling of disappointment. Somehow, he had hoped to +hear something of Lois Huntington.</p> +<p>Keith, having resolved to devote the afternoon to the call on +his friend's wife, and partly in the hope of learning where Lois +was, kept on, and presently found himself in front of a new double +house, one of the largest on the block. Keith felt reassured.</p> +<p>"Well, this does not look as if Wentworth were altogether +broke," he thought.</p> +<p>A strange servant opened the door. Mrs. Wentworth was not at +home. The other lady was in--would the gentleman come in? There was +the flutter of a dress at the top of the stair.</p> +<p>Keith said no. He would call again. The servant looked puzzled, +for the lady at the top of the stair had seen Mr. Keith cross the +street and had just given orders that he should be admitted, as she +would see him. Now, as Keith walked away, Miss Lois Huntington +descended the stair.</p> +<p>"Why didn't you let him in, Hucless?" she demanded.</p> +<p>"I told him you were in, Miss; but he said he would not come +in."</p> +<p>Miss Huntington turned and walked slowly back up to her room. +Her face was very grave; she was pondering deeply.</p> +<p>A little later Lois Huntington put on her hat and went out.</p> +<p>Lois had not found her position at Mrs. Wentworth's the most +agreeable in the world. Mrs. Wentworth was moody and capricious, +and at times exacting.</p> +<p>She had little idea how often that quiet girl who took her +complaints so calmly was tempted to break her vow of silence, +answer her upbraidings, and return home. But her old friends were +dropping away from her. And it was on this account and for Norman's +sake that Lois put up with her capriciousness. She had promised +Norman to stay with her, and she would do it.</p> +<p>Mrs. Norman's quarrel with Alice Lancaster was a sore trial to +Lois. Many of her friends treated Lois as if she were a sort of +upper servant, with a mingled condescension and hauteur. Lois was +rather amused at it, except when it became too apparent, and then +she would show her little claws, which were sharp enough. But Mrs. +Lancaster had always been sweet to her, and Lois had missed her +sadly. She no longer came to Mrs. Wentworth's. Lois, however, was +always urged to come and see her, and an intimacy had sprung up +between the two. Lois, with her freshness, was like a breath of +Spring to the society woman, who was a little jaded with her +experience; and the elder lady, on her part, treated the young girl +with a warmth that was half maternal, half the cordiality of an +elder sister. What part Gordon Keith played in this friendship must +be left to surmise.</p> +<p>It was to Mrs. Lancaster's that Lois now took her way. Her +greeting was a cordial one, and Lois was soon confiding to her her +trouble; how she had met an old friend after many years, and then +how a contretemps had occurred. She told of his writing her, and of +her failure to answer his letters, and how her aunt had refused to +allow him to come to Brookford to see them.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster listened with interest.</p> +<p>"My dear, there was nothing in that. Yes, that was just one of +Ferdy's little lies," she said, in a sort of reverie.</p> +<p>"But it was so wicked in him to tell such falsehoods about a +man," exclaimed Lois, her color coming and going, her eyes +flashing.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster shrugged her shoulders.</p> +<p>"Ferdy does not like Mr. Keith, and he does like you, and he +probably thought to prevent your liking him."</p> +<p>"I detest him."</p> +<p>The telltale color rushed up into her cheeks as Mrs. Lancaster's +eyes rested on her, and as it mounted, those blue eyes grew a +little more searching.</p> +<p>"I can scarcely bear to see him when he comes there," said +Lois.</p> +<p>"Has he begun to go there again?" Mrs. Lancaster inquired, in +some surprise.</p> +<p>"Yes; and he pretends that he is coming to see me!" said the +girl, with a flash in her eyes. "You know that is not true?"</p> +<p>"Don't you believe him," said the other, gravely. Her eyes, as +they rested on the girl's face, had a very soft light in them.</p> +<p>"Well, we must make it up," she said presently. "You are going +to Mrs. Wickersham's?" she asked suddenly.</p> +<p>"Yes; Cousin Louise is going and says I must go. Mr. Wickersham +will not be there, you know."</p> +<p>"Yes." She drifted off into a reverie.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> +<h3>THE DINNER AT MRS. WICKERSHAM'S</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith quickly discovered that Rumor was busy with Ferdy +Wickersham's name in other places than gilded drawing-rooms. He had +been dropped from the board of more than one big corporation in +which he had once had a potent influence. Knowing men, like +Stirling and his club friends, began to say that they did not see +how he had kept up. But up-town he still held on-held on with a +steady eye and stony face that showed a nerve worthy of a better +man. His smile became more constant,--to be sure, It was belied by +his eyes: that cold gleam was not mirth,--but his voice was as +insolent as ever.</p> +<p>Several other rumors soon began to float about. One was that he +and Mrs. Wentworth had fallen out. As to the Cause of this the town +was divided. One story was that the pretty governess at Mrs. +Wentworth's was in some way concerned with it.</p> +<p>However this was, the Wickersham house was mortgaged, and Rumor +began to say even up-town that the Wickersham fortune had melted +away.</p> +<p>The news of Keith's success in England had reached home as soon +as he had. His friends congratulated him, and his acquaintances +greeted him with a warmth that, a few years before, would have +cheered his heart and have made him their friend for life. Mrs. +Nailor, when she met him, almost fell on his neck. She actually +called him her "dear boy."</p> +<p>"Oh, I have been hearing about you!" she said archly. "You must +come and dine with us at once and tell us all about it."</p> +<p>"About what?" inquired Keith.</p> +<p>"About your great successes on the other side. You see, your +friends keep up with you!"</p> +<p>"They do, indeed, and sometimes get ahead of me," said +Keith.</p> +<p>"How would to-morrow suit you? No, not to-morrow--Saturday? No; +we are going out Saturday. Let me see--we are so crowded with +engagements I shall have to go home and look at my book. But you +must come very soon. You have heard the news, of course? Isn't it +dreadful?"</p> +<p>"What news?" He knew perfectly what she meant.</p> +<p>"About the Norman-Wentworths getting a divorce? Dreadful, isn't +it? Perfectly dreadful! But, of course, it was to be expected. Any +one could see that all along?"</p> +<p>"I could not," said Keith, dryly; "but I do not claim to be any +one."</p> +<p>"Which side are you on? Norman's, I suppose?"</p> +<p>"Neither," said Keith.</p> +<p>"You know, Ferdy always was in love with her?" This with a +glance to obtain Keith's views.</p> +<p>"No; I know nothing about it."</p> +<p>"Yes; always," she nodded oracularly. "Of course, he is making +love to Alice Lancaster, too, and to the new governess at the +Wentworths'."</p> +<p>"Who is that?" asked Keith, moved by some sudden instinct to +inquire.</p> +<p>"That pretty country cousin of Norman's, whom they brought there +to save appearances when Norman first left. Huntington is her +name."</p> +<p>Keith suddenly grew hot.</p> +<p>"Yes, Ferdy is making love to her, too. Why, they say that is +what they have quarrelled about. Louise is insanely jealous, and +she is very pretty. Yes--you know, Ferdy is like some other men? +Just gregarious! Yes? But Louise Wentworth was always his <i>grande +passion</i>. He is just amusing himself with the governess, and +she, poor little fool, supposes she has made a conquest. You know +how it is?"</p> +<p>"I really know nothing about it," declared Keith, in a +flame.</p> +<p>"Yes; and he was always her <i>grande passion</i>? Don't you +think so?"</p> +<p>"No, I do not," said Keith, firmly. "I know nothing about it; +but I believe she and Norman were devoted,--as devoted a couple as +I ever saw,--and I do not see why people cannot let them alone. I +think none too well of Ferdy Wickersham, but I don't believe a word +against her. She may be silly; but she is a hundred times better +than some who calumniate her."</p> +<p>"Oh, you dear boy! You were always so amiable. It's a pity the +world is not like you; but it is not."</p> +<p>"It is a pity people do not let others alone and attend to their +own affairs," remarked Keith, grimly. "I believe more than half the +trouble is made by the meddlers who go around gossiping."</p> +<p>"Don't they! Why, every one is talking about it. I have not been +in a drawing-room where it is not being discussed."</p> +<p>"I suppose not," said Mr. Keith.</p> +<p>"And, you know, they say Norman Wentworth has lost a lot of +money, too. But, then, he has a large account to fall back on. +Alice Lancaster has a plenty."</p> +<p>"What's that?" Keith's voice had an unpleasant sharpness in +it.</p> +<p>"Oh, you know, he is her trustee, and they are great friends. +Good-by. You must come and dine with us sometime--sometime soon, +too."</p> +<p>And Mrs. Nailor floated away, and in the first drawing-room she +visited told of Keith's return and of his taking the story of +Louise Wentworth and Ferdy Wickersham very seriously; adding, "And +you know, I think he is a great admirer of Louise himself--a very +great admirer. Of course, he would like to marry Alice Lancaster, +just as Ferdy would. They all want to marry her; but Louise +Wentworth is the one that has their hearts. She knows how to +capture them. You keep your eyes open. You ought to have seen the +way he looked when I mentioned Ferdy Wickersham and her. My dear, a +man doesn't look that way unless he feels something here." She +tapped solemnly the spot where she imagined her heart to be, that +dry and desiccated organ that had long ceased to know any real +warmth.</p> +<p>A little time afterwards, Keith, to his great surprise, received +an invitation to dine at Mrs. Wickersham's. He had never before +received an invitation to her house, and when he had met her, she +had always been stiff and repellent toward him. This he had +regarded as perfectly natural; for he and Ferdy had never been +friendly, and of late had not even kept up appearances.</p> +<p>He wondered why he should be invited now. Could it be true, as +Stirling had said, laughing, that now he had the key and would find +all doors open to him?</p> +<p>Keith had not yet written his reply when he called that evening +at Mrs. Lancaster's. She asked him if he had received such an +invitation. Keith said yes, but he did not intend to go. He almost +thought it must have been sent by mistake.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; now come. Ferdy won't be there, and Mrs. Wickersham +wants to be friendly with you. You and Ferdy don't get along; but +neither do she and Ferdy. You know they have fallen out? Poor old +thing! She was talking about it the other day, and she burst out +crying. She said he had been her idol."</p> +<p>"What is the matter?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Ferdy's selfishness."</p> +<p>"He is a brute! Think of a man quarrelling with his mother! +Why--!" He went into a reverie in which his face grew very soft, +while Mrs. Lancaster watched him silently. Presently he started. "I +have nothing against her except a sort of general animosity from +boyhood, which I am sorry to have."</p> +<p>"Oh, well, then, come. As people grow older they outgrow their +animosities and wish to make friends."</p> +<p>"You being so old as to have experienced it?" said Keith.</p> +<p>"I am nearly thirty years old," she said. "Isn't it +dreadful?"</p> +<p>"Aurora is much older than that," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Ah, Sir Flatterer, I have a mirror." But her eyes filled with a +pleasant light as Keith said:</p> +<p>"Then it will corroborate what needs no proof."</p> +<p>She knew it was flattery, but she enjoyed it and dimpled.</p> +<p>"Now, you will come? I want you to come." She looked at him with +a soft glow in her face.</p> +<p>"Yes. On your invitation."</p> +<p>"Alice Lancaster, place one good deed to thy account: 'Blessed +are the peacemakers,'" said Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>When Keith arrived at Mrs. Wickersham's he found the company +assembled in her great drawing-room--the usual sort to be found in +great drawing-rooms of large new chateau-like mansions in a great +and commercial city.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keats!" called out the prim servant. They always took this +poetical view of his name.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wickersham greeted him civilly and solemnly. She had aged +much since Keith saw her last, and had also grown quite deaf. Her +face showed traces of the desperate struggle she was making to keep +up appearances. It was apparent that she had not the least idea who +he was; but she shook hands with him much as she might have done at +a funeral had he called to pay his respects. Among the late +arrivals was Mrs. Wentworth. She was the richest-dressed woman in +the room, and her jewels were the finest, but she had an expression +on her face, as she entered, which Keith had never seen there. Her +head was high, and there was an air of defiance about her which +challenged the eye at once.</p> +<p>"I don't think I shall speak to her," said a voice near +Keith.</p> +<p>"Well, I have known her all my life, and until it becomes a +public scandal I don't feel authorized to cut her--"</p> +<p>The speaker was Mrs. Nailor, who was in her most charitable +mood.</p> +<p>"Oh, of course, I shall speak to her here, but I mean--I +certainly shall not visit her."</p> +<p>"You know she has quarrelled with her friend, Mrs. Lancaster? +About her husband." This was behind her fan.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. She is to be here to-night. Quite brazen, isn't it? We +shall see how they meet. I met a remarkably pretty girl down in the +dressing-room," she continued; "one of the guests. She has such +pretty manners, too. Really, I thought, from her politeness to me +in arranging my dress, she must be one of the maids until Mrs. +Wentworth spoke to her. Young girls nowadays are so rude! They take +up the mirror the whole time, and never think of letting you see +yourself. I wonder who she can be?"</p> +<p>"Possibly Mrs. Wentworth's companion. I think she is here. She +has to have some one to do the proprieties, you know?" said Mrs. +Nailor.</p> +<p>"I should think it might be as well," assented the other, with a +sniff. "But she would hardly be here!"</p> +<p>"She is really her governess, a very ill-bred and rude young +person," said Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>The other sighed.</p> +<p>"Society is getting so democratic now, one might say, so mixed, +that there is no telling whom one may meet nowadays."</p> +<p>"No, indeed," pursued Mrs. Nailor. "I do not at all approve of +governesses and such persons being invited out. I think the English +way much the better. There the governess never dreams of coming to +the table except to luncheon, and her friends are the housekeeper +and the butler."</p> +<p>Keith, wearied of the banalities at his ear, crossed over to +where Mrs. Wentworth stood a little apart from the other ladies. +One or two men were talking to her. She was evidently pleased to +see him. She talked volubly, and with just that pitch in her voice +that betrays a subcurrent of excitement.</p> +<p>From time to time she glanced about her, appearing to Keith to +search the faces of the other women. Keith wondered if it were a +fancy of his that they were holding a little aloof from her. +Presently Mrs. Nailor came up and spoke to her.</p> +<p>Keith backed away a little, and found himself mixed up with the +train of a lady behind him, a dainty thing of white muslin.</p> +<p>He apologized in some confusion, and turning, found himself +looking into Lois Huntington's eyes. For a bare moment he was in a +sort of maze. Then the expression in her face dispelled it. She +held out her hand, and he clasped it; and before he had withdrawn +his eyes from hers, he knew that his peace was made, and Mrs. +Wickersham's drawing-room had become another place. This, then, was +what Alice Lancaster meant when she spoke of the peacemakers.</p> +<p>"It does not in the least matter about the dress, I assure you," +she said in reply to his apology. "My dressmaker, Lois Huntington, +can repair it so that you will not know it has been torn. It was +only a ruse of mine to attract your attention." She was trying to +speak lightly. "I thought you were not going to speak to me at all. +It seems to be a way you have of treating your old friends--your +oldest friends," she laughed.</p> +<p>"Oh, the insolence of youth!" said Keith, wishing to keep away +from a serious subject. "Let us settle this question of age here +and now. I say you are seven years old."</p> +<p>"You are a Bourbon," she said; "you neither forget nor learn. +Look at me. How old do I look?"</p> +<p>"Seven--"</p> +<p>"No. Look."</p> +<p>"I am looking-would I were Argus! You look like--perpetual +Youth."</p> +<p>And she did. She was dressed in pure white. Her dark eyes were +soft and gentle, yet with mischief lurking in them, and her +straight brows, almost black, added to their lustre. Her dark hair +was brushed back from her white forehead, and as she turned, Keith +noted again, as he had done the first time he met her, the fine +profile and the beautiful lines of her round throat, with the +curves below it, as white as snow. "Perpetual Youth," he +murmured.</p> +<p>"And do you know what you are?" she challenged him.</p> +<p>"Yes; Age."</p> +<p>"No. Flattery. But I am proof. I have learned that men are +deceivers ever. You positively refused to see me when I had left +word with the servant that I would see you if you called." She gave +him a swift little glance to see how he took her charge.</p> +<p>"I did nothing of the kind. I will admit that I should know +where you are by instinct, as Sir John knew the Prince; but I did +not expect you to insist on my doing so. How was I to know you were +in the city?"</p> +<p>"The servant told you."</p> +<p>"The servant told me?"</p> +<p>As Keith's brow puckered in the effort to unravel the mystery, +she nodded.</p> +<p>"Um-hum--I heard him. I was at the head of the stair."</p> +<p>Keith tapped his head.</p> +<p>"It's old age--sheer senility."</p> +<p>"'No; I don't want to see the other lady,'" she said, mimicking +him so exactly that he opened his eyes wide.</p> +<p>"I am staying at Mrs. Wentworth's--Cousin Norman's," she +continued, with a little change of expression and the least little +lift of her head.</p> +<p>Keith's expression, perhaps, changed slightly, too, for she +added quietly: "Cousin Louise had to have some one with her, and I +am teaching the children. I am the governess."</p> +<p>"I have always said that children nowadays have all the best +things," said Keith, desirous to get off delicate ground. "You +know, some one has said he never ate a ripe peach in his life: when +he was a boy the grown-ups had them, and since he grew up the +children have them all."</p> +<p>She laughed.</p> +<p>"I am very severe, I assure you."</p> +<p>"You look it. I should think you might be Herod himself."</p> +<p>She smiled, and then the smile died out, and she glanced around +her.</p> +<p>"I owe you an apology," she said in a lowered voice.</p> +<p>"For what?"</p> +<p>"For--mis--for not answering your letters. But I mis--I don't +know how to say what I wish. Won't you accept it without an +explanation?" She held out her hand and gave him the least little +flitting glance of appeal.</p> +<p>"I will," said Keith. "With all my heart."</p> +<p>"Thank you. I have been very unhappy about it." She breathed a +little sigh of relief, which Keith caught.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster did not arrive until all the other guests had +been there a little while. But when she entered she had never +looked handsomer. As soon as she had greeted her hostess, her eyes +swept around the room, and in their circuit rested for a moment on +Keith, who was talking to Lois. She gave them a charming smile. The +next moment, however, her eyes stole that way again, and this time +they bore a graver expression. The admiration that filled the +younger girl's eyes was unbounded and unfeigned.</p> +<p>"Don't you think she is the handsomest woman in the room?" she +asked, with a nod toward Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>Keith was suddenly conscious that he did not wish to commit +himself to such praise. She was certainly very handsome, he +admitted, but there were others who would pass muster, too, in a +beauty show.</p> +<p>"Oh, but I know you must think so; every one says you do," Lois +urged, with a swift glance up at him, which, somehow, Keith would +have liked to avoid.</p> +<p>"Then, I suppose it must be so; for every one knows my innermost +thoughts. But I think she was more beautiful when she was younger. +I do not know what it is; but there is something in Society that, +after a few years, takes away the bloom of ingenuousness and puts +in its place just the least little shade of unreality."</p> +<p>"I know what you mean; but she is so beautiful that one would +never notice it. What a power such beauty is! I should be afraid of +it." Lois was speaking almost to herself, and Keith, as she was +deeply absorbed in observing Mrs. Lancaster, gazed at her with +renewed interest.</p> +<p>"I'd so much rather be loved for myself'," the girl went on +earnestly. "I think it is one of the compensations that those who +want such beauty have-"</p> +<p>"Well, it is one of the things which you must always hold merely +as a conjecture, for you can never know by experience."</p> +<p>She glanced up at him with a smile, half pleased, half +reproving.</p> +<p>"Do you think I am the sort that likes flattery? I believe you +think we are all silly. I thought you were too good a friend of +mine to attempt that line with me."</p> +<p>Keith declared that all women loved flattery, but protested, of +course, that he was not flattering her.</p> +<p>"Why should I?" he laughed.</p> +<p>"Oh, just because you think it will please me, and because it is +so easy. It is so much less trouble. It takes less intellect, and +you don't think I am worth spending intellect on."</p> +<p>This Keith stoutly denied.</p> +<p>She gave him a fleeting glance out of her brown eyes. "She, +however, is as good as she is handsome," she said, returning to +Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"Yes; she is one of those who 'do good by stealth, and blush to +find it fame.'"</p> +<p>"There are not a great many like that around here," Lois smiled. +"Here comes one now?" she added, as Mrs. Nailor moved up to them. +She was "so glad" to see Miss Huntington out. "You must like your +Winter in New York?" she said, smiling softly. "You have such +opportunities for seeing interesting people-like Mr. Keith, here?" +She turned her eyes on Keith.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. I do. I see so many entertaining people," said Lois, +innocently.</p> +<p>"They are very kind to you?" purred the elder lady.</p> +<p>"Most condescending." Lois turned her eyes toward Keith with a +little sparkle in them; but as she read his appreciation a smile +stole into them.</p> +<p>Dinner was solemnly announced, and the couples swept out in that +stately manner appropriate to solemn occasions, such as marriages, +funerals, and fashionable dinners.</p> +<p>"Do you know your place?" asked Keith of Lois, to whom he had +been assigned.</p> +<p>"Don't I? A governess and not know her place! You must help me +through."</p> +<p>"Through what?"</p> +<p>"The dinner. You do not understand what a tremendous +responsibility you have. This is my first dinner."</p> +<p>"I always said dinners were a part of the curse," said Keith, +lightly, smiling down at her fresh face with sheer content. "I +shall confine myself hereafter to breakfast and lunch-except when I +receive invitations to Mrs. Wickersham's." he added.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster was on the other side of Keith; so he found the +dinner much pleasanter than he had expected. She soon fell to +talking of Lois, a subject which Keith found very agreeable.</p> +<p>"You know, she is staying with Louise Wentworth? Louise had to +have some one to stay with her, so she got her to come and teach +the children this Winter. Louise says she is trying to make +something of her."</p> +<p>"From my slight observation, it seems to me as if the Creator +has been rather successful in that direction already. How does she +propose to help Him out?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster bent forward and took a good look at the girl, +who at the moment was carrying on an animated conversation with +Stirling. Her color was coming and going, her eyes were sparkling, +and her cheek was dimpling with fun.</p> +<p>"She looks as if she came out of a country garden, doesn't she?" +she said.</p> +<p>"Yes, because she has, and has not yet been wired to a +stick."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster's eyes grew graver at Keith's speech. Just then +the conversation became more general. Some one told a story of a +man travelling with his wife and meeting a former wife, and +forgetting which one he then had.</p> +<p>"Oh, that reminds me of a story I heard the other day. It was +awfully good-but just a little wicked," exclaimed Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>Keith's smile died out, and there was something very like a +cloud lowering on his brow. Several others appeared surprised, and +Mr. Nailor, a small bald-headed man, said across the table: "Hally, +don't you tell that story." But Mrs. Nailor was not to be +controlled.</p> +<p>"Oh, I must tell it! It is not going to hurt any of you. Let me +see if there is any one here very young and innocent?" She glanced +about the table. "Oh, yes; there is little Miss Huntington. Miss +Huntington, you can stop your ears while I tell it."</p> +<p>"Thank you," said Lois, placidly. She leaned a little forward +and put her fingers in her ears.</p> +<p>A sort of gasp went around the table, and then a shout of +laughter, led by Stirling. Mrs. Nailor joined in it, but her face +was red and her eyes were angry. Mrs. Wentworth looked annoyed.</p> +<p>"Good," said Mrs. Lancaster, in an undertone.</p> +<p>"Divine," said Keith, his eyes snapping with satisfaction.</p> +<p>"It was not so bad as that," said Mrs. Nailor, her face very +red. "Miss Huntington, you can take your hands down now; I sha'n't +tell it."</p> +<p>"Thank you," said Lois, and sat quietly back in her chair, with +her face as placid as a child's.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor suddenly changed the conversation to Art. She was +looking at a painting on the wall behind Keith, and after +inspecting it a moment through her lorgnon, turned toward the head +of the table.</p> +<p>"Where did you get that picture, Mrs. Wickersham? Have I ever +seen it before?"</p> +<p>The hostess's gaze followed hers.</p> +<p>"That? Oh, we have had it ever so long. It is a portrait of an +ancestor of mine. It belonged to a relative, a distant +relative--another branch, you know, in whose family it came down, +though we had even more right to it, as we were an older branch," +she said, gaining courage as she went on.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster turned and inspected the picture.</p> +<p>"I, too, almost seem to have seen it before," she said +presently, in a reflective way.</p> +<p>"My dear, you have not seen it before," declared the hostess, +positively. "Although we have had it for a good while, it was at +our place in the country. Brush, the picture-dealer, says it is one +of the finest 'old masters' in New York, quite in the best style of +Sir Peter--What's his name?"</p> +<p>"Then I have seen some one so like it--? Who can it be?" said +Mrs. Lancaster, her mind still working along the lines of +reminiscence.</p> +<p>Nearly every one was looking now.</p> +<p>"Why, I know who it is!" said Lois Huntington, who had turned to +look at it, to Mrs. Lancaster. "It is Mr. Keith." Her clear voice +was heard distinctly.</p> +<p>"Of course, it is," said Mrs. Lancaster. Others agreed with +her.</p> +<p>Keith, too, had turned and looked over his shoulder at the +picture behind him, and for a moment he seemed in a dream. His +father was gazing down at him out of the frame. The next moment he +came to himself. It was the man-in-armor that used to hang in the +library at Elphinstone. As he turned back, he glanced at Mrs. +Lancaster, and her eyes gazed into his. The next moment he +addressed Mrs. Wickersham and started a new subject of +conversation.</p> +<p>"That is it," said Mrs. Lancaster to herself. Then turning to +her hostess, she said: "No, I never saw it before; I was +mistaken."</p> +<p>But Lois knew that she herself had seen it before, and +remembered where it was.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wickersham looked extremely uncomfortable, but Keith's calm +courtesy set her at ease again.</p> +<p>When the gentlemen, after their cigars, followed the ladies into +the drawing-room, Keith found Mrs. Lancaster and Lois sitting +together, a little apart from the others, talking earnestly. He +walked over and joined them.</p> +<p>They had been talking of the incident of the picture, but +stopped as he came up.</p> +<p>"Now, Lois," said Mrs. Lancaster, gayly, "I have known Mr. Keith +a long time, and I give you one standing piece of advice. Don't +believe one word that he tells you; for he is the most insidious +flatterer that lives."</p> +<p>"On the contrary," said Keith, bowing and speaking gravely to +the younger girl, "I assure you that you may believe implicitly +every word that I tell you. I promise you in the beginning that I +shall never tell you anything but the truth as long as I live. It +shall be my claim upon your friendship."</p> +<p>"Thank you," said Lois, lifting her eyes to his face. Her color +had deepened a little at his earnest manner. "I love a palpable +truth."</p> +<p>"You do not get it often in Society," said Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"I promise you that you shall always have it from me," said +Keith.</p> +<p>"Thank you," she said again, quite earnestly, looking him calmly +in the eyes. "Then we shall always be friends."</p> +<p>"Always."</p> +<p>Just then Stirling came up and with a very flattering speech +asked Miss Huntington to sing.</p> +<p>"I hear you sing like a seraph," he declared.</p> +<p>"I thought they always cried," she said, smiling; then, with a +half-frightened look across toward her cousin, she sobered and +declared that she could not.</p> +<p>"I have been meaning to have her take lessons," said Mrs. +Wentworth, condescendingly, from her seat near by; "but I have not +had time to attend to it. She will sing very well when she takes +lessons." She resumed her conversation. Stirling was still pressing +Miss Huntington, and she was still excusing herself; declaring that +she had no one to play her accompaniments.</p> +<p>"Please help me," she said in an undertone to Keith. "I used to +play them myself, but Cousin Louise said I must not do that; that I +must always stand up to sing."</p> +<p>"Nonsense," said Keith. "You sha'n't sing if you do not wish to +do so; but let me tell you: there is a deed of record in my State +conveying a tract of land to a girl from an old gentleman on the +expressed consideration that she had sung 'Annie Laurie' for him +when he asked her to do it, without being begged."</p> +<p>She looked at him as if she had not heard, and then glanced at +her cousin.</p> +<p>"Either sing or don't sing, my dear," said Mrs. Wentworth, with +a slight frown. "You are keeping every one waiting."</p> +<p>Keith glanced over at her, and was about to say to Lois, "Don't +sing"; but he was too late. Folding her hands before her, and +without moving from where she stood near the wall, she began to +sing "Annie Laurie." She had a lovely voice, and she sang as simply +and unaffectedly as if she had been singing in her own room for her +own pleasure.</p> +<p>When she got through, there was a round of applause throughout +the company. Even Mrs. Wentworth joined in it; but she came over +and said:</p> +<p>"That was well done; but next time, my dear, let some one play +your accompaniment."</p> +<p>"Next time, don't you do any such thing," said Keith, stoutly. +"You can never sing it so well again if you do. Please accept this +from a man who would rather have heard you sing that song that way +than have heard Albani sing in 'Lohengrin.'" He took the rosebud +out of his buttonhole and gave it to her, looking her straight in +the eyes.</p> +<p>"Is this the truth?" she asked, with her gaze quite steady on +his face.</p> +<p>"The palpable truth," he said.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> +<h3>A MISUNDERSTANDING</h3> +<br> +<p>Miss Lois Huntington, as she sank back in the corner of her +cousin's carriage, on their way home, was far away from the +rattling New York street. Mrs. Wentworth's occasional recurrence to +the unfortunate incidents of stopping her ears and of singing the +song without an accompaniment did not ruffle her. She knew she had +pleased one man--the one she at that moment would rather have +pleased than all the rest of New York. Her heart was eased of a +load that had made it heavy for many a day. They were once more +friends. Mrs. Wentworth's chiding sounded as if it were far away on +some alien shore, while Lois floated serenely on a tide that +appeared to begin away back in her childhood, and was bearing her +gently, still gently, she knew not whither. If she tried to look +forward she was lost in a mist that hung like a soft haze over the +horizon. Might there be a haven yonder in that rosy distance? Or +were those still the billows of the wide and trackless sea? She did +not know or care. She would drift and meantime think of him, the +old friend who had turned the evening for her into a real delight. +Was he in love with Mrs. Lancaster? she wondered. Every one said he +was, and it would not be unnatural if he were. It was on her +account he had gone to Mrs. Wickersham's. She undoubtedly liked +him. Many men were after her. If Mr. Keith was trying to marry her, +as every one said, he must be in love with her. He would never +marry any one whom he did not love. If he were in love with Mrs. +Lancaster, would she marry him? Her belief was that she would.</p> +<p>At the thought she for one moment had a pang of envy.</p> +<p>Her reverie was broken in on by Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>"Why are you so pensive? You have not said a word since we +started."</p> +<p>"Why, I do not know. I was just thinking. You know, such a +dinner is quite an episode with me."</p> +<p>"Did you have a pleasant time? Was Mr. Keith agreeable? I was +glad to see you had him; for he is a very agreeable man when he +chooses, but quite moody, and you never know what he is going to +say."</p> +<p>"I think that is one of his--of his charms--that you don't know +what he is going to say. I get so tired of talking to people who +say just what you know they are going to say--just what some one +else has just said and what some one else will say to-morrow. It is +like reading an advertisement."</p> +<p>"Lois, you must not be so unconventional," said Mrs. Wentworth. +"I must beg you not to repeat such a thing as your performance this +evening. I don't like it."</p> +<p>"Very well, Cousin Louise, I will not," said the girl, a little +stiffly. "I shall recognize your wishes; but I must tell you that I +do not agree with you. I hate conventionality. We all get +machine-made. I see not the least objection to what I did, except +your wishes, of course, and neither did Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>"Well, while you are with me, you must conform to my wishes. Mr. +Keith is not responsible for you. Mr. Keith is like other +men--ready to flatter a young and unsophisticated girl."</p> +<p>"No; Mr. Keith is not like other men. He does not have to wait +and see what others think and say before he forms an opinion. I am +so tired of hearing people say what they think others think. Even +Mr. Rimmon, at church, says what he thinks his congregation +likes--just as when he meets them he flatters them and tells them +what dear ladies they are, and how well they look, and how good +their wine is. Why can't people think for themselves?"</p> +<p>"Well, on my word, Lois, you appear to be thinking for yourself! +And you also appear to think very highly of Mr. Keith," said Mrs. +Wentworth.</p> +<p>"I do. I have known Mr. Keith all my life," said the girl, +gravely. "He is associated in my mind with all that I loved."</p> +<p>"There, I did not mean to call up sorrowful thoughts," said Mrs. +Wentworth. "I wanted you to have a good time."</p> +<p>Next day Mr. Keith gave himself the pleasure of calling promptly +at Mrs. Norman's. He remembered the time when he had waited a day +or two before calling on Miss Huntington and had found her gone, +with its train of misunderstandings. So he had no intention of +repeating the error. In Love as in War, Success attends +Celerity.</p> +<p>Miss Huntington was not at home, the servant said in answer to +Keith's inquiries for the ladies; she had taken the children out to +see Madam Wentworth. But Mrs. Wentworth would see Mr. Keith.</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth was more than usually cordial. She was +undoubtedly more nervous than she used to be. She soon spoke of +Norman, and for a moment grew quite excited.</p> +<p>"I know what people say about me," she exclaimed. "I know they +say I ought to have borne everything and have gone on smiling and +pretending I was happy even when I had the proof that he +was--was--that he no longer cared for me, or for my--my happiness. +But I could not--I was not constituted so. And if I have refused to +submit to it I had good reason."</p> +<p>"Mrs. Wentworth," said Keith, "will you please tell me what you +are talking about?"</p> +<p>"You will hear about it soon enough," she said, with a bitter +laugh. "All you have to do is to call on Mrs. Nailor or Mrs. +Any-one-else for five minutes."</p> +<p>"If I hear what I understand you to believe, that Norman cares +for some one else, I shall not believe it."</p> +<p>She laughed bitterly.</p> +<p>"Oh, you and Norman always swore by each other. I guess that you +are no better than other men."</p> +<p>"We are, at least, better than some other men," said Keith, "and +Norman is better than most other men."</p> +<p>She simply shrugged her shoulders and drifted into a reverie. It +was evidently not a pleasant one.</p> +<p>Keith rose to go. And a half-hour later he quite casually called +at old Mrs. Wentworth's, where he found the children having a romp. +Miss Huntington looked as sweet as a rose, and Keith thought, or at +least hoped, she was pleased to see him.</p> +<p>Keith promptly availed himself of Mrs. Wentworth's permission, +and was soon calling every day or two at her house, and even on +those days when he did not call he found himself sauntering up the +avenue or in the Park, watching for the slim, straight, trim little +figure he now knew so well. He was not in love with Lois. He said +this to himself quite positively. He only admired her, and had a +feeling of protection and warm friendship for a young and +fatherless girl who had once had every promise of a life of ease +and joy, and was by the hap of ill fortune thrown out on the cold +world and into a relation of dependence. He had about given up any +idea of falling in love. Love, such as he had once known it, was +not for him. Love for love's sake--love that created a new world +and peopled it with one woman--was over for him. At least, so he +said.</p> +<p>And when he had reasoned thus, he would find himself hurrying +along the avenue or in the Park, straining his eyes to see if he +could distinguish her among the crowd of walkers and loungers that +thronged the sidewalk or the foot-path a quarter of a mile away. +And if he could not, he was conscious of disappointment; and if he +did distinguish her, his heart would give a bound, and he would go +racing along till he was at her side.</p> +<p>Oftenest, though, he visited her at Mrs. Wentworth's, where he +could talk to her without the continual interruption of the +children's busy tongues, and could get her to sing those +old-fashioned songs that, somehow, sounded to him sweeter than all +the music in the world.</p> +<p>In fact, he went there so often to visit her that he began to +neglect his other friends. Even Norman he did not see as much of as +formerly.</p> +<p>Once, when he was praising her voice to Mrs. Wentworth, she said +to him: "Yes, I think she would do well in concert. I am urging her +to prepare herself for that; not at present, of course, for I need +her just now with the children; but in a year or two the boys will +go to school and the two girls will require a good French +governess, or I may take them to France. Then I shall advise her to +try concert. Of course, Miss Brooke cannot take care of her always. +Besides, she is too independent to allow her to do it."</p> +<p>Keith was angry in a moment. He had never liked Mrs. Wentworth +so little. "I shall advise her to do nothing of the kind," he said +firmly. "Miss Huntington is a lady, and to have her patronized and +treated as an inferior by a lot of <i>nouveaux riches</i> is more +than I could stand."</p> +<p>"I see no chance of her marrying," said Mrs. Wentworth. "She has +not a cent, and you know men don't marry penniless girls these +days."</p> +<p>"Oh, they do if they fall in love. There are a great many men in +the world and even in New York, besides the small tuft-hunting, +money-loving parasites that one meets at the so-called swell +houses. If those you and I know were all, New York would be a very +insignificant place. The brains and the character and the heart; +the makers and leaders, are not found at the dinners and balls we +are honored with invitations to by Mrs. Nailor and her like. Alice +Lancaster was saying the other day--"</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth froze up.</p> +<p>"Alice Lancaster!" Her eyes flashed. "Do not quote her to me!" +Her lips choked with the words.</p> +<p>"She is a friend of yours, and a good friend of yours," declared +Keith, boldly.</p> +<p>"I do not want such friends as that," she said, flaming +suddenly. "Who do you suppose has come between my husband and +me?"</p> +<p>"Not Mrs. Lancaster."</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"No," said Keith, firmly; "you wrong them both. You have been +misled."</p> +<p>She rose and walked up and down the room in an excitement like +that of an angry lioness.</p> +<p>"You are the only friend that would say that to me."</p> +<p>"Then I am a better friend than others." He went on to defend +Mrs. Lancaster warmly.</p> +<p>When Keith left he wondered if that outburst meant that she +still loved Norman.</p> +<p>It is not to be supposed that Mr. Keith's visits to the house of +Mrs. Wentworth had gone unobserved or unchronicled. That portion of +the set that knew Mrs. Wentworth best, which is most given to the +discussion of such important questions as who visits whom too +often, and who has stopped visiting whom altogether, with the +reasons therefor, was soon busy over Keith's visits.</p> +<p>They were referred to in the society column of a certain journal +recently started, known by some as "The Scandal-monger's Own," and +some kind friend was considerate enough to send Norman Wentworth a +marked copy.</p> +<p>Some suggested timidly that they had heard that Mr. Keith's +visits were due to his opinion of the governess; but they were +immediately suppressed.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor expressed the more general opinion when she declared +that even a débutante would know that men like Ferdy +Wickersham and Mr. Keith did not fall in love with unknown +governesses. That sort of thing would do to put in books; but it +did not happen in real life. They might visit them, but--! After +which she proceeded to say as many ill-natured things about Miss +Lois as she could think of; for the story of Lois's stopping her +ears had also gotten abroad.</p> +<p>Meantime, Keith pursued his way, happily ignorant of the motives +attributed to him by some of those who smiled on him and invited +him to their teas. A half-hour with Lois Huntington was reward +enough to him for much waiting. To see her eyes brighten and to +hear her voice grow softer and more musical as she spoke his name; +to feel that she was in sympathy with him, that she understood him +without explanation, that she was interested in his work: these +were the rewards which lit up life for him and sent him to his +rooms cheered and refreshed. He knew that she had no idea of taking +him otherwise than as a friend. She looked on him almost as a +contemporary of her father. But life was growing very sweet for him +again.</p> +<p>It was not long before the truth was presented to him.</p> +<p>One of his club friends rallied him on his frequent visits in a +certain quarter and the conquest which they portended. Keith +flushed warmly. He had that moment been thinking of Lois +Huntington. He had just been to see her, and her voice was still in +his ears; so, though he thought it unusual in Tom Trimmer to refer +to the matter, it was not unnatural. He attempted to turn the +subject lightly by pretending to misunderstand him.</p> +<p>"I mean, I hear you have cut Wickersham out. Ferdy thought he +had a little corner there."</p> +<p>Again Keith reddened. He, too, had sometimes thought that Ferdy +was beginning to be attentive to Lois Huntington. Others manifestly +thought so too.</p> +<p>"I don't know that I understand you," he said.</p> +<p>"Don't you?" laughed the other. "Haven't you seen the papers +lately?"</p> +<p>Keith chilled instantly.</p> +<p>"Norman Wentworth is my friend," he said quietly.</p> +<p>"So they say is Mrs. Norm--" began Mr. Trimmer, with a +laugh.</p> +<p>Before he had quite pronounced the name, Keith leaned forward, +his eyes levelled right into the other's.</p> +<p>"Don't say that, Trimmer. I want to be friends with you," he +said earnestly. "Don't you ever couple my name with that lady's. +Her husband is my friend, and any man that says I am paying her any +attention other than such as her husband would have me pay her says +what is false."</p> +<p>"I know nothing about that," said Tom, half surlily. "I am only +giving what others say."</p> +<p>"Well, don't you even do that." He rose to his feet, and stood +very straight. "Do me the favor to say to any one you may hear +intimate such a lie that I will hold any man responsible who says +it."</p> +<p>"Jove!" said Mr. Trimmer, afterwards, to his friend Minturn, +"must be some fire there. He was as hot as pepper in a minute. +Wanted to fight any one who mentioned the matter. He'll have his +hands full if he fights all who are talking about him and Ferdy's +old flame. I heard half a roomful buzzing about it at Mrs. +Nailor's. But it was none of my affair. If he wants to fight about +another man's wife, let him. It's not the best way to stop the +scandal."</p> +<p>"You know, I think Ferdy is a little relieved to get out of +that," added Mr. Minturn. "Ferdy wants money, and big money. He +can't expect to get money there. They say the chief cause of the +trouble was Wentworth would not put up money enough for her. He has +got his eye on the Lancaster-Yorke combine, and he is all devotion +to the widow now."</p> +<p>"She won't look at him. She has too much sense. Besides, she +likes Keith," said Stirling.</p> +<p>As Mr. Trimmer and his friend said, if Keith expected to silence +all the tongues that were clacking with his name and affairs, he +was likely to be disappointed. There are some people to whose minds +the distribution of scandal is as great a delight as the sweetest +morsel is to the tongue. Besides, there was one person who had a +reason for spreading the report. Ferdy Wickersham had returned and +was doing his best to give it circulation.</p> +<p>Norman Wentworth received in his mail, one morning, a thin +letter over which a frown clouded his brow. The address was in a +backhand. He had received a letter in the same handwriting not long +previously--an anonymous letter. It related to his wife and to one +whom he had held in high esteem. He had torn it up furiously in +little bits, and had dashed them into the waste-basket as he had +dashed the matter from his mind. He was near tearing this letter up +without reading it; but after a moment he opened the envelope. A +society notice in a paper the day before had contained the name of +his wife and that of Mr. Gordon Keith, and this was not the only +time he had seen the two names together. As his eye glanced over +the single page of disguised writing, a deeper frown grew on his +brow. It was only a few lines; but it contained a barbed arrow that +struck and rankled:</p> +<blockquote>"When the cat's away<br> +The mice will play.<br> +If you have cut your wisdom-teeth,<br> +You'll know your mouse. His name is ----"</blockquote> +<p>It was signed, "<i>A True Friend</i>."</p> +<p>Norman crushed the paper in his band, in a rage for having read +it. But it was too late. He could not banish it from his mind: so +many things tallied with it. He had heard that Keith was there a +great deal. Why had he ceased speaking of it of late?</p> +<p>When Keith next met Norman there was a change in the latter. He +was cold and almost morose; answered Keith absently, and after a +little while rose and left him rather curtly.</p> +<p>When this had occurred once or twice Keith determined to see +Norman and have a full explanation. Accordingly, one day he went to +his office. Mr. Wentworth was out, but Keith said he would wait for +him in his private office.</p> +<p>On the table lay a newspaper. Keith picked it up to glance over +it. His eye fell on a marked passage. It was a notice of a dinner +to which he had been a few evenings before. Mrs. Wentworth's name +was marked with a blue pencil, and a line or two below it was his +own name similarly marked.</p> +<p>Keith felt the hot blood surge into his face, then a grip came +about his throat. Could this be the cause? Could this be the reason +for Norman's curtness? Could Norman have this opinion of him? After +all these years!</p> +<p>He rose and walked from the office and out into the street. It +was a blow such as he had not had in years. The friendship of a +lifetime seemed to have toppled down in a moment.</p> +<p>Keith walked home in deep reflection. That Norman could treat +him so was impossible except on one theory: that he believed the +story which concerned him and Mrs. Wentworth. That he could believe +such a story seemed absolutely impossible. He passed through every +phase of regret, wounded pride, and anger. Then it came to him +clearly enough that if Norman were laboring under any such +hallucination it was his duty to dispel it. He should go to him and +clear his mind. The next morning he went again to Norman's office. +To his sorrow, he learned that he had left town the evening before +for the West to see about some business matters. He would be gone +some days. Keith determined to see him as soon as he returned.</p> +<p>Keith had little difficulty in assigning the scandalous story to +its true source, though he did Ferdy Wickersham an injustice in +laying the whole blame on him.</p> +<p>Meantime, Keith determined that he would not go to Mrs. +Wentworth's again until after he had seen Norman, even though it +deprived him of the chance of seeing Lois. It was easier to him, as +he was very busy now pushing through the final steps of his deal +with the English syndicate. This he was the more zealous in as his +last visit South had shown him that old Mr. Rawson was beginning to +fail.</p> +<p>"I am just livin' now to hear about Phrony," said the old man, +"--and to settle with that man," he added, his deep eyes burning +under his shaggy brows.</p> +<p>Keith had little idea that the old man would ever live to hear +of her again, and he had told him so as gently as he could.</p> +<p>"Then I shall kill him," said the old man, quietly.</p> +<p>Keith was in his office one morning when his attention was +arrested by a heavy step outside his door. It had something +familiar in it. Then he heard his name spoken in a loud voice. Some +one was asking for him, and the next moment the door opened and +Squire Rawson stood on the threshold. He looked worn; but his face +was serene. Keith's intuition told him why he had come; and the old +man did not leave it in any doubt. His greeting was brief.</p> +<p>He had gotten to New York only that morning, and had already +been to Wickersham's office; but the office was shut.</p> +<p>"I have come to find her," he said, "and I'll find her, or I'll +drag him through this town by his neck." He took out a pistol and +laid it by him on the table.</p> +<p>Keith was aghast. He knew the old man's resolution. His face +showed that he was not to be moved from it. Keith began to argue +with him. They did not do things that way in New York, he said. The +police would arrest him. Or if he should shoot a man he would be +tried, and it would go hard with him. He had better give up his +pistol. "Let me keep it for you," he urged.</p> +<p>The old man took up the pistol and felt for his pocket.</p> +<p>"I'll find her or I'll kill him," he said stolidly. "I have come +to do one or the other. If I do that, I don't much keer what they +do with me. But I reckon some of 'em would take the side of a woman +what's been treated so. Well, I'll go on an' wait for him. How do +you find this here place?" He took out a piece of paper and, +carefully adjusting his spectacles, read a number. It was the +number of Wickersham's office.</p> +<p>Keith began to argue again; but the other's face was set like a +rock. He simply put up his pistol carefully. "I'll kill him if I +don't find her. Well, I reckon somebody will show me the way. Good +day." He went out.</p> +<p>The moment his footsteps had died away, Keith seized his hat and +dashed out.</p> +<p>The bulky figure was going slowly down the street, and Keith saw +him stop a man and show him his bit of paper. Keith crossed the +street and hurried on ahead of him. Wickersham's office was only a +few blocks away, and a minute later Keith rushed into the front +office. The clerks hooked up in surprise at his haste. Keith +demanded of one of them if Mr. Wickersham was in. The clerk +addressed turned and looked at another man nearer the door of the +private office, who shook his head warningly. No, Mr. Wickersham +was not in.</p> +<p>Keith, however, had seen the signal, and he walked boldly up to +the door of the private office.</p> +<p>"Mr. Wickersham is in, but he is engaged," said the man, rising +hastily.</p> +<p>"I must see him immediately," said Keith, and opening the door, +walked straight in.</p> +<p>Wickersham was sitting at his desk poring over a ledger, and at +the sudden entrance he looked up, startled. When he saw who it was +he sprang to his feet, his face changing slightly. Just then one of +the clerks followed Keith.</p> +<p>As Keith, however, spoke quietly, Wickersham's expression +changed, and the next second he had recovered his composure and +with it his insolence.</p> +<p>"To what do I owe the honor of this unexpected visit?" he +demanded, with a curl of his lip.</p> +<p>Keith gave a little wave of his arm, as if he would sweep away +his insolence.</p> +<p>"I have come to warn you that old Adam Rawson is in town hunting +you."</p> +<p>Wickersham's self-contained face paled suddenly, and he stepped +a little back. Then his eye fell on the clerk, who stood just +inside the door. "What do you want?" he demanded angrily. "---- +you! can't you keep out when a gentleman wants to see me on private +business?"</p> +<p>The clerk hastily withdrew.</p> +<p>"What does he want?" he asked of Keith, with a dry voice.</p> +<p>"He is hunting for you. He wants to find his granddaughter, and +he is coming after you."</p> +<p>"What the ---- do I know about his granddaughter!" cried +Wickersham.</p> +<p>"That is for you to say. He swears that he will kill you unless +you produce her. He is on his way here now, and I have hurried +ahead to warn you."</p> +<p>Wickersham's face, already pale, grew as white as death, for he +read conviction in Keith's tone. With an oath he turned to a bell +and rang it.</p> +<p>"Ring for a cab for me at once," he said to the clerk who +appeared. "Have it at my side entrance."</p> +<p>As Keith passed out he heard him say to the clerk:</p> +<p>"Tell any one who calls I have left town. I won't see a +soul."</p> +<p>A little later an old man entered Wickersham & Company's +office and demanded to see F.C. Wickersham.</p> +<p>There was a flurry among the men there, for they all knew that +something unusual had occurred; and there was that about the +massive, grim old man, with his fierce eyes, that demanded +attention.</p> +<p>On learning that Wickersham was not in, he said he would wait +for him and started to take a seat.</p> +<p>There was a whispered colloquy between two clerks, and then one +of them told him that Mr. Wickersham was not in the city. He had +been called away from town the day before, and would be gone for a +month or two. Would the visitor leave his name?</p> +<p>"Tell him Adam Rawson has been to see him, and that he will come +again." He paused a moment, then said slowly: "Tell him I'm huntin' +for him and I'm goin' to stay here till I find him."</p> +<p>He walked slowly out, followed by the eyes of every man in the +office.</p> +<p>The squire spent his time between watching for Wickersham and +hunting for his granddaughter. He would roam about the streets and +inquire for her of policemen and strangers, quite as if New York +were a small village like Ridgely instead of a great hive in which +hundreds of thousands were swarming, their identity hardly known to +any but themselves. Most of those to whom he applied treated him as +a harmless old lunatic. But he was not always so fortunate. One +night, when he was tired out with tramping the streets, he wandered +into one of the parks and sat down on a bench, where he finally +fell asleep. He was awakened by some one feeling in his pocket. He +had just been dreaming that Phrony had found him and hail sat down +beside him and was fondling him, and when he first came back to +consciousness her name was on his lips. He still thought it was she +who sat beside him, and he called her by name, "Phrony." The girl, +a poor, painted, bedizened creature, was quick enough to answer to +the name.</p> +<p>"I am Phrony; go to sleep again."</p> +<p>The joy of getting back his lost one aroused the old man, and he +sat up with an exclamation of delight. The next second, at sight of +the strange, painted face, he recoiled.</p> +<p>"You Phrony?"</p> +<p>"Yes. Don't you know me?" She snuggled closer beside him, and +worked quietly at his big watch, which somehow had caught in his +tight vest pocket.</p> +<p>"No, you ain't! Who are you, girl? What are you doin'?"</p> +<p>The young woman put her arms around his neck, and began to talk +cajolingly. He was "such a dear old fellow," etc., etc. But the old +man's wit had now returned to him. His disappointment had angered +him.</p> +<p>"Get away from me, woman. What are you doin' to me?" he demanded +roughly.</p> +<p>She still clung to him, using her poor blandishments. But the +squire was angry. He pushed her off. "Go away from me, I say. What +do you want? You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You don't know +who I am. I am a deacon in the church, a trustee of Ridge College, +and I have a granddaughter who is older than you. If you don't go +away, I will tap you with my stick."</p> +<p>The girl, having secured his watch, with something between a +curse and a laugh, went off, calling him "an old drunk fool."</p> +<p>Next moment the squire put his hand in his pocket to take out +his watch, but it was gone. He felt in his other pockets, but they +were empty, too. The young woman had clung to him long enough to +rob him of everything. The squire rose and hurried down the walk, +calling lustily after her; but it was an officer who answered the +call. When the squire told his story he simply laughed and told him +he was drunk, and threatened, if he made any disturbance, to "run +him in."</p> +<p>The old countryman flamed out.</p> +<p>"Run who in?" he demanded. "Do you know who I am, young +man?"</p> +<p>"No, I don't, and I don't keer a ----."</p> +<p>"Well, I'm Squire Rawson of Ridgely, and I know more law than a +hundred consarned blue-bellied thief-hiders like you. Whoever says +I am drunk is a liar. But if I was drunk is that any reason for you +to let a thief rob me? What is your name? I've a mind to arrest you +and run you in myself. I've run many a better man in."</p> +<p>It happened that the officer's record was not quite clear enough +to allow him to take the chance of a contest with so bold an +antagonist as the squire of Ridgely. He did not know just who he +was, or what he might be able to do. So he was willing to "break +even," and he walked off threatning, but leaving the squire master +of the field.</p> +<p>The next day the old man applied to Keith, who placed the matter +in Dave Dennison's hands and persuaded the squire to return +home.</p> +<p>Keith was very unhappy over the misunderstanding between Norman +and himself. He wrote Norman a letter asking an interview as soon +as he returned. But he received no reply. Then, having heard of his +return, he went to his office one day to see him.</p> +<p>Yes, Mr. Wentworth was in. Some one was with him, but would Mr. +Keith walk in? said the clerk, who knew of the friendship between +the two. But Keith sent in his name.</p> +<p>The clerk came out with a surprised look on his face. Mr. +Wentworth was "engaged."</p> +<p>Keith went home and wrote a letter, but his letter was returned +unopened, and on it was the indorsement, "Mr. Norman Wentworth +declines to hold any communication with Mr. Gordon Keith."</p> +<p>After this, Keith, growing angry, swore that he would take no +further steps.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> +<h3>PHRONY TRIPPER AND THE REV. MR. RIMMON</h3> +<br> +<p>As Keith stepped from his office one afternoon, he thought he +heard his name called--called somewhat timidly. When, however, he +turned and glanced around among the hurrying throng that filled the +street, he saw no one whom he knew. Men and women were bustling +along with that ceaseless haste that always struck him in New +York--haste to go, haste to return, haste to hasten: the trade-mark +of New York life: the hope of outstripping in the race.</p> +<p>A moment later he was conscious of a woman's step close behind +him. He turned as the woman came up beside him, and faced--Phrony +Tripper. She was so worn and bedraggled and aged that for a moment +he did not recognize her. Then, as she spoke, he knew her.</p> +<p>"Why, Phrony!" He held out his hand. She seized it almost +hungrily.</p> +<p>"Oh, Mr. Keith! Is it really you? I hardly dared hope it was. I +have not seen any one I knew for so long--so long!" Her face +worked, and she began to whimper; but Keith soothed her.</p> +<p>He drew her away from the crowded thoroughfare into a side +street.</p> +<p>"You knew--?" she said, and gazed at him with a silent +appeal.</p> +<p>"Yes, I knew. He deceived you and deluded you into running away +with him."</p> +<p>"I thought he loved me, and he did when he married me. I am sure +he did. But when he met that lady--"</p> +<p>"When he did what?" asked Keith, who could scarcely believe his +own ears. "Did he marry you? Ferdy Wickersham? Who married you? +When? Where was it? Who was present?"</p> +<p>"Yes; I would not come until he promised--"</p> +<p>"Yes, I knew he would promise. But did he marry you afterwards? +Who was present? Have you any witnesses?"</p> +<p>"Yes. Oh, yes. I was married here in New York--one night--about +ten o'clock--the night we got here. Mr. Plume was our only witness. +Mr. Plume had a paper the preacher gave him; but he lost it."</p> +<p>"He did! Who married you? Where was it?"</p> +<p>"His name was Rimm--Rimm-something--I cannot remember much; my +memory is all gone. He was a young man. He married us in his room. +Mr. Plume got him for me. He offered to marry us himself--said he +was a preacher; but I wouldn't have him, and said I would go home +or kill myself if they didn't have a preacher. Then Mr. Plume went +and came back, and we all got in a carriage and drove a little way, +and got out and went into a house, and after some talk we were +married. I don't know the street. But I would know him if I saw +him. He was a young, fat man, that smiled and stood on his toes." +The picture brought up to Keith the fat and unctuous Rimmon.</p> +<p>"Well, then you went abroad, and your husband left you over +there?"</p> +<p>"Yes; I was in heaven for--for a little while, and then he left +me--for another woman. I am sure he cared for me, and he did not +mean to treat me so; but she was rich and so beautiful, and--what +was I?" She gave an expressive gesture of self-abnegation.</p> +<p>"Poor fool!" said Keith to himself. "Poor girl!" he said +aloud.</p> +<p>"I have written; but, maybe, he never got my letter. He would +not have let me suffer so."</p> +<p>Keith's mouth shut closer.</p> +<p>She went on to tell of Wickersham's leaving her; of her hopes +that after her child was born he would come back to her. But the +child was born and died. Then of her despair; of how she had spent +everything, and sold everything she had to come home.</p> +<p>"I think if I could see him and tell him what I have been +through, maybe he would--be different. I know he cared for me for a +while.--But I can't find him," she went on hopelessly. "I don't +want to go to him where there are others to see me, for I'm not fit +to see even if they'd let me in--which they wouldn't." (She glanced +down at her worn and shabby frock.) "I have watched for him 'most +all day, but I haven't seen him, and the police ordered me +away."</p> +<p>"I will find him for you," said Keith, grimly.</p> +<p>"Oh, no! You mustn't--you mustn't say anything to him. It would +make him--it wouldn't do any good, and he'd never forgive me." She +coughed deeply.</p> +<p>"Phrony, you must go home," said Keith.</p> +<p>For a second a spasm shot over her face; then a ray of light +seemed to flit across it, and then it died out.</p> +<p>She shook her head.</p> +<p>"No, I'll never go back there," she said.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, you will--you must. I will take you back. The mountain +air will restore you, and--" She was shaking her head, but the look +in her eyes showed that she was thinking of something far off.</p> +<p>"No--no!"</p> +<p>"I will take you," repeated Keith. "Your grandfather will be--he +will be all right. He has just been here hunting for you."</p> +<p>The expression on her face was so singular that Keith put his +hand on her arm. To his horror, she burst into a laugh. It was so +unreal that men passing glanced at her quickly, and, as they passed +on, turned and looked back again.</p> +<p>"Well, good-by; I must find my husband," she said, holding out +her hand nervously and speaking in a hurried manner. "He's got the +baby with him. Tell 'em at home I'm right well, and the baby is +exactly like grandmother, but prettier, of course." She laughed +again as she turned away and started off hastily.</p> +<p>Keith caught up with her.</p> +<p>"But, Phrony--" But she hurried on, shaking her head, and +talking to herself about finding her baby and about its beauty. +Keith kept up with her, put his hand in his pocket, and taking out +several bills, handed them to her.</p> +<p>"Here, you must take this, and tell me where you are +staying."</p> +<p>She took the money mechanically.</p> +<p>"Where am I? Oh!--where am I staying? Sixteen Himmelstrasse, +third floor--yes, that's it. No:--18 Rue Petits Champs, +troisième étage. Oh, no:--241 Hill Street. I'll show +you the baby. I must get it now." And she sped away, coughing.</p> +<p>Keith, having watched her till she disappeared, walked on in +deep reflection, hardly knowing what course to take. Presently his +brow cleared. He turned and went rapidly back to the great office +building where Wickersham had his offices on the first floor. He +asked for Mr. Wickersham. A clerk came forward. Mr. Wickersham was +not in town. No, he did not know when he would be back.</p> +<p>After a few more questions as to the possible time of his +return, Keith left his card.</p> +<p>That evening Keith went to the address that Phrony had given +him. It was a small lodging-house of, perhaps, the tenth rate. The +dowdy woman in charge remembered a young woman such as he +described. She was ill and rather crazy and had left several weeks +before. She had no idea where she had gone. She did not know her +name. Sometimes she called herself "Miss Tripper," sometimes "Mrs. +Wickersham."</p> +<p>Keith took a cab and drove to the detective agency where Dave +Dennison had his office. Keith told him why he had come, and Dave +listened with tightened lips and eyes in which the flame burned +deeper and deeper.</p> +<p>"I'll find her," he said.</p> +<p>Having set Dennison to work, Keith next directed his steps +toward the commodious house to which the Rev. William H. Rimmon had +succeeded, along with the fashionable church and the fashionable +congregation which his uncle had left.</p> +<p>He was almost sure, from the name she had mentioned, that Mr. +Rimmon had performed the ceremony. Rimmon had from time to time +connected his name with matrimonial affairs which reflected little +credit on him.</p> +<p>From the time Mr. Rimmon had found his flattery and patience +rewarded, the pulpit from which Dr. Little had for years delivered +a well-weighed, if a somewhat dry, spiritual pabulum had +changed.</p> +<p>Mr. Rimmon knew his congregation too well to tax their patience +with any such doctrinal sermons as his uncle had been given to. He +treated his people instead to pleasant little discourses which were +as much like Epictetus and Seneca as St. John or St. Paul.</p> +<p>Fifteen minutes was his limit,--eighteen at the +outside,--weighed out like a ration. Doubtless, Mr. Rimmon had his +own idea of doing good. His assistants worked hard in back streets +and trod the dusty byways, succoring the small fry, while he +stepped on velvet carpets and cast his net for the larger fish.</p> +<p>Was not Dives as well worth saving as Lazarus--and better worth +it for Rimmon's purposes! And surely he was a more agreeable +dinner-companion. Besides, nothing was really proved against Dives; +and the crumbs from his table fed many a Lazarus.</p> +<p>But there were times when the Rev. William H. Rimmon had a +vision of other things: when the Rev. Mr. Rimmon, with his plump +cheeks and plump stomach, with his embroidered stoles and fine +surplices, his rich cassocks and hand-worked slippers, had a vision +of another life. He remembered the brief period when, thrown with a +number of earnest young men who had consecrated their lives to the +work of their Divine Master, he had had aspirations for something +essentially different from the life he now led. Sometimes, as he +would meet some hard-working, threadbare brother toiling among the +poor, who yet, for all his toil and narrowness of means, had in his +face that light that comes only from feasting on the living bread, +he envied him for a moment, and would gladly have exchanged for a +brief time the "good things" that he had fallen heir to for that +look of peace. These moments, however, were rare, and were +generally those that followed some evening of even greater +conviviality than usual, or some report that the stocks he had +gotten Ferdy Wickersham to buy for him had unexpectedly gone down, +so that he must make up his margins. When the margins had been made +up and the stocks had reacted, Mr. Rimmon was sufficiently well +satisfied with his own lot.</p> +<p>And of late Mr. Rimmon had determined to settle down. There were +those who said that Mr. Rimmon's voice took on a peculiarly +unctuous tone when a certain young widow, as noted for her wealth +as for her good looks and good nature entered the portals of his +church.</p> +<p>Keith now having rung the bell at Mr. Rimmon's pleasant rectory +and asked if he was at home, the servant said he would see. It is +astonishing how little servants in the city know of the movements +of their employers. How much better they must know their +characters!</p> +<p>A moment later the servant returned.</p> +<p>"Yes, Mr. Rimmon is in. He will be down directly; will the +gentleman wait?"</p> +<p>Keith took his seat and inspected the books on the table--a +number of magazines, a large work on Exegesis, several volumes of +poetry, the Social Register, and a society journal that contained +the gossip and scandal of the town.</p> +<p>Presently Mr. Rimmon was heard descending the stair. He had a +light footfall, extraordinarily light in one so stout; for he had +grown rounder with the years.</p> +<p>"Ah, Mr. Keith. I believe we have met before. What can I do for +you?" He held Keith's card in his hand, and was not only civil, but +almost cordial. But he did not ask Keith to sit down.</p> +<p>Keith said he had come to him hoping to obtain a little +information which he was seeking for a friend. He was almost +certain that Mr. Rimmon could give it to him.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. Well? I shall be very glad, I am sure, if I can be of +service to you. It is a part of our profession, you know. What is +it?"</p> +<p>"Why," said Keith, "it is in regard to a marriage ceremony--a +marriage that took place in this city three or four years ago, +about the middle of November three years ago. I think you possibly +performed the ceremony."</p> +<p>"Yes, yes. What are the names of the contracting parties? You +see, I solemnize a good many marriage ceremonies. For some reason, +a good many persons come to me. My church is rather--popular, you +see. I hate to have 'fashionable' applied to holy things. I cannot +tell without their names."</p> +<p>"Why, of course," said Keith, struck by the sudden assumption of +a business manner. "The parties were Ferdinand C. Wickersham and a +young girl, named Euphronia Tripper."</p> +<p>Keith was not consciously watching Mr. Rimmon, but the change in +him was so remarkable that it astonished him. His round jaw +actually dropped for a second. Keith knew instantly that he was the +man. His inquiry had struck home. The next moment, however, Mr. +Rimmon had recovered himself. A single glance shot out of his eyes, +so keen and suspicious that Keith was startled. Then his eyes half +closed again, veiling their flash of hostility.</p> +<p>"F.C. Wickershaw and Euphronia Trimmer?" he repeated half aloud, +shaking his head. "No, I don't remember any such names. No, I never +united in the bonds of matrimony any persons of those names. I am +quite positive." He spoke decisively.</p> +<p>"No, not Wicker<i>shaw</i>--F.C. Wicker<i>sham</i> and Euphronia +Tripper. Ferdy Wickersham--you know him. And the girl was named +Tripper; she might have called herself 'Phrony' Tripper."</p> +<p>"My dear sir, I cannot undertake to remember the names of all +the persons whom I happen to come in contact with in the +performance of my sacred functions," began Mr. Rimmon. His voice +had changed, and a certain querulousness had crept into it.</p> +<p>"No, I know that," said Keith, calmly; "but you must at least +remember whether within four years you performed a marriage +ceremony for a man whom you know as well as you know Ferdy +Wickersham--?"</p> +<p>"Ferdy Wickersham! Why don't you go and ask him?" demanded the +other, suddenly. "You appear to know him quite as well as I, and +certainly Mr. Wickersham knows quite as well as I whether or not he +is married. I know nothing of your reasons for persisting in this +investigation. It is quite irregular, I assure you. I don't know +that ever in the course of my life I knew quite such a case. A +clergyman performs many functions simply as a ministerial official. +I should think that the most natural way of procedure would be to +ask Mr. Wickersham."</p> +<p>"Certainly it might be. But whatever my reason may be, I have +come to ask you. As a matter of fact, Mr. Wickersham took this +young girl away from her home. I taught her when she was a +school-girl. Her grandfather, who brought her up, is a friend of +mine. I wish to clear her good name. I have reason to think that +she was legally married here in New York, and that you performed +the ceremony, and I came to ask you whether you did so or not. It +is a simple question. You can at least say whether you did so or +did not. I assumed that as a minister you would be glad to help +clear a young woman's good name."</p> +<p>"And I have already answered you," said Mr. Rimmon, who, while +Keith was speaking, had been forming his reply.</p> +<p>Keith flushed.</p> +<p>"Why, you have not answered me at all. If you have, you can +certainly have no objection to doing me the favor of repeating it. +Will you do me the favor to repeat it? Did you or did you not marry +Ferdy Wickersham to a young girl about three years ago?"</p> +<p>"My dear sir, I have told you that I do not recognize your right +to interrogate me in this manner. I know nothing about your +authority to pursue this investigation, and I refuse to continue +this conversation any longer."</p> +<p>"Then you refuse to give me any information whatever?" Keith was +now very angry, and, as usual, very quiet, with a certain line +about his mouth, and his eyes very keen.</p> +<p>"I do most emphatically refuse to give you any information +whatever. I decline, indeed, to hold any further communication with +you," (Keith was yet quieter,) "and I may add that I consider your +entrance here an intrusion and your manner little short of an +impertinence." He rose on his toes and fell on his heels, with, the +motion which Keith had remarked the first time he met him.</p> +<p>Keith fastened his eye on him.</p> +<p>"You do?" he said. "You think all that? You consider even my +entrance to ask you, a minister of the Gospel, a question that any +good man would have been glad to answer, 'an intrusion'? Now I am +going; but before I go I wish to tell you one or two things. I have +heard reports about you, but I did not believe them. I have known +men of your cloth, the holiest men on earth, saints of God, who +devoted their lives to doing good. I was brought up to believe that +a clergyman must be a good man. I could not credit the stories I +have heard coupled with your name. I now believe them true, or, at +least, possible."</p> +<p>Mr. Riminon's face was purple with rage. He stepped forward with +uplifted hand.</p> +<p>"How dare you, sir!" he began.</p> +<p>"I dare much more," said Keith, quietly.</p> +<p>"You take advantage of my cloth--!"</p> +<p>"Oh, no; I do not. I have one more thing to say to you before I +go. I wish to tell you that one of the shrewdest detectives in New +York is at work on this case. I advise you to be careful, for when +you fall you will fall far. Good day."</p> +<p>He left Mr. Rimmon shaken and white. His indefinite threats had +struck him more deeply than any direct charge could have done. For +Mr. Rimmon knew of acts of which Keith could not have dreamed.</p> +<p>When he rose he went to his sideboard, and, taking out a bottle, +poured out a stiff drink and tossed it off. "I feel badly," he said +to himself: "I have allowed that--that fellow to excite me, and Dr. +Splint said I must not get excited. I did pretty well, though; I +gave him not the least information, and yet I did not tell a +falsehood, an actual falsehood."</p> +<p>With the composure that the stimulant brought, a thought +occurred to him. He sat down and wrote a note to Wickersham, and, +marking it, "Private," sent it by a messenger.</p> +<p>The note read:</p> +<p>"DEAR FERDY: I must see you without an hour's delay on a matter +of the greatest possible importance. Tripper-business. Your friend +K. has started investigation; claims to have inside facts. I shall +wait at my house for reply. If impossible for you to come +immediately, I will run down to your office.</p> +<p>"Yours, RIMMON."</p> +<p>When Mr. Wickersham received this note, he was in his office. He +frowned as he glanced at the handwriting. He said to himself:</p> +<p>"He wants more money, I suppose. He is always after money, curse +him. He must deal in some other office as well as in this." He +started to toss the note aside, but on second thought he tore it +open. For a moment he looked puzzled, then a blank expression +passed over his face.</p> +<p>He turned to the messenger-boy, who was waiting and chewing gum +with the stolidity of an automaton.</p> +<p>"Did they tell you to wait for an answer?"</p> +<p>"Sure!"</p> +<p>He leant over and scribbled a line and sealed it. "Take that +back."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir." The automaton departed, glancing from side to side +and chewing diligently.</p> +<p>The note read: "Will meet you at club at five."</p> +<p>As the messenger passed up the street, a smallish man who had +come down-town on the same car with him, and had been reading a +newspaper on the street for some little time, crossed over and +accosted him.</p> +<p>"Can you take a note for me?"</p> +<p>"Where to?"</p> +<p>"Up-town. Where are you going?"</p> +<p>The boy showed his note.</p> +<p>"Um--hum! Well, my note will be right on your way." He scribbled +a line. It read: "Can't be back till eight. Look out for Shepherd. +Pay boy 25 if delivered before four."</p> +<p>"You drop this at that number before four o'clock and you'll get +a quarter."</p> +<p>Then he passed on.</p> +<p>That afternoon Keith walked up toward the Park. All day he had +been trying to find Phrony, and laying plans for her relief when +she should be found. The avenue was thronged with gay equipages and +richly dressed women, yet among all his friends in New York there +was but one woman to whom he could apply in such a case--Alice +Lancaster. Old Mrs. Wentworth would have been another, but he could +not go to her now, since his breach with Norman. He knew that there +were hundreds of good, kind women; they were all about him, but he +did not know them. He had chosen his friends in another set. The +fact that he knew no others to whom he could apply struck a sort of +chill to his heart. He felt lonely and depressed. He determined to +go to Dr. Templeton. There, at least, he was sure of sympathy.</p> +<p>He turned to go back down-town, and at a little distance caught +sight of Lois Huntington. Suddenly a light appeared to break in on +his gloom. Here was a woman to whom he could confide his trouble +with the certainty of sympathy. As they walked along he told her of +Phrony; of her elopement; of her being deserted; and of his chance +meeting with her and her disappearance again. He did not mention +Wickersham, for he felt that until he had the proof of his marriage +he had no right to do so.</p> +<p>"Why, I remember that old, man, Mr. Rawson," said Lois. "It was +where my father stayed for a while?" Her voice was full of +tenderness.</p> +<p>"Yes. It is his granddaughter."</p> +<p>"I remember her kindness to me. We must find her. I will help +you." Her face was sweet with tender sympathy, her eyes luminous +with firm resolve.</p> +<p>Keith gazed at her with a warm feeling surging about his heart. +Suddenly the color deepened in her cheeks; her expression changed; +a sudden flame seemed to dart into her eyes.</p> +<p>"I wish I knew that man!"</p> +<p>"What would you do?" demanded Keith, smiling at her +fierceness.</p> +<p>"I'd make him suffer all his life." She looked the incarnation +of vengeance.</p> +<p>"Such a man would be hard to make suffer," hazarded Keith.</p> +<p>"Not if I could find him."</p> +<p>Keith soon left her to carry out his determination, and Lois +went to see Mrs. Lancaster, and told her the story she had heard. +It found sympathetic ears, and the next day Lois and Mrs. Lancaster +were hard at work quietly trying to find the unfortunate woman. +They went to Dr. Templeton; but, unfortunately, the old man was ill +in bed.</p> +<p>The next afternoon, Keith caught sight of Lois walking up the +street with some one; and when he got nearer her it was Wickersham. +They were so absorbed that Keith passed without either of them +seeing him. He walked on with more than wonder in his heart. The +meeting, however, had been wholly accidental on Lois's part.</p> +<p>Wickersham of late had frequently fallen in with Lois when she +was out walking. And this afternoon he had hardly joined her when +she began to speak of the subject that had been uppermost in her +mind all day. She did not mention any names, but told the story +just as she had heard it.</p> +<p>Fortunately for Wickersham, she was so much engrossed in her +recital that she did not observe her companion's face until he had +recovered himself. He had fallen a little behind her and did not +interrupt her until he had quite mastered himself. Then he asked +quietly:</p> +<p>"Where did you get that story?"</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith told me."</p> +<p>"And he said the man who did that was a 'gentleman'?"</p> +<p>"No, he did not say that; he did not give me the least idea who +it was. Do you know who it was?"</p> +<p>The question was so unexpected that Wickersham for a moment was +confounded. Then he saw that she was quite innocent. He almost +gasped.</p> +<p>"I? How could I? I have heard that story--that is, something of +it. It is not as Mr. Keith related it. He has some of the facts +wrong. I will tell you the true story if you will promise not to +say anything about it."</p> +<p>Lois promised.</p> +<p>"Well, the truth is that the poor creature was crazy; she took +it into her head that she was married to some one, and ran away +from home to try and find him. At one time she said it was a Mr. +Wagram; then it was a man named Plume, a drunken sot; then I think +she for a time fancied it was Mr. Keith himself; and"--he glanced +at her quickly--"I am not sure she did not claim me once. I knew +her slightly. Poor thing! she was quite insane."</p> +<p>"Poor thing!" sighed Lois, softly. She felt more kindly toward +Wickersham than she had ever done before.</p> +<p>"I shall do what I can to help you find her," he added.</p> +<p>"Thank you. I hope you may be successful."</p> +<p>"I hope so," said Wickersham, sincerely.</p> +<p>That evening Wickersham called on Mr. Rimmon, and the two were +together for some time. The meeting was not wholly an amicable one. +Wickersham demanded something that Mr. Rimmon was unwilling to +comply with, though the former made him an offer at which his eyes +glistened. He had offered to carry his stock for him as long as he +wanted it carried. Mr. Rimmon showed him his register to satisfy +him that no entry had been made there of the ceremony he had +performed that night a few years before; but he was unwilling to +write him a certificate that he had not performed such a ceremony. +He was not willing to write a falsehood.</p> +<p>Wickersham grew angry.</p> +<p>"Now look here, Rimmon," he said, "you know perfectly well that +I never meant to marry that--to marry any one. You know that I was +drunk that night, and did not know what I was doing, and that what +I did was out of kindness of heart to quiet the poor little +fool."</p> +<p>"But you married her in the presence of a witness," said Mr. +Rimmon, slowly. "And I gave him her certificate."</p> +<p>"You must have been mistaken. I have the affidavit of the man +that he signed nothing of the kind. I give you my word of honor as +to that. Write me the letter I want." He pushed the decanter on the +table nearer to Rimmon, who poured out a drink and took it slowly. +It appeared to give him courage, for after a moment he shook his +head.</p> +<p>"I cannot."</p> +<p>Wickersham looked at him with level eyes.</p> +<p>"You will do it, or I will sell you out," he said coldly.</p> +<p>"You cannot. You promised to carry that stock for me till I +could pay up the margins."</p> +<p>"Write me that letter, or I will turn you out of your pulpit. +You know what will happen if I tell what I know of you."</p> +<p>The other man's face turned white.</p> +<p>"You would not be so base."</p> +<p>Wickersham rose and buttoned up his coat.</p> +<p>"It will be in the papers day after to-morrow."</p> +<p>"Wait," gasped Rimmon. "I will see what I can say." He poured a +drink out of the decanter, and gulped it down. Then he seized a pen +and a sheet of paper and began to write. He wrote with care.</p> +<p>"Will this do?" he asked tremulously.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"You promise not to use it unless you have to?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"And to carry the stock for me till it reacts and lets me +out?"</p> +<p>"I will make no more promises."</p> +<p>"But you did promise--," began Mr. Rimmon.</p> +<p>Wickersham put the letter in his pocket, and taking up his hat, +walked out without a word. But his eyes glinted with a curious +light.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> +<h3>ALICE LANCASTER FINDS PHRONY</h3> +<p>Mr. Rimmon was calling at Mrs. Lancaster's a few days after his +interview with Keith and the day following the interview with +Wickersham. Mr. Rimmon called at Mrs. Lancaster's quite frequently +of late. They had known each other a long time, almost ever since +Mr. Rimmon had been an acolyte at his uncle Dr. Little's church, +when the stout young man had first discovered the slim, straight +figure and pretty face, with its blue eyes and rosy mouth, in one +of the best pews, with a richly dressed lady beside her. He had +soon learned that this was Miss Alice Yorke, the only daughter of +one of the wealthiest men in town. Miss Alice was then very devout: +just at the age and stage when she bent particularly low on all the +occasions when such bowing is held seemly. And the mind of the +young man was not unnaturally affected by her devoutness.</p> +<p>Since then Mr. Rimmon had never quite banished her from his +mind, except, of course, during the brief interval when she had +been a wife. When she became a widow she resumed her place with +renewed power. And of late Mr. Rimmon had begun to have hope.</p> +<p>Now Mr. Rimmon was far from easy in his mind. He knew something +of Keith's attention to Mrs. Lancaster; but it had never occurred +to him until lately that he might be successful. Wickersham he had +feared at times; but Wickersham's habits had reassured him. Mrs. +Lancaster would hardly marry him. Now, however, he had an uneasy +feeling that Keith might injure him, and he called partly to +ascertain how the ground lay, and partly to forestall any possible +injury Keith might do. To his relief, he found Mrs. Lancaster more +cordial than usual. The line of conversation he adopted was quite +spiritual, and he felt elevated by it. Mrs. Lancaster also was +visibly impressed. Presently she said: "Mr. Rimmon, I want you to +do me a favor."</p> +<p>"Even to the half of my kingdom," said Mr. Rimmon, bowing with +his plump hand on his plump bosom.</p> +<p>"It is not so much as that; it is only a little of your time +and, maybe, a little of your company. I have just heard of a poor +young woman here who seems to be in quite a desperate way. She has +been abandoned by her husband, and is now quite ill. The person who +told me, one of those good women who are always seeking out such +cases, tells me that she has rarely seen a more pitiable case. The +poor thing is absolutely destitute. Mrs. King tells me she has seen +better days."</p> +<p>For some reason, perhaps, that the circumstances called up not +wholly pleasant associations, Mr. Rimmon's face fell a little at +the picture drawn. He did not respond with the alacrity Mrs. +Lancaster had expected.</p> +<p>"Of course, I will do it, if you wish it--or I could have some +of our workers look up the case, and, if the facts warrant it, +could apply some of our alms to its relief. I should think, +however, the woman is rather a fit subject for a hospital. Why +hasn't she been sent to a hospital, I wonder?"</p> +<p>"I don't know. No, that is not exactly what I meant," declared +Mrs. Lancaster. "I thought I would go myself and that, as Dr. +Templeton is ill, perhaps you would go with me. She seems to be in +great distress of mind, and possibly you might be able to comfort +her. I have never forgotten what an unspeakable comfort your uncle +was when we were in trouble years ago."</p> +<p>"Oh, of course, I will go with you," said the divine. "There is +no place, dear lady, where I would not go in such company," he +added, his head as much on one side as his stout neck would allow, +and his eyes as languishing as he dared make them.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster, however, did not appear to notice this. Her face +did not change.</p> +<p>"Very well, then: we will go to-morrow. I will come around and +pick you up. I will get the address."</p> +<p>So the following morning Mrs. Lancaster's carriage stopped in +front of the comfortable house which adjoined Mr. Rimmon's church, +and after a little while that gentleman came down the steps. He was +not in a happy frame of mind, for stocks had fallen heavily the day +before, and he had just received a note from Ferdy Wickersham. +However, as he settled his plump person beside the lady, the Rev. +William H. Rimmon was as well-satisfied-looking as any man on earth +could be. Who can blame him if he thought how sweet it would be if +he could drive thus always!</p> +<p>The carriage presently stopped at the entrance of a narrow +street that ran down toward the river. The coachman appeared +unwilling to drive down so wretched an alley, and waited for +further instructions. After a few words the clergyman and Mrs. +Lancaster got out.</p> +<p>"You wait here, James; we will walk." They made their way down +the street, through a multitude of curious children with one common +attribute, dirt, examining the numbers on either side, and +commiserating the poor creatures who had to live in such +squalor.</p> +<p>Presently Mrs. Lancaster stopped.</p> +<p>"This is the number."</p> +<p>It was an old house between two other old houses.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster made some inquiries of a slatternly woman who sat +sewing just inside the doorway, and the latter said there was such +a person as she asked for in a room on the fourth floor. She knew +nothing about her except that she was very sick and mostly out of +her head. The health-doctor had been to see her, and talked about +sending her to a hospital.</p> +<p>The three made their way up the narrow stairs and through the +dark passages, so dark that matches had to be lighted to show them +the way. Several times Mr. Rimmon protested against Mrs. Lancaster +going farther. Such holes were abominable; some one ought to be +prosecuted for it. Finally the woman stopped at a door.</p> +<p>"She's in here." She pushed the door open without knocking, and +walked in, followed by Mrs. Lancaster and Mr. Rimmon. It was a +cupboard hardly more than ten feet square, with a little window +that looked out on a dead-wall not more than an arm's-length +away.</p> +<p>A bed, a table made of an old box, and another box which served +as a stool, constituted most of the furniture, and in the bed, +under a ragged coverlid, lay the form of the sick woman.</p> +<p>"There's a lady and a priest come to see you," said the guide, +not unkindly. She turned to Mrs. Lancaster. "I don't know as you +can make much of her. Sometimes she's right flighty."</p> +<p>The sick woman turned her head a little and looked at them out +of her sunken eyes.</p> +<p>"Thank you. Won't you be seated?" she said, with a politeness +and a softness of tone that sounded almost uncanny coming from such +a source.</p> +<p>"We heard that you were sick, and have come to see if we could +not help you," said Mrs. Lancaster, in a tone of sympathy, leaning +over the bed.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Rimmon, in his full, rich voice, which made the +little room resound; "it is our high province to minister to the +sick, and through the kindness of this dear lady we may be able to +remove you to more commodious quarters--to some one of the +charitable institutions which noble people like our friend here +have endowed for such persons as yourself?"</p> +<br> +<a name="p422.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p422.jpg"><img src="images/p422.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"It is he! 'Tis he!" she cried.</b></p> +<br> +<p>Something about the full-toned voice with its rising inflection +caught the invalid's attention, and she turned her eyes on him with +a quick glance, and, half raising her head, scanned his face +closely.</p> +<p>"Mr. Rimmon, here, may be able to help you in other ways too," +Mrs. Lancaster again began; but she got no further. The name +appeared to electrify the woman.</p> +<p>With a shriek she sat up in bed.</p> +<p>"It is he! 'Tis he!" she cried. "You are the very one. You will +help me, won't you? You will find him and bring him back to me?" +She reached out her thin arms to him in an agony of +supplication.</p> +<p>"I will help you,--I shall be glad to do so,--but whom am I to +bring back? How can I help you?"</p> +<p>"My husband--Ferdy--Mr. Wickersham. I am the girl you married +that night to Ferdy Wickersham. Don't you remember? You will bring +him back to me? I know he would come if he knew."</p> +<p>The effect that her words, and even more her earnestness, +produced was remarkable. Mrs. Lancaster stood in speechless +astonishment.</p> +<p>Mr. Rimmon for a moment turned ashy pale. Then he recovered +himself.</p> +<p>"She is quite mad," he said in a low tone to Mrs. Lancaster. "I +think we had better go. She should be removed to an asylum."</p> +<p>But Mrs. Lancaster could not go. Just then the woman stretched +out her arms to her.</p> +<p>"You will help me? You are a lady. I loved him so. I gave up all +for him. He married me. Didn't you marry us, sir? Say you did. Mr. +Plume lost the paper, but you will give me another, won't you?"</p> +<p>The commiseration in Mr. Rimmon's pale face grew deeper and +deeper. He rolled his eyes and shook his head sadly.</p> +<p>"Quite mad--quite mad," he said in an undertone. And, indeed, +the next moment it appeared but too true, for with a laugh the poor +creature began a babble of her child and its beauty. "Just like its +father. Dark eyes and brown hair. Won't he be glad to see it when +he comes? Have you children?" she suddenly asked Mrs. +Lancaster.</p> +<p>"No." She shook her head.</p> +<p>Then a strange thing happened.</p> +<p>"I am so sorry for you," the poor woman said. And the next +second she added: "I want to show mine to Alice Yorke. She is the +only lady I know in New York. I used to know her when I was a young +girl, and I used to be jealous of her, because I thought Ferdy was +in love with her. But he was not, never a bit."</p> +<p>"Come away," said Mr. Rimmon to Mrs. Lancaster. "She is crazy +and may become violent."</p> +<p>But he was too late; the whole truth was dawning on Mrs. +Lancaster. A faint likeness had come to her, a memory of a far-back +time. She ignored him, and stepped closer to the bed.</p> +<p>"What is your name?" she asked in a kind voice, bending toward +the woman and taking her hand.</p> +<p>"Euphronia Tripper; but I am now Mrs. Wickersham. He married +us." She turned her deep eyes on Mr. Rimmon. At sight of him a +change came over her face.</p> +<p>"Where is my husband?" she demanded. "I wrote to you to bring +him. Won't you bring him?"</p> +<p>"Quite mad--quite mad!" repeated Mr. Rimmon, shaking his head +solemnly, and turning his gaze on Mrs. Lancaster. But he saw his +peril. Mrs. Lancaster took no notice of him. She began to talk to +the woman at the door, and gave her a few directions, together with +some money. Then she advanced once more to the bed.</p> +<p>"I want to make you comfortable. I will send some one to take +care of you." She shook hands with her softly, pulled down her +veil, and then, half turning to Mr. Rimmon, said quietly, "I am +ready."</p> +<p>As they stepped into the street, Mr. Rimmon observed at a little +distance a man who had something familiar about him, but the next +second he passed out of sight.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster walked silently down the dirty street without +turning her head or speaking to the preacher, who stepped along a +little behind her, his mind full of misgiving.</p> +<p>Mr. Rimmon, perhaps, did as hard thinking in those few minutes +as he had ever done during the whole course of his life. It was a +serious and delicate position. His reputation, his position, +perhaps even his profession, depended on the result. He must sound +his companion and placate her at any cost.</p> +<p>"That is one of the saddest spectacles I ever saw," he +began.</p> +<p>To this Mrs. Lancaster vouchsafed no reply.</p> +<p>"She is quite mad."</p> +<p>"No wonder!"</p> +<p>"Ah, yes. What do you think of her?"</p> +<p>"That she is Ferdy Wickersham's wife--or ought to be."</p> +<p>"Ah, yes." Here was a gleam of light. "But she is so insane that +very little reliance should be placed on anything that she says. In +such instances, you know, women make the most preposterous +statements and believe them. In her condition, she might just as +well have claimed me for her husband."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster recognized this, and looked just a little +relieved. She turned as if about to speak, but shut her lips +tightly and walked on to the waiting carriage. And during the rest +of the return home she scarcely uttered a word.</p> +<p>An hour later Ferdy Wickersham was seated in his private office, +when Mr. Rimmon walked in.</p> +<p>Wickersham greeted him with more courtesy than he usually showed +him.</p> +<p>"Well," he said, "what is it?"</p> +<p>"Well, it's come."</p> +<p>Wickersham laughed unmirthfully. "What? You have been found out? +Which commandment have you been caught violating?"</p> +<p>"No; it's you," said Mr. Rimmon, his eyes on Wickersham, with a +gleam of retaliation in them. "Your wife has turned up." He was +gratified to see Wickersham's cold face turn white. It was a sweet +revenge.</p> +<p>"My wife! I have no wife." Wickersham looked him steadily in the +eyes.</p> +<p>"You had one, and she is in town."</p> +<p>"I have no wife," repeated Wickersham, firmly, not taking his +eyes from the clergyman's face. What he saw there did not satisfy +him. "I have your statement."</p> +<p>The other hesitated and reflected.</p> +<p>"I wish you would give me that back. I was in great distress of +mind when I gave you that."</p> +<p>"You did not give it," said Wickersham. "You sold it." His lip +curled.</p> +<p>"I was--what you said you were when it occurred," said Mr. +Rimmon. "I was not altogether responsible."</p> +<p>"You were sober enough to make me carry a thousand shares of +weak stock for you till yesterday, when it fell twenty points," +said Wickersham. "Oh, I guess you were sober enough."</p> +<p>"She is in town," said Rimmon, in a dull voice.</p> +<p>"Who says so?"</p> +<p>"I have seen her."</p> +<p>"Where is she?"--indifferently.</p> +<p>"She is ill. She is mad."</p> +<p>Wickersham's face settled a little. His eyes blinked as if a +blow had been aimed at him nearly. Then he recovered his poise.</p> +<p>"How mad?"</p> +<p>"As mad as a March hare."</p> +<p>"You can attend to it," he said, looking the clergyman full in +the face. "I don't want her to suffer. There will be some expense. +Can you get her into a comfortable place for--for a thousand +dollars?"</p> +<p>"I will try. The poor creature would be better off," said the +other, persuading himself. "She cannot last long. She is a very ill +woman."</p> +<p>Wickersham either did not hear or pretended not to hear.</p> +<p>"You go ahead and do it. I will send you the money the day after +it is done," he said. "Money is very tight to-day, almost a panic +at the board."</p> +<p>"That stock? You will not trouble me about it?"</p> +<p>Wickersham growled something about being very busy, and rose and +bowed the visitor out. The two men shook hands formally at the door +of the inner office; but it was a malevolent look that Wickersham +shot at the other's stout back as he walked out.</p> +<p>As Mr. Rimmon came out of the office he caught sight of the +short, stout man he had seen in the street to which he had gone +with Mrs. Lancaster. Suddenly the association of ideas brought to +him Keith's threat. He was shadowed. A perspiration broke out over +him.</p> +<p>Wickersham went back to his private office, and began once more +on his books. What he saw there was what he began to see on all +sides: ruin. He sat back in his chair and reflected. His face, +which had begun to grow thinner of late, as well as harder, settled +more and more until it looked like gray stone. Presently he rose, +and locking his desk carefully, left his office.</p> +<p>As he reached the street, a man, who had evidently been waiting +for him, walked up and spoke to him. He was a tall, thin, shabby +man, with a face and figure on which drink was written +ineffaceably. Wickersham, without looking at him, made an angry +gesture and hastened his step. The other, however, did the same, +and at his shoulder began to whine.</p> +<p>"Mr. Wickersham, just a word."</p> +<p>"Get out," said Wickersham, still walking on. "I told you never +to speak to me again."</p> +<p>"I have a paper that you'd give a million dollars to get hold +of."</p> +<p>Wickersham's countenance showed not the least change.</p> +<p>"If you don't keep away from here, I'll hand you over to the +police."</p> +<p>"If you'll just give me a dollar I'll swear never to trouble you +again. I have not had a mouthful to eat to-day. You won't let me +starve?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I will. Starve and be ---- to you!" He suddenly stopped +and faced the other. "Plume, I wouldn't give you a cent if you were +actually starving. Do you see that policeman? If you don't leave me +this minute, I'll hand you over to him. And if you ever speak to me +again or write to me again, or if I find you on the street about +here, I'll arrest you and send you down for blackmail and stealing. +Now do you understand?"</p> +<p>The man turned and silently shuffled away, his face working and +a glint in his bleared eye.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>An evening or two later Dave Dennison reported to Keith that he +had found Phrony. Dave's face was black with hate, and his voice +was tense with suppressed feeling.</p> +<p>"How did you find her?" inquired Keith.</p> +<p>"Shadowed the preacher. Knew he and that man had been +confabbin'. She's clean gone," he added. "They've destroyed her. +She didn't know me." His face worked, and an ominous fire burned in +his eyes.</p> +<p>"We must get her home."</p> +<p>"She can't go. You'd never know her. We'll have to put her in an +asylum."</p> +<p>Something in his voice made Keith look at him. He met his +gaze.</p> +<p>"They're getting ready to do it--that man and the preacher. But +I don't mean 'em to have anything more to do with her. They've done +their worst. Now let 'em keep away from her."</p> +<p>Keith nodded his acquiescence.</p> +<p>That evening Keith went to see a doctor he knew, and next day, +through his intervention, Phrony was removed to the private ward of +an asylum, where she was made as comfortable as possible.</p> +<p>It was evident that she had not much longer to stay. But God had +been merciful to her. She babbled of her baby and her happiness at +seeing it soon. And a small, strongly built man with grave eyes sat +by her in the ambulance, and told her stories of it with a +fertility of invention that amazed the doctor who had her in +charge.</p> +<p>When Mr. Rimmon's agents called next day to make the preliminary +arrangements for carrying out his agreement with Wickersham, they +found the room empty. The woman who had charge of the house had +been duly "fixed" by Dave, and she told a story sufficiently +plausible to pass muster. The sick woman had disappeared at night +and had gone she did not know where. She was afraid she might have +made away with herself, as she was out of her head. This was +verified, and this was the story that went back to Mr. Rimmon and +finally to Ferdy Wickersham. A little later the body of a woman was +found in the river, and though there was nothing to identify her, +it was stated in one of the papers that there was good ground for +believing that she was the demented woman whose disappearance had +been reported the week before.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> +<h3>THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE</h3> +<br> +<p>One day after Phrony was removed, Keith was sitting in the +office he had taken in New York, working on the final papers which +were to be exchanged when his deal should be completed, when there +was a tap at the door. A knock at the door is almost as individual +as a voice. There was something about this knock that awakened +associations in Keith's mind. It was not a woman's tap, yet Terpy +and Phrony Tripper both sprang into Keith's mind.</p> +<p>Almost at the same moment the door opened slowly, and pausing on +the threshold stood J. Quincy Plume. But how changed from the Mr. +Plume of yore, the jovial and jocund manager of the Gumbolt +<i>Whistle</i>, or the florid and flowery editor of the New Leeds +<i>Clarion</i>!</p> +<p>The apparition in the door was a shabby representation of what +J. Quincy Plume had been in his palmy days. He bore the last marks +of extreme dissipation; his eyes were dull, his face bloated, and +his hair thin and long. His clothes looked as if they had served +him by night as well as by day for a long time. His shoes were +broken, and his hat, once the emblem of his station and high +spirits, was battered and rusty.</p> +<p>"How are you, Mr. Keith?" he began boldly enough. But his +assumption of something of his old air of bravado died out under +Keith's icy and steady gaze, and he stepped only inside of the +room, and, taking off his hat, waited uneasily.</p> +<p>"What do you want of me?" demanded Keith, leaning back in his +chair and looking at him coldly.</p> +<p>"Well, I thought I would like to have a little talk with you +about a matter--"</p> +<p>Keith, without taking his eyes from his face, shook his head +slowly.</p> +<p>"About a friend of yours," continued Plume.</p> +<p>Again Keith shook his head very slowly.</p> +<p>"I have a little information that might be of use to you--that +you'd like to have."</p> +<p>"I don't want it."</p> +<p>"You would if you knew what it was."</p> +<p>"No."</p> +<p>"Yes, you would. It's about Squire Rawson's granddaughter--about +her marriage to that man Wickersham."</p> +<p>"How much do you want for it?" demanded Keith.</p> +<p>Plume advanced slowly into the room and looked at a chair.</p> +<p>"Don't sit down. How much do you want for it?" repeated +Keith.</p> +<p>"Well, you are a rich man now, and--"</p> +<p>"I thought so." Keith rose. "However rich I am, I will not pay +you a cent." He motioned Plume to the door.</p> +<p>"Oh, well, if that's the way you take it!" Plume drew himself up +and stalked to the door. Keith reseated himself and again took up +his pen.</p> +<p>At the door Plume turned and saw that Keith had put him out of +his mind and was at work again.</p> +<p>"Yes, Keith, if you knew what information I have--"</p> +<p>Keith sat up suddenly.</p> +<p>"Go out of here!"</p> +<p>"If you'd only listen--"</p> +<p>Keith stood up, with a sudden flame in his eyes.</p> +<p>"Go on, I say. If you do not, I will put you out. It is as much +as I can do to keep my hands off you. You could not say a word that +I would believe on any subject."</p> +<p>"I will swear to this."</p> +<p>"Your oath would add nothing to it."</p> +<p>Plume waited, and after a moment's reflection began in a +different key.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith, I did not come here to sell you anything--"</p> +<p>"Yes, you did."</p> +<p>"No, I did not. I did not come--only for that. If I could have +sold it, I don't say I wouldn't, for I need money--the Lord knows +how much I need it! I have not a cent in the world to buy me a +mouthful to eat--or drink. I came to tell you something that only +<i>I</i> know--"</p> +<p>"I have told you that I would not believe you on oath," began +Keith, impatiently.</p> +<p>"But you will, for it is true; and I tell it not out of love for +you (though I never disliked--I always liked you--would have liked +you if you'd have let me), but out of hate for that--. That man has +treated me shamefully--worse than a yellow dog! I've done for that +man what I wouldn't have done for my brother. You know what I've +done for him, Mr. Keith, and now when he's got no further use for +me, he kicks me out into the street and threatens to give me to the +police if I come to him again."</p> +<p>Keith's expression changed. There was no doubt now that for once +Quincy Plume was sincere. The hate in his bleared eyes and bloated +face was unfeigned.</p> +<p>"Give me to the police! I'll give him to the police!" he broke +out in a sudden flame at Keith's glance of inspection. "He thinks +he has been very smart in taking from me all the papers. He thinks +no one will believe me on my mere word, but I've got a paper he +don't know of."</p> +<p>His hand went to the breast of his threadbare coat with an angry +clutch. "I've got the marriage lines of his wife."</p> +<p>One word caught Keith, and his interest awoke.</p> +<p>"What wife?" he asked as indifferently as he could.</p> +<p>"His wife,--his lawful wife,--Squire Rawson's granddaughter, +Phrony Tripper. I was at the weddin'--I was a witness. He thought +he could get out of it, and he was half drunk; but he married +her."</p> +<p>"Where? When? You were present?"</p> +<p>"Yes. They were married by a preacher named Rimmon, and he gave +me her certificate, and I swore to her I had lost it: <i>he</i> got +me to do it--the scoundrel! He wanted me to give it to him; but I +swore to him I had lost it, too. I thought it would be of use some +of these days." A gleam of the old craftiness shone in his +eyes.</p> +<p>Keith gazed at the man in amazement. His unblushing effrontery +staggered him.</p> +<p>"Would you mind letting me see that certificate?"</p> +<p>Plume hesitated and licked his ups like a dog held back from a +bone. Keith noted it.</p> +<p>"I do not want you to think that I will give you any money for +it, for I will not," he added quietly, his gray eyes on him.</p> +<p>For a moment Plume was so taken aback that his face became a +blank. Then, whether it was that the very frankness of the speech +struck home to him or that he wished to secure a fragment of esteem +from Keith, he recovered himself.</p> +<p>"I don't expect any money for it, Mr. Keith. I don't want any +money for it. I will not only show you this paper, I will give it +to you."</p> +<p>"It is not yours to give," said Keith. "It belongs to Mrs. +Wickersham. I will see that she gets it if you deliver it to +me."</p> +<p>"That's so," ejaculated Plume, as if the thought had never +occurred to him before. "I want her to have it, but you'd better +keep it for her. That man will get it away from her. You don't know +him as I do. You don't know what he'd do on a pinch. I tell you he +is a gambler for life. I have seen him sit at the board and stake +sums that would have made me rich for life. Besides," he added, as +if he needed some other reason for giving it up, "I am afraid if he +knew I had it he'd get it from me in some way."</p> +<p>He walked forward and handed the paper to Keith, who saw at a +glance that it was what Plume had declared it to be: a marriage +certificate, dirty and worn, but still with signatures that +appeared to be genuine. Keith's eyes flashed with satisfaction as +he read the name of the Rev. William H. Rimmon and Plume's name, +evidently written with the same ink at the same time.</p> +<p>"Now," said Keith, looking up from the paper, "I will see that +Mrs. Wickersham's family is put in possession of this paper."</p> +<p>"Couldn't you lend me a small sum, Mr. Keith," asked Plume, +wheedlingly, "just for old times' sake? I know I have done you +wrong and given you good cause to hate me, but it wasn't my fault, +an' I've done you a favor to-day, anyhow."</p> +<p>Keith looked at him for a second, and put his hand in his +pocket.</p> +<p>"I'll pay you back, as sure as I live--" began Plume, +cajolingly.</p> +<p>"No, you will not," said Keith, sharply. "You could not if you +would, and would not if you could, and I would not lend you a cent +or have a business transaction with you for all the money in New +York. I will give you this--for the person you have most injured in +life. Now, don't thank me for it, but go."</p> +<p>Plume took, with glistening eyes and profuse thanks, the bills +that were handed out to him, and shambled out of the room.</p> +<p>That night Keith, having shown the signatures to a good expert, +who pronounced them genuine, telegraphed Dr. Balsam to notify +Squire Rawson that he had the proof of Phrony's marriage. The +Doctor went over to see the old squire. He mentioned the matter +casually, for he knew his man. But as well as he knew him, he found +himself mistaken in him.</p> +<p>"I know that," he said quietly, "but what I want is to find +Phrony." His deep eyes glowed for a while and suddenly flamed. "I'm +a rich man," he broke out, "but I'd give every dollar I ever owned +to get her back, and to get my hand once on that man."</p> +<p>The deep fire glowed for a while and then grew dull again, and +the old man sank back into his former grim silence.</p> +<p>The Doctor looked at him commiseratingly. Keith had written him +fully of Phrony and her condition, and he had decided to say +nothing to the old grandfather.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> +<h3>"SNUGGLERS' ROOST"</h3> +<br> +<p>Wickersham began to renew his visits to Mrs. Wentworth, which he +had discontinued for a time when he had found himself repulsed. The +repulse had stimulated his desire to win her; but he had a further +motive. Among other things, she might ask for an accounting of the +money he had had of her, and he wanted more money. He must keep up +appearances, or others might pounce upon him.</p> +<p>When he began again, it was on a new line. He appealed to her +sympathy. If he had forgotten himself so far as to ask for more +than friendship, she would, he hoped, forgive him. She could not +find a truer friend. He would never offend her so again; but he +must have her friendship, or he might do something desperate.</p> +<p>Fortunately for him, Wickersham had a good advocate at court. +Mrs. Wentworth was very lonely and unhappy just then, and the plea +prevailed. She forgave him, and Wickersham again began to be a +visitor at the house.</p> +<p>But deeper than these lay another motive. While following Mrs. +Wentworth he had been thrown with Lois Huntington. Her freshness, +her beauty, the charm of her girlish figure, the unaffected gayety +of her spirits, attracted him, and he had paused in his other +pursuit to captivate her, as he might have stepped aside to pluck a +flower beside the way. To his astonishment, she declined the honor; +more, she laughed at him. It teased him to find himself balked by a +mere country girl, and from this moment he looked on her with new +eyes. The unexpected revelation of a deeper nature than most he had +known astonished him. Since their interview on the street Lois +received him with more friendliness than she had hitherto shown +him. In fact, the house was a sad one these days, and any diversion +was welcome. The discontinuance of Keith's visits had been so +sudden that Lois had felt it all the more. She had no idea of the +reason, and set it down to the score of his rumored success with +Mrs. Lancaster. She, too, could play the game of pique, and she did +it well. She accordingly showed Wickersham more favor than she had +ever shown him before. While, therefore, he kept up his visits to +Mrs. Norman, he was playing all the time his other game with her +cousin, knowing the world well enough to be sure that it would not +believe his attentions to the latter had any serious object. In +this he was not mistaken. The buzz that coupled his name with Mrs. +Wentworth's was soon as loud as ever.</p> +<p>Finally Lois decided to take matters in her own hands. She would +appeal to Mr. Wickersham himself. He had talked to her of late in a +manner quite different from the sneering cynicism which he aired +when she first met him. In fact, no one could hold higher +sentiments than he had expressed about women or about life. Mr. +Keith himself had never held loftier ideals than Mr. Wickersham had +declared to her. She began to think that the tittle-tattle that she +got bits of whenever she saw Mrs. Nailor or some others was, +perhaps, after all, slander, and that Mr. Wickersham was not aware +of the injury he was doing Mrs. Wentworth. She would appeal to his +better nature. She lay in wait several times without being able to +meet him in a way that would not attract attention. At length she +wrote him a note, asking him to meet her on the street, as she +wished to speak to him privately.</p> +<p>When Wickersham met her that afternoon at the point she had +designated, not far from the Park, he had a curious expression on +his cold face.</p> +<p>She was dressed in a perfectly simple, dark street costume which +fitted without a wrinkle her willowy figure, and a big black hat +with a single large feather shaded her face and lent a shadow to +her eyes which gave them an added witchery. Wickersham thought he +had never known her so pretty or so chic. He had not seen as +handsome a figure that day, and he had sat at the club window and +scanned the avenue with an eye for fine figures.</p> +<p>She held out her hand in the friendliest way, and looking into +his eyes quite frankly, said, with the most natural of voices:</p> +<p>"Well, I know you think I have gone crazy, and are consumed with +curiosity to know what I wanted with you?"</p> +<p>"I don't know about the curiosity," he said, smiling at her. +"Suppose we call it interest. You don't have to be told now that I +shall be only too delighted if I am fortunate enough to be of any +service to you." He bent down and looked so deep into her eyes that +she drew a little back.</p> +<p>"The fact is, I am plotting a little treason," she said, with a +blush, slightly embarrassed.</p> +<p>"By Jove! she is a real beauty," thought Wickersham, noting, +with the eye of a connoisseur, the white, round throat, the dainty +curves of the slim figure, and the purity of the oval face, in +which the delicate color came and went under his gaze.</p> +<p>"Well, if this be treason, I'll make the most of it," he said, +with his most fascinating smile. "Treasons, stratagems, and spoils +are my game."</p> +<p>"But this may be treason partly against yourself?" She gave a +half-glance up at him to see how he took this.</p> +<p>"I am quite used to this, too, my dear girl, I assure you," he +said, wondering more and more. She drew back a little at the +familiarity.</p> +<p>"Come and let us stroll in the Park," he suggested, and though +she demurred a little, he pressed her, saying it was quieter there, +and she would have a better opportunity of showing him how he could +help her.</p> +<p>They walked along talking, he dealing in light badinage of a +flattering kind, which both amused and disturbed her a little, and +presently he turned into a somewhat secluded alley, where he found +a bench sheltered and shadowed by the overhanging boughs of a +tree.</p> +<p>"Well, here is a good place for confidences." He took her hand +and, seating himself, drew her down beside him. "I will pretend +that you are a charming dryad, and I--what shall I be?"</p> +<p>"My friend," she said calmly, and drew her hand away from +him.</p> +<p>"<i>Votre ami? Avec tout mon coeur</i>. I will be your best +friend." He held out his hand.</p> +<p>"Then you will do what I ask? You are also a good friend of Mrs. +Wentworth?"</p> +<p>A little cloud flitted over his face but she did not see it.</p> +<p>"We do not speak of the absent when the present holds all we +care for," he said lightly.</p> +<p>She took no notice of this, but went on: "I do not think you +would wittingly injure any one."</p> +<p>He laughed softly. "Injure any one? Why, of course I would +not--I could not. My life is spent in making people have a pleasant +time--though some are wicked enough to malign me."</p> +<p>"Well," she said slowly, "I do not think you ought to come to +Cousin Louise's so often. You ought not to pay Cousin Louise as +much attention as you do."</p> +<p>"What!" He threw back his head and laughed.</p> +<p>"You do not know what an injury you are doing her," she +continued gravely. "You cannot know how people are talking about +it?"</p> +<p>"Oh, don't I?" he laughed. Then, as out of the tail of his eye +he saw her troubled face, he stopped and made his face grave. "And +you think I am injuring her!" She did notice the covert +cynicism.</p> +<p>"I am sure you are--unwittingly. You do not know how unhappy she +is."</p> +<p>An expression very like content stole into his dark eyes.</p> +<p>Lois continued:</p> +<p>"She has not been wise. She has been foolish and unyielding +and--oh, I hate to say anything against her, for she has been very +kind to me!--She has allowed others to make trouble between her and +her husband; but she loves him dearly for all that--and--"</p> +<p>"Oh, she does! You think so!" said Wickersham, with an ugly +little gleam under his half-closed lids and a shrewd glance at +Lois.</p> +<p>"Yes. Oh, yes, I am sure of it. I know it. She adores him."</p> +<p>"She does, eh?"</p> +<p>"Yes. She would give the world to undo what she has done and win +him back."</p> +<p>"She would, eh?" Again that gleam in Wickersham's dark eyes as +they slanted a glance at the girl's earnest face.</p> +<p>"I think she had no idea till--till lately how people talked +about her, and it was a great shock to her. She is a very proud +woman, you know?"</p> +<p>"Yes," he assented, "quite proud."</p> +<p>"She esteems you--your friendship--and likes you ever so much, +and all that." She was speaking rapidly now, her sober eyes on +Wickersham's face with an appealing look in them. "And she doesn't +want to do anything to--to wound you; but I think you ought not to +come so often or see her in a way to make people talk--and I +thought I'd say so to you." A smile that was a plea for sympathy +flickered in her eyes.</p> +<p>Wickersham's mind had been busy. This explained the change in +Louise Wentworth's manner of late--ever since he had made the bold +declaration of his intention to conquer her. Another idea suggested +itself. Could the girl be jealous of his attentions to Mrs. +Wentworth? He had had women play such a part; but none was like +this girl. If it was a game it was a deep one. He took his line, +and when she ended composed his voice to a low tone as he leant +toward her.</p> +<p>"My dear girl, I have listened to every word you said. I am +shocked to hear what you tell me. Of course I know people have +talked about me,--curse them! they always will talk,--but I had no +idea it had gone so far. As you know, I have always taken Mrs. +Wentworth's side in the unhappy differences between her and her +husband. This has been no secret. I cannot help taking the side of +the woman in any controversy. I have tried to stand her friend, +notwithstanding what people said. Sometimes I have been able to +help her. But--" He paused and took a long breath, his eyes on the +ground. Then, leaning forward, he gazed into her face.</p> +<p>"What would you say if I should tell you that my frequent visits +to Mrs. Wentworth's house were not to see her--entirely?" He felt +his way slowly, watching the effect on her. It had no effect. She +did not understand him.</p> +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> +<p>He leant over, and taking hold of her wrist with one hand, he +put his other arm around her. "Lois, can you doubt what I mean?" He +threw an unexpected passion into his eyes and into his voice,--he +had done it often with success,--and drew her suddenly to him.</p> +<p>Taken by surprise, she, with a little exclamation, tried to draw +away from him, but he held her firmly.</p> +<p>"Do you think I went there to see her? Do you give me no credit +for having eyes--for knowing the prettiest, sweetest, dearest +little girl in New York? I must have concealed my secret better +than I thought. Why, Lois, it is you I have been after." His eyes +were close to hers and looked deep into them.</p> +<p>She gave an exclamation of dismay and tried to rise. "Oh, Mr. +Wickersham, please let me go!" But he held her fast.</p> +<p>"Why, of course, it is yourself."</p> +<p>"Let me go--please let me go, Mr. Wickersham," she exclaimed as +she struggled.</p> +<p>"Oh, now don't get so excited," he said, drawing her all the +closer to him, and holding her all the tighter. "It is not becoming +to your beautiful eyes. Listen to me, my darling. I am not going to +hurt you. I love you too much, little girl, and I want your love. +Sit down. Listen to me." He tried to kiss her, but his lips just +touched her face.</p> +<p>"No; I will not listen." She struggled to her feet, flushed and +panting, but Wickersham rose too.</p> +<p>"I will kiss you, you little fool." He caught her, and clasping +her with both arms, kissed her twice violently; then, as she gave a +little scream, released her. "There!" he said. As he did so she +straightened herself and gave him a ringing box on his ear.</p> +<p>"There!" She faced him with blazing eyes.</p> +<p>Angry, and with his cheek stinging, Wickersham seized her +again.</p> +<p>"You little devil!" he growled, and kissed her on her cheek +again and again.</p> +<p>As he let her go, she faced him. She was now perfectly calm.</p> +<p>"You are not a gentleman," she said in a low, level tone, tears +of shame standing in her eyes.</p> +<p>For answer he caught her again.</p> +<p>Then the unexpected happened. At that moment Keith turned a +clump of shrubbery a few paces off, that shut out the alley from +the bench which Wickersham had selected. For a second he paused, +amazed. Then, as he took in the situation, a black look came into +his face.</p> +<p>The next second he had sprung to where Wickersham stood, and +seizing him by the collar, jerked him around and slapped him full +in the face.</p> +<p>"You hound!" He caught him again, the light of fury in his eyes, +the primal love of fight that has burned there when men have fought +for a woman since the days of Adam, and with a fierce oath hurled +him spinning back across the walk, where he measured his length on +the ground.</p> +<p>Then Keith turned to the girl:</p> +<p>"Come; I will see you home."</p> +<p>The noise had attracted the attention of others besides Gordon +Keith. Just at this juncture a stout policeman turned the curve at +a double-quick.</p> +<p>As he did so, Wickersham rose and slipped away.</p> +<p>"What th' devil 'rre ye doin'?" the officer demanded in a rich +brogue before he came to a halt. "I'll stop this racket. I'll run +ye ivery wan in. I've got ye now, me foine leddy; I've been waitin' +for ye for some time." He seized Lois by the arm roughly.</p> +<p>"Let her go. Take your hand off that lady, sir. Don't you dare +to touch her." Keith stepped up to him with his eyes flashing and +hand raised.</p> +<p>"And you too. I'll tache you to turn this park into--"</p> +<p>"Take your hand off her, or I'll make you sorry for it."</p> +<p>"Oh, you will!" But at the tone of authority he released +Lois.</p> +<p>"What is your name? Give me your number. I'll have you +discharged for insulting a lady," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Oh, me name's aall right. Me name's Mike Doherty--Sergeant +Doherty. I guess ye'll find it on the rolls right enough. And as +for insultin' a leddy, that's what I'm goin' to charrge against +ye--that and--"</p> +<p>"Why, Mike Doherty!" exclaimed Keith. "I am Mr. Keith--Gordon +Keith."</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith! Gordon Keith!" The big officer leant over and looked +at Keith in the gathering dusk. "Be jabbers, and so it is! Who's +your leddy friend?" he asked in a low voice. "Be George, she's a +daisy!"</p> +<p>Keith stiffened. The blood rushed to his face, and he started to +speak sharply. He, however, turned to Lois.</p> +<p>"Miss Huntington, this is an old friend of mine. This is Mike +Doherty, who used to be the best man on the ship when I ran the +blockade as a boy."</p> +<p>"The verry same," said Mike.</p> +<p>"He used to teach me boxing," continued Keith.</p> +<p>"I taaught him the left upper-cut," nodded the sergeant.</p> +<p>Keith went on and told the story of his coming on a man who was +annoying Miss Huntington, but he did not give his name.</p> +<p>"Did ye give him the left upper-cut?" demanded Sergeant +Doherty.</p> +<p>"I am not sure that I did not," laughed Keith. "I know he went +down over there where you saw him lying--and I have ended one or +two misunderstandings with it very satisfactorily."</p> +<p>"Ah, well, then, I'm glad I taaught ye. I'm glad ye've got such +a good defender, ma'am. Ye'll pardon what I said when I first +coomed up. But I was a little over-het. Ye see, this place is kind +o' noted for--for--This place is called 'Snugglers' Roost.' Nobody +comes here this time 'thout they'rre a little aff, and we has +arders to look out for 'em."</p> +<p>"I am glad I had two such defenders," said Lois, innocently.</p> +<p>"I'm always glad to meet Mr. Keith's friends--and his inimies +too," said the sergeant, taking off his helmet and bowing. "If I +can sarve ye any time, sind worrd to Precin't XX, and I'll be proud +to do it."</p> +<p>As Keith and Lois walked slowly homeward, Lois gave him an +account of her interview with Wickersham. Only she did not tell him +of his kissing her the first time. She tried to minimize the insult +now, for she did not know what Keith might do. He had suddenly +grown so quiet.</p> +<p>What she said to Keith, however, was enough to make him very +grave. And when he left her at Mrs. Wentworth's house the gravity +on his face deepened to grimness. That Wickersham should have dared +to insult this young girl as he had done stirred Keith's deepest +anger. What Keith did was, perhaps, a very foolish thing. He tried +to find him, but failing in this, he wrote him a note in which he +told him what he thought of him, and added that if he felt +aggrieved he would be glad to send a friend to him and arrange to +give him any satisfaction which he might desire.</p> +<p>Wickersham, however, had left town. He had gone West on +business, and would not return for some weeks, the report from his +office stated.</p> +<p>On reaching home, Lois went straight to her room and thought +over the whole matter. It certainly appeared grave enough to her. +She determined that she would never meet Wickersham again, and, +further, that she would not remain in the house if she had to do +so. Her cheeks burned with shame as she thought of him, and then +her heart sank at the thought that Keith might at that moment be +seeking him.</p> +<p>Having reached her decision, she sought Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>As soon as she entered the room, Mrs. Wentworth saw that +something serious had occurred, and in reply to her question Lois +sat down and quietly told the story of having met Mr. Wickersham +and of his attempting to kiss her, though she did not repeat what +Wickersham had said to her. To her surprise, Mrs. Wentworth burst +out laughing.</p> +<p>"On my word, you were so tragic when you came in that I feared +something terrible had occurred. Why, you silly creature, do you +suppose that Ferdy meant anything by what he did?"</p> +<p>"He meant to insult me--and you," said Lois, with a lift of her +head and a flash in her eye.</p> +<p>"Nonsense! He has probably kissed a hundred girls, and will kiss +a hundred more if they give him the chance to do so."</p> +<p>"I gave him no chance," said Lois, sitting very straight and +stiff, and with a proud dignity which the other might well have +heeded.</p> +<p>"Now, don't be silly," said Mrs. Wentworth, with a little +hauteur. "Why did you walk in a secluded part of the Park with +him?"</p> +<p>"I thought I could help a friend of mine," said Lois.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith, I suppose!"</p> +<p>"No; <i>not</i> Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>"A woman, perhaps?"</p> +<p>"Yes; a woman." She spoke with a hauteur which Mrs. Wentworth +had never seen in her.</p> +<p>"Cousin Louise," she said suddenly, after a moment's reflection, +"I think I ought to say to you that I will never speak to Mr. +Wickersham again."</p> +<p>The color rushed to Mrs. Wentworth's face, and her eyes gave a +flash. "You will never do what?" she demanded coldly, looking at +her with lifted head.</p> +<p>"I will never meet Mr. Wickersham again."</p> +<p>"You appear to have met him once too often already. I think you +do not know what you are saying or whom you are speaking to."</p> +<p>"I do perfectly," said Lois, looking her full in the eyes.</p> +<p>"I think you had better go to your room," said Mrs. Wentworth, +angrily.</p> +<p>The color rose to Lois's face, and her eyes were sparkling. Then +the color ebbed back again as she restrained herself.</p> +<p>"You mean you wish me to go?" Her voice was calm.</p> +<p>"I do. You have evidently forgotten your place."</p> +<p>"I will go home," she said. She walked slowly to the door. As +she reached it she turned and faced Mrs. Wentworth. "I wish to +thank you for all your kindness to me; for you have been very kind +to me at times, and I wish--" Her voice broke a little, but she +recovered herself, and walking back to Mrs. Wentworth, held out her +hand. "Good-by."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth, without rising, shook hands with her coldly. +"Good-by."</p> +<p>Lois turned and walked slowly from the room.</p> +<p>As soon as she had closed the door she rushed up-stairs, and, +locking herself in, threw herself on the bed and burst out crying. +The strain had been too great, and the bent bow at last +snapped.</p> +<p>An hour or two later there was a knock on her door. Lois opened +it, and Mrs. Wentworth entered. She appeared rather surprised to +find Lois packing her trunk.</p> +<p>"Are you really going away?" she asked.</p> +<p>"Yes, Cousin Louise."</p> +<p>"I think I spoke hastily to you. I said one or two things that I +regret. I had no right to speak to you as I did," said Mrs. +Wentworth.</p> +<p>"No, I do not think you had," said Lois, gravely; "but I will +try and never think of it again, but only of your kindness to +me."</p> +<p>Suddenly, to her astonishment, Mrs. Wentworth burst out weeping. +"You are all against me," she exclaimed--"all! You are all so hard +on me!"</p> +<p>Lois sprang toward her, her face full of sudden pity. "Why, +Cousin Louise!"</p> +<p>"You are all deserting me. What shall I do! I am so wretched! I +am so lonely--so lonely! Oh, I wish I were dead!" sobbed the +unhappy woman. "Then, maybe, some one might be sorry for me even if +they did not love me."</p> +<p>Lois slipped her arm around her and drew her to her, as if their +ages had been reversed. "Don't cry, Cousin Louise. Calm +yourself."</p> +<p>Lois drew her down to a sofa, and kneeling beside her, tried to +comfort her with tender words and assurances of her affection. +"There, Cousin Louise, I do love you--we all love you. Cousin +Norman loves you."</p> +<p>Mrs. Wentworth only sobbed her dissent.</p> +<p>"I will stay. I will not go," said Lois. "If you want me."</p> +<p>The unhappy woman caught her in her arms and thanked her with a +humility which was new to the girl. And out of the reconciliation +came a view of her which Lois had never seen, and which hardly any +one had seen often.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> +<h3>TERPY'S LAST DANCE AND WICKERSHAM'S FINAL THROW</h3> +<br> +<p>Curiously enough, the interview between Mrs. Lancaster and Lois +brought them closer together than before. The older woman seemed to +find a new pleasure in the young girl's society, and as often as +she could she had the girl at her house. Sometimes, too, Keith was +of the party. He held himself in leash, and hardly dared face the +fact that he had once more entered on the lane which, beginning +among flowers, had proved so thorny in the end. Yet more and more +he let himself drift into that sweet atmosphere whose light was the +presence of Lois Huntington.</p> +<p>One evening they all went together to see a vaudeville +performance that was being much talked about.</p> +<p>Keith had secured a box next the stage. The theatre was crowded. +Wickersham sat in another box with several women, and Keith was +aware that he was covertly watching his party. He had never +appeared gayer or been handsomer.</p> +<p>The last number but one was a dance by a new danseuse, who, it +was stated in the playbills, had just come over from Russia. +According to the reports, the Russian court was wild about her, and +she had left Europe at the personal request of the Czar. However +this might be, it appeared that she could dance. The theatre was +packed nightly, and she was the drawing-card.</p> +<p>As the curtain rose, the danseuse made her way to the centre of +the stage. She had raven-black hair and brows; but even as she +stood, there was something in the pose that seemed familiar to +Keith, and as she stepped forward and bowed with a little jerk of +her head, and then, with a nod to the orchestra, began to dance, +Keith recognized Terpy. That abandon was her own.</p> +<p>As she swept the boxes with her eyes, they fell on Keith, and +she started, hesitated, then went on. Next moment she glanced at +the box again, and as her eye caught Keith's she gave him a glance +of recognition. She was not to be disconcerted now, however. She +had never danced so well. And she was greeted with raptures of +applause. The crowd was wild with delight.</p> +<p>At that moment, from one of the wings, a thin curl of smoke rose +and floated up alongside a painted tamarind-tree. It might at first +have been only the smoke of a cigar. Next moment, however, a flick +of flame stole out and moved up the tree, and a draught of air blew +the smoke across the stage. There were a few excited whispers, a +rush in the wings; some one in the gallery shouted "Fire!" and just +then a shower of sparks from the flaming scenery fell on the +stage.</p> +<p>In a second the whole audience was on its feet. In a second more +there would have been a panic which must have cost many lives. +Keith saw the danger. "Stay in this box," he said. "The best way +out is over the stage. I will come for you if necessary." He sprang +on the stage, and, with a wave of his arm to the audience, shouted: +"Down in your seats! It is all right."</p> +<p>Those nearest the stage, seeing a man stand between them and the +fire, had paused, and the hubbub for a moment had ceased. Keith +took advantage of it.</p> +<p>"This theatre can be emptied in three minutes if you take your +time," he cried; "but the fire is under control."</p> +<p>Terpy had seized the burning piece of scenery and torn it down, +and was tearing off the flaming edges with her naked hands. He +sprang to Terpy's side. Her filmy dress caught fire, but Keith +jerked off his coat and smothered the flame. Just then the water +came, and the fire was subdued.</p> +<p>"Strike up that music again," Keith said to the musicians. Then +to Terpy he said: "Begin dancing. Dance for your life!" The girl +obeyed, and, all blackened as she was, began to dance again. She +danced as she had never danced before, and as she danced the people +at the rear filed out, while most of those in the body of the house +stood and watched her. As the last spark of flame was extinguished +the girl stopped, breathless. Thunders of applause broke out, but +ceased as Terpy suddenly sank to the floor, clutching with her +blackened hands at her throat. Keith caught her, and lowering her +gently, straightened her dress. The next moment a woman sprang out +of her box and knelt beside him; a woman's arm slipped under the +dancer's head, and Lois Huntington, on her knees, was loosening +Terpy's bodice as if she had been a sister.</p> +<p>A doctor came up out of the audience and bent over her, and the +curtain rang down.</p> +<p>That night Keith and Lois and Mrs. Lancaster all spent in the +waiting-room of the Emergency Hospital. They knew that Terpy's life +was ebbing fast. She had swallowed the flame, the doctor said. +During the night a nurse came and called for Keith. The dying woman +wanted to see him. When Keith reached her bedside, the doctor, in +reply to a look of inquiry from him, said: "You can say anything to +her; it will not hurt her." He turned away, and Keith seated +himself beside her. Her face and hands were swathed in +bandages.</p> +<p>"I want to say good-by," she said feebly. "You don't mind now +what I said to you that time?" Keith, for answer, stroked the +coverlid beside her. "I want to go back home--to Gumbolt.--Tell the +boys good-by for me."</p> +<p>Keith said he would--as well as he could, for he had little +voice left.</p> +<p>"I want to see <i>her</i>," she said presently.</p> +<p>"Whom?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"The younger one. The one you looked at all the time. I want to +thank her for the doll. I ran away."</p> +<p>Lois was sent for, but when she reached the bedside Terpy was +too far gone to speak so that she could be understood. But she was +conscious enough to know that Lois was at her side and that it was +her voice that repeated the Lord's Prayer.</p> +<p>The newspapers the next day rang with her praises, and that +night Keith went South with her body to lay it on the hillside +among her friends, and all of old Gumbolt was there to meet +her.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Wickersham, on finding his attempt at explanation to Mrs. +Wentworth received with coldness, turned his attentions in another +direction. It was necessary. His affairs had all gone wrong of +late. He had seen his great fortune disappear under his hands. Men +who had not half his ability were succeeding where he had failed. +Men who once followed him now held aloof, and refused to be drawn +into his most tempting schemes. His enemies were working against +him. He would overthrow them yet. Norman Wentworth and Gordon Keith +especially he hated.</p> +<p>He began to try his fortune with Mrs. Lancaster again. Now, if +ever, appeared a good time. She was indifferent to every +man--unless she cared for Keith. He had sometimes thought she +might; but he did not believe it. Keith, of course, would like to +marry her; but Wickersham did not believe Keith stood any chance. +Though she had refused Wickersham, she had never shown any one else +any special favor. He would try new tactics and bear her off before +she knew it. He began with a dash. He was quite a different man +from what he had been. He even was seen in church, turning on +Rimmon a sphinx-like face that a little disconcerted that eloquent +person.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster received him with the serene and unruffled +indifference with which she received all her admirers, and there +were many. She treated him, however, with the easy indulgence with +which old friends are likely to be treated for old times' sake; and +Wickersham was deceived. Fortune appeared suddenly to smile on him +again. Hope sprang up once more.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor one day met Lois, and informed her that Mr. +Wickersham was now a rival of Mr. Keith's with Mrs. Lancaster, and, +what was more, that Norman Wentworth had learned that it was not +Wickersham at all, but Mr. Keith who had really caused the trouble +between Norman and his wife.</p> +<p>Lois was aghast. She denied vehemently that it was true; but +Mrs. Nailor received her denial with amused indulgence.</p> +<p>"Oh, every one knows it," she said. "Mr. Keith long ago cut +Fredy out; and Norman knows it."</p> +<p>Lois went home in a maze. This, then, explained why Mr. Keith +had suddenly stopped coming to the house. When he had met her he +had appeared as glad as ever to see her, but he had also appeared +constrained. He had begun to talk of going away. He was almost the +only man in New York that she could call her friend. To think of +New York without him made her lonely. He was in love with Mrs. +Lancaster, she knew--of that she was sure, notwithstanding Mrs. +Nailor's statement. Could Mrs. Lancaster have treated him badly? +She had not even cared for her husband, so people said; would she +be cruel to Keith?</p> +<p>The more she pondered over it the more unhappy Lois became. +Finally it appeared to her that her duty was plain. If Mrs. +Lancaster had rejected Keith for Wickersham, she might set her +right. She could, at least, set her right as to the story about him +and Mrs. Wentworth.</p> +<p>That afternoon she called on Mrs. Lancaster. It was in the +Spring, and she put on a dainty gown she had just made.</p> +<p>She was received with the sincere cordiality that Alice +Lancaster always showed her. She was taken up to her boudoir, a +nest of blue satin and sunshine. And there, of all occupations in +the world, Mrs. Lancaster, clad in a soft lavender tea-gown, was +engaged in mending old clothes. "For my orphans," she said, with a +laugh and a blush that made her look charming.</p> +<p>A photograph of Keith stood on the table in a silver frame. +When, however, Lois would have brought up the subject of Mr. Keith, +his name stuck in her throat.</p> +<p>"I have what the children call 'a swap' for you," said the girl, +smiling.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster smiled acquiescingly as she bit off a thread.</p> +<p>"I heard some one say the other day that you were one of those +who 'do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.'"</p> +<p>"Oh, how nice! I am not, at all, you know. Still, it is pleasant +to deceive people that way. Who said it?"</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith." Lois could not help blushing a little; but she had +broken the ice.</p> +<p>"And I have one to return to you. I heard some one say that you +had 'the rare gift of an absolutely direct mind.' That you were +like George Washington: you couldn't tell a lie--that truth had its +home in your eyes." Her eyes were twinkling.</p> +<p>"My! Who said that?" asked the girl.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>Lois turned quickly under pretence of picking up something, but +she was not quick enough to hide her face from her friend. The red +that burned in her cheeks flamed down and made her throat rosy.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster looked at the young girl. She made a pretty +picture as she sat leaning forward, the curves of her slim, +light-gowned figure showing against the background of blue. Her +face was pensive, and she was evidently thinking deeply.</p> +<p>"What are you puzzling over so?"</p> +<p>At the question the color mounted into her cheeks, and the next +second a smile lit up her face as she turned her eyes frankly on +Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"You would be amused to know. I was wondering how long you had +known Mr. Keith, and what he was like when he was young."</p> +<p>"When he was young! Do you call him old now? Why, he is only a +little over thirty."</p> +<p>"Is that all! He always seems much older to me, I do not know +why. But he has seen so much--done so much. Why, he appears to have +had so many experiences! I feel as if no matter what might happen, +he would know just what to do. For instance, that story that Cousin +Norman told me once of his going down into the flooded mine, and +that night at the theatre, when there was the fire--why, he just +took charge. I felt as if he would take charge no matter what might +happen."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster at first had smiled at the girl's enthusiasm, but +before Lois had finished, she had drifted away.</p> +<p>"He would--he would," she repeated, pensively.</p> +<p>"Then that poor girl--what he did for her. I just--" Lois +paused, seeking for a word--"trust him!"</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster smiled.</p> +<p>"You may," she said. "That is exactly the word."</p> +<p>"Tell me, what was he like when--you first knew him?"</p> +<p>"I don't know--why, he was--he was just what he is now--you +could have trusted him--"</p> +<p>"Why didn't you marry him?" asked Lois, her eyes on the other's +face.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster looked at her with almost a gasp.</p> +<p>"Why, Lois! What are you talking about? Who says--?"</p> +<p>"He says so. He said he was desperately in love with you."</p> +<p>"Why, Lois--!" began Mrs. Lancaster, with the color mounting to +her cheeks. "Well, he has gotten bravely over it," she laughed.</p> +<p>"He has not. He is in love with you now," the young girl said +calmly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster turned and faced her with her mouth open to +speak, and read the girl's sincerity in her face. "With me!" She +clasped her hands with a pretty gesture over her bosom. A warm +feeling suddenly surged to her heart.</p> +<p>The younger woman nodded.</p> +<p>"Yes--and, oh, Mrs. Lancaster, don't treat him badly!" She laid +both hands on her arm and looked at her earnestly. "He has loved +you always," she continued.</p> +<p>"Loved me! Lois, you are dreaming." But as she said it, Alice's +heart was beating.</p> +<p>"Yes, he was talking to me one evening, and he began to tell me +of his love for a girl,--a young girl,--and what a part it had +played in his life--"</p> +<p>"But I was married," put in Mrs. Lancaster, seeking for further +proof rather than renouncing this.</p> +<p>"Yes, he said she did not care for him; but he had always +striven to keep her image in his heart--her image as she was when +he knew her and as he imagined her."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster's face for a moment was a study.</p> +<p>"Do you know whom he is in love with now?" she said +presently.</p> +<p>"Yes; with you."</p> +<p>"No--not with me; with you." She put her hand on Lois's cheek +caressingly, and gazed into her eyes.</p> +<p>The girl's eyes sank into her lap. Her face, which had been +growing white and pink by turns, suddenly flamed.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Lancaster, I believe I--" she began in low tones. She +raised her eyes, and they met for a moment Mrs. Lancaster's. +Something in their depths, some look of sympathy, of almost +maternal kindness, struck her, passed through to her long-stilled +heart. With a little cry she threw herself into the other's arms +and buried her burning face in her lap.</p> +<p>The expression on the face of the young widow changed. She +glanced down for a moment at the little head in her lap, then +bending down, she buried her face in the brown tresses, and drew +her form close to her heart.</p> +<p>In a moment the young girl was pouring out her soul to her as if +she had been her daughter.</p> +<p>The expression in Alice Lancaster's eyes was softer than it had +been for a long time, for it was the light of self-sacrifice that +shone in them.</p> +<p>"You have your happiness in your hands," she said tenderly.</p> +<p>Lois looked up with dissent in her eyes.</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster shook her head.</p> +<p>"No. He will never be in love with me again."</p> +<p>The girl gave a quick intaking of her breath, her hand clutching +at her throat.</p> +<p>"Oh, Mrs. Lancaster!" She was thinking aloud rather than +speaking. "I thought that you cared for him."</p> +<p>Alice Lancaster shook her head. She tried to meet frankly the +other's eyes, but as they gazed deep into hers with an inquiry not +to be put aside, hers failed and fell.</p> +<p>"No," she said, but it was with a gasp.</p> +<p>Lois's eyes opened wide, and her face changed.</p> +<p>"Oh!" she murmured, as the sense of what she had done swept over +her. She rose to her feet and, bending down, kissed Mrs. Lancaster +tenderly. One might have thought she was the elder of the two.</p> +<p>Lois returned home in deep thought. She had surprised Mrs. +Lancaster's secret, and the end was plain. She allowed herself no +delusions. The dream that for a moment had shed its radiance on her +was broken. Keith was in love with Mrs. Lancaster, and Alice loved +him. She prayed that they might be happy--especially Keith. She was +angry with herself that she had allowed herself to become so +interested in him. She would forget him. This was easier said than +done. But she could at least avoid seeing him. And having made her +decision, she held to it firmly. She avoided him in every way +possible.</p> +<p>The strain, however, had been too much for Lois, and her +strength began to go. The doctor advised Mrs. Wentworth to send her +home. "She is breaking down, and you will have her ill on your +hands," he said. Lois, too, was pining to get away. She felt that +she could not stand the city another week. And so, one day, she +disappeared from town.</p> +<p>When Wickersham met Mrs. Lancaster after her talk with Lois, he +was conscious of the change in her. The old easy, indulgent +attitude was gone; and in her eye, instead of the lazy, half-amused +smile, was something very like scorn. Something had happened, he +knew.</p> +<p>His thoughts flew to Keith, Norman, Rimmon, also to several +ladies of his acquaintance. What had they told her? Could it be the +fact that he had lost nearly everything--that he had spent Mrs. +Wentworth's money? That he had written anonymous letters? Whatever +it was, he would brave it out. He had been in some hard places +lately, and had won out by his nerve. He assumed an injured and a +virtuous air, and no man could do it better.</p> +<p>"What has happened? You are so strange to me. Has some one been +prejudicing you against me? Some one has slandered me," he said, +with an air of virtue.</p> +<p>"No. No one." Mrs. Lancaster turned her rings with a little +embarrassment. She was trying to muster the courage to speak +plainly to him. He gave it to her.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes; some one has. I think I have a right to demand who it +is. Is it that man Keith?"</p> +<p>"No." She glanced at him with a swift flash in her eye. "Mr. +Keith has not mentioned your name to me since I came home."</p> +<p>Her tone fired him with jealousy.</p> +<p>"Well, who was it, then? He is not above it. He hates me enough +to say anything. He has never got over our buying his old place, +and has never lost an opportunity to malign me since."</p> +<p>She looked him in the face, for the first time, quite +steadily.</p> +<p>"Let me tell you, Mr. Keith has never said a word against you to +me--and that is much more than I can say for you; so you need not +be maligning him now."</p> +<p>A faint flush stole into Wickersham's face.</p> +<p>"You appear to be championing his cause very warmly."</p> +<p>"Because he is a friend of mine and an honorable gentleman."</p> +<p>He gave a hard, bitter laugh.</p> +<p>"Women are innocent!"</p> +<p>"It is more than men are" she said, fired, as women always are, +by a fleer at the sex.</p> +<p>"Who has been slandering me?" he demanded, angered suddenly by +her retort. "I have stood in a relation to you which gives me a +right to demand the name."</p> +<p>"What relation to me?--Where is your wife?"</p> +<p>His face whitened, and he drew in his breath as if struck a +blow,--a long breath,--but in a second he had recovered himself, +and he burst into a laugh.</p> +<p>"So you have heard that old story--and believe it?" he said, +with his eyes looking straight into hers. As she made no answer, he +went on. "Now, as you have heard it, I will explain the whole thing +to you. I have always wanted to do it; but--but--I hardly knew +whether it were better to do it or leave it alone. I thought if you +had heard it you would mention it to me--"</p> +<p>"I have done so now," she said coldly.</p> +<p>"I thought our relation--or, as you object to that word, our +friendship--entitled me to that much from you."</p> +<p>"I never heard it till--till just now," she defended, rather +shaken by his tone and air of candor.</p> +<p>"When?</p> +<p>"Oh--very recently."</p> +<p>"Won't you tell me who told you?"</p> +<p>"No--o. Go on."</p> +<p>"Well, that woman--that poor girl--her name was--her name +is--Phrony Tripper--or Trimmer. I think that was her name--she +called herself Euphronia Tripper." He was trying with puckered brow +to recall exactly. "I suppose that is the woman you are referring +to?" he said suddenly.</p> +<p>"It is. You have not had more than one, have you?"</p> +<p>He laughed, pleased to give the subject a lighter tone.</p> +<p>"Well, this poor creature I used to know in the South when I was +a boy--when I first went down there, you know? She was the daughter +of an old farmer at whose house we stayed. I used to talk to her. +You know how a boy talks to a pretty girl whom he is thrown with in +a lonesome old country place, far from any amusement." Her eyes +showed that she knew, and he was satisfied and proceeded.</p> +<p>"But heavens! the idea of being in love with her! Why, she was +the daughter of a farmer. Well, then I fell in with her +afterwards--once or twice, to be accurate--when I went down there +on business, and she was a pretty, vain country girl--"</p> +<p>"I used to know her," assented Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>"You did!" His face fell.</p> +<p>"Yes; when I went there to a little Winter resort for my +throat--when I was seventeen. She used to go to the school taught +by Mr. Keith."</p> +<p>"She did? Oh, then you know her name? It was Tripper, wasn't +it?"</p> +<p>She nodded.</p> +<p>"I thought it was. Well, she was quite pretty, you remember; +and, as I say, I fell in with her again, and having been old +friends--" He shifted in his seat a little as if +embarrassed--"Why--oh, you know how it is. I began to talk nonsense +to her to pass away the time,--told her she was pretty and all +that,--and made her a few presents--and--" He paused and took a +long breath. "I thought she was very queer. The first thing I knew, +I found she was--out of her mind. Well, I stopped and soon came +away, and, to my horror, she took it into her head that she was my +wife. She followed me here. I had to go abroad, and I heard no more +of her until, not long ago, I heard she had gone completely crazy +and was hunting me up as her husband. You know how such poor +creatures are?" He paused, well satisfied with his recital, for +first surprise and then a certain sympathy took the place of +incredulity in Mrs. Lancaster's face.</p> +<p>"She is absolutely mad, poor thing, I understand," he sighed, +with unmistakable sympathy in his voice.</p> +<p>"Yes," Mrs. Lancaster assented, her thoughts drifting away.</p> +<p>He watched her keenly, and next moment began again.</p> +<p>"I heard she had got hold of Mr. Rimmon's name and declares that +he married us."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster returned to the present, and he went on:</p> +<p>"I don't know how she got hold of it. I suppose his being the +fashionable preacher, or his name being in the papers frequently, +suggested the idea. But if you have any doubt on the subject, ask +him."</p> +<p>Mrs. Lancaster looked assent.</p> +<p>"Here--Having heard the story, and thinking it might be as well +to stop it at once, I wrote to Mr. Rimmon to give me a statement to +set the matter at rest, and I have it in my pocket." He took from +his pocket-book a letter and spread it before Mrs. Lancaster. It +read:</p> +<blockquote>"DEAR MR. WICKERSHAM: I am sorry you are being annoyed. +I cannot imagine that you should need any such statement as you +request. The records of marriages are kept in the proper office +here. Any one who will take the trouble to inspect those records +will see that I have never made any such report. This should be +more than sufficient.<br> +<br> +"I feel sure this will answer your purpose.<br> +<br> +"Yours sincerely,<br> +<br> +"W.H. RIMMON."</blockquote> +<br> +<p>"I think that settles the matter," said Wickersham, with his +eyes on her face.</p> +<p>"It would seem so," said Mrs. Lancaster, gravely.</p> +<p>As she spoke slowly, Wickersham put in one more nail.</p> +<p>"Of course, you know there must be a witness to a marriage," he +said. "If there be such a witness, let K---- let those who are +engaged in defaming me produce him."</p> +<p>"No, no," said Mrs. Lancaster, quickly. "Mr. Rimmon's +statement--I think I owe you an apology for what I said. Of course, +it appeared incredible; but something occurred--I can't tell you--I +don't want to tell you what--that shocked me very much, and I +suppose I judged too hastily and harshly. You must forget what I +said, and forgive me for my injustice."</p> +<p>"Certainly I will," he said earnestly.</p> +<p>The revulsion in her belief inclined her to be kinder toward him +than she had been in a long time.</p> +<p>The change in her manner toward him made Wickersham's heart +begin to beat. He leant over and took her hand.</p> +<p>"Won't you give me more than justice, Alice?" he began. "If you +knew how long I have waited--how I have hoped even against +hope--how I have always loved you--" She was so taken aback by his +declaration that for a moment she did not find words to reply, and +he swept on: "--you would not be so cold--so cruel to me. I have +always thought you the most beautiful--the most charming woman in +New York."</p> +<p>She shook her head. "No, you have not."</p> +<p>"I have; I swear I have! Even when I have hung around--around +other women, I have done so because I saw you were taken up +with--some one else. I thought I might find some one else to +supplant you, but never for one moment have I failed to acknowledge +your superiority--"</p> +<p>"Oh, no; you have not. How can you dare to tell me that!" she +smiled, recovering her self-possession.</p> +<p>"I have, Alice, ever since you were a girl--even when you +were--were--when you were beyond me--I loved you more than +ever--I--" Her face changed, and she recoiled from him.</p> +<p>"Don't," she said.</p> +<p>"I will." He seized her hand and held it tightly. "I loved you +even then better than I ever loved in my life--better than +your--than any one else did." Her face whitened.</p> +<p>"Stop!" she cried. "Not another word. I will not listen. Release +my hand." She pulled it from him forcibly, and, as he began again, +she, with a gesture, stopped him.</p> +<p>"No--no--no! It is impossible. I will not listen."</p> +<p>His face changed as he looked into her face. She rose from her +seat and turned away from him, taking two or three steps up and +down, trying to regain control of herself.</p> +<p>He waited and watched her, an angry light coming into his eyes. +He misread her feelings. He had made love to married women before +and had not been repulsed.</p> +<p>She turned to him now, and with level eyes looked into his.</p> +<p>"You never loved me in your life. I have had men in love with +me, and know when they are; but you are not one of them."</p> +<p>"I was--I am--" he began, stepping closer to her; but she +stopped him.</p> +<p>"Not for a minute," she went on, without heeding him. "And you +had no right to say that to me."</p> +<p>"What?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"What you said. My husband loved me with all the strength of a +noble, high-minded man, and notwithstanding the difference in our +ages, treated me as his equal; and I loved him--yes, loved him +devotedly," she said, as she saw a spark come into his eyes.</p> +<p>"You love some one else now," he said coolly.</p> +<p>It might have been anger that brought the rush of color to her +face. She turned and looked him full in the face.</p> +<p>"If I do, it is not you."</p> +<p>The arrow went home. His eyes snapped with anger.</p> +<p>"You took such lofty ground just now that I should hardly have +supposed the attentions of Mr. Wentworth meant anything so serious. +I thought that was mere friendship."</p> +<p>This time there was no doubt that the color meant anger.</p> +<p>"What do you mean?" she demanded, looking him once more full in +the eyes.</p> +<p>"I refer to what the world says, especially as he himself is +such a model of all the Christian virtues."</p> +<p>"What the world says? What do you mean?" she persisted, never +taking her eyes from his face.</p> +<p>He simply shrugged his shoulders.</p> +<p>"So I assume Mr. Keith is the fortunate suitor for the remnant +of your affections: Keith the immaculate--Keith the pure and pious +gentleman who trades on his affections. I wish you good luck."</p> +<p>At his insolence Mrs. Lancaster's patience suddenly snapped.</p> +<p>"Go," she said, pointing to the door. "Go."</p> +<p>When Wickersham walked out into the street, his face was white +and drawn, and a strange light was in his eyes. He had played one +of his last cards, and had played it like a fool. Luck had gone +against him, and he had lost his head. His heart--that heart that +had never known remorse and rarely dismay--began to sink. Luck had +been going against him now for a long time, so long that it had +swept away his fortune and most of his credit. What was worse to +him, he was conscious that he had lost his nerve. Where should he +turn? Unless luck turned or he could get help he would go down. He +canvassed the various means of escape. Man after man had fallen +away from him. Every scheme had failed.</p> +<p>He attributed it all to Norman--to Norman and Keith. Norman had +ruined him in New York; Keith had blocked him and balked him in the +South. But one resource remained to him. He would make one more +supreme effort. Then, if he failed? He thought of a locked drawer +in his desk, and a black pistol under the papers there. His cheek +blanched at the thought, but his lips closed tight. He would not +survive disgrace. His disgrace meant the known loss of his fortune. +One thing he would do. Keith had escaped him, had succeeded, but +Norman he could overthrow. Norman had been struck hard; he would +now complete his ruin. With this mental tonic he straightened up +and walked rapidly down the street.</p> +<p>That evening Wickersham was closeted for some time with a man +who had of late come into especial notice as a strong and merciless +financier--Mr. Kestrel.</p> +<p>Mr. Kestrel received him at first with a coldness which might +have repelled a less determined man. He had no delusions about +Wickersham; but Wickersham knew this, and unfolded to him, with +plausible frankness, a scheme which had much reason in it. He had +at the same time played on the older man's foibles with great +astuteness, and had awakened one or two of his dormant animosities. +He knew that Mr. Kestrel had had a strong feeling against Norman +for several years.</p> +<p>"You are one of the few men who do not have to fall down and +worship the name of Wentworth," he said.</p> +<p>"Well, I rather think not," said Mr. Kestrel, with a glint in +his eyes, as he recalled Norman Wentworth's scorn of him at the +board-meeting years before, when Norman had defended Keith against +him.</p> +<p>"--Or this new man, Keith, who is undertaking to teach New York +finance?"</p> +<p>Mr. Kestrel gave a hard little laugh, which was more like a +cough than an expression of mirth, but which meant that he was +amused.</p> +<p>"Well, neither do I," said Wickersham. "To tell you frankly, I +hate them both, though there is money, and big money, in this, as +you can see for yourself from what I have said. This is my real +reason for wanting you in it. If you jump in and hammer down those +things, you will clean them out. I have the old patents to all the +lands that Keith sold those people. They antedate the titles under +which Rawson claims. If you can break up the deal now, we will go +in and recover the lands from Rawson. Wentworth is so deep in that +he'll never pull through, and his friend Keith has staked +everything on this one toss."</p> +<p>Old Kestrel's parchment face was inscrutable as he gazed at +Wickersham and declared that he did not know about that. He did not +believe in having animosities in business matters, as it marred +one's judgment. But Wickersham knew enough to be sure that the seed +he had planted would bear fruit, and that Kestrel would stake +something on the chance.</p> +<p>In this he was not deceived. The next day Mr. Kestrel acceded to +his plan.</p> +<p>For some days after that there appeared in a certain paper a +series of attacks on various lines of property holdings, that was +characterized by other papers as a "strong bearish movement." The +same paper contained a vicious article about the attempt to unload +worthless coal-lands on gullible Englishmen. Meantime Wickersham, +foreseeing failure, acted independently.</p> +<p>The attack might not have amounted to a great deal but for one +of those untimely accidents that sometimes overthrow all +calculations. One of the keenest and oldest financiers in the city +suddenly dropped dead, and a stampede started on the Stock +Exchange. It was stayed in a little while, but meantime a number of +men had been hard hit, and among these was Norman Wentworth. The +papers next day announced the names of those who had suffered, and +much space was given in one of them to the decline of the old firm +of Wentworth & Son, whose history was almost contemporary with +that of New York.</p> +<p>By noon it was extensively rumored that Wentworth & Son +would close their doors. The firm which had lasted for three +generations, and whose name had been the synonym for honor and for +philanthropy, which had stood as the type of the highest that can +exist in commerce, would go down. Men spoke of it with a regret +which did them honor--hard men who rarely expressed regret for the +losses of another.</p> +<p>It was rumored, too, that Wickersham & Company must assign; +but this caused little surprise and less regret. Aaron Wickersham +had had friends, but his son had not succeeded to them.</p> +<p>Keith, having determined to talk to Alice Lancaster about Lois, +was calling on the former a day or two after her interview with +Wickersham. She was still somewhat disturbed over it, and showed it +in her manner so clearly that Keith asked what was the trouble.</p> +<p>It was nothing very much, she said. Only she had broken finally +with a friend she had known a long time, and such things upset +her.</p> +<p>Keith was sympathetic, and suddenly, to his surprise, she broke +down and began to cry. He had never seen her weep before since she +sat, as a girl, in the pine-woods and he lent her his handkerchief +to dry her tears. Something in the association gave him a feeling +of unwonted tenderness. She had not appeared to him so soft, so +feminine, in a long time. He essayed to comfort her. He, too, had +broken with an old friend, the friend of a lifetime, and he would +never get over it.</p> +<p>"Mine was such a blow to me," she said, wiping her eyes; "such +cruel things were said to me. I did not think any one but a woman +would have said such biting things to a woman."</p> +<p>"It was Ferdy Wickersham, I know," said Keith, his eyes +contracting; "but what on earth could he have said? What could he +have dared to say to wound you so?"</p> +<p>"He said all the town was talking about me and Norman." She +began to cry again. "Norman, dear old Norman, who has been more +like a brother to me than any one I have ever known, and whom I +would give the world to bring back happiness to."</p> +<p>"He is a scoundrel!" exclaimed Keith. "I have stood all--more +than I ever expected to stand from any man living; but if he is +attacking women"--he was speaking to himself rather than to her--"I +will unmask him. He is not worth your notice," he said kindly, +addressing her again. "Women have been his prey ever since I knew +him, when he was but a young boy." Mrs. Lancaster dried her +eyes.</p> +<p>"You refer to the story that he had married that poor girl and +abandoned her?"</p> +<p>"Yes--partly that. That is the worst thing I know of him."</p> +<p>"But that is not true. However cruel he is, that accusation is +unfounded. I know that myself."</p> +<p>"How do you know it?" asked Keith, in surprise.</p> +<p>"He told me the whole story: explained the thing to my +satisfaction. It was a poor crazy girl who claimed that he married +her; said Mr. Rimmon had performed the ceremony She was crazy. I +saw Mr. Rimmon's letter denying the whole thing."</p> +<p>"Do you know his handwriting?" inquired Keith, grimly.</p> +<p>"Whose?"</p> +<p>"Well, that of both of them?"</p> +<p>She nodded, and Keith, taking out his pocket-book, opened it and +took therefrom a slip of paper. "Look at that. I got that a few +days ago from the witness who was present."</p> +<p>"Why, what is this?" She sprang up in her excitement.</p> +<p>"It is incredible!" she said slowly. "Why, he told me the story +with the utmost circumstantiality."</p> +<p>"He lied to you," said Keith, grimly. "And Rimmon lied. That is +their handwriting. I have had it examined by the best expert in New +York City. I had not intended to use that against him, but only to +clear the character of that poor young creature whom he deceived +and then abandoned; but as he is defaming her here, and is at his +old trade of trying to deceive women, it is time he was shown up in +his true colors."</p> +<p>She gave a shudder of horror, and wiped her right hand with her +left. "Oh, to think that he dared!" She wiped her hand on her +handkerchief.</p> +<p>At that moment a servant brought in a card. As Mrs. Lancaster +gazed at it, her eyes flashed and her lip curled.</p> +<p>"Say that Mrs. Lancaster begs to be excused."</p> +<p>"Yes, madam." The servant hesitated. "I think he heard you +talking, madam."</p> +<p>"Say that Mrs. Lancaster begs to be excused," she said +firmly.</p> +<p>The servant, with a bow, withdrew.</p> +<p>She handed the card to Keith. On it was the name of the Rev. +William H. Rimmon.</p> +<p>Mr. Rimmon, as he stood in the hall, was in unusually good +spirits, though slightly perturbed. He had determined to carry +through a plan that he had long pondered over. He had decided to +ask Mrs. Lancaster to become Mrs. Rimmon.</p> +<p>As Keith glanced toward the door, he caught Mr. Rimmon's eye. He +was waiting on the threshold and rubbing his hands with eager +expectancy. Just then the servant gave him the message. Keith saw +his countenance fall and his face blanch. He turned, picked up his +hat, and slipped out of the door, with a step that was almost a +slink.</p> +<p>As Mr. Rimmon passed down the street he knew that he had reached +a crisis in his life. He went to see Wickersham, but that gentleman +was in no mood for condolences. Everything had gone against him. He +was facing utter ruin. Rimmon's upbraiding angered him.</p> +<p>"By the way, you are the very man I wanted to see," he said +grimly. "I want you to sign a note for that twenty thousand I lost +by you when you insisted on my holding that stock."</p> +<p>Rimmon's jaw fell. "That you held for me? Sign a note! +Twenty-six thousand!"</p> +<p>"Yes. Don't pretend innocence--not on me. Save that for the +pulpit. I know you," said the other, with a chilling laugh.</p> +<p>"But you were to carry that. That was a part of our agreement. +Why, twenty thousand would take everything I have."</p> +<p>"Don't play that on me," said Wickersham, coldly. "It won't +work. You can make it up when you get your widow."</p> +<p>Rimmon groaned helplessly.</p> +<p>"Come; there is the note. Sign."</p> +<p>Rimmon began to expostulate, and finally refused pointblank to +sign. Wickersham gazed at him with amusement.</p> +<p>"You sign that, or I will serve suit on you in a half-hour, and +we will see how the Rev. Mr. Rimmmon stands when my lawyers are +through with him. You will believe in hell then, sure enough."</p> +<p>"You won't dare do it. Your marriage would come out. Mrs. +Lancaster would--"</p> +<p>"She knows it," said Wickersham, calmly. And, as Rimmon looked +sceptical, "I told her myself to spare you the trouble. Sign." He +rose and touched a bell.</p> +<p>Rimmon, with a groan, signed the paper.</p> +<p>"You must have showed her my letter!"</p> +<p>"Of course, I did."</p> +<p>"But you promised me not to. I am ruined!"</p> +<p>"What have I to do with that? 'See thou to that,'" said +Wickersham, with a bitter laugh.</p> +<p>Rimmon's face paled at the quotation. He, too, had betrayed his +Lord.</p> +<p>"Now go." Wickersham pointed to the door.</p> +<p>Mr. Rimmon went home and tried to write a letter to Mrs. +Lancaster, but he could not master his thoughts. That pen that +usually flowed so glibly failed to obey him. He was in darkness. He +saw himself dishonored, displaced. Wickersham was capable of +anything. He did not know where to turn. He thought of his brother +clergymen. He knew many good men who spent their lives helping +others. But something deterred him from applying to them now. To +some he had been indifferent, others he had known only socially. +Yet others had withdrawn themselves from him more and more of late. +He had attributed it to their envy or their folly. He suddenly +thought of old Dr. Templeton. He had always ignored that old man as +a sort of crack-brained creature who had not been able to keep up +with the world, and had been left stranded, doing the work that +properly belonged to the unsuccessful. Curiously enough, he was the +one to whom the unhappy man now turned. Besides, he was a friend of +Mrs. Lancaster.</p> +<p>A half-hour later the Rev. Mr. Rimmon was in Dr. Templeton's +simple study, and was finding a singular sense of relief in pouring +out his troubles to the old clergyman. He told him something of his +unhappy situation--not all, it is true, but enough to enable the +other to see how grave it was, as much from what he inferred as +from what Rimmon explained. He even began to hope again. If the +Doctor would undertake to straighten out the complications he might +yet pull through. To his dismay, this phase of the matter did not +appear to present itself to the old man's mind. It was the sin that +he had committed that had touched him.</p> +<p>"Let us carry it where only we can find relief;" he said. "Let +us take it to the Throne of Grace, where we can lay all our +burdens"; and before Rimmon knew it, he was on his knees, praying +for him as if he had been a very outcast.</p> +<p>When the Rev. Mr. Rimmon came out of the shabby little study, +though he had not gotten the relief he had sought, he, somehow, +felt a little comforted, while at the same time he felt humble. He +had one of those brief intervals of feeling that, perhaps, there +was, after all, something that that old man had found which he had +missed, and he determined to find it. But Mr. Rimmon had wandered +far out of the way. He had had a glimpse of the pearl, but the +price was great, and he had not been able to pay it all.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Wickersham discounted the note; but the amount was only a +bagatelle to him: a bucket-shop had swallowed it within an hour. He +had lost his instinct. It was only the love of gambling that +remained.</p> +<p>Only one chance appeared to remain for him. He had made up with +Louise Wentworth after a fashion. He must get hold of her in some +way. He might obtain more money from her. The method he selected +was a desperate one; but he was a desperate man.</p> +<p>After long pondering, he sat down and wrote her a note, asking +her "to meet some friends of his, a Count and Countess Torelli, at +supper" next evening.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> +<h3>THE RUN ON THE BANK</h3> +<br> +<p>It was the day after the events just recorded that Keith's deal +was concluded. The attack on him and the attempt made by Wickersham +and Kestrel to break up his deal had failed, and the deeds and +money were passed.</p> +<p>Keith was on his way back to his office from his final interview +with the representative of the syndicate that had bought the +properties. He was conscious of a curious sensation, partly of +exhilaration, partly of almost awe, as he walked through the +crowded streets, where every one was bent on the same quest: gold. +At last he had won. He was rich. He wondered, as he walked along, +if any of the men he shouldered were as rich as he. Norman and +Ferdy Wickersham recurred to him. Both had been much wealthier; but +Wickersham, he knew, was in straits, and Norman was in some +trouble. He was unfeignedly glad about Wickersham; but the +recollection of Norman clouded his face.</p> +<p>It was with a pang that he recalled Norman's recent conduct to +him--a pang that one who had always been his friend should have +changed so; but that was the way of the world. This reflection, +however, was not consoling.</p> +<p>He reached his office and seated himself at his desk, to take +another look at his papers. Before he opened them he rose and +locked the door, and opening a large envelope, spread the papers +out on the desk before him.</p> +<p>He thought of his father. He must write and tell him of his +success. Then he thought of his old home. He remembered his +resolution to restore it and make it what it used to be. But how +much he could do with the money it would take to fit up the old +place in the manner he had contemplated! By investing it +judiciously he could double it.</p> +<p>Suddenly there was a step outside and a knock at his door, +followed by voices in the outer office. Keith rose, and putting his +papers back in his pocket, opened the door. For a second he had a +mingled sensation of pleasure and surprise. His father stood there, +his bag clutched in his hand. He looked tired, and had aged some +since Keith saw him last; but his face wore the old smile that +always illumined it when it rested on his son.</p> +<p>Keith greeted him warmly and drew him inside. "I was just +thinking of you, sir."</p> +<p>"You would not come to see me, so I have come to see you. I have +heard from you so rarely that I was afraid you were sick." His eyes +rested fondly on Gordon's face.</p> +<p>"No; I have been so busy; that is all. Well, sir, I have won." +His eyes were sparkling.</p> +<p>The old gentleman's face lit up.</p> +<p>"You have? Found Phrony, have you? I am so glad. It will give +old Rawson a new lease of life. I saw him after he got back. He has +failed a good deal lately."</p> +<p>"No, sir. I have found her, too; but I mean I have won out at +last."</p> +<p>"Ah, you have won her? I congratulate you. I hope she will make +you happy."</p> +<p>Keith laughed.</p> +<p>"I don't mean that. I mean I have sold my lands at last. I +closed this morning with the Englishmen, and received the +money."</p> +<p>The General smiled.</p> +<p>"Ah, you have, have you? That's very good. I am glad for old +Adam Rawson's sake."</p> +<p>"I was afraid he would die before the deeds passed," said Keith. +"But see, here are the drafts to my order." He spread them out. +"This one is my commission. And I have the same amount of common +stock."</p> +<p>His father made no comment on this, but presently said: "You +will have enough to restore the old place a little."</p> +<p>"How much would it cost to fix up the place as you think it +ought to be fixed up?"</p> +<p>"Oh, some thousands of dollars. You see, the house is much out +of repair, and the quarters ought really all to be rebuilt. Old +Charlotte's house I have kept in repair, and Richard now sleeps in +the house, as he has gotten so rheumatic. I should think five or +six thousand dollars might do it."</p> +<p>"I can certainly spare that much," said Keith, laughing.</p> +<p>"How is Norman?" asked the General.</p> +<p>Keith was conscious of a feeling of discontent. His countenance +fell.</p> +<p>"Why, I don't know. I don't see much of him these days."</p> +<p>"Ah! I want to go to see him."</p> +<p>"The fact is, we have--er--had--. There has been an unfortunate +misunderstanding between us. No one regrets it more than I; but I +think I can say it was not at all my fault, and I have done all and +more than was required of me."</p> +<p>"Ah, I am very sorry for that. It's a pity--a pity!" said the +old General. "What was it about?"</p> +<p>"Well, I don't care to talk about it, sir. But I can assure you, +I was not in the least to blame. It was caused mainly, I believe, +by that fellow, Wickersham."</p> +<p>"He's a scoundrel!" said the General, with sudden vehemence.</p> +<p>"He is, sir!"</p> +<p>"I will go and see Norman. I see by the papers he is in some +trouble."</p> +<p>"I fear he is, sir. His bank has been declining."</p> +<p>"Perhaps you can help him?" His face lit up. "You remember, he +once wrote you--a long time ago?"</p> +<p>"I remember; I have repaid that," said Keith, quickly. "He has +treated me very badly." He gave a brief account of the trouble +between them.</p> +<p>The old General leant back and looked at his son intently. His +face was very grave and showed that he was reflecting deeply.</p> +<p>"Gordon," he said presently, "the Devil is standing very close +to you. A real misunderstanding should always be cleared up. You +must go to him."</p> +<p>"What do you mean, sir?" asked his son, in some confusion.</p> +<p>"You are at the parting of the ways. A gentleman cannot +hesitate. Such a debt never can be paid by a gentleman," he said +calmly. "You must help him, even if you cannot restore the old +place. Elphinstone has gone for a debt before." He rose as if there +was nothing more to be said. "Well, I will go and wait for you at +your rooms." He walked out.</p> +<p>Keith sat and reflected. How different he was from his father! +How different from what he had been years ago! Then he had had an +affection for the old home and all that it represented. He had +worked with the idea of winning it back some day. It had been an +inspiration to him. But now it was wealth that he had begun to +seek.</p> +<p>It came to him clearly how much he had changed. The process all +lay before him. It had grown with his success, and had kept pace +with it in an almost steady ratio since he had set success before +him as a goal. He was angry with himself to find that he was +thinking now of success merely as Wealth. Once he had thought of +Honor and Achievement, even of Duty. He remembered when he had not +hesitated to descend into what appeared the very jaws of death, +because it seemed to him his duty. He wondered if he would do the +same now.</p> +<p>He felt that this was a practical view which he was now taking +of life. He was now a practical man; yes, practical like old +Kestrel, said his better self. He felt that he was not as much of a +gentleman as he used to be. He was further from his father; further +from what Norman was. This again brought Norman to his mind. If the +rumors which he had heard were true, Norman was now in a tight +place.</p> +<p>As his father had said, perhaps he might be able to help him. +But why should he do it? If Norman had helped him in the past, had +he not already paid him back? And had not Norman treated him badly +of late without the least cause--met his advances with a rebuff? +No; he would show him that he was not to be treated so. He still +had a small account in Norman's bank, which he had not drawn out +because he had not wished to let Norman see that he thought enough +of his coldness to make any change; but he would put his money now +into old Creamer's bank. After looking at his drafts again, he +unlocked his door and went out on the street.</p> +<p>There was more commotion on the street than he had seen in some +days. Men were hurrying at a quicker pace than the rapid gait which +was always noticeable in that thoroughfare. Groups occasionally +formed and, after a word or two, dispersed. Newsboys were crying +extras and announcing some important news in an unintelligible +jargon. Messengers were dashing about, rushing in and out of the +big buildings. Something unusual was evidently going on. As Keith, +on his way to the bank of which Mr. Creamer was president, passed +the mouth of the street in which Norman's office was situated, he +looked down and saw quite a crowd assembled. The street was full. +He passed on, however, and went into the big building, on the first +floor of which Creamer's bank had its offices. He walked through to +the rear of the office, to the door of Mr. Creamer's private +office, and casually asked the nearest clerk for Mr. Creamer. The +young man said he was engaged. Keith, however, walked up to the +door, and was about to knock, when, at a word spoken by his +informant, another clerk came hastily forward and said that Mr. +Creamer was very busily engaged and could see no one.</p> +<p>"Well, he will see me," said Keith, feeling suddenly the courage +that the possession of over a quarter of a million dollars gave, +and he boldly knocked on the door, and, without waiting to be +invited in, opened it.</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer was sitting at his desk, and two or three other men, +one or two of whom Keith had seen before, were seated in front of +him in close conference. They stared at the intruder.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith." Mr. Creamer's tone conveyed not the least feeling, +gave no idea either of welcome or surprise.</p> +<p>"Excuse me for interrupting you for a moment," said Keith. "I +want to open an account here. I have a draft on London, which I +should like to deposit and have you collect for me."</p> +<p>The effect was immediate; indeed, one might almost say magical. +The atmosphere of the room as suddenly changed as if May should be +dropped into the lap of December. The old banker's face relaxed. He +touched a bell under the lid of his desk, and at the same moment +pushed back his chair.</p> +<p>"Gentlemen, let me introduce my friend, Mr. Keith." He presented +Keith in turn to each of his companions, who greeted him with that +degree of mingled reserve and civility which is due to a man who +has placed a paper capable of effecting such a marked change in the +hands of the most self-contained banker in Bankers' Row.</p> +<p>A tap at the door announced an answer to the bell, and the next +moment a clerk came in.</p> +<p>"Ask Mr. Penwell to come here," said Mr. Creamer. "Mr. Penwell +is the head of our foreign department," he added in gracious +explanation to Keith.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith, gentlemen, is largely interested in some of those +Southern mining properties that you have heard me speak of; and has +just put through a very fine deal with an English syndicate."</p> +<p>The door opened, and a cool-looking, slender man of fifty-odd, +with a thin gray face, thin gray hair very smoothly brushed, and +keen gray eyes, entered. He was introduced to Mr. Keith. After Mr. +Creamer had stated the purpose of Keith's visit and had placed the +drafts in Mr. Penwell's hands, the latter stated, as an interesting +item just off the ticker, that he understood Wentworth was in +trouble. Some one had just come and said that there was a run on +his bank.</p> +<p>"Those attacks on him in the newspapers must have hurt him +considerably," observed one of the visitors.</p> +<p>"Yes, he has been a good deal hurt," said Mr. Creamer. "We are +all right, Penwell?" He glanced at his subordinate.</p> +<p>Mr. Penwell nodded with deep satisfaction.</p> +<p>"So are we," said one of the visitors. "This is the end of +Wentworth & Son. He will go down."</p> +<p>"He has been going down for some time. Wife too +extravagant."</p> +<p>This appeared to be the general opinion. But Keith scarcely +heard the speakers. He stood in a maze.</p> +<p>The announcement of Norman's trouble had come to him like a +thunder-clap. And he was standing now as in a dream. Could it be +possible that Norman was going to fail? And if he failed, would +this be all it meant to these men who had known him always?</p> +<p>The vision of an old gentleman sitting in his home, which he had +lost, came back to him across the years.</p> +<p>"That young man is a gentleman," he heard him say. "It takes a +gentleman to write such a letter to a friend in misfortune. Write +to him and say we will never forget his kindness." He heard the +same old gentleman say, after years of poverty, "You must pay your +debt though I give up Elphinstone."</p> +<p>Was he not now forgetting Norman's kindness? But was it not too +late? Could he save him? Would he not simply be throwing away his +money to offer it to him? Suddenly again, he seemed to hear his +father's voice:</p> +<p>"The Devil is standing close behind you. You are at the parting +of the ways. A gentleman cannot hesitate."</p> +<p>"Mr. Creamer," he said suddenly, "why don't Norman Wentworth's +friends come to his rescue and help him out of his +difficulties?"</p> +<p>The question might have come from the sky, it was so unexpected. +It evidently caught the others unprepared with an answer. They +simply smiled vaguely. Mr. Creamer said presently, rubbing his +chin:</p> +<p>"Why, I don't suppose they know the extent of his +difficulties."</p> +<p>"And I guess he has no collateral to offer?" said another.</p> +<p>"Collateral! No; everything he has is pledged."</p> +<p>"But I mean, why don't they lend him money without collateral, +if necessary, to tide him over his trouble? He is a man of probity. +He has lived here all his life. He must have many friends able to +help him. They know that if he had time to realize on his +properties he would probably pull through."</p> +<p>With one accord the other occupants of the room turned and +looked at Keith.</p> +<p>"Did you say you had made a fortune in mining deals?" asked one +of the gentlemen across the table, gazing at Keith through his +gold-rimmed glasses with a wintry little smile.</p> +<p>"No, I did not. Whatever was said on that subject Mr. Creamer +said."</p> +<p>"Oh! That's so. He did. Well, you are the sort of a man we want +about here."</p> +<p>This remark was received with some amusement by the others; but +Keith passed it by, and turned to Mr. Creamer.</p> +<p>"Mr. Creamer, how much money will you give me on this draft? +This is mine. The other I wish to deposit here."</p> +<p>"Why, I don't know just what the exchange would be. What is the +exchange on this, Penwell?"</p> +<p>"Will you cash this draft for me?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"Certainly."</p> +<p>"Well, will you do me a further favor? It might make very little +difference if I were to make a deposit in Norman's bank; but if you +were to make such a deposit there, it would probably reassure +people, and the run might be stopped. I have known of one or two +instances."</p> +<p>Mr. Creamer agreed, and the result was a sort of reaction in +Norman's favor, in sentiment if not in action. It was arranged that +Keith should go and make a deposit, and that Mr. Creamer should +send a man to make a further one and offer Wentworth aid.</p> +<p>When Gordon Keith reached the block on which stood Norman's +bank, the street was already filled with a dense crowd, pushing, +growling, complaining, swearing, threatening. It was evidently a +serious affair, and Keith, trying to make his way through the mob, +heard many things about Norman which he never could have believed +it would have been possible to hear. The crowd was in an ugly mood, +and was growing uglier. A number of policemen were trying to keep +the people in line so that they could take their turn. Keith found +it impossible to make his way to the front. His explanation that he +wished to make a deposit was greeted with shouts of derision.</p> +<p>"Stand back there, young man. We've heard that before; you can't +work that on us. We would all like to make deposits--somewhere +else."</p> +<p>"Except them what's already made 'em," some one added, at which +there was a laugh.</p> +<p>Keith applied to a policeman with hardly more success, until he +opened the satchel he carried, and mentioned the name of the banker +who was to follow him. On this the officer called another, and +after a hurried word the two began to force their way through the +crowd, with Keith between them. By dint of commanding, pushing, and +explaining, they at length reached the entrance to the bank, and +finally made their way, hot and perspiring, to the counter. A clerk +was at work at every window counting out money as fast as checks +were presented.</p> +<p>Just before Keith reached the counter, on glancing through an +open door, he saw Norman sitting at his desk, white and grim. His +burning eyes seemed deeper than ever. He glanced up, and Keith +thought he caught his gaze on him, but he was not sure, for he +looked away so quickly. The next moment he walked around inside the +counter and spoke to a clerk, who opened a ledger and gave him a +memorandum. Then he came forward and spoke to a teller at the +receiving-window.</p> +<p>"Do you know that man with the two policemen? That is Mr. Gordon +Keith. Here is his balance; pay it to him as soon as he reaches the +window."</p> +<p>The teller, bending forward, gazed earnestly out of the small +grated window over the heads of those nearest him. Keith met his +gaze, and the teller nodded. Norman turned away without looking, +and seated himself on a chair in the rear of the bank.</p> +<p>When Keith reached the window, the white-faced teller said +immediately:</p> +<p>"Your balance, Mr. Keith, is so much; you have a check?" He +extended his hand to take it.</p> +<p>"No," said Keith; "I have not come to draw out any money. I have +come to make a deposit."</p> +<p>The teller was so much astonished that he simply ejaculated:</p> +<p>"Sir--?"</p> +<p>"I wish to make a deposit," said Keith, raising his voice a +little, and speaking with great distinctness.</p> +<p>His voice had the quality of carrying, and a silence settled on +the crowd,--one of those silences that sometimes fall, even on a +mob, when the wholly unexpected happens,--so that every word that +was spoken was heard distinctly.</p> +<p>"Ah--we are not taking deposits to-day," said the astonished +teller, doubtfully.</p> +<p>Keith smiled.</p> +<p>"Well, I suppose there is no objection to doing so? I have an +account in this bank, and I wish to add to it. I am not afraid of +it."</p> +<p>The teller gazed at him in blank amazement; he evidently thought +that Keith was a little mad. He opened his mouth as if to speak, +but said nothing from sheer astonishment.</p> +<p>"I have confidence enough in this bank," pursued Keith, "to put +my money here, and here I propose to put it, and I am not the only +one; there will be others here in a little while."</p> +<p>"I shall--really, I shall have to ask Mr. Wentworth," faltered +the clerk.</p> +<p>"Mr. Wentworth has nothing to do with it," said Keith, +positively, and to close the discussion, he lifted his satchel +through the window, and, turning it upside down, emptied before the +astonished teller a pile of bills which made him gasp. "Enter that +to my credit," said Keith.</p> +<p>"How much is it?"</p> +<p>The sum that Keith mentioned made him gasp yet more. It was up +in the hundreds of thousands.</p> +<p>"There will be more here in a little while." He turned his head +and glanced toward the door. "Ah, here comes some one now," he +said, as he recognized one of the men whom he had recently left at +the council board, who was then pushing his way forward, under the +guidance of several policemen.</p> +<p>The amount deposited by the banker was much larger than Keith +had expected, and a few well-timed words to those about him had a +marked effect upon the depositors. He said their apprehension was +simply absurd. They, of course, had the right to draw out their +money, if they wished it, and they would get it, but he advised +them to go home and wait to do so until the crowd dispersed. The +bank was perfectly sound, and they could not break it unless they +could also break its friends.</p> +<p>A few of the struggling depositors dropped out of line, some of +the others saying that, as they had waited so long, they guessed +they would get their money now.</p> +<p>The advice given, perhaps, had an added effect, as at that +moment a shriek arose from a woman near the door, who declared that +her pocket had been picked of the money she had just drawn.</p> +<p>The arrival of the new depositors, and the spreading through the +crowd of the information that they represented several of the +strongest banks in the city, quieted the apprehensions of the +depositors, and a considerable number of them abandoned the idea of +drawing out their money and went off. Though many of them remained, +it was evident that the dangerous run had subsided. A notice was +posted on the front door of the bank that the bank would remain +open until eight o'clock and would be open the following morning at +eight, which had something to do with allaying the excitement of +the depositors.</p> +<p>That afternoon Keith went back to the bank. Though depositors +were still drawing out their money, the scene outside was very +different from that which he had witnessed earlier in the day. +Keith asked for Mr. Wentworth, and was shown to his room. When +Keith entered, Norman was sitting at his desk figuring busily. +Keith closed the door behind him and waited. The lines were deep on +Norman's face; but the hunted look it had borne in the morning had +passed away, and grim resolution had taken its place. When at +length he glanced up, his already white face grew yet whiter. The +next second a flush sprang to his cheeks; he pushed back his chair +and rose, and, taking one step forward, stretched out his hand.</p> +<p>"Keith!"</p> +<p>Keith took his hand with a grip that drove the blood from the +ends of Norman's fingers.</p> +<p>"Norman!"</p> +<p>Norman drew a chair close to his desk, and Keith sat down. +Norman sank into his, looked down on the floor for a second, then, +raising his eyes, looked full into Keith's eyes.</p> +<p>"Keith--?" His voice failed him; he glanced away, reached over, +and took up a paper lying near, and the next instant leant forward, +and folding his arms on the desk, dropped his head on them, shaken +with emotion.</p> +<p>Keith rose from his chair, and bending over him, laid his hand +on his head, as he might have done to a younger brother.</p> +<p>"Don't, Norman," he said helplessly; "it is all right." He moved +his hand down Norman's arm with a touch as caressing as if he had +been a little child, but all he said was: "Don't, Norman; it is all +right."</p> +<p>Suddenly Norman sat up.</p> +<p>"It is all wrong!" he said bitterly. "I have been a fool. I had +no right--. But I was mad! I have wrecked my life. But I was +insane. I was deceived. I do not know even now how it happened. I +ought to have known, but--I learned only just now. I can never +explain. I ask your pardon humbly."</p> +<p>Keith leant forward and laid his hand upon him +affectionately.</p> +<p>"There, there! You owe me no apology, and I ask no explanation; +it was all a great mistake."</p> +<p>"Yes, and all my fault. She was not to blame; it was my folly. I +drove her to--desperation."</p> +<p>"I want to ask just one thing. Was it Ferdy Wickersham who made +you believe I had deceived you?" asked Keith, standing straight +above him.</p> +<p>"In part--mainly. But I was mad." He drew his hand across his +forehead, sat back in his chair, and, with eyes averted, sighed +deeply. His thoughts were evidently far from Keith. Keith's eyes +rested on him, and his face paled a little with growing +resolution.</p> +<p>"One question, Norman. Pardon me for asking it. My only reason +is that I would give my life, a worthless life you once saved, to +see you as you once were. I know more than you think I know. You +love her still? I know you must."</p> +<p>Norman turned his eyes and let them rest on Keith's face. They +were filled with anguish.</p> +<p>"Better than my life. I adore her."</p> +<p>Keith drew in his breath with a long sigh of relief and of +content.</p> +<p>"Oh, I have no hope," Norman went on despairingly. "I gave her +every right to doubt it. I killed her love. I do not blame her. It +was all my fault. I know it now, when it is too late."</p> +<p>"It is not too late."</p> +<p>Norman shook his head, without even looking at Keith.</p> +<p>"Too late," he said, speaking to himself.</p> +<p>Keith rose to his feet.</p> +<p>"It is not too late," he declared, with a sudden ring in his +voice; "she loves you."</p> +<p>Norman shook his head.</p> +<p>"She hates me; I deserve it."</p> +<p>"In her heart she adores you," said Keith, in a tone of +conviction.</p> +<p>Norman turned away with a half-bitter laugh.</p> +<p>"You don't know."</p> +<p>"I do know, and you will know it, too. How long shall you be +here?"</p> +<p>"I shall spend the night here," said Norman. "I must be ready +for whatever may happen to-morrow morning.--I have not thanked you +yet." He extended his hand to Keith. "You stemmed the tide for me +to-day. I know what it must have cost you. I cannot regret it, and +I know you never will; and I beg you to believe that, though I go +down to-morrow, I shall never forget it, and if God spares me, I +will repay you."</p> +<p>Keith's eyes rested on him calmly.</p> +<p>"You paid me long ago, Norman. I was paying a debt to-day, or +trying to pay one, in a small way. It was not I who made that +deposit to-day, but a better man and a finer gentleman than I can +ever hope to be--my father. It was he who inspired me to do that; +he paid that debt."</p> +<p>From what Keith had heard, he felt that he was justified in +going to see Mrs. Wentworth. Possibly, it was not too late; +possibly, he might be able to do something to clear away the +misapprehension under which she labored, and to make up the trouble +between her and Norman. Norman still loved her dearly, and Keith +believed that she cared for him. Lois Huntington always declared +that she did, and she could not have been deceived.</p> +<p>That she had been foolish Keith knew; that she had been wicked +he did not believe. She was self-willed, vain, extravagant; but +deep under her cold exterior burned fires of which she had once or +twice given him a glimpse; and he believed that her deepest feeling +was ever for Norman.</p> +<p>When he reached Mrs. Wentworth's house he was fortunate enough +to find her at home. He was shown into the drawing-room.</p> +<p>When Mrs. Wentworth entered the room, Keith was conscious of a +change in her since he had seen her last. She, too, had heard the +clangor of the evil tongues that had connected their names. She +greeted him with cordial words, but her manner was constrained, and +her expression was almost suspicious.</p> +<p>She changed, however, under Keith's imperturbable and unfeigned +friendliness, and suddenly asked him if he had seen Norman. For the +first time real interest spoke in her voice and shone in her face. +Keith said he had seen him.</p> +<p>"I have come to see if I could not help you. Perhaps, I may be +able to do something to set things right."</p> +<p>"No--it is too late. Things have gone too far. We have just +drifted--drifted!" She flung up her hands and tossed them apart +with a gesture of despair. "Drifted!" she repeated. She put her +handkerchief to her eyes.</p> +<p>Keith watched her in silence for a moment, and then rising, he +seated himself beside her.</p> +<p>"Come--this is all wrong--all wrong!" He caught her by the wrist +and firmly took her hand down from her eyes, much as an older +brother might have done. "I want to talk to you. Perhaps, I can +help you--I may have been sent here for the purpose--who knows? At +least, I want to help you. Now tell me." He looked into her face +with grave, kind eyes. "You do not care for Ferdy Wickersham? That +would be impossible."</p> +<p>"No, of course not,--except as a friend,--and Norman liked +another woman--your friend!" Her eyes flashed a sudden flame.</p> +<p>"Never! never!" repeated Keith, after a pause. "Norman is not +that sort."</p> +<p>His absolute certainty daunted her.</p> +<p>"He did. I have reason to think--" she began. But Keith put her +down.</p> +<p>"Never! I would stake my salvation on it."</p> +<p>"He is going to get a--try to get a divorce. He is willing to +blacken my name."</p> +<p>"What! Never."</p> +<p>"But you do not know the reasons I have for saying so," she +protested. "If I could tell you--"</p> +<p>"No, and I do not care. Doubt your own senses rather than +believe that. Ferdy Wickersham is your authority for that."</p> +<p>"No, he is not--not my only authority. You are all so hard on +Ferdy. He is a good friend of mine."</p> +<p>"He is not," asserted Keith. "He is your worst enemy--your very +worst. He is incapable of being a friend."</p> +<p>"What have you against him?" she demanded. "I know you and he +don't like each other, but--"</p> +<p>"Well, for one thing, he deceived a poor girl, and then +abandoned her--and--"</p> +<p>"Perhaps, your information is incorrect? You know how easy it is +to get up a slander, and such women are--not to be believed. They +always pretend that they have been deceived."</p> +<p>"She was not one of 'such women,'" said Keith, calmly. "She was +a perfectly respectable woman, and the granddaughter of an old +friend of mine."</p> +<p>"Well, perhaps, you may have been misinformed?"</p> +<p>"No; I have the evidence that Wickersham married her--and--"</p> +<p>"Oh, come now--that is absurd! Ferdy married! Why, Ferdy never +cared enough for any one to marry her--unless she had money. He has +paid attention to a rich woman, but--You must not strain my +credulity too far. I really thought you had something to show +against him. Of course, I know he is not a saint,--in fact, very +far from it,--but he does not pretend to be. But, at least, he is +not a hypocrite."</p> +<p>"He is a hypocrite and a scoundrel," declared Keith, firmly. "He +is married, and his wife is living now. He abandoned her, and she +is insane. I know her."</p> +<p>"You know her! Ferdy married!" She paused in wonder. His +certainty carried conviction with it.</p> +<p>"I have his marriage certificate."</p> +<p>"You have?" A sort of amaze passed over her face.</p> +<p>He took out the paper and gave it to her. She gazed at it with +staring eyes. "That is his hand." She rose with a blank face, and +walked to the window; then, after a moment, came back and sat down. +She had the expression of a person lost. "Tell me about it."</p> +<p>Keith told her. He also told her of Norman's losses.</p> +<p>Again that look of amazement crossed her face; her eyes became +almost blank.</p> +<p>"Norman's fortune impaired! I cannot understand it--<i>he</i> +told me--Oh, there must be some mistake!" she broke out vehemently. +"You are deceiving me. No! I don't mean that, of course,--I know +you would not,--but you have been deceived yourself." Her face was +a sudden white.</p> +<p>Keith shook his head. "No!"</p> +<p>"Why, look here. He cannot be hard up. He has kept up my +allowance and met every demand--almost every demand--I have made on +him." She was grasping at straws.</p> +<p>"And Ferdy Wickersham has spent it in Wall Street."</p> +<p>"What! No, he has not! There, at least, you do him an injustice. +What he has got from me he has invested securely. I have all the +papers--at least, some of them."</p> +<p>"How has he invested it?"</p> +<p>"Partly in a mine called the 'Great Gun Mine,' in New Leeds. +Partly in Colorado.--I can help Norman with it." Her face +brightened as the thought came to her.</p> +<p>Keith shook his head.</p> +<p>"The Great Gun Mine is a fraud--at least, it is worthless, not +worth five cents on the dollar of what has been put in it. It was +flooded years ago. Wickersham has used it as a mask for his +gambling operations in Wall Street, but has not put a dollar into +it for years; and now he does not even own it. His creditors have +it."</p> +<p>Her face had turned perfectly white.</p> +<p>A look, partly of pity for her, partly of scorn for Wickersham, +crossed Keith's face. He rose and strode up and down the room in +perplexity.</p> +<p>"He is a common thief," he said sternly--"beneath contempt!"</p> +<p>His conviction suddenly extended to her. When he looked at her, +she showed in her face that she believed him. Her last prop had +fallen. The calamity had made her quiet.</p> +<p>"What shall I do?" she asked hopelessly.</p> +<p>"You must tell Norman."</p> +<p>"Oh!"</p> +<p>"Make a clean breast of it."</p> +<p>"You do not know Norman! How can I? He would despise me so! You +do not know how proud he is. He--!" Words failed her, and she +stared at Keith helplessly.</p> +<p>"If I do not know Norman, I know no one on earth. Go to him and +tell him everything. It will be the happiest day of his life--your +salvation and his."</p> +<p>"You think so?"</p> +<p>"I know it."</p> +<p>She relapsed into thought, and Keith waited.</p> +<p>"I was to see Fer--Mr. Wickersham to-night," she began +presently. "He asked me to supper to meet some friends--the Count +and Countess Torelli."</p> +<p>Keith smiled. A fine scorn came into his eyes.</p> +<p>"Where does he give the dinner? At what hour?"</p> +<p>She named the place--a fashionable restaurant up-town. The time +was still several hours away.</p> +<p>"You must go to Norman."</p> +<p>She sat in deep reflection.</p> +<p>"It is your only chance--your only hope. Give me authority to +act for you, and go to him. He needs you."</p> +<p>"If I thought he would forgive me?" she said in a low tone.</p> +<p>"He will. I have just come from him. Write me the authority and +go at once."</p> +<p>A light appeared to dawn in her face.</p> +<p>She rose suddenly.</p> +<p>"What shall I write?"</p> +<p>"Write simply that I have full authority to act for you--and +that you have gone to Norman."</p> +<p>She walked into the next room, and seating herself at an +escritoire, she wrote for a short time. When she handed the paper +to Keith it contained just what he had requested: a simple +statement to F.C. Wickersham that Mr. Keith had full authority to +represent her and act for her as he deemed best.</p> +<p>"Will that do?" she asked.</p> +<p>"I think so," said Keith. "Now go. Norman is waiting."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> +<h3>RECONCILIATION</h3> +<br> +<p>For some time after Keith left her Mrs. Wentworth sat absolutely +motionless, her eyes half closed, her lips drawn tight, in deep +reflection. Presently she changed her seat and ensconced herself in +the corner of a divan, leaning her head on her hand; but her +expression did not change. Her mind was evidently working in the +same channel. A tumult raged within her breast, but her face was +set sphinx-like, inscrutable. Just then there was a scurry +up-stairs; a boy's voice was heard shouting:</p> +<p>"See here, what papa sent us."</p> +<p>There was an answering shout, and then an uproar of childish +delight. A sudden change swept over her. Light appeared to break +upon her. Something like courage came into her face, not unmingled +with tenderness, softening it and dispelling the gloom which had +clouded it. She rose suddenly and walked with a swift, decisive +step out of the room and up the richly carpeted stairs. To a maid +on the upper floor she said hurriedly: "Tell Fenderson to order the +brougham--at once," and passed into her chamber.</p> +<p>Closing the door, she locked it. She opened a safe built in the +wall; a package of letters fell out into the room. A spasm almost +of loathing crossed her face. She picked up the letters and began +to tear them up with almost violence, throwing the fragments into +the grate as though they soiled her hands. Going back to the safe, +she took out box after box of jewelry, opening them to glance in +and see that the jewels were there. Yes, they were there: a pearl +necklace; bracelets which had been the wonder of her set, and which +her pretended friend and admirer had once said were worth as much +as her home. She put them all into a bag, together with several +large envelopes containing papers.</p> +<p>Then she went to a dress-closet, and began to search through it, +choosing, finally, a simple, dark street dress, by no means one of +the newest. A gorgeous robe, which had been laid out for her to +wear, she picked up and flung on the floor with sudden loathing. It +was the gown she had intended to wear that night.</p> +<p>A tap at the door, and the maid's mild voice announced the +carriage; and a few minutes later Mrs. Wentworth descended the +stairs.</p> +<p>"Tell Mademoiselle Clarisse that Mr. Wentworth will be here this +evening to see the children."</p> +<p>"Yes, madam." The maid's quiet voice was too well trained to +express the slightest surprise, but as soon as the outer door had +closed on her mistress, and she had heard the carriage drive away, +she rushed down to the lower storey to convey the astounding +intelligence, and to gossip over it for half an hour before she +deemed it necessary to give the message to the governess who had +succeeded Lois when the latter went home.</p> +<p>It was just eight o'clock that evening when the carriage drove +up to the door of Norman Wentworth's bank, and a lady enveloped in +a long wrap, her dark veil pulled down over her face, sprang out +and ran up the steps. The crowd had long ago dispersed, though now +and then a few timid depositors still made their way into the bank, +to be on the safe side.</p> +<p>The intervention of the banks and the loans they had made that +afternoon had stayed the run and saved the bank from closing; but +Norman Wentworth knew that if he was not ruined, his bank had +received a shock from which it would not recover in a long time, +and his fortune was crippled, he feared, almost beyond repair. The +tired clerks looked up as the lady entered the bank, and, with +glances at the clock, muttered a few words to each other about her +right to draw money after the closing-hour had passed. When, +however, she walked past their windows and went straight to Mr. +Wentworth's door, their interest increased.</p> +<p>Norman, with his books before him, was sitting back in his +chair, his head leaning back and resting in his clasped hands, deep +in thought upon the gloom of the present and the perplexities of +the future, when there was a tap at the door.</p> +<p>With some impatience he called to the person to enter.</p> +<p>The door opened, and Norman could scarcely believe his senses. +For a second he did not even sit forward. He did not stir; he +simply remained sitting back in his chair, his face turned to the +door, his eyes resting on the figure before him in vague amazement. +The next second, with a half-cry, his wife was on her knees beside +him, her arms about him, her form shaken with sobs. He sat forward +slowly, and his arm rested on her shoulders.</p> +<p>"There! don't cry," he said slowly; "it might be worse."</p> +<p>But all she said was:</p> +<p>"Oh, Norman! Norman!"</p> +<p>He tried to raise her, with grave words to calm her; but she +resisted, and clung to him closer.</p> +<p>"It is not so bad; it might be worse," he repeated.</p> +<p>She rose suddenly to her feet and flung back her veil.</p> +<p>"Can you forgive me? I have come to beg your forgiveness on my +knees. I have been mad--mad. I was deceived. No! I will not say +that--I was crazy--a fool! But I loved you always, you only. You +will forgive me? Say you will."</p> +<p>"There, there! Of course I will--I do. I have been to blame +quite as much--more than you. I was a fool."</p> +<p>"Oh, no, no! You shall not say that; but you will believe that I +loved you--you only--always! You will believe this? I was mad."</p> +<p>He raised her up gently, and with earnest words reassured her, +blaming himself for his harshness and folly.</p> +<p>She suddenly opened her bag and emptied the contents out on his +desk.</p> +<p>"There! I have brought you these."</p> +<p>Her husband gazed in silent astonishment.</p> +<p>"I don't understand."</p> +<p>"They are for you," she said--"for us. To pay <i>our</i> debts. +To help you." She pulled off her glove and began to take off her +diamond rings.</p> +<p>"They will not go a great way," said Norman, with a smile of +indulgence.</p> +<p>"Well, as far as they will go they shall go. Do you think I will +keep anything I have when you are in trouble--when your good name +is at stake? The house--everything shall go. It is all my fault. I +have been a wicked, silly fool; but I did not know--I ought to have +known; but I did not. I do not see how I could have been so blind +and selfish."</p> +<p>"Oh, don't blame yourself. I have not blamed you," said Norman, +soothingly. "Of course, you did not know. How could you? Women are +not expected to know about those things."</p> +<p>"Yes, they are," insisted Mrs. Wentworth. "If I had not been +such a fool I might have seen. It is all plain to me now. Your +harassment--my folly--it came to me like a stroke of +lightning."</p> +<p>Norman's eyes were on her with a strange inquiring look in +them.</p> +<p>"How did you hear?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith--he came to me and told me."</p> +<p>"I wish he had not done it. I mean, I did not want you troubled. +You were not to blame. You were deceived."</p> +<p>"Oh, don't say that! I shall never cease to thank him. He tore +the veil away, and I saw what a heartless, vain, silly fool I have +been." Norman put his hand on her soothingly. "But I have never +forgotten that I was your wife, nor ceased to love you," she went +on vehemently.</p> +<p>"I believe it."</p> +<p>"I have come to confess everything to you--all my folly--all my +extravagance--my insane folly. But what I said just now is true: I +have never forgotten that I was your wife."</p> +<p>Norman, with his arm supporting her, reassured her with +comforting words, and, sustained by his confidence, she told him of +her folly in trusting Ferdy Wickersham: of her giving him her +money--of everything.</p> +<p>"Can you forgive me?" she asked after her shamefaced +recital.</p> +<p>"I will never think of that again," said Norman, "and if I do, +it will be with gratitude that they have played their part in doing +away with the one great sorrow of my life and bringing back the +happiness of my youth, the one great blessing that life holds for +me."</p> +<p>"I have come to take you home," she said; "to ask you to come +back, if you will but forgive me." She spoke humbly.</p> +<p>Norman's face gave answer even before he could master himself to +speak. He stretched out his hand, and drew her to him. "I am at +home now. Wherever you are is my home."</p> +<p>When Norman came out of his private office, there was such a +change in him that the clerks who had remained at the bank thought +that he must have received some great aid from the lady who had +been closeted with him so long. He had a few brief words with the +cashier, explaining that he would be back at the bank before eight +o'clock in the morning, and saying good night, hurried to the door +after Mrs. Wentworth. Handing her into the carriage, he ordered the +coachman to drive home, and, springing in after her, he closed the +door behind him, and they drove off.</p> +<p>Keith, meantime, had not been idle. After leaving Mrs. +Wentworth, he drove straight to a detective agency. Fortunately the +chief was in, and Keith was ushered into his private office +immediately. He was a quiet-looking, stout man, with a gray +moustache and keen dark eyes. He might have been a moderately +successful merchant or official, but for the calmness of his manner +and the low tones of his voice. Keith came immediately to the +point.</p> +<p>"I have a piece of important work on hand this evening," he +said, "of a private and delicate nature." The detective's look was +acquiescent. "Could I get Dennison?"</p> +<p>"I think so."</p> +<p>Keith stated his case. At the mention of Wickersham's name a +slight change--the very slightest--flickered across the detective's +calm face. Keith could not tell whether it was mere surprise or +whether it was gratification.</p> +<p>"Now you see precisely what I wish," he said, as he finished +stating the case and unfolding his plan. "It may not be necessary +for him even to appear, but I wish him to be on hand in case I +should need his service. If Wickersham does not accede to my +demand, I shall arrest him for the fraud I have mentioned. If he +does accede, I wish Dennison to accompany him to the boat of the +South American Line that sails to-morrow morning, and not leave him +until the pilot comes off. I do not apprehend that he will refuse +when he knows the hand that I hold."</p> +<p>"No, he will not. He knows what would happen if proceedings were +started," said the detective. "Excuse me a moment." He walked out +of the office, closing the door behind him, and a few minutes later +returned with David Dennison.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith, this is Mr. John Dimm. I have explained to him the +nature of the service you require of him." He looked at Mr. Dimm, +who simply nodded his acquiescence. "You will take your orders from +Mr. Keith, should anything arise to change his plans, and act +accordingly."</p> +<p>"I know him," said Keith, amused at the cool professional air +with which his old friend greeted him in the presence of his +principal.</p> +<p>Dave simply blinked; but his eyes had a fire in them.</p> +<p>It was arranged that Dennison should precede Keith to the place +he had mentioned and order a supper there, while Keith should get +the ticket at the steamship office and then follow him. So when +Keith had completed his arrangements, he found Dennison at supper +at a table near the ladies' entrance, a view of which he commanded +in a mirror just before him. Mr. Dimm's manner had entirely +changed. He was a man of the world and a host as he handed Keith to +his seat.</p> +<p>"A supper for two has been ordered in private dining-room 21, +for 9:45," he said in an undertone as the waiter moved off. "They +do not know whether it is for a gentleman and a lady, or two +gentlemen; but I suppose it is for a lady, as he has been here a +number of times with ladies. If you are sure that the lady will not +come, you might wait for him there. I will remain here until he +comes, and follow him up, in case you need me."</p> +<p>Keith feared that the waiter might mention his presence.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; he knows us," said Dave, with a faint smile at the bare +suggestion.</p> +<p>Mr. Dimm called the head-waiter and spoke to him in an +undertone. The waiter himself showed Keith up to the room, where he +found a table daintily set with two covers.</p> +<p>The champagne-cooler, filled with ice, was already on the floor +beside the table. Keith looked at it grimly. The curtains of the +window were down, and Keith walked over to see on what street the +window looked. It was a deep embrasure. The shade was drawn down, +and he raised it, to find that the window faced on a dead-wall. At +the moment the door opened and he heard Wickersham's voice.</p> +<p>"No one has come yet?"</p> +<p>"No, sir, not as I knows of," stammered the waiter. "I have just +come on."</p> +<p>"Where is Jacques, the man who usually waits on me?" demanded +Wickersham, half angrily.</p> +<p>"Jacques est souffrant. Il est très malade."</p> +<p>Wickersham grunted. "Well, take this," he said, "and remember +that if you serve me properly there will be a good deal more to +follow."</p> +<p>The waiter thanked him profusely.</p> +<p>"Now, get down and be on the lookout, and when a lady comes and +asks for 21, show her up immediately. If she asks who is here, tell +her two gentlemen and a lady. You understand?"</p> +<p>The waiter bowed his assent and retired. Wickersham came in and +closed the door behind him.</p> +<p>He had just thrown his coat on a chair, laid his hat on the +mantelpiece, and was twirling his moustache at the mirror above it, +when he caught sight in the mirror of Keith. Keith had stepped out +behind him from the recess, and was standing by the table, quietly +looking at him. He gave an exclamation and turned quickly.</p> +<p>"Hah! What is this? You here! What are you doing here? There is +some mistake." He glanced at the door.</p> +<p>"No, there is no mistake," said Keith, advancing; "I am waiting +for you."</p> +<p>"For me! Waiting for me?" he demanded, mystified.</p> +<p>"Yes. Did you not tell the waiter just now a gentleman was here? +I confess you do not seem very pleased to see me."</p> +<p>"You have read my looks correctly," said Wickersham, who was +beginning to recover himself, and with it his scornful manner. "You +are the last person on earth I wish to see--ever. I do not know +that I should weep if I never had that pleasure again."</p> +<p>Keith bowed.</p> +<p>"I think it probable. You may, hereafter, have even less cause +for joy at meeting me."</p> +<p>"Impossible," said Wickersham.</p> +<p>Keith put his hand on a chair, and prepared to sit down, +motioning Wickersham to take the other seat.</p> +<p>"The lady you are waiting for will not be here this evening," he +said, "and it may be that our interview will be protracted."</p> +<p>Wickersham passed by the last words.</p> +<p>"What lady? Who says I am waiting for a lady?"</p> +<p>"You said so at the door just now. Besides, I say so."</p> +<p>"Oh! You were listening, were you?" he sneered.</p> +<p>"Yes; I heard it."</p> +<p>"How do you know she will not be here? What do you know about +it?"</p> +<p>"I know that she will no more be here than the Countess Torelli +will," said Keith. He was looking Wickersham full in the face and +saw that the shot went home.</p> +<p>"What do you want?" demanded Wickersham. "Why are you here? Are +you after money or a row?"</p> +<p>"I want you--I want you, first, to secure all of Mrs. +Wentworth's money that you have had, or as much as you can."</p> +<p>Wickersham was so taken aback that his dark face turned almost +white, but he recovered himself quickly.</p> +<p>"You are a madman, or some one has been deceiving you. You are +the victim of a delusion."</p> +<p>Keith, with his eyes fastened on him, shook his head.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; I am not."</p> +<p>A look of perplexed innocence came over Wickersham's face.</p> +<p>"Yes, you are," he said, in an almost friendly tone. "You are +the victim of some hallucination. I give you my word, I do not know +even what you are talking about. I should say you were engaged in +blackmail--" The expression in his eyes changed like a flash, but +something in Keith's eyes, as they met his, caused him to add, "if +I did not know that you were a man of character. I, too, am a man +of character, Mr. Keith. I want you to know it." Keith's eyes +remained calm and cold as steel. Wickersham faltered. "I am a man +of means--of large means. I am worth--. My balance in bank this +moment is--is more than you will ever be worth. Now I want to ask +you why, in the name of Heaven, should I want anything to do with +Mrs. Wentworth's money?"</p> +<p>"If you have such a balance in bank," said Keith, "it will +simplify my mission, for you will doubtless be glad to return Mr. +Wentworth's money that you have had from Mrs. Wentworth. I happen +to know that his money will come in very conveniently for Norman +just now."</p> +<p>"Oh, you come from Wentworth, do you?" demanded Wickersham.</p> +<p>"No; from Mrs. Wentworth," returned Keith.</p> +<p>"Did she send you?" Wickersham shot at Keith a level glance from +under his half-closed lids.</p> +<p>"I offered to come. She knows I am here."</p> +<p>"What proof have I of that?"</p> +<p>"My statement."</p> +<p>"And suppose I do not please to accept your statement?"</p> +<p>Keith leant a little toward him over the table.</p> +<p>"You will accept it."</p> +<p>"He must hold a strong hand," thought Wickersham. He shifted his +ground suddenly. "What, in the name of Heaven, are you driving at, +Keith? What are you after? Come to the point."</p> +<p>"I will," said Keith, rising. "Let us drop our masks; they are +not becoming to you, and I am not accustomed to them. I have come +for several things: one of them is Mrs. Wentworth's money, which +you got from her under false pretences." He spoke slowly, and his +eyes were looking in the other's eyes.</p> +<p>Wickersham sprang to his feet.</p> +<p>"What do you mean, sir?" he demanded, with an oath. "I have +already told you--! I will let no man speak to me in that way."</p> +<p>Keith did not stir. Wickersham paused to get his breath.</p> +<p>"You would not dare to speak so if a lady's name were not +involved, and you did not know that I cannot act as I would, for +fear of compromising her."</p> +<p>An expression of contempt swept across Keith's face.</p> +<p>"Sit down," he said. "I will relieve your mind. Mrs. Wentworth +is quite ready to meet any disclosures that may come. I have her +power of attorney. She has gone to her husband and told him +everything."</p> +<p>Wickersham's face whitened, and he could not repress the look of +mingled astonishment and fear that stole into his eyes.</p> +<p>"Now, having given you that information," continued Keith, "I +say that you stole Mrs. Wentworth's money, and I have come to +recover it, if possible."</p> +<p>Wickersham rose to his feet. With a furious oath he sprang for +his overcoat, and, snatching it up, began to feel for the +pocket.</p> +<p>"I'll blow your brains out."</p> +<p>"No, you will not," said Keith, "and I advise you to make less +noise. An officer is outside, and I have but to whistle to place +you where nothing will help you. A warrant is out for your arrest, +and I have the proof to convict you."</p> +<p>Wickersham, with his coat still held in one hand, and the other +in the pocket, shot a glance at Keith. He was daunted by his +coolness.</p> +<p>"You must think you hold a strong hand," he said. "But I have +known them to fail."</p> +<p>Keith bowed.</p> +<p>"No doubt. This one will not fail. I have taken pains that it +shall not, and I have other cards which I have not shown you. Sit +down and listen to me, and you shall judge for yourself."</p> +<p>With a muttered oath, Wickersham walked back to his seat; but +before he did so, he slipped quietly into his pocket a pistol which +he took from his overcoat.</p> +<p>Quickly as the act was done, Keith saw it.</p> +<p>"Don't you think you had better put your pistol back?" he said +quietly. "An officer is waiting just outside that door, a man that +can neither be bullied nor bought. Perhaps, you will agree with me +when I tell you that, though called Dimm, his real name is David +Dennison. He has orders at the least disturbance to place you under +arrest. Judge for yourself what chance you will have."</p> +<p>"What do you wish me to do?" asked Wickersham, sullenly.</p> +<p>"I wish you, first, to execute some papers which will secure to +Norman Wentworth, as far as can possibly be done, the amount of +money that you have gotten from Mrs. Wentworth under the pretence +of investing it for her in mines. Mrs. Wentworth's name will not be +mentioned in this instrument. The money was her husband's, and you +knew it, and you knew it was impairing his estate to furnish it. +Secondly, I require that you shall leave the country to-morrow +morning. I have arranged for passage for you, on a steamer sailing +before sunrise."</p> +<p>"Thank you," sneered Wickersham. "Really, you are very +kind."</p> +<p>"Thirdly, you will sign a paper which contains only a few of the +facts, but enough, perhaps, to prevent your returning to this +country for some years to come."</p> +<p>Wickersham leant across the table and burst out laughing.</p> +<p>"And you really think I will do that? How old do you think I am? +Why did you not bring me a milk-bottle and a rattle? You do my +intellect a great deal of honor."</p> +<p>For answer Keith tapped twice on a glass with the back of a +knife. The next second the door opened, and Dave Dennison entered, +impassive, but calmly observant, and with a face set like rock.</p> +<p>At sight of him Wickersham's face whitened.</p> +<p>"One moment, Dave," said Keith; "wait outside a moment +more."</p> +<p>Dennison bowed and closed the door. The latch clicked, but the +knob did not settle back.</p> +<p>"I will give you one minute in which to decide," said Keith. He +drew from his pocket and threw on the table two papers. "There are +the papers." He took out his watch and waited.</p> +<p>Wickersham picked up the papers mechanically and glanced over +them. His face settled. Gambler that he was with the fortunes of +men and the reputations of women, he knew that he had lost. He +tried one more card--it was a poor one.</p> +<p>"Why are you so hard on me?" he asked, with something like a +whine--a faint whine--in his voice. "You, who I used to think--whom +I have known from boyhood, you have always been so hard on me! What +did I ever do to you that you should have hounded me so?"</p> +<p>Keith's face showed that the charge had reached him, but it +failed of the effect that Wickersham had hoped for. His lip curled +slightly.</p> +<p>"I am not hard on you; I am easy on you--but not for your sake," +he added vehemently. "You have betrayed every trust reposed in you. +You have deceived men and betrayed women. No vow has been sacred +enough to restrain you; no tie strong enough to hold you. +Affection, friendship, faith, have all been trampled under your +feet. You have deliberately attempted to destroy the happiness of +one of the best friends you have ever had; have betrayed his trust +and tried to ruin his life. If I served you right I would place you +beyond the power to injure any one, forever. The reason I do not is +not on your account, but because I played with you when we were +boys, and because I do not know how far my personal feeling might +influence me in carrying out what I still recognize as mere +justice." He closed his watch. "Your time is up. Do you agree?"</p> +<p>"I will sign the papers," said Wickersham, sullenly.</p> +<p>Keith drew out a pen and handed it to him. Wickersham signed the +papers slowly and deliberately.</p> +<p>"When did you take to writing backhand?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"I have done it for several years," declared Wickersham. "I had +writer's cramp once."</p> +<p>The expression on Keith's face was very like a sneer, but he +tried to suppress it.</p> +<p>"It will do," he said, as he folded the papers and took another +envelope from his pocket. "This is your ticket for the steamer for +Buenos Ayres, which sails to-morrow morning at high tide. Dennison +will go with you to a notary to acknowledge these papers, and then +will show you aboard of her and will see that you remain aboard +until the pilot leaves her. To-morrow a warrant will be put in the +hands of an officer and an application will be made for a receiver +for your property."</p> +<p>Wickersham leant back in his chair, with hate speaking from +every line of his face.</p> +<p>"You will administer on my effects? I suppose you are also going +to be administrator, <i>de bonis non</i>, of the lady in whose +behalf you have exhibited such sudden interest?"</p> +<p>Keith's face paled and his nostrils dilated for a moment. He +leant slightly forward and spoke slowly, his burning eyes fastened +on Wickersham's face.</p> +<p>"Your statement would be equally infamous whether it were true +or false. You know that it is a lie, and you know that I know it is +a lie. I will let that suffice. I have nothing further to say to +you." He tapped on the edge of the glass again, and Dennison walked +in. "Dennison," he said, "Mr. Wickersham has agreed to my plans. He +will go aboard the Buenos Ayres boat to-night. You will go with him +to the office I spoke of, where he will acknowledge these papers; +then you will accompany him to his home and get whatever clothes he +may require, and you will not lose sight of him until you come off +with the pilot."</p> +<p>Dennison bowed without a word; but his eyes snapped.</p> +<p>"If he makes any attempt to evade, or gives you any cause to +think he is trying to evade, his agreement, you have your +instructions."</p> +<p>Dennison bowed again, silently.</p> +<p>"I now leave you." Keith rose and inclined his head slightly +toward Wickersham.</p> +<p>As he turned, Wickersham shot at him a Parthian arrow:</p> +<p>"I hope you understand, Mr. Keith, that the obligations I have +signed are not the only obligations I recognize. I owe you a +personal debt, and I mean to live to pay it. I shall pay it, +somehow."</p> +<p>Keith turned and looked at him steadily.</p> +<p>"I understand perfectly. It is the only kind of debt, as far as +I know, that you recognize. Your statement has added nothing to +what I knew. It matters little what you do to me. I have, at least, +saved two friends from you."</p> +<p>He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.</p> +<p>As Wickersham pulled on his gloves, he glanced at Dave Dennison. +But what he saw in his face deterred him from speaking. His eyes +were like coals of fire.</p> +<p>"I am waiting," he said. "Hurry."</p> +<p>Wickersham walked out in silence.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The following afternoon, when Dave Dennison reported that he had +left his charge on board the outgoing steamer, bound for a far +South American port, Keith felt as if the atmosphere had in some +sort cleared.</p> +<p>A few days later Phrony's worn spirit found rest. Keith, as he +had already arranged, telegraphed Dr. Balsam of her death, and the +Doctor went over and told Squire Rawson, at the same time, that she +had been found and lost.</p> +<p>The next day Keith and Dave Dennison took back to the South all +that remained of the poor creature who had left there a few years +before in such high hopes.</p> +<p>One lady, closely veiled, attended the little service that old +Dr. Templeton conducted in the chapel of the hospital where Phrony +had passed away, before the body was taken South. Alice Lancaster +had been faithful to the end in looking after her.</p> +<p>Phrony was buried in the Rawson lot in the little burying-ground +at Ridgely, not far from the spot where lay the body of General +Huntington. As Keith passed this grave he saw that flowers had been +laid on it recently, but they had withered.</p> +<p>All the Ridge-neighborhood gathered to do honor to Phrony and to +testify their sympathy for her grandfather. It was an exhibition of +feeling such as Keith had not seen since he left the country. The +old man appeared stronger than he had seemed for some time. He took +charge and gave directions in a clear and steady voice.</p> +<p>When the services were over and the last word had been said, he +stepped forward and raised his hand.</p> +<p>"I've got her back," he said. "I've got her back where nobody +can take her from me again. I was mighty harsh on her; but I've +done forgive her long ago--and I hope she knows it now. I heard +once that the man that took her away said he didn't marry her. +But--". He paused for a moment, then went on: "He was a liar. I've +got the proof.--But I want you all to witness that if I ever meet +him, in this world or the next, the Lord do so to me, and more +also! if I don't kill him!" He paused again, and his breathing was +the only sound that was heard in the deathly stillness that had +fallen on the listening crowd.</p> +<p>"--And if any man interferes and balks me in my right," he +continued slowly, "I'll have his blood. Good-by. I thank you for +her." He turned back to the grave and began to smooth the +sides.</p> +<p>Keith's eyes fell on Dave Dennison, where he stood on the outer +edge of the crowd. His face was sphinx-like; but his bosom heaved +twice, and Keith knew that two men waited to meet Wickersham.</p> +<p>As the crowd melted away, whispering among themselves, Keith +crossed over and laid a rose on General Huntington's grave.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> +<h3>THE CONSULTATION</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith had been making up his mind for some time to go to +Brookford. New York had changed utterly for him since Lois left. +The whole world seemed to have changed. The day after he reached +New York, Keith received a letter from Miss Brooke. She wrote that +her niece was ill and had asked her to write and request him to see +Mrs. Lancaster, who would explain something to him. She did not say +what it was. She added that she wished she had never heard of New +York. It was a cry of anguish.</p> +<p>Keith's heart sank like lead. For the first time in his life he +had a presentiment. Lois Huntington would die, and he would never +see her again. Despair took hold of him. Keith could stand it no +longer. He went to Brookford.</p> +<p>The Lawns was one of those old-fashioned country places, a few +miles outside of the town, such as our people of means used to have +a few generations ago, before they had lost the landholding +instinct of their English ancestors and gained the herding +proclivity of modern life. The extensive yard and grounds were +filled with shrubbery--lilacs, rose-bushes, and evergreens--and +shaded by fine old trees, among which the birds were singing as +Keith drove up the curving road, and over all was an air of +quietude and peace which filled his heart with tenderness.</p> +<p>"This is the bower she came from," he thought to himself, gazing +around. "Here is the country garden where the rose grew."</p> +<p>Miss Brooke was unfeignedly surprised to see Keith.</p> +<p>She greeted him most civilly. Lois had long since explained +everything to her, and she made Keith a more than ample apology for +her letter. "But you must admit," she said, "that your actions were +very suspicious.--When a New York man is handing dancing-women to +their carriages!" A gesture and nod completed the sentence.</p> +<p>"But I am not a New York man," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Oh, you are getting to be a very fair counterfeit," said the +old lady, half grimly.</p> +<p>Lois was very ill. She had been under a great strain in New +York, and had finally broken down.</p> +<p>Among other items of interest that Keith gleaned was that Dr. +Locaman, the resident physician at Brookford, was a suitor of Lois. +Keith asked leave to send for a friend who was a man of large +experience and a capital doctor.</p> +<p>"Well, I should be glad to have him sent for. These men here are +dividing her up into separate pieces, and meantime she is going +down the hill every day. Send for any one who will treat her as a +whole human being and get her well."</p> +<p>So Keith telegraphed that day for Dr. Balsam, saying that he +wanted him badly, and would be under lasting obligations if he +would come to Brookford at once.</p> +<p>Brookford! The name called up many associations to the old +physician. It was from Brookford that that young girl with her +brown eyes and dark hair had walked into his life so long ago. It +was from Brookford that the decree had come that had doomed him to +a life of loneliness and exile. A desire seized him to see the +place. Abby Brooke had been living a few years before. She might be +living now.</p> +<p>As the Doctor descended from the cars, he was met by Keith, who +told him that the patient was the daughter of General +Huntington--the little girl he had known so long ago.</p> +<p>"I thought, perhaps, it was your widow," said the Doctor.</p> +<p>A little dash of color stole into Keith's grave face, then +flickered out.</p> +<p>"No." He changed the subject, and went on to say that the other +physicians had arranged to meet him at the house. Then he gave him +a little history of the case.</p> +<p>"You are very much interested in her?"</p> +<p>"I have known her a long time, you see. Yes. Her aunt is a +friend of mine."</p> +<p>"He is in love with her," said the old man to himself. "She has +cut the widow out."</p> +<p>As they entered the hall, Miss Abby came out of a room. She +looked worn and ill.</p> +<p>"Ah!" said Keith. "Here she is." He turned to present the +Doctor, but stopped with his lips half opened. The two stood +fronting each, other, their amazed eyes on each other's faces, as +it were across the space of a whole generation.</p> +<p>"Theophilus!"</p> +<p>"Abby!"</p> +<p>This was all. The next moment they were shaking hands as if they +had parted the week before instead of thirty-odd years ago. "I told +you I would come if you ever needed me," said the Doctor. "I have +come."</p> +<p>"And I never needed you more, and I have needed you often. It +was good in you to come--for my little girl." Her voice suddenly +broke, and she turned away, her handkerchief at her eyes.</p> +<p>The Doctor's expression settled into one of deep concern. +"There--there. Don't distress yourself. We must reserve our powers. +We may need them. Now, if you will show me to my room for a moment, +I would like to get myself ready before going in to see your little +girl."</p> +<p>Just as the Doctor reappeared, the other doctors came out of the +sick-room, the local physician, a simple young man, following the +city specialist with mingled pride and awe. The latter was a +silent, self-reliant man with a keen eye, thin lips, and a dry, +business manner. They were presented to the Doctor as Dr. Memberly +and Dr. Locaman, and looked him over. There was a certain change of +manner in each of them: the younger man, after a glance, increased +perceptibly his show of respect toward the city man; the latter +treated the Doctor with civility, but talked in an ex-cathedra way. +He understood the case and had no question as to its treatment. As +for Dr. Balsam, his manner was the same to both, and had not +changed a particle. He said not a word except to ask questions as +to symptoms and the treatment that had been followed. The Doctor's +face changed during the recital, and when it was ended his +expression was one of deep thoughtfulness.</p> +<p>The consultation ended, they all went into the sick-room, Dr. +Memberly, the specialist, first, the young doctor next, and Dr. +Balsam last. Dr. Memberly addressed the nurse, and Dr. Locaman +followed him like his shadow, enforcing his words and copying +insensibly his manner. Dr. Balsam walked over to the bedside, and +leaning over, took the patient's thin, wan hand.</p> +<p>"My dear, I am Dr. Balsam. Do you remember me?"</p> +<p>She glanced at him, at first languidly, then with more interest, +and then, as recollection returned to her, with a faint smile.</p> +<p>"Now we must get well."</p> +<p>Again she smiled faintly.</p> +<p>The Doctor drew up a chair, and, without speaking further, began +to stroke her hand, his eyes resting on her face.</p> +<p>One who had seen the old physician before he entered that house +could scarcely have known him as the same man who sat by the bed +holding the hand of the wan figure lying so placid before him. At a +distance he appeared a plain countryman; on nearer view his eyes +and mouth and set chin gave him a look of unexpected determination. +When he entered a sick-room he was like a king coming to his own. +He took command and fought disease as an arch-enemy. So now.</p> +<p>Dr. Memberly came to the bedside and began to talk in a low, +professional tone. Lois shut her eyes, but her fingers closed +slightly on Dr. Balsam's hand.</p> +<p>"The medicine appears to have quieted her somewhat. I have +directed the nurse to continue it," observed Dr. Memberly.</p> +<p>"Quite so. By all means continue it," assented Dr. Locaman. "She +is decidedly quieter."</p> +<p>Dr. Balsam's head inclined just enough to show that he heard +him, and he went on stroking her hand.</p> +<p>"Is there anything you would suggest further than has already +been done?" inquired the city physician of Dr. Balsam.</p> +<p>"No. I think not."</p> +<p>"I must catch the 4:30 train," said the former to the younger +man. "Doctor, will you drive me down to the station?"</p> +<p>"Yes, certainly. With pleasure."</p> +<p>"Doctor, you say you are going away to-night?" This from the +city physician to Dr. Balsam.</p> +<p>"No, sir; I shall stay for a day or two." The fingers of the +sleeper quite closed on his hand. "I have several old friends here. +In fact, this little girl is one of them, and I want to get her +up."</p> +<p>The look of the other changed, and he cleared his throat with a +dry, metallic cough.</p> +<p>"You may rest satisfied that everything has been done for the +patient that science can do," he said stiffly.</p> +<p>"I think so. We won't rest till we get the little girl up," said +the older doctor. "Now we will take off our coats and work."</p> +<p>Once more the fingers of the sleeper almost clutched his.</p> +<p>When the door closed, Lois turned her head and opened her eyes, +and when the wheels were heard driving away she looked at the +Doctor with a wan little smile, which he answered with a +twinkle.</p> +<p>"When did you come?" she asked faintly. It was the first sign of +interest she had shown in anything for days.</p> +<p>"A young friend of mine, Gordon Keith, told me you were sick, +and asked me to come, and I have just arrived. He brought me up." +He watched the change in her face.</p> +<p>"I am so much obliged to you. Where is he now?"</p> +<p>"He is here. Now we must get well," he said encouragingly. "And +to do that we must get a little sleep."</p> +<p>"Very well. You are going to stay with me?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"Thank you"; and she closed her eyes tranquilly and, after a +little, fell into a doze.</p> +<p>When the Doctor came out of the sick-room he had done what the +other physicians had not done and could not do. He had fathomed the +case, and, understanding the cause, he was able to prescribe the +cure.</p> +<p>"With the help of God we will get your little girl well," he +said to Miss Abby.</p> +<p>"I begin to hope, and I had begun to despair," she said. "It was +good of you to come."</p> +<p>"I am glad I came, and I will come whenever you want me, Abby," +replied the old Doctor, simply.</p> +<p>From this time, as he promised, so he performed. He took off his +coat, and using the means which the city specialist had suggested, +he studied his patient's case and applied all his powers to the +struggle.</p> +<p>The great city doctor recorded the case among his cures; but in +his treatment he did not reckon the sleepless hours that that +country doctor had sat by the patient's bedside, the unremitting +struggle he had made, holding Death at bay, inspiring hope, and +holding desperately every inch gained.</p> +<p>When the Doctor saw Keith he held out his hand to him. "I am +glad you sent for me."</p> +<p>"How is she, Doctor? Will she get well?"</p> +<p>"I trust so. She has been under some strain. It is almost as if +she had had a shock."</p> +<p>Keith's mind sprang back to that evening in the Park, and he +cursed Wickersham in his heart.</p> +<p>"Possibly she has had some strain on her emotions?"</p> +<p>Keith did not know.</p> +<p>"I understand that there is a young man here who has been in +love with her for some time, and her aunt thinks she returned the +sentiment."</p> +<p>Keith did not know. But the Doctor's words were like a dagger in +his heart.</p> +<p>Keith went back to work; but he seemed to himself to live in +darkness. As soon as a gleam of light appeared, it was suddenly +quenched. Love was not for him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> +<h3>THE MISTRESS OF THE LAWNS</h3> +<br> +<p>Strange to say, the episode in which Keith had figured as the +reliever of Norman Wentworth's embarrassment had a very different +effect upon those among whom he had moved, from what he had +expected. Keith's part in the transaction was well known.</p> +<p>His part, too, in the Wickersham matter was understood by his +acquaintances. Wickersham had as good as absconded, some said; and +there were many to tell how long they had prophesied this very +thing, and how well they had known his villany. Mrs. Nailor was +particularly vindictive. She had recently put some money in his +mining scheme, and she could have hanged him. She did the next +thing: she damned him. She even extended her rage to old Mrs. +Wickersham, who, poor lady, had lost her home and everything she +had in the world through Ferdy.</p> +<p>The Norman-Wentworths, who had moved out of the splendid +residence that Mrs. Norman's extravagance had formerly demanded, +into the old house on Washington Square, which was still occupied +by old Mrs. Wentworth, were, if anything, drawn closer than ever to +their real friends; but they were distinctly deposed from the +position which Mrs. Wentworth had formerly occupied in the gay set, +who to her had hitherto been New York. They were far happier than +they had ever been. A new light had come into Norman's face, and a +softness began to dawn in hers which Keith had never seen there +before. Around them, too, began to gather friends whom Keith had +never known of, who had the charm that breeding and kindness give, +and opened his eyes to a life there of which he had hitherto hardly +dreamed. Keith, however, to his surprise, when he was in New York, +found himself more sought after by his former acquaintances than +ever before. The cause was a simple one. He was believed to be very +rich. He must have made a large fortune. The mystery in which it +was involved but added to its magnitude. No man but one of immense +wealth could have done what Keith did the day he stopped the run on +Wentworth & Son. Any other supposition was incredible. +Moreover, it was now plain that in a little while he would marry +Mrs. Lancaster, and then he would be one of the wealthiest men in +New York. He was undoubtedly a coming man. Men who, a short time +ago, would not have wasted a moment's thought on him, now greeted +him with cordiality and spoke of him with respect; women who, a +year or two before, would not have seen him in a ball-room, now +smiled to him on the street, invited him among their "best +companies," and treated him with distinguished favor. Mrs. Nailor +actually pursued him. Even Mr. Kestrel, pale, thin-lipped, and +frosty as ever in appearance, thawed into something like cordiality +when he met him, and held out an icy hand as with a wintry smile he +congratulated him on his success.</p> +<p>"Well, we Yankees used to think we had the monopoly of business +ability, but we shall have to admit that some of you young fellows +at the South know your business. You have done what cost the +Wickershams some millions. If you want any help at any time, come +in and talk to me. We had a little difference once; but I don't let +a little thing like that stand in the way with a friend."</p> +<p>Keith felt his jaws lock as he thought of the same man on the +other side of a long table sneering at him.</p> +<p>"Thank you," said he. "My success has been greatly exaggerated. +You'd better not count too much on it."</p> +<p>Keith knew that he was considered rich, and it disturbed him. +For the first time in his life he felt that he was sailing under +false colors.</p> +<p>Often the fair face, handsome figure, and cordial, friendly air +of Alice Lancaster came to him; not so often, it is true, as +another, a younger and gentler face, but still often enough. He +admired her greatly. He trusted her. Why should he not try his +fortune there, and be happy? Alice Lancaster was good enough for +him. Yes, that was the trouble. She was far too good for him if he +addressed her without loving her utterly. Other reasons, too, +suggested themselves. He began to find himself fitting more and +more into the city life. He had the chance possibly to become rich, +richer than ever, and with it to secure a charming companion. Why +should he not avail himself of it? Amid the glitter and gayety of +his surroundings in the city, this temptation grew stronger and +stronger. Miss Abby's sharp speech recurred to him. He was becoming +"a fair counterfeit" of the men he had once despised. Then came a +new form of temptation. What power this wealth would give him! How +much good he could accomplish with it!</p> +<p>When the temptation grew too overpowering he left his office and +went down into the country. It always did him good to go there. To +be there was like a plunge in a cool, limpid pool. He had been so +long in the turmoil and strife of the struggle for success--for +wealth; had been so wholly surrounded by those who strove as he +strove, tearing and trampling and rending those who were in their +way, that he had almost lost sight of the life that lay outside of +the dust and din of that arena. He had almost forgotten that life +held other rewards than riches. He had forgotten the calm and +tranquil region that stretched beyond the moil and anguish of the +strife for gain.</p> +<p>Here his father walked with him again, calm, serene, and +elevated, his thoughts high above all commercial matters, ranging +the fields of lofty speculation with statesmen, philosophers, and +poets, holding up to his gaze again lofty ideals; practising, +without a thought of reward, the very gospel of universal +gentleness and kindness.</p> +<p>There his mother, too, moved in spirit once more beside him with +her angelic smile, breathing the purity of heaven. How far away it +seemed from that world in which he had been living!--as far as they +were from the worldlings who made it.</p> +<p>Curiously, when he was in New York he found himself under the +allurement of Alice Lancaster. When he was in the country he found +that he was in love with Lois Huntington.</p> +<p>It was this that mystified him and worried him. He +believed--that is, he almost believed--that Alice Lancaster would +marry him. His friends thought that she would. Several of them had +told him so. Many of them acted on this belief. And this had +something to do with his retirement. As much as he liked Alice +Lancaster, as clearly as he felt how but for one fact it would have +suited that they should marry, one fact changed everything: he was +not in love with her.</p> +<p>He was in love with a young girl who had never given him a +thought except as a sort of hereditary friend. Turning from one +door at which the light of happiness had shone, he had found +himself caught at another from which a radiance shone that dimmed +all other lights. Yet it was fast shut. At length he determined to +cut the knot. He would put his fate to the test.</p> +<p>Two days after he formed this resolve he walked into the hotel +at Brookford and registered. As he turned, he stood face to face +with Mrs. Nailor. Mrs. Nailor of late had been all cordiality to +him.</p> +<p>"Why, you dear boy, where did you come from?" she asked him in +pleased surprise. "I thought you were stretched at Mrs. Wentworth's +feet in the--Where has she been this summer?"</p> +<p>Keith's brow clouded. He remembered when Wickersham was her +"dear boy."</p> +<p>"It is a position I am not in the habit of occupying--at least, +toward ladies who have husbands to occupy it. You are thinking of +some one else," he added coldly, wishing devoutly that Mrs. Nailor +were in Halifax.</p> +<p>"Well, I am glad you have come here. You remember, our +friendship began in the country? Yes? My husband had to go and get +sick, and I got really frightened about him, and so we determined +to come here, where we should be perfectly quiet. We got here last +Saturday. There is not a man here."</p> +<p>"Isn't there?" asked Keith, wishing there were not a woman +either. "How long are you going to stay?" he asked absently.</p> +<p>"Oh, perhaps a month. How long shall you be here?"</p> +<p>"Not very long," said Keith.</p> +<p>"I tell you who is here; that little governess of Mrs. +Wentworth's she was so disagreeable to last winter. She has been +very ill. I think it was the way she was treated in New York. She +was in love with Ferdy Wickersham, you know? She lives here, in a +lovely old place just outside of town, with her old aunt or cousin. +I had no idea she had such a nice old home. We saw her yesterday. +We met her on the street."</p> +<p>"I remember her; I shall go and see her," said Keith, recalling +Mrs. Nailor's speech at Mrs. Wickersham's dinner, and Lois's +revenge.</p> +<p>"I tell you what we will do. She invited us to call, and we will +go together," said Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>Keith paused a moment in reflection, and then said casually:</p> +<p>"When are you going?"</p> +<p>"Oh, this afternoon."</p> +<p>"Very well; I will go."</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor drove Keith out to The Lawns that afternoon.</p> +<p>In a little while Miss Huntington came in. Keith observed that +she was dressed as she had been that evening at dinner, in white, +but he did not dream that it was the result of thought. He did not +know with what care every touch had been made to reproduce just +what he had praised, or with what sparkling eyes she had surveyed +the slim, dainty figure in the old cheval-glass. She greeted Mrs. +Nailor civilly and Keith warmly.</p> +<p>"I am very glad to see you. What in the world brought you here +to this out-of-the-way place?" she said, turning to the latter and +giving him her cool, soft hand, and looking up at him with +unfeigned pleasure, a softer and deeper glow coming into her cheek +as she gazed into his eyes.</p> +<p>"A sudden fit of insanity," said Keith, taking in the sweet, +girlish figure in his glance. "I wanted to see some roses that I +knew bloomed in an old garden about here."</p> +<p>"He, perhaps, thought that, as Brookford is growing so +fashionable now, he might find a mutual friend of ours here?" Mrs. +Nailor said.</p> +<p>"As whom, for instance?" queried Keith, unwilling to commit +himself.</p> +<p>"You know, Alice Lancaster has been talking of coming here? Now, +don't pretend that you don't know. Whom does every one say you +are--all in pursuit of?"</p> +<p>"I am sure I do not know," said Keith, calmly. "I suppose that +you are referring to Mrs. Lancaster, but I happened to know that +she was not here. No; I came to see Miss Huntington." His face wore +an expression of amusement.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor made some smiling reply. She did not see the +expression in Keith's eyes as they, for a second, caught Lois's +glance.</p> +<p>Just then Miss Abigail came in. She had grown whiter since Keith +had seen her last, and looked older. She greeted Mrs. Nailor +graciously, and Keith cordially. Miss Lois, for some reason of her +own, was plying Mrs. Nailor with questions, and Keith fell to +talking with Miss Abigail, though his eyes were on Lois most of the +time.</p> +<p>The old lady was watching her too, and the girl, under the +influence of the earnest gaze, glanced around and, catching her +aunt's eye upon her, flashed her a little answering smile full of +affection and tenderness, and then went on listening intently to +Mrs. Nailor; though, had Keith read aright the color rising in her +cheeks, he might have guessed that she was giving at least half her +attention to his side of the room, where Miss Abigail was talking +of her. Keith, however, was just then much interested in Miss +Abigail's account of Dr. Locaman, who, it seemed, was more +attentive to Lois than ever.</p> +<p>"I don't know what she will do," she said. "I suppose she will +decide soon. It is an affair of long standing."</p> +<p>Keith's throat had grown dry.</p> +<p>"I had hoped that my cousin Norman might prove a protector for +her; but his wife is not a good person. I was mad to let her go +there. But she would go. She thought she could be of some service. +But that woman is such a fool!"</p> +<p>"Oh, she is not a bad woman," interrupted Keith.</p> +<p>"I do not know how bad she is," said Miss Abigail. "She is a +fool. No good woman would ever have allowed such an intimacy as she +allowed to come between her and her husband; and none but a fool +would have permitted a man to make her his dupe. She did not even +have the excuse of a temptation; for she is as cold as a +tombstone."</p> +<p>"I assure you that you are mistaken," defended Keith. "I know +her, and I believe that she has far more depth than you give her +credit for--"</p> +<p>"I give her credit for none," said Miss Abigail, decisively. +"You men are all alike. You think a woman with a pretty face who +does not talk much is deep, when she is only dull. On my word, I +think it is almost worse to bring about such a scandal without +cause than to give a real cause for it. In the latter case there is +at least the time*-worn excuse of woman's frailty."</p> +<p>Keith laughed.</p> +<p>"They are all so stupid," asserted Miss Abigail, fiercely. "They +are giving up their privileges to be--what? I blushed for my sex +when I was there. They are beginning to mistake civility for +servility. I found a plenty of old ladies tottering on the edge of +the grave, like myself, and I found a number of ladies in the shops +and in the churches; but in that set that you go with--! They all +want to be 'women'; next thing they'll want to be like men. I +sha'n't be surprised to see them come to wearing men's clothes and +drinking whiskey and smoking tobacco--the little fools! As if they +thought that a woman who has to curl her hair and spend a half-hour +over her dress to look decent could ever be on a level with a man +who can handle a trunk or drive a wagon or add up a column of +figures, and can wash his face and hands and put on a clean collar +and look like--a gentleman!"</p> +<p>"Oh, not so bad as that," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Yes; there is no limit to their folly. I know them. I am one +myself."</p> +<p>"But you do not want to be a man?"</p> +<p>"No, not now. I am too old and dependent. But I'll let you into +a secret. I am secretly envious of them. I'd like to be able to put +them down under my heel and make them--squeal."</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor turned and spoke to the old lady. She was evidently +about to take her leave. Keith moved over, and for the first time +addressed Miss Huntington.</p> +<p>"I want you to show me about these grounds," he said, speaking +so that both ladies could hear him. He rose, and both walked out of +the parlor. When Mrs. Nailor came out, Keith and his guide were +nowhere to be found, so she had to wait; but a half-hour afterwards +he and Miss Huntington came back from the stables.</p> +<p>As they drove out of the grounds they passed a good-looking +young fellow just going in. Keith recognized Dr. Locaman.</p> +<p>"That is the young man who is so attentive to your young +friend," said Mrs. Nailor; "Dr. Locaman. He saved her life and now +is going to marry her."</p> +<p>It gave Keith a pang.</p> +<p>"I know him. He did not save her life. If anybody did that, it +was an old country doctor, Dr. Balsam."</p> +<p>"That old man! I thought he was dead years ago."</p> +<p>"Well, he is not. He is very much alive."</p> +<p>A few evenings later Keith found Mrs. Lancaster in the hotel. He +had just arrived from The Lawns when Mrs. Lancaster came down to +dinner. Her greeting was perfect. Even Mrs. Nailor was mystified. +She had never looked handsomer. Her black gown fitted perfectly her +trim figure, and a single red rose, half-blown, caught in her +bodice was her only ornament. She possessed the gift of simplicity. +She was a beautiful walker, and as she moved slowly down the long +dining-room as smoothly as a piece of perfect machinery, every eye +was upon her. She knew that she was being generally observed, and +the color deepened in her cheeks and added the charm of freshness +to her beauty.</p> +<p>"By Jove! what a stunning woman!" exclaimed a man at a table +near by to his wife.</p> +<p>"It is not difficult to be 'a stunning woman' in a Worth gown, +my dear," she said sweetly. "May I trouble you for the +Worcestershire?"</p> +<p>Keith's attitude toward Mrs. Lancaster puzzled even so old a +veteran as Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor was an adept in the art of inquisition. To know +about her friends' affairs was one of the objects of her life, and +it was not only the general facts that she insisted on knowing: she +proposed to be acquainted with their deepest secrets and the +smallest particulars. She knew Alice Lancaster's views, or believed +she did; but she had never ventured to speak on the subject to +Gordon Keith. In fact, she stood in awe of Keith, and now he had +mystified her by his action. Finally, she could stand it no longer, +and so next evening she opened fire on Keith. Having screwed her +courage to the sticking-point, she attacked boldly. She caught him +on the verandah, smoking alone, and watching him closely to catch +the effect of her attack, said suddenly:</p> +<p>"I want to ask you a question: are you in love with Alice +Lancaster?"</p> +<p>Keith turned slowly and looked at her, looked at her so long +that she began to blush.</p> +<p>"Don't you think, if I am, I had better inform her first?" he +said quietly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Nailor was staggered; but she was in for it, and she had to +fight her way through. "I was scared to death, my dear," she said +when she repeated this part of the conversation, "for I never know +just how he is going to take anything; but he was so quiet, I went +on."</p> +<p>"Well, yes, I think you had," she said; "Alice can take care of +herself; but I tell you that you have no right to be carrying on +with that sweet, innocent young girl here. You know what people say +of you?"</p> +<p>"No; I do not," said Keith. "I was not aware that I was of +sufficient importance here for people to say anything, except +perhaps a few persons who know me."</p> +<p>"They say you have come here to see Miss Huntington?"</p> +<p>"Do they?" asked Keith, so carelessly that Mrs. Nailor was just +thinking that she must be mistaken, when he added: "Well, will you +ask people if they ever heard what Andrew Jackson said to Mr. +Buchanan once when he told him it was time to go and dress to +receive Lady Wellesley?"</p> +<p>"What did he say?" asked Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>"He said he knew a man in Tennessee who had made a fortune by +attending to his own business."</p> +<p>Having failed with Keith, Mrs. Nailor, the next afternoon, +called on Miss Huntington. Lois was in, and her aunt was not well; +so Mrs. Nailor had a fair field for her research. She decided to +test the young girl, and she selected the only mode which could +have been successful with herself. She proposed a surprise. She +spoke of Keith and noticed the increased interest with which the +girl listened. This was promising.</p> +<p>"By the way," she said, "you know the report is that Mr. Keith +has at last really surrendered?"</p> +<p>"Has he? I am so glad. If ever a man deserved happiness it is +he. Who is it?"</p> +<p>The entire absence of self-consciousness in Lois's expression +and voice surprised Mrs. Nailor.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Lancaster," she said, watching for the effect of her +answer. "Of course, you know he has always been in love with +her?"</p> +<p>The girl's expression of unfeigned admiration of Mrs. Lancaster +gave Mrs. Nailor another surprise. She decided that she had been +mistaken in suspecting her of caring for Keith.</p> +<p>"He has evidently not proposed yet. If she were a little older I +should be certain of it," she said to herself as she drove away; +"but these girls are so secretive one can never tell about them. +Even I could not look as innocent as that to save my life if I were +interested."</p> +<p>That evening Keith called at The Lawns. He did not take with him +a placid spirit. Mrs. Nailor's shaft had gone home, and it rankled. +He tried to assure himself that what people were thinking had +nothing to do with him. But suppose Miss Abigail took this view of +the matter? He determined to ascertain. One solution of the +difficulty lay plain before him: he could go away. Another +presented itself, but it was preposterous. Of all the women he knew +Lois Huntington was the least affected by him in the way that +flatters a man. She liked him, he knew; but if he could read women +at all, and he thought he could, she liked him only as a friend, +and had not a particle of sentiment about him. He was easy, then, +as to the point Mrs. Nailor had raised; but had he the right to +subject Lois to gossip? This was the main thing that troubled him. +He was half angry with himself that it kept rising in his mind. He +determined to find out what her aunt thought of it, and decided +that he could let that direct his course. This salved his +conscience. Once or twice the question dimly presented itself +whether it were possible that Lois could care for him. He banished +it resolutely.</p> +<p>When he reached The Lawns, he found that Miss Abigail was sick, +so the virtuous plan he had formed fell through. He was trying to +fancy himself sorry; but when Lois came out on the verandah in +dainty blue gown which fell softly about her girlish figure, and +seated herself with unconscious grace in the easy-chair he pushed +up for her, he knew that he was glad to have her all to himself. +They fell to talking about her aunt.</p> +<p>"I am dreadfully uneasy about her," the girl said. "Once or +twice of late she has had something like fainting spells, and the +last one was very alarming. You don't know what she has been to +me." She looked up at him with a silent appeal for sympathy which +made his heart beat. "She is the only mother I ever knew, and she +is all I have in the world." Her voice faltered, and she turned +away her head. A tear stole down her cheek and dropped in her lap. +"I am so glad you like each other. I hear you are engaged," she +said suddenly.</p> +<p>He was startled; it chimed in so with the thought in his mind at +the moment.</p> +<p>"No, I am not; but I would like to be."</p> +<p>He came near saying a great deal more; but the girl's eyes were +fixed on him so innocently that he for a moment hesitated. He felt +it would be folly, if not sacrilege, to go further.</p> +<p>Just then there was a step on the walk, and the young man Keith +had seen, Dr. Locaman, came up the steps. He was a handsome man, +stout, well dressed, and well satisfied.</p> +<p>Keith could have consigned him and all his class to a distant +and torrid clime.</p> +<p>He came up the steps cheerily and began talking at once. He was +so glad to see Keith, and had he heard lately from Dr. +Balsam?--"such a fine type of the old country doctor," etc.</p> +<p>No, Keith said; he had not heard lately. His manner had +stiffened at the young man's condescension, and he rose to go.</p> +<p>He said casually to Lois, as he shook hands, "How did you hear +the piece of news you mentioned?"</p> +<p>"Mrs. Nailor told me. You must tell me all about it."</p> +<p>"I will sometime."</p> +<p>"I hope you will be very happy," she said earnestly; "you +deserve to be." Her eyes were very soft.</p> +<p>"No, I do not," said Keith, almost angrily. "I am not at all +what you suppose me to be."</p> +<p>"I will not allow you to say such things of yourself," she said, +smiling. "I will not stand my friends being abused even by +themselves."</p> +<p>Keith felt his courage waning. Her beauty, her sincerity, her +tenderness, her innocence, her sweetness thrilled him. He turned +back to her abruptly.</p> +<p>"I hope you will always think that of me," he said earnestly. "I +promise to try to deserve it. Good-by."</p> +<p>"Good-by. Don't forget me." She held out her hand.</p> +<p>Keith took it and held it for a second.</p> +<p>"Never," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. "Good-by"; +and with a muttered good-by to Dr. Locaman, who stood with +wide-open eyes gazing at him, he turned and went down the +steps.</p> +<p>"I don't like that man," said the young Doctor. This speech +sealed his fate.</p> +<p>"Don't you? I do," said Lois, half dreamily. Her thoughts were +far from the young physician at that moment; and when they returned +to him, she knew that she would never marry him. A half-hour later, +he knew it.</p> +<p>The next morning Lois received a note from Keith, saying he had +left for his home.</p> +<p>When he bade Mrs. Lancaster good-by that evening, she looked as +if she were really sorry that he was going. She walked with him +down the verandah toward where his carriage awaited him, and Keith +thought she had never looked sweeter.</p> +<p>He had never had a confidante,--at least, since he was a college +boy,--and a little of the old feeling came to him. He lingered a +little; but just then Mrs. Nailor came out of the door near him. +For a moment Keith could almost have fancied he was back on the +verandah at Gates's. Her mousing around had turned back the dial a +dozen years.</p> +<p>Just what brought it about, perhaps, no one of the participants +in the little drama could have told; but from this time the +relations between the two ladies whom Keith left at the hotel that +Summer night somehow changed. Not outwardly, for they still sat and +talked together; but they were both conscious of a difference. They +rather fenced with each other after that. Mrs. Nailor set it down +to a simple cause. Mrs. Lancaster was in love with Gordon Keith, +and he had not addressed her. Of this she was satisfied. Yet she +was a little mystified. Mrs. Lancaster hardly defined the reason to +herself. She simply shut up on the side toward Mrs. Nailor, and +barred her out. A strange thing was that she and Miss Huntington +became great friends. They took to riding together, walking +together, and seeing a great deal of each other, the elder lady +spending much of her time up at Miss Huntington's home, among the +shrubbery and flowers of the old place. It was a mystification to +Mrs. Nailor, who frankly confessed that she could only account for +it on the ground that Mrs. Lancaster wanted to find out how far +matters had gone between Keith and Miss Huntington. "That girl is a +sly minx," she said. "These governesses learn to be deceptive. I +would not have her in my house."</p> +<p>If there was a more dissatisfied mortal in the world than Gordon +Keith that Autumn Keith did not know him. He worked hard, but it +did not ease his mind. He tried retiring to his old home, as he had +done in the Summer; but it was even worse than it had been then. +Rumor came to him that Lois Huntington was engaged. It came through +Mrs. Nailor, and he could not verify it; but, at least, she was +lost to him. He cursed himself for a fool.</p> +<p>The picture of Mrs. Lancaster began to come to him oftener and +oftener as she had appeared to him that night on the +verandah--handsome, dignified, serene, sympathetic. Why should he +not seek release by this way? He had always admired, liked her. He +felt her sympathy; he recognized her charm; he appreciated +her--yes, her advantage. Curse it! that was the trouble. If he were +only in love with her! If she were not so manifestly advantageous, +then he might think his feeling was more than friendship; for she +was everything that he admired.</p> +<p>He was just in this frame of mind when a letter came from +Rhodes, who had come home soon after Keith's visit to him. He had +not been very well, and they had decided to take a yacht-cruise in +Southern waters, and would he not come along? He could join them at +either Hampton Roads or Savannah, and they were going to run over +to the Bermudas.</p> +<p>Keith telegraphed that he would join them, and two days later +turned his face to the South. Twenty-four hours afterwards he was +stepping up the gangway and being welcomed by as gay a group as +ever fluttered handkerchiefs to cheer a friend. Among them the +first object that had caught his eye as he rowed out was the +straight, lithe figure of Mrs. Lancaster. A man is always ready to +think Providence interferes specially in his, case, provided the +interpretation accords with his own views, and this looked to Keith +very much as if it were Providence. For one thing, it saved him the +trouble of thinking further of a matter which, the more he thought +of it, the more he was perplexed. She came forward with the others, +and welcomed him with her old frank, cordial grasp of the hand and +gracious air. When he was comfortably settled, he felt a distinct +self-content that he had decided to come.</p> +<p>A yacht-cruise is dependent on three things: the yacht itself, +the company on board, and the weather. Keith had no cause to +complain of any of these.</p> +<p>The "Virginia Dare" was a beautiful boat, and the weather was +perfect--just the weather for a cruise in Southern waters. The +company were all friends of Keith; and Keith found himself sailing +in Summer seas, with Summer airs breathing about him. Keith was at +his best. He was richly tanned by exposure, and as hard as a nail +from work in the open air. Command of men had given him that calm +assurance which is the mark of the captain. Ambition--ambition to +be, not merely to possess--was once more calling to him with her +inspiring voice, and as he hearkened his face grew more and more +distinguished. Providence, indeed, or Grinnell Rhodes was working +his way, and it seemed to him--he admitted it with a pang of +contempt for himself at the admission--that Mrs. Lancaster was at +least acquiescent in their hands. Morning after morning they sat +together in the shadow of the sail, and evening after evening +together watched the moon with an ever-rounder golden circle steal +up the cloudless sky. Keith was pleased to find how much interested +he was becoming. Each day he admired her more and more; and each +day he found her sweeter than she had been before. Once or twice +she spoke to him of Lois Huntington, but each time she mentioned +her, Keith turned the subject. She said that they had expected to +have her join them; but she could not leave her aunt.</p> +<p>"I hear she is engaged," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Yes, I heard that. I do not believe it. Whom did you hear it +from?"</p> +<p>"Mrs. Nailor."</p> +<p>"So did I."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> +<h3>THE OLD IDEAL</h3> +<br> +<p>One evening they sat on deck. Alice Lancaster had never appeared +so sweet. It happened that Mrs. Rhodes had a headache and was down +below, and Rhodes declared that he had some writing to do. So Mrs. +Lancaster and Keith had the deck to themselves.</p> +<p>They had been sailing for weeks among emerald isles and through +waters as blue as heaven. Even the "still-vex'd Bermoothes" had +lent them their gentlest airs.</p> +<p>They had left the Indies and were now approaching the American +shore. Their cruise was almost at an end, and possibly a little +sadness had crept over them both. As she had learned more and more +of his life and more and more of his character, she had found +herself ready to give up everything for him if he only gave her +what she craved. But one thing had made itself plain to Alice: +Keith was not in love with her as she knew he could be in love. If +he were in love, it was with an ideal. And her woman's intuition +told her that she was not that ideal.</p> +<p>This evening she was unusually pensive. She had never looked +lovelier or been more gracious and charming, and as Keith thought +of the past and of the future,--the long past in which they had +been friends, the long future in which he would live alone,--his +thought took the form of resolve. Why should they not always be +together? She knew that he liked her, so he had not much to do to +go further. The moon was just above the horizon, making a broad +golden pathway to them. The soft lapping of the waves against the +boat seemed to be a lullaby suited to the peacefulness of the +scene; and the lovely form before him, clad in soft raiment that +set it off; the fair face and gentle voice, appeared to fill +everything with graciousness. Keith had more than once, in the past +few weeks, considered how he would bring the subject up, and what +he would say if he ever addressed her. He did not, however, go +about it in the way he had planned. It seemed to him to come up +spontaneously. Under the spell of the Summer night they had drifted +into talking of old times, and they both softened as their memory +went back to their youth and their friendship that had begun among +the Southern woods and had lasted so many years.</p> +<p>She had spoken of the influence his opinions had had with +her.</p> +<p>"Do you know," he said presently, "I think you have exerted more +influence on my life than any one else I ever knew after I grew +up?"</p> +<p>She smiled, and her face was softer than usual.</p> +<p>"I should be very glad to think that, for I think there are few +men who set out in life with such ideals as you had and afterwards +realize them."</p> +<p>Keith thought of his father and of how steadily that old man had +held to his ideals through everything. "I have not realized them," +he said firmly. "I fear I have lost most of them. I set out in life +with high ideals, which I got from my father; but, somehow, I seem +to have changed them."</p> +<p>She shook her head, with a pleasant light in her eyes.</p> +<p>"I do not think you have. Do you remember what you said to me +once about your ideal?"</p> +<p>He turned and faced her. There was an expression of such +softness and such sweetness in her face that a kind of anticipatory +happiness fell on him.</p> +<p>"Yes; and I have always been in love with that ideal," he said +gravely.</p> +<p>She said gently: "Yes, I knew it."</p> +<p>"Did you?" asked Keith, in some surprise. "I scarcely knew it +myself, though I believe I have been for some time."</p> +<p>"Yes?" she said. "I knew that too."</p> +<p>Keith bent over her and took both her hands in his. "I love and +want love in return--more than I can ever tell you."</p> +<p>A change came over her face, and she drew in her breath +suddenly, glanced at him for a second, and then looked away, her +eyes resting at last on the distance where a ship lay, her sails +hanging idly in the dim haze. It might have been a dream-ship. At +Keith's words a picture came to her out of the past. A young man +was seated on the ground, with a fresh-budding bush behind him. +Spring was all about them. He was young and slender and +sun-browned, with deep-burning eyes and close-drawn mouth, with the +future before him; whatever befell, with the hope and the courage +to conquer. He had conquered, as he then said he would to the young +girl seated beside him.</p> +<p>"When I love," he was saying, "she must fill full the measure of +my dreams. She must uplift me. She must have beauty and sweetness; +she must choose the truth as that bird chooses the flowers. And to +such an one I will give worship without end."</p> +<p>Years after, she had come across the phrase again in a poem. And +at the words the same picture had come to her, and a sudden hunger +for love, for such love,--the love she had missed in life,--had +seized her. But it was then too late. She had taken in its place +respect and companionship, a great establishment and social +prominence.</p> +<p>For a moment her mother, sitting calm and calculating in the +little room at Ridgely, foretelling her future and teaching, with +commercial exactness, the advantages of such a union, flashed +before her; and then once more for a moment came the heart-hunger +for what she had missed.</p> +<p>Why should she not take the gift thus held out to her? She liked +him and he liked her. She trusted him. It was the best chance of +happiness she would ever have. Besides, she could help him. He had +powers, and she could give him the opportunity to develop them. +Love would come. Who could tell? Perhaps, the other happiness might +yet be hers. Why should she throw it away? Would not life bring the +old dream yet? Could it bring it? Here was this man whom she had +known all her life, who filled almost the measure of her old dream, +at her feet again. But was this love? Was this the "worship with +out end"? As her heart asked the question, and she lifted her eyes +to his face, the answer came with it: No. He was too cool, too +calm. This was but friendship and respect, that same "safe +foundation" she had tried. This might do for some, but not for him. +She had seen him, and she knew what he could feel. She had caught a +glimpse of him that evening when Ferdy Wickersham was so attentive +to the little Huntington girl. She had seen him that night in the +theatre when the fire occurred. He was in love; but it was with +Lois Huntington, and happiness might yet be his.</p> +<p>The next moment Alice's better nature reasserted itself. The +picture of the young girl sitting with her serious face and her +trustful eyes came back to her. Lois, moved by her sympathy and +friendship, had given her a glimpse of her true heart, which she +knew she would have died before she would have shown another. She +had confided in her absolutely. She heard the tones of her +voice:</p> +<p>"Why, Mrs. Lancaster, I dream of him. He seems to me so real, so +true. For such a man I could--I could worship him!" Then came the +sudden lifting of the veil; the straight, confiding, appealing +glance, the opening of the soul, and the rush to her knees as she +appealed for him.</p> +<p>It all passed through Mrs. Lancaster's mind as she looked far +away over the slumbering sea, while Keith waited for her +answer.</p> +<p>When she glanced up at Keith he was leaning over the rail, +looking far away, his face calm and serious. What was he thinking +of? Certainly not of her.</p> +<p>"No, you are not--not in love with me," she said firmly.</p> +<p>Keith started, and looked down on her with a changed +expression.</p> +<p>She raised her hand with a gesture of protest, rose and stood +beside him, facing him frankly.</p> +<p>"You are in love, but not with me."</p> +<p>Keith took her hand. She did not take it from him; indeed, she +caught his hand with a firm clasp.</p> +<p>"Oh, no; you are not," she smiled. "I have had men in love with +me--"</p> +<p>"You have had one, I know--" he began.</p> +<p>"Yes, once, a long time ago--and I know the difference. I told +you once that I was not what you thought me."</p> +<p>"And I told you--" began Keith; but she did not pause.</p> +<p>"I am still less so now. I am not in the least what you think +me--or you are not what I think you."</p> +<p>"You are just what I think you," began Keith. "You are the most +charming woman in the world--you are my--" He hesitated as she +looked straight into his eyes and shook her head.</p> +<p>"What? No, I am not. I am a worldly, world-worn woman. Oh, yes, +I am," as dissent spoke in his face. "I know the world and am a +part of it and depend upon it. Yes, I am. I am not so far gone that +I cannot recognize and admire what is better, higher, and nobler +than the world of which I speak; but I am bound to the wheel--Is +not that the illustration you wrote me once? I thought then it was +absurd. I know now how true it is."</p> +<p>"I do not think you are," declared Keith. "If you were, I would +claim the right to release you--to save you for--yourself +and--"</p> +<p>She shook her head.</p> +<p>"No, no. I have become accustomed to my Sybarite's couch of +which you used to tell me. Would you be willing to give up all you +have striven for and won--your life--the honors you have won and +hope to win?"</p> +<p>"They are nothing--those I have won! Those I hope to win, I +would win for us both. You should help me. They would be for you, +Alice." His eyes were deep in hers.</p> +<p>She fetched a long sigh.</p> +<p>"No, no; once, perhaps, I might have--but now it is too late. I +chose my path and must follow it. You would not like to give up all +you--hope for--and become like--some we know?"</p> +<p>"God forbid!"</p> +<p>"And I say, 'Amen.' And if you would, I would not be willing to +have you do it. You are too much to me--I honor you too much," she +corrected quickly, as she caught the expression in his face. "I +could not let you sink into a--society man--like--some of those I +sit next to and dance with and drive with and--enjoy and despise. +Do I not know that if you loved me you would have convinced me of +it in a moment? You have not convinced me. You are in love,--as you +said just now,--but not with me. You are in love with Lois +Huntington."</p> +<p>Keith almost staggered. It was so direct and so exactly what his +thought had been just now. But he said:</p> +<p>"Oh, nonsense! Lois Huntington considers me old enough to be her +grandfather. Why, she--she is engaged to or in love with Dr. +Locaman."</p> +<p>"She is not," said Mrs. Lancaster, firmly, "and she never will +be. If you go about it right she will marry you." She added calmly: +"I hope she will, with all my heart."</p> +<p>"Marry me! Lois Huntington! Why--"</p> +<p>"She considers me her grandmother, perhaps; but not you her +grandfather. She thinks you are much too young for me. She thinks +you are the most wonderful and the best and most charming man in +the world."</p> +<p>"Oh, nonsense!"</p> +<p>"I do not know where she got such an idea--unless you told her +so yourself," she said, with a smile.</p> +<p>"I would like her to think it," said Keith, smiling; "but I have +studiously avoided divulging myself in my real and fatal +character."</p> +<p>"Then she must have got it from the only other person who knows +you in your true character."</p> +<p>"And that is--?"</p> +<p>She looked into his eyes with so amused and so friendly a light +in her own that Keith lifted her hand to his lips.</p> +<p>"I do not deserve such friendship."</p> +<p>"Yes, you do; you taught it to me."</p> +<p>He sat back in his chair, trying to think. But all he could +think of was how immeasurably he was below both these women.</p> +<p>"Will you forgive me?" he said suddenly, almost miserably. He +meant to say more, but she rose, and at the moment he heard a step +behind him. He thought her hand touched his head for a second, and +that he heard her answer, "Yes"; but he was not sure, for just then +Mrs. Rhodes spoke to them, and they all three had to pretend that +they thought nothing unusual had been going on.</p> +<p>They received their mail next day, and were all busy reading +letters, when Mrs. Rhodes gave an exclamation of surprise.</p> +<p>"Oh, just hear this! Little Miss Huntington's old aunt is +dead."</p> +<p>There was an exclamation from every one.</p> +<p>"Yes," she went on reading, with a faint little conventional +tone of sympathy in her voice; "she died ten days ago--very +suddenly, of heart-disease."</p> +<p>"Oh, poor little Lois! I am so sorry for her!" It was Alice +Lancaster's voice.</p> +<p>But Keith did not hear any more. His heart was aching, and he +was back among the shrubbery of The Lawns. All that he knew was +that Rhodes and Mrs. Rhodes were expressing sympathy, and that Mrs. +Lancaster, who had not said a word after the first exclamation, +excused herself and left the saloon. Keith made up his mind +promptly. He went up on deck. Mrs. Lancaster was sitting alone far +aft in the shadow. Her back was toward him, and her hand was to her +eyes. He went up to her. She did not look up; but Keith felt that +she knew it was he.</p> +<p>"You must go to her," she said.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Keith. "I shall. I wish you would come."</p> +<p>"Oh, I wish I could! Poor little thing!" she sighed.</p> +<p>Two days after that Keith walked into the hotel at Brookford. +The clerk recognized him as he appeared, and greeted him cordially. +Something in Keith's look or manner, perhaps, recalled his former +association with the family at The Lawns, for, as Keith signed his +name, he said:</p> +<p>"Sad thing, that, up on the hill."</p> +<p>"What?" said Keith, absently.</p> +<p>"The old lady's death and the breaking up of the old place," he +said.</p> +<p>"Oh!--yes, it is," said Keith; and then, thinking that he could +learn if Miss Huntington were there without appearing to do so, +except casually, he said:</p> +<p>"Who is there now?"</p> +<p>"There is not any one there at all, I believe."</p> +<p>Keith ordered a room, and a half-hour later went out.</p> +<p>Instead of taking a carriage, he walked There had been a change +in the weather. The snow covered everything, and the grounds looked +wintry and deserted. The gate was unlocked, but had not been opened +lately, and Keith had hard work to open it wide enough to let +himself through. He tramped along through the snow, and turning the +curve in the road, was in front of the house. It was shut up. Every +shutter was closed, as well as the door, and a sudden chill struck +him. Still he went on; climbed the wide, unswept steps, crossed the +portico, and rang the bell, and finally knocked. The sound made him +start. How lonesome it seemed! He knocked again, but no one came. +Only the snowbirds on the portico stopped and looked at him +curiously. Finally, he thought he heard some one in the snow. He +turned as a man came around the house. It was the old coachman and +factotum. He seemed glad enough to see Keith, and Keith was, at +least, glad to see him.</p> +<p>"It's a bad business, it is, Mr. Kathe," he said sadly.</p> +<p>"Yes, it is, John. Where is Miss Huntington?"</p> +<p>"Gone, sir," said John, with surprise in his voice that Keith +should not know.</p> +<p>"Gone where?"</p> +<p>"An' that no one knows," said John.</p> +<p>"What! What do you mean?"</p> +<p>"Just that, sir," said the old fellow. "She went away two days +after the funeral, an' not a worrd of her since."</p> +<p>"But she's at some relative's?" said Keith, seeking information +at the same time he gave it.</p> +<p>"No, sir; not a relative in the world she has, except Mr. +Wentworth in New York, and she has not been there."</p> +<p>Keith learned, in the conversation which followed, that Miss +Abigail had died very suddenly, and that two days after the funeral +Miss Lois had had the house shut up, and taking only a small trunk, +had left by train for New York. They had expected to hear from her, +though she had said they would not do so for some time; and when no +letter had come they had sent to New York, but had failed to find +her. This all seemed natural enough. Lois was abundantly able to +take care of herself, and, no doubt, desired for the present to be +in some place of retirement. Keith decided, therefore, that he +would simply go to the city and ascertain where she was. He thought +of going to see Dr. Locaman, but something restrained him. The snow +was deep, and he was anxious to find Lois; so he went straight down +to the city that evening. The next day he discovered that it was +not quite so easy to find one who wished to be lost. Norman knew +nothing of her.</p> +<p>Norman and his wife were now living with old Mrs. Wentworth, and +they had all invited her to come to them; but she had declined. +Keith was much disturbed.</p> +<p>Lois, however, was nearer than Keith dreamed.</p> +<p>Her aunt's death had stricken Lois deeply. She could not bear to +go to New York. It stood to her only for hardness and +isolation.</p> +<p>Just then a letter came from Dr. Balsam. She must come to him, +he said. He was sick, or he would come for her. An impulse seized +her to go to him. She would go back to the scenes of her childhood: +the memories of her father drew her; the memory also of her aunt in +some way urged her. Dr. Balsam appeared just then nearer to her +than any one else. She could help him. It seemed a haven of refuge +to her.</p> +<p>Twenty-four hours later the old Doctor was sitting in his room. +He looked worn and old and dispirited. The death of an old friend +had left a void in his life.</p> +<p>There was a light step outside and a rap at the door.</p> +<p>"It's the servant," thought the Doctor, and called somewhat +gruffly, "Come in."</p> +<p>When the door opened it was not the servant. For a moment the +old man scarcely took in who it was. She seemed to be almost a +vision. He had never thought of Lois in black. She was so like a +girl he had known long, long ago.</p> +<p>Then she ran forward, and as the old man rose to his feet she +threw her arms about his neck, and the world suddenly changed for +him--changed as much as if it had been new-created.</p> +<p>From New York Keith went down to the old plantation to see his +father. The old gentleman was renewing his youth among his books. +He was much interested in Keith's account of his yachting-trip. +While there Keith got word of important business which required his +presence in New Leeds immediately. Ferdy Wickersham had returned, +and had brought suit against his company, claiming title to all the +lands they had bought from Adam Rawson.</p> +<p>On his arrival at New Leeds, Keith learned that Wickersham had +been there just long enough to institute his suit, the papers in +which had been already prepared before he came. There was much +excitement in the place. Wickersham had boasted that he had made a +great deal of money in South America.</p> +<p>"He claims now," said Keith's informant, Captain Turley, "that +he owns all of Squire Rawson's lands. He says you knew it was all +his when you sold it to them Englishmen, and that Mr. Rhodes, the +president of the company, knew it was his, and he has been +defrauded."</p> +<p>"Well, we will see about that," said Keith, grimly.</p> +<p>"That's what old Squire Rawson said. The old man came up as soon +as he heard he was here; but Wickersham didn't stay but one night. +He had lighted out."</p> +<p>"What did the squire come for?" inquired Keith, moved by his old +friend's expression.</p> +<p>"He said he came to kill him. And he'd have done it. If +Wickersham's got any friends they'd better keep him out of his +way." His face testified his earnestness.</p> +<p>Keith had a curious feeling. Wickersham's return meant that he +was desperate. In some way, too, Keith felt that Lois Huntington +was concerned in his movements. He was glad to think that she was +abroad.</p> +<p>But Lois was being drawn again into his life in a way that he +little knew.</p> +<p>In the seclusion and quietude of Ridgely at that season, Lois +soon felt as if she had reached, at last, a safe harbor. The care +of the old Doctor gave her employment, and her mind, after a while, +began to recover its healthy tone. She knew that the happiness of +which she had once dreamed would never be hers; but she was +sustained by the reflection that she had tried to do her duty: she +had sacrificed herself for others. She spent her time trying to +help those about her. She had made friends with Squire Rawson, and +the old man found much comfort in talking to her of Phrony.</p> +<p>Sometimes, in the afternoon, when she was lonely, she climbed +the hill and looked after the little plot in which lay the grave of +her father. She remembered her mother but vaguely: as a beautiful +vision, blurred by the years; but her father was clear in her +memory. His smile, his cheeriness, his devotion to her remained +with her. And the memory of him who had been her friend in her +childhood came to her sometimes, saddening her, till she would +arouse herself and by an effort banish him from her thoughts.</p> +<p>Often when she went up to the cemetery she would see others +there: women in black, with a fresher sorrow than hers; and +sometimes the squire, who was beginning now to grow feeble and +shaky with age, would be sitting on a bench among the shrubbery +beside a grave on which he had placed flowers. The grave was +Phrony's. Once he spoke to her of Wickersham. He had brought a suit +against the old man, claiming that he had a title to all of the +latter's property. The old fellow was greatly stirred up by it. He +denounced him furiously.</p> +<p>"He has robbed me of her," he said "Let him beware. If he ever +comes across my path I shall kill him."</p> +<p>So the Winter passed, and Spring was beginning to come. Its +harbingers, in their livery of red and green, were already showing +on the hillsides. The redbud was burning on the Southern slopes; +the turf was springing, fresh and green; dandelions were dappling +the grass like golden coins sown by a prodigal; violets were +beginning to peep from the shelter of leaves caught along the +fence-rows; and some favored peach-trees were blushing into +pink.</p> +<p>For some reason the season made Lois sad. Was it that it was +Nature's season for mating; the season for Youth to burst its +restraining bonds and blossom into love? She tried to fight the +feeling, but it clung to her. Dr Balsam, watching her with +quickened eyes, grew graver, and prescribed a tonic. Once he had +spoken to her of Keith, and she had told him that he was to marry +Mrs. Lancaster. But the old man had made a discovery. And he never +spoke to her of him again.</p> +<p>Lois, to her surprise and indignation, received one morning a +letter from Wickersham asking her to make an appointment with him +on a matter of mutual interest. He wished, he said, to make friends +with old Mr. Rawson and she could help him. He mentioned Keith and +casually spoke of his engagement. She took no notice of this +letter; but one afternoon she was lonelier than usual, and she went +up the hill to her father's grave. Adam Rawson's horse was tied to +the fence, and across the lots she saw him among the rose-bushes at +Phrony's grave. She sat down and gave herself up to reflection. +Gradually the whole of her life in New York passed before her: its +unhappiness; its promise of joy for a moment; and then the shutting +of it out, as if the windows of her soul had been closed.</p> +<p>She heard the gate click, and presently heard a step behind her. +As it approached she turned and faced Ferdy Wickersham. She seemed +to be almost in a dream. He had aged somewhat, and his dark face +had hardened. Otherwise he had not changed. He was still very +handsome. She felt as if a chill blast had struck her. She caught +his eye on her, and knew that he had recognized her. As he came up +the path toward her, she rose and moved away; but he cut across to +intercept her, and she heard him speak her name.</p> +<p>She took no notice, but walked on.</p> +<p>"Miss Huntington." He stepped in front of her.</p> +<p>Her head went up, and she looked him in the eyes with a scorn in +hers that stung him. "Move, if you please."</p> +<p>His face flushed, then paled again.</p> +<p>"I heard you were here, and I have come to see you, to talk with +you," he began. "I wish to be friends with you."</p> +<p>She waved him aside.</p> +<p>"Let me pass, if you please."</p> +<p>"Not until you have heard what I have to say. You have done me a +great injustice; but I put that by. I have been robbed by persons +you know, persons who are no friends of yours, whom I understand +you have influence with, and you can help to right matters. It will +be worth your while to do it."</p> +<p>She attempted to pass around him; but he stepped before her.</p> +<p>"You might as well listen; for I have come here to talk to you, +and I mean to do it. I can show you how important it is for you to +aid me--to advise your friends to settle. Now, will you +listen?"</p> +<p>"No." She looked him straight in the eyes.</p> +<p>"Oh, I guess you will," he sneered. "It concerns your friend, +Mr. Keith, whom you thought so much of. Your friend Keith has +placed himself in a very equivocal position. I will have him behind +bars before I am done. Wait until I have shown that when he got all +that money from the English people he knew that that land was mine, +and that he had run the lines falsely on which he got the +money."</p> +<p>"Let me pass," said Lois. With her head held high she started +again to walk by him; but he seized her by the wrist.</p> +<p>"This is not Central Park. You shall hear me."</p> +<p>"Let me go, Mr. Wickersham," she said imperiously. But he held +her firmly.</p> +<p>At that moment she heard an oath behind her, and a voice +exclaimed:</p> +<p>"It is you, at last! And still troubling women!"</p> +<p>Wickersham's countenance suddenly changed. He released her wrist +and fell back a step, his face blanching. The next second, as she +turned quickly, old Adam Rawson's bulky figure was before her. He +was hurrying toward her: the very apotheosis of wrath. His face was +purple; his eyes blazed; his massive form was erect, and quivering +with fury. His heavy stick was gripped in his left hand, and with +the other he was drawing a pistol from his pocket.</p> +<p>"I have waited for you, you dog, and you have come at last!" he +cried.</p> +<p>Wickersham, falling back before his advance, was trying, as Lois +looked, to get out a pistol. His face was as white as death. Lois +had no time for thought. It was simply instinct. Old Rawson's +pistol was already levelled. With a cry she threw herself between +them; but it was too late.</p> +<p>She was only conscious of a roar and blinding smoke in her eyes +and of something like a hot iron at her side; then, as she sank +down, of Squire Rawson's stepping over her. Her sacrifice was in +vain, for the old man was not to be turned from his revenge. As he +had sworn, so he performed. And the next moment Wickersham, with +two bullets in his body, had paid to him his long-piled-up +debt.</p> +<p>When Lois came to, she was in bed, and Dr. Balsam was leaning +over her with a white, set face.</p> +<p>"I am all right," she said, with a faint smile. "Was he +hurt?"</p> +<p>"Don't talk now," said the Doctor, quietly. "Thank God, you are +not hurt much."</p> +<p>Keith was sitting in his office in New Leeds alone that +afternoon. He had just received a telegram from Dave Dennison that +Wickersham had left New York. Dennison had learned that he was +going to Ridgely to try to make up with old Rawson. Just then the +paper from Ridgely was brought in. Keith's eye fell on the +head-lines of the first column, and he almost fell from his chair +as he read the words:</p> +<br> +<center><b>DOUBLE TRAGEDY--FATAL SHOOTING<br> +<br> +F.C. WICKERSHAM SHOOTS MISS LOIS HUNTINGTON AND<br> +IS KILLED BY SQUIRE RAWSON</b></center> +<br> +<p>The account of the shooting was in accordance with the heading, +and was followed by the story of the Wickersham-Rawson trouble.</p> +<p>Keith snatched out his watch, and the next second was dashing +down the street on his way to the station. A train was to start for +the east in five minutes. He caught it as it ran out of the +station, and swung himself up to the rear platform.</p> +<p>Curiously enough, in his confused thoughts of Lois Huntington +and what she had meant to him was mingled the constant recollection +of old Tim Gilsey and his lumbering stage running through the +pass.</p> +<p>It was late in the evening when he reached Ridgely; but he +hastened at once to Dr. Balsam's office. The moon was shining, and +it brought back to him the evenings on the verandah at Gates's so +long ago. But it seemed to him that it was Lois Huntington who had +been there among the pillows; that it was Lois Huntington who had +always been there in his memory. He wondered if she would be as she +was then, as she lay dead. And once or twice he wondered if he +could be losing his wits; then he gripped himself and cleared his +mind.</p> +<p>In ten minutes he was in Dr. Balsam's office. The Doctor greeted +him with more coldness than he had ever shown him. Keith felt his +suspicion.</p> +<p>"Where is Lois--Miss Lois Huntington? Is she--?" He could not +frame the question.</p> +<p>"She is doing very well."</p> +<p>Keith's heart gave a bound of hope. The blood surged back and +forth in his veins. Life seemed to revive for him.</p> +<p>"Is she alive? Will she live?" he faltered.</p> +<p>"Yes. Who says she will not?" demanded the Doctor, testily.</p> +<p>"The paper--the despatch."</p> +<p>"No thanks to you that she does!" He faced Keith, and suddenly +flamed out: "I want to tell you that I think you have acted like a +damned rascal!"</p> +<p>Keith's jaw dropped, and he actually staggered with amazement. +"What! What do you mean? I do not understand!"</p> +<p>"You are not a bit better than that dog that you turned her over +to, who got his deserts yesterday."</p> +<p>"But I do not understand!" gasped Keith, white and hot.</p> +<p>"Then I will tell you. You led that innocent girl to believe +that you were in love with her, and then when she was fool enough +to believe you and let herself become--interested, you left her to +run, like a little puppy, after a rich woman."</p> +<p>"Where did you hear this?" asked Keith, still amazed, but +recovering himself. "What have you heard? Who told you?"</p> +<p>"Not from her." He was blazing with wrath.</p> +<p>"No; but from whom?"</p> +<p>"Never mind. From some one who knew the facts. It is the +truth."</p> +<p>"But it is not the truth. I have been in love with Lois +Huntington since I first met her."</p> +<p>"Then why in the name of heaven did you treat her so?"</p> +<p>"How? I did not tell her so because I heard she was in love with +some one else--and engaged to him. God knows I have suffered enough +over it. I would die for her." His expression left no room for +doubt as to his sincerity.</p> +<p>The old man's face gradually relaxed, and presently something +that was almost a smile came into his eyes. He held out his +hand.</p> +<p>"I owe you an apology. You are a d----d fool!"</p> +<p>"Can I see her?" asked Keith.</p> +<p>"I don't know that you can see anything. But I could, if I were +in your place. She is on the side verandah at my hospital--where +Gates's tavern stood. She is not much hurt, though it was a close +thing. The ball struck a button and glanced around. She is sitting +up. I shall bring her home as soon as she can be moved."</p> +<p>Keith paused and reflected a moment, then held out his hand.</p> +<p>"Doctor, if I win her will you make our house your home?"</p> +<p>The old man's face softened, and he held out his hand again.</p> +<p>"You will have to come and see me sometimes."</p> +<p>Five minutes later Keith turned up the walk that led to the side +verandah of the building that Dr. Balsam had put up for his +sanatorium on the site of Gates's hotel. The moon was slowly +sinking toward the western mountain-tops, flooding with soft light +the valley below, and touching to silver the fleecy clouds that, +shepherded by the gentle wind, wreathed the highest peaks beyond. +How well Keith remembered it all: the old house with its long +verandah; the moonlight flooding it; the white figure reclining +there; and the boy that talked of his ideal of loveliness and love. +She was there now; it seemed to him that she had been there always, +and the rest was merely a dream. He walked up on the turf, but +strode rapidly. He could not wait. As he mounted the steps, he took +off his hat.</p> +<p>"Good evening." He spoke as if she must expect him.</p> +<p>She had not heard him before. She was reclining among pillows, +and her face was turned toward the western sky. Her black dress +gave him a pang. He had never thought of her in black, except as a +little girl. And such she almost seemed to him now.</p> +<p>She turned toward him and gave a gasp.</p> +<p>"Mr. Keith!"</p> +<p>"Lois--I have come--" he began, and stopped.</p> +<p>She held out her hand and tried to sit up. Keith took her hand +softly, as if it were a rose, and closing his firmly over it, fell +on one knee beside her chair.</p> +<p>"Don't try to sit up," he said gently. "I went to Brookford as +soon as I heard of it--" he began, and then placed his other hand +on hers, covering it with his firm grasp.</p> +<p>"I thought you would," she said simply.</p> +<p>Keith lifted her hand and held it against his cheek. He was +silent a moment. What should he say to her? Not only all other +women, but all the rest of the world, had disappeared.</p> +<p>"I have come, and I shall not go away again until you go with +me."</p> +<p>For answer she hid her face and began to cry softly. Keith knelt +with her hand to his lips, murmuring his love.</p> +<p>"I am so glad you have come. I don't know what to do," she said +presently.</p> +<p>"You do not have to know. I know. It is decided. I love you--I +have always loved you. And no one shall ever come between us. You +are mine--mine only." He went on pouring out his soul to her.</p> +<br> +<a name="p546.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/p546.jpg"><img src="images/p546.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"Lois--I have come"--he began</b></p> +<br> +<p>"My old Doctor--?" she began presently, and looked up at him +with eyes "like stars half-quenched in mists of silver dew."</p> +<p>"He agrees. We will make him live with us."</p> +<p>"Your father-?"</p> +<p>"Him, too. You shall be their daughter."</p> +<p>She gave him her hands.</p> +<p>"Well, on that condition."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The first person Keith sought to tell of his new happiness was +his father. The old gentleman was sitting on the porch at +Elphinstone in the sun, enjoying the physical sensation of warmth +that means so much to extreme youth and extreme age. He held a copy +of Virgil in his hand, but he was not reading; he was repeating +passages of it by heart. They related to the quiet life. His son +heard him saying softly:</p> +<blockquote>"'O Fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint,<br> +Agricolas!'"</blockquote> +<p>His mind was possibly far back in the past.</p> +<p>His placid face lit up with the smile that always shone there +when his son appeared.</p> +<p>"Well, what's the news?" he asked. "I know it must be good."</p> +<p>"It is," smiled Keith. "I am engaged to be married."</p> +<p>The old gentleman's book fell to the floor.</p> +<p>"You don't say so! Ah, that's very good! Very good! I am glad of +that; every young man ought to marry. There is no happiness like it +in this world, whatever there may be in the next.</p> +<blockquote>"'Interea dulces pendent circum oscula +nati.'</blockquote> +<p>"I will come and see you," he smiled.</p> +<p>"Come and see me!"</p> +<p>"But I am not very much at home in New York," he pursued rather +wistfully; "it is too noisy for me. I am too old-fashioned for +it."</p> +<p>"New York? But I'm not going to live in New York!"</p> +<p>A slight shadow swept over the General's face.</p> +<p>"Well, you must live where she will be happiest," he said +thoughtfully. "A gentleman owes that to his wife.--Do you think she +will be willing to live elsewhere?"</p> +<p>"Who do you think it is, sir!"</p> +<p>"Mrs. Lancaster, isn't it?"</p> +<p>"Why, no; it is Lois Huntington. I am engaged to her. She has +promised to marry me."</p> +<p>"To her!--to Lois Huntington--my little girl!" The old gentleman +rose to his feet, his face alight with absolute joy. "That is +something like it! Where is she? When is it to be? I will come and +live with you."</p> +<p>"Of course, you must. It is on that condition that she agrees to +marry me," said Keith, smiling with new happiness at his +pleasure.</p> +<p>"'In her tongue is the law of kindness,'" quoted the old +gentleman. "God bless you both. 'Her price is far above rubies.'" +And after a pause he added gently: "I hope your mother knows of +this. I think she must: she seems so close to me to-day."</p> + +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GORDON KEITH***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 14068-h.txt or 14068-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/6/14068">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/0/6/14068</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +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. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f32c15 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/frontispiece.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/frontispiece.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad59a36 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/frontispiece.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p068.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p068.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..90c4cd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p068.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p140.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p140.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4de9fe5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p140.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p204.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p204.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7450a45 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p204.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p254.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p254.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a921456 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p254.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p356.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p356.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c753000 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p356.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p422.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p422.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdb5f75 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p422.jpg diff --git a/old/14068-h/images/p546.jpg b/old/14068-h/images/p546.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d397a55 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14068-h/images/p546.jpg |
