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diff --git a/old/14581-8.txt b/old/14581-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6745f0f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14581-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12035 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Just and the Unjust, by Vaughan Kester, +Illustrated by M. Leone Bracker + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Just and the Unjust + +Author: Vaughan Kester + +Release Date: January 3, 2005 [eBook #14581] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JUST AND THE UNJUST*** + + +E-text prepared by Rick Niles, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14581-h.htm or 14581-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/8/14581/14581-h/14581-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/8/14581/14581-h.zip) + + + + + +THE JUST AND THE UNJUST + +by + +VAUGHAN KESTER + +Author of _The Prodigal Judge_, etc. + +Illustrations by M. Leone Bracker + +Indianapolis +The Bobbs-Merrill Company +Publishers + +1912 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "Oh, I want you, Elizabeth!"] + + + + +TO MY WIFE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER +I FIGHTING SHRIMPLIN +II THE PRICE OF FOLLY +III STRANGE BEDFELLOWS +IV ADVENTURE IN EARNEST +V COLONEL GEORGE HARBISON +VI PUTTING ON THE SCREWS +VII THE BEAUTY OF ELIZABETH +VIII A GAMBLER AT HOME +IX THE STAR WITNESS +X HUSBAND AND WIFE +XI THE FINGER OF SUSPICION +XII JOE TELLS HIS STORY +XIII LIGHT IN DARKNESS +XIV THE GAMBLER'S THEORY +XV LOVE THAT ENDURES +XVI AT HIS OWN DOOR +XVII AN UNWILLING GUEST +XVIII FATHER AND SON +XIX SHRIMPLIN TO THE RESCUE +XX THE CAT AND THE MOUSE +XXI THE HOUSE OF CARDS +XXII GOOD MEN AND TRUE +XXIII THE LAST APPEAL +XXIV THE LAST LONG DAY +XXV ON THE HIGH IRON BRIDGE +XXVI CUSTER'S IDOL FALLS +XXVII FAITH IS RESTORED +XXVIII THE LAST NIGHT IN JAIL +XXIX AT IDLE HOUR + + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +FIGHTING SHRIMPLIN + + +Custer felt it his greatest privilege to sit of a Sunday morning in his +mother's clean and burnished kitchen and, while she washed the breakfast +dishes, listen to such reflections as his father might care to indulge +in. + +On these occasions the senior Shrimplin, commonly called Shrimp by his +intimates, was the very picture of unconventional ease-taking as he +lolled in his chair before the kitchen stove, a cracker box half filled +with sawdust conveniently at hand. + +As far back as his memory went Custer could recall vividly these Sunday +mornings, with the church bells ringing peacefully beyond the windows of +his modest home, and his father in easy undress, just emerged from his +weekly bath and pleasantly redolent of strong yellow soap, his feet +incased in blue yarn socks--white at toe and heel--and the neckband of +his fresh-starched shirt sawing away at the lobes of his freckled ears. +On these occasions Mr. Shrimplin inclined to a certain sad conservatism +as he discussed with his son those events of the week last passed which +had left their impress on his mind. But what pleased Custer best was +when his father, ceasing to be gently discursive and becoming vigorously +personal, added yet another canto to the stirring epic of William +Shrimplin. + +Custer was wholly and delightfully sympathetic. There was, he felt, the +very choicest inspiration in the narrative, always growing and +expanding, of his father's earlier career, before Mrs. Shrimplin came +into his life, and as Mr. Shrimplin delicately intimated, tied him hand +and foot. The same grounds of mutual understanding and intellectual +dependence which existed between Custer and his father were lacking +where Mrs. Shrimplin was concerned. She was unromantic, with a painfully +literal cast of mind, though Custer--without knowing what is meant by a +sense of humor, suspected her of this rare gift, a dangerous and +destructive thing in woman. Privately considering her relation to his +father, he was forced to the conclusion that their union was a most +distressing instance of the proneness of really great minds to leave +their deep channels and seek the shallow waters in the every-day +concerns of life. He felt vaguely that she was narrow and provincial; +for had she not always lived on the flats, a region bounded by the +Square on the north and by Stoke's furniture factory on the south? On +the west the flats extended as far as civilization itself extended in +that direction, that is, to the gas house and the creek bank, while on +the east they were roughly defined by Mitchell's tannery and the brick +slaughter-house, beyond which vacant lots merged into cow pastures, the +cow pastures yielding in their turn to the real country, where the level +valley rolled up into hills which tilted the great green fields to the +sun. + +Mrs. Shrimplin had been born on the flats, and the flats had witnessed +her meeting and mating with Shrimplin, when that gentleman had first +appeared in Mount Hope in the interest of Whiting's celebrated +tooth-powder, to the use of which he was not personally committed. At +that time he was also an itinerant bill-poster and had his lodgings at +Maxy Schaffer's Railroad Hotel hard by the B. & O. tracks. + +Mr. Shrimplin was five feet three, and narrow chested. A drooping flaxen +mustache shaded a sloping chin and a loose under lip, while a pair of +pale eyes looked sadly out upon the world from the shadow of a hooked +nose. + +Mr. Joe Montgomery, Mrs. Shrimplin's brother-in-law, present on the +occasion of her marriage to the little bill-poster, had critically +surveyed the bridegroom and had been moved to say to a friend, "Shrimp +certainly do favor a peanut!" + +Mr. Montgomery's comparative criticism of her husband's appearance had +in due season reached the ears of the bride, and had caused a rupture +in the family that the years had not healed, but her resentment had been +more a matter of justice to herself than that she felt the criticism to +be wholly inapt. + +Mr. Shrimplin had now become a public servant, for certain gasolene +lamps in the town of Mount Hope were his proud and particular care. Any +night he could be seen seated in his high two-wheeled cart drawn by a +horse large in promise of speed but small in achievement, a hissing +gasolene torch held between his knees, making his way through that part +of the town where gas-lamps were as yet unknown. He still further added +to his income by bill-posting and paper-hanging, for he belonged to the +rank and file of life, with a place in the procession well toward the +tail. + +But Custer had no suspicion of this. He never saw his father as the +world saw him. He would have described his eye as piercing; he would +have said, in spite of the slouching uncertainty that characterized all +his movements, that he was as quick as a cat; and it was only Custer who +detected the note of authority in the meek tones of his father's voice. + +And Custer was as like the senior Shrimplin as it was possible for +fourteen to be like forty-eight. His mother said, "He certainly looks +for all the world like his pa!" but her manner of saying it left doubt +as to whether she rejoiced in the fact; for, while Mr. Shrimplin was +undoubtedly a hero to Custer, he was not and never had been and never +could be a hero to Mrs. Shrimplin. She saw in him only what the world +saw--a stoop-shouldered little man who spent six days of the seven in +overalls that were either greasy or pasty. + +It was a vagary of Mr. Shrimplin's that ten reckless years of his life +had been spent in the West, the far West, the West of cow-towns and bad +men; that for this decade he had flourished on bucking broncos and in +gilded bars, the admired hero of a variety of deft homicides. Out of his +inner consciousness he had evolved a sprightly epic of which he was the +central figure, a figure, according to Custer's firm belief, sinister, +fateful with big jingling silver spurs at his heels and iron on his +hips, whose specialty was manslaughter. + +In the creation of his romance he might almost be said to have acquired +a literary habit of mind, to which he was measurably helped by the +fiction he read. + +Custer devoured the same books; but he never suspected his father of the +crime of plagiarism, nor guessed that his choicest morsels of adventure +involved a felony. Mrs. Shrimplin felt it necessary to protest: + +"No telling with what nonsense you are filling that boy's head!" + +"I hope," said Mr. Shrimplin, narrowing his eyes to a slit, as if he +expected to see pictured on the back of their lids the panorama of +Custer's future, "I hope I am filling his head with just nonsense +enough so he will never crawfish, no matter what kind of a proposition +he goes up against!" + +Custer colored almost guiltily. Could he ever hope to attain to the grim +standard his father had set for him? + +"I wasn't much older than him when I shot Murphy at Fort Worth," +continued Mr. Shrimplin, "You've heard me tell about him, son--old +one-eye Murphy of Texarcana?" + +"He died, I suppose!" said. Mrs. Shrimplin, wringing out her dish-rag. +"Dear knows! I wonder you ain't been hung long ago!" + +"Did he die!" rejoined Mr. Shrimplin ironically. "Well, they usually die +when I begin to throw lead!" He tugged fiercely at the ends of his +drooping flaxen mustache and gazed into the wide and candid eyes of his +son. + +"Like I should give you the particulars, Custer?" he inquired. + +Custer nodded eagerly, and Mr. Shrimplin cleared his throat. + +"He was called one-eye Murphy because he had only one eye--he'd lost the +other in a rough-and-tumble fight; it had been gouged out by a feller's +thumb. Murphy got the feller's ear, chewed it off as they was rolling +over and over on the floor, so you might say they swapped even." + +"I wonder you'd pick on an afflicted person like that," observed Mrs. +Shrimplin. + +"Afflicted! Well, he could see more and see further with that one eye +than most men could with four!" + +"I should think four eyes would be confusin'," said Mrs. Shrimplin. + +Mr. Shrimplin folded his arms across his narrow chest and permitted his +glance to follow Mrs. Shrimplin's ample figure as she moved to and fro +about the room; and when he spoke again a gentle melancholy had crept +into his tone. + +"I dunno but a man makes a heap of sacrifices he never gets no credit +for when he marries and settles down. The ladies ain't what they used to +be. They look on a man now pretty much as a meal-ticket. I guess if a +feller chewed off another feller's ear in Mount Hope he'd never hear the +last of it!" + +As neither Mrs. Shrimplin nor Custer questioned this point, Mr. +Shrimplin reverted to his narrative. + +"I started in to tell you how I put Murphy out of business, didn't I, +son? The facts brought out by the coroner's jury," embarking on what he +conceived to be a bit of happy and elaborate realism, "was that I'd shot +him in self-defense after he'd drawed a gun on me. He had heard I was at +Fort Worth--not that I was looking for trouble, which I never done; but +I never turned it down when any one was at pains to fetch it to me; I +was always willing they should leave it with me for to have a merry +time. Murphy heard I'd said if he'd come to Fort Worth I'd take him home +and make a pet of him; and he'd sent back word that he was looking for +a man with two ears to play with; and I'd said mine was on loose and for +him to come and pull 'em off. After that there was just one thing he +could do if he wanted to be well thought of, and he done it. He hit the +town hell-snorting, and so mad he was fit to be tied." Mr. Shrimplin +paused to permit this striking phrase to lay hold of Custer's +imagination. "Yes, sir, hell-snorting, and so bad he was plum scairt of +himself. He said he was looking for a gentleman who had sent him word he +had two ears to contribute to the evening's gaiety, by which I knowed he +meant me and was in earnest. He was full of boot-leg whisky--" + +"What kind of whisky's that, pa?" asked Custer. + +"That," said Mr. Shrimplin, looking into the round innocent face of his +son, "that's the stuff the traders used to sell the Indians. Strong? +Well, you might say it was middling strong--just middling--about three +drops of it would make a rabbit spit in a bulldog's face!" + +It was on one memorable twenty-seventh of November that Mr. Shrimplin +reached this height of verbal felicity, and being Thanksgiving day, it +was, aside from the smell of strong yellow soap and the fresh-starched +white shirt, very like a Sunday. + +He and Custer sat before the kitchen stove and in the intervals of his +narrative listened to the wind rise without, and watched the sparse +flakes of fine snow that it brought coldly out of the north, where +the cloud banks lay leaden and chill on the far horizon. + +[Illustration: "I started to tell you how I put Murphy out of +business."] + +Mr. Shrimplin had risen early that day, or, as he told Custer, he had +"got up soon", and long before his son had left his warm bed in the +small room over the kitchen, was well on his rounds in his high +two-wheeled cart, with the rack under the seat which held the great cans +of gasolene from which the lamps were filled. He had only paused at Maxy +Schaffer's Railroad Hotel to partake of what he called a Kentucky +breakfast--a drink of whisky and a chew of tobacco--a simple dietary +protection against the evils of an empty stomach, to which he +particularly drew Custer's attention. + +His father's occupation was entirely satisfactory to Custer. Being +employed by the town gave him an official standing, perhaps not so +distinguished as that of a policeman, but still eminently worth while; +and Mr. Shrimplin added not a little to the sense of its importance by +dilating on the intrigues of ambitious rivals who desired to wrest his +contract from him; and he impressed Custer, who frequently accompanied +him on his rounds, with the wisdom of keeping the lamps that shone upon +the homes of members of the town council in especially good order. +Furthermore, there were possibilities of adventure in the occupation; it +took Mr. Shrimplin into out-of-the-way streets and unfrequented alleys, +and, as Custer knew, he always went armed. Sometimes, when in an +unusually gracious mood, his father permitted him to verify this fact +by feeling his bulging hip pocket. The feel of it was vastly pleasing to +Custer, particularly when Mr. Shrimplin had to tell of strangers engaged +in mysterious conversation on dark street corners, who slunk away as he +approached. More than this, it was a matter of public knowledge that he +had had numerous controversies in low portions of the town touching the +right of the private citizen to throw stones at the street lamps; to +Custer he made dire threats. He'd "toss a scare into them red necks yet! +They'd bust his lamps once too often--he was laying for them! He knowed +pretty well who done it, and when he found out for sure--" He winked at +Custer, leaving it to his son's imagination to determine just what form +his vengeance would take, and Custer, being nothing if not sanguinary, +prayed for bloodshed. + +But the thing that pleased the boy best was his father's account of +those meetings with mysterious strangers. How as he approached they +moved off with many a furtive backward glance; how he made as if to +drive away in the opposite direction, and then at the first corner +turned swiftly about and raced down some parallel street in hot pursuit, +to come on them again, to their great and manifest discomfiture. +Circumstantially he described each turn he made, down what streets he +drove Bill at a gallop, up which he walked that trustworthy animal; all +was elaborately worked out. The chase, however, always ended one +way--the strangers disappeared unaccountably, and, search as he might, +he could not find them again, but he and Custer felt certain that his +activity had probably averted some criminal act. + +In short, to Mr. Shrimplin and his son the small events of life +magnified themselves, becoming distorted and portentous. A man, emerging +suddenly from an alley in the dusk of the early evening, furnished them +with a theme for infinite speculation and varied conjecture; that nine +times out of ten the man said, "Hello, Shrimp!" and passed on his way +perfectly well known to the little lamplighter was a matter of not the +slightest importance. Sometimes, it is true, Mr. Shrimplin told of the +salutation, but the man was always a stranger to him, and that he should +have spoken, calling him by name, he and Custer agreed only added to the +sinister mystery of the encounter. + +It was midday on that twenty-seventh of November when Mr. Shrimplin +killed Murphy of the solitary eye, and he reached the climax of the +story just as Mrs. Shrimplin began to prepare the dressing for the small +turkey that was to be the principal feature of their four-o'clock +dinner. The morning's scanty fall of snow had been so added to as time +passed that now it completely whitened the strip of brown turf in the +little side yard beyond the kitchen windows. + +"I think," said Mr. Shrimplin, "we are going to see some weather. Well, +snow ain't a bad thing." His dreamy eyes rested on Custer for an +instant; they seemed to invite a question. + +"No?" said Custer interrogatively. + +"If I was going to murder a man, I don't reckon I'd care to do it when +there was snow on the ground." + +Mrs. Shrimplin here suggested cynically that perhaps he dreaded cold +feet, but her husband ignored this. To what he felt to be the +commonplaceness of her outlook he had long since accustomed himself. He +merely said: + +"I suppose more criminals has been caught because they done their crimes +when it was snowing than any other way. Only chance a feller would have +to get off without leaving tracks would be in a balloon; I don't know as +I ever heard of a murderer escaping in a balloon, but I reckon it could +be done." + +He disliked to relinquish such an original idea, and the subject of +murderers and balloons, with such ramifications as suggested themselves +to his mind, occupied him until dinner-time. He quitted the table to +prepare for his night's work, and at five o'clock backed wild Bill into +the shafts of his high cart, lighted the hissing gasolene torch, and +mounted to his seat. + +"I expect he'll want his head to-night; he's got a game look," he said +to Custer, nodding toward Bill. Then, as he tucked a horse blanket +snugly about his legs, he added: "It's a caution the way he gets over +the ground. I never seen a horse that gets over the ground like Bill +does." + +Which was probably true enough, for Bill employed every known gait. + +"He's a mighty well-broke horse!" agreed Custer in a tone of sincere +conviction. + +"He is. He's got more gaits than you can shake a stick at!" said Mr. +Shrimplin. + +Privately he labored under the delusion that Bill was dangerous; even +years of singular rectitude on Bill's part had failed to alter his +original opinion on this one point, and he often told Custer that he +would have felt lost with a horse just anybody could have driven, for +while Bill might not and probably would not have suited most people, he +suited him all right. + +"Well, good-by, son," said Mr. Shrimplin, slapping Bill with the lines. + +Bill went out of the alley back of Mr. Shrimplin's small barn, his head +held high, and taking tremendous strides that somehow failed in their +purpose if speed was the result desired. + +Twilight deepened; the snow fell softly, silently, until it became a +ghostly mist that hid the town--hid the very houses on opposite sides of +the street, and through this flurry Bill shuffled with unerring +instinct, dragging Mr. Shrimplin from lamp-post to lamp-post, until +presently down the street a long row of lights blazed red in the +swirling smother of white. + +Custer reëntered the house. The day held the sentiment of Sunday and +this he found depressing. He had also dined ambitiously, and this he +found even more depressing. He wondered vaguely, but with no large +measure of hope, if there would be sledding in the morning. Probably it +would turn warm during the night; he knew how those things went. From +his seat by the stove he watched the hurrying flakes beyond the windows, +and as he watched, the darkness came down imperceptibly until he ceased +to see beyond the four walls of the room. + +Mrs. Shrimplin was busy with her mending. She did not attempt +conversation with her son, though she occasionally cast a curious glance +in his direction; he was not usually so silent. All at once the boy +started. + +"What's that?" he cried. + +"La, Custer, how you startle a body! It's the town bell. I should think +you'd know; you've heard it often enough." As she spoke she glanced at +the clock on the shelf in the corner of the room. "I guess that clock's +stopped again," she added, but in the silence that followed her words +they both heard it tick. + +The bell rang on. + +"It ain't half past seven yet. Maybe it's a fire!" said Custer. He +quitted his chair and moved to the window. "I wish they'd give the ward. +They'd ought to. How's a body to know--" + +"Set down, Custer!" commanded his mother sharply. "You ain't going out! +You know your pa don't allow you to go to no fires after night." + +"You don't call this night!" He was edging toward the door. + +"Yes, I do!" + +"A quarter after seven ain't night!" he expostulated. + +"No arguments, Custer! You sit down! I won't have you trapesing about +the streets." + +Custer turned back from the door and resumed his seat. + +"Why don't they give the ward? I never heard such a fool way of ringing +for a fire!" he said. + +They were silent, intent and listening. Now the wind was driving the +sound clamorously across the town. + +"They ain't give the ward yet!" said Custer at length, in a tone of +great disgust. "I could ring for a fire better than that!" + +"I wish your pa was to home!" said Mrs. Shrimplin. + +As she spoke they caught the muffled sound of hurrying feet, then the +clamor of voices, eager and excited; but presently these died away in +the distance, and again they heard only the bell, which rang on and on +and on. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +THE PRICE OF FOLLY + + +John North occupied the front rooms on the first floor of the +three-story brick structure that stood at the corner of Main Street and +the Square. The only other tenant on the floor with him was Andy +Gilmore, who had apartments at the back of the building. Until quite +recently Mr. North and Mr. Gilmore had been friends and boon companions, +but of late North had rather avoided this neighbor of his. + +Mount Hope said that North had parted with the major portion of his +small fortune to Gilmore. Mount Hope also said and believed, and with +most excellent justification for so doing, that North was a fool--a +truth he had told himself so many times within the last month that it +had become the utter weariness of iteration. + +He was a muscular young fellow of twenty-six, with a handsome face, and, +when he chose, a kindly charming manner. He had been--and he was fully +aware of this--as idle and as worthless as any young fellow could +possibly be; he was even aware that the worst Mount Hope said of him was +much better than he deserved. In those hours that were such a new +experience to him, when he denied himself other companionship than his +own accusing conscience; when the contemplation of the naked shape of +his folly absorbed him to the exclusion of all else, he would sit before +his fire with the poker clutched in his hands and his elbows resting on +his knees, poking between the bars of the grate, poking moodily, while +under his breath he cursed the weakness that had made him what he was. + +With his hair in disorder on his handsome shapely head, he would sit +thus hours together, not wholly insensible to a certain grim sense of +humor, since in all his schemes of life he had made no provision for the +very thing that had happened. He wondered mightily what a fellow could +do with his last thousand dollars, especially when a fellow chanced to +be in love and meditated nothing less than marriage; for North's +day-dream, coming like the sun through a rift in the clouds to light up +the somberness of his solitary musings, was all of love and Elizabeth +Herbert. He wondered what she had heard of him--little that was good, he +told himself, and probably much that was to his discredit. Yet as he sat +there he was slowly shaping plans for the future. One point was clear: +he must leave Mount Hope, where he had run his course, where he was +involved and committed in ways he could not bear to think of. To go +meant that he would be forsaking much that was evil; a situation from +which he could not extricate himself otherwise. It also meant that he +would be leaving Elizabeth Herbert; but perhaps she had not even guessed +his secret, for he had not spoken of love; or perhaps having divined it, +she cared nothing for him. Even so, his regeneration seemed in itself a +thing worth while. What he was to do, how make a place for himself, he +had scarcely considered; but his inheritance was wasted, and of the +comfortable thousands that had come to him, next to nothing remained. + +In the intervals between his musings Mr. North got together such of his +personal belongings as he deemed worth the removal; he was surprised to +find how few were the things he really valued. On the grounds of a +chastened taste in such matters he threw aside most of his clothes; he +told himself that he did not care to be judged by such mere externals as +the shade of a tie or the color of a pair of hose. Under his hands--for +the spirit of reform was strong upon him--his rooms took on a sober +appearance. He amused himself by making sundry penitential offerings to +the flames; numerous evidences of his unrighteous bachelorhood +disappearing from walls and book-shelves. Coincident with this he owned +to a feeling of intense satisfaction. What remained he would have his +friend Marshall Langham sell after he was gone, his finances having +suddenly become of paramount importance. + +But the days passed, and though he was not able to bring himself to +leave Mount Hope, his purpose in its final aspect underwent no change. +He lived to himself, and his old haunts and his old friends saw nothing +of him. Evelyn Langham, whom he had known before she married his friend +Marshall, was fortunately absent from town. Her letters to him remained +unanswered; the last one he had burned unread. He was sick of the +devious crooked paths he had trodden; he might not be just the stuff of +which saints are made, but there was the hope in his heart of better +things than he had yet known. + +At about the time Mr. Shrimplin was attacking his Thanksgiving turkey, +North, from his window, watched the leaden clouds that overhung the +housetops. From the frozen dirt of the unpaved streets the keen wind +whipped up scanty dust clouds, mingling them with sudden flurries of +fine snow. Save for the passing of an occasional pedestrian who breasted +the gale with lowered head, the Square was deserted. Staring down on it, +North drummed idly on the window-pane. What an unspeakable fool he had +been, and what a price his folly was costing him! As he stood there, +heavy-hearted and bitter in spirit, he saw Marshall Langham crossing the +Square in the direction of his office. He watched his friend's +wind-driven progress for a moment, then slipped into his overcoat and, +snatching up his hat, hurried from the room. + +Langham, with Moxlow, his law partner, occupied two handsomely furnished +rooms on the first floor, of the one building in Mount Hope that was +distinctly an office building, since its sky-scraping five stories were +reached by an elevator. Here North found Langham--a man only three or +four years older than himself, tall, broad-shouldered, with an +oratorical air of distinction and a manner that proclaimed him the +leading young lawyer at the local bar. + +He greeted North cordially, and the latter observed that his friend's +face was unusually flushed, and that beads of perspiration glistened on +his forehead, which he frequently wiped with a large linen handkerchief. + +"What have you been doing with yourself, Jack?" he demanded, sliding his +chair back from the desk at which he was seated. "I haven't had a +glimpse of you in days." + +"I have been keeping rather quiet." + +"What's the matter? Liver out of whack?" Langham smiled complacently. + +"Worse than that!" North rejoined moodily. + +"That's saying a good deal? What is it, Jack?" + +But North was not inclined to lay bare his heart; he doubted if Langham +could be made to comprehend any part of his suffering. + +"I am getting down to my last dollar, Marsh. I don't know where the +money went, but it's gone," he finally said. + +Langham nodded. + +"You have certainly had your little time, Jack, and it's been a +perfectly good little time, too! What are you going to do when you are +cleaned out?" + +"That's part of the puzzle, Marsh, that's the very hell and all of it." + +"Well, you have had your fun--lots of it!" said Langham, swabbing his +face. + +North noticed the embroidered initial in the corner of the handkerchief. + +"Fun! Was it fun?" he demanded with sudden heat. + +"You took it for fun. Personally I think it was a pretty fair +imitation." + +"Yes, I took it for fun, or mistook it; that's the pity of it! I can +forgive myself for almost everything but having been a fool!" + +"That's always a hard dose to swallow," agreed Langham. He was willing +to enter into his friend's mood. + +"Have you ever tried to swallow it?" asked North. + +"I can't say I have. Some of us haven't any business with a +conscience--our blood's too red. I've made up my mind that, while I may +be a man of moral impulses I am also a creature of purest accident. It's +the same with you, Jack. You are a pretty decent fellow down under the +skin; there's still the divine spark in you, though perhaps it doesn't +burn bright enough to warm the premises. But it's there, like a shaft of +light from a gem, a gem in the rough--though I believe I'm mixing my +metaphors." + +"Why don't you say a pearl in the mire?" + +"But that doesn't really take from your pearlship, though it may dim +your luster. No, Jack, the accidents have been to your morals instead of +your arms and legs. That's how I explain it in my own case, and it's +saved me many a bad quarter of an hour with myself. I know I'd be on +crutches if the vicissitudes of which I have been the victim could be +given physical expression." + +"Marsh," said North soberly, "I am going away." + +"You are going to do what, Jack?" demanded the lawyer. + +"I am going to leave Mount Hope. I am going West for a bit, and after I +am gone I want you to sell the stuff in my rooms for me; have an auction +and get rid of every stick of the fool truck!" + +"Why, what's wrong? Going away--when?" + +"At once, to-morrow--to-night maybe. I don't know quite when, but very +soon. I want you to get rid of all my stuff, do you understand? Before +long I'll write you my address and you can send me whatever it brings. I +expect I'll need the money--" + +"Why, you're crazy, man!" cried Langham. + +North moved impatiently. He had not come to discuss the merit of his +plans. + +"On the contrary I am having my first gleam of reason," he said briefly. + +"Of course you know best, Jack," acquiesced Langham after a moment's +silence. + +"You'll do what I ask of you, Marsh?" + +"Oh, hang it, yes." He hesitated for an instant and then said 'frankly. +"You know I'm rather in your debt; I don't suppose five hundred dollars +would square what I have had from you first and last." + +"I hope you won't mention it! Whenever it is quite convenient, that will +be soon enough." + +"Thank you, Jack!" said Langham gratefully. "The fact is the pickings +here are pretty small." + +Again the lawyer mopped his brow and again North moved impatiently. + +"Don't say another word about it, Marsh," he repeated. "McBride has +agreed to take the last of my gas bonds off my hands; that will get me +away from here." + +"How many have you left?" asked Langham curiously. + +"Ten," said North. + +Langham whistled. + +"Do you mean to tell me you are down to that? Why, you told me once you +held a hundred!" + +"So I did once, but it costs money to be the kind of fool I've been! +said North. + +"Well, I suppose you are doing the sensible thing in getting out of +this. Have you any notion where you are going or what you'll do?" + +North shook his head. + +"Oh, you'll get into something!" the lawyer encouraged. "When shall you +see McBride?" + +"This afternoon. Why?" + +"I was going to say that I was just there with Atkinson. He and McBride +have been in a timber speculation, and Atkinson handed over three +thousand dollars in cash to the old man. I suppose he has banked it in +some heap of scrap-iron on the premises!" said Langham laughing. + +"I think I shall go there now," resolved North. While he was speaking he +had moved to the door leading into the hail, and had opened it. + +"Hold on, John!" said Langham, detaining him. "Evelyn is home. She came +quite unexpectedly to-day; you won't leave town without getting up to +the house to see her?" + +"I think I shall," replied North hastily. "I much prefer not to say +good-by." + +"Oh, nonsense!" cried Langham. + +"No, Marsh, I don't intend to say good-by to any one!" North quietly +turned back into the room. + +"I had intended having you up to the house to-night for a blow-out," +urged Langham, but North shook his head. "You and Gilmore, Jack; and by +the way, this puts me in a nice hole! I have already asked Gilmore, and +he's coming. Now, how the devil am to get out of it? I can't spring him +alone on the family circle, and I don't want to hurt his feelings!" + +"Call it off, Marsh; say I couldn't come; that's a good enough excuse to +give Gilmore. Why, that fellow's a common card-sharp, you can't ask +Evelyn to meet him!" + +A slight noise in the hall caused both men to glance toward the door, +where they saw just beyond the threshold the swarthy-faced Gilmore. + +There was a brief embarrassed silence, and then North nodded to the +new-comer, but the salutation was not returned. + +"Well, good-by, Marsh!" he said, and turned to the door. As he brushed +past the gambler their eyes met for an instant, and in that instant +Gilmore's face turned livid with rage. + +"I'll fix you for that, so help me God, I will!" he said, but North made +no answer. He passed down the hall, down the stairs, and out into the +street. + +McBride's was directly opposite on the corner of High Street and the +Square; a mean two-story structure of frame, across the shabby front of +which hung a shabby creaking sign bearing witness that within might be +found: "Archibald McBride, Hardware and Cutlery, Implements and Bar +Iron." McBride had kept store on that corner time out of mind. + +He was an austere unapproachable old man, having no relatives of whom +any one knew; with few friends and fewer intimates; a rich man, +according to the Mount Hope standard, and a miser according to the Mount +Hope gossip, with the miser's traditional suspicion of banks. It was +rumored that he had hidden away vast sums of money in his dingy store, +or in the closely-shuttered rooms above, where the odds and ends of the +merchandise in which he dealt had accumulated in rusty and neglected +heaps. + +The old man wore an air of mystery, and this air of mystery extended to +his place of business. It was dark and dirty and ill-kept. On the +brightest summer day the sunlight stole vaguely in through grimy +cobwebbed windows. The dust of years had settled deep on unused shelves +and, in abandoned corners, and whole days were said to pass when no one +but the ancient merchant himself entered the building. Yet in spite of +the trade that had gone elsewhere he had grown steadily richer year by +year. + +When North entered the store he found McBride busy with his books in his +small back office, a lean black cat asleep on the desk at his elbow. + +"Good afternoon, John!" said the old merchant as he turned from his high +desk, removing as he did so a pair of heavy steel-rimmed spectacles, +that dominated a high-bridged nose which in turn dominated a wrinkled +and angular face. + +"I thought I should find you here!" said North. + +"You'll always find me here of a week-day," and he gave the young fellow +the fleeting suggestion of a smile. He had a liking for North, whose +father, years before, had been one of the few friends he had made in +Mount Hope. + +The Norths had been among the town's earliest settlers, John's +grandfather having taken his place among the pioneers when Mount Hope +had little but its name to warrant its place on the map. At his death +Stephen, his only son, assumed the family headship, married, toiled, +thrived and finished his course following his wife to the old +burying-ground after a few lonely heart-breaking months, and leaving +John without kin, near or far, but with a good name and fair riches. + +"I have brought you those gas bonds, Mr. McBride," said North, going at +once to the purpose of his visit. + +The old merchant nodded understandingly. + +"I hope you can arrange to let me have the money for them to-day," +continued North. + +"I think I can manage it, John. Atkinson and Judge Langham's boy, Marsh, +were just here and left a bit of cash. Maybe I can make up the sum." +While he was speaking, he had gone to the safe which stood open in one +corner of the small office. + +In a moment he returned to the desk with a roll of bills in his hands +which he counted lovingly, placing them, one by one, in a neat pile +before him. + +"You're still in the humor to go away?" he asked, when he had finished +counting the money. + +"Never more so!" said North briefly. + +"What do you think of young Langham, John? Will he ever be as sharp a +lawyer as the judge?" + +"He's counted very brilliant," evaded North. + +He rather dreaded the old merchant when his love of gossip got the +better of his usual reserve. + +"I hadn't seen the fellow in months to speak to until to-day. He's a +clever talker and has a taking way with him, but if the half I hear is +true, he's going the devil's own gait. He's a pretty good friend to Andy +Gilmore, ain't he--that horse-racing, card-playing neighbor of yours?" +He pushed the bills toward North. "Run them over, John, and see if I +have made any mistake." He slipped off his glasses again and fell to +polishing them with his handkerchief. "It's all right, John?" he asked +at length. + +"Yes, quite right, thank you." And North produced the bonds from an +inner pocket of his coat and handed them to McBride. + +"So you are going to get out of this place, John? You're going West, you +say. What will you do there?" asked the old merchant as he carefully +examined the bonds. + +"I don't know yet." + +"I'm trusting you're through with your folly, John; that your crop of +wild oats is in the ground. You've made a grand sowing!" + +"I have," answered North, laughing in spite of himself. + +"You'll be empty-handed I'm thinking, but for the money you take from +here."' + +"Very nearly so." + +"How much have you gone through with, John, do you mind rightly?" + +"Fifteen or twenty thousand dollars." + +"A nice bit of money!" He shook his head and chuckled dryly. "It's +enough to make your father turn in his grave. He's said to me many a +time when he was a bit close in his dealings with me, 'I'm, saving for +my boy, Archie.' Eh? But it ain't always three generations from +shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves; you've made a short cut of it! But +you're going to do the wise thing, John; you've been a fool here, now go +away and be a man! Let all devilishness alone and work hard; that's the +antidote for idleness, and it's overmuch of idleness that's been your +ruin." + +"I imagine it is," said North cheerfully. + +"You'll be making a clever man out of yourself, John," McBride continued +graciously. "Not a flash in the pan like your friend Marshall Langham +yonder. It's drink will do for him the same as it did for his +grandfather, it's in the blood; but that was before your time." + +"I've heard of him; a remarkably able lawyer, wasn't he?" + +"Pooh! You'll hear a plenty of nonsense talked, and by very sensible +people, too, about most drunken fools! He was a spender and a +profligate, was old Marshall Langham; a tavern loafer, but a man of +parts. Yes, he had a bit of a brain, when he was sober and of a mind to +use it." + +One would scarcely have supposed that Archibald McBride, silent, +taciturn, money-loving, possessed the taste for scandal that North knew +he did possess. The old merchant continued garrulously. + +"They are a bad lot, John, those Langhams, but it took the smartest one +of the whole tribe to get the better of me. I never told you that +before, did I? It was old Marshall himself, and he flattered me into +loaning him a matter of a hundred dollars once; I guess I have his note +somewhere yet. But I swore then I'd have no more dealings with any of +them, and I'm likely to keep my word as long as I keep my senses. It's +the little things that prick the skin; that make a man bitter. I suppose +the judge's boy has had his hand in your pocket? He looks like a man +who'd be free enough with another's purse." + +But North shook his head. + +"No, no, I have only myself to blame," he said. + +"What do you hear of his wife? How's the marriage turning out?" and he +shot the young fellow a shrewd questioning glance. + +"I know nothing about it," replied North, coloring slightly. + +"She'll hardly be publishing to the world that she's married a drunken +profligate--" + +This did not seem to North to call for an answer, and he attempted none. +He turned and moved toward the front of the store, followed by the old +merchant. At the door he paused. + +"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. McBride!" + +"It was no kindness, just a matter of business" said McBride hastily. +"I'm no philanthropist, John, but just a plain man of business who'll +drive a close bargain if he can." + +"At any rate, I'm going to thank you," insisted North, smiling +pleasantly. "Good-by," and he extended his hand, which the old merchant +took. + +"Good-by, and good luck to you, John, and you might drop me a line now +and then just to say how you get on." + +"I will. Good-by!" + +"I know you'll succeed, John. A bit of application, a bit of necessity +to spur you on, and we'll be proud of you yet!" + +North laughed as he opened the door and stepped out; and Archibald +McBride, looking through his dingy show-windows, watched him until he +disappeared down the street; then he turned and reëntered his office. + +Meanwhile North hurried away with the remnant of his little fortune in +his pocket. Five minutes' walk brought him to the building that had +sheltered him for the last few years. He climbed the stairs and entered +the long hail above. He paused, key in hand, before his door, when he +heard behind him a light footfall on the uncarpeted floor and the swish +of a woman's skirts. As he turned abruptly, the woman who had evidently +followed him up from the street, came swiftly down the hall toward him. + +"Jack!" she said, when she was quite near. + +The short winter's day had brought an early twilight to the place, and +the woman was closely veiled, but the moment she spoke North recognized +her, for there was something in the mellow full-throated quality of her +speech which belonged only to one voice that he knew. + +"Mrs. Langham!--Evelyn!" he exclaimed, starting back in dismay. + +"Hush, Jack, you needn't call it from the housetops!" As she spoke she +swept aside her veil and he saw her face, a superlatively pretty face +with scarlet smiling lips and dark luminous eyes that were smiling, too. + +"Do you want to see me, Evelyn?" he asked awkwardly. + +But she was neither awkward nor embarrassed; she was still smiling up +into his face with reckless eyes and brilliant lips. She pointed to the +door with her small gloved hand. + +"Open it, Jack!" she commanded. + +For a moment he hesitated. She was the one person he did not wish to +see, least of all did he wish to see her there. She was not nicely +discreet, as he well knew. She did many things that were not wise, that +were, indeed, frankly imprudent. But clearly they could not stand there +in the hallway. Gilmore or some of Gilmore's friends might come up the +stairs at any moment. Langham himself might be of these. + +Something of all this passed through North's mind as he stood there +hesitating. Then he unlocked the door, and standing aside, motioned her +to precede him into the room. + +This room, the largest of several, he occupied, was his parlor. On +entering it he closed the door after him, and drew forward a chair for +Evelyn, but he did not himself sit down, nor did he remove his overcoat. + +He had known Evelyn all his life, they had played together as children; +more than this, though now he would have been quite willing to forget +the whole episode and even more than willing that she should forget it, +there had been a time when he had moped in wretched melancholy because +of what he had then considered her utter fickleness. Shortly after this +he had been sent East to college and had borne the separation with a +fortitude that had rather surprised him when he recalled how bitter a +thing her heartlessness had seemed. + +When they met again he had found her more alluring than ever, but more +devoted to her pleasures also; and then Marshall Langham had come into +her life. North had divined that the course of their love-making was far +from smooth, for Langham's temper was high and his will arbitrary, nor +was he one to bear meekly the crosses she laid on him, crosses which +other men had borne in smiling uncomplaint, reasoning no doubt, that it +was unwise to take her favors too seriously; that as they were easily +achieved they were quite as easily forfeited. But Langham was not like +the other men with whom she had amused herself. He was not only older +and more brilliant, but was giving every indication that his +professional success would be solid and substantial. Evelyn's father had +championed his cause, and in the end she had married him. + +In the five years that had elapsed since then, her romance had taken its +place with the accepted things of life, and she revenged herself on +Langham, for what she had come to consider his unreasonable exactions, +by her recklessness, by her thirst for pleasure, and above all by her +extravagance. + +Through all the vicissitudes of her married life, the smallest part of +which he only guessed, North had seen much of Evelyn. There was a daring +dangerous recklessness in her mood that he had sensed and understood and +to which he had made quick response. He knew that she was none too happy +with Langham, and although he had been conscious of no wish to wrong the +husband he had never paused to consider the outcome of his intimacy with +the wife. + +Evelyn was the first to break the silence. + +"You wonder why I came here, don't you, Jack?" she said. + +"You should never have done it!" he replied quickly. + +"What about my letters, why didn't you answer them?" she demanded. "I +hadn't one word from you in weeks. It quite spoiled my trip East. What +was I to think? And then you sent me just a line saying you were leaving +Mount Hope--" she drew in her breath sharply. There was a brief silence. +"Why?" she asked at length. + +"It is better that I should," he answered awkwardly. + +He felt a sudden remorseful tenderness for her; he wished that she might +have divined the change that had come over him; even how worthless a +thing his devotion had been, the utter selfishness of it. + +"Why is it better?" she asked. He was near enough for her to put out a +small hand and rest it on his arm. "Jack, have I done anything to make +you hate me? Don't you care any longer for me?" + +"I care a great deal, Evelyn. I want you to think the best of me." + +"But why do you go? And when do you think of going, Jack?" The hand that +she had rested there a moment before, left his arm and dropped at her +side. + +"I don't know yet, my plans are very uncertain. I am quite at the end of +my money. I have been a good deal of a fool, Evelyn." + +Something in his manner restrained her, she was not so sure as she had +been of her hold on him. She looked up appealingly into his face, the +smile had left her lips and her eyes were sad, but he mistrusted the +genuineness of this swift change of mood, certainly its permanence. + +"What will there be left for me, Jack, when you go? I thought--I +thought--" her full lips quivered. + +She was realizing that this separation which her imagination had already +invested with a tragic significance, meant much less to him than she +believed it would mean to her; more than this, the cruel suspicion was +certifying itself that in her absence from Mount Hope, North had +undergone some strange transformation; was no longer the reckless, +dissipated, young fellow who for months had been as her very shadow. + +"I am going to-night, Evelyn," he said with sudden determination. + +She gave a half smothered cry. + +"To-night! To-night!" she repeated. + +He changed his position uncomfortably. + +"I am at the end of my string, Evelyn," he said slowly. + +"I--I shall miss you dreadfully, Jack! You know I am frightfully +unhappy; what will it be when you go? Marsh has made a perfect wreck of +my life!" + +"Nonsense, Evelyn!" he replied bruskly. "You must be careful what you +say to me!" + +"I haven't been careful before!" she asserted. + +He bit his lips. She went swiftly on. + +"I have told you everything! I don't care what happens to me--you know I +don't, Jack! I am deadly desperately tired!" She paused, then she cried +vehemently. "One endures a situation as long as one can, but there comes +a time when it is impossible to go on with the falsehood any longer, and +I have reached that time! It is my life, my happiness that are at +stake!" + +"Sometimes it is better to do without happiness," he philosophized. + +"That is silly, Jack, no one believes that sort of thing any more; but +it is good to teach to women and children, it saves a lot of bother, I +suppose. But men take their happiness regardless of the rights of +others!" + +"Not always," he said. + +"Yes, always!" she insisted. + +"But you knew what Marsh was before you married him." + +"It's a woman's vanity to believe she can reform, can control a man." +She glanced at him furtively. What had happened to change him? Always +until now he had responded to the recklessness of her mood, he had +seemed to understand her without the need of words. Her brows met in an +angry frown. Was he a coward? Did he fear Marshall Langham? Once more +she rested her hand on his arm. "Jack, dear Jack, are _you_ going to +fail me, too?" + +"What would you have me say or do, Evelyn?" he demanded impatiently. + +She regarded him sadly. + +"What has made you change, Jack? What is it; what have I done? Why did +you not answer my letters? Why did you not come to see me?" + +"I only learned that you were in town this afternoon," he said. + +"Yes, but you had no intention of coming, I know you hadn't! You would +have left Mount Hope without even a good-by to me!" + +"It is hard enough to have to go, Evelyn!" + +"It isn't that, Jack. What have I done? How have I displeased you?" + +"You haven't displeased me, Evelyn," he faltered. + +"Then why have you treated me as you have?" + +"I thought it would be easier," he said. + +"Have you forgotten what friends we were once?" she asked softly. "You +always helped me out of my difficulties then, and you told me once that +you cared--a great deal for me, more than you should ever care for any +woman!" + +"Yes," he answered shortly, and was silent. + +He would scarcely have admitted to himself how foolish his early passion +had been, for it was at least sincere and there could have been no +sacrifice, at one time, that he would not have willingly made for her +sake. His later sentiment for her had been a disgracing and a +disgraceful thing, and he was glad to think of this boyish love, since +it carried him back to a time before he had wrought only misery for +himself. She misunderstood his reticence, she could not realize that she +had lost the power that had once been hers. + +"What a mistake I made, Jack!" she cried, and stretched out her hands +toward him. + +He fell back a step. + +"Nonsense!" he said. He glanced sharply at her. + +"How stupid you are!" she exclaimed. + +She half rose from her chair with her hands still extended toward him. +For a moment he met her glance, and then, disgusted and ashamed, +withdrew his eyes from hers. + +Evelyn sank back in her chair, and her face turned white and she covered +it with her hands. North was the first to break the silence. + +"We would both of us better forget this," he said quietly. + +She rose and stood at his side. The color had returned to her cheeks. + +"What a fool you are, John North!" she jeered softly. "And I might have +made the tragic mistake of really caring for you!" She gave a little +shiver of dismay, and then after a moment's tense silence: "What a boy +you are,--almost as much of a boy as when we used to play together." + +"I think there is nothing more to say, Evelyn," North said shortly. "It +is growing late. You must not be seen leaving here!" + +She laughed. + +"Oh, it would take a great deal to compromise me; though if Marsh ever +finds out that I have been here he'll be ready to kill me!" But she +still lingered, still seemed to invite. + +North was silent. + +"You must be in love, Jack! You see, I'll not grant that you are the +saint you'd have me think you! Yes, you are in love!" for he colored +angrily at her words. "Is it--" + +He interrupted her harshly. + +"Don't speak her name!" + +"Then it is true! I'd heard that you were, but I did not believe it! +Yes, you are right, we must forget that I came here to-day." + +While she was speaking she had moved toward the door, and instinctively +he had stepped past her to open it. When he turned with his hand on the +knob, it brought them again face to face. The smile had left her lips, +they were mere delicate lines of color. She raised herself on tiptoe and +her face, gray-white, was very close to his. + +"What a fool you are, Jack, what a coward you must be!" and she struck +him on the cheek with her gloved hand. "You _are_ a coward!" she cried. + +His face grew as white as her own, and he did not trust himself to +speak. She gave him a last contemptuous glance and drew her veil. + +"Now open the door," she said insolently. + +He did so, and she brushed past him swiftly and stepped out into the +long hall. For a moment North stood staring after her, and then he +closed the door. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +STRANGE BEDFELLOWS + + +When North quitted Marshall Langham's office, Gilmore, after a brief +instant of irresolution, stepped into the room. He was crudely, +handsome, a powerfully-built man of about Langham's own age, +swarthy-faced and with ruthless lips showing red under a black waxed +mustache. His hat was inclined at a "sporty" angle and the cigar which +he held firmly between his strong even teeth was tilted in the same +direction, imparting a rakish touch to Mr. Gilmore's otherwise sturdy +and aggressive presence. + +"Howdy, Marsh!" said his new-comer easily. + +From his seat before his desk Langham scowled across at him. + +"What the devil brings you here, Andy?" he asked, ungraciously enough. + +Gilmore buried his hands deep in his trousers pockets and with one eye +half closed surveyed the lawyer over the tip of his tilted cigar. + +"You're a civil cuss, Marsh," he said lightly, "but one wouldn't always +know it. Ain't I a client, ain't I a friend,--and damn it all, man, +ain't I a creditor? There are three excuses, any one of which is: +sufficient to bring me into your esteemed presence!" + +"We may as well omit the first," growled Langham, wheeling his chair +back from the desk and facing Gilmore. + +"Why?" asked Gilmore, lazily tolerant of the other's mood. + +"Because there is nothing more that I can do for you," said Langham +shortly. + +"Oh, yes there is, Marsh, there's a whole lot more you can do for me. +There's Moxlow, the distinguished prosecuting attorney; without you to +talk sense to him he's liable to listen to all sorts of queer people who +take more interest in my affairs than is good for them; but as long as +he's got you at his elbow he won't forget my little stake in his +election." + +"If you wish him not to forget it, you'd better not be so particular in +reminding him of it; he'll get sick of you and your concerns!" retorted +Langham. + +Gilmore laughed. + +"I ain't going to remind him of it; what have I got you for, Marsh? It's +your job." He took a step nearer Langham while his black brows met in a +sullen frown. "I know I ain't popular here in Mount Hope, I know there +are plenty of people who'd like to see me run out of town; but I'm no +quitter, they'll find. It suits me to stay here, and they can't touch me +if Moxlow won't have it. That's your job, that's what I hire you for, +Marsh; you're Moxlow's partner, you're your father's son, it's up to +you to see I ain't interfered with. Don't tell me you can't do anything +more for me. I won't have it!" + +Langham's face was red, and his eyes blazed angrily, but Gilmore met his +glance with a look of stern insistence that could not be misunderstood. + +"I have done what I could for you," the lawyer said at last, choking +down his rage. + +"Oh, go to hell! You know you haven't hurt yourself," said Gilmore +insolently. + +"Well, then, why do you come here?" demanded Langham. + +"Same old business, Marsh." He lounged across the room and dropped, +yawning, into a chair near the window. + +There was silence between them for a little space. Langham fussed with +the papers on his desk, while Gilmore squinted at him over the end of +his cigar. + +"Same old business, Marsh!" Gilmore repeated lazily. "What's the enemy +up to, anyhow? Are the good people of Mount Hope worrying Moxlow? Is +their sleepless activity going to interfere with my sleepless +profession, eh? Can you answer me that?" + +"Moxlow has cut the office of late," said Langham briefly. + +"He's happened on a good thing in the prosecuting attorney's office, I +suppose? It's a pity you didn't strike out for that, Marsh; you'd have +been of some use to your friends if you'd got the job." + +"Not necessarily," said Langham. + +"Well, when's Moxlow going after me?" inquired Gilmore. + +"I, haven't heard him say. He told me he had sufficient evidence for +your indictment." + +"Yes, of course," agreed Gilmore placidly. + +"I guess yours is a case for the next grand jury!" + +"So Moxlow's in earnest about wishing to make trouble for me?" said +Gilmore, still placidly. + +"Oh, he's in earnest, all right." Langham shrugged his shoulders +petulantly. "He'll go after you, and perhaps by the time he's done with +you you'll wish you'd taken my advice and made yourself scarce!" + +"I'm no quitter!" rejoined Gilmore, chewing thoughtfully at the end of +his cigar. + +"By all means stay in Mount Hope if you think it's worth your while," +said Langham indifferently. + +"Can you give me some definite idea as to when the fun begins?" + +"No, but it will be soon enough, Andy. He wants the support of the best +element. He can't afford to offend it." + +"And he knows you are my lawyer?" asked Gilmore still thoughtfully. + +"Of course." + +"Ain't that going to cut any figure with him?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Is that so, Marsh?" He crossed his legs and nursed an ankle with both +hands. "Well, somebody ought to lose Moxlow,--take him out and forget to +find him again. He's much too good for this world; it ain't natural. +He's about the only man of his age in Mount Hope who ain't drifted into +my rooms at one time or another." He paused and took the cigar from +between his teeth. "You call him off, Marsh, make him agree to let me +alone; ain't there such a thing as friendship in this profession of +yours?" + +Langham shook his head, and again Gilmore's black brows met in a frown. +He made a contemptuous gesture. + +"You're a hell of a lawyer!" he sneered. + +"Be careful what you say to me!" cried Langham, suddenly giving way to +the feeling of rage that until now he had held in check. + +"Oh, I'm careful enough. I guess if you stop to think a minute you'll +understand you got to take what I choose to say as I choose to say it!" + +Langham sprang to his feet shaking with anger. + +"No, by--" he began hoarsely. + +"Sit down," said Gilmore coldly. "You can't afford to row with me; +anyhow, I ain't going to row with you. I'll tell you what I think of you +and what I expect of you, so sit down!" + +There was a long pause. Gilmore gazed out the window. He seemed to watch +the hurrying snowflakes with no interest in Langham who was still +standing by his desk, with one shaking hand resting on the back of his +chair. Presently the lawyer resumed his seat and Gilmore turned toward +him. + +"Don't talk about my quitting here, Marsh," he said menacingly. "That's +the kind of legal advice I won't have from you or any one else." + +"You may as well make up your mind first as last to it," said Langham, +not regarding what Gilmore had just said. "I can't keep Moxlow quiet any +longer; the sentiment of the community is against gamblers. If you are +not a gambler, what are you?" + +"You mean you are going to throw me over, you two?" + +"With Moxlow it is a case of bread and butter; personally I don't care +whom you fleece, but I've got my living to make here in Mount Hope, too, +and I can't afford to go counter to public opinion." + +"You have had some favors out of me, Marsh." + +"I am not likely to forget them, you give me no chance," rejoined +Langham bitterly. + +"Why should I, eh?" asked Gilmore coolly. He leaned back in his chair +and stared at the ceiling above his head. "Marsh, what was that North +was saying about me when I came down the hall?" and his swarthy cheeks +were tinged with red. + +"I don't recall that he was speaking of you." + +"You don't? Well, think again. It was about our going up to your house +to-night, wasn't it? Your wife's back, eh? Well, don't worry, I came +here partly to tell you that I had made other arrangements for the +evening." + +"It's just as well," said Langham. + +"Do you mean your wife wouldn't receive me?" demanded Gilmore. There +was a catch in his voice and a pallor in his face. + +"I didn't say that." + +Gilmore's chair resounded noisily on the floor as he came to his feet. +He strode to the lawyer's side. + +"Then what in hell _do_ you say?" he stormed. + +In spite of himself Langham quailed before the gambler's fury. + +"Oh, keep still, Andy! What a nasty-tempered beast you are!" he said +pacifically. + +There was a pause, and Gilmore resumed his chair, turning to the window +to hide his emotion; then slowly his scowling glance came back to +Langham. + +"He said I was a common card-sharp, eh?" Langham knew that he spoke of +North. "Damn him! What does he call himself?" He threw the stub of his +cigar from him across the room. "Marsh, what does your wife know about +me?" And again there was the catch to his voice. + +Langham looked at him in astonishment. + +"Know about you--my wife--nothing," he said slowly. + +"I suppose she's heard my name?" inquired the gambler. + +"No doubt." + +"Thinks I rob you at cards, eh?" But Langham made no answer to this. +"Thinks I take your money away from you," continued the gambler. "And +it's your game to let her think that! I wonder what she'd think if she +knew the account stood the other way about? I've been a handy sort of a +friend, haven't I, Marsh? The sort you could use,--and you have used me +up to the limit! I've been good enough to borrow money from, but not +good enough to take home--" + +"Oh, come, Andy, what's the use," placated Langham. "I'm sorry if your +feelings are hurt." + +"It's time you and I had a settlement, Marsh. I want you to take up +those notes of yours." + +"I haven't the money!" said Langham. + +"Well, I can't wait on you any longer." + +"I don't see but that you'll have to," retorted Langham. + +"I'm going to offer a few inducements for haste, Marsh. I'm going to +make you see that it's worth your while to find that money for me +quick,--understand? You owe me about two thousand dollars; are you fixed +to turn it in by the end of the month?" + +The gambler bit off the end of a fresh cigar and held it a moment +between his fingers as he gazed at Langham, waiting for his reply. The +latter shook his head but said nothing. + +"Well, then, by George, I am going to sue you!" + +"Because I can't protect you longer!" + +"Oh, to hell with your protection! Go dig up the money for me or I'll +raise a fuss here that'll hurt more than one reputation! The notes are +good, ain't they?" + +"They are good when I have the money to meet them." + +"They are good even if you haven't the money to meet them! I guess Judge +Langham's indorsement is worth something, and Linscott's a rich man; +even Moxlow's got some property. Those are the three who are on your +paper, and the paper's considerably overdue." + +Langham turned a pale face on the gambler. + +"You won't do that, Andy!" he said, in a voice which he vainly strove to +hold steady. + +"Won't I? Do you think I'm in business for my health?" And he laughed +shortly, then he wheeled on Langham with unexpected fierceness. "I'll +give you until the first of the month, Marsh, and then I'm going after +you without gloves. I don't care a damn who squares the account; your +indorsers' cash will suit me as well as your own." He caught the +expression on Langham's face, its deathly pallor, the hunted look in his +eyes, and paused suddenly. The shadow of a slow smile fixed itself at +the corners of his mouth, he put out a hand and rested it on Langham's +shoulder. "You damn fool! Have you tried that trick on me? I'll take +those notes to the bank in the morning and see if the signatures are +genuine." + +"Do it!" Langham spoke in a whisper. + +"Maybe you think I won't!" sneered the gambler. "Maybe you'd rather I +didn't, eh? It will hardly suit you to have me show those notes?" + +"Do what you like; whatever suggests itself to a scurvy whelp like you!" +said Langham. + +Gilmore merely grinned at this. + +"If you are trying to encourage me to smash you, Marsh, you have got the +right idea as to how it is to be done." But his tone was now one of lazy +good nature. + +"Smash me then; I haven't the money to pay you." + +"Get it!" said Gilmore tersely. + +"Where?" + +"You are asking too much of me, Marsh. If I could finance you I'd cut +out cards in the future. How about the judge,--no? Well, I just threw +that out as a hint, but I suppose you have been there already, for +naturally you'd compliment him by giving him the chance to pull you up +out of your troubles. Since your own father won't help you, how about +Linscott? Is he going to want to see his son-in-law disgraced? I guess +he's your best chance, Marsh. Put it on strong and for once tell the +truth. Tell him you've dabbled in forgery and that it won't work!" + +Langham had dropped back in his chair. He was seeking to devise some +expedient that would meet his present difficulties. His bondage to the +gambler had become intolerable, anything would be better than a +continuance of that. The monstrous folly of those forgeries seemed +beyond anything he could have perpetrated in his sober senses. He must +have been mad! But then he had needed the money desperately. + +He might go to his, father, but he had been to him only recently, and +the judge himself was burdened with debt. He might go to Mr. Linscott, +he might even try North. He could tell the latter the whole circumstance +and borrow a part of what was left of his small fortune; of course he +was in his debt as it was, but North would never think of that; he was a +man to share his last dollar with a friend. + +He passed a shaking hand across his eyes. On every side the nightmare of +his obligations confronted him, for who was there that he could owe whom +he did not already owe? He was notorious for his inability to pay his +debts. This notoriety was hurting his professional standing, and now if +Gilmore carried out his threat he must look forward to the shame of a +public exposure. His very reputation for common honesty was at stake. + +He wondered what men did in a crisis such as this. He wondered what +happened to them when they could do nothing more. Usually he was fertile +in expedients, but to-day his brain seemed wholly inert. He realized +only a certain dull terror of the future; the present eluded him +utterly. + +He had never been over-scrupulous perhaps, he had always taken what he +pleased to call long chances, and it was in almost imperceptible +gradations that he had descended in the scale of honesty to the point +that had at last made possible these forgeries. Until now he had always +felt certain of himself and of his future; time was to bring him into +the presence of his dear desires, when he should have money to lift the +burden of debt, money to waste, money to scatter, money to spend for the +good things of life. + +But he had made the fatal mistake of anticipating the success in which +he so firmly believed. Those notes--he dashed his hand before his face; +suddenly the air of the room seemed to stifle him, courage and cunning +had left him; there was only North to whom he could turn for a few +hundreds with which to quiet Gilmore. Let him but escape the +consequences of his folly this time and he promised himself he would +retrench; he would live within his income, he would apply himself to his +profession as he had never yet applied himself. He scowled heavily at +Gilmore, who met his scowl with a cynical smile. + +"Well, what are you going to do?" he queried. + +But Langham did not answer at once. He had turned and was looking from +the window. It was snowing now very hard, and twilight, under the edges +of torn gray clouds was creeping over the Square; he could barely see +the flickering lights in Archibald McBride's dingy shop-windows. + +"Give me a chance, Andy!" he said at last appealingly. + +"To the end of the month, not a day more," asserted Gilmore. + +"Where am I to get such a sum in that time? You know I can't do it!" + +"Don't ask me, but turn to and get it, Marsh. That's your only hope." + +"By the first of the year perhaps," urged Langham. + +"No, get rid of the notion that I am going to let up on you, for I +ain't! I'm going to squat on your trail until the money's in my hand; +otherwise I know damn well I won't ever see a cent of it! I ain't your +only creditor, but the one who hounds you hardest will see his money +first, and I got you where I want you." + +"I can't raise the money; what will you gain by ruining me?" demanded +Langham. He wished to impress this on Gilmore, and then he would propose +as a compromise the few hundreds it would be possible to borrow from +North. + +"To get square with you, Marsh, will be worth something, and frankly, I +ain't sure that I ever expected to see any of that money, but as long as +you stood my friend I was disposed to be easy on you." + +"I am still your friend." + +"Just about so-so, but you won't keep Moxlow--" + +"I can't!" + +"Then I can't see where your friendship comes in." Gilmore quitted his +chair. + +"Wait, Andy!" said Langham hastily. + +"No use of any more talk, Marsh, I want my money! Go dig it up." + +"Suppose, by straining every nerve, I can raise five hundred dollars by +the end of the month--" + +"Oh, pay your grocer with that!" + +Langham choked down his rage. "You haven't always been so contemptuous +of such sums." + +"I'm feeling proud to-day, Marsh. I'm going to treat myself to a few +airs, and you can pat yourself on the back when you've dug up the money +by the end of the month! You'll have done something to feel proud of, +too." + +"Suppose we say a thousand," urged Langham. + +"Good old Marsh! If you keep on raising yourself like this you'll soon +get to a figure where we can talk business!" Gilmore laughed. + +"Perhaps I can raise a thousand dollars. I don't know why I should think +I can, but I'm willing to try; I'm willing to say I'll try--" + +Gilmore shook his head. + +"I've told you what you got to do, Marsh, and I mean every damn word I +say,--understand that? I'm going to have my money or I'm going to have +the fun of smashing you." + +"Listen to me, Andy!" began Langham desperately. + +"Why take me into your confidence?" asked the gambler coldly. + +"What will you gain by ruining me?" repeated Langham fiercely. + +The gambler only grinned. + +"I am always willing to spend money on my pleasures; and besides when +those notes turn up, your father or some one else will have to come +across." + +Langham was silent. He was staring out across the empty snow-strewn +Square at the lights in Archibald McBride's windows. + +"Remember," said Gilmore, moving toward the door. "I'll talk to you when +you got two thousand dollars." + +"Damn you, where do you think I'll get it?" cried Langham. + +"I'm not good at guessing," laughed Gilmore. + +He turned without another word or look and left the room. His footsteps +echoed loudly in the hall and on the stairs, and then there was silence +in the building. Langham was again looking out across the Square at the +lights in Archibald McBride's windows. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +ADVENTURE IN EARNEST + + +Mr. Shrimplin had made his way through a number of back streets without +adventure of any sort, and as the night and the storm closed swiftly in +about him, the shapes of himself, his cart and of wild Bill disappeared, +and there remained to mark his progress only the hissing sputtering +flame, that flared spectrally six feet in air as the little lamplighter +drove in and out of shabby unfrequented streets and alleys. + +It had grown steadily colder with the approach of night, and the wind +had risen. The streets seemed deserted, and Mr. Shrimplin being as he +was of a somewhat fanciful turn of mind, could almost imagine himself +and Bill the only living things astir in all the town. + +He reached Water Street, the western boundary of that part of Mount Hope +known as the flats. He jogged past Maxy Schaffer's Railroad Hotel at the +corner of Front Street, which flung the wicked radiance of its bar-room +windows along the shining railroad track where it crossed the creek on +the new iron bridge; and keeping on down Water Street with its smoky +tenements, entered an outlying district where the lamps were far apart +and where red and blue and green switch lights blinked at him out of the +storm. + +It was nearly six o'clock when he at last wheeled into the Square; here +only three gasolene burners--survivors of the old régime--held their own +against the fast encroaching gas-lamp. + +He lighted the one in Division Street and was ready to turn and traverse +the north side of the Square to the second lamp which stood a block away +at the corner of High Street. He was drawing Bill's head about--Bill +being smitten with a sudden desire to go directly home leaving the +night's work unfinished--when the muffled figure of a man appeared in +the street in front of him. The inch or more of snow that now covered +the pavement had deadened the sound of his steps, while the eddying +flakes had made possible his near approach unseen. As he came rapidly +into the red glare of Mr. Shrimplin's hissing torch that hero was +exceeding well pleased to recognize a friendly face. + +"How are you, Mr. North!" he said, and John North halted suddenly. + +"Oh, it's you, Shrimp! A nasty night, isn't it?" + +"It's the suffering human limit!" rejoined Mr. Shrimplin with feeling. + +As he spoke the town bell rang the hour; unconsciously, perhaps, the two +men paused until the last reverberating stroke had spent itself in the +snowy distance. + +"Six o'clock," observed Mr. Shrimplin. + +"Good night, Shrimp," replied North irrelevantly. + +He turned away and an instant later was engulfed in the wintry night. + +Having at last pointed Bill's head in the right direction Mr. Shrimplin +drove that trusty beast up to the lamp-post on the corner of High +Street, when suddenly and for no apparent reason Bill settled back in +the shafts and exhibited unmistakable, though humiliating symptoms of +fright. + +"Go on, you!" cried Mr. Shrimplin, slapping bravely with both the lines, +but his voice was far from steady, for suppose Bill should abandon the +rectitude of a lifetime and begin to kick. + +"Go on, you!" repeated Mr. Shrimplin and slapped the lines again, but +less vigorously, for by this time Bill was unquestionably backing away +from the curb. + +"Be done! Be done!" expostulated Mr. Shrimplin, but he gave over +slapping the lines, for why irritate Bill in his present uncertain mood? +"Want I should get out and lead you?" asked Mr. Shrimplin, putting aside +with one hand the blankets in which he was wrapped. "You're a game old +codger, ain't you? I guess you ain't aware you've growed up!" + +While he was still speaking he slipped to the ground and worked his way +hand over hand up the lines to Bill's bit. Bill was now comfortably +located on his haunches, but evidently still dissatisfied for he +continued to back vigorously, drawing the protesting little lamplighter +after him. When he had put perhaps twenty feet between himself and the +lamp-post Bill achieved his usual upright attitude and his countenance +assumed its habitual contemplative expression, the haunted look faded +from his sagacious eye and his flaming nostrils resumed their normal +benevolent expression. Taking note of these swift changes, it occurred +to Mr. Shrimplin that rather than risk a repetition of his recent +experience he would so far sacrifice his official dignity as to go on +foot to the lamp-post. Bill would probably stand where he was, +indefinitely, standing being one of his most valued accomplishments. The +lamplighter took up his torch which he had put aside in the struggle +with Bill and walked to the curb. + +And here Mr. Shrimplin noticed that which had not before caught his +attention. McBride's store was apparently open, for the bracketed oil +lamps that hung at regular intervals the full length of the long narrow +room, were all alight. + +Mr. Shrimplin, whose moods were likely to be critical and censorious, +realized that there was something personally offensive in the fact that +Archibald McBride had chosen to disregard a holiday which his +fellow-merchants had so very generally observed. + +"And him, I may say, just rotten rich!" he thought. + +Mr. Shrimplin further discovered that though the lamps were lit they +were burning low, and he concluded that they had been lighted in the +early dusk of the winter afternoon and that McBride, for reasons of +economy, had deferred turning them up until it should be quite dark. + +"Well, I'm a poor man, but I couldn't think of them things like he +does!" reflected Mr. Shrimplin; and then even before he had ceased to +pride himself on his superior liberality, he made still another +discovery, and this, that the store door stood wide open to the night. + +"Well," thought Mr. Shrimplin, "maybe he's saving oil, but he's wasting +fuel." + +Approaching the door he peered in. The store was empty, Archibald +McBride was nowhere visible. Evidently the door had been open some +little time, for he could see where the snow, driven by the strong wind, +had formed a miniature snow-drift just beyond the threshold. + +"Either he's stepped out and the door's blowed open," muttered Mr. +Shrimplin, "or he's in his back office and some customer went out +without latching it." + +He paused irresolutely, then he put his hand on the knob of the door to +close it, and paused again. With his taste for fictitious horrors, +usually indulged in, however, by his own warm fireside, he found the +present time and place slightly disquieting; and then Bill's singular +and erratic behavior had rather weakened his nerve. From under knitted +brows he gazed into the room. The storm rattled the shuttered windows +above his head, the dingy sign creaked on its rusty fastenings, and with +each fresh gust the bracketed lamps rocked gently to and fro, and as +they rocked their trembling shadows slid back and forth along the walls. +The very air of the place was inhospitable, forbidding, and Mr. +Shrimplin was strongly inclined to close the door and beat a hasty +retreat. + +Still peering down the narrow room with its sagging shelves and littered +counters, he crossed the threshold. Now he could see the office, a space +partitioned off at the rear of the building and having a glass front +that gave into the store itself. Here, as he knew, stood Mr. McBride's +big iron safe, and here was the high desk, his heavy ledgers--row after +row of them; these histories of commerce covered almost the entire +period during which men had bought and sold in Mount Hope. + +A faint light burned beyond the dirty glass partition, but the tall +meager form of the old merchant was nowhere visible. Mr. Shrimplin +advanced yet farther into the room and urged by his sense of duty and +his public spirit, he directed his steps toward the office, treading +softly as one who fears to come upon the unexpected. Once he paused, and +addressing the empty air, broke the heavy silence: + +"Oh, Mr. McBride, your door's open!" + +The room echoed to his words. + +"Well," carped Mr. Shrimplin, "I don't see as it's any of my business +to attend to his business!" But the very sound of his voice must have +given him courage, for now he stepped forward, briskly. + +On his right was a show-case in which was displayed a varied assortment +of knives, cutlery, and revolvers with shiny silver or nickel mountings; +then the show-case gave place to a long pine counter, and at the far end +of this was a pair of scales. Near the scales on a low iron standard +rested an oil lamp, but this lamp was not lighted nor were the lamps in +the bracket that hung immediately above the scales, for behind the +counter at this point was a door, the upper half glass, that opened on a +small yard which, in turn, was inclosed by a series of low sheds where +the old merchant stored heavy castings, bar-iron, and the like. Mr. +Shrimplin was shrewdly aware that it was one of McBride's small +economies not to light the lamps by that door so long as he could see to +read the figures on the scales without their artificial aid. + +And then Mr. Shrimplin saw a thing that sent the blood leaping from his +heart, while an icy hand seemed to hold him where he stood. On the floor +at his very feet was a strange huddled shape. He lowered his gasolene +torch which he still carried, and the shape resolved itself into the +figure of a man; an old man who lay face down on the floor, his arms +extended as if they had been arrested while he was in the very act of +raising them to his head. The thick shock of snow-white hair, worn +rather long, was discolored just back of the left ear, and from this +Mr. Shrimplin's horrified gaze was able to trace another discoloration +that crossed in a thin red line the dead man's white collar; for the man +was dead past all peradventure. + +[Illustration: On the floor at his feet was a strange huddled shape.] + +Mr. Shrimplin saw and grasped the meaning of it all in an instant. Then +with a feeble cry he turned and fled down the long room, pursued by a +million phantom terrors. His heart seemed to die within him as he +scurried down that long room; then, mercifully, the keen fresh air +filled his lungs. He fairly leaped through the open door, and again the +storm roared about him with a kind of boisterous fellowship. It smote +him in the face and twisted his shaking legs from under him. Then he +fell, speechless, terrified, into the arms of a passer-by. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +COLONEL GEORGE HARBISON + + +Terror-stricken as he was, Mr. Shrimplin recognized the man into whose +arms he had fallen. There was no mistaking the nose, thin and aquiline, +the bristling mustache and white imperial, the soft gray slouch hat, or +the military cloak that half concealed the stalwart form of its wearer. + +Colonel George Harbison, much astonished and in utter ignorance of the +cause of Mr. Shrimplin's alarm, took that gentleman by the collar and +deftly jerked him into an erect posture. + +"My dear sir!" the colonel began in a tone of mild expostulation, +evidently thinking he had a drunken man to deal with. "My dear sir, do +be more careful--" then he recognized the lamplighter. "Well, upon my +word, Shrimp, what's gone wrong with you?" he demanded, with military +asperity. + +"My God, Colonel, if he ain't lying there dead--" a shudder passed +through the little man; he was well-nigh dumb in his terror. "And I +stumbled right on to him there on the floor!" he cried with a gasp. + +He collapsed again, and again the colonel, whose gloved hand still +retained its hold on his collar, set him on his trembling legs with +admirable expertness. + +"I tell you he's dead!" cried Mr. Shrimplin, lost to everything but that +one dreadful fact. + +"Who's dead?" demanded the colonel. "Stand up, man, don't fall about +like that or you may do yourself some injury!" for Mr. Shrimplin seemed +about to collapse once more. + +"Old man McBride, Colonel--if he ain't dead I wish I may never see +death!" + +"Dead!" cried the colonel. "Archibald McBride dead!" He released his +hold on Mr. Shrimplin and took a step toward the door; Shrimplin, +however, detained him with a shaking hand, though he was calmer now. + +"Colonel, you'd better be careful, he's lying there in a pool of blood; +some one's killed him for his money! How do we know the murderer ain't +there!" This conjecture was made to the empty street, for Colonel +Harbison had entered the store. + +"Why does he want to leave me like that!" wailed Shrimplin, and his +panic threatened a return. + +He dragged himself to the door. Here he paused, since he could not bring +himself to enter, for before his eyes was the ghastly vision of that old +man huddled on the blood-stained floor. He heard the colonel's steps +echo down the long room, and when their sound ceased he knew he was +standing beside the dead man. After what seemed an age of waiting the +steps sounded again, and a moment later the colonel's tall form filled +the doorway. + +"Andy!" said the colonel. + +Mr. Shrimplin turned with a start. At his back within reach of his hand +stood Andy Gilmore. He had been utterly unaware of the gambler's +approach, but now conscious of it he dropped in a miserable heap on the +door-sill, while the white and unfamiliar world reeled before his +bleached blue eyes; it was the very drunkenness of fear. + +"Howdy, Colonel," said the gambler, as he gave Harbison a half-military +salute. + +He admired the colonel, who had once threatened to horsewhip him if he +ever permitted his nephew, Watt, to enter his rooms. + +"Come here, Andy!" ordered the colonel briefly. + +"God's sake, Colonel!" gasped the wretched little lamplighter, +struggling to his feet, "don't leave me here--" + +"What's wrong, Colonel?" asked Gilmore. + +"Archibald McBride's been murdered!" + +Mr. Gilmore took the butt of the half-smoked cigar from between his +teeth, tossed it into the gutter, and pushing past Mr. Shrimplin entered +the room. + +Colonel Harbison, a step or two in advance of his companion, led the way +to the rear of the store. The colonel paused, and Gilmore gained a place +at his elbow. + +"You are sure he's dead?" questioned the gambler. + +Kneeling beside the crumpled figure Gilmore slipped his hand in between +the body and the floor; his manner was cool and businesslike. After a +moment he withdrew his hand and looked, up into the colonel's face. + +"Well?" asked the colonel. + +"Oh, he's dead, all right!" Gilmore glanced about him, and the colonel's +eyes following, they both discovered that the door leading into the side +yard was partly open. + +"He went that way, eh, Colonel?" + +"It's altogether likely," agreed the veteran. + +"It's a nasty business!" said Gilmore reflectively. + +"Shocking!" snapped the colonel. + +"He took big chances," commented the gambler, "living the way he did." +He spoke of the dead man. + +"Poor old man!" said the colonel pityingly. + +What had it all amounted to, those chances for the sake of gain, which +Gilmore had in mind. + +"He can't have been dead very long," said Gilmore. "Did _you_ find him, +Colonel?" he asked as he stood erect. + +"No, Shrimplin found him." + +Again the two men looked about them. On the floor by the counter at +their right was a heavy sledge. Gilmore called Harbison's attention to +this. + +"I guess the job was done with that," he said. + +"Possibly," agreed Harbison. + +Gilmore picked up the sledge and examined it narrowly. + +"Yes, you can see, there is blood on it." He handed it to Harbison, who +stepped under the nearest lamp with the clumsy weapon in his hand. + +"You are right, Andy!" and he glanced at the rude instrument of death +with a look of repugnance on his keen sensitive face, then he carefully, +placed it under the wooden counter. "Horrible!" he muttered to himself. + +"It was no joke for him!" said the gambler, catching the last word. "But +some one was bound to try this dodge sooner or later. Why, as far back +as I can remember, people said he kept his money hidden away at the +bottom of nail kegs and under heaps of scrap-iron." He took a cigar from +his pocket, bit off the end, and struck a match. "Well, I wouldn't want +to be the other fellow, Colonel; I'd be in all kinds of a panic; it +takes nerve for a job like this." + +"It's a shocking circumstance," said the colonel. + +"I wonder if it paid!" speculated the gambler. "And I wonder who'll get +what he leaves. Has he any family or relatives?" + +"No, not so far as any one knows. He came here many years ago, a +close-mouthed Scotchman, who never had any intimates, never married, and +never spoke of his private affairs." + +There was a slight commotion at the door. They could hear Shrimplin's +agitated voice, and a moment later two men, chance passers-by with whom +he had been speaking, shook themselves free of the little lamplighter +and entered the room. The new-comers nodded to the colonel and Gilmore +as they paused to stare mutely at the body on the floor. + +"He bled like a stuck pig!" said one of the men at last. He was a +ragged slouching creature with a splotched and bloated face half hidden +by a bristling red beard. He glanced at Gilmore for an uncertain instant +out of a pair of small shifty eyes. "It's murder, ain't it, boss?" he +added. + +"No doubt about that, Joe!" rejoined the gambler. + +"I suppose it was robbery?" said the other man, who had not spoken +before. + +"Very likely," answered the colonel. "We have not examined the place, +however; we shall wait for the proper officials." + +"Who do you want, Colonel?" + +"Coroner Taylor, and I suppose the sheriff," replied Harbison. + +The man nodded. + +"All right, I'll bring them; and say, what about the prosecuting +attorney?" as he turned to leave. + +"Yes, bring Moxlow, too, if you can find him." + +The man hurried from the room. Gilmore leaned against the counter and +smoked imperturbably. Joe Montgomery, with his great slouching shoulders +arched, and his grimy hands buried deep in his trousers pockets, stared +at the dead man in stolid wonder. Colonel Harbison's glance sought the +same object but with a sensitive shrinking as from an ugly brutal thing. +A clock ticked loudly in the office; there was the occasional fall of +cinders from the grate of the rusted stove that heated the place; these +were sounds that neither Gilmore nor the colonel had heard before. +Presently a lean black cat stole from the office and sprang upon the +counter; it purred softly. + +"Hello, puss!" said the gambler, putting out a hand. The cat stole +closer. "I guess I'll have to take you home with me, eh? This ain't a +place for unprotected females!" The cat crept back and forth under his +caressing touch. + +At the street-door Shrimplin appeared and disappeared, now his head was +thrust into the room, and now his nose was flattened against the dingy +show-windows; from neither point could he quite command the view he +desired nor could he bring himself to enter the building; then he +vanished entirely, but after a brief interval they heard his voice. He +was evidently speaking with some one in the street. A little crowd was +rapidly gathering about him, but it disintegrated almost immediately, +his listeners abandoning him to hurry into the store. + +"You must stand back, all of you!" said the colonel. "Unless you are +very careful you may destroy important evidence!" + +The crowd assembled itself silently for the most part; here and there a +man removed his hat, or made some whispered comment, or asked some eager +low-voiced question of Gilmore or the colonel. Men stood on boxes, on +nail kegs, and on counters. Except for the little circle left about the +dead man on the floor, every vantage point of observation was soon +occupied. It was scarcely half an hour since Shrimplin had fallen +speechless into Colonel Harbison's arms, yet fully two hundred men had +gathered in that long room or were struggling about the door to gain +admittance to it. + +At a suggestion from Harbison, the gambler, followed by Joe, elbowed his +way to the front door, which in spite of the protest of those outside, +he closed and locked. A moment later, however, he opened it to admit +Doctor Taylor, the coroner, and Conklin, the sheriff. The latter +instantly set about clearing the room. + +Gilmore and the colonel remained with the officials and during the +succeeding ten minutes the gambler, who had kept his post at the door, +opened, it to Moxlow, young Watt Harbison and two policemen. + +As the coroner finished his examination of the body, the sound of wheels +was heard in the Square and an undertaker's wagon drew up to the door. +The murdered man was placed on a stretcher and covered with a black +cloth, then four men raised the stretcher and for the last time the old +merchant passed out under his creaking sign into the night. + +"I've agreed to watch at the house, Andy," said Colonel Harbison. "I +want you and Watt to come with me." + +The gambler lighted a fresh cigar and the three men left the store. + +On the Square groups of men discussed the murder. Though none was +permitted to enter the store, the windows afforded occasional glimpses +of the little group of officials within, until a policeman closed and +fastened the heavy wooden shutters. Then the crowd slowly and +reluctantly dispersed. + +Meanwhile the town marshal, under cover of the excitement, had descended +on the gas house where tramps congregated of winter nights for warmth +and shelter. Here he found shivering over a can of beer, two homeless +wretches, whom he arrested as suspicious characters. After this, +official activity languished, for the official mind could think of +nothing more to do. + +With the scattering of the crowd on the Square, Shrimplin climbed into +his cart and drove off home. The smother of wind-driven snow still +enveloped the, town, the very air seemed charged with mystery and +horror, and before the little lamplighter's eyes was ever the haunting +vision of the murdered man. + +He drove into the alley back of his house, unhitched Bill and led him +into the barn. His torch made the gloom of the place more terrifying +than utter darkness would have been. Suppose the murderer should be +hiding there! Mr. Shrimplin's mind fastened on the hay-mow as the most +likely place of concealment, and the cold sweat ran from him in icy +streams; he could, almost see the murderer's evil eyes fixed upon him +from the blackness above. But at last Bill was stripped of his harness, +and the little lamplighter, escaping from the barn with its fancied +terrors, hurried across his small back yard to his kitchen door. + +"Well!" said Mrs. Shrimplin, as he entered the room. "I was beginning to +wonder if you'd ever think it worth your while to come home!" + +"What's the bell been ringing for?" asked Custer. Mrs. Shrimplin was +seated by the table, which was littered with her sewing; Custer occupied +his usual chair by the stove, and it was evident that they knew nothing +of the tragedy in which Mr. Shrimplin had played so important, and as he +now felt, so worthy a part. + +"I suppose I've been out quite a time, and I may say I've seen times, +too! I guess there ain't no one in the town fitter to say they seen +times than just me!" + +The light and comfort of his own pleasant kitchen had quite restored Mr. +Shrimplin. + +"I may say I seen times!" he repeated significantly. "There's something +doing in this here old town after all! I take back a heap of the hard +things I've said about it; a feller can scare up a little excitement if +he knows where to look for it. I ain't bragging none, but I guess you'll +hear my name mentioned--I guess you'll even see it in print in the +newspapers!" He warmed his cold hands over the stove. "Throw in a little +more coal, sonny; I'm half froze, but I guess that's the worst any one +can say of me!" + +"You make much of it, whatever it is," said Mrs. Shrimplin. + +"Maybe I do and maybe I don't," equivocated Mr. Shrimplin genially. + +"Maybe you're not above telling a body what kept you out half the +night?" inquired his wife. + +"If you done and seen what I've did and saw," replied Mr. Shrimplin +impressively, "you'd look for a little respect in your own home." + +"I'd be a heap quicker telling about it," said Mrs. Shrimplin. + +Mr. Shrimplin turned to Custer. + +"I guess, you're thinking it was a burglar; but, sonny, it wasn't no +burglar--so you got another guess coming to you," he concluded +benevolently. + +"I know!" cried Custer. "Some one's been killed!" + +"Exactly!" said Mr. Shrimplin with increasing benevolence. "Some one has +been killed!" + +"You done it!" cried Custer. + +"I found the party," admitted Mr. Shrimplin with calm dignity. + +"Oh!" But perhaps Custer's first emotion was on the whole one of +disappointment. + +"How you talk!" said Mrs. Shrimplin. + +"I reckon I might say more, most any one would," retorted Mr. Shrimplin +quietly. "It was old man McBride--someone's murdered him for his money; +I never seen the town so on end over anything before, but whoever wants +to be well posted's got to come to me for the particulars. I seen the +old man before Colonel Harbison seen him, I seen him before Andy Gilmore +seen him, I seen him before the coroner seen him, or the sheriff or +_any one_ seen him! I was on the spot ahead of 'em all. If any one wants +to know how he looked just after he was killed, they got to come to me +to find out. Colonel Harbison can't tell 'em, and Andy Gilmore can't +tell 'em; it's only me knows them particulars!" + +The effect of this stirring declaration was quite all he had hoped for. +Out of the tail of his eye he saw that Mrs. Shrimplin was, as she +afterward freely confessed, taken aback. As for Custer, he had forgotten +his disappointment that a death by violence had occurred for which his +father was not directly responsible. + +"Did you see the man that killed old Mr. McBride?" asked Custer, +breaking the breathless spell that was upon him. + +"No; if I'd been just about fifteen minutes sooner I'd have seen him; +but I was just about that much too late, sonny. I guess he's a whole lot +better off, though." + +"What would you have done if you'd seen him?" Custer's voice sank to a +whisper. + +"Well, I don't pack a gun for nothing. If I'd seen him there, he'd had +to go 'round to the jail with me. I guess I could have coaxed him there; +I was ready for to offer extra inducements!" + +"And does everybody know you seen old Mr. McBride the first of any?" +asked Custer. + +"I guess they do; I ain't afraid about that. Colonel Harbison's too much +of a gentleman to claim any credit that ain't his; he'd be the first +one to own up that he don't deserve no credit." + +"What took you into McBride's store? You hadn't no errand there." Mrs. +Shrimplin was a careful and acquisitive wife. + +"I allow I made an errand there," said Mr. Shrimplin bridling. "I reckon +many another man might have thought he hadn't no errand there either, +but I feel different about them things. I was just turned into the +Square when along comes young John North--" + +"What was he doing there?" suddenly asked Mrs. Shrimplin. + +"I expect he was attending strictly to his own business," retorted Mr. +Shrimplin, offended by the utter irrelevancy of the question. + +"Go on, pal" begged Custer. + +He felt that his mother's interruptions were positively cruel, and--so +like a woman! + +"Me and young John North passed the time of day," continued Mr. +Shrimplin, thus abjured, "and I started around the north side of the +Square to light the lamp on old man McBride's own corner. If I'd knowed +then--" he paused impressively, "if I'd just knowed then, that was my +time! I could have laid hands on the murderer. He was there somewheres, +most likely he was watching me; well, maybe it was all for the best, I +don't know as a married man's got any right to take chances. Anyway, I +got to within, well--I should say, thirty feet of that lamp-post when +all of a sudden Bill began to act up. You never saw a horse act up like +he done! He rose in his britching and then the other end of him come up +and he acted like he wanted to set down on the singletree!" + +"Why did he do that?" asked Custer. + +"Well, I guess you've got some few things to learn, Custer;" said Mr. +Shrimplin indulgently. "He smelt blood--that's what he smelt!" + +"Oh!" gasped Custer. + +"I've knowed it to happen before. It's instinct," explained Shrimplin. +"'Singular,' says I, and out I jumps to have a look about. I walked to +the lamp-post, and then I seen what I hadn't seen before, that old man +McBride's store door was open, so I stepped on to the sidewalk intending +to close it, but as I put my hand on the knob I seen where the snow had +drifted into the room, so I knew the door must have been open some +little time. That's mighty odd, I thinks, and then it sort of come over +me the way Bill had acted, and I went along into the store in pretty +considerable of a hurry." + +"Were you afraid?" demanded Custer in an awe-struck whisper. + +"I'll tell you the truth, Custer, I wasn't. I own I'd drawed my gun, +wishing to be on the safe side. First thing I noticed was that the lamps +hadn't been turned up, though they was all lit. I got back to the end of +the counter when I came to a halt, for there in a heap on the floor was +old man McBride, with his head mashed in where some one had hit him +with a sledge. There was blood all over the floor, and it was a mighty +sickenin' spectacle. I sort of looked around hoping I'd see the +murderer, but he'd lit out, and then I went back to the front of the +store, where I seen Colonel Harbison coming across the Square. I told +him what I'd seen and he went inside to look; while he was looking, +along come Andy Gilmore and I told him, too, and he went in. They knowed +the murderer wasn't there, that I'd been in ahead of them. After, that +the people seemed to come from every direction; then presently some one +started to ring the town bell and that fetched more people, until the +Square in front of the store was packed and jammed with 'em. Everybody' +wanted to hear about it first-hand from me; they wanted the _full +particulars_ from the only one who knowed 'em." + +Mr. Shrimplin paused for breath. The recollection of his splendid +publicity was dazzling. He imagined the morrow with its possibility of +social triumph; he went as far as to feel that Mrs. Shrimplin now had a +certain sneaking respect for him. + +"Did you see tracks in the snow?" demanded Custer. + +"No, I didn't see nothing," declared Mr. Shrimplin. + +"You seen young John North." + +It was Mrs. Shrimplin who spoke. + +"Well, yes, I seen young John North--I said I seen him!" + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +PUTTING ON THE SCREWS + + +A score of men and boys followed the undertaker's wagon to the small +frame cottage that had been Archibald McBride's home for half a century, +and a group of these assembled about the gate as the wagon drew up +before it. Along the quiet street, windows were raised and doors were +opened. It was perhaps the first time, as it was to be the last, that +Archibald McBride's neighbors took note of his home-coming. + +His keys had been found and intrusted to one of the policemen who +accompanied the undertaker and his men; now, as the wagon came to a +stand, this officer sprang to the ground, and pushing open the gate went +quickly up the path to the front door. There in the shelter of the porch +he paused to light a lantern, then he tried key after key until he found +the one that fitted the lock; he opened the door and entered the house, +the undertaker following him. A second officer stationed himself at the +door and kept back the crowd. Their preparations were soon made and the +two men reappeared on the porch. + +"It's all right," the undertaker said, and four men raised the stretcher +again and carried the old merchant into the house. + +At this juncture Colonel Harbison, followed by his nephew and Gilmore, +made his way through the crowd before the door. Gilmore, even, gave an +involuntary shudder as they entered the small hall lighted by the single +lantern, while the colonel could have wished himself anywhere else; he +had come from a sense of duty; he had known McBride as well as any one +in Mount Hope had known him, and it had seemed a lack of respect to the +dead man to leave him to the care of the merely curious; but he was +painfully conscious of the still presence in the parlor; he felt that +they were unwelcome intruders in the home of that austere old man, who +had made no friends, who had no intimates, but had lived according to +his choice, solitary and alone. The colonel and Watt Harbison followed +the gambler into what had been the old merchant's sitting-room. There +were two lamps on the chimneypiece, both of which Gilmore lighted. + +"That's a whole lot better," he said. + +"Anything more we can do, gentlemen?" asked the undertaker, coming into +the room. + +"Nothing, thank you," answered the colonel in a tone of abstraction, and +he felt a sense of relief when the officials had gone their way into the +night, leaving him and his two companions to their vigil. + +Now for the first time they had leisure and opportunity to look about +them. It was a poor enough place, all things considered; the furniture +was dingy with age and neglect, for Archibald McBride had kept no +servant; a worn and faded carpet covered the floor; there was an +engraving of Washington Crossing the Delaware and a few old-fashioned +woodcuts on the wall; at one side of the room was a desk, opposite it a +rusted sheet-iron stove in which Watt Harbison was already starting a +fire; there was a scant assortment of uncomfortable chairs, a table, +with one leg bandaged, and near the desk an old mahogany davenport. + +"This wouldn't have suited you, eh, Colonel?" said Gilmore at last. + +"He could hardly be said to live here, he merely came here to sleep," +answered the colonel. + +"No, he couldn't have cared for anything but the one thing," said +Gilmore. "Were you ever here before, Colonel?" he added. + +"Never." + +"I don't suppose half a dozen people in the town were ever inside his +door until to-night," said Watt Harbison, speaking for the first time. + +Gilmore turned to look at the colonel's nephew as if he had only that +moment become aware of his presence. What he saw did not impress him +greatly, for young Watt, save for an unusually large head, was much like +other young men of his class. His speech was soft, his face beardless +and his gray eyes gazed steadily but without curiosity on, what was for +him, an uncliented world. For the eighteen months that he had been an +"attorney and counselor at law" the detail of office rent had been taken +care of by the colonel. + +"Sort of makes the game he played seem rotten poor sport," commented +Gilmore, replying to the nephew but looking at the uncle. + +The colonel was silent. + +"Rotten poor sport!" repeated Gilmore. + +"Who'll come in for his property?" asked Watt Harbison. + +"Oh, some one will claim that," said Gilmore. "They were saying down at +the store, that once, years ago, a brother of his turned up, here, but +McBride got rid of him." + +"Suppose we have a look around before we settle ourselves for the +night," suggested Watt Harbison. + +"Will you join us, Colonel?" asked the gambler. + +But the colonel shook his head. Gilmore took up one of the lamps as he +spoke and opened a door that led into what had evidently once been a +dining-room, but it was now only partly furnished; back of this was a +kitchen, and beyond the kitchen a woodshed. Returning to the front of +the house, they mounted to the floor above. Here had been the old +merchant's bedroom; adjoining it were two smaller rooms, one of which +had been used as a place of storage for trunks and boxes and broken bits +of furniture; the other room was empty. + +"We may as well go back down-stairs," said the gambler, halting, lamp +in hand, in the center of the empty room. + +Harbison nodded, and leading the way to the floor below, they rejoined +the colonel in the sitting-room, where they made themselves as +comfortable as possible. + +The colonel and his nephew talked in subdued tones, principally of the +murdered man; they had no desire to exclude their companion from the +conversation, but Gilmore displayed no interest in what was said. He sat +at the colonel's elbow, preoccupied and thoughtful, smoking cigar after +cigar. Presently the colonel and his nephew lapsed into silence. Their +silence seemed to rouse Gilmore to what was passing about him. He +glanced at the elder Harbison. + +"You look tired, Colonel," he said. "Why don't you stretch out on that +lounge yonder and take a nap?" + +"I think I shall, Andy, if you and Watt don't mind." And the colonel +quitted his chair. + +"Better put your coat over you," advised the gambler. + +He watched the colonel as he made himself comfortable on the lounge, +then he lighted a fresh cigar, tilted his chair against the wall and +with head thrown back studied the ceiling. Watt Harbison made one or two +tentative attempts at conversation, to which Gilmore briefly responded, +then the young fellow also became thoughtful. He fell to watching the +gambler's strong profile which the lamp silhouetted against the opposite +wall; then drowsiness completely overcame him and he slept in his chair +with his head fallen forward on his breast. + +Gilmore, alert and sleepless, smoked on; he was thinking of Evelyn +Langham. After his interview with her husband that afternoon he had gone +to his own apartment. His bedroom adjoined North's parlor and through +the flimsy lath and plaster partition he had distinctly heard a woman's +voice. The sound of that voice and the suspicion it instantly begot +added to his furious hatred of North, for he had long suspected that +something more than friendship existed between Marshall Langham's wife +and Marshall Langham's friend. + +"Damn him!" thought the gambler. "I'll fix him yet!" And he puffed at +his cigar viciously. + +He had made sure that North's mysterious visitor was Evelyn Langham, for +when she left the building he himself had followed her. Out of the dregs +of his nature this foolish mad passion of his had arisen to torture him; +he had never spoken with Langham's wife, probably she knew him by sight, +nothing more; but still his game, the waiting game he had been forced to +play, was working itself out better than he had even hoped! At last he +had Marshall Langham where he wanted him, where he could make him feel +his power. Langham would not be able to raise the money required to +cover up those forgeries, and on the basis of silence he would make his +bargain with the lawyer. + +Gilmore pondered this problem for the better part of an hour, +considering it from every conceivable angle; then suddenly the +expression of his face changed, he forgot for the moment his ambitions +and his desires, his hatred and his love; he thought he heard the click +of the old-fashioned latch on the front gate. He remembered that it +could be raised only with difficulty. Next he heard the sound of +footsteps approaching the house. They seemed to come haltingly down the +narrow brick path which the wind had swept clear of snow. + +Mr. Gilmore was blessed with a steadiness of nerve known to but few men, +yet the hour and the occasion had their influence with him. He stood +erect: now the steps which had paused for a moment seemed to recede; it +was as if the intruder, whoever he might be, had come almost to the +front door and had then, for some inexplicable reason, gone back to the +street. Gilmore even imagined him as standing there with his hand on the +latch of the gate. He was tempted to rouse his two companions, but he +did not, and then, as he still stood with his senses tense, he heard the +steps again approach the front door. With a glance in the direction of +the colonel and his nephew to assure himself that they still slept, +Gilmore rather shamefacedly slipped his right hand under the tails of +his coat, tiptoed into the hall and paused there close by the parlor +door. The steps outside continued, he heard the porch floor give under +a weight, and then some one rapped softly on the door. + +Gilmore waited an instant; the rap was repeated; he stepped to the door, +shot the bolt and opened it. The storm had passed; it was now cold and +clear, a brilliant, starlit, winter's night. He saw the man on the porch +clearly as he stood there with the world in white at his back. Gilmore +instantly recognized him, and his hand came from under the tails of his +coat; he closed the door softly. + +"What sort of a joke is this, Marsh?" he demanded in a whisper. + +"Joke?" repeated the lawyer in a thick husky voice, as he took an +uncertain step toward the gambler. + +"Your coming here at this hour; if it isn't a joke, what is it?" + +Gilmore saw that his face was flushed with drink while his eyes shone +with a light he had never seen in them before. He must have been abroad +in the storm for some time, for the snow had lodged in the rim of his +hat and his shoulders were still white with it; now and again a paroxysm +of shivering seized him. + +"Whisky chill," thought the gambler. "Come in, Marsh!" he said, but +Langham seemed to draw back instinctively. + +"No, I guess not, Andy!" and a sickly pallor overspread his face. + +"What's the matter with you?" demanded Gilmore. + +"I want to see you," said the other. "I can't go home yet." He swayed +heavily. "I need to talk to you on a matter of business. Come on +out--come on off of here;" and he led the way down the porch steps. +"Whom have you in there with you?" he questioned when he had drawn +Gilmore a little way along the path. + +"The colonel and Watt Harbison." + +"No one else?" + +"No." + +"Do they know I'm here?" + +"I guess not, they were asleep two minutes ago." + +"That's good. I don't want to see them, I want to see you." + +"Wouldn't it keep, Marsh?" asked Gilmore. + +"No, sir, it wouldn't keep; I want to tell you just what I think of you, +you damn--" + +"Oh, that will keep, Marsh, any time will do for that; anyway, you have +told me something like that already! When you sober up--" + +"Do you think I'm drunk?" + +"I don't think anything about it." + +"Well, maybe I am, I have been under a strain. But I'm not too drunk to +attend to business; I am never too drunk for that. I wish to say I have +the money--" + +His lips twitched, and Gilmore, watching him furtively, saw that he was +again shivering. + +"You got what, Marsh?" demanded Gilmore in a whisper. + +"The money, the money I owe you!" + +"Oh, I see!" He fell back a step and stared at Langham; there was +apprehension dawning in his eyes. "Where did you get it?" he asked. + +But Langham shook his head. + +"That's my business; it's enough for you to get your money." + +"Well, you were quick about it," said Gilmore, and he rested his hand on +the lawyer's arm. + +Langham moved a step aside. + +"You threatened me," he said resentfully, but with drunken dignity. "You +were going to smash me; I wish to say that now you can smash and be +damned! I have the money--" + +"Oh, come, Marsh! Don't you feel cut up about that; I didn't mean to +make you mad; you mustn't hold that against me!" + +"You come to my office to-morrow and get your money," said Langham, +still with dignity. "I've been under a great strain getting that money, +and now I'm done with you--" + +Gilmore laughed. + +"What are you laughing at?" + +"You, you fool! But you aren't done with me; we'll be closer friends +than ever after this. Just now you are too funny for me to take +seriously. You go home and sleep off this drunk; that's my advice to +you! I'd give a good deal to know where you have been and what sort of +a fool you have been making of yourself since I saw you last!" added +Gilmore. + +"Don't you worry about me; I'm all right. What I want to say is, lend me +your keys; I can't go home this way--lend me your keys and I'll go to +your rooms and sleep it off." + +"All right, Marsh; think you can get there?" + +"Of course; I'm all right." + +"And you'll go there if I give you my keys--you'll go nowhere else?" + +"Of course I won't, Andy!" + +"You won't stop to talk with any one?" + +"Who'll I find to talk with at this time of the night?" laughed the +drunken man derisively. "It's three o'clock! Say, Andy, who'll I find to +talk to?" + +"By God, I hope no one, you fool!" muttered Gilmore. + +"Well, give me the keys, Andy. I'll go along and get to bed, and I want +you to forget this conversation--" + +"Oh, I'll forget it all right, Marsh--but you won't after you come to +your senses!" he added under his breath. + +"Give me the keys--thanks. Good night, Andy! I'll see you in the +morning." + +He reeled uncertainly down the path, cursing his treacherous footing as +he went. At the gate he paused and waved an unsteady farewell to the +gambler, who stood on the porch staring after him. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +THE BEAUTY OF ELIZABETH + + +His interview with Evelyn Langham left North with a sense of moral +nausea, yet he felt he had somehow failed in his comprehension of her, +that she had not meant him to understand her as he had; that, after all, +perhaps the significance he had given to her words was of his own +imagining. + +He waited in his room until she should have time to be well on her way +home, then hurried down-stairs. He was to dine at the Herberts' at seven +o'clock, and as their place was but scant two miles from town, he +determined to walk. He crossed the Square, only stopping to speak with +the little lamplighter, and twenty minutes later Mount Hope, in the cold +breath of the storm, had dwindled to a huddle of faint ghostly lights on +the hillside and in the valley. + +The Herbert home, a showy country-place in a region of farms, merited a +name; but no one except Mrs. Herbert, who in the first flush of +possession determined so to dignify it, had ever made use of the name +she had chosen after much deliberation. General Herbert himself called +it simply the farm, while to the neighbors and the dwellers in Mount +Hope it was known as the general's place, which perhaps sufficiently +distinguished it; for its owner was still always spoken of as the +general, though since the war he had been governor of his state. + +Rather less than half a century before, Daniel Herbert, then a country +urchin tending cattle on the hillside where now stood his turreted stone +mansion, had decided that some day when he should be rich he would +return and buy that hillside and the great reach of flat river-bottom +that lay adjacent to it, and there build his home. His worldly goods at +the time of this decision consisted of a pair of jeans trousers, a +hickory shirt, and a battered straw hat. For years he had forgotten his +boyish ambition. He had made his way in the world; he had won success in +his profession, the law; he had won even greater distinction as a +soldier in the Civil War; he had been a national figure in politics, and +he had been governor of his state. And then had come the country-bred +man's hunger for the soil. He had remembered that hillside where as a +boy he had tended his father's herds. + +He was not a rich man, but he had married a rich woman, and it was her +money that bought the many acres and built the many-turreted mansion. +Wishing, perhaps, to mark the impermanency of the life there and to give +it a purely holiday aspect, Mrs. Herbert had christened the place Idle +Hour; but the governor, beyond occasional participation in local +politics, never again resumed those activities by which he had so +distinguished himself. He wore top-boots and rode about the farm on an +old gray horse, while his intimates were the neighboring farmers, with +whom he talked crops and politics by the hour. + +In pained surprise Mrs. Herbert, a woman of great ambition, had endured +five years of this kind of life; with unspeakable bitterness of spirit +she had seen the once potent name of Daniel Herbert disappear from the +newspapers, and then she had died. + +On her death the general became a rich and, in a way, a free man, for +now he could, without the silent protest of his wife, recover the +neglected lore of wood and field, and practise forgotten arts that had +in his boyhood come under the elastic head of chores. Elizabeth, his +daughter, had never shared her mother's ambitions. Perhaps because she +had always had it she cared nothing for society. She was well content to +ride about the farm with her father, whom she greatly admired, and at +whose eccentricities she only smiled. + +In this agreeable comradeship with his daughter, General Herbert had +lived through the period of his bereavement with very tolerable comfort. +He had rendered the dead the dead's due of regretful tenderness; but +Elizabeth never asked him when he was going to make his reëntry into +politics; and she never reproached him with having wasted the very best +years of his life in trying to make four hundred acres of +scientifically farmed land show a profit, a feat he had not yet +accomplished. + +Quitting the highway, North turned in at two stone pillars that marked +the entrance to Idle Hour and walked rapidly up the maple-lined driveway +to the great arched vestibule that gave to the house the appearance of a +Norman-French château. + +Answering the summons of the bell, a maid ushered him into the long +drawing-room, and into the presence of the general and his daughter. The +former received North with a perceptible shade of reserve. He knew more +about the young man than he would have cared to tell his daughter, since +he believed it would be better for her to make her own discoveries where +North was concerned. He had not opposed his frequent visits to Idle +Hour, for he felt that if Elizabeth was interested in the young fellow +opposition would only strengthen it. Glancing at North as he greeted +Elizabeth, the general admitted that whatever he might be, he was +presentable, indeed good-looking, handsome. Why hadn't he done something +other than make a mess of his life! He wondered, too, wishing to be +quite fair, if North had not been the subject of a good deal of +unmerited censure, if, after all, his idleness had not been the worst +thing about him. He hoped this might be true. Still he regretted that +Elizabeth should have allowed their boy and girl friendship--they had +known each other always--to grow into a closer intimacy. + +In the minds of these two men there was absolute accord on one point. +Either would have said that Elizabeth Herbert's beauty was a supreme +endowment, and more nearly perfect than the beauty of any other woman. +She was slender, not tall, but poised and graceful with a distinction of +bearing that added to her inches. Her hair was burnished copper and her +coloring the tint of warm ivory with the sunlight showing through. North +gazed at her as though he would store in his memory the vision of her +loveliness. Then they walked out to the dining-room. + +The dinner was rather a somber feast. North felt the restraint of the +general's presence; he sensed his disfavor; and with added bitterness he +realized that this was his last night in Mount Hope, that the morrow +would find him speeding on his way West. He had given up everything for +nothing, and now that a purpose, a hope, a great love had come to him, +he must go from this place, the town of his birth, where he had become a +bankrupt in both purse and reputation. + +It was a relief when they returned to the drawing-room. There the +general excused himself, and North and Elizabeth were left alone. She +seated herself before the open fire of blazing hickory logs, whose +light, and that of the shaded lamps, filled the long room with a soft +radiance. She had never seemed so desirable to North as now when he was +about to leave her. He stood silent, leaning against the corner of the +chimneypiece, looking down on all her springlike radiance. Usually he +was neither preoccupied nor silent, but to-night he was both. The +thought that he was seeing her for the last time--Ah, this was the price +of all his folly! At length he spoke. + +"I came to-night to say good-by, Elizabeth!" + +She glanced up, startled. + +"To say good-by?" she repeated. + +He nodded gloomily. + +"Do you mean that you are going to leave Mount Hope?" she asked slowly. + +"Yes, to-night maybe." + +Her glance no longer met his, but he was conscious that she had lost +something of her serenity. + +"Are you sorry, Elizabeth?" he ventured. + +To pass mutely out of her life had suddenly seemed an impossibility, and +his tenderness and yearning trembled in his voice. She answered +obliquely, by asking: + +"Must you go?" + +"I want to get away from Mount Hope. I want to leave it all,--all but +you, dear!" he said. "You haven't answered me, Elizabeth; will you +care?" + +"I am sorry," she said slowly, and the light in her gray-blue eyes +darkened. + +She heard the sigh that wasted itself on his lips. + +"I am glad you can say that,--I wish you would look up!" he said +wistfully. + +"Are you going to-night?" she questioned. + +"Yes, but I am coming back. I shan't find that you have forgotten me +when I come, shall I, Elizabeth?" + +She looked up quickly into his troubled face, and it was not the warm +firelight that brought the rich color in a sudden flame to her cheeks. + +"I shall not forget you." + +There was a determined gentleness in her speech and manner that gave him +courage. + +"I haven't any right to talk to you in this way; I know I haven't, +but--Oh, I want you, Elizabeth!" And all at once he was on his knees +beside her, his arms about her. "Don't forget me, dear! I love you, I +Love you--I want you--Oh, I want you for my wife!" + +The girl looked into the passionate face upturned to hers, and then her +head drooped. And so they remained long; his dark head resting in her +arms; her fair face against it. + +"Why do you go, John?" she asked at length, out of the rich content of +their silence. + +"I haven't any choice, dear heart; there isn't any place for me here. I +have thought it all over, and I know I am doing the wise thing,--I am +quite sure of this! I shall write you of everything that concerns me!" +he added hastily, as he heard the tread of the general's slippered feet +in the hall. + +North released her hands as the general entered the room. Elizabeth sank +back in her chair. Her father glanced sharply at them, and North turned +toward him frankly. + +"I am leaving on the midnight train, General, and I must say good-by; I +have to get a few things together for my trip!" + +General Herbert glanced again at Elizabeth, but her face was averted and +he learned nothing from its expression. + +"So you are going away! Well, North, I hope you will have a pleasant +trip,--better let me send you into town?" + +And he reached for the bell-rope. North shook his head. + +"I'll walk, thank you," he said briefly. + +In silence he turned to Elizabeth and held out his hand. For an instant +she rested hers in it, a cold little hand that trembled; their eyes met +in a brief glance of perfect understanding, and then North turned from +her. The general followed him into the hall. + +"It's stopped snowing, and you will have clear starlight for your walk +home,--the wind's gone down, too!" he said, as he opened the hall door. + +"Don't come any farther, General Herbert!" said North. + +But the general followed him into the stone arched vestibule. + +"It's a fine night for your walk,--but you're quite sure you don't want +to be driven into town?" + +"No, no,--good night." And North held out his hand. + +"Good night." + +North went down the carriageway, and Herbert reëntered the house. + +North kept to the beaten path for a little while, then left it and +tramped out across the fields until he came to a strip of woodland that +grew along a stony hillside. He followed this ridge back a short +distance and presently emerged upon a sloping meadow that overhung a +narrow ravine. Not two hundred yards distant loomed Idle Hour, somber +and dark and massive. He found a stump on the edge of the woods and +brushed the snow from it, then drawing his overcoat closely about him, +he sat down and lit his pipe. + +The windows of Idle Hour still showed their many lights. At his feet a +thread-like stream, swollen by the recent rains, splashed and murmured +ceaselessly. He sat there a long time silent and absorbed, watching the +lights, until at last they vanished from the drawing-room and the +library. Then other lights appeared behind curtained windows on the +second floor. These in their turn were extinguished, and Idle Hour sank +deeper into the shadows as the crescent moon slipped behind the horizon. + +"God bless her!" North said aloud. + +He knocked the ashes from his pipe, and retraced his steps to the drive. +He had but turned from this into the public road when he heard the +clatter of wheels and the beat of hoofs, and a rapidly driven team swung +around a bend in the road in front of him. He stepped aside to let it +pass, but the driver pulled up abreast of him with a loud command to his +horses. + +"Heard the news?" he asked, leaning out over the dash-board of his +buggy. + +"What news?" asked North. + +"Oh, I guess you haven't heard!" said the stranger. "Well, old man +McBride, the hardware merchant, is dead! Murdered!" + +"Murdered!" cried North. + +"Yes, sir,--murdered! They found him in his store this evening a little +after six. No one knows who did it. Well, good night, I thought maybe +you'd like to know. Awful, ain't it?" + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +A GAMBLER AT HOME + + +It was morning, and Mr. Gilmore sat by his cheerful open fire in that +front room of his, where by night were supposed to flourish those games +of chance which were such an offense to the "better element" in Mount +Hope. Mr. Gilmore was hardly a person of unexceptional taste, though he +had no suspicion of this fact, since he counted that room quite all that +any gentleman's parlor should be. + +It was a large room furnished in dark velvet and heavy walnut. The red +velvet curtains at the windows, when drawn at night, permitted no ray of +light to escape; the carpet was a gorgeous Brussels affair, the like of +which both as to cost and enduring splendor was not to be found +elsewhere on any floor in Mount Hope. Seated as he then was, Gilmore +could look, if so disposed, at the reflection of his own dark but not +unhandsome face in a massive gilt-framed mirror that reached from +chimneypiece to ceiling; or, glancing about the room, his eyes could +dwell with genuine artistic pleasure on numerous copies in crayon of +French figure-studies; nor were the like of these to be found elsewhere +in Mount Hope. + +Gilmore had quitted the McBride cottage some three hours before, and in +the interim had breakfasted well and napped abstemiously. Presently he +must repair to the court-house, where, it had already been intimated, +the coroner might wish to confer with him. + +Marshall Langham he had not seen. He had expected to find him still in +his rooms, but the lawyer had left the key under the mat at the door, +presumably at an early hour. Gilmore wondered idly if Langham had not +made a point of getting away before he himself should arrive; he rather +thought so, and he smiled with cheerful malevolence at his own +reflection in the mirror. + +Here his reveries were broken in on by the awkward shuffling of heavy +feet in the hallway, and then some one knocked loudly on his door. +Gilmore glanced hastily about to assure himself that the tell-tale +paraphernalia of his craft were nowhere visible, and that the room was +all he liked to fancy it--the parlor of a gentleman with sufficient +income and quiet taste. + +"Come in," he called at last, without quitting his chair. + +The door slowly opened and the crown of a battered cap first appeared, +then a long face streaked with coal-dust and grime and further decorated +about the chin by a violently red stubble of several days' growth. With +so much of himself showing; the new-comer paused on the threshold in +apparent doubt as to whether he would be permitted to enter, or ordered +to withdraw. + +"Come in, Joe, and shut the door!" said Gilmore. + +At his bidding the shoulders and trunk, and lastly the legs of a +slouching shambling man of forty-eight or fifty entered the room. + +Closing the door Joe Montgomery slipped off one patched and ragged cloth +mitten and removed his battered cap. + +"Well, what the devil do you want?" demanded Gilmore sharply. + +Joe, shuffling and shambling, edged toward the grate. + +"Boss, I want to drop a word with you!" he said in a husky voice. His +glance did not quite meet Gilmore's, but the moment Gilmore shifted his +gaze, that moment Joe's small, bright blue eyes sought the gambler's. + +Gilmore and Joe Montgomery were distantly related, and while the latter +never presumed on the score of this remote connection, the gambler +himself tacitly admitted it by the help he now and then extended him, +for Montgomery's means of subsistence were at the best precarious. If he +had been called on to do so, he would have described himself as a +handy-man, since he lived by the doing of odd jobs. He cleaned carpets +in the spring; he cut lawns in the summer; in the fall he carried coal +into the cellars of Mount Hope, and in the winter he shoveled the snow +off Mount Hope's pavements; and at all times and in all seasons, +whether these industries flourished or languished, he drank. + +He now established himself on Mr. Gilmore's hearth,--a necessity--for he +bent his hulking body and stuck his curly red head well into the grate; +then as he withdrew it, he passed the back of his hand across his +discolored lip. + +"Excuse me, boss, I had to!" he apologized. + +In Mr. Gilmore's presence Joe inclined toward a humble decency, for he +was vaguely aware that he was an unclean thing, and that only the +mysterious bond of blood gave him this rich and powerful patron. + +"Well, you old sot!" said Gilmore pleasantly. "You haven't drunk +yourself to death since I saw you in McBride's last night?" + +The handy-man gave him a wide toothless grin, and his bashful blue eyes +shifted, shuttle-wise, in their sockets until he was able to survey in +full the splendor of the apartment. + +"Boss, you got a sure-enough well-dressed room; I never seen anything +that could hold a candle to it,--it's a bird!" He stole a shy abashed +glance at the pictures on the wall, but becoming aware that Gilmore was +watching him, he dropped his eyes in some confusion. "I reckon' them +female pictures cost a fortune!" he said. + +"They cost enough!" rejoined Gilmore, and again Montgomery ventured a +covert glance in the direction of one of the works of art. + +"I reckon it was summer-time!" he hinted modestly. + +Gilmore laughed. + +"How would you like one of them?" he asked. + +Montgomery gave him a swift glance of alarm. + +"No, boss, I'm a respectable married man, and if I lugged one of them +ladies home with me, my old woman wouldn't do a thing but raise hell! +Boss, they're raw; yes, sir, that's it--they're raw!" Then fearing he +had gone too far in an adverse criticism, he added, "Friends of yours, +boss?" + +"Not all of them!" said Gilmore, with lazy amusement. + +"Catched unawares?" hinted Montgomery. But Gilmore changed the subject +abruptly. + +"Well, what did you come here for?" he demanded. + +"I got a lot of things on my mind, boss! I been a-worryin' all morning +and then I thinks of you. 'Mr. Gilmore's the man to go to,' I tells +myself, and I quit my job and come here." + +He stuck his head into the grate again, but this time without apology. + +"I suppose you are in trouble?" said Gilmore, and his genial mood seemed +to chill suddenly. + +"You're right, boss, I'm in a heap of trouble!" + +"Well, then, clear out of here!" said Gilmore. + +"Hold on, boss, it ain't that kind of trouble" interposed the handy-man +hastily. + +"What do you want?" + +"Advice." + +Gilmore leaned back in his easy-chair and crossed his legs. + +"Go on!" he ordered briefly. + +"A handy-man like me doin' all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people is +sure to see some curious things, ain't he, boss?" + +"Well?" + +"I'm here to tell you what I seen, boss; and every word of it will be +God A'mighty's truth!" + +"It had better be!" rejoined Gilmore quietly, but with significant +emphasis. + +"I don't want no better friend than you been to me," said Montgomery in +a sudden burst of grateful candor. "You've paid two fines for me, and +you done what you could for me that time I was sent up, when old man +Murphy said he found me in his hen-house." + +Gilmore nodded. + +"I was outrageous put upon! The judge appointed that fellow Moxlow to +defend me! Say, it was a hell of a defense he put up, and I had a friend +who was willin' to swear he'd seen me in the alley back of Mike +Lonigan's saloon cleaning spittoons when old man Murphy said I was in +his chicken house; Moxlow said he wouldn't touch my case except on its +merits, and the only merit it had was that friend, ready and willin' to +swear to anything!" Montgomery shrugged his great slanting shoulders. +"He's too damn perpendicular!" + +"He is," agreed Gilmore. "But what's this got to do with what you saw?" + +"Not a thing; but it makes me sweat blood whenever I think of the trick +Moxlow served me,--it ain't as if I had no one but myself! I got a +family, see? _I_ can't afford to go to jail,--it ain't as if I was +single!" + +"Get back to your starting-point, Joe!" said Gilmore. + +"Who do you think killed old man McBride, boss?" + +"How should I know?" + +"You ain't got any ideas about that?" asked Montgomery. + +Gilmore shot him a swift glance. + +"I don't know whether I have or not," he replied. + +"I have, boss." + +"You?" His tone betrayed neither eagerness nor interest. + +"That's what fetches me here, boss!" Joe replied, sinking his voice to a +whisper. "I got a damn good notion who killed old McBride; I could go +out on the street and put my hand on the man who done it!" + +"You mustn't come here with these pipe dreams of yours, Joe; you have +been drunk and all this talk about the McBride murder's gone to your +head!" retorted Gilmore contemptuously. + +"I hope I may die if I ain't as sober as you this minute, boss!" +returned the handy-man impressively. + +"Well, what do you know--or think you know?" asked Gilmore with affected +indifference. + +"Boss, did I ever lie to you?" demanded Montgomery. + +"If you did I never found you out." + +"And why? You never had no chance to find me out; for the reason that I +always tell you the almighty everlastin' truth!" + +"Well?" prompted Mr. Gilmore. + +"Boss," and again Montgomery dropped his voice to a confidential +whisper, "boss, I seen a man climb over old man McBride's shed yesterday +just before six. I seen him come up on top of the shed from the inside, +look all around, slide down to the eaves and drop into the alley, and +then streak off as if all hell was after him!" + +Gilmore's features were under such admirable control that they betrayed +nothing of what was passing in his mind. + +"Stuff!" he ejaculated at last, disdainfully. + +"You think I lie, boss?" cried Montgomery, in an intense whisper. + +"You know best about that," said Gilmore quietly. + +"He come so close to me I could feel his breath in my face! Boss, he was +puffin' and pantin' and his breath burnt,--yes, sir, it burnt; and I +heard him say, 'Oh, my God!' like that, 'Oh, my God!'" + +"And where were you when this happened?" demanded Gilmore with sudden +sternness. + +Montgomery hesitated. + +"What's that got to do with it, boss?" + +"A whole lot; come, out with it. Where were you to see and hear all +this?" + +"I was in White's woodshed," said Montgomery rather sullenly. + +"Oh, ho, you were up to your old tricks!" + +"He'll never miss it; I couldn't freeze to death; there's a livin' +comin' to me," said the handy-man doggedly. + +"You'll probably have a try for it back of iron bars!" said Gilmore. + +But it was plain that Montgomery did not enjoy Mr. Gilmore's humor. + +"White's coal house is right acrost the alley from old McBride's shed. +You can go look, boss, if you don't believe me, and there's a small door +opening out on to the alley, where the coal is put in." + +"All the same you should keep out of people's coal houses, or one of +these days you'll bring off more than you bargained for; say a load of +shot." + +"Maybe you'd like to know who I seen come over that roof?" said the +handy-man impatiently. + +"How many people have you told this yarn to already?" asked Gilmore, who +seemed more anxious to discredit the handy-man in his own eyes than +anything else. + +"Not a living soul, boss; I guess I know enough to hang a man--" + +"Pooh!" said Gilmore. + +"You don't believe me?" + +"Yes, I'll believe that you were stealing White's coal." + +"Leave me tell it to you just as it happened, boss," said Montgomery. +"Then if you say I lie, I won't answer you back; we'll let it go at +that." + +Gilmore appeared to consider for a moment, his look of mingled +indifference and contempt had quite passed away. + +"I guess it sounds straight, Joe!" he said at length slowly. + +"Why? Because it _is_ straight, every damn word of it, boss." + +And as if to give emphasis to his words the handy-man swung out a grimy +fist and dropped it into an equally grimy palm. + +"What did you do after that?" asked Gilmore. + +"Not much. I laid low and presently lifted my sack of coal out and +ducked around to Lonigan's saloon. I went in there by the back door and +left my sack leanin' against the building. Mike wanted his mail and he +give me a drink of whisky if I'd take his keys and go to the post-office +for him; I'd just come into the Square when I run into Shrimp who was +tellin' how old man McBride was murdered. I went into the store and +found you there with Colonel Harbison, you remember, boss?" Gilmore +nodded and Montgomery continued. "I hadn't a chance to tell you what I'd +seen, and all night long I kept hearin' him say it!" + +"Say what, Joe?" + +"Say, 'Oh, my God!' like I told you, boss; I couldn't sleep for it,--I +wonder if he slept!" + +"Joe," said the gambler, "I'll tell you something that I have only told +the sheriff. I was in Langham's office late yesterday and John North was +there; he left to go to McBride's. Conklin's been looking for him this +morning, but he can't find him, and no one seems to know what's become +of him. Do you follow me?" + +"What's North got to do with it, boss?" + +"How do you know it wasn't North you saw in the alley?" urged Gilmore. + +"It were not!" said Joe Montgomery positively. + +"You saw the man's face?" + +"As plain as I see yours!" + +"And you know the man?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I'll tell you who you saw," said the gambler coolly; "it was +Marshall Langham." + +The handy-man swore a great oath. + +"You've guessed it, boss! You've guessed it." + +"It ain't a guess as it happens." + +"Boss, do you mean to tell me you knew all along?" demanded Montgomery +incredulously. + +"Yes." + +"But what about North?" + +"That's his lookout, let him clear himself." + +Joe, shambling and shuffling, took a turn about the room. + +"Boss, if it was me that stood in his boots the halter would be as good +as about my neck; they wouldn't give me no chance to clear myself,--they +wouldn't let me! Them smart lawyers would twist and turn everything I +said so that God A'mighty wouldn't know His own truth!" + +"Well, you were in that alley, Joe; if you feel for him, I expect we +could somehow shift it to you!" said Gilmore. + +The handy-man slouched to the hearth again. + +"None of that, boss!" he cried. "I've told you what took me there, so +none of that!" + +His voice shook with suppressed feeling, as he stood there scowling down +on the gambler. + +"Sit down, Joe!" said Mr. Gilmore, unruffled. + +Reluctantly the handy-man sank into the chair indicated. + +"Now you old sot," began the gambler, "you listen to me! I suppose if +they could shift suspicion so that it would appear you had had something +to do with the old man's murder, it would take Moxlow and the judge and +any decent jury no time at all to hang you; for who would care a damn +whether you were hanged or not! But you needn't worry, I'm going to +manage this thing for you, I'm going to see that you don't get into +trouble. Now, listen, you're to let well enough alone. North is already +under suspicion apparently. All right, we'll help that suspicion along. +If you have anything to tell, you'll say that the man who came over that +shed looked like North!" + +"Boss, I won't say a word about the shed or the alley!" + +"Oh, yes you will, Joe! The man looked like North,--you remember, at the +time you thought he looked like North, and you thought you recognized +his voice when he spoke, and you thought it was North's voice. He had on +a black derby hat and a dark brown overcoat; don't forget that, Joe, for +we are going to furnish young Mr. North with a bunch of worries." + +The handy-man looked at him doubtfully, sullenly. + +"I don't want to hang _him_, he's always treated _me_ white enough, +though I never liked him to hurt." + +Gilmore laughed unpleasantly. + +"Oh, there's no chance of that, your evidence won't hang him, but it +will give him a whole lot to think about; and Langham's a pretty decent +fellow; if you treat him right, he'll keep you drunk for the rest of +your days; you'll own him body and soul." + +"A ignorant man like me couldn't go up against a sharp lawyer like Marsh +Langham! Do you know what'd happen to me? I'll tell you; I'd get so +damned well fixed I'd never look at daylight except through jail +windows; that's the trick I'd serve myself, boss." + +"I'll take that off your hands," said Gilmore. + +"And what do you get out of it, boss?" inquired the astute Mr. +Montgomery. + +"You'll have to put your trust in my benevolence, Joe!" said the +gambler. "But I am willing to admit I want to see North put where he'll +have every inducement to attend strictly to his own business!" + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +THE STAR WITNESS + + +It was between nine and ten o'clock when Marshall Langham reached his +office. He scarcely had time to remove his hat and overcoat when a +policeman entered the room and handed him a note. It was a hasty scrawl +from Moxlow who wished him to come at once to the court-house. + +As Moxlow's messenger quitted the room Langham leaned against his desk +with set lips and drawn face; this was but the beginning of the ordeal +through which he must pass! Then slowly he resumed his hat and overcoat. + +The prosecuting attorney's office was on the second floor of the +court-house, at the back of the building, and its windows overlooked the +court-house yard. + +On the steps and in the long corridors, men stood about, discussing the +murder. Langham pushed his way resolutely through these groups and +mounted the stairs. Moxlow's door was locked, as he found when he tried +to open it, but in response to his knock a bolt was drawn and a +policeman swung open the door, closing it the instant Marshall had +entered. + +Langham glanced around. Doctor Taylor--the coroner--was seated before +the desk; aside from this official Colonel Harbison, Andy Gilmore, +Shrimplin, Moxlow, Mr. Allison, the mayor, Conklin, the sheriff, and two +policemen were present. + +"Thank you, that is all, Mr. Gilmore," the coroner had said as Langham +entered the room. + +He turned and motioned one of the policemen to place a chair for the +prosecuting attorney beside his own at the desk. + +"As you know, Mr. Moxlow," the coroner began, "these gentlemen, Mr. +Shrimplin, Colonel Harbison and Mr. Gilmore, were the first to view the +murdered man. Later I was summoned, and with the sheriff spent the +greater part of the night in making an examination of the building. We +found no clue. The murderer had gone without leaving any trace of his +passing. It is probable he entered by the front door, which Mr. +Shrimplin found open, and left by the side door, which was also open, +but the crowd gathered so quickly both in the yard and in the street, +that it has been useless to look for footprints in the freshly fallen +snow. One point is quite clear, however, and that is the hour when the +crime was committed. We can fix that almost to a certainty. The murderer +did his work between half past five and six o'clock. Mr. Shrimplin has +just informed us that the only person he saw on the Square, until he met +Colonel Harbison, was John North, whom he encountered within a block of +McBride's store and with whom he spoke. While Mr. Shrimplin stopped to +speak with Mr. North the town bell rang the hour--six o'clock." + +The coroner paused. + +There was a moment's silence, then Marshall Langham made a half step +forward. A sudden palsy had seized him, yet he was determined to speak; +he felt that he must be heard, that he had something vital to say. An +impulse he could not control compelled him to turn in the direction of +Andy Gilmore, and for a brief instant his eyes fastened themselves on +the gambler, who returned his gaze with a cynical smile, as though to +say: "You haven't the nerve to do it." With the tip of his tongue +Langham moistened his swollen lips. He was about to speak now, and +Gilmore, losing his former air of bored indifference, leaned forward, +eager to catch every word. + +"I would like to say," he began in a tolerably steady voice, "that North +left my office at half past four o'clock yesterday afternoon intending +to see Mr. McBride; indeed, happening to glance from my window, I saw +him enter the store. Before he left my office he had explained the +business that was taking him to McBride's; we had discussed it at some +length." + +"What took him to McBride's?" demanded Doctor Taylor. + +"He went there to raise money on some local gas company bonds which he +owned. Mr. McBride had agreed to buy them from him. I was able to tell +North that I knew McBride could let him have the money in spite of the +fact that it was a holiday and the banks were closed." + +"How did you happen to know that, Langham?" asked Moxlow. + +"Earlier in the day one of my clients had placed in McBride's hand a +much larger sum of money than North expected to receive from him." + +"You told North that?" asked Moxlow eagerly. + +"I did. Perhaps you are not aware that McBride and North were on +friendly terms; for years it had been North's habit to go to Mr. McBride +whenever he had a sudden need of money. This I know to be a fact." + +He glanced about him and could see that what he had said was making its +impression on his hearers. + +"When did you see McBride, at what hour?" asked Moxlow. + +"A little before two." + +"Do you feel at liberty to state the sum paid by your client?" + +"It was three thousand and fifty-seven dollars, all in cash." + +"There are one or two more questions I should like to ask you," said +Moxlow. "You saw the money paid into Mr. McBride's hands before two +o'clock yesterday afternoon?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you know what disposition he made of the money?" + +"No, I do not." + +"I mean, did he put it in his safe--in his pocket--" + +"He did neither in my presence, the bundle of bills was lying on his +desk when I left." + +"You were not interrupted while you were transacting this business, no +customer happened into the store?" asked Moxlow. + +"So far as I know, we three were absolutely alone in the building." + +"Afterward, when North called at your office, you mentioned this +transaction?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you know how many shares Mr. North expected to dispose of?" + +"Five, I think." + +Langham paused and glanced again in the direction of the gambler, but +Gilmore seemed to have lost all interest in what was passing. + +Moxlow turned to Conklin. + +"You found no such sum as Mr. Langham mentions, either on the person of +the dead man, or in the safe?" + +"No, the safe doors were standing open; as far as I am able to judge, +the valuable part of its contents had been removed," replied the +sheriff. + +"How about McBride himself?" + +"We found nothing in his pockets." + +"Of course, if he bought North's bonds, that would account for a part of +the sum Mr. Langham has just told us of," said Moxlow. "But where are +the bonds?" he added. + +"They were not among McBride's papers, that's sure," said the sheriff. + +"Probably they were taken also, though it's hardly conceivable that the +murderer waited to sort over the papers in the safe. I tell you, +gentlemen, his position was a ticklish one." It was the coroner who +spoke. + +"It would seem a very desirable thing to communicate with North," +suggested Moxlow. + +"I guess you are right; yes, I guess we had better try and find Mr. +North," said the coroner. "Suppose you go after him, Mr. Conklin. Don't +send--go yourself," he added. + +Again Langham dragged himself forward; the coils of this hideous thing +seemed to be tightening themselves about John North. Langham's face +still bore traces of his recent debauch, and during the last few minutes +a look of horror had slowly gathered in his bloodshot eyes. He now +studiously avoided Gilmore's glance, though he was painfully aware of +his presence. The gambler coolly puffed at a cigar as he leaned against +the casing of the long window at Doctor Taylor's back; there was the +faint shadow of a smile on his lips as he watched Langham furtively. + +"I doubt if North will be found," said the latter. "I doubt if he is in +Mount Hope," he continued haltingly. + +"What?" It was Moxlow who spoke. + +"This morning I received a brief communication from him; it was written +late last night; he informed me that he should leave for the West on the +Chicago express. He inclosed the keys to his rooms." + +Marshall Langham glanced at Gilmore, who seemed deeply absorbed. The +coroner fidgeted in his seat; dismay and unspeakable surprise were +plainly stamped on Colonel Harbison's face; Moxlow appeared quite +nonplussed by what his partner had last said. + +"I was aware that he contemplated this trip West," said Langham quickly. +"He had asked me to dispose of the contents of his rooms when he should +be gone." + +"Did he tell you where he was going, Marshall?" asked Moxlow. + +Langham raised his bloodshot eyes. + +"No; he seemed in some doubt as to his plans." + +"For how long a time have you known of Mr. North's intention to leave +Mount Hope?" asked Moxlow. + +"Only since yesterday, but I have known for quite a while that he +planned some radical move of this sort. I think he had grown rather +tired of Mount Hope." + +"Isn't it true that his money was about gone?" questioned Moxlow +significantly. + +"I know nothing of his private affairs," answered Langham hastily. "He +has never seemed to lack money; he has always had it to spend freely." + +"It would appear that Mr. North is our star witness; what do you think, +gentlemen?" and Moxlow glanced from one to another of the little group +that surrounded him. + +"At any rate he is a most _important_ witness," emphasized the coroner. + +"North took the Chicago express as he had planned," said Gilmore +quietly. "The bus driver for the United States Hotel, where I +breakfasted, told me that he saw him at the depot last night." + +"I think we'd better wire North's description to the Chicago police; I +see no other way to reach him." As he spoke, Moxlow turned to the +sheriff. "You get ready to start West, Mr. Conklin. And don't let there +be any hitch about it, either." + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +HUSBAND AND WIFE + + +Marshall Langham paused on the court-house steps; he was shaking as with +an ague. He passed a tremulous hand again and again across his eyes, as +though to shut out something, a memory--a fantasy he wanted to forget; +but he well knew that at no time could he forget. Gilmore, coming from +the building, stepped to his side. + +"Well, Marsh, what do you think?" he said. + +"What do I think?" the lawyer, repeated dully. + +"Doesn't it seem to you that Jack North has been rather unlucky in his +movements?" + +"Oh, they make me tired!" cried Langham, with sudden passion. + +Gilmore stared at him, coldly critical. The lawyer moved away. + +"Going to your office, Marsh?" the gambler asked. + +"No, I'm going home," Langham said shortly, and went down the steps into +the street. + +Home--until he could pull up and get control of himself, that was the +best place for him! + +He turned into the Square, and from the Square into High Street, and ten +minutes later paused before his own door. After a brief instant of +irresolution he entered the house. Evelyn was probably down-town at that +hour, on one of the many errands she was always making for herself. + +Without removing his hat or overcoat he dropped into a chair before the +library fire. A devastating weariness possessed him, but he knew he +could not hide there in his home. To-day he might, to-morrow even, but +the time would come when he must go out and face the world, must listen +to the endless speculation concerning Mount Hope's one great sensation, +the McBride murder. Five minutes passed while he sat lost in thought, +then he quitted his chair and went to a small cabinet at the other side +of the room, which he unlocked; from it he took a glass and a bottle. +With these he returned to his place before the fire and poured himself a +stiff drink. + +"I was mad!" he said with quivering lips. "Mad!" he repeated, and again +he passed his shaking hand across his eyes. Once more he filled his +glass and emptied it, for the potent stuff gave him a certain kind of +courage. Placing the bottle and glass on the table at his elbow, he +resumed his seat. + +The bottle was almost empty when, half an hour later, he heard the house +door open and close. It was Evelyn. Presently she came into the room, +still dressed as if for the street. + +"Why, what's the matter, Marsh?" she asked in surprise. + +"Matter? Nothing," he said shortly. + +She glanced at the bottle and then at her husband. + +"Aren't you well?" she demanded. + +"I'm all right." + +"I hope you aren't going to start that now!" and she nodded toward the +bottle. + +He made an impatient gesture. + +"Marshall, I am going to speak to the judge; perhaps if he knew he could +do or say something; I am not going to bear this burden alone any +longer!" + +"Oh, what's the use of beginning that; can't you see I'm done up?" he +said petulantly. + +"I don't wonder; the way you live is enough to do any one up, as you +call it; it's intolerable!" she cried. + +"What does it matter to you?" + +"It makes a brute of you; it's killing you!" + +"The sooner the better," he said. + +"For you, perhaps; but what about me?" + +"Don't you ever think of any one but yourself?" he sneered. + +"Is that the way it impresses you?" she asked coldly. + +She slipped into the chair opposite him and began slowly to draw off her +gloves. Langham was silent for a minute or two; he gazed intently at her +and by degrees the hard steely glitter faded from his heavy bloodshot +eyes. Fascinated, his glance dwelt upon her; nothing of her fresh beauty +was lost on him; the smooth curve of her soft white throat, the alluring +charm of her warm sensuous lips, the tiny dimple that came and went when +she smiled, the graceful pliant lines of her figure, the rare poise +of her small head--his glance observed all. For better or for worse he +loved her with whatever of the man there was in him; he might hate her +in some sudden burst of fierce anger because of her shallowness, her +greed, her utter selfishness; but he loved her always, he could never be +wholly free from the spell her beauty had cast over him. + +[Illustration: Why, what's the matter, Marsh?] + +"Look here, Evelyn," he said at last. "What's the use of going on in +this way, why can't we get back to some decent understanding?" He was +hungry for tenderness from her; acute physical fear was holding him in +its grip. He leaned back in his chair and found support for his head. +"You're right," he went on, "I can't stand this racket much longer--this +work and worry; we are living beyond our means; we'll have to slow up, +get down to a more sane basis." The words came from his blue lips in +jerky disjointed sentences. "What's the use, it's too much of a +struggle! I do a thousand things I don't want to do, shady things in my +practice, things no reputable lawyer should stoop to, and all to make a +few dollars to throw away. I tell you, I am sick of it! Why can't we be +as other people, reasonable and patient--that's the thing, to be +patient, and just bide our time. We can't live like millionaires on my +income, what's the use of trying--I tell you we are fools!" + +"Are matters so desperate with us?" Evelyn asked. "And is it all my +fault?" + +"I can't do anything to pull up unless you help, me," Langham said. + +"Well, are matters so desperate?" she repeated. + +He did not answer her at once. + +"Bad enough," he replied at length and was silent. + +A sense of terrible loneliness swept over him; a loneliness peopled with +shadows, in which he was the only living thing, but the shadows were +infinitely more real than he himself. He had the brute instinct to hide, +and the human instinct to share his fear. He poured himself a drink. +Evelyn watched him with compressed lips as he drained the glass. He drew +himself up out of the depths of his chair and began to tramp the floor; +words leaped to his lips but he pressed them back; he was aware that +only the most intangible barriers held between them; an impulse that +grew in his throbbing brain seemed driving him forward to destroy these +barriers; to stand before her as he was; to emerge from his mental +solitude and claim her companionship. What was marriage made for, if not +for this? + +"Look here," he said, wheeling on her suddenly. "Do you still love me; +do you still care as you once did?" He seized one of her hands in his. + +"You hurt me, Marsh!" she said, drawing away from him. + +He dropped her hand and with a smothered oath turned from her. + +"You women don't know what love is!" he snarled. "Talk about a woman +giving up; talk about her sacrifices--it's nothing to what a man does, +where he loves!" + +"What does _he_ do that is so wonderful, Marsh?" she asked coldly. + +He paused and regarded her with a wolfish glare. + +"It's no damned anemic passion!" he burst out. + +"Thank you," she mocked. "Really, Marsh, you are outdoing yourself!" + +"You have never let me see into your heart,--never once!" + +"Perhaps it's just as well I haven't; perhaps it is a forbearance for +which you should be only grateful," she jeered. + +"If you were the sort of woman I once thought you, I'd want to hide +nothing from you; but a woman--she's secretive and petty, she always +keeps her secrets; the million little things she won't tell, the little +secrets that mean so much to her--and a man wastes his life in loving +such a woman, and is bitter when he finds he's given all for nothing!" + +His heavy tramping went on. + +"Is that the way you feel about it?" she asked. + +"Yes!" he cried. "I'm infinitely more lonely than when I married you! +Look here; I came to you, and in six months' time you knew a thousand +things you had no right to know, unless you, too, were willing to come +as close! But I'm _damned_ if I know the first thing about +you--sometimes you are one thing, sometimes another. I never know where +to find you!" + +"And I am to blame that we are unhappy? Of course you live in a way to +make any woman perfectly happy--you are never at fault there!" + +"You never really loved me!" + +"Didn't I?" she sighed with vague emotion. + +"No." + +"Then why did I marry you, Marsh?" + +"Heaven knows--I don't!" + +"Then why did you marry _me_?" She gave him a fleeting smile. + +"Because I loved you--because you had crept into my heart with your +pretty ways, your charm, and the fascination of you. I hadn't any +thought but you; you seemed all of my life, and I was going to do such +great things for you. By God, I was going to amount to something for +your sake! I was going to make you a proud and happy woman, but you +wouldn't have it! You never got past the trivial things; the annoyances, +the need of money, the little self-denials, the little inconveniences; +you stopped there and dragged me back when I wanted to go on; you +wouldn't have it, you couldn't or wouldn't understand my hopes--my +ambitions!" + +"Marsh, I was only a girl!" she said. + +He put out his hand toward the bottle. + +"Don't, Marsh!" she entreated. + +He turned away and fell to pacing the floor again. + +"What happiness do we get out of life, what good? We go on from day to +day living a life that is perfectly intolerable to us both; what's the +use of it--I wonder we stand it!" + +"I have sometimes wondered that, too," Evelyn half whispered. + +"You had it in your power to make our life different, but you wouldn't +take the trouble; and see where we have drifted; you don't trust me and +I don't trust you--" She started. "What sort of a basis is that for a +man and wife, for our life together?" + +"It's what we--what you have made it!" she answered. + +"No, it isn't; it's what _you_ have made it! I tell you, you were bored +to death; you wanted noise and world! Remember how I used to come home +from the office every night, and begrudged the moments when any one +called? I wanted only you; I talked over my cases with you, my hopes and +my ambitions; but you mighty soon got sick of that--you yawned, you were +sleepy, and you wanted to go about; you thought it was silly staying +cooped up like that, and seeing no one, going nowhere! It was stupid for +you, you were bored to death, you wanted noise and excitement, to spend +money, to see and be seen,--as if that game was worth the candle in a +God-forsaken hole of a place like Mount Hope! You killed my ambition +then and there; I saw it was no use. You wanted the results, but you +wouldn't pay the price in self-denial and patience, and so we rushed +into debt and it's been a scramble ever since! I've begged and borrowed +and cheated to keep afloat!" + +"And I was the cause of it all?" she demanded with lazy scorn of him. + +"There was a time when I stood a chance of doing something, but I've +fooled my opportunities away!" + +"What of the promises you made me when we were married--what about +them?" she asked. + +"You created conditions in which I could not keep them!" he said. + +"I seem to have been wholly, at fault; at least from your point of view; +but don't you suppose there is something _I_ could say? Do you suppose +_I_ sit here silent because I am convinced that it is all my fault?" + +He did not answer her at once but continued to pace the floor; at length +he jerked out: + +"No, I was at fault too. I've a nasty temper. I should have had more +patience with you, Evelyn--but it was so hard to deny you anything you +wanted that I could possibly give you--I'd have laid the whole world at +your feet if I could!" + +"I believe you would, Marsh--then!" she said. + +"It's a pity you didn't understand me," he answered indifferently. + +Nothing he could say led in the direction he would have had it lead, for +he wanted her to realize her part in what had happened, to know that the +burden beneath which he had gone down was in a measure the work of her +hands. His instinct was as primitive as a child's fear of the dark; he +must escape from the horror of his isolation; his secret was made +doubly terrifying because he knew he dared not share it with any living +creature. Yet his mind played strange tricks with him; he was ready to +risk much that he might learn what part of the truth he could tell her; +he was even ready to risk all in a dumb brute impulse to gather up the +remnants of his strength of heart and brain, and be the center of some +widespread catastrophe; to put his fear in her soul just as it was in +his own. How was she ever to comprehend the horror that held him in its +cruel grasp, the thousand subtle shades of thought and feeling that had +led up to this thing, from the memory of which he revolted! He turned +his bloodshot eyes upon her, something of the old light was there along +with the new; he had indeed loved her, but the fruit of this love had +been rotten. He was silent, and again his heavy tread resounded in the +room as he dragged himself back and forth. + +The force in him was stirring her. Sensation of any sort had always made +its strong appeal to her. Without knowing what was passing in his mind +she yet understood that it was some powerful emotion, and her pliant +nerves responded. For the moment she forgot that she no longer loved +him. She rose and went to his side. + +"Is it all my fault, Marsh?" she said. + +"What is your fault?" he asked, pausing. + +"That we are so unhappy; am I the only one at fault there?" + +He looked down into her face relentingly. + +"I don't know--I swear I don't know!" he said hoarsely. + +"What is it, Marsh--why are you so unhappy? Just because you love me? +What an unkind thing to say!" + +He turned to the table to pour himself a drink, but she caught his hand. + +"For my sake, Marsh!" she entreated. + +Again he looked down into her eyes. + +"For my sake," she repeated softly. + +"By God, I'll never touch another drop!" he said. + +"Oh, you make me so happy!" she exclaimed. + +He crushed her in his arms until his muscles were tense. She did not +struggle for release, but abandoned herself without a word to the +emotion of the moment. Her head thrown back, her cheeks pale, her full +lips smiling, she gazed up into his face with eyes burning with sudden +fire. + +"How I love you!" he whispered. + +She slipped her arms about his neck with a little cry of ecstasy. + +"Oh, Marsh, I have been foolish, too, but this is the place for me--my +place--against your very heart!" she said softly. + +For a long minute Langham held her so, and then tortured by sudden +memory he came back sharply to the actualities. His arms dropped from +about her. + +"What is it, dear?" she asked. + +She was not yet ready to pass from the passion of that moment. + +"It's too late--" he muttered brokenly. + +"No, dear, it's not too late, we have only been a little foolish. Of +course we can go back; of course we can begin all over, and we know now +what to avoid; that was it, we didn't know before, we were ignorant of +ourselves--of each other. Why, don't you see, we are only just beginning +to live, dear--you must have faith!" and again her arms encircled him. + +"But you don't know--" he stammered. + +"Don't know what, dear?" + +He dropped into his chair, and she sank on her knees at his side. A +horrible black abyss into which he was falling, seemed to open at his +feet. Her hands were the only ones that could draw him back and save +him. + +"Don't know what?" she repeated. + +The mystery of his man's nature, with its mingled strength and weakness, +was something she could not resist. + +"Does it ever do any good to pray, I wonder?" he gasped. + +"I wonder, too!" she echoed breathlessly. + +He laughed. + +"What rot I'm talking!" he said. + +"What is it that is wrong, Marsh?" + +"Nothing--nothing--I can't tell you--" + +"You can tell me anything, I would always understand--always, dear. +Prove to me that our love is everything; take me back into your +confidence!" + +"No," he gasped hoarsely. "I can't tell you--you'd hate me if I did; +you'd never forget--you couldn't!" + +She turned her eyes on him in breathless inquiry. + +"I would--I promise you now! Marsh, I promise you, can't you believe--?" + +He shook his head and gazed somberly into her eyes. She rested her cheek +against the back of his hand where it lay on the arm of his chair. There +was a long silence. + +"But what is it, Marsh? What has happened?" + +"Nothing's happened," he said at last. "I'm a bit worried, that's all, +about myself--my debts--my extravagance; isn't that enough to upset me? +Every one's crowding me!" + +There was another long pause. Evelyn sighed softly; she felt that they +were coming back too swiftly to the every-day concerns of life. + +"I'm worried, too, about North!" Langham said presently. + +"About North--what about North?" + +"They are going to bring him back; didn't you know he had gone West? He +went last night." + +"But _who_ is going to bring him back?" + +"They want him as a witness in the McBride case. They--Moxlow, that +is--seems to think he knows something that may be of importance. He's a +crazy fool, with his notions!" + +"But North--" Evelyn began. + +"It may make a lot of trouble for him. They are going to bring him back +as a witness, and unless he gives a pretty good account of himself, +Moxlow's scheme is to try and hold him--" + +"What do you mean by a good account of himself?" + +"He'll, have to be able to tell just where he was between half past five +and six o'clock last night; that's when the murder was committed, +according to Taylor." + +"Do you mean he's suspected, Marsh? But he couldn't have done it!" she +cried. + +"How do you know?" he asked quickly. + +"Why, I was there--" + +"Where?" + +"With him--" + +"Here--was he here?" A great load seemed lifted from him. + +She was silent. + +"He was here between five and six?" he repeated. He glanced at her +sharply. "Why don't you answer me?" + +"No, he was not here," she said slowly. + +"Where was he, then?" he demanded. "What's the secret, anyhow?" + +"Marsh, I'm going to tell you something," she said slowly. "Nothing +shall stand between our perfect understanding, our perfect trust for the +future. You know I have been none too happy for the last year--I don't +reproach you--but we had gotten very far apart somehow. I've never been +really bad--I've been your true and faithful wife, dear, always--always, +but--you had made me very unhappy--" She felt him shiver. "And I am not +a very wise or settled person--and we haven't any children to keep me +steady--" + +"Thank God!" the man muttered hoarsely under his breath. + +"What do you say?" she asked. + +"Nothing--go on; what is it you want to tell me?" + +"Something--and then perhaps you will trust me more fully with the +things that are oppressing you. I believe you love me, I believe it +absolutely--" she paused. + +The light died out of his eyes. + +"Marsh," she began again. "Could you forgive me if you knew that I'd +thought I cared for some one else? Could you, if I told you that for a +moment I had the thought--the silly thought, that I cared for another +man?" She was conscious that his hand had grown cold beneath her cheek. +"It was just a foolish fancy, quite as innocent as it was foolish, dear; +you left me so much alone, and I thought you really didn't care for me +any more, and so--and so--" + +"Go on!" + +"Well, that is all, Marsh." + +"All?" + +"Yes, it went no further than that, just a silly fancy, and I'd known +him all my life--" + +"Of whom are you speaking?" + +"Of John North--" + +"Damn him!" he cried. "And so that's what brought him here--and you were +with him last night!" He sprang to his feet, his face livid. "What do +you take me for? Do you expect me to forgive you for that--" + +"But Marsh, it was just a silly sentimental fancy! Oh, why did I tell +you!" + +"Yes, why _did_ you tell me!" he stormed. + +"Because I thought it would make it easier for you to confess to _me_--" + +"Confess to you? I've nothing to confess--I've loved you honestly! Did +you think I'd been carrying on some nasty sneaking intrigue with a +friend's wife--did you think I was that sort of a fellow--the sort of a +fellow North is? Do you take me for a common blackguard?" + +"Marsh, don't! Marshall, please--for my sake--" and she clung to him, +but he cast her off roughly. + +"Keep away from me!" he said with sullen repression, but there was a +murderous light in his eyes. "Don't touch me!" he warned. + +"But say you forgive me!" + +"Forgive you--" He laughed. + +"Yes, forgive me--Marsh!" + +"Forgive you--no, by God!" + +He reached for the bottle. + +"Not that--not that, Marsh; your promise only a moment ago--your +promise, Marsh!" + +But he poured himself half a tumbler of whisky and emptied it at a +swallow. + +"To hell with my promise!" he said, and strode from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +THE FINGER OF SUSPICION + + +In Chicago Conklin found an angry young man at police headquarters, and +the name of this young man was John North. + +"This is a most damnable outrage!" he cried hotly the moment he espied +Mount Hope's burly sheriff. + +"I am mighty sorry to have interfered with your plans, John--just mighty +sorry." The sheriff's tone was meant to soothe and conciliate. "But you +see we are counting on you to throw some light on the McBride murder." + +"So that's it! I tell you, Conklin, I consider that I have been treated +with utter discourtesy; I've been a virtual prisoner here over night!" + +"That's too bad, John," said the sheriff sympathetically, "but we didn't +know where a wire would reach you, so there didn't seem any other way +than this--" + +"Well, what do you want with me?" demanded North, with rather less heat +than had marked his previous speech. + +"They got the idea back home that you can help in the McBride matter," +explained the sheriff again. "I see that you know he's been murdered." + +"Yes, I knew that before I left Mount Hope," rejoined North. + +"Did you, though?" said the sheriff briefly, and this admission of +North's appeared to furnish him with food for reflection. + +"Well, what do I know that will be of use to you?" asked North +impatiently. + +"You ain't to make any statement to me, John," returned the sheriff +hastily. + +"Do you mean you expect me to go back to Mount Hope?" inquired North in +a tone of mingled wonder and exasperation. + +The sheriff nodded. + +"That's the idea, John," he said placidly. + +"What if I refuse to go back?" + +The sheriff looked pained. + +"Oh, you won't do that--what's the use?" + +"Do you mean--" began North savagely, but Conklin interposed. + +"Never mind what I mean, that's a good fellow; say you'll take the next +train back with me; it will save a lot of, bother!" + +"But I strongly object to return to Mount Hope!" said North. + +"Be reasonable--" urged the sheriff. + +"This is an infernal outrage!" cried North. + +"I'm sorry, John, but make it easy for me, make it easy for yourself; +we'll have a nice friendly trip and you will be back here by the first +of the week." + +For a moment North hesitated. He had so many excellent reasons why he +did not wish to return to Mount Hope, but he knew that there was +something back of Mr. Conklin's mild eye and yet milder speech. + +"Well, John?" prompted the sheriff encouragingly. + +"I suppose I'll go with you," said North grudgingly. + +"Of course you will," agreed the sheriff. + +He had never entertained any doubts on this point. + +It was ten o'clock Saturday morning when North and the sheriff left the +east-bound express at Mount Hope and climbed into the bus that was +waiting for them. + +North's annoyance had given place to a certain humorous appreciation of +the situation. His plans had gone far astray in the past forty-eight +hours, and here he was back in Mount Hope. Decidedly his return, in the +light of his parting with Elizabeth, was somewhat in the nature of an +anticlimax. + +They were driven at once to the court-house. There in his office they +found Moxlow with the coroner and North was instantly aware of restraint +in the manner of each as they greeted him, for which he could not +account. + +"Sit down, North," said Moxlow, indicating a chair. + +"Now what is it?" North spoke pleasantly as he took his seat. "I've been +cursing you two all the way home from Chicago." + +"I am sorry you were subjected to any annoyance in the matter, but it +couldn't be helped," said Moxlow. + +"I'm getting over my temper," replied North. "Fire away with your +questions!" + +The prosecuting attorney glanced at his fellow official. + +"You are already acquainted with the particulars of the shocking tragedy +that has occurred here?" said Taylor with ponderous dignity. + +"Yes," said North soberly. "And when I think of it, I am more than +willing to help you in your search for the guilty man." + +"You knew of the murder before you left town?" remarked Moxlow casually. + +"Yes." + +"But you weren't on the Square or in the store Thanksgiving night?" said +Moxlow. + +"No, I dined with General Herbert." The prosecuting attorney elevated +his eyebrows. "I must have been on my way there when the crime was +discovered; I was returning home perhaps a little after eleven when I +met a man who stopped me to tell me of the murder--" + +"You were with Mr. McBride Thanksgiving afternoon, were you not?" Moxlow +now asked. + +"Yes." + +"What was the hour, can you state?" + +"About half past four, I should say; certainly no later than that. I +went there on a matter of business, to dispose of some bonds Mr. +McBride had agreed to take off my hands; I was with him, maybe twenty +minutes." + +"What were those bonds?" + +"Local gas bonds." + +"How many were there in the lot you sold?" + +"Five." + +"He paid you the money for them?" + +"Yes, a thousand dollars." + +"Do you know, we haven't unearthed those bonds yet?" said the doctor. + +Moxlow frowned slightly. + +"I suppose they were taken," said North. + +"But it will be a dangerous thing, to attempt to realize on them," +snapped Moxlow. + +"Decidedly," agreed North. + +"You left McBride's store at, say, five o'clock?" said Moxlow. + +"Not later than that--see here, Moxlow, what are you driving at?" +demanded North, with some show of temper. + +For an instant Moxlow hesitated, then he said: + +"The truth is, North, there is not a clue to go on, and we are thrashing +this thing over in the hope that we may sooner or later hit on something +that will be of service to us." + +"Oh, all right," said North, with a return of good nature. + +"During your interview with McBride you were not interrupted, no one +came into the store?" + +"No one; we were alone the entire time." + +"And you saw no one hanging about the place as you left it?" + +"Not that I can remember; if I did it made no impression on me." + +"But didn't you see Shrimplin?" asked Moxlow quickly. + +"Oh, come, Moxlow, you can't play the sleuth,--that was afterward, you +know it was!" + +"Afterward--" + +"Yes, just as I was starting for the general's place, fully an hour +later." + +"In the meantime you had been where--" + +"From McBride's store I went to my rooms. I remained there until it was +time to start for the Herberts', and as I intended to walk out I started +earlier than I otherwise should have done." + +"Then you were coming from your rooms when you met Shrimplin?" + +"Yes, it was just six o'clock when I stopped to speak to him." + +"Shrimplin was the only person you met as you crossed the Square?" + +"As far as I can remember now, I saw no one but Shrimp." + +"And just where did you meet him, North?" asked Moxlow. + +"On the corner, near McBride's store." + +"Do you know whether he had just driven into the Square or not?" + +"No, I, don't know that; it was snowing hard and I came upon him +suddenly." + +"You continued on your way out of town after speaking with him, North?" + +"Yes." + +"And later, at eleven o'clock, as you were returning to town you met a +stranger, probably a countryman, you say, who told you that McBride had +been murdered?" + +"Yes, you have that all straight." + +"On your return to town you went where?" + +"To my rooms again and finished packing." + +"Did that take you two hours?" + +"No, but I had a lot of things to see to there." + +"What?" asked Moxlow. + +"Oh, papers to destroy, and things of that sort that kept me pretty busy +until train-time." + +"You walked to the depot?" + +"Yes, I was too late for the hotel bus; in fact, I barely caught the +train. I just had time to jump aboard as it pulled out." + +"Excuse me a moment, North!" said Moxlow as he rose from his chair. + +He quitted the room and North heard him pass down the hall. + +"It's a bad business," said Taylor. + +"And you haven't a suspicion as to the guilty man?" + +"No, as Moxlow says, we haven't a clue to go on. It's incredible though, +isn't it, that a crime like that could have been committed here almost +in broad daylight, and its perpetrator get away without leaving a trace +behind?" + +"It _is_ incredible," agreed North, and they lapsed into silence. + +North thought of Elizabeth. He would slip out to Idle Hour that +afternoon or evening; he couldn't leave Mount Hope without seeing her. +The coroner drummed on his desk; he wondered what had taken Moxlow from +the room in such haste. The prosecuting attorney's brisk step sounded in +the hall again, and he reëntered the room and resumed his chair. + +"Just one or two more questions, North, and then I guess we'll have to +let you go," he said. "You have been on very friendly terms with the +murdered man for some time, have you not?" + +"He was very kind to me on numerous occasions." + +"In a business way, perhaps?" + +"Largely in a business way, yes." + +"It--pardon me--usually had to do with raising money, had it not?" + +North laughed. + +"It had." + +"You were familiar with certain little peculiarities of his, were you +not, his mistrust of banks for instance?" + +"Yes, he had very little confidence in banks, judging from what he said +of them." + +"Did he ever tell you that he had large sums of money hidden away about +the store?" + +"Never." + +"But always when you had business dealings with him he gave you the +ready money, very rarely a check?" + +"Never in all my experience a check, always the cash." + +"Yet the sums involved were usually considerable?" + +"In one or two instances they reached a thousand dollars, if you call +that considerable." + +"And he always had the money on hand?" + +"Well, I can't quite say that; it always involved a preliminary +discussion of the transaction; I had to see him and tell him what I +wanted and then go again after the money. It was as if he wished me to +think he did not keep any large sum about him at the store." + +"Did he ever, in talking with you, express any apprehension of robbery +or violence?" + +"No, never." + +"You had spoken to him about those bonds before?" + +"Yes, Monday I saw him and asked him if he would take them off my hand." + +"And he gave you to understand that if you would wait a day or two he +would buy the bonds." + +North nodded. + +"Hadn't you learned prior to going to the store that McBride had just +received three thousand dollars in cash from Atkinson?" + +"Yes, I knew that,--Langham told me." + +"So that it is reasonable to suppose that McBride had at least four +thousand dollars in his safe Thursday afternoon." + +"I suppose it is, but I saw only the thousand he paid me for the bonds." + +"That came from the safe?" + +"Yes." + +"I guess that's all for the present, North." + +"Do you mean you shall want to see me again?" asked North, rising. + +"Yes, you won't leave town to-day; the inquest is to be held this +afternoon, you will probably be wanted then, so hold yourself in +readiness." + +"I hope you will arrange to get through with me as soon as possible, +Moxlow!" + +"We won't put you to any unnecessary inconvenience if we can help it," +returned Moxlow, with a queer cold smile. + +"Thank you," said North and quitted the room. + +He sauntered out into the street; he was disposed to consider Mr. Moxlow +as something of a fool, as a rank amateur in the present crisis. He +turned into the Square and halted for an instant before the dingy store +that had been the scene of the recent tragedy. People on the street +paused when they had passed and turned to stare after him, but North was +unaware of this, as he was unaware that his name had come to be the one +most frequently mentioned in connection with the McBride murder. +Suddenly he quickened his step; just ahead of him was Marshall Langham. + +"Hello, Marsh!" he said, and stepped eagerly forward with extended hand. + +The lawyer paused irresolutely and turned on him a bloated face, but +there was no welcome in the sullen glance. + +"Marsh--" + +Langham's lips twitched and an angry murmur came from them, but the +words were indistinct. + +"What's wrong?" asked North, falling back a step in astonishment. + +"Yes, what's wrong!" said Langham in a hoarse whisper. "Hell! You have +nerve to stick out your hand to me--you have bigger nerve to ask me +that,--get out of my way!" and he pushed past North and strode down the +street without a single backward glance. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +JOE TELLS HIS STORY + + +The inquest was held late Saturday afternoon in the bleak living-room of +the McBride house. The coroner had explained the manner in which the +murdered man had come to his death, and as he finished he turned to +Moxlow. The prosecuting attorney shifted his position slightly, thrust +out his long legs toward the wood-stove, and buried his hands deep in +his trousers pockets, then he addressed the jury. + +They were there, he told them, to listen to certain facts that bore on +the death of Archibald McBride. If, after hearing these facts, they +could say they pointed to any person or persons as being implicated in +the murder, they were to name the person or persons, and he would see +that they were brought before the grand jury for indictment. They were +to bear in mind, however, that no one was on trial, and that no one was +accused of the crime about to be investigated, yet they must not forget +that a cold-blooded murder had been committed; human hands had raised +the weapon that had crushed out the life of the old merchant, human +intelligence had made choice of the day and hour and moment for that +brutal deed; the possibility of escape had been nicely calculated, +nothing had been left to chance. He would venture the assertion that if +the murderer were ever found he would prove to be no ordinary criminal. + +All this Moxlow said with judicial deliberation and with the lawyer's +careful qualifying of word and phrase. + +Shrimplin was the first witness. He described in his own fashion the +finding of Archibald McBride's body. Then a few skilful questions by +Moxlow brought out the fact of his having met John North on the Square +immediately before his own gruesome discovery. The little lamplighter +was excused, and Colonel Harbison took his: place. He, in his turn, +quickly made way for Andy Gilmore. Moxlow next interrogated Atkinson, +Langham's client, who explained the nature of his business relations +with McBride which had terminated in the payment of three thousand +dollars to him on Thanksgiving afternoon, the twenty-seventh of +November. + +"You are excused, Mr. Atkinson," said Moxlow. + +For an instant his eyes roved over the room; they settled on Marshall +Langham, who stood near the door leading into the hall. By a gesture he +motioned him to the chair Atkinson had vacated. + +Langham's testimony was identical with that which he had already given +in the informal talk at Moxlow's office; he told of having called on +Archibald McBride with his client and, urged on by Moxlow, described +his subsequent conversation with North. + +Up to this point John North had felt only an impersonal interest in the +proceedings, but now it flashed across him that Moxlow was seeking to +direct suspicion toward him. How well the prosecuting attorney was +succeeding was apparent. North realized that he had suddenly become the +most conspicuous person in the room; whichever way he turned he met the +curious gaze of his townsmen, and each pair of eyes seemed to hold some +portentous question. As if oblivious of this he bent forward in his +chair and followed Moxlow's questions and Langham's replies with the +closest attention. And as he watched Langham, so Gilmore watched him. + +"That will do, Mr. Langham. Thank you," said Moxlow at last. + +North felt sure he would be the next witness, and he was not mistaken. +Moxlow's examination, however, was along lines quite different from +those he had anticipated. The prosecuting attorney's questions wholly +concerned themselves with the sale of the gas bonds to McBride; each +detail of that transaction was gone into, but a very positive sense of +relief had come to North. This was not what he had expected and dreaded, +and he answered Moxlow's queries frankly, eagerly, for where his +relations with the old merchant were under discussion he had nothing to +hide. Finally Moxlow turned from him with a characteristic gesture. + +"That's all," he said. + +Again his glance wandered over the room. It became fixed on a grayish +middle-aged man seated at Gilmore's elbow. + +"Thomas Nelson," he called. + +This instantly revived North's apprehensions. Nelson was the janitor of +the building in which he had roomed. He asked himself what could be +Moxlow's purpose in examining him. + +There was just one thing North feared, and that--the bringing of Evelyn +Langham's name into the case. How this could happen he did not see, but +the law dug its own channels and sometimes they went far enough afield. +While this was passing through his mind, Nelson was sworn and Moxlow +began his examination. + +Mr. Nelson was in charge of the building on the corner of Main Street +and the Square,--he referred to the brick building on the southeast +corner? The witness answered in the affirmative, and Moxlow's next +question brought out the fact that for some weeks the building had had +only two tenants; John North and Andrew Gilmore. + +What was the exact nature of his duties? The witness could hardly say; +he was something of a carpenter for one thing, and at the present time +was making certain repairs in the vacant store-room on the ground floor. +Did he take care of the entrance and the two halls? Yes. Had he +anything to do with the rooms of the two tenants on the first floor? +Yes. What? + +Sometimes he swept and dusted them and he was supposed to look after the +fires. He carried up the coal, Moxlow suggested? Yes. He carried out the +ashes? Again yes. Moxlow paused for a moment. Was he the only person who +ever carried out the ashes? Yes. What did he do with the ashes? He +emptied them into a barrel that stood in the yard back of the building. +And what became of them then? Whenever necessary, the barrel was carted +away and emptied. How long did it usually take to fill the barrel? At +this season of the year one or two weeks. When was it emptied last? A +week ago, perhaps, the witness was not quite sure about the day, but it +was either Monday or Tuesday of the preceding week. And how often did +the ashes from the fireplaces in Mr. North's and Mr. Gilmore's rooms +find their way into the barrel? Every morning he cleaned out the grates +the first thing, and usually before Mr. North or Mr. Gilmore were up. + +Again Moxlow paused and glanced over the room. He must have been aware +that to his eager audience the connection between Mr. North's and Mr. +Gilmore's fireplaces and the McBride murder, was anything but clear. + +"Did you empty the ashes from the fireplaces in the apartments occupied +by Mr. North and Mr. Gilmore on Friday morning?" he asked. + +"Yes; that is, I took up the ashes in Mr. North's rooms." + +"But not in Mr. Gilmore's?" + +"No, sir, I didn't go into his rooms Friday morning." + +"Why was that,--was there any reason for it?" + +"Yes, I knew that Mr. Gilmore's rooms had not been occupied Thursday +night; that was the night of the murder, and he was at McBride's house," +explained the witness. + +"But you emptied the grate in Mr. North's rooms?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And disposed of the ashes in the usual way?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"In the barrel in the yard back of the building?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you notice anything peculiar about the ashes from Mr. North's rooms +on Friday morning?" + +The witness looked puzzled. + +"Hadn't Mr. North burnt a good many papers in his grate?" + +"Oh, yes, but then he was going away." + +"That will do,--you are excused," interposed Moxlow quickly. + +The sheriff was next sworn. Without interruption from Moxlow he told his +story. He had made a thorough search of the ash barrel described by the +witness Thomas Nelson, and had come upon a number of charred fragments +of paper. + +"We think these may be of interest to the coroner's jury," said Moxlow +quietly. + +He drew a small pasteboard box from an inner pocket of his coat and +carefully arranged its contents on the table before him. In all there +were half a dozen scraps of charred or torn paper displayed; one or two +of these fragments were bits of envelopes on which either a part or all +of the name was still decipherable. North, from where he sat, was able +to recognize a number of these as letters which he had intended to +destroy that last night in his rooms; but the refuse from his grate and +the McBride murder still seemed poles apart; he could imagine no +possible connection. + +The president of Mount Hope's first national bank was the next witness +called. He was asked by Moxlow to examine a Mount Hope Gas Company bond, +and then the prosecuting attorney placed in his hands a triangular piece +of paper which he selected from among the other fragments on the table. + +"Mr. Harden, will you kindly tell the jury of what, in your opinion, +that bit of paper in your hand was once a part?" said Moxlow. + +Very deliberately the banker put on his glasses, and then with equal +deliberation began a careful examination of the scrap of paper. + +"Well?" said Moxlow. + +"A second, please!" said the banker. + +But the seconds grew into minutes before he was ready to risk an +opinion. + +"We are waiting on you, Mr. Harden," said Moxlow at length. + +"I should say that this is a marginal fragment of a Gas Company bond," +said the banker slowly. "Indeed there can be no doubt on the point. The +paper is the same, and these lines in red ink are a part of the +decoration that surrounds the printed matter. No,--there is no doubt in +my mind as to what this paper is." + +"What part of the bond is it?" asked Moxlow. + +"The lower right-hand corner," replied the banker promptly. "That is why +I hesitated to identify it; with this much of the upper left-hand corner +for instance, I should not have been in doubt." + +"Excused," said Moxlow briefly. + +The room became blank before John North's eyes as he realized that a +chain of circumstantial evidence was connecting him with the McBride +murder. He glanced about at a score of men--witnesses, officials, and +jury, and felt their sudden doubt of him, as intangibly but as certainly +as he felt the dead presence just beyond the closed door. + +"We have one other witness," said Moxlow. + +And Joe Montgomery, seeming to understand that he was this witness, +promptly quitted his chair at the back of the room and, cap in hand, +slouched forward and was duly sworn by the coroner. + +If Mr. Montgomery had shown promptness he had also evinced uneasiness, +since his fear of the law was as rock-ribbed as his respect for it. He +was not unfamiliar with courts, though never before had he appeared in +the character of a witness; and he had told himself many times that day +that the business in which he had allowed Mr. Gilmore to involve him +carried him far behind his depths. Now his small blue eyes slid round in +their sockets somewhat fearfully until they rested on Mr. Gilmore, who +had just taken up his position at Marshall Langham's elbow. The gambler +frowned and the handy-man instantly shifted his gaze. But the +prosecuting attorney's first questions served to give Joe a measure of +ease; this was transitory, however, as he seemed to stand alone in the +presence of some imminent personal danger when Moxlow asked: + +"Where were you on the night of the twenty-seventh of November at six +o'clock?" + +Joe stole a haunted glance in the direction of Gilmore. Moxlow repeated +his question. + +"Boss, I was in White's woodshed," answered Montgomery. + +"Tell the jury what you saw," said Moxlow. + +"Well, I seen a good deal," evaded the handy-man, shaking his great +head. + +"Go on!" urged Moxlow impatiently. + +"It was this way," said Joe. "I was lookin' out into the alley through a +crack in the small door where they put in the coal; right across the +alley is the back of McBride's store and the sheds about his yard--" +the handy-man paused and mopped his face with his ragged cap. + +At the opposite end of the room Gilmore placed a hand on Langham's arm. +The lawyer had uttered a smothered exclamation and had made a movement +as if about to quit his seat. The gambler pushed him back. + +"Sit tight, Marsh!" he muttered between his teeth. + +Mr. Montgomery, taking stock of his courage, prepared to adventure +further with his testimony. + +"All at once as I stood by that door lookin' out into the alley, I heard +a kind of noise in old man McBride's yard. It sounded like something +heavy was bein' scraped across the frozen ground, say a box or barrel. +Then I seen a man's derby hat come over the edge of the shed, and next +the man who was under that hat drawed himself up; he come up slow and +cautious until he was where he could throw himself over on to the roof. +He done that, squatted low, and slid down the roof toward the alley. +There was some snow and he slid easy. He was lookin' about all the time +like he wasn't anxious to be seen. Well, boss, he never seen me, and he +never seen no one else, so he dropped off, kind of givin' himself a +shove out from the eaves, and fetched up against White's woodshed. He +was pantin' like he'd run a mile, and I heard him say in a whisper, 'Oh, +my God!'--just like that,--'Oh, my God!'" The handy-man paused with this +grotesque mimicry of terror. + +"And then?" prompted Moxlow, in the breathless silence. + +"And then he took off up the alley as if all hell was whoopin' after +him!" + +Again Montgomery's ragged cap served him in lieu of a handkerchief, and +as he swabbed his blotched and purple face he shot a swift furtive +glance in Gilmore's direction. So far he had told only the truth, but he +was living in terror of Moxlow's next question. + +"Can you describe the man who crossed the roof,--for instance, how was +he dressed?" said Moxlow, with slow deliberation. + +"He had on a derby hat and a dark overcoat," answered Montgomery after a +moment's pause. + +He was speaking for Gilmore now, and his grimy lists closed convulsively +about the arms of his chair. + +"Did you see his face?" asked Moxlow. + +"Yes--" the monosyllable was spoken unwillingly, but with a kind of +dogged resolution. + +"Was it a face you knew?" + +Montgomery looked at Gilmore, whose fierce insistent glance was bent +compellingly on him. The recollection of the gambler's threats and +promises flashed through his mind. + +"Was it a face you knew?" repeated Moxlow. + +The handy-man gave him a sudden glare. + +"Yes," he said in a throaty whisper. + +"How could you tell in the dark?" + +[Illustration: "Then I seen a man's derby hat come over the edge of the +shed."] + +"It wasn't so terrible dark, with the snow on the ground. And I was +so close to him I could have put an apple in his pocket," Joe explained. + +"Who was the man?" asked Moxlow. + +"I thought he looked like John North," said Montgomery. + +There was the silence of death in the room. + +"You thought it was John North?" began Moxlow. + +"Yes." + +"When he spoke, you thought you recognized North's voice?" + +"Yes." + +"Were you sure?" + +"I was pretty sure, boss--" + +"Only pretty sure?" + +"I thought it was Mr. North,--it looked like Mr. North, and I thought it +was him,--I thought so then and I think so now," said Montgomery +desperately. + +"Are you willing to swear positively that it was John North?" demanded +Moxlow. + +"No--" said the handy-man, "No,--I only say I thought it was John North. +He looked like John North, and I thought it was John North,--I'd have +said it was John North, but it all happened in a minute. I wasn't +thinkin' I'd ever have to say who it was I seen on the shed!" + +"But your first distinct impression was that it was John North?" + +"Yes." + +"You have known John North for years?" + +"All his life." + +"Had you seen him recently?" + +"I seen him Thanksgiving day along about four o'clock crossing the +Square." + +"How was he dressed, did you notice?" + +"He was dressed like the man in the alley,--he had on a black derby hat +and a dark brown overcoat." + +"That's all," said Moxlow quietly. + +The coroner and the jury drew aside and began a whispered consultation. +In the vitiated atmosphere of that overcrowded room, heavy as it was +with the stifling heat and palpably dense with the escaping smoke from +the cracked wood-stove, men coughed nervously with every breath they +drew, but their sense of physical discomfort was unheeded in their tense +interest in the developments of the last few moments. The jury's +deliberation was brief and then the coroner announced its verdict. + +North heard the doctor's halting words without at once grasping their +meaning. A long moment of silence followed, and then a man coughed, and +then another, and another; this seemed to break the spell, for suddenly +the room buzzed with eager whisperings. + +North's first definite emotion was one of intense astonishment. Were +they mad? But the faces turned toward him expressed nothing beyond +curiosity. His glance shifted to the official group by the table. These +good-natured commonplace men who, whether they liked him or not, had +invariably had a pleasant word for him, instantly took on an air of grim +aloofness. Conklin, the fat jolly sheriff; the coroner; Moxlow, the +prosecuting attorney in his baggy trousers and seam-shining coat,--why, +he had known these men all his life, he had met them daily,--what did +they mean by suspecting him! The mere suspicion was a monstrous wrong! +His face reddened; he glanced about him haughtily. + +Now at a sign from the coroner, Conklin placed his fat hands on the arms +of his chair and slowly drew himself out of its depths, then he crossed +to North. The young fellow rose, and turned a pale face toward him. + +"John," said the sheriff gently, "I have an unpleasant duty to perform." + +In spite of himself the pallor deepened on North's face. + +"I understand," he said in a voice that was low and none too steady. + +During this scene Moxlow's glance had been centered on North in a fixed +stare of impersonal curiosity, now he turned with quick nervous decision +and snatching up his shabby hat from the table, left the room. + +Langham had preceded him by a few moments, escaping unobserved when +there were eyes only for North. + +"I am ready, Conklin." + +And a moment later North and the sheriff passed out into the twilight. +Neither spoke until they came to the court-house Square. + +"We'll go in this way, John!" said the sheriff in a tone that was meant +to be encouraging, but failed. + +They ascended the court-house steps, and went down the long corridor to +the rear of the building. Here they passed out through wide doors and +into a narrow yard that separated the court-house from the jail. +Crossing this sandy strip they entered the sheriff's office. Conklin +paused; North gazed at him inquiringly. + +"It's too bad, John," said the sheriff. + +Then without further words he led North to a door opposite that by which +they had entered. It opened on a long brick-paved passageway, at the end +of which was a flight of narrow stairs. Ascending these North found +himself in another long hall. Conklin paused before the first of three +doors on the right and pushed it open. + +"I guess this will do, John!" he said. + +North stepped quickly in and glanced about him. The room held an iron +bedstead, a wooden chair and, by the window which overlooked the jail +yard and an alley beyond, a wash-stand with a tin basin and pitcher. + +"Say, ain't you going to see a lawyer?" asked the sheriff. "He may be +able to get you out of this, you can't tell--" + +"Can you send a message to young Watt Harbison for me?" interrupted +North. + +"Certainly, but you don't call him much of a lawyer, do you? I tell you, +John, you want a _good_ lawyer; what's the matter with Marsh Langham?" + +"Watt will do for the present. He can tell me the one or two things I +need to know now," rejoined North indifferently. + +"All right, I'll send for him then." + +The sheriff quitted the room, closing and locking the door after him. +North heard his footsteps die out in the long passage. At last he was +alone! He threw himself down on the cot for manhood seemed to forsake +him. + +"My God,--Elizabeth--" he groaned and buried his face in his hands. + +The law had lifted a sinister finger and leveled it at him. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +LIGHT IN DARKNESS + + +The expression on General Herbert's face was one of mingled doubt and +impatience. + +"You must be mistaken, Thompson!" he was saying to his foreman, who had, +with the coming of night, returned from an errand in town. + +"General, there's no mistake; every one was talking about it! Looks like +the police had something to go on, too--" + +He hesitated, suddenly remembering that John North had been a frequent +guest at Idle Hour. + +"I had heard that Mr. North was wanted as a witness," observed the +general. + +"No, they say Moxlow had his eye on him from the start!" rejoined the +foreman with repressed enthusiasm for Moxlow. + +The general sensed the enthusiasm and was affected unpleasantly by it. + +"It would be a great pity if Mr. Moxlow should be so unfortunate as to +make a fool of himself!" he commented with unusual acidity. "What else +did you hear?" + +"Not much, General, only just what I've told you--that they've arrested +North, and that young Watt Harbison's been trying to get him out on +bail, but they've refused to accept bond in his case. Don't that look +like they thought the evidence was pretty strong against him--" + +"Well, they, might have arrested you or me," said the general. "That +signifies nothing." + +He moved off in the direction of the house, and Thompson, after a +backward glance at his retreating figure, entered the barn. Out of sight +of his foreman, the general's sturdy pace lagged. That young man had +been at Idle Hour entirely too often; he had thought so all along, and +now he was very sure of it! + +"This comes of being too kind," he muttered. + +Then he paused suddenly--but no, that was absurd--utterly absurd; +Elizabeth would have told him! He was certain of this, for had she not +told him all her secrets? But suppose--suppose--and again he put the +idea from him. + +He found Elizabeth in the small, daintily furnished sitting-room which +Mrs. Herbert had called her "boudoir", and seated himself, none too +gently, in a fragile gilt chair which his bulk of bone and muscle +threatened to wreck. Elizabeth glanced up from _Their Wedding Journey_, +which she was reading for the second time. + +"What is it, father?" she asked, for his feeling of doubt and annoyance +was plainly shown in his expressive face. + +"Thompson has just come out from town--he says that John North has been +arrested for the McBride murder--" + +The book slipped from Elizabeth's hand and fell to the floor; the smile +with which she had welcomed her father faded from her lips; she gazed at +him with pale face and wide eyes. The general instantly regretted that +he had spoken with such cruel abruptness. + +"You don't think it is true?" she asked in a whisper. + +"Thompson seemed to know what he was talking about." + +"It's monstrous!" she cried. + +"If North is innocent--" began the general. + +"Father!" She regarded him with a look of horror and astonishment. "You +don't like him! It's that, isn't it?" she added after a moment's +silence. + +"I don't like any one who gets into a scrape such as this!" replied the +general with miserable and unnecessary heat. + +"But it wasn't _his_ fault--he couldn't help it!" + +"I don't suppose he could," replied her father grimly. + +She rose and came close to his side. + +"Father!" she said in a tone of entreaty, placing a hand on his arm. + +"What is it, dear?" + +There was both tenderness and concern in his keen gray eyes as he +glanced up into her troubled face. + +"I want you to go to him--to Mr. North, I mean. I want you to tell him +how sorry you are; I want him to know--I--" she paused uncertainly. + +Perhaps for the first time in her life she was not quite sure of her +father's sympathy. She dreaded his man's judgment in this crisis. + +"Now seriously, Elizabeth, don't you think I'd better keep away from +him? I can do nothing--" + +"Oh, how cowardly that would be!" she cried. "How cowardly!" + +The old general winced at this. He was far from being a coward, but +appearances had their value in his eyes; and even, in its least serious +aspect, young North's predicament was not pleasant to contemplate. + +"But there is nothing I can do, Elizabeth; why should I become +involved?" he urged. + +"Then you must go to him from me!" she cried. + +"Child--child; what are you saying!" cried the general. + +"Either you must go to him, or I shall go!" she said with fine firmness. + +Her father groaned. + +"Be frank with me, Elizabeth. Has North ever told you that he cared for +you?" + +"Yes." + +"When?" + +"Before he went away--I mean that last night he was here." + +"I feared as much!" he muttered. "And you, dear?" he continued gently. + +"He said we might have to wait a long time--or I should have told you! +He went away because he was too poor--" + +There was a pause. + +"Do you care for him, Elizabeth?" her father asked at length. "Do you +wish me to understand that you are committed--are--" + +"Yes," she answered quite simply. + +"You are sure it is not just pity--you are sure, Elizabeth? For you +know, right or wrong, he will probably come out of this with his +reputation smirched." + +"But he is _innocent_!" + +"That is not quite the point!" urged the general. "We must see things as +they are. You must understand what it may mean to you in the future, to +have given your love to a man who has fallen under such suspicion. There +will always be those who will remember this against him." + +"But _I_ shall know!" she said proudly. + +"And that will be enough--you will ask no more than that, Elizabeth?" + +"If my faith in him has never been shaken, could I ask more?" + +He looked at her wistfully. Her courage he comprehended. It was fine and +true, like her sweet unspoiled youth; in its presence he felt a sudden +sense of age and loneliness. He asked himself, had he lived beyond his +own period of generous enthusiasm? + +"It would be a poor kind of friendship, a poorer kind of love, if we did +not let him know at once that this has not changed our--our, regard for +him!" she said softly. + +"It is not your ready sympathy; you are quite certain it is not that, +Elizabeth?" + +"I am sure, father--sure of myself as I am of him! You say he has been +arrested, does that mean--" and she hesitated. + +"It means, my dear, that he is in jail," answered the general as he came +slowly to his feet. + +She gave a little cry, and running to him hid her face against his arm. + +"In jail!" she moaned, and her imagination and her ignorance clothed the +thought with indescribable horrors. + +"Understand, dear, he isn't even indicted yet and he may not be! It's +bad enough, of course, but it might be a great deal worse. Now what am I +to tell him for you?" + +"Wait," she said, slipping from his side. "I will write him--" + +"Write your letter then," said her father. "I'll order the horses at +once," he added, as he quitted the room. + +Ten minutes later when he drove up from the stables, Elizabeth met him +at the door. + +"After you have seen him, father, come home at once, won't you?" she +said as she handed him her letter. + +"Yes, I am only going for this," he replied. + +It was plain that his errand had not grown less distasteful to him. +Perhaps Elizabeth was aware of this, for she reached up and passed an +arm about his neck. + +"I don't believe any girl ever had such a father!" she whispered softly. + +"I suppose I should not be susceptible to such manifest flattery," said +the general, kissing her, "but I find I am! There, you keep up your +courage! This old father of yours is a person of such excellent sense +that he is going to aid and abet you in this most outrageous folly; I +expect, even, that in time, my interest in this very foolish young man +will be only second to your own, my dear!" + +As he drove away he turned in his seat to glance back at the graceful +girlish figure standing in the shelter of Idle Hour's stone arched +vestibule, and as he did so there was a flutter of something white, +which assured him that her keen eyes were following him and would follow +him until the distance and the closing darkness intervened, and hid him +from her sight. + +"I hope it will come out all right!" he told himself and sighed. + +If it did _not_ come out all right, where was his peace of mind; where +was the calm, where the long reposeful days he had so valued? But this +thought he put from him as unworthy. After all Elizabeth's happiness +was something he desired infinitely more than he desired his own. But +why could it not have been some one else? Why was it North; what unkind +fate had been busy there? + +"She sees more in him than I could ever see!" he said aloud, as he +touched his horse with the whip. + +Twenty minutes later he drove up before the court-house, hitched and +blanketed his horse, and passing around the building, now dark and +deserted, reached the entrance to the jail. In the office he found +Conklin at his desk. The sheriff was rather laboriously engaged in +making the entry in his ledger of North's committal to his charge, a +formality which, out of consideration for his prisoner's feelings, he +had dispensed with at the time of the arrest. + +"I wish to see Mr. North. I suppose I may?" his visitor said, after he +had shaken hands with Conklin. + +"Certainly, General! Want to go up, or shall I bring him down here to +you?" + +"I'd prefer that--I'd much prefer that!" answered the general hastily. + +He felt that it would be something to tell Elizabeth that the interview +had taken place in the sheriff's office. + +"All right, just as you say; have a chair." And Conklin left the room. + +The general glanced about him dubiously. Had it not been for his deep +love for Elizabeth he could have wished himself anywhere else and +charged with any other mission. He dropped heavily into a chair. North's +arrest, and the results of that arrest as he now saw them in that +cheerless atmosphere, loomed large before his mind's eye. He reflected +that a trial for murder was a horrible and soul-racking experience. He +devoutly and prayerfully hoped that it would not come to this in North's +case. + +His meditation was broken in on by the sound of echoing steps in the +brick-paved passageway, and then North and Conklin entered the room. On +their entrance the general quitted his chair and advanced to meet the +young fellow, whose hand he took in silence. The sheriff glanced from +one to the other; and understanding that there might be something +intimate and personal in their relation, he said: + +"I'll just step back into the building, General; when you and Mr. North +have finished your talk, you can call me." + +"Thank you!" said General Herbert, and Conklin withdrew, leaving the two +alone. + +There was an awkward pause as they faced each other. The older man was +the first to speak. + +"I regret this!" he said at length. + +"Not more than I do!" rejoined North, with a fleeting sense of humor. + +He wondered what it was that had brought Elizabeth's father there. + +"What's the matter with Moxlow, anyhow?" the general demanded. + +He glanced sharply into North's face. He saw that the young fellow was +rather pale, but otherwise his appearance was unchanged. + +"All the evidence seems to point my way," said North, and added a trifle +nervously: "I don't understand it--it isn't clear to me by any means! It +came so suddenly, and I was totally unprepared to meet the situation. I +had talked to Moxlow in the morning, but he had let drop nothing that +led me to suppose I was under suspicion. Of course I am not afraid. I +know that it will come out all right in the end--" + +"Do you want anything, North? Is there anything I can do for you?" asked +General Herbert almost roughly. + +"Thank you, but apparently there is nothing that any one can do just +now," said North quietly. + +The color was creeping back into his face. + +"Well, we can't sit idle! Look here, you tried for bail, I understand?" + +"Yes, but it has been refused." + +"Do you know when the grand jury sits?" + +"Next week. Of course my hope is that it won't go beyond that; I don't +see how it can!" + +"Why didn't you send for me at once?" asked the older man with +increasing bruskness. He took a turn about the room. "What does it all +mean? What do you know about McBride's death?" he continued, halting +suddenly. + +"Absolutely nothing," said North. + +And for an instant the two men looked straight into each other's eyes. + +"You are sure you don't need anything--money, for instance?" the general +asked, shifting his glance. + +"I am quite sure, but I am very grateful to you all the same--" + +"Of course the evidence against you is purely circumstantial?" + +"I believe so--yes," answered North. "But there are points I don't +understand." + +"I am coming in to-morrow morning to see you, and talk the whole thing +over with you, North." + +"I shall be very glad to talk matters over with you, General," said +North. + +"I wish I could do something for you to-night!" the general said with +real feeling, for he realized the long evening, and the longer night +that were before the young fellow. + +There was a pause. The general could not bring himself to speak of +Elizabeth, and North lacked the courage to ask concerning her. + +"I heard through one of my men of your arrest. He brought word of it to +the farm," the farmer said at length. + +"Miss Herbert knows--of course you told her--" + +"Yes, North; yes, she knows!" her father replied. "She knows and she +urged me to come!" + +He saw North's face light up with a sudden look of joy. + +"She urged you to come?" repeated North. + +"Yes--I think she would have come herself if I had not been willing." + +"I am glad she did not!" said North quickly. + +"Of course! I told her it would only distress you." + +"It would only distress her--which is all that is worth considering," +rejoined North. + +"That's so!" said the general, approaching the young man and resting a +brown and muscular hand on his shoulder. + +"She has told you?" asked North. + +The older man nodded. + +"Yes, she's told me," he said briefly. + +"I can't ask if it was pleasant news at this time," said North. "What do +you wish me to do?" he continued. "She must forget what was said that +night, and I, too, will endeavor to forget--tell her that." He passed a +shaking hand before his face. + +"I've a note here for you, North--" General Herbert was fumbling in his +pocket--"from Elizabeth. Don't you be too quick to decide!" + +"With your permission," said North as he took the letter. + +He tore it open, and Elizabeth's father, watching him, saw the +expression of his face change utterly, as the lines of tense repression +faded from it. It was clear that for the moment all else was lost in his +feeling of great and compelling happiness. Twice he read the letter +before he could bring himself to replace it in its envelope. As he did +so, he caught the general's eyes fixed on him. For a moment he +hesitated, then he said with the frankness that was habitual to him: + +"I think you should know just what that letter means to me. It is brave +and steadfast--just as she is; no, you were right, I can't decide--I +won't!" + +"I wouldn't," said the general. There was a pause and then he added, +"After all, it is not given to every woman to show just how deep her +faith is in the man she loves. It would be too bad if you could not know +that!" + +"The situation may become intolerable, General Herbert! Suppose I am +held for the murder--suppose a long trial follows; think what she will +suffer, the uncertainty, the awful doubt of the outcome, although she +knows,--she must know I am innocent." + +"Of course, of course!" cried the general hastily, for these were points +he did not wish to discuss. + +"It's a serious matter when you consider the possibility of an +indictment," said North soberly enough. + +"That's true; yet we mustn't count the cost now, or at any future time. +But I promised Elizabeth I'd come back at once. What shall I say to her, +North?" + +"Tell her that her letter has changed the whole aspect of things for me. +You must try to make her feel the fresh hope she has given me," John +replied, extending his hand. + +"Conklin!" called the general. He took North's hand. "Good night; I'm +infinitely sorry to leave you here, North, but I suppose it can't be +helped--" + +The sheriff entered the room while he was yet speaking. + +"Finished your chat, General?" he asked. + +"Yes, thank you, Conklin. Good night. Good night, North," and +Elizabeth's father hurried from the room. + +For a moment North stood silent, staring absently at the door that had +just closed on the general's burly figure. He still held Elizabeth's +letter in his hand. In fancy he was seeing her as she had bent above it, +her face tender, compassionate; and then there rose the vision of that +crowded room with its palpable atmosphere, its score of curious faces +all turned toward him in eager expectation. In the midst of these +unworthy surroundings, her face, beautiful and high bred, eluded him; +the likeness, even as he saw it, was lost, nor could he call it back. + +Slowly but certainly that day's experience was fixing itself unalterably +in his memory. He caught the pungent reek from the wood-stove, and +mingling with it the odor of strong cheap tobacco filled his nostrils +again; he was left with the very dregs of sordid shameful things. + +The sheriff touched him on the arm. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +THE GAMBLER'S THEORY + + +Gilmore, leaving his apartment, paused to light a cigar, then sauntered +down the steps and into the street. As he did so he saw Marshall Langham +come from the post-office, half a block distant, and hurry across the +Square. Gilmore strode after him. + +"Oh, say, Marsh, I want to see you!" he called when he had sufficiently +reduced the distance that separated him from his friend. + +Instantly Langham paused, turning a not too friendly face toward the +gambler. + +"You want to see me?" he asked. + +"Didn't I say so?" demanded Gilmore, as he gained a place at his side. +"Where are you going, to the office?" + +"Yes, I have some letters to answer," and Langham quickened his pace. + +Gilmore kept his place at the lawyer's elbow. For a moment there was +silence between them, and then Gilmore said: + +"You got away from McBride's in a hurry Saturday; why didn't you wait +and see the finish?" + +Langham made no answer to this, and Gilmore, after another brief +silence, turned on him with an unexpected question: + +"How would you like to be in North's shoes, Marsh?" As he spoke, the +gambler rested a hand on Langham's shoulder. He felt him shrink from the +physical contact. "Gives you a chill just to think of it, doesn't it?" +he said. "I suppose Moxlow believes there's the making of a pretty +strong case against him; eh, Marsh?" + +"I don't know; I can't tell what he thinks," said Langham briefly. + +"But in North's place, back there in the jail in one of those brand-new +iron cages over the yard, how would you feel? That's what I want to +know!" + +Langham met his glance for an instant and then his eyes fell. He sensed +the insinuation that was back of Gilmore's words. + +"Can't you put yourself in his place, with the evidence, such as it is, +all setting against you?" + +"I'm due at the office," said the lawyer suddenly. + +Gilmore took his arm. + +"If North didn't kill McBride, who did?" he persisted. + +"Why do you ask me such questions?" demanded Langham resentfully. + +"My lord--can't we consider the matter?" asked the gambler laughing. + +"What's the use? Here, I've got to go to the office, Andy--" and he +sought to release himself, but Gilmore retained his hold. + +"I suppose you are going to see North?" he asked. + +Langham came to a sudden stop. + +"What's that?" he asked hoarsely. + +"You have been his intimate for years; surely you are too good a friend +to turn your back on him now!" + +"If he wants me, he'll send for me!" muttered Langham. + +"Do you mean you aren't _going_ to him, Marsh?" asked the gambler with +well simulated astonishment. + +"He knows where I'm to be found," said Langham, striding forward again, +"and, damn it, this is no concern of yours!" + +"Well, by thunder!" ejaculated Gilmore. + +"I don't need any points from you, Andy!" said Langham, with a sullen +sidelong glance at his companion. + +They had crossed the Square, and Langham now halted at the curb. + +"Good-by, Andy!" he said, and shook himself free of the other's +detaining hand. + +"Hold on a minute, Marsh!" objected Gilmore. + +"Well, what is it, can't you see I am in a hurry?" + +"Oh, nothing here, Marsh--" and striding forward, Gilmore disappeared in +the building before which they had paused. + +For an instant Langham hesitated, and then he followed the gambler. + +A step or two in advance of him, Gilmore mounted the stairs, and passing +down the hall entered Langham's office. Langham followed him into the +room; he closed the door, and without a glance at Gilmore removed his +hat and overcoat and hung them up on a nail back of the door; the +gambler meanwhile had drawn an easy chair toward the open grate at the +far end of the room, before which he now established himself with +apparent satisfaction. + +"I suppose the finding of the coroner's jury doesn't amount to much," he +presently said but without looking in Langham's direction. + +The lawyer did not answer him. He crossed to his desk which filled the +space between the two windows overlooking the Square. + +"You're damn social!" snarled Gilmore over his shoulder. + +"I told you I was busy," said Langham, and he began to finger the papers +on his desk. + +Gilmore swung around in his chair and faced him. + +"So you won't see him--North, I mean?" he queried. "Well, you're a hell +of a friend, Marsh. You've been as thick as thieves, and now when he's +up against it good and hard, you're the first man to turn your back on +him!" + +Seating himself, Langham took up his pen and began to write. Gilmore +watched him in silence for a moment, a smile of lazy tolerance on his +lips. + +"Suppose North is acquitted, Marsh; suppose the grand jury doesn't hold +him," he said at length; "will the search for the murderer go on?" + +The pen slipped from Langham's fingers to the desk. + +"Look here, I don't want to discuss North or his affairs with you. It's +nothing to me; can't you get that through your head?" + +"As his friend--" began Gilmore. + +"Get rid of that notion, too!" + +"That's what I wanted to hear you say, Marsh! So you're not his friend?" + +"No!" exclaimed Langham briefly, and his shaking fingers searched among +the papers on his desk for the pen he had just dropped. + +"So you're not his friend any more?" repeated Gilmore slowly. "Well, I +expect when a fellow gets hauled up for murder it's asking a good deal +of his friends to stand by him! Do you know, Marsh, I'm getting an +increased respect for the law; it puts the delinquents to such a hell of +a lot of trouble. It's a good thing to let alone! I'm thinking mighty +seriously of cutting out the games up at my rooms; what would you think +of my turning respectable, Marsh? Would you be among the first to extend +the warm right hand of fellowship?" + +"Oh, you are respectable enough, Andy!" said Langham. + +He seemed vastly relieved at the turn the conversation had taken. He +leaned back in his chair and thrust his hands in his trousers pockets. + +"Say, why can't I put myself where I want to be? What's the matter with +my style, anyhow? It's as good as yours any day, Marsh; and no one ever +saw me drunk--that is a whole lot more than can be said of you; and yet +you stand in with the best people, you go to houses where I'd be thrown +out if I as much as stuck my nose inside the door!" + +"Your style's all right, Andy!" Langham hastened to assure him. + +"Well, it's as good as yours any day!" + +"Better!" said Langham, laughing. + +"Well, what's the matter with it, then?" persisted Gilmore. + +"There's a good deal of it sometimes, it's rather oppressive--" said the +lawyer. + +"I'll fix that," said Gilmore shortly. + +"I would if I wanted what you seem to think you want," replied Langham +chuckling. + +"Marsh, I'm dead serious; I'm sick of being outside all the good things. +I know plenty of respectable fellows, fellows like you; but I want to +know respectable women; why can't I?" + +"If you hanker for it, you can; it's up to you, Andy," said Langham. + +The gambler appeared very ingenuous in this new rôle of his. + +"Look here, Marsh, I've never asked anything of you, and you must admit +that I've done you one or two good turns; now I'm going to ask a favor +of you and I don't expect to be refused; fact is, I ain't going to take +a refusal--" + +"What is it, Andy?" asked Langham cautiously, "I want you to introduce +me to your wife." + +"The hell you do!" ejaculated Langham. + +The gambler's brow darkened. + +"What do you mean by that?" he demanded angrily. + +"Nothing, I was only thinking of Mrs. Langham's probable attitude in the +matter, that was all." + +"You mean you think she won't want to meet me?" and in spite of himself +Gilmore's voice sounded strained and unnatural. + +"I'm _sure_ she won't," said Langham with cruel candor. + +"Well," observed Gilmore coolly, "I'm going to put my case in your +hands, Marsh; you come to my rooms, you drink my whisky, and smoke my +cigars and borrow my money; now I'm going to make a new deal with you. +I'm going to know your wife. I like her style--she and I'll get on fine +together, once we know each other. You make it plain to her that I'm +your friend, your best friend, about your _only_ friend!" + +"You fool--" began Langham. + +Gilmore quitted his chair at a bound and strode to Langham's side. + +"None of that, Marsh!" he protested sternly, placing a heavy hand on +Langham's shoulder. "I see we got to understand each other, you and me! +You don't take hints; I have to bang it into you with a club or you +don't see what I'm driving at--" + +"I've paid you all I owe you, Gilmore!" said Langham conclusively. "You +can't hold that over me any longer." + +"I don't want to!" retorted Gilmore quietly. + +"You kept your thumb on me good and hard while you could!" + +"Not half so hard as I am going to if you try to get away from me now--" + +"What do you mean by these threats?" cried Langham. + +The gambler laughed in his face. + +"You've paid me all you owe me, but I want to ask you just one question. +Where did you get the money?" + +"That," said Langham, steadying himself by a mighty effort, "is none of +your business!" + +"Think not?" and again Gilmore laughed, but before his eyes, fierce, +compelling, Langham's glance wavered and fell. + +"I got the money from my father," he muttered huskily. + +"You're a liar!" said the gambler. "I know where you got that money, and +you know I know." There was a long pause, and then Gilmore jerked out: + +"But don't you worry about that. In your own fashion you have been my +friend, and it's dead against my creed to go back on a friend unless he +tries to throw me down; so don't you make the mistake of doing that, or +I'll spoil your luck! You think you got North where you want him; don't +you be too sure of that! There's one person, just one, who can clear +him, at least there's only one who is likely to try, and I'll tell you +who it is--it's your wife--" For an instant Langham thought Gilmore had +taken leave of his senses, but the gambler's next question filled him +with vague terror. + +"Where was she late that afternoon, do you know?" + +"What afternoon?" asked Langham. + +Gilmore gave him a contemptuous glance. + +"Thanksgiving afternoon, the afternoon of the murder," he snapped. + +"She was at my father's, she dined there," said Langham slowly. + +"That may be true enough, but she didn't get there until after six +o'clock--I'll bet you what you like on that, and I'll bet you, too, that +I know where she was from five to six. Do you take me up? No? Of course +you don't! Well, I'll tell you all the same. She was in North's rooms--" + +"You lie, damn you!" cried Langham, springing to his feet. He made an +ineffectual effort to seize Gilmore by the throat, but the gambler +thrust him aside with apparent ease. + +"Don't try that or you'll get the worst of it, Marsh; you've been +soaking up too much whisky to be any good at that game with me!" said +Gilmore. + +[Illustration: "She was in North's rooms--"] + +His manner was cool and determined. He took Langham roughly by the +shoulders and threw him back in his chair. The lawyer's face was ghastly +in the gray light that streamed in through the windows, but he had +lost his sense of personal fear in another and deeper and less selfish +emotion. Yet he realized the gambler's power over him, the power of a +perfect and absolute knowledge of his most secret and hidden concerns. + +Gilmore surveyed him with a glance of quiet scorn. + +"It was about half past five when she turned up at North's rooms. He had +just come up the stairs ahead of her; I imagine he knew she was coming. +I guess I could tell you a few things you don't know! All during the +summer and fall they've been meeting on the quiet--" he laughed +insolently. "Oh, you have been all kinds of a fool, Marsh; I guess +you've got on to the fact at last. And I don't wonder you are anxious to +see North hang, and that you won't go near him; I'd kill him if I stood +in your place. But maybe we can fix it so the law will do that job for +you. It seems to have the whip-hand with him just now. Well, he was the +whole thing with your wife when she went away this fall and then he +began to take up with the general's girl--sort of to keep his hand in, I +suppose--the damn fool! For she ain't a patch on your wife. I guess Mrs. +Langham had been tipped off to this new deal--that's what brought her +back to Mount Hope in such a hurry, and she went to his rooms to have it +out with him and learn just where she stood. I was in my bedroom and I +could hear them talking through the partition. It wasn't peaches and +cream, for she was rowing all right!" + +"It's a lie!" cried Langham, and he strove to rise to his feet, but +Gilmore's strong hand kept him in his chair. + +"No, I don't lie, Marsh, you ought to know that by this time; but +there's just one point you want to get through your head; with your +wife's help North can prove an alibi. He won't want to compromise her, +or himself with the Herbert girl, for that matter; but how long do you +think he's going to keep his mouth shut with the gallows staring him in +the face? I'm willing to go as far in this matter as the next, but you +got to do your part and pay the price, or I'll throw you down so hard +you'll never get over the jar!" His heavy jaws protruded. "Now, I've a +notion I want to know your wife. I like her style. I guess you can trust +her with me--you ain't afraid of that, are you?" + +"Take your hands off me!" cried Langham, struggling fiercely. + +He tore at the gambler's wrists, but Gilmore only laughed his +tantalizing laugh. + +"Oh, come, Marsh, let's get back to the main point. If North's indicted +and your wife's summoned as a witness, she's got to chip in with us, +she's got to deny that she was in his room that day--you got to see to +that, I can't do everything--" + +"On your word--" + +"Well, you needn't quote me to her--it wouldn't help my standing with +her--but ask her where she was between half past five and six the day of +the murder; and mind this, you must make her understand she's got to +keep still no matter what happens! Put aside the notion that North won't +summon her; wait until he is really in danger and then see how quick he +squeals!" + +"She may have gone to his rooms," said Langham chokingly, "but that +doesn't prove anything wrong--" + +"Oh, come, Marsh, you ain't fool enough to feel that way about it--" + +"Let me up, Gilmore!" + +"No, I won't; I'm trying to make you see things straight for your own +good. What's the matter, anyhow; don't you and your wife get on?" + +Langham's face was purple with rage and shame, while his eyes burned +with a murderous hate. Rude hands had uncovered his hidden sore; yet +ruder speech was making mock of the disgraceful secret. It was of his +wife that this coarse bully was speaking! That what he said was probably +true--Evelyn herself had admitted much--did not in the least ease the +blow that had crushed his pride and self-respect. He lay back in his +chair, limp and panting under Gilmore's strong hands. Where was his own +strength of heart and arm that he should be left powerless in this +moment of unspeakable degradation? + +"It behooves you to do something more than soak up whisky," said the +gambler. "You must find out what took your wife to North's rooms, and +you must make her keep quiet no matter what happens. If you go about it +right it ought to be easy, for they had some sort of a row and he's +mixed up with the Herbert girl; you got that to go on. Now, the question +is, is she mad enough to see him go to the penitentiary or hang without +opening her mouth to save him? Come, you should know something about her +by this time; I would, if I had been married to her as long as you +have." + +Suddenly he released Langham and fell back a step. The lawyer staggered +to his feet, adjusting his collar and cravat which Gilmore's grasp on +his throat had disarranged. He glanced about him with a vague notion of +obtaining some weapon that would put him on an equality with his more +powerful antagonist, but nothing offered, and he took a step toward the +door. + +"Don't be a fool, Marsh," said the gambler coldly. "I'm going to change +my tactics with you. I'm not going to wear myself out keeping your nose +pointed in the right direction; you must do something for yourself, you +drunken fool!" + +Langham took another step toward the door, but his eyes--the starting +bloodshot eyes of a hunted animal--still searched the room for some +weapon. Except for the heavy iron poker by the grate, there was nothing +that would serve his purpose, and he must pass the gambler to reach +that. Still fumbling with his collar he paused irresolutely, midway of +the room. Pride and self-respect would have taken him from the place but +hate and fear kept him there. + +Gilmore threw himself down in a chair before the fire and lit a cigar. +In spite of himself Langham watched him, fascinated. There was such +conscious power and mastery in everything the gambler did, that he felt +the various purposes that were influencing him collapse with miserable +futility. What was the use of struggling? + +"You can do as you blame please in this matter, Marsh," said the gambler +at length. "I haven't meant to offend you or insult you, but if you want +to see it that way--all right, it suits me. You needn't look about you, +for you won't find any sledges here; you ought to know that." + +"What do you mean--" asked Langham in a whisper. + +"Draw up a chair and sit down, Marsh, and we'll thrash this thing out if +it takes all night. Here, have a cigar!" for Langham had drawn forward a +chair. With trembling fingers he took the cigar the gambler handed him. +"Now light up," said Gilmore. He watched Langham strike a match, watched +his shaking hands as he brought its flame to the cigar's end. "That's +better," he said as the first puff of smoke left Langham's colorless +lips. "So you think you want to know what I mean, eh? Well, I'm going to +take you into my confidence, Marsh, and just remember you can't +possibly reach the poker without having me on top of you before you get +to it! You were pretty sober for you the afternoon of the murder, not +more than half shot, we'll say, but later on when you hunted me up at +the McBride house, you were as drunk as you will ever be, and slobbering +all sorts of foolishness!" + +He puffed his cigar in silence for a moment. Langham's had gone out and +he was nervously chewing the end of it. + +"What did I say?" he asked at length. + +"Oh, all sorts of damn nonsense. You're smart enough sober, but get you +drunk and you ain't fit to be at large!" + +"What did I say?" repeated Langham. + +"Better let me forget that," rejoined Gilmore significantly. "And look +here, Marsh, I was sweating blood Saturday when they had Nelson on the +stand, but it's clear he had no suspicion that my rooms were occupied on +the night of the murder. You were blue about the gills while Moxlow was +questioning him, and I don't wonder; as I tell you, I wasn't comfortable +myself, for I knew well enough how that bit of burnt bond got into the +ash barrel--" + +"Hush! For God's sake--" whispered Langham in uncontrollable terror. + +Gilmore laughed. + +"My lord, man, you got to keep your nerve! Look here, Mount Hope ain't +going to talk of anything but the McBride murder; you are going to hear +it from morning to night, and that's one of the reasons you got to keep +sober. You've done your best so far to queer yourself, and unless you +listen to reason you may do it yet." + +"I don't know what you mean--" said Langham. + +"Don't you, Marsh? Well, I got just one more surprise in store for you, +but I'll keep it to myself a while longer before I spring it on you." + +He was thinking of Joe Montgomery's story; if Langham did not prove +readily tractable, that should be the final weapon with which he would +beat him into submission. Presently he said: + +"I've all along had my own theory about old man McBride's murder, and +now I'm going to see what you think of it, Marsh." + +An icy hand seemed to be clutching Langham's heart. Gilmore's cruel +smiling eyes noted his suffering. He laughed. + +"Of course, I don't think North killed McBride, not for one minute I +don't; in fact, it's a dead moral certainty he didn't!" He leaned +forward in his chair and looked into his companion's eyes. For an +instant Langham met his glance without flinching and then his eyes +shifted and sought the floor. "I'll bet," said Gilmore's cool voice, +"I'll bet you what you like I could put my hand on the man who did the +murder!" and as he spoke he reached out and by an apparently accidental +gesture, rested his hand on Langham's shoulder. "You wouldn't like to +risk any money on that little bet, eh, Marsh?" He sank back in his +chair and applied himself to his cigar in silence, but his eyes never +left Langham's face. + +Presently he took the cigar from between his strong even teeth. "Now, +I'm going to give you my theory," he said. "I want to see what you think +of it--but remember always, I believe in letting well enough alone! They +got North caged in one of those nice new cells down at the jail and that +suits me all right! My theory is that the man who killed McBride was +needing money mighty badly and he went to McBride as a sort of a last +chance. He found the old fellow alone in the office--understand, he +didn't go there with any fixed purpose of killing him, his ideas had not +carried him that far--he was willing to borrow the money if the old man +would lend it to him. He probably needed quite a sum, say two or three +thousand dollars, and the need was urgent, you must keep that in mind +and then you'll see perfectly how it all happened. Possibly my man was +of the sort who don't fancy disagreeable interviews and had put off +going to the store until the last moment, but once he had settled that +point with himself he was determined he wouldn't come away without the +money. The old fellow, however, took a different view of the situation; +he couldn't see why he should lend any money, especially when the +borrower was vague on the matter of security. + +"Well, I guess they talked quite a while there at the back of the +store, McBride standing in the doorway of the office all the time. At +last it got to my man that he wasn't to have the money. But there was +trouble ahead of him if he didn't get it and he wouldn't give up; he +kept on making promises--urging his need--and his willingness and +ability to meet his obligations. He was like a starving man in the +presence of food, for he knew McBride had the money in his safe and the +safe door was open. His need seemed the only need in all the world, and +it came to him that since McBride would not lend him the money he +wanted, why not take it from him anyhow? He couldn't see consequences, +he could only realize that he must have two or three thousand dollars! +Perhaps he got a glimmer of reason just here, and if he did he was +pretty badly frightened to think that he should even consider violence; +he turned away to leave McBride and the old man followed him a ways down +the store, explaining why they couldn't do business." + +Gilmore paused. His cigar had gone out; now he struck a match, but he +did not take his eyes from Langham's face. He did not speak at once even +when his cigar was lighted. + +Great beads of perspiration stood thick on Langham's brow, his hair was +damp and clammy. He was living that unspeakable moment over again, with +all its madness and horror. He saw himself as he had walked scowling +toward the front of the store; he had paused irresolutely with his hand +on the door-knob and then had turned back. The old merchant was standing +close by the scales, a tall gaunt figure in the waning light of day. + +"Why do you tell me you can't do it?" he had demanded with dull anger. +"You have the money, I know that!" + +"I didn't tell you I couldn't do it, Mr. Langham, I merely intimated +that I wouldn't," the old man had rejoined dryly. + +"You have the money in your safe!" + +"What if I have? It's mine to do with as I think proper." + +"A larger sum than I want--than I need!" + +"Quite likely." + +A furious gust of passion had laid hold of him, the consciousness of his +necessity, all-compelling and relentless, swept through his brain. Money +he must have!--his success, his happiness, everything depended on it, +and what could money mean to this feeble old man whose days were almost +spent? + +"I want you to let me have two thousand dollars!" he had insisted, as he +placed his hand on the old merchant's shoulder. "Get it for me; I swear +I'll pay it back. I'll give you such security as I can--my note--" + +McBride had laughed dryly at this, and he turned on his heel as though +to reënter the office. Langham shot a quick glance about him; the store +was empty, the street before it deserted; he saw through the dingy +windows the swirling scarfs of white that the wind sent flying across +the Square. Now was his time if ever! Bitter resentment urged him on--it +was a monstrous thing that those who could, would not help him! + +Near the scales was an anvil, and leaning against the anvil-block was a +heavy sledge. As the old merchant turned from him, he had caught up the +sledge and had struck him a savage blow on the head. McBride had dropped +to the floor without cry or groan. + +Langham passed his hand before his eyes to blot out the vision of that +still figure on the floor, and a dry sob burst from his lips. + +"Eh, did you speak, Marsh?" asked Gilmore. + +"No," said Langham in a whisper. + +Gilmore laughed. + +"You are seeing just how it all happened, Marsh. There was a sledge by +the anvil that stood near those scales, and when the old fellow wouldn't +come to time, my man lost all restraint and snatched it up, and a second +later McBride was dead. After that my man had things all his own way. He +went through the safe and took what was useful to him,--and those damn +bonds of North's which weren't useful,--and skipped by the side door and +out over the shed roof and down the alley, just as Joe said." + +Gilmore paused, and flicked away a bit of cigar ash that had lodged in a +crease of his coat. + +"That's the whole story of the McBride murder. Now what do you think of +my theorizing, Marsh; how does it strike you?" + +But Langham did not answer him. The gambler's words had brought it all +back; he was living again the agony of that first conscious moment when +he realized the thing he had done. He remembered his hurried search for +the money, and his flight through the side door; he remembered crossing +the shed roof and the panic that had seized him as he dropped into the +alley beyond, unseen, safe as he supposed. A debilitating reaction, such +as follows some tremendous physical effort, had quickly succeeded. He +had wandered through the deserted streets seeking control of himself in +vain. Finally he had gone home. Evelyn was at his father's and the +servant absent for the day. He had let himself in with his latchkey and +had gone at once to the library. There he fell to pacing to and fro; +ten--twenty minutes had passed, when the sudden noisy clamor of the town +bell had taken him, cowering, to the window; but the world beyond was a +vaguely curtained white. + +He raised his heavy bloodshot eyes and looked into the gambler's smiling +face. He realized the futility of his act, since it had placed him +irrevocably in Gilmore's power. He had endured unspeakable anguish all +to no purpose, since Gilmore knew; knew with the certitude of an +eye-witness. And there the gambler sat smiling and at ease, torturing +him with his cunning speech. + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +LOVE THAT ENDURES + + +A melancholy wind raked the bare hills which rose beyond the flats, and +found its way across half the housetops in Mount Hope to the solitary +window that gave light and air to John North's narrow cell. For seven +long days, over the intervening housetops, he had been observing those +undulating hills, gazing at them until they seemed like some great live +thing continually crawling along the horizon's rim, and continually +disappearing in the distance. Now he was watching their misted shapes +sink deep into the twilight. + +North, by his counsel, had waved the usual preliminary hearing before +the mayor, his case had gone at once to the grand jury, he had been +indicted and his trial was set for the February term of court. Watt +Harbison had warned him that he might expect only this, yet his first +feeling of astonished horror remained with him. + +As he stood by his window he was recalling the separate events of the +day. The court room had been crowded to the verge of suffocation; when +he entered it a sudden hush and a mighty craning of necks had been his +welcome, and he had felt his cheeks redden and pale with a sense of +shame at his hapless plight. Those many pairs of eyes that were fixed on +him seemed to lay bare his inmost thoughts; he had known no refuge from +their pitiless insistence. + +In that close overheated room the vitiated air had slowly mounted to the +brain; soon a third of the spectators nodded in their chairs scarcely +able to keep awake; others moved restlessly with a dull sense of +physical discomfort, while the law, expressing itself in archaic terms, +wound its way through a labyrinth of technicalities, and reached out +hungrily for his very life. + +He knew that he would be given every opportunity to establish his +innocence, but he could not rid himself of the ugly disconcerting belief +that a man hunt was on, and that he, the hunted creature, was to be +driven from cover to cover while the state drew its threads of testimony +about him strand by strand, until they finally reached his very throat, +choking, strangling, killing! + +He thought of Elizabeth and was infinitely sorry. She must forget him, +she must go her way and leave him to go his--or the law's. He could face +the ruin of his own life, but it must stop there! He wondered what they +were saying and doing at Idle Hour; he wondered what the whole free +world was doing, while he stood there gazing from behind his bars at the +empurpled hills in the distance. + +He fell to pacing the narrow limits of his room; four steps took him to +the door, then he turned and four steps took him back to his +starting-point, the barred window. Presently a footfall sounded in the +corridor, a key was fitted in the heavy lock, and the door was opened by +Brockett, the sheriff's deputy, a round-faced, jolly, little man with a +shiny bald head and a closely cropped gray mustache. + +"You've got visitors, John!" said Brockett cheerfully, pausing in the +doorway. + +North turned on him swiftly. + +"The general and Miss Herbert,--you see your friends ain't forgot you! +You'll want to see them, I suppose, and you'd rather go down in the +office, wouldn't you?" + +"I should much prefer it!" said North. + +His first emotion had been one of keen delight, but as he followed +Brockett down the corridor the memory of what he was, and where he was, +came back to him. He had no right to demand anything of love or +friendship,--guilty or innocent mattered not at all! They were nearing +the door now beyond which stood Elizabeth and her father, and North +paused, placing a hand on the deputy's arm. The spirit of his +renunciation had been strong within him, but another feeling was +stronger still, he found; an ennobling pride in her devotion and trust. +What a pity the finer things of life were so often the impractical! He +pushed past the deputy and entered the office. + +Elizabeth came toward him with hands extended. Her cheeks were quite +colorless but the smile that parted her lips was infinitely tender and +compassionate. + +"You should not have come here!" North said, almost reproachfully, as +his hands closed about hers. + +General Herbert stood gravely regarding the two, and his glance when it +rested on North was troubled and uncertain. The difficulties which beset +this luckless fellow were only beginning, and what would the end be? + +"Father!" + +Elizabeth had turned toward him, and he advanced with as brave a show of +cordiality as he could command; but North read and understood the look +of pain in his frank gray eyes. + +"You agree with me that she should never have come here," North said +quietly. "But you couldn't refuse her!" he added, and his glance went +back to Elizabeth. + +"Under the circumstances it was right for her to come!" said the +general. But in his heart he was none too sure. + +"I couldn't remain away after to-day; I had been waiting for that stupid +jury to act--" She ended abruptly with a little laugh that became a sob, +and her father rested a large and gentle hand upon her shoulder. + +"There, dear, I told you all along it wouldn't do to count on any jury!" + +"My affairs are worth considering only as they affect you, Elizabeth!" +said North. "I was thinking of you when Brockett came to tell me you +were here. Won't you go away from Mount Hope? I want you to +forget,--no--" for she was about to speak; "wait until I have +finished;--even if I am acquitted this will always be something +discreditable in the eyes of the world, it's going to follow me through +life! It is going to be hard for me to bear, it will be doubly hard for +you, dear. I want your father to take you away and keep you away until +this thing is settled. I don't want your name linked with mine; that's +why I am sorry you came here, that's why you must never come here +again." + +"You mustn't ask me to go away from Mount Hope, John!" said Elizabeth. +"I am ready and willing to face the future with you; I was never more +willing than now!" + +"You don't understand, Elizabeth!" said North. "We are just at the +beginning. The trial, and all that, is still before us--long days of +agony--" + +"And you would send me away when you will most need me!" she said, with +gentle reproach. + +"I wish to spare you--" + +"But wherever I am, it will be the same!" + +"No, no,--you must forget--!" + +"If I can't,--what then?" she asked, looking up into his face. + +"I want you to try!" he urged. + +She shook her head. + +"Dear, I have lived through all this; I have asked myself if I really +cared so much that nothing counted against the little comfort I might be +to you; so much that the thought of what I am to you would outweigh +every other consideration, and I am sure of myself. If I were not, I +should probably wish to escape from it all. I am as much afraid of +public opinion as any one, and as easily hurt, but my love has carried +me beyond the point where such things matter!" + +"My dear! My dear! I am not worthy of such love." + +"You must let me be the judge of that." + +"Suppose the verdict is--guilty?" he asked. + +"No,--no, it will never be that!" But the color left her cheeks. + +"I don't suppose it will be," agreed North hastily. + +It was a cruel thing to force this doubt on her. + +"You won't send me away, John?" she entreated. "If I were to leave Mount +Hope now it would break my heart! I--we--my father and I, wish every one +to know that our confidence in you is unshaken." + +North turned to the general with a look of inquiry, of appeal. Something +very like a sigh escaped the older man's lips, but he squared his +shoulders manfully for the burdens they must bear. He said quietly: + +"Let us consider a phase of the situation that Elizabeth and I have been +discussing this afternoon. Watt Harbison is no doubt doing all he can +for you; but he was at Idle Hour last night, and said he would, +himself, urge on you the retention of some experienced criminal lawyer. +He suggested Ex-judge Belknap; I approve of this suggestion--" + +But North shook his head. + +"Oh, yes, John, it must be Judge Belknap!" cried Elizabeth. "Watt says +it must be, and father agrees with him!" + +"But I haven't the money, dear. His retainer would probably swallow up +all I have left." + +"Leave Belknap to me, North!" interposed the general. + +North's face reddened. + +"You are very kind, and I--I appreciate it all,--but don't you see I +can't do that?" he faltered. + +"Don't be foolish, John. You must reconsider this determination; as a +matter of fact I have taken the liberty of communicating with Belknap by +wire; he will reach Mount Hope in the morning. We are vitally concerned, +North, and you must accept help--money--whatever is necessary!" + +The expression on North's face softened, and tears stood in his eyes. + +"I knew you would prove reasonable," continued the general, and he +glanced at Elizabeth. + +She was everything to him. He could have wished that North was almost +any one else than North; and in spite of himself this feeling gave its +color to their interview, something of his wonted frankness was lacking. +It was his unconscious protest. + +"Very well, then, I will see Judge Belknap, and some day--when I can--" +said North, still struggling with his emotion and his pride. + +"Oh, don't speak of that!" exclaimed General Herbert hastily. + +"This miserable business could not have happened at a worse time for +me!" said the young fellow with bitterness. + +"Don't say that, John!" pleaded Elizabeth. "For your friends--" + +"You and your father, you mean!" interrupted North. + +"It is hard enough to think of you here alone, without--" Her voice +faltered, and this time her eyes filled with tears. + +"I'll not object again, Elizabeth; that you should suffer is much the +worst part of the whole affair!" + +Brockett had entered the room and General Herbert had drawn him aside. + +"I am coming every day, John!" said Elizabeth. + +"Will your father agree to that?" asked North. + +"Yes, can't you see how good and kind he is!" + +"Indeed I can, it is far beyond what I should be in his place, I'm +afraid." + +"It has been so horrible,--such nights of agony--" she whispered. + +"I know, dear,--I know!" he said tenderly. + +"They are not looking for other clues and yet the man who killed poor +old man McBride may be somewhere in Mount Hope at this very minute!" + +"Until I am proved innocent, I suppose they see nothing to do," said +North. + +"But, John, you are not afraid of the outcome?" And she rested a hand on +his arm. + +"No, I don't suppose I really am,--I shall be able to clear myself, of +course; the law doesn't often punish innocent men, and I am innocent." + +He spoke with quiet confidence, and her face became radiant with the +hope that was in his words. + +"You have taken to yourself more than your share of my evil fortunes, +Elizabeth, dear--I shall be a poor sort of a fellow if my gratitude does +not last to the end of my days!" said North. + +The general had shaken hands with the deputy and now crossed the room to +Elizabeth and North. + +"We shall have to say good night, North. Can we do anything before we +go?" he asked. + +"We will come again to-morrow, John,--won't we, father?" said Elizabeth, +as she gave North her hands. "And Judge Belknap will be here in the +morning!" She spoke with fresh courage and looked her lover straight in +the eyes. Then she turned to the general. + +North watched them as they passed out into the night, and even after the +door had closed on them he stood where she had left him. It was only +when the little deputy spoke that he roused himself from his reverie. + +"Well, John, are you ready now?" + +"Yes," said North. + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +AT HIS OWN DOOR + + +Judge Langham sat in his library before a brisk wood fire with the day's +papers in a heap on the floor beside him. In repose, the one dominant +expression of the judge's face was pride, an austere pride, which +manifested itself even in the most casual intercourse. Yet no man in +Mount Hope combined fewer intimacies with a wider confidence, and his +many years of public life had but augmented the universal respect in +which he was held. + +Now in the ruddy light of his own hearth, but quite divorced from any +sentiment or sympathy, the judge was considering the case of John North. +His mind in all its operations was singularly clear and dispassionate; a +judicial calm, as though born to the bench, was habitual to him. It was +nothing that his acquaintance with John North dated back to the day John +North first donned knee-breeches. + +He shaded his face with his hand. In the long procession of evil-doers +who had gone their devious ways through the swinging baize doors of his +court, North stalked as the one great criminal. Unconsciously his glance +fixed itself on the hand he had raised to shield his eyes from the +light of the blazing logs, and it occurred to him that that hand might +yet be called on to sign away a man's life. + +The ringing of his door-bell caused him to start expectantly, and a +moment later a maid entered to say that a man and a woman wished to see +him. + +"Show them in!" said the judge. + +And Mr. Shrimplin with all that modesty of demeanor which one of his +sensitive nature might be expected to feel in the presence of greatness, +promptly insinuated himself into the room. + +The little lamplighter was dressed in those respectable garments which +in the Shrimplin household were adequately described as his "other +suit," and as if to remove any doubt from the mind of the beholder that +he had failed to prepare himself for the occasion, he wore a clean paper +collar, but no tie, this latter being an adornment Mr. Shrimplin had not +attempted in years. Close on Shrimplin's heels came a jaded unkempt +woman in a black dress, worn and mended. On seeing her the judge's cold +scrutiny somewhat relaxed. + +"So it's you, Nellie?" he said, and motioned her to a chair opposite his +own. + +Not knowing exactly what was expected of him, Mr. Shrimplin remained +standing in the middle of the room, hat in hand. + +"Be seated, Shrimplin," said the judge, sensing something of the +lamplighter's embarrassment in his presence and rather liking him for +it. + +"Thank you, Judge," replied Shrimplin, selecting a straight-backed chair +in a shadowy corner of the room, on the very edge of which he humbly +established himself. + +"Better draw nearer the fire, Shrimplin!" advised the judge. + +"Thank you, Judge, I ain't cold," rejoined Mr. Shrimplin in his best +manner. + +The judge turned to the woman. She had once been a servant in his +household, but had quitted his employ to marry Joe Montgomery, and to +become by that same act Mr. Shrimplin's sister-in-law. The judge knew +that her domestic life had been filled with every known variety of +trouble, since from time to time she had appealed to him for help or +advice, and on more than one occasion at her urgent request he had +interviewed the bibulous Joe. + +"I hope you are not in trouble, Nellie," he said, not unkindly. + +"Yes I am, Judge!" cried his visitor in a voice worn thin by weariness. + +"It's that disgustin' Joe!" interjected Mr. Shrimplin from his corner, +advancing his hooked nose from the shadows. "Don't take up the judge's +time, Nellie; time's money, and money's as infrequent as a white crow." + +And then suddenly and painfully conscious of his verbal forwardness, the +little lamplighter sank back into the grateful gloom of his corner and +was mute. + +"It's my man, Judge--" said Nellie. + +And the judge nodded comprehendingly. + +"I don't know how me and my children are to live through the winter, I +declare I don't, Judge, unless he gives me a little help!" + +"And the winter ain't fairly here yet, and it's got a long belly when it +does come!" said Mr. Shrimplin. + +Immediately the little man was conscious of the impropriety of his +language. He realized that the happy and forcefully expressed philosophy +with which he sought to open Custer's mind to the practical truths of +life, was a jarring note in the judge's library. + +"Joe's acting scandalous, Judge, just scandalous!" said Nellie with +sudden shrill energy. "That man would take the soul out of a saint with +his carryings-on!" + +"It seems to me there is nothing new in this," observed the judge a +little impatiently. "Is he under arrest?" + +"No, Judge, he ain't under arrest--" began Nellie. + +"Which ain't saying he hadn't ought to be!" the little lamplighter +snorted savagely. He suddenly remembered he was there to give his moral +support to his sister-in-law. + +"That man's got a new streak into him, Judge. I thought he'd about done +everything he could do that he shouldn't, but he's broke out in a fresh +spot!" + +"What has he been doing, Nellie?" asked the judge, who felt that his +callers had so far lacked in directness and definiteness. + +"What ain't he been doing, you'd better say, Judge!" cried Nellie +miserably. + +"Is he abusing you or the children?" + +"I don't see him from one week's end to another!" + +"Am I to understand that he has deserted you?" questioned the judge. + +"No, I can't say that, for he sends his clothes home for me to wash and +mend." + +"Ain't that the human sufferin' limit?" gasped Mr. Shrimplin. + +"I suppose you wash and mend them?" And the judge smiled faintly. + +"Of course," admitted Mrs. Montgomery simply. + +"Does he contribute anything toward your support?" asked the judge. + +The woman laughed sarcastically at this. + +"It takes a barkeeper to pry Joe loose from his coin," interjected Mr. +Shrimplin. "Get down to details, Nellie, and tell the judge what kind of +a critter you're hitched up to." + +"He told Arthur, that's my oldest boy, if I didn't stop bothering him, +that he was just man enough to pay five dollars for the fun of knocking +the front off my face!" + +"That was a choice one to hand out to an eldest son, wasn't it, your +Honor?" said the little lamplighter, tugging at his flaxen mustache. + +"I just manage to keep a roof over our heads," went on Nellie, "and +without any thanks to him; but he has plenty of money, and where it +comes from I'd like to know, for he ain't done a lick of work in weeks!" + +"Fact, Judge!" remarked Mr. Shrimplin. "I've made it my business lately +to keep one eye on Joe. He spends half his time loafin' at Andy +Gilmore's rooms, and the other half gettin' pickled." + +"What do you wish me to do?" asked the judge, addressing himself to Mrs. +Montgomery. + +"I wish, Judge, that you'd send word to him that you want to see him!" + +"And toss a good healthy scare into him!" added Mr. Shrimplin +aggressively. + +"But he might not care to respect the summons; there is no reason why he +should," explained the judge. + +"If he knows you want to see him, he'll come here fast enough!" said +Nellie. + +The judge turned to Shrimplin. + +"Will you tell him this, Shrimplin, the first time you see him?" + +"Won't I!" said the little lamplighter. "Certainly, Judge--certainly!" +and his agile fancy had already clothed the message in verbiage that +should terrify the delinquent Joe. + +"Very well, then; but beyond giving him a word of advice and warning; I +can do nothing." + +A night or two later, as the judge, who had spent the evening at +Colonel Harbison's, came to his own gate, he saw a slouching figure +detach itself from the shadows near his front door and advance to meet +him midway of the graveled path that led to the street. It was Joe +Montgomery. + +"Well, my man!" said the judge, with some little show of sternness. "I +suppose you received my message?" + +Montgomery uncovered his shock of red hair, while his bulk of bone and +muscle actually trembled in the presence of the small but awesome figure +confronting him. He might have crushed the judge with a blow of his huge +fist, but no possible provocation could have induced him to lay hands on +Nellie's powerful ally. + +"That skunk Shrimplin says my old woman's been here," he faltered, +"poisonin' your mind agin me!" A sickly grin relaxed his heavy jaws. +"The Lord only knows what she expects of a man--I dunno! The more I try, +the worse she gets; nothin' satisfies her!" + +His breath, reeking of whisky, reached the judge. + +"This is all very well, Montgomery, but I have a word or two to say to +you--come into the house." + +He led his disreputable visitor into the library, turned up the gas, and +intrenched himself on the hearth-rug with his back to the fire. The +handy-man had kept near the door leading into the hall. + +"Come closer!" commanded the judge, and Montgomery, hat in hand, +advanced a step. "I wish to warn you, Montgomery, that if you persist +in your present course, it is certain to bring its own consequences," +began the judge. + +"Sure, boss!" Joe faltered abjectly. + +"I understand from Nellie that you have practically deserted your +family," continued the judge. + +"Ain't she hateful?" cried Joe, shaking his great head. + +"When she married you, she had a right to expect you would not turn out +the scoundrel you are proving yourself." + +"Boss, that's so," agreed Montgomery. + +"This won't do!" said the judge briskly. "Nellie says she doesn't see +you from one week's end to another; that you have money and yet +contribute nothing toward her support nor the support of your family." + +"I am willin' to go home, Judge!" said Montgomery, fingering his cap +with clumsy hands. He took a step nearer the slight figure on the +hearth-rug and dropped his voice to a husky half maudlin whisper. "He +won't let me--see--I'm a nigger slave to him! I know I got a wife--I +know I got a family, but he says--no! He says--'Joe, you damned old sot, +you'll go home with a few drinks inside your freckled hide and begin to +shoot off your mouth, and there'll be hell to pay for all of us!'" + +"He? What are you saying--who won't let you go home?" demanded the +judge. + +"Andy Gilmore; he's afraid my old woman will get it out of me. I tell +him I'm a married man but he says, 'No, you old soak, you stay here!'" + +"What has Andy Gilmore to do with whether you go home or not?" inquired +the judge. + +"It's him and Marsh," said the handy-man. "They bully me till I'm that +rattled--" + +"Marsh--do you mean my son, Marshall?" interrupted the judge. + +"Yes, boss--" + +"I don't understand this!" said the judge after a moment of silence. +"Why should Mr. Gilmore or my son wish to keep you away from your wife?" + +"It's just a notion of theirs," replied Montgomery with sudden drunken +loyalty. "And I'll say this--money never come so easy--and stuff to +drink! Andy's got it scattered all about the place; there ain't many +bars in this here town stocked up like his rooms!" + +The judge devoted a moment to a close scrutiny of his caller. + +"You are some sort of a relative of Mr. Gilmore's, are you not?" he +asked at length. + +"We're cousins, boss." + +"Why does he wish to keep you away from your family?" the judge spoke +after another brief pause. + +"It's my old woman," and Montgomery favored the judge with a drunken +leer. "Suppose I was to go home full, what's to hinder her from gettin' +things out of me? I'm a talker, drunk or sober, and Andy Gilmore knows +it--that's what he's afraid of!" + +"What have you to tell that could affect Mr. Gilmore? Do you refer to +the gambling that is supposed to go on in his rooms? If so, he is at +needless pains in the matter; Mr. Moxlow will take up his case as soon +as the North trial is out of the way." + +Montgomery started, took a forward step, and dropping his voice to an +impressive whisper, said: + +"Judge, what are you goin' to do with young John North?" + +"I shall do nothing with John North; it is the law--society, to which he +is accountable," rejoined the judge. + +"Will he be sent up, do you reckon?" asked Montgomery, and his small +blue eyes searched the judge's face eagerly. + +"If he is convicted, he will either be sentenced to the penitentiary for +a term of years or else hanged." The judge spoke without visible +feeling. + +The effect of his words on the handy-man was singular. A hoarse +exclamation burst from his lips, and his bloated face became pale and +drawn. + +"You mustn't do that, boss!" he cried, spreading out his great hands in +protest. "A term of years--how many's that?" + +"In this particular instance it may mean the rest of his life," said the +judge. + +Montgomery threw up his arms in a gesture of despair. + +"Don't you be too rough on him, boss!" he cried. "For life!" he repeated +in a tone of horror. "But that ain't what Andy and Marsh tell me; they +say his friends will see him through, that he's got the general back of +him, and money--how's that, Judge?" + +"They are making sport of your ignorance," said the judge, almost +pityingly. + +"I'm done with them!" cried Joe Montgomery with a great oath. He raised +one clenched hand and brought it down in the opened palm of the other. +"Andy's everlastingly lied to me; I won't help send no man up for life!" + +"What do you mean?" demanded the judge, astonished at this sudden +outburst, and impressed, in spite of himself, by the man's earnestness. + +"Just what I say, boss! They can count me out--I'm agin 'em, I'm agin +'em every time!" And again, as if to give force to his words, he swung +his heavy first around and struck the open palm of his other hand a +stinging blow. "Eatin' and sleepin', I'm agin 'em! I ain't liked the +look of this from the first, and now I'm down and out, and they can go +to hell for all of me!" + +The judge rested an elbow on the chimneypiece and regarded Montgomery +curiously. He knew the man was drunk; he knew that sober he would +probably have said much less than he was now saying, but he also knew +that there was some powerful feeling back of his words. + +"If you are involved in any questionable manner with Mr. Gilmore, I +should advise you to think twice before you go further with it. Mr. +Gilmore is shrewd, he has money; you are a poor man and you are an +ignorant man. Your reputation is none of the best." + +"Thank you, boss!" said Montgomery gratefully. + +"Mr. Gilmore probably expects to use you for his own ends regardless of +the consequences to you," finished the judge. + +"Supposin'--" began the handy-man huskily, "supposin', boss, I was to go +into court and swear to something that wasn't so; what's that?" and he +bent a searching glance on the judge's face. + +"Perjury," said the judge laconically. + +"What's it worth to a man? I reckon it's like drinkin' and stealin', +it's got so many days and costs chalked up agin it?" + +"I think," said the judge quietly, "that you would better tell me what +you mean. Ordinarily I should not care to mix in your concerns, but on +Nellie's account--" + +"God take a likin' to you, boss!" cried Montgomery. "I know I ought to +have kept out of this. I told Andy Gilmore how it would be, that I +hadn't the brains for it; but he was to stand back of me. And so he +will--to give me a kick and a shove when he's done with me!" + +He saw himself caught in that treacherous fabric Gilmore had erected for +John North, whose powerful friends would get him clear. Andy and Marsh +would go unscathed, too. Only Joe Montgomery would suffer--Joe +Montgomery, penniless and friendless, a cur in the gutter for any decent +man to kick! He passed the back of his hand across his face. + +"It's a hell of a world and be damned to it!" he muttered hoarsely under +his breath. + +"You must make it clearer to me than this!" said the judge impatiently. + +Montgomery seemed to undergo a brief but intense mental struggle, then +he blurted out: + +"Boss, I lied when I said it was North I seen come over old man +McBride's shed that night!" + +"Do you mean to tell me that you perjured yourself in the North case?" +asked the judge sternly. + +"Sure, I lied!" said the handy-man. "But Andy Gilmore was back of that +lie; it was him told me what I was to say, and it's him that kept +houndin' me, puttin' me up to say more than I ever agreed to!" He +slouched nearer the judge. "Boss, I chuck up the whole business; do you +understand? I want to take back all I said; I'm willin' to tell the God +A'mighty's truth!" + +He paused abruptly. In his excitement he had forgotten what the truth +meant, what it would mean to the man before him. He was vaguely aware +that in abler hands than his own, this knowledge which he possessed +would have been molded into a terrible weapon, but he was impotent to +use it; with every advantage his, he felt only the desperate pass in +which he had placed himself. If Gilmore and Marshall Langham could +juggle with John North's life, what of his own life when the judge +should have become their ally! + +"Me and you'll have to fix up what I got to say, boss!" he added with a +cunning grin. + +"Do you mean you wish to make a statement to me?" asked the judge. + +The handy-man nodded. The judge hesitated. + +"Perhaps we would better send for Mr. Moxlow?" he suggested. + +But Montgomery shook his head vehemently. + +"I got nothin' to say to that man Moxlow!" he growled with sullen +determination. + +"Very well, then, if you prefer to make your statement to me," and the +judge turned to his desk. + +"Hold on, boss, we ain't ready for that just yet!" Joe objected. He was +sober enough, by this time. + +"What is it you wish to tell me?" + +And the judge resumed his former position on the hearth-rug. + +"First you got to agree to get me out of this." + +"I can agree to nothing," answered the judge quietly. + +"I ain't smart, boss, but Joe Montgomery's old hide means a whole lot to +Joe Montgomery! You give me your word that I'll be safe, no matter what +happens!" + +"I can promise you nothing," repeated the judge. + +"Then what's the use of my tellin' you the truth?" demanded Montgomery. + +"It has become the part of wisdom, since you have already admitted that +you have perjured yourself." + +"Boss, if it wasn't John North I seen in the alley that day, who was +it?" and he strode close to the judge's side, dropping his voice to a +whisper. + +"Perhaps the whole story was a lie." + +The handy-man laughed and drew himself up aggressively. + +"I'm a man as can do damage--I got to be treated right, or by the Lord +I'll _do_ damage! I been badgered and hounded by Marsh and Andy Gilmore +till I'm fair crazy. They got to take their hands off me and leave me +loose, for I won't hang no man on their say-so! John North never done me +no harm, I got nothing agin him!" + +"You have admitted that your whole story of seeing John North on the +night of the McBride murder is a lie," said the judge. + +"Boss, there is truth enough in it to hang a man!" + +"You saw a man cross McBride's sheds?" + +And the judge kept his eyes fastened on the handy-man's face. + +"I seen a man cross McBride's shed, boss." + +"And you have sworn that that man was John North." + +"I swore to a lie. Boss, we got to fix it this way: I seen a man come +over the roof and drop into the alley; I swore it was John North, but I +never meant to swear to that; the most I promised Andy was that I'd say +I thought it _looked_ like John North, but them infernal lawyers got +after me, and the first thing I knowed I'd said it _was_ John North!" + +"Your story is absurd!" exclaimed the judge, with a show of anger. + +The handy-man raised his right hand dramatically. + +"It's God A'mighty's everlastin' truth!" he swore. + +"Understand, I have made you no promises," said the judge, disregarding +him. + +"You're goin' back on me!" cried Montgomery. "Then you look out. I'm a +man as can do harm if I have a mind to; don't you give me the mind, +boss!" + +"I shall lay this matter before Mr. Moxlow in the morning," replied the +judge quietly and with apparent indifference, but covertly he was +watching the effect of his words on Montgomery. + +"And then they'll be after me!" cried the handy-man. + +"Very likely," said the judge placidly. + +Montgomery glanced about as though he half expected to see Gilmore rise +up out of some shadowy corner. + +"Boss, do you want to know who it was I seen come over old man McBride's +shed? Do you want to know why Andy and Marsh are so set agin my goin' +home to my old woman? Why they give me money? It's a pity I ain't a +smarter man! I'd own 'em, both body and soul!" + +"Man, you are mad!" cried the judge. + +But this man who was usually austere and always unafraid, was feeling a +strange terror of the debased and slouching figure before him. + +"Do you reckon you're man enough to hear what I got in me to tell?" +asked Montgomery, again raising his right hand high above his head as if +he called on Heaven to witness the truth of what he said. "Why won't +they let me go home to my old woman, boss? Why do they keep me at Andy +Gilmore's--why do they give me money? Because what I'm tellin' you is +all a lie, I suppose! Just because they like old Joe Montgomery and want +him 'round! I don't think!" He threw back his head and laughed with +rough sarcasm. "You're a smarter man than me, boss; figure it out; give +a reason for it!" + +But the judge, white-faced and shaken to his very soul, was silent; yet +he guessed no part of the terrible truth Montgomery supposed he had made +plain to him. At the most he believed Marshall was shielding Gilmore +from the consequences of a crime the gambler had committed. + +Montgomery, sinister and menacing, shuffled across the room and then +back to the judge's side. + +"You ask Marsh, boss, what it all means. I got nothin' more to say! Ask +him who killed old man McBride! If he don't know, no man on this green +earth does!" + +The judge's face twitched convulsively, but he made no answer to this. + +"Ask him!" repeated the handy-man, and swinging awkwardly on his heel +went from the room without a single backward glance. + +An instant later the street-door closed with a noisy bang. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +AN UNWILLING GUEST + + +Montgomery told himself he would go home; he had seen the last of the +gambler and Marsh Langham, he would look out for his own skin now and +they could look out for theirs. He laughed boisterously as he strode +along. He had fooled them both; he, Joe Montgomery, had done this, and +by a very master stroke of cunning had tied the judge's hands. But as he +shuffled down the street he saw the welcoming lights of Lonigan's saloon +and suddenly remembered there was good hard money in his ragged pockets. +He would have just one drink and then go home to his old woman. + +It was well on toward midnight when he came out on the street again, and +the one drink had become many drinks; still mindful of his original +purpose, however, he reeled across the Square on his way home. He had +just turned into Mulberry Street when he became conscious of a brisk +step on the pavement at his side, and at the same instant a heavy hand +descended on his shoulder and he found himself looking into Andy +Gilmore's dark face. + +"Where have you been?" demanded Gilmore. "I thought I told you to stay +about to-night!" + +"I have been down to Lonigan's saloon," faltered Joe, his courage going +from him at sight of the gambler. + +"What took you there?" asked Gilmore angrily. "Don't you get enough to +drink at my place?" + +"Lots to drink, boss, but it's mostly too rich for my blood. I ain't +used to bein' so pampered." + +"Come along with me!" said Gilmore briefly. + +"Where to, boss?" asked Montgomery, in feeble protest. + +"You'll know presently." + +"I thought I'd like to go home, maybe--" said Joe irresolutely. + +"Never mind what you thought you'd like, you come with me!" insisted +Gilmore. + +Although the handy-man's first impulse had been that of revolt, he now +followed the gambler meekly back across the Square. They entered the +building at the corner of Main Street and mounted to Mr. Gilmore's +rooms. The latter silently unlocked the door and motioned Montgomery to +precede him into the apartment, then he followed, pausing midway of the +room to turn up the gas which was burning low. Next he divested himself +of his hat and coat, and going to a buffet which stood between the two +heavily curtained windows that overlooked the Square, found a decanter +and glasses. These he brought to the center-table, where he leisurely +poured his unwilling guest a drink. + +"Here, you old sot, soak this up!" he said genially. + +"Boss, I want to go home to my old woman!" began the handy-man, after he +had emptied his glass. + +"Your old woman will keep!" retorted Gilmore shortly. + +"But, boss, I got to go to her; the judge says I must! She's been there +to see him; damn it, she cried and hollered and took on awful because +she ain't seein' me; it was pitiful!" + +"What's that?" demanded Gilmore sharply. + +"It was pitiful!" repeated Montgomery, shaking his great head +dolorously. + +"Oh, cut that! Who have you seen?" + +"Judge Langham." + +"When did you see him?" + +Mr. Gilmore spoke with a forced calm. + +"To-night. My old woman--" + +"Oh, to hell with your old woman!" shouted the gambler furiously. "Do +you mean that you were at Judge Langham's to-night?" + +"Yes, boss; he sent for me, see? I had to go!" explained Montgomery. + +"Why did you go there without letting me know, you drunken loafer?" +stormed Gilmore. + +He took the handy-man by the arm and pushed him into a chair, then he +stood above him, black-browed and menacing. + +"Boss, don't you blame me, it was my old woman; she wants me home with +the kids and her, and the judge, he says I got to go!" + +"If he wants to know why I'm keeping you here, send him round to me!" +said Gilmore. + +"All right, I will." And Montgomery staggered to his feet. + +But Gilmore pushed him back into his chair. + +"What else did you talk about besides your old woman?" asked the +gambler, after an oppressive silence in which Montgomery heard only the +thump of his heart against his ribs. + +"I told him you'd always been like a father to me--" said the handy-man, +ready to weep. + +"I'm obliged to you for that!" replied Gilmore with a smile of grim +humor. + +"He said he always knowed it," added Montgomery, misled by the smile. + +"Well, what else?" questioned Gilmore. + +"Why, I reckon that was about all!" said Joe, who had ventured as far +afield into the realms of fancy as his drunken faculties would allow. + +"You're sure about that?" + +"I hope I may die--" + +"And the judge says you're to go home?" + +"Say, Shrimp took my old woman there, and she cried and bellered and +carried on awful! She loves me, boss--the judge says I'm to go home to +her to-night or he'll have me pinched. He says that you and Marsh ain't +to keep me here no longer!" + +His voice rose into a wail, for blind terror was laying hold of him. +There was something, a look on Gilmore's handsome cruel face, he did not +understand but which filled him with miserable foreboding. + +"What's that, about Marsh and me keeping you here?" inquired Gilmore. + +"You got to leave me loose--" + +"So you told him that?" + +"I had to tell him somethin'. My old woman made an awful fuss! They had +to throw water on her; Shrimp took her home in an express-wagon. Hell, +boss, I'm a married man--I got a family! I know what I ought to do, and +I'm goin' home, the judge says I got to! Him and me talked it all over, +and he's goin' to speak to Marsh about keepin' me here!" + +"So you've told him we keep you here?" And the gambler glowered at him. +He poured himself a drink of whisky and swallowed it at a gulp. "Well, +what else did you tell him?" he asked over the rim of his glass. + +"That's about all; only me and the judge understand each other," said +the handy-man vaguely. + +"Well, it was enough!" rejoined Gilmore. "You are sure you didn't say +anything about North?" + +Montgomery shook his head in vigorous denial. + +"Sure?" repeated Gilmore, his glance intent and piercing. "Sure?" + +A sickly pallor was overspreading the handy-man's flame-colored visage. +It began at his heavy puffy jaws, and diffused itself about his cheeks. +He could feel it spread. + +"Sure?" said the gambler. "Sure?" + +There was an awful pause. Gilmore carefully replaced his glass on the +table, then he roared in a voice of thunder: + +"Stand up, you hound!" + +Montgomery realized that the consequences of his treachery were to be +swift and terrible. He came slowly to his feet, but no sooner had he +gained them than Gilmore drove his fist into his face, and he collapsed +on his chair. + +"Stand up!" roared Gilmore again. + +And again Montgomery came erect only to be knocked back into a sitting +posture, with a long gash across his jaw where the gambler's diamond +ring had left its mark. + +"I tell you, stand up!" cried Gilmore. + +Reaching forward he seized Montgomery by the throat with his left hand +and jerked him to his feet, then holding him so, he coolly battered his +face with his free hand. + +"For God's sake, quit, boss--you're killin' me!" cried Joe, as he vainly +sought to protect his face with his arms. + +But Mr. Gilmore had a primitive prejudice in favor of brute force, and +the cruel blows continued until Montgomery seemed to lose power even to +attempt to shield himself; his great hands hung helpless at his side and +his head fell over on his shoulder. Seeing which the gambler released +his victim, who, limp and quivering, dropped to the floor. + +Still crazed with rage, Gilmore kicked the handy-man into a corner, and +turning poured himself still another drink of whisky. If he had spoken +then of what was uppermost in his mind, it would have been to complain +of the rotten luck which in so ticklish a business had furnished him +with fools and sots for associates. He should have known better than to +have trusted drunken Joe Montgomery; he should have kept out of the +whole business-- + +With the suddenness of revelation he realized his own predicament, but +with the realization came the knowledge that he was now hopelessly +involved; that he could not go back; that he must go on, or--here he +threw back his shoulders as though to cast off his evil forebodings--or +between the dusk of one day and the dawn of another, he might disappear +from Mount Hope. + +With this cheering possibility in mind, he picked up the glass of whisky +beside him and emptied it at a single draught, then he put on his +overcoat and hat and went from the room, locking the door behind him. + +Presently the wretched heap on the floor stirred and moaned feebly, and +then lay still. A little later it moaned again. Lifting his head he +stared vacantly about him. + +"Boss--" he began in a tone of entreaty, but realizing that he was +alone he fell weakly to cursing Gilmore. + +It was a good five minutes from the time he recovered consciousness +until he was able to assume a sitting posture, when he rested his +battered face in his hands and nursed his bruises. + +"And me his cousin!" he muttered, and groaned again. + +He feebly wiped his bloody hands on the legs of his trousers and by an +effort staggered to his feet. His only idea was escape; and steadying +himself he managed to reach the door; but the door was locked, and he +flung himself down in a convenient chair and once more fell to nursing +his wounds. + +Fifteen or twenty minutes had passed when he heard steps in the hallway. +He knew it was Gilmore returning, but the gambler was not alone; +Montgomery heard him speak to his companion as a key was fitted to the +lock. The door swung open and Gilmore, followed by Marshall Langham, +entered the room. + +"Here's the drunken hound, Marsh!" said the gambler. + +"For God's sake, boss, let me out of this!" cried Montgomery, addressing +himself to Langham. + +"Yes, we will--like hell!" said Gilmore. "By rights we ought to take you +down to the creek, knock you in the head and heave you in--eh, Marsh? +That's about the size of what we _ought_ to do!" + +Langham's face was white and drawn with apprehension, yet he surveyed +the ruin the gambler had wrought with something like pity. + +"Why, what's happened to him, Andy?" he asked. + +His companion laughed brutally. + +"Oh, I punched him up some, I couldn't keep my hands off him, I only +wonder I didn't kill him--" + +"Let me out of this, boss--" whined the handy-man. + +"Shut up, you!" said the gambler roughly. + +He drew back his hand, but Langham caught his arm. + +"Don't do that, Andy!" he said. "He isn't in any shape to stand much +more of that; and what's the use, the harm's done!" + +The gambler scowled on his cousin Joe with moody resentment. + +"All the same I've got a good notion to finish the job!" he said. + +"Let me go home, boss!" entreated Montgomery, still addressing himself +to Langham. "God's sake, he pretty near killed me!" + +He stood up on shaking legs. + +Wretched, abject, his uneasy glance shifted first from one to the other +of his patrons, who were now his judges, and for aught he knew would be +his executioners as well. The gambler glared back at him with an +expression of set ferocity which told him he need expect no mercy from +that source; but with Langham it was different; he at least was not +wantonly brutal. The sight of physical suffering always distressed him +and Joe's bruised and bloody face was more than he could bear to look +at. + +"For two cents I'd knock him on the head!" jerked out Gilmore. + +"Oh, quit, Andy; let him alone! I want to ask him a question or two," +said Langham. + +"You'll never know from him what he said or didn't say--you'll learn +that from the judge himself," and Gilmore laughed harshly. + +A minute or two passed before Langham could trust himself to speak. When +he did, he turned to Montgomery to ask: + +"I wish you'd tell me as nearly as you can what you said to my father?" + +"I didn't go there to tell him anything, boss; he just got it out of me. +What chance has a slob like me with him?" + +"Got what out of you?" questioned Langham in a low voice. + +"Well, he didn't get much, boss," replied Montgomery, shaking his head. + +"But what did you tell him?" insisted Langham. + +"I don't remember, boss, I was full, see--and maybe I said too much and +then agin maybe I didn't!" + +"I hope you like this, Marsh; it's the sort of thing I been up against," +said Gilmore. + +By way of answer Langham made a weary gesture. The horror of the +situation was now a thing beyond fear. + +"I'm for sending the drunken loafer to the other side of the continent," +said Gilmore. + +"What's the use of that?" asked Langham dully. + +"Every use," rejoined Gilmore with fresh confidence. "It's enough, ain't +it, that he's talked to your father; we can't take chances on his +talking to any one else. There's the west-bound express; I'm for putting +him on that--there's time enough. We can give him a couple of hundred +dollars and that will be the end of him, for if he ever shows his face +here in Mount Hope, I'll break every bone in his body. What do you say?" + +"Perhaps you are right!" And Langham glanced uncertainly at the +handy-man. + +"Well, it's either that, or else I can knock him over the head. Perhaps +you had rather do that, it's more in your line." + +"Boss, you give me the money and let me go now, and I won't _ever_ come +back!" cried Montgomery eagerly. "I been lookin' for the chance to get +clear of this bum town! I'll stay away, don't you lose no sleep about +that; I ain't got nothin' to ever bring me back." + +And on the moment Mr. Montgomery banished from his mind and heart all +idea of the pure joys of domestic life. It was as if his old woman had +never been. He was sure travel was what he required, and a great deal +of it, and all in one direction--away from Mount Hope. + +No unnecessary time was wasted on Montgomery's appearance. A wet towel +in the not too gentle hands of Mr. Gilmore removed the blood stains from +his face, and then he was led forth into the night,--the night which so +completely swallowed up all trace of him that his old woman and her +brood sought his accustomed haunts in vain. Nor was Mr. Moxlow any more +successful in his efforts to discover the handy-man's whereabouts. As +for Mount Hope she saw in the mysterious disappearance of the star +witness only the devious activities of John North's friends. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +FATHER AND SON + + +While Mr. Gilmore was an exceedingly capable accomplice, at once +resourceful, energetic, unsentimental and conscienceless, he yet +combined with these solid merits, certain characteristics which rendered +uninterrupted intercourse with him a horror and a shame to Marshall +Langham who was daily and almost hourly paying the price the gambler had +set on his silence. And what a price it was! Gilmore was his master, +coarse, brutal, and fiercely exacting. How he hated him, and yet how +necessary he had become; for the gambler never faltered, was never +uncertain; he met each difficulty with a callous readiness which Langham +knew he himself would utterly have lacked. He decided this was because +Gilmore was without imagination, since in his own many fearful, doubting +moments, he saw always what he had come to believe as the inevitable +time when the wicked fabric they were building would collapse like a +house of cards in a gale of wind, and his terrible secret would be +revealed to all men. + +All this while, step by step, Gilmore, without haste but without pause, +was moving toward his desires. He came and went in the Langham house as +if he were master there. + +When Marshall had first informed Evelyn that he expected to have Mr. +Gilmore in to dinner, there had been a scene, and she had threatened to +appeal to the judge; but he told her fiercely that he would bring home +whom he pleased, that it suited him to be decent to Andy and that was +all there was to it. And apparently she soon found something to like in +this strange intimate of her husband's; at least she had made no protest +after the gambler's first visit to the house. + +On his part Gilmore was quickly conscious of the subtle encouragement +she extended him. She understood him, she saw into his soul, she divined +his passion for her and she was not shocked by it. In his unholy musings +he told himself that here was a woman who was dead game--and a lady, +too, with all the pretty ways and refinements that were so lacking in +the other women he had known. + +Montgomery was some two days gone toward the West and Gilmore had +dropped around ostensibly to see Marshall Langham, but in reality to +make love to Marshall Langham's wife, when the judge, looking gray and +old, walked in on the little group unobserved. He paused for an instant +near the door. + +Evelyn was seated before the piano and Gilmore was bending above her, +while Marshall, with an unread book in his hands and with a half-smoked +cigar between his teeth, was lounging in front of the fire. The judge's +glance rested questioningly on Gilmore, but only for a moment. Then an +angry flame of recognition colored his thin cheeks. + +Aware now of his father's presence, Marshall tossed aside his book and +quitted his chair. For two days he had been dreading this meeting, and +for two days he had done what he could to avert it. + +"You must have had a rather cold walk, father; let me draw a chair up +close to the fire for you," he said. + +Evelyn had risen to greet the judge, while the gambler turned to give +him an easy nod. A smile hid itself in the shadow of his black mustache; +he was feeling very sure of himself and surer still of Evelyn. The +disfavor or approval of this slight man of sixty meant nothing to him. + +"How do you do, sir!" said the judge with icy civility. + +Had he met Gilmore on the street he would not have spoken to him. As he +slowly withdrew his eyes from the gambler, he said to his son: + +"Can you spare me a moment or two, Marshall?" + +"Come into the library," and Marshall led the way from the room. + +They walked the length of the hall in silence, Marshall a step or two in +advance of the judge. He knew his father was there on no trivial errand. +This visit was the result of his interview with Joe Montgomery. How +much had the handy-man told him? This was the question that had been +revolving in his mind for the last two days, and he was about to find an +answer to it. + +The father and son entered the room, each heavily preoccupied. Marshall +seated himself and stared moodily into the fire. Already the judge had +found a chair and his glance was fixed on the carpet at his feet. +Presently looking up he asked: + +"Will you be good enough to tell me what that fellow is doing here?" + +"Andy?" + +The single word came from Langham as with a weary acceptance of his +father's anger. + +"Yes, certainly--Gilmore--of whom do you imagine me to be speaking?" + +"Give a dog a bad name--" + +"He has earned his name. I had heard something of this but did not +credit it!" said the judge. + +There was another pause. + +"Perhaps you will be good enough to explain how I happen to meet that +fellow here?" + +The judge regarded his son fixedly. There had always existed a cordial +frankness in their intercourse, for though the judge was a man of few +intimacies, family ties meant much to him, and these ties were now all +centered in his son. He had shown infinite patience with Marshall's +turbulent youth; an even greater patience with his dissipated manhood; +he believed that in spite of the terrible drafts he was making on his +energies, his future would not be lacking in solid and worthy +achievement. In his own case the traditional vice of the Langhams had +passed him by. He was grateful for this, but it had never provoked in +him any spirit of self-righteousness; indeed, it had only made him the +more tender in his judgment of his son's lapses. + +"Marshall--" and the tone of anger had quite faded from his +voice--"Marshall, what is that fellow's hold on you?" + +"You would not appreciate Andy's peculiar virtues even if I were to try +to describe them," said Marshall with a smile of sardonic humor. + +"Do you consider him the right sort of a person to bring into your +home?" + +"It won't hurt him!" said Marshall. + +The judge, with a look on his face that mingled astonishment and injury, +sank back in his chair. He never attempted anything that even faintly +suggested flippancy, and he was unappreciative of this tendency in +others. + +"You have not told me what this fellow's hold on you is?" he said, after +a moment's silence. + +"Oh, he's done me one or two good turns." + +"You mean in the way of money?" + +Marshall nodded. + +"Are you in his debt now, may I ask?" + +"No," and Marshall moved restlessly. + +"Are you quite frank with me, Marshall?" asked the judge with that rare +gentleness of voice and manner that only his son knew. + +"Quite." + +"Because it would be better to make every sacrifice and be rid of the +obligation." + +Another long pause followed in which there came to the ears of the two +men the sound of a noisy waltz that Evelyn was playing. Again it was the +judge who broke the oppressive silence. + +"I came here to-night, Marshall, because there is a matter I must +discuss with you. Perhaps you will tell me what you and Gilmore have +done with Joe Montgomery?" + +Marshall had sought to prepare himself against the time when this very +question should be asked him, but the color left his cheeks. + +"I don't think I know what you mean," he said slowly. + +His father made an impatient gesture. + +"Don't tell me that! What has become of Montgomery? Look at me! Two +nights ago he came to see me; I had sent for him; I had learned from +Nellie that he had practically deserted her. I learned further from the +man himself that you and Gilmore were largely responsible for this." + +"He was drunk, of course." + +"He had been drinking--yes--" + +"Doesn't that explain his remarkable statement? What reason could Andy +or any one have for wishing to keep him from his wife?" asked Marshall +who had recovered his accustomed steadiness. + +"He was ready with an answer for that question when I asked it. Do you +wish to know what that answer was?" said the judge. + +Marshall did not trust himself to speak; he felt the judge's eyes on him +and could not meet them. He saw himself cowering there in his chair with +his guilt stamped large on every feature. His throat was dry and his +lips were parched, he did not know whether he could speak. His shoulders +drooped and his chin rested on his breast. What was the use--was it +worth the struggle? Suppose Montgomery, in spite of his promises, came +back to Mount Hope, suppose Gilmore's iron nerve failed him! + +"You don't answer me, Marshall," said the judge. + +"I don't understand you--" evaded Marshall. + +"From my soul I wish I could believe you!" exclaimed his father. "If +it's not debt, what is the nature of your discreditable connection with +Gilmore?" + +Marshall glanced up quickly; he seemed to breathe again; perhaps after +all Montgomery had said less than he supposed him to have said! + +"I have already told you that I owe Gilmore nothing!" + +"I should be glad to think it, but I warn you to stand clear of him and +his concerns, for I am going to investigate the truth of Montgomery's +story," declared the judge. + +"What did he tell you?" Marshall spoke with an effort. + +"That his evidence in the North case was false, that it was inspired by +Gilmore." + +Marshall passed a shaking hand across his face. + +"Nonsense!" he said. + +"His story will be worth looking into. He stood for the truth of what he +said in part, he insisted that he saw a man cross McBride's shed on the +night of the murder and drop into the alley, and the man was not John +North. He seemed unwilling that North, through any instrumentality of +his, should suffer for a crime of which he was innocent; his feeling on +this point was unfeigned and unmistakable." + +There was silence again, while the two men stared at each other. From +the parlor the jarring sound of the music reached them, inconceivably +out of harmony with the seriousness of their mood. + +"I have wished to take no action in the matter of Montgomery's +disappearance until I saw you, Marshall," said the judge. "I have been +sick with this thing! Now I am going to lay such facts as I have before +Moxlow." + +Marshall stared moodily into the fire. He told himself that the +prosecuting attorney would be in great luck if he got anything out of +Gilmore. + +"I purpose to suggest to Moxlow a fresh line of investigation where this +important witness is concerned, and Mr. Gilmore as the man most likely +to clear up the mystery surrounding his disappearance from Mount Hope. +We may not be able to get anything very tangible out of him in the way +of information, but I imagine we may cause him some little anxiety and +annoyance. You can't afford to be mixed up in this affair, and I warn +you again to stand clear of Gilmore! If there is any truth in +Montgomery's statement it can only have the most sinister significance, +for I don't need to tell you that some powerful motive must be back of +Gilmore's activity. If North was not responsible for McBride's death, +where do the indications all point? Who more likely to commit such a +crime than a social outcast--a man plying an illegal trade in defiance +of the laws?" + +"Hush! For God's sake speak lower!" cried Marshall, giving way to an +uncontrollable emotion of terror. + +Racked and shaken, he stared about him as if he feared another presence +in the room. The judge leaned forward and rested a thin hand on his +son's knee. + +"Marshall, what do you know of Gilmore's connection with this matter?" + +"I want him let alone! To lay such stress on Montgomery's drunken talk +is absurd!" + +The judge's lips met in a determined line. + +"I scarcely expected to hear that from you! I am not likely, as you +know, to be influenced in the discharge of my duty by any private +consideration." + +He quitted his chair and stood erect, his figure drawn to its fullest +height. + +"Wait--I didn't mean that," protested Marshall. + +The judge resumed his chair. + +"What did you mean?" he asked. + +"What's the use of throwing Moxlow off on a fresh scent?" + +"That's a very remarkable point of view!" said the judge, with a +mirthless laugh. + +In the utter selfishness that his fear had engendered, it seemed a +monstrous thing to Langham that any one should wish to clear North, in +whose conviction lay his own salvation. More than this, he had every +reason to hate North, and if he were hanged it would be but a roundabout +meting out of justice for that hideous wrong he had done him, the shame +of which was ever present. He saw one other thing clearly, the necessity +that Gilmore should be left alone; for the very moment the gambler felt +the judge was moving against him, that moment would come his fierce +demands that he be called off--that Marshall quiet him, no matter how. + +"Have you been near North since his arrest?" asked the judge, apparently +speaking at random. + +"No," said Marshall. + +"May I ask if you are offended because of his choice of counsel?" + +"That has nothing to do with it!" said the younger man, moving +impatiently in his chair. + +"I do not like your attitude in this matter, Marshall; I like it as +little as I understand it. But I have given my warning. Keep clear of +that fellow Gilmore, do not involve yourself in his fortunes, or the +result may prove disastrous to you!" + +"I want him let alone!" said Marshall doggedly, speaking with desperate +resolution. + +"Why?" asked the judge. + +"Because it is better for all concerned; you--you don't know what you're +meddling with--" + +He quitted his chair and fell to pacing to and fro. His father's glance, +uncertain and uneasy, followed him as he crossed and recrossed the room. + +"I find I can not agree with you, Marshall!" said the judge at length. +"I do not like hints, and unless you can deal with me with greater +frankness than you have yet done, there is not much use in prolonging +this discussion." + +"As you like, then," replied Marshall, wheeling on him with sudden +recklessness. "I want to tell you just this--you'll not hurt Gilmore, +but--" + +Words failed him, and his voice died away on his white and twitching +lips into an inarticulate murmur. + +He struggled vainly to recover the mastery of himself, but his fear, now +the growth of his many days and nights of torture, would not let him +finish what he had started to say. + +"Very good, I don't want to hurt anybody, but I do want to find that +man, whoever he is, that you and Gilmore are shielding; the man Joe +Montgomery saw cross those sheds the night of the murder; I am going to +bend my every energy to learning who that man is, and when I have +discovered his identity--" + +"You'll want to see him in North's place, will you?" asked Marshall. The +words came from him in a hoarse whisper and his arm was extended +threateningly toward his father. "You're sure about that? You can't +conceive of the possibility that you'd be glad not to know? You want to +have John North out of his cell and this other man there in his place; +you want to face him day after day in the court room--you're sure?" His +shaking arm continued to menace the judge. "Well, you don't need to find +Montgomery, and you don't need to hound Gilmore; I can tell you more +than they can--" + +His bloodshot eyes, fixed and staring, seemed starting from their +sockets. + +"The facts you want to know are hidden here!" He struck his hand +savagely against his breast and lurched half-way across the room, then +he swung about and once more faced the judge. "Why haven't you had the +wisdom to keep out of this,--or have you expected to find some one it +would be easier to pronounce sentence on than North? Did you think it +would be Gilmore?" + +He scowled down on his father. It was appalling and unnatural, after all +his frightful suffering, his fear, and his remorse which never left him, +that his safety should be jeopardized by his own father! He had only +asked that the law be left to deal with John North, who, he believed, +had so wronged him that no death he could die would atone for the injury +he had done. + +Slowly but inexorably the full significance of Marshall's words dawned +on the judge. He had risen from his chair dumb and terror-stricken. For +a moment they stood without speech, each staring into the other's face. +Presently the judge stole to Marshall's side. + +"Tell me that I misunderstand you!" he whispered in entreaty, resting a +tremulous hand on his son's arm. + +But the latter was bitterly resentful. His father had forced this +confession, from him, he had given him no choice! + +"Why should I tell you that now?" he asked, as he roughly shook off his +father's hand. + +"Tell me I misunderstand you!" repeated the judge, in a tone of abject +entreaty. + +"It's too late!" said Marshall, his voice a mere whisper between parched +lips. He tossed up his arms in a gesture that betokened his utter +weariness of soul. "My God, how I've suffered!" he said chokingly, and +his eyes were wet with the sudden anguish of self-pity. + +"Marshall!" + +The judge spoke in protest of his words. Marshall turned abruptly from +him and crossed the room. The spirit of his fierce resentment was dying +within him, for, after all, what did it signify how his father learned +his secret! + +From the parlor there still came the strains of light music; these and +Marshall's echoing tread as he strode to and fro, filled in the ghastly +silence that succeeded. Then at length he paused before his father, and +once more they looked deep into each other's eyes, and the little space +between was for both as an open grave filled with dead things--hopes, +ambitions, future days and months and years--days and months and years +when they should be for ever mindful of his crime! For henceforth they +were to dwell in the chill of this direful shadow that would tower above +all the concerns of life whether great or small; that would add despair +to every sorrow, and take the very soul and substance from every joy. + +The judge dropped into his chair, but his wavering glance still searched +his son's face for some sign that should tell him, not what he already +knew but what he hoped might be,--that Marshall was either drunk or +crazed; but he only saw there the reflection of his own terror. He +buried his head in his hands and bitter age-worn sobs shook his bent +shoulders. After a moment of sullen waiting for him to recover, Marshall +approached and touched him on the arm. + +"Father--" he whispered gently. + +The judge glanced up. + +"It's a lie, Marshall!" + +But Marshall only stared at him until the judge again covered his face +with his hands. + +When he glanced up a few moments later, he found himself alone. Marshall +had stolen from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN + +SHRIMPLIN TO THE RESCUE + + +Beyond the flats and the railroad tracks and over across the new high, +iron bridge, was a low-lying region much affected by the drivers of +dump-carts, whose activity was visibly attested by the cinders, the +ashes, the tin cans, the staved-in barrels and the lidless boxes that +everywhere met the eye. + +On the verge of this waste, which civilization had builded and shaped +with its discarded odds and ends, were the meager beginnings of a poor +suburb. Here an enterprising landlord had erected a solitary row of +slab-sided dwellings of a uniform ugliness; and had given to each a +single coat of yellow paint of such exceeding thinness, that it was +possible to determine by the whiter daubs of putty showing through, just +where every nail had been driven. + +Only the very poorest or the most shiftless of Mount Hope's population +found a refuge in this quarter. The Montgomerys being strictly eligible, +it was but natural that Joe should have taken up his abode here on the +day the first of the eight houses had been finished. Joe was burdened by +no troublesome convictions touching the advantages of a gravelly soil +or a southern exposure, and the word sanitation had it been spoken in +his presence would have conveyed no meaning to his mind. He had never +heard of germs, and he had as little prejudice concerning stagnant water +as he had predilection for clear water. He knew in a general way that +all water was wet, but further than this he gave the element no thought. + +Thus it came about that his was the very oldest family seated in this +delectable spot. The young Montgomerys could with perfect propriety +claim precedence at all the stagnant pools that offered superior +advantages as yielding a rich harvest of tadpoles. While the mature +intelligence might have considered these miniature lakes as highly +undesirable, the young Montgomerys were not unmindful of their +blessings. As babies, clothed in shapeless garments, they launched upon +the green slime their tiny fleet of chips, and, grown a little older, it +was here they waded in the happy summer days. The very dump-carts came +and went like perpetual argosies, bringing riches--discarded furniture +and cast-off clothing--to their very door. + +In merciful defiance of those hidden perils that lurk where sanitation +and hygiene are unpractised sciences, Joe's numerous family throve and +multiplied. The baby carriage which had held his firstborn,--Arthur, now +aged fourteen,--was still in use, the luster of its paint much dimmed +and its upholstery but a memory. It had trundled a succession of little +Montgomerys among the cinder piles; indeed, it was almost a feature of +the landscape, for Joe's family was his chiefest contribution to the +wealth of his country. + +There had been periods varying from a few days to a few weeks when the +Montgomerys were sole tenants of that row of slab-sided houses; their +poverty being a fixed condition, they were merely sometimes poorer. No +transient gleam of a larger prosperity had ever illuminated the horizon +of their lives, and they had never been tempted to move to other parts +of the town where the ground and the rents were higher. + +Residents of this locality, not being burdened with any means of +locomotion beyond their own legs, usually came and went by way of the +high iron bridge; their legal right of way however was by a neglected +thoroughfare that had ambitiously set out to be a street, but having +failed of its intention, presently dwindled to a pleasant country road +which not far beyond crossed the river by the old wooden bridge below +the depot. + +It was the iron bridge which Mrs. Montgomery, escorted by the daring +Shrimplin, had crossed that fateful night of her interview with Judge +Langham, and it was toward it that her glance was turned for many days +after in the hope that she might see Joe's bulk of bone and muscle as he +slouched in the direction of the home and family he had so wanted only +forsaken. But a veil of mystery obscured every fact that bore on the +handy-man's disappearance; no eye penetrated it, no hand lifted it. + +Soon after Montgomery's disappearance his deserted wife fell upon evil +times indeed. In spite of her bravest efforts the rent fell hopelessly +in arrears. For a time her pride kept her away from the Shrimplins, who +might have helped her. To go to the little lamplighter's was to hear +bitter truths about her husband; Mr. Shrimplin's denunciations were +especially fierce and scathing, for here he felt that righteousness was +all on his side and that in abusing the absconding Joe he was performing +a moral act. + +But at last Nellie's fortunes reached a crisis. An obdurate landlord set +her few poor belongings in the gutter. Even in the most prosperous days +their roof-tree had flourished but precariously and now it was down and +level with the dust; seeing which Mrs. Montgomery placed her youngest in +the ancient vehicle which had trundled all that generation of +Montgomerys, drew her apron before her eyes and wept. But quickly +rallying to the need for immediate action she swallowed her pride and +sent Arthur in quest of his uncle, who was well fitted by sobriety, +industry and thrift, to cope with such a crisis. + +Mr. Shrimplin's only weaknesses were such as spring from an eager +childlike vanity, and a nature as shy as a fawn's of whatever held even +a suggestion of danger. To Custer he could brag of crimes he had never +committed, but an unpaid butcher's bill would have robbed him of his +sleep; also he wore a very tender heart in his narrow chest, though he +did his best to hide it by assuming a bold and hardy air and by +garnishing his conversation with what he counted the very flower of a +brutal worldly cynicism. + +Thus it was that when Arthur had found his uncle and had stated his +case, Mr. Shrimplin instantly summoned to his aid all his redoubtable +powers of speech and fell to cursing the recreant husband and father. +Having eased himself in this manner, and not wishing Arthur to be +entirely unmindful of his vast superiority, he called the boy's +attention to the undeniable fact that he, Shrimplin, could have been +kicked out of doors and Joe Montgomery would not have lifted a hand to +save him. Yet all this while the little lamplighter, with the boy at his +heels, was moving rapidly across the flats. + +From the town end of the bridge, youthful eyes had descried his coming +and the word was quickly passed that the uncle of all the little +Montgomerys was approaching, presumably with philanthropic intent. This +rumor instantly stimulated an interest on the part of the adult +population, an interest which had somewhat languished owing to the +incapacity of human nature to sustain an emotional climax for any +considerable length of time. Untidy women and idle-looking men with the +rust of inaction consuming them, quickly appeared on the scene, and when +the little lamplighter descended from the railway tracks it was to be +greeted with something like an ovation at the hands of his +sister-in-law's neighbors. + +His ears caught the murmur of approval that passed from lip to lip and +out of the very tail of his bleached eyes he noted the expression of +satisfaction that was on every face. Even the previously obdurate +landlord met him with words of apology and conciliation. It was a happy +moment for Mr. Shrimplin, but not by so much as the flicker of an +eyelash did he betray that this was so. He had considered himself such a +public character since the night of the McBride murder that he now +deemed it incumbent to preserve a stoic manner; the admiration of his +fellows could win nothing from the sternness of his nature, so he +ignored the neighbors, while he was barely civil to the landlord. The +big roll of bills which, with something of a flourish, he produced from +the pocket of his greasy overalls, settled the rent, and the neighbors +noted with bated breath that the size of this roll was not perceptibly +diminished by the transaction. + +Presently Mr. Shrimplin found himself standing alone with Nellie; the +landlord had departed with his money, while the neighbors, having +devoted the greater part of the day to a sympathetic interest in Mrs. +Montgomery's fortunes, now had leisure for their own affairs. + +"Why didn't you send for me sooner?" demanded the little man with some +asperity. "No sense in having your things put out like this when you +only got to put them back again!" + +"If Joe was only here this would never have happened!" said Mrs. +Montgomery, giving way to copious tears. + +But Mr. Shrimplin seemed not so sure of this. The settling of the +handy-man's difficulties had been one of the few extravagances he had +permitted himself. His glance now fell on the small occupant of the +decrepit baby carriage, and he gave a start of astonishment. + +"Lord!" he ejaculated, pointing to the child. "You don't mean to tell me +that's yours, too?" + +"Three weeks next Sunday," said Mrs. Montgomery. + +"Another one,--well, I don't wonder you've kept still about it! What's +the use of bringing children into the world when you can't half take +care of 'em?" + +"I didn't keep still about it,--only I had so much to worry me!" said +Nellie, with a shadowy sort of resentment at the little lamplighter's +words and manner. + +"It's a nice-looking baby!" admitted Mr. Shrimplin, relenting. + +"It's a boy, see--he's got his father's eyes and nose--" + +"I don't know about the eyes, but the nose is a durn sight whiter than +Joe's! Maybe, though, when it's Joe's age it will use the same brand of +paint." + +"What you got it in for Joe for? He never done nothing to you!" said +Joe's wife, with palpable offense. + +"He ought to be stood up and lammed over the head with a club!" observed +Mr. Shrimplin, with considerable acrimony of tone. "You'd have thought +that being a witness would have made a man out of Joe if anything +would,--and how does he act? Why, he lights out; he gets to be good for +something beside soaking up whisky and spoiling his insides, and he +skips the town; now if that ain't a devil of a way for him to act, I'd +like to know what you call it!" + +"He was a good man--" declared Mrs. Montgomery with conviction. "A good +man, but unfortunate!" + +"Well, if he suits you, Nellie--" + +"He does!" + +"I'm glad of it," retorted Mr. Shrimplin, taking a chew of tobacco. "For +I don't reckon he'd ever suit any one else!" + +"You and none of my family never liked Joe!" said Mrs. Montgomery. + +"Well, why should we?" demanded Mr. Shrimplin impatiently. + +"Your wife,--my own sister, too,--said he should never darken her door, +and he was that proud he never did! You couldn't have dragged him +there!" said Mrs. Montgomery, and the ready tears dimmed her eyes. + +"And you couldn't have dragged him away quick enough if he had a-come! +Now don't you get tearful over Joe, you can't call him no prodigal; his +veal's tough old beef by this time! But I never had nothing in +particular against him more than I thought he ought to be kicked clean +off the face of the earth!" said Mr. Shrimplin, rolling his drooping +flaxen mustache fiercely between his stubby thumb and its neighboring +forefinger. + +Such personal relations as the little lamplighter had sustained with the +handy-man had invariably been of the most friendly and pacific +description. Esteeming Joe a gentleman of uncertain habits, and of +criminal instincts that might at any moment be translated into vigorous +action, Mr. Shrimplin had always been at much pains to placate him. In +the heat of the moment, however, all this was forgotten, and Mr. +Shrimplin's love of decency and rectitude promptly asserted itself. + +"It's easy enough to pick flaws in a popular good-looking man like Joe!" +said Mrs. Montgomery, with whom time and absence had been at work, also, +and to such an extent that the first dim glint of a halo was beginning +to fix itself about the curly red head of her delinquent spouse. + +"And a whole lot of good them good looks of his has done you, Nellie," +rejoined Mr. Shrimplin, with a little cackle of mirth. + +"He never even seen his youngest!" said Mrs. Montgomery, giving +completely away to tears at this moving thought of the handy-man's +deprivation. + +"I reckon he could even stand that," observed Mr. Shrimplin unfeelingly. +"I bet he never knowed 'em apart." + +"Why he was just wrapped up in them and me,--just wrapped up!" cried +Mrs. Montgomery. + +"Well, he had a blame curious way of showing it; no one would ever have +suspected it of him!" said Mr. Shrimplin. + +"I guess this wouldn't have happened if his own folks had had more faith +in Joe, that's what wore on him,--I seen it wear on him!" declared Mrs. +Montgomery, in a tone of melancholy conviction. + +"In the main I'm a truthful man, Nellie,--I wish to be anyhow; and I'll +tell you honest I was never able to see much in Joe aside from his good +looks, which I know he had, now that you call them to mind. No,--I think +a coat of tar and feathers would be about the thing for Joe; he's the +sort of bird to wear that kind of plumage. My opinion is that you've +seen the last of him; no sense in your thinking otherwise, because +you're just leaving yourself open to disappointment!" + +Yet Mr. Shrimplin remained to reinstate Mrs. Montgomery in her home. It +was his expert hands that set up the cracked and rusted kitchen stove, +and arranged the scanty and battered furniture in the several rooms. Nor +was he satisfied to do merely this, for he presently despatched Arthur +into town after an excellent assortment of groceries. All the while, +however, he neglected no opportunity to elaborate for Nellie's benefit +his opinions concerning the handy-man's utter worthlessness. At length +this good Samaritan paused from his labors, and regaling himself with a +fresh chew of tobacco and a parting gibe at Joe, set briskly off for his +own home. + +The street lamps demanded his immediate attention, and it was not until +his day's work was finished that he found opportunity to tell Mrs. +Shrimplin of these straits to which Nellie had been reduced. He +concluded by reiterating his opinion that her sister had seen the last +of Joe. + +"I don't know why you say that!" was Mrs. Shrimplin's unexpected +rejoinder. + +"Ain't I got mighty good reason to say it?" asked her husband. "Don't +you know, and ain't every one always said Joe was just too low to live? +I'd like to know if it wasn't you said he should never set his foot +inside your door?" + +"I might say it again, and then I mightn't," rejoined Mrs. Shrimplin, +with aggravating composure. + +Two days later when the Shrimplins were at breakfast Mrs. Montgomery +walked in on them. Her face was streaked with the traces of recent +tears, but there was the light of happy vindication in her eyes, and a +soiled and crumpled letter in her hand. + +"Mercy, Nellie!" exclaimed her sister. "What's the matter now?" + +"Matter? Why, I'm so happy I just don't know what to do! I've heard from +my Joe!" + +Mrs. Shrimplin rested her hands on her hips and surveyed Nellie with +eyes that seemed to hold pity and contempt in about equal proportion. + +"You've heard from Joe! Well, if he was my husband he'd have heard from +me long ago!" she said. + +And it occurred to Mr. Shrimplin that his wife was wonderfully +consistent in her inconsistencies. + +"Well, and what have _you_ got against Joe?" demanded Mrs. Montgomery +with ready anger. + +"She ain't got nothing new, Nellie!" said Mr. Shrimplin, desirous of +preserving the peace. + +"Well, she's mighty quick to misjudge him! Look!" and she drew from the +envelope she held in her hand a dirty greenback. "He's sent me twenty +dollars--my man has! Does that look like he'd forgotten me or his +children?" protested Nellie, in a voice of happy triumph. + +"I'll bet it's counterfeit; I'd go slow on trying to pass it," said Mr. +Shrimplin when he had somewhat recovered from the shock of the sudden +announcement. + +It was plain that Nellie had never thought of any such possibility as +this, for the light died out of her eyes. + +"How can I find out whether it's good or not?" she faltered. + +"Let me look at it!" said Mr. Shrimplin. + +Mrs. Montgomery placed the bill in his hands. Her face was keen and +pinched with anxiety as she awaited the little man's verdict. + +"It's genu-ine all right," he at length admitted grudgingly. + +"I knew it was!" cried Nellie, her miserable suspicions put at rest. + +"Well, you'd better spend it quick and get some good of it before old +Joe comes back and wants the change!" advised Mr. Shrimplin. + +"What does he say?" questioned Mrs. Shrimplin. + +"He don't say a word, there was nothing but the bill." + +"Well, maybe it wasn't Joe sent it after all!" said the little +lamplighter. + +"The writing on the envelope's his, I'd know it anywhere. I guess he +couldn't trust himself to write; but he'll come back, my man will! Maybe +he's on his way now!" exclaimed Nellie. + +"Ain't there no postmark?" asked Mrs. Shrimplin. + +"Why, I never thought to look!" + +But Nellie's face fell when she did look. + +"It was mailed at Denver!" she said, in an awe-struck voice. + +Her man seemed at the very ends of the earth, and his return became a +doubtful thing. + +"Well, I wouldn't talk about this to the police or anybody; they ain't +been able to find Joe, and I wouldn't be the one to tell them where he's +at!" advised Mr. Shrimplin. + +"They've stopped coming to the house," said Nellie. + +But she looked inquiringly at Mr. Shrimplin. Where the police were +concerned she had faith in his masculine understanding; Joe had always +seemed to know a great deal about the police, she remembered. + +"I reckon old Joe had his own reasons for skipping out, and they must +have looked good to him. No, I can't see that you are bound to help the +police; the police ain't helped you." And Mr. Shrimplin returned to the +scrutiny of the bill in his hand. + +That was the profound mystery. No one knew better than he that Joe was +not given to such prodigal generosity; neither were twenty-dollar bills +frequent with him. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY + +THE CAT AND THE MOUSE + + +Mr. Gilmore, having yielded once again to temptation, found himself at +Marshall Langham's door. He asked for the lawyer, but was informed he +was not at home, a fact of which Mr. Gilmore was perfectly well aware, +since he had parted from him not twenty minutes before at the +court-house steps. Mrs. Langham was at home, however, and at this +welcome information the gambler, smiling, strode into the hall. + +From the parlor, Evelyn heard his voice. She had found him amusing in +the first days of their acquaintance, and possibly she might again find +him diverting, but this afternoon he had chosen ill for his call. She +was quite sure she detested him. For the first time she measured him by +standards of which he could know nothing, and found no good thing in +him. What had Marsh meant when he forced this most undesirable +acquaintance on her! + +"You wanted to see Marsh?" she asked, as she gave him her hand. + +"That will keep," said Gilmore cheerfully. "May I stay?" he added. + +"If you wish," she answered indifferently. + +She felt a sense of shame at his presence there. Everything about her +seemed to sink to his level, which was a very low level, she was sure. +These afternoon calls were a recent feature of their intimacy. Before +Gilmore came, she had been thinking for the hundredth time of John +North--the man she had once loved and now hated, but in whose honor she +had such confidence that she knew he would face death rather than +compromise her. In spite of the fact that he had scorned her, had thrown +her aside for another, she had had on his account many a soul-rending +struggle with her conscience, with her better self. She knew that a word +from her, and his prison doors would open to a free world. Time and +again this word had trembled on her lips unuttered. She knew also that +it was not hate of North that kept her silent. It was an intangible, +unformed, unthoughtout fear of what might follow after. North, she knew, +was innocent; who then was guilty? She closed her eyes and shut her +lips. That North would ultimately clear himself she never seriously +doubted, and yet the burden of her secret was intolerable. In her +present mood, she was accessible to every passing influence, and to-day +it was Gilmore's fate to find her both penitent and rebellious, but he +could not know this, he only knew that she was quieter than usual. + +He seated himself at her side, and his eyes, eager and animated, fed on +her beauty. He had come to the belief that only the lightest barriers +stood between himself and Evelyn Langham, and it was a question in his +mind of just how much he would be willing to sacrifice for her sake. He +boasted nothing in the way of position or reputation, and no act of his +could possibly add to the disfavor in which he was already held; but to +leave Mount Hope meant certain definite financial losses; this had +served as a check on his ardor, for where money was concerned Gilmore +was cautious. But his passion was coming to be the supreme thing in his +life; a fortunate chance had placed him where he now stood in relation +to her, and chance again, as unkind as it had been kind, might separate +them. The set of Gilmore's heavy jaws became tense with this thought and +with the ruthless strength of his purpose. He would shake down one +sensation for Mount Hope before he got away,--and he would not go alone. + +"I suppose you were at the trial to-day?" Evelyn said. + +"Yes, I was there for a little while this afternoon," he answered. "It's +rather tame yet, they're still fussing over the jury." + +"How is Jack bearing it?" she asked. + +Her question seemed to depress Gilmore. + +"Why do you care about how he takes it? I don't suppose he sees any fun +in it,--he didn't look to me as if he did," he said slowly. + +"But how did he _seem_ to you?" + +"Oh, he's got nerve enough, if that's what you mean!" + +"Poor Jack!" she murmured softly. + +"If you're curious, why don't you go take a look at poor Jack? He'll be +there all right for the next few weeks," said the gambler, watching her +narrowly. + +"I'm afraid Marsh might object." + +At this Gilmore threw back his head and laughed. + +"Excuse _me_!" he said; and in explanation of his sudden mirth, he +added: "The idea of your trotting out Marsh to me!" + +"I'm not trotting him out to you,--as you call it," Evelyn said quietly, +but her small foot tapped the floor. She intended presently to rid +herself of Gilmore for all time. + +"Yes, but I was afraid you were going to." + +"You mustn't speak to me as you do; I have done nothing to give you the +privilege." + +Gilmore did not seem at all abashed at this reproof. + +"If you want to go to the trial I'll take you, and I'll agree to make it +all right with Marsh afterward; what do you say?" he asked. + +Evelyn smiled brightly, but she did not explain to him the utter +impossibility of their appearing in public together either at the North +trial or anywhere else for the matter of that; there were bounds set +even to her reckless disregard of what Mount Hope held to be right and +proper. + +"Oh, no, you're very kind, but I don't think I should care to see poor +Jack now." + +She gave a little shiver of horror as if at the mere idea. This was for +the gambler, but her real feeling was far deeper than he, suspicious as +he was, could possibly know. + +"Why do you 'poor Jack' him to me?" said Gilmore sullenly. + +Evelyn opened her fine eyes in apparent astonishment. + +"He is one of my oldest friends. I have known him all my life!" she +said. + +"Well, one's friends should keep out of the sort of trouble he's made +for himself," observed Gilmore in surly tones. + +"Yes,--perhaps--" answered Evelyn absently. + +"Look here, I don't want to talk to you about North anyhow; can't we hit +on some other topic?" asked Gilmore. + +It maddened him even to think of the part the accused man had played in +her life. + +"Why have you and Marsh turned against him?" she asked. + +The gambler considered for an instant. + +"Do you really want to know? Well, you see he wasn't square; that does a +man up quicker than anything else." + +"I don't believe it!" she cried. + +"It's so,--ask Marsh; we found him to be an all-right crook; then's when +we quit him," he said, nodding and smiling grimly. + +There was something in his manner which warned her that his real meaning +was intentionally obscured. She remembered that Marsh had once boasted +of having proof that she was in North's rooms the afternoon of the +murder and it flashed across her mind that if any one really knew of her +presence there it was Gilmore himself. She studied him furtively, and +she observed that his black waxed mustache shaded a pair of lips that +wore a mirthless smile, and what had at first been no more than an +undefined suspicion grew into a certainty. Gilmore shifted uneasily in +his chair. He felt that since their last meeting he had lost ground with +her. + +"What's the matter,--why do you keep me at arm's length; what have I +done, anyhow?" he asked impatiently. + +"Do I keep you at arm's length? Well, perhaps you need to be kept +there," she said. + +"You should know what brings me here,--why it is I can't keep away--" + +"How should I know, unless you tell me?" she said softly. + +Gilmore bent toward her, his eyes lustrous with suppressed feeling. + +"Isn't that another of your little jokes, Evelyn? Do you really want me +to tell you?" + +"I am dying with curiosity!" + +Voice and manner seemed to encourage, and the gambler felt his heart +leap within him. + +"Well, I guess it's principally to see you!" he muttered, but his lips +quivered with emotion. + +She laughed. + +"Just see how mistaken one may be, Andy; I thought all along it was +Marsh!" + +At her use of his Christian name his heavy face became radiant. His +purposes were usually allied to an admirable directness of speech that +never left one long in doubt as to his full meaning. + +"Look here, aren't you about sick of Marsh?" he asked. "How long are you +going to stand for this sort of thing? You have a right to expect +something better than he has to offer you!" + +She met the glance of his burning black eyes with undisturbed serenity, +but a cruel smile had come again to the corners of her mouth. She was +preparing to settle her score with Gilmore in a fashion he would not +soon forget. One of her hands rested on the arm of her chair, and the +gambler's ringed fingers closed about it; but apparently she was unaware +of this; at least she did not seek to withdraw it. + +"By God, you're pretty!" he cried. + +"What do you mean?" she asked quietly. + +"Mean,--don't you know that I love you? Have I got to make it plain that +I care for you,--that you are everything to me?" he asked, bending +toward her. + +"So you care a great deal about me, do you, Andy?" she asked slowly. + +"I like to hear you call me that!" he said with a deep breath. + +"What is it, Andy--what do you want?" she continued. + +"You--you!" he said hoarsely; his face was white, he had come to the end +of long days of hope and doubt; he had battered down every obstacle that +stood in his path and he was telling her of his love, nor did she seem +unwilling to hear him. "You are the whole thing to me! I have loved you +always--ever since I first saw you! Tell me you'll quit this place with +me--I swear I'll make you happy--" + +His face was very close to hers, and guessing his purpose she snatched +away her hand. Then she laughed. + +As the sound of her merriment fell on Gilmore's startled ears, there +swiftly came to him the consciousness that something was wrong. + +"You and your love-making are very funny, Mr. Gilmore; but there is one +thing you don't seem to understand. There is such a thing as taste in +selection even when it has ceased to be a matter of morals. I don't like +you, Mr. Gilmore. You amused me, but you are merely tiresome now." + +She spoke with deliberate contempt, and his face turned white and then +scarlet, as if under the sting of a lash. + +"If you were a man--" he began, infuriated by the insolence of her +speech. + +"If I were a man I should be quite able to take care of myself. +Understand, I am seeing you for the last time--" + +"Yes, by God, you are!" he cried. + +His face was ashen. He had come to his feet, shaken and uncertain. It +was as if each word of hers had been a stab. + +"I am glad we can agree so perfectly on that point. Will you kindly +close the hail door as you go out?" + +She turned from him and took up a book from the table at her elbow. +Gilmore moved toward the door, but paused irresolutely. His first +feeling of furious rage was now tempered by a sense of coming loss. This +was to be the end; he was never to see her again! He swung about on his +heel. She was already turning the leaves of her book, apparently +oblivious of his presence. + +"Am I to believe you--" he faltered. + +She looked up and her eyes met his. There was nothing in her glance to +indicate that she comprehended the depth of his suffering. + +"Yes," she said, with a drawing in of her full lips. + +"When I leave you--if you really mean that--it will be to leave Mount +Hope!" said he appealingly. + +The savage vigor that was normally his had deserted him, his very pride +was gone; a sudden mistrust of himself was humbling him; he felt +wretchedly out of place; he was even dimly conscious of his own baseness +while he was for the moment blinded to the cruelty of her conduct. Under +his breath he cursed himself. By his too great haste, by a too great +frankness he had fooled away his chances with her. + +"That is more than I dared hope," Evelyn rejoined composedly. + +"If I've offended you--" began Gilmore. + +"Your presence offends me," she interrupted and looked past him to the +door. + +"You don't mean what you say--Evelyn--" he said earnestly. + +"My cook might have been flattered by your proposal; but why you should +have thought I would be, is utterly incomprehensible." + +Gilmore's face became livid on the instant. A storm of abuse rushed to +his lips but he held himself in check. Then without a word or a glance +he passed from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE + +THE HOUSE OF CARDS + + +The long day had been devoted to the choosing of the twelve men who +should say whether John North was innocent or guilty, but at last court +adjourned and Marshall Langham, pushing through the crowd that was +emptying itself into the street, turned away in the direction of his +home. + +For no single instant during the day had he been able to take his eyes +from his father's face. He had heard almost nothing of what was said, it +was only when the coldly impersonal tones of the judge's voice reached +him out of, what was to him silence, that he was stung to a full +comprehension of what was going on about him. The faces of the crowd had +blended until they were as indistinguishable as the face of humanity +itself. For him there had been but the one tragic presence in that dingy +room; and now--as the dull gray winter twilight enveloped him,--wherever +he turned his eyes, on the snow-covered pavement, in the bare branches +of the trees,--there he saw, endlessly repeated, the white drawn face of +his father. + +His capacity for endurance seemed to measure itself against the slow +days. A week--two weeks--and the trial would end, but how? If the +verdict was guilty, North's friends would still continue their fight for +his life. He must sustain himself beyond what he felt to be the utmost +limit of his powers; and always, day after day, there would be that face +with its sunken eyes and bloodless lips, to summon him into its +presence. + +He found himself at his own door, and paused uncertainly. He passed a +tremulous hand before his eyes. Was he sure of Gilmore,--was he sure of +Evelyn, who must know that North was innocent? The thought of her roused +in him all his bitter sense of hurt and injury. North had trampled on +his confidence and friendship! The lines of his face grew hard. This was +to be his revenge,--his by every right, and his fears should rob him of +no part of it! + +He pushed open the door and entered the unlighted hail, then with a +grumbled oath because of the darkness, passed on into the sitting-room. +Except for such light as a bed of soft coal in the grate gave out, the +room was clothed in uncertainty. He stumbled against a chair and swore +again savagely. He was answered by a soft laugh, and then he saw Evelyn +seated in the big arm-chair at one side of the fireplace. + +"Did you hurt yourself, Marsh?" she asked. + +Langham growled an unintelligible reply and dropped heavily into a +chair. He brought with him the fumes of whisky and stale tobacco, and as +these reached her across the intervening space Evelyn made a little +grimace in the half light. + +"I declare, Marsh, you are hardly fit to enter a respectable house!" she +said. + +In spite of his doubt of her, they were not on the worst of terms, there +were still times when he resumed his old role of the lover, when he held +her drifting fancy in something of the potent spell he had once been +able to weave about her. Whatever their life together, it was far from +commonplace, with its poverty and extravagance, its quarrelings and its +reconciliations, while back of it all, deep-rooted in the very dregs of +existence, was his passionate love. Even his brutal indifference was but +one of the many phases of his love; it was a manifestation of his revolt +against his sense of dependence, a dependence which made it possible for +him to love where his faith was destroyed and his trust gone absolutely. +Evelyn was vaguely conscious of this and she was not sure but that she +required just such a life as theirs had become, but that she would have +been infinitely bored with a man far more worth while than Marshall +Langham. From his seat by the fire Langham scowled across at her, but +the scowl was lost in the darkness. + +"Your father was here last evening, Marsh," Evelyn said at length, +remembering she had not seen him the night before, and that he had +breakfasted and gone before she was up that morning. + +"What did he come for?" her husband asked. + +"I think to see you. Poor man, he doesn't seem able to get the run of +the hours you keep; I told him he could always find you here between +four and eight in the morning. I must say this little insight into your +domestic habits appeared to distress him, but I tried to comfort him,--I +told him you would probably outlive us all." She laughed softly. "Andy +was here this afternoon, Marsh," she went on. + +"What the devil did he want?" + +"I don't know." + +"Is he coming back?" + +"He didn't mention it, if he is." And again she laughed. + +Langham moved impatiently; her low full-throated mirth jarred on his +somber mood. + +"Were you in court to-day, Marsh?" she inquired, after a short silence. + +"Yes," he answered briefly. + +"Were there many there?" + +"Yes." + +"Any ladies, Marsh?" she questioned, with sudden eagerness. + +"If you can call them that," he growled. + +"Do you know, Marsh, I had a strong impulse to go, too. Would you have +been astonished to see me there?" she asked tentatively. + +"We won't have any of that,--do you understand?" he said with fierce +authority. + +"Why not? It's as right for me as it is for any one else, isn't it?" + +"I won't _have_ it!" he said, lifting his voice slightly. + +She had risen and now stood leaning against the arm of his chair. + +"Marsh, he didn't kill McBride; he couldn't,--he wouldn't harm a mouse!" + +Her words set him raging. + +"Keep quiet, will you,--what do you know about it, anyhow?" he cried +with sullen ferocity. + +"Don't be rude, Marsh! So you don't want me to come to the trial,--you +tell me I can't?" + +"Did my father say anything about this matter,--the trial, I mean?" +asked Langham haltingly. + +"Yes, I think he spoke of it, but I really wasn't interested because you +see I am so sure John North is innocent!" + +He caught one of her hands in his and drew her down on the arm of his +chair where he could look into her eyes. + +"There is just one question I want to ask you, Evelyn, but I expect +you'll answer it as you choose," he said, with his face close to hers. + +"Then why ask it?" she said. + +"Why,--because I want to know. Where were you on the day of the +murder,--between five and six o'clock?" + +"I _wish_ you'd let me go, Marsh; you're hurting me--" she complained. + +She struggled for a moment to release herself from his grasp, then +realizing that her effort was of no avail, she quietly resumed her +former position on the arm of his chair. + +"You must answer my question, come--where were you?" Langham commanded. + +He brought his face close to hers and she saw that his eyes burnt with +an unhealthy light. + +"How silly of you, Marsh, you know it was Thanksgiving day,--that we +dined with your father." + +"I am not asking you about that,--that was later!" + +"I suppose I was on my way there at the hour you mention." + +"No, you weren't; you were in North's rooms!" + +"If you were not drunk, I should be angry with you, Marsh,--you are +insulting--" + +He quitted his hold on her and staggered to his feet. + +"You were with North--" he roared. + +"Do you want the servants to hear you?" she asked in an angry whisper. + +"Hell!" + +He made a step toward her, his hand raised. + +"Don't do that, Marsh. I should never forgive you!" + +Evelyn faced him, meeting his wild glance with unshaken composure. The +clenched hand fell at his side. + +"My God, I ought to kill you!" he muttered. + +She made him no answer, but kept her eyes fixed steadily on his face. + +"You _were_ with North!" Langham repeated. + +"Well, since you wish me to say it, I was with John North, but what of +that?" + +"In his rooms--" he jerked out. + +"No,--now you are asking too much of me!" + +"I have proof,--proof, that you went to his rooms that day!" he stormed. + +"I did nothing of the sort, and I am not going to quarrel with you while +you are drunk!" + +Drunk he was, but not as she understood drunkenness. In the terrible +extremity to which his crime had brought him he was having recourse to +drugs. + +"You say you have proof,--don't be absurd, Marsh, you know you haven't!" +she added uneasily. + +"You were with North in his rooms--" he insisted. + +He was conscious of a strange wonder at himself that he could believe +this, and yet aside from such gusts of rage as these, his doubt of her +made no difference in their life together. Surely this was the measure +of his degradation. + +"I am not going to discuss this matter with you!" Evelyn said. + +"Aren't you? Well, I guess you will. Do you know you may be summoned +into court?" + +"Why?" she demanded, with a nervous start. + +"North may want to prove that he was in his rooms at the hour the +murder is supposed to have been committed; all he needs is your +testimony,--it would make a nice scandal, wouldn't it?" + +"Has he asked this?" Evelyn questioned. + +"Not yet!" + +"Then I don't think he ever will," she said quietly. + +"Do you suppose he will be fool enough to go to the penitentiary, or +hang, to save _your_ reputation?" Langham asked harshly. + +"I think Jack North would be almost fool enough for that," she answered +with conviction. + +"Well, I don't,--you were too easy,--men don't risk their necks for your +sort!" he mocked. "Look here, you had an infatuation for North,--you +admitted it,--only this time it went too far! What was the trouble, did +he get sick of the business and throw you over?" + +"How coarse you are, Marsh!" and she colored angrily, not at his words, +however, but at the memory of that last meeting with North. + +"It's a damn rotten business, and I'll call it by what name I please! If +you are summoned, it will be your word against his; you have told me you +were not in his rooms--" + +"I was _not_ there--" she said, and as she said it she wondered why she +did not tell the truth, admit the whole thing and have it over with. She +was tired of the wrangling, and her hatred of North had given way to +pity, yet when Langham replied: + +"All right. You are my wife, and North can hang, but he shan't save +himself by ruining you if _I_ can help it!" + +She answered: "I have told you that I wasn't there, Marsh." + +"Would you swear that you weren't there?" Langham asked eagerly. + +"Yes--" + +"Even if it sent him to the penitentiary?" he persisted. + +"Yes." + +He took her by the shoulders and drew her near to him that he might look +deep into her eyes. + +"Even if it hanged him?" he rasped out. + +She felt his hot breath on her cheek; she looked into his face, fierce, +cruel, with the insane selfishness of his one great fear. + +"Answer me,--would you let him hang?" and he shook her roughly. + +"Would I let him hang--" she repeated. + +"Yes--" + +"I--I don't know!" she said in a frightened whisper. + +"No, damn you, I can't trust you!" and he flung her from him. + +There was a brief silence. The intangible, unformed, unthoughtout fear +that had kept her silent was crystallizing into a very tangible +conviction. Marshall had expressed more than the mere desire to be +revenged on North, she saw that he was swayed by the mastering emotion +of fear, rather than by his blazing hate of the suspected man. Slowly +but surely there came to her an understanding of his swift descent +during the last months. + +"Marsh--" she began, and hesitated. + +A scarcely articulate snarl from Langham seemed to encourage her to go +on. + +"Marsh, where does the money come from that you--that we--have been +spending so lavishly this winter?" + +"From my practice," he said, but his face was averted. + +She gave a frightened laugh. + +"Oh, no, Marsh, I know better than that!" + +He swung about on her. + +"Well," he stormed, "what do you know?" + +"Hush, Marsh!" she implored, in sudden terror of him. + +He gave her a sullen glare. + +"Oh, very well, bring the whole damn thing rattling down about our +ears!" he cried. + +"Marsh,--what do you mean? Do you know that John North is innocent?" She +spoke with terrifying deliberation. + +For a moment they stood staring into each other's eyes. The delicate +pallor deepened on her face, and she sank half fainting into a chair, +but her accusing gaze was still fixed on Langham. + +He strode to her side, and his hand gripped hers with a cruel force. + +"Let him prove that he is innocent if he can, but without help from +you! You keep still no matter what happens, do you hear? Or God knows +where this thing will end--or how!" + +"Marsh, what am I to think!" + +"You can think what you like so long as you keep still--" + +There was a hesitating step in the hall, the door was pushed open, and +Judge Langham paused on the threshold. + +"May I come in?" he said. + +Neither spoke, and his uneasy glance shifted back and forth from husband +to wife. In that wordless instant their common knowledge manifested +itself to each one of the three. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO + +GOOD MEN AND TRUE + + +The North trial was Mount Hope's one vital sensation. Day after day the +courtroom was filled with eager perspiring humanity, while in their +homes, on the streets, and in the stores men talked of little else. As +for North himself, he was conscious of a curious sense of long +acquaintance with the courtroom; its staring white walls and crowded +benches seemed his accustomed surroundings, and here, with a feeling +that was something between fear and weariness, he followed each stage of +the elaborate game Judge Belknap, for the defense, and Moxlow, for the +prosecution, were playing, the game that had his life for its stake. + +When court adjourned, always in the twilight of those mid-winter +afternoons, there were his brief comforting interviews with Elizabeth; +and then the long solitary evenings in his cell; and the longer nights, +restless and disturbed. The strain told fearfully on his vigor of body +and mind, his face under imprisonment's pallid mask, became gaunt and +heavily lined, while his eyes sunk deep in their sockets. + +At first he had not believed that an innocent man could be punished for +a crime of which he had no knowledge; he was not so sure of this now, +for the days slipped past and the prosecution remained firmly intrenched +behind certain facts which were in their way, conclusive. He told +himself with grim humor that the single weak strand in the rope Moxlow +was seeking to fit about his neck was this, that after all was said and +proved, the fact remained, he had not killed Archibald McBride! + +When the last witness for the state had been examined, North took the +stand in his own behalf. His cross-examination was concluded one dull +February day, and there came a brief halt in the rapid progress of the +trial; the jury was sent from the room while Moxlow and Belknap prepared +instructions and submitted them to the court. The judge listened +wearily, his sunken cheek resting against the palm of his thin hand, and +his gaze fixed on vacancy; when he spoke his voice was scarcely audible. +Once he paused in the middle of a sentence as his glance fell on the +heavy upturned face of his son, for he saw fear and entreaty written on +the close-drawn lips and in the bloodshot eyes. + +A little later in the twilight North, with the sheriff at his elbow, +walked down the long corridor on his way to the jail. The end was close +at hand, a day or two more and his fate would be decided. The +hopelessness of the situation appalled him, stupified him. The evidence +of his guilt seemed overwhelming; he wondered how Elizabeth retained her +faith in him. He always came back to his thought of her, and that which +had once been his greatest joy now only filled him with despair. Why had +he ever spoken of his love,--what if this grim farce in which he was a +hapless actor blundered on to a tragic close! He would have made any +sacrifice had it been possible for him to face the situation alone, but +another life was bound up with him; he would drag her down in the ruin +that had overtaken him, and when it was all past and forgotten, she +would remember,--the horror of it would fill her days! + +On that night, as on many another, North retraced step by step the ugly +path that wound its tortuous way from McBride's back office to the cell +in which he--John North--faced the gallows. But the oftener he trod this +path the more maze-like it became, until now he was hopelessly lost in +its intricacies; discouraged, dazed, confused, almost convinced that in +some blank moment of lost identity it was his hand that had sent the old +man on his long last journey. As Evelyn Langham had questioned, so now +did John North: "If not I, then who did murder Archibald McBride?" + +In a vain search for the missing handy-man, General Herbert had opened +his purse wider than North or even Evelyn realized. There seemed three +possibilities in the instance of Montgomery. Either he knew McBride's +murderer and testified falsely to shield him; or else he knew nothing +and had been hired by some unknown enemy to swear North into the +penitentiary; or--and the third possibility seemed not unlikely--it was +he himself that had clambered over the shed roof after killing and +robbing the old merchant. + +North turned on his cot and his thoughts turned with him from Montgomery +to Gilmore, who also, with uncharacteristic cowardliness had fled the +scene of his illegal activities and the indictment that threatened him +anew. "What was the gambler's part in the tragedy?" He hated North; he +loved Marshall Langham's wife. But neither of these passions shaped +themselves into murderous motives. Langham himself furnished food for +reflection and speculation. Evidently in the most dire financial +difficulties; evidently under Gilmore's domination; evidently burdened +with some guilty knowledge,--but there was no evidence against him, he +had credibly accounted for himself on that Thanksgiving afternoon, and +North for the hundredth time dismissed him with the exclamation: "Marsh +Langham a murderer? Impossible!" + +The first cold rays of light, announcing the belated winter's dawn, +touched with gray fingers the still grayer face of the sleepless +prisoner. Out of the shadows that they coined came a vision of Evelyn +Langham. And again for the hundredth time, North was torn between the +belief that she, by her testimony, might save him and the unconquerable +determination to keep from Elizabeth Herbert the knowledge of his affair +with Langham's wife. Better end his worthless existence than touch her +fair life with this scandal. But of what was Evelyn Langham thinking +during the days of his trial? What if she should voluntarily break her +silence! Should he not send for her--there was a sound at his door. +North started to his feet only to see the fat round face of the deputy +sheriff as he came bringing the morning's hot coffee and thick buttered +bread. + +The town bell was ringing for nine o'clock when the deputy sheriff again +appeared to escort him into court, and as they entered the room North +saw that it was packed to the doors. His appearance won a moment of +oppressive silence, then came the shuffling of feet and the hum of +whispered conversation. + +At the back of the room sat Marshall Langham. He was huddled up in a +splint-bottomed chair a deputy had placed for him at one end of the last +row of benches. Absorbed and aloof, he spoke with no one, he rarely +moved except to mop his face with his handkerchief. His eyes were fixed +on the pale shrunken figure that bent above the judge's desk. His +father's face with its weary dignity, its unsoftened pride, possessed a +terrible fascination for him; the very memory of it, when he had quitted +the court room, haunted him! Pallid, bloodless as a bit of yellow +parchment, and tortured by suffering, it stole into his dreams at night. + +But at last the end was in sight! If Moxlow had the brains he credited +him with, North would be convicted, the law satisfied, and his case +cease to be of vital interest to any one. Then of a sudden his fears +would go from him, he would be born afresh into a heritage of new hopes +and new aspirations! He had suffered to the very limit of his capacity; +there was such a thing as expiation, and surely he had expiated his +crime. + +Now Moxlow, lank and awkward, with long black locks sweeping the collar +of his rusty coat, slipped from his chair and stood before the judge's +desk. For an instant Langham's glance shifted from his father to the +accused man. He felt intense hatred of him; to his warped and twisted +consciousness, half mad as he was with drink and drugs, North's life +seemed the one thing that stood between himself and safety,--and clearly +North had forfeited the right to live! + +When Moxlow's even tones fell on the expectant hush, Langham writhed in +his seat. Each word, he felt, had a dreadful significance; the big linen +handkerchief went back and forth across his face as he sought to mop +away the sweat that oozed from every pore. He had gone as deep in the +prosecutor's counsels as he dared go, he knew the man's power of +invective, and his sledge-hammer force in argument; he wanted him to cut +loose and overwhelm North all in a breath! The blood in him leaped and +tingled with suppressed excitement, his twitching lips shaped themselves +with Moxlow's words. He felt that Moxlow was letting his opportunity +pass him by, that after all he was not equal to the task before him, +that it was one thing to plan and quite another to perform. Men, such as +those jurors, must be powerfully moved or they would shrink from a +verdict of guilty! + +But Moxlow persevered in his level tones, he was not to be hurried. He +felt the case as good as won, and there was the taste of triumph in his +mouth, for he was going to convict his man in spite of the best criminal +lawyer in the state! Yet presently the level tones became more and more +incisive, and Moxlow would walk toward North, his long finger extended, +to loose a perfect storm of words that cut and stung and insulted. He +went deep into North's past, and stripped him bare; shabby, mean, and +profligate, he pictured those few short years of his manhood until he +became the broken spendthrift, desperately in need of money and rendered +daring by the ruin that had overtaken him. + +Moxlow's speech lasted three hours, and when he ended a burning mist was +before North's eyes. He saw vaguely the tall figure of the prosecuting +attorney sink into a chair, and he gave a great sigh of relief. Perhaps +North expected Belknap to perform some miracle of vindication in his +behalf, certainly when his counsel advanced to the rail that guarded the +bench there were both authority and confidence in his manner, and soon +the dingy court room was echoing to the strident tones of the old +criminal lawyer's voice. As the minutes passed, however, it became a +certainty with North that no miracle would happen. + +Belknap concluded his plea shortly before six o'clock. And this was the +end,--this was the last move in the game where his life was the stake! +In spite of his exhaustion of mind and body North had followed the +speech with the closest attention. He told himself now, that the state's +case was unshaken, that the facts, stubborn and damning, were not to be +brushed aside. + +Moxlow's answer to Belknap's plea was brief, occupying little more than +half an hour, and the trial was ended. It rested with the jury 'to say +whether John North was innocent or guilty. As the jury filed from the +room North realized this with a feeling of relief in that that at last +the miserable ordeal was over. He had never been quite bereft of hope, +the consciousness of his own innocence had measurably sustained him in +his darkest hours. And now once more his imagination swept him beyond +the present into the future; again he could believe that he was to pass +from that room a free man to take his place in the world from which he +had these many weary months been excluded. There was no bitterness in +his heart toward any one, even Moxlow's harsh denunciation of him was +forgotten; the law through its bungling agents had laid its savage hands +on him, that was all, and these agents had merely done what they +conceived to be their duty. + +He glanced toward the big clock on the wall above the judge's desk and +saw that thirty minutes had already gone by since the jury retired. +Another half-hour passed while he studied the face of the clock, but the +door of the jury room, near which Deputy-sheriff Brockett had taken up +his station, still remained closed and no sound came from beyond it. At +his back he heard one man whisper to another that the jurymen's dinner +had just been brought in from the hotel. + +"That means another three quarters of an hour,--it's their last chance +to get a square meal at the county's expense!" the speaker added, which +earned him a neighboring ripple of laughter. + +Judge Langham and Moxlow had withdrawn to the former's private room. +Sheriff Conklin touched North on the shoulder. + +"I guess we'd better go back, John!" he said. "If they want us to-night +they can send for us." + +Morbid and determined, the spectators settled down to wait for the +verdict. The buzz of conversation was on every hand, and the air grew +thick and heavy with tobacco smoke, while relaxed and at ease the crowd +with its many pairs of eyes kept eager watch on the door before which +Brockett kept guard. No man in the room was wholly unaffected by the +sinister significance of the deputy's presence there, and the fat little +man with his shiny bald head and stubby gray mustache, silent, +preoccupied, taking no part in what was passing about him, became as the +figure of fate. + +The clock on the wall back of the judges desk ticked off the seconds; +now it made itself heard in the hush that stole over the room, again its +message was lost in the confusion of sounds, the scraping of feet or the +hum of idle talk. But whether the crowd was silent or noisy the clock +performed its appointed task until its big gilt hands told whoever cared +to look that the jury in the John North case had devoted three hours to +its verdict and its dinner. + +The atmosphere of the place had become more and more oppressive. Men +nodded sleepily in their chairs, conversation had almost ceased, when +suddenly and without any apparent reason Brockett swung about on his +heel and faced the locked door. His whole expression betokened a +feverish interest. The effect of this was immediate. A wave of +suppressed excitement passed over the crowd; absolute silence followed; +and then from beyond the door, and distinctly audible in the stillness, +came the sound of a quick step on the uncarpeted floor. The clock ticked +twice, then a hand dealt the door a measured blow. + +The moment of silence that followed this ominous signal was only broken +when a deputy who had been nodding half asleep in his chair, sprang +erect and hurried from the room. As the swinging baize doors banged at +his heels, the crowd seemed to breathe again. + +Moxlow was the first to arrive. The deputy had found him munching a +sandwich on the court-house steps. His entrance was unhurried and his +manner quietly confident; he put aside his well-worn overcoat and took +his seat at the counsel table. A little ripple of respectful comment had +greeted his appearance; this died away when the baize doors at the back +of the room swung open again to admit North and the sheriff. + +North's face was white, but he wore a look of high courage. He +understood to the full the dreadful hazard of the next few moments. With +never a glance to the right or to the left, he crossed the room and took +his seat; as he settled himself in his chair, Belknap hurried into +court. + +Judge Langham had not yet appeared, and the crowd focused its attention +on the shut door leading into his private office. Presently this door +was seen to open slowly, and the judge's spare erect figure paused on +the threshold. His eyes, sunken, yet brilliant with a strange light, +shifted from side to side as he glanced over the room. + +Marshall Langham had not quitted his seat. There in his remote corner +under the gallery, his blanched face framed by shadows, his father's +glance found him. With his hand resting tremulously on the jamb of the +door as if to steady himself, the judge advanced a step. Once more his +eyes strayed in the direction of his son, and from the gloom of that +dull corner which Marshall had made his own, despair and terror called +aloud to him. His shaking hand dropped to his side, and then like some +pale ghost, he passed slowly before the eager eyes that were following +his every movement to his place behind the flat-topped desk on the +raised dais. + +As he sank into his chair he turned to the clerk of the court and there +was a movement of his thin lips, but no sound passed them. Brockett +guessed the order he had wished to give, and the big key slid around in +the old-fashioned lock of the jury-room door. Heavy-visaged and +hesitating, the twelve men filed into court, and at sight of them John +North's heart seemed to die within his breast. He no longer hoped nor +doubted, he knew their verdict,--he was caught in some intricate web of +circumstance! A monstrous injustice was about to be done him, and in the +very name of justice itself! + +The jurors, awkward in their self-consciousness, crossed the room and, +as intangible as it was potent, a wave of horror went with them. There +was a noisy scraping of chairs as they took their seats, and then a +deathlike silence. + +The clerk glanced up inquiringly into the white face that was bent on +him. A scarcely perceptible inclination of the head answered him, and he +turned to the jury. + +"Gentlemen, have you arrived at a true verdict, and chosen one of your +number to speak for you?" he asked. + +Martin Howe, the first man in the front row of the two solemn lines of +jurors, came awkwardly to his feet and said almost in a whisper: + +"We have. We find the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment." + +"Mr. Howe, do you find this man guilty as charged in the indictment?" +asked the clerk. + +"I do," responded the juror. + +Twelve times the clerk of the court, calling each man by name, asked +this question, and one by one the jurors stood up and answered: + +"I do." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE + +THE LAST APPEAL + + +One raw morning late in April, Mark Leanard, who worked at Kirby's +lumber-yard, drove his team of big grade Percherons up to Kirby's office +by the railroad tracks. + +"What's doing?" he asked of Kirby's clerk. + +The clerk handed him a slip of paper. + +"Go round and tell Mitchell to get you out this load!" he said. + +Leanard went off whistling, with the order slip tucked back of his +hatband. In the yard, Mitchell the foreman, gave him a load "of +sixteen-foot" pine boards and "two by fours". + +"Where to?" the driver asked, as he took his seat on top the load. + +"To the jail, they're going to fence the yard." + +"You mean young John North?" + +"That's what,--did you think you'd get a day off and take the old woman +and the kids?" asked Mitchell. + +It was a little past eight when the teamster entered the alley back of +the jail and began to unload. The fall of the first heavy plank took +John North to his cell window. For a long breathless moment he stood +there peering down into the alley, then he turned away. + +All that day the teams from Kirby's continued to bring lumber for the +fence, and at intervals North heard the thud of the heavy planks as they +were thrown from the wagons, or the voices of the drivers as they urged +their horses up the steep grade from the street. Darkness came at last +and with it unbroken quiet, but in his troubled slumbers that night the +condemned man saw the teams come and go, and heard the fall of the +planks. It was only when the dawn's first uncertain light stole into the +cell that a dreamless sleep gave him complete forgetfulness. + +From this he was presently roused by hearing the sound of voices in the +yard, and then the sharp ringing blows of a hammer. He quitted his bed +and slipped to the window; two carpenters had already begun building the +frame work that was to carry the temporary fence which would inclose the +place of execution. It was _his_ fence; it would surround his gallows +that his death should not become a public spectacle. + +As they went about their task, the two carpenters stole covert glances +up in the direction of his window, but North stood well back in the +gloom of his cell and was unseen. Horror could add nothing to the prison +pallor, which had driven every particle of color from his cheeks. Out of +these commonplace details was to come the final tragedy. Those men in +faded overalls were preparing for his death,--a limit had been fixed to +the very hours that he might live. On the morning of the tenth of June +he would see earth and sky from that window for the last time! + +Chance passers-by with no very urgent affairs of their own on hand, +drifted up from the street, and soon a little group had assembled in the +alley to watch the two carpenters at their work, or to stare up at +North's strongly barred window. Now and again a man would point out this +window to some new-corner not so well informed as himself. + +Whenever North looked down into the alley that morning, there was the +human grouping with its changing personnel. Men sprawled on the piles of +boards, or lounged about the yard, while the murmur of their idle talk +reached him in his cell. The visible excuse which served to bring them +there was commonplace enough, but it was invested with the interest of a +coming tragedy, and North's own thoughts went forward to the time when +the fence should be finished, when somewhere within the space it +inclosed would stand his gallows. + +Shortly before the noon whistles blew, two little girls came into the +alley with the carpenters' dinner pails. They made their way timidly +through the crowd, casting shy glances to the right and left; at a word +from one of the men they placed the dinner pails beside the pile of +lumber and hurried away; but at the street corner they paused, and with +wide eyes stared up in the direction of North's window. + +A moment later the whistles sounded and the idlers dispersed, while the +two mechanics threw down their hammers and took possession of the lumber +pile. After they had eaten, they lighted their pipes and smoked in +silent contentment; but before their pipes were finished the crowd began +to reassemble, and all that afternoon the shifting changing groups stood +about in the alley, watching the building of the fence. At no time were +the two carpenters without an audience. This continued from day to day +until the structure was completed, then for a week there was no work +done within the inclosure. It remained empty and deserted, with its +litter of chips, of blocks and of board ends. + +On the morning of the first Monday in May, North was standing before his +window when the two mechanics entered the yard from the jail; they +brought tools, and one carried a roll of blue paper under his arm; this +he spread out on a board and both men examined it carefully. Next they +crossed to the lumber pile and looked it over. They were evidently +making some sort of calculation. Then they pulled on their overalls and +went to work, and in one corner of the yard--the corner opposite North's +window--they began to build his scaffold. The thing took shape before +his very eyes, a monstrous anachronism. + +General Herbert had not been idle while the unhurried preparations for +John North's execution were going forward; whatever his secret feeling +was, neither his words nor his manner conceded defeat. Belknap had tried +every expedient known to criminal practice to secure a new trial but had +failed, and it was now evident that without the intervention of the +governor, North's doom was fixed unalterably. Belknap quitted Mount Hope +for Columbus, and there followed daily letters and almost hourly +telegrams, but General Herbert felt from the first that the lawyer was +not sanguine of success. Then on the eighth of June, two days before the +execution, came a long message from the lawyer. His wife was ill, her +recovery was doubtful; the governor was fully possessed of the facts in +North's case and was considering them, would the general come at once to +Columbus? + +This telegram reached Idle Hour late at night, and the next morning +father and daughter were driven into Mount Hope. The pleasant life with +its agreeable ordering which the general had known for ten peaceful +years had resolved itself into a mad race with time. The fearful, the +monstrous, seemed to reach out and grip him with skeleton fingers. Like +the pale silent girl at his side, he was knowing the horror of death, +and a horror that was beyond death. + +They stopped at the jail to say good-by to North, and were then driven +rapidly to the station. The journey of about two hours seemed +interminable, but they rarely spoke. Elizabeth did not change the +position she had assumed when they took their seats. She leaned lightly +against her father's broad shoulder and her hands were clasped in her +lap. + +For weeks the situation had been absolutely pitiless. Their wrecked +efforts were at the door of every hope, and if this mission failed--but +it would not fail! All they had come to ask was the life of an innocent +man, and surely the governor, unaffected by local prejudice, must +realize John North's innocence. + +It was two o'clock when they reached their destination, and as they left +the car the general said: + +"We will go to the hotel first. Either Judge Belknap will be there, or +there will be some word for us." + +At the hotel they found, not Belknap, but a letter which he had left. +The governor was suffering from a slight indisposition and was confined +to the house. Belknap had made an appointment for him, and he would be +expected. The general crushed the sheet of paper between his fingers +with weary impatience. + +"We'll see the governor at once. I'll call a carriage," he said briefly. + +Five minutes later, when they had left the hotel, Elizabeth asked: + +"What did Judge Belknap say?" + +"Nothing, dear, nothing--the matter remains just as it was. The governor +is expecting us." + +"What do you think, father? This is our last hope. Oh, do you realize +that?" + +She rested her hand on his arm. + +"It's going to be all right!" her father assured her. + +Then there was silence between them until they drew up before the +governor's house. + +Side by side they mounted the steps. The general's ring was answered by +a man-servant, who took their cards after showing them into a small +reception-room. He returned after a moment to say that the governor was +occupied and could not possibly see them until the afternoon. The +general's face was blank. He had never considered it possible that the +governor would refuse to see him at his convenience. Certainly there had +been a time when no politician of his party in the state nor in the +nation would have ventured this; but it was evident the last ten years +had made a difference in his position. Elizabeth gazed up fearfully into +her father's face. What did this mean; was it merely a subterfuge on the +governor's part to avoid a painful interview? Perhaps, after all, it +would have been better had she remained at the hotel. Her father read +her thoughts. + +"It's all right--be brave!" he whispered. He turned to the servant. +"Will you kindly learn for me at what hour the governor will be at +liberty?" he said stiffly. + +"Oh, he must see us!" cried Elizabeth, the moment they were alone. + +"Of course he must, and he will," the general said. + +But the governor's refusal to see them at once rankled within him. His +sunburnt cheeks were a brick red and there was an angry light in his +gray eyes. The servant did not return, but in his stead came a dapper +young fellow, the governor's private secretary. + +"General Herbert?" he asked inquiringly, as he entered the room. + +The general acknowledged his identity by an inclination of the head. + +"The governor will be most happy to see you at any time after three +o'clock. May I tell him you will call then?" asked the secretary, and he +glanced, not without sympathy and understanding, at Elizabeth. + +"We will return at three," the general said. + +"He regrets his inability to see you now," murmured the secretary, and +again he permitted his glance to dwell on the girl's pale beauty. + +He bowed them from the room and from the house. When the door closed on +them, Elizabeth turned swiftly to her father. + +"He is cruel, heartless, to keep us in suspense. A word, a moment--might +have meant so much to us--" she sobbed. + +A spasm of pain contracted her father's rugged features. + +"He will see us; he is a busy man with unceasing demands on his time, +but we have this appointment. Be brave, dear, just a little longer!" he +said tenderly. + +"I'll try to be, but there is only to-day--and to-morrow--" she +faltered. + +"Hush, you must not think of that!" + +"I can think of nothing else!" + +How they lived through the long hours the general never knew, but at +last three o'clock came and they were again at the governor's door. It +was opened by the servant who had admitted them earlier in the day. + +"We have an appointment with the governor," said General Herbert +briefly, pushing past him. + +"Yes, sir; I will tell him you are here as soon as he comes in," said +the man. + +"He's out, then?" and General Herbert wheeled on the man. + +"Yes, but he's expected back any moment, sir." + +"It will be all right," her father again assured Elizabeth, speaking +with forced cheerfulness when they were alone. + +Ten--twenty minutes slipped by; minutes that were infinitely precious, +then a step sounded in the hall. It was the servant who entered the +room, however. He came to say that a message had that moment been +received from the governor; he was detained at the capitol, and probably +would not reach home before five o'clock. + +"Does he say he will see us there?" asked the general. + +"He didn't mention you, sir; perhaps he has forgotten, but I thought +you'd wish to know." + +"Thank you." The general turned to his daughter. "I think we'd better go +to the capitol." + +The carriage was still at the door and they hurried out to it and were +whirled across town. As they came to a stand before the capitol, General +Herbert, without waiting for Elizabeth, sprang out and strode into the +building and up the familiar stairs to the executive chambers. The door +of the outer office stood open. A colored janitor was sweeping the room. + +"Who you want, boss?" he asked, stopping his work and leaning on the +handle of his broom. + +"The governor--where is he?" demanded the general. + +"You's too late, boss, he's done gone out." + +A sense of futility and defeat almost overwhelmed the old general. He +was silent for a moment since he dared not trust himself to speak, then +he asked: + +"Is the governor's secretary here?" + +The man shook his head. + +"Him and the governor left together. There ain't no one here now, +they've done for the day." + +"Then the governor has gone home?" + +"I expect that's where he went, yes, sir." + +General Herbert swung about and hurried from the room. In the hall he +met Elizabeth. + +"Did you see him?" she asked eagerly. + +"Not here," he answered huskily. + +Her eyes grew wide with terror, and she swayed as if about to fall, but +her father put out a sunburnt hand for her support. + +"We must go back!" he said, mastering himself at sight of her suffering. +"We have missed him here, he's gone home, that is all--it means +nothing." + +They drove in silence through the streets. Pallid, fearful, and +speechless in her suffering, Elizabeth leaned back in her seat. The hope +that had sustained her was lost in the realization of defeat. There was +nothing beyond; this was failure, complete and final; the very end of +effort! Suddenly her father's big hand closed about the small one which +rested in her lap. + +"You must not give up; I tell you it will be all right!" he insisted. + +"He is avoiding us!" she cried chokingly. "Oh, what can we do when he +will not even see us!" + +"Yes, he will. We have been unfortunate, that is all." + +"Wretchedly unfortunate!" she moaned. + +They had reached their destination, and this time slowly and uncertainly +they ascended the steps. With his hand upon the bell, the general +hesitated for an instant; so much was at stake! Then a bell sounded in +some distant part of the house, and after a brief interval the door was +opened to them. + +"I am sorry, sir, but the governor has not returned." + +The general thrust a bill into the man's hand, saying: + +"The moment he comes in, see that he gets my card." + +Again there was delay. General Herbert, consumed by impatience, crossed +and recrossed the room. Elizabeth stood by the window, one hand parting +the heavy curtains. It was already late afternoon. The day had been +wasted, and the hours that remained to them were perilously few. But +more than the thought of North's death, the death itself filled her mind +with unspeakable imaginings. The power to control her thoughts was lost, +and her terrors took her where they would, until North's very death +struggles became a blinding horror. Somewhere in the silent house, a +door opened and closed. + +"At last!" said the general, under his breath. + +But it was only the governor's secretary who entered the room. He halted +in the doorway and glanced from father to daughter. There was no +mistaking the look on his face. + +"How much longer are we to be kept in doubt?" asked General Herbert, in +a voice that indicated both his dread and his sense of insult. + +"The governor deeply regrets that there should have been this delay--" +began the secretary. + +"He is ready to see us now?" General Herbert interrupted. + +"I regret--" + +"What do you regret? Do you mean to tell me that he will not see us?" +demanded the general. + +"The governor has left town." + +The angry color flamed into the old man's cheeks. His sorely tried +patience was on the point of giving way, but a cry from the window +recalled him. + +"Where has he gone?" + +"He left for the East at four o'clock," faltered the secretary, after a +moment of wretched irresolution. + +The general's face became white, as his anger yielded to a more powerful +emotion. + +"Impossible!" he cried. + +"The North matter has been left in my hands," said the secretary +haltingly. + +The general's hope revived as he heard this. He stepped to Elizabeth's +side and rested his hand protectingly on her shoulder. + +"You have the governor's decision?" he asked. + +"Yes," answered the secretary unsteadily. + +There was a moment's silence. + +"What is it?" The general's voice was strained and unnatural. + +"He regrets it, but he does not deem it proper for him to interfere with +the decision of the court. He has had the most eminent legal advice in +this case--" + +A choking inarticulate cry from Elizabeth interrupted him. + +"My God!" cried her father, as Elizabeth's groping hands clung to him. +He felt the shudder that wrenched her slim body. "Be brave!" he +whispered, slipping his arms about her. + +"Oh, father--father--" she sobbed. + +"We will go home," said the general. + +He looked up from the bowed head that rested against his shoulder, +expecting to find the secretary still standing by the door, but that +dapper young man had stolen from the room. + +"Yes, take me home," said Elizabeth. + +He led her from the house and the door closed behind them on their last +hope. Both shared in the bitter consciousness of this. They had been +brought face to face with the inexorable demands of life, they had been +foredoomed to failure from the very beginning. + +"Father?" she gasped. + +"Yes, dear?" He spoke with infinite tenderness. + +"Is there nothing more?" + +"Nothing, but to go home." + +Deeply as he felt for her, he knew that he realized only an +infinitesimal part of her suffering. + +"The governor has refused to interfere?" + +"You heard what he said, dear," he answered simply. + +"And I have to go back and tell John that after all our hopes, after all +our prayers--" + +"Perhaps you would better not go back," he suggested. + +"Not go back? No, I must see him! You would not deny me this--" + +"I would deny you nothing," said her father fervently. + +"Dismiss the carriage, and we will walk to the station; there is time?" + +"Yes." + +For a little while they walked on in silence, the girl's hands clasped +about her father's arm. + +"I can not understand it yet!" said Elizabeth at length, speaking in a +fearful whisper. "It is incredible. Oh, can't you save him--can't you?" + +The general did not trust himself to answer her. + +"We have failed. Do you think it would have been different if Judge +Belknap had not been called away?" + +General Herbert shook his head. + +"And now we must go back to him! We were to have telegraphed him; we +won't now, will we?" + +"My poor, poor Elizabeth!" cried the general brokenly. + +"How shall we ever tell him!" + +"I will go alone," said the general. + +"No, no--I must see him! You are sure we have time to catch our +train--if we should miss it--" and the thought gave her a sudden +feverish energy. + +"You need not hurry," her father assured her. + +"But look at your watch!" she entreated. + +"We have half an hour," he said. + +"You can think of nothing more to do?" she asked, after another brief +silence. + +"Nothing, dear." + +Little was said until they boarded the train, but in the drawing-room of +the Pullman which her father had been able to secure, Elizabeth's +restraint forsook her, and she abandoned herself to despair. Her father +silently took his place at her side. Oppressed and preoccupied, the +sting of defeat unmitigated, he was struggling with the problem of the +future. The morrow with its hideous tragedy seemed both the end and the +beginning. One thing was clear to him, they must go away from Idle Hour +where North had been so much a part of Elizabeth's life. Nothing had +been added to this decision when at length the train pulled into Mount +Hope. + +"We are home, dear," he said gently. + +[Illustration: She abandoned herself to despair.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR + +THE LAST LONG DAY + + +A long day, the last of many long days he told himself, was ended, and +John North stood by his window. Below in the yard into which he was +looking, but within the black shadow cast by the jail, was the gallows. +Though indistinguishable in the darkness, its shape was seared on his +brain, for he had lived in close fellowship with all it emphasized. It +was his gallows, it had grown to completion under his very eyes that it +might destroy him in the last hour. + +There had been for him a terrible fascination in the gaunt thing that +gave out the odor of new wood; a thing men had made with their own +hands; a clumsy device to inflict a brutal death; a left-over from +barbarism which denied every claim of civilization and Christianity! +Now, as the moon crept up from behind the distant hills, the black +shadows retreated, and as he watched, timber by timber the gallows stood +forth distinct in the soft clear light. In a few hours, unless the +governor interfered, he would pass through the door directly below his +window. He pictured the group of grave-faced nervous officials, he saw +himself bound and blindfolded and helpless in their midst. + +His fingers closed convulsively about the iron bars that guarded his +window, but the feeling of horror that suddenly seized him was remote +from self-pity. He was thinking of Elizabeth. What unspeakable +wretchedness he had brought into her life, and he was still to bequeath +her this squalid brutal death! It was the crowning shame and misery to +the long months of doubt and fearful suspense. + +Up from the earth came the scent of living growing things. The leaves of +the great maples in the court-house grounds rustled in the spring +breeze, there was the soft incessant hum of insect life, and over all +the white wonderful moonlight. But he had no part in this universal +renewal--he was to die his purposeless unheroic death in the morning. +For himself he could almost believe he no longer cared; he had fully +accepted the idea. He had even taken his farewell of the few in Mount +Hope who had held steadfast in their friendship, and there only remained +for him to die decently; to meet the inevitable with whatever courage +there was in his soul. + +He heard Brockett's familar step and suddenly, intent and listening, he +faced the door; but the deputy came slowly down the corridor and as he +entered the cell, paused, and shook his head. + +"No word yet, John," he said regretfully. + +"Is the train in?" asked North. + +"Yes, Conklin went down to meet it. He's just back; I guess they'll come +on the ten-thirty." + +North again turned listlessly toward the window. + +"I wouldn't own myself beat yet, John!" said the deputy. + +"I've gone down at every crisis! I didn't think the grand jury would +indict me, I didn't think I would be convicted at the trial!" He made a +weary gesture. "What right have I to think they will be able to +influence the governor?" + +There was a moment's silence broken by the deputy. + +"I'll be outside, and if you want anything, let me know." + +It was the death-watch, and poor Brockett was to keep it. + +North fell to pacing his narrow bounds. Without, the wind had risen and +presently there came the patter of rain on the roof. Thick darkness +again enveloped the jail yard; and the gallows--his gallows--was no +longer visible. For an hour or more the storm raged and then it passed +as swiftly as it had gathered. Once more he became aware of the +incessant hum of the insect world, and the rustling of the great maples +in the court-house grounds. + +As he listened to these sounds, from somewhere off in the distance he +heard the shriek of an engine's whistle. They were coming now if they +came at all! In spite of himself, his hope revived. To believe that they +had failed was out of the question, and the beat of his pulse and the +throb of his heart quickened. + +He endured twenty minutes of suspense, then he heard voices; Brockett +threw open the door, and Elizabeth, white-faced and shaking, was before +him. + +"John!" she cried, with such anguish that in one terrible instant all +hope went from him. + +His soul seemed to stand naked at the very gates of death, and the +vision of his brutal ending came before his burning eyes. Words of +protest trembled on his lips. This endured but for an imperceptible +space of time, and then that larger pity which was not for himself but +for Elizabeth, took him quickly to her side. + +"John--" she cried again, and held out her arms. + +"Do not speak--I know," he said. + +Her head drooped on his shoulder, and her strength seemed to forsake +her. + +"I know, dear!" he repeated. + +"We could do nothing!" she gasped. + +"You have done everything that love and devotion could do!" + +She looked up into his face. + +"You are not afraid?" she whispered, clinging to him. + +"I think not," he said simply. + +"You are very brave, John--I shall try to be brave, also." + +"My dear, dear Elizabeth!" he murmured sadly, and they were silent. + +Without, in the corridor, an occasional whispered word passed between +General Herbert and the deputy. + +"The governor would do nothing, John," Elizabeth faltered at length. + +"I understand, dear," he said tenderly. + +"He would not even see us; we went repeatedly to his house and to the +capitol, and in the end we saw his secretary. The governor had left +town; he never intended to see us! To reach this end--when nothing can +be done--" Her eyes grew wide with horror. + +He drew her closer, and touched her cold lips with his. + +"There is one thing you can do that will be a comfort to me, Elizabeth; +let your father take you home!" + +"No, no, I must stay till morning, until the day breaks--don't send me +away, John!" she entreated. + +"It will be easier--" + +Yet his arms still held her close to him, and he gazed down into the +upturned face that rested against his breast. It was his keen sense of +her suffering that weighed on him now. What a wreck he had made of her +life--what infinite compassion and pity he felt! He held her closer. + +"What is it, dear?" she asked. + +But he could not translate his feeling into words. + +"Oh, if there were only something we could do!" she moaned. + +"Through all these weeks you have given me hope and strength! You say +that I am brave! Your love and devotion have lifted me out of myself; I +would be ashamed to be a coward when I think of all you have endured!" + +He felt her shiver in his arms, then in the momentary silence the +court-house bell struck the half-hour. + +"I thought it was later," she said, as the stroke of the bell died out +in the stillness. + +"It is best that you should leave this place, dearest--" + +"Don't send me from you, John--I can not bear that yet--" she implored. + +Pityingly and tenderly his eyes looked deep into hers. What had she not +endured for his sake! And the long days of effort had terminated in this +last agony of disappointment; but now, and almost mercifully, he felt +the fruitless struggle was ended. All that remained was the acceptance +of an inexorable fate. He drew forward his chair for her, and as she +sank wearily into it, he seated himself on the edge of the cot at her +side. + +"McBride's murderer will be found one of these days, and then all the +world will know that what you believe is the truth," said North at +length. + +"Yes, dear," replied Elizabeth simply. + +Some whispered word of General Herbert's or the deputy's reached them in +the interval of silence that ensued. Then presently in that silence they +had both feared to break, the court-house bell rang again. It was +twelve o'clock. Elizabeth rose. + +"I am going now--John--" she said, in a voice so low that he scarcely +heard her. "I am going home. You wish it--and you must sleep--" She +caught his hands and pressed them to her heart. + +"Oh, my darling--good night--" + +She came closer in his arms, and held up her lips for him to kiss. The +passion of life had given place to the chill of death. It was to-day +that he was to die! No longer could they think of it as a thing of +to-morrow, for at last the day had come. + +"Yes, you must go," he said, in the same low voice in which she had +spoken. + +"I love you, John--" + +"As I do you, beloved--" he answered gently. + +"Oh, I can not leave you! My place is here with you to the very last--do +not send me away!" + +"I could not bear it," he said steadily. "You must leave Mount Hope +to-morrow--to-day--" + +He felt her arms tighten about his neck. + +"To-day?" she faltered miserably. "To-day--" + +Her arms relaxed. He pressed his lips to her pale cold lips and to her +eyes, from which the light of consciousness had fled. + +"General Herbert!" he called. + +Instantly the general appeared in the doorway. + +"She has fainted!" said North. + +Her father turned as if with some vague notion of asking assistance, but +North checked him. + +"For God's sake take her away while she is still unconscious!" and he +placed her in her father's arms. For a moment his hand lingered on the +general's shoulder. "Thank you--good-by!" and he turned away abruptly. + +"Good-by--God bless you, John!" said the general in a strained voice. + +He seemed to hesitate for a moment as if he wished to say more; then as +North kept his back turned on him, he gathered the unconscious girl +closer in his arms, and walked from the room. + +North remained by the window, his hands clutching the bars with +convulsive strength, then the wind which blew fresh and strong in his +face brought him the sound of wheels; but this quickly died out in the +distance. + +Brockett tiptoed into the cell. + +"I am going to lie down and see if I can get some sleep," North said, +throwing off his coat. "If I sleep, call me as soon as it is light--good +night." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE + +ON THE HIGH IRON BRIDGE + + +As the weeks had passed Marshall Langham had felt his fears lift +somewhat, but the days and nights still remained endless cycles of +torment. Wherever he turned and with whomsoever he talked the North case +was certain sooner or later to be mentioned. There were hideous rumors +afloat, too, concerning General Herbert's activity in behalf of the +condemned man, and in spite of his knowledge of the law, he was +profoundly affected by this wild gossip, this ignorant conjecture, which +reason and experience alike told him misstated every fact that bore on +the situation. He was learning just how dependent he had been on +Gilmore; no strange imaginings, no foolish vagaries had ever beset the +gambler, his brutal vigor had yielded nothing to terror or remorse. + +He knew the Herberts had gone to Columbus to make a final appeal to the +governor. Father and daughter had been driven across the Square by +Thompson, the Idle Hour foreman, and they had passed below the windows +of Langham's office on their way to the station. It had seemed to him an +iniquitous thing that the old statesman's position and influence should +be brought into the case to defeat his hopes, to rob him of his +vengeance, to imperil his very safety. Racked and tortured, he had no +existence outside his fear and hate. All that day Langham haunted the +railway station. If any word did come over the wires, he wished to know +it at once, and if General Herbert returned he wished to see him, since +his appearance must indicate success or failure. If it were failure the +knowledge would come none too quickly; if success, in any degree, he +contemplated instant flight, for he was obsessed by the belief that then +he would somehow stand in imminent peril. + +He was pacing the long platform when the afternoon train arrived, but +his bloodshot eyes searched the crowd in vain for a sight of General +Herbert's stalwart figure. + +"He has just one more chance to get back in time!" he told himself. "If +he doesn't come to-night it means I am safe!" + +His bloodless lips sucked in the warm air. Safe! It was the first time +in months he had dared to tell himself this; yet a moment later and his +fears were crowding back crushing him to earth. The general might do +much in the six hours that remained to him. + +He was back at his post when the night train drew in, and his heart gave +a great leap in his breast as he saw the general descend from the +platform of the sleeper and then turn to assist Elizabeth. She was +closely veiled, but one glance at the pair sufficed. + +Langham passed down the long platform. The flickering gas-jets that +burned at intervals under the wide eaves of the low station were +luminous suns, his brain whirled and his step was unsteady. He passed +out into the night, and when the friendly darkness had closed about him, +slipped a feverish palm across his eyes and thanked God that his season +of despair was at an end. He had suffered and endured but now he was +safe! + +Before him the train, with its trailing echoes, had dwindled away into +the silence of the spring night. Scarcely conscious of the direction he +was taking he walked down the track toward the iron bridge. It was as if +some miracle of healing had come to him; his heavy step grew light, his +shaking hands became steady, his brain clear; in those first moments of +security he was the ease-seeking, pleasure-loving Marshall Langham of +seven months before. + +As he strode forward he became aware that some one was ahead of him on +the track, then presently at the bridge a match was struck, and his +eyes, piercing the intervening darkness, saw that a man had paused there +to light a pipe. He was quite near the bridge himself when another match +flared, and he was able to distinguish the figure of this man who was +crouching back of one of the iron girders. A puff of wind extinguished +the second match almost immediately, and after a moment or two in which +the lawyer continued to advance, a third match was struck; at the same +instant the man must have heard the sound of Langham's approach, for as +he brought the blazing match to the bowl of a short black pipe, he +turned, standing erect, and Langham caught sight of his face. It was Joe +Montgomery. Another playful gust found Mr. Montgomery's match and the +two men stood facing each other in the darkness. + +Langham had been about to speak but the words died on his lips; a wave +of horror passed over him. He had known not quite ten minutes of +security and now it was at an end; his terror all revived; this hulking +brute who faced him there in the darkness menaced his safety, a few +drinks might give him courage to go to Moxlow or to the general with his +confession. How was he to deal with the situation? + +"There ain't much Irish about me!" said Montgomery, with a casual oath. + +There was a moment of silence. The handy-man was searching his pockets +for a fresh match. + +"Why have you come back, Joe?" asked Langham finally, when he could +command himself. + +Montgomery started violently and his pipe fell from his mouth. + +"Is that you, Boss Langham?" he faltered. + +He stared about him seeking to pierce the darkness, fearful that Langham +was not alone, that Gilmore might be somewhere near. + +"Are you by yourself, boss?" he asked, and a tremor stole into his +hoarse throaty voice. He still carried the scars of that fearful beating +Gilmore had administered. + +"Yes," said Langham. "I'm alone." + +"I didn't know but Andy Gilmore might be with you, boss," said +Montgomery, clearing his throat. + +"No, he's not here," replied Langham quietly. "He's left town." + +"Yes, but he'll be comin' back!" said the handy-man with a short laugh. + +"No, he's gone for good." + +"Well, I ain't sorry. I hope to God I never see him again--he beat me up +awful! I was as good a friend as he'll ever have; I was a perfect yellow +dog to him; he whistled and I jumped, but I'll be damned if I ever jump +again! Say, I got about eighteen inches of old gas-pipe slid down my +pants leg now for Mr. Andy; one good slug with that, and he won't have +no remarks to make about my goin' home to my old woman!" + +"You won't have to use it." + +"I'm almost sorry," said Montgomery. + +"I suppose that thirst of yours is unimpaired?" inquired Langham. + +His burning eyes never for an instant forsook the dark outline of the +handy-man's slouching figure. + +"I dunno, boss, I ain't been drinkin' much lately. Liquor's a bully +thing to keep the holes in your pants, and your toes out where you can +look at 'em if you want to. I dunno as I'll ever take up +whisky-drinkin' again," concluded Mr. Montgomery, with a self-denying +shake of the head. + +"Are you glad to be back, Joe?" asked Langham. + +It was anything to gain time, he was thinking desperately but to no +purpose. + +"Glad! Stick all the cuss words you know in front of that and it will be +mild!" cried Montgomery feelingly. "It's pitiful the way I been used, +just knocked from pillar to post; I've seen dogs right here in Mount +Hope that had a lot happier time than I've been havin'--and me a married +man! I've always tried to be a good husband, I hope there won't be no +call for me to make a rough-house of it to-night!" he added playfully, +as he looked off across the bridge. + +"I guess not, Joe," said Langham. + +His fears assembled themselves before him like a phantom host. How was +he to deal with the handy-man; how would Gilmore have dealt with him? +Had the time gone by to bully and bribe, or was that still the method by +which he could best safeguard his life? + +"Say, boss, what they done with young John North?" Montgomery suddenly +demanded. + +"Nothing yet," answered Langham after an instant's pause. + +"Ain't he had his trial?" Montgomery asked. + +"Yes." + +"Well, ain't they done anything with him? If he ain't been sent up, he's +been turned loose." + +"Neither, Joe," rejoined Langham slowly. "The jury didn't agree. His +friends are trying to get the judge to dismiss the case." + +"That would suit me bully, boss, if they done that!" cried the +handy-man. + +Langham caught the tone of relief. + +"I don't want to see him hang; I don't want to see no one hang, I'm all +in favor of livin', myself. Say, I had a sweet time out West! I'd a died +yonder; I couldn't stand it, I had to come back--just had to!" + +He was shaking and wretched, and he exaggerated no part of the misery he +had known. + +"When did you get in?" asked Langham. + +"I beat my way in on the ten-thirty; I rode most of the way from +Columbus on top of the baggage car--I'm half dead, boss!" + +"Have you seen any one?" + +"No one but you. I got off at the crossin' where they slow up and come +along here; I wasn't thinkin' of a damn thing but gettin' home to my old +woman. I guess I'll hit the ties right now!" he concluded with sudden +resolution, and once more his small blue eyes were turned toward the +bridge. + +"I'll walk across to the other side with you," said Langham hastily. + +"The crick's up quite a bit!" said the handy-man as they set foot on the +bridge. + +Langham glanced out into the gloom, where swollen by the recent rains +the stream splashed and whirled between its steep banks. + +"Yes, way up!" he answered. + +As he spoke he stepped close to Montgomery's side and raised his voice. + +"Stop a bit," said Joe halting. "I shan't need this now," and he drew +the piece of gas-pipe from his trousers pocket. "I'd have hammered the +life out of Andy Gilmore!" he said, as he tossed the ugly bludgeon from +him. + +"You haven't told me where you have been," said Langham, and once more +he pressed close to Montgomery, so close their elbows touched. + +The handy-man moved a little to one side. + +"Where _ain't_ I been, you better ask, boss," he said. "I seen more +rotten cities and more rotten towns and more rotten country than you can +shake a stick at; God A'mighty knows what's the good of it--I dunno! +Everybody I seen was strangers to me, never a face I knowed anywhere; +Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Denver--to hell with 'em all, boss; old +Mount Hope's good enough for me!" And the handy-man shrugged his huge +slanting shoulders. + +"Don't go so fast, Joe!" Langham cautioned, and his eyes searched the +darkness ahead of them. + +"It's a risky business for you, boss," said the handy-man. "You ain't +used to this bridge like me." + +"Do you always come this way?" asked Langham. + +"Always, in all seasons and all shapes, drunk or sober, winter or +summer," said the handy-man. + +"One wouldn't have much chance if he slipped off here to-night," said +Langham with a shudder. + +"Mighty little," agreed Montgomery. "Say, step over, boss--we want to +keep in the middle! There--that's better, I was clean outside the rail." + +"Can you swim?" asked Langham. + +"Never swum a stroke. The dirt's good enough for me; I got a notion that +these here people who are always dippin' themselves are just naturally +filthy. Look at me, a handy-man doing all kinds of odd jobs, who's got a +better right to get dirty--but I leave it alone and it wears off. I'm +blame certain you won't find many people that fool away less money on +soap than just me!" said Joe with evident satisfaction. "The old woman's +up!" he cried, as he caught the glimmer of a light on the shore beyond. + +Perhaps unconsciously he quickened his pace. + +"Not so fast, Joe!" gasped Langham. + +"Oh, all right, boss!" responded Montgomery. + +Langham turned to him quickly, but as he did so his foot struck the +cinder ballast of the road-bed. + +"Good night, boss!" said Joe, his eyes fixed on the distant light. + +"Wait!" said Langham imperiously. + +"What for?" demanded Montgomery. + +"The water made such a noise I couldn't talk to you out on the bridge," +began Langham. + +"Well, I can't stop now, boss," said the handy-man, turning impatiently +from him. + +"Yes, damn you--you can--and will!" and Langham raised his voice to give +weight to his words. + +Montgomery rounded up his shoulders. + +"Don't you try that, boss! Andy Gilmore could shout me down and cuss me +out, but you can't; and I'll peel the face off you if you lay hands on +me!" He thrust out a grimy fist and menaced Langham with it. There was a +brief silence and the handy-man swung about on his heel. + +"Good night, boss!" he said over his shoulder, as he moved off. + +Langham made no answer, but long after Joe's shuffling steps had died +away in the distance he was still standing there irresolute and +undecided, staring fixedly off into the darkness that had swallowed up +the handy-man's hulking figure. + +Mr. Montgomery, muttering somewhat and wagging his head, continued along +the track for a matter of a hundred yards, when his feet found a narrow +path which led off in the direction of the light he had so confidently +declared was his old woman's. Then presently as he shuffled forward, the +other seven houses of the row of which his was the eighth, cloaked in +utter darkness, took shadowy form against the sky. The handy-man +stumbled into his unkempt front yard, its metes and bounds but +indifferently defined by the remnants of what had been a picket fence; +he made his way to the side door, which he threw open without ceremony. +As he had surmised, his old woman was up. She was seated by the table in +the corner, engaged in mending the ragged trousers belonging to Joseph +Montgomery, junior. + +At sight of Joe, senior, she screamed and flung them aside; then white +and shaking she came weakly to her feet. The handy-man grinned genially. +He was not of demonstrative temperament. + +"Joe!" cried Nellie, as she sprang toward him. "Dear Joe!" and she threw +her arms about him. + +"Oh, hell!" said the handy-man. + +Nellie was hanging limply about his neck and he was aware that she had +kissed him; he could not remember when before she had taken such a +liberty. Mr. Montgomery believed in a reasonable display of affection, +but kissing seemed to him a singularly frivolous practice. + +"Oh, my man!" sobbed Nellie. + +"Oh, cheese it, and let me loose--I don't like this to-do! Can't a +married man come home without all this fuss?" + +"Dear Joe, you've come back to me and your babies!" And the tears +streamed down her cheeks. + +"I don't need you to tell me that--I got plenty sense enough to know +when I'm home!" said Montgomery, not without bitterness. + +"I mourned you like you was passed away, until your letter come!" said +Nellie, and the memory of her sufferings set her sobbing afresh. + +"Oh, great hell!" exclaimed Joe dejectedly. "Why can't you act +cheerful? What's the good of takin' on, anyhow--I don't like tombstone +talk." + +"It was just the shock of seein' you standin' there in the door like I +seen you so often!" said Nellie weakly. + +"If that ain't a woman for you, miserable because she's happy. Say, stop +chokin' me; I won't stand for much more of this nonsense, you might know +I don't like these to-dos!" + +"You don't know what I've suffered, Joe!" + +"That's a woman for you every time--always thinkin' of herself! To hear +you talk any one would think I'd been to a church picnic; I look like +I'd been to a picnic, don't I? Yes, I do--like hell!" + +"They said you would never come back to me," moaned Nellie. + +"Who said that?" asked Mr. Montgomery aggressively. + +"Everybody--the neighbors--Shrimplin--they all said it!" + +"Ain't I told you never to listen to gossip, and ain't I always done +what's right?" interrogated the handy-man severely. + +"Yes, always, Joe," said Nellie. + +"Then you might know'd I'd come back when I got plenty good and ready. I +fooled 'em all, and I'm here to stay--that is if you keep your hands off +me!" + +"You mean it, Joe?" asked Nellie. + +"What? About your keepin' your hands off me? Yes, you bet I do!" + +And Montgomery by a not ungentle effort released himself from his wife's +embrace. This act so restored his self-respect that he grinned +pleasantly at her. + +"I don't know when I been so happy, Joe--it's awful nice to have you +back!" said Nellie, wiping her eyes on the corner of her apron. + +"There's some sense in your sayin' that," said the handy-man, shaking +his head. "You ought to feel happy." + +"You don't ask after your children, Joe.--" + +"Don't I? Well, maybe you don't give me no time to!" said Mr. +Montgomery, but without any special enthusiasm, since the truth was that +his interest in his numerous offspring was most casual. + +"They're all well, and the littlest, Tom--the one you never seen--has +got his first tooth!" said Nellie. + +Joe grunted at this information. + +"He'll have more by and by, won't he?" he said. + +"How you talk, of course he will!" + +"He'd have a devil of a time chewin' his food if he didn't," observed, +the handy-man with a throaty chuckle. + +"And, Joe, I got the twenty dollars you sent!" + +"Is any of it left?" inquired Mr. Montgomery, with sudden interest. + +"The rent and things took it all. That was the noblest act you ever +done, Joe; it made me certain you was thinkin' of us, and from the +moment I got that money I was sure you would come back no matter what +people said!" + +"Humph!" said Joe. "Is there anything in the house fit to eat? Because +if there is, I'll feed my face right now!" + +"Do set down, Joe; I'll have something for you in a minute--why didn't +you tell me you was hungry?" + +She was already rattling plates and knives at the cupboard, and Joe took +the chair she had quitted when he entered the house, stretching his legs +under his own table with a sense of deep satisfaction. He had not +considered it worth his while to visit the kitchen sink, although his +mode of life, as well as his mode of travel for days past, had covered +him with dust and grime; nor did he take off his ragged cap. It had +always been his custom to wear it in the privacy of his own home, it was +one of the last things he removed before going to bed at night; at all +other times it reposed on the top of his curly red head as the only safe +place for a cap to be. + +"I was real worried about Arthur along in March," said Mrs. Montgomery, +as such odds and ends as had survived the appetites of all the little +Montgomerys began to assemble themselves on the table. + +"What's he been a-doin'?" inquired Arthur's father. + +"It was his chest," explained Nellie. + +Joe grunted. By this time his two elbows were planted on the edge of the +table and his mouth was brought to within six scant inches of his plate. +The handy-man's table manners were not his strong point. + +"Oh, I guess his chest is all right!" he paused to say. + +"I thought it was best to be on the safe side, so I took him up-town and +had his health examined by a doctor. He had to take off his shirt so he +could hear Arthur's lungs." + +"Well, I'm damned,--what did he do that for?" cried Joe, profoundly +astonished. + +"It was a mercy I'd washed him first," added Nellie, not comprehending +the reason of her husband's sudden show of interest though gratified by +it. + +"Lord, I thought you meant the doctor had took off his shirt!" said Joe. +"He's all right now, ain't he?" + +"Yes, but he did have such an alarmin' cough; it hung on and hung on, it +seemed to me like it was on his chest, but the doctor said no, and I was +that relieved! I used some of the twenty dollars to pay him and to get +medicine from the drug store." + +Joe was cramming his mouth full of cold meat and bread, and for the +moment could not speak; when at length he could and did, it was to say: + +"I hear Andy Gilmore's left town?" + +"Yes, all of a sudden, and no one knows where he's gone!" + +"I guess he's had enough of Mount Hope, and I guess Mount Hope's had +enough of him!" remarked Joe. + +"They say the police was goin' to stop the gamblin' in his rooms if he +hadn't gone when he did." + +"Well, I hope he'll catch hell wherever he is!" said Joe, with a sullen +drop to his voice. + +"For a while after you left, Joe, they didn't give me no peace at +all--the police and detectives, I mean--they was here every day! And +Shrimplin told me they was puttin' advertisements in the papers all over +the country." + +"What for?" inquired Montgomery uneasily. + +"They wanted to find out where you'd gone; it seemed like they was +determined to get you back as a witness for the trial," explained +Nellie. + +Montgomery's uneasiness increased. He began to wonder fearfully if he +was in any danger, vague forebodings assailed him. Suppose he was +pinched and sent up. His face blanched and his small blue eyes slid +around in their sockets. Nellie was evidently unaware of the feeling of +terror her words had inspired, for she continued: + +"But it didn't make no difference in the end that you wasn't here, for +everybody says it was you that hanged John North; you get all the credit +for that!" + +Montgomery's hands fell at his side. + +"Me hanged John North! _Me hanged John North!_" he repeated. "But he +ain't hanged--God A'mighty, he ain't hanged yet!" + +His voice shot up into a wail of horrified protest. Nellie regarded him +with a look of astonishment. She had been rather sorry for young John +North, but she had also felt a certain wifely pride in Joe's connection +with the case. + +"No, he ain't hanged yet but he will be in the morning!" she said. + +The handy-man sprang to his feet, knocking over the chair in which he +had been seated. + +"What's that?" he roared. + +"Why, haven't you heard? He's to be hung in the morning." + +Joe glared at her with starting eyes. + +"What will they do that for--hang him--hang John North!" He tore off his +ragged cap and dashed it to the floor at his feet. "To hell with Andy +Gilmore and to hell with Marsh Langham--that's why they drove me out of +town--to hell with 'em both!" he shouted, and his great chest seemed +bursting with pent-up fury. + +"Why, whatever do you mean, Joe?" cried Nellie. + +"He never done it--you hear me--and they _know_ it! You sure you got the +straight of this--they are goin' to hang young John North?" He seized +her roughly by the shoulders. + +"Yes--how you take on, Joe--" + +"Take on!" he shouted. "You'd take on too if you stood in my place. +You're sure you know what you're talkin' about?" + +"I seen the fence around the jail yard where they're goin' to hang him; +I went over on purpose yesterday with one of the neighbors and took +Arthur; I thought it would be improvin', but he'd seen it before. There +ain't much he don't see--for all I can do he just runs the streets." + +Joe's resolution had been formed while she was speaking, and now he +snatched his ragged cap from the floor. + +"You stay right here till I get back!" he said gruffly. + +It was not his habit to discuss affairs of any moment with Mrs. +Montgomery, since in a general way he doubted the clearness of the +feminine judgment, and in the present instance he had no intention of +taking her into his confidence. The great problem by which he was +confronted he would settle in his own fashion. + +"You ain't in any trouble, Joe?" and Nellie's eyes widened with the +birth of sudden fear. + +The handy-man was standing by the door, and she went to his side. + +"Me? No, I guess not; but I got an everlastin' dose of it for the other +fellow!" and he reached for the knob. + +"Was it what I said about the police wantin' you?" his wife asked +timidly. + +She knew that his dealings with the police had never been of an +especially fortunate nature. He shook off the hand she had placed on his +arm. + +"You keep your mouth shut till I get back!" he said, and pushing open +the door, passed out. + +The night had cleared since he crossed the bridge, and from the great +blue arch of heaven the new moon gave her radiance to a sleeping world. +But Montgomery was aware only of his purpose as he slouched along the +path toward the railroad track. The horror of North's fate had fixed his +determination, nothing of terror or fear that he had ever known was +comparable to the emotion he was experiencing now. He did not even +speculate on the consequences to himself of the act he had decided on. +They said that he had hanged John North--he got the credit for +that--well, John North wasn't hanged yet! He tossed his arms aloft. "My +God, I didn't mean to do that!" he muttered. + +He had gained the railroad tracks and was running toward the bridge, the +very seconds seemed of infinite value to him, for suppose he should have +difficulty in finding Moxlow? And if he found the prosecuting attorney, +would he believe his story? A shudder passed through him. He was quite +near the bridge when suddenly he paused and a whispered curse slipped +from between his parted lips. A man was standing at the entrance to the +bridge and though it was impossible to distinguish more than the shadowy +outline of his figure, Montgomery was certain that it was Marshall +Langham. His first impulse was to turn back and go into town by the +wagon road and the wooden bridge, but as he hesitated the figure came +toward him, and Langham spoke. + +"Is that you, Joe?" he asked. + +"Damn him, he knows I won't stand for hangin' North!" the handy-man told +himself under his breath. He added aloud as he shuffled forward, "Yes, +it's me, boss!" + +"Couldn't you make it right with Nellie?" asked Langham. + +"Oh, it isn't that--the old woman's all right--but the baby's sick and +I'm out huntin' a doctor." + +He did not expect Langham to believe him, but on the spur of the moment +he could think of nothing better. + +"I am sorry to hear that!" said Langham. + +An evil wolfish light stole into his eyes and the lines of his weak +debauched face hardened. + +"What's the matter with you, boss; couldn't you get across?" asked Joe. + +"No, the bridge is too much for me. Like a fool I stopped here to smoke +a cigar after you left me; I hoped it would clear off a bit so I could +see the ties, but it's worse now that I can. I had about made up my mind +to come and get you to help me back into town." + +"Come along, boss, I'm in a terrible hurry!" said Joe eagerly. + +But Langham was a pace or two in advance of him when they stepped out +on the bridge. Never once did he glance in the handy-man's direction. +Had he done so, Montgomery must have been aware that his face showed +bloodless in the moonlight, while his sunken eyes blazed with an +unaccustomed fire. + +"I can't walk these ties, Joe--give me your hand--" he managed to say. + +Joe did as he desired, and as the lawyer's slim fingers closed about his +great fist he was conscious that a cold moisture covered them. He could +only think of a dead man's hand. + +"What's wrong with the baby, Joe?" Langham asked. + +"Seems like it's got a croup," said Joe promptly. + +"That's too bad--" + +"Yes, it's a hell of a pity," agreed Montgomery. + +He was furtively watching Langham out of the corners of his beady blue +eyes; his inner sense of things told him it was well to do this. They +took half a dozen steps and Langham released Joe's hand. + +"I wonder if I can manage this alone!" he said. But apparently the +attempt was a failure, for he quickly rested his hand on his companion's +massive shoulder. + +They had reached the second of the bridge's three spans. Below them in +the darkness the yellow flood poured in noisy volume. As Langham knew, +here the stream was at its deepest and its current the swiftest. He knew +also that his chance had come; but he dared not make use of it. The +breath whistled from his lips and the moisture came from every pore. He +sought frantically to nerve himself for the supreme moment; but suppose +he slipped, or suppose Joe became aware of his purpose one second too +soon! + +"Keep over a bit, boss!" said the handy-man suddenly. "You are crowding +me off the bridge!" + +"Oh, all right; is that better?" + +And Langham moved a step aside. + +"A whole lot," responded Joe gruffly. But his little blue eyes, alert +with cunning, were never withdrawn from the lawyer for an instant. + +They walked forward in silence for a moment or two, and were approaching +the end of the center span, when the lawyer glanced about him wildly; he +realized that he was letting slip his one great opportunity. Again Joe +spoke: + +"Keep over, boss!" And then all in the same breath, "What the hell are +you up to, anyway?" + +It must be now or it would be never; and Langham, turning swiftly, +hurled himself on his companion, and his slim fingers with their +death-like chill gripped Joe's hairy throat. In the suddenness of the +attack he was forced toward the edge of the bridge. The rush of the +noisy waters sounded with fearful distinctness in his ears. + +"Here, damn you, let go!" panted Montgomery. + +[Illustration: "Here, let go!" panted Montgomery.] + +He felt Langham's hot breath on his cheek, he read murder by the wolfish +light in his eyes. He wrenched himself free of the other's desperate +clutch, but as he did so his foot caught against one of the rails and he +slipped and fell to his knees. In the intervals of his own labored +breathing, he heard the flow of the river, a dull ceaseless roar, and +saw the flashing silver of the moon's rays as they touched the water's +turgid surface. Langham no longer sought to force him from the bridge, +but bent every effort to thrust him down between the ties to a swift and +certain death. + +"You want to kill me, too!" panted Montgomery, as by a mighty effort +that brought the veins on neck and forehead to the point of bursting, he +regained his footing on the ties. + +But his antagonist was grimly silent, and Joe, roused to action by fear, +and by a sullen rage at what he deemed the lawyer's perfidy, turned and +grappled with him. Once he smashed his great fist full into Langham's +face, and though the blow sent the lawyer staggering across the bridge, +he recovered himself quickly and rushed back to renew the fight. +Montgomery greeted him with an oath, and they grappled again. + +Langham had known in his calmer moments when he planned Joe's death, +that his only hope of success lay in the suddenness of his attack. Now +as they swayed on the very edge of the bridge the handy-man put forth +all his strength and lifted the lawyer clear of the ties, then with a +mighty heave of his great shoulders he tossed him out into space. + +There was a scarcely audible splash and Joe, looking fearfully down, saw +the muddy drops turn limpid in the soft white light. A moment later some +dark object came to the surface and a white face seemed to look up into +his, but only for a second, and then the restless flood bore it swiftly +away. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX + +CUSTER'S IDOL FALLS + + +Early that same night Mr. Shrimplin, taking Custer with him, had driven +out into the country. Their destination was a spot far down the river +where catfish were supposed to abound, for Izaak Walton's gentle art was +the little lamplighter's favorite recreation. After leaving Mount Hope +they jogged along the dusty country road for some two miles, then +turning from it into a little-traveled lane they soon came out upon a +great sweeping bend of the stream. + +"I don't know about this, Custer," said Mr. Shrimplin, with a doubtful +shake of the head, as he drew rein. "She's way up. I had no idea she was +way up like this; I guess though we can't do no better than to chance +it, catfish is a muddy-water fish, anyhow." + +He tied wild Bill to a blasted sycamore, and then, while he cut poles +from the willow bushes that grew along the bank, Custer built a huge +bonfire, by the light of which they presently angled with varying +fortunes. + +"I reckon not many people but me knows about this fishing-hole!" said +Shrimplin, as he cast his baited hook into the water. + +"Where did you learn to fish?" asked Custer, thirsting for that wisdom +his father was so ready to impart. + +"I guess you'd call it a natural gift in my case, son," said the little +lamplighter modestly. "I don't know as I deserve no credit; it's like +playing the organ or walking on a tight rope, the instinct's got to be +there or you'll only lay yourself open to ridicule." + +But truth to tell, fishing was no very subtle art as practised by Mr. +Shrimplin, he merely spat on his bait before he dropped it into the +water. Even Custer knew that every intelligent fisherman did this, you +couldn't reasonably hope to catch anything unless you did; yet there +seemed to him, when he now thought of it, such a gap between cause and +effect that he asked as he warily watched his cork: + +"What good does it do to spit on your hook?" + +"I've forgot the science of it, Custer," admitted his father after a +moment's thought. "But I've always heard old fishermen say you couldn't +catch nothing unless you did." + +"Did you ever try to?" + +"I can't say as I ever did. What would be the use when you know better?" +said Mr. Shrimplin, who was strictly orthodox. His cork went under and +he landed a flopping shiner on the bank; this he took from his hook and +tossed back into the water. "It's a funny thing about shiners!" he +said. + +"What is?" inquired Custer. + +"Why, you always catch 'em when you ain't fishing for 'em. You fish for +catfish or sun-dabs, or bass even, if you're using worms, and you catch +shiners; mainly, I suppose, because they are no manner of use to you. I +reckon if you fished for shiners you wouldn't catch anything,--you +couldn't--because there is no more worthless fish that swims! That's why +fishing is like life; in fact, you can't do nothing that ain't like +life; but I don't know but what catching shiners ain't just a little bit +more like life than anything else! You think you're going to make a lot +of money out of some job you've got, but it shaves itself down to half +by the time it reaches you; or you've got to cough up double what you +counted on when it's the other way about; so it works out the same +always; you get soaked whether you buy or sell, from the cradle to the +grave you're always catching shiners!" While Mr. Shrimplin was still +philosophizing big drops of warm spring rain began to splash and patter +on the long reach of still water before them. He scrambled to his feet. +"We are going to have some weather, Custer!" he said, and they had +scarcely time in which to drive Bill under the shelter of a disused hay +barracks in an adjacent field, when the storm broke with all its fury. +Here they spent the better part of an hour, and when at last the rain +ceased they climbed into the cart and turned Bill's head in the +direction of home. + +"I hope, Custer, that your ma won't be scared; it's getting mighty +late," said the senior Shrimplin, and he shook his head as if in pity of +a human weakness which his mind grasped, though he could not share in +it. "Seems to be that people give way more and more to their fear than +they used to; or maybe it is that I ask too much, being naturally nervy +myself and not having no nerves, as I may say." + +Half an hour later, off in the distance, the lights of Mount Hope became +visible to Custer and his father. + +"I'd give a good deal for a glass of suds and a cracker right now!" said +Mr. Shrimplin, speaking after a long silence. He tilted his head and +took a comprehensive survey of the heavens. "Well, we're going to have a +fine day for the hanging," he observed, with the manner of a +connoisseur. + +"Why won't they let no one see it?" demanded Custer. + +"It's to be strictly private. I don't know but what that's best; it's +some different though from the hangings I'm used to." And Mr. Shrimplin +shook his head dubiously as if he wished Custer to understand that after +all perhaps he was not so sure it was for the best. + +"How were they different?" inquired Custer, sensible that his parent was +falling into a reminiscent mood. + +"Well, they were more gay for one thing; folks drove in from miles about +and brought their lunches and et fried chicken. Sometimes there was +hoss racing in the morning, and maybe a shooting scrape or two; fact is, +we usually knowed who was to be the next to stretch hemp before the day +was over,--it gave you something to look forward to! But pshaw! What can +you expect here? Mount Hope ain't educated up to the sort of thing I'm +used to! A feller gets his face punched down at Mike Lonigan's or out at +the Dutchman's by the tracks, and the whole town talks of it, but no one +ever draws a gun; the feller that gets his face punched spits out his +teeth and goes on about his business, and that's the end of it except +for the talk; but where I've been there'd be murder in about the time it +takes to shift a quid!" + +And Mr. Shrimplin shifted his own quid to illustrate the uncertainty of +human life in those highly favored regions. + +"Don't you suppose they'd let you into the jail yard to-morrow if you +asked?" said Custer, to whom the hanging on the morrow was a matter of +vital and very present interest. + +"Well, son, I ain't _asked!_" rejoined the little lamplighter in a +rather startled tone. + +"Well, don't you think they'd ought to, seeing that you was one of the +witnesses, and found old Mr. McBride before anybody else did?" persisted +the boy. + +"I won't say but what you might think they'd want me present; but +Conklin ain't even suggested it, and if he don't think of it I can't say +as I'll have any hard feelings," concluded Mr. Shrimplin magnanimously. + +They were about to enter Mount Hope now; to their right they could +distinguish the brick slaughter-house which stood on the river bank, and +which served conveniently to mark the town's corporate limits on the +east. The little lamplighter spoke persuasively to Bill, and the +lateness of the hour together with the nearness to his own stable, +conspired to make that sagacious beast shuffle forward over the stony +road at a very respectable rate of speed. They were fairly abreast of +the slaughter-house when Custer suddenly placed his hand on his father's +arm. + +"Hark!" said the boy. + +Mr. Shrimplin drew rein. + +"Well, what is it, Custer?" he asked, with all that bland indulgence of +manner which was habitual to him in his intercourse with his son. + +"Didn't you hear, it sounded like a cry!" said Custer, in an excited +whisper. + +And instantly a shiver traversed the region of Mr. Shrimplin's spine. + +"I guess you was mistaken, son!" he answered rather nervously. + +"No, don't you hear it--from down by the crick bank?" cried the boy in +the same excited whisper. His father was conscious of the wish that he +would select a more normal tone. + +"There!" cried Custer. + +As he spoke, a cry, faint and wavering, reached Mr. Shrimplin's ears. + +"I do seem to hear something--" he admitted. + +"What do you suppose it is?" asked the boy, peering off into the gloom. + +"I don't know, Custer, and not wishing to be short with you, I don't +care a damn!" rejoined Mr. Shrimplin, endeavoring to meet the situation +with an air of pleasant raillery. + +He gathered up his lines as he spoke. + +"Why, what are you thinking of?" demanded Custer. + +"I was thinking of your ma, Custer!" faltered Mr. Shrimplin weakly. "We +been gone longer than we said, it must be after eleven o'clock." + +"There!" cried Custer again, as a feeble call for help floated up to +them. "It's from down on the crick bank back of the slaughter-house!" + +Mr. Shrimplin was knowing a terrible moment of doubt, especially +terrible because the doubt was of himself. He was aware that Custer +would expect much of him in the present crisis, and he was equally +certain that he would not rise to the occasion. If somebody would only +come that way! And he listened desperately for the sound of wheels on +the road, but all he heard was that oft-repeated call for help that came +wailing from the black shadows beyond the slaughter-house. Suddenly +Custer answered the call with a reassuring cry. + +"Perhaps it's another murder!" he said. + +"Oh, my God!" gasped Shrimplin, and there flashed through his mind the +horror of that other night. + +Custer slipped out of the cart. + +"Come on!" he cried. + +He was vaguely conscious that his father was not seizing the present +opportunity to distinguish himself with any noticeable avidity. He had +expected to see that conqueror of bad men and cow-towns, the somewhat +ruthless but always manful slayer of one-eye Murphy, descend from his +cart with astonishing alacrity, and heedless in his tried courage stride +down into the darkness beyond the slaughter-house. But Mr. Shrimplin did +nothing of the sort, he made no move to quit his seat. Surely something +had gone very wrong with the William Shrimplin of Custer's fancy, the +young Bill Shrimplin of Texarcana and similar centers of crime and +hardihood. + +"Custer--" began Mr. Shrimplin, in a shaking voice. "I am wondering if +it wouldn't be best to drive on into town and get a cop--Oh, my God, why +don't you quit hollering!" + +"Maybe they're killing him now!" cried Custer breathlessly. + +He could not yet comprehend his father's attitude in the matter, he +could only realize that for some wholly inexplicable reason he was +falling far short of his ideal of him; he seemed utterly to have lost +his eye for the spectacular possibilities of the moment. Why share the +credit with a cop, why ask help of any one! + +"You don't need no help, pa!" he said. + +"Well, I don't know as I do," replied the little man, but he made no +move to leave his cart, his fears glued him to the seat. + +"Come on, then!" insisted Custer impatiently. + +"Don't you feel afraid, son?" inquired Mr. Shrimplin, with marked +solicitude. + +"Not with you!" + +"Well, I don't know as you need to!" admitted Shrimplin. "But I don't +feel quite right--I reckon I feel sort of sick, Custer--sort of--" + +"Oh, come on--hurry up!" + +"I don't know but I ought to see a doctor first--" faltered Mr. +Shrimplin in a hollow tone. + +Misery of soul twisted his weak face pathetically. + +"Why you act like you was _afraid!_" said Custer, with withering +contempt. + +His words cut the elder Shrimplin like a knife; but they did not move +him from his seat in the cart. + +"You bet I ain't afraid, Custer,--and that's no way for you to speak to +your pa, anyhow!" + +But what he had intended should be the note of authority was no more +than a whine of injury. + +"Then why don't you come if you ain't afraid?" insisted the boy angrily. + +"I don't know as I rightly know _why_ I don't!" faltered Mr. Shrimplin. +"I feel rotten bad all at once." + +"You're a coward!" cried the boy in fierce scorn. + +Sobs choked his further utterance while the hot tears blinded him on the +instant. His idol had turned to clay in his very presence, and in the +desolation of that moment he wished that he might be stricken with +death, since life held nothing for him longer. + +"Custer--" began Shrimplin. + +"Why don't you be a man and go down there?" sobbed the boy. + +"It's dangerous!" said Mr. Shrimplin. + +"Then I'll go!" declared Custer resolutely. + +"What--and leave me here alone?" cried the little lamplighter. + +For answer Custer ran to the fence; his tears still blinded him and sobs +wrenched his little body. Twice he slipped back as he essayed to climb, +but a third attempt took him to the topmost rail of the rickety +structure. + +"Custer!" called his father. + +But Custer persisted in the crime of disobedience. He slid down from the +top rail and stood among the young pokeberry bushes and ragweed that +luxuriated in the foulness of the slaughter-house yard. It was not an +especially inviting spot even in broad day, as he knew. Now the +moonlight showed him bleached animal bones and grinning animal skulls, +while the damp weeds that clung about his bare legs suggested snakes. + +"_Custer!_" cried Mr. Shrimplin again. + +But it gained him no response from the boy, who disappeared from before +his eyes without a single backward glance; whereat the little +lamplighter cursed querulously in the fear-haunted solitude of the road. + +Custer descended the steep bank that sloped down to the water's edge. +His eyes were fixed on a dense growth of willows and sycamores that +lined the shore; it was from a spot within their black shadows that the +cries for help seemed to come. Presently he paused. + +"Hullo!" he called, peering into the darkness ahead of him. + +He listened intently, but this time his cry was unanswered; all he heard +was the grunting of some pigs that fed among the offal. The boy shivered +and his heart seemed to stop beating. + +"Hullo!" he called once more. + +"Help!" came the answer. + +And Custer stumbled forward. As he neared the black shadows of the +willows he could feel his heart sink like lead through all the reaches +of his shaking anatomy. He had passed quite beyond the hearing of his +father's commands and reproaches, and the wash and rush of the river +came up to him out of the silence. + +"Hullo!" cried the boy, pausing irresolutely. + +Then seemingly from the earth at his very feet came a faint answer to +his call, and Custer, forcing his way through a rank growth of weeds and +briers, stood on the brink of a deep gully that a small brook had worn +for itself on its way to the river below. In the bed of this brook was a +dark object that Custer could barely distinguish to be the figure of a +man. A bruised and bleeding face was upturned. + +"Give me your hand--" gasped the man. + +Custer knelt on the bank and grasping a tuft of grass to steady himself +extended his free hand. + +"Are you hurt bad?" he asked. + +"I don't know--" gasped the man, as he endeavored to draw himself up out +of the bed of the brook. + +But after a moment of fruitless exertion he sank back groaning. + +"Go for help!" he said, in a painful whisper. "You are not strong enough +for this." + +"How did you get here?" asked Custer. + +"I fell off the railroad bridge, the current landed me here; where am I, +anyhow?" + +"At the brick slaughter-house," said Custer. + +"I thought so; can't you get some one to help you?" + +But Custer, his reasonable curiosity satisfied, was already on his way +back to the road. "If only pa has not driven off!" But the senior +Shrimplin had not moved from the spot where Custer had left him five +minutes before. + +"Is that you, son?" he asked, as Custer appeared at the fence. + +"Come here, quick!" commanded the boy. + +"For what?" inquired Mr. Shrimplin. + +"You needn't be afraid, it's only a man who's fallen off the iron +bridge. He's down in the bed of the slaughter-house run. I can't get him +out alone!" + +"I'll bet he's good and drunk!" said the little lamplighter. + +"No, he ain't, and he's mighty badly hurt!" said the boy hotly. + +"Of course, of course, Custer!" said Mr. Shrimplin. "He'd a been killed +though if he hadn't been drunk." + +He climbed out of his cart, and clambered over the fence. Something in +Custer's manner warned him that any allusions of a jocular nature would +prove highly distasteful to his son, and he followed silently as Custer +led the way down to the brook. + +"Here's where he is!" said the boy halting. "You get down beside +him--you're strongest, and I'll stay here and help pull him up while you +lift!" + +"That's the idea, son!" agreed Mr. Shrimplin genially. + +And he slid down into the bed of the brook where he struggled to get the +injured man to his feet. The first and immediate result of his effort +was that the latter swore fiercely at him, though in a whisper. + +"We got to get you out of this, mister!" said the little lamplighter +apologetically. + +A second attempt was made in which they were aided by Custer from above, +and this time the injured man was drawn to the top of the bank, where +he collapsed in a heap. + +"He's fainted!" said Custer. "Strike a match and see who it is!" + +Mr. Shrimplin obeyed, bringing the light close to the bloody and +disfigured face. + +"Why, it's Marsh Langham!" he cried. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN + +FAITH IS RESTORED + + +"Custer--" began Mr. Shrimplin, and paused to clear his throat. He was +walking beside wild Bill's head while Custer in the cart tried to +support Langham, for the latter had not regained consciousness. "Custer, +I'm mighty well satisfied with you; I may say that while I always been +proud of you, I am prouder this moment than I ever hoped to be! How many +boys in Mount Hope, do you think, would have the nerve to do what you +just done? I love nerve," concluded Mr. Shrimplin with generous +enthusiasm. + +But Custer was silent, a sense of bitter shame kept him mute. + +"Custer," said his father, in a timidly propitiatory tone, "I hope you +ain't feeling stuck-up about this!" + +"I wish it had never happened!" The boy spoke in an angry whisper. + +"You wish what had never happened, Custer?" + +"About you--I mean!" + +Shrimplin gave a hollow little laugh. + +"Well, and what about me, son--if I may be allowed to ask?" + +"I wish you'd gone down to the crick bank like I wanted you to!" +rejoined the boy. + +Again he felt the hot tears gather, and drew the back of his hand across +his eyes. The little lamplighter had been wishing this, too; indeed, it +would for ever remain one of the griefs of his life that he had not done +so. He wondered miserably if the old faith would ever renew itself. His +portion in life was the deadly commonplace, but Custer's belief had +given him hours of high fellowship with heroes and warriors; it had also +ministered to the bloody-mindedness which lay somewhere back of that +quaking fear constitutional with him, and which he could no more control +than he could control his hunger or thirst. His blinking eyelids loosed +a solitary drop of moisture that slid out to the tip of his hooked nose. +But though Mr. Shrimplin's physical equipment was of the slightest for +the rôle in life he would have essayed, nature, which gives the hunted +bird and beast feather and fur to blend with the russets and browns of +the forest and plain, had not dealt ungenerously with him, since he +could believe that a lie long persisted in gathered to itself the very +soul and substance of truth. Another hollow little laugh escaped him. + +"Lord, Custer, I was foolin'--I am always foolin'! It was my chance to +see the stuff that's in you. Well, it's pretty good stuff!" he added +artfully. + +But Custer was not ready for the reception of this new idea; his +father's display of cowardice had seemed only too real to him. Yet the +little lamplighter's manner took on confidence as he prepared to +establish a few facts as a working basis for their subsequent +reconciliation. + +"I'd been a little better pleased, son, if you'd gone quicker when you +heard them calls Mr. Langham was letting out; you did hang back, you'll +remember--it looked like you was depending on me too much; but I got no +desire to rub this in. What you done was nervy, and what I might have +looked for with the bringing-up I've given you. I shan't mention that +you hung back." He shot a glance out of the corners of his bleached blue +eyes in Custer's direction. "How many minutes do you suppose you was in +getting out of the cart and over the fence? Not more than five, I'd say, +and all that time I was sitting there shaking with laughter--just +shaking with inward laughter; I asked you not to leave me alone! Well, I +always was a joker but I consider that my best joke!" + +Custer maintained a stony silence, yet he would have given anything +could he have accepted those pleasant fictions his father was seeking to +establish in the very habiliments of truth. + +"I hoped you'd know how to take a joke, son!" said the little +lamplighter in a hurt tone. + +"Were you joking, sure enough?" asked Custer doubtingly. + +"Is it likely I could have been in earnest?" demanded Shrimplin, +hitching up his chin with an air of disdain. "What's my record right +here in Mount Hope? Was it Andy Gilmore or Colonel Harbison that found +old man McBride when he was murdered in his store?" And the little +lamplighter's tone grew more and more indignant as he proceeded. "Maybe +you think it was your disgustin' and dirty Uncle Joe? _I_ seem to +remember it was Bill Shrimplin, or do I just dream I was there--but I +ain't been called a liar, not by no living man--" and he twirled an end +of his drooping flaxen mustache between thumb and forefinger. "Facts is +facts," he finished. + +"Everybody knows you found old Mr. McBride--" said Custer rather +eagerly. + +"I'm expecting to hear it hinted I didn't!" replied Mr. Shrimplin +darkly. "I'm expecting to hear it stated by some natural-born liar that +I set in my cart and bellered for help!" + +"But you didn't, and nobody says you did," insisted the boy. + +"Well, I'm glad you don't have to take my word for it," said Shrimplin. +"I'm glad them facts is a matter of official record up to the +court-house. I don't know, though, that I care so blame much about being +held up as a public character; if I hadn't a reputation out of the +common, maybe I wouldn't be misjudged when I stand back to give some one +else a chance!" + +He laughed with large scorn of the world's littleness. + +The epic of William Shrimplin was taking to itself its old high noble +strain, and Custer was aware of a sneaking sense of shame that he could +have doubted even for an instant; then swiftly the happy consciousness +stole in on him that he had been weighed in the balance by this +specialist in human courage and had not been found wanting. And his +heart waxed large in his thin little body. + +They were jogging along Mount Hope's deserted streets when Marshall +Langham roused from his stupor. + +"Where are you taking me?" he demanded of the boy. + +"Home, Mr. Langham--we're almost there now," responded Custer. + +"Take me to my father's," said Marshall with an effort, and his head +fell over on Custer's small shoulder. + +He did not speak again until Bill came to a stand before Judge Langham's +gate. + +"Are we there?" he asked of the boy. + +"Yes--" + +"Don't you think we'd better get help?" said Shrimplin. + +And Marshall seeming to acquiesce in this, the little lamplighter +entered the yard and going to the front door rang the bell. A minute +passed, and growing impatient he rang again. There succeeded another +interval of waiting in which Shrimplin cocked his head on one side to +catch the sound of possible footsteps in the hall. + +"He says try the knob," called Custer from the cart. + +Doing this, Shrimplin felt the door yield, it was not locked; at the +same instant he made this discovery, however, he heard a footfall in the +street and so, hurried back to the gate. The new-comer halted when he +was abreast of wild Bill, and stared first at the cart and then at +Shrimplin. + +"Is anything the matter?" he asked. + +It was Watt Harbison. + +"Young Mr. Langham has fell off the high iron bridge," said the little +lamplighter, with a dignity that more than covered his lapse from +grammar. + +"Why--are you badly hurt, Marsh?" cried Watt going close to the cart. + +"I don't know, I'm in most infernal pain," said Langham slowly. + +"Do you think we can lift him?" asked Shrimplin. "The judge don't seem +to be at home." + +"Your boy would better go to my uncle's; Judge Langham may be there," +said Watt. + +And Custer promptly slid out of the cart and sped off up the street. + +Langham met the delay with grim patience. A strange indifference had +taken the place of fear, nothing seemed of much moment any more. +Presently in his stupor he heard the sound of quick steps, then Colonel +Harbison's voice, and a moment later he was aware that the three men had +lifted him from the cart and were carrying him along the path toward +the house. They entered the hall. + +"Take me up-stairs," he said, and without pause his bearers moved +forward. + +They saw now that his face was pinched and ghastly under the smear of +blood that was oozing from an ugly cut on his cheek, and Watt and the +colonel exchanged significant glances. When they reached the head of the +stairs Custer pushed open the first door; the room thus disclosed was in +darkness, and the colonel, with a whispered caution to his companions, +released his hold on Langham, and striking a match, stepped into the +room where, having found the chandelier, he turned on the gas. As the +light flared up, Shrimplin and Watt advanced with their helpless burden. +It was the judge's chamber they had entered and it was not untenanted, +for there on the bed lay the judge himself. + +It was Langham who first saw that recumbent figure. A hoarse +inarticulate groan escaped him. He twisted clear of the hands that +supported him and by a superhuman effort staggered to his feet, he even +took an uncertain step in the direction of the bed, his starting eyes +fixed on the spare figure. Then his strength deserted him and with a cry +that rose to a shriek, he pitched forward on his face. + +The colonel strode past the fallen man to the bedside, where for an +instant he stood looking down on a placid face and into open eyes. As +his glance wandered he saw that the judge's nerveless fingers still +grasped the butt of a revolver. + +White-faced he turned away. "Is he dead, Colonel?" asked the little +lamplighter in an awe-struck voice. "Was he murdered?" and visions of +future notoriety flashed through his mind. + +The colonel and Watt exchanged shocked glances. + +"Here, Shrimplin, help me with Marsh!" said Watt. "We must get him out +of here at once!" + +They lifted Langham in their arms and bore him into an adjoining room. +As they placed him upon the bed he recovered consciousness and clutched +Watt by the sleeve. + +"I've been seeing all sorts of things to-night--it began while I lay in +that ditch with the pigs rooting about me! Where is my father, can't you +find him?" he demanded eagerly. + +Watt turned his head away. + +"Then that was not a dream--you saw it, too?" said Langham huskily. He +dropped back on his pillow. "Dead--Oh, my God!" he whispered, and was a +long time silent. + +Harbison despatched Shrimplin and Custer in quest of a physician, and he +and Watt busied themselves with removing Marshall's wet clothes. When +this was done they washed the blood-stains from his face. He did not +speak while they were thus occupied; his eyes, wide and staring, were +fixed on vacancy. He was seeing only that still figure on the bed in the +room adjoining. + +There was a brisk step on the stairs and they were joined by Doctor +Taylor. + +"I declare, Marsh, I am sorry for this. You must have had quite a +tumble, how did you manage it?" he said, as he approached the bed. + +Langham's eyes lost something of their intentness as they were turned +toward the physician, but he did not answer him. The doctor moved a step +aside with Colonel Harbison. + +"Had he been drinking?" he asked in a low tone. + +"I don't know," said the colonel. + +"Shrimplin has gone for Mrs. Langham--I think they are here now. Don't +let her come up until I have made my examination. Will you see to this?" + +And the colonel quitted the room and hurried down-stairs. + +As he gained the floor below, Evelyn entered the house. + +"How is Marsh, Colonel Harbison?" she asked. + +Her face was colorless but her manner was unexcited; her lips even had a +smile for the colonel. + +"Doctor Taylor is with him, and I trust he will be able to tell you that +Marshall's injuries are not serious!" said Harbison gently. + +"Where is he? I must go to him--" + +"The doctor prefers that you wait until he finishes his examination," +said the colonel. He drew her into the library. "Evelyn, I must tell +you--you must know that something else--unspeakably dreadful--has +happened here to-night!" + +"Yes?" The single word was no more than a breath on her full lips. + +The colonel hesitated. + +"You need not fear to tell me--whatever it is, I--I am prepared for +anything--" said Evelyn, with a pause between each word. + +"The judge is dead," said Harbison simply. "My poor old friend is dead!" + +"Dead--Marshall's father dead!" She looked at him curiously, with a +questioning light in her eyes. "You have not told me all, Colonel +Harbison!" + +"Not told you all--" he repeated. + +"How did he die?" + +"I think--I fear he shot himself, but of course it may have been the +purest accident--" + +"It was not an accident--" she cried with a sob. "Oh, don't mind what I +am saying!" she added quickly, seeing the look of astonishment on the +colonel's face. + +"Mrs. Langham may come up if she wishes!" called Doctor Taylor, speaking +from the head of the stairs. + +Evelyn moved down the hall and paused. + +"Does Marsh know?" she asked of the colonel. + +"Yes, unfortunately we carried him into his father's room," explained +Harbison. + +Evelyn went slowly up the stairs. The horror of the situation was beyond +words. As she entered the room where Marshall lay, Watt Harbison and the +doctor silently withdrew into the hall, closing the door after them; +but Langham gave no immediate sign that he was aware of his wife's +presence. + +"Marsh?" she said softly. + +His palpable weakness and his cut and bruised face gave her an +instinctive feeling of tenderness for him. At the sound of her voice +Langham's heavy lids slid back and he gazed up at her. + +"Have they told you?" he asked in an eager whisper. + +"Yes," she said, and there was a little space of time when neither +spoke. + +She drew a chair to his bedside and seated herself. In the next room she +could hear Doctor Taylor moving about and now and then an indistinct +word when he spoke with Watt Harbison. She imagined the offices they +were performing for the dead man. Then a door was softly closed and she +heard footsteps as they passed out into the hall. + +Evelyn kept her place at the bedside without even altering the position +she had first taken, while her glance never for an instant left the +haggard face on the pillow. Beyond the open windows the silver light had +faded from the sky. At intervals a chill wind rustled the long curtains. +This, and her husband's labored breathing were the only sounds in the +leaden silence that followed the departure of the two men from the +adjoining room. She was conscious of a dreary sense of detachment from +all the world, the little circle of which she had been the center seemed +to contract until it held only herself. Suddenly Langham turned +uneasily on his pillow and glanced toward the window. + +"What time is it?" he asked abruptly. + +"It must be nearly day," said Evelyn. "How do you feel now, Marsh? Do +you suffer?" + +He shook his head. His eyes were turned toward the window. + +"What day is this?" he asked after a brief silence. + +"What day?" repeated Evelyn. + +"Yes--the day of the week, I mean?" + +"It's Friday." + +"They are going to hang John North this morning!" he said, and he +regarded her from under his half-closed lids. "I wonder what he is +thinking of now?" he added. + +"Would the governor do nothing?" she asked in a whisper. + +She was white to the lips. + +"And the Herbert girl--I wonder what she is thinking of!" + +"Hush, Marsh--Oh, hush! I--I can not--I must not think of it!" she +cried, and pressed her hands to her eyes convulsively. + +"What does it matter to you?" he said grimly. + +"Nothing in one way--everything in another!" + +"I wish to God I could believe you!" he muttered. + +"You may--on my soul, Marsh, you may! It was never what you +think--never--never!" + +"It doesn't matter now," he said, and turned his face toward the wall. + +"Marsh--" she began. + +He moved impatiently, and she realized that it was useless to attempt to +alter what he had come to believe in absolutely. Beyond the windows the +first pale streaks of a spring dawn were visible, but the earth still +clothed itself in silence. The moments were racing on to the final act +of the pitiless tragedy which involved so many lives. + +"Marsh--" Evelyn began again. + +"I've been a dog to endure your presence in my house!" he said bitterly. + +Evelyn was about to answer him when Doctor Taylor came into the room. + +"Is he awake?" he questioned. + +Langham gazed up into the doctor's face. + +"Will I get well?" he demanded. + +"I hope so, Marshall--I can see no reason why a few days of quiet won't +see you up and about quite as if nothing had happened." + +"Come--I want to know the truth! Do you think I'm hurt internally, is +that it?" He sought to raise himself on his elbow but slipped back +groaning. + +"You have sustained a very severe shock, still--" began the doctor. + +"Will I recover?" insisted Langham impatiently. + +"Oh, _please_, Marshall!" cried Evelyn. + +"I want to know the truth! If you don't think you can stand it, go out +into the hail while I thresh this matter out with Taylor!" But Evelyn +did not leave her place at his bedside. + +"You must not excite yourself!" said Taylor. + +"Humph--if you won't tell me what I wish to know, I'll tell you my +opinion; it is that I am not going to recover. I must see Moxlow. Who is +down-stairs?" + +"Colonel Harbison and his nephew." + +"Ask Watt to find Moxlow and bring him here. He's probably at his +boarding-house." + +He spoke with painful effort, and the doctor glanced uncertainly at +Evelyn, who by a slight inclination of the head indicated that she +wished her husband's request complied with. Taylor quitted the room. + +"Why do you wish to see Moxlow?" Evelyn asked the moment they were +alone. + +"I want him here; I may wish to tell him something--and I may not, it +all depends," he said slowly, as his heavy lids closed over his tired +eyes. + +It was daylight without, and there was the occasional sound of wheels in +the street. Evelyn realized with a sudden sense of shock that unless +Marshall's bloodless lips opened to tell his secret, but a few hours of +life remained to John North. + +A struggle was going on within her, it was a struggle that had never +ceased from the instant she first entered the room. One moment she found +she could pray that Marshall might speak; and the next terror shook her +lest he would, and declare North's innocence and his own guilt. She +slipped from his bedside and stealing to the window parted the long +curtains with trembling hands. She felt widely separated in spirit from +her husband; he seemed strangely indifferent to her; only his bitter +sense of injury and hurt remained, his love had become a dead thing, +since his very weakness carried him beyond the need of her. She belonged +to his full life and there was nothing of tenderness and sympathy that +survived. A slight noise caused her to turn from the window. Marshall +was endeavoring to draw himself higher on his pillow. + +"Here--lift me up--" he gasped, as she ran to his side. + +She passed an arm about him and did as he desired. + +"That's better--" he panted. + +"Shall I call the doctor?" + +He shook his head and, as she withdrew her arm, lay back weak and +shaken. + +"I tell you I am hurt internally!" he said. + +"Let me call the doctor!" she entreated. + +"What can he do?" + +"Marsh, if you believe this--" she began. + +"You're thinking of him!" he snarled. + +"I am thinking of you, Marsh!" + +"He threw you over for the Herbert girl!" he said with an evil ghastly +smile. "Do you want to save him for her?" + +"You don't need to tell all, Marsh--" she said eagerly. + +"That's you!" and he laughed under his breath. "I can't imagine you +advocating anything absolutely right! If I tell, I'll make a clean +breast of it; if I don't I'll lie with my last breath!" + +He was thinking of Joe Montgomery now, as he had thought of him many +times since he drew himself up out of that merciless yellow flood into +which the handy-man had flung him. Evelyn looked at him wonderingly. His +virtues, as well as his vices, were things beyond her comprehension. + +The door opened, and Moxlow came into the room. At sight of him, +Langham's dull eyes grew brilliant. + +"I thought you would never get here!" he said. + +"This _is_ too bad, Marsh!" said his law partner sympathizingly, as +Evelyn yielded him her place and withdrew to the window again. + +"Where's Taylor?" asked Langham abruptly. + +"He's had to go to the jail, he was leaving the house as I got here," +replied Moxlow. + +There was the noise of voices in the hail, one of which was the +colonel's, evidently raised in protest, then a clumsy hand was heard +fumbling with the knob and the door was thrown open, and Joe Montgomery +slouched into the room. + +"Boss, you got to see me now!" he cried. + +The prosecuting attorney sprang to his feet with an angry exclamation. + +"Let him alone--" said Langham weakly. + +Montgomery stole to the foot of the bed and stared down on Langham. + +"You tell him, boss," nodding his head toward Moxlow. "I put it up to +you!" he said. + +Langham's glance dwelt for an instant on the handy-man, then it shifted +back to Moxlow. + +"Stop the execution!" he said, and Moxlow thought his mind wandered. +"North didn't kill McBride," Langham went on. "Do you understand me--he +is not the guilty man!" + +A gray pallor was overspreading his face. It was called there by another +presence in that room; an invisible but most potent presence. + +"Do you understand me?" he repeated, for he saw that his words had made +no impression on Moxlow. + +"Go on, boss!" cried Montgomery, in a fever of impatience. + +"Do you understand what I am telling you? John North did not kill +McBride!" Langham spoke with painful effort. "Joe knows who did--so do +I--so did my father--he knew an innocent man had been convicted!" + +At mention of the judge, Moxlow started. He bent above Langham. + +"Marsh, if John North didn't kill McBride, who did?" + +But Langham made no reply. Weak, pallid, and racked by suffering, he lay +back on his pillow. Joe leaned forward over the foot of the bed. + +"Tell him, boss; it's no odds to you now--tell him quick for God's sake, +or it will be too late!" he urged in a fearful voice. + +There was a tense silence while they waited for Langham to speak. Moxlow +heard the ticking of the clock on the mantel. + +"If you have anything to say, Marsh--" + +Langham raised himself on his elbows and his lips moved convulsively, +but only a dry gasping sound issued from them; he seemed to have lost +the power of speech. + +"If North didn't kill McBride, who did?" repeated Moxlow. + +A mighty effort wrenched Langham, again his lips came together +convulsively, and then in a whisper he said: + +"I did," and fell back on his pillow. + +There was a moment of stillness, and then from behind the long curtains +at the window came the sound of hysterical weeping. + +Moxlow, utterly dazed by his partner's confession, looked again at the +clock on the mantel. Fifteen minutes had passed. It was a quarter after +eight. His brows contracted as if he were trying to recall some half +forgotten engagement. Suddenly he turned, comprehendingly, to +Montgomery. + +"My God!--North!" he exclaimed and rushed unceremoniously from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT + +THE LAST NIGHT IN JAIL + + +Whether John North slept during his last night in jail the deputy +sheriff did not know, for that kindly little man kept his arms folded +across his breast and his face to the wall. The night wore itself out, +and at last pale indications of the dawn crept into the room. There was +the song of the birds and a little later the rumble of an occasional +wagon over the paved streets. North stirred and opened his eyes. + +"Is it light?" he asked. + +"Yes," said the deputy. + +The day began with the familiar things that make up the round of life, +but North was conscious that he was thus occupying himself for the last +time. Then he seated himself and began a letter he had told Brockett he +wished to write. Once he paused. + +"I will have time for this?" he asked. + +"All the time you want, John," said Brockett hastily, as he slipped from +the room. + +The sun's level rays lifted and slanted into the cell, while North, +remote from everything but the memory of Elizabeth's faith and courage, +labored to express himself. There was the sound of voices in the yard, +but their significance meant nothing to him now. He wrote on without +lifting his head. At last the letter was finished and inclosed with a +brief note to the general. + +The pen dropped from North's fingers and he stood erect, he was aware +that men were still speaking below his window, then he heard footfalls +in the corridor, and turned toward the door. It was the sheriff and his +deputy. Conklin seemed on the verge of collapse, and Brockett's face was +drawn and ghastly. + +There was a grim pause, and then Conklin, in a voice that was but a +shadow of itself, read the death-warrant. When he had finished, North +cast a last glance about his cell and passed out of the door between the +two men. They walked the length of the corridor, descended the stairs, +and entered the jail office. North turned to Conklin. + +"I wish to thank you and Brockett for your kindness to me, and if you do +not mind I should like to shake hands with you both and say good-by +here," for through the office windows he had caught sight of the group +of men in the yard. + +The sheriff, silent, held out his hand. He dared not trust himself to +speak. North looked into his face. + +"I am sorry for you," he said. + +"My God, you may well be!" gasped Conklin. + +North shook hands with Brockett and walked toward the door; but as he +neared it, Brockett stepped in front of him and threw it open. As North +passed out into the graveled yard, out into the full light of the warm +spring day, the sheriff mechanically looked at his watch. It was twenty +minutes after eight. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE + +AT IDLE HOUR + + +From her window Elizabeth saw the gray dawn which ushered in that June +day steal over the valley below Idle Hour. Swiftly out of the darkness +of the long night grew the accustomed shape of things. Wooded pastures +and plowed fields came mysteriously into existence as the light spread, +then the sun burst through the curtain of mist which lay along the +eastern horizon, and it was day--the day of _his_ death. + +Their many failures trooped up out of the past and mocked at her; +because of them he must die. They had gone with feverish haste from hope +to hope to this dread end! Perhaps she had never really believed before +that the day and hour would overtake them; when effort would promise +nothing. But now the very sense of tragedy filled that silent morning, +and her soul was in fearful companionship with it. A flood of wild +imaginings swept her forward, across the little space of time that was +left to her lover. Gasping for breath, she struggled with the grim +horror that was growing up about him. His awful solitude came to her as +a reproach; she should have remained with him to the end! Was there yet +time to go back, or would she be too late? When? When? And she asked +herself the question she had not dared to ask of her father. + +The day showed her the distant roofs of Mount Hope; the day showed her +the square brick tower of the court-house--living or dead, John North +was in its very shadow. She crouched by the window, her arms resting on +the ledge and her eyes fixed on the distant tower. How had the night +passed for him--had he slept? And the pity of those lonely hours brought +the tears to her burning eyes. She heard her father come slowly down the +hall; he paused before her door. + +"Elizabeth--dear!" his voice was very gentle. + +"Yes, father?" + +But she did not change her position at the window. + +"Won't you come down-stairs, dear?" he said. + +"I can not--" and then she felt the selfishness of her refusal, and +added: "I will be down in a moment, I--I have not quite finished +dressing--yet!" + +John North had thought always of others. In the moment of his supremest +agony, he had spoken not at all of himself; by word or look he had added +nothing to the sorrow that was crushing her. This had been genuine +courage. + +"I must remember it always!" she told herself, as she turned away from +the window. "I must not be selfish--he would not understand it--" + +Her father was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs, and the glance +he bent on her was keen with anxiety. Perfect understanding existed +between them no less now than formerly, but the anguish which had left +its impress on that white face removed her beyond any attempted +expression of sympathy from him. + +At the end of the hail the open door gave a wide vista of well-kept +lawns. Elizabeth turned swiftly to this doorway. Her father kept his +place at her side, and together they passed from the house out into the +warm day. Suddenly the girl paused, and her eager gaze was directed +toward Mount Hope--toward _him_. + +"Would it be too late to go to him now?" she asked in a feverish +whisper. + +A spasm of pain contracted the old general's haggard face, but the +question found him mute. + +"Would it be too late?" she repeated. + +"He would not desire it, Elizabeth," replied her father. + +"But would it be too late?" and she rested a shaking hand on his arm. + +"You must not ask me that--I don't know." + +He tried to meet her glance, which seemed to read his very soul, then +her hand dropped at her side and she took a step forward, her head bowed +and her face averted. + +Again came the thought of North's awful isolation; the thought of that +lonely death where love and tenderness had no place; all the ghastly +terror of that last moment when he was hurried from this living +breathing world! It was a monstrous thing! A thing beyond +belief--incredible, unspeakable! + +"We can believe in his courage," said her father, "as certainly as we +can believe in his innocence." + +"Yes--" she gasped. + +"That is something. And the day will surely come when the world will +think as we think. The truth seems lost now, but not for always!" + +"But when he is gone--when he is no longer here--" + +The general was silent. North had compelled his respect and faith; for +after all, no guilty man could have faced death with so fine a courage. +There was more to him than he had ever been willing to admit in his +judgment of the man. Whatever his faults, they had been the faults of +youth; had the opportunity been given him he would have redeemed +himself, would have purged himself of folly. "Some day," the general was +thinking, "I will tell her just what my feelings for North have been, +how out of disapproval and doubt has come a deep and sincere regard." + +The sun swept higher in the heavens, and the gray old man with the +strong haggard face, and the girl in whom the girl had died and the +woman had been born, walked on; now with dragging steps, when the stupor +of despair seized her, now swiftly as her thoughts rushed from horror to +horror. + +The world, basking in the warmth of that June sun, seemed very peaceful +as they looked out across the long reaches of the flat valley, and on to +the distant town, with the lazy smoke of its factory chimneys floated +above the spires and housetops. But the peace that was breathed out of +the great calm heart of nature was not for these two! The girl's sense +was only one of fierce rebellion at the injustice which was taking--had +taken, perhaps, the life of the man she loved; an injustice that could +never make amends--so implacable in its exactions, so impotent in its +atonements! + +They were nearing the limits of the grounds; back of them, among its +trees, loomed the gray stone front of Idle Hour. Her father rested a +hand upon Elizabeth's shoulder. + +"I will try to be brave, too--as he was always--" she said pausing. + +She stood there, a tragic figure, and then turned to her father with +pathetic courage. She would take up what was left for her. She had her +memories. They were of happiness no less than sorrow, for she had loved +much and suffered much. + +With a final lingering glance townward, she turned away. Then a startled +cry escaped her, and her father looked up. + +John North was coming toward them across the lawn. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JUST AND THE UNJUST*** + + +******* This file should be named 14581-8.txt or 14581-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/5/8/14581 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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