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diff --git a/18572-8.txt b/18572-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2c431d --- /dev/null +++ b/18572-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12911 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The President, by Alfred Henry Lewis + + +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 President + A novel + + +Author: Alfred Henry Lewis + + + +Release Date: June 13, 2006 [eBook #18572] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESIDENT*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18572-h.htm or 18572-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/7/18572/18572-h/18572-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/7/18572/18572-h.zip) + + + + + +THE PRESIDENT + +A Novel by + +ALFRED HENRY LEWIS + +Author of "The Boss," "Wolfville Days," Etc. + + + + + + + +New York +A. S. Barnes and Company +MDCCCCIV + + + + +_To ETHEL OVIATT LEWIS_ + + + + +[Illustration: Across the Senator's Desk] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. How Richard Began to Woo + + II. How a President is Bred + + III. How Mr. Gwynn Dined with the Harleys + + IV. How a Speakership was Fought for + + V. How Richard was Taught Many Things + + VI. How Storri Had a Vivid Imagination + + VII. How Richard Gained in Knowledge + + VIII. How Storri Wooed Mrs. Hanway-Harley + + IX. How Storri Made an Offer of His Love + + X. How Storri Plotted a Vengeance + + XI. How Mr. Harley Found Himself a Forger + + XII. How Mr. Fopling was Inspired + + XIII. How the San Reve Gave Storri Warning + + XIV. How They Talked Politics at Mr. Gwynn's + + XV. How Richard Met Inspector Val + + XVI. How Richard Received a Letter + + XVII. How Northern Consolidated was Sold + + XVIII. How Storri Explored for Gold + + XIX. How London Bill Took a Pal + + XX. How Storri Foolishly Wrote a Message + + XXI. How the Gold Came Down + + XXII. How the San Reve Kept Her Storri + + XXIII. How Richard and Dorothy Sailed Away + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Across the Senator's Desk + + One of the Most Reverend of the Senate Walruses + + At the Door of the Caucus Room + + It was a Kind of Prodigy + + That Artist of Pursuit + + "Sit Down!" Thundered Mr. Harley + + He Held Her Close + + "It'll Take Two Months to Dig that Tunnel" + + + + +THE PRESIDENT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOW RICHARD BEGAN TO WOO + + +On this far-away November morning, it being ten by every steeple clock +and an hour utterly chaste, there could have existed no impropriety in +one's having had a look into the rooms of Mr. Richard Storms, said rooms +being second-floor front of the superfashionable house of Mr. Lorimer +Gwynn, Washington, North West. Richard, wrapped to the chin in a +bathrobe, was sitting much at his ease, having just tumbled from the +tub. There was ever a recess in Richard's morning programme at this +point during which his breakfast arrived. Pending that repast, he had +thrown himself into an easy-chair before the blaze which crackled in the +deep fireplace. The sudden sharp weather made the fire pleasant enough. + +The apartment in which Richard lounged, and the rooms to the rear +belonging with it, were richly appointed. A fortune had been spilled to +produce those effects in velvets and plushes and pictures and bronzes +and crystals and chinas and lamps and Russia leathers and laces and +brocades and silks, and as you walked the thick rugs you made no more +noise than a ghost. It was Richard's caprice to have his environment the +very lap of splendor, being as given to luxury as a woman. + +Against the pane beat a swirl and white flurry of snow, for winter broke +early that year. Richard turned an eye of gray indolence on the window. +The down-come of snow in no sort disquieted him; there abode a bent for +winter in his blood, throughout the centuries Norse, that would have +liked a Laplander. Even his love for pictures ran away to scenes of snow +and wind-whipped wolds with drifts piled high. These, if well drawn, he +would look at; while he turned his back on palms and jungles and things +tropical in paint, the sight of which made him perspire like a harvest +hand. As Richard's idle glance came back from the window, it caught the +brown eyes of Mr. Pickwick considering him through a silvery, fringy +thicket of hair. Mr. Pickwick was said to be royally descended; however +that might have been, indubitably his pedigree harbored somewhere both a +door-mat and a mop. + +"Rats!" observed Richard to Mr. Pickwick. + +Richard did not say this because it was true, but to show Mr. Pickwick +that the ties which bound them were friendly. On his side, Mr. Pickwick, +albeit he stood well aware how there was never a rat in the room, arose +vivaciously and went snuffling and scuffling behind curtains and beneath +sofas, and all in a mood prodigiously dire. + +The room being exhaustively searched, Mr. Pickwick came and sat by +Richard, and with yelp and howl, and at intervals a little epileptic +bark, proceeded to disparage all manners and septs of rats, and spake +slightingly of all such vermin deer. Having freed his mind on the +important subject of rats, Mr. Pickwick returned to silence and his +cushion and curled up. + +Matzai, the Japanese valet, brought in the breakfast--steak, potatoes, +eggs, toast, marmalade, and coffee. The deft Matzai placed the tray on +the mahogany at Richard's elbow. Richard did not like a multiplicity of +personal attendants. Of the score of souls within the walls of that +house, Richard would meet only Mr. Gwynn and Matzai. This was as the +wisdom of Solomon, since neglect is born of numbers. + +Mr. Lorimer Gwynn was a personage--clean and tall and slim and solemn +and sixty years of age. He was as wholly English as Mr. Pickwick was +wholly Skye, and exuded an indomitable respectability from his formal, +shaven face. Rumor had it that Mr. Gwynn was fabulously rich. + +It was in June when Mr. Gwynn came to town and leased the house just +vacated by Baron Trenk, late head of the Austrian diplomatic corps. This +leasing of itself half established Mr. Gwynn in a highest local esteem; +his being English did the rest, since in the Capital of America it is +better, socially, to come from anywhere rather than from home. In +addition to those advantages of Baron Trenk's house and an English +emanation, Mr. Gwynn made his advent indorsed to the Washington banks by +the Bank of England; also he was received by the British Ambassador, on +whom he made a call of respect the moment he set foot in town. + +It became known that Mr. Gwynn was either widower or bachelor; and at +that, coupled with his having taken a large house, the hope crept about +that in the season he would entertain. The latter thought addressed +itself tenderly to the local appetite, which was ready to be received +wherever there abode good cooks and sound wines. Mr. Gwynn, it should be +mentioned, was duly elected a member of the Metropolitan Club--where he +never went; as was likewise Richard--who was seen there a great deal. + +Richard had not come to town until both Mr. Gwynn and his house were +established. When he did appear, it was difficult for the public to fix +him in his proper place. He was reserved and icily taciturn, and that +did not blandly set his moderate years; with no friends and few +acquaintances, he seemed to prefer his own society to that of whomsoever +came about him. + +Who was he? + +What was he? + +What were his relations with Mr. Gwynn? + +Surely, Richard could be neither son nor nephew of that English +gentleman. Richard was too obviously the American of full blood; his +high cheekbones, square jaw, and lean, curved nose told of two centuries +of Western lineage. Could it be that Richard was Mr. Gwynn's secretary? +This looked in no wise probable; he went about too much at lordly ease +for that. In the end, the notion obtained that Richard must be a needy +dependent of Mr. Gwynn, and his perfect clothes and the thoroughbred +horse he rode were pointed to as evidences of that gentleman's +generosity. Indeed, Mr. Gwynn was much profited in reputation thereby. + +Richard, while not known, was not liked. He wore the air of one +self-centered, and cold to all judgments except his own. This last makes +no friends, but only enemies for him whose position is problematical. +Richard's pose of insolent indifference would have been beautiful in a +gentleman who counted his fortune by millions; in a dollarless beggar +who lived off alms it was detestable. Wherefore, the town, so far as +Richard encountered it, left our silent, supercilious one to himself, +which neglect dove-tailed with his humor and was the precise lonely thing +he sought. This gave still further edge to the public's disregard; no +one likes you to accept with grace what is intended for punishment. + +Matzai carried away the breakfast tray, and Richard lighted a cigar. +Matzai returned and stood mute inside the door, awaiting new commands. +Richard pointed through the cigar-smoke to the clock--one of those +soundless, curious creatures of brass and glass and ivory which is wound +but once in four hundred days, and of which the hair-hung pendulum +twists and turns and does not swing. + +"In an hour! Eleven o'clock!" said Richard. + +At the risk of shaking him in general standing it should be called to +your notice that Richard preceded breakfast with no strong waters. +Richard would drink nothing more generous than coffee, and, speaking in +the sense limited, tobacco was his only vice. Perhaps he stuck to cigars +to retain his hold on earth, and avoid translation before his hour was +ripe. + +It was no pale morality that got between Richard and the wine cup. In +another day at college he had emptied many. But early in his twenties, +Richard discovered that he carried his drink uneasily; it gave a Gothic +cant to his spirit, which, under its warm spell, turned warlike. Once, +having sat late at dinner--this was in that seminary town in France +where he attended school--he bestrode a certain iron lion, the same +strange to him and guarding the portals of a public building. Being thus +happily placed, he drew two huge American six-shooters, whereof his +possession was wrapped in mystery even to himself, and blazed vacuously, +yet ferociously, at the moon. Spoken to by the constabulary who came +flying to the spot, Richard replied with acrimony. + +"If you interfere with me," remarked Richard on that explosive occasion, +addressing the French constables, "I'll buy your town and burn it." The +last with a splendid disdain of limitations that was congenital. + +Exploits similar to the above taught Richard the futility of alcoholic +things, and thereupon he cultivated a Puritan sobriety upon coffee and +tobacco. + +Richard cast the half-burned cigar into the fire. Stepping to the +mantel, he took from it a small metal casket, builded to hold jewels. +What should be those gems of price which the metal box protected? +Richard did not strike one as the man to nurse a weakness for barbaric +adornment. A bathrobe is not a costume calculated to teach one the +wearer's fineness. To say best, a bathrobe is but a savage thing. It is +the garb most likely to obscure and set backward even a Walpole or a +Chesterfield in any impression of gentility. In spite of this primitive +regalia, however, Richard gave forth an idea of elevation, and as though +his ancestors in their civilization had long ago climbed above a level +where men put on gold to embellish their worth. What, then, did that +casket of carved bronze contain? + +Richard took from its velvet interior the heel of a woman's shoe and +kissed it. It was a little kissable heel, elegant in fashion; one could +tell how it belonged aforetime to the footwear of a beautiful girl. +Perhaps this thought was aided by the reverent preoccupation of Richard +as he regarded it, for he set the boot-heel on the table and hung over +it in a rapt way that had the outward features of idolatry. It was right +that he should; the little heel spoke of Richard's first strong passion. + +You will retrace the year to the 10th of June. Richard, after roving the +Eastern earth for a decade, had just returned to his own land, which he +hardly knew. Throughout those ten years of long idling from one European +city to another, had Richard met the woman he might love, he would have +laid siege to her, conquered her, and brought her home as his wife. But +his instinct was too tribal, too American. Whether it were Naples or +Paris or Vienna or St. Petersburg or Berlin, those women whom he met +might have pleased him in everything save wedlock. In London, and for a +moment, Richard saw a girl he looked at twice. But she straightway drank +beer with the gusto of a barge-man, and the vision passed. + +It was the evening after his return, and Richard at the Waldorf sat +amusing himself with those tides of vulgar humanity that ebb and flow in +a stretch of garish corridor known as Peacock Lane. Surely it was a +hopeless place wherein to seek a wife, and Richard had no such thought. +But who shall tell how and when and where his fate will overtake him? +Who is to know when Satan--or a more benevolent spirit--will be hiding +behind the hedge to play good folk a marriage trick? And Richard had +been warned. Once, in Calcutta, price one rupee, a necromancer after +fullest reading of the signs informed him that when he met the woman who +should make a wife to him, she would come upon him suddenly. Wherefore, +he should have kept a brighter watch, expecting the unexpected. + +Richard's gaze went following two rustical people--clearly bride and +groom. In a cloudy way he loathed the groom, and was foggily wondering +why. His second thought would have told him that the male of his +species--such is his sublime egotism--feels cheated with every wedding +not his own, and, for an earliest impulse on beholding a woman with +another man, would tear her from that other one by force. Thus did his +skinclad ancestors when time was. + +However, Richard had but scanty space wherein either to enjoy his blunt +hatred of that bridegroom or theorize as to its roots. His ear caught a +muffled scream, and then down the wide staircase in front of him a +winsome girl came tumbling. + +With a dexterity born of a youth more or less replete of football, +Richard sprang forward and caught the girl in his arms. He caught and +held her as though she were feather-light; and that feat of a brutal +strength, even through her fright, worked upon the saved one, who, +remembering her one hundred and thirty pounds, did not think herself +down of thistles. + +"Are you hurt?" asked Richard, still holding her lightly close. + +Richard looked at the girl; black hair, white skin, lashes of ink, eyes +of blue, rose-leaf lips, teeth white as rice, a spot of red in her +cheeks--the last the fruit of fright, no doubt. He had never seen aught +so beautiful! Even while she was in his arms, the face fitted into his +heart like a picture into its frame, and Richard thought on that prophet +of Calicut. + +"Are you injured?" he asked again. + +"Thanks to you--no," said the girl. + +With a kind of modest energy, she took herself out of his arms, for +Richard had held to her stoutly, and might have been holding her until +now had she not come to her own rescue. For all that, she had leisure to +admire the steel-like grasp and the deep, even voice. Her own words as +she replied came in gasps. + +"No," she repeated, "I'm not injured. Help me to a seat." + +The beautiful rescued one limped, and Richard turned white. + +"Your ankle!" he exclaimed. + +"No; my heel," she retorted with a little flutter of a laugh. "My French +heel caught on the stair; it was torn away. No wonder I limp!" + +Then came the girl's mother and called her "Dorothy." + +Richard, who was not without presence of mind, climbed six steps and +secretly made prize of the baby boot-heel. Perhaps you will think he did +this on the argument by which an Indian takes a scalp. Whatever the +argument, he placed the sweet trophy over that heart which held the +picture of the girl; once there, the boot-heel showed bulgingly foolish +through his coat. + +Richard returned to the mother and daughter; the latter had regained her +poise. He introduced himself: "Mr. Richard Storms." The mother gave him +her card: "Mrs. John Harley." She added: + +"My name is Hanway-Harley, and this is my daughter, Dorothy Harley. +Hanway is my own family name; I always use it." Then she thanked Richard +for his saving interference in her child's destinies. "Just to think!" +she concluded, and a curdling horror gathered in her tones. "Dorothy, +you might have broken your nose!" + +Richard ran a glance over Mrs. Hanway-Harley. She was not coarse, but +was superficial--a woman of inferior ideals. He marveled how a being so +fine as the daughter could have had a no more silken source, and hugged +the boot-heel. The daughter was a flower, the mother a weed. He decided +that the superiority of Dorothy was due to the father, and gave that +absent gentleman a world of credit without waiting to make his +acquaintance. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley said that she lived in Washington. Where did Mr. +Storms live? + +"My home has been nowhere for ten years," returned Richard. Then, as he +looked at Dorothy, while his heart took a firmer grip on the picture: +"But I shall live in Washington in a few months." + +Dorothy, the saved, beneath whose boot-heel beat Richard's heart, looked +up, and in the blue depths--so Richard thought--shone pleasure at the +news. He could not be certain, for when the blue eyes met the gray ones, +they fell to a furtive consideration of the floor. + +"You are to take a house in Washington," said Richard to Mr. Gwynn an +hour later. + +Mr. Gwynn bowed. + +You who read will now come back to that snow-filled day in November. +Richard relocked his dear boot-heel in the casket; eleven and Matzai had +entered the room together. Matzai laid out Richard's clothes, down to +pin and puff tie. Richard shook off his bathrobe skin and shone forth in +a sleeveless undershirt and a pair of those cotton trousers, cut short +above the knee, which dramatic usage ascribes to fishermen and +buccaneers. + +As Richard stood erect, shoulders wide as a viking's, chest arched like +the deck of a whale-back, he might have been a model for the Farnese +Hercules, if that demigod were slimmed down by training and ten years +off his age. He of Farnese should be about forty, if one may go by +looks, while Richard was but thirty. Also, Richard's arms, muscled to +the wrists and as long as a Pict's, would have been out of drawing from +standpoints of ancient art. One must rescue Richard's head; it was not +that nubbin of a head which goes with the Farnese one. Moreover, it +showed wisest balance from base to brow; with the face free of beard and +mustache, while the yellow hair owned no taint of curl--altogether an +American head on Farnese shoulders refined. + +Richard made no speed with his dressing. What with refusing several +waistcoats--a fastidiousness which opened the slant eyes of Matzai, +being unusual--and what with pausing to smoke a brooding cigar, it stood +roundly twelve before he was ready for the street. One need not call +Richard lazy. He was no one to retire or to rise with the birds; why +should he? "Early to bed and early to rise" is a tradition of the +copybooks. It did well when candlelight was cheap at a dollar the dozen, +but should not belong to a day of electricity no dearer than the sun. + +Before going out, Richard crossed to a writing cabinet and pressed a +button, the white disk whereof showed in its mahogany side. It was not +the bell he used for the wheat-hued Matzai, and owned a note peculiar to +itself. As though in response came Mr. Gwynn, irreproachable, austere. + +Upon the advent of Mr. Gwynn, one might have observed sundry amazing +phenomena, innocent at that. Mr. Gwynn did not sit down, but stood in +the middle of the room. On the careless other hand, Richard did not +arise from the chair into which he had flung himself, but sat with his +hat on, puffing blue wreaths and tapping his foot with a rattan. + +"Mr. Gwynn," quoth Richard, "you will catch the four-o'clock limited to +New York. Talon & Trehawke, Attorneys, Temple Court, have on sale a +majority of the stock of the _Daily Tory_. Buy it; notify those in +present charge of the editorial and business departments of the new +proprietorship. There will be no changes in the personnel of the paper +so far as refers to New York. You are to say, however, that you will +give me charge in Washington. Talon & Trehawke can put you in control, +and forty-eight hours should be enough to carry out my plans. The +balance of the stock you will buy up at your leisure. This is Tuesday; +have the bureau here ready for me by Thursday evening." + +Mr. Gwynn inclined his head. + +"Can you give me, sir, some notion of what Talon & Trehawke are to +have?" asked Mr. Gwynn. + +"Their letter addressed to you--here it is--says that sixty per cent. of +the stock can be had for two millions eight hundred thousand." + +"Very good, sir," and Mr. Gwynn bowed deeply. + +Richard pulled on his gloves to depart, whereat Mr. Pickwick yelped +frantically from his cushion. Richard tapped Mr. Pickwick with the +lacquered rattan. + +"Old man," said Richard, "I am going to take a look at the lady I love." +Mr. Pickwick moaned querulously, while Richard sought the street. + +Richard, the day before, dispatched a note and a card to Mrs. +Hanway-Harley and had been told in reply that he might call to-day at +three. Richard decided to repair to the club, and wait for three +o'clock. + +Richard, during his week in Washington, had found a deserted corner in +the club and pre-empted it. At those times when he honored the club with +his presence, he occupied this vantage point. From it he was given both +a view of the street and a fair survey of the apartment itself. No one +approached him; his atmosphere was repellant; beyond civil nods, +curtailed to the last limit of civility, his intercourse with his +fellows had not advanced. + +On this afternoon as Richard smoked a solitary cigar and reviewed the +thin procession of foot passengers trudging through the snow beneath his +window, he was attracted by the loud talk of a coterie about a table. +The center of the group was Count Storri--a giant Russ. This Storri did +not belong to the Russian legation, did not indeed reside in town, and +had been vouched into the club by one of his countrymen. He had onyx +eyes, with blue-black beard and mustaches which half covered his face, +and hair as raven as his beard. Also he valued himself for that a +favorite dish with him was raw meat chopped fine with peppers and oil. + +Storri's education--which was wide--did not suffice to cover up in him +the barbarian, videlicet, the Tartar--which was wider; and when a trifle +uplifted of drink, it was his habit to brag profoundly in purring, +snarling, half-challenging tones. Storri boasted most of his thews, +which would not have disgraced Goliath. He was at the moment telling a +knot of gaping youngsters of monstrous deeds of strength. Storri had +crushed horseshoes in his hand; he had rolled silver pieces into bullets +between thumb and finger. + +"See, you children, I will show what a Russian can do!" cried Storri. + +Storri came over to the fireplace, the rest at his heels. Taking up the +poker--a round half-inch rod of wrought iron--he seized it firmly by one +end with his left hand and with the right wound it twice about his left +arm. The black spiral reached from hand to elbow; when he withdrew his +arm the club poker was a Brobdingnagian corkscrew. + +The youngsters stared wonder-bitten. Then a mighty chatter of +compliments broke forth, and Storri swelled with the savage glory of his +achievement. + +Richard, the somber, who did not like noise, shrugged his shoulders. +Storri, by the fireplace, caught the shrug and found it offensive. He +made towards Richard, and offered the right hand, his white teeth +gleaming in a sinister way through the fastnesses of his beard. + +"Will you try grips with me?" cried Storri loudly. "Will you shake hands +Russian fashion?" + +"No," retorted Richard, all ice and unconcern. "I will not shake your +hand Russian fashion." + +Storri broke into an evil grin that made him look like a black panther. + +"Some day you must put your fingers into that trap," said he, opening +and closing his broad hand. + +Richard making no return, Storri and the others went back to their +decanters. + +Richard might have said, and would have believed, that he did not like +Storri because of a Siberian rudeness and want of breeding. It is to be +thought, however, that his antipathy arose rather from having heard the +day before Storri's name coupled with that of Dorothy Harley. The Russ +was a caller at the Harley house, it seemed, and rumor gave it that he +and Mr. Harley were together in speculations. At that Richard hated +Storri with the dull integrity of a healthy, normal animal, just as he +would have hated any man who raised his eyes to Dorothy Harley; for you +are to know that Richard was in a last analysis even more savage than +was Storri himself, and withal as jealously hot as a coal of fire. +Presently Storri departed, and Richard forgot him in a reverie of smoke. + +It stood the quarter of three, and Richard took up his walk to the +Harleys'. It was no mighty journey, being but two blocks. + +In the Harley drawing room whom should Richard meet but Storri. The Russ +was on the brink of departure. At that meeting Richard's face clouded. +Dorothy was alone with Storri; her mother had been called temporarily +from the room. At sight of Dorothy's flower-like hand in Storri's hairy +paw, Richard's eyes turned jade. + +"Mr. Storms," said Dorothy, as Richard paused in the door, "permit me to +present Count Storri." + +"Ah!" whispered Storri, beneath his breath, "see now how my word comes +true!" + +With that he put out his hand like a threat. + +Storri's exultation fell frost-nipped in greenest bud. It was as though +some implacable destiny had seized his hand. In vain did Storri put +forth his last resource of strength--he who crushed horseshoes and +twisted pokers! Like things of steel Richard's fingers closed grimly and +invincibly upon those of Storri. The Russian strove to recover his hand; +against the awful force that held him his boasted strength was as the +strength of children. + +Storri looked into Richard's eyes; they were less ferocious, but +infinitely more relentless than his own. There was that, too, in the +other's look which appalled the Tartar soul of Storri--something in the +drawn brow, the eye like agate, the jaw as iron as the hand! And ever +more and a little more that fearful grip came grinding. The onyx eyes +glared in terror; the tortured forehead, white as paper, became spangled +with drops of sweat. + +There arose a smothered feline screech as from a tiger whose back is +broken in a deadfall. Richard gave his wrist the shadow of a twist, and +Storri fell on one knee. Then, as though it were some foul thing, +Richard tossed aside Storri's hand, from the nails of which blood came +oozing in black drops as large as grapes. + +"What was it?" gasped Dorothy, who had stood throughout the duel like +one planet-struck; "what was it you did?" + +"Storri on his knee?" asked Richard with a kind of vicious sweetness. +There was something arctic, something remorselessly glacial, in the man. +It caught and held Dorothy, entrancing while it froze. "Storri on his +knee?" repeated Richard, looking where his adversary was staining a +handkerchief with Tartar blood. "It was nothing. It is a way in which +Russians honor me--that is, Russians whom I do not like!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HOW A PRESIDENT IS BRED + + +Mr. Patrick Henry Hanway, a Senator of the United States, had the +countenance of a prelate and the conscience of a buccaneer. His +grandfather--it was at this old gentleman, for lack of information, he +was compelled to stop his ancestral count--was a farmer in his day. +Also, personally, he had been the soul of ignorance and religion, and of +a narrowness touching Scriptural things that oft got him into trouble. + +Grandfather Hanway read his Bible and believed it. He held that the +earth was flat; that it had four corners; and that the sun went around +the earth. He replied to a neighbor who assured him that the earth +revolved, by placing a pan of water on his gate-post. Not a drop was +spilled, not a spoonful missing, in the morning. He showed this to the +astronomical neighbor as refutatory of that theory of revolution. + +"For," said Grandfather Hanway, with a logical directness which among +the world's greatest has more than once found parallel, "if the y'earth +had turned over in the night like you allow, that water would have done +run out." + +When the astronomical one undertook a counter argument, Grandfather +Hanway fell upon him with the blind, unreasoning fury of a holy war and +beat him beyond expression. After that Grandfather Hanway was left +undisturbed in his beliefs and their demonstrations, and tilled his sour +acres and begat a son. + +The son, Hiram Hanway, was sly and lazy, and not wanting in a gift for +making money that was rather the fruit of avarice than any general +length and breadth and depth of native wit. Having occasion to visit, as +a young man, the little humdrum capital of his State, he stayed there, +and engaged in the trade of lobbyist before the name was coined. He, +too, married, and had children--Patrick Henry Hanway and Barbara Hanway. +These his offspring were given a peculiar albeit not always a sumptuous +bringing up. + +When Patrick Henry Hanway was about the age of Oliver Twist at the time +Bill Sykes shoved him through the window, Hiram Hanway caused him to be +appointed page in the State Senate. There, for eight years, he lived in +the midst of all that treason and mendacity and cowardice and rapacity +and dishonor which as raw materials are ground together to produce laws +for a commonwealth. He learned early that the ten commandments have no +bearing on politics and legislation, and was taught that part of valor +which, basing itself on greed and cunning and fear, is called +discretion, and consists in first running from an enemy and then hiding +from pursuit. Altogether, those eight years might have been less +pernicious in their influence had Patrick Henry Hanway passed them with +the chain gang, and he emerged therefrom, to cast his first vote, +treacherous and plausible and boneless and false--as voracious as a pike +and as much without a principle. + +Patrick Henry Hanway did not follow in the precise footsteps of his +sire. He resolved to make his money by pulling and hauling at +legislation; but the methods should be changed. He would improve upon +his father, and instead of pulling and hauling from the lobby, he would +pull and haul from within. The returns were surer; also it was easier to +knead and mold and bake one's loaf of legislation as a member, with a +seat in Senate or Assembly, than as some unassigned John Smith, who, +with a handful of bribes and a heart full of cheap intrigue, must do his +work from the corridor. A legislative seat was a two-edged sword to cut +both ways. You could trade with it, using it as a bribe, bartering vote +for vote; that was one edge. Or you could threaten with it, promising +nay for nay, and thus compel some member to save your bill to save his +own; that was the other edge. A mere bribe from the lobby owned but the +one edge; it was like a cavalry saber; you might make the one slash at a +required vote, with as many chances of missing as of cutting it down. +Every argument, therefore, pointed to a seat; whereat Patrick Henry +Hanway bent himself to its acquirement, and at the age of twenty-six he +was sworn to uphold the law and the Constitution and told to vote in the +Assembly. In that body he flourished for ten years, while his manhood +mildewed and his pockets filled. + +The native State of Patrick Henry Hanway was a moss-grown member of the +republic and had been one of the original thirteen. It possessed with +other _impedimenta_ a moss-grown aristocracy that borrowed money, +devoured canvasbacks, drank burgundy, wore spotless tow in summer, clung +to the duello, and talked of days of greatness which had been before the +war. It carried moss-grown laws upon its statute books which arranged +for the capture of witches, the flogging of Quakers at a cart's tail, +the boring of Presbyterian tongues with red-hot irons, and the +punishment of masters who oppressed their hapless slaves with terrapin +oftener than three times a week. However, these measures, excellent +doubtless in their hour, together with the aristocracy referred to, had +fallen to decay. + +The moss-grown aristocracy were aware in a lifeless, lofty way of +Patrick Henry Hanway, and tolerating while they despised him as one +without an origin, permitted him his place in the legislature. Somebody +must go, and why not Patrick Henry Hanway? They, the aristocracy, would +there command his services in what legislation touching game, and +oysterbeds, and the foreclosure of mortgages they required, and that was +all their need. The supple Patrick Henry Hanway thanked the aristocracy +for the honor, took the place, and carried out their wishes for +patrolling oysterbeds, protecting canvasbacks, and preventing +foreclosures. + +While these conditions of mutual helpfulness subsisted, and Patrick +Henry Hanway kept his hat off in the presence of his patrons, nothing +could be finer than that peace which was. But time went on, and storms +of change came brewing. Patrick Henry Hanway, expanding beyond the +pent-up Utica of a State Capitol, decided upon a political migration to +the Senate of the United States. + +When this news was understood by men, the shocked aristocracy let their +canvasbacks grow cold and their burgundy stand untasted. With horrified +voice they commanded "No!" The United States Senate had been ever +reserved for gentlemen, and Patrick Henry Hanway was a clod. The fiat +went forth; Patrick Henry Hanway should not go to the Senate; a +wide-eyed patrician wonder was abroad that he should have had the +insolent temerity to harbor such a dream--he who was of the social +reptilia and could not show an ancestor who had owned a slave! + +This purple opposition did not surprise the astute Patrick Henry Hanway; +it had been foreseen, and he met it with prompt money. He had made his +alliances with divers railway corporations and other big companies, and +set in to overturn that feudalism in politics which had theretofore been +dominant. The aristocrats felt the attack upon their caste; they came +forth for that issue and the war wagged. + +But the war was unequal. The aristocrats, who, like the Bourbons, had +learned nothing, forgotten nothing, plodded with horseback saddle-bag +politics. Patrick Henry Hanway met them with modern methods of telegraph +and steam. Right and left he sowed his gold among the peasantry. In the +end he went over his noble enemies like a train of cars and his +legislature sent him into Washington by a vote of three to one. He had +been there now twelve years and was just entering upon his third term. +Moreover, he had fortified his position; his enemies were now powerless +to do him harm; and at the time this story finds him he had constructed +a machine which rendered his hold upon his State as unshakable as +Gibraltar's famous rock. Patrick Henry Hanway might now be Senator for +what space he pleased, and nothing left for that opposing nobility but +to glare in helpless rancor and digest its spleen. + +When Patrick Henry Hanway came to Washington he was unhampered of even a +shadow of concern for any public good. His sole thought was himself; his +patriotism, if he ever possessed any, had perished long before. Some +said that its feeble wick went flickering out in those earlier hours of +civil war. Patrick Henry Hanway, rather from a blind impression of +possible pillage than any eagerness to uphold a Union which seemed +toppling to its fall, enlisted for ninety days. As he plowed through +rain and mud on the painful occasion of a night march, he addressed the +man on his right in these remarkable words: + +"Bill, this is the last d----d time I'll ever love a country!" + +And it was. + +The expletive, however, marked how deep dwelt the determination of +Patrick Henry Hanway; for even as a young man he had taught himself a +suave and cautious conversation, avoiding profanity as of those lingual +vices that never made and sometimes lost a dollar. + +The Senate of this republic, at the time when Patrick Henry Hanway was +given his seat therein, was a thing of granite and ice to all newcomers. +The oldsters took no more notice of the novice in their midst than if he +had not been, and it was Senate tradition that a member must hold his +seat a year before he could speak and three before he would be listened +to. If a man were cast away on a desert island, the local savage could +be relied upon to meet him on the beach and welcome him with either a +square meal or club. Not so in the cold customs of the Senate. The +wanderer thrown upon its arctic shores might starve or freeze or perish +in what way he would; never an oldster of them all would make a sign. +Each sat in mighty state, like some ancient walrus on his cake of ice, +and made the new one feel his littleness. If through ignorance or worse +the new one sought to be heard, the old walruses goggle-eyed him +ferociously. If the new one persisted, they slipped from their cakes of +ice and swam to the seclusion of the cloakrooms, leaving the new one +talking to himself. This snub was commonly enough to cause the collapse +of the new one, after which the old walruses would return to their cakes +of ice. + +Senator Hanway--one should give him his title when now he has earned +it--was not inclined to abide by those gag traditions that ruled the +Senate beaches. He was supple, smooth, apologetic, deprecatory, and his +nature was one which would sooner run a mile than fight a moment. For +all that he was wise in his generation, fearing no one who could not +reach him for his injury. He did not, for instance, fear the Senate +walruses, goggle-eying him from their ice cakes. They could do him no +harm; he did not take his seat by their permission. Upon deliberate +plan, therefore, Senator Hanway had not been in his place a fortnight +before he got the floor on an appropriation, and began to voice his +views. The walruses at first goggle-eyed him in wrathful amazement; but +he kept on. Then, as was their habit, they set sail for the cloakrooms, +waving condemnatory flippers. + +[Illustration: One of the Most Reverend of the Senate Walruses] + +Senator Hanway had thought of this, and the cloakroom move did not +disconcert him. He seized on one of the most reverend of the Senate +walruses, one festooned with the very seaweed of Senate tradition, and, +casting him, as it were, on the coals of his hot rhetoric, proceeded to +roast him exhaustively. The cloakroom walruses smelled the odor of +burning blubber and returned eagerly to their cakes of ice, for there is +nothing so pleasing to your true walrus as the spectacle of a brother +walrus being grilled. It was in time understood that if the walruses +placed an affront upon Senator Hanway he would assail them singly or in +the drove. Then the walruses made their peace with him and admitted him +to fellowship before his time; for your walrus cannot carry on a war and +is only terrible in appearance. + +Now, when the seal of silence was taken from Senator Hanway and he found +himself consented to as a full-grown walrus possessed of every right of +the Senate beaches, he became deferential to his fellow Senators. He +curried their favor by pretending to consult with them, personally and +privately, on every Senate question that arose. He could be a great +courtier when he pleased and had a genius for flattery, and now that his +right to go without a gag was no longer disputed he devoted himself to +healing what wounds he had dealt the vanity of the oldsters. By this he +grew both popular and powerful; as a finale no man oftener had his +Senate way. + +Senator Hanway, modestly and unobtrusively, did sundry Senate things +that stamped him a leader of men. He bore the labor of a staggering +filibuster, and more than any other prevented a measure that was meant +for his party's destruction. In the lists of that filibuster he met the +champion of the opposition--a Senator of pouter-pigeon characteristics, +more formidable to look upon than to face--and, forensically speaking, +beat him like a carpet. + +On another day when one of his party associates was to be unseated by so +close a vote that a single member of the Committee on Privileges and +Elections would determine the business either way, it was Senator +Hanway, no one knew how, who in manner secret captured that member from +the enemy. The captured one voted sheepishly in committee and continued +thus sheepish on the open Senate floor, although a beautiful woman +smiled and beamed upon him from the gallery as women smile and beam when +granted favors. + +It was during Senator Hanway's second term, however, that he +accomplished the work which placed him at his party's fore and confirmed +him as its chief. The Senate, following a certain national election, +fell to be a tie. The party of Senator Hanway still had control of the +committees and generally of the Senate organization; but that election +had sent to be the Senate's presiding officer a Vice-President who +belonged with the opposition. On a tie, Senator Hanway's party would +find defeat by the vote of that new Vice-President. + +It was then the pouter-pigeon chieftain moved that the Senate +organization be given over to him and his fellows. The motion would seem +to settle it. The vote on the floor would be equal, and the sagacious +pouter-pigeon reckoned on the new Vice-President to decide for him and +his. The party colleagues of Senator Hanway, many of them four terms old +in Senate mysteries, were eaten of despair; they saw no gateway of +escape. The pouter-pigeon would take possession, remake the committees, +and, practically speaking, thereby remake the legislation of that +Congress. + +At this crisis, Senator Hanway took down the Constitution and showed by +that venerable document how the power of the Vice-President went no +farther than deciding ties on legislative questions; that when the +business at bay was a matter of Senate organization, he had no more to +say than had the last appointed messenger on the gallery doors. The +situation, in short, did not present a tie, for the settlement of which +the Vice-Presidential decision was possible; therefore, Senate things +must remain as they then were. + +Senator Hanway's reading of Vice-Presidential powers was right, as even +the opposition confessed; he saved the Senate and thereby the nation to +his party, and his rule was established unchallenged over his people, +his least opinion becoming their cloud and their pillar of fire to guide +them day and night. He was made far and away the dominant figure of the +Senate. + +Finding himself thus loftily situated and his hands so clothed with +power, Senator Hanway, looking over the plains of national politics, +conceived the hour ripe for another and a last step upward. For twelve +years a White House had been his dream; now he resolved to seek its +realization. From the Senate he would move to a Presidency; a double +term should close his career where Washington and Jefferson and Jackson +and other great ones of the past closed theirs. + +True, Senator Hanway must win his party's nomination; and it was here he +took counsel with his Senate colleagues. Being consulted, the word of +those grave ones proved the very climax of flattery. Senators Vice and +Price and Dice and Ice, and Stuff and Bluff and Gruff and Muff, and Loot +and Coot and Hoot and Toot, and Wink and Blink and Drink and +Kink--statesmen all and of snow-capped eminence in the topography of +party--endorsed Senator Hanway's ambition without a wrinkle of distrust +to mar their brows or a moment lost in weighing the proposal. The Senate +became a Hanway propaganda. Even the opposition, so far as slightly lay +with them, were pleasantly willing to help the work along, and Senator +Hanway blushed to find himself a Senate idol. By the encouragement which +his colleagues gave him, and the generous light of it, Senator Hanway +saw the way clear to become the choice of his party's national +convention. But he must work. + +It was in that prior day when Senator Hanway served his State in the +legislature that he wedded Dorothy Harley. It is to be assumed that he +loved her dearly; for twelve years later when she died his grief was +like a storm, and for the rest of his days he would as soon think of a +top hat without a crown as without a mourning band. + +When Senator Hanway married Dorothy Harley, her brother, John Harley, +married Barbara Hanway. Whether this exchange of sisters by the two was +meant for retort or for compliment lived a point of dispute--without +being settled--among the friends of the high contracting parties for +many, many months. + +Not that anyone suffered by these double nuptials; the families owned +equal social standing, having none at all, and were evenly balanced in +fortune, since neither had a dollar. Both Senator Hanway and John Harley +had their fortunes to make when, each with the other's sister on his +arm, they called in the preacher that day; and after the wedding they +set about the accumulation of those fortunes. + +In a half-sense the two became partners; for while a lawmaker can be +highly useful to a man of energy outside the halls of legislation, the +converse is every inch as true. They must be folk of course who know and +trust one another; and, aside from marrying sisters--a fact calculated +to quickly teach two gentlemen the worst and the best about each +other--John Harley and Senator Hanway had been as Damon and Pythias for +a decade. Not that either would have died for the other, but he would +have lied and plotted and defrauded and stopped at nothing short of +murder for him, which, considering the money appetites of the pair and +those schemes they had for feeding them, should be vastly more +important. + +When Senator Hanway came to Washington, John Harley and his wife, +Barbara Hanway-Harley as she preferred to style herself, came with him. +Senator Hanway made his home with the Harleys, when now he was a +widower; and the trio, with the daughter, Dorothy--named for the +Senator's wife--who lost her boot heel when Richard lost his heart, made +up a family of four, and took their place in Capital annals. + +John Harley had a red and jovial face that promised conviviality. It was +the custom with John Harley to slap a new acquaintance on the shoulder +and hail him as "Old Man." He was long of body, short of leg, apoplectic +as to neck--a girthy, thick, explosive, boisterous gentleman, who could +order a good dinner and could eat one. He could find you a fair bottle +of wine, and then assist in emptying it. He aimed at the open and frank +and generous, and was willing you should think him of high temper, one +who would on provocation deal a knock-down blow. + +Senator Hanway was his opposite, being of no more color than a monk and +of manners as precisely soft as a lady's. He never raised his voice, +never lost his temper; he strove for an accurate gentility--to give the +lie to noble foes at home--and far from owning any ferocities of fist, +retorted to a heated person who charged him with flat falsehood by a +mere shrug of the shoulders and a simple: + +"I refuse to discuss it, sir!" + +And all with a high air that left his opponent gasping and helpless and +floundering with the feeling that he had been somehow most severely and +completely, not to say most righteously, rebuked. + +There you have vague charcoal sketches of Senator Hanway and John +Harley; you may note as wide a difference between the two as lies +between warclubs and poisons. And yet they fitted with each other like +the halves of a shell. Also they were masters of intrigue; only John +Harley intrigued like a Wolsey and Senator Hanway like a Richelieu. + +John Harley played the business man, and was rough and plain and +blunt--a man of no genius and with loads of common sense. He made a +specialty of unpalatable truths and discarded sentiment. Indeed, he was +so good a business man that he got possession of a rotund interest in a +group of coal mines without the outlay of a dollar, and later became the +owner of sundry sheaves of railway stocks on the same surprising terms. + +Not that the coal and the railway companies lost by John Harley. When it +was known that he possessed an interest in the mines, certain armor +plate mills and shipbuilding concerns, as well as nineteen steamboat +lines, came forward to buy the coal. As for the railway, whereas prior +to John Harley's introduction as shareholder and director it could get +no consideration in the way of freights from those giant corporations +which have to do with beef and sugar and oil--it being both slow and +crooked as a railroad--thereafter it was given all it could haul at +rates even with the best, and its prosperity became such that fifty-five +points were added to the quoted value of its stock. + +It is possible that John Harley's nearness to Senator Hanway had +something to do with founding for him a railway and a coal-mine +popularity. The vote of a Senator may be important to armor plate and +shipbuilding concerns; as much might be said of companies that deal in +beef and sugar and oil. The action of a Senator may even become of +moment to a steamship line. The last was evidenced on a day when those +nineteen suddenly refused to purchase further coal from the Harley +mines. They were buying five millions of tons a year, those five +millions finding their way to the sea over the railway of which John +Harley was a director and in which he owned those sheaves of stocks, and +a fortune rose or fell by that refusal. The steamboats said they would +have no more Harley coal; it was stones and slates, they said. + +Senator Hanway at once introduced a bill, with every chance of its +passage, which provided for a tariff reduction of ten per cent. _ad +valorem_ on goods brought to this country in American ships. Since the +recalcitrant nineteen were, to the last rebellionist among them, foreign +ships, flying alien flags, this threatened preference of American ships +took away their breath. The owners of those lines went black with rage; +however, their anger did not so obscure them but what they saw their +penitent way to readopt the Harley coal, and with that the mining and +carriage and sale of those annual five millions went forward as before. +The Hanway bill, which promised such American advantages, perished in +the pigeon holes of the committee; but not before the press of the +country had time to ring with the patriotism of Senator Hanway, and +praise that long-headed statesmanship which was about to build up a +Yankee merchant marine without committing the crime of subsidy. + +John Harley and Senator Hanway at the time when Dorothy suffered that +momentous mishap of the heel, were both enrolled by popular opinion +among the country's millionaires. Each had been the frequent subject of +articles in the magazines, recounting his achievements and offering him +to the youth of America as a "Self-Made Man," whose example it would be +wise to steer by. In the Presidential plans of Senator Hanway, John +Harley nourished a flaming interest. With his pale brother-in-law in the +White House, what should better match the genius of John Harley than the +rôle of Warwick. He would pose as a President-maker. When the President +was made, and the world was saying "President Hanway," that man should +be dull indeed who did not look upon John Harley as the power behind the +curtain. He would control the backstairs; he would wear a White House +pass-key as a watch-charm! John Harley as well as Senator Hanway had his +dreams. + +Both Dorothy and her mother were profound partisans of Senator Hanway. +Dorothy loved her "Uncle Pat" as much as she loved her father. Dorothy, +who could weigh a woman,--being of the sex,--might have felt occasional +misgivings as to her mother. She might now and again observe an +insufficiency that was almost the deficient. But of her father and +"Uncle Pat" she never possessed a doubt; the one was the best and the +other the greatest of men. + +Dorothy was so far justified of her affection that to both John Harley +and Senator Hanway she stood for the model of all that was good and +beautiful in life. Hard and keen and never honest with the world at +large, the love of those two for the girl Dorothy was gold itself. +Neither said "No" to Dorothy; and neither made a dollar without thinking +how one day it would go to her. She was the joint darling; they would +divide her between them as the recipient of their loves while they lived +and their fortunes when they died. And many thought Dorothy lucky with +two such fathers to cherish her, two such men to conquer wealth +wherewith to feather-line her future. + +John Harley made no secret of Senator Hanway's Presidential prospects, +and if he did not talk them over with his helpmeet, he listened while +she talked them over with him. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, who insisted more +vigorously than ever upon the hyphenation, would of necessity preside +over the White House. She saw and said this herself. The Harley family +would move to the White House. Anything short of that would be +preposterous. + +Under such conditions and facing such a future, the tremendous +responsibilities of which already cast their shadow on her, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley was driven to take an interest in her brother's canvass; +and she took it. She gave her husband, John Harley, all sorts of advice, +and however much it might fail in quality, no one would have said that +in the matter of quantity Mrs. Hanway-Harley did not heap the measure +high. Senator Hanway himself she was not so ready to approach. He never +mentioned the question of his Presidential hopes and fears, holding to +the position of one who is sought. Under the circumstances, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley felt that it would be gross and forward to force the +subject with her brother, although she was certain that her silence +meant unmeasured loss to him. Mrs. Hanway-Harley was one of those +excellent women whereof it is the good fortune of the world to have such +store, who cherish the knowledge, not always shared by others, that +whatever they touch they benefit and wherever they advise they improve. + +"Barbara," said Senator Hanway, on the morning of that day when Richard +meddled so crushingly with Storri's hand, "Barbara, there is a matter in +which you might please me very much." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley looked across the table at her brother, for the four +were at breakfast. + +"I promise in advance," said she. + +"There is a gentleman," went on Senator Hanway, "I met him for a +moment--a Mr. Gwynn. You ladies know how to arrange these things. I want +to have him--not too large a party, you know--have him meet Gruff and +Stuff and two or three of my Senate friends. He is vastly rich, with +tremendous railway connections. I need not explain; but conditions may +arise that would make Mr. Gywnn prodigiously important--extremely so. I +don't know how you'll manage; he is exceedingly conventional--one of +your highbred English who must be approached just so or they take +alarm. But I'm sure, Barbara, you'll bring the matter about; and I leave +it to you with confidence." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOW MR. GWYNN DINED WITH THE HARLEYS + + +Any man who says that he is a gentleman is not a gentleman. A gentleman +no more tells you that he is a gentleman than a brave man tells you he +is brave. Gentility is a quality which the possessor never seeks to +establish as his own by word of mouth; he leaves it to inference and the +rule has no exception. This brilliant speechlessness arises not through +modesty, but ignorance. However clearly gentility reveals itself to +others, he who possesses it has no more knowledge on that faultless +point than have your hills of the yellow gold they hold within their +breasts. + +Storri was one who went far and frequently out of his conversational way +to assure you that he was a gentleman. Though he did no more than just +recount how he gave his seat to a woman in a car, or passed the salt at +dinner, or made a morning call, somewhere in the narrative you were sure +to hear that he was "a gentleman," or "a Russian gentleman," commonly +the latter; and he always accompanied the news with a straightening of +his heavy shoulders and a threatening pull at his mustache as though he +expected to find his word disputed and planned a terrible return. + +It could not be called Storri's fault that it was not three hundred +years since his forebears wore sheepskins, carried clubs, and made a +fire by judiciously rubbing one stick against another. None the less, +this nearness to a stone age left him barbarous in his heart; and the +layer of civilization that was upon him was not a layer, but a polish--a +sheen, and neither so thick nor so tangible as moonshine on a lake. The +savageries of Richard were quite as vivid as Storri's, perhaps; but at +least they had been advantageously hidden beneath a top-dressing of +eleven civilizing centuries instead of three; and those eight extra +centuries made all the difference in life. They gave Richard steadiness +and self-control; for the first separation between civilization and +barbarism lies in this, that a civilized man is more readily quieted +after a stampede than is your barbarous one. Also he is not so wide open +to original surprise. + +Wherefore, when Richard and Storri stood glaring at one another after +the episode of the hands, Richard had vastly the better of Storri, who +fell into a three-ply mood of amazement, fright, and rage. Finally, +Storri seemed to mutter threats while he retreated; and at the last got +himself out of the Harley front door in rather an incoherent way. It was +understood that he mumbled "Good-afternoon!" to Dorothy; and that "he +would talk with him again," to Richard; and all as he found his hat with +his left hand, the right meanwhile wrapped in a handkerchief which was a +smudge of blood. It could not be described as a graceful exit and had +many of the features of a rout; but it was effective, and took Storri +successfully into the street. Dorothy, still transfixed, turned with +round eyes to Richard: + +"What was it you did?" she asked again. + +"It was nothing," replied Richard with a shrug. "Or if anything, then a +piece of primitive sarcasm. Really, I'm sorry, since you were here; but +I had no choice." + +"Will there be a duel?" gurgled Dorothy, catching her breath. + +Dorothy, among other valuable ideas derived from novels, had gained a +middle-age impression that made flashing blades and gaping wounds a +romantic probability. + +"Storri is not so self-sacrificing," returned Richard with a grin, "and +I am much too modern." Then in a bantering tone: "How much better was +the old day when men might differ nobly foot to foot, with the fair lady +to the victor and a funeral to the vanquished as the natural upshot. It +is too bad! In the name of progress we have come too far and thrown away +too much!" + +It was among the marvels how Richard changed. As he talked with Dorothy +those eyes, late flint, became tender and laughingly honest in a fashion +good to see. He appeared younger by half, for anger is ancient and piles +on the years. + +"Really, Miss Harley," continued Richard, with a heroic determination to +change the subject, "I haven't as yet paid my respects to you. Your +mother said I might call. She was very kind!" And here Richard pressed +the little hand in that one which had so discouraged Storri, while Mrs. +Hanway-Harley suddenly swept into the room as if "Mother" were her cue. + +"Mamma," cried Dorothy, presenting Richard, "this is Mr. Storms. You +remember; he saved my--my nose." + +Certainly Mrs. Hanway-Harley remembered. She recalled the event in a +manner superbly amiable and condescending. + +"And you told us then," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley, "that you would +presently dwell in Washington. Is it your plan to make the town your +permanent residence?" + +"My plans depend on the plans of others, madam. I have become chained to +their chariot and cannot call myself free." Here Richard looked +audaciously sly at Dorothy, who interested herself with certain flowers +that stood in the window. + +"Ah! I see," returned Mrs. Hanway-Harley, who did not see at all. "You +mean Mr. Gwynn." She had heard of Mr. Gwynn, so far as the town knew +that personage, from her husband. "But you said 'others'?" + +"Yes, madam; besides Mr. Gwynn, there are Matzai and Mr. Pickwick." +Then, responding to Mrs. Hanway-Harley's inquiring brows, Richard went +forward with explanations. "Matzai is my valet, while Mr. Pickwick is a +terrier torn by an implacable hatred of rats; which latter is the more +strange, madam, for I give you my word Mr. Pickwick never saw a rat in +his life." + +"What an extraordinary young man!" ruminated Mrs. Hanway-Harley, and she +bestowed upon Richard a searching glance to see if by any miracle of +impertinence he was poking fun at her. + +That well-balanced gentleman realized the peril, and faced it with a +countenance as blankly, not to say as blandly vacuous as the wrong side +of a tombstone. He ran the less risk; for the lady could not conceive +how anyone dare take so gross a liberty with a Hanway-Harley; one, too, +whose future held tremendous chances of a White House. Being satisfied +of Richard's seriousness, and concluding privily that he was only a +dullard whom the honor of her notice had confused, she said: + +"Umph! Matzai and Mr. Pickwick! Yes; certainly!" + +Then Mrs. Hanway-Harley set herself to ask questions, the bald +aggressiveness whereof gave the daughter a red brow. Richard answered +readily, as though glad of the chance, and did not notice the crimson +that painted Dorothy's face. + +The latter young lady was as much puzzled by their caller as was her +mother, without accounting for his oddities on any argument of dullness. +Indeed, she could see how he played with them: that there flowed an +undercurrent of irony in his replies. Moreover, while by his manner he +had pedestaled and prayed to her as to a goddess, when they were alone +and before her mother came, Dorothy now observed that Richard carried +himself in a manner easy and masterful, and as one who knows much in the +presence of ones who know little. This air of the ineffably invincible +made Dorothy forget the adoration which had aforetime glowed in his +eyes, and she longed to box his ears. + +"Is Mr. Gwynn your relative?" asked the cool, though somewhat careless, +Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +"No, madam; no relative." There drifted about the corners of Richard's +mouth the shadow of a smile. "He is all English; I am all American." + +"I'm sure I'm sorry," remarked the lady musingly. Then without saying +upon what her sorrow was hinged, she proceeded. "Mr. Gwynn, I hear--I +don't know him personally, but hope soon to have that pleasure--is a +gentleman of highest breeding. My brother assures me that he has most +delightful manners. I know I shall adore him. If there's anything I +wholly admire it is an old-school English gentleman--they have so much +refinement, so much elevation!" + +"It might not become me," returned Richard, in what Mrs. Hanway-Harley +took to be a spirit of diffidence, "to laud the deportment of Mr. Gwynn. +But what should you expect in one who all his life has had about him the +best society of England?" + +"Ah! I can see you like him--venerate him!" This with ardor. + +"I won't answer for the veneration," returned Richard. "I like him well +enough--as Mr. Gwynn." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley stared in matronly reproof. + +"You don't appear over grateful to your benefactor." + +"No;" and Richard shook his head. "I'm quite the churl, I know; but I +can't help it." + +Richard found a chance to say to Dorothy, + +"I see that you love flowers." + +This was when Dorothy had taken refuge among those blossoms. + +"I worship flowers," returned Dorothy. + +"Now I don't wonder," exclaimed Richard. "You and they have so much in +common." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was for the moment preoccupied with thoughts of Mr. +Gwynn, and plans for the small Senate dinner at which that austere +gentleman would find himself in the place of honor. However, she caught +some flash of Richard's remark. For the fraction of an instant it bred a +doubt of his dullness. What if he should come philandering after +Dorothy? Mrs. Hanway-Harley's feathers began to rise. No beggar fed by +charity need hope for her daughter's hand; she was firm-set as to that. +Perhaps Mr. Gwynn intended to make him rich by his will. At this Mrs. +Hanway-Harley's feathers showed less excitement. Mr. Gwynn should be +sounded on the subject of bequests. Why not put the question to Mr. +Storms? It would at least lead to the development of that equivocal +gentleman's expectations. + +"Has Mr. Gwynn any family in England?" asked Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +"A nephew or two, I believe; possibly a brother." + +"But he will make you his heir." + +"Me?" Richard gave a negative shake of the head. "The old fellow +wouldn't leave me a shilling. Why should he? Nor would I accept it if he +did." Richard's sidelong look at Mrs. Hanway-Harley was full of +amusement. "No, the old rogue hates me, if he would but tell the +truth--which he won't--and if it were worth my while and compatible with +my self-respect, I've no doubt I'd hate him." + +This sentiment was delivered with the blasé air of weariness worn out, +that should belong with him who has seen and heard and known a world's +multitude; which manner is everywhere recognized as the very flower of +good breeding. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley sat tongue-tied with astonishment. In the end she +recalled herself. Mrs. Hanway-Harley scented nothing perilous in the +situation. In any event, Dorothy would wed whomsoever she decreed; Mrs. +Hanway-Harley was deservedly certain of that. While this came to her +mind, Richard the enterprising went laying plans for the daily +desolation of an entire greenhouse. + +"Dorothy," observed Mrs. Hanway-Harley, after Richard had gone his way, +"there you have a young man remarkable for two things: his dullness and +his effrontery. Did you hear how he spoke of his benefactor? The wretch! +After all that good, poor Mr. Gwynn has done for him!" + +"How do you know what Mr. Gwynn has done for him?" + +Dorothy, while she confessed the justice of her mother's strictures, +felt uncommonly inclined to defend the absent one. Her memory of those +tender glances was coming back. + +"Why, it is all over town! Mr. Storms is dependent on Mr. Gwynn. By the +way, I hope Count Storri did not meet him?" This was given in the rising +inflection of a query. + +"Only for a moment," returned Dorothy, breaking into a little crow of +laughter. "The Count did not seem to like him." Dorothy thought of that +combat of the hands, and how Storri was beaten to his knee, and how +fiercely glorious Richard looked at that instant. + +"What should you expect?" observed Mrs. Hanway-Harley. "The Count is a +nobleman. And that reminds me: Dorothy, he appears a bit smitten. What +if it were to prove serious?" + +"You wouldn't have me marry him, mamma?" + +"What! Not marry a Count!" Mrs. Hanway-Harley was shocked as only an +American mother could have been shocked. She appealed to the ceiling +with her horrified hands. "Oh! the callousness of children!" she cried. +Following this outburst of despair, Mrs. Hanway-Harley composed herself. +"We need not consider that now; it will be soon enough when the Count +offers us his hand." Mrs. Hanway-Harley sank back in her chair with +closed eyes and saw a vision of herself at the Court of the Czar. Then +she continued her thoughts aloud. "It's more than likely, my dear, that +the Czar would appoint Count Storri Ambassador to Washington." + +"It would be extremely intelligent of the Czar, I'm sure," returned +Dorothy with a twinkle. + +The next morning a colored youth clad in the garish livery of an Avenue +florist made his appearance on the Harley premises bearing aloft an +armful of flowers as large as a sheaf of wheat. By the card they were +for "Miss Harley." The morning following, and every morning, came the +colored youth bearing an odorous armful. Who were they from? The card +told nothing; it was the handwriting of the florist. + +"Don't you think it might be Count Storri?" said Dorothy demurely, +taking her pretty nose--the nose Richard saved--out of the flowers. +"Those Russians are so extravagant, so eccentric!" + +"Suppose I thank him for them," observed Mrs. Hanway-Harley; "that would +bring him out!" + +"No, no," exclaimed Dorothy hastily; "it might embarrass the Count." + +"Pshaw! I'll ask the florist." + +"No; that would offend the Count. You see, mamma, he thinks that we will +know without asking. He would hardly regard our ignorance as a +compliment," and Dorothy pouted. "You'd spoil everything." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley saw the force of this and yielded, though it cost her +curiosity a pang. + +Dorothy's dearest friend was with them--a tall, undulating blonde, who +was sometimes like a willow and sometimes like a cat. When Mrs. +Hanway-Harley had left the room, and Miss Marklin and Dorothy were +alone, the former said firmly: + +"Dorothy, who sent them?" + +"Now, how should I know, Bess? You read the card." + +"When a woman receives flowers, she always knows from whom," returned +this wise virgin oracularly. + +"Well, then," said Dorothy resignedly, drawing the golden head of the +pythoness down until the small, pink ear was level with her lips, "if +you must know, let me whisper." + +There are people who hold that everybody they do not understand is a +fool. There be others who hold that everybody who doesn't understand +them is a fool. Mrs. Hanway-Harley belonged to the former class, and not +making Richard out, she marked him "fool," and so informed Mr. Harley as +she penned the dinner invitation to Mr. Gwynn. + +"Of course, we shall not ask this Mr. Storms to the dinner. He would be +misplaced by his years for one thing. Besides, I'm sure Mr. Gwynn +wouldn't like it. I saw enough of Mr. Storms to doubt if, in their own +house, he dines at the same table with Mr. Gwynn." + +"At any rate," remarked the cautious Mr. Harley, "it's safe to leave him +out this time. We'll establish his proper level, socially, by talking +with Mr. Gwynn." + +Mr. Gwynn came back from New York on Thursday afternoon. His traffic +with Talon & Trehawke was successful, and he had bought the _Daily +Tory_. + +Richard was put in charge of the Washington correspondence. He was given +a brace of assistants to protect, as he said, the subscribers; for be it +known that Richard of the many blemishes knew no more of newspaper work +than he did of navigation. + +Mr. Gwynn found Mrs. Hanway-Harley's dinner invitation awaiting him; it +was for the next evening. He brought it to Richard. + +"You will go, Mr. Gwynn," said that gentleman. "I will consider; and +to-morrow I will tell you what you are to say." + +Richard has been referred to as a soul of many blemishes. The chief of +these was his cynicism, although that cynicism had a cause if not a +reason. With other traits, the same either virtues or vices according to +the occasion and the way they were turned, Richard was sensitive. He was +as thin-skinned as a woman and as greedy of approval. And yet his +sensitiveness, with nerves all on the surface, worked to its own defeat. +It rendered Richard fearful of jar and jolt; with that he turned +brusque, repelled folk, and shrunk away from having them too near. + +For a crowning disaster, throughout his years of manhood, Richard had +had nothing to do. He had been idle with no work and no object to work +for. You can suffer from brain famine and from hand famine. You may +starve your brain and your hand with idleness as readily as you starve +your stomach with no food. And Richard's nature, without his knowing, +had pined for lack of work. + +There had been other setbacks. Richard lost his mother before he could +remember, and his father when he was twelve. He was an only child, and +his father, as well as his mother, had been an only child. Richard stood +as utterly without a family as did the first man. He grew up with +schoolmasters and tutors, looked after by guardians who, infected of a +fashion, held that the best place to rear an American was Europe. These +maniacs kept Richard abroad for fairly the fifteen years next before he +meets you in these pages. The guardians were honest men; they watched +the dollars of their ward with all the jealous eyes of Argus. His mind +they left to chance-blown influences, all alien; and to teachers, +equally alien, and as equally the selection of chance. And so it came +that Richard grew up and continued without an attachment or a friendship +or a purpose; and with a distrust of men in the gross promoted to +feather-edge. Altogether he should be called as loveless, not to say as, +unlovable, a character as any you might encounter, and search throughout +a summer's day. + +Most of all, Richard had been spoiled by an admiration for Democritus, +which Thracian's acquaintance he picked up at school. He saw, or thought +he saw, much in the ease of the Abderite to remind him of his own; and +to imitate him he traveled, professed a chuckling indifference to both +the good and the ill in life, and, heedful to laugh at whatever turned +up, humored himself with the notion that he was a philosopher. +Democritus was Richard's affectation: being only an affectation +Democritus did not carry him to the extreme of putting out his own eyes +as a help to thought. + +Richard, to reach his thirtieth year, had traveled far by many a +twisting road. And for all the good his wanderings overtook, he would +have come as well off standing still. But a change was risping at the +door. In Dorothy Richard had found one to love. Now in his sudden rôle +of working journalist, he had found work to do. Richard caught his bosom +swelling with sensations never before known, as he loafed over a cigar +in his rooms. Love and ambition both were busy at his heart's roots. He +would win Dorothy; he would become a writer. + +Richard, his cynicism touching the elbow of his dream, caught himself +sourly smiling. He shook himself free, however, and was surprised to see +how that ice of cynicism gave way before a little heat of hope. It was +as if his nature were coming out of winter into spring; whereat Richard +was cheered. + +"Who knows?" quoth Richard, staring about the room in defiance of what +cynic imps were present. "I may yet become a husband and an author +before a twelvemonth." + +Richard later took counsel with the gray Nestor of the press gallery--a +past master at his craft of ink. + +"Write new things in an old way," said this finished one whose name was +known in two hemispheres; "write new things in an old way or old things +in a new way or new things in a new way. Do not write old things in an +old way; it will be as though you strove to build a fire with ashes." + +"And is that all?" asked Richard. + +"It is the whole of letters," said the finished one. With that Richard, +nursing a stout heart, began his grind. + +Every writer, not a mere bricklayer of words, has what for want of +better epithet is called a style. There be writers whose style is broad +and deep and lucid like a lake. It shimmers bravely as some ray of fancy +touches it, or it tosses in billows with some stormy stress of feeling. +And yet, you who read must spread some personal sail and bring some gale +of favoring interest all your own, to carry you across. There be writers +whose style is swift and flashing like a river, and has a current to +whirl you along. The style seizes on you and takes you down the page, +showing the right and the left of the subject as a river shows its +banks. You are swept round some unexpected bend of incident, and given +new impressions in new lights. Addison was the king of those who wrote +like a lake; Macaulay of those who wrote like a river. The latter is the +better style, giving more and carrying further and tiring less. + +Richard belonged by native gift to the Macaulay school. He tasted the +incense of his occupation when, having sent his first story, the night +manager wired: + +"Great! Keep it up." + +Richard read and re-read the four words, and it must be confessed felt +somewhat ashamed at the good they did him--being the first words of +encomium that had ever come his way. They confirmed his ambition; he had +found a pleasant, unexpected window from which to reconsider existence. + +It was seven o'clock and Richard sat turning over a pile of papers which +related to the purchase of the _Daily Tory_; they had been left by Mr. +Gwynn. These he compared with a letter or two that had just come in. + +"What a fool and old rogue it is!" cried Richard disgustedly. Then he +pushed the button that summoned Mr. Gwynn. + +That severe Briton appeared in flawless evening dress. It was the +occasion of the Harley dinner, and Mr. Gwynn had ordered his carriage +for half after seven. + +"Mr. Gwynn," said Richard, "the Harley purpose is the Presidential hopes +of Senator Hanway. You will offer aid in all of Senator Hanway's plans. +Particularly, you are to let him know that the _Daily Tory_ is at his +service. Say that I, as its correspondent, shall make it my first duty +to wait upon him." + +"Very good, sir," said Mr. Gwynn. + +"Another moment, Mr. Gwynn," said Richard, as the other was about to go. +"Give me your personal check for eleven thousand six hundred and forty +dollars." + +Mr. Gywnn's face twitched; he hesitated, rocking a little on his feet. +Richard had turned to scribble something; with that, repressing whatever +had been upon his lips, Mr. Gwynn withdrew. He was instantly back with a +strip of paper fluttering in his fingers. Richard placed it in his desk. +Taking a similar strip from his writing pad he gave it to Mr. Gwynn. + +"My own check for eleven thousand six hundred and forty dollars, Mr. +Gwynn," said Richard. "I make you a present of it. That is to save your +credit. Hereafter, when you see a chance to play the scoundrel, before +you embrace it, please measure the probable pillage and let me know. I +will then give you the amount. In that way you will have the profits of +every act of villainy you might commit, while missing the mud and mire +of its accomplishment. Remember, Mr. Gwynn; I will not tolerate a +rascal." + +"You are extremely good, sir," said the frozen Mr. Gwynn. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley placed Mr. Gwynn on her right hand, a distinction +which that personage bore with a petrified grace most beautiful to look +upon. Senator Hanway was on the other side of Mr. Gwynn. The party was +not large--eight in all--and, besides the trio named and Mr. Harley, +counted such partisans of Senator Hanway as Senators Gruff and Kink and +Wink and Loot and Price. Mr. Gwynn was delighted to meet so much good +company, and intimated it in a manner decorously conventional. + +"Isn't he utterly English, and therefore utterly admirable?" whispered +Mrs. Hanway-Harley to Senator Loot. + +That statesman agreed to this as well as he could with a mouth at work +on fish. + +"Mr. Gwynn," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley affably, "I shall make the most of +you while I may. You know I only intend to see you gentlemen safely +launched, and then I shall retire." + +Mr. Gwynn bowed gravely. Mr. Gwynn's strength lay in bowing. He was also +remarkable for the unflagging attention which he paid to whatever was +said to him. On such occasions his unblinking stare, wholly receptive +like an underling taking orders, and never a glimmer of either +contradiction or agreement or even intelligence to show therein, was +almost disconcerting. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, however, declared that this +receptive, inane stare was the hall-mark of exclusive English circles. +Mr. Gwynn gave another proof of culture; he pitched upon the best wine +and stuck to it, tasting and relishing with educated palate. This set +him up with Mr. Harley. + +"Yes, I shall make the most of you, Mr. Gwynn," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +By way of making the most of Mr. Gwynn, Mrs. Hanway-Harley spoke of +meeting Mr. Storms. In her opinion that young man did not appreciate the +goodness of Mr. Gwynn, and was far from grateful for those benefits +which the latter showered upon him. At this intelligence, Mr. Gywnn was +taken so aback that Mrs. Hanway-Harley stopped abruptly and shifted the +conversation. Mrs. Hanway-Harley was one of those who have half-tact; +they know enough to back out and not enough to keep out of a blunder. + +The dinner was neither long nor formal. Mrs. Hanway-Harley at last +removed the restraint of her presence, and thereupon Mr. Harley drank +twice as much wine to help him bear her absence. Mr. Gwynn's health was +proposed by Mr. Harley, and Mr. Gwynn bowed his thanks. It should be +understood that Mr. Gwynn bowed like a Mandarin from beginning to end of +the feast. There were no speeches; no man can make a speech to an +audience of six. Cicero himself would have been dumb under such meager +conditions. + +When Mr. Harley drank Mr. Gwynn's health for the tenth time, and +attempted, assisted by Senators Gruff and Price, to sing a song in his +honor, Senator Hanway adroitly brought the dinner to a close. He was the +more stirred to this as the plaster of Paris countenance of Mr. Gwynn, +when Mr. Harley began to sing, betrayed manifest alarm. + +After dinner Senator Hanway got Mr. Gwynn into a corner. Thereupon, in a +manner creditable to himself, Mr. Gwynn gave Senator Hanway to know that +he was his friend. The _Daily Tory_ should be his; Richard should be +his; Mr. Gwynn and all he called his own should be his; Senator Hanway +was to make whatever use of Richard and the _Daily Tory_ and Mr. Gwynn +his experience and his interests might suggest. Indeed, Mr. Gwynn talked +very well in private and in whispers; and Senator Hanway said later to +Senator Kink that he was the deepest man he had ever met. + +"And," said Senator Hanway, squeezing Mr. Gwynn's hand as that gentleman +made ready for home, "tell your young man that I shall be glad to see +him. There are certain contingencies touching the next Speakership of +the House which should interest his paper. I shall see you to-morrow, +Mr. Gwynn--with your permission. You can and should play a most +important part in selecting that same Speaker. Your measureless +interests in the great Anaconda Airline warrant me in the assertion." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HOW A SPEAKERSHIP WAS FOUGHT FOR + + +Fate now and then turns jester in a bitter way, and stoops to ironies +and grinning sarcasm. Often it gives with the right hand only to take +with the left, and blinded ones are set to chop and saw and plane those +trees which in the end make gallows for their hopes. The story of the +world shows many an inadvertent Frankenstein and deeply justifies the +grewsome Mrs. Shelley. + +Something less than two years prior to that evening when Senator Hanway +took the congealed Mr. Gwynn into a corner and told him how, with his +great Anaconda Airline, he should cut a figure in the selection of a +next Speaker for the House of Representatives, it had been that +statesman's fortune to so reconstruct a tariff that it gave unusual +riches and thereby unusual comfort to the dominant ones of a certain +manufacturing Northeastern State. This commonwealth at the time was +politically in the hands of the party opposed to Senator Hanway. +Mollified by the friendly tariff and anxious to mark their gratitude, +those dominant ones arose and in the following autumn elected to be +Governor of said State a middle-aged individual, eminent for obstinacy +and a kind of bovine integrity that nothing might corrupt or turn aside. +The Obstinate One of course belonged with the party of Senator Hanway. + +At this pinch a vile chance befell. No sooner was the Obstinate One +given the Governorship of a State doubtful and accounted the enemy's +country, than straightway he was looked upon as White House timber by +sundry architects of politics, and thereafter his name went more or less +linked with a possible Presidency. The situation stirred the spleen of +Senator Hanway. It was discouraging to have those identical tariff +triumphs, which had been intended as an argument favorable to himself, +give birth to a rival; one also who, for his geography and the +popularity which those personal obstinacies and thick-skulled +integrities invoked, might work a grave disturbance in his plans. To +make bad worse, the Obstinate One possessed a sinister luck of his own +and with closed eyes backed into a fight on the right side and won it +against a pack of lobby wolves who were yelping and snapping about the +State Treasury. This, although the Obstinate One of all men least +appreciated what he had done, confirmed him as a valuable asset of +party; pending further honors the public to reward him gave him the +title of Governor Obstinate. + +In his white, still, rippleless way, Senator Hanway hated in his soul's +soul the name of Governor Obstinate. Night and day he carried that dull, +fortunate gentleman on his swell of thought and never ceased to consider +how he might deal him a blow or withstand him in any Presidential +stepping forward. And yet at no time had Senator Hanway--and himself the +master of every art of cord and creese in politics--felt more helpless. +If Governor Obstinate had been no more than just a finished politician, +a mere Crillon of political fence, Senator Hanway might have flashed his +ready point between his ribs. But the other's very crudities defended +him. He was primitive to the verge of despair. Even his strength was +primitive, inasmuch as it dwelt among the people rather than with the +machinists of party. Senator Hanway's monkish brow went often puckered +of a most uncanonical frown as he thought upon that sardonic Destiny +which had thrust this Governor Obstinate forward to become a stumbling +block in his way. In his angry contempt he could compare him to nothing +save a grizzly bear. + +Whatever the justice of this last shaggy simile, even Senator Hanway +could not deny its formidable side. A grizzly, whether in fact or in +hyperbole, is no one good to meet. There is a supremacy of the +primitive; when the natural and the artificial have collided the latter +has more than once come limping off. Our soldiers cannot make the +Indians fight their fashion; the Indians make the soldiers fight _their_ +fashion. If the soldiers were dense enough to insist upon their +formation, the Indians--fighting all over the field and each red warrior +for himself--would fill them as full of holes as a colander. When, +therefore, Senator Hanway called Governor Obstinate a grizzly, it was a +name of respect. The usual methods would not prevail in his stubborn +case. Most of all, money could not be employed to overthrow him; for his +foundations, like the foundations of any other grizzly, were original +and beyond the touch of money. + +Now all this served to palsy the strength of Senator Hanway. In one +shape or another, and whether by promise or actual present production, +money was his one great tool; and where the tool has lost its power the +artisan is also powerless. It is not to Senator Hanway's discredit that +he would fail where money failed; Richelieu, wanting money, would have +been a turtle on its back. Wherefore, let it be rewritten that Senator +Hanway in the face of those clumsy, uncouth, half-seeing yet tremendous +potentialities of his enemy was seized of a helplessness never before +felt. To oppose the other with only those narrow means of money was like +trying to put down a Sioux uprising with a resolution of the Board of +Trade. Still, he must do his best; he must hold this Governor Obstinate +as much as he might in check, trusting to the chapter of accidents, +which in politics is a very lair of surprises, to suggest final ways and +means to baffle his advance. + +For the business of making him President, the complaisant Senate had +become the workshop of Senator Hanway. Now, on the brink of a new +Congress, one which would be in session when the nominating convention +of his party was called to order and therefore might be supposed to own +power over its action and the Presidential ticket it would put up, +Senator Hanway resolved to add the House of Representatives to his +machine. He would elect its Speaker, and make the House an annex to his +workshop of a Senate. He would hook up House and Senate as a coachman +hooks up his team, and driving them tandem or abreast as the exigencies +of the hour suggested, see how far two such powerful agencies might take +him on his White House road. + +It was on the side of Senator Hanway a brilliant thought and a daring +one, this plan to seize a Speakership and apply it to his personal +fortunes; for your Speakership is that office second only to a +Presidency, and comes often to be the latter's superior in practical +force. Those wise ones who designed the government intended the House of +Representatives to be a republic. Through its own groveling abjections, +however, it long ago sunk to an autocracy with the Speaker in the rôle +of autocrat. It sold its birthright for no one knows what mess of +pottage to pass its slavish days beneath a tyranny of the gavel. The +Speaker settles all things. No measure is proposed, no bill passes, no +member speaks except by the Speaker's will. He constructs the committees +and selects their chairmen and lays out their work. With a dozen +members, every one of whom votes and acts beneath his thumb, the Speaker +transacts the story of the House. So far as the other three hundred and +forty odd members are concerned, the folk who sent them might as well +have written a letter. They live as much without art or part or lot in +planning and executing House affairs as do the caged menagerie animals +in the planning and execution of the affairs of what show they happen to +exist as the attractions. These caged ones of the House are never +regarded and but seldom heard. The best that one of them may gain is +"Leave to print"; which is a kind of consent to be fraudulent, and +permits a member to pretend through the Congressional Record that he +made a speech (which he never made) and was overwhelmed by applause +(which he did not receive) which swept down in thunderous peals (during +moments utterly silent) from crowded galleries (as empty as a church). + +Senator Hanway, when he decided to pick out a House Speaker favorable to +his hopes, had plenty of time wherein to lay his plans. The personnel of +a coming House is known for over a year; the members are elected nearly +thirteen months before they take their seats. These thirteen months of +grace are granted the new member by the Constitution on a hopeful theory +that he will devote them to a study of his country's needs. In this +instance, as in many another, theory and practice wander wide apart; the +new member gives those thirteen months to a profound study of his own +needs, and concerns himself no more over the nation's than over +wine-pressing in far-away Bordeaux. It is the glaring fault of every +scheme of government, your own being no exception to the rule, that it +seems meant for man as he should be rather than for man as he is. + +Every member of the coming House, among matters of personal moment to +himself, had given no little thought to what committees he would be +placed upon; and this, in the nature of House things, likewise compelled +him to a consideration of the Speakership and who should fill it. It was +by remembering those committee hopes and fears of members, and adroitly +fomenting them, that Senator Hanway expected to control the Speakership +election. + +But he must go warily to work. Coming from the Senate end of the +Capitol, Senator Hanway, in his proposed interference in the +organization of the House, must maintain himself discreetly in the dark. +It was not a task to accomplish blowing a bugle. The House had +surrendered its powers to the Speaker; but it had retained its vanity, +and like all weak animals it was the more vain for being weak. The +members, were it once known and parcel of the common gossip how they +inclined to Senator Hanway's manipulation, would be compelled to rebel. +They would be driven to oppose him as a method of preserving what they +called their self-respect. Aware of this, Senator Hanway never came into +the open, never appeared upon the surface. He secretly pitched upon a +candidate among the older ones of the House and made his deal with him, +working the wires of his diplomacy from below. + +There was peculiar demand for effort on Senator Hanway's part. His man, +when now he had selected him, would not find himself uninterrupted or +unopposed in his march for that Speakership. There was another, and if +native popularity were to count a stronger hand stretched forth to seize +the gavel prize. Had it lain in the cards, Senator Hanway, who always +sought his ends on lines of least resistance, would himself have pitched +upon this stronger one. But such was beyond the question. The strong one +claimed to be of that party clan which pushed the offensive Governor +Obstinate for the Presidency; and this not only offered a perfect reason +why Senator Hanway should make no alliance with him, but it multiplied +the necessity for his defeat. + +That member upon whom Senator Hanway settled for Speaker owned the +biting name of Frost; it was an instance, however, when there was +nothing in a name. Mr. Frost was a round, genial personage and only +biting with occasional sarcasms; then, it is true, his sentences cut +like a rawhide. He was big, breezy, careless, quick, and coming of an +aquatic ancestry, oceanic in his sort; even his walk reminded one of a +ground swell. And yet he was defective as a candidate. The House members +liked him well, despite those verbal acridities which shaved the surface +of debate as lawns are shaven by a scythe; but with the last word there +existed no recognized House or party reason, whether of the past, the +present or the future, why he should be made Speaker. In the lay of +House topography he was on the wrong side of the river from the +Speakership, and to land him within stretch of the gavel required that +Senator Hanway either ferry or pontoon him across. This the latter +gentleman set himself to accomplish by a series of intrigues and +stratagems that would have brightened the fame of a Talleyrand. + +The statesman opposed to Mr. Frost for the Speakership was a personage +named Hawke. He stood possessed of honesty, intelligence, and energy; +also he had been for long the leader of his party in the House, and +given his name to a tariff measure. Without one gleam of humor, he was +of a temper hot as that of any Hecla, and like his fellow volcano, being +often in a state of eruption, he offered many reasons for being admired +and none for being loved. + +This should be a key to the man. + +He had been a brave soldier during the Civil War, and when his men, most +of whom were armed with shotguns--it being in the early hours of that +strife and these men arming themselves--complained that their weapons +were no match for the Enfields of the foe, rebuked them fiercely. + +"General," said the spokesman of the soldiers; "these yere shotguns +ain't no even break for them rifles the Yanks are shootin'!" + +"They are a match for them," retorted the furious Mr. Hawke, "if you +will only go close enough." + +For all his soberness of humor and choleric upheavals, Mr. Hawke, +because of his record as a House leader and a tariff maker--he had +tinkered together that identical bill which, when Senator Hanway later +revamped it in the Senate, produced the Obstinate One as a Governor--was +the legitimate heir to the Speakership; and in the House, where +tradition is something sacred and custom itself the strongest of +arguments, his defeat for the place was thereby rendered well-nigh +impossible. Senator Hanway had undertaken no child's task when he went +about the gavel elevation of the popular, yet--by House usage--the +illegitimate Mr. Frost. + +Months before ever Senator Hanway was granted the honor of knowing Mr. +Gwynn, he had been burrowingly busy about the Speakership. As a primary +step he was obliged to suppress his ebullient brother-in-law. Mr. +Harley, the moment a conquest of the House in the interests of Senator +Hanway was proposed, waxed threateningly exuberant. He was for issuing +forth to vociferate and slap members upon their backs and jovially +arrange committeeships on the giffgaff principle of give us the +Speakership and you shall become a Chairman. The optimistic Mr. Harley, +whose methods were somewhat coarse and who did most things with an ax, +was precisely of that hopeful sort who would advertise an auction of the +lion's hide while it was yet upon the beast. Senator Hanway, with +instincts safer and more upon the order of the mole's, forbade such +campaigns of noise. + +"You must keep silent, John," said he, "and never let men know what we +are about. You are inclined, apparently, to regard a Speakership as you +might a swarm of bees; you think one has only to beat a tin pan long +enough or blow a tin horn loud enough in order to hive it according to +one's wish. The Speakership, however, so far from being a swarm of bees +is more like a flock of blackbirds, and the system to which you incline +would prove the readiest means of frightening away our every chance. In +short, you must work by my orders and meet no one, say nothing, except +as I direct." + +Then Senator Hanway sent Mr. Harley, much modified of his vigor, with a +secret invitation to Mr. Frost; when that personage was brought to the +privacy of the Harley house, he laid open to his ambition those gavel +prospects which he, Senator Hanway, had already constructed in his +thoughts. + +There was no conflict of argument with Mr. Frost; he rose to the +suggestion like a bass to a fly. Knowing himself to be of a genius too +openly bluff and frank, and no one to conquer those elements which his +campaign would require, he put himself in the hollow of Senator Hanway's +hand to be controlled by him with shut eyes. This voluntary prompt +submission on the part of Mr. Frost had a further subduing effect upon +Mr. Harley. In imitation thereof he, too, began to speak in whispers and +step with care, and ask his eminent relative for orders in all he went +about. + +Now when Senator Hanway had trained his partner and his candidate to +come to heel he began to unravel his diplomacy. By his suggestion, Mr. +Frost took into confidence two of his party colleagues in the House. +These would on every occasion act as his agents or lieutenants. Senator +Hanway and Mr. Harley were not to appear too obviously. + +Senator Hanway, lying back in the dark, looked over the field and sent +those two lieutenants variously to a score of members. These were +sounded on the engaging topic of committee chairmanships, and one by one +such coigns of congressional, not to say personal, advantage as the +heads of Ways and Means, the Appropriations, the Foreign Affairs, the +Naval, the Military and a number of other great sub-bodies were disposed +of--bartered away on the contingency always of Mr. Frost's selection to +be the Speaker. The entire House was laid off into lots like real estate +and sold, the purchaser promising his vote and influence in the party +caucus, taking therefor a verbal contract to give him the committee +place he preferred. + +This labor of an advance partition of the spoils and the linking of +every possible faction with the campaign of Mr. Frost, was concluded +about a fortnight prior to Mrs. Harley's dinner to Mr. Gwynn. As Senator +Hanway ran his experienced eye over the list and counted the noses of +Mr. Frost's array, he saw that it was not enough. The pontoon would not +reach; there was still a wide expanse of water between his candidate and +the coveted Speakership. As matters rested, and every morsel of House +patronage disposed of to this hungry one or that, the enemy, Mr. +Hawke--being doubly the enemy for that he was become an open supporter +of Governor Obstinate and made no secret that his candidacy for the +Speakership was meant to be a step towards making that gentleman +President--would still rise victorious in caucus by full forty votes. + +Senator Hanway's anxious wits were driven hard. He had drawn to Mr. +Frost every splinter of power he could command by barter, and thrown in +his own State delegation in the House by sheer stress of that machine +which he had upreared for his own defense at home. It was not enough; +even the subtraction of two State delegations from the standards of the +foe, by the adroit scheme, applied to each delegation, of dragging one +of its members forward to be a candidate for Speaker, was not enough. +After ten months of labor, Senator Hanway went over the result and could +read nothing therein save failure. And it was like an icicle through his +heart; for aside from what advantage the control of the House might give +his own ambitions, he knew beyond question that with the gavel in the +fingers of a professed partisan of Governor Obstinate, the latter thick, +yet fortunate, individual would occur as the next Presidential candidate +of his party so surely as the sun came up on a convention morning. + +Senator Hanway was in this valley of gloom when he heard of Mr. Gwynn. +It was Mr. Harley, ever brisk in railway matters, who told him of that +gentleman as the Colossus of the Anaconda Airline. + +"He holds no offices in the management of the company," explained Mr. +Harley, "but, being millions upon millions a majority shareholder his +least word is Anaconda Airline law." + +Senator Hanway did not have to be told of the influence of railways in +the destinies of his country. He glanced up at a map on the wall; there +he could see the nation caught like some great clumsy fish in a very +seine of railways. He traced the black, thread-like flight, from +seaboard to seaboard, of the Anaconda Airline. Then he made a +calculation. The Anaconda Airline was the political backbone, first one +State and then another, of forty House members, twenty-three of whom +being of his own complexion of politics, would have a caucus vote. Of +the twenty-three, luck upon good luck! twenty belonged to Mr. Hawke. If +Senator Hanway might only get the Anaconda Airline to crack the thong of +its authority over these recalcitrants, they could be whipped into the +Frost traces. Not one would dare defy an Anaconda order; it would be +political hari-kari. At this point our wily Senator Hanway began laying +plans to bring Mr. Gwynn within his reach; it was in deference to those +plans that our solemn capitalist found himself upon Mrs. Hanway-Harley's +hospitable right hand on that evening of the dinner, with his severe +legs outstretched beneath the Harley mahogany. + +"I will see you to-morrow--with your permission," observed Senator +Hanway, as he parted with Mr. Gwynn. + +When Mr. Gwynn returned from Mrs. Hanway-Harley's he stood in the middle +of the floor, and told Richard, word for word, all that had taken place. +The latter young gentleman was in a prodigious good humor. For the first +time in his life he had done a day's work, being the twenty-five hundred +word story written and dispatched to the _Daily Tory_, and that was one +reason for joy. Besides, there was the manager's wire of praise--and +Richard thought it marked a weakness in him--that, too, had warmed the +cockles of his heart. Being in good humor, he listened without +interrupting comment to the rasping, parrot tones of Mr. Gwynn while +that gentleman, without inflection or emphasis or slightest shade of +personal interest, told the tale of the night's adventures, from Mrs. +Hanway-Harley's flattery and Mr. Harley's song, to Senator Hanway's last +handclasp and that parting promise of a call. + +"And that is all, sir," said Mr. Gwynn, at the close, coughing +apologetically behind his palm as though fearful of criticism. + +"You did well," was Richard's response. "When Senator Hanway calls +to-morrow, introduce me to him at once. After that, I shall talk and you +will acquiesce. You may go." + +"Thank you, sir. Very good, sir!" said Mr. Gwynn. + +Mr. Gwynn received Senator Hanway in his library; Richard was present, +considering the world at large from a window. + +"And first of all," said Mr. Gwynn, after greeting Senator Hanway, "and +first of all, let me introduce to your notice Mr. Storms. I may say to +you, sir, I have confidence in Mr. Storms; I act much by his advice." +And here Mr. Gwynn looked at Richard as though appealing for +corroboration. + +Senator Hanway, from whose nimble faculties nothing escaped, noted this +appeal. He thought the less of it, since Mr. Harley had given him some +glint of the measureless millions of Mr. Gwynn, and he deduced from this +stiff turning towards Richard, this brittle deference, nothing save a +theory that Mr. Gwynn, by virtue of his tremendous riches, had grown too +great to do his own listening and thinking. It was as plain, as it was +proper, that he should hire them done, precisely as he hired a groom for +his horses or a valet to superintend his clothes. Senator Hanway, +himself, was at bottom impressed by nothing so much as money, and was +quite prepared to believe that one of the world's wealthiest men--for +such he understood to be the case of Mr. Gwynn--would prove in word and +deed and thought a being wholly different from everyone about him. +Wherefore, his heaped millions accounted in Mr. Gwynn for what otherwise +might have been considered by Senator Hanway as queernesses. + +To add to this, Mr. Gwynn was of a certain select circle of English +exclusives; Senator Hanway had learned that much from his sister, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley. It was to be expected then that he would have someone +about him to furnish brains for his deliberations, and to make up his +mind as a laundress makes up shirts. Senator Hanway, knowing these +things of Mr. Gwynn, was in no wise surprised that he possessed in his +service one who was hearer, talker, and decider, just as ancient kings +kept folk about whose business was to make witty retorts for them and +conduct sparkling conversations in their stead, they themselves being +too royal for anything so much beneath that level of exalted inanity, +which as all men know is the only proper mark of princely minds. +Something of this raced hit or miss through Senator Hanway's thoughts, +as Mr. Gwynn presented Richard and then relapsed--hinge by hinge as +though his joints were rusty with much aristocratic unbending--into a +chair. + +Richard gave him no space to dwell upon the phenomenon. He came forward +with a little atmosphere of deference; for Richard had his own deep +designs. Then, too, Senator Hanway was white of hair and twice his age, +to say nothing of being a certain young lady's uncle. + +"Mr. Gwynn has told me of you," said he. Then pushing straight for the +point after methods of his own, he continued: "What is it the Anaconda +Airline can do? Mr. Gwynn is quite convinced, from what he has been told +of those positions you have from time to time assumed in the Senate, +that his own interest with that of every railway owner lies in following +your leadership. Indeed, I think he has decided to adopt whatever +suggestion you may make." Richard glanced towards Mr. Gwynn, and that +great man gave his mandarin bow. + +Senator Hanway, while smitten of vague amazement at Mr. Gwynn's +acquiescent spirit, accepted it without pause. However marvelous it +might be, at least he himself ran no risk. More than that, on second +thought it did not occur to him as so peculiarly unusual; a Senator in a +measure becomes inured to the wondrous. + +Senator Hanway did not reply directly to Richard's query. Direct replies +were not the habit of this practiced one. He made a speech full of +flattering generalities. He spoke of Richard's connection with the +_Daily Tory_, and expanded upon the weight and influence of that +journal. Also, with a beaming albeit delicate patronage which Richard +stomached for reasons of his own, he intimated complimentary things of +Richard himself and seemed to congratulate the _Daily Tory_ on the +services of one so keen, so sure, so graphic; which last was the more +kind, since Senator Hanway could have known no single reason for +assuming anything of the sort. He told Richard that he hoped to see him +personally every day. Here Richard broke in on the Senatorial flow to +ask if he might wait upon Senator Hanway every morning at eleven. + +"For I am warned by Mr. Gwynn," explained Richard, with an alert +mendacity which would have done honor, to Senator Hanway himself, "that +he will hold anything short of calling upon you once a day as barefaced +neglect of his interests." + +"Certainly, sir; most barefaced!" creaked Mr. Gwynn, giving the mandarin +bow. + +Senator Hanway would be graciously pleased to see Richard every morning +at eleven. Also, he would aid him, as far as was proper, with a recount +of what gusts and windy currents of news were moving in the upper ethers +of government. + +Then, having been polite, Senator Hanway got down to business and stated +that Mr. Frost, if Speaker, would favor a certain pooling bill, much +desired by railways, and particularly dear to the Anaconda Airline. On +the obdurate other hand, Mr. Hawke was an enemy to pooling bills and +railways. Mr. Gwynn's interest was plainly with Mr. Frost. + +"Not that I care personally for the success of Mr. Frost," remarked +Senator Hanway, "but I know how the railways desire that pooling bill, +and how that pooling bill is a darling measure with Mr. Frost." + +"Which brings us back," observed Richard, who never took his eye off a +question, once put, until he saw it mated with an answer, "to Mr. +Gwynn's first interrogatory: What can the Anaconda Airline do?" + +Senator Hanway explained. The Anaconda Airline could press down the +weights of its influence upon those twenty-three members. The Anaconda +influence might better be exerted through its President and General +Attorney, and perhaps what special attorneys were local to the +congressional districts of those twenty-three. + +"Mr. Gwynn," observed Richard, "anticipated something of the kind, and I +think is prepared to request those officers you name to come to +Washington." + +"They shall be requested, sir; certainly, sir," rasped Mr. Gwynn. +Richard's words seemed ever to reverberate in Mr. Gwynn's noble interior +as in a cavern, and thereafter to issue forth by way of his mouth in the +manner of an echo. "Certainly, sir; they shall be requested," repeated +the cavernous Mr. Gwynn. + +"Now this is highly gratifying," said Senator Hanway. "And you will have +them call upon me, too, I've no doubt. You should wire them at once; the +caucus, you know, isn't ten days away; Congress convenes on the first +Monday of next month." + +Senator Hanway, being of a quick intelligence, had by this time found +his rightful line. He divided himself fairly; for he gave his entire +conversation to Richard while he conferred upon Mr. Gwynn his whole +respect. In good truth, the less Mr. Gwynn said and the less he seemed +to hear and understand, the more Senator Hanway did him honor in his +heart. The rigid witlessness of Mr. Gwynn fairly came over him as the +token and sign of an indubitable nobility, and it was with a feeling +treading upon reverence for that wonderful man that Senator Hanway arose +to go. + +"I am much refreshed by this interview," said he, taking Mr. Gwynn's +hand and shaking it pump-handlewise. "Your help should insure Mr. +Frost's success. With Mr. Frost Speaker, railway interests will be +safe-guarded. And," continued Senator Hanway, quoting from one of his +Senate speeches, lifting his voice the while, and falling into a fine +declamatory pose, "he who safeguards the railroads, safeguards his +country. Patriotism cannot count the debt the nation owes the railroads. +Had it not been for the knitting together of the country by the +railroads, bringing into closer touch with one another the West and the +East, the South and the North--the wiping out of sectionalism--the +annihilation of special interests by making all interests general--all +done by the railroads, sir!--this country, broken across the knee of +mountain ranges and sawed into regions by great rivers, would ere this +have been frittered into fragments; and where we have now the glorious +United States--a free and unified people--Europe, who envies as well as +fears us, would be gratified by the spectacle of four and perhaps a half +dozen different and differing countries, each alien and, doubtless, each +hostile to the others." Senator Hanway had reached the door. "And that +this condition of disseverment does not exist," cried he, as he bowed +with final grace to Mr. Gwynn, who approved stonily, "is due to you, +sir; and to gentlemen like you; and to those railways which, like the +Anaconda Airline, form the ties that bind us safe against such +dismembering possibilities and give us, for war or for peace, absolute +coherency as a commonwealth." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HOW RICHARD WAS TAUGHT MANY THINGS + + +Richard went every day at eleven for a brief conference with Senator +Hanway. The latter was no wise backward in his use of the columns of the +_Daily Tory_. There are so many things concerning both men and measures +that statesmen want said, and which, because of their modesty, they +themselves hesitate to say, that Senator Hanway, when now through +Richard he might tell this story of politics or declare that proposal of +state, and still keep his own name under cover, discovered in the _Daily +Tory_ a source of relief. So much, in truth, did Senator Hanway, by way +of Richard and the _Daily Tory_, contribute to the gayety of the times, +that the editor-in-chief was duly scandalized. He aroused himself on the +third evening, killed Richard's dispatch, and rebuked that earnest +journalist with the following: + +"Send news; nothing but news. No one wants your notion of the motives of +representatives in fight over Speakership." + +This led to a word or two between Richard and Mr. Gwynn, the upcome +being a wire from Mr. Gwynn to the editor desiring him on all occasions +and without alteration or addition to print Richard's dispatches. The +editor in retort reminded Mr. Gwynn that the _Daily Tory_ had a +reputation and a policy: also there were laws of libel. Mr. Gwynn +declined to be moved by these high considerations, and reiterated his +first command. After that Richard in each issue gave way to an unchecked +column letter, which was run sullenly by the editor and never a word +displaced. + +This daily letter, signed "R. S.," brought Richard mighty comfort; he +read it fresh and new each morning with mounting satisfaction. Richard, +like other authors, found no literature so good to his palate as his +own; and while his stories looked well enough when he wrote them, the +types never failed in uncovering charms that had escaped his ken. These +were complacent days for Richard the defective; ones to nourish his +self-love. + +Being his first work, and performed under his own tolerant mastery, +with none to molest him or make him editorially afraid, it stood +scant wonder that he went about the subject of his own sleepless +self-congratulations. What Richard needed--and never knew it--was +dismissal in rapid succession from at least four newspapers; such a +course of journalistic sprouts would have set his feet in proper paths. +Under the circumstances, however, this improving experience was +impossible; missing the benefits thereof, Richard must struggle on as +best he might without a bridle. + +It was fortunate, when one remembers his blinded ignorance, a condition +aggravated by his own acute approval of himself, that Richard had a no +more radical guide than was the cautious Senator Hanway. While that +designing gentleman--the _Daily Tory_ turning the stone--grinded many a +personal ax--_note bene_, never once without exciting the sophisticated +wrath of the editor-in-chief--he was no such headlong temper of a man as +to invite the paper into foolish extravagancies, whether of statement or +of style. As the bug under the chip of the _Daily Tory's_ Washington +correspondence, Senator Hanway was neither a vindictive nor yet a +reckless bug; and the paper, while it became the organ of his ambitions, +made some reputational profit by the very melody of those guarded tunes +he ground. + +Richard, you are not to suppose, went unaware of those employments to +which Senator Hanway put him in the vineyard of his policies. He +realized the situation and walked therein with wide and willing eyes. It +served his tender purpose; it would take him to the Harley house and +throw him, perchance, into the society of Dorothy without that dulcet +privilege being identified as the true purpose of his call. + +One cannot but marvel that Richard should be at the trouble of so much +difficult chicane. It is strange that he should so entangle what might +have been the simplest of love stories; for you may as well know here as +further on that, had Richard laid bare the truth of himself, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley, far from fencing her daughter against him and his +addresses, would have taken the door off its hinges to let him in. But +Richard, as was heretofore suggested, had been most ignorantly brought +up, or rather had been granted no bringing up at all. Moreover, in the +sensitive cynicism of his nature, which made a laugh its armor and was +harsh for fear of being hurt, our young Democritus had long ago bound +himself with vows that he would accept no friendship, win no love, that +did not come to him upon his mere and unsupported merits as a man. In +his own fashion, so far from being the philosopher he thought, Richard +was a knight errant--one as mad and as romantic as the most +feather-headed Amadis that ever came out of Gaul; and so he is to make +himself a deal of trouble and have himself much laughed at before ever +he succeeds in slipping through the fingers of this history to seek +obscurity with Dorothy by his side. For all that, it is Richard's due to +say that his "R. S." letters attracted polite as well as political +attention, and got him much respected and condemned. Also they lodged +him high in the esteem of Senator Hanway, who discovered daily new +excellencies in him; and this came somewhat to the rescue of Richard one +day. + +Senator Hanway had a room in a wing of the Harley house which Mrs. +Hanway-Harley called his study. It was a sumptuous apartment, furnished +in mahogany and leather, and a bookcase, filled with Congressional +Records which nobody ever looked at, stood against the wall. Here it was +that Senator Hanway held his conferences; it was here he laid his plans +and brooded them. When Senator Hanway desired to meet a gentleman and +preferred to keep the meeting dark, this study was the scene of that +secrecy. In such event, the blinds were drawn to baffle what prying or +casual eye might come marching up the street; for in Washington, to see +two men conversing, is to know nine times in ten precisely what the +conversation is about. Commonly, however, the blinds were thrown wide, +as though the study's pure proprietor courted a world's scrutiny. + +It was in this study that Richard was received by Senator Hanway. There +was an outside door; a caller might be admitted from the veranda without +troubling the main portals of the Harley house. To save the patience of +that journalist, Senator Hanway called Richard's attention to the +veranda door, and commissioned him to make use of it. Senator Hanway +said that he did not wish to subject one whom he valued so highly, and +who was on such near terms with his good friend, Mr. Gwynn, to the slow +ceremony which attended a regular invasion of the premises. + +Richard thanked Senator Hanway, although he could have liked it better +had he been less thoughtfully polite. Richard would have preferred the +main floor, with whatever delay and formal clatter such entrance made +imperative. The more delay and the more clatter, the more chance of +seeing Dorothy. It struck him with a dubious chill when Senator Hanway +suddenly distinguished him with the freedom of that veranda door--a +franchise upon which your statesman laid flattering emphasis, saying +that not ten others had been granted it. + +This episode of the veranda door befell upon the earliest visit which +Richard made in his quality of correspondent of the _Daily Tory_. On +that day, being admitted by way of the Harley front door, Richard had +the felicity of coming in with the before-mentioned daily sheaf of +roses. Richard and the blossom-bearing colored youth entered together, +the door making the one opening to admit both; and by this fortunate +chance--which Richard the wily had waited around the corner to +secure--he was given the joy of seeing and hearing the beautiful Dorothy +gurgle over the flowers. + +"And to think," cried Dorothy, her nose in the bosom of a rose, "no one +knows from whom they come! Mamma thinks Count Storri sends them. It's so +good of him, if he does!" + +Dorothy's head was bowed over the flowers. As she spoke, however, her +blue eye, full of mischief, watched Richard through a silken lock of +hair that had fallen forward. + +"But you don't think it's Storri?" cried Richard dolorously. + +"Oh, no!" returned Dorothy, shaking her head with wise decision, "I +don't think it's Count Storri. But of course I wouldn't tell mamma so; +she doesn't like to be contradicted. Still," and here Dorothy looked +quite wistful, "I wish I knew who did send them." + +Before Richard could take up the delicate question of the roses and +their origin, there arrived the word of Senator Hanway that he be shown +into the study. + +"Now that I'm a working journalist, Miss Harley," said Richard, "I shall +be obliged to see your uncle every day." + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Dorothy, with a fine sympathy; "how hard they +drive you poor newspaper people!" + +"Still, we go not without our rewards," returned Richard. + +Then observing that Senator Hanway's messenger--who had not those +reasons for loitering which made slow the feet of Richard--was already +halfway down the hall, Richard took Dorothy's small hand in his, and, +before she knew her peril or might make an effort to avoid it, +rapturously kissed the fingers, not once, not twice, but five times. The +very fingers themselves burned with the scandal of it! Following this +deed of rapine, Richard went his vandal way; Dorothy's face turned a +twin red with the roses. + +Dorothy said nothing in rebuke of Richard, and it is to be assumed that, +so flagrant an outrage left her without breath to voice her +condemnation. That she was disturbed to the heart is sure, for she went +instantly to her friend, the sibyl of the golden locks, for conference, +confidence, and consolation. + +"Wasn't he wretchedly bold, Bess?" said Dorothy in an awe-stricken +whisper. + +"Absolutely abandoned!" said Bess. + +Then the two sat in silence for ten impressive seconds. + +"Bess," remarked Dorothy tentatively, "suppose mamma were to forbid me +loving one whom I loved----" Here she broke down, aghast. + +"My dear Dorothy," cried the other, surprised into deepest concern, +"your mother didn't see him kissing your fingers, did she?" + +"Oh, no, Bess," said Dorothy hurriedly, "we were quite alone." + +"You foolish girl," returned Bess. "You alarmed me!" + +"But really, Bess," persisted Dorothy, "to put it this way: if your +mamma insisted, would you give way and marry a man you didn't love?" + +"You mean Count Storri," replied Bess. "Now, Dorothy, listen to me. In +the first place, you are an arrant hypocrite. You pretend to be soft and +powerless and yielding, and to appeal to me for counsel. And all the +time you are twice as obstinate as I am, and much less likely to accept +a man you don't love, or give up one whom you love." + +"Well, Bess," said Dorothy defensively, a bit stricken of these truths, +"really, I want your opinions on marriage." + +"Oh, that is it! Then snap your fingers in the teeth of command, and +marry no man whom you do not love!" + +"But the man you love might not want you!" sighed Dorothy. + +"The man you love will always want you," declared Bess with firmness. + +"How sweet you are!" + +"And as for parents making matches for their daughters," continued Bess, +unmoved of the tribute, and speaking as one who for long had made a +study of the world's domestic affairs, "it is sure to lead to trouble +and divorce." + +"Is it?" asked Dorothy, appalled. + +"It is!" returned Bess with a sepulchral air, as though pronouncing +doom. Then, mocking Dorothy's serious face with a little tumult of +laughter, she went on: "There; it's all decided now the way you wished. +You are to refuse Count Storri and marry Mr. Storms without bestowing +either care or thought on what Mamma Harley or Papa Harley or Uncle Pat +may say or do about it." + +"Really, Bess, how much better you have made me feel. After all, there's +nobody like a wise, dear, true friend!" + +"The value of such a friend is beyond conjecture," returned the mocking +Bess, reassuming her tones of the oracle. + +The memory of Richard's kisses on her fingers never left Dorothy all +that day and all that night. Those fortunate little fingers seemed +translated into something rosily better and apart from herself. And brow +and ears and eyes and cheeks and lips went envying those lucky fingers; +and in the end the lips crept upon them and kissed them for having been +kissed; perhaps with vague thoughts of robbing them of some portion of +the blissful wealth wherewith they had been invested. Richard, being +male, for his part thought the less about it, and went simply meditating +future sweet aggressions. And that shows the difference between a man +and a maid. + +Richard, feeding his love with thoughts of Dorothy and his vanity with +ink, and thereby gaining two mighty reasons for living, began to keep +earlier hours. He turned out at nine o'clock instead of eleven and +twelve, hours which had formerly matched his languid fancy. These +energetic doings bred alarm in both Matzai and Mr. Pickwick, evoking +snappish protests from the latter, who, being of a nocturnal turn, held +that the day was meant for sleep. On the morning after he had been +honored with the privilege of the veranda door, Richard was borne upon +by something akin to gloom. This feeling went with him from bed to bath, +and from bath to breakfast, and finally walked with him all the way to +the Harley house. He was willing to sacrifice the _Daily Tory_ and yoke +himself personally to the mills of Senator Hanway's designs; but he must +see Dorothy. That brightness was the bribe, unspoken and unknown to all +save himself, that had brought him into Washington and these sundry and +divers plots and counterplots of state. And now to be cheated through +the polite blunderings of a gentleman who was so engaged in considering +himself that he had neither time nor eyes for any other! Richard swore +roundly in mental fashion at his contrary fate. And yet he saw no way to +better the situation; and perforce, for this morning at least, he was +driven to push the bell of the veranda door. He might have gone about +the ceremony with more cheer had he known how he was to gain an ally in +his troubles; one, moreover, whose aid was sure to prove effective. + +As Senator Hanway's black messenger ushered Richard into that +statesman's study, the radiant Dorothy, perched at the end of Senator +Hanway's table, was the picture that greeted his eyes. Our radiant one +sought to stifle her effulgence beneath a look severe and practical. +This expression of practical severity was a failure, and served to +render her more dazzling. + +"I have made up my mind," quoth Dorothy, the moment Richard was inside +the door, and speaking in the loud, dead-level monotone which she +conceived to be the voice for business conversations as against the +giggling, gurgling ups and downs of conversations purely social, "I have +made up my mind to come in every morning and help Uncle Pat. I'm tired +of being a useless encumbrance." + +Delivering which, Dorothy wore the resolved manner of a new Joan of Arc +who had come seeking fields of politics rather than those of war. + +"And I have been of use to you, haven't I, Uncle Pat?" demanded Dorothy. + +"Of measureless use, dear," said Senator Hanway. Then, turning to his +secretary, who had taken a score of letters shorthand and was about to +seek his own quarters and run them off upon the typewriter: "Have those +copied by three o'clock and bring them here for signature." + +Senator Hanway had no more than given Richard good-morning when Senator +Loot was announced. + +"He won't stay long," said Senator Hanway; "but while he's here, dear, +won't you take Mr. Storms into the library?" This request was preferred +to Dorothy. + +"Yes," began Dorothy, when she and Richard found themselves in the +library, and nothing to interrupt them but the distant slumbrous rumble +of Senator Loot. "Yes, I'm going to help Uncle Pat. And I'm going to +learn how to be a newspaper woman, too. I think every girl should be +capable of earning her own living. Not that I expect to be obliged to do +so; but it is best to be prepared." Dorothy's face was funereal, as +though disasters, clawed and fanged, were roaming the thickets of the +future to spring upon her. "So I shall learn the newspaper trade; go in +and be a writer as you are--only not so brilliant--and then, if it were +necessary, I could earn my own way." + +Now Richard knew these industrious resolutions to be the veriest webs of +subterfuge. Their duplicity was apparent, and they were spun for him. +Dorothy owned no thought of missing his morning calls, and had met +Senator Hanway's courtesies of the veranda door with a move in flank. +The news cocked up the spirits of Richard excessively, and gave to his +Farnese shoulders an insolent swing as he strutted up and down the +library. He had expected Dorothy to reproach him for the soft violence +done her fingers; but she made no mention of it. Whereupon--in such +manner do unchecked iniquities multiply upon themselves--Richard turned +towards her with a purpose of again outraging those little fingers with +the burden of a fresh caress. The little fingers, grown wary, however, +were in discreet retirement behind Dorothy, as, with her back to the +window, she stood facing him. Defeated in his campaign against the +fingers before it had begun, Richard was driven to discuss Dorothy's +work-a-day resolves. + +"Newspaper work? Do society, I suppose?" + +Richard had gotten hold of the idioms of the craft, and spoke of "doing +society" as though reared among the types. + +"No, not society," and Dorothy shook her head. "I'd pick 'em to pieces, +the minxes; and the papers don't want that. No, I'm going to learn about +politics with Uncle Pat. I shall write politics. You must teach me." + +Richard said he would. + +"Only you should know," said he, "that I need a deal of teaching +myself." + +"But you can write!" cried Dorothy, her hands emerging from their +retreat to clasp each other in a glow of admiration. "I've read your +letters. They remind me of Carlyle's 'French Revolution.'" + +This staggered Richard; was his idol laughing at him? A glance into her +eyes showed only a darkened enthusiasm; whereat Richard puffed and +swelled. Perhaps his _Daily Tory_ letters did have the rhetorical tread +of the Scotchman's masterpiece. In any event it was pleasant to have +Dorothy think so. Before he could frame his modesty to fit reply, the +cumbrous retreat of Senator Loot was overheard. + +"Now we must go back," said Dorothy. + +"May I have a rose?" asked Richard, pointing to his blushing consignment +of that day, where they luxuriated in a giant vase. + +"Don't touch my hands!" cried Dorothy fiercely, whipping them behind +her. + +Richard gave his humble parole that he would not touch her hands. Being +reassured, Dorothy pinned a bud in his lapel. The little fingers were so +fondly confident of safety that they made no haste in these labors of +the bud. Their confidence went unabused; Richard adhered to his parole +and never touched them. + +"I'm glad you can keep your promise!" said Dorothy, pouting from pure +delight. + +Later, the pair made love to one another with their eyes across the +dignified desk of Senator Hanway, while that statesman told Richard +matters to the detriment of Mr. Hawke's canvass for a Speakership and +Governor Obstinate's claims upon a Presidency, of which, through the +medium of the _Daily Tory_, he believed the public should be informed. + +"My dear Dorothy," observed the sibyl of the golden locks, when the +other related how faithfully Richard had kept his compact concerning her +fingers, "you ought never to make a man promise the thing you do not +want. They are such dullards; besides, they have a passion for keeping +their word." + +The President and General Attorney and thirty-two underling attorneys of +the Anaconda Airline, in accord with Mr. Gwynn's request, descended upon +Washington. The thirty-two underling attorneys, coming to town by twos +and threes, were amazed when they found a gathering of the Anaconda +Airline clans. They collected in groups and clots at the Shorcham, the +Arlington, and Willard's to discuss their amazement. + +The President and General Attorney, if they were smitten of wonder, +concealed it, and within the hour after their arrival rang the doorbell +of Mr. Gwynn. They were ushered into a room the tamed splendors of which +told the thorough taste that had conceived it. Then their cards went up +to Mr. Gwynn. + +Word came back that Mr. Gwynn was deeply engaged. Would the President +and the General Attorney of the Anaconda Airline call again in an hour? +The President and General Attorney had for long harbored a theory that +Mr. Gwynn was the greatest man on earth. Now they knew it; the fact was +displayed beyond dispute by his failure to instantly see them. The +President and General Attorney withdrew, silent in their awe, and Mr. +Gwynn dispatched Matzai to find Richard. + +On the hour's even stroke, the President and General Attorney were again +at Mr. Gwynn's. That personage was still unable to meet them; however, +he sent Richard with written excuses for his absence and the suggestion +that Richard, speaking in his place, would put them in possession of his +wishes. + +"Mr. Gwynn desired to say," observed Richard, "that Anaconda Airline +interests deeply depend upon Mr. Frost for Speaker." + +"What we've said from the beginning!" remarked the President to the +General Attorney. + +"Precisely what we've said!" observed the General Attorney. + +They had said nothing on that point; but they were too well drilled in +their own interests to fail of complete coincidence with a gentleman who +could call a special shareholders' meeting, elect a new directory, and +revise the entire official family of the Anaconda Airline within any +given thirty days. + +"Mr. Gwynn asks you, then," said Richard, "since you and he agree on the +propriety of Mr. Frost for Speaker, to consult with Senator Hanway." + +And now the Anaconda Airline was in the war for the House gavel. Under +the supervision of Senator Hanway, it brought its whole smothering +weight to bear upon the Hawke twenty of those twenty-three whose +districts it dominated. The Hawke twenty wriggled and writhed, but in +the end gave way--all save a rock-ribbed quartette. They must stay by +the standards of Mr. Hawke. + +"Our constituents will destroy us if we don't," said they. + +"The Anaconda will destroy you if you do," was the blunt retort of the +General Attorney. + +The four stood firm, and were blacklisted for slaughter at the polls a +year away, at which time they were faithfully knocked on the head. +Sixteen of the twenty went over to Mr. Frost; the President of the +Anaconda Airline came out in an interview in the _Daily Tory_ and said +that the shift of the excellent sixteen was a popular victory. + +It was two days before the caucus. The line-up of forces, Frost against +Hawke, Hanway against Obstinate, under able captains went vigorously +forward. It pleased Senator Hanway to hear that the Frost fortunes were +being unexpectedly served by the volcanic Mr. Hawke himself. That +gentleman had fallen into a state of indignant eruption; his best +friends could not approach him because of the smoke and flame and lava +which his rage cast up. + +"The most scoundrel thing I ever saw in Washington is that I am made to +fight for the Speakership!" cried the eruptive Mr. Hawke; and this +fashion of outburst does not help any man's cause. + +To steal a simile from a dead gentleman who stole from others in his +day, Mr. Hawke went into the final battle of the caucus much after the +manner wherewith a horse approaches a drum, that is, with a deal of +prance and but little progress, and, for the most part, wrong end +foremost. Even then the count of Senator Hanway--a cold-blooded +computation--gave that gavel to the violent Mr. Hawke. So much for being +a House leader, a tariff monger, and a friend of Governor Obstinate. + +On the afternoon before the caucus, Senator Hanway took a last look at +the array. Besides Mr. Hawke and Mr. Frost, there were two other +candidates, Mr. Patch and Mr. Swinger. These latter had been sent into +the lists by the diplomacy of Senator Hanway to hold the delegations +from their States, a majority whereof, if released, would fly to Mr. +Hawke. With all four names before the caucus, Mr. Frost would lead Mr. +Hawke by two, without having a majority. Eliminate Mr. Patch and Mr. +Swinger, however, and Mr. Hawke would be chosen by a majority of seven. +And, while the battle might be made to stagger on through forty ballots, +in the end Mr. Patch and Mr. Swinger must perforce withdraw. They could +give no excuse for holding on forever in a fight shown to be hopeless. +Some method must be devised to break the Hawke alignment or in a last +solution of the situation Mr. Frost would lose. + +Senator Hanway made ready to play his last card--a card to which nothing +short of the desperate turn of events would have caused him to resort. +He made a list of eighteen of Mr. Hawke's supporters; he picked them out +because they were nervous, hysterical souls whom one might hope to +stampede. Senator Hanway then got the names, with the home addresses, of +a score of the principal constituents of each of these aspen, hysterical +gentlemen. + +A telegraph operator, one close-mouthed and of a virtuous taciturnity, +sat up all night with Senator Hanway in his study--the night before the +caucus. There was none present but Senator Hanway and the wordless +telegraphic one; the former, deeming the occasion one proper for that +cautious rite, drew the blinds closely. + +At Senator Hanway's dictation, the taciturn one who had been so +forethoughtful as to bring with him envelopes and blanks, wrote +messages to each of the hysterical eighteen, about twenty to a man, +signing them with the names of those influential constituents. The +messages were letter-perfect; in each instance, the message for +signature bore the name of one upon whom the member who would receive it +leaned in his destinies of politics. No two were worded alike, albeit +each commanded and demanded the Speakership for Mr. Frost. When they +were done, nearly four hundred of them, the taciturn one endowed them +with those quirleyques and symbols and hieroglyphics which belong with +genuine messages, and finished by sealing each in an envelope properly +numbered and addressed. Then the taciturn one made a delivery book to +match the messages. + +"There!" exclaimed Senator Hanway, when at four in the morning the +taciturn one tossed the last forged message upon the pile and said that +all were done; "that's finished. Now at two o'clock put on a messenger's +uniform and come to the Capitol. It's 4 a. m. now, and this is Saturday; +the caucus convenes at two o'clock sharp. It will be held in the House +chamber. There will be ten ballots; I have arranged for that, and Patch +and Swinger will not withdraw before. The ten ballots will consume two +hours and a half--fifteen minutes to a roll call. After they have gone +through four roll calls, begin to send in these messages; the caucus +officer on the door will sign for them. Send first one to each member; +then two; then four; then five; then all you have. Give about fifteen +minutes between consignments. Have you got my plan?" + +The taciturn one nodded. + +"Here is a one-hundred-dollar bill," observed Senator Hanway, "for your +night's work. Four more wait for you when Mr. Frost is declared the +caucus nominee." + +Saturday afternoon; and the caucus met behind locked doors. It was a +mighty struggle; now and then some waifword reached the outside world of +what Titan deeds were being done. There were speeches, and roll calls; +men lost their heads and then their reputations. The sixteen threatened +of the Anaconda Airline, with the fear of political death upon them, +voted for Mr. Frost. Messrs. Patch and Swinger held fast through ballot +after ballot, keeping their delegations together, while the Hawke +captains pleaded and begged and promised and threatened in their efforts +to make them withdraw and release their followings to the main battle. +Through roll call after roll call the tally never varied. With two +hundred and ten members voting, the count stood: Frost, ninety-two; +Hawke, ninety; Swinger, fifteen; Patch, thirteen. Of the twenty-eight +who voted for Messrs. Patch and Swinger, it was understood that Mr. +Hawke would take three-fourths upon a breakaway. For this reason the +Hawke captains labored and moiled with Messrs. Patch and Swinger to +withdraw and cast those twenty-eight votes into the general caldron. + +[Illustration: At the Door of the Caucus Room] + +On the touch of three, and while the fourth roll-call was in progress, +the first of Senator Hanway's prepared messages were received and signed +for at the caucus door. Ten minutes later, and something like forty more +were given entrance. During the sixth roll-call sixty messages came in, +and a rickety little representative, with a beard like a goat and terror +tugging at his heart, arose and changed his vote to Mr. Frost. The +rickety little man had been for Mr. Hawke, and this sudden turning of +his coat provoked a tempest of cheers from the Frosts and maledictions +from the Hawkes. A dozen men of both factions crowded about the little +rickety man, some to hold him for Mr. Frost and others to drag him back +to Mr. Hawke. The rickety little man was well-nigh torn in two. Kingdoms +and thrones were being gambled for and the players were in earnest. + +In the height of the uproar over the rickety little man, two more of the +flock of Hawke arose, and with faltering lip stated that, by the demands +of constituents whom they were there to represent and whose wishes they +dared not disregard, they would also change their votes to Mr. Frost. +The cheers of the Frosts and the curses of the Hawkes were redoubled; +but the Frosts drowned the Hawkes, since it is one of the admirable +arrangements of Providence that men can cheer louder than they can +curse. + +And now a bevy of full one hundred of the Hanway messages came through +the door. The stampede which started with the rickety, goat-bearded +little man, to include the duo chronicled, upon a seventh roll call +swept five more Hawkes from their perches and gave them over to Mr. +Frost. More messages, more changes; and all to finish in a pandemonium +in which Messrs. Patch and Swinger were withdrawn, and Mr. Frost was +landed Speaker by the meager fringe of three. Speaker Frost it was; and +everyone conceded that a staggering blow had been dealt the Presidential +hopes of Governor Obstinate. Senator Hanway, waiting at the Senate end +for news, sighed victoriously when word was brought him. It would be +Speaker Frost; and now, with House and Senate his, he for the first time +felt himself within sure and striking distance of a White House. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HOW STORRI HAD A VIVID IMAGINATION + + +Storri had no more of moral nature than has a tiger or a kite. He was +founded upon no integrity, would keep faith with no one save himself. +Storri was not a moral lunatic, for that would suppose some original +morality and its subversion to insane aims; rather he was the moral +idiot. At that, his imbecility paused with his morals; in what a world +calls business he was notably bright and forward. + +Storri was of education, had traveled wide and far, as ones of his +predatory stamp are prone to do, and with a Russian facility for tongues +spoke English, German, French, and half the languages of Europe. The +instinctive purpose of Storri's existence was to make money. To him, +money was a prey, and stood as do deer to wolves; and yet, making a fine +distinction, he was rapacious, not avaricious. Avarice includes some +idea of a storekeeping commerce that amasses by buying for one dollar +and selling for two. Storri would have failed at that. He was rapacious +as the pirate is rapacious, and with a gambler's love for the uncertain, +he balked at anything whereof the possible profits were cut and dried. +He wanted to win, but he was willing to lose if he must; and above all +he distasted the notion of a limit. Like every wild thing, Storri shied +at a fence and loved the wilderness. While Storri knew nothing of +honesty, he preferred his gold on legitimate lines. This leaning towards +the lawful came not from any bias of probity; Storri simply wanted to be +safe, having a horror of chains and bolts and cages and striped +garments. + +When Storri arrived in Washington, he came from Canada by way of New +York. The year before he had been in Paris, and was something--not for +long--of a figure on the Bourse. He had been in every capital of Asia +and Europe, and all the while his restless eye sleepless in its search +for money. + +Gifted with an imagination, Storri evolved a scheme. Starting in +moderation, it grew with his wanderings until, link upon link, it became +endless and belted the earth. Storri's imagination was like a tar +barrel; accident might set fire to it, but once in the least of flame it +must burn on and on, with no power of self-extinguishment, until it +burned itself out. Or it was like him who, given a halter, straightway +takes a horse. + +It is the theory of Europe that Americans are maniacs of money. European +conservatism draws a money-line beyond which it will not pass. When any +man of Europe has a proposal of business too big for the European +mouth--wearing its self-imposed half-muzzle of conservatism--that +promoter and his proposal head for America. It was this which gained +Washington the advantage of a visit from Storri; his stop in +Canada--being a six-months' stay in Ottawa--was only preliminary to his +coming here. + +While his own people of Russia drew back from those enterprises which +Storri's agile imagination had in train, the government at St. +Petersburg, in what was perhaps a natural hope that he might find +Americans more reckless, endowed him as he came away with a guarded pat +on the back. The St. Petersburg government advised its representatives +in America to introduce without indorsing Storri. + +Storri was by no means wise after the manner of a Franklin or a Humboldt +or a Herschel; but he did possess the deep sapiency of the serpent or +the fox. He owned inborn traits to steal and creep upon his prey of +money. Being in Washington, and looking up and down, he was quick to +note the strategic propriety of an alliance with Mr. Harley. Mr. Harley +had connections with American millionaires; most of all, he was the +_alter ego_ of a powerful congressional figure. Storri could talk with +Mr. Harley; Mr. Harley could talk with Senator Hanway. Since Congress +would be required for the success of Storri's plans, this last was to be +of prime importance. + +Because Mr. Harley made it his affectation to be boisterously frank and +friendly upon short acquaintance, Storri met no vexatious delays in +coming to an understanding with him. You are not to assume that Mr. +Harley was truthful because he was boisterous or his frankness went +freighted of no guile. It is commonest error to believe your frankest +talker, your greatest teller of truth; whereas, in a majority of +instances, the delusive garrulity is a mask or a feint, meant only to +cover facts and screen designs of which the victim's first notice is, +snap! when they pin him like a steel-trap. Still, Storri entertained no +risks when he broke into confidences with Mr. Harley. It was Mr. Harley +who listened and Storri who talked; besides, Storri, in any conflicting +tug of interest, could be as loquacious as Mr. Harley, and as false. It +was diamond cutting diamond and Greek meeting Greek. Only, since Storri +was a Count, and Mr. Harley one upon whom a title went not without +blinding effect, Storri had a fractional advantage. + +Storri and Mr. Harley enjoyed several casual talks; that is, Mr. Harley +thought them casual, although every one was planned by Storri. In none +did Storri unpack his enterprises; these talks were feelers, and he was +studying Mr. Harley. Storri was gratified to find Mr. Harley, by native +trend, as rapacious and as much the gambler as himself. Also, he +observed the licking satisfaction wherewith Mr. Harley listened to every +noble reference; with that, Storri contrived--for his conversation--a +fashion of little personal Kingdom on the Caspian, tossed himself up a +castle, and entertained therein from time to time about half the royal +blood of Europe; all to the marvelous delight of Mr. Harley, whom Storri +never failed to wish had been a guest on those purple occasions. + +At this seductive rate, it was no more than a matter of ten days before +Mr. Harley went quoting his friend Storri; he had that titled Slav to +dinner, when the latter became as much the favorite with Mrs. +Hanway-Harley as he was with her ruder spouse. + +Storri saw Dorothy; and was set burning with a love for her that, if the +flame were less pure, was as instant and as devouring as the love to +sweep over Richard upon the boot-heel evening when he caught her in his +arms. Storri forgot himself across table, and his onyx eyes were riveted +upon Dorothy as though their owner were enthralled. + +Dorothy felt at once flattered and repelled. She was interested, even +while she shuddered; it was as though she had been made the object of +the sudden, if venomous, admiration of a king-cobra. + +"My friend," purred Storri, one afternoon when he and Mr. Harley were +alone, "my good friend, I will no longer refrain from taking you into my +confidence; and when I say that, you are to understand, also, into the +confidence of my Czar." + +Storri rested his head in his hand a moment, and seemed to ponder the +propriety of what he was about. Mr. Harley said nothing, but sat +a-fidget with curiosity. It is not given every American to be taken, via +a Count with estates on the Caspian, into the confidence of a Czar. + +"Yes, into the confidence of my Czar," repeated Storri. "See now, my +friend, I will lay bare my soul to you. I am resolved you shall be with +me in my vast adventure. With you--who are practical--who have business +genius--my dreams will become realities. Without you, I--who am a mere +poet of finance--an artist of commerce--would fail. I have genius to +conceive; I cannot carry out. But you--you, my dear friend, are what you +call executive." + +Mr. Harley felt profoundly flattered, and showed it; Storri pushed on, +watching the other with the tail of his eye. The slant survey was +satisfactory; Mr. Harley showed half upon his guard and wholly +interested. + +"I have conceived projects so gigantic they will stagger belief. And yet +they are feasible; you will make them so. You will take them and girdle +the earth with them as Saturn is girdled by his rings. Observe now! +These, my designs, have the good wishes of my Czar; and next to him you +are that one to whom they are first told. Why do I come so far with my +dreams? I will tell you; it was by command of my Czar. + +"'Storri, you must go to America,' were his words. 'You would only stun +Europe; you would not gain her aid. Go to America. There, and there +only, will you find what you require. They, and they of all men, have +the courage, the brains, the money, the enterprise, and--shall I +say?--the honor!'" + +Having quoted his Czar in these good opinions of Americans, Storri +rapidly and in clearest sequence laid out his programmes. Before he was +half finished, Mr. Harley went following every word with all his senses. +Storri was lucid; Storri was hypnotic; Storri had his projects so +faultlessly in hand that, as he piled up words, he piled up conviction +in the breast of Mr. Harley. + +Storri began with China. Being equipped for the conversation--which had +not been so much the result of romantic chance as Mr. Harley might have +supposed--he laid upon the table a square of yellow silk. It was written +over with Chinese characters which, for all Mr. Harley knew, might have +been inscriptions copied from a tea chest. As a matter of truth, they +were genuine. The silk was the record of a concession by the Chinese +Government. It gave Storri, or what company he might form, the privilege +of building a railway across China from east to west. He might select +his port on the Pacific, build his road, and break into Russia on the +west and north at what point best matched the enterprise. Also, it +granted a right to buy land wherever it became necessary, and to own +what wharf and water rights were required. Incidentally, so Storri said, +it permitted gold digging. + +"You shall take it to the Chinese legation!" exclaimed Storri. "They +shall translate for you. Yes; it gives gold rights. Gold? There is so +much gold in China that your own California becomes laughable by +comparison. See there," and Storri placed a little leathern pouch on the +table. "There are three ounces. Do you know how they were obtained? I +spread a blanket in the bed of a little stream, and weighted it with +stones so that it lay flat. Then I took a stick, and tossed up the mud +and the sand of that little stream, just above. The muddy water, thick +as paint, flowed over the blanket. In thirty minutes I took my blanket +ashore, and washed from the sediment it had caught and held this +gold--three ounces! Bah! Gold? China is the home of gold! But China and +these concessions are only the beginning." + +Storri sketched a steamship line to connect his Chinese railway with +Puget Sound. For this they ought to have a subsidy from the United +States. From Puget they must have a railway to Duluth. On the Great +Lakes, Storri would have a line of steamships. + +"Only, we will improve upon those lakes!" cried Storri. "It was that to +carry me to Ottawa." + +Then Storri unrolled maps and reports from Canadian engineers which +vouched the plausibility of a ship canal from a deep-water point on that +eastern arm of Lake Huron called Georgian Bay to Toronto on Lake +Ontario. + +"It shall be two hundred feet wide," explained Storri, "and thirty feet +deep. The distance is less than one hundred miles, and the fall less +than one hundred feet. To dig it will be child's play; you may read the +reports of the engineers; they show how advantage may be had of a Lake +Simcoe, and of a little river. Here also are letters and guarantees from +eminent men of Canada that their parliament will permit and protect the +canal. Less than one hundred miles long; and yet that canal will cut off +seven hundred." + +Once in Lake Ontario at Toronto, Storri's boats, by way of the St. +Lawrence--which might have to be dredged in places--were to make a +straight wake for St. Petersburg, touching at English, French, and +German ports. The ships were to clear in Duluth for St. Petersburg; and +in St. Petersburg for Duluth. They were to fly the American flag; that, +too, should mean a subsidy. Besides, there must be an American +commission to confer with a Canadian commission touching the canal. + +Once in St. Petersburg, Storri would have the aid of his own country in +whatever might be necessary to carry him to the western terminus of his +Chinese railway. He had writings in French from the Czar's government +which set this forth. Only, the Russian assurances were made contingent +upon a standing army of "Ifs." "If" Storri _should_ throw a railway +across China; and "if" he _should_ launch a line of steamships across +the Pacific--the same fostered by the Washington Government with a +subsidy--and "if" all and singular the railway from Puget to Duluth, the +Canadian Canal, and the line of steamships from Duluth to St. +Petersburg--also with a subsidy--_were_ once extant and in operation, +then the Czar would step graciously in and see what might be done in +forging those final Russian railway links required to unite the ends of +this interesting chain. + +"And you are to know," went on Storri, "that my government, the St. +Petersburg Government, is paternal. It will give whatever, in the way of +land rights and loans, is demanded by the exigencies of the project. + +"And there," cried Storri in conclusion, as he shoved maps, papers, and +concessions, Russian, Canadian, and Chinese, across to Mr. Harley, "is +an idea the magnificence of which the ages cannot parallel! It is +simple, it is great! We shall have three-score small companies--that is, +small compared with the grand one I am to name. We shall have land and +banking and lumber and mining and railway and steamship and canal +companies. We shall have companies owning elevators and factories and +stores and mills. Each will employ a capital of from two to two hundred +millions of dollars. Over all, and to own the stock of those smaller +ones, we must throw a giant company. Do you know what it will require? +Do you realize what its capital must be? It will call for the cost price +of an empire, my friend; it will demand full thirty billions! Think of +the president of such a company! He will have rank by himself; he will +tower above kings. What shall we call it? Name it for that mighty +Portuguese who was first to send his ship around the globe; name it +Credit Magellan!" + +Mr. Harley wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was a day in October, +one reasonably cool, and yet, when Storri ended with his Credit Magellan +and came to a full stop, Mr. Harley was in a perspiration. It was those +thirty billions that did it. Mr. Harley was no stoic to sit unmoved in +the presence of such wealth, and the graphic Storri made those billions +real. + +When Storri had done, Mr. Harley gulped and gasped a bit, and then asked +if he might retain the armful of papers for further consideration. He +would like to go over them carefully; particularly those Canadian +reports and assurances that related to the canal. + +"My dear, good friend," cried Storri, with a magnificent wave of the +hand, "you may do what you will!" + +There are men, reckoned shrewd in business, whose shrewdness can be +overcome by ciphers. It is as though they were wise up to seven figures. +Mr. Harley was of these; he had his boundaries. His instincts were +solvent, his policies sound, his suspicions full of life and courage, so +that you went no higher than nine millions. Burdened beyond that, his +imagination would break down; and since his instincts, his policies, and +his suspicions rested wholly upon his imagination, when the latter fell +the others must of need go with it. There is a depth to money just as +there is to a lake; when you led Mr. Harley in beyond the +nine-million-dollar mark he began to drown. When Storri--Pelion upon +Ossa--piled steamship on railway, and canal on steamship, and banking +and lumber and mining and twenty other companies on top of these, Mr. +Harley was dazed and benumbed. When Storri concluded and capped all with +his Credit Magellan, capital thirty billions, it was, so far as Mr. +Harley is to be considered, like taking a child to sea. In the haze and +the blur of it, Mr. Harley could see nothing, say nothing; his impulse +was to be alone and collect himself. He felt as might one who has been +staring at the sun. Storri's picture of an enterprise so vast that it +proposed to set out the world like a mighty pan of milk, and skim the +cream from two hemispheres, dazzled him and caused his wits to lose +their way. + +At the end of three days Mr. Harley had begun to get his bearings; he +was still fascinated, but the fog was lifting. Step by step he went over +Storri's grand proposals; and, while he had now his eyes, each step +seemed only to take him more deeply into a wilderness of admiration. +That very admiration filled him with a sense of dull alarm. He resolved +to have other counsel than his own. Were he and Storri to embark upon +this world-girdling enterprise, they must have money-help. He would take +the project to certain money-loving souls; he would get their opinions +by asking their aid. + +Mr. Harley went to New York and called about him a quintette of +gentlemen, each of whom had been with him and Senator Hanway in more +than one affair of shady profit. Mankind does not change, its methods +change, and trade has still its Kidds and Blackbeards. Present commerce +has its pirates and its piracies; only the buccaneers of now do not +launch ships, but stock companies, while Wall and Broad Streets are +their Spanish Main. They do not, like Francis Drake, lay off and on at +the Isthmus to stop plate ships; they seek their galleons in the Stock +Exchange. Those five to gather at the call of Mr. Harley were of our +modern Drakes. He told them, under seal of secrecy, Storri's programme, +and put before them the documents, Russian, Canadian, and Chinese. + +Mr. Harley felt somewhat justified of his own enthusiasm when he +observed the serious glow in the eyes of those five. They sent to Mott +Street, and brought back a learned Oriental to translate the Chinese +silk. The Mott Street one, himself a substantial merchant and a Mongol +of high caste, appeared wrapped in rustling brocades and an odor of +opium. When he beheld the yellow silk he bent himself, and smote the +floor three times with his forehead. More than anything told by Mr. +Harley did this profound obeisance of the Mott Street Oriental leave its +impress upon the five. They, themselves, bowed to nothing save gold; the +silken document must record a franchise of gravity and money-moment to +thus set their visitor to beating the carpet with his head! Having done +due honor to the Emperor's signature, the Mott Street one gave Mr. +Harley and his friends the silken document's purport in English. It +granted every right, railway, wharf, and gold, asserted by Storri. Then +Mr. Harley wired that nobleman to join them in New York. + +Storri had not been informed of Mr. Harley's New York visit. But he had +counted on it, and the summons in no wise smote him with surprise. Once +with Mr. Harley and the adventurous five, Storri again went over his +project, beginning at the Chinese railway and closing with Credit +Magellan, capital thirty billions. Not one who heard went unconvinced; +not one but was willing to commence in practical fashion the carrying +out of this high financial dream. + +It was the romance--for money-making has its romances--and the +adventurous uncertainty of the thing, the pushing into the unknown, +which formed the lure. Have you ever considered that nine of ten among +those who went with De Soto and Balboa and Coronado and Cortez and +Pizarro, if asked by some quiet neighbor, would have refused him the +loan of one hundred dollars unless secured by fivefold the value? And +yet the last man jack would peril life and fortune blindly in a voyage +to worlds unknown, for profits guessed at, against dangers neither to be +counted nor foreseen. Be not too much stricken of amazement, therefore, +when now these cold ones, who would not have bought an American railroad +without counting the cross-ties and weighing every spike and fish-plate, +were ready to send millions adrift on a sightless invasion of Asia ten +thousand miles away. Besides, as the five with Mr. Harley laid out their +campaign, any question of Oriental danger was for the present put aside. + +"The way to commence," said one of the five--one grown gray in first +looting companies and then scuttling them--"the way to commence is by +getting possession of Northern Consolidated. Once in control of the +railroad, we have linked the Pacific with the Great Lakes; after that we +can turn to the matter of subsidies for the two steamship lines, and the +appointment of those commissions to consider the Canadian Canal." Then, +turning to Mr. Harley: "You, of course, speak for Senator Hanway?" + +Mr. Harley gave assurance that Senator Hanway, for what might be +demanded congressionally, would be with him. Then they laid their +plotting heads together over a conquest of Northern Consolidated. + +Under the experienced counsel of the old gray scuttler of innocent +companies, this procedure was resolved upon. Northern Consolidated was +selling at forty-three. At that figure, over forty millions of dollars +would be required to buy the road. There was little or no chance of its +reaching a higher quotation during the coming ninety days; and ninety +days would bring them into February with Congress in session over two +months. + +No, it was not the purpose of the pool to buy Northern Consolidated at +forty-three; those gifted stock ospreys knew a better plan. They would +begin with a "bear" movement against the stock. It was their belief, if +the market were properly undermined, that Northern Consolidated could be +sold down below twenty, possibly as low as fifteen. When it had reached +lowest levels they would make their swoop. The pool would have enough +profit from the "bear" movement to pay for the road. If they succeeded +in selling Northern Consolidated off twenty points--and they believed, +by going cautiously and intelligently to work, the feat was easy--the +profits would equal the purchase sum required. + +In "bearing" the stock and breaking it down to a point where the pool +might seize upon the road without risk or outlay on its own intriguing +part, the potent Senator Hanway would come in. At the beginning of +Congress he must offer a Senate resolution for a special committee of +three to investigate certain claims and charges against Northern +Consolidated. That corporation had long owed the government, no one knew +how much. It had stolen timber and stripped mountain ranges with its +larcenies; also it had laid rapacious paw upon vast stretches of the +public domain. It was within the power of any committee, acting +honestly, to report Northern Consolidated as in default to the +government for what number of millions its indignant imagination might +fix upon. Who was to measure the road's lumber robberies, or those +thefts of land? Moreover, the vandal aggressions of Northern +Consolidated made a reason for rescinding divers public grants--the +present values whereof were almost too high for estimation, and without +which the road could not exist--that, in its inception as a railroad, +had been made it by Congress. + +Senator Hanway, under Senate courtesies, would be named chairman of the +special committees. He would conduct the investigation and write the +report. It was reasonable to assume, under the public as well as the +private conditions named, that Senator Hanway's findings, and the Senate +action he must urge and bring about, would knock the bottom out of +Northern Consolidated. It must fall to twenty by every rule of +speculation. Facing collection by the government of those claims for +lands ravished and pine trees swept away, to say naught of losing +original grants which were as its life-blood to Northern Consolidated, +the value of the stock--to speak most hopefully in its favor--would be +diminished by one-half. + +The conspirators grew in confidence as they talked, and at the end +looked upon Northern Consolidated as already in their talons. They named +the old gray buccaneer to manage for the pool. The amount to be paid in +by each of the eight members--for they counted Senator Hanway--was +settled at five hundred thousand dollars. Four millions would be +required to start the ball rolling; the "bear" movement in the beginning +would demand margins. Once under headway, it would take care of itself. +It would succeed like a barrel downhill. + +Storri did not protest the suggestion of the old gray buccaneer that +four millions be contributed to form a working capital for the pool. His +share of a half-million meant fifty thousand more dollars than Storri at +the time possessed, but he did not propose to have the others discover +the fact. Somehow he would scrape together those fifty thousand; his +note might do. Being, like every savage, a congenital gambler, Storri +went into the pool with zest as well as confidence, and rejoiced in +speculation that offered chances wide enough to employ his last dollar +in the stake. Moreover, those four millions would not be asked for +before the first of January. Other speculations might intervene, and +provide those lacking fifty thousand. + +Mr. Harley laid the Storri project, and the plans of the pool to seize +Northern Consolidated, before Senator Hanway. That candidate for a +Presidency knitted his brows and pondered the business. As with Mr. +Harley and the pirate five, the mad grandeur of the idea charmed him. +One element seemed plain: there could come no loss from the raid on +Northern Consolidated. He might go that far with safety, and a certainty +of profit; for in the Senate committee of investigation he, himself, +would play the controlling card. + +"The proposal," said Senator Hanway, when he and Mr. Harley conferred, +"while gigantic in its unfoldment, seems a reasonable one. After all, it +is the amount involved that staggers rather than what obstacles must be +overcome. Taken piecemeal, I do not say that the entire scheme, even +Credit Magellan, with its thirty billions, may not work through. The +resolution naming a committee to look into the claims and charges +against Northern Securities ought to help my Presidential canvass. It +cannot avoid telling in my favor with thoughtful men. They will see that +I am one who is jealously guarding public interests." + +"And the resolution," suggested Mr. Harley, "appointing a commission for +the Canadian Canal, and inviting the Ottawa government to do the same, +ought also to speak in your favor. Consider what an impetus such a +waterway would give our Northwestern commerce." + +"Yes," replied Senator Hanway, "I think you are right. It will knock a +third off freight rates on much of the trade between the oceans, and +save heavily in time. Those subsidies, however, must go over until next +session. Subsidies are not popular, and these must be left until after +next November's elections. Then, of course, they may be safely taken +up." + +The various conferences over Storri's enterprise, and the consequent +coming together of Storri and Mr. Harley, took place a few weeks prior +to Richard's appearance in this chronicle. Both Storri and Mr. Harley +were fond of stocks in their ups and downs, and now, being much +together, they were in and out as partners in a dozen different deals. +Mr. Harley attended to most of these; and Storri learned certain +peculiarities belonging to that gentleman. Mr. Harley, for one solvent +matter, was penurious to the point of dimes; also, Mr. Harley took no +risks. Mr. Harley was willing to book a joint deal in both Storri's name +and his own; or in his own for the common good of Storri and himself. +But Mr. Harley would not give a joint order solely in Storri's name. +Evidently, Mr. Harley would not trust Storri to divide profits with him +where the case rested only upon that Russian's honor. No more would he +draw his own check for Storri's margins; and one day our nobleman lost +money because of Mr. Harley's cautious delicacy in that behalf. The +market went the wrong way, and Storri could not be found when additional +margins were called for. Whereupon Mr. Harley closed out his friend at a +loss of seven thousand dollars. + +Storri knitted his brows when he knew, but offered no comment. In fact, +he treated the affair so lightly that Mr. Harley felt relieved; that +latter speculator had been somewhat disturbed in his mind concerning +Storri's opinion of what, to give it a best description, evinced niggard +distrust of Storri, and cast in negative fashion a slur upon that +gentleman. + +Mr. Harley was too ready with his belief in Storri's indifference; that +the latter, for all his surface stoicism, took a serious, not to say a +revengeful, view of the business, found indication on a later painful +day. The experience taught Storri that he might expect neither favor nor +generosity from Mr. Harley; and this, considering how in all they must +adventure in Credit Magellan Mr. Harley would have him in his power, +filled Storri with an angry uneasiness. He decided that for his own +security, if nothing more, he might better bestir himself to gain a +counter-grip upon Mr. Harley. And thereupon Storri began to lie in +ambush for Mr. Harley; and at a lurking, sprawling warfare that sets +gins and dead-falls, and bases itself on surprise, your savage makes a +formidable soldier. + +Storri, wisely and without price, had one day aided a sugar company in +securing Russian foothold in Odessa. That aid was ground-bait meant to +lure the sugar favor. This sugar company made more profit on its stocks +than on its sugar. It was in the habit, with one device or another, of +sending the quotations of its shares up and down like an elevator. In +requital of that Odessa good, the president of the sugar company, the +week after, gave Storri a private hint to sell sugar stock. Storri +responded by placing an order selling ten thousand shares. + +Storri took no one into his confidence touching sugar. Going the other +way, he urged Mr. Harley to buy on their mutual account two thousand +shares, assuring him that he had been given word, from sources +absolutely sure, of a coming "bull" movement in the stock. + +Mr. Harley, who knew of that Odessa favor, believed. Storri, as further +evidence of faith, gave Mr. Harley a check covering what initial margins +would be required for his half of the purchase; and then to make all +secure, he placed in Mr. Harley's hands two hundred shares of a French +company worth that day fifteen thousand dollars. + +"I don't want any argument to exist," laughed Storri, as he gave Mr. +Harley the French securities, "for closing me out should a squall strike +the market. Now I shall go to the club." + +Mr. Harley also laughed, and took the French stock; acceptance always +came easy with Mr. Harley. + +Mr. Harley bought those two thousand sugar shares at eleven o'clock. Two +hours later an extra was being cried about the streets. The sugar +company had ordered half its refineries closed; some alleged loose screw +in sugar trade was given as the reason. + +With the order closing down the refineries, the stock began to tumble. +Within thirty minutes it had slumped off six points. There came a call +for further margins, and Mr. Harley offered Storri's French stock. + +The security was undeniable, but a technicality got in the way to trip +Mr. Harley. The French securities were original shares, issued in +Storri's name. On the back, however, there was no Storri signature +making the usual assignment in blank. The shares, in their present +shape, would not be received. Mr. Harley flew to a nearby telephone and +called up Storri. + +"There is not time for me to get there!" cried that designing gentleman +excitedly. He was a half-mile away. "Don't hesitate; clap my name on the +backs of the certificates yourself. They don't know my signature; and no +one will think of questioning it, coming through your hands." + +There was no other way; thereupon Mr. Harley, in a ferment with tumbling +prices, picked up a pen, and, with the best intentions in life, forged +Storri's name. Then he hurried to the broker's and got up the margins. + +It was not a squall, it was a storm, and sugar was broken off at the +roots, falling twenty points. Storri, on his private deal, made two +hundred thousand, while Messrs. Harley and Storri, on their joint +account, lost forty thousand dollars--twenty thousand for each. In the +clean-up, Storri paid his losses and got back his French shares. He +smiled an evil smile as he contemplated Mr. Harley's attempts to mock +his signature. + +"He loses twenty thousand," commented Storri, "and that should more than +offset those seven thousand lost by me when he refused to protect my +deals. As for these," and here Storri ran a dark, exultant glance over +his imitated signatures, "every one of them makes a reason why my good +friend, Mr. Harley, must now please me and obey me in everything he +does. After all, is it a destiny beneath his jowlish fat deserts, that +an American pig should become slave to a Russian noble?" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOW RICHARD GAINED IN KNOWLEDGE + + +Congress came together at noon upon the first Monday in December, and +obedient to the mandate of the caucus Mr. Frost was made Speaker Frost. +The eruptive Mr. Hawke wore an injured air, and when the drawing for +seats took place, selected one in a far back row, as though retiring +from public life. Mr. Hawke subsequently refused to serve as chairman of +the triangular committee named to notify the President that the House +had convened, and his declination was accepted by Speaker Frost, who +calmly filled the place with a member whom Mr. Hawke despised. Then the +House swung into the channel, and went plowing ahead upon the business +of the session, and in forty-eight hours, Mr. Hawke, forgotten, had +ceased to be important to any save himself. The whole of that first +Monday night Speaker Frost put in with Senator Hanway, in the latter's +study, revising committee lists and settling chairmanships with the +purpose of advancing the White House chances of Senator Hanway and +destroying those of Governor Obstinate. + +Although Congress had begun its session, no change was made in those +morning calls of Richard, who came religiously at eleven to listen to +Senator Hanway and look at Dorothy. The latter young lady was never +absent from these interviews; she had conceived a wonderful interest in +politics, and gave her "Uncle Pat" no peace. Richard's call commonly +lasted but a half-hour, for Senator Hanway must be in the Senate chamber +at noon. Thirty heavenly minutes they were; Dorothy and Richard promised +and again promised undying love to one another with their eyes. Senator +Hanway never suspected this love-making, never intercepted one soft +glance; for your politician is like a horse wearing blinders, seeing +only the road before him, thinking of nothing but himself. One morning +after Senator Hanway had departed, Dorothy took Richard across to meet +the blonde pythoness. Dorothy said she wanted Richard to see Bess. This +was fiction; she wanted Bess to see Richard, of whom she was privily +proud. + +The Marklins lived across the street from the Harley house. Mother +Marklin was an invalid and seldom out of her own room. Father Marklin +was dead, and had been these five years. When the situation promoted her +to be the head of the Marklin household, Bess had taken on a quiet, +grave atmosphere of authority that was ten years older than her age. + +The Marklins were fair rich. Father Marklin had been a physician whose +patients were women of fashion; and that makes a practice wherein your +doctor may know less medicine and make more money than in any other walk +of drugs. A woman likes big bills from a physician if the malady be her +own; she draws importance from the size of the bills. When one reflects +that there is nothing to some women except their aches and their +ailments, it all seems rational enough. These be dangerous digressions; +one might better return to the drug-dealing parent of Bess, who visited +the fair sufferers in a Brewster brougham and measured out his calls by +minutes, watch in hand. He heaped up a fortune for Bess and her mother, +and then at one and the same moment quit both his practice and the +world. + +When Dorothy came in with Richard, they found Bess entertaining a +caller. The caller was a helpless person named Mr. Fopling. + +"Mr. Storms, permit me to make you acquainted with Mr. Fopling," +observed Bess, after Dorothy had presented Richard. + +When Bess named Richard to Mr. Fopling, she did so with a +master-of-ceremony flourish that was protecting and mannish. Richard +grinned in friendship upon Mr. Fopling, who shook hands flabbily and +seemed uncertain of his mental direction. Richard said nothing through +fear of overwhelming Mr. Fopling. Mr. Fopling was equally silent through +fear of overwhelming himself. Released from Richard, Mr. Fopling found +refuge in the chair he had quitted, and maintained himself without sound +or motion, bolt upright, staring straight ahead. Mr. Fopling had a +vacant expression, and his face was not an advantageous face. It was +round, pudgy, weak, with shadows of petulance about the mouth, and the +forehead sloped away at an angle which house-builders, speaking of +roofs, call a quarter-pitch. His chin, acting on the hint offered by the +forehead, was likewise in full retreat. Altogether, one might have said +of Mr. Fopling that if he were not a delightful, at worst he would never +become a dangerous companion. Richard surveyed him with a deal of +curiosity; then he questioned Dorothy with a glance. + +"Bess is to marry him," whispered Dorothy. + +"What for?" whispered Richard, off his guard. Then, pulling himself +together in confusion: "Of course, he loves her, I dare say. Your friend +Bess is a beautiful girl!" + +Richard brought forth the last with hurried unction. It was a cunning +remark to make; it drew Dorothy's attention off Mr. Fopling, whom she +was preparing to defend with spirit, and centered it upon herself. At +Richard's observation, so flattering to Bess, she tossed her head. + +"Is she?" said Dorothy, with a falling inflection, vastly severe. + +The two were near a window and quite alone, for Bess had stepped into +the hall to give directions to a servant. Mr. Fopling sat the length of +the room away, wrapped in meditation. Richard looked tenderly +apologetic, and Dorothy, after sparkling for a jealous moment, softened +to be in sympathy with Richard. + +And the strange thing was that neither had ever said one word of love to +the other. They had begun to love at sight, taking each other for +granted, worshiping frankly, sweetly, with the candid, innocent +informality of barbarians to whom the conventional was the unknown. +After all, why not? Isn't word of eye as sacred as word of mouth? + +Bess returned to them from the hall. + +"I say, Bess!" bleated Mr. Fopling anxiously. + +"In a moment, child!" returned Bess, in maternal tones. + +Mr. Fopling relapsed, while Richard was amused. Some corner of Richard's +amusement must have stuck out to attract the notice of Bess. She met it +finely, undisturbed. + +"Some day, Mr. Storms," beamed Bess, as though replying to a question, +"I shall talk to you on marriage and husbands." + +"Why not on marriage and wives?" + +"Because I would not speak of the philosopher and the experiment, but of +the experiment and the result. Marriage is a cause; the husband an +effect. Husbands are artificial and made by marriage. Wives, like poets, +are born, not made. I shall talk to you on marriage and husbands; I have +some original ideas, I assure you." + +"Now I can well believe that!" declared Richard, much tumbled about in +his mind. Bess's harangue left him wondering whether she might not be +possessed of a mild mania on wedlock and husbands. + +"You need have no misgivings," returned Bess, as though reading his +thoughts; "you will find me sane to the verge of commonplace." + +Richard's stare was the mate to Mr. Fopling's; he could not decide just +how to lay hold on the sibyl of the golden locks. Perceiving him +wandering in his wits, Dorothy took him up warmly. + +"Can't you see Bess is laughing at you?" she cried. + +"You know her so much better than I," argued Richard, in extenuation of +his dullness. "Some day I hope to be so well acquainted with Miss +Marklin as to know when she laughs." + +"You are to know her as well as I do," returned Dorothy, with decision, +"for Bess is my dearest friend." + +"And that, I'm sure," observed Richard, craftily measuring forth a +two-edged compliment, "is the highest possible word that could be spoken +of either." + +At this speech Dorothy was visibly disarmed; whereat Richard +congratulated himself. + +"To be earnest with you, Mr. Storms," said Bess, with just a flash of +teasing wickedness towards Dorothy, "I go about, even now, carrying the +impression of knowing you extremely well. Dorothy reads me your letters +from the _Daily Tory_; she has elevated literary tastes, you know. No, +it is not what you write, it is the way you write it, that charms her; +and, that I may the better appreciate, she obligingly accompanies her +readings with remarks descriptive of the author." + +"Bess, do you think that fair?" and Dorothy's face put on a reproachful +red. + +"At least it's true," returned Bess composedly. + +That morning Richard had been flattered with a letter from the editor of +a magazine, asking for a five-thousand word article on a leading +personality of the Cabinet. This helped him bear the raillery of Bess; +and the raillery, per incident, told him how much and deeply he was in +the thoughts of Dorothy, which information made the world extremely +beautiful. Richard had waited until his thirtieth year to begin to live! +He was brought back from a dream of Dorothy by the unexpected projection +of Mr. Fopling into the conversation. + +"The _Daily Tory_!" repeated Mr. Fopling, in feeble disgust. "I hate +newspapahs; they inflame the mawsses." + +"Inflame what?" asked Richard. + +"Inflame the mawsses! the common fellahs!" + +Mr. Fopling was emphatic; and when Mr. Fopling was emphatic he squeaked. +Mr. Fopling's father had been a beef contractor. Likewise he had seen +trouble with investigating committees, being convicted of bad beef. This +may or may not have had to do with the younger Fopling's aversion to the +press. + +"Certainly," coincided Bess, again assuming the maternal, "the +newspapers are exceedingly inflammatory." + +"Your friend Bess," said Richard to Dorothy, later, "is a bit of a +blue-stocking, isn't she?--one of those girls who give themselves to the +dangerous practice of thinking?" + +"I love her from my heart!" returned Dorothy, with a splendid +irrelevance wholly feminine; "she is a girl of gold!" + +"Mr. Fopling: he's of gold, too, I take it." + +"Mr. Fopling is very wealthy." + +"Well, I'm glad he's something," observed Richard. + +"You hate him because he spoke ill of newspapers," said Dorothy +teasingly. + +"Naturally, when a giant hand is stretched forth against the tree by +which one lives, one's alarm runs away into hate," laughed Richard. + +Richard, now that the _Daily Tory_ letters were winning praise, that is +to say, were being greatly applauded and condemned, began to have in +them a mightier pride than ever. Educated those years abroad, he felt +the want of an American knowledge, and started in to study government at +pointblank range. Nights he read history, mostly political, and days he +went about like a Diogenes without the lamp. He put himself in the way +of Cabinet men; and talked with Senators and Representatives concerning +congressional movements of the day. + +Being quick, he made discoveries; some of them personal to himself. As +correspondent of a New York daily, those Cabinet folk and men of +Congress encountered him affably; when he was not present they spoke +ferociously of him and his craft, as convicts curse a guard behind his +back, and for much a convict's reason. + +It was the same at the club without the affability. Present or absent, +there they turned unsparing back upon him. Richard's status as a +newspaper man had been explained and fixed, and they of the club liked +him less than before. The Fopling feeling towards the press predominated +at the club, and although Richard was never openly snubbed--his +shoulders were too wide for that--besides, some sigh of those hand-grips +with Storri had gone about--the feeling was manifest. This cool distance +pleased Richard rather than otherwise, and he went often to the club to +enjoy it. It was parcel of his affected cynicism to like an enemy. + +When Richard came to Washington it is more than a chance that he was a +patriot. But as he went about he saw much to blunt the sentiment. A +statesman is one who helps his country; a politician is one who helps +himself. Richard found shoals of the latter and none of the other class. +One day he asked Speaker Frost, whom he met in Senator Hanway's study, +his definition of a statesman. + +"A statesman," said that epigrammatist, "is a dead politician." + +Richard frequented House and Senate galleries; it was interesting to +watch the notables transacting their fame. The debates were a cross-fire +of deceit. Not a member gave his true reasons for the votes he cast; he +gave what he wanted the world to think were his reasons. Finance was on +the carpet in that hour, and bimetallism and monometallism, silver +versus gold, were in everyone's mouth. Richard saw that the goldbugs +hailed from money--lending constituencies, while the silverbugs were +invariably from either money-borrowing constituencies or constituencies +that had silver to sell. And every man legislated for his district and +never for the country; which Richard regarded as an extremely narrow +course. Every man talked of the people's interest; every man was +thinking of his own interest and striving only to locate the butter on +his political bread. + +There was a third class, made up of those who were neither goldbugs nor +silverbugs; they were straddlebugs, and, like the two sides of the +shield, would be gold when looked at by one contingent and silver when +viewed by the other. Senator Hanway, whose monk's face seemed to mark +him as private secretary of the Genius of Patriotism, was an eminent +straddlebug. He was thinking on those delegations that would make up the +convention and choose a candidate for the Presidency. The prudent +Senator Hanway would be in line with all opinions, and occupied both +sides of the money question without becoming the open champion of +either. + +Not alone did Richard, gazing from the galleries, lose faith in the +patriotism of House and Senate men, but he began to doubt the verity of +their partisanship. Considering what they did, rather than what they +said, he discovered that the true difference between the two great +political parties was the difference between cat owls and horned owls, +and lay mainly in the noises they made. When it came to deeds, both +killed chickens, and both appeared equally ready to pillage the hen +roosts of government. As for government--that is to say, the thing +controlling and not the thing controlled: it was made up of the +President, the Speaker, and a dozen more in Cabinet and Congress; and +that was government. + +The picture nourished Richard's failing of cynicism, and served to dull +that edge of native patriotism which it was assumed he owned when first +he came. He got an impression of government that left him nothing to +fight and bleed and die for should the thick mutter of the war-drums +call folk to the field. Good politics, as the term is practiced, means +bad patriotism, and Washington was a nest of politics and nothing else +besides. It made decisively a situation, so Richard was driven to +conclude, wherein that man should be the best patriot who knew least of +his own government; he should fight harder and suffer more cheerfully +and die more blithely in its defense in exact proportion to his +ignorance of whom and what he was fighting and suffering and dying for. +It was a sullen conclusion surely; but, forced home upon Richard, it +taught him a vitriolic harshness that, getting into his letters to +flavor all he wrote, gave him national vogue, and added to that mixture +of hatred and admiration with which official Washington was already +beginning to regard him. + +Neither did he escape forming certain estimates of Senator Hanway, and +the white purity of what motives underlay his public career. For all +that, Richard was quite as sedulous as ever to advance our statesman's +fortunes; loyalty is abstract, love concrete, and in a last analysis +Richard was thinking on Dorothy and not upon the country. Richard, you +may have observed, was no whit better, no less selfish, than were those +about him; and it is as well to know our faulty young gentleman for what +he really was. + +Richard not only considered the politics of men, but he studied men +themselves. The narrowest of these came from parts of the country where +region was important, and where you would have been more thought of for +the deeds of your grandfather than for anything that you yourself might +do. This was peculiarly true of men from New England, whose intelligence +as well as interest seemed continually walking a tight-rope. The New +Englander was always and ever the sublimation of a blind, ineffable +vanity that went about proposing him as an example to the race. And so +consciously self-perfect was he that, while coming to opinions touching +others, generally to their disadvantage, he never once bethought him +that others might be forming opinions of him. Another New England +weakness was to believe in the measure more than in the man, and there +was not one from that section who did not think that if you but +introduced among negroes or Indians the New England town meeting, those +negroes or Indians, thus blessed, would all and instantly become +Yankees. + +Another sublime provincial whom Richard uncovered was the Southern man. +He, like the New Englander, was so busy thinking on and revering a past +that was dead, that he owned little space for anything else. There was, +however, one characteristic, common to Southern men, which was wanting +in folk from other corners of the country. Richard never met a Southern +man who remembered, assuming such to be his official station, that he +was in Cabinet or Congress, while he never met a Northern or a Western +or a New England man who for a moment forgot it. + +This amiable democracy on the Southern part, like other good things, has +its explanation. Your Southern man, like a squab pigeon, is biggest when +he is born. The one first great fact of his nativity is an honor beyond +any other which the world can confer. It is as though he were cradled on +a peak; and thereafter, wherever his wanderings may take him, and +whether into Congress, Cabinet, or White House, he travels always +downhill. It is this to account for that benignant urbanity, the +inevitable mark of a Southern man, which teaches him faith in you as +corollary of completest confidence in himself. It is a beautiful, even +though an unreasonable trait, and as such the admiration of Richard +recorded it. + +Those others, not Southern, educated to a notion of office as a +pedestal, were inclined to play the turkey cock and spread their tails a +trifle. Since that sort of self-conceit never fails to transact itself +at the expense of the spectator, Richard looked upon it with no favor, +and it drew from him opinions, not of compliment, concerning those by +whom it was exhibited. It set him to comparisons which ran much in +Southern favor. + +After Congressmen and Cabinet men, Richard studied Washington itself. +The common condition--speaking now of residents, and not of those who +were mere sojourners within the city's walls--he found to be one of +idleness, the common trait an insatiable bent for gossip. Government was +the sole product of the place, the one grist ground at those mills. No +one was made to labor more than six hours of the twenty-four. And the +term labor meant no more than one-tenth its definition in any other +town. Wherefore, even those most engaged of the citizenry had leisure to +settle the world's most perplexing concerns, and they generously devoted +it to that purpose. + +Nor were they abashed by any insignificance of their personal estate. +Familiarity does not breed contempt, it breeds conceit. Those who dwell +close to the hub of government, even though they build departmental +fires, sweep departmental floors, and empty departmental waste baskets, +from nearness of contact and a daily perusal of your truly great, come +at last to look upon themselves as beings of tremendous importance--and +all after the self-gratulatory example of the thoughtful fly on the +chariot wheel in the fable. The least of them beholds a picture of the +government in every looking-glass into which he peers. + +Storri talked with Mr. Harley; Mr. Harley talked with Senator Hanway. +These conferences were of Credit Magellan; in particular they had +concern with the overthrow of Northern Consolidated. Congress had been +in session ten days when Senator Hanway, one morning, asked Richard to +call that evening at nine. + +"There is something which your paper should print," said Senator Hanway. + +Richard was with Senator Hanway in the latter's study sharp upon the +hour set. Dorothy was not there; her mother had carried her and the +yellow-haired sorceress, Bess, to the theater. It is to be doubted, even +if she were free, whether Dorothy's interest in her political studies +would have carried her through a night session. Besides, the preoccupied +Senator Hanway had begun to observe that Richard looked at Dorothy more +than he listened to him, and while he suffered no disturbance by virtue +of this discovery, the present was an occasion when he wanted Richard's +undivided attention. Once seated, Senator Hanway went to the heart of +the affair; he made himself clear, for years of debate had educated him +to lucidity. What he desired was a plain, sequential rehearsal in the +_Daily Tory_ of those claims and charges against Northern Consolidated. + +"Nor will I," observed Senator Hanway, flatteringly confidential, +"conceal my reasons. In the first place the charges have been made, and +their effect is to injure Northern Consolidated. You will not state that +you know these charges to be true; you will say--if you will be so +good--that they are of common report. Once in print, I can make them the +basis of an investigation. I've no doubt--though you will please say +nothing on that point--but what an investigation will disclose how +groundless the charges are." + +"You are an owner in Northern Consolidated?" asked Richard. + +Richard felt no interest beyond a willingness to be of service to +Senator Hanway, and only put the question to show attention to his +eminent friend. + +"No, no owner," replied Senator Hanway; "but to be frank, since I know +my confidence is safe, it will assist me in a certain political matter +the name of which I think you can guess." + +Senator Hanway's smooth face wore a smile which he intended should prove +that he looked upon Richard as one possessing a rightful as well as an +intimate knowledge of those White House plans which he cherished. +Richard did not require the assurance; he was ready without it to come +to the aid of Senator Hanway, whom he liked if he did not revere. + +The next evening Richard's letter carried the story against Northern +Consolidated. The afternoon of the day on which it was published, +Senator Hanway arose in his place and requested that the article be read +by the clerk. That done, he said he was pained and surprised by the +publication of such a story, and asked for a committee of three to look +into the truth of what was set forth. + +"For," observed Senator Hanway, after paying a tribute to Richard and +the _Daily Tory_, in which he extolled the honesty and intelligent +conservatism of both the paper and its correspondent, "for it is only +justice that the charges be sifted. The _Daily Tory_ does not make them +on its own behalf; it finds them in the mouths of others. They should be +taken up and weighed. If there be aught due the government, we have a +right to know and measure it. If the charges are without support--and I +have reason to believe that such is the situation--then Northern +Consolidated is entitled to the refutation of a calumny that, whispered +in some quarters and talked aloud in others, has borne heavily upon its +interests." + +No one opposed, and Senator Hanway, with Senators Price and Loot, were +selected to be a special committee. They were to send for men and +papers, be open or secret in their sessions, and report to the Senate +whenever they finished the inquiry. The affair excited no comment, and +was forgotten within the hour by all except Storri and Mr. Harley and +those others of the osprey pool. + +After Richard left Senator Hanway upon the Northern Consolidated +evening, he ran plump upon an incident that was to have a last profound +effect upon this history. No one not a prophet would have guessed this +from the incident's character, for on its ignoble face it was nothing +better than just a drunken clash between a Caucasian, and an African +triumvirate that had locked horns with him in the street. The Caucasian, +moved of liquor and pride of skin, had demanded the entire sidewalk. He +enforced his demands by shoving the obstructing Africans into the +gutter. The latter, recalling amendments to the organic law of the land +favorable to folk of color, objected. In the war that ensued, owing to +an inequality of forces, the Caucasian--albeit a gallant soul--was given +the bitter side of the argument. Richard came upon them as he rounded a +corner; the quartette at the time made a struggling, scrambling, cursing +tangle, rolling about the sidewalk. + +Being one in whom the race instinct ran powerfully, and who was not +untainted of antipathies to red men and yellow men and black men and all +men not wholly white, Richard did not pause to inquire the rights and +the wrongs of the altercation. He seized upon the topmost person of +color and pitched him into the street. Then he pitched another after +him. The third, getting some alarming notions of what was going on, +arose and fled. None of the three came back; for discretion is not +absent from the African, and those whom Richard personally disposed of +felt as might ones who had escaped from some malignant providence which +they did not think it wise or fitting to further tempt. As for number +three, he was pleased to find himself a block away, and did all he might +to add to it, like a miser to his hoard. + +Negroes gone, Richard set the white man on his feet, and asked him how +he fared. That gentleman shook himself and announced that he was +uninjured. Then he said that he was drunk, which was an unnecessary +confidence. It developed that he followed the trade of printer; also +that he had just come to town. He had no money, he had no place to +sleep; and, what was wonderful to Richard, he appeared in no whit cast +down by his bankrupt and bedless state. He had had money; but like many +pleasant optimistic members of his mystery of types, he had preferred to +spend it in liquor, leaving humdrum questions, such as bed and board, to +solve themselves. + +"For," said the bedless one, "I'm a tramp printer!" And he flung forth +the adjective as though it were a title of respect. + +Having invested some little exertion in the affairs of the stranger, +Richard thought he might as well go forward and invest a little money. +With that he went out of his way to lead the drunken one to a cheap +hotel, where the porter took him in charge under contract to put him to +bed. The consideration for the latter attention was a quarter paid in +hand to the porter; with the proprietor Richard left ten dollars, and +orders to give the devious one the change in the morning after deducting +for his entertainment. + +The rescued printer, clothed and in his right mind, called upon Richard +the next afternoon to thank him for his generosity and say that his name +was Sands. Mr. Sands, being sober and shaven, with clothes brushed, was +in no sense a spectacle of shame. Indeed, there were worse-looking +people passing laws for the nation. Richard was pleased, and said so. + +"If I had a job, I'd go to work," said Mr. Sands, having had, as he +expressed it, "his drunk out." + +The habit of charity grows upon one like the liquor habit; moreover, if +once you help a man, you ever after feel compelled to help him to the +end of time. Richard was no exception to these philanthropic laws, and +when Mr. Sands declared an eagerness to go to work, brought him to +Senator Hanway, who promptly berthed him upon the Government printing +office, where he was given a "case," and commenced tossing up types +after the manner of a master. + +If Senator Hanway had been able to probe the future, instead of setting +Mr. Sands to work that December afternoon, he would have paid his way to +London, had a trans-Atlantic trip been made the price of being rid of +him. But a Senator is not a soothsayer, and no impression of the kind +once touched him. He got Mr. Sands his billet, and said it gave him +pleasure to comply with the request of his young friend, Mr. Storms. To +Richard, the hereafter was as opaque as it was to Senator Hanway, and, +having seen his protégé installed, he walked away unconscious of a morn +to dawn when Mr. Sands would recur as an instance of that bread upon the +waters which returns after many days. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW STORRI WOOED MRS. HANWAY-HARLEY + + +Storri was a sensualist to his fingers' ends. Being a sensualist, he was +perforce an egotist, and the smallest of his desires became the star by +which he laid his course. Through stress of appetites, as powerful as +they were gross, he had grown sharp to calculate, and quick to see. He +was controlled and hurried down by currents of a turbid selfishness; nor +would he have stopped at any cruelty, balked at any crime, when prompted +of what brute hungers kept his soul awake. He might have wept over +failure, never from remorse. And Storri had set his savage heart on +Dorothy. + +Dorothy felt an aversion to Storri, and she could not have told you why. +The mystery of it, however, put no question to her; she yielded with +folded hands, passive to its influence. She did not hate Storri, she +shrunk from him; his nearness chilled her like the nearness of a +reptile. Kipling, the matchless, tells how a Russian does not become +alarming until he tucks in his shirt, and insists upon himself as the +most Eastern of Western peoples instead of the most Western of Eastern +peoples. There is truth to sit at the bottom of this. Dorothy would have +met Storri with indifference had that nobleman seen fit to catalogue +himself, socially, as a Kalmuck Tartar, not of her strain and tribe; she +was set a-shudder when made to meet him under conditions which admitted +the propriety of marriage between them, should she and he agree. As it +stood, Dorothy was alive for flight the moment Storri stepped into her +presence; she knew by intuition the foulness of his fiber, and shivered +at any threat of contact therewith. + +Storri was aware of Dorothy's dislike, since aversion is the one +sentiment a woman cannot conceal. The discovery only made him laugh. He +was too much the conqueror of women to look for failure here. Should he, +Storri, who had been sighed for by the fairest of a dozen stately +courts, receive defeat from a little American? Bah! he would have her at +his ease, win her at his pleasure! Dorothy's efforts to avoid him gave +pursuit a piquancy! + +While Storri noted Dorothy's distaste of him, he did not get slightest +slant of her tender preference for Richard. As far as he might, Storri +had taught himself contempt for Richard. This was not the simplest task; +it is hard to despise one whom your heart fears, and before whose glance +your own eyes waver and give way. Still, Storri got on with his contempt +beyond what one might have imagined. He considered all Americans beneath +him, and Richard was an American. There he had an advantage at the +start. Also, Richard was of the newspapers. Even those Americans about +him, with their own sneers and shoulder-shrugs, showed him how such folk +were unworthy genteel countenance. They looked down upon Richard, Storri +looked down upon them; the greater included the less, and deductions +were easy. Storri arrived at a most happy contempt of Richard as a +mathematician gets to the solution of a problem, and, being mercurial, +not thoughtful, arranged with himself that Richard was below +consideration. + +Richard and Storri made no sign of social recognition when their paths +crossed by chance. At such times the latter held an attitude of staring +superiority--the fellow, perhaps, to that which belonged with Captain +Cook when first he saw the Sandwich Islanders. Had Storri been of +reflective turn he might have remembered that, as a gustatory finale, +those serene islanders roasted the mariner, and made their dinner off +him. + +Mr. Harley was a busy man, and yet he had no office rooms. This was not +his fault; he had once set out to establish himself with such a theater +of effort, but Senator Hanway put down his foot. + +"No; no office, John!" said that statesman. + +Then Senator Hanway, who was as furtive as a mink, called Mr. Harley's +attention to the explanation which a narrow world would give. Those +office rooms would be pointed to as the market-place where corporations +might trade for his, Senator Hanway's, services. + +"If you please, we'll have no such argument going about," observed +Senator Hanway. + +This want of a business headquarters, while it may have been an +inconvenience to Mr. Harley, now arose to dovetail with the desires of +Storri. It gave him a pretext for calling at the Harley house; with Mr. +Harley as excuse, and making a pretense of having business with him, he +could break in at all manner of queer hours. + +Storri made a study of the Harley household. About four of the afternoon +it was Mrs. Hanway-Harley's habit to retire and refresh herself with a +nap, against the demands of dinner and what social gayeties might +follow. Mr. Harley, himself, was apt to be hovering about the Senate +corridors. Or he would be holding pow-wow with men of importance, that +is to say, money, at one of the hotels. Dorothy, who was not interested +in dark-lantern legislation, and required no restoring naps, would be +alone. Wherefore, it became the practice of Storri to appear of an +afternoon at the Harley house, and ask for Mr. Harley. Not finding that +business man, Storri, who did not insist that his errand was desperate, +would idle an hour with Dorothy. + +Storri thought himself one to fascinate a woman, and had a fine +confidence in his powers to charm. He had studied conquest as an art. +When he beleagured a girl's heart, his first approaches were modeled on +the free and jovial. During these afternoon calls he talked much, +laughed loudly, and by his manner would have it that Dorothy and he were +on cheeriest terms. Storri made no headway; Dorothy met his laughter +with a cool reserve that baffled while it left him furious. + +Storri essayed the sentimental, and came worn with homesickness. He was +near to tears as he related the imaginary sickness of a mother whom he +had invented for the purpose. Dorothy's cool reserve continued. She +sympathized, conversationally, and hoped that Storri would hurry to his +expiring parent's side. + +Storri, like Richard, craved a rose and got it; but he fastened it upon +his lapel himself. + +On Storri's fourth call Bess Marklin came in. Being there, Bess took +Storri to herself. She betrayed a surprising interest in statistics--the +populations of cities, crops, politics, and every other form of European +what-not--and kept Storri answering questions like a school-boy. +Thereafter, Storri was no sooner in the Harley house when, presto! from +over the way our pythoness sweeps in. Bess was there before the servant +had taken Storri's hat. This disturbing fortune depressed him; he +attributed it to ill luck, never once observing that the instant he +appeared, Dorothy's black maid skipped across to summon Bess. + +"Really, Bess," pleaded Dorothy, following Storri's fourth call--she had +gone to the Marklins' just after her admirer left--"really, Bess, if you +love me, rescue me. There was never such a bore! Positively, the +creature will send me to my grave! And, besides,"--with a little +shiver,--"I have a horror of the man!" + +And so the good Bess came each time, and faithfully refused to budge for +the whole of Storri's visit. With that, the latter saw less and less +reason to confer with Mr. Harley of an afternoon; also he resolved upon +a change of tactics in his siege of Dorothy. + +Thus far Storri had failed, and the failure set him on fire. The savage +in him was stirred. His vanity found itself defied; and the onyx eyes +would burn, and the mustaches twist like snakes, as he reflected on how +he had been foiled and put aside. Had he known that Richard was in +Dorothy's thought, that it was he to hold her heart against him, Storri +would have choked. But he had gathered no such knowledge; nor was he +posted as to those morning love trysts at which Senator Hanway +unconsciously presided. + +Storri still visited the Harley house, but his visits were now to Mrs. +Hanway-Harley. And he would pour compliments for that shallow lady, +which said compliments our shallow one drank in like water from the +well. Mrs. Hanway-Harley had never known a more finished gentleman; and +so she told her friends. + +"It is a pity," cried Storri one day, "that Europe has none such as +yourself to set examples of refinement! Now if your beautiful daughter +would but make some nobleman happy as his wife! You would come to +Europe, no?" and Storri spread his hands in rapture over so much +possible good fortune. "Yes, if your lovely daughter would but +condescend!" Storri paused, and sighed a sigh of power. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley thought this exceeding fine; the treacle of coarse +compliment sweetened it to her lips. Some would have laughed at such +fustian. Mrs. Hanway-Harley was none of these; the compliment she +laughed at must emanate from someone not a Count. None the less, she +could see that something was at the back of it all. There was Storri's +sigh as though a heart had broken. Had Storri made some soft advance, +and had Dorothy repulsed him? Mrs. Hanway-Harley could have shaken the +girl! + +Storri read all this in Mrs. Hanway-Harley's face as though it had been +written upon paper. He saw that the mother would be his ally; Mrs. +Hanway-Harley was ready to enlist upon his side. Thereupon, Storri drew +himself together with dignity. + +"In my own land, madam," said Storri, conveying the impression of a +limitless deference for Mrs. Hanway-Harley, "it is not permitted that a +gentleman pay his addresses to the daughter until he has her mother's +consent. I adore your daughter--who could help!--but I cannot tell her +unless you approve. And so, madam," with a deepest of bows, "I, who am a +Russian gentleman, come to you." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was not so sinuously adroit as her brother, Senator +Hanway, but she was capable of every conventional art. If Storri's +declaration stirred her pride, she never showed it; if her soul exulted +at a title in her family and a probable presentation of herself to +royalty, she concealed it. True, she was inclined to tilt her nose a +vulgar bit; but she did not let Storri perceive it, reserving the +nose-tilting for ladies of her acquaintance, when the betrothal of +Dorothy and Storri should be announced. Indeed, her conduct, on the +honorable occasion of Storri's request, could not have been more +graceful nor more guarded. She said that she was honored by Storri's +proposal, and touched by his delicacy in first coming to her. She could +do no more, however, than grant him the permission craved, and secure to +him her best wishes. + +"For, much as I love my daughter," explained Mrs. Hanway-Harley, +mounting a maternal pedestal and posing, "I could not think of coercing +her choice. She will marry where she loves." A sigh at this period. "I +can only say that, should she love where you desire, it cannot fail to +engage my full approval." + +Storri pressed his lips to Mrs. Hanway-Harley's hand as well as he could +for the interfering crust of diamonds, and said she had made him happy. + +"It will be bliss, madam, to call myself your daughter's husband," said +Storri; "but it will be highest honor to find myself your son." + +Storri did not tell Mrs. Hanway-Harley of those afternoon calls, and the +blight of Bess to fall upon them with her eternal crops and politics and +populations. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, while she grievously suspected from +Storri's sigh--which little whisper of despair still sounded in her +ears--that he had met reverses, would not voice her surmise. She would +treat the affair as commencing with Storri's request. But she would +watch Dorothy; and if she detected symptoms of failure to appreciate +Storri as a nobleman possessing wealth and station,--in short, if +Dorothy betrayed an intention to refuse his exalted hand,--then she, +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, would interfere. She would take Dorothy in solemn +charge, and compel that obtuse maiden to what redounded to her good. +Mrs. Hanway-Harley doubted neither the propriety nor the feasibility of +establishing a censorship over Dorothy's heart, should the young lady +evince a blinded inability to see her own welfare. + +"That is what a mother is for," she ruminated. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley had forcibly administered paregoric in Dorothy's +babyhood; she was ready to forcibly administer a husband now Dorothy was +grown up. The cases were in precise parallel, and never the ray of +distrust entered Mrs. Hanway-Harley's mind. Dorothy was not to escape +good fortune merely because, through some perversity of girlish +ignorance, she might choose to waive it aside. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley had Mr. Harley ask Storri to dinner on an average +twice a week; she made these slender banquets wholly informal, and quite +as though Storri were an intimate family friend. Storri commended the +absence of stilts, this abandonment of the conventional. + +"It is what I like!" cried he; "it is the compliment I shall most speak +of when I am back with my Czar." + +Following dinner, Mrs. Hanway-Harley would have Storri to the library in +engagingly familiar fashion. + +Senator Hanway went always to his study after dinner, to receive +visitors through that veranda door, and prune and train the vine of his +Presidential hopes with confabs and new plans, into which he and those +visitors--who were folk of power in their home States--unreservedly +plunged. Mr. Harley, who was not domestic and feared nothing so much as +an evening at home, would give an excuse more or less feeble and go +abroad into the town. This left Mrs. Hanway-Harley, Dorothy, and Storri +to themselves; and the maternal ally saw to it that the noble lover was +granted a chance to press his suit. That is to say, Mrs. Hanway-Harley +gave Storri a chance so far as lay in her accommodating power; for she +developed an inexhaustible roll of reasons for leaving the room, and in +her kind sagacity never failed to stay away at least five minutes. And a +world and all of love may be made in five minutes, when both parties set +their hearts and souls to the dulcet enterprise. + +Storri was ardent, and Mrs. Hanway-Harley was discreet, and both +displayed talents for intrigue and execution that, on other days, in +other fields, might well have saved a state. And yet there was no +blushing progress to the love-making! Dorothy's behavior was +unaccountable. The first evening she sat in marble silence, like an +image. The next, she would not come down to dinner, saying she was sick +and could not eat. The invalid put in a most successful evening in her +room, thinking of Richard, and gorging on miscellaneous dishes which her +sable maid abstracted from below. She would have been ill the third +time, but her mother set her face like flint against such excuse. Mrs. +Hanway-Harley declared that Dorothy's desertion was disgraceful at a +moment when she, her mother, needed her help to entertain their visitor. +With that, Dorothy's indisposition yielded, and she so far recovered as +to play her part at table with commendable spirit, eating quite as much +as her mother, who was no one to dine like a bird. But Dorothy took her +revenge; she talked of nothing but Richard, and the conversations on +politics which he and "Uncle Pat" indulged in during those +eleven-o'clock calls. + +Storri glowered; more, he became aware of Richard as the daily comrade +of Dorothy. Mrs. Hanway-Harley herself was struck by some shadow of the +truth; but she got no more than what Scotchmen call a "glisk," and she +gave the matter no sufficient weight. Later, she clothed it with more +importance. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, however, was moved to reprove Dorothy from out the +wealth of her experiences. + +"Child," said she, when Storri was gone, "you should never try to +entertain one gentleman by telling him about another; it only makes him +furious." + +"I didn't, mamma," said Dorothy, her eyes innocently round. + +"You did, only you failed to notice it," returned Mrs. Hanway-Harley. +"After this, be more upon your guard." + +"I will, mamma," replied Dorothy demurely; but she was too sly to say +against what she should guard. + +On the next Storri evening, Dorothy returned to the old ruse. She set a +lamp in her chamber window, the effect of the beacon being that Bess +came across from her house, as the clock scored eight and one-half, and +joined the Harley party. It was nothing out of common for Bess to do +this; she and Dorothy had been bosom friends since days when the two +wore their hair in pigtails and their frocks to their knees. Bess came +not only that evening, but every Storri evening; and whether or no she +were a welcome, at least she was a pertinacious visitor, for she stayed +unrelentingly until Storri, losing courage, went his way. + +Storri bit his angry lip over Bess, for he now began to read the +argument of her advent. It was Dorothy's defense against him, and in its +kind an insult. Mrs. Hanway-Harley also became more and more instructed +in this love-match so near her heart, and those difficulties which the +capricious coldness of Dorothy arranged for its discouragement. The +placidity of Mrs. Hanway-Harley was becoming ruffled; the hour was +drawing on apace when she would make clear her position. She would issue +those commands which were to fix the attitude of Dorothy towards the +sighing Storri and his love. + +Dorothy called Bess her guardian angel. The G. A. accepted the position +and its duties with that admirable composure which you have already +observed was among her characteristics. The fair Bess was one of those +whom their friends, without intending offense, describe as mildly +eccentric. That is to say, Bess had peculiarities which were in part +native and in part the work of an environment. She was an only child, +and that was bad; she was a doctor's child, and that was worse. Not that +her father had been so recklessly dense as to try his drugs on her; he +knew too much for that. But your doctor's children oft get an unusual +bringing up, and the chances in favor of the extraordinary in that +behalf are doubled where there is only one child. + +Mother Marklin had been an invalid from the babyhood of Bess. Father +Marklin, in those intervals when his brougham was not racing from one +languid, dyspeptic, dance-tired, dinner-weary, rout-exhausted woman to +another at ten dollars a drooping head, looked after Bess in that spirit +of argus-eyed solicitude with which a government looks after its crown +jewels. Bess was herded, not to say hived, and her childish days were +days of captivity. She was prisoner to her father's loving +apprehensions, he being afraid to have her out of sight. + +Then came her father's death, and the Marklin household devolved upon +Bess's hands when the hands were new and small and weak; and the load +served to emphasize Bess in divers ways. When not waiting upon the +invalid Mother Marklin, Bess broke into her father's bookshelves, and +read the owlish authors such as Bacon and Dr. Johnson, with side-flights +into Montaigne, Voltaire, Amiel, and others of hectic kidney. She +discovered, moreover, a sympathy with those women of strong minds who +have a quarrel with Providence for that they were not made men. Bess +believed in the equality of the sexes, without pausing to ask in what +they were unequal, and stood stoutly for the Rights of Woman, knowing +not wherein She was wronged or in what manner and to what extent She had +been given the worst of life's bargain. Bess was not a blue-stocking, as +Richard would have had it, and made no literary pretenses; but she +suffered from opinions concerning topics such as husband and wife, that +so far had had nothing better than theory to rest upon. All the same, +her friends were deeply satisfied with Bess; which helped that young +lady to a sense of satisfaction with herself and with them. + +As head of the Marklins, Bess was made to decide things for herself. At +that, she decided in favor of nothing terrifying. She drank tea between +three and six each afternoon; she kept a cat named Ajax; and she +resolved to marry Mr. Fopling. + +The latter young gentleman Bess called to her side when she pleased, +dismissed when he wearied her, and in all respects controlled his +conclusions, his conversations, and his whereabouts, as Heaven meant she +should. Bess preferred that Mr. Fopling call during the afternoon; she +required the morning for her household duties, and, when not screening +Dorothy from Storri, saved the evening for her books. + +Ajax was a grave and formal cat, and, in his way, a personage. He was +decorous to a degree, unbended in no confidences with strangers, and +hated Mr. Fopling, whom he regarded as either a graceless profligate or +a domestic animal of unsettled species who, through no merit and by rank +favoritism, had been granted a place in the household superior to his +own. At sight of Mr. Fopling, Ajax would bottle-brush his tail, arch his +back, and explode into that ejaculation peculiar to cats. Mr. Fopling +feared Ajax, holding him to be rabid and not knowing when he would do +those rending deeds of tooth and claw upon him, of which the +ejaculation, the arched back, and the bottle-brush were signs and +portents. + +It was the afternoon of the day following one of those Harley dinners +whereat Storri had been the sole and honored guest, and Bess was sipping +her tea. Her two favorites, Ajax and Mr. Fopling, were sitting in their +respective chairs, regarding each other with their usual suspicion and +distrust. Mr. Fopling, by command of Bess and so far as he might control +himself, was paying no attention to Ajax. Ajax, for his part, was +surveying Mr. Fopling with a sour stare, as though he found much in that +young gentleman's appearance to criticise. At intervals, he made +growling comments upon Mr. Fopling. + +"Unless you and Ajax can agree," observed Bess soberly, "one or the +other might better go into the library." + +Mr. Fopling made no demur; he was glad to go. When he was out of the +room, Ajax came and rubbed about his mistress as though claiming credit +for ousting Mr. Fopling, of whom he was certain Bess thought as badly as +did he. + +Bess was sitting where she commanded a prospect of the street. Who +should come swinging up the way but Richard? It was the habit of that +rising journalist to make one or two daily excursions past the Harley +house. Richard was none of your moon-mad ones who would strum a midnight +lute beneath a fair maid's window. Still, he liked to walk by the Harley +house; the temporary nearness of Dorothy did his soul good. Besides, he +now and then caught a glimpse of her through the window. + +Richard was on the Marklin side of the street, and as he was for going +by--back to Bess and eyes on the Harley house--Bess rapped on the pane +and beckoned him. + +Richard lifted his hat and obeyed directly. He had already met Bess +several times when Dorothy and he, with a purpose to spin out their +eleven-o'clock interview, had seized on Bess as a method. They could not +remain staring at one another in Senator Hanway's study; even that +preoccupied publicist would have been struck by the strangeness of such +a maneuver. The best, because the only, thing was to make a pretext of +Bess and transfer their love-glances to her premises. This was the +earliest time, however, that Richard had been asked to visit Bess alone, +and he confessed to a feeling of curiosity, as he climbed the steps, +concerning the purpose of the summons. + +Bess some time before had had that threatened talk with Richard +concerning marriage and husbands. + +"Wedlock," declared Bess, on that edifying occasion, while Richard +grinned and Dorothy rebuked him with a frown, "wedlock results always in +the owner and the owned--a slave and a despot. That is by the wife's +decree. The husband is slave and she despot, or he the despot and she +the slave, as best matches with her strength or weakness. Some women +desire slavery; they would be unhappy without a tyrant to obey." + +"And you--are you of those?" asked Richard, half mocking Bess. + +"No; I prefer the rôle of despot. It is the reason why I shall marry Mr. +Fopling." + +"And yet Mr. Fopling might turn out a perfect Caligula," said Richard, +with a vast pretense of warning. Mr. Fopling was not there to hear +himself ill-used. + +"Mr. Fopling," observed Bess, in tones of lofty conviction, "has no +ambitions, no energies, no thoughts; and he has money. In brief, he is +beset by none of those causes that excite and drive men into politics or +literature or trade. He will have nothing to consider in his life but +me." + +"But," said Richard, "Mr. Fopling might turn out in the end a veritable +Vesuvius. Mr. Fopling has often struck me as volcanic; who shall say +that he will not some day erupt?" + +Bess was not to be frightened. + +"Mr. Fopling will do and say and think as I direct; and we shall be +very, very happy." + +Richard gave Dorothy a comical look of simulated dismay; and shook his +head as though counseling against such heresies. + +"Of course," Bess continued, "what I propose for Mr. Fopling would not +do for you. Were you and I to marry"--Dorothy started--"it would result +in civil war. I've no doubt that you will be given a wife worthy your +tyrannical deserts. She will find her happiness in sitting at your feet, +while her love will make you its trellis to climb and clamber on." + +The conversation was not so foolishly serious as it sounds, and for the +most part Bess and Richard were indulging in just no more than so much +verbal sparring. Dorothy took no side; those questions of marriages and +wives and husbands would ever find her tongue-tied if Richard were +around. + +"Will you have some tea?" asked Bess, when Richard, in response to the +rapped window, made his way into her presence. + +No, Richard would not have tea. + +"Then you may smoke," said Bess. "That proves me your friend, doesn't +it?" as Richard started a grateful cloud. "Now, to repay my friendship, +I want to ask a question and a favor." + +"You shall!" cried Richard magniloquently. Bess and he were on amiable +terms, and he was secretly assured that the blonde pythoness approved +him. "What am I to answer? What am I to do? Has the cherished Fopling +gone astray? Say but the word, and I shall hale him to your feet." + +"Mr. Fopling is in the library," replied Bess. "He and Ajax could not +get along without quarreling, and I separated them. The question and the +favor refer to Dorothy." + +Richard colored. + +"What is the question?" said he, his voice turning deep and soft. + +"Do you love her?" This staggered Richard. Bess came to his aid. "I know +you do," said she; "I'll answer the query for you. The real question I +wanted to ask is, Have you told her? And that I'll answer: You have +not." + +"What does this lead to?" broke in Richard. A half-score of daunting +surmises had come up to shake him. + +"Don't you think you might better tell her?" continued Bess, not heeding +the question. + +"She knows," returned Richard, drawing a breath. "Dorothy knows. I've +seen the knowledge in her eyes. And she loves me!" + +"I've no doubt you've seen marvelous things in one another's eyes," +retorted Bess in a matter-of-fact way; "but I say again: Wouldn't it be +wise to tell her?" + +"Frankly, yes," replied Richard, driven desperate. "I have been on the +threshold of it, but somehow I couldn't lay hands on just the words. +Dorothy knows I love her!" he repeated as though to himself. "It would +be only a formality." + +"There is the very point," observed Bess. "It is the formality that has +become important. Do you think I would break in upon your dreams, else? +A formality is a fence. If you owned a bed of flowers, would you build a +fence about it? Then fence in your Dorothy with a formal offer of your +love." + +"I shall not rest until I've done so!" cried Richard, catching fire. + +"And then you will have done the wise and safe and just and loving +thing! Who taught you to ignore formalities? They are one's evidence of +title. Build your fence. It will be like saying to Storri: So far shalt +thou come and no farther." + +Bess looked curiously at Richard. She had mentioned Storri in a mood of +mischief, as one spurs a gamesome horse to stir its mettle. Richard's +brow was a thundercloud. + +"Why do you name Storri with Dorothy?--a serpent and a dove!" he said, +in tones very slow and full. + +"Dorothy will tell you," replied Bess. "She will turn marvelously +loquacious, once she finds herself behind her fence." + +"How shall I go to her?" exclaimed Richard. "My heart will be sick until +I've told her." + +"You will not have long to wait," said Bess laughingly. "She should have +been here ten minutes ago. I can't see what detains her." + +Richard looked bewildered and a little shocked. "Surely," he began, +"Dorothy didn't----" + +"No, no; you are not the victim of a plot, Sir Suspicious One!" cried +Bess. "It is a wonder that you are not, for your dullness surpasses +belief. Do you imagine Dorothy doesn't see you every time you walk this +street? that she hasn't seen you to-day? that she didn't see you come +in? that she won't invent some pretext for running over? Oh, foolish, +foolish bridegroom! You may guess how foolish by peeping from the +window, for here your Dorothy comes." + +At this, the benignant Bess, having questioned, advised, admonished, +and, in a measure, berated Richard, gave him her hand, as if she would +give him courage; and Richard, with the praiseworthy purpose of getting +all the courage he could, lifted it to his lips. That was the blasting +tableau at the moment Dorothy stood in the door. + +"Oh!" cried Dorothy. Then her brow crimsoned, and her eyes began to +shine like angry stars. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW STORRI MADE AN OFFER OF HIS LOVE + + +At the brow of red and those angry eyes like stars, Bess smiled +superior, in beaming toleration and affection. Bess could afford these +benevolences, being now engaged in that most delightful of all Christian +tasks to a woman, viz., superintending the love-romance of another +woman. She swept sweetly down on Dorothy; and even Richard, albeit full +to blindness of his own great passion, could not help but see that she +was as graceful as a goddess. + +Bess placed a hand on each of Dorothy's shoulders, and kissed her brow +where the angry red, already in doubt as to the propriety of its +presence, was trying to steal away unnoticed. + +"What have I done?" said Bess, as though repeating a query put by +Dorothy. "Now I no more than found a wanderer, who loves you almost as +dearly as you love him, and who would not see the way to go straight to +you with his offer of a heart. He was for traveling miles and miles +around, no one knows how many, by all kinds of hesitating roads. I +stopped him and pointed cross-lots to you. That is my whole offense; and +when you arrived, the wanderer, in a spirit of gratitude I entirely +commend, was very properly mumbling over my hands." + +Bess drew Dorothy into the room. + +"There!" cried she, "I have done my utmost best for both. I shall now +look after Mr. Fopling. Poor child, he has already been neglected too +long!" + +Bess, departing, left behind her two young people wondrously +embarrassed. Richard had been plunged into a most craven condition; +while Dorothy, head drooping like a flower gone to sleep, the flush +creeping from her brow to her cheek, began to cry gently. Two large, +round, woeful tears came slowly into the corners of her eyes, paused a +moment as though to survey the world, and then ran timidly down, one on +each side of her nose. + +At this piteous sight, Richard became a hero. Being an extremist in all +things, Richard, roused, caught Dorothy to his bosom--the first embrace +since that blessed boot-heel evening in the Waldorf! He folded her in +those Pict arms in most radical fashion, and kissed her--they were like +unto glimpses of heaven, those kisses!--kissed her eyes, and her hair, +and at last her lips, measuring one kiss from another with words of +rapturous endearment, of which "heart's love" and "darling" were the +most prudently cool. Richard refused to free Dorothy from out his arms, +not that she struggled bitterly, and continued for full ten minutes in +the utmost bliss and incoherency. + +At these unexpected pictures of Paradise before the Fall, Ajax, sole +spectator, felt profound dismay. He bottle-brushed and arched and +exploded; and then, the wretched exhibition continuing, fled. + +At last Richard listened to Dorothy, and released her to an armchair; he +took another, fastened his eyes upon her like visual leeches, and drank +her in. + +"Who so blooming, who so lovely, who so glorious as Dorothy?" thought +Richard, on whom her beauty grew with ever-increasing witchery, like a +deep, clear night of stars. + +And yet, the dough-like Fopling, at that moment in the library with +Bess, would have fought Richard to the death on a simple issue that Bess +was Dorothy's beauteous superior; which, so far from proving that love +is blind, shows it to have the eyes of Argus. + +Richard and Dorothy said a thousand loving things, and meant them; they +made a thousand loving compacts, and kept them all. + +Suddenly Richard burst forth as though a momentous and usual ceremony +had been overlooked. + +"Oh, ho!" cried he, "you haven't asked how I am to support a wife." + +"And do you suppose I have been thinking of that?" returned Dorothy, +beginning to bridle. "For that matter, I know you are poor." + +"And how did you dig that up?" + +"Dig!" This with the utmost resentment, as though repelling a slander. +"Why, you told mamma and me yourself. It was the day she was rude and +asked if Mr. Gwynn would make you his heir." + +"Surely," said Richard, grinning cheerfully, as if a puzzle had been +made plain, "so I did." + +"Sweetheart, I loved you from that moment!" cried Dorothy; and with a +half-sob to be company for the caress, she drifted about Richard's neck. + +"Now I should call poverty worth while!" said Richard, manfully kissing +Dorothy all over again, since she had come within his clutch. Then, +replacing her in her chair, the more readily because he reflected that +he might easily repossess himself of her, he continued: "And the +prospect of being a poor man's wife does not alarm you, darling?" + +"Oh, Richard!" Then, looking him squarely in the eyes: "No, dear, it +does not alarm me." + +Dorothy spoke truth. The prospect of being a poor man's wife alarms no +woman--before marriage. + +Richard was in a whirl when he left the Marklin door. Bess fairly drove +him forth, or he might not have departed at all. The first shadows of +night were falling, but the whole world seemed bright as noonday. He was +stricken of vague surprise to observe a man running by him, torch in +hand, lighting the street lamps. Controlling his astonishment, Richard +greeted the man as though they were old friends. They were not old +friends, and the effect of Richard's greeting was to lead the man of +lamps to think him drunk. + +"Got his load early!" quoth the one of lamps. He tippled himself, and +was versed in cup proprieties, which forbade drunkenness prior to ten +o'clock. + +Richard continued down the street. It was as if he were translated, and +had quitted earth to walk the clouds. And to think that not two hours +before he had come swinging along this identical thoroughfare, never +dreaming of the heaven of those loving arms into which he was walking! +Blessed be Bess! He should never forget that sorceress, who to his +weakness added her strength, and to his ignorance her wisdom. It was +such an extraordinary thing, now that Richard had time to think of it, +that Dorothy should love him! And more amazing that she should press her +cheek to his and tell him of it! Oh, he could still feel that round, +warm, velvet cheek against his own! It was such joy to remember, too, +that it was merely the beginning of an eternity of those soft +endearments! it remade the world; and all things, even those most +week-a-day and commonplace, came upon him in colors so new and strange +and rich and sweet--touched as they were with this transforming light of +Dorothy's love! Richard plowed through the winter evening in a most +ridiculous frame of mind, midway between transports and imbecility. + +"You will see me to-morrow?" pleaded Dorothy, as he came away. + +Whereat Richard averred doughtily that he should. + +Neither of the two having the practical wit to settle hour or place, +Bess, who the moment before had returned to them from Mr. Fopling with +intelligence coolly unimpaired, said: + +"Four o'clock, then; and, if I may make a suggestion, you might better +meet here." + +It was among the miracles how the high beatitude consequent upon that +wonderful event of Dorothy's love put Richard in a vaguely belligerent +mood. It was an amiable ferocity at that, and showed in nothing more +dire than just an eye of overt challenge to all the world. Also, he +dilated and swelled in sheer masculine pride of himself, and no longer +walked the streets, but stalked. Naturalists will not be surprised by +these revelations, having observed kindred phenomena in the males among +other species of animals. + +In this lofty spirit, and by a fashion of instinct, Richard headed for +the club. At the club, by the best of fortune, as he would have said in +his then temper, he located Storri; and thereupon he bent upon said +patrician such an iron stare of confident insolence that the object of +it was appreciably worried, turning white, then red, then white, and in +the finish leaving the room, unable to sustain himself in the face of so +much triumph and truculence. + +In the midst of this splendor of the soul, and just as Richard had begun +to feel a catholic pity for all mankind to think not one beyond himself +was loved by Dorothy, a message was thrust between his fingers. It ran +thus: + + R. Storms, + Washington, D. C. + + What's the matter? Where is your letter to-night? + + _Daily Tory_. + +It was like a cupful of cold water, souse! in Richard's face; it brought +him back to earth. In his successful bright estate of love he had +forgotten about that letter. There was no help for it; Richard got pen +and blank, and wired: + + _Daily Tory_, + New York City. + + Mr. Storms is ill; no letter to-night. + + L. Gwynn. + +When this was thirty minutes on its way, Richard had a further lucid +interval. With the power of prophecy upon him, he dispatched the +following: + + _Daily Tory_, + New York City. + + Mr. Storms will be ill a week. + + L. Gwynn. + +It gave Richard a pang to put aside those engaging letters, even for a +week. Under the circumstances, however, and with a promise to see +Dorothy the next day at four, and a purpose to see her every day at four +if she permitted him, he deemed it prudent to send the second message. +Besides, should his reason return before the week's end, he could +recover from that illness and take up the letters again. + +Being something sobered now, Richard lighted a cigar and strolled off +through a fall of snow that had set in, thinking on Dorothy. Arriving at +his home, he sat an hour in rose-colored reveries. He dived at last into +the bronze casket, and brought out the little boot-heel which was the +beginning of all First Causes. + +"If I could but find the cheating bungler," thought Richard, "who +slighted that little shoe in making, I'd pile fortune upon him for the +balance of his life. And to think I owe my Dorothy to the cobbling +scoundrel!" + +At three o'clock, with the soft fingers of the snow drumming drowsily +against the pane, Richard went to sleep and dreamed of angels, all of +whom were blue-eyed replicas of Dorothy. + +Richard, still in a glorified trance, was up betimes. Mr. Pickwick, who +came to fawn upon him, the same being his doggish custom of a morning, +found Richard tolerant but abstracted. Hurt by a lack of notice, Mr. +Pickwick retired, and Matzai brought in breakfast. Richard could not +avoid a feeling of distrustful contempt for himself when he discovered +that he ate like a hod-carrier. It seemed treason to Dorothy to harbor +so rude an appetite. + +While Richard had laid aside those _Daily Tory_ letters for a week, he +would still call on Senator Hanway at eleven. He considered what an +exquisite thrill would go over him as he sat gazing on Dorothy--that new +and beautiful possession of his heart! + +Rather to Richard's dismay, Dorothy was not with them that morning in +Senator Hanway's study. Had her love of politics gone cooling? Senator +Hanway was there, however, and uppermost in his mind was something that +would again require countenance of the Anaconda Airline. + +It was the subtile policy of Senator Hanway, in his move towards a +Presidency, to seem to be standing still. His attitude was feminine; the +nomination must abduct him; he must be dragged to the altar and wedded +into the White House by force. In short, Senator Hanway was for giving +the country a noble exhibition of the office seeking the man. + +This attitude of holding delicately aloof did not prevent him in the +privacy of his study--out of which no secrets escaped--from unbuckling +confidentially with ones who, like Richard, were close about his counsel +board. It was not that he required that young journalist's advice; but +he needed his help, and so gave him his confidence because he couldn't +avoid it. + +Richard wore the honors of these confidences easily. Scores of times, +Senator Hanway had gone into the detail of his arrangements to trap +delegates, wherefore it bred no surprise in him when, upon this morning, +that statesman took up the question of an Anaconda influence, and the +extent to which it might be exercised. Senator Hanway showed Richard a +list of fourteen States, all subject to the Anaconda's system of roads. + +"In my opinion," said Senator Hanway, "the Anaconda could select the +national delegations in these States. There is no doubt that the +fourteen, acting together,--for the list includes three of the largest +States in the country,--would decide the nomination. The query is, Would +Mr. Gwynn be so amiably disposed as to move in the affair? I may say +that I should not prove insensible to so great a favor." + +"Mr. Gwynn," returned Richard, "has repeatedly instructed me that you +were to regard the Anaconda as yours, and the _Daily Tory_ as yours, for +everything that either or both of them can do in your interest. It will +not be necessary to see him unless you prefer an interview." + +Senator Hanway never preferred an interview with anybody, where that +formality was not demanded by the situation. He held to the doctrine +that no one, not a fool, would talk beyond what was necessary to carry +his projects to success. His present word to Richard, however, did not +include this belief. He put it in this fashion: + +"I do not feel at liberty," said he, "to disturb Mr. Gwynn with what are +no more than just my personal concerns. He has much more weighty matters +of his own to consider; and he ought not to be loaded down with those of +other men. Besides, in this instance, his magnificent generosity has +anticipated me. He tells you that I am to have the assistance of the +Anaconda?" + +"In what form and to what extent you choose," returned Richard. "He even +said that, should you be set to head your party's ticket, the campaign +might count upon the Anaconda for a contribution of no less than a +half-million." + +Senator Hanway's pale face flushed, not with gratitude, but exultation. + +"I cannot tell you," said he, "which affects me most; Mr. Gwynn's +immense kindness or his even greater condescension." + +Then getting to things practical, Senator Hanway asked Richard if the +President and General Attorney of the Anaconda might not again be +brought to Washington. + +"They shall come," replied Richard confidently. "You have only to fix +the date." + +"Any time between the second and tenth of January," suggested Senator +Hanway. And that was settled. + +Richard, not so much because of an interest,--if truth were told his +thoughts went running away to Dorothy, and must be continually yanked +back by the ear to topics common and earthly,--but for the sake of +something to say, asked Senator Hanway about the committee of three +selected to investigate Northern Consolidated. + +"You know, the business came up because of my letters in the _Daily +Tory_," observed Richard, by way of excuse for his curiosity. + +The investigation was progressing slowly. It was secret; no part of the +evidence could be given out. It would not join with senatorial propriety +to let anything be known for publication. + +"In a semi-judicial inquiry of this sort," explained Senator Hanway, in +tones of patronizing dignity, "one of your discernment will recognize +the impropriety, as well as the absolute injustice, of foreshadowing in +any degree the finding of the committee. For yourself, however, I don't +mind saying that the evidence, so far, is all in favor of Northern +Consolidated. The company will emerge with a clean bill of health--clean +as a whistle! The committee's finding," concluded Senator Hanway +musingly, "will be like a new coat of paint to the road. It should help +it immensely--help the stock; for these charges have hung over Northern +Consolidated values like a shadow." + +"And when should the committee report?" queried Richard. + +"Those things come along very leisurely; the report ought to be public, +I should think, about the middle of February. We may give it to the road +for a valentine," and Senator Hanway smiled in congratulation of himself +for something light and fluffy, something to mark in him a pliancy of +sentiment. + +Senator Hanway--such is the weakness of the really great--had his vanity +as well as Richard, and would have been pleased had folk thought him of +a fancy that, on occasion, could break away from those more sodden +commodities of politics and law-building. Cæsar and Napoleon were both +unhappy until they had written books, and Alexander cared more for +Aristotle's good opinion than for conquest. + +Just when Richard, who had been expecting with every moment his Dorothy +to come rustling in, was beginning to despair, Dorothy's black maid +appeared, and, under pretense of asking Senator Hanway on behalf of his +devoted niece whether or no said niece might count on his escort to the +White House reception New Year's Day, craftily slipped Richard a note. + +"Why, she knows she may!" + +Senator Hanway was somewhat astonished at Dorothy's forethoughtfulness; +the more since the reception was a week and more away. + +"Miss Dory wants to have Miss Bess, from 'cross d' street, go 'long," +vouchsafed the maid. + +"Oh, that's it!" said Senator Hanway, who mistook this for an +explanation. + +Richard was on nettles to get at Dorothy's note. Anxiety sharpened his +faculties, and he took from his pocket a clipping, being indeed a _Daily +Tory_ editorial wherein was set forth what should be a proper tariff +policy, and gravely besought Senator Hanway for his views thereon. While +that statesman was donning glasses and running over the excerpt, Richard +made furtive shift to read his note from Dorothy. It said: + + Dear: + + I am with Bess. Something awful has happened. Don't wait a moment, + but come. D. + +Senator Hanway was not a little amazed when, just as he found himself +midstream in those tariff studies to which Richard had invited him, that +volatile individual arose in the utmost excitement and said that he must +go. + +"The truth is," said Richard, blundering about for the explanation which +the questioning eye of Senator Hanway appeared to ask, "I forgot a +matter of Mr. Gwynn's." + +Senator Hanway waved his satisfied hand in a manner that meant "Say no +more!" Senator Hanway did not doubt that the business was important. Any +business of Mr. Gwynn's must be important. The sheer fact that it was +Mr. Gwynn's business made it important. It bordered dangerously upon the +criminal that Richard should have neglected it. The state of affairs +described accounted most satisfactorily for Richard's breathless haste. +Senator Hanway, when he recalled the assurance of Mr. Harley, made with +bated breath but the evening before, that Mr. Gwynn's income was over +twelve hundred thousand dollars a month, sympathized with Richard's +zeal. Under similar circumstances, Senator Hanway's excitement would +have mounted as high. It is such a privilege to serve the very rich! + +Richard found Dorothy in that apartment which was but yesterday the +theater of his great happiness. She was alone; for Bess must play the +housewife, and was at that moment addressing a slattern maid upon the +sin of dust in some far-off, lofty corridor of the premises. Richard +swept Dorothy with a gray glance like a flashlight. Her face was +troubled, but full of fortitude, and she was very white about the mouth. +At sight of Richard, however, Dorothy's fortitude gave way, and went +whirling down-stream in a tempest of tears and sobs. With her poor hands +outstretched as if for protection, she felt her way blindly into the +shelter of those arms; and Richard drew her close and closer, holding +her to his heart as though she were a child. He asked no question, said +no word, sure only as granite that, whatever the trouble, it should not +take her from him. These rock-founded natures, self-reliant, +world-defying, made all of love and iron, are a mighty comfort to weak +ones; and so thought Dorothy as she lay crying in Richard's embrace. + +And now, since you have seen Dorothy safe across the harbor-bar of her +griefs, and she lies landlocked in the sure haven of the Pict arms, you +might cross the way for a space, and learn what abode at the foot of all +this disturbance of true lovers. + +It was while Richard was closeted with Senator Hanway that the storm +broke. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, after reflection, had decided to speak to her +daughter upon the subject of Storri and that noble Russian's suit. To +this end, Mrs. Hanway-Harley called Dorothy into a little parlor which +opened off her bedchamber. It was that particular apartment where Mrs. +Hanway-Harley took her naps, and afterward donned war-paint and feathers +wherewith to burst upon society. + +Dorothy came reluctantly, haunted with a forebode of impending griefs. +The room was a fashion of torture chamber to Dorothy. Mrs. Hanway-Harley +had summoned her to this room for admonition and reproach and punishment +since ever she was ten years of age. Wherefore, there was little in her +mother's call to engage Dorothy pleasantly; and she hung back, and +answered slowly, with soles of lead. + +When Dorothy at last came in, Mrs. Hanway-Harley lost no time in +skirmishing, but at once opened the main battle. + +"My child," said she, with a look that she meant should be ineffably +affectionate, and which was not, "Count Storri has been talking of you." + +"Yes?" queried Dorothy, with sinking heart, but making a gallant effort +at childish innocence. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley lost patience. She observed and resented the childish +innocence, rebuking it smartly. + +"Rub that baby look out of your face, instantly! You are not a child!" + +Dorothy stiffened like a grenadier. She remembered Richard; her mother +was right; she was not a child, she was a woman, and so the world should +find her. Dorothy's eyes began to gleam dangerously, and if Mrs. +Hanway-Harley had owned any gift to read faces, she might have hesitated +at this pinch. + +"What would you have?" said Dorothy, and her tones were as brittle and +as devoid of sentimental softness as Mrs. Hanway-Harley's. + +"Marriage." + +"Marriage with Storri?" + +"Dorothy," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley with a sigh, softly returning to the +lines she had originally laid out, "Count Storri, in the most delicate +way, like the gentleman and nobleman he is, has asked for your hand." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley had read something like this in a magazine, and now +reeled it off with tender majesty. When she spoke of Storri she had +quite the empress air. + +"For my hand!" said Dorothy, beginning to pant. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley looked up; there was a hardness in Dorothy's tone +that was not only new, but unpleasant. Down deep in her nature, Dorothy +hid those stubborn traits that distinguished her religious ancestor of +the gate-post and the water-pan. + +"For your hand," repeated Mrs. Hanway-Harley uneasily. + +Dorothy making no return, Mrs. Hanway-Harley, after waiting a moment, +gave herself to a recount of those glowing advantages promised by such a +marriage. Was a nobleman, wealthy, young, handsome, on terms of +comradeship with his Czar, to be refused? Half the women in Washington +were wild for such an offer. It would place the Harleys on a footing by +themselves. + +"But I don't love him!" urged Dorothy, as though that had to do with the +question. + +At this foolishly unfortunate objection, Mrs. Hanway-Harley was rendered +speechless. Then, as notice of Dorothy's white, cold obstinacy began to +dawn upon her, she went suddenly into lamentations. To think her child, +her only child, should deal her such a blow! Mrs. Hanway-Harley called +herself the most ill-treated of parents. She said her best and dearest +feelings had been trampled upon. In a shower of tears, and a cataract of +complaint, she bemoaned her dark, ungrateful destiny. At this, Dorothy's +tears began to flow, and the interview became hysterical. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was the earlier to recover her balance. Drying her +eyes, she said: + +"Disobedient child!"--this was also from the magazine--"since you will +not listen to the voice of love, since you will not listen to the voice +of reason, you shall listen to the voice of command." + +Then, striking a pose that was almost tragic, Mrs. Hanway-Harley told +Dorothy she _must_ marry Storri. + +"As your mother, I command it!" said Mrs. Hanway-Harley, lifting her +jeweled hand finely, as though the thing were settled and the conference +at an end. + +"And I tell you," said Dorothy, catching her breath and speaking with +bitter slowness, "that I shall not marry him!" + +"This to me!--your mother!--in my own house!" + +"You shall not drive me!" cried Dorothy passionately, her eyes roving +savagely, like the eyes of a badgered animal. "Am I to have no voice in +disposal of myself? I tell you I shall marry whom I please! And since he +makes his proffer through you, tell the creature Storri that I loathe +him!" + +"Have a care, child!" + +This last was also from the magazine, and Mrs. Hanway-Harley got it off +superbly. It missed fire, so far as Dorothy was concerned--Dorothy, +strung like a bow, and now in full rebellion. + +"It is you to have a care!" retorted Dorothy. "Papa and Uncle Pat shall +hear of this!" + +"They will say as I say!" observed Mrs. Hanway-Harley, who believed it. + +"And if they should," cried Dorothy, "I have still a resource!" + +"Flight?" said Mrs. Hanway-Harley, not without contempt. + +"Marriage!" replied Dorothy, now as dry of eye as she was defiant. Bess +Marklin was assuredly right in her estimate of formalities, and their +saving and securing worth. + +"Marriage!" repeated Dorothy, and her voice rang out in a composite note +of love and triumph as she thought of Richard. + +"Marriage!" Mrs. Hanway-Harley was staggered. Here was a pathway of +escape she had not counted on. "Whom would you marry?" + +"You shall not know," said Dorothy. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley saw truth in Dorothy's red cheek--she had been snow +till now--saw it in her swimming eye and heaving bosom. Before she could +phrase further question Dorothy had left the room, and Mrs. +Hanway-Harley was beaten. + +Somewhere in the unknown dark behind Dorothy's stubborn will stood a +man; and that man loved Dorothy. She would draw on his love and his +loyalty and his courage to make her war! Mrs. Hanway-Harley felt her +defeat, and sighed to think how she had walked upon it blindfold. But +she was not without military fairness; she must make her report. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley wrote Storri a note, saying that, for reasons not to +be overcome, the honor of his hand must be denied her house. While Mrs. +Hanway-Harley was writing Storri, Dorothy the baited was writing her +note to Richard. And now you know why Dorothy sobbed her troubled, +hunted, harassed way into Richard's arms. + +After ten minutes of love and peace, Dorothy was so much renewed that, +word for word, she gave Richard the entire story. + +"What shall I do?" said Dorothy at the close. "Tell me, dear, what am I +to do?" + +"You are in no danger," said Richard, in a manner of grim tenderness, +and folding her tight. "Before I'd see you marry Storri, I would kill +him in the church--kill him at the altar rail!" + +"You must not kill him!" whispered Dorothy, at once horrified and +flattered. + +"There's no chance," said Richard, with a quaver of comic regret. "Our +civilization has so narrowed the times that murder is inexpressibly +inconvenient. One thing I might do, however." + +"What is that?" + +"I might carry you off." + +"Oh, that would never do!" said Dorothy, as, with a great sigh, she +crept more and more into Richard's arms, thinking all the time it would +do, and do nicely. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HOW STORRI PLOTTED A VENGEANCE + + +Richard asked Dorothy if she had told Bess. No, Dorothy had not told +Bess. + +"Do you think, dear heart, I would tell anyone before I had told you?" + +As the most fitting reply to this question, Richard kissed Dorothy all +over again as though for the first time, and with a fervor that told how +his soul was in the work. + +Bess was called in as a consulting engineer of hearts. That blonde +tactician glanced over the situation with the eye of a field-marshal. +This was the result of her survey. There must be no clandestine +marriage, no elopement. Dorothy was in no peril; it was not a drawbridge +day of moated castlewicks and donjon keeps. Damsels were no longer +gagged and bound and carried to the altar, and there wedded perforce to +dreadful ogres. Wherefore, a runaway match was not necessary. Moreover, +it would be vulgar; and nothing could justify vulgarity. Dorothy and +Richard should remain as they were. They must continue to love; they +must learn to wait, and to take what advantage the flow of events +provided. + +"My wisdom," quoth Bess, pausing as if for congratulations, "my wisdom +is, doubtless, so much beyond my years as to seem unearthly. It's due to +the fact that, although young, I've been for long the responsible head +of a family." + +Bess mentioned this latter dignified condition with complacency. It left +her exempt from those troubles, like a bramble patch, into which Dorothy +was plunged. + +Both Dorothy and Richard were inclined to agree with their monitress. +Richard was too wholly of the battle-ax breed to favor stealth and +creeping about. It was in his heart to marry Dorothy defiantly, and at +noon. Dorothy's reasons were less robust; she was thinking on her father +and "Uncle Pat," and all their kindnesses. She could not make up her +loyal heart to any step that smacked of treachery to them. + +"And yet," observed Richard, "here we are where we started." Then +turning to Bess: "You have told us what we should not do, and told us +extremely well. Now bend your sage brows to the question of what we +ought to do. Or, to phrase it this fashion, What ought I to do?" + +"Go to Mrs. Hanway-Harley and ask for her daughter." + +Richard winced and made a wry face. + +"I'd sooner go to Storri. The rascal might give me a reason for +thrashing him." + +"You are on no account to mention Dorothy's name to Storri." + +"No?" somewhat ruefully. + +"And you are to beat him only should he mention Dorothy's name to you." + +"I shall;" and Richard brightened. + +"Storri asked Mrs. Hanway-Harley for her daughter. I should think you +might summon up an equal courage." + +"But I haven't the advantage of being a Russian nobleman," returned +Richard, with one of his cynical grins. + +"Still you must ask Mrs. Hanway-Harley for Dorothy; and no later, mind +you, than to-morrow night." Bess tossed her head as though a fiat had +gone forth. + +"Well," said Richard, drawing a deep breath, "if you have any such junk +as a Joss about the house, I'd take it friendly if you would burn a +handful of prayer-sticks in my interest." Then, with all love's +softness, to Dorothy: "Your mother will say No; she will not entertain +your views on poverty, little one." + +Dorothy came behind Richard's chair and pressed her cheek to his. + +"Whatever she may say, whatever anyone may say, you, and only you, +dearest, shall have me," and Dorothy signed the promise after the +fashion popular with lovers. + +Storri came that evening to see Mrs. Hanway-Harley. Both parties were +acting, Storri affecting melancholy while he was on fire with passionate +rage, and Mrs. Hanway-Harley assuming the rôle of the mother who, +although she regrets, is still tenderly unwilling to control those +wrongly headstrong courses upon which her child is bent. There was a +world of polite fencing between Mrs. Hanway-Harley and Storri, in which +each bore testimony to the esteem in which the other was held. It was +decided that Storri should continue those dinners with the Harleys; +Dorothy might discover a final wisdom. + +Storri told Mrs. Hanway-Harley that he feared Dorothy had given her +heart to Richard. This admission was gall and wormwood to the self-love +of Storri. He made it, however, and recalled Mrs. Hanway-Harley to +Dorothy's chatter concerning the morning talks between Richard and +Senator Hanway. + +"That odious printer," said Storri, who called all newspaper people +printers, "comes each day to get his budget of news from your +illustrious brother, madam; and, believe me, your daughter makes some +sly pretext for being with them--with him, the odious printer! Bah! I +wish we were in Russia; I would blow out the rogue's life like a candle! +Why, my Czar would laugh were so mean a being to succeed in obstructing +the love of his Storri!" + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was struck by the suggestion that Richard was +Dorothy's lover in the dark. She remembered Dorothy's teasing praises of +Richard, and her talk of how sapiently he discoursed with "Uncle Pat." +The praises occurred on that evening when, from her wisdom, she, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley, had warned her innocent child against the error of +entertaining one gentleman with the merits of another. Mrs. +Hanway-Harley even brought to mind the replies made by her innocent +child to those warnings; and her own wrath began to stir as the +suspicion grew that her innocent child had been secretly laughing at +her. Like all shallow folk, Mrs. Hanway-Harley prided herself upon being +as deep as the sea, and it did her self-esteem no good to think that she +had been sounded, not to say charted, by her own daughter, who had gone +steering in and out, keeping always the channel of her credulity, and +never once running aground. Little lamps of anger lighted their evil +wicks in Mrs. Hanway-Harley's eyes as she thus reflected. + +And that morning armful of roses? No, Storri was not the moving cause of +their fragrant appearance upon the Harley premises. Storri regretted +that he had not once bethought him of this delicate attention. Mrs. +Hanway-Harley wrung her hands. It was Dorothy who first planted in her +the belief that the flowers were from Storri. Oh, the artful jade! That +was the cause of her timorous objections when Mrs. Hanway-Harley, with +the fond yet honorable curiosity of a mother, spoke of mentioning those +flowers to Storri. The perjured Dorothy was aware of their felon origin; +doubtless, she even then encouraged the miserable Richard in his love. + +As these lights burst one after the other upon Mrs. Hanway-Harley, she +could have punished her own dullness by beating her head against the +wall. However, she restrained herself, and closed by inviting Storri to +dinner on the next day but one. Storri, still keeping up his tender +melancholy, thanked Mrs. Hanway-Harley, accepted, and with many bows, +and many sighs to impress upon Mrs. Hanway-Harley his stricken heart, +backed himself out into the night. + +When Storri was gone, Mrs. Hanway-Harley resolved on an instant talk +with Dorothy--no more the innocent, but the artful one. She would make a +last attempt to wring from her the name of that lover of the shadows. +Should it be Richard--and she was sure of it--that aspiring journalist +must never again cross the Harley threshold. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, who had the merit of expedition, repaired at once to +Dorothy's room. That obdurate beauty was half undressed, and her maid +had just finished arranging her hair in two raven braids--thick as a +ship's cable, they were. As Mrs. Hanway-Harley entered, Dorothy glanced +up with half-wistful eye. Poor child! she was hoping her mother might +have softened from that granite attitude of the morning! But no, there +was nothing tender in the selfish, austere gaze; at that, the spirit of +the old astronomical ancestor who, with his water-pans and gate-posts, +knew the earth was flat, began to chafe within Dorothy's girlish bosom. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley came to a dignified halt in the middle of the room. + +"Cora, you may go," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +The black maid gave a parting touch to the braids, in which she +contrived to mingle sympathy and affection, for with the wisdom of her +caste she knew of Dorothy's love and gave it her approval. + +"Dorothy," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley, when they were alone, and speaking +in a high, superior vein, "I have come for the name of that man." + +"Mr. Storms," returned Dorothy, in tones which for steadiness matched +Mrs. Hanway-Harley's. + +It was not the name so much as the relentless frankness that furnished +it, which overcame Mrs. Hanway-Harley. She sat down with an emphasis so +sudden that it was as though her knees were glass and the blow had +broken them. Once in the chair, she waggled her head dolorously, and +moaned out against upstart vulgarians who, without a name or a shilling, +insinuated themselves like vipers into households of honor, and, coiling +themselves upon the very hearthstones, dealt death to fondest hopes. + +Dorothy, who, for all the selfish shallowness of that relative, loved +her mother, tried to take her hand. At a shadow of sympathy she would +have laid before Mrs. Hanway-Harley the last secret her bosom hid. There +was no sympathy, nothing of mother's love; Mrs. Hanway-Harley, in the +narrowness of her egotism, could consider no feelings not her own. + +"Don't; don't touch me!" she cried. "Don't add hypocrisy to your +ingratitude!" Then, in tones that seemed to pillory Dorothy as reprobate +and lost, she cried: "You have disgraced me--disgraced your father, your +uncle, and me!" + +"Another word," cried Dorothy, moving with a resentful swoop towards the +bell, "and I'll call Uncle Pat to judge between us! Yes; he is in his +study. Uncle Pat shall hear you!" + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, glass knees and all, got between Dorothy and the +bell. Dorothy's uncle and Dorothy's father should know; but not then. +She had hoped that with reason she might rescue her daughter from a step +so fatal as marriage with a hopeless beggar who could not live without +the charity of his patron. These things and much more spake Mrs. +Hanway-Harley; but she might as well have remonstrated with a storm. The +gate-post grandsire had charge of Dorothy. + +"And what is to be the end of this intrigue?" asked Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +"It is no more an intrigue," protested Dorothy, her eyes flashing, "than +was your marriage to papa, or the marriage of Aunt Dorothy with Uncle +Pat. Oh, mamma," she cried appealingly, "can't you see we love each +other!" + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was a trifle touched, but it was her maternal duty to +conceal it. She steadied herself to a severe sobriety, and, with the +manner of one injured to the verge of martyrdom, said with a sigh: + +"I shall see this person; I shall send for this Mr. Storms." + +"It will be unnecessary," replied Dorothy, turning frigid; "Mr. Storms +will call upon you to-morrow night." + +"And does the puppy think that I'll give my consent?" demanded Mrs. +Hanway-Harley, angrily aghast at the insolence of Richard. + +"Now I don't know what the 'puppy' thinks," returned Dorothy, from whom +the anger of her mother struck sympathetic sparks, "but I told him I +would marry him without it." + +In a whirl of indignation, Mrs. Hanway-Harley burst in upon Senator +Hanway. That ambitious gentleman was employed in abstruse calculations +as to tariff schedules, and how far they might be expected to bear upon +his chances in the coming National Convention. Senator Hanway was +somewhat impressed by Mrs. Hanway-Harley's visit; his study had never +been that lady's favorite lounge. Moreover, her face proclaimed her +errand no common one. + +"Why, I thought you were all in bed, Barbara," said Senator Hanway, by +way of opening conversation. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, as calmly as she might, told of Dorothy's "mad +infatuation." She held back nothing except what portions of the tangle +referred to Storri. That nobleman's proposals she did not touch on. She +spoke of Richard, and the disaster, not to say the disgrace, to the +Harley name should he and Dorothy wed. Mrs. Hanway-Harley flowed on, +sometimes eloquent, always severe, and closed in with a thunder-gust of +tears. + +Senator Hanway listened, first with wonder, then alarm; when she +finished he sat with an air of helplessness. After rubbing his nose +irresolutely with a pen-holder, he said: + +"What can I do?" + +"You can advise me." + +"Well, then," observed Senator Hanway, looking right and left, being no +one to face an angry woman, "why don't you let them marry?" + +"Brother!" + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley strove to bury Senator Hanway beneath a mountain of +reproach with that one word. + +"What can you do?" asked Senator Hanway defensively. "You say that +Dorothy declares she will marry young Storms in the teeth of every +opposition." + +"Are we to permit the foolish girl to throw herself away?" + +"But how will you restrain her?" + +"One thing," exclaimed Mrs. Hanway-Harley, getting up to go; "that +person, after to-morrow, shall never enter these doors! I shall have but +one word; I shall warn him not to repeat his visits to this house." + +The change that came over Senator Hanway struck Mrs. Hanway-Harley with +dumb dismay. His eye, which had been prying about for an easiest way out +of the dilemma, now filled with threatening interest. + +"Barbara, sit down!" commanded Senator Hanway. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley sat down; she was, with the last word, in awe of her +eminent brother. Senator Hanway arose and towered above her with +forbidding brow. The threat to bar the Harley doors to Richard had set +him agog with angry apprehensions. What! should his best agent of +politics, one who was at once the correspondent of that powerful +influence the _Daily Tory_ and the authorized mouthpiece of the +potential Mr. Gwynn who owned the Anaconda, nay, was the Anaconda, be +insulted, and arrayed against him? And for what? Because of the baby +heart of a girl scarce grown! Was a White House to be lost by such +tawdry argument? Forbidding Richard the door might of itself appear a +meager matter, but who was to say what results might not spring from it? +Senator Hanway had seen the gravest catastrophies grow from reasons +small as mustard seed! A city is burned, and the conflagration has its +start in a cow and a candle! Mrs. Hanway-Harley shall not put his hopes +to jeopardy in squabbles over Dorothy and her truant love. Senator +Hanway felt the hot anxiety of one who, bearing a priceless vase through +the streets, is jostled by the inconsiderate crowd. Domestic politics +and national politics had come to a clash. + +Senator Hanway stood staring at Mrs. Hanway-Harley. He required time to +gather control of himself and lay out a verbal line of march. He decided +for the lucid, icy style; it was his favorite manner in the Senate. + +"Barbara," said he, "give careful ear to what I shall say. I do not +request, I do not command, I tell you what _must_ be done. I do not +interfere between you and Dorothy; I interfere only between you and Mr. +Storms. That young man is necessary to my plans. He is to come to this +study, freely and without interference. Nor are you, on any occasion, or +for any cause, to affront him or treat him otherwise than with respect." + +"But, brother," urged Mrs. Hanway-Harley, "he has trapped Dorothy into a +promise of marriage." + +"Why do you object to him?" + +"He has no fortune; the man's a beggar!" + +"He has his money from the _Daily Tory_, say five thousand a year. That +is as much as I am paid for being Senator." + +"There is no parallel! Your salary may be five thousand; but you make +twenty-fold that sum," which was quite true. + +"Barbara," remarked Senator Hanway reprovingly, returning to the +original bone of dispute, "why should you insist on this young man +owning millions before he can think of Dorothy? You had nothing, John +had nothing, when you married. You should remember these things." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley refused to remember. There was no reason why she +should. Dorothy was the present issue; and Dorothy was--or would +be--rich. + +"I won't go into the business any further," retorted Senator Hanway at +last, with a gesture of irritation and disgust. "I simply tell you that +Mr. Storms is neither to be affronted nor driven away. Should you +disregard my wishes, Barbara, I say to you plainly that I myself will +bring the young people together, send for a preacher, and marry them in +this very study. I am not to lose a Presidency because you choose to +play the fool." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, illustrious in all her diamonds, upon the next +evening received Richard in vast state. She proposed to impress him with +her splendors. Dorothy, in anticipation of the meeting between mother +and lover, had gone across to Bess; her nervousness must have support. + +Richard, whose diplomacy was barbaric and proceeded on straight lines, +told Mrs. Hanway-Harley of his love for Dorothy. As his handsome face +lighted up, even Mrs. Hanway-Harley was not unswept of admiration. She +could look into Richard's eyes, and see for herself those gray beauties +of tenderness and truth that had won Dorothy to his side. They might +have won even Mrs. Hanway-Harley had she not been a mother. What if he +were tender, what if he were true? He had no fortune, no place; even the +Admirable Crichton, wanting social station and the riches whereon to +base it, would have been impossible. + +When Richard had ended his love-tale--which, considering that for all +his outward fortitude he was inwardly quaking, he told full +eloquently--Mrs. Hanway-Harley composed herself for reply. She hardly +required those warnings of Senator Hanway; there was no wish now to +insult or humble him. In truth, Mrs. Hanway-Harley was in the best +possible temper to carry forward her side of the conference in manner +most creditable to herself and most helpful for her purposes. More than +ever, since she had heard him, she knew the perilous sway this man must +own over her daughter. While he talked, the deep, true tones were like a +spell; the great, tender, persistent will of a man in loving earnest +seemed as with a thousand soft, resistless hands to draw her whither it +would. Even she, Mrs. Hanway-Harley, selfish, guarded, worldly, cold, +was shaken and all but conquered beneath the natural hypnotic power of +the male when speaking, thinking, feeling, moving from the heart. Oh, +she would warrant her daughter loved this wizard! She, herself, was +driven to fence against his pleadings to keep from granting all he +asked. But fence she did; Mrs. Hanway-Harley remembered that she was a +mother, an American mother whose daughter had been asked in wedlock by a +Count. She must protect that daughter from the wizard who would only +love to blight. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley never spoke to more advantage. She did not doubt Mr. +Storms's honesty, she did not distrust his love; but woman could not +live by love alone, and she had her duty as a mother. Dorothy had been +lapped in luxury; it was neither right nor safe that her daughter should +marry downhill. Mrs. Hanway-Harley's voice was smoothly even. Mr. Storms +must forgive a question. Something of the kind had been asked before, +but changes might have intervened. Had Mr. Storms any expectations from +Mr. Gwynn? + +"Madam," replied Richard, while a queer smile played about his mouth, a +smile whereof the reason was by no means clear to Mrs. Hanway-Harley, +"madam, I shall be wholly honest. Living or dead, gift or will, I shall +never have a shilling from Mr. Gwynn." + +"Then, Mr. Storms," returned Mrs. Hanway-Harley, "I ask you whether I +would be justified in wedding my daughter to poverty?" + +"But is money, that is, much money, so important?" pleaded Richard. "I +have education, health, brains--in moderation--and love to prompt all +three. That should not mean beggary, even though it may not mean +prodigious wealth." + +"Every lover has talked the same," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley, not +unkindly. "Believe me, Mr. Storms: no man should ask a woman in marriage +unless he can care for her as she was cared for in her father's house." + +"But the father's fortune is not sure," remonstrated Richard. "The +father's riches, or the lover's poverty, may vanish in a night." + +"We must deal with the present," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +Richard pondered the several perplexities of the case. + +"If I had a fortune equal to Mr. Harley's, you would not object, madam?" + +"It is the only bar I urge," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley suavely. + +"Then I am to understand that, should a day come when I can measure +wealth with Mr. Harley, I may claim Dorothy as my own?" + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley bowed. + +"My daughter, however, must not be bound by any promise." + +"Your daughter, madam," returned Richard, with a color of pride, "shall +never be bound by me. Though I held a score of promises, I would have no +wife who did not come to me of her free choice. I do not look on love as +a business proposition." + +"Older people do," responded Mrs. Hanway-Harley dryly. + +"Madam," said Richard, "I have only one more question to ask. What is to +be my attitude towards your daughter, while I am searching for that +fortune?" + +It was here that Mrs. Hanway-Harley made her greatest stroke; she +reached Richard where he had no defense. + +"Your attitude, Mr. Storms, towards my daughter, I shall leave to you +for adjustment as a man of honor." + +Richard crossed the street to Dorothy and told her what had passed. +Dorothy kissed him, and cried over him, and made a wail against their +darkling fate. + +"How I wish papa was poor!" cried Dorothy. "I wish he didn't have a +dollar!" Then, conscience-stricken: "No, I don't! Poor pop; he doesn't +hate money, if I do." + +Richard took Dorothy's sweet face between his hands, and looked into her +eyes. + +"You will believe me, darling?" + +"Yes!" + +"Then don't weep, don't worry! I promise that within the year you shall +be my wife. I'll find the way to find the money." + +"And hear me promise," returned Dorothy. "Money or no money, I'll become +your wife what day you will." + +Of course, after such a speech, there befell a sweet world and all of +foolish tenderness; but, since the scandalized Ajax would not stay to +witness it, neither shall you. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley said nothing to Dorothy of her interview with +Richard; she appeared to believe that Richard had saved her that labor. +There was a kind of sneer in this. Feeling the sneer, Dorothy put no +questions; she was willing, in her resentment, to have it understood +that Richard had told her. Why should he not?--she who was to be his +wife! Dorothy would have been proud to proclaim her troth from the +house-tops. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley had Storri to dinner. Dorothy, when he was announced, +sought her room. A moment later, Mrs. Hanway-Harley was at the door. She +came in cool, collected, no trace of anger. Why did not Dorothy come +down to dinner? Dorothy did not come down to dinner because Dorothy did +not choose. + +"You do not ask Mr. Storms to dinner," said Dorothy, her color coming +and her eyes beginning to glow. "I will not meet your Storri." + +"Mr. Storms is not in our set, dear," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley coldly. + +"He is in my heart," returned Dorothy. + +The self-willed one seated herself stoutly, and never another word could +Mrs. Hanway-Harley draw from her. + +Storri received the excuses for Dorothy's vacant place at table which +Mrs. Hanway-Harley offered; for all that he read the reason of her +absence, and his pride fretted under it as under a lash. + +New Year's Day; and the diplomatic reception at the White House. The +President stood in line with his Cabinet people, and the others filed +by. Richard, being utterly the democrat, was, of course, utterly the +aristocrat, since these be extremes that never fail to meet. Wherefore, +Richard did not take his place in the procession and waver painfully +forward, at a snail's pace, to shake the Presidential hand. It was a +foolish ceremony at which Richard's self-respect rebelled. There was no +hand, no masculine hand, at least, which Richard would wait in line to +grasp. + +Richard, while declining to become part of the pageant, looked on. It +was worth while as a study in human nature. The President peculiarly +claimed his notice; by every sign it was this man who would oppose +Senator Hanway, if the latter gentleman achieved his ambition and was +put forward to lead his party's ticket. Richard compared the present +handshaking President with Senator Hanway, the latter being thereby +advanced. The President was a smooth, smug personage, of an appetite +rather than an ambition for office. Ambition is a captain, appetite a +camp-follower; for which reason the President was one who would never +lead, never oppose a movement. Essentially, he was of the candidate +class. Indeed, he had, as an individual, the best characteristics of a +canal. He was narrow, even, currentless, with a mental fall of two feet +in the mile. He lived conservatively between his banks, and went never +so foolishly lucid as to show you how shallow he was. Just a trifle +thick, he seemed to the eye as deep as the skies were high; any six-foot +question, however, would have sounded him. + +And yet he was in his day much lauded as a safe executive. There may +have been truth in that. Your man of timid, slim, and shallow +mediocrities, comparable to a canal, is not to be despised. He will not +be the Mississippi, truly; he will sweep away no bridges, overflow no +regions roundabout; no navies will battle on his bosom; the world in its +giant commerces will not make of him a thoroughfare. But he will mean +safety and profit for a horde of little special selfish interests, and +that is the sort of President a day dominated of Money demands. In the +far Southwest the cattle barons knock the horns off cattle; a hornless +steer comes to the slaughter pen more quietly and with less of threat to +those who handle him. In a day when Money rules as King, its first care +is to knock the horns off originality and brains. Money wants no great +horned mental forces roaming the world; they might become a threat. +Richard thought on these matters as he considered this conservative, +careful White House one, whose pains had ever been to think nothing that +hadn't been thought, say nothing that hadn't been said, do nothing that +hadn't been done. + +"He is like a bucket of spring water," thought Richard, as he turned +away, "cool, pure, tasteless. But there isn't enough of him to put out a +fire, or swim a boat, or turn the wheel of any mill of moment." + +Richard went into the Green Drawing-room, where the younger, gayer +spirits were "receiving behind the line." There he saw Dorothy and Bess. +Before he could go to them, he caught the snarling accents of Storri. He +turned; that Russ was almost at his elbow. Storri, as though for +Richard's ear, was saying to a vapid young man whom Richard had seen at +the club: + +"Oh! that is Miss Harley;--the one with the blue eyes and black hair. +Bad combination, believe me! I, who am a gentleman--a Russian +gentleman--give you my word that blue eyes and black hair mean treason +to a lover. No, I can't take you to her; she has shown a preference for +me, and I do not care to distinguish her by too much notice until I have +thought her over. On my soul, yes; I must think her over!" + +Richard's hand fell heavy and rude on Storri's shoulder. + +"Come with me," said he. + +Storri had not counted on this; those sacred White House walls should +have protected him. He looked appealingly at his friend. + +"Your friend will pardon you," said Richard coolly, "and, for this time, +you shall come back safe." + +Richard drew Storri to a window, where they were by themselves. + +"Pay heed to what I shall say," gritted Richard, and his eyes gave forth +a gray glimmer, like a saber suddenly unsheathed: "You must never take +Miss Harley's name upon your lips. Should you do so, I shall twist your +neck as once I twisted your fingers." + +Storri began a spluttering stammer of protest and reproach. + +"Don't hector me!" whispered Richard, with a sharp fervor of ferocity +that made Storri start, "or, when next we meet in the street, I'll take +my cane and beat you like a dog!" + +Storri turned and tried to hide the fear that fed upon him with a tinge +of swagger. This in the White House--the palace of their President! +Storri was more and more convinced that the Americans were a rabble and +not a people! + +"Remember!" said Richard, and the tones were like a threat of death. + +That evening, early, Richard met Dorothy at Bess Marklin's. He made no +revelations touching his colloquy with Storri. There was a thick +down-come of snow, and the new flakes covered the street like feathers +to a fluffy depth of two inches. As Dorothy and Richard reached the +sidewalk on Dorothy's return to the Harley house, Richard, with the +abrupt remark: "I'll save you from the snow, my dear!" caught Dorothy in +those Pict arms and strode across. + +Dorothy was so amazed by this gallant attention that she was over before +she spoke a word. As Richard landed her, light as a leaf, within her +father's portals, she said in remonstrance: + +"What made you do it? Did you not see that odious Storri coming?" + +"It was for Storri I did it. I wanted to emphasize some remarks I had +the honor to make to him this afternoon." + +Dorothy fluttered to her room to prepare for the seven-o'clock dinner, +while her unconventional loved one turned with a hope of meeting Storri. +The fierce truth was, Richard, who, as you have been told, was at bottom +full as savage as the Russian, had gone hungering for hostilities with +that nobleman. Storri's comments on Dorothy had exploded all the hateful +powder in Richard's composition. + +Storri may have had some glint of Richard's feeling; sure it was that, +although bent upon dining at the Harley house when he was so +unexpectedly treated by Richard and Dorothy to that picture of Paul and +Virginia modernized, he wheeled upon his heel and disappeared. Richard, +search as he might, met never the shadow nor the ghost of Storri. + +Storri went direct to his rooms. All the wolves of anger and jealousy +and hate were tearing at his soul. Richard's threats; and he too craven +to make reply! Dorothy in Richard's arms; and he powerless to interfere! +The day had been a day of fire for him! He must make a plan; he must +have revenge. + +Full of a black resolve, Storri tore open his desk. He took out those +French shares and fluttered the little package of papers between his +angry fingers as though the feel of them could give him consolation. He +looked at those poor forgeries of his name by Mr. Harley. Then he wrote +a note to that gentleman and urged him, by every name of business, to +call without delay. Mr. Harley must come at once. The note in the hands +of a messenger, Storri commenced to rove the floor like some +rage-frenzied beast. + +"We shall see!" he cried, tossing his hands. "I have the father in my +fingers--aye! in these fingers! I can pull him to pieces like a toasted +lark--yes, limb from pinion, I, Storri, shall tear him asunder! I can +torture, I can crush! He is mine to destroy! My power over him shall be +my power over her! The stubborn Dorothy shall come to me on her +knees--to me, Storri, whom she has affronted! She shall beg my favor for +her father! What should be the ransom? Who shall measure my demands when +I have conquered? I, who am to have my neck twisted!--I, who am to be +beaten like a dog!--I shall name to her the terms. They shall be +ruin--ruin for her, ruin for him, ruin for all who have put their +slights upon me! The proud Dorothy must give me herself to buy her +father's safety! Her pride shall creep, her face lie in the dust! She +shall be Storri's! When her beauty fades--in a year--in two years--I +will cast her aside; I, Storri, whom these feeble people have defied!" + +In the midst of the ravings of the hate-racked Storri, there came a tap. +A card was thrust in. Storri's onyx eyes gloated as he read the name. + +"Harley!" said Storri. Then to the one at the door: "Have him up!" His +voice sunk to an exultant whisper as he heard Mr. Harley's step in the +hall. "Now is my vengeance to begin the feast! They shall know, these +feeble ones, what it is to brave a Russian!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HOW MR. HARLEY FOUND HIMSELF A FORGER + + +In the economy of the Harleys, the gray mare was the better horse, at +least the gray mare thought so. Mrs. Hanway-Harley put no faith in Mr. +Harley. He was an acquiescent if not an obedient husband, and, rather +than bicker, would submit to be moderately henpecked. When the +henpecking was carried to excess, Mr. Harley did not peck back; he +clapped on his hat, bolted for the door, and escaped. These measures, +while effective in so far that they carried Mr. Harley beyond the +immediate range of Mrs. Hanway-Harley's guns, left that wife and mother +with a depleted opinion of Mr. Harley. She could not respect one who +failed to give her battle, being offered proper provocation; and in that +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was one with all the world. To fight is now and then +an obligation. + +Thinking thus lightly of Mr. Harley, and remembering, too, that Dorothy +could coil him round her finger, quell him with a tear, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley did not take him into her confidence as to those love +proffers of Storri, and Dorothy's rebellion. What would have been the +good? Mr. Harley's advice was nothing, while his countenance, as far as +it went, would be given to Dorothy the disobedient. Also, he would go to +Senator Hanway with the tangle. Such a course might bring her brother +actively upon the field; and Mrs. Hanway-Harley had gleaned enough from +her talk with Senator Hanway to know that, should he assume a part, it +would not be in support of her interest. These considerations came and +went in Mrs. Hanway-Harley's mind, with the result that she decided to +say nothing to Mr. Harley. + +Dorothy, for argument of modesty and a girl's reserve, emulated her +mother's example of silence. For one thing, she felt herself in no +danger. As against the demands of Mrs. Hanway-Harley, Dorothy, thus far, +had held the high ground. Moreover, she was confident of final victory. +No one could compel her either to receive Storri's addresses or cease to +think of Richard. Dorothy added to this the knowledge that, should she +draw Mr. Harley into her troubles by even so much as a word of their +existence, Mrs. Hanway-Harley might be relied upon from that moment to +charge him with being the author of every disappointment she underwent. +Thus it came to pass that, as Mr. Harley complacently sat down to dinner +that particular New Year's evening, he had not been given a murmur of +those loves and hates and commands and defiances and promises and +intermediations which made busy the closing days of the recent year for +Dorothy, Richard, Bess, Storri, and Mrs. Hanway-Harley. Mr. Harley +possessed an excellent appetite that New Year's evening; it might have +been diminished of edge had his ignorance been less. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley looked for Storri to drop in, but since the promise +of his coming was known only to herself--she did not care to furnish the +news of it to Dorothy the rebellious--the failure of that nobleman to +appear bred no general dismay. The dinner went soberly forward, and Mr. +Harley especially derived great benefit therefrom. + +Mr. Harley had just finished his final glass of wine, and was saying +something fictional about a gentleman at the Arlington upon whom he +ought to call, and what a bore calling upon the fictional gentleman +would be, when Storri's note came into his hands. He glanced it over, +and then seized upon it as the very thing to furnish a look of integrity +to his story of the mythical one. He gave the note a petulant slap with +the back of his fingers, and remarked: + +"I declare! Here he is writing me to come at once." + +Mr. Harley got into his hat and coat, and then got into the street, +observing as he did so that he feared the business in hand might keep +him far into the morning. + +The guilty truth was this: Mr. Harley concealed a private purpose to +play cards with a select circle of statesmen who owned a taste to begin +the year with draw poker at Chamberlin's. However, there existed in the +destinies of Mr. Harley not the faintest call for all this elaboration +of deceit. Mrs. Hanway-Harley would not have uttered a whisper of +objection had he openly declared for an absence of a fortnight, with the +design of playing poker, nothing but poker, every moment of the time. +But it is the vain fancy of some men to believe themselves and their +company those things most longed for at home, when the precise converse +of such condition of longing is the one which exists, and this fancy was +among the weaknesses of Mr. Harley. Besides, he revered the truth so +much that, like his Sunday coat, he employed it only on rare occasions, +and when advantage could be arrived at in no other way. Truth was a +pearl, and Mr. Harley felt strongly against casting it before the swine +of every common occurrence, when mendacity would do as well or better. +Wherefore, and to keep his hand in, Mr. Harley invariably romanced in +whatever he vouchsafed of himself or his habits to Mrs. Hanway-Harley. +Nor was this so unjust as at a first blink it might seem. If Mr. Harley +misled Mrs. Hanway-Harley as to his personal movements, she in return +told him nothing at all of her own, the result, to wit, total darkness, +being the same for both. However, they were perfectly satisfied, rightly +esteeming the situation one wherein, if ignorance were not bliss, at +least it was folly to be wise. + +The winter evening, still, not cold, was clear and crisp, with the snow +squeaking cheerfully under foot, and Mr. Harley waddled on his way +towards Storri's door in that blandness of mood which comes to one whose +wine and dinner and stomach are in comfortable accord. Waddled is the +word; for with his short legs, and that profundity of belt proper to +gentlemen who have reached the thither side of middle age, and given +years to good eating and drinking, Mr. Harley had long since ceased to +walk. + +Mr. Harley was not surprised by the urgent character of Storri's +summons. Doubtless, the business related to Credit Magellan, and what +steps in Wall Street and the Senate were being taken for a conquest of +Northern Consolidated. Affairs in those theaters of commercial effort +were as they should be. Things were moving slowly, they must of +necessity move slowly, and Storri had grown impatient. The Russian's +warmth was expected; Mr. Harley had read him long since like a primer +book. Storri was excitable, volatile, full of fever and impulse, prone +to go off at tangents. In some stress of nerves he had sent for Mr. +Harley to urge expedition or ask for explanations. The thing had chanced +before. Mr. Harley would cool him into calmness with a dozen words. +Storri's poise restored, Mr. Harley would seek those speculative +statesmen, lusting for draw-poker. He should be with them by ten +o'clock--a ripe hour for cards. Mr. Harley would oppose poker in its +usual form and argue for table-stakes--five thousand dollars a corner. +Two of the speculative statesmen were not worth five thousand dollars. +So much the better; in case he were fortunate, Mr. Harley would accept +their paper. The last was to be preferred to money. Mr. Harley had many +irons of legislation in the congressional fires; a statesman's note of +hand should operate to pave the way when his influence and his vote were +to be asked for. Should Mr. Harley lose at poker, his losses would be +charged against that railroad and those coal companies whose interests +about Congress it was Mr. Harley's mission to conserve. There was no +doubt of the propriety of such charges; they belonged in any account +which was intended to register the cost of legislation. If you but stop +and think, you must see the truth of the above. Thus cantered the +cogitations of Mr. Harley until, fetching up at his journey's end, he +sent in his card to Storri. + +At Mr. Harley's appearance, Storri's arm-tossing and raving ended +abruptly. He became oily and purringly suave, and bid Mr. Harley light a +cigar which he tendered. A cat will play with a mouse before coming to +the final kill; and there was a broad streak of the feline in Storri. +Now that his victim was within spring, he would play with him as +preliminary to the supreme joy of that last lethal crunch. + +Following the usual salutations, Mr. Harley sat in peace and favor with +himself, waiting for Storri to begin. He would let Storri vent his +excitement, blow off steam, as Mr. Harley expressed it; and then he +would go about those calmative steps of explanation and assurance +suggested of the case. + +Storri strode up and down, eying Mr. Harley with a mixed expression of +cruelty and triumph which, had Mr. Harley caught the picture of it, +might have made him feel uneasy. However, Mr. Harley was not looking at +Storri. He was thinking on ending the interview as quickly and +conveniently as he might, and hurrying posthaste to those speculative +ones. + +"Why did I bring you here to-night?" asked Storri at last. + +"Northern Consolidated, I suppose," said Mr. Harley, looking up. + +Storri laughed, and a white flash of his teeth showed in a tigerish way. + +"Come!" cried Storri, smiting his hands in a kind of rapture of cruelty; +"I will not, what you call it, beat about the bush. It is not Credit +Magellan; it is not Northern Consolidated; no, it is not business at +all. What! shall Storri be forever at some grind of business? Shall he +never pause for love? My Czar would tell you another tale. Listen, my +friend. I have done you the honor--I, Storri, a Russian nobleman, have +done you the honor to adore your daughter." + +Mr. Harley gaped and stared; he could not have been more impressed had +the statue of Liberty which topped the Capitol dome stepped down for a +stroll in the Capitol grounds. And yet he was not shocked; if Dorothy +had decided on Storri for her husband, well and good; he was too +indulgent a father to quarrel with her. + +"I have spoken to Mrs. Hanway-Harley of my passion," continued Storri, +still pacing to and fro. "She is so charming as to encourage it." + +"Why, then," broke in Mr. Harley, in evident relief, "you have gone the +right way about the matter. If my wife favors you, assuredly you may +count upon my consent." + +"Bah!" returned Storri, snapping his fingers. "Mrs. Hanway-Harley +consents; you consent; I am flattered! The fastidious Miss Dorothy, +however, refuses my love--puts it aside! Storri is not the man! On my +soul! Storri is declined by a little American who draws her blood from +peasants!" and Storri threw his hands palm upward, expressing +self-contempt in view of the insult thus put upon him. + +"Does my daughter decline your love?" + +"It is not that." Storri could not for his vanity's sake, even after he +himself had used them, accept those terms. "Her heart has--what shall we +say?--a tenant. Your daughter has gone among her own kind with her love. +It is that fellow Storms--it is he whom your daughter's taste prefers." + +"Dorothy loves Mr. Storms," said Mr. Harley, speaking slowly, as men +will on the receipt of surprising news. "And she does not love you." +After a thoughtful pause, Mr. Harley concluded: "It is a subject about +which I should hesitate to counsel my daughter." + +"I do not ask you to counsel her; you shall compel her." + +"Why, sir!" exclaimed Mr. Harley, starting up and growing apoplectic +with anger, "do you imagine that I'll force my child into your arms? If +you were that Czar whom you are so fond of quoting, I would not do it!" + +This came off in a great burst, and Mr. Harley in his turn began to pace +the floor. The two passed and repassed each other as they walked up and +down, Mr. Harley puffing and swelling, Storri surveying him with leering +superiority. + +"Sit down!" cried Storri suddenly, after a minute spent in marching and +countermarching. "I will show you that you are in my hand." + +Storri had become calm and business-like; his new manner mystified Mr. +Harley and worked upon him. He dropped into the chair to which Storri +motioned him. From his pocket, Storri took out those French shares. + +"Do you see where you forged my name?" said he. "Can you tell me the +punishment for forgery?" + +"Forgery!" panted Mr. Harley, in a whirl of rage and wonder. "Did you +not tell me to write your name? Was it not to sustain your deal in +sugar?" + +"Come--you Harley--you John Harley," returned Storri, his cruelty +beginning to bubble into exultation, "how small a thing you are when +opposed to Storri! See, now; it begins when you sacrifice for me those +seven thousand dollars. It was then I set a trap for you--you, the +cunning Mr. Harley! It was so simple; I need only give you a chance to +forge my name and you forge it. From that moment you have had but the +one alternative. You must follow my commands, or you must take the +common course of criminals, and go to prison. And now--you Harley--you +John Harley--you, who pride yourself for your respectability, for your +place in the world, for your illustrious relative Senator Hanway--hear +me: You are to be my slave--my dog to fetch and carry. You are to do my +will; or I swear by my Czar and by the heart in the breast of my Czar +that I'll drag you before the world as a felon." + +Storri delivered this menace with a ruthless energy that sent it home +like a javelin. It struck the color from the ruddy countenance of Mr. +Harley, and left him white as linen three times bleached. + +"Yes," went on the vindictive Storri in an exultant crow, "did you +little people believe you were to laugh at Storri and pass unpunished? +Did you think to insult him and escape his vengeance? Bah! the +super-fine Dorothy is to spurn Storri for a varlet like this Storms! She +is to laugh at Storri's love, and tell how she refused a nobleman! +Excellent; we shall see her laugh when her father--Mr. Harley--Mr. John +Harley--the great Mr. John Harley--brother-by-law of the still greater +Senator Hanway--stands in the dock as a forger. Will not our Dorothy +laugh? John Harley, forger; why not!" + +Mr. Harley sat ghastly and still, while Storri rambled on for the mere +pleasure of torture. He did not leave Mr. Harley a hope wherewith to +prop himself. The deal in sugar had been in Mr. Harley's sole name--an +individual deal. There was not the flourish of a pen to prove Storri's +interest. Storri would even show how, for that very sugar stock, in that +very market, he was dealing the other way, selling ten thousand shares. + +"But you paid your half of the losses in the deal in my name." Mr. +Harley's voice, commonly rich and full, was huskily dry. "That, when I +show it, will prove your interest." + +"And how are you to show it?" cried Storri. "I paid in money; I did not +give you a check. There's not an exculpatory scrap at bank or broker's +in your defense. You make a deal; you are crowded for margins; you have +my French shares in your pocket as my agent in another transaction; you +offer them; the broker will not accept, they do not have my signature; +you are back in five minutes with a forgery, and obtain the money you +require. The thing is complete; I tell you, Harley--Mr. John Harley--you +are trapped. There is no escape; I have my knee on your neck." + +Mr. Harley, still white, was beginning to regain his mental feet. He saw +the apparent hold that Storri had upon him. It was enough. To be merely +charged as a forger--to be apprehended as a criminal, would be ruin, +utter ruin, even if the affair were there to end. It would mean the +downfall of Senator Hanway's hopes of a White House. The simple +arrest--it would go like wildfire throughout the press--meant +destruction for Senator Hanway, for Dorothy, for Mrs. Hanway-Harley, for +all. + +White and stricken, Mr. Harley pondered these questions, while Storri +watched him. Storri himself did not care to push for extremes. In his +vain egotism, which was like a madness, he would not have scrupled to +brand Mr. Harley as a forger had he been defied. But such a step was not +what Storri aimed at. It was his own possession of Dorothy rather than a +vengeance upon Mr. Harley that he sought to compass. Therefore, as +Storri made plain his power and threatened its exercise, he considered +Mr. Harley with the narrow intentness of a lynx. He was striving to +measure the other's resistance. He noted the horror of Mr. Harley at the +term forger; he observed Mr. Harley's growing sense of helplessness as +he, Storri, set forth how Mr. Harley lay in the toils. Now, when Mr. +Harley was prostrate beneath the harrow of every alarm, Storri, sure of +success, went off on an easier tack--that is, easier for Mr. Harley. + +"But why do we lose our self-control?" cried Storri, voice and manner +changed from black to white, clouds to sunshine; "we are men, not angry +children! See, now, I want nothing a gentleman of honor might not grant. +I love your daughter--good! a Russian nobleman loves your daughter! Is +that disgrace? You approve; your wife approves! The daughter is young; +she must be wooed before she is won. What then: Is Storri to despair? +The lady would put Storri's love to the test. She says: 'You must court +me before you shall wed me. You are not to have me without a struggle, +lest you think me of small worth.' The lady has pride; the lady has +discretion; the lady sets a value upon herself. Why should she not? It +compels me, Storri, to appreciate her charms still more and more. There; +I have painted the state of affairs. I have now but two requests; I will +not call those requests commands," and Storri rustled the French shares +suggestively. "No, I am to call them requests. Can you not exercise a +paternal authority to have your daughter receive my respectful visits? +Also, can you not exercise it to put an end, absolutely an end, to her +interviews with this Mr. Storms?" + +"How can I compel her?" + +"You must do it!" roared Storri, his anger taking renewed edge. "You +must, you shall! What! am I to be thwarted, affronted, undone by a girl? +Two things I demand: she is to see me; and she is not to see that +Storms. Do I ask much? It is little for a child to pay for a father's +safety; little for a man to pay for his own. What forger or what +forger's daughter has made such terms? Bah!" + +The insult scarcely roused Mr. Harley; he was stunned, his face was +clammy with sweat. It was like a dream of horror! Look where he would, +there showed but the one door of escape. Storri was to see Dorothy; +Dorothy was not to see Richard! + +After all, it did not present unbearable conditions. Moreover, time +would bring about its shifts. In a week, in a month, in six months, Mr. +Harley might have Storri helpless as Storri now had him. It was a case +for delay; Mr. Harley must have breathing space. + +"That is all you require?" said Mr. Harley, his voice the same dry, +husky croak. "You are to see my daughter? and Mr. Storms is not to see +her?" + +"Do that, and I will answer for the balance!" cried Storri. "Do that, +and she will love me--she will be my wife!" + +"And no more talk of--of forgeries?" + +"My dear Mr. Harley!" exclaimed Storri, "I am a gentleman--a Russian +gentleman. I ask you, in candor, does a gentleman arrest his wife's +father on a charge of forgery? Come; let us have confidence in one +another. We are friends, are we not?--we, who are to be in closer +alliance when your daughter becomes my Countess wife. Bah! who shall +talk of forgeries then?" + +The evening was still young--nine o'clock--when Mr. Harley found himself +again in the street, bending his slow step homeward. He was wholly +adrift now from any thought of those speculative ones at Chamberlin's. +What Storri had said engrossed him miserably. He entertained no doubt +but what Storri would carry into execution those threats of arrest, +should his desires concerning Dorothy meet with opposition. The fear of +his own disgrace appalled Mr. Harley. He did not lack for courage, but +his interview with Storri had buried him beneath a spell of terror. + +It was peculiarly a condition to frighten Mr. Harley to the core. He was +proud in a coarse way of the fortune he had gathered. He had based +himself on his position as a business, not to say a legislative, force, +and used it to patronize, not always delicately, those among his fellows +who had not climbed so high. In exacting what was a money due, he had +ever proceeded with but little scruple. He had measured his right by +measuring his strength, and had not failed to take his pound of flesh. +In brief, Mr. Harley, possessing, like many another fat gentleman, those +numerous porcine traits of brutal selfishness and a lack of sentiment or +sympathy, had considered always his own interests, following them though +they took him roughshod over another's dearest hopes. For which good +reasons Mr. Harley had foes, and knew it; there would be no absence of +rejoicing over his downfall. + +But what could Mr. Harley offer for defense? What, beyond mere +compliance with Storri's wishes, might avert those calamities that +seemed swinging in the air above him? He considered everything, and +devised nothing; he was like a man without eyes or as one shut in by +night. In his desperation, a flighty thought of taking Storri's life +appealed to him for one murderous moment. It was only for a moment, and +then he thrust it aside with a shudder; not from any morality, but his +instant common sense showed how insane it would be as a method of +escape, and with that he shrunk back from it as from a precipice. And +yet there was to be no standing still; he must push on in some +direction. + +Mr. Harley, being himself a business soul, did not omit to consider how +far Storri might be held at bay by showing him the certain destruction +of Credit Magellan, should he persist to the bitter length of forgery +charges and open war. Mr. Harley might be disgraced, destroyed; but what +then? Storri's plans would assuredly be trampled flat; millions, about +to come into his hands, would be swept away. + +These, as arguments to be addressed to Storri, no sooner entered the +mind of Mr. Harley than he dismissed them as offering no solution of his +perils. He had felt, rather than seen, the barbarism of Storri beneath +the tissue of what that nobleman would have styled his elegant +refinement. Storri was a coward, and therefore Storri was malignant; he +had shown, as he went promising disgrace to Mr. Harley, that petulance +of evil which is remarked in savages and cruel children. Storri was +dominated of a passion for revenge; under sway of that passion no chance +of money-loss would stay him; he would sacrifice all and begin his +schemes anew before he would deny himself those vainglorious triumphs +upon which he had set his heart. He hated Richard; he hungered for +Dorothy; and Mr. Harley knew how he would go to every extravagant extent +in feeding those two sentiments. + +Mr. Harley sighed dismally as he reviewed these conclusions; he could do +nothing, and must serve, or seem to serve, the villain humor of Storri. +What were those two demands? Storri must meet Dorothy; and Richard must +not. There was no help; Mr. Harley, in his present stress, would see +Dorothy and beg her co-operation. He could not tell the whole story; but +he would say that he was borne upon by trouble, and ask her to acquiesce +in Storri's conditions. He would promise that those conditions were not +to live forever. + +Deciding thus, Mr. Harley went forward on his homeward course; he must +see Dorothy without delay, for he would be upon the rack until the +painful conference was over. The night was chill as New Year's nights +have a right to be, and yet Mr. Harley was fain to mop his forehead as +though it were the Dog days. As he neared his own door, his reluctant +pace became as slow as sick men find the flight of time. + +There had come no one to the Harley house this New Year's evening to +engage the polite attentions of Mrs. Hanway-Harley, and that lady, being +armored to the teeth, in the name of comfort had retired to her own +apartments with a purpose to unloose what buttons and remove what pins +and untie what strings stood between her and a great bodily relief. +Dorothy was of neither the size nor the years at which women torture +themselves, and, having no quarrel with her buttons and pins and +strings, sat alone in the library. She was deep in a novel that reeled +with ardent love, and had fallen to despising the lover because he did +not resemble Richard. + +It was in the library that Mr. Harley came seeking Dorothy. When he +found her, he stood stock-still, unable to speak one word of all that +tide of talk which would be necessary to bring before her his dangerous +perplexities and the one manner of their possible relief. + +Dorothy at his step looked up, pleased to have him home so early. She +was about to say as much, but at sight of him the words perished on her +tongue. It was as though her heart were touched with ice. Mr. Harley's +countenance had been of that quasi claret hue called rubicund. It was +now turned gray and pasty, and his cheeks, as firmly round as those of a +trumpeter, were pouched and fallen as with the palsy of age. He looked +ten years worse than when he went forth two hours before. + +Dorothy sprang up in alarm; she feared that he was ill. + +"Let me call mamma!" she cried; "let me call Uncle Pat! You are sick." + +"No; call nobody!" said Mr. Harley feebly, and speaking with difficulty. +"I'm not ill; I'll be right in a moment." Then he had Dorothy back into +her chair, gazing upon her the while in a stricken way, as though she +were hangman or headsman, and he before her for execution. Mr. Harley +was held between terror of Storri and shame for what he must say to +Dorothy. Wondering what fearful blow had fallen upon them, Dorothy sat +facing her father the color of death. + +"Tell me, papa," she whispered, with a terror in her tones, "tell me +what has happened." + +Despair brought a sickly calmness to Mr. Harley; he cleared his mind +with a struggle and controlled himself to speak. He would say all at +once, and leave the rest with Dorothy. + +"Dorothy," he began, the iron effort he was making being plainly +apparent, "Dorothy, I have had a talk with that scoundrel without a +conscience, Count Storri. I do not pretend that I come willingly to you +from him. I tell you, however, that I am fearfully within that villain's +power, and cannot help myself. No, I've done no crime; but none the less +he has it in his hands to cover me with disgrace--destroy me, and every +sign of me, from the midst of respectable men. It would avail nothing +should I show you how he spread a snare for my feet, and how blindly I +walked into it. I can only say again that he has me helpless, hand and +foot; I am his to make or break in all that a man of honor or station +holds dearest. He can cover me with infamy at will; he can unloose upon +me an avalanche of disgrace, and with the one blow crush us all. I keep +back nothing, exaggerate nothing, I merely lay bare to you what is. Once +the stroke falls, I shall never again hold up my head. Indeed, I shall +not live to see it fall, for when I know it is inevitable I shall take +my own life." + +Mr. Harley paused a moment to recall his coolness, while Dorothy, her +little hands crushed between her knees, sat panting like a spent hare. + +"I have given you my precise position," continued Mr. Harley, with a +sort of hopelessness. "I shall now tell you the conditions upon which my +safety depends. They rest with you; I stand or fall as you decide." +Dorothy tried to speak, but her voice died on her lips. "If you receive +Count Storri, not as a lover, but as an acquaintance, or, if you will, a +friend; and if you have no further meeting--that is, for a month--or +perhaps two--or at the most three--have no further interviews, I +say"--Mr. Harley blundered a trifle as he saw Dorothy's face whitening +with the sorrows he was laying upon her--"have no further interviews +with Mr. Storms, I am saved. Forgive me--forgive your father who has so +failed of his duty that, instead of protecting you, he comes to you for +protection. There is no more: You have my fortune, my good repute, my +life in your charge. If you meet Count Storri in friendship, if you +refuse Mr. Storms, I am secure. Should you fail of either, then, by +heart and soul! I think it is my end!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +HOW MR. FOPLING WAS INSPIRED + + +Next to Richard, Dorothy worshiped her father. Women never weigh men +closely; with them it is the kindness of men that counts, and all her +life no one could have been more generously affectionate than was Mr. +Harley to Dorothy. And now her estimate of him became her memory of his +unflagging goodness; and this kept her from harsh judgment as he told +what heartbreaking sacrifices she must make. Nor did she distrust a +syllable; nor would she ask for explanation. The latter she would avoid; +it was enough that Storri held her father at his horrid mercy. As +against the setting forth in detail of Storri's cruel power she +instinctively closed her ears as she would have shut her eyes against a +fearsome sight. Dorothy had never a question; and when Mr. Harley was +done she seemed simply to bow to the will of events too strong for her +to cope with. + +"But you must never ask me to marry that man!" cried Dorothy. There went +a tremor through her words that marked how deep of root was the feeling +that prompted them. "I couldn't, wouldn't marry him! Before that, I +would die--yes, and die again! You must not ask it!" and she lifted up +her face, all wrung with pain and anxious terror. + +"I shall never ask it!" declared Mr. Harley; and he spoke stoutly, for +the worst was over and his heart was coming back. This gave Dorothy a +better confidence, and she began to hope that things in the end might +come fairer than they threatened. "No," repeated Mr. Harley with even +greater courage, and smoothing her black, thick hair in a fatherly way, +"you shall never be asked to marry the scoundrel. That I promise; and +let him do his worst." + +And now, when both were measurably recovered from the shame and the +shock of it, Mr. Harley began to elaborate. He went no further, however, +than just to point out how nothing was really required of Dorothy beyond +those common courtesies good women exhibit to what men the respectable +chances of existence bring into their society. He said nothing, asked +nothing concerning her love for Richard: he appeared to consider that +love admitted, and found no fault with it. What he impressed upon +Dorothy was the present danger of her love's display, and how his safety +rested upon her not meeting with Richard for a space. Surely that might +be borne; it would not be for long. Given room wherein to work, he, Mr. +Harley, would find some pathway out. Also, it would be unwise to say +aught of what had taken place to Dorothy's mother. Mr. Harley and +Dorothy would keep it secret from both Mrs. Hanway-Harley and Senator +Hanway. Storri would not broach the subject to Mrs. Hanway-Harley; he +could not without revealing more than he desired known. + +"Nor will the rascal do more," observed Mr. Harley, with the hope of +adding to the fortitude of Dorothy, "than come here now and then to dine +or sit an hour. That is all he will count upon; and before he seeks +anything nearer I'll have him under my foot as now he has me under his. +When that hour comes," concluded Mr. Harley, rapping out a sudden great +oath that made Dorothy start in her frock, "there will be no saving +limits in his favor. I'll apply the torch, and burn him like so much +refuse off the earth." + +When Mrs. Hanway-Harley endeavored to break Dorothy to the yoke of her +ambitions concerning Storri, Dorothy sparkled and blazed and wept and +did those divers warlike things that ladies do when engaged in conflict +with each other. Dorothy, down in her heart, attached no more than a +surface importance to the efforts of Mrs. Hanway-Harley; and that was +the reason why on those fierce occasions she only sparkled and blazed +and wept. Now, be it known, what Mr. Harley told her seared like hot +iron; what he asked of kindness to Storri and cruelty to Richard cut +like a knife; and yet there was never tear nor spark to show throughout. +She waited cold and white and steady. Dorothy was convinced of her +father's danger without knowing its cause or what form it might take; +and she filled up with a resolution to do whatever she could, saving +only the acceptance of Storri and his love, to buckler him against it. +Nor was this difference which Dorothy made between Mrs. Hanway-Harley +and Mr. Harley to be marveled at; for just as a mother exerts more +influence over a son than would his father, so will a father have weight +with a daughter beyond any that her mother might possess. + +While Dorothy remained firm and brave as Mr. Harley revealed his +troubles and their remedy, she broke down later when she found herself +in her own room. She did not call her maid; she must be alone. What had +transpired began to come over her in such slow fashion that she was +given time to fully feel the ignoble position into which she had fallen. +She must not see the man whom she adored; she must meet--with politeness +even if she could not with grace--the man whom she loathed. To one of +Dorothy's spirit and fineness there dwelt in this an infamy, a baseness, +of which Mr. Harley with his lucky coarseness of fiber escaped all +notice. + +Throwing herself on the bed, Dorothy burrowed her face in the pillow and +gave her tears their way. It was the happiest impulse she could have +had; when the tears were dried, and in the calm of that relief which was +their afterglow, she considered what she had to do. Oh! if only she +might have sought her mother with her sorrow! Dorothy shivered; her +mother was the ally of her enemy. How Dorothy hated and feared that +black and savage man! What fiend's power must he possess to thus gain a +fearful mastery over her father! What could be his secret tipped with +terror? Dorothy again buried her face as though she would hide herself +from any blasting chance of its discovery. + +When Dorothy was with Mr. Harley she had been in a maze, a whirl. +Wrapped in a cloud of fear, she had reached out blindly through the +awful fog of it and seized upon the dear fact of Richard. By Richard she +held on; by Richard she sustained herself. She entertained no quaking +doubts as to his loyalty; loyal herself, as ever was flower to sun, to +distrust Richard was to doubt the ground beneath her little feet. In her +innocence, she felt that sublime confidence which is the fruit, the +sweet purpose, of a young girl's earliest love. Dorothy must write +Richard a letter; she must tell him of the sad gap in their happiness. +Yes; she would put him in possession of the entire story so far as it +was known to her. He owned a right to hear it. Must his heart be broken, +and he not learn the secret or know the author of the blow? + +When Dorothy was again mistress of herself, between sobs and tender +showers she blotted down those words which were to warn Richard from her +side. His love, like her own, would go on; there was to be no final +breaking away. It was faith in a dear day that should find them reunited +which upheld Dorothy through the ordeal of her letter; her prayer was +that the day might be close at hand. + +Her letter finished, Dorothy, late as was the hour, sent for Bess; she +must have someone's love, someone's sympathy to lean upon. Bess came; +and, saying no more than she was driven to reveal of her father's +helplessness and Storri's baleful strength, Dorothy told Bess what +dolorous fate had overtaken her. + +"I've written Richard to go to you, Bess," whispered Dorothy at the +woeful close. "Have him write me a letter every day; I shall write one +to him. I didn't promise not to write, you know, only not to see him. +But you must not let Richard go to Storri, that above all. Poor Richard! +he is very fierce; and if he were to arouse Storri's anger it would +provoke him to some awful step." + +There was a man of robust curiosity who once suggested that it would +prove entertaining if one were to lift the roofs off a city as one might +the upper crust off a pie, and then, looking down into the very bowels +of life, observe what plots and counterplots, defeats and triumphs, +loves and hates, pains and pleasures, losses and gains, hopes and +despairs, honors and disgraces belonged with the struggles of everyday +humanity. It is by no means sure the survey would repay the cost of +making it, and the chances run heavily that the student would gather +more of grief than good from the lesson. Proceeding, however, by the +hint of contradiction furnished above, had one, at the moment when +Storri was binding Mr. Harley by fetters wrought from the metal of Mr. +Harley's own fearful apprehensions, glanced in upon Richard, he would +have found that worthy young gentleman seated by his fireside, soothing +himself with tobacco smoke, and reveling in thoughts of Dorothy. And the +cogitations of Richard, if written down in words, would have read like +this: + +"Why should I defer a dénouement that will rejoice them all? Dorothy +loves me--loves me for myself, and for nothing but myself. Who could +have offered deeper proof of it? She has come to me in the face of her +mother, in the face of poverty; she is willing to abandon everything to +become my wife. And if her mother objects--as she does object--why not +cure the objection with a trifle of truth? I am not seeking to make a +conquest of Mrs. Hanway-Harley; that tremendous ambition does not claim +me. I am not to marry her. What she thinks, or why she thinks it, should +not be so important. It is Dorothy whom I love, Dorothy who is to be my +wife--none but Dorothy. No, I'll end a farce which no longer can defend +its own existence. To-morrow I'll seek out my intended mother-in-law, +and make her happy in the only way I may. I trust the good news may not +kill her!" and Richard put on one of those grins of cynicism. + +In this frame, Richard retired to bed and dreamed of Dorothy. His heart +was enjoying a prodigious calm; he would no longer play at Democritus; +he would fill Mrs. Hanway-Harley's soul with radiance, restrain to what +extent he might his contempt for that radiance and the reason of it, and +with Dorothy on his arm march away to bliss forever after. No, he would +not have Dorothy to the altar within the moment following the +enthronement of Mrs. Hanway-Harley in the midst of that splendid +happiness he plotted for her. He was not so precipitate. Dorothy should +have a voice and a will in fixing her marriage day; most young women +had. But he would advise expedition--nay, he would pray for speed in the +matter of that wedlock; for every hour that barred him from his loved +one's arms would seem an age. + +Thus dreamed Richard. And in the irony of fate, even while Richard was +coming to these sage, not to say delicious, decisions and giving himself +to these dreams, Storri was raving, Mr. Harley was cowering, and Dorothy +was weeping and writing that they must not meet. + +When Richard arose in the morning, the first object his fond eye caught +was that dear hand-write sprawling all across the envelope: "Mr. Richard +Storms." He tore it open, and this is what he read: + + Dear One: + + As I write, my heart is breaking for us both. If I knew how, I + would soften what I must say. Storri has gained some fearful + ascendency over papa. Never have I seen papa look so gray and worn + and old as when he came to me. He tells me that his safety, his + life, depend on me. I am not to see you for a while. He says that + if we meet it will mean his disgrace--his destruction. I can't + explain; I have only my love for you, sweetheart, and you must not + fail me now. It will all come right, I feel sure of that; only you + must write me every day how dear I am to you, so that I shall have + something to help my courage with. Go to Bess, and believe me yours + with all my heart's love. + + D. + +Richard read and re-read Dorothy's note. He did not ramp off into a +temper; the first effects of it were to drive the color out of his face +and steal away his appetite. His eye grew moody, and in the end angry. +Some flame of wrath was kindled against poor Dorothy, who was so +ready--that is the way he put it to himself--to sacrifice him in defense +of her father. But the flame went out, and never attained either height +or intensity as a flame of repute and standing among flames. Richard was +too normal, too healthy, too much in love. Besides, Dorothy's note was +warped and polka-dotted with small round scars where her poor tears had +fallen as she wrote; and with that the flame of anger was quenched by +the mere sight of those tear-scars; and Richard kissed them one by +one--the tear-scars--and found, when he had kissed the last one and then +kissed it again for love and for luck, that he worshiped Dorothy the +more for being in trouble. And now Richard felt a vast yearning over her +as though she were a child. Had she not fought a gallant war with her +mother for love of him? Richard was all but swept away on a very tide of +tenderness. He would comply with Dorothy's requests; he would not press +to see her; he would write her every day; he would love her more +passionately than before. Incidentally, he would go questing Bess. + +Richard did not permit himself to dwell upon Storri. He knew him for the +source of all this poison in his cup. In his then temper, he put Storri +out of his thought. He feared that if he considered that Russian too +long he would be drawn into some indiscretion that, while curing +nothing, might pull down upon Mr. Harley, and in that way upon Dorothy, +the catastrophe that hung over their heads. There could be no doubt of +the black measure of that catastrophe, whatever it might be. Richard, +while no mighty admirer of Mr. Harley, had been enough in that +gentleman's company to realize that it was more than a common +apprehension which had sent him, limp and fear-shaken, to Dorothy +begging for defense. The longer Richard pondered, the clearer the truth +grew that some deadly chance was pending against Mr. Harley, and that +Storri held the key which might unlock that chance against him. Until he +understood the trend of affairs, a hostile collision with Storri would +be the likeliest method by which disaster might be invoked. He must +avoid Storri. This prudence on Richard's part went tremendously against +the grain, for he was full of stalwart, primitive impulses that moved +him to find Storri by every shortest cut and beat him to rags. He must +keep away from Storri. Also, he would defer those revelations to Mrs. +Hanway-Harley which were to have filled her soul with that radiance and +made her as ready for Dorothy's marriage with Richard as was Richard +himself. Those confidences could not aid now when it was Storri, not +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, who stood in the way. And they might even work a +harm. Richard went on his road to Bess, while these thoughts came flying +thick as twilight bats. + +Richard found the blonde sorceress bending above a flower, and doing +something to the flower's advantage with a pair of scissors. As Bess +hung over the leafy object of her solicitude, with her yellow wealth of +hair coiled round and round, she herself looked not unlike a graceful, +gaudy chrysanthemum. This poetic reflection, which would have been +creditable to Mr. Fopling, never occurred to Richard; he was too full of +Dorothy to have room for Bess. However, the good Bess found no fault +with his loving preoccupation; she, too, was pensively thinking on poor +Dorothy, and at once abandoned the invalid flower to console and counsel +Richard. + +"For you see," quoth Bess, as though a call had been made for the reason +of her interest in another's love troubles, "I feel responsible for +Dorothy. It was I who told you to love her." + +This was not quite true, and gave too much blame or credit--whichever +you will--to Bess; but Richard made no objections, and permitted Bess to +define her position as best pleased her. + +Bess laid out Richard's programme as though she were his mother or his +guardian; she told him what his conduct should be. He must write Dorothy +a daily letter; there ought to be a world of love in it, Bess thought, +in view of those conditions of present distress which surrounded +Dorothy. + +"Her lot," observed Bess, "is much harder than yours, you know!" + +Richard, being selfish, did not know; but he was for no dispute with +Bess and kept his want of knowledge to himself. Yes; Richard was to +write Dorothy every day; and she, for her sweet part, was likewise to +write Richard every day. The good Bess, like an angel turned postman, +would manage the exchange of tender missives. + +Bess said nothing about Storri's coming visits to the Harley house or +that he would insist on seeing Dorothy. She and Dorothy had been of one +mind on that point of ticklish diplomacy. The bare notion of Storri +meeting Dorothy would send the fiery lover into a fury whereof the end +could be only feared, not guessed. Richard was to be told nothing beyond +the present impossibility of meeting Dorothy. + +"And most of all," said Bess to Richard warningly, "you are not to +involve yourself with Storri. Remember, should you and he have +differences upon which the gossips can take hold, there will be a +perfect scandal, and Dorothy the central figure." + +Richard was horrified at Bess's picture. + +"And so," concluded Bess, "you must do exactly as Dorothy requests. Have +a little patience and a deal of love, and the cloud, be sure, will pass +away." + +"While I am having patience and love, I would give my left hand if I +might bring that cobra Storri to account," said Richard. + +What was written concerning the mouths of babes and sucklings? Mr. +Fopling sat with Bess and Richard while they considered those +above-related ways and means of interrupted love. Mr. Fopling was +experiencing an uncommon elevation of spirits; for he had stared Ajax +out of countenance--a notable feat--and sent the rival favorite growling +and bristling from the room. Usually Mr. Fopling took no part in what +conversations raged around him; it was the reason of some surprise, +therefore, to both Bess and Richard when, at the mention of Storri's +name, Mr. Fopling's ears pricked up a flicker of interest and he +betrayed symptoms of being about to speak. + +"Stow-wy!" exclaimed Mr. Fopling thoughtfully, as though identifying +that nobleman, while Bess and Richard looked on as do folk who behold a +miracle, "Stow-wy! I say, Stawms, why don't you go into Wall Stweet and +bweak the beggah? He's always gambling, don't y' know! Bweak him; that's +the way to punish such a fellah." + +"Why! what a malicious soul you have grown!" cried Bess in astonishment. +"Really, Algy,"--Mr. Fopling's name was Algernon,--"if you burst on us +in this guise often, I for one shall stand in terror of you!" + +"But, weally," protested Mr. Fopling, "if you want to get even with a +fellah, Bess, just bweak him! It's simply awful, they say, for a chap to +be bwoke. As for this Stow-wy, if Stawms hasn't got the money to go +aftah him, I'll let him have some of mine. You see, Bess," concluded Mr. +Fopling, with a broad candor that proved his love, "I hate this cweature +Stow-wy." + +"Why?" asked Richard, somewhat interested in his unexpected ally. + +"He spoke dewisively of me," and with that Mr. Fopling lapsed. + +Richard went slowly homeward, his chin on his chest, not in +discouragement, but thought. The counsel of the vacuous Mr. Fopling +followed him to ring in his ears like words of guidance. + +"Bweak him!" squeaked Mr. Fopling, feebly vicious. + +Since Mr. Fopling had never been known to think anything or say anything +anterior to this singular outburst, the conclusion forced itself upon +Richard that Mr. Fopling was inspired. Nor could Richard put Mr. Fopling +and his violent advice out of his head. + +"Money is the villain's heart's-blood!" thought Richard. "I'm inclined +to conclude that Fopling is right. If I take his money from him, he is +helpless--a viper without its fangs, a bear with its back broken!" + +Richard put in that evening in his own apartments. Had you been there to +watch his face, you would have been struck by the capacity for hate and +love and thought displayed in the lowering brow and brooding eye. +Richard smoked and considered; at eight o'clock he rang for Mr. Gwynn. + +That precise gentleman of stiffness and English immobility appeared, +clothed in extreme evening dress, and established himself, ramrod-like, +in a customary spot in the center of the floor. There was a figure on +the Persian rug whereon Mr. Gwynn never failed to take position. Once in +place, eye as expressionless as the eye of a fish, Mr. Gwynn would wait +in dead silence for Richard to speak. + +Mr. Gwynn had occupied his wonted spot on the rug two minutes before +Richard came out of his reverie. Turning to Mr. Gwynn, he addressed him +through murky wreaths. + +"I shall go to New York to-morrow." + +"Very good, sir," said Mr. Gwynn, and his back creaked in just the +specter of a bow. + +"When are the President and General Attorney of the Anaconda to be +here?" + +"Tuesday, sir; the eighth of the month." + +"I shall return before that time." + +"Very good, sir!" and Mr. Gwynn again approved the utterances of Richard +with a creaky mandarin inclination of the head and shoulders. + +"They will arrive on the eighth. Say to them that they must remain until +the fifteenth, one week. On Thursday--the tenth--you will give a dinner +in honor of Senator Hanway; it is to be fifty covers. The Anaconda +people will come. I'll furnish you the completed list of guests when I +get back." + +"Very good, sir." + +"You may go." + +"Yes, sir; you are very kind, sir;" and the austere Mr. Gwynn creaked +himself out. + +Richard was left with his thoughts, while the silent Matzai, who had +heard the word New York, began packing what trunks were needed for the +journey. + +Storri was ruthlessly eager to get some taste of his great triumph, and +came that same evening to the Harley house. Senator Hanway had been +detained by a night session, and the quartette--Dorothy, Mr. Harley, +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, and Storri--sat together at dinner. Dorothy, pale +and still and chill, was like a girlish image made of snow. There was a +queer look of fright and shame and horror all in one about her virgin +eyes. How she got through the dinner she could not have told, and only +her love for her father held her up. + +Mr. Harley was in no livelier case; and, albeit he drank much more than +usual, the wine put no color in his muddy cheek nor did it cure its +flabbiness. To sit at his own table and tremble before his own guest +might have wasted the spirits of even a hardier man than Mr. Harley. + +Dorothy was in agony--a kind of despair of shame, eating nothing, saying +less, and this attracted the shallow attention of Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +"What makes you so gloomy, Dorothy?" she asked. Mrs. Hanway-Harley was +in most cheerful feather. A nobleman at her table, and though for the +fortieth time, was ever fresh and delightful to Mrs. Hanway-Harley. "You +are not ill?" Then, with arch politeness to Storri: "She has been out of +sorts all day, Count, and given us all the blues. I was delighted when +you came in to cheer us up." + +"It is to my great honor, madam," responded Storri, smiling and fixing +Dorothy with that beady glance which serpents keep for what linnets they +mean to fascinate and swallow, "it is to my great honor, madam, that you +say so. I shall tell my Czar of your charming goodness to his Storri. If +I might only think that the bewitching Miss Dorothy was also glad, I +should be in heaven! Truly, it would make a paradise; ah, yes, why not!" + +As Storri threw off this languishing speech, Dorothy could feel his eyes +like points of hateful fire piercing her satirically. It taught her +vaguely, even through the torture her soul was undergoing, that +composite sentiment of passion and cruelty felt for her by this Tartar +in evening dress who mixed sneer with compliment in all he said. Dorothy +could have shrieked out in the mere torment of it, and only the sight of +Mr. Harley, broken and hopeless and helpless and old, gave her strength +and courage to refrain. + +Storri departed on the heels of dinner to the profound regret of Mrs. +Hanway-Harley, who pressed him to remain. The Russian was wise; he must +not attempt too much. Dorothy should have respite for a week. In seven +days he would again take dinner with the Harleys. Dorothy would have +employed those seven days in thinking on the perils to her father which +he, Storri, could launch; she would have considered how he, Storri, must +be courted and flattered and finally loved to insure her father's +safety. It was victory as it stood. Was he not compelling the proud +Dorothy to receive his compliments, his glances, his sighs, his love? +Was not Richard, the detestable, excluded, and the Harley door closed +fast in his face? Ah! Storri would impress upon these little people the +terrors of him whom they had affronted! He would cause them to mourn in +bitterness the day they heard first his name! + +Storri, in midswing of all these comforting ruminations, felt a light +hand on his arm. He was sauntering leisurely along the street at the +time, and had not journeyed a block from the Harley house. + +Storri started at the touch, and wheeled. + +"What!" he exclaimed, "is it you, my San Reve? And what fetched you out +so cold an evening?" + +Storri attempted a manner of light and confident assurance. Somehow, he +did not altogether attain it; a sharp ear would have caught the false +note in his tones which told of an uneasiness he was trying to conceal. + +That one whom Storri addressed as San Reve and who, following the touch +that startled Storri, had taken his arm, was a woman. In the dark of the +winter evening, nothing could be known of her save that she was above a +middle height. + +"Yes; it is I, Sara," said the woman, in a pure contralto. "Come with me +to-night, Storri; I have not seen you for four days." + +"We are pleasantly met!" cried Storri, still affecting an acquiescent +gayety. "And is it not strange? I was on my way to your fond, sweet +presence, my San Reve. Yes, your Storri was flying to you even now!" + +All of which were lies, being leaf and stalk of that uneasiness which +rang so falsely in his voice and manner. Still, if Mademoiselle San Reve +took notice of his insincerity, she kept the fact to herself. Storri +drew her hand further within his arm, and the two walked slowly onward, +while the street lamps as they passed merged and separated and again +merged and separated their shadows as though the pair were agreeing and +disagreeing in endless alternation. + +Richard, the next day, departed for New York as he had planned. Sending +Matzai and his luggage to the hotel, Richard on his arrival drove +straight from the station to Thirty, Broad. He glanced at a card as he +entered the elevator. + +"Tenth floor!" was his word to the resplendent functionary in gold and +blue who presided in the elevator. + +"Tenth floor!" cried the resplendent functionary in the sing-song of a +seaman taking soundings and calling the marks, and the elevator came to +a kind of bouncing stop. + +"Mr. Bayard?" inquired Richard. + +"Second floor to th' left," sang the blue and golden one; then the iron +door clashed and the cage flew on. + +Richard entered a reception room, and from this outer harbor, like a +newly arrived ship sending up a signal, he dispatched his card to Mr. +Bayard. Under "Mr. Richard Storms" he wrote the words, "son of the late +Mr. Dudley Storms." + +The stealthy, whispering individual, who spoke with a hiss and +scrutinized Richard as he took his card with a jealous intensity which +might have distinguished a hawk in a state of half alarm and whole +suspicion, presently returned. His air was altered to one of confidence. + +"You are to come in, please!" he hissed like a respectful snake. + +It was two hours later, five o'clock, when Richard emerged from that +private room of Mr. Bayard's. Taking the carriage which had waited, he +returned to the station and caught a train for Washington. A message +went to Matzai notifying that Mongol of what changes had been determined +on in the destinies of himself and the luggage. + +It was the following morning at the hour of eight. Richard called for +Mr. Gwynn. When that severe personage had taken his proper station on +the rug, he rolled his piscatorial eye on Richard as though inviting +notice. The latter young gentleman was improving himself with coffee, +now and then pausing to thoughtfully glance over a roll of names. + +"What were the last quotations on Anaconda stock?" demanded Richard, +still contemplating the names. + +"Common, two hundred and eleven; preferred, two hundred and seventeen, +sir," and Mr. Gwynn creaked by way of ending the sentence. + +"Here are the keys to my boxes in the Colonial Trust. Here also are the +names of fifty New York banks. Please establish a credit of two millions +in each of them--one hundred millions of dollars in all. Use Anaconda +stock. Bring me certified checks for the one hundred millions, with a +statement from each bank showing what Anaconda shares it holds as +security. I think you understand. I want one hundred millions instantly +available. You will go to New York at once and make the arrangements. +Day after to-morrow meet me in Mr. Bayard's rooms, Thirty, Broad, at +three o'clock P. M., with everything as I have outlined." + +"Very good, sir; you are very kind, sir," creaked Mr. Gwynn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +HOW THE SAN REVE GAVE STORRI WARNING + + +Had you, at the time Richard visited that gentleman, written Mr. Bayard +a letter, you would have addressed it to Mr. Robert Lance Bayard, and +anyone who saw you do it would have gazed in wonder and respect to think +you were upon terms of personal correspondence with that blinding meteor +of speculation. Mr. Bayard sat in his rooms at Thirty, Broad, like an +astrologer in his tower cell; he considered the stars and cast the +horoscopes of companies. That done, he took profitable advantage of his +prescience. + +In the kingdom of stocks Mr. Bayard's position was unique. He, like +Napoleon, was without a model and without a shadow. He constructed no +corporations, shoved no companies from shore; he stood at the ticker and +took his money off the tape. Whenever he won a dollar he had risked a +dollar. + +In person Mr. Bayard was slim, elegant, thoroughbred, with blood as red +and pure of strain as the blood of a racing horse. To see him was to +realize the silk and steel whereof he was compounded. There was a vanity +about him, too; but it was a regal vanity, as though a king were vain. +His brow was full and grave, his face dignified, his eye thoughtful, and +he knew men in the dark by feel of bark, as woodmen know a tree. He +stepped about with a high carriage of the head, as might one who has +prides well founded. His health was even, his nerves were true; he owned +a military courage that remained cool with victory, steady with defeat. +It was these which rendered Mr. Bayard the Bourse-force men accounted +him, and compelled consideration even from folk most powerful whenever +they would float an enterprise or foray a field of stocks. Did Oil or +Sugar or Steel come into the Street with purpose of revenge or profit, +its first care was a peace-treaty with Mr. Bayard. That was not because +Oil or Steel or Sugar loved, but because it feared him. The King might +not hunt in Sherwood without permission of Robin Hood, nor Montrose walk +in Glenfruin wanting the MacGregor's consent. + +In his youth--that is to say, almost a third of a century away--Mr. +Bayard had been of open, frank, and generous impulse. He believed in +humanity and relied upon his friends. Mr. Bayard at sixty was changed +from that pose of thirty years before. He was cold and distant and +serene in a cloud-capped way of ice. He trusted no one but himself, took +no man's word save his own, was self-reliant to the point of bitterness, +and rife of proud suspicions. Also, he had carried concealment to the +plane of Art, and those who knew him best were most in the dark +concerning him. And yet Mr. Bayard made a specialty of verbal truth, and +his word was a word of gold. + +It was not that Mr. Bayard deceived men, he allowed them to deceive +themselves. They watched and they listened; and in the last they +learned, commonly at the cost of a gaping wound in their bank balances, +that what they thought they saw they did not see, and what they were +sure they heard they did not hear; that from the beginning they had been +the victims of self-constructed delusions, and were cast away by errors +all their own. Once burned, twice wise; and the paradox crept upon Wall +and Broad Streets, as mosses creep upon stones, that the more one knew +of Mr. Bayard the less one was aware of. The feeling was expressed by a +gentleman rich in Exchange experiences when he said: + +"If I were to meet him in Broadway, I wouldn't believe it." + +And that experienced one spoke well. For as the tiger, striped black and +gold, is made to match and blend with the sun-slashed shadows of the +jungle through which he hunts his prey, so was Mr. Bayard invisible in +that speculation whereof he crouched a most formidable factor, with this +to add to the long-toothed peril of it, that, although always in sight, +he was never more unseen than at the moment of his spring. + +The change from faith and friendship and a genial warmth that had taken +place in Mr. Bayard and left him their rock-bound opposites, had its +origin in the treachery of a friend. Mr. Bayard those years before was, +in his stock sailing, beaten upon by a sudden squall of treason and +lying ingratitude; his nature was capsized, and those softer and more +generous graces were spilled out. They went to the bottom, as things +golden will; and they never came up. Mr. Bayard was betrayed by one who +had taken his hand in friendship not the hour before--one who was his +partner in business and had risen through his favor. Struck in the dark, +Mr. Bayard stood at the ticker and watched his fortune of eight millions +bleed away; when he dropped the tape he was two millions worse than +bankrupt. It was that case-hardening experience which had worked the +callous metamorphosis. + +"It has taught me caution," was all he said as the quotations chattered +off the loss of his last dollar. + +From that hour of night and wormwood, Mr. Bayard was another individual. +He gave men his acquaintance, but not his faith; he listened and never +believed; he had allies, not friends, and the limits of his confidence +in a man were the limits of that man's interest. + +And yet in this arctic hardness there remained one generous spot. There +was one name to retain a sweetness and a perfume for Mr. Bayard that one +finds in flowers, and the perishing years had not withered it on the +hillsides of his regard. When Mr. Bayard went down on that day of storm +and the dark waters of defeat and bankruptcy closed above him, there had +been stretched one hand to save. Dudley Storms was hardly known to Mr. +Bayard, for the former was of your silent, retiring men whom no one +discovers until the time of need. His sort was evidenced on this +occasion. He did not send to Mr. Bayard, he came. He told him by +shortest possible sentences that his fortune was at his, Mr. Bayard's, +disposal to put him again upon his feet. And Mr. Bayard availed himself +of the aid thus proffered; he regained his feet; he paid off his +bankruptcy of two millions; he repaid Dudley Storms; and then he went +on--and no more slips or treason-founded setbacks--to pile up new +millions for himself. + +Following that one visit of succor from Dudley Storms, he and Mr. Bayard +were no oftener in one another's company than before. The former +retreated into his native reticence and the fastnesses of his own +multitudinous affairs, coming no more to Mr. Bayard, who did not require +help. Dudley Storms was a lake of fire in a rim of ice, as somebody +somewhere once said of someone else, and labored under peculiarities of +temperament and trait-contradictions which you may have observed in +Richard. For his side, Mr. Bayard, proudly sensitive, while he never +forgot, never failed to feel in the edge of that saving favor done him +by Dudley Storms the edge of a sword; and this served to hold him aloof +from one who any hour might have had his life and fortune, without a +question, to do with as he would. + +Richard had never met Mr. Bayard, nor did he know aught of that +gentleman's long-ago disasters, for they occurred in the year of +Richard's birth. But he had heard his father speak of Mr. Bayard in +terms of glowing praise; wherefore, when it became Richard's turn to +know somewhat the ins and outs of Wall Street, a dark interior +trade-region of which his ignorance for depth was like unto the depth of +the ocean, and as wide, our young gentleman went instantly in search of +him. Had he beheld the softened eye of Mr. Bayard when that war-lord of +the Street first read his card, had he heard his voice as he repeated +the line "son of the late Mr. Dudley Storms," he might have been +encouraged in a notion that he had not rapped at the wrong door. But +Richard, in the anteroom awaiting the return of that person of the +serpent hiss, did not witness these phenomena. When he was shown into +the presence of Mr. Bayard, he saw only one who for dignity and +courteous poise seemed the superior brother of the best-finished +gentleman he had ever met. + +"So you are the son of Dudley Storms," said Mr. Bayard, running his eye +over the visitor as though looking for a confirmatory resemblance. Then, +having concluded his scrutiny: "You are like him. Have a chair; tell me +what I can do to serve you." + +Richard was taken with Mr. Bayard's words, for that gentleman managed to +put into them a reassuring emphasis that was from nowhere save the +heart. Thus led, Richard began by asking Mr. Bayard if he knew aught of +Storri. + +"Storri? He is the Russian who helped the sugar people get their hold in +Odessa. The oil interests have some thought of employing him in their +affairs. What of Storri?" + +Richard explained the propriety of destroying Storri; this he did with +an ingenuous ferocity that caused Mr. Bayard to smile. + +"The man," observed Richard in conclusion, "is no more than so much +vermin. He is a menace to my friends; he has intrigued villainously +against me. I have no option; I must destroy him out of my path as I +would any footpad or any brigand." + +Being primal in his instincts, as every great man is, Mr. Bayard, at +this hostile declaration, could not avoid a quick side-glance at +Richard's door-wide shoulders, Pict arms, and panther build. Richard +caught the look. + +"Oh, if it might have been settled in that way," cried he, "I should +have had his head wrung round ere this!" + +"You will readily conceive," observed Mr. Bayard, after musing a bit, +"that I keep myself posted concerning the least movement of the least +man who comes speculating into stocks. You may take it for granted that +I know a trifle or so of your Count Storri. To be frank, he and Mr. +Harley, with Senator Hanway and five others, are preparing for some +movement in Northern Consolidated. I don't know whether it is to be a +'bull' or a 'bear' movement, or when they will begin. Those are matters +which rest heavily on the finding of that special committee of which +Senator Hanway is the chief. Do you know when the finding may be looked +for? Can you tell me what the committee will report?" + +Richard could not bring himself to speak of Senator Hanway's +confidential assurances of a white report for Northern Consolidated. +From those assurances he was sure that the pool meditated a "bull" +campaign, but he did not say so since he could not give his reasons. + +Mr. Bayard came to the protection of his anxieties. + +"Senator Hanway," went on Mr. Bayard, "has privately told a number of +people that the report will favor the road." + +Richard was struck by the cool fullness of Mr. Bayard's information. It +was likewise impressive to learn that he was not the only one in Senator +Hanway's confidence. On top of Richard's wonder Mr. Bayard piled another +marvel. He declared that he did not believe the word of Senator Hanway. + +"He is a fox for caution," quoth Mr. Bayard, "and I cannot think he told +the truth. Believe me, the committee's report will tear Northern +Consolidated to pieces. The market has been exceedingly strong since the +beginning of the year. He will watch, and plump in that adverse report +the moment general prices show a weakness." + +Richard, while taken by the reasoning of Mr. Bayard, was not convinced. +However, he asked Mr. Bayard what might be done. + +"Remembering always," said Richard, "that the one purpose I have in view +is the overthrow of Storri." + +"Every member of that pool," returned Mr. Bayard, "has made himself fair +game. A pool is like a declaration of war against the world; the pool +itself would tell you so. And speaking of the pool, you understand that +the eight are bound together like a fagot. You can't break one without +breaking all; if Storri fall, Mr. Harley, Senator Hanway, and the others +fall." + +Richard could not forbear a smile as he recalled how Mrs. Hanway-Harley +had said that her only objection to him was his lack of riches, and how, +should his fortune one day mend and measure up with Mr. Harley's, +Dorothy and he might wed. The peculiar humor of those possibilities +which the situation offered began to address itself to Richard. Was not +here a chance to remove Mrs. Hanway-Harley's objection? + +"Since they are open game," said Richard, "I see no reason why the whole +octagonal combination should not be wiped out. Indeed, there might be a +distinct advantage in it," he concluded, thinking on Dorothy. + +"There would be a distinct advantage of several millions in it," +returned Mr. Bayard, who was thinking on dollars and cents. Then, as +might one who, having decided, takes the first step in a great +enterprise: "Where, by the way, are those millions that were left by +Dudley Storms?" + +"They are where you may put your hand upon them," returned Richard, "in +any hunting of this vermin Storri." + +The eyes of Mr. Bayard began to glitter and light up like the windows of +a palace on the evening of a ball. + +"I fancy," said he, "that I shall go with you for this Storri's +destruction." + +"I shall put the matter wholly into your hands. It is a game of which I +know nothing but the name." + +"The game is not difficult; it is mere purse-matching." + +"How much of a fund will you require?" + +"At the least, fifty millions. We must lie concealed until the pool +develop its purpose. It will make but little difference, once it be +developed; 'bull' or 'bear,' we meet them either way. Fifty millions +should do. If that sum crowd you, we must recollect that I, myself, am +not without a handful of millions that can never have better employment +than fighting the battles of a son of Dudley Storms." + +"Fifty millions would be no strain," replied Richard quickly. "To be +safe, let us call those fifty millions one hundred. Still, I am deeply +obliged for your proffer." + +"One hundred millions be it," quoth Mr. Bayard. "We'll organize +ourselves, and we'll wait and watch. When they move, we meet them. +Should they sell, we buy; should they buy,--which they won't,--we sell; +in either event we buy or sell them to a standstill. Should they connive +a 'bear' raid, they'll sell their way into as formidable a corner as +ever 'bear' was squeezed in." + +This befell upon that first visit of Richard to Mr. Bayard. Two days +later, Richard returned. Mr. Gwynn met him, brisk upon the hour, in one +of the numerous private rooms of Mr. Bayard, and turned over one hundred +millions in certified checks upon those fifty banks. Richard dismissed +Mr. Gwynn and went in to Mr. Bayard. + +"I shall deposit these," said Mr. Bayard, "in ten banks, twenty millions +in the City Bank and the balance scattered among the other nine. You may +leave the details of our enterprise to me; I have been through many of +similar color. I need not suggest the value of silence. Meanwhile, and I +can't emphasize this too much, if you would busy yourself to advantage +make what discoveries you may touching the pending report on Northern +Consolidated." + +On that evening when they came together outside the Harley house, Storri +and the San Reve continued slowly on their way, turning now east, now +south, until after ten minutes of walking they entered a narrow +thoroughfare to which the street lamp on the corner gave the name of +Grant Place. The houses were sober and reputable. Up the steps of one of +the soberest went Storri and the San Reve; the latter let them in with a +latch-key. Storri consigned his overcoat and hat to the rack in the hall +as though his surroundings were familiar, and he with the San Reve +passed into what in the original plan of the house had been meant for a +drawing-room. + +The house was occupied by a stirring lady named Warmdollar, who served +her country as head scrubwoman in one of the big departments--a place +of fatter salary than its menial name implies. There was a Mr. +Warmdollar, who in an earlier hour had held through two terms a seat in +Congress. This was years before. Failing of a second re-election, and +having become fixed in the habit of officeholding, which habit seizes +upon certain natures like a taste for opium, Mr. Warmdollar urged his +claims for some appointive place. The Senators from his home-State +felt compelled to moderately bestir themselves, the result of their +joint efforts being that Mr. Warmdollar was tendered a position +as guard about the congressional cemetery, said last resting-place of +greatness-gone-to-sleep being a wild, weird tract in a semi-farmerish +region on the fringe of town. Mr. Warmdollar objected to the place, and +the gloomy kind of its duties; but since this was before Mrs. Warmdollar +had begun to earn a salary as scrubwoman, he was driven to accept. + +"Take it until something better turns up," urged one of the Senators, +who had grown tired of having Mr. Warmdollar on his hands. + +It was a blustering night of rain when Mr. Warmdollar entered upon his +initial vigil as a guardian of the dead. Wet, weary, disgusted, Mr. +Warmdollar sought refuge in a coop of a sentry-box, which stood upon the +crest of a hill through which the road that bounded one side of the +burying ground had been cut. The sentry-box was waterproof and to that +extent a comfort, being designed for deluges of the sort then soaking +Mr. Warmdollar. + +Had there been nothing but a downpour, Mr. Warmdollar might have borne +it until his watch was relieved; he might have even continued to perform +the duties and draw the emoluments of his place indefinitely. But the +winds rose; and they blew down Mr. Warmdollar's sentry-box. Toppling +into the road, it rolled merrily down a steep and then lay upon its +front, door downward, in the mud. Mr. Warmdollar could not get out; +being discouraged by what he had undergone, he broke into yells and +cries like a soul weltering in torment. + +The yells and cries engaged the heated admiration of a farmer's dog that +dwelt hard by, and the dog descended upon the sentry-box and Mr. +Warmdollar, attacking both with an impartiality which showed him no one +to split hairs. Then the farmer came to his door, arrayed in a shirt and +a shotgun, and emptied both barrels of the latter at Mr. Warmdollar and +his sentry-box--the agriculturist not understanding the case, as +sometimes happens to agriculturists, notably in politics. + +Following his baptism of dog and fire, Mr. Warmdollar crawled back to +town and worked no more. Mrs. Warmdollar was named scrubwoman, while her +disheartened spouse devoted himself to strong drink, as though to color +one's nose and fuddle one's wits were the great purposes of existence. +Being eager of gain, Mrs. Warmdollar had sub-rented her parlor floor to +the San Reve; and since Mrs. Warmdollar was a lady in whom curiosity had +had its day and died, she asked no questions the answers to which might +prove embarrassing. + +The San Reve, like Mrs. Warmdollar, worked in a department, being a +draughtswoman in the Treasury Building, and attached to the staff of the +supervising architect. The place had been granted the San Reve at the +request of Senator Hanway, who was urged thereunto by Mr. Harley, to +whom Storri explained the San Reve's skill in plates and plans and the +propriety of work. + +The San Reve's apartments were comfortable with chairs, lounges, and +ottomans; a piano occupied one corner, while two or three good pictures +hung upon the walls. In the bow-window was a window-seat piled high with +cushions, from which by daylight one might have surveyed the passing +show--dull enough in Grant Place. + +"Have you no kiss for your Storri, my San Reve?" cried Storri +plaintively, but still sticking to the lightly confident. + +The San Reve accepted Storri's gallant attention as though thinking on +other things than kisses. Then she threw aside her hat and wraps, and +glanced at herself in the glass. + +She was a striking figure, the San Reve, with brick-colored hair and +eyes more green than gray. Her skin showed white as ivory; her nose and +mouth and chin, heavy for a woman, told of a dangerous energy when +aroused. The eyebrows, too, had a lowering falcon trick that touched the +face with fierceness. The forehead gave proof of brains, and yet the San +Reve was one more apt to act than think, particularly if she felt +herself aggrieved. If you must pry into a matter so delicate, the San +Reve was twenty-eight; standing straight as a spear, with small hands +and feet, she displayed that ripeness of outline which sculptors give +their Phrynes. + +"Storri," said the San Reve, with a chill bluntness that promised the +disagreeable while it lost no time, "why do you visit that house--the +Harley house?" + +Storri was in an easy-chair, puffing a cigar as though at home. The San +Reve, half lying, half sitting, reclined upon a sofa. They looked at +each other; Storri trying to seem brave, the San Reve with staring +courage, open and more real. + +"You know, my San Reve, I have business with Mr. Harley. Let me tell +you: Mr. Harley, through his relative, Senator Hanway----" + +"You go to see the girl," interrupted the San Reve, and the sullen +contralto was vibrant of danger. "You go to see Miss Harley, not her +father." + +"And if I do?" + +Storri put his query blusteringly. + +"You will marry her," went on the San Reve, who appeared to care as +little for Storri's bluster as his kiss. + +"I never promised to marry you." + +"I do not ask you to marry me. I want neither your name nor your title. +But you promised me your love; I want that." The San Reve's tones were +unruffled. They did not lift or mount, and told only of passionate +resolution. "Storri, why did you bring me from Ottawa?" + +"If it come to that," retorted Storri spitefully, "why did you leave +Ottawa?" + +"I left Ottawa for love," the San Reve replied, as though considering +with herself. "I left Ottawa for love of you, just as four years before +I came to Ottawa for love of another." + +"You have had adventures," remarked Storri sarcastically. "I have never +heard your story, my San Reve; go on, I beseech you!" + +"I will tell you one thing," said the San Reve, "from which you may +wring a warning. My father was a showman--a tamer of lions and leopards. +When I was twelve, I went into the den with him to hold a hoop while he +lashed those big cats through it. Yes, Storri," cried the San Reve, a +sudden flame to burst forth in her voice like an oral brightness, and as +apparent as a fire in a forest, "when to fear was to die, I have held +aloft my little hoop to the lions and the leopards! And for all their +snarls they jumped tamely; for all their threats they did nothing. I, as +a child, was not afraid of a lion under the lash; am I now to fear a +bear, a Russian bear, I, who am a woman?" + +"Why, my San Reve," protested Storri, "and what has stirred your anger?" + +Storri was startled by the San Reve's fury rather than her revelations. +Having a politic mind to soothe her, he sought to take her hand. + +"Keep your attentions to yourself!" cried the San Reve; "I am in no +temper for tenderness." + +"Ah, as to that," said Storri, turning proud, "I, who am a Russian +gentleman, yes, a Russian nobleman, shall not offend. Yes," yawning and +giving himself an air, "I am relieved by your cold attitude. That is the +folly of being noble! One cannot be attentive to those beneath one save +at a loss of self-respect. Bah! my Czar, could he but see, would call +his Storri disgraced by the mere nearness of such as you." + +"And you name your Czar to me!" returned the San Reve, now sneering +calm, her cool contralto restored; "to me, a French woman! And your +nobility, too--that thing of Caspian mud! Storri, the San Reves were +soldiers with Napoleon; your noble kind ran from them like hares. The +San Reves stabled their horses in the audience chambers of your Czars." + +The San Reve rippled off these periods in quiet, invincible scorn. +Storri, beaten, frightened, began to whine. His bluster, his bombast, +his nobility, his affected elevations, were alike broken down. He +professed love; he said that he had wronged his San Reve. His San Reve +was a goddess, a flower, a star! Would she make her Storri +desolate?--her Storri who would die for love of her! + +The San Reve became sensibly composed; her falcon brow relaxed, her +spirit took on a tranquil frame, her anger was cooled by the cooing +contrition of Storri. The San Reve permitted herself to be soothed. + +"Let us go no more in that direction," said the San Reve. "Such +tauntings are but a childish barter of words." + +The San Reve delivered this sentiment in a serene, high way that brought +her honor. Then she lighted a cigarette and blew peaceful rings. Storri, +encouraged in his soul by the return of his San Reve to reason, solaced +himself with a fresh cigar. The two smoked in silent truce. + +"It was a love quarrel, my San Reve!" said Storri. + +"Only a love quarrel!" assented San Reve. + +Silence and smoke; with Storri timid, shrinking from fresh offense and +further outbreak. + +Storri, fearing all who had no fear of him, feared the San Reve. Nor +were his apprehensions void of warrant; the San Reve was of that hot and +blinded strain which loves and slays. + +"Your father dead," said Storri, pretending a perking interest, "your +father dead, my San Reve, what then became of you?" + +"I fell into the hands of a doting old architect of Paris. He was good +to me; it was with him I learned my trade. No, I did not love him; but I +was grateful. He died, and I came to Ottawa as a draughtswoman for the +young engineer, Balue. I did not love Balue; he was tame. And then +Ottawa, with those sodden Canadians, their Scotch whiskey, and narrow +lives framed in with snow--how I loathed them! What a weariness of the +heart they were, those frozen people! Then came you--Storri!" + +The San Reve's gray-green eyes burned with white fire. She got up from +the couch where she had lain curled like a tawny lioness. + +"Yes; you came!" purred the San Reve, and she stooped and kissed Storri +with her fierce lips. "Then for the first time I loved." + +The San Reve recurled herself on the couch. Storri, who had met her kiss +valorously, considered whether he might not please her by solicitude in +a new direction. + +"There is one thing, my San Reve," he observed, a show of feeling in his +words. "Why do you tie yourself to that draughting? It grieves your +Storri! Am I a pauper that my San Reve should work? Is Storri so miserly +that the idol of his heart must be a slave?" + +The San Reve shook her head. + +"I must have something to do," she explained, a half-smile parting her +rose-red lips. "I am like those poor rats of which my father told me who +must gnaw and gnaw and forever gnaw to wear away their teeth, which +otherwise would grow and kill them. No, I like my work; let me alone +with it." + +Storri tossed his hand and shrugged his shoulders in mute resignation +and reproof. His San Reve would work; he consented, while he deprecated +her so mad resolve. + +"Let us return to our first concern," said the San Reve. + +Storri quaked; he could follow her trail of thought by mental smell as +the hound follows the fox. + +"Storri, tell me; do you love this Miss Harley?" + +"My San Reve, how can you ask? Look in the mirror! No, I do not love +Miss Harley." + +The San Reve toyed with her cigarette. Storri, thinking on escape, arose +to go. He stepped into the hallway for his coat and hat. Then he +returned, and, giving his hand to the reclining San Reve, drew her to +her feet. Storri, about to go, was beaming; the kiss he printed lightly +on the San Reve's lips spoke of a heart relieved. The San Reve herself +was amiably placid; her anger apparently had died with her doubts. + +"And you do not love Miss Harley?" + +"No; I swear by my mother's grave!" + +"By your mother's grave!" Then, voice deep as the mellow pipe of an +organ: "Storri, you lie!" + +Storri, aghast, was surprised into his usual defense of bluster. He +started to bully; the San Reve raised her shapely hand. + +"Storri, let me show you." The San Reve took from the drawer of a +cabinet a beautiful pistol. She partly raised the hammer and buzzed the +liberated cylinder. It gave forth clear, musical clicks. "Do you see?" +said the San Reve half wistfully. "I have this!" + +"You would not kill Miss Harley!" exclaimed Storri nervously. + +"No! Storri, no!" + +"Whom then?" and Storri moistened his dry lips. His San Reve was such a +heathen! The thought parched him. "Whom would you kill, my San Reve?" +This came off pleadingly. + +"Whom would I kill?" the San Reve repeated tenderly, stretching for a +kiss. "I would kill you! No, not now, my Storri; but some time. My +resolution is only born; it is not yet grown. Storri, you must beware! I +come of the race that kill! I have now only the tiny root of that blood +resolution. Do not let us nourish it! We must destroy it--blight it with +much love! I speak for you, for me!" The San Reve began to cry +convulsively. "I speak against a dark day! I feel, I know it! It is you, +you whom I shall kill! And then myself--oh, yes, my Storri, you cannot +go alone!" + +The San Reve threw herself weeping upon the couch; her gusty nature +seemed torn by whirlwinds of passion and jealous love. Storri hung in +the door, and the white of his cravat was not so white as his face. He +could neither go nor stay, neither speak nor do; craven to the heart, he +quailed before the stormy San Reve. An artist might have painted him as +the Genius of Cowardice. + +"Good-night, my Storri," said the San Reve, her voice mournfully sweet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +HOW THEY TALKED POLITICS AT MR. GWYNN's + + +In accord with the requests of Mr. Gwynn, which with them had those +graver aspects the requests of royalty possess for London shopkeepers, +the President and General Attorney of the Anaconda Airline came to +Washington. The Anaconda president was a short, corpulent man, with dark +skin, eyes black as beads, round, alert face, and a nose like the ace of +clubs. The General Attorney was no taller than his superior officer, but +differed from him in a figure so spare and starved that it snapped its +fingers at description. As though to make amends for a niggardliness of +the physical, Providence had conferred upon our legal one a prodigious +head. A facetious opponent once said that he had a seven and a half hat +and a six and a half belt, being, as steamboat folk would put it, +over-engined for his beam. Both the President and the General Attorney +were devoted to their company, and neither would have scrupled to loot +an orphanage or burn a church had such drastic measure been demanded by +Anaconda interests. Once in town, these excellent officers lost no time +in presenting themselves at Mr. Gwynn's. To their joy that unbending +personage was so good as to grant them a personal audience. Richard was +present--such, as you have discovered, being the invariable usage with +Mr. Gwynn. After the latter had shaken each visitor by the hand, a shake +of mighty formality, he sat in state while Richard did the talking. + +Mr. Gwynn was a spectacle of gravity when posed in a chair. He +established himself on the edge of that piece of furniture, and for all +the employment he gave its back it might as well have been a stool. Mr. +Gwynn maintained himself bolt-upright, chin pointed high, with a general +rigidity of attitude that made one fear he had swallowed the poker as a +preliminary to the interview, and was bearing himself in accordance with +the unyielding fact. The result was highly effective, and gave Mr. Gwynn +a kingly air not likely to be wasted on impressionable ones such as the +President and General Attorney. When the four were seated, Richard, +using the potential name of Mr. Gwynn, proceeded to speak, while Mr. +Gwynn at measured intervals creaked concurrence. + +It had been decided by Mr. Gwynn, so Richard laid bare, that the future +of the Anaconda would be advanced by the nomination of Senator Hanway +for the Presidency. It would pleasure Mr. Gwynn were he to hear that the +President and General Attorney shared this conclusion. If such were the +flattering case, Mr. Gwynn would be delighted to have the President and +General Attorney call upon Senator Hanway, and consider what might be +done towards the practical furtherance of his hopes. In short, the +situation, word and argument, was precisely the same as when the +visitors came on in the affair of Speaker Frost. Incidentally, Mr. Gwynn +was to give a dinner in honor of Senator Hanway. It was understood that +certain of that statesman's friends would take advantage of the occasion +to announce his candidacy. The President and General Attorney were to be +invited to the dinner. Mr. Gwynn would esteem it an honor if they found +it convenient to be present and lend countenance to the movement in +Senator Hanway's favor. + +Throughout this setting forth, the President and General Attorney took +advantage of pauses and periods to bow and murmur agreement with Mr. +Gwynn's opinions and desires as Richard reeled them off; the murmurs and +nods were as "Amens," and must have been gratifying to Mr. Gwynn. +Nothing could give the President and General Attorney so much +satisfaction as the elevation of Senator Hanway to the White House. They +were a unit with Mr. Gwynn; they believed that not alone the future of +the Anaconda but the prosperity of the nation, not to say the round +advantage of the world at large, would be subserved thereby. They would +confer with Senator Hanway as Mr. Gwynn suggested. + +So hot were they that the President and General Attorney, with Richard, +at once sought Senator Hanway; since it was no later than eleven in the +morning they caught that great statesman before he started for the +Senate. He greeted them with dignified warmth, and, aided by Richard, +who conversationally went ahead to break the ice, the trio quickly came +to an understanding. + +Senator Hanway talked with a freedom that was of itself a compliment, +when one remembers how it had ever been his common strategy in this +business of President-catching to appear both ignorant and indifferent. +Senator Hanway explained that the thing just then was the nomination. It +would be necessary to control the coming National Convention. Governor +Obstinate was a formidable figure; he was popular with the people; and, +although Governor Obstinate was a man who would prove most perilous if +armed with those thunderbolts of veto and patronage wherewith the +position of chief executive would clothe his hand, Senator Hanway was +sorry to say there were many among the leading spirits of party who +cared so little for the public welfare and so much for their own that +they would push Governor Obstinate's fortunes as a method of making +personal capital in their home regions with the ignorant herd. Senator +Hanway would not go into the details of what in his opinion might be +accomplished by the President and General Attorney and the great railway +system they controlled. It would be wiser, and perhaps in better +taste,--here Senator Hanway smiled with becoming modesty,--if others +were permitted to do that. If his good friends of the Anaconda who had +come so far in his honor--a mark of regard which he, Senator Hanway, +could never forget nor underestimate--gave him their company to the +Capitol, he would be proud to make them acquainted with Senators Gruff +and Loot and Toot and Drink and Dice and others of his friends, and +those gentlemen would go more deeply into the affair. The President and +General Attorney, he was sure, could so exert the Anaconda influence +that the delegations from those States through which it ran might be +selected and controlled. + +Senator Hanway and the President and General Attorney departed in high +good feeling to meet with those statesmen named, while Richard sought +Bess to hear word of his Dorothy and receive that letter which was +already the particular ray of sunshine in days which were cloudy and +dark. + +It would do mankind no service to break in at this place with wideflung +descriptions of Mr. Gwynn's dinner. It is among things strange that the +world in the matter of proposing a candidate for public favor or +celebrating a victory has made little or no advance from earliest ages. +It has been immemorial custom when one had a candidate on his hands and +desired to obtain for him the countenance of men, to give a dinner for +those who were reckoned leaders of sentiment and, first filling them +with meat and wine, make them stirring speeches to bring them to the +candidate's support. From the initial dinner sub-dinners would radiate, +and others be born of these, until a whole population might be +considered fed and filled with food and speeches, and the candidate +dined, not to say dinned, into the popular heart, or, what is the same +thing, the popular stomach--in either case the popular regard. In +celebrations the procedure was equally archaic. Did some admiral win a +sea fight or some general a land fight or some candidate a ballot fight, +instantly one-half the population marched in the middle of the street +while the other half banked the curbs in screaming, kerchief-waving +lines of admiration. And thus has it ever been since that far-distant +morning of Eternity, when Time with his scythe let down the bars and +went upon his mowing of the meadows of men's existences. Mr. Gwynn, you +may be sure, has nothing novel to propose; wherefore at this crisis he +gives a dinner, as doubtless did Nero and Moses and Noah and Adam and +others of the mighty dead on similar occasions in their day. + +Mr. Gwynn's dinner began with Senator Gruff. This wise man, with the +sanction of Senator Hanway, intimated to Richard the uses of such a +festival. Mr. Gwynn was not in politics; his dinner table would be +neutral ground. When therefore some fiery orator, carefully primed and +cocked, suddenly exploded into eloquent demands that Senator Hanway +offer himself for the White House, subject of course, as the phrase is, +to the action of his party's convention thereafter to assemble, it would +have a look of spontaneity that was of prime importance. No other could +do this so well as Mr. Gwynn; no other table would so escape that charge +of personal interest which the friends of Governor Obstinate might be +expected to make. The very fact of Mr. Gwynn being an Englishman would +defend it. Mr. Gwynn, at the word of Richard, was willing to serve the +views of Senator Gruff, and the dinner was arranged. + +There were full sixty present, including Speaker Frost and those high +officials of the Anaconda. Mr. Gwynn had also dispatched an invitation +to Mr. Bayard, and Richard inclosed therewith a personal note which had +for its result the bringing of that astrologer of stocks, albeit dinners +political were not precisely his habit. + +"Who is your friend Gwynn?" asked Mr. Bayard, the afternoon before the +dinner. + +"I'll explain Mr. Gwynn later," replied Richard. "He is quite devoted to +my interests, I assure you, and to nothing else." + +"I can well believe so," returned Mr. Bayard, who had already half +solved the enigma of Mr. Gwynn. "I begin to fear that you are a +quixotic, not to say an eccentric, not to add a most egotistical young +man. At that I'm not prepared to say you are wrong. One is justified in +extreme concealments to avoid those animals the snobs." + +Mr. Gwynn, the picture of all that was imperial, sat at the table's +head, with Senator Hanway on his right. At the foot was Senator Gruff, +who, if not the founder, might be called the architect of the feast, +since, with the exception of Mr. Bayard, he had pricked off the list of +guests. Mr. Harley, sad and worn with thoughts of Storri, sat next to +Senator Gruff, while Mr. Bayard and Richard occupied inconspicuous +places midway of the board. + +When in the procession of courses the dinner attained to birds, a famous +editor of the Middle West, who had been consuming wine with diligence to +the end that he be fluent, addressed the table's head. He recited the +public interests; then, paying a tribute to their party as the guardian +of those interests, he wound up in words of fire with the declaration +that Senator Hanway must be the next standard-bearer of that party. The +cheering was tremendous, considering the small numbers to furnish it. + +When the joyful sounds subsided, Senator Hanway, in a few placid, gentle +sentences, explained his flattered amazement, and how helplessly he was +in the hands of his friends, who would do with him as they deemed best +for party welfare and for public good. He had not sought this honor, he +did not look for the nomination; his own small estimate of his powers +and importance, an estimate which gentlemen who heard him must be aware +of, was proof of it. But no man might set his inclinations against a +popular demand. Private preferences must yield, private plans must be +abandoned. The country was entitled to the services of every citizen, +the party was at liberty to command the name of every member. Believing +these things, and owing what he did to both public and party, Senator +Hanway must acquiesce. He thanked his friends for thus distinguishing +him; he gave himself passively to their will. There was a second tempest +of approbation when Senator Hanway was through. + +Senator Gruff proposed the health of the President of the Anaconda. That +potentate of railways made a short, jerky oration. He gave his hearty +concurrence to the proposal of Senator Hanway to be President. He did +this as a patriot and not as the head of a great railway. The Anaconda +would take no part in politics; it never did. The Anaconda was a +business, not a political, concern; it would do nothing unbecoming a +corporation of discretion and repute. However, he, the President, was +more or less acquainted with sentiment in those regions threaded by the +Anaconda. He made no doubt, nay, he could squarely promise, that the +delegations from those States, as he knew and read their people's +feeling, would go to the next convention instructed for Senator Hanway. +More applause, and a buzz of congratulatory whispers. The powerful +Anaconda, that political dictator of a region so vast that it was washed +by two oceans, was to champion Senator Hanway. + +Senator Coot, whose home-State was shaky beneath his Senate feet, and +who was therefore anxiously afraid lest he himself be committed to a +position on the perilous subject of finance that might provoke his +destruction, now addressed the table. He yielded to no one in his +admiration for Senator Hanway. In view of what had been proposed, +however, he, Senator Coot, would like to ask Senator Hanway to define +his position in that controversy of Silver versus Gold. + +No one was looking for this, no such baleful curiosity had been +anticipated. It was Senator Gruff that came to the rescue, and Richard, +to whom the scene was new and full of interest, could not admire too +deeply the dexterity wherewith he held the shield of his humor between +Senator Hanway and the shaft of that interrogatory. + +Senator Gruff thought the question premature. The convention was months +away; sentiment had been known to shift in a day like the bed of a river +and seek new channels with its currents. Senator Gruff distrusted the +wisdom of binding anybody at that time to a hard and fast declaration +whether for silver or gold or both. He was sure that on soberer thought +his friend Senator Coot would see the impropriety of his question. + +Senator Coot declined to see the impropriety to which Senator Gruff had +adverted. To commit himself to any gentleman's canvass was to commit +himself to that gentleman's opinions. Those opinions might not be +consistent with ones held by his, Senator Coot's, constituents, to whom +he must in all things adhere. He, Senator Coot, was no one to buy pigs +in pokes--if Senator Hanway would forgive a homely expression which was +not intended as personal to himself. Senator Coot must insist upon his +question. + +Senator Gruff still came forward in defense. He said he had heard that +Senator Coot's native State of Indiana was originally settled by people +who had started for the West but lost their nerve. In view of the +timidity and weak irresolution of his Senate brother, he, Senator Gruff, +was inclined to credit the tradition. He must protest against +question-asking at this time. Senator Gruff must even warn his friend +Senator Coot that to ask a question now might result in later disaster +to himself. + +On that point of question-putting, might he, Senator Gruff, impart a +word of counsel? A question was often a trap to catch the questioner. +One should step warily with a question. A man who puts a question should +never fail to know the answer in advance. When he pulls the trigger of a +question, as when he pulls the trigger of a gun, he must look out for +the kick. Many a perfect situation had been destroyed by the wrong +question asked in the dark. Senator Gruff begged permission to tell a +story. + +"Once a good and optimistic dominie," said Senator Gruff, "was being +shown through Sing Sing Prison. In his company went a pessimist who took +darkling views of humanity in the lump, and particularly what fractions +of the lump had gotten themselves locked up. The pessimist could see no +good in them. + +"'But you are wrong,' argued the dominie. 'There's good in the worst +among them all. Stay; I'll prove it.' Then, turning to the guard: 'Sir, +please bring us to the very worst character who is prisoner here.' On +their way to the abandoned one, the dominie observed to the pessimist: +'I'll guarantee, by a few adroit questions, to so develop the good side +of this fallen creature that you will be driven to confess its +existence.' + +"They traveled the corridors, and finally the guard threw open a cell +wherein was a man whose face was so utterly brutal that its softest +expression was a breach of the peace. The man, who was in for life, had +committed an atrocious murder. + +"The only thing in the cell besides the man was a rat, which--wheel +within wheel--was confined in a little cage. This rat was the prisoner's +darling; the guard said that he would draw blood from his arm to feed +it. The good dominie--who knew his business--instantly seized upon the +rat for his cue. + +"'And you love the rat?' he said to the prisoner. + +"'I love it better than my life!' cried the prisoner. 'There isn't +anything I wouldn't sacrifice for that rat.' + +"'There,' said the good dominie, wheeling on the pessimist, who was +visibly subdued by the poor prisoner's love for his humble pet, 'there, +you see! Here is a captive wretch whose estate is hopeless. He wears the +brand of a felon and is doomed to stone-caged solitude throughout his +life. And yet, without friends or light or liberty, with everything to +sour and harden and promote the worst that's in him, he finds it in his +heart to love! From those white seed which were planted by Providence in +the beginning that beautiful love springs up to blossom in a dreary +prison, and, for want of a nobler object, waste its tender fragrance on +a rat. It touches me to the heart!' and the good dominie watered the +floor of the cell with his tears. + +"The pessimist had no more to say; he murmured his contrition and +declared that he had received a lesson. He would never again distrust or +contradict the existence of that spark of divine goodness which, at the +bottom of every nature like a diamond at the bottom of a pit, would live +quenchless through the ages to save the soul at last. + +"The good dominie and the reformed pessimist were retiring, when the +dominie paused, like Senator Coot, to ask one question--the only one he +couldn't have answered in advance. + +"'Why, my poor man, do you love that rat?' + +"The prisoner's face became more brutal with the light of a diabolical +joy. + +"'Why do I love him?' he cried. Then, with a chuckle of fiendish +exultation: 'Because he bit the warden.'" + +The adroit Senator Gruff might have found it hard to show the +application of his story. That, however, was not going to worry the +sagacious Senator Gruff. He reckoned only upon raising a laugh at the +anxious Senator Coot's expense which would silence that question-asking +personage, who was more afraid of present ridicule, being sensitive, +than of future condemnation by his constituents. The yarn succeeded in +winning peals of laughter, and without giving Senator Coot a chance to +reply or repeat his poking about to discover the position of Senator +Hanway upon the issue of finance, Senator Gruff proposed the health of +Mr. Bayard. + +"And perhaps," remarked Senator Gruff, "that eminent authority on +markets, and therefore upon finance, will favor us with his views on +money. I do not hesitate," concluded Senator Gruff, turning to Mr. +Bayard, "to cast you into the breach, because, of all who are here, you +are the one best qualified and, I might add, least afraid to be heard. +You have no constituents to be either shocked at your opinions or to +punish their expression." + +Senator Coot's curiosity touching Senator Hanway's money position, a +fatal curiosity that had it not been smothered might have spread, was +overwhelmed in a general desire to hear Mr. Bayard. The great speculator +was known to every statesman about the table, and the whisper of +conversation became hushed. + +"As said the gentleman who has so honored me,"--here Mr. Bayard bowed to +Senator Gruff, who complimented him by lifting his glass,--"there are no +reasons why I should not give you my beliefs of money. I will tell you +what I would and would not do for a currency, if I were business manager +of a country. I would not coin silver money, because the low intrinsic +value of such currency would make it a cumbrous one. I would not coin +both silver and gold, because of the impossibility of maintaining an +equality of values between the two coins. I would coin gold and nothing +but gold, because it offers those qualities, important above others in a +money metal, of high value and high durability." + +"But is there gold enough to furnish all the money required?" asked +Senator Coot, who was nervously interested. + +"For centuries," replied Mr. Bayard, who began to feel a warmer interest +than he had in any situation or any topic for over thirty years, "for +centuries production has been filling the annual lap of the world with +millions upon millions of gold. No part of it has been lost, none +destroyed. For every possible appropriation there exists a plenty, even +a plethora, of gold. And let me say this: there is a deal of claptrap +talked and written and printed and practiced concerning this business of +a currency, a subject which when given a right survey presents no +difficulty. Mankind has been taught that in the essence of things fiscal +your question of currency is as intricate and involved as was the +labyrinth of Minos. And then, to add ill-doing to ill-teaching, our own +crazy-patch system of finance has been in every one of its patches cut +and basted and stitched with an interest of politics or of private gain +to guide the shears and needle of what money-tailor was at work. A +country, if it would, could have a circulating medium, and all coined +yellow gold, of two hundred dollars, or five hundred dollars, or one +thousand dollars per capita for population, and, beyond the expense of +the mint, without costing that country a shilling. One, being business +manager of the nation, as fast as the mints would work could pour forth +an unbroken stream of gold money, half-eagles, eagles, and double +eagles, to what breadth and depth for a whole circulation one would, and +never spend a shilling beyond the working of the mints. + +"Observe, now; as a nation we have a business manager. He holds in his +fingers five twenty-dollar gold pieces. He buys one hundred dollars' +worth of gold bullion with them. The public, if it would, might buy gold +as freely as does any private individual. Our business manager gets the +bullion, while the other, a gold miner perhaps, takes the gold coin. +Then our business manager stamps the bullion he has bought--one hundred +dollars' worth--into five new twenty-dollar gold pieces. + +"With these in his palm he is ready for another bargain with the gold +miner. Again the miner gets the gold pieces, and again our business +manager gets one hundred dollars' worth of yellow bullion. This he +coins; and being thereby re-equipped with five more new twenty-dollar +pieces he returns to the experiment. + +"This barter and this coinage might go on while a grain of the world's +gold remained uncoined. At the finish, our business manager would have +only one hundred yellow dollars in his fist; but there would be billions +coined and stamped and in circulation. And the country would be neither +in nor out a dollar. I am talking of coinage, not taxation, remember. + +"Once in circulation the law would protect the money from being clipped +or mutilated or melted down. Once money, always money, and he who alters +its money status we lock up as a felon. There is no legal reason and no +moral reason and no market reason to militate against what I have +outlined as a policy. Finance as a science is simpler than the science +of soap-boiling, although the money-changers in the temple for their own +selfish advantage prefer you to think otherwise." + +"Your wholesale consumption of gold," interrupted Senator Coot, "would +raise the price of gold beyond measure." + +"Wherein would lie the harm? So that it did not disturb the comparative +prices of soap and pork and sugar and flour and lumber and on through +the list of a world's commodities--and it would not--no one would +experience either jolt or squeeze. With wheat at a dollar a bushel, a +reduction to ten cents a bushel would work no injury if at the same time +every other commodity in its price fell ninety per cent. To merely +multiply the 'price' of gold, a metal which when it isn't money is +jewelry, would cut no more important figure in the economy of life than +would the making of one thousand marks upon a thermometer where now we +make one hundred. Suppose, instead of one hundred degrees, we scratched +off one thousand degrees on a thermometer in the same space: would it +make the weather any hotter? I grant you a cautious business manager +would not walk in among the gold-sellers and purchase ten billion +dollars' worth of gold in a day; and for the same reason that a cautious +cowboy wouldn't ride in among a bunch of cattle and flap a blanket. Not +because there lurks inherent peril in so doing, but for that in the +timid ignorance of the herd it would produce a stampede." + +"But don't you see," objected Senator Coot, who was learned in the cant +of currency and believed it, "don't you see that what you propose, by +putting up the price of gold and putting down the price of everything +else, would multiply riches in the hands of the creditor class? Wouldn't +it work injustice to the debtors of the land?" + +"Without pausing to guess," said Mr. Bayard, "for that is all one might +do, whether the extravagant coinage of gold would promote its 'price,' I +will submit that such contention should be disregarded. It is too +general, and too incessant. If such were permitted the rank of argument, +it would trip up every tariff, every appropriation, every governmental +thing. + +"Also, one must not put a too narrow limit upon the term 'creditor +class.' Every man with a dollar in his pocket, or who owns a farm or a +horse or a bolt of cloth or one hundred bushels of wheat, belongs to the +extent of that dollar or farm or horse or bolt of cloth or one hundred +bushels of wheat to the creditor class. The world is his debtor, and he +has it in pawn and pledge to him for the value of that dollar or farm or +horse or cloth or wheat. Now, a tariff law can be and frequently is +framed so as to lift or lower the 'prices' of all or any of these. If +your argument be good it should be just as potent to prevent a tariff +law that augments riches in one hand or detracts from riches in another, +as to prevent a coinage law that does the same. + +"Properly speaking, there can be no separation of mankind into creditor +and debtor classes, since, as we have seen, every man with a dollar's +worth of property is in the creditor class to the extent of that dollar, +while the world is in the debtor class and owes him therefor. There can +be but two classes: those who own something, and those who don't. There +lies the sole natural division; and not a law is framed, whether it be +for a tariff or an appropriation or an army or a navy or a coinage or a +bond issue or what you will, that does not, in lesser or greater degree, +add to or take from the riches of some man or men. No government can go +its clumsy necessary way without stepping on somebody's toes, and if one +cannot have a currency because to have it will help this individual or +hurt that one, by the same token one cannot have a government at all. + +"However," concluded Mr. Bayard, "I think your talked-of advance in a +gold 'price' born of coined billions might prove in the test to be +imaginary rather than real. There has been ever a gold-ghost to frighten +folk. There was once a time when men talked of resuming specie payment, +and the public hung away from it, fearful and trembling, like an +elephant about to cross a bridge. Horace Greeley cried, 'The way to +resume is to resume!' and every dollar-dullard called him crazy. And +yet, as the simple sequel demonstrated, the elephant need not have +shivered, the bridge was wholly safe, and Horace Greeley was right." + +Senator Gruff, whom Mr. Gwynn had privately requested to assume control +so far as speeches and toasts and sentiments to be expressed were +involved, now held forth in terms of flowery compliment concerning Mr. +Bayard. He thanked that able gentleman for his theory of finance. +Senator Gruff would not discuss its soundness; this was not the time nor +yet the place. He would say, however, that it was unique and +interesting. + +Referring to what Mr. Bayard had called our "crazy-patch" system of +currency, he, Senator Gruff, was willing to make this statement. The +greenbacks, as all knew, were exempt from taxation. To discover how far +greenbacks and their exemption had been made to affect the whole taxes +of the several States, he, Senator Gruff, the year before had addressed +a letter to every county tax-gatherer in the country. He had asked each +to state the amount of greenbacks returned that year for his particular +county as exempt. + +"I received a reply," said Senator Gruff, "from every county auditor +between Eastport and San Diego, Vancouver's and the Florida Keys. The +aggregate of greenbacks returned exempt for that one year was over +thirteen billions of dollars, while, as we know, the entire amount of +greenbacks extant in the country is but a shadow above two hundred and +forty millions. I shall make no comment on the miracle, and cite it only +as an incidental expression of one element of our money system." + +Senator Gruff, continuing, recurred to the pushing forward of Senator +Hanway as a Presidential candidate. It was, while unexpected by him, a +movement so full of righteous politics that he confessed heartfelt +gratification thereat. Senator Gruff would suggest that one and only one +gentleman among those present be selected to furnish the story to the +press. + +"In that way," explained Senator Gruff, "we will escape the confusion +sure to be the consequence should a half-dozen of us answer inquiries." + +Senator Gruff, by common acclaim, was pitched upon as the one to deal +with the papers. + +"Why, then," returned Senator Gruff, with a quizzical eye, "I foresaw +this honorable occasion and prepared for it. I shall give what we have +done to the _Daily Tory_, whose intelligent representative is with us as +a guest." And thereupon Senator Gruff, while a smile went round at this +evidence of fullest preparation for the unexpected, a smile which he met +with a merry face, drew from his pocket a document and passed it over to +Richard. In another moment a messenger was called; the story went on the +wire, and the candidacy of Senator Hanway was formally declared. + +Senator Hanway, as the dinner neared its close, proposed the health of +Mr. Gwynn. In response, that remarkable man filled a goblet to the brim, +arose, and bowed with gravity and condescension to Senator Hanway. +Everybody stood up, and Mr. Gwynn's health was drunk with proper +solemnity. + +The highbred conduct of Mr. Gwynn from the beginning had been worthy of +him as an old-school English gentleman. He said nothing; but he took +wine with a decorous persistency that was almost pious and seemed like a +religious rite. It should be observed that while he drank twice as much +as did any other gentleman, not excepting Mr. Harley himself, it in no +whit altered the stony propriety of his visage. There came no color to +his cheek; nor did the piscatorial eye blaze up, but abode as pikelike +as before. Also, with every bumper Mr. Gwynn became more rigid, and more +rigid still, as though instead of wine he quaffed libations of starch. +Of those who experienced Mr. Gwynn's kingly hospitality that night there +departed none who failed to carry with him a multiplied respect for his +host--a respect which with the President and General Attorney of the +Anaconda fair mounted to veneration. Altogether, from the standpoint of +everyone except the alarmed Senator Coot, the affair was not a dinner, +but a victory. + +It was ten o'clock the morning after, and Richard had just reached the +street. From across the way came a gentleman who apparently had been +waiting for him to appear. It was none other than Mr. Sands, that +warlike printer whom Richard rescued from the Africans and set to work. +Richard had not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Sands since bestowing +those benefits upon him. + +"There was nothing to come for," explained Mr. Sands when Richard +mentioned that deprivation. "I wouldn't bother you now, only, being in +the business, I've naturally a nose for news. I thought I might put you +onto a scoop for the _Daily Tory_. Would a complete copy, verbatim, of +the coming report of Senator Hanway's committee on Northern Consolidated +be of any service to you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HOW RICHARD MET INSPECTOR VAL + + +When, prior to the hour of Mr. Gwynn's dinner, Richard talked with Mr. +Bayard, the burden of their conversation was Northern Consolidated, and +what manner of report might be expected from Senator Hanway's committee. +Mr. Bayard was sure the members of the osprey pool designed a "bear" +campaign. For all that, he could not overstate the importance of getting +possession of the Hanway report the moment it was prepared. Mr. Bayard's +belief in a "bear" movement to occur was only a deduction; it was not +information--he did not know. There was no such thing as being positive +until the written report was in Mr. Bayard's hands. He would then have +absolute knowledge of the pool's intentions. Once clear in that behalf, +he would be able to meet and defeat them. + +"Our start," quoth Mr. Bayard, "will be the Hanway report. Nor can we +come by that report too soon. It may lie buried for weeks before Senator +Hanway produces it in open Senate. Its production will take place the +day before the pool's activities begin. It will be deferred until the +market in its strength or weakness favors their aims. Wherefore, my +young friend," concluded Mr. Bayard, clapping a slim hand on Richard's +shoulder, "to work! That report is the key. Every day we have it in our +hands before it is read in the Senate means a million dollars." + +Mr. Bayard forced upon Richard the mighty propriety of getting hold of +Senator Hanway's report; and Richard--to whom the report meant Dorothy +the peerless, not paltry millions--was carried to the impolite length of +bringing up the topic of Northern Consolidated at Mr. Gwynn's dinner. +Richard asked Senator Hanway the plump question of the committee's +labors, and what time its report would appear. + +"The sessions," said Senator Hanway, who, being about his departure, was +getting into his Inverness at the time, "are still in progress. It will +be several weeks before the close of the hearings. Then there must be +time for deliberation; and finally a day or more for writing the report. +You may be sure, however," concluded Senator Hanway, "that the _Daily +Tory_ shall have it before the other papers. It shall be an exclusive +story; I promise you that." + +And the next day comes the veracious Mr. Sands asking whether a verbatim +copy of that report would be of service to him! + +No marvel Richard stared. + +"Because," observed Mr. Sands, puffing an extremely repulsive cigar, +"I've got it here." + +"Do you mean the report of Senator Hanway's committee that is +investigating Northern Consolidated?" cried Richard. + +Mr. Sands tilted his derby over a confident left eye, blew a devastating +cloud, and said he did. + +"It was only last night," observed Richard, still bitten of doubt, "that +Senator Hanway told me the committee had not ended its hearings." + +Mr. Sands of the malignant cigar was not discouraged. Senator Hanway had +lied. All Senators lied, according to Mr. Sands. No man could be a +Senator unless he were a liar any more than a man could be a runner +without first being able to walk. The committee was through with the +inquiry; the report had come into the Government printing office the day +before in the handwriting of the truthless Senator Hanway himself. It +was now set up in types, and the forethoughtful Mr. Sands had abstracted +a copy. + +"As I said," explained that enterprising printer, "I've got a nose for +news. I thought it might do for a scoop, d'ye see, so I swiped it for +you." + +"Let me look at it," said Richard, whose pulses were beginning to beat a +quickstep. He was remembering the value of the report as explained by +Mr. Bayard. "Let me see it, please." + +Mr. Sands took from his pocket two strips of paper. Richard looked at +one and then the other; they were white as snow, guiltless of mark or +sign of ink. + +"There's nothing here," said Richard, the thing beginning to be +mysterious. + +For a moment Richard feared that Mr. Sands might be again immersed in +his cups. That follower of Franklin reassured him. + +"The report is there all right," he observed, "only we can't read it out +here in the light. Now if we could find a dark room, one with a window, +I'd show you what I mean." + +Richard returned to Mr. Gwynn's. Before they entered he gave Mr. Sands a +perfecto. The latter, who knew a good cigar from smoking many bad ones, +threw away the devastator and lighted Richard's. He rolled it from one +corner of his mouth to the other, sucked it tentatively, then passed the +fire end beneath his nose after the manner of a connoisseur. His +experiments exhausted, he pronounced it a "corker." + +Richard conveyed Mr. Sands to his own apartments. The front window was +what Mr. Sands required. He pinned the slips to the top of the lower +sash. As the depended slips were brought with their backs to the light, +Mr. Sands showed Richard how they were in the nature of stencils, the +white light showing through in printed words. Richard was dumb; it was a +kind of prodigy. He read the stencils, beginning at the top of the one +which Mr. Sands said was the "lead." + +[Illustration: It was a Kind of Prodigy] + +"The report is set in minion," explained Mr. Sands, "and with this light +you can read it plain as ink." + +Richard discovered the truth of what Mr. Sands averred; here indeed was +Senator Hanway's Northern Consolidated report, and as readily made out +as though printed in a book. + +"This is the idea," vouchsafed Mr. Sands, who saw that Richard was warm +for explanations. "The boss gave out the report in little 'takes' of +about fifty words each. That was because it must be kept secret. Fifty +printers set it up; then the boss locked the galleys in the strong room. +No one except the boss himself had had a glimpse of it. Of course, that +made me the more eager to nail it; anything a fellow wants to hide is +bound to be big news, d'ye see. Now I'm the man who takes the proofs, +and this morning the boss tells me that Senator Hanway wants a copy--one +proof, no more. The boss goes to the strong room and brings the galleys +to the proof-press. I'm ready for him; I've dampened two sheets of +proof-paper and pasted them together. I spread both of them on the +types. After I've sent the roller over them, I peel the sheets apart and +throw the white one, the one that was on top, on the floor. The bottom +one that has the ink-impression on it I pass to the boss. He sees me +peel the top sheet off, and it rouses his suspicions. + +"'What's that for?' he asks. + +"I'm filling my pipe as calm as duck-ponds, and explain that the +proof-press in which the galley lies is too deep. It takes two +thicknesses to force the sheet down on the face of the types and get a +good impression. The boss is only a politician, not a printer, so this +explanation does him. While he's locking up the galleys again, I get +away with these. You see, with two thicknesses of paper, the types cut +through; it makes a stencil of it. With a little light behind, the +stencil shows up as well as a regular proof. After I'd got organized, I +took a day off, clapped a 'sub' on my stool, and headed for you. As I've +said, it struck me like a big piece of news." + +"It's bigger than you know, Mr. Sands," observed Richard, giving that +worthy's hand a squeeze that made him flinch. "If you don't mind, I'll +not use it as news. You will not mention the fact, but there's a deal on +in Wall Street; I can do better with it there. I cannot thank you too +much for what you've done." + +Mr. Sands was pleased, and departed for the nearest rum counter, his +face expressing complacency. He had partly evened up, he said, for what +Richard did the night that he, Mr. Sands, became entangled with the +Hottentots. He, Mr. Sands, would lie in ambush for further scoops; he +could promise Richard everything in the Government printing office which +any statesman was trying to conceal. + +Richard drew his desk before the window and, reading the stencils line +by line, made a perfect copy. As his pen swept across the paper he +reflected on the deceitfulness of Senator Hanway, who, with the report +written out in full, was for having him think that the committee would +not conclude its labors for weeks. + +"What a mendacious ingrate it is!" thought Richard. + +Mr. Bayard had taken the ten-o'clock limited for New York that identical +morning. Richard caught a train a trifle after one, wiring Mr. Bayard to +meet him at the hotel. They would have dinner together. To make sure of +Mr. Bayard, Richard's message read: + +"I have that report. You were right." + +Mr. Bayard pored over the Hanway findings, and the further he read the +more his satisfaction stood on tiptoe. Conceive a gallery hung round +with paintings that would baffle a Rubens and set a Murillo to biting +the nail of envy! Have an orchestra polished to the last touch of +execution, discoursing the divinest work of some highest priest of +music. Sentinel the scene with marbles that would have doubled the fame +of a Praxiteles. Now, with your stage set, invite to its sumptuous midst +some amateur of all the arts whose senses were born for the beautiful. +Do what you will to endow your artist with contentment in perfection. +Fill his pockets with gold, give him wine of his fancy, have the woman +he loves by his side, so surround him that the eye, the ear, the +stomach, the heart, the pocket, or whatever is the soul of his soul may +be appealed to and enthralled--this artist, with whom love is a +religion, wine a cult, music a passion, and pictures are as dreams! When +you have him thus fortunately established, this artist of yours--for you +are not to forget he is none of mine--peruse his face. You should find +it expressing ecstasy in sublimation--you should discover it wearing the +twin to that look which mounted the brow of Mr. Bayard as he devoured +the Hanway report. + +"Beautiful!" he whispered when he had finished. + +Then he fell silent, prisoner to himself, walled in with his own +thoughts. A moment passed and the clouds rolled away; the delight faded, +and this artist among gamblers for whom speculation possessed harmony +and color and form, and whose life had been an Odyssey of Stocks, +recovered the practical. + +"It is as I surmised," he said, with a sigh of content. "They will fall +upon Northern Consolidated bear-fashion--all claw and tooth. This report +finds the road to be a thief for millions; and a debtor for millions +upon that. The Attorney General must collect. The road must be taken by +a receiver until the public is repaid--the public indeed! Then those +priceless grants are to be repealed. Northern Consolidated is to be +stabbed with a score of knives at once. Beautiful! What a trap they have +set for themselves!" + +Richard, not knowing what reply might be expected, smiled to fetch his +countenance into sympathy with Mr. Bayard's, and retreated to his usual +refuge of a cigar. + +"Now," went on Mr. Bayard briskly, "I can give you the rougher outlines +of what will occur. This report, as I told you, may be weeks in finding +its way into the Senate. Stocks opened the year very strong; the markets +are upon an upgrade. While the boom continues, the pool will do +nothing. The moment prices show a weakness our friends will act. Given +three days of falling prices, this report will come out. The Senate will +be invoked to an attack upon Northern Consolidated. The pool will spring +upon the market, right and left, selling thousands upon thousands of +shares. They will try for a stampede. They look to drop Northern +Consolidated twenty-five points, as woodmen fell a tree." + +"And what is to be our course?" asked Richard. + +"We shall buy every share of Northern Consolidated as fast as it is +offered; go with them to the end. They will find themselves in their own +net. + +"Since our first talk," Mr. Bayard continued, "I have been gathering +information. Of the one million shares which form the stock of Northern +Consolidated, over six hundred thousand are held in England, France, +Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, and even a bundle or two in Sweden. +I shall keep the cables warm to-morrow. The day following, our agents +will be quietly buying those European shares at private sale in London, +Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Stockholm, wherever they +are to be found. Should they give us a week, we shall have so narrowed +the field of operations for our 'bears' that their first day's sales +will land them in a corner. Once we have them penned, we may take our +time. They will be as helpless as so many caged animals." + +When Storri on that jealous evening left the San Reve, his nerves were +somewhat tossed and shaken. It was not over-late; he would stroll to the +club by roundabout paths, the walk and cold night air might steady him. + +That roundabout route led Storri past the Treasury Building, and, as he +slowly paced the pavement bordering one side of the massive structure, +he was brought to sudden stop by a heavy timber platform six feet square +and lifted a foot and a half from the ground, which cumbered the +sidewalk nearest the curb. Storri surveyed the platform in a lack-luster +way. It had, from its appearance, been there years; it was strange he +had never noticed it before. + +An old man, one of the night guards of the Treasury, buttoned to the +chin, was standing in a narrowish basement door-way of the great building +not fifteen feet away. The old man took his pipe out of his mouth, and +seeing Storri survey the obstructing platform, observed: + +"If I had a sack or two of the billions of gold that's been dumped on +that platform, I wouldn't be smokin' my pipe 'round here to-night." + +Gold as a term never failed to attract the Storri ear. He opened +converse with the old man of the pipe. It was to this heavy platform the +treasure-wagons backed up when they brought bullion to the Treasury. +Storri learned another thing that gave him the sort of thrill that +setters feel when in the near vicinity of a covey of grouse. The vault +that held the gold reserve was within sixty feet of him as he stood in +the street. Just inside those thick, hopeless walls they lay--millions +of piled-up yellow treasure. Storri stared hard at the impassive granite +and licked his lips. The nearness of those millions pleased him like +music. + +"Sixty feet!" exclaimed Storri unctuously. "That doesn't sound far, but +before a robber pierced such a wall as that he would fancy it far +enough." + +"Oh, a robber wouldn't try the wall," said the old man, turning to look +at it. "I've often wondered though that no one ever thought of the sewer +out there;" and the old man marked a line in the air with his pipe-stem +as though tracing the direction of the great street drain that ran +beneath the pavement. + +Storri kept on his journey to the club, but the notion of those +millions, almost within hand's touch of the open street, continued to +haunt him pleasantly. The sewer, too! Would a tunnel reach this +treasure? The question used to come back upon Storri. Also he got into +the habit, as he went about the streets, of walking by the Treasury. +This was not offspring of any purpose; Storri had none. It was only that +he took an instinctive satisfaction in the nearness of that heaped-up +gold. He could feel its close neighborhood, and the feeling was as wine +to his imagination. + +Storri was not permitted respite by the San Reve concerning the Harleys. +The jealous one of the green-gray eyes insisted upon seeing Storri +often; and he, putting on a best face, pretended that he loved the San +Reve the better for her jealousy. To keep the peace, he was wont to drop +round to Grant Place three or four times a week. + +These concessions to the San Reve and her rather too fervid love would +not get in the way of Storri's dinners at the Harleys'. For a time he +should go there but once a week. When despair had chilled Dorothy to +tameness he would go oftener. Just then he must give her terrors +opportunity to do their freezing work. + +Storri could not have told whether he loved or hated Dorothy; he was +only conscious of a fire-fed passion that consumed him. He must possess +her; or, if not that, then he must grind her into the earth. He would +torture her as he was tortured; he would blacken her by blackening Mr. +Harley; with her pride in the dirt, with disgrace upon her, where then +was that man who would wed her? The daughter of a forger--she would +stain the name of wife! Richard might have her then; Storri would give +her to him for a revenge! These were the mutterings of Storri as he went +preyed upon by love and hate at once. + +"If you do not love Miss Harley," said the flushed but logical San Reve, +"why do you go there? You say, 'Once a week!' Why once a week? Why once +a month? Why at any time? Storri, you do love her! And you come to me +with lies!" This was on the evening following the scene that gave Storri +such disquiet. + +Storri, being spurred, and resolute to silence the San Reve, took that +pertinacious beauty into his confidence, lying wherever it was +inconvenient to tell the truth, and bragging always like a Cheyenne. +Storri strode about the San Reve's rooms and told his tale grandly. His +San Reve must listen; he would show her how a Russian gentleman avenged +himself. He, Storri, hated the Harleys. Mr. Harley had cheated him; +Dorothy had laughed at him; her lover, that Richard, bah! he had even +threatened Storri. Chastise him? Could a nobleman chastise a toad--a +reptile? No; there was a debt due his caste. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley?--a vapid fool! Storri despised her. He despised them +all and hated them all. They had affronted him. And for those injuries +done his pride he would punish and spare not. He, Storri, would bring +sorrow and shame to them; he would mark their lives with black. + +Being launched, Storri drew great joy from the rehearsal of what griefs +he had devised against the Harleys. To prove his own superior +cleverness, Storri told the San Reve how he trapped Mr. Harley into +forging his name to the French shares. + +"There is my weapon!" cried the triumphant Storri. "With that I may +smite them when I choose! To-morrow, within the hour, I could have this +scoundrel Harley in a criminal's cell! Some day I shall do that. +Meanwhile, he knows; the proud girl knows. It is for vengeance I go to +the Harleys', my San Reve, not love. I sit at their table, I eat their +food, I drink their wine; and I laugh and I gloat over them--these +little people! Yes, my San Reve, the hand of the coward Harley shakes as +he lifts his glass; the fair, proud Dorothy shows me my triumph in her +whitened cheek and frightened eye. And best of all, the empty chatter of +the magpie Mrs. Hanway-Harley--who knows nothing, being a fool! It is +that magpie chatter to be poison in the ears of the others! Oh, you +should behold them, my San Reve! You should witness how they writhe and +how they tremble in the presence of your Storri!" + +The San Reve listened, but the gloom hung low on her brow. She did not +believe her Storri who said he ate a weekly dinner for revenge. Yes, he +had obtained a mastery over Mr. Harley; he had forced his way into the +company of Dorothy and shut the door on Richard! The San Reve shook her +jealous head; that was not vengeance, that was love. + +And Storri would succeed, too! This Dorothy would come to love him as +she, the San Reve, loved. Dorothy was a woman; and what woman could +resist Storri? This Dorothy loved him even now; her coldness was an +attitude, a fiction. It was meant to be a lure to Storri and whet his +eagerness! + +These were the thoughts like living coals which the San Reve hid in her +heart. But while her head whirled, and her sight was blurred, and her +pulses set a-throb with the jealous storms that swept her, it was +wonderful to note how the San Reve's office-trained mind seized upon and +registered those French shares. It was those shares that constituted +Storri's hold upon the Harleys. Could she break the hold? Those shares +were the locks of her Samson. Oh, if she might but shear the locks! Then +she would have her Storri again--in his weakness she would have him. The +San Reve knitted her brows. + + * * * * * + +These days of separation were more easily borne by Richard than by +Dorothy. Richard was rich in a dogged fortitude common enough with men. +Moreover, he had his work, and he went into it more deeply than before. +Eleven o'clock still found him in the study with Senator Hanway, albeit +Dorothy was no longer there to make a lovely third. Perhaps for that +reason more politics and news of legislation were discussed by Richard +and Senator Hanway. + +The latter gentleman, these days, was in the best of tempers. Nothing +could be more smoothly hopeful than the outlook for that nomination. +Senator Gruff, who was indefatigable for Senator Hanway, told him that +Speaker Frost reported his own State delegation as already in line. Also +the President of the Anaconda, from whom Senator Gruff had letters every +week, described the Hanway sentiment in Anaconda regions as invincible. +The National Convention, in the interests of Senator Hanway and over the +objection of the friends of Governor Obstinate, had been fixed for the +last of May. This was a help; Senator Hanway's forces were organized and +Governor Obstinate's were not. The less space permitted that candidate +and his henchmen, the better for Senator Hanway. As Senator Gruff and +Richard sat together in Senator Hanway's study one morning, the Senator +pointed out on the map a sufficient number of States, and each certain +to send a Hanway delegation, to carry the nomination. + +"If the convention were held to-morrow," observed Senator Gruff, "we +would win. The effort now must be to head off encroachments by Governor +Obstinate." + +The above came on an occasion when Senator Gruff was in a confidential +mood. Commonly, as a chief Hanway manager, he lay as blandly close and +noncommittal as a clam. + +There was the issue of finance, Senator Gruff explained, and that was a +growing source of trouble to Senator Hanway. The latter gentleman's +endeavor had always been to say nothing upon finance, but silence was +becoming difficult. Governor Obstinate was openly and offensively for +gold in a sod-pawing, horn-lowering, threatening way, and just as a +buffalo bull might have been for gold. This settled the standing of +Governor Obstinate in silver communities; they would have none of him. +Those same silver people, however, demanded all the more that Senator +Hanway define his position in the money war. They gave tongue to those +pig-and-poke objections voiced by Senator Coot. It was clamors such as +these, so Senator Gruff told Richard, that made silence a work of +weariness. + +"Now I thought," observed Richard, "that Mr. Bayard talked wisely upon +silver and gold the evening of the dinner. Why wouldn't it be well to +talk to the people in the same manner even if one did not adopt the +theories expressed? Let Senator Hanway clearly announce his views and +give his reasons. The latter should defend him with thinking men." + +"Thinking men," retorted Senator Gruff with an experienced smile, "are +in a hopeless minority. Talk reason to the public? One might as well +talk reason to the winds. Politics, as a science, is not addressed to +the intelligence but to the ignorance of men." + +Senator Hanway, after sundry conferences with Senator Gruff and others, +offered the resolution asking for a committee to meet with the Ottawa +government on the matter of that Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal. The +majority opinion of those consulted was that the resolution ought to +strengthen Senator Hanway. Certain railways might object; there were +influences infinitely larger, however, that would applaud. Besides, the +resolution had a big look and sounded like statesmanship. It could not +do otherwise than dignify Senator Hanway in public estimation. Senator +Hanway gave Richard for the _Daily Tory_ an interview of depth and power +in which he urged the international value of such a waterway America +and Canada should dig and own it together; it would be a bond to unite +them. It would promote friendship, and what was better than friendship +between countries? Senator Hanway said nothing about Credit Magellan, +nor did he intimate any relationship between his Georgian Bay-Ontario +Canal and the investigation of Northern Consolidated. + + * * * * * + +Storri had become very fond of the company of Mr. Harley. He would find +him in the Marble Room in the rear of the Senate Chamber, or he might +cross his path at Chamberlin's. Washington is a small town; there it is +not difficult to keep a man in sight. Storri kept Mr. Harley excessively +in sight; and it wore visibly on Mr. Harley, whose health was breaking +down. Storri liked the pain his presence gave Mr. Harley; and besides, +he argued that to see him frequently strengthened his hold upon that +unhappy man. When they were together, Storri's manner was hideously +cheerful; he would talk Credit Magellan and consider Northern +Consolidated as though nothing were awry. This was the refinement of +cruelty, as when a cat pretends to let the mouse escape. + +One day, when Storri and Mr. Harley were together, the former's face was +purposely dark. Mr. Harley grew uneasy; his courage had all slipped from +him by now, and he waited in terror upon the looks of Storri. + +"Harley," cried Storri, having sufficiently enjoyed the effect of his +scowls, "you John Harley, I have ever your credit at heart. Yes, Harley, +I have kept a guard, what you call a spy, about your house to see if the +vile Storms would enter when you were not there to repel him. He goes +each day, I find, to see the honorable Senator Hanway. It does not +please me, who am a Russian gentleman and a nobleman, that so low a +being, although he does not personally meet her, should yet come beneath +the same roof with your lovely daughter who is to become my Countess +wife. You will correct this; eh, you Harley--you John Harley?" + +Mr. Harley had not named Storri to Dorothy since that awful New Year's +night. However, so worn to abject thinness was now his spirit on the +constant wheel of fear that he carried Storri's latest word to her +without apology. Richard must not visit Senator Hanway in his study. Mr. +Harley could not go to Senator Hanway, he could not go to Richard; he +could come only to her. + +Dorothy, whose trembling concern was her father, and who felt ever more +and more like some fly caught fast in a spider's web, made no reply. +There was nothing to say--nothing save obedience. She wrote Richard that +Storri had set a spy upon the house, and asked him to forego his calls +upon Senator Hanway. The close of the letter was a hysteria of love and +grief. + +Richard sought Bess; he saw much of the pythoness now. Dorothy, for her +part, never crossed the street lest she meet him, and bring down +Storri's wrath upon her father. Richard knew what Bess would say, but he +must have someone to converse with. Bess took the course anticipated: he +must obey Dorothy in this as in the rest. + +"It comes to little either way, the calling upon Senator Hanway," was +Bess's comment. + +"It comes to this," cried Richard, "that we are the slaves of Storri! +I'd give ten years off my life if he and I might settle this together." + +"The real settlement would be made by Mr. Harley--by Dorothy. You must +not go near Storri. But isn't there a hint in this?" Bess considered. +"Would it not be wise to imitate the gentleman and set a spy to dogging +him? Perhaps something worth while might be discovered." + +The thought found favor with Richard, who, under usual circumstances, +would have been against the proposal. Yes, he would have Storri shadowed +day and night. It would be a retort for that spy about the Harley house. + +Richard sent a message to Mr. Bayard, reciting his determination and +asking advice. He desired to do nothing that might work an interference +in Mr. Bayard's arrangements concerning Northern Consolidated. + +Mr. Bayard replied that he thought a better knowledge of Storri could do +no harm; news of the enemy was ever a good thing. Mr. Bayard went a step +beyond, and said that he would send a man to Richard whom he could trust +for the work. + +The morning following the receipt of Mr. Bayard's message, a foppish, +slender young gentleman accosted Richard. + +"Mr. Storms, I believe?" remarked the foppish stranger, lifting his hat. + +"Yes, sir; Mr. Storms," said Richard. + +"Mr. Bayard asked me to say that I am Inspector Val of the Central +Office, New York, with two months' leave of absence at your service." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HOW RICHARD RECEIVED A LETTER + + +Inspector Val did not resemble the detective officer of literature. His +foppishness arose from an over-elegance of costume rather than any +violence of color. The famous thief-taker might have stood for what was +latest in fashionable dress, with every detail of hat and glove and +cravat and boot worked out. There befell no touch of vulgarity; the +effect was as retiringly genteel as though the taste providing it +belonged to a Howard or a Vere de Vere and based itself upon ten +unstained centuries of patricianism. When he lifted his hat, one might +see that the dark hair, speciously waved, was as accurately parted in +the middle as though the line had been run by an engineer. The voice of +Inspector Val, low and lazy, fell on the ear as plausibly soft as the +ripple of a brook. His eyes wore a sleepy, intolerant expression, as if +tired with much seeing and inclined to resent the infliction of further +spectacles. The nose was thin and high, and jaw and cheek bones were +thin and high to be in sympathy. + +There were two impressions furnished the student of faces by Inspector +Val. Glanced at carelessly, one would have called him not more than +twenty-five; a second and a sharper survey showed him fifteen years +older. Also, there came now and then a look, quiet at once and quick, +which was calculated to arrest the trained attention. What one thought +following that second sharp canvass was in exact opposition to what one +thought after the glance earlier and more upon the casual. + +Inspector Val baffled Richard's conception of the man concerning whom +all who read papers had heard so much. Was this indolent individual that +inveterate man-hunter who, with courage of berserk and strength of +steel, had pulled down his quarry in the midst of desperate criminals, +and then, victim in clutch, cleared his path through? Something of this +may have glimmered in Richard's eye; if so, Inspector Val assumed to +have no hint of it, and busied himself in a more precise adjustment of +his boutonnière, which floral adornment had become disarranged. The +longer Richard contemplated Inspector Val the more he felt his whalebone +sort. The slim form and sleepy eyes began to suggest that activity and +ferocious genius for pursuit which are the first qualities of a ferret. + +"If we could be more private," suggested Inspector Val, casting a tired +glance about the big public room at Willard's where the two had met. + +"We will go to my house," replied Richard. + +"And if you don't mind, we'll ride." This with the rising inflection of +a request. "There are carriages at the door." + +"My own," said Richard, "should be across the way. I seldom require it; +but I might, and so it follows me about." + +Richard and Inspector Val stepped to the Fourteenth Street door. At +Richard's lifted hand an olive-tinted brougham, coachman and footman +liveried to match, drawn by a pair of restless bay horses, came plunging +to the curb. The footman swung down in three motions, like a soldier +about some point of drill. + +"Home!" said Richard. + +The footman in three motions regained his perch; the whip cracked and +the brougham went plunging off for Mr. Gwynn's. + +Richard came to the common-sense conclusion to lay the complete story of +his perplexities before Inspector Val. A detective was so much like a +doctor that frankness would be worth while. One was called to cure the +health, the other to cure a situation; the more one told either +scientist the faster and better he could work. Acting on this thought, +Richard related all there was to tell of himself, Dorothy, Mr. Harley, +and Storri, being full as to his exclusion from the Harley house and the +manner in which it was brought about. When he had finished, he waited +for Inspector Val. + +[Illustration: That Artist of Pursuit] + +That artist of pursuit did not speak at once, and asked permission to +smoke a cigarette. Richard offered no objection, although he privily +condemned cigarettes as implying the effeminate. Inspector Val lighted +one, and blew the smoke thoughtfully through the thin, high nose. +Suddenly he threw the cigarette away half smoked; it had served the +purpose of its appearance. Inspector Val had smoked himself into a +conclusion. + +"This is the way the thing strikes me," began Inspector Val. "Storri, as +you say, has a hold on Mr. Harley--has him frightened. There are three +ways to frighten a man; you can threaten him physically, or with +disgrace, or with the loss of money. Storri, by your report, is a coward +with not half the courage of Mr. Harley; besides, in this case, a +physical threat is out of the question. So is a threat of money loss; it +is preposterous to suppose that this half-baked Russian has got the +upper hand in a business way of a shrewd one like Mr. Harley, or that +the latter would permit him to drive him about like a dog if he had. No, +Storri has caught Mr. Harley in some wrong-doing, or, what is as bad, +the appearance of it--something that looks like crime. Doubtless it +refers to money, as from Mr. Harley's sort it isn't likely to include a +woman." + +Inspector Val was here interrupted by Matzai, who said in excuse that +the note he bore was marked "important." + +"Open it," observed Inspector Val. "Once in one thousand times a letter +marked 'important' is important." + +Richard cut the envelope with a paper knife and, after silently running +the missive up and down, remarked: + +"This note works into our conversation as though timed to find us +together. I'll read it to you. It's in French, and if you aren't +familiar with that language I'll translate." + +Inspector Val said that he preferred a translation, and Richard gave him +the following. The address and the entire note were in typewriting: + + Mr. Storms: + + Count Storri's hold on Mr. Harley consists in this: Mr. Harley + wrote Count Storri's name on five stock certificates aggregating + two hundred shares of the Company Provence of Paris, France. It was + done to borrow money, but with honest intentions and at Count + Storri's request. Now Count Storri, who has the shares in his + possession, threatens Mr. Harley with a charge of forgery. In that + way he compels him to do his bidding. The man who writes you this + does not do it for your interest, but for + + His Own. + +"This did not come through the mails," said Inspector Val. "Ask your man +who handed it in." + +Matzai said that the note was not handed in, but thrust beneath the +door. The bell had been rung; when the door was opened no one appeared. +The note was lying in the entry. + +"Will you mind," said Inspector Val, "if I call a man from across the +street?" + +"Certainly not," replied Richard, somewhat astonished. + +Inspector Val stepped to the window. Over the way a man was sauntering, +for all the world like a sightseer from out of town. He was admiring the +stately residences, and seemed interested particularly in Mr. Gwynn's. +Inspector Val made a slight signal, and the sightseer came over and rang +Mr. Gwynn's bell. + +"Have him up," said Inspector Val to Richard. Then, as the sightseer was +marshaled into the room by Matzai: "Mr. Storms, this is Mr. England." + +Mr. England's eye was bright and quick like a bird's; with that +exception he was commonplace. Inspector Val, without wasting time, began +to ask questions: + +"Who shoved this note under the door?" + +"A colored man, sir. He sneaked up and tucked it beneath the door as +though trying not to be caught at it. Then he pushed the bell and +skipped. The thing looked queer, and Mr. Duff thought he'd follow him. +He'll be back, Mr. Duff will, presently." + +"That will do," said Inspector Val. "When Mr. Duff returns, tell him to +come in." + +Mr. England withdrew, and recommenced his sightseeing on the opposite +side of the street. + +"Mr. England and Mr. Duff," explained Inspector Val, "came down with me. +I shall use them to shadow Storri, as that kind of work is their +specialty. It is difficult work, too, and demands a man who has talents +for seeing without being seen. Also, he must be sharp to think and act, +and full of enterprise. To keep at the heels of a gentleman who may take +a cab, or a street-car, or enter a building by one door for the purpose +of leaving it by another, is no simple task; so I brought with me the +best in the business." + +"How did your men come to be outside the door?" asked Richard, whose +curiosity concerning metropolitan detective methods had been sensibly +aroused. + +"To save delay," returned Inspector Val, "which is the great rule in +detective work. They were within ten feet of us when I met you; they saw +us drive away, called a coupé, and followed. I should have given them a +jacketing if they hadn't." + +Inspector Val asked Richard to slowly translate the note, while he made +a copy in English. This Richard did; at the close, being interested in +the workings of the man-hunting mind, he asked Inspector Val for his +theory of its truth and origin. + +"Why, then," observed Inspector Val, pausing over Richard's translation +as he had written it down, "this would be my surmise. The note tells the +truth. It was written by a Frenchwoman who probably came from Ottawa. +She is in love with Storri, and jealous of Miss Harley, whom she thinks +Storri aims to marry. You said nothing about Storri seeing Miss Harley, +but he does. Miss Marklin was afraid to tell you and Miss Harley was +afraid to write you that feature of the situation, fearing you would +pitch in rough. It shows they have sense." + +This was the first time Richard had heard how Storri enjoyed the +privilege of Dorothy's society while he was warned from the door. The +thought was fire. He sprang to his feet, growling an oath under his +breath. + +"Take it easy," said Inspector Val, with a manner full of warning. +"Don't spoil a game just as the cards begin to run your way. After we +get our hands upon those French shares you may raise what row you like. +But take it easy now; try another cigar." + +The prudent sagacity of Inspector Val was not thrown away, and Richard +saw the force of that gentleman's arguments. + +"Tell me how you arrive at those beliefs about the note," said Richard. + +"That's not so simple," returned Inspector Val. "It's like asking a +pointer to tell you how he scents a partridge. My argument takes +somewhat this route: I think the note tells the truth, as there's no +reason why it should lie. Moreover, it is a reasonable explanation of +Storri's command over Mr. Harley. I know a woman wrote it because she's +at such pains to call herself a man. Another thing, a man wouldn't have +marked this note 'Important!' It's important, but it gains no advantage +from being labeled. A woman, who acts from feeling, marks it 'important' +because she feels its importance. Now a man might feel its importance, +but he acts from reason rather than feeling, and in that respect is the +antithesis of a woman. It would never occur to a man to mark the note +'important,' because it would never occur to him that by so doing +anything would be gained. Then a man would have sent this through the +post office. A man is more cunning than a woman. The mails would have +served as well, and a messenger might be recognized and followed. To +send messengers is essentially a trick of the feminine. Your District +Messenger Service will tell you that nine-tenths of its calls are from +women." + +"You have read Edgar Allan Poe, I take it," observed Richard, smiling +over the processes of Inspector Val. + +"I've read Poe, Gaboriau, and Conan Doyle," returned Inspector Val; "all +detectives have. They are amusing if not instructive. But to resume: +There is another reason why I'm certain a woman wrote this note. All the +writer knows the writer got from Storri. It's a long yarn; it must cover +in its transaction a dozen interviews between Storri and Mr. Harley. And +they were not interviews at which a third party was present. You will +see the truth of that the instant I mention it. No; Storri told the +whole tale to the writer of the note. Mr. Harley wouldn't tell it for +obvious reasons. Neither would he write it to you or anybody else; it is +the publication of it that he fears. Storri was the only one besides Mr. +Harley who knew of those French shares; or of Mr. Harley's imitation of +Storri's signature and the threats of arrest for forgery which Storri +made. It's as plain as the stars at night that Storri furnished the +information upon which this letter is based. Now whom would he tell? Not +a man; there would be nothing to gain and much to risk in that. A woman, +then? Sure; this fellow has been strutting and bragging to a woman. It +is the commonest weakness of the congenital criminal. It is his way of +swaggering and seeming powerful. But mark you: he never takes a woman +into dangerous confidences unless he thinks she loves him. Do you +follow? Storri has told this to a woman in whose love he believes." + +"You reason well, at any rate," observed Richard. + +"Yes, sir, I reason well," returned Inspector Val. "I have reasoned like +this a thousand times, and a thousand times I was right. To go on: I +agree with Storri; the woman does love him. Why does she write this +letter? Because she wants to break Storri's grip on Mr. Harley. On Mr. +Harley's account? No, she cares nothing for Mr. Harley. In a clash +between the two her sympathies would be with Storri, whom she loves. Now +the woman in telling a lie--the only one in the letter--has also told an +important truth. It is in her last sentence. She was thinking to throw +you off as to her sex, and went out of her way to do it. She was hunting +a chance to write 'man' and 'his' and at the same time not advise you of +her purpose. The 'man' and the 'his' were to be by way of incident. With +her mind on fooling you as to her sex, she was so wholly engaged that +she told an unwitting truth; she did write this letter in her own +service. One step further: The object of the lady, as I've said, is to +break Storri's hold on Mr. Harley. Now how could the lady who writes you +benefit by that? What could there be about Storri's ascendency over Mr. +Harley to which a woman who loves Storri would object? I will tell you. +That ascendency gives him not only a hold on Mr. Harley, but a hold +through him on some woman whom the writer fears as a rival. And there +you are; I've brought the argument to Miss Harley. Storri threatens Mr. +Harley. What does he demand? That you be excluded from the Harley house. +Why? Because you see Miss Harley. Why should Storri object to that? +Because he desires to court the lady himself, and would do away with +dangerous competition. His simple hatred of you, and nothing more, would +not set Storri to talking forgery charges to Mr. Harley; that would +sound too much like burning a barn to boil an egg." + +Richard growled an acquiescence. + +"Very well; the woman who wrote the note would have you get possession +of those French shares. Storri has described you to her as Miss Harley's +lover; that sets her to writing you--you who have an interest as strong +as her own. Storri has never told her that he loves Miss Harley. She has +guessed it and accused him of it, being jealous; and he in reply and +denial has laid especial emphasis upon you as Miss Harley's lover. It's +more than a chance he told her the whole story as part of a jealous row. +As to the woman being French, I infer that from the note. She couldn't +trust her English or she would not have written in French. That note, +being in French, would narrow any search for its author; and that, too, +whether the author were English or French. Certainly there are fewer +people in Washington who can write French than English. You see the +point?" + +"But you said a Frenchwoman from Ottawa." + +"The note is on paper that was made and sold in Ottawa, as you see by +the raised mark in the corner. We've no trade with Canada for +note-paper; besides, our stores wouldn't handle such as this. It's not +of fashionable shape and size as Americans understand fashions in +note-paper. It's scented, too; and that's vulgar from American +standpoints. Also, it's feminine. No, my word for it, the woman who +wrote that note bought the paper in Ottawa and brought it here. She did +the typewriting herself, which was but natural; and she is not an adept, +as anyone may tell by the clumsy, irregular way in which she begins her +lines. Now take----" + +Matzai came in and announced Mr. Duff. + +"Bring him up," said Inspector Val, and then, turning apologetically to +Richard, he added: "Pardon the liberty of giving commands in your house. +I'm so eager to hear whether Mr. Duff's investigation corroborates my +theory that for a moment I thought I was back in Mulberry Street. Well, +Mr. Duff," as that worthy was ushered in, "what did you learn? This +gentleman is Mr. Storms." + +Mr. Duff seemed to know all about Richard; probably his partner +sightseeing over the way had told him. He nodded blandly as Inspector +Val gave his name, and then proceeded to answer that superior officer. + +"The man is a laborer in the Treasury Department. He went to the +Treasury Building from here, and made a straight wake for a woman who +works at drawing plans and that sort of thing in the office of the +Supervising Architect. He whispered something to her, and she nodded. +When he got about ten feet away, he turned like a man who has overlooked +a point, and said: 'I rang the bell; they'll get it right off.' Then he +went away. The woman's name is San Reve--Sara San Reve. She's a +Frenchwoman, and came from Ottawa. She has had her place only a short +time, and was appointed on the recommendation of a member of the +Senate--Senator Hanway." + +"Senator Hanway!" repeated Inspector Val, looking dubiously at Richard. +"He's a brother-in-law, you say, of Mr. Harley?" + +"Your deductions were none the less right," returned Richard, who saw +the doubts which the name of Hanway bred in the other's mind. "I'd wager +my life on it. I never heard of this Miss San Reve, but she is from +Ottawa, Mr. Duff says. I ought to have told you that Storri came to +Washington from Ottawa." + +"Oh, I see!" exclaimed Inspector Val, his brow clearing. "Storri came +from Ottawa, and brought his sweetheart. Storri worked Senator Hanway +through our friend Mr. Harley, and Senator Hanway found her a place." + +"Yes," returned Richard, "I think you've hit it off. The next thing is +to get hold of those French shares." + +"Right there," said Inspector Val, "let me say a word. I'll first go and +put my people on the track of Storri; they'll run him, turn and turn +about, until further orders, and report each morning. That done, you and +I will take the Limited, and run over and talk with Mr. Bayard. It will +require his help to get those French shares. I'll meet you at the +station then at four." + +"I shall be there," responded Richard. "Before you go, let me give you +this by way of anticipated expense," and Richard tendered Inspector Val +a check for one thousand dollars. + +"That wasn't necessary," said Inspector Val, as he calmly pocketed the +check. + +When Richard arrived at the station he found Inspector Val already +there. "I've taken a drawing-room," said the latter. "It may be a +weakness, but my inclination runs heavily towards concealment. I have a +horror of being seen." + +"I have horrors of much the same color," returned Richard. + +Richard showed Mr. Bayard the note he had received, and told of its +appearance, and the construction of the note as given by Inspector Val. + +"And the question is," concluded Richard, "can we by any chance get hold +of those French shares?" + +"Can we get those French shares?" repeated Mr. Bayard, as though +revolving the question in his thoughts. "I should say we might; yes, I'm +quite sure. I think it will offer no more of difficulty than just +finding out where this Storri negotiates his loans. I know where to go +for the information and, if I ask it in person, it will be forthcoming." +While Mr. Bayard spoke, his wits were working like a flashlight, +displaying for his consideration every possibility presented by the +situation. His confidence must have been strengthened by the survey, for +he closed with emphasis, saying: "I am a false prophet if I do not place +those French shares in your hands, your own property and bought with +your own money, within a fortnight." + +"Within a fortnight!" exclaimed Richard, his face brightening with the +satisfaction the promise gave him. + +There was that in Mr. Bayard's manner which invested his utterance with +all the credit granted his signature at the banks. Richard felt as +though the French certificates, which meant so much to Dorothy and to +him, were as good as in his hands. + +"When I say a fortnight," observed Mr. Bayard, "I ought to add my +reasons. The source of my news is unimportant, but you may accept it as +settled that Tuesday next has been secretly pitched upon by our worthy +President for divers warlike declarations, founded on the Monroe +Doctrine, and pointed at Germany, whose cruisers are just now nosing +about on a debt-collecting errand against one of the South American +states. The President will resent the nosing, call German attention to +our Monroe Doctrine as the line fence between the hemispheres, and then +mount guard over the sacred rails of that venerated barrier with a gun. +All of which might excite but little interest were it not, as a +demonstration, sure to send the market tumbling like a shot pigeon. I'm +not certain that the whole affair hasn't some such commercial purpose. +Be that as it may, the day following that valorous manifesto will be a +time of panic, and the bottom will fall out of stocks. You remember what +I told you as to the plans of our friends to 'bear' Northern +Consolidated? This will bring their opportunity. When the markets begin +to toss and heave and fall with those White House antics touching +Germany and the Monroe Doctrine, Senator Hanway's report will be sprung +in the Senate. He will give it to the press the night before, so that +the morning papers may ring an alarm to the 'bulls.' This will be the +procession of affairs: The President will threaten Germany on Tuesday; +Senator Hanway's report will be in the papers and the Senate on +Wednesday; by Wednesday night our 'bear' pool will have been clamorously +selling Northern Consolidated all day. Per incident, we will have been +buying Northern Consolidated all day. By Friday evening--I give them +three selling days in which to work their ruin--I shall wire you that +they are caught in the trap by all their feet at once. It is then I +shall mail you those French shares." + +"No letter will ever mean so much to me, be sure," said Richard. + +"You shall receive it," returned Mr. Bayard. "By the way, we are +prepared to the last detail for that raid. I've bought more than five +hundred thousand shares of Northern Consolidated in Europe at an average +of forty-two. In order that our raiders may have what rope they require +to thoroughly hang themselves, I've brought more than two hundred +thousand of those shares to this country. It is placed where they may +reach it for the purpose of borrowing stock for delivery. In fact, our +arrangements are perfect; they make as complete a deadfall as ever +waited for its prey." + +Richard and Inspector Val returned to Washington, Richard to write +Dorothy a letter freighted of promise and hope and love. In it he told +her that soon he would have canceled the last element of Storri's power, +removed the last fear of Mr. Harley, and, in loving brief, destroyed the +last bar which separated them and kept them apart. + +Dorothy read the letter again and again, and then kissed it pending the +advent of something more kissable. Richard's promise was like the smell +of flowers to refresh her jaded, fear-wearied heart. The one regret was, +since Richard had forbidden it, that she could not share the blessed +promise with her father. + +Richard wrote nothing of the note of warning; nor did he speak of +Inspector Val and his deductions as to Storri's visits to the Harley +house. His only thought had been to cheer the drooping soul of Dorothy +with the glad nearness of happier days. The word of comfort came in good +time, for the shameful weight of the situation was crushing Dorothy. + +Mr. Harley these days walked in troubles as deep as those of Dorothy, +but not the same. Mr. Harley was not borne upon by the shame of the +thing; that did not depress him any more than the knowledge that he was +guiltless of wrong upheld him. A man of finer nature would have been +strengthened by his innocence. To such a man his self-respect would have +been important; while he retained that support he could have summoned up +a fortitude to bear the worst that lay in Storri's hands. But Mr. Harley +was no such one of fineness, upon whom he would have looked down as a +visionary and a sentimentalist. There arose the less cause why he should +be, perhaps, since Mr. Harley was sure of being popular with himself in +spite of any conduct that could be his. His ideals were not lofty, his +moral senses not keen, and what original decent point the latter might +have once possessed had long been dulled away. True, Mr. Harley was +shaken of an ague of fear; but his tremblings were born of the +practical. He was agitated by thoughts of what havoc, in his own and in +Senator Hanway's affairs of politics and business, naming him formally +as a forger would work. Such a disaster would be tangible; he could +appreciate, and, appreciating, shrink from it. + +One thing to feather the wing of his apprehensions and set them soaring +was his uncertainty concerning Storri. He could not gauge Storri; he +would have felt safer had that nobleman been an American or an +Englishman. Storri was so loaded of alarming contradictions; he could so +snarl and purr, threaten and promise, beam and glower, smile and frown, +and all in the one moment of time! Mr. Harley could not read a spirit so +perverse and in such perpetual head-on collision with itself! Nor could +he, being fear-blind, see that in most, if not all of these, Storri was +acting. If Mr. Harley had realized what a joy it was to Storri to +frighten him, the knowledge might have made for his peace of mind. As it +was, he looked upon Storri as at the best half mad, and capable, in some +beckoning moment of caprice, of any lunatic move that should level the +worst against him. + +Mr. Harley had one hope, and that rested with Northern Consolidated. If +he could stand off disaster until the raid on Northern Consolidated had +been made, and the profits, namely the road, were in their hands, he +might then arrange a permanent truce. In this he reckoned on Storri's +rapacity, to which a million of dollars was as a mouthful. Given a +foretaste of what riches should dwell therein, Storri would desire with +triple intensity to push forward in his earth-girdling dream of Credit +Magellan. The conquest of Northern Consolidated would teach him to look +upon the rest as sure. Being in this frame, Mr. Harley argued that +Storri, feeling his inability to go forward without him, might be +softened to the touch of reason. Under these pleasant new conditions, +with Credit Magellan hopefully launched, Storri could be treated with. +Mr. Harley would then feel his way to some safe compromise; he would +invent an offer for those French shares which should present both peril +and profit. He would threaten to go no further with Credit Magellan +unless Storri put those French shares in his hands; and he would give +him twenty-fold their value if he did. Mr. Harley harbored the thought +that Storri would yield; and yield all the more readily since his +passion for Dorothy and his appetite for revenge against Mr. Harley +would have had time to cool. Thus reasoning, and thus hoping, and, one +had almost said, thus fearing, Mr. Harley gave himself to the task in +two parts of keeping Storri in paths of peace, and praying for a break +in the market so that the attack on Northern Consolidated might begin. + +You are not to suppose those changes in Mr. Harley and Dorothy went +uncounted by Mrs. Hanway-Harley; that would be claiming too much against +the lady's vigilance. In her double rôle of wife and mother, it was her +duty to observe the haggard face of Mr. Harley and the woe that settled +about Dorothy's young eyes; and Mrs. Hanway-Harley, as wife and mother, +observed them. And this is how that perspicacious matron read those +signs. She translated Mr. Harley's haggard looks at a glance; he was +losing money. Legislation, or stocks, or both, were going the wrong way; +but in legislation, or stocks, or both, or the way they went, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley refused to have an interest. If Mr. Harley had lost money, +Mr. Harley must make some more; that was all. + +In divining Dorothy's griefs, Mrs. Hanway-Harley showed even greater +ingenuity. Dorothy and Richard had quarreled; Mrs. Hanway-Harley was +sharp to note that now she neither saw nor heard of Richard. Also, +Dorothy came to the dinner table when Storri was there, and neither fled +to her room nor called Bess to her shoulder on hearing that nobleman's +name announced. Mrs. Hanway-Harley saw how the land lay; Dorothy took a +more lenient view of Storri when now her fancy for Richard was wearing +dim. After all, it had been only a fancy; it asked just a trifle of +care, and the happy dénouement would be as Mrs. Hanway-Harley wished. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley began now to play her game exceeding deep. She would +say nothing of Richard; to name him would serve to keep him in Dorothy's +memory. She would say nothing of Storri; to speak of him would heat +Dorothy's obstinacy, and Mrs. Hanway-Harley had learned not to desire +that. No, she would be wisely, forbearingly diplomatic; the present +arrangement was perfect for the ends in view. Storri came to the house; +Richard stayed away; the conclusion was natural and solitary, and +Dorothy would marry Storri. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, fully understanding the +currents of events and the flowing thereof, became serenely joyful, and +the charm of her manner gained accent from those clouds so visibly +resting upon Mr. Harley and Dorothy. Yes, indeed; it must not be written +that the sun did not shine for Mrs. Hanway-Harley, whose conversation +the satirical Storri told the San Reve was as the conversation of a +magpie. + + * * * * * + +Tuesday came, and the President of this republic shook a pugnacious fist +beneath the German nose. Some impression of the weird suddenness of the +maneuver might have been gathered from the comment of Senator Gruff. +Speaking for the Senate, that sagacious man remarked: + +"It came down upon us like a pan of milk from a top shelf!" + +In Wall Street the effect was all that Mr. Bayard foretold. Prices began +to melt and dwindle like ice in August. Panic prevailed; three brokerage +firms fell, a dozen more were rocking on their foundations. + +In the midst of the hubbub, Senator Hanway sent for Richard. Our +statesman's smile was bland, his brow untroubled. + +"You see I do not forget," said Senator Hanway sweetly. "I promised that +I'd give you an exclusive story when the committee on Northern +Consolidated was ready to report. Here is the report, it was finished +last evening; I have added a brief interview to explain it." + +Richard's impulse was to ask a dozen questions; he restrained himself +and asked none. Richard was not so fond of fiction as to invite it. He +sent the report and interview to the _Daily Tory_, and dispatched a +private message to Mr. Bayard, giving him the news and congratulating +him on his unerring gifts as a seer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOW NORTHERN CONSOLIDATED WAS SOLD + + +When the President of these United States so dauntlessly flourished the +Monroe Doctrine in the German face, and shook the Presidential fist +beneath the German nose, the flourishing and fist-shaking were +accomplished through the medium of a special message to Congress +which--a clap of thunder from a cloudless sky--made its appearance in +House and Senate upon a certain Tuesday afternoon at four of the +congressional clock. The hour of four had been settled upon to diminish +as much as might be, so the President said, the chances of an earthquake +in the New York stock market, which closed at three. In San Francisco, +which is three hours younger than New York, the winds of disastrous +speculation blew a hurricane that afternoon; but no one east of the +Mississippi cares what happens in San Francisco. Besides, the New York +hurricane was only deferred. + +Tuesday afternoon, after word of that Presidential fist-shaking had +soaked into the souls of men, speculative New York went nervous to the +frontiers of hysteria. Tuesday night, speculative New York couldn't +sleep; it sat up till morning, for, like cattle, it could smell in the +breeze the coming storm. Wednesday heard the crash; and the crashing +continued unabated throughout Thursday and Friday. The papers of that +hour in attempting to describe stock conditions drew exhaustively on +such terms as "tornado," "blizzard," "simoon," "maelstrom," "cyclone," +"landslide," "avalanche," and whatever else in the English language +means death and devastation. No one found fault of those similes, which +were justified of the hopeless truth. Values were beaten as flat as a +field of turnips. The best feature was that no banks failed; two or +three of the weaker sisters wavered, but the big, burly concerns gave +them the arm of their aid and led them through. + +Days before the smash, that osprey pool had perfected the last fragment +of its arrangements. The old gray buccaneer, who had charge of the +pool's interests, was as ready for action as was Mr. Bayard. The latter +stock-King was perhaps the only one in the Street who possessed a +foreknowledge of what daring deeds our White House meditated. To Mr. +Bayard the secrets of Courts and Cabinets were told, for he had an agent +at the elbow of every possibility. The old gray buccaneer was not so +well provided; none the less, with decks cleared, guns shotted, +cutlasses ground to razor-edge, he was prompt on the instant to put +forth against Northern Consolidated now when the tempest which lashed +the market favored his pirate purposes. + +Those four millions which had been decided upon as the fund of the +osprey pool were banked ready to the hand of the old gray buccaneer. +Storri, who had been losing money, exhausted himself in providing the +five hundred thousand which made up his one-eighth of the four millions. +By squeezing out his last drop of credit, he succeeded in gathering +those thousands; once gathered, he tossed them into the pool's fund as +carelessly as though they had been nothing more than the common +furniture of his pocket, without which he would not think of beginning +the day. Storri at least was a magnificent actor. + +In collecting those five hundred thousand dollars, Storri, among other +securities, put up the French shares. He thought nothing of that, since +following victory over Northern Consolidated they would be back in his +hands again. Incidentally, a gratifying thing happened, something in the +nature of a compliment or a concession, which he attributed to the +snobbish eagerness of Americans to pay homage to his nobility. Fatuous +Storri; he should never have looked for compliment or concession or +snobbish adulation in a plain lend-and-borrow traffic of dollars and +cents! Men will buy a coat of arms; but they will not take a coat of +arms in pawn. No; Storri, instead of feeling flattered, should have +grown suspicious when the gentleman from whom he borrowed those five +hundred thousand proposed to let him have the full value of his +securities if in return he were given the right to confiscate should the +loans not be repaid on the nail. Why not? The new arrangement meant no +real risk; the security might always be sold in case of default. And +under the arrangement offered, Storri's credit would be enlarged by +twenty per cent. He agreed, and had immediate advantage of the fact. +Drawing to the last dollar, he made his share of the pool's four +millions good. + +When the storm descended Wednesday morning, the old gray buccaneer was +instantly in the middle of it doing all he might to encourage the storm. +As the stock world went to its sleepless bed on Tuesday night, it knew +about the Presidential defiance of Germany. That news was enough to keep +the stock world shivering till morning. When it arose and read the +_Daily Tory_, its chills were multiplied by two. As if trouble with +Germany were not sufficient invitation to general ruin, here came the +Hanway report driving a knife to the heart of Northern Consolidated! At +sight of that, the stock world's last hope abandoned it, and the work of +slaughter commenced. The old gray buccaneer grinned with happiness that +awful morning as he looked across the field of coming war. + +Andrew Jackson, being half Scotch and half Irish, was wont before a +battle to think and plan with the prudent sagacity of a Bailey Jarvie. +Once the battle began, he ceased to be Scotch and became wholly Irish; +he quit thinking and devoted himself desperately to execution. The old +gray buccaneer of stocks was like Andrew Jackson. His plan, thoroughly +cautious and Scotch, had been laid to sell and sell and sell Northern +Consolidated until the stock was beaten down to twenty. He would sell +savagely, relentlessly, sell with his eyes shut, until the twenty point +was reached. And if necessary, he would sell four hundred thousand +shares. + +The old gray buccaneer, under the conditions existing, did not think it +would require a sale of four hundred thousand shares before the market +broke to the figure he had fixed his heart upon. The general +conflagration raging must of necessity smoke out thousands and thousands +of innocent Northern Consolidated shares. These, blind and frenzied, +would rush plungingly into the flames like horses at a fire. The old +gray buccaneer felt sure that while he was selling four hundred thousand +shares, full two hundred thousand, mayhap three hundred thousand, shares +in addition would be offered. What stock could support itself against +such a flood as that? When the bottom was reached, and the time was +ripe, the pool would gather in the harvest. It was a beautiful plan; the +more beautiful because of its simplicity! + +Instantly on the morning of that black Wednesday the sale of Northern +Consolidated began. Thousands of shares in two thousand, five thousand, +and even ten thousand lots were thrown upon the market by the old gray +buccaneer. In the roar and tumult of that disastrous day, what would +have been in calmer moments a spectacle of astonishment passed much +unnoticed. The stock world was busy saving itself out of the teeth of +destruction, and the smashing and slugging in Northern Consolidated +attracted the less attention. + +Northern Consolidated merited admiring attention; against that desperate +hammering, it stood like a wall of granite. Ten, twenty, forty, eighty, +over one hundred thousand shares were sold that Wednesday; and yet, +marvel of marvels, Northern Consolidated at the day's close had fallen +off no more than six points. It retreated sullenly, slowly, step by step +and eighth by eighth; ever and anon it would make a stand and hold a +price an hour. Other stocks lost twice and threefold the ground; the +stubbornness of Northern Consolidated began to engage the notice of men. +More than one poor "bull" when sore beset that day took fresh heart from +the obstinacy of Northern Consolidated; his own foothold was steadied +and made the stronger for it. + +But the old gray buccaneer refused to be denied; he had quit thinking +and begun to act; he would break the back of Northern Consolidated if it +took the last share of those four hundred thousand! His courage never +wavered; he would charge and keep charging; in the end his cavalry work +must tell and the lines of Northern Consolidated crumple up like paper. +All it required was dash and confidence, with an underlying grim +determination to win or die, and Northern Consolidated must yield. + +The war was renewed upon Thursday, and staggered fiercely on throughout +the day. Then Friday followed, a roaring, tottering, crashing, smashing +fellow of the two days gone before. Millionaires became beggars and +beggars millionaires between breakfast and lunch. + +As on Wednesday, so also on Thursday and Friday the stock which best +sustained itself was Northern Consolidated. And yet no other stock was +so bitterly sold! As against this it should be added that no other was +so bitterly bought! Every offer to sell was closed with at the very +moment of its birth. + +At last the end came; the old gray buccaneer could go no further. He had +already oversold his self-fixed limit, having parted with four hundred +and eleven thousand shares. The sales were made in the names of the +various members of the pool, each selling one-eighth of the whole. +Senator Hanway's interest, as well as that of Mr. Harley, being +fifty-one thousand three hundred and fifty shares for each, for reasons +that do not require exhibition, was handled in the name of an agent. +Full one hundred and fifty thousand innocent shares, smoked into the +open market as the old gray buccaneer had anticipated, were also sold, +making the round total of five hundred and sixty-one thousand shares of +Northern Consolidated offered and snapped up during those three days of +fire. It was the greatest "bear" raid in the annals of the Stock +Exchange, so graybeards said; and what peculiarly marked it for the +admiration of mankind was that it had had the least success. In three +days, with five hundred and sixty-one thousand shares sold, the stock +had fallen only eleven points. The raid was over and the "bears" had +growlingly retreated thirty minutes before the close on Friday. Within +ten minutes after the last offer to sell, and when it was plain the +"bears" had quit the field, under a cross-fire of bids that fell as +briskly thick as hail, Northern Consolidated was bid up thirteen points. +It had stood forty-one at Tuesday's close; it was forty-three when, +"bears" routed, the market was over Friday afternoon. And thus +disastrously fared the osprey pool. + +"We're ruined, gentlemen," coolly remarked the old gray buccaneer when, +with the exception of Senator Hanway, the members of the pool gathered +themselves together Friday evening. "We're in a corner; we're +gone--hook, line, and sinker!" + +"What can we do?" asked Mr. Harley, his face the hue of putty. + +"Nothing!" said the old gray buccaneer, lighting a Spartan cigar. "We're +penned up; whoever has us cornered may now come round and knock us on +the head whenever he finds it convenient." + +"The market is still weak," observed one, "for all it lived through the +panic. Suppose we creep in to-morrow and cover our shorts. The shares are +forty-three; I for one think it might be wise to close the deal and take +our losses, even if we go as high as fifty." + +"For myself," remarked the old gray buccaneer, with a half-sneer at what +he regarded as a most childish suggestion, "I'd be pleased to settle at +sixty-five or even seventy." Then, turning to him who was for softly +buying his way out: "Do you imagine that what has happened was accident? +I tell you there's a shark swimming in these waters--a shark so big that +by comparison Port Royal Tom would seem like a dolphin. And, gentlemen, +that shark is after us. He's been after us from the beginning; he's got +between us and the shore, and he'll pull us under when the spirit moves +him. If you think differently, go into the market to-morrow and try to +buy Northern Consolidated. An attempt to buy five hundred shares will +put it up ten points." + +The next day, Saturday, the pool sent quietly into the Exchange to buy +one thousand shares; that, by way of feeler. The old gray buccaneer was +right; Northern Consolidated climbed fifteen points with the vivacity of +a squirrel, and rested mockingly at fifty-eight. Following this +disheartening experiment, which resulted in nothing more hopeful than a +demand for further margins from the pool's brokers, there were no more +efforts to "buy." The pool was marked for death; but that, while +discouraging, offered no argument in favor of self-destruction. + +When the markets opened upon that storm-swept Wednesday, there were +forty brokers on the floor of the Exchange to execute the orders of Mr. +Bayard. Not one of the forty knew of the other thirty-nine; not one was +aware of Mr. Bayard in the business of the day. Thirty as a maximum had +been commissioned to buy--each man twenty thousand shares--six hundred +thousand shares of Northern Consolidated. The orders had come through +banks in the city, and from banks and brokerages in London, Paris, +Berlin, and a dozen points in Europe. They ran from five hundred to as +high as twelve thousand shares the order. Each broker was given a +certain limit below which he might buy, and the orders of no two were in +conflict. Each for his orders would have the unobstructed market to +himself. + +Mr. Bayard arranged for that fall of eleven points; the "bear" raid must +seem to have effect to encourage the pool. To thus foster the pool in +its hopes, ten of the forty were to "sell" Northern Consolidated in +limited lots; these sales should augment "bear" enthusiasm. + +In each instance the stock thus offered was taken by one of Mr. Bayard's +brokers, who little imagined that both he and the broker selling drew +their inspirations from the same source. As demonstrating the finesse of +Mr. Bayard, if one had collected from the forty those orders which they +brought upon the floor that Wednesday morning, and spread them on a +table, they would have exhibited a perfect picture of speculation. One +would have fitted with another, and each in its proper place, until the +whole was like a mosaic of defense. The "bear" pool was met on the +threshold; it was permitted to press forward eighth by eighth according +to a plan; one Bayard broker having made his purchases, another took his +place; it was like clockwork. The whole five hundred and sixty-one +thousand shares were bought and sold; and from first to last there came +never a glimpse of Mr. Bayard. + +It had been Mr. Bayard's earlier thought to let Northern Consolidated +fall as low as twenty-five. For the sake of poor men in peril from that +defiance of all things German, Mr. Bayard in the last hours of his +preparations decided to support the market. To hold Northern +Consolidated above thirty against the double pressure of a falling +market and a "bear" raid would be to the general stock list as a prop to +a leaning wall. It would save hundreds from annihilation, and Mr. Bayard +resolved for their rescue. It would cost him nothing, lose him nothing; +once cornered, the question whether that osprey pool were cornered at +twenty or at thirty or at forty was unimportant. The corner complete, +Mr. Bayard with a breath could put Northern Consolidated to fifty, to +one hundred, to five hundred, to one thousand! The measure of his +triumph would be the measure of the mercy of Mr. Bayard. _Væ Victis!_ +Our Brennus of the Stocks might demand from the members of the +vanquished pool their final shilling. He might strip them as he was +stripped those thirty years before, and turn them forth naked. For thus +read the iron statutes of the Stock Exchange where quarter is unknown. + +It was Mr. Bayard who caused Northern Consolidated to climb, +squirrel-wise, to forty-three as the market closed on Friday, and later +to fifty-eight. It had the effect desired; there came the call for +margins. Storri, who had put his last dollar to the hazard, went down, +exhausted, destroyed, and under foot, and, as parcel of the spoils of +that Russian's overthrow, those French shares were sent to Mr. Bayard. +Within ten minutes after he received them they were on their way to +Richard, with a letter telling how complete had been the osprey pool's +defeat. For all his dignity and his gray crown of sixty years, Mr. +Bayard's eyes were shining like the eyes of a child with a new toy. What +battle was to that Scriptural hero's warhorse so was the strife of +stocks as breath in the nostrils of Mr. Bayard. Richard's eyes were as +bright as those of Mr. Bayard when he received the French shares, but it +was a softer brightness born of thoughts of Dorothy, and in no wise to +be confounded with that battle-glitter which shone in the eyes of the +other. Thus ran the note of Mr. Bayard: + + Dear Mr. Storms: + + Our bears are safely in the pit which we digged for them. The New + York five are taking it in a temper of stolid philosophy, being + bruins of experience. We may keep them in the pit what time you + will before we begin the butchery--one week, one month, one year. + They cannot escape, since my agents on the floor of the Exchange + will be always on the watch to see that they don't climb out. The + first time an offer to buy or sell a share of Northern Consolidated + is made, I shall put the price to three hundred. Our bears, + however, know this, and will make no attempt to get away, realizing + its hopelessness. The Storri bear is already dead; that first call + for margins killed him, and I send you a specimen of his pelt, to + wit, the French shares, with this. As for the others, whenever you + are ready we will call on them for their fur and their grease and + what else is valuable about a bear. Believe me your friend, as was + your father the friend of + + Robert Lance Bayard. + +Richard, now he had possession of those fateful securities, was somewhat +put about as to the best manner of getting them into the hands of Mr. +Harley. He, Richard, could not personally appear in the transaction. He +thought of using the excellent Mr. Gwynn; but that course offered +objections, since it would be assumed hereafter by Mr. Harley that +Richard, because of his confidential relations with Mr. Gwynn, must know +the history of those shares. Richard did not care to have such a thought +take hold on Mr. Harley; it might later embarrass both Mr. Harley and +Richard when the latter called at the Harley house, as he meant shortly +to do. Finally he hit upon an idea; he would employ the worthy name of +Mr. Fopling. The secret would be safe with one who, like Mr. Fopling, +could never be brought to understand it. + +Being decided as to a path, Richard inclosed those dangerous shares with +a typewritten note to Mr. Harley. The note, speaking in the third +person, presented Mr. Fopling's compliments, explained that Mr. Fopling +was given to understand that Mr. Harley would purchase those particular +shares, stated their value as fifteen thousand dollars, and said that +Mr. Harley might send his check to Mr. Fopling. + +This missive and those shares being safely on their road to Mr. Harley, +Richard made speed to hunt up Mr. Fopling. He found the sinless one at +the house of his beloved. Fortune favored Richard; Bess was not there, +being across with Dorothy, and, save for the company of Ajax, Mr. +Fopling was alone. Mr. Fopling was in the Marklin library, glaring +ferociously at Ajax, who was blinking disdainful yellow eyes at Mr. +Fopling by way of retort. + +Richard explained to Mr. Fopling that through certain deals in stocks he +had become possessed of two hundred shares of one of Mr. Harley's pet +stocks. Mr. Harley would give anything to regain them. Richard desired +to return them to Mr. Harley without being known in the business. Would +Mr. Fopling permit him the favor of his name? He would employ Mr. +Fopling's name most guardedly. Richard did not tell Mr. Fopling that his +sacred name was already in the harness of the affair. + +The benumbed Mr. Fopling, by listening attentively, succeeded in getting +an impression that Richard through lucky dexterity and sleight had +obtained some strange hold in stocks on Mr. Harley, and now in a foolish +leniency was about to let him go. This excited Mr. Fopling hugely; he +put in a most vigorous protest. + +"Weally, Stawms," he squeaked, "if you've twapped the old curmudgeon you +must stwip him for his last dime, don't y' know! I wemembah a song my +governor used to sing; he said it was his motto. The song wan like this: + + "'When you catch a black cat, skin it, skin it! + When you catch a black cat, skin it to the tail!' + +"Yes, Stawms, use my name as fweely as you please; but I pwotest against +letting up on this old cweature Harley." + +"But, my dear boy," observed Richard, "you must consider! Mr. Harley is +to be my father-in-law, he's Dorothy's father." + +Mr. Fopling declined to consider what he called a "technicality." Mr. +Harley must be squeezed. + +"Weally, Stawms," said Mr. Fopling, "it's the wules of the game, don't +y' know." + +After no little argument, Mr. Fopling yielded his point. Mr. Fopling, +however, bethought him of troubles of his own, and made condition that +Richard stand his friend with Bess as against his enemy, Ajax. + +"Bees always sides with Ajax," explained Mr. Fopling plaintively, "and +it ain't wight!" + +Richard gave Mr. Fopling a fraternal grip with his mighty hand. He would +be to Mr. Fopling as was Jonathan to David. It should be back to back +and heel to heel with them against Ajax, Bess, and all the world! The +violent loyalty of Richard alarmed Mr. Fopling; he threw in a word of +caution. + +"You mustn't be weckless, Stawms." + +Bess came back from the Harley house, and found Richard with Mr. +Fopling. Bess reported Dorothy's spirits as improved; those rays of +comfort emanating from Richard's promises had put a color in her cheek. + +"The promises have been redeemed," observed Richard, "and I came to tell +you first of all--you who have been our truest friend," and here, to the +utter outrage of Mr. Fopling's sensibilities, Richard kissed Bess's +yellow hair. + +"Oh, I say, Stawms!" squeaked Mr. Fopling reproachfully. + +"Mistake, I assure you!" said Richard, again giving Mr. Fopling his +hand. + +"Well, please don't wepeat it!" returned Mr. Fopling a bit sulkily. "It +gives me a most beastly sensation, don't y' know, to see a chap +cawessing Bess; it does, weally!" + +"Hush, child!" said Bess; "you excite yourself about nothing." + +Bess was for having Dorothy over on the strength of the good news, but +Richard was against it, proudly. + +"No," said he. "With Storri's hold upon him, Mr. Harley asked me to stay +away from his house. Now Storri's hold is broken, I shall give him a +chance to ask me to return." + +"Oh, I see," replied Bess teasingly. "Sir Launcelot having done a +knightly deed and rescued a fair damsel, and the fair damsel's family, +from a dragon, will give his vanity an outing." + +"Only till to-morrow evening!" protested Richard, humbled from the high +horse. "If Mr. Harley doesn't invite me by that time, I'll invite +myself." + +"If Mr. Harley doesn't invite you by that time," returned Bess, "I will +interfere. Those who can't see their duty must be shown their duty, Mr. +Harley among the rest. On the whole, I think you take a very proper +stand." + + * * * * * + +Storri, without a dollar, lay in his rooms like a wounded wolf. He did +not go to the San Reve; he would see no one until he had worn down his +anguish and regained control of himself. Hurt to the death, Storri was +too cunning to furnish word of it to mankind. No one must know; it was +the instinct of self-preservation. The wounded wolf, while his wounds +are fresh, avoids the pack lest the pack destroy him. And so with +Storri; he would hide until he could command that old-time manner of +unclouded ease. He would stifle every surmise, deny every rumor if rumor +blew about, of the blow he had received. A few days, and Storri would be +himself again. As for immediate money, Storri would extort that from Mr. +Harley, who, in his dull-head ignorance or worse, had been the author of +his losses. Who first spoke of Northern Consolidated? Who suggested the +"bear" raid? Was it not Mr. Harley? The affair had been his; the loss +should be his; Mr. Harley must repay, or face the wrath of Storri. + +"Face the wrath of Storri!" exclaimed that furious nobleman with an +oath. "He would face nobody--nothing! Bah! that Harley; he is a dog and +the coward son of a dog! Yes, he shall come here; he shall crawl and +crouch! I, Storri, will give him the treatment due a dog!" + +Storri wrote a blunt word to Mr. Harley and dispatched it to that +shattered capitalist. + +"Come to-night at nine, you Harley," said the note, "and do not presume +to fail, or my next communication will be through one of your officers +of police." + +Storri was aware that the French shares were gone from him, but he +counted on easily tracking them and buying them back. He would force Mr. +Harley to give him the very money that was to buy them. The thought +lighted up his cruel face like a red ray from the pit; it would be such +a joke--such a triumph over the pig American! Meanwhile he would bully +Mr. Harley, who did not know but what the shares were in his pocket. + +If Storri had been informed of how, through the deep arrangements of +that strategist of stocks, he had borrowed every dollar of those five +hundred thousand from Mr. Bayard, as well as every share of Northern +Consolidated delivered to perfect those sales that had brought him down +in ruin--in short, if he had been told the whole romance, from Mr. +Fopling's exhortation to "Bweak him!" to the close of the market on that +crashing Friday afternoon, he might have been less sure of recapturing +those French shares. But he was ignorant of those truths; and, with +confidence bred of ignorance, he summoned Mr. Harley. He, Storri, would +browbeat and bleed him; he would teach the caitiff Harley to be more +careful of the favor, not to say the fortune, of a Russian nobleman. + +Mr. Harley, with the defeat of the "bear" attack on Northern +Consolidated, was left in forlornest case. He was aware that it spelled +money-ruin for both him and Senator Hanway; but the picture of the rage +of Storri, and what that savage might do in his bitterness, so filled up +his thoughts that he scarcely heeded anything beyond. Mr. Harley was +stricken sick by his own fears, and, after returning from New York on +the evening of that fearful Friday, never moved from his room. To the +anxious tap of Dorothy, he sent word that he was not ill, but very busy; +he must not be disturbed. Like Storri, only more a-droop, Mr. Harley +owned no wish for company. + +Mr. Harley was thus broken to the ground when Storri's message found +him. The threat at the tail, like the sting at the tail of a scorpion, +stunned Mr. Harley past thinking. He could neither do nor plan; he could +only utter his despair in groans. + +Two hours later, and while he lay writhing, Richard's inclosure of the +French shares arrived by post. Mr. Harley at sight of them came as near +fainting as any gentleman coarsely grained and hearty ever comes. Ten +minutes went by in stupid gazing, and in handling and feeling those +certificates that were to him as is the reprieve that comes to one who +else would die within the hour. + +There is such a thing as compensation, and the very coarseness of which +you have now and again complained made most for the rescue of Mr. Harley +at this crisis. By dint of that valuable coarseness, Mr. Harley, +discovering that he could trust his eyes,--he at one time doubted those +visual organs,--recovered such strength, not to say composure, that he +ordered up a quart of burgundy and drank it by the goblet. Under this +wise treatment, and with the reassuring shares in his clutch, Mr. Harley +became a new man. + +The first evidence of this newness given to the world was when at eight +o'clock Mr. Harley, faultlessly caparisoned and in full evening dress, +descended upon Mrs. Hanway-Harley and Dorothy. The ladies were together +in the back drawing-room as the restored Mr. Harley, with brow of Jove +and warlike eye, strode into their startled midst. Establishing himself +in mighty state before the fireplace, rear to the blaze, he gazed with +fondness, but as though from towering altitudes, on Dorothy. + +"Come and kiss me, child!" said Mr. Harley. + +Dorothy obeyed without daring to guess the cause of this abrupt +affection. + +"You act strangely, Mr. Harley!" commented Mrs. Hanway-Harley, with a +tinge of severity. "I hope you will compose yourself. It is quite +possible that Count Storri will drop in!" + +"Madam," shouted Mr. Harley explosively, "I shall shoot that scoundrel +Storri if he puts hand to my front gate!" + +"John!" screamed Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +"Madam, I shall shoot him like a rat!" + +Mr. Harley got this off with such fury that it struck Mrs. Hanway-Harley +speechless. She was the more amazed, since she knew nothing of either +Mr. Harley's wrongs or his burgundy. After surveying her with the utmost +majesty for a moment, Mr. Harley came back to Dorothy. + +"There's a gentleman named Mr. Storms?" + +"Yes, papa!" (timidly). + +"You love him?" + +"Yes, papa!" (feebly). + +"You shall marry him!" + +"Yes, papa!" (blushingly). + +"John!" (with horror). + +"Invite him to dinner to-morrow." + +"Yes, papa!" (rapturously). + +"And every other evening you choose!" + +"Yes, papa!" (more rapturously). + +"John!" (with a gasp). + +"And now, madam," observed Mr. Harley, wheeling on Mrs. Hanway-Harley +with politeness sudden and vast, "I am ready to attend to you. Let me +commence by mentioning that I am master of this house, and shall give +dinners when I will to whomsoever I please." + +"But you said marriage, John, and Mr. Storms is a pauper! Think what you +do!" + +"It may entertain you, madam," returned Mr. Harley, in a manner of grim +triumph, "to hear that you also are a pauper. Yes, madam, you, I, Pat +Hanway--we are all paupers. Now I shall go to your scoundrel Storri and +tell him what I have told you. Oh! I shall not murder the villain, +madam; though I give you my word, if there were no one to think of but +Jack Harley, I'd return to you blood to my elbows; yes, madam, to my +elbows!" and Mr. Harley pulled up his coatsleeves very high to give +force to his words. + +Lighting a cigar, which he set between his teeth so that it projected +outward and upward at an angle of defiance, Mr. Harley got into his hat +and greatcoat, and made for the door. As he threw it open preparatory to +issuing forth, there floated back with a puff of cigar smoke these +words, delivered presumably for the good of Mrs. Hanway-Harley: + +"Yes, madam; blood to my elbows!" + +"Your father is insane!" groaned Mrs. Hanway-Harley to Dorothy, when the +door had slammed and Mr. Harley was on his way to Storri, "absolutely +insane!" + +Then Mrs. Hanway-Harley, with many an ejaculation of self-pity over a +fate that had made her helpmeet to a lunatic, called her maid to aid +her in creeping to her room. As for Dorothy, she danced about as light +as air; in the finale she danced across the way to Bess to tell that +sorceress what wonders had befallen. + +"Eh! you Harley--you John Harley, is it you?" jeered Storri, as Mr. +Harley was shown in. + +"Yes, you black villain and thief, it is I!" roared Mr. Harley, planting +himself in front of Storri, who had not taken the polite trouble to get +up from the sofa where he reclined. "Yes, you world's scoundrel, who but +I!" + +"Scoundrel?" repeated Storri with a screech, springing to his feet. + +"Sit down!" thundered Mr. Harley, a pistol coming from his pocket like a +flash. + +[Illustration: "Sit Down!" Thundered Mr. Harley] + +Mr. Harley was from a region where pistols were regarded in the light of +arguments, and gentlemen gravely debating therewith at ten paces had the +approving countenance of the public. This may explain the ready grace +with which Mr. Harley produced a specimen of that species of artillery +when Storri seemed to threaten violence. + +"Sit down!" thundered Mr. Harley, and Storri, with terror twitching at +his lips, obeyed. Mr. Harley replaced the pistol in his pocket, and +surveyed Storri with a look so sinister it alarmed that nobleman to the +heart. "I have come," continued Mr. Harley, taking a chair and +maintaining the while a dangerous eye on Storri, "I have come to return +your insults, you blackmailing rogue, in the room where I received +them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HOW STORRI EXPLORED FOR GOLD + + +Should it ever be your fancy to witness on the part of any gentleman an +exhibition of ferocity unrestrained, that you may have him at his best +for your experiment, it would be wise to commence by subjecting him to a +tremendous fright. Being first frightened and then relieved from his +terror, and particularly if his nature be a trifle rough, he will if +brought suddenly into the presence of one who has injured him furnish +all you could desire in a picture of the sort adverted to. And thus was +it with Mr. Harley that evening when he called on Storri--now no longer +terrible. + +The offensive utmost that one gentleman might say to another, Mr. Harley +said to his aforetime noble friend. He crushed Storri beneath fourfold +what bulk of insolence and contumelious remark he himself had received, +for at that fashion of conversation Mr. Harley was Storri's superior. +Mr. Harley rendered Storri such shameful accounts of himself that the +latter was well-nigh consumed with what inward fires were ignited. +Storri burned the more because his own cowardly alarms tied his hands +and gagged retort upon his tongue. Mr. Harley, who had been frightened +to the brink of collapse in the only manner that Storri might have +frightened him, now refreshed himself unchecked and fed retaliation to +the full. + +Storri, craven to the roots, must fain submit. The murderous facility +wherewith Mr. Harley in the beginning invested the conversation with +that pistol had not been lost upon Storri, and he shivered lest the +interview conclude with his own murder. Mr. Harley, having exhausted +expletive and opprobrious term, might empty the six chambers of his +dreadful weapon into Storri. Thus spake Storri's fears, and he cowered +while Mr. Harley raged. Indeed, the tables had been turned, and Mr. +Harley was taking virulent advantage of the reversal. Among other +matters, he taunted Storri with his, Mr. Harley's, possession of those +French shares, and gave him to know that the happy transfer had been the +fruit of his, Mr. Harley's, own superior wit. + +"For," said Mr. Harley, with no more noble purpose than to augment +Storri's pangs, "did you think that one of my depth was for long to be +held at the mercy of such a dolt as yourself?" + +"Then it was you," moaned Storri, who made the mistake of believing what +Mr. Harley said, "then it was you who bought Northern Consolidated--you, +and your confederates to whom you betrayed us?" + +Mr. Harley smiled loftily, and was silent as though disdaining reply. He +was willing to have Storri think his overthrow due to him and him alone. +It would please him should Storri believe that he, Mr. Harley, had +conquered not only the possession of those shares, but of the five +hundred thousand dollars which were so painfully collected as Storri's +contribution to the pool's four millions. It would promote Mr. Harley's +satisfaction to the superlative; it would make Storri's humiliation +complete. By all means teach Storri that he, Mr. Harley, constructed the +ambush into which the pool had sold its blindfold way. Wherefore, Mr. +Harley with shrug and sneer consented to Storri's charges of betrayal, +and intimated his own profitable joy of that treason. After thirty +minutes of triumph, Mr. Harley, mightily restored in his own graces, +arose to depart. + +"And for a last word, you scoundrel," quoth the loud Mr. Harley, "I told +Mrs. Hanway-Harley I would shoot you if you so much as laid hand to my +front gate. You might do well to remember that promise; I have been +known on occasion to tell Mrs. Hanway-Harley the truth." + +After the last gloomy notice Mr. Harley went his defiant way, while +Storri sank back a more deeply wounded wolf than ever. + +Mr. Harley drew his check and dispatched it to Mr. Fopling, and Richard +in due course received a check from the latter. Mr. Harley did not +allude to the transaction on those few and distant occasions when he and +Mr. Fopling met; and Mr. Fopling, burdened of his feuds with Ajax, soon +forgot the affair in matters more important. + +Mr. Harley, when emancipated from the thraldom of Storri, was as +dollarless so far as immediate cash was concerned as was the stripped +Storri himself. But in the rebound of spirit which followed, Mr. +Harley's genius regained its old-time elasticity. A member of the House +with whom he was in touch, being one of that speculative party who +opened the New Year at Chamberlin's with cards, was so conveniently +good-natured as to offer a measure putting coal on the free list. This, +if passed, would be a woundy blow to the Harley mines; also to that +railway whereof Mr. Harley was a director, since it hauled the Harley +coal to the seaboard. With coal on the free list, Nova Scotia could +undersell the Harley mines in every Atlantic port; likewise the Harley +road would lose two millions in annual freight. Under these threatening +conditions, Mr. Harley was instantly given one hundred thousand dollars +by the mines and the railroad to kill the iniquitous bill, and convert +to a right opinion any and all who talked of coal and free lists in one +and the same breath. Those one hundred thousand dollars relieved the +pressing needs of Mr. Harley, and the bill that threatened coal and +railroads was heard of no more. + +When, following Mr. Harley's gracious words concerning Richard and Mrs. +Hanway-Harley's disconsolate departure for her own room, Dorothy danced +across to Bess, the yellow-haired sorceress rose grandly to the +opportunity. She sent Mr. Fopling to find Richard; and since Mr. +Fopling's weakness was not of the legs--he being a very Mercury, with +feet as fleet as his wits were slow--Dorothy and Bess had no more than +finished giving and receiving congratulations, _i. e._, kisses, when +Richard appeared and took Bess's labor of congratulation off her +hands--or should one say her lips? Bess was of those excellent folk +whose fine friendships know when to go as well as when to stay, and, +Richard arriving, she conveyed Mr. Fopling and Ajax from the room, +leaving the restored lovers to themselves. + +Of what worth now to tell you those sweetheart things that Richard and +his angel said and did? How would it advantage a world to hear that he +took her in his arms and held her close? You, who have loved and have +been loved, who were lost and have been found again, well know the +blissful routine. Richard said that no woman was ever loved as he loved +Dorothy. Dorothy the beloved replied that no man was ever loved as she +loved Richard. Both believed both statements as they did the Word. And +yet Adam said the same thing when, wandering in Eden, he first met +lovely Eve, and every lover has said the same thing ever since. Every +fire boasts itself the hottest, every lover does the same. It is the +virtue of love that this is so, and none will object while Dorothy and +Richard work out their tinted destiny on lines of paradise. They had +been held apart; they were now together; rely upon it they said and +looked those softly tender, foolish, happy, precedental things which +have been best among the best lessons of the ages. + +[Illustration: He Held Her Close] + +Mr. Harley was pompous and patronizing the next evening when he met +Richard at dinner; but Mr. Harley was no less kind. Richard submitted +himself to Mr. Harley's patronage, for in it he recognized the +inalienable right of a father-in-law. Mrs. Hanway-Harley on that dinner +occasion did not pretend to the rugged, high good humor of her spouse, +and cultivated a manner at once blighted and resigned. But she was civil +even as she sighed, and he would have been a carper who complained. +Dorothy was beset of many shynesses now that she was brought with her +beloved into the presence of ones who were aware of her secret without +possessing sympathy therewith. Bess was there; but Bess did not weigh +upon her, since Bess applauded her love. Senator Hanway was there; but +"Uncle Pat" did not confuse her, since he cared nothing about her love. +It was Mr. Harley who permitted, and Mrs. Hanway-Harley who tolerated, +her heart's choice that set her cheeks aflame. Still it was good to see +Richard sitting across in the serpent stead of Storri--to see one whom +she worshiped where one whom she feared and loathed had been before! It +was twice good to think the present was immortal while the past was +dead. As Dorothy thought these things and sweetly blushed to think them, +you would have been reminded of a rose, if her blue eyes had not made +you remember violets, or by their clear, true, tranquil depths led you +away to muse on summer skies. + +Richard bore the ordeal of that dinner manfully; ordeal it was, for he +felt himself on exhibition. He was rigorous to seem unruffled, and +defended his calmness by talking general politics with Senator Hanway. +Nor did he fall into the error of speaking of tempests in the stock +market; and as for the recreant Storri, no one named him. Bess might +have brought Mr. Fopling, for he was asked, could she have trusted that +young gentleman on this point of Storri. But Mr. Fopling was prone to +bring up the one subject which others were trying to forget; and, +realizing his tenacious aptitude for crime of that character, Bess sent +him home and came alone. + +Richard, like Storri before him, only with a better conscience, did not +crowd good fortune to the wall; he left early. As he made ready to go, +Mr. Harley invited him not only to another dinner, but to a multitude of +such refections. Mr. Harley, having been thus hospitable, swept Mrs. +Hanway-Harley with arrogant eye as who should say: + +"There lies my glove, madam! We shall see who lifts it!" + +Altogether, Richard's coming to the Harley house in the rôle of suitor +for Dorothy's small hand went off well; and Dorothy was thinking that +life seemed very beautiful and very bright when four hours later she +fell asleep, and rosy dreams relieved her thoughts from further duty +about her pillow for that night. + +Senator Hanway and Mr. Harley, being veterans of the tape, were not +ignorant of the hopeless state into which the failure of that "bear" +raid on Northern Consolidated had plunged them. They could not name him +who had worked the "corner" against them and the other members of the +osprey pool, the hand that defeated them had been played from behind a +curtain. Time, however, would develop the identity of their conqueror; +nor was his identity of first importance, since the great thing was that +they were caught. The best they might do was quietly await destruction +in its coming. It would surely come; "corners" were not made in vain, +and a day would dawn when he who held them captive would disclose +himself. That disclosure would mean for them, financially, the beginning +of the end. + +Mr. Harley and Senator Hanway might have repudiated the deal, and so +saved their fortunes at the sacrifice of their names. Indeed they +thought of it; and then they shook their heads. Such a step would ruin +Senator Hanway's hopes of a Presidency; those hard years of political +labor would be canceled; his chances, now the fairest, would be swept +away not only for the present but for time. The discovery of Senator +Hanway--he who wrote the report against Northern Consolidated--as a +partner in that "bear" raid, would strike his name forever from the roll +of Presidential possibilities. It might even result in his expulsion +from the Senate, for conspiracy is no good charge to face when true. Of +those who were "bears" against Northern Consolidated, from Storri to the +old gray buccaneer, the ones who must submit without a cry to being +flayed were Mr. Harley and Senator Hanway, for with them to be +discovered was to be destroyed. + +After fullest conference, Mr. Harley went again to New York. It was +settled that the old gray buccaneer should continue in command. When he +who had beaten them unmasked himself, the old gray buccaneer was to +treat for generous terms. With the bankrupt Storri out, there remained +but seven to consider; the old gray buccaneer was to offer a round +ransom of seven millions of dollars, or one million for each. In similar +fashion beaten knights compounded in the dusty lists of Ashby eight +hundred years ago; the amount of ransom that Ashby day was less, but the +principle throughout the centuries has remained unshaken and unchanged. + +After four days of wound-nursing, Storri went to the San Reve. He found +that lady of the gray-green eyes sitting sullen and silent, wrapped in +resentful anger like a witch's cloak. One thing in his favor; the San +Reve had not heard of his return, and supposed him just back from New +York. + +Storri did his best to be on cheerful terms with the San Reve; he said +his business was now accomplished and he would see her every day. Storri +strove all he knew to soften the San Reve and turn her frowns to smiles. +He failed; nothing would unlock that flinty, hard reserve. + +"About the Harleys," said the jealous San Reve at last. "How do you +stand with the Harleys? You still go there?" + +The San Reve shot a sharp, inquiring glance at Storri from her +sea-green, sea-gray eyes. + +Storri, being feline, was as has been written no one hard to rout, and +could be readily driven from an enterprise. With the loss of those +French shares, his designs on Mr. Harley and his power over Dorothy had +fallen to the ground. He was left with nothing more potent than his +naked hatred. He was more hungry than before for harm against the +Harleys, but the new conditions baffled him as might some bridgeless +gulf. He could see no open way through which he might find his enemies +and overcome them. + +But Storri had his miserable prides, and would perish where he stood +rather than tell the San Reve this. With her he must pretend to power; +he must swagger and boast more loudly than before. This was the vanity +and the strategy of the man. He would have thrust his hand into the fire +sooner than confess himself beaten by Mr. Harley to the San Reve. She +must continue to wonder at and worship him; it was the incense demanded +by the nostrils of his self-love. + +"How do I stand with those Harleys, my San Reve?" Storri's tone was +supercilious and tired, as though he had been forced to remember ones +who wearied him by vulgarest dint of their inconsequence. "I do not +stand with the Harleys, I stand upon them. Where should such crawling, +footless creatures be?" and Storri pointed to his own somewhat ample +foundations as indicating the groveling whereabouts of the Harleys. + +"But you go there?" remarked the San Reve, flintily suspicious. + +"No, my San Reve," yawned Storri. "Pardon my grossness;--a yawn in the +presence of a lady, and I a Russian gentleman! I took the habit from +these pig Americans! You should know, my dear San Reve, that the very +name of Harley bores me. No, I shall no more go to those Harleys. They +send, they beg; I do not go. Why should I so honor them? Bah! let them +come to me! Is a Russian--is a nobleman to be at the beck of such vile +little people? No, they must come to me, your Storri, my San Reve; and +when they arrive, bah! I shall not see them. I shall tell them they must +come again!" And Storri lifted his hand grandly, as though the Harleys +were now disposed of and their trivial status fixed. + +Storri threw this off with a lazy insolence that, all things considered, +did him credit. And yet he was not wise. He might not have told the San +Reve that he had ended his visits to the Harleys, but her bold brow and +thoughtful face misled him. He regarded her as deeper than she was; he +considered that she would soon discover how he no longer was a guest at +the Harley table, and thought to save himself from an inference by a +proclamation. He would take the initiative and seem to cast the Harleys +into the outer darkness of his disregard. It would make for his standing +with the San Reve; more, it would soothe her jealousies. + +Storri might have been justified of his reasonings had there existed no +flaw in his premises. The San Reve was far from being gifted with that +cold, incisive wisdom which he ascribed to her. Given a situation +wherein the San Reve had no concern, and she would be sound enough; her +speculations would defend themselves, her advice be worth a following. +Endow the San Reve with a personal interest, the more if that interest +were one mixed of love and jealousy, and her reason, if that be its +name, would go blind and deaf and lapse into the merest frenzy of +insanity. She would hasten to believe the worst and disbelieve the best. +Under spell of jealousy, the San Reve would accept nothing that told in +her own favor; and just now, despite an outward serenity--for, though +sullen, she was serene--the San Reve was afire with jealousy like a +torch. + +The San Reve listened to Storri and said nothing; she could see how +matters stood. Storri still dominated the Harleys; he went there; he saw +Miss Harley; his suit was advancing; that was what had sent him to her, +the San Reve, with a lie on his lips about having quit his calls at the +Harleys'; he was seeking to blind her to what was passing. But she, the +San Reve, would be cunning; she would fathom the traitor Storri. Even +then she could foretell the end. In a week, or mayhap a month, the news +would reach her of the wedding of Storri and Miss Harley. What else +could come? Storri was a Count. Were not Americans mad after Counts? And +such a nobleman! Wealthy, handsome, brilliant, bold--who could refuse +his love? Not the Harleys--not Miss Harley! No, the transparent sureness +of it set sneeringly a-curl the San Reve's mouth. Soon or late, Storri +would lead Miss Harley to the altar. The bells would ring, the organ +swell, the people gape and comment. And then Storri and his bride would +ride away; while she, the San Reve--she, the disgraced--she, the +daughter of a man who tamed lions--she would be left alone with her +despised heart! + +All this wild driftwood of conjecture came riding down on the swift, +tumbling currents of the San Reve's thoughts, and to her these mad +conclusions were as prophecy. What should she do--she and her poor love? +She must not lose her idol--her Storri! What should she do? She had +written this Mr. Storms of the French shares and nothing had come of +that! Should she disclose herself to Miss Harley? Of what avail? What +woman was ever withheld from wedding a man by the word of that man's +mistress? The San Reve could have scorned herself for a fool! She was +handless to interfere; the San Reve clenched her white, strong teeth to +find herself so much at bay. + +Stop; there was one chance of defeating fate--a sure chance; the thought +had come before! And now the San Reve looked strangely at Storri; her +teeth showed pearl against the coral of her parted lips while her +nostrils dilated like the nostrils of an animal. + +The little world you have been considering through the medium of this +veracious chronicle began now to adjust itself to the changes that have +been recorded. Mr. Harley and Senator Hanway, for their parts, gave +themselves wholly to that winning of a White House; their ardor, if it +were possible, had been promoted by the reverse in Northern +Consolidated, and Senator Hanway's anxiety to be President appeared to +brighten as his money-fortunes dimmed. And, as though Fate meditated +amends for those disasters of stocks, from every angle of politics there +came flattering reports. Senator Hanway was sure, so said the reports, +to write himself "President Hanway"; politicians were shouldering one +another to secure seats in the bandwagon of that statesman's prospects. +True, for all their preoccupation, Mr. Harley and Senator Hanway would +now and then glance up from those details of practical politics over +which they were employed, to wonder why the hidden one of that "corner" +did not close the transaction by peeling off their fiscal pelts. So far +there had come neither word nor sign of him. + +The old gray buccaneer exhorted them in no wise to be uneasy. + +"You needn't fret," said the old gray buccaneer; "he's got us as fast as +two and two make four. For us to be wondering why he doesn't come around +is as though a coop full of turkeys went wondering why the poulterer +didn't come around. No; I can't tell you why he--whoever he is--so +leaves us in protracted peace. Perhaps he's fattening us," and the old +gray buccaneer cheered the conversation with a laugh as strident as +saw-filing. + +Richard and Dorothy, following the selfish fashion of lovers, thought on +nothing but themselves. Our young journalist's contributions to the +_Daily Tory_ fell away in both quantity and quality, and the editor +commented thereon sarcastically, saying they were becoming "baggy at the +knee." Richard did not resent the criticism; he cheered himself with the +theory that when he had recovered from his happiness he would do better. +Meanwhile, he and Dorothy privily appointed their nuptials for the first +of June, taking Bess into the secret. + +Dorothy asked Richard how he had rescued her father from beneath the +hand of Storri; which natural inquisition Richard avoided in right +man-fashion by kissing the questioning lips and saying that Dorothy +wouldn't understand. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was different from Dorothy. With a wifely experience +of many years to guide her, she did not ask Mr. Harley why he had gone +to furious war with Storri. Mrs. Hanway-Harley would not put the query +for two reasons: Mr. Harley would prevaricate; besides, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley knew. It was as obvious as a pikestaff to that sagacious +gentlewoman; Mr. Harley and Storri had quarreled over stocks. Mr. Harley +had been detected in some effort to swindle Storri; or he had detected +Storri in some effort to swindle him; men were always swindling and +quarreling, according to Mrs. Hanway-Harley. She put no question to Mr. +Harley, and only marveled at a thickness that would sacrifice the +family's chance of possessing a Count over a low, trifling matter of +dollars and cents. + +Inspector Val, when the capture of the French shares had removed the +reason of his appearance in Storri's destinies, told Richard that he +would, with his permission, still continue on the trail of that +nobleman. + +"Unless my judgment be at fault," explained Inspector Val, "there's +something coming off that I wouldn't miss for anything you can name." + +Richard, held fast with sweeter problems, cared not at all for Storri +nor Inspector Val's pursuit of him. If it jumped with the humor of that +scientist of stealth, Inspector Val might follow Storri to the grave. +Richard would be pleased to have him do so, and to pay the costs thereof +as rapidly as they accrued. + +Inspector Val, whose trade it was to read men, smiled upon Richard at +this and went his satisfied way. He would stick to Storri; and he would +notify Richard should aught unusual either promise or occur. Inspector +Val saw that in Richard's present mood of beatific imbecility a +conference with him would mean no more than would a conference with the +Monument. + +Storri, while easily beaten from any specific enterprise, was ever ready +with a fresh one. During those days when, like a convalescing wolf, he +lay hiding with his wounds from the sight and search of men, his +disorderly and, one might say, his criminal, imagination busied itself +in sketching a giant scheme. It was as unique as had been the fallen +Credit Magellan without owning to a shadow of Credit Magellan's +legitimacy. This time Storri would have no partners; there would be no +Mr. Harleys and no osprey pools to sell him out. Before all was done he +might require men; but of the sort one controls like slaves. + +There was one need that must be supplied, however; Storri must have +money. Stimulated with the necessities that pricked him, Storri +bethought himself of the Chinese Concession. That precious document was +in his possession; the osprey pool had not been granted its custody. +Storri carried the saffron silk to a rich and avaricious man; he asked +the loan of fifty thousand dollars, and offered interest steeple-high. +The man of wealth and avarice was deeply affected; he, like the others, +sent for the brocaded, poppy-scented Mongol. The poppy Mongol came, +salaamed, translated, and went his way. Then the one of gold and avarice +counted down the fifty thousand, and locked up the yellow silk with +Storri's note for ninety days in his safe. + +Being strengthened with those fifty thousand dollars, Storri sought an +ancient surveyor. Did the ancient one possess an accurate map of +Washington?--a map that showed every public building and park and +street-railway and water-main and sewer, all done to the final fraction +of an inch? Storri's Czar has asked for such;--his Czar who so admired +the Americans and their beautiful Capital! + +The ancient one of chains and levels had such a map. Being a man to whom +a unit was like a human being and every fraction as a child, the map was +accurate in its measurements to the thickness of a hair. Storri bought +the map; it showed the line of that drain which ran so temptingly close +to the Treasury gold, and Storri's eye glistened as he followed it to +the river's edge. + +Storri collected photographs of the Capitol, the White House, and other +public structures as a blind to conceal his purpose and lend luster of +truth to those tales of his Czar's interest in things American. One +evening Storri related to the San Reve his Czar's desires touching maps +and plans and pictures, and showed her, among others, a picture of the +Treasury. + +Ah, that reminded Storri! His San Reve worked in the office of the +supervising architect! Could his San Reve procure him a ground-plan of +the Treasury Building? His Czar had laid especial stress upon such a +drawing! + +Yes, Storri's San Reve could get the desired ground-plan without +difficulty. It would show everything foundational, with a cross-section +displaying the depth of the walls below street grades. + +The San Reve accepted as genuine Storri's eagerness to serve his Czar. +Nor did she doubt Storri's description of the Czar's American curiosity; +from what she had heard of that potentate, the San Reve believed him to +be as crazy as a woman's watch. Certainly, if Storri wished to send the +imperial lunatic a cartload of plans, the San Reve would contribute what +lay in her power. + +The next day Storri received from the San Reve a ground-plan of the +Treasury Building. It exhibited in red ink the vault that held the gold +reserve. Storri gazed upon that oblong smudge of red and studied its +location with the devotion of a poet. + +And now what was to be more expected than that the curious Czar would +ask questions of Storri, when that illustrious Russian returned to St. +Petersburg, concerning those many superiorities which the American +buildings possessed? The thought set the indefatigable Storri to +visiting the public buildings. He made a tour of the State War and Navy +Building, the Corcoran Gallery, the Capitol, and finally the Treasury +Building. Who should escort him through that latter grim, gray edifice +but an Assistant Secretary? The affable A. S. had met Storri at the +club; certainly he could do no less than give him the polite credit of +his countenance for his instructive rambles. Under such distinguished +patronage Storri went from roof to basement; even the vault that guarded +the nation's gold was thrown open for his regard. + +This gold vault was of particular moment to Storri; his Czar had laid +weight upon that vault. Yes; he, Storri, could see how it was +constructed--thick walls of masonry--an inner lining of chilled steel +that would laugh at drills and almost break the teeth of nitric +acid--the steel ceiling and sides bolted to the masonry--the floor, +steel slabs two feet in width, laid side by side but not bolted, and +bedded upon masonry that rested on the ground! Surely, nothing could be +more solid or more secure! The door and the complicated machinery that +locked it were wonders, marvels! Nowhere had he, Storri, beheld such a +door or such a lock, and he had peeped into the strong rooms of a dozen +kings. The gold, too, one hundred and ninety-three millions in all, +packed five thousand dollars to a sack in little canvas sacks like bags +of birdshot, and each sack weighing twenty pounds--Storri saw it all! + +"And yet," quoth Storri, giving the polite Assistant Secretary a kind of +leer, "do not that door and lock remind you of the chains and locks upon +your leathern letterbags?--a leathern bag which the most ignorant of men +would slash wide open with a penknife in an instant and never worry +chains and locks?" + +Storri traced that drain in its course to the river. It ran south past +the corner of the Treasury Building for the matter of a hundred yards or +more, and then broke south and west across the White Lot between the +White House and the Monument. In the end it abandoned this diagonal +flight and soberly took to the center of a street that lay to the west +of the White House, and followed it to the Potomac. + +Storri, hands in pocket and puffing an easy cigar, sauntered to the +water front and took a look at the drain where it finished. The +inspection gratified him; the drain was like a great tunnel; one might +have driven a horse and wagon into it. Storri was especially struck by +the fact that a considerable stream of water gushed from the drain's +mouth; the stream had a fair current, four miles an hour at least, and +showed a depth of full six inches. This was a discovery that set +Storri's wits in motion; the drain boxed in a living brook. + +It was eleven o'clock that night when Storri returned to the mouth of +the drain; he was wrapped in a greatcoat and wore high boots. There +were no houses about; as for loiterers, the region was deserted after +dark. Storri looked out on the broad bosom of the river; he noticed that +even at low tide a boat drawing no more than eighteen inches might push +within a dozen feet of the drain. + +Satisfied that no one observed him, Storri stepped to the mouth of the +drain and disappeared. He splashed along in the running water with his +heavy boots for something like a rod; then he stopped and lighted a +bicycle lantern which he took from his greatcoat pocket. The lantern +threw a bright flare after the manner of the headlight of a locomotive, +and Storri could hear the scurrying splash of the rats as it sent an +alarming ray ahead like a little searchlight. Being lighted on his way, +Storri kept steadily forward until, turning the corner where the drain +broke to the right across the White Lot, he was lost to sight. + +As Storri disappeared, two men far behind him at the mouth of the drain +stood watching. They had thus far followed Storri dimly with their eyes +by the light he carried. + +"What's become of him, Inspector?" whispered Mr. Duff, the shorter of +the men. "He hasn't doused his glim, has he?" + +"No," replied Inspector Val, "there's a bend at that point." + +"What's next?" asked Mr. Duff; "do we follow him in and collar him? or +do we just wait here?" + +"Collar him!" repeated Inspector Val disgustedly. "I'd like to catch you +collaring him! Is this a time to talk of collaring, and we no further +than the threshold of the job? Let him alone; he's only laying out the +work to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HOW LONDON BILL TOOK A PAL + + +Perhaps the golden rule of all detective work is, Never let the detected +one detect. Inspector Val was alive to this ordinance of his craft, and +an hour later, when Storri cautiously emerged from the drain, he met +neither sign nor sound of Inspector Val and Mr. Duff. Feeling sure that +his exploration had not been observed, Storri wended homeward to his +rooms, his chin sunk in meditation. + +Storri the next day went to New York, and immediately on arrival at that +hotel which he designed to honor with his custom he sprang into a +hansom, and within ten minutes was at a private-detective agency, being +the one whereat he aforetime procured those spies to set about the +Harley house--spies long since withdrawn. The head of this detective +bureau was a coarse-visaged, brandy-blotched man named Slater. + +"And so," observed Mr. Slater, following a statement of Storri's errand, +"you want to be put next to a 'peter-man, what we call a box-worker?" + +"I would like to meet the best in the business," said Storri; "one also +who is acquainted with others in his line, and who can be relied upon to +the death." + +"You want something desperate, eh?" said Mr. Slater, in a tone of +suspicion. "Might I ask whether you have a safe to blow or a crib to +crack on your own private account? I'm a cautious man, myself," he +concluded, with a harsh chuckle, "and like to know what I'm getting +mixed up with." + +"Your caution is to be commended," returned Storri, "and I'll answer +freely. No, I've no one to rob, no safe to break open. The truth is, I +want to prosecute a search for a certain criminal, and I think a man of +the stamp I wish to meet could help me more than a regular detective +whose person is known and who would be instantly suspected. I'm not +looking to arrest, but only to find a certain man. I shall pay him to +whom you send me for his trouble, and you for putting me in touch with +him." + +"It's an irregular thing to do," remarked Mr. Slater, "but I see no +harm." + +Mr. Slater rang a bell and asked for Mr. Norris. + +"Norris," said Mr. Slater, "this party wants to be put next to London +Bill--wants to be made solid with Bill. That's as far as you go." + +"All right," said Mr. Norris. Then addressing Storri: "If you come now, +I think I can locate your man in fifteen minutes." + +Storri and Mr. Norris drove to a doggery near the East River, in the +vicinity of James Slip. It was called the Albion House. The lower floor +was a bar-room, and two or three sinister-looking characters lounged +about the room. Mr. Norris ordered beer; then he leaned across to the +barman and whispered a question. + +"Why, yes," returned the barman, looking hard at Mr. Norris as though to +read his errand, "Bill's been here. But it's on the square; he ain't +doin' nothin'. I don't think he's seein' company neither." + +"This is on the level, Dan," said Mr. Norris, who appeared to be on +terms of acquaintance with the barman. "Let me make you known to Mr. +Brown," he continued, introducing Storri. "Now here's all there is to +it. Mr. Brown thinks Bill can put him wise to a party he's got business +with. There's no pinch goes with it, and Mr. Brown's willing to do the +handsome." + +"Well," replied the barman doubtfully, "if Bill's about, I'll see what +he thinks himself." With this, the barman, who was a brutal specimen +with lumpy shoulders and a nose that had seen better days, called one of +the loungers to preside in his stead, and retired through a door to the +rear. He returned in a moment saying that Bill would see the caller, and +jerked his stubby thumb in the direction of a back room. + +"This is a boozing ken for hold-up people," explained Mr. Norris in a +whisper, as he and Storri obeyed the hint tendered by the barman's +thumb. "That bar-keep, Dan, used to be a strong-arm man himself; but +since he's got this joint, he doesn't do any work, and has turned +fall-guy for a fleet that operates along the Bowery." + +Storri knew nothing of "strong-arm men," and "fall-guys," and "fleets," +but he put no questions, and only seemed intent on meeting London Bill. + +In the rear room that formidable outlaw was discovered seated at a +table. He was alone, and evidently had just come from upstairs, as a +door leading to the stairway was ajar. Mr. Norris presented Storri to +London Bill, and, this social ceremony over, made few words of it before +withdrawing altogether, leaving Storri and his new friend to themselves. + +"Suppose we drink something," said London Bill, in noncommittal tones. + +Storri ordered beer in a bottle, cork untouched; Storri had heard of +knockout mixtures, and did not care to make his advent into upper +criminal circles in the rôle of victim. London Bill grinned in a wise +way, but made no comment, calling for gin himself. + +"What is it?" said London Bill, after the gin had appeared and +disappeared; "what's the argument you want to hand me?" + +"I don't care to talk here," observed Storri, glancing suspiciously at +the walls within touch of his hand. "Let us go outside." + +"That's it," observed London Bill; "now if we was to go plantin' +ourselves in Union Square, or any little open-air place like that, it's +ten to one some Bull from the Central Office would come along an' spot +us. They're onto my mug; got it in the gallery in fact." + +"We can't talk here," said Storri decidedly. + +"Wait a minute," suggested London Bill, who it was clear had grown +curious as to Storri's errand, "I think I can fix the thing." He stepped +into the bar and returned with a key. "Come on," said he; "there's an +empty hall upstairs that ought to do us. It's as big as a rink." + +London Bill led the way up the foul, creaking stairs, and opened a door +on the top floor. It was a room the bigness of the building, and had +been used for dancing. Drawing a couple of wooden chairs to a front +window, Storri's guide motioned him to a seat. + +"Here we be," he said; "now what's it all about?" + +Storri, nothing backward when assured that no one was playing +eavesdropper, began to talk, carefully avoiding his usual jerky Russian +mannerisms. You have been told of Storri's graphic clearness of +statement, once he had fully perfected the outlines of some enterprise. +In fifteen minutes, but only in vaguest way, he laid his proposal before +London Bill; the proposal was so framed that the 'peter-man understood +no more than that a bank of unusual richness was to be broken into, and +his aid was sought. + +"Your share alone," whispered Storri, "will foot up for a million." + +London Bill's little black eyes twinkled like those of a rat. He didn't +make reply at once, but looked out of the grimy, cobwebby pane at the +sky. The face of London Bill was rough, but not unpleasant, and, though +he had killed his man and was a desperate individual if cornered, the +only trait expressed was a patient capacity for enterprises that might +require days or even weeks in their carrying out. + +"Don't you think now you're a bit of a come-on?" observed London Bill, +swinging around to Storri from his survey of the distant heavens. + +"Why?" asked Storri, as cool as the other. + +"This is why," returned London Bill. "Here you butt in, a dead stranger, +and make a proposition. Suppose I was to rap?" + +"I'd declare that you lied," replied Storri cheerfully, "and no one with +sense would believe you. They would say that if I intended to ask your +help in such work as I have described, I wouldn't seek an introduction +through a detective agency." + +"Something in that," said London Bill, a gleam of admiration in his +beady gimlet eye. "Well, I never squeal, an' only put the question to +try you out. Go on, an' tell me what it is an' where it is; whether I go +into the job or not, at least you've nothin' to be leary of in me." + +Storri, who had been studying London Bill as hard as ever that cracksman +was studying him, re-began in earnest. He now laid bare the proposal in +its every corner, and showed London Bill the plans and maps, including +the valuable cross-section drawing that displayed the relation of the +Treasury Building to street levels. London Bill, who appeared to have +gifts as an engineer, bent over the maps and drawings, considering and +measuring distances. + +"What sort of ground is this?" said London Bill, laying a finger on the +cross-section drawing, where it was painted dove-color as showing the +earth beneath the street; "is it clay or sand?" + +"Gray clay," returned Storri, "and fairly hard and dry." + +"Good," remarked London Bill; "no fear of caving." Recurring to the +drawings, London Bill proceeded: "It'll take two months to dig that +tunnel. I'll have to dip as I go in, in order to creep beneath the +footstones of the sidewall; then I'll bring the tunnel up on a long +slant. The tunnel should be four feet high and about three wide; the +earth I'd throw into the sewer, the water would wash it away. There's no +risk in digging the tunnel, as no one would get an inkling of what's +afoot until the last shove, when we made direct for the money. On that +point let me ask: How long can we count on being undisturbed after we've +got to the gold? Now if it was a bank, we'd time the play for Saturday +afternoon after closing hours; that would give us until Monday morning +at nine before they'd tumble." + +[Illustration: "It'll Take Two Months to Dig that Tunnel."] + +"We can do better than that," returned Storri. "Saturday, May +twenty-eighth, is the anniversary of the death of a former Secretary of +the Treasury, and a special holiday has been already declared for that +day. Monday, May thirtieth, is Decoration Day, a general holiday. We +should have, you see, from Friday at four o'clock until Tuesday at ten; +time enough to carry out several fortunes in twenty-pound packages worth +five thousand dollars each." + +"How do you expect to get away with the swag?" asked London Bill. + +"Steam yacht," replied Storri sententiously. "I shall carry it from the +mouth of the drain to the yacht with a launch. It's as silent as a bird +flying, is that launch. Oh, I've thought everything out in full; I can +get the yacht and the launch. The latter will freight an even ton every +trip. Do you know how much gold money it takes to make a ton?" + +"Half a million dollars," said London Bill, with his professional grin. +"You see, partner, I've had to do a deal of studyin' along the same line +as yourself." + +"Precisely," returned Storri, disregarding the compliment implied by the +epithet partner; "five hundred thousand dollars. We shall have seven +hours a night for three nights, in which to freight the gold from the +mouth of the drain to the yacht." + +"Four nights," said London Bill correctively; "Friday, Saturday, Sunday, +and Monday nights. I can carry that tunnel to a place within two hours +of the stuff, with the Treasury full of people; no one would catch on. +Take my word for it, you can begin getting out the gold the moment it +turns dark on Friday night. Let's pray for a storm for those four +nights." + +"Your argument is right," observed Storri, "but there's a point you +overlook. We shall have but three nights; Monday and Monday night will +be required to take the yacht down the river, and into the open ocean. +The instant the loss is discovered, they'll know the business was +managed with the yacht; they will recall her as having been in the river +the three or four days before. I mean to repaint her from black to +white, the moment we're out of sight from the shore. I shall change her +name, and have papers ready to match the change. Oh, my friend, you will +see that I"--here Storri, who had studiously refrained from his usual +bragging, exultant, staccato style of speech, and aped the plain and +commonplace, almost forget himself; he was on the brink of giving his +name, which thus far had been withheld. He checked himself in time, and +ended soberly by saying: "You will see that I have left nothing +unconsidered." + +"Seven hours a night," ruminated London Bill, "and three nights: In +considering everything, as you say, have you figured on how many trips +your launch, bearing five hundred thousand dollars a trip, can make +between shore an' ship?" + +"The launch can make as many as twenty-one trips a night. In three +nights she ought to put more than thirty millions of dollars aboard the +yacht. That region around the drain's mouth is wholly deserted. By +working without lights there isn't a chance of being detected." + +"Thirty millions!" repeated London Bill, grinning cynically, "and all in +five-thousand-dollar sacks! Did it ever occur to you that it will take +some time to carry the gold down to the drain's mouth? It's close by +three-quarters of a mile, that trip is." + +"My friend," retorted Storri, with just a tinge of patronage, "leave +that to me. I'll find a way to send the gold to the drain's mouth +without breeding any backaches. All you are to do is dig the tunnel, and +dig it so we can reach the gold." + +"That's simple," observed London Bill. "I shall dig so as to undermine +an end of one of those steel slabs that make the vault's floor, running +my tunnel for the rear end of the vault. The weight of the gold will +force down the slab when undermined. I'll open that vault like lifting +the cover of a chest, only the cover will drop from the bottom instead +of lifting from the top. The minute that slab of steel drops six inches, +the sacks of gold will begin sliding into our tunnel of their own +accord. You needn't worry about my part of the job; I can take thirty +millions out of the vault if you can get them to the mouth of the +drain." + +"I can get them to the mouth of the drain," responded Storri +confidently, "and another thirty with them. The real limit to our +operations is the yacht itself. The one I have in mind will only carry +one hundred tons, and thirty millions in gold makes sixty tons, to say +nothing of ship's stores and coal." + +"What place will you head the boat for when the job's done?" + +"That," said Storri, "I shall leave to be settled in the open Atlantic. +The question now is: Are you going with me? I've told you that your +share is to be a million." + +"One thirtieth?" said London Bill, with the ring of complaint in his +voice. + +"One thirtieth," returned Storri with emphasis. "Where else can you get +one million for ten weeks' digging and a six-months' cruise in a yacht? +Besides, there will be a dozen others to share; to say nothing of the +yacht, and what it costs to coal her and buy her stores. Come now; do +you go with me?" + +London Bill put out a small, hairy hand, and gave Storri a squeeze of +acquiescence that was almost a mate for the grip bestowed upon our +nobleman by Richard that snow-freighted day in November. + +"I'm with you, live or die," said London Bill; "an' I never weaken, an' +never split on a pal." + +Storri and London Bill put in an hour discussing plans. There were to be +no more men brought into the affair until late in May. London Bill would +come to Washington and commence his tunnel work at once. It would be a +slow employment and require care; it was best to have plenty of time. + +"Because," explained London Bill, "if these maps an' drawings ain't +accurate to the splinter of an inch, it may throw me abroad in my +digging. In that case I'd need an extra week or so to find myself." + +Storri coincided with the view, but added that the yacht would have to +be manned as early as the middle of May. + +"The men needn't know the purpose," said Storri, "till the last moment. +When it comes to selecting them, I shall ask your advice." + +"I can give you that to-day," said London Bill, "better than in May. +I'll be busy in my tunnel in May, and won't have time to come out. +Here's what I'll do: I'll call up Dan right now. Dan's an old sailor, as +well as a first-class gun and hold-up man--the gang calls him Steamboat +Dan. I'll call Dan, an' put him into the play. Then when the time comes, +Dan will get you the men, an' of the right proper sort. There won't be +one of 'em who hasn't done a stretch." + +"But," remonstrated Storri uneasily, "are you sure of this Steamboat +Dan?" + +"I wouldn't be lushin' gin in his crib else," responded London Bill. +"No, Dan's as sure as death. Besides, I'm not goin' to put him wise; I +shall only tell him to do whatever you ask, whenever you show up." + +London Bill called Dan, and the trio broadened their confidence in each +other with further gin and beer. Dan gave his word for whatever was +required; Storri had but to appear and issue his orders. + +"You'll be in at the finish, Dan," said London Bill; "an' for the +others, pick out a dozen of the flossiest coves you can find. You'll be +bringin' them to where I'm workin', d'ye see; an' the job will be ripe." + +"Will it be much of a play?" asked Dan. + +"Biggest ever," said London Bill; "an' yet, no harder than prickin' a +blister." + +Storri jumped into the cab, which had waited for him at the door, and +rattled swiftly away. Within five minutes thereafter, a ragged gamin +strutted into the Albion bar. + +"Be you Steamboat Dan?" chirped the gamin, fixing the eye of a sparrow +upon that tapster. + +"Well, s'ppose I be?" said Dan, not too well pleased with the +sparrow-eyed. + +"Then this is for you," quoth the gamin, thrusting a note across the +bar. + +Dan glanced at the note; next he smote the bar, accompanying the smiting +with soft curses. + +"What's the row?" asked one of the loungers. + +"Nothin'," said Dan, his face clearing into a look of easy craft. +"Here's a pal of mine gets himself run over an' fractured by the cable +cars, an' is took to the hospital. You hold down the bar, Jimmy, while I +go look him over." + +The person addressed as Jimmy had no objection to an arrangement that +meant free drinks, and once he was installed Dan put on his hat and +moved rapidly up the street. A turn or two and a brisk walk of ten +minutes found him in Mulberry Bend. Dan walked more slowly, and was +rewarded by the sight of Inspector Val sauntering along half a block +ahead. The great thief-taker rounded a corner, and albeit Dan made no +effort to overtake him, he was scrupulous to make the same turn. As he +came into the cross-street he glanced about for Inspector Val; that +personage was nowhere to be seen. Dan kept on his way, and before he had +journeyed another block Inspector Val caught up with him from the rear, +and passed him. Two doors further and Inspector Val entered an Italian +restaurant; Dan, after going fifty yards beyond and returning, stepped +into the same place. As he laid his hand on the restaurant's door, he +shot a swift look up and down the street. There was no one in view whom +he knew, and Dan brought a breath of relief. + +"This bein' a stool ain't no hit with me," sighed Dan, "but will any +sport show me how to sidestep it?" + +As no sport was there to hear the plaint of Dan, the latter must have +despaired of a reply before he put the question. Once more he cheerfully +greeted Inspector Val, and the two withdrew to a private room. + +"Dan," said Inspector Val, when they were seated at a table with a flask +of chianti between them, "I needn't tell you that you're still wanted +for that trick you turned in Chicago, or remind you of the many little +things I've overlooked in your case in New York." + +"No, Inspector," replied Dan, sorrowfully tasting his chianti, "I'm dead +onto 'em all. What is it? Give it a name." + +"Do you know what that black-bearded man wanted in your place?" + +"No," said Dan, "I don't." + +"He came to meet London Bill, and you floor-managed the play." + +"But I don't know what he wanted of Bill," said Dan, a bit staggered. + +"Well, I know what he wanted of Bill. And I know what he will want of +you. I'll tell you what you are to do; and if you cross me, or fall +down, it will mean several spaces in Joliet, so have a care. I'll put +you easy on one point. Neither you, nor London Bill, nor any of the pals +you'll put into this game about the middle of May, will get the collar. +You have my word for that." + +"Your word goes with me, Inspector," interjected Dan, plainly relieved, +and bending to his chianti as though after all it might not be red +poison. + +"Good; my word goes with you--which is fortunate for you. These are your +orders: You're to say never a word; and you're to proceed with this as +though nothing queer was in the wind. As fast as you know anything, you +will find that I'll call for it. Do whatever this black-bearded party +asks; go with him as far as he wants to go, and go with your eyes shut. +I'll step in and get him when the time comes; he's the one I'm after. +Now you understand: say nothing, do whatever the black-beard desires; +and when I want to see you I'll send. And be careful about London Bill; +he's foxy. That was why I let you go by me a moment ago; I didn't know +but Bill was fly enough to tail you here. He'll be gone, however, in a +day, or at the most two, and then you'll have no more risk with Bill." + +"How did you know Bill was goin' to-morrow? It wasn't settled thirty +minutes ago." + +"I know it just as I know that you, about May fifteenth, will pick up a +dozen or more pals who are whole crooks and half sailors; that you will +then leave on a boat, probably a steam yacht, May twenty-sixth, bound +for Washington; and that the job of bin-cracking you will engage in is +to be pulled off May twenty-seventh to twenty-ninth inclusive." + +"You know more'n me, Inspector," observed Dan, with wonder undisguised. + +"If I didn't I wouldn't be telling you what to do. That's all, Dan; have +you got your orders straight?" + +"Straight as a gun," declared Dan, wiping the last drops of the chianti +from his mouth. + +"Screw out then," commanded Inspector Val, "and come only when I send +for you." + +Two days later, a laborer, clean-shaven and of rather superior exterior, +fastened a tape measure to the iron cover of a manhole that opened into +the drain that ran by the side of the Treasury Building. Tape fastened, +the laborer unwound its length along the asphalt for perhaps one hundred +feet. Then he began to re-wind the tape into its circular box. As he +followed the incoming tape towards the end that was fastened to the +manhole cover, winding as he went, he paused for the ghost of a second +squarely opposite the little basement door-way in the Treasury Building, +where the old watchman stood smoking his pipe on the evening that Storri +was told of the gold inside. The old watchman, being on day duty now, +was standing in that same door-way, smoking the self-same pipe, and had +his ignorant eye listlessly fixed upon the laborer, busy with his +measurements. As the laborer paused abreast of the door, he glanced down +at the tape. + +"The even seventy feet from the center of that manhole," he murmured, as +though he thus registered the figures in his mind. + +And the old watchman, and the pedestrians hurrying along the pavement, +thought the laborer busy with his measurements from the manhole to the +little Treasury door had been at work for the public. + +That night, had it not been for the moonless dark of it, you might have +seen the same laborer who had been so concerned with tape-measures and +distances near the Treasury Building, a long shallow basket stoutly +woven of willow on his arm, making secretly for the mouth of the drain +that once witnessed the investigations of Storri. The basket concealed a +short pickax of the sort that miners use, a little spade such as +children play with on the seashore, but very strong, and a pinch-bar, or +"jimmy," about two feet long. Besides these suspicious implements, there +were food, a flask of whisky, another of coffee, and a bicycle lamp, to +make up the basket's furniture. + +The laborer entered the drain's mouth, and when beyond chance of +observation from without, he paused as aforetime had Storri to light his +lamp. As the match illuminated his face, you would have identified the +features of London Bill, celebrated safe-blower, box-worker, and +'peter-man, presently about to begin his first night's work on that +thirty-million-dollar job over which he and Storri had shaken hands. +Having lighted his lamp, London Bill journeyed on his way until the same +bend in the great drain that had hidden Storri shut him out from view. + +London Bill splashingly proceeded to the second turn in the drain; from +that point he counted the manholes until he stood beneath the one from +which you saw him measuring with the tape. As nearly as he might, London +Bill, going northward in the drain, slowly paced off seventy feet from +the manhole; then he halted and drove two large spikes between the +bricks that formed the walls, using the pinch-bar to do the driving. On +these nails he hung his basket and fixed his lamp, the latter so as to +light the opposite wall. Being disencumbered of the basket, London Bill +took the tape and again made his measurements, this time more accurately +than might be done by pacing. + +London Bill got to work, breast-high and where the lamplight fell, on +the wall of the drain nearest the Treasury, and with the point of the +pinch-bar began taking out the bricks. Our cracksman worked slowly and +surely, laying the bricks in the bottom of the drain so as to form a +floor on which to stand. In this way he soon found himself above the +water, which thereafter muttered about the bricks instead of his boots, +as was the former uncomfortable condition. + +After three hours of toil, the last brick was removed; a circular hole +four feet in diameter showed in the wall of the drain. Beyond was the +earth--gray clay, as Storri had said. Seizing the little spade, London +Bill threw a handful into the water; it was instantly dissolved and +washed away. + +"There's current enough," said London Bill, in a satisfied whisper, "to +clear away the dirt as fast as I dig it, which is a chunk of luck my +way." + +London Bill, being fairly launched upon his great work, crept into the +drain every night and crept forth every morning, and the hours of his +creeping were respectively eleven and four. Through the day he lay in +convenient, non-inquisitive lodgings, which he cared for himself. London +Bill did not go about the town, having no wish for company, being of the +bloodhound inveterate breed that, once embarked upon an enterprise, does +nothing, thinks nothing, save said enterprise until it is accomplished. +It was this dogged, single-hearted persistency, coupled with his cunning +and his desperate courage, that made London Bill the foremost figure of +his old but criminal guild of 'peter-men. + +There was a rich man's son who infested the club; and, being a snob with +a liking for noble nearnesses, Croesus Jr. had wormed himself into +Storri's regards as far as Storri would permit. Croesus Jr., fond of +display, bought a little steam yacht--one hundred tons. After two costly +months of yachting, Croesus Jr., waxing thrifty and bewailing expense, +laid up the yacht in a shipyard on the Harlem River. The yacht's name +was _Zulu Queen_. The _Zulu Queen_ measured one hundred and ten feet +over all, and since she was of unusual beam, her draught was light. In a +beam sea the _Zulu Queen_ would all but roll her stacks overboard; in a +head sea she pounded until one feared for her safety; in smooth water, +full steam ahead, she could snap off seventeen knots. She had a +twenty-foot launch, equal to fourteen knots, that made no more noise +than a sewing machine. Altogether there were worse as well as better +boats upon the sea than was the _Zulu Queen_. + +Croesus Jr., disliking expense as noted, did not care to keep the _Zulu +Queen_ in commission. And yet the rust of retirement was eating into her +value! A yacht, a horse, and a woman, to keep at their best, should be +constantly in commission. Croesus Jr. offered the _Zulu Queen_ to Storri +for the spring and summer, Storri to foot the bills. This was a +sagacious move on the part of Croesus Jr. and meant to kill a brace of +birds with one stone. He would keep the _Zulu Queen_ steamed up at +another's cost, thereby avoiding the wharf rent as well as the rust of +her banishment; also he would please a nobleman. Storri accepted the +disinterested offer of the _Zulu Queen_ from Croesus Jr.; that was just +before he met London Bill. + +After meeting that eminent bandit, Storri drove to Harlem, and gave +orders for overhauling the _Zulu Queen_, as well as for storing and +coaling her to the limit of her lockers and bunkers. She was to be made +ready for the crew and cruise by May first. Storri was armed with the +written order of Croesus Jr., and the shipyard people offered no demur; +since they charged all bills in true maritime fashion to the _Zulu +Queen_, and neither to Storri nor yet Croesus Jr., the latter provident +young person must finally face the expense--a financial disaster which +Croesus Jr. never foresaw, albeit Storri was not so blind. As London +Bill plies darksome spade and pick and pinch-bar, the Harlem shipmen are +furnishing and coaling and storing the _Zulu Queen_. + +Storri said nothing of London Bill and the _Zulu Queen_ to the San Reve. +He had well-nigh given up the club, being willing to postpone all chance +of meeting either Mr. Harley or Richard, and was, therefore, a more +frequent visitor to Grant Place--a social situation that pleased the San +Reve vastly. + +The San Reve used to dog Storri when he left her; and, inasmuch as she +never once traced him to the Harley house or its vicinity, her jealousy +began to sleep. But the San Reve, while she haunted the steps of Storri, +could not always follow his thoughts, and they went often to the +Harleys. Storri had the Harleys ever on his mind; each day served to +intensify his hatred for Mr. Harley, and to render more sultry that +passion for Dorothy which was both love and hate. Little by little his +lawless imagination suggested methods by which he might have revenge on +Mr. Harley and gain possession of Dorothy; and the methods so suggested, +like the ingenious cogs of a wheel, mashed into that other enterprise of +gold which had enlisted the _Zulu Queen_ and London Bill. The thought of +revenge on Mr. Harley, and a physical conquest of Dorothy the beautiful, +grew and broadened and extended itself like some plant of evil in +Storri's heart. It worked itself out into leaf and twig and bud of +sinful detail until the execution thereof seemed the thing feasible; +with that the face of Storri began to wear a look of criminal triumph in +anticipation. + +The San Reve observed this latter phenomenon and read it for a good +sign, holding it to be evidence of the contentment born of their happier +relations, and also of clearing skies of stocks. It spoke of fair +weather in both love and business, and the San Reve was at considerable +care not to disturb Storri with either query or comment. + +To show how wrong was the San Reve, glance at this fragment of the +thought of Storri. + +"What should be better," mused Storri, with that leer which Satan gave +him, "than to carry away the gold of these pig Americans, and the +daughter of one of them, on the same night? We should be off the coast +of Africa in a fortnight, and were I to tire of her I could sell her to +the Moors. Who would hear of her after that?" + +Thus did Storri rear his sinful castles in the air; and as he brooded +his black designs, smoking his cigars and tossing off his brandy in +silence, the San Reve sat drinking him in with adoring gray-green eyes, +pleasing herself by conjecturing his meditations, and going miles to +leeward of the truth. Had the San Reve but guessed them, there might +have descended an interruption, and Storri's purposes suffered a +postponement at once grisly and grim. + +Richard, about this time, troubled the club with his presence no oftener +than did Storri--and that was natural enough. He must see so much of +Dorothy at either her own house or Bess Marklin's, he was left scanty +time for clubs. It is wonderful how love will engage the hours and +occupy the faculties of a man. + +One evening as Richard was coming from the Harley house he met Inspector +Val. Richard, wrapped in visions whereof the constituent elements were +roses and music with starlight over all, was careless of routes, and +Inspector Val led him past the Treasury Building, across the White Lot +between the Monument and the White House, until they stood at the +drain's mouth, of which you have heard so much. The stream was rushing +forth a clayey gray. + +"Do you see?" asked Inspector Val, pointing to the stream. + +"See what?" said Richard, waxing impatient, as a man will when roused +from loving dreams to consider a question of sewage. + +"The color," replied Inspector Val. "That shows our man to be +industriously at his task. No, no explanation now; on the twenty-seventh +of May we'll come again, and the drain itself shall furnish a solution +to the puzzle." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +HOW STORRI FOOLISHLY WROTE A MESSAGE + + +Governor Obstinate being stubbornly and openly for gold, party opinion, +disliking concealment and skulking mystery, began to burn the grass of +imperious inquiry about the feet of Senator Hanway. Men could understand +a gold-bug or a silver-bug, and either embrace or tolerate him according +to the color of their convictions. But that monstrous insect of finance, +the straddlebug, pleased no one; and since Senator Hanway, whose +patriotism was self-interest and who possessed no principle beyond the +principle of personal aggrandizement, was on every issue a straddlebug, +finance first of all, our sinuous statesman commenced to taste troublous +days. + +Senator Gruff urged him to declare for gold. + +"You will have two-thirds of the better element with you," said Senator +Gruff, "and by that I mean the richer element." + +Senator Hanway submitted that while the richer or managing element was +for gold, the masses might be for silver. If he were nominated following +a gold declaration, a silver public might defeat him at the polls. + +"But the public," explained Senator Gruff, disagreeing, "are as sheep; +the managers of party are the wolves. The howl of one wolf in politics +is of graver moment than the bleating of many sheep." + +"But the sheep are the more numerous," laughed Senator Hanway, who was +amused by what he termed the zoölogical figures of Senator Gruff. + +"What matters that?" said Senator Gruff. "Wasn't it Virgil who wrote +'What cares the wolf how many the sheep be'? The wolves, I tell you, +win." + +Senator Hanway, full of inborn furtivities, still hung in the wind of +doubt. + +"Would it not be as wise," he argued, "to claim the public's attention +with some new unusual proposition? Might not the public, being wholly +engaged thereby, forget finance?" + +Senator Gruff thought this among things possible; at least it might be +tried. Something surely must be done, or Senator Hanway would be +compelled to disclose his attitude on Silver versus Gold. + +It was the decision of Senators Hanway and Gruff that the former should +bring up for Senate discussion the resolution concerning that Georgian +Bay-Ontario Canal. Credit Magellan was dead and gone, and had been since +the "bear" failure against Northern Consolidated. But no one in the +Senate, no one indeed not of the osprey pool, had heard of Credit +Magellan. Therefore, Senator Hanway could handle the Canal resolution as +a thing by itself. It could be offered as a measure important, not alone +nationally but internationally, and to all the world. Senator Hanway +would force no vote; but he would be heard, and his Senate friends and +allies would be heard. There should arise such a din of statesmanship +that the dullest ear in the country must be impressed with the Canal as +a subject of tremendous consequence. The public intelligence might thus +be made to center upon the Canal. The latter would subtract from, even +if it did not wholly swallow up in the common regard, that dangerous +query of finance. + +"You may be right," observed Senator Gruff. He said this dubiously, for +he wasn't as sure as was Senator Hanway of either a public interest or +its direction touching the Canal. "It will be a novelty; and the public +is as readily caught by novelty as any rustic at a fair. But you might +better get to it at once. I had word from the Anaconda people yesterday; +they urge definite utterance on the money question. They say that either +silver or gold will do as a position; but they must know which it is to +be in order to select timber for the delegations. It won't do to name +silver delegates if you mean in the eleventh hour to declare for gold." + +Senator Hanway brought up his Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal and talked a +profound hour. Other Senators followed, and the Canal held the carpet of +debate for three full days. Then it was sent back to the Foreign +Committee without a vote. + +But the object of the discussion had been reached. Canal took the place +of Money in the people's mouth, and Senator Hanway, his name gaining +favorable place in every paper, particularly in the _Daily Tory_, became +a prodigious personality by acclamation. The most besotted of Governor +Obstinate's adherents now conceded the superior strength of Senator +Hanway, and two or three States which held their conventions about this +time instructed their delegates to vote for him as a unit. Mr. Harley +and Senator Gruff, being nearest to Senator Hanway, were jubilant; they +complimented and extolled the acumen that substituted Canal for Finance +as a popular shout. + +"You've got it," ejaculated Senator Gruff, slapping Senator Hanway on +the shoulder with a freedom cherished by statesmen among themselves; +"the ticket is as good as made, with Hanway at the head. Put Frost on +for Vice President, and it will be all over but the fireworks." + +Senator Hanway was of one mind with Senator Gruff; he could discover no +gap in his fences through which defeat might crowd. + +"It's as it should be, John," observed Senator Hanway, when one evening +he and Mr. Harley were alone in his study. Richard had just left, +bearing an elaborate interview with Senator Hanway in which the Georgian +Bay-Ontario Canal was displayed as the question paramount and +precedental to all others, the interview being intended for the next +issue of the _Daily Tory_. "It would be hard, indeed," continued Senator +Hanway, "to be wiped out in politics just as we were wiped out in +stocks. I can look on present pauperism calmly enough, if it is to be +followed by the White House for four years. It would be our turn then to +issue German defiances, and use Monroe to milk the Market." + +"Yes," assented Mr. Harley, a greedy twinkle in his eye, "a White House +should place us on high ground." + +Mr. Harley, being thus reminded of the osprey pool, remarked that he +received a line that afternoon saying the mysterious builder of the +corner in Northern Consolidated had been discovered in Robert Lance +Bayard. The old gray buccaneer would at once learn the terms upon which +they might ransom themselves. + +"If it be so much as three millions for our share," said Senator Hanway, +"it will cut us both off at the roots. Three millions would take the +last bond and the last share of stock in our boxes." + +"The offer will be made for a million a man," said Mr. Harley; "but +should Mr. Bayard refuse, there's no help. He holds us at his mercy." + +"Absolutely!" assented Senator Hanway, with a sigh. Then in livelier +manner: "Still, as I observed, we must console ourselves with a +Presidency. That Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal was a fortunate thought. My +nomination is certain; and the success of the ticket with the people +seems quite as sure. We must offset a loss in stocks by this mighty +profit in politics. + +"Changing the subject," continued Senator Hanway, "young Storms seems to +be the accepted lover of Dorothy. I'm gratified by it; he has no money, +but Mr. Gwynn will act the generous part. What surprises me is the +submission of Barbara; she was decidedly tragic in her objections one +evening." + +"Yes," said Mr. Harley, soberly exultant, his conquest of Mrs. +Hanway-Harley in the matter of that matrimony being the only battle he +had ever won from his domestic Boadicea, "yes, Barbara did object; put +it on the ground that Storms was a beggar. Thereupon I expounded her own +bankruptcy to her, showed her how it was the pot calling the kettle +black, and Barbara, feeling that she hadn't a leg to stand on, +surrendered." + +Mr. Harley said nothing of that Storri secret between Dorothy and +himself. + +"When will you appoint the wedding?" asked Senator Hanway. + +"Dorothy will attend to that, I take it. Should she come for my advice, +I shall vote for expedition. Marriage is so much like shooting a rifle +that one ought not to hang too long on one's aim." + +Richard received a wire from Mr. Bayard calling him to New York. The +next day he was closeted with the ticker-King at Thirty, Broad. + +"We have never," said Mr. Bayard, "declared our respective shares in the +corner in Northern Consolidated." + +Richard insisted on leaving the naming of interests to Mr. Bayard. + +"I should say even interests then--half and half," returned Mr. Bayard. + +Richard acquiesced. + +"Then," said Mr. Bayard, "I must tell you that I'm offered seven +millions for the seven members of the pool as it now exists. You +remember your friend Storri perished on the first call for margins; we +have already taken a half-million from him." + +"You won't mind," said Richard diffidently, "if I make an amended +proposition?" + +"Let me hear it," returned Mr. Bayard, mildly curious; "I'm quite sure I +shall prefer your proposal to my own." + +"As preliminary then," said Richard, "permit me to give you an informal +invitation to my wedding with Miss Harley; it is set for June first." + +"I shall be present," said Mr. Bayard, smilingly elevating his brows. +"And Miss Harley: who is she?" + +"She's Mr. Harley's daughter, and Senator Hanway's niece. Between us, I +hardly feel like reducing my sweetheart's family to bankruptcy on the +eve of our nuptials." + +"I've known it done, however," returned Mr. Bayard, beating down a +chuckle. + +"I've no doubt," observed Richard. "For all that I'd like to miss the +experience. This is my idea: suppose we divide men and not money. Give +me Senator Hanway, Mr. Harley, and Storri, and you take the five." + +"It shall be as you desire," said Mr. Bayard, "for I see what you would +be at. This was not a speculation but a love affair; Miss Harley is your +profit." + +Richard confessed to Mr. Bayard's reading of the riddle; Dorothy with +him had been the prize, and she was won. As for Mr. Harley and Senator +Hanway, Richard would have them released without loss; they were to be +restored, plack and bawbee, to what had been theirs on that tumultuous +Wednesday when the osprey pool made its initial swoop. + +"Adjust the business with them June second," explained Richard. "My +wife"--he said "my wife" with a dignity that was visible--"and I will be +then on our way to the Mediterranean. Present yourself as the only one +in the affair, please; my name is a cat that I don't want let out of the +bag." + +"And now, my romantic young friend," remarked Mr. Bayard, "you forget +Storri. What shall I do with the half-million taken from him?" + +"Give one-half to Inspector Val; and with the other purchase an annuity +for a gentleman named Sands. I'll send Mr. Sands to you. I want to be +out of the country, however, before you arrange any of these matters." + +"That's right," declared Mr. Bayard; "I know of nothing more grinding +than gratitude. By the way, how old is this Mr. Sands?" + +"About thirty." + +"He should have at least fifteen thousand dollars a year." + +"He has so keen an approval of whisky," explained Richard, "that I don't +care to give him the money outright." + +Mr. Bayard stated that he would send word to the old gray buccaneer, +fixing June second for the settlement and accepting the pool's offer of +seven millions. + +"And when the day arrives," observed Mr. Bayard, "I'll carry out your +financial forgiveness of Senator Hanway and Mr. Harley." + +"Not forgetting to hide my name?" + +"Not forgetting to hide your name. But Inspector Val and Mr. Sands will +have to know." + +"It will make the less difference; by that time I'll be three hundred +miles off-shore." + +"And having," said Mr. Bayard, "so pleasantly adjusted our business, +suppose we smoke in confirmation of the adjustment. Also, if you will, +please explain the humbug of Mr. Gywnn. Why are you, who are among the +world's five wealthiest men, so anxious to pretend poverty and hide your +money-light beneath a bushel?" + +"Mr. Gwynn is no humbug," returned Richard; "under my thumb, he acts for +me in business. I am saved a deal of bother at slight expense and +slighter risk. Now and then, of course, I find him absorbing some sly +hundreds. When he bought the _Daily Tory_, he substituted a pretended +agent between himself and Talon & Trehawke, and in that way sequestered +over eleven thousand dollars behind the mask of commissions. But I +always discover and rectify these discrepancies. And I forgive them, +too; for Mr. Gwynn was educated to a theory of perquisites, and such +little lapses as those _Daily Tory_ commissions are but the outcrop of +old habits too deeply rooted to be eradicated." + +"But you present him as your patron--as the head of your house." + +"There you're in the wrong," laughed Richard. "When I returned from +Europe bringing Mr. Gwynn, society seized upon him for its own. Society +went wild over Mr. Gwynn; it discovered in him treasures of patricianism +and a well-bred elegance. Since society insisted upon the enthronement +of Mr. Gwynn, it would have been impolite, nay narrow, on my part to +object. Besides, I recognized in it the essence of democracy and as an +American rejoiced. 'By all means,' said I, 'society shall have its +excellent way. I can give it little, but I can give it Mr. Gwynn.'" + +Richard's old cynicism was for the moment restored, and the laughing +philosopher--who is only a laughing hyena in trousers and cutaway--shone +out in all a former Abderitish glory. In the brittle case of Mr. Bayard +the laughing cynic did not laugh alone; that gray eagle of the tape saw +much in Mr. Gwynn and his polite adventures to delight him. He declared +the situation to be a most justifiable sarcasm addressed, not against an +individual, but an age. + +"It was," said Mr. Bayard, "a splendid vengeance upon the snobs. But +that doesn't explain," he continued, "why you were sedulous to hide your +millions from others--from Miss Harley, for a sample." + +Richard braced himself and made a clean breast. He had been educated by +musty professors, visionaries, rusty creatures of theories and alcoves; +he had come to be as morbid as the atmosphere he was reared in on that +subject of his gold. It would corrupt whomsoever approached him. He, +Richard, would never know love or friendship--nothing better than a +world's greed would he know. Announce his millions, and he would have no +existence, no identity, no name; all would be merged in those millions. +He would never be given a friendship; he must purchase it. He would +never be given a woman's love; he must buy her love! + +"Thus was I demon-haunted of my own gold," said Richard. "It seemed to +stand between me and all my heart went hungry for. That was my feeling; +I was galled of money. I determined to hide my wealth; I would discover +what friendships I might inspire, what loves I could attract, with only +the meager capital of my merit." + +"Well," said Mr. Bayard dryly, "every man at some period must play the +fool. All's well that ends well; I shall follow your wishes concerning +Messrs. Harley, Hanway, Val, and Sands, attend your wedding, extend +congratulations, and salute the bride." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, Mr. Harley, and Senator Hanway were duly informed of +those orange blossoms meditated by Dorothy for June. Bess, who still +retained her place as managing angel, pointed out the propriety of such +information. Bess said that Richard ought to break the news to the +Harleys and to Senator Hanway. But Richard's heart was weak; he +confessed his cowardice squarely. In his own defense he pleaded the +memory of his former interview with Mrs. Hanway-Harley; it was yet heavy +upon him, and he could summon no courage for another. Then Dorothy +became the heroine; she would inform Mrs. Hanway-Harley with her own +young lips. This she did, bearing herself the while with much love and +firmness, since Richard--quaking inwardly, but concealing his craven +condition from Dorothy--supported her throughout. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley surprised everybody with the moderate spirit in which +she received the word. True, her manner could not have been called +boisterously joyful, and indeed she made no pretense of the kind. She +kissed Dorothy; she would have kissed Richard had not that gentleman +plainly lacked the fortitude required for so embarrassing a ceremony. +Having pressed her maternal lips to Dorothy's forehead, Mrs. +Hanway-Harley remarked that it was good of the young lovers to bring +their plans to her. She realized, however, that it was no more than a +polite formality, for the affair long before had been taken out of her +hands. Her consent to their wedding would sound hollow, even ludicrous, +under the circumstances; still, such as it was, she freely granted it. +Her objection had been the poverty of Mr. Storms, and that objection was +disregarded. Mrs. Hanway-Harley could do no more; they would wed, and in +later years, while being ground in the mills of a dollarless experience, +they might justify the wisdom of her objection. In this gracious fashion +did Mrs. Hanway-Harley sanction the union of her only daughter Dorothy +with Mr. Richard Storms; after which she folded her matronly hands in +resignation, bearing meanwhile the manner of one who will face the worst +bravely and hopes that others are prepared to do the same. + +Dorothy was quite affected, and hung round the neck of Mrs. +Hanway-Harley, shedding copious tears. Richard, who felt decidedly +foolish and could not shake off the impression that Mrs. Hanway-Harley +was somehow the victim of his happiness,--such was the serious effect of +that lady's acting,--confessed himself delighted when the interview was +over. When Dorothy and he were by themselves, Richard drew a deep +breath, and confided to Dorothy that Mrs. Hanway-Harley was a load off +his mind, whatever that should mean. + +The formalities above recorded having been disposed of, Dorothy, nobly +abetted by Bess and extravagantly encouraged by Mr. Harley, plunged into +the business of her trousseau with the utmost fury. She became the +center of a bevy of dressmakers and milliners, and these artists got +vastly in the way of Richard when he called. Richard, being excluded, +put in hours in the harmless society of Mr. Fopling, who looked upon +Richard, now his wedding day was fixed, in fearful admiration, and said +that some day he supposed he must come to it himself. Mr. Fopling spoke +of marriage as though it were a desperate creature of citadels and mines +and scaling ladders and smoke-filled breaches, to face which would call +for the soul of a paladin. + +As Dorothy's gown-buying and hat-trimming expanded into a riot of +ribbons and flounces and all decorative things, Mrs. Hanway-Harley, +attracted by a bustle dear to the feminine heart, was drawn more and +more from out her shell of martyrdom until finally she stood in the +fore-front of the mêlée, giving directions. She never omitted, however, +to maintain a melancholy, and comported herself at all times as should a +mother who only bows to the dread inevitable and but dresses her child +for the sacrifice. + +Storri about this time was excessively and secretly the busy man. He +went often to New York, and held conferences with Steamboat Dan. The +latter, at Storri's suggestion, began picking up his people; all were +criminal, all aquatic, and two were capable, respectively, of +discharging the duties of a sailing master and an engineer. + +Whenever Storri visited New York, Inspector Val was never far to find; +now and then he sent for Steamboat Dan to hear how the plans of Storri +moved. Steamboat Dan failed not to respond; for he was stricken of a +wholesome fear of Inspector Val. And well he might be. There was that +prison cell in Joliet all vacant for his coming; and he must protect the +shady peace of the Albion House near James Slip. Altogether, there was +no help for it; Steamboat Dan must yield to his destiny of stool pigeon +or pay the penalty in stripes. Wherefore he appeared faithfully when +called, and told Inspector Val of Storri's preparations. The _Zulu +Queen_, rich in stores, her bunkers choked with coal, waited only to be +fired up; those men who were to sail her had been secured; her papers +and her captain's papers as well as those of her engineer were ready. +The one thing now was Storri's signal; and with that all hands would go +aboard, get up steam, and point the sable cutwater of the _Zulu Queen_ +for Washington. + +Steamboat Dan informed Inspector Val of nothing which the thief-taker's +sagacity or vigilance had not anticipated. But Inspector Val clung to +the safe theory that, whether for his facts or deductions, he could not +have too much confirmatory proof; wherefore he was prone to put +Steamboat Dan to frequent question. One day, however, the stool pigeon +gave Inspector Val a surprising piece of information. It related to a +talk which he had had with Storri the evening before. + +"It was at the heel of the hunt like," explained Steamboat Dan, "an' +just as he's about to go, he ups an' makes it known that he's goin' to +need a benziner--need a firebug." + +"And of course you promised to find one," said Inspector Val. + +"I had him ready; one of the gang is Benzine Bob, an' you know as well +as I do that when it comes to touchin' a match to a crib, an' then +collectin' the insurance, there's nobody nearer bein' the goods than +Benzine Bob." + +"Yes, I regard Bob as a most gifted incendiary," said Inspector Val. + +"Sure; he could teach it. But what do you figger this Russian's goin' to +burn?" + +"We'll learn in good time. You must have Bob agree to everything this +party asks." + +"No trouble on that score; settin' fire to things is Benzine Bob's +religion. He says his prayers to an oiled rag, and a box of matches is +his Bible." + +Storri, taking dark and stormy nights for the visits, twice splashed up +the drain to see how London Bill came on. Storri was heedful to give the +signals agreed upon by rapping on the walls of the drain. He had no +desire to be killed in the dark by London Bill upon a theory that he, +Storri, was the enemy, and so rapped out the signals handsomely, with a +little hammer he had by him for the purpose, while still ten rods from +the scene of operations. + +London Bill was slowly, yet surely, boring forward with his tunnel. The +clay as it was dug must be dragged to the mouth of the tunnel in the +willow basket, and cast into the stream; that was a process to require +time. However, time there was and plenty; London Bill would have his +work in perfect trim against the Friday evening for which the final and +decisive attack on the gold was scheduled. The tunnel, as London Bill +had said it must be, was about four feet high and three in width, and +Storri found that he went in and out very readily by traveling on hands +and knees. Storri would have come oftener to observe how London Bill +fared with his work, but the cracksman discountenanced the thought. + +"There's no sense in comin'," explained London Bill. "You can't do any +good, an' you get in the way. Besides, there's the chance of being piped +off; some party might see you and catch on." + +One day Inspector Val brought Richard a contrivance made of thin rubber. +It was circular, and eighteen inches in diameter. If the rubber +contrivance resembled anything, it was one of those hot-water bags +common in the trade of hospitals. It was hollow, and had a metal mouth +shaped like the mouth of a bottle; instead of water, however, the bag +was intended to hold air. Pumped full of air, the rubber bag, or rather +cushion, exhibited a thickness of about six inches. It looked a little +like a life preserver; the more since there was a hole in the center, +albeit the hole was no wider than an inch across. The rubber bag or +cushion was extremely light, the material being twice the weight of that +employed in the making of toy balloons. Inflated and considered as a +raft, the rubber cushion would support a weight of twenty pounds, and +draw no more than three inches of water in so doing. + +"Storri bought four thousand of these from the Goodyear Company," +vouchsafed Inspector Val; "had them made after patterns of his own. A +mighty tidy invention, take my word for it!" and the eye of Inspector +Val glanced approval of the circular rubber raft. Then he showed Richard +how the cushion could be inflated in a few seconds with an air-pump; and +how, being inflated, an automatic valve closed and kept the air +prisoner. "A tidy arrangement, take my word, and does that Russian party +credit!" + +"What will he do with it?" asked Richard. + +"Put the question later," responded Inspector Val, who was a slave to +the dramatic and never turned loose his climaxes prematurely. + +The San Reve was of a nature too easily the prey of somber suspicions to +ever find perfect happiness. Besides she had been saddened, if not +soured, by the rougher, harder visitations of life. As nearly as she +might be, however, these days the San Reve was happy. And peace came to +her more and more as spring deepened into May. Storri was every day to +see her; and the most patient investigation only served to make it sure +that he had ended his relations with the Harleys. Storri went no more to +the Harley house, and if there had existed a least of chance that he +would wed Miss Harley, the peril was passed by. The San Reve began to +doubt if such a plan had ever been in Storri's mind; she was inclined to +think herself a jealous fool for entertaining the belief. She had +wronged her Storri; it was as he told her from the first; his relations, +those of business, had been solely with Mr. Harley. At this view, so +flattering to the loyal truth of Storri, the San Reve's bosom welled +with a great love for that nobleman. The gray-green eyes became quietly +serene; the strong beauty of her face gathered effulgence in the +sunshine of love's confidence renewed. + +It was an evening in the early days of May. Storri was saying that he +had been commanded, through the Russian Embassy, to report to "His +Czar"; he must be in St. Petersburg June fifteenth. The San Reve had +begun to believe in the Czar as a close intimate of her Storri. + +"Yes, he has called me home, my San Reve," cried Storri. "There is much +that he would know about these pig Americans, and who can tell him +better than his Storri. When I go, which will be about June first, you +shall go with me." + +The San Reve's heavy face was in a glow. Russia? yes; and she would see +France again! Storri read the pleasure in her glance. Observing that it +made the San Reve more beautiful, he was taken of a natural wish to add +to it. + +"Yes, you shall accompany me; I would not, no not even for my Czar, be +separated from you, my San Reve." + +Storri was as fond of fiction as Mr. Harley, and of a far livelier +imagination. Once started on an untruth, he would pursue it hither and +yon as a greyhound courses a hare. Like every artist of the mendacious, +he was quick for those little deeds that would give his lies a look of +righteous integrity. Thus it befell on the occasion in hand. + +"Behold now," cried Storri, as though the idea had just occurred to him, +"I will, while the thought is fresh with me, telegraph a friend in New +York to select our staterooms for the next ship after June first." + +Storri wrote his message; the San Reve watching him, her heart a-brim +with love and the happiness of returning home. She would see France, see +Paris--see them with the man whom she adored! Storri whirred the +telegraph call that was fixed in the hall; presently a gray-coat lad +appeared and bore away the message. Then Storri beamed affably upon the +San Reve, who took his hand and put it to her grateful lips. + +Storri beamed because he was in a right royal humor. The episode had +been unpremeditated, and yet it dove-tailed to the advantage of his +designs. The maneuver, he could see, had extinguished the final sparks +of the San Reve's jealous suspicions; extinguished them at a time, too, +when it was of consequence to lull the San Reve into fullest assurance +of his faith. And at that he had not thrown away his wire. Storri had +remembered that he must send a word to Steamboat Dan in the morning. He +decided to forestall the morning; he would dispatch the message at once. +Being one of those who suck joy from deceit, it gave Storri a thrill of +supremest satisfaction to transact the duplicity of which she was to be +one of the victims, in the unsuspecting presence of the San Reve. The +Storri vanity owned an appetite for two-faced triumphs of that feather. + +Storri had departed; and the San Reve was thinking on her love for him, +and how they would return together to the France she was sick to see. +The bell rang; it was the messenger lad in need of light. The message +did not specify the city; the lad had been told to return and have the +omission supplied. + +The San Reve took the message with the purpose of writing in "New York." +She ran her gray-green eye over it. The message read: + + Daniel Loughlin, + Albion House, James Slip. + + Get the men together at your place; I will meet them Friday. They + must go aboard at once, and take the yacht to Fortress Monroe. We + shall then be sure of having it in Washington when we want it. B. + +The San Reve read and re-read until she had every word by heart. Then +remembering the boy, she wrote in "New York," and sent him on his way. +Boy gone, the San Reve, doubts revived and all her jealous suspicions +restored to sharpest life, gave herself to groping out the meaning of +that message by the light of those lies wherewith Storri had solemnized +its production. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +HOW THE GOLD CAME DOWN + + +Richard, ever modest and in this instance something timid, was for +having the wedding celebrated in Senator Hanway's study. He sought to +give the preference an atmosphere of sentiment by saying it was there he +first declared his love for Dorothy with his eyes. Bess protested +against the study, and insisted upon St. John's Church. Richard was not +to wed the most beautiful girl in the world, and then run away with her, +making the affair a secret, as though he had stolen a sheep. What! did +Richard imagine that Dorothy had been weeks over a trousseau to have it +extinguished in the narrow compass of Senator Hanway's study? The +marriage must be in St. John's where all mankind, or rather womankind, +might witness and criticise. Bess would be bridesmaid, sustained +thereunto by four damsels. Mr. Fopling should have his part as best man; +it would be good practice for Mr. Fopling, and serve to prepare him for +his own wedding, an event which Bess, under the exhilarating influence +of Dorothy's approaching nuptials, had determined upon for October. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley joined with Bess for the church. Mrs. Hanway-Harley +cast her vote delicately, saying she would have it expressly understood +that she only gave it as a view. She hoped no one would feel in any +sense bound thereby; she had not been, speaking strictly, a party to +this marriage, nothing in truth but a looker-on, and therefore it did +not become her to assume an attitude of authority. Mrs. Hanway-Harley +would only say that churches were the conventional thing and studies +were not. + +Richard capitulated; indeed he gave way instantly and at the earliest +suggestion of "church." His surrender, made with the utmost humility, +did not prevent both Bess and Mrs. Hanway-Harley from demonstrating +their position in full. + +"When all is said," declared Richard, "the main thing is the wedding." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley would like to know what plans had been laid for the +honeymoon. To what regions would the happy pair migrate, and for what +space? Mrs. Hanway-Harley wore a look of reserved sadness as though she +asked what cemetery had been selected as the destination of the funeral +cortège, following services of final sorrow at the house. + +Richard explained that, guided by Dorothy, Italy and its mountains had +been pitched upon. They would go from Italy to France; then to England. +The length of their stay abroad was to be always in the hands of +Dorothy, who would bring them home to America whenever she chose. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley sighed economically, and suggested that Richard's +happiness ought not to blind him to the subject of expense. It would +cost a pot of money to make the journey intimated. In a sudden gush of +hardihood Richard kissed Mrs. Hanway-Harley, and assured her that in all +his life, a life remarkable for an utter carelessness of money, he had +never felt less like reckoning a cost. From beginning to end he meant to +close his eyes to that subject of expense. There the business ended, for +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was too much overcome by the kiss to proceed. + +Richard went home and, being full of that honeymoon the possible expense +of which had alarmed the economies of Mrs. Hanway-Harley, summoned Mr. +Gwynn. That austere man assumed his place on the rug in frigid waiting. + +"Mr. Gwynn, you will go to London, and from there to Paris, and lastly +to Naples, and at each place prepare for our reception. You will meet us +in Naples somewhere from the middle to the last of June. I say last of +June, for before we reach Naples we may idle away a fortnight in the +Mediterranean. Have everything in perfect order." + +"Very good, sir," said Mr. Gwynn. + +Richard made a slight dismissive motion with his hand, as showing Mr. +Gwynn that he might retire. Mr. Gwynn creaked apologetically, but stood +his ground. + +"What is it?" said Richard. + +"If you please, sir," observed Mr. Gwynn, a gleam in the piscatorial +eye, "if you please, sir, before I leave for Europe have I your +permission to take out my first papers and declare my intention to +become a citizen of this country?" + +"May I ask what has moved you to propose this compliment for the United +States?" + +"Why, sir, should you be so good as to sanction it, I have a little +plan, sir." + +"Indeed; and what may be the plan which results so much to the advantage +of this country?" + +"I have a plan, sir," said Mr. Gwynn, with a hesitating creak, "always +of course, sir, with your consent, to become a Senator, sir." + +"Ah, I see," observed Richard with a fine gravity, "your acquaintance +with Senators Gruff and Dice and Loot and others, and your study of +those statesmen, have encouraged an ambition to make yourself one of +them." + +"Yes, sir, if you please, sir." + +"And what State do you intend to honor as its Senator?" + +"That I shall leave entirely to you, sir. I think you will agree, sir, +that there are several States where the word of the Anaconda should +accomplish what I desire, sir." + +"Well," observed Richard, schooling his face to a difficult seriousness, +"there has been much in your recent experiences, Mr. Gwynn, to justify +the thought. It will do no harm were you to take the steps you suggest +towards becoming a citizen, even if it should not end in a seat in the +Senate, a place for which I cannot deny you possess many qualifying +attributes. However, the great thing now is to get across to Europe with +every possible dispatch and have all ready for our coming. We shall be +abroad several months; on our return we may again take up this business +of making you a Senator." + +"Thank you, sir; very good, sir!" + +Richard became ingenious; pursuing a bright idea, he took occasion to +explain to Mr. Sands that the Hanway report on Northern Consolidated, +which he, Mr. Sands, had been so intelligent as to purloin, having +resulted in certain Wall Street advantages to Mr. Bayard and others, it +was now determined that an annuity should be purchased in his, Mr. +Sands', favor. + +"The matter," said Richard, "will receive the attention of Mr. Bayard on +June second. I am told it will provide you an annual income of full +fifteen thousand dollars for the balance of your life." + +Mr. Sands did not give way to the least excitement, but said that he was +glad. He would hereafter avoid labor, and devote himself to the +elevation of the workingman as represented in the union of printers. It +is perhaps as well to set forth in this place that Mr. Sands adhered +most nobly to his resolution. In the years that followed he flourished +the terror of publishers and master-printers, advising many strikes for +shorter hours and a longer wage, never failing from his personal fisc to +furnish what halls and beer the exigencies of each strike made +necessary, and wanting which no great industrial movement can survive. + +Word of the coming wedding got about, and the gossipy murmur of it +reached the ears of Storri. The news stirred his savage nature to the +dregs. + +"June, the first!" sneered Storri, as he paced his apartment in furious +soliloquy. "Now we shall see! Yes, you little people must first settle +with Storri! A Russian nobleman is not to be disposed of so cheaply! +What if he were to steal away your bride? The caitiff Storms must then +wait, eh?" + +Storri snapped his fingers in vicious derision. He pictured the father +and mother and bridegroom, when they arose on the wedding morning to +find that the bride had been spirited away. Storri programmed a crime, +the black audacity of which went far beyond that dark-lantern enterprise +of Treasury gold upon which London Bill was so patiently employed. The +design possessed the simplicity, too, which is a ruling feature of your +staggering atrocity. The gold would be going aboard the _Zulu Queen_ on +Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. With the first blue streaks of dawn +on Monday, May thirtieth, say at four o'clock, the _Zulu Queen_, +thinking on escape, must up anchor and go steaming down the Potomac. Now +what should be less complex than to have Benzine Bob set fire to the +Harley house an hour before the time to sail? A bundle of combustibles +soaked in kerosene could be introduced into Senator Hanway's study; the +details might be safely left with Benzine Bob, to whom opening a window +or taking out a pane of glass offered few deterring difficulties. The +Harley house would be instantly filled with fire and smoke. Storri and +Benzine Bob, under pretense of saving life, would burst in the door. +Storri would seize on Dorothy, who, if she were not already in a +convenient fainting fit, might be stifled by muffling her in blankets. +Steamboat Dan would be in the street with a cab, himself on the box as +driver. Presto! Storri with his sweet prize would whirl away to the +river front. The launch would be waiting; the fair Dorothy should find +herself safe prisoner aboard the _Zulu Queen_ before she knew what had +taken place. True, there would be a crowd; the fire people, and what +others were abroad at that hour, would rush to the burning house. And +yet who would think of questioning Storri, so heroically rescuing life? +Who would dream of stopping him who was only taking the rescued fainting +one to safe shelter and medical help? In the bustle and alarm, Storri +was bound to succeed; there was no least chance of interference. + +If Storri could have read the jealous breast of the San Reve, in which +kindly soil a wildest suspicion was never two hours old before it had +grown to the granite dignity of things certain, his criminal hopes might +not have soared so high! Had he known how his every step was shadowed by +the sleepless Inspector Val, and that what the latter did not surmise +was invariably told him by Steamboat Dan, his horrid confidence would +have been less insolent in its anticipations! + +Mayhap there be those among you who have "punched" the casual cow, and +whose beef-wanderings included the drear wide-stretching waste yclept +the Texas Panhandle. If so you have noted, studded hither and yon about +the scene, certain conical hillocks or mountainettes of sand. Those +dwarf sand-mountains were born of the labor of the winds, which in those +distant regions are famous for persistent, not to say pernicious +industry. Given a right direction, the wind in its sand-drifting will +build you one of those sand-cones almost while you wait. The sand-cone +will grow as a stocking grows beneath the clicking needles of some +ancient dame. Again, the wind, reversing in the dance, will unravel the +sand-cone and carry it off to powder it about the plain. The sand-cone +will vanish in a night, as it came in a night, and what was its site +will be swept as flatly clean as any threshing floor. + +Thus was it with Senator Hanway on a certain fateful day in May, and +less than a fortnight before the coming together of the convention which +should pass on the business of a Presidential candidate. Compared with +that other sand-cone of politics, to wit, Governor Obstinate, Senator +Hanway outtopped him as a tree outtops a shrub. In a moment the +situation, so flattering to Senator Hanway, was changed disastrously. +Those winds which builded him into the most imposing sand-cone of all +that dotted the plains of party had shifted, and with mournful effect. +Senator Hanway, beneath their erosive influence, shrunk from a certainty +to a probability, from a probability to a possibility, and then wholly +disappeared. And this disheartening miracle was worked before the eyes +of Senator Hanway, and before the eyes of his friends; and yet no one +might stay the calamity in its fulfillment. The amazing story, avoiding +simile and figure, may be laid open in a handful of sentences. + +On that dread day, which you are to keep in memory, nothing could have +been brighter than the prospects of Senator Hanway. The national +delegates, some nine hundred odd, had been selected--each State naming +its quota--and waited only the appointed hour to come together and frame +the party's ticket. By count of friend and foe alike, Senator Hanway was +certain of convention fortune; he was the sure prognostication for the +White House of all the prophets. + +And because the last is ever the first in the memory of a forgetful age, +and therefore the most important, that which particularly contributed to +the strength of Senator Hanway was his project of a Georgian Bay-Ontario +Canal. There arose but one opinion, and that of highest favor, touching +this gigantic waterway and the farsighted statesmanship which conceived +it; that is, but one opinion if you except the murmurs of a few railway +companies who trembled over freight rates, and whose complaints were +lost in the general roar of Canal approval. + +At this juncture, so fraught with happy promise for Senator Hanway, what +should come waddling into the equation to spoil all, but a purblind, +klabber-witted journal of Toronto, just then busy beating the beauties +of the Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal into the dull Canadian skull. This +imprint, as a reason for Kanuck acquiescence in the great waterway, +proceeded to show how its effect would be to strengthen Canada in case +of war between England and the United States. Batteries could be planted +to defend the entrances of the canal, which might then be employed in +quickly sending a Canadian fleet from the upper lakes into Ontario and +vice versa. Twenty Canadian war boats, with the canal to aid them, could +threaten New York in the morning and Michigan in the afternoon, and keep +threefold their number of American vessels jumping sidewise to guard +against their ravages. If for no reason other than a reason of defensive +and offensive war, Canada should have the Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal. +Thus spake this valuable authority of Toronto. + +It was Mr. Hawke, among the adherents of Governor Obstinate, who saw the +weapon that might be fashioned against Senator Hanway from the Canadian +suggestion. Mr. Hawke had long been aware of Senator Hanway's +interference against himself in the Speakership fight, and in favor of +Mr. Frost. True, he did not know of those four hundred terrifying +telegrams that so shook from his support the hysterical little +goat-bearded one and his equally hysterical fellows; but Mr. Hawke had +learned enough to ascribe his defeat to Senator Hanway, and that was +sufficient to edge him with double readiness to do said statesman what +injury he could. Besides, there was the native eagerness of Mr. Hawke to +move everything for the good of Governor Obstinate. + +Mr. Hawke came out in a well-considered interview concerning the +Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal, in which he quoted in full the Toronto +paper. Mr. Hawke agreed with the Toronto paper; in addition he solemnly +gave it as his belief that Senator Hanway's real purpose had ever been +to arm England against this country. Mr. Hawke became denunciatory, and +called Senator Hanway a traitor working for English preference and +English gold. He said that Senator Hanway was a greater reprobate than +Benedict Arnold. Mr. Hawke rehearsed the British armament in the Western +Hemisphere, and counted the guns in Halifax, Montreal, Quebec, +Esquimalt, to say nothing of the Bermudas, the Bahamas, and the British +West Indies. He pointed out that England already possessed a fighting +fleet on the Great Lakes which wanted nothing but the guns--and those +could be mounted in a day--to make them capable of burning a fringe ten +miles wide along the whole lake coast of the United States. Buffalo, +Detroit, Chicago, every city on the lakes was at the mercy of England; +and now her agent, Senator Hanway, to make the awful certainty threefold +surer, was traitorously proposing his Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal. Mr. +Hawke, being a Southern man, and because no Southern man can complete an +interview without, like Silas Wegg, dropping into verse, quoted from +Byron where he stole from Waller for his lines on White: + + "So the struck eagle stretched upon the plain, + No more through rolling clouds to soar again, + Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart + And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart." + +Mr. Hawke closed in with a burst of eloquence, but metaphors sadly +mixed, by picturing this country as a "struck eagle," expiring at the +feet of England. It then might find, cried Mr. Hawke, how it had winged +the murderous shaft that stole its life away with the Georgian +Bay-Ontario Canal. Senator Hanway was given his share in the picture as +the paid traitor who had furnished that feather from the American +Eagle's wing which so fatally aided the enemy in his archery. + +To one unacquainted with the tinderous quality of political +popularities, what ensued would be hard to imagine. Mr. Hawke's +interview was as a torch to tow. A tiny responsive flame burst forth in +one paper, then in ten, then in two hundred; in a moment the country was +afire like a sundry prairie. Senator Hanway, lately adored, was +execrated and burned in effigy. In short there occurred an uprising of +the peasantry, and Senator Hanway found himself denounced from ocean to +ocean as one guilty of studied treason. It was as much as one's +political life was worth to be on terms of friendship with him. + +Speaker Frost called, and explained to Senator Hanway that he could no +longer hold the delegation from his State in his, Senator Hanway's, +interest; it would vote solidly against him in the coming convention. +Senator Gruff came under cloud of night, as though to hold conference +with a felon, and said that he had received advices from the Anaconda +President to the effect that nothing, not even the mighty Anaconda, +could stem the tide then setting and raging in Anaconda regions against +Senator Hanway. It was the Anaconda President's suggestion that Senator +Hanway withdraw himself from present thoughts of a White House. The +several States whose conventions had instructed for Senator Hanway, +through special meetings of their central committees, rescinded those +instructions. Throughout the country every vestige of a Hanway +enthusiasm was smothered, every scrap of Hanway hope was made to +disappear; that statesman was left in no more generous peril of becoming +President than of becoming Pope. And all through the gorgeous +proposition of a Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal, and the adroit use which +the malevolent Mr. Hawke had made of it! The passing of Senator Hanway +was the wonder of politics! + +And yet that indomitable publicist bore these reverses grandly, for he +was capable of stoicism. Moreover, he was of that hopeful incessant +brood, like ants or wasps, the members whereof begin instantly in the +wake of the storm to rebuild their destroyed domiciles. And from the +first he lulled himself with no false hopes. As one after the other +Senator Hanway found his prospects ablaze, the knowledge broke on him, +and he accepted it, that the immediate future held for him no +Presidency. It would be party madness to put him up; the party rank and +file were in ferocious arms against him. + +Senator Hanway drew one deep breath of regret and that was the limit of +his lamentation. He was young, when one thinks of a White House; there +still remained room in his life for three more shoots at that alluring +target; he would withdraw and re-prepare for four years or eight years +or--if Fate should so order the postponement of his ambition--twelve +years away. The public memory was short; within a year his fatal +Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal would be forgot. Meanwhile, what was there he +might save from the situation as it stood? + +Senator Hanway exerted his diplomacy, and as fruit thereof was visited +by an eye-glassed gentleman--a foremost national figure, and the chief +of Governor Obstinate's management. Senator Hanway showed the +eye-glassed Mazarin of party how, upon his own withdrawal, he, Senator +Hanway, might put Speaker Frost in his place and endow him with the +major share of what had been his own elements of strength. Was there any +reason why he, Senator Hanway, should refrain from such a step? + +The eye-glassed Mazarin thereupon represented that it would be much +better if Speaker Frost were to remain undisturbed in his House +autocracy. It was over-late for Speaker Frost and the convention only +days away. The die was already cast; Governor Obstinate would be +nominated and elected. Once inaugurated, the eye-glassed Mazarin +understood that it would be Governor Obstinate's earliest care to invite +Senator Hanway into his Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury. The +scandal of the Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal would have blown itself out; +also no one--against a President whose hands were full of offices--would +dare lift up his voice in criticism of any Cabinet selection. + +Senator Hanway was impressed by the hint of the eye-glassed Mazarin. The +Treasury portfolio stood within ready throw of a Presidential +nomination; he, Senator Hanway, might step from it the successor of +Governor Obstinate whenever that gentleman's tenancy of the White House +should come to an end. Likewise, the Treasury portfolio was as a +thirteen-inch gun within pointblank range of the stock market. + +Senator Hanway took a week to consider; he conferred with Senators Gruff +and Price and Loot and lastly with Mr. Harley. Then he struck hands with +the eye-glassed Mazarin, and published an interview in the _Daily Tory_ +saying that he, Senator Hanway, was not and had never been a candidate +for the Presidency; that he was and had ever been of the opinion that +the needs of both a public and a party hour imperatively demanded +Governor Obstinate at the Nation's helm. He, Senator Hanway, being a +patriot, was diligently working for the nomination and election of +Governor Obstinate, and all who called him friend would do the same. +Following this pronunciamento, Senator Hanway began laying personal +pipes for four years away with pristine ardor. + +Friday, the twenty-seventh of May, was dark and lowering, with a slow +storm blackly gathering in the southwest. It was four in the afternoon +when the _Zulu Queen_ came up the river, and under quarter speed crept +in and anchored within one thousand feet of the mouth of Storri's drain. +Perhaps, of all the folk in Washington, no more than three remarked the +advent of the _Zulu Queen_; one of these was Storri, one the San Reve, +and one Inspector Val. Storri saw neither of the others; the San Reve +saw only Storri; Inspector Val, whose trade was eyes, saw both Storri +and the San Reve. Four of Steamboat Dan's men came into town the day +before by rail, and for twelve hours prior to the advent of the _Zulu +Queen_, and under the lead of Steamboat Dan, had been in the drain +giving aid and comfort to Cracksman London Bill in his efforts to reduce +the gold reserve. + +When Storri observed that the _Zulu Queen_ was safely a-swing on her +rope at the very spot he had specified, he turned and moved rapidly +away. The San Reve, who had seen what she came to see, was already upon +her return journey to Grant Place, bearing in her bosom a heart desolate +and heavy with no hope. The coming of the _Zulu Queen_ had confirmed to +her the treachery of Storri. Yes, she the San Reve could see it all! +Storri might have quarreled with Mr. Harley; but the loving +understanding between himself and Miss Harley was still complete! + +Nor was the poor jealous San Reve wholly without a reason, as she beheld +events, for her conclusion. Within the past few days, Storri had been +several times to and fro in the vicinity of the Harley house. Only the +afternoon before he had cautiously studied the premises in company with +a couple of suspicious-looking characters, being indeed no other than +Steamboat Dan and Benzine Bob. The San Reve kept secret pace with Storri +in these reconnoiterings. But she made the mistake of construing +preparations to abduct as arrangements to elope. As the San Reve read +the portents, Storri planned to meet Miss Harley that very night; they +would fly together, the _Zulu Queen_ offering a sure means of baffling +pursuit. + +The San Reve, biased of her jealous fears, had foreseen in the message +to Steamboat Dan some such end as this. It was all so plain and sure to +the angry, heart-broken San Reve. The false Storri had done what he +might to cover his intentions by daily lies as to how and when he, with +the San Reve, should sail for France and Russia! Ah, yes; the San Reve +saw through those lies! While she listened to his purring mendacities +she must struggle to refrain from casting his untruths in his teeth. +Bridle herself she did; but she watched and reflected and resolved the +wrongful more. Now with the coming of the _Zulu Queen_, the one thing +certain was that she, the despised San Reve, would be cast off, +abandoned. Those love-lies of Storri were intended to blind her into +foolish security; he did not wish the elopement designed by him and Miss +Harley to encounter obstruction. Thus did the San Reve solve the +problem: while Storri would be for misleading her, Miss Harley was +hood-winking the Harleys. For a moment the San Reve thought of notifying +the Harleys. Then in her desperation she put the impulse aside. Of what +avail would be a call upon the Harleys? It might defer; it could not +prevent. No, she must adopt the single course by which both her love and +her vengeance would be made secure forever. She would take Storri from +Miss Harley; and, taking him, she the San Reve would keep him for +herself throughout eternity! The present life was the prey of +separations, of lies, of loves grown cold; she, with Storri in her arms, +would seek another! + +At ten o'clock Steamboat Dan was to show a momentary light in the mouth +of the drain. This would be the signal for the _Zulu Queen_ to send her +launch ashore and begin taking the gold aboard. Storri programmed his +own appearance at the drain for sharp ten. As he left the water-front, +following the appearance of the _Zulu Queen_, he cast his eye hopefully +upward at the threatening clouds; a down-pouring storm would be the +thing most prayed for. + +Until it was time to start for the drain to oversee the transfer of the +gold, Storri would remain with the San Reve. He was none too confident +of the San Reve; of late she had been too silent, too sad, too much +wrapped in thought. And this was the night of nights upon which Storri +must be sure. In favor of his own security, Storri must know to a verity +both the temper and the whereabouts of the San Reve. + +Five minutes before Storri reached Grant Place, the rain fell in a +deluge. The San Reve, more fortunately swift, was home in advance of the +rain and came in bone-dry. When Storri arrived, his garments streaming +water, she wore the look of one who had not been out of the house for an +afternoon. Only, if Storri had observed the San Reve's eyes, and added +their expression, so strangely reckless yet so resolved, to the set +mouth and that marble pallor of her brow, the result might have sickened +his assurance. + +Having in mind his soaked condition, Storri called for whisky. The San +Reve was good enough to pour him a stiff glass, which he drank raw with +the harsh appetite of a Russian. There was the ghost of an odor of sleep +about that whisky; but the sleep-specter did not appeal to Storri, who +tossed off his drink and followed one dram with another, suspecting +nothing. Five minutes later he was drowsing stertorously on a lounge. + +The San Reve, white, and wild in a manner passive and still, had spoken +no word; she attended Storri's wants in silence. When that sudden +weariness came to claim him and he cast himself in slumber upon the +couch, the San Reve, from where she stood statue-like in the center of +the room, bent upon him her gray-green eyes. She stood thus for a space, +then the slow tears began to stain her cheeks. She threw herself down +beside Storri, kissed him and drew his head to her bosom, crying +hopelessly. + +Richard had been requested by Inspector Val to meet him at the south +front of the Treasury Building at ten o'clock. + +"Do you remember," asked Inspector Val, "how several weeks ago we +visited the drain?" + +Yes; Richard recalled it. + +"Come with me to-night," said Inspector Val; "the drain shall explain +the mystery of that muddy water, and why I said our man was hard at +work." + +When Richard and Inspector Val, water-proofed to the chins, reached the +mouth of the drain the storm was at furious height. The rain descended +in sheets; the lightning made flashing leaps from cloud to cloud and the +ceaseless thunders were as a dozen batteries of big guns in fullest +play. As Richard and Inspector Val came to a halt, they were joined by +three men. Richard, aided by the lightning flashes, recognized Mr. Duff +and Mr. England; the third, being Steamboat Dan, was strange to him. + +"Is the Russian inside?" asked Inspector Val of Steamboat Dan. + +"I don't know," returned Steamboat Dan. "I've been aboard the yacht +since eight o'clock until twenty minutes ago. I came ashore in that +skiff. Sure, he ought to be in the drain; they've been sending down the +stuff for hours." + +"I don't find any of it about?" + +"I threw a crowbar across the stream one hundred yards up, and halted +the procession. The plan, d'ye see, is for me, the coast being clear, to +signal the launch to come ashore for its first cargo any time after +ten--which is about now." + +"We'll omit the launch," returned Inspector Val. "Go into the drain and +give the boys the tip to skip. After that, it's up to all of you to look +out for yourselves." + +"Remember, Inspector," pleaded Steamboat Dan, "you gave your word that +me an' Bill an' the gang ain't to be collared." + +"Don't fear; the only one I'm after is the Russian. Jump sharp now, and +give them the office to screw." + +Steamboat Dan entered the drain while Inspector Val, Richard, Mr. Duff, +and Mr. England withdrew to a little distance. + +"Everybody goes free except the Russian," was Inspector Val's command to +Mr. Duff and Mr. England; "he's to be nailed." + +From the drain came booming the smothered report of a pistol. + +"That's the signal," said Inspector Val; "the noise of a gun will travel +miles in a tunnel. They'll be coming out now." + +As he spoke, Steamboat Dan issued from the drain and fled like a shadow. +A rattle of anchor chains was heard aboard the _Zulu Queen_; she also +had taken fright. + +"The others won't be here for a while," said Inspector Val. "They've got +a good ways to come, and a pitch-dark drain isn't the Bowery." + +Something like ten minutes passed; suddenly, cursing and stumbling and +splashing, five men rushed from the drain's mouth and made off into the +darkness. + +"Close up now," cried Inspector Val; "our party should be hard on their +heels." + +Inspector Val was wrong; ten minutes, twenty minutes elapsed, and no one +to emerge from the drain. Inspector Val, placing his two aids on guard, +said that he and Richard would investigate. Bearing a dark lantern, he +took the lead and Richard followed. About twenty rods up the drain, +Inspector Val stumbled and all but pitched upon his face. + +"Look out!" he cried, by way of warning. + +The next moment Richard set his foot on something soft and yielding, +which exploded with a great noise. + +"One of those rubber propositions," explained Inspector Val. + +By the light of the lamp, and as far up the drain as his eye would +reach, Richard beheld a seemingly endless file of circular rubber +air-cushions, mates of the one Inspector Val had brought him. On the +six-inch depth of water which raced along the cushions were floating +light as corks; in the center of each reposed a canvas sack of gold. As +Steamboat Dan explained, this long line of argosies had been brought to +a standstill by laying an iron bar across so as to detain the little +rubber-rafts while the stream ran on. Inspector Val had tripped over +this bar. Remove the detaining iron bar, and the released flotilla would +sail downward to the mouth of the drain and deliver its yellow freight +of gold to whomsoever waited to receive it. + +Richard and Inspector Val continued up the drain, the latter wary and +ready for Storri, whom he every moment hoped to meet. There appeared no +Storri; the two explorers at last reached London Bill's tunnel, finding +nothing during their march but a solid procession of richly freighted +rubber rafts--three-quarters of a mile of gold! + +"There's four millions of dollars between here and the river," said +Inspector Val. + +Richard and his guide paused where London Bill's tunnel opened into the +drain. Flashing his lamp about, Inspector Val showed Richard where +London Bill had built a platform on which to store the rubber rafts +before inflating and launching them down-stream, each with its +five-thousand-dollar cargo of gold. + +"Did you ever see sweeter arrangements!" whispered Inspector Val, in an +ecstasy of admiration. + +Bidding Richard remain where he was, Inspector Val, revolver in one +hand, dark-lantern in the other, bent low his head and disappeared in +London Bill's tunnel. He was gone an age as it seemed to Richard. Then +he reappeared, and soberly brushed the clay from his garments. + +"No Storri," was the sententious remark of Inspector Val; "not a sign of +him. But I've thought it out. Do you know why we don't find Storri? The +reason is the best in the world; the man's dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOW THE SAN REVE KEPT HER STORRI + + +Richard was of a temperament singularly cool and steady. His curiosity +had been trained to wait, and he put questions only as a last resort. +Throughout the strange happenings of the night--the tryst with Inspector +Val--the meeting with Mr. Duff and Mr. England at the drain's mouth--the +presence of Steamboat Dan--the colloquy between that unworthy and +Inspector Val--the signal pistol shot--the flight of the robbers--he had +not spoken a word. While his astonishment was kept to an upgrade, there +had not been elicited a syllable of inquiry from Richard. He threaded +the drain, encountered the long fleet of little rubber argosies, and +finally brought up at London Bill's tunnel, and never an interrogation. +This was not acting nor affectation; Richard knew that he might with +better intelligence invite an explanation from Inspector Val after +having seen and understood his utmost. Moreover, what with the storm and +the splashing journey up the drain, there had been scanty opportunity +for conversation. Also, when he saw how Inspector Val looked forward to +the capture of Storri in the midst of crime, the strain of expectation +made silence the natural thing. It took Inspector Val's sudden yet +decisive assertion that Storri was dead, to provoke the first word. +Storri's death instantly overshadowed all else in the thoughts of +Richard. + +"Storri dead!" he exclaimed, making as though he would enter London +Bill's tunnel, from which Inspector Val had crawled to make his grim +announcement. + +"Dead as Nero!" returned Inspector Val. "But not there--not in the +tunnel!" + +"Where then?" asked Richard. + +"In Grant Place. You recall the San Reve?--she who wrote the letter +about those French shares? Both Storri and she are dead in Grant Place, +or I'm not an Inspector of Police." + +Richard was for going to Grant Place, but Inspector Val detained him. + +"There's no hurry," he said. "Any discoveries to be made in Grant Place +will wait. On second thought the death of the Russian is the best +solution. But there's no hurry. Besides," continued Inspector Val, his +tones betraying that sublime appreciation of art at its utmost which an +amateur of bronzes might have felt in the presence of Cellini's Perseus, +"besides, I want you to take a look over this job of London Bill! You'll +never again see its equal--never such perfection of plan and execution!" + +Richard was glad of the darkness that hid the half-smile which the +delight of Inspector Val called forth. Protest would be of no avail; it +was one of those cases where to yield is the only way of saving time. + +Inspector Val re-entered London Bill's tunnel and invited Richard to +follow. He showed Richard how truthfully, like the work of a best +engineer, the tunnel--begun high above water-mark on the side of the +drain--sloped downward until it dipped beneath the Treasury walls. Then +it began to climb, heading as unerringly for the gold as though London +Bill had brought clairvoyant powers to direct his digging. The tunnel +ran to the rear of the vault, and about six feet beneath its floor. Then +it went straight upward; and next, the supporting earth and masonry +having been removed, the gold, pressing with its vast weight, had forced +down two of the floor slabs of steel on one side, precisely as London +Bill designed from the beginning. Those five-thousand-dollar sacks +spilled themselves into the tunnel of their own motion--a very cataract +of gold! As fast as they were carried away, more came tumbling--a flow +of riches, ceaseless! Inspector Val flashed his lantern here and there +in disclosure of the wonderful beauties of the work. As he did so, +Richard heard him sigh in a positive contentment of admiration. + +"The most scientific job in the history of the police!" whispered +Inspector Val. "London Bill is certainly entitled to his rank as the +world's foremost box-worker! It's this sort of a thing that makes you +respect a man!" + +Richard was driven to smile again as he recalled the sleepy, intolerant +exquisite, gloved and boutonnièred, whom he met in Willard's, and +compared him with the thief-hunting enthusiast who, dark-lantern in hand +and crouching under the low clay roof of the tunnel, was so rapturously +expounding the genius of the great burglar. + +"But greater still," continued Inspector Val, "greater than London Bill, +was that Russian party Storri. And to think this was his first--that he +was only a beginner! I used to wonder how he was going to bring out the +gold; and I'm free to admit I couldn't answer the question. Sometimes, +I'd even think he had blundered; I'd figure on him as the amateur who +had only considered the business of going to the gold, without +remembering that getting away with it was bound to be the hardest part +of the trick. You can see yourself," and here Inspector Val appealed to +Richard, "and you no crook at all, that if it ever became a case of +lugging out this gold by hand, it would take the gang a week to get away +with a half-million. It was when Storri ordered those circular rubber +rafts that I fell to it all; it was then I took off my hat to him!" + +When Richard and Inspector Val were again at the mouth of the drain, the +lashing storm had worn itself out. The night was silently serene; the +clouds were breaking, and two or three big stars peered down. There was +a moon, and having advantage of a rift in the clouds, a ray struck white +on Arlington. Over across, one might make out the tall dark Maryland +hills. Far away on the river burned the lights of the _Zulu Queen_; she +was holding her best speed down-stream, having reason to think her +recent anchorage a perilous one. + +"Their hearts will be in their mouths until they clear Point Comfort," +said Inspector Val, pointing to the retreating _Zulu Queen_. Then +turning to Mr. Duff, who, with Mr. England, had faithfully met him and +Richard when they emerged from the drain, and giving him a pasteboard +from his case, he continued: "Mr. Duff, present my card to the Chief of +the Secret Service, and tell him with my compliments that he and what +men lie handy to his call are wanted at this drain. Should he be a bit +slow, say that a big slice of the gold reserve has fallen into the +drain, and the situation doesn't do him credit. You, Mr. England, will +remain on guard until the Secret Service people get here. London Bill +might regain confidence, and come back for a sack of that gold." + +"Where now?" asked Richard as Inspector Val, taking him by the arm, bent +his steps towards the center of town. + +"Grant Place," replied Inspector Val. "And on that point, if I may +advise you, I'd not go to Grant Place; one of us will be enough. You'd +see something disagreeable; besides, this killing may get into the +coroner's office, and from there into the courts and the newspapers. +Considering that you are to be married in a few days, I should say that +you don't want to have your name mixed up with it. No, the wise thing is +for me to go alone." + +"It's the question of publicity," responded Richard, "that I was +revolving in my mind. Here's this bald attempt to rob the Treasury----" + +"It was magnificent!" interjected Inspector Val, unable to restrain his +tribute. + +"And if your surmise be correct," continued Richard, disregarding the +interruption, "now come the deaths of Storri and the woman San Reve to +cap the robbery. What, may I ask, do you call your duty in the +premises?" + +"Duty?" repeated Inspector Val. "I've no duty; that is, no official +duty. Washington is off my beat. My course, however, must depend upon +circumstances. As far as I may, I shall smother every mention of +to-night's work. If the papers get hold of one end of it, and begin to +haul it ashore, they will bring in yourself and Mr. Harley and Senator +Hanway in a manner not desired at this time. Besides, the Secret Service +people, goaded by publicity, might pinch Steamboat Dan and his gang. Now +I'm not going to lose my best stool pigeon to please these somnambulists +of the Secret Service. Also, I've given my promise to Dan, and I never +break my word." + +"I'm quite anxious, as you may imagine," said Richard, "to bury what +we've seen and heard to-night. But how can it be done? You've sent word +to the Secret Service Chief." + +"The men of the Secret Service will never mention the business unless +they have to; it's not to their glory. The danger lies with those dead +folk waiting in Grant Place. If there were nothing to hide but the gold +in the drain, and the hole under the Treasury wall, it would prove easy +enough." + +"But are you sure that Storri is dead? It's simply your deduction, you +know. You may yet find him very much alive." + +"He's dead," reiterated Inspector Val, with deepest conviction. "If he +were alive, we would have found him at the drain. That gold would have +drawn him there in his sleep. Besides, I saw it coming. I've an idea, +however, that the Russian legation people possess as many motives for +holding Storri's death a secret as do the Secret Service men for keeping +dark the fact that the Treasury has been tapped. Yes, the Russians, with +the State Department to help them, will find a way. Everything goes by +pull, you know," concluded Inspector Val, confidently, "and it will be +queer if the State Department and the Russians, working together, can't +call Storri's blinking out by some name that won't attract attention." + +Inspector Val related how, step by step, he had kept abreast of Storri. + +"When he came out of retirement," explained Inspector Val, "following +the loss of his money in Northern Consolidated, I kept close tabs on +him. These half-civilized people are only half sane, and some crazy +crime would have come natural to this Russian at that time. So, as I +tell you, I stayed close to his heels. I could see by his face that he +had some big purpose. He began buying maps and visiting the department +buildings. I knew then we were getting to the heart of the affair, and, +while I couldn't guess the shoot he would take, I had only to follow to +find out. The moment he put foot in the Treasury Building, I turned +wise. Those visits to the other buildings had been mere 'stalls.' As I +followed him through the Treasury I could see that now he was in +earnest. + +"When the Assistant Secretary showed him the vault that held the gold +reserve, I learned all I wanted to learn. His design and the crime he +plotted were written on his face. Of course as soon as ever I realized +that he meant to try his teeth on the Treasury, I had only to run my eye +over the year's calendar to tell when. There was a Sunday followed by +Decoration Day--two holidays, and no one on guard worth considering; it +was sure that Storri would hit upon those days to make the play. When I +saw how the Saturday before was set apart for a special holiday, the +thing was surer than ever. It did not require any deep intelligence to +determine when Storri would act. Next I followed him up the drain; and +later to Steamboat Dan's. That visit to Dan's so reduced the business +that nothing was left but the question of when to make the collar." + +"What yacht was that?" asked Richard. + +"It belongs to a fat-witted rich young fellow from whom Storri borrowed +it. Steamboat Dan is aboard; he went out in the skiff he spoke of. When +he's tied her up and his gang's ashore, I'll wire the fat-witted one to +come and claim his boat." + +Inspector Val never breathed a hint concerning Storri's ebon purpose of +abduction, and how he meant to fire the Harley house and then kidnap +Dorothy in the confusion certain to be an incident of flames and smoke +at four o'clock in the morning. This reticence arose from the delicacy +of Inspector Val. The relation could not fail to leave a most unpleasant +impression upon Richard, and Inspector Val decided to suppress it for +the nonce. + +"I'll keep it a year and a day," thought Inspector Val; "then I'll tell +him." + +Richard adopted the counsel of Inspector Val, and did not accompany that +gentleman of secrets to Grant Place. It was the half hour after midnight +when Inspector Val climbed the Warmdollar steps, and strenuously pulled +the bell. The latter appurtenance was one of those old-fashioned +knob-and-wire tocsins, and its clangorous voice was calculated to +arouse, not only the house whereof it was a fixture, but the +neighborhood round about. Inspector Val's second pull at this ancient +engine brought Mr. Warmdollar, something bleary and stupid to be sure, +but wide awake for Mr. Warmdollar. Once inside the hallway, Inspector +Val told Mr. Warmdollar that he was a police agent, showed that +ex-representative the gold badge glimmering beneath his coat, and +concluded by informing him that all might not be well in the San Reve's +room. Inspector Val did what he could to frighten Mr. Warmdollar. It was +necessary to tame that householder to docility, and what should achieve +this sooner than a great fright? At the fearful hints of Inspector +Val--they were in his manner more than in his words--the purple nose of +Mr. Warmdollar became a disastrous gray. Beholding this encouraging +symptom, Inspector Val delayed no longer, but bid him beat upon the San +Reve's door. This Mr. Warmdollar, nervous and shaken, did with +earnestness, not once but twice. Nobody responded; after each visitation +of the panel the silence that prevailed was sinister. + +"There's no one in," faltered Mr. Warmdollar. + +Inspector Val pointed ominously to the hall-rack on which were hanging +Storri's hat and waterproof coat. Mr. Warmdollar wrung his hands; his +imagination, fretted into fever by the remoteness of his latest whisky +toddy,--whisky toddy being Mr. Warmdollar's favorite tipple,--began to +give him pictures of what dread things lay hidden in the silence beyond +that unresponsive door. + +Inspector Val took from his pocket three pieces of steel, each about the +size of a lead pencil, and began screwing them together, end for end. +The instrument produced was a foot in length and looked like a +screwdriver. As a matter of burglarious fact it was a jimmy of fineness +and finish. It had been the property of a gentlemanly "flat-worker," who +made rich hauls before he fell into the fingers of Inspector Val and +went to Sing Sing. Inspector Val applied the absent gentleman's jimmy to +the San Reve's door, squarely over the lock. He gave it a twitch and the +door flew inward, the bolt tearing out a mouthful of the casing. + +"Stand back!" said Inspector Val to Mr. Warmdollar, who having already +retired to the lower step of the stair, where he sat with his face +buried in his hands, hardly required the warning. + +One gas jet was burning in the San Reve's room; being turned down to +lowest ebb, it was about as illuminative as a glow-worm. Inspector Val +stretched forth his hand and instantly the room was flooded of light. +Inspector Val was neither shocked nor surprised at the spectacle before +him; he was case-hardened by a multitude of professional experiences, +and besides, for full a fortnight he had read murder in the San Reve's +face. + +Storri was lying upon the lounge, dead--stone-dead. A trifling hole in +the back of the head showed where the bullet entered in search of his +life. There was a minimum of blood; the few dried drops upon a curling +lock of the black hair were all there was to tell how death came. Storri +had been dead for hours; the small thirty-two caliber revolver--being +that one which Storri had seen on a memorable night in mid-winter--lay +on the floor where it fell from the San Reve's jealous fingers. It was a +diminutive machine, blue steel and mother of pearl, more like a +plaything than a pistol. + +The San Reve was on her knees beside the dead Storri, her left arm +beneath his head and her face buried in the silken cushion that served +as pillow. There was a looseness of attitude that instantly struck +Inspector Val; he stepped to the San Reve and lifted the free hand which +hung by her side. The hand was clammy and cold as ice. The San Reve had +died when Storri died, but there was none of the rigidity of death, the +body was relaxed and limp. Inspector Val sniffed the air inquisitively, +and got just the faintest odor of bitter almonds. That, and the relaxed +limbs, enlightened him. + +"Prussic acid," said he. + +As Inspector Val replaced the San Reve's hand by her side, a tiny +vial--that with a prayer-book--was dislodged from a fold of her dress. +The vial showed a few drops of a yellow-green fluid in the bottom. +Inspector Val picked it up, and the bitter breath of the almond was more +pronounced than ever. + +"Exactly!" murmured Inspector Val; "prussic acid! She died as though by +lightning;--which is a proper way to die if one's mind is made up. Now +why couldn't she have sent Storri by the same route? A drop of +this"--here he surveyed the tiny vial with interest, almost with +approval--"a drop of this in the corner of his eye, or on his lip, would +have beaten the pistol. Ah, yes, the pistol!" mused Inspector Val, +taking the baby weapon in his hand; "I suppose the storm drowned the +report. Well, they're gone! Storri was asleep, and never knew what hit +him; which, considering his record,--and I'm something of a judge,--was +an easier fate than he had earned." + +Inspector Val made a close examination of the room, rather from habit +than any thought more deep, and straightway discovered the sleepy +whisky. He put it to his nose as he had the tiny vial. + +"Laudanum!" he muttered; "she had mapped it out in every detail. It was +the sight of the _Zulu Queen_; she saw that he was about to desert her." + +Inspector Val heaved a half-sigh, as even men most like chilled steel +will when in the near company of death, and then, stiffening +professionally, he called in Mr. Warmdollar, still weeping drunken tears +at the stair's foot. + +"I want, for your own sake," explained Inspector Val, "to impress upon +you the propriety of silence. These deaths will produce a sensation in +both the State Department and the Russian legation. If word get abroad +through you, it might be resented in the quarters I've named. I shall +give the Russians notice, and you must not let a word creep into the +papers until after they have been here. If news of this leak out, it may +cost Mrs. Warmdollar her situation." + +Inspector Val was aware that in Washington the hinted loss of one's +position as the penalty of loquacity has ever been the way of ways to +lock fast the garrulous tongue. Mr. Warmdollar became a prodigal of +promises; neither sign nor sound should escape him of the tragedy. Mrs. +Warmdollar, as head scrubwoman, must not be put in jeopardy! + +Inspector Val visited the Secret Service Chief, and the two were as +brothers of one mind. To lapse into the rustic figures of the farms, on +that subject of secrecy they fell together like a shock of oats. Why +should the world know of the splendid gopher work of London Bill? The +gold had been saved; to publish the dangers it had grazed might inspire +other bandits. No, secrecy was the word; that question Inspector Val and +the Secret Service Chief answered as one man. And so no word crept +forth. When the vault must be restored, it was said that those tons upon +tons of gold it sheltered had broken down the steel floor. As bricks by +the wagon load went into the drain through the manhole nearest the scene +of London Bill's exploits, a pavement idler asked their purpose. They +were to repair the drain where the water had eaten into and undermined +the walls. Yes, it was a secret stubbornly protected; the tunnel was +stopped up, the vault restored to what had been a former strength or +weakness, and never a dozen souls to hear the tale. + +With the Russians, Inspector Val met views which ran counter to his own. +An attaché of the Bear accompanied Inspector Val to the San Reve's rooms +in Grant Place. The Attaché was for sending Storri's body to St. +Petersburg. Inspector Val objected. + +"Why should you care?" said the Attaché to Inspector Val. "I do not +understand your interest." + +"She cares," returned Inspector Val, pointing to the dead San Reve. "I +have made her interest mine. She died to keep this Storri by her side; I +will not see her cheated." + +The Attaché looked curiously at Inspector Val; a sentimental lunatic was +not a common sight. The Attaché, however, was no one to yield. Storri's +remains must go to Russia. + +"Will you send home then the body of a thief overtaken in the crime?" +asked Inspector Val. "This Storri schemed to rob the Treasury. I do not +think the representatives of the Czar should oppose me in my whim." + +"Who are you?" asked the Attaché. Inspector Val's disclosures were +alarming; trained in caution, he did not care to defy them until he was +sure of his foothold of fact. "The news you brought so affected me that +I failed of politeness and never asked your name." + +"I am Inspector Val of the New York police." + +"And you declare Count Storri a thief engaged in robbing your Treasury?" + +"I say it word for word. More; he had it in train to burn a house and +abduct a girl." + +The Attaché surveyed Inspector Val with his sharp black eyes. Clearly, +here was a man whom it would not be wise--for the honor of the Bear--to +oppose! + +"And this poor woman loved Count Storri," said the Attaché, shifting his +glance to the dead San Reve. "She died, you say, to keep him by her. +Yes, you are right; they should not be parted now." + +The San Reve, no longer jealous, and Storri, no longer false, were given +one grave, and the Attaché of the Czar and Inspector Val alone attended, +as though representing rival interests. The San Reve's prayer of passion +had been granted; her Storri would be her own and hers alone throughout +eternity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +HOW RICHARD AND DOROTHY SAILED AWAY + + +There came but the one name before the convention, and Governor +Obstinate was nominated for the Presidency by acclamation. Senator +Hanway wired his warm congratulations, and to such earnest length did +they extend themselves that it reduced the book of franks conferred upon +Senator Hanway by the telegraph company by five stamps. Governor +Obstinate thanked Senator Hanway through the eye-glassed Mazarin, who +seized upon the occasion to say that Governor Obstinate was more than +ever resolved in event of his election--which was among things sure--to +avail himself of Senator Hanway's known abilities touching public +finance in the rôle of Secretary of the Treasury. + +Senator Hanway and Mr. Harley, the Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal still +rankling in the popular regard, did not attend the convention. This +permitted those gentlemen to be present at the nuptials of Dorothy and +Richard, a negative advantage which otherwise might have been denied. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley, basing it on grounds of duty, assumed formal charge +of the marriage arrangements in the later hours. She asked Richard to +name those among his friends whom he desired as guests at the wedding. +Richard gave her Mr. Bayard, Mr. Sands, and Inspector Val. Mrs. +Hanway-Harley pursed her lips. Mr. Bayard? yes; but why ask Mr. Sands, +printer, and Inspector Val of the police? + +"They are my friends," said Richard. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley shook her head in proud dejection as she meditated on +the strangeness of things. Her daughter's wedding; and a detective and a +journeyman printer among the honored guests! The homely disgrace of it +quite bowed the heart of Mrs. Hanway-Harley. She was taken doubly aback +when she learned that Mr. Gwynn was on his way to England, and therefore +not to attend. + +"It would have pleased me," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley mournfully, "had Mr. +Gwynn been present. His absence is peculiarly a blow." + +"I'm sure," said Richard, putting on a look of innocent slyness, like a +lamb engaged in intrigue, "had I known that you might feel Mr. Gwynn's +going away, I would have kept him with us." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley elevated her polite brows. Richard would have kept +Mr. Gwynn with them! What manner of mystery was this? + +Richard's present to Dorothy was a superb, nay a matchless set of +rubies, the like of which did not dwell in the caskets of Queen or +Empress. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, herself no apprentice in the art of gems, +could not estimate their value. They lay in her hands like red +fire--jewels above price! Mrs. Hanway-Harley could only gaze and gaze, +while Richard's look of slyness gained in lamblike intensity. + +Mr. Bayard came down from New York the day before; he must have a +business talk with Richard. It would be impossible, in releasing Mr. +Harley and Senator Hanway from their obligations as members of the +osprey pool, to avoid an explanation. In running over the affair in his +mind, Mr. Bayard was convinced that the reprieved pair must be told the +truth of their capture and release. + +Richard, whose powers of original judgment had diminished in exact +proportion as he neared the wedding day, and who now, with the ceremony +only hours away, owned no judgment at all, gave Mr. Bayard leave to do +as he would. He was to tell Mr. Harley and Senator Hanway, Mr. Sands and +Inspector Val, as much or as little as he chose. Richard drew relief +from the reflection that, whatever the disclosures, he, Richard, at the +time they were made would be safe on the wide Atlantic. + +The wedding offered a rich study in expression. Richard was pale but +firm, and if his knees shook the aspen disgrace of it didn't show in his +face. Dorothy was radiantly happy--beautiful and unabashed. Somehow, a +wedding never fails to bring out the strength of your true woman. Bess +was splendidly responsible; she showed plainly that she considered the +wedding the work of her hands, and was bound to see justice done it. Her +supporting damsels, taking their cue from certain bridesmaids who had +adorned a recent wedding of mark, wept bitterly. Mr. Bayard was +interested in a courteous way; Mr. Harley was patronizing, Senator +Hanway benign. Inspector Val, ineffable as to garb, was distinguished by +that sleepy, well-bred stare which was his common expression when off +duty. Only once did he rouse, and that was when Mrs. Hanway-Harley, +deluded by his elegant reserve, over which was thrown just an aroma of +the military, addressed him as Captain Burleigh of the English legation. +Mr. Sands of all who were there was probably the one most coolly +composed; being in profound contrast to Mr. Fopling, whose eye was +glassy and whose cheek was ashes. + +"Stawms," whispered Mr. Fopling, tremulous with agitation, "if I'm as +weak as this at your wedding, what do you weckon I'll be at my own? 'Pon +my word, I think I'll have to be bwought to church in an invalid's +chair; I do, weally!" + +"Bless you, my boy, bless you!" exclaimed Mr. Harley, grasping Richard's +hand. Mr. Harley had absorbed the impression, probably from the +theaters, that this was the phrase for him. "And you, my child; God +bless you! Be happy!" continued Mr. Harley, kissing Dorothy and exuding +a burgundian tear. + +"I am sorry," said Richard, as Senator Hanway bid him and Dorothy an +affectionate farewell, "I am sorry the event of the convention +disappointed us." + +"It is as one who wishes his party and his country well would have it," +returned Senator Hanway, with Roman elevation. "Governor Obstinate is a +patriot, and an able man. He will call to his Cabinet safe men--true +advisers. The nation could not be in purer hands." + +Bess made Dorothy promise to have Richard back for her own wedding in +October; Mr. Fopling gave Richard a pleading glance as though he himself +would require support on that occasion. + +"Stawms, don't fail me," said Mr. Fopling. "Weally, I shall need all the +couwage my fwiends can give me. And you know, Stawms, I stood by you." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley supposed the happy ones were to take the B. & O. for +New York; Richard explained that they would have a boat. + +"In fact," said Richard, "the captain has just sent me word that the +yacht is anchored off the Navy Yard, awaiting our going aboard." + +"Yacht?" said Mrs. Hanway-Harley. "Oh, I see; Mr. Gwynn's." + +"No, not Mr. Gwynn's. Ours."--And Richard looked more lamblike than +ever. + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley became sorely puzzled. The truth was slowly soaking +into her not over-porous comprehension. + +As the launch, with the wedding party, rounded the yacht's stern to +reach her gangway on the off-shore side, Mrs. Hanway-Harley read in +letters of raised gilt: _Dorothy Storms_. She called Dorothy's attention +to the phenomenon in a misty way. Mrs. Hanway-Harley, once aboard, went +over the _Dorothy Storms_, forward and aft, speaking no word. The yacht, +Clyde-built, was a swift ocean-going vessel of twelve hundred tons. Her +fittings were the fittings of a palace. Mrs. Hanway-Harley cornered +Richard on the after-deck. + +"Richard," said Mrs. Hanway-Harley, "what took Mr. Gwynn abroad?" + +"Why," responded Richard, with a cheerful manner of innocence, "you see +there's a deal for Mr. Gwynn to do. There's the country house in Berks, +and the house in London; then there's the Paris house and the villa at +Nice, and lastly the place in the mountains back of Naples;--Mr. Gwynn +will have to put them in order. The one near Naples--a kind of old +castle, it is--has been in bad hands; there will be plenty of work in +that quarter for Mr. Gwynn, I fancy. You know, mother,"--and Richard +donned an air of filial confidence,--"since this is Dorothy's first look +at them, I'm more than commonly anxious she should be given a happy----" + +Where the wretched Richard would have maundered to will never be known, +for he was broken in upon by Mrs. Hanway-Harley. + +"Richard, who is Mr. Gwynn?" This with a severe if agitated gravity. +"Who is Mr. Gwynn?" + +"Who is Mr. Gwynn?" repeated Richard, blandly. "Well, really, I suppose +he might be called my major-domo; or perhaps butler would describe him." + +"You told me that Mr. Gwynn had had about him the best society of +England." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley's manner bordered upon the tragic, for it bore upon +her that she had given a dinner of honor to Mr. Gwynn. + +"Why, my dear mother, and so he has had. I can't remember all their +noble names, but one time and another Mr. Gwynn has been butler for the +Duke of This and the Earl of That--really Mr. Gwynn's recommendations +read like a leaf from 'Burke's Peerage.' I myself had him from the Baron +Sudley." + +Mrs. Hanway-Harley was for the moment dumb. Dorothy and Bess appeared, +having completed a ransack of staterooms and cabins. The sight of her +daughter restored to Mrs. Hanway-Harley the power of speech. + +"Dorothy," she cried, raising her hands limply, "Dorothy, I believe our +Richard's rich!" And Mrs. Hanway-Harley wept. + +"I shall always love him, whatever he is!" exclaimed Dorothy, all +tenderness and fresh alarm. + +Dorothy did not understand. + +It was ten o'clock; the Potomac lay between its soft banks like a river +of silver. There was the throb of the engines, and the talk of the water +against her bows, as the _Dorothy Storms_ with her two passengers, they +and their love, swept onward through the moonlight. Dorothy, her head on +Richard's shoulder, and thinking on her mother and Bess and all she had +left behind, watched the V-shaped wake as it spread away in ripples to +either bank. Now and then a shore-light slipped by, to snuff out astern +as distance or a bend in the river extinguished it. Dorothy crept more +and more into the Pict arms. + +"Dear, when did you name the _Dorothy Storms_?" + +"The day after you precipitated yourself into my arms--and my heart." + +"I think you were shamefully confident," whispered Dorothy, with a +delicious sigh. + +Richard the brazen replied to the attack as became a lover and +gentleman. + +And so they sailed away. + + +THE END + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the same Author + + +THE BOSS + +A Story of the Inner Life of New York + +"The most complete and remarkable exposition that has yet been +produced."--_New York Times._ + +"Is not only a book to read, it is a book that every man who has +an interest in his country--and in himself for that matter--must +read."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESIDENT*** + + +******* This file should be named 18572-8.txt or 18572-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/7/18572 + + + +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. 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