diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:19:26 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:19:26 -0700 |
| commit | eef9d7504ba7ef4031a2ef4a2f08fd0998263d8f (patch) | |
| tree | 62cc8fda50f7a9b803740a29ad1f059dea266118 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-8.txt | 8825 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 145540 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 321463 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-h/20131-h.htm | 13638 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-h/images/img-152.jpg | bin | 0 -> 55827 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-h/images/img-280.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47147 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131-h/images/img-front.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67200 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131.txt | 8825 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20131.zip | bin | 0 -> 145468 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
12 files changed, 31304 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20131-8.txt b/20131-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..737dbb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8825 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mask, by Arthur Hornblow, Illustrated by +Paul Stahr + + +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 Mask + A Story of Love and Adventure + + +Author: Arthur Hornblow + + + +Release Date: December 18, 2006 [eBook #20131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASK*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 20131-h.htm or 20131-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131/20131-h/20131-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131/20131-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MASK + +A Story of Love and Adventure + +by + +ARTHUR HORNBLOW + +Author of the Novels "The Lion and the Mouse," "The Gamblers," "Bought +and Paid For," "By Right of Conquest," "The End of the Game," Etc. + +Illustrations by Paul Stahr + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth.] + + + + +G. W. Dillingham Company +Publishers -------- New York +Copyright, 1913, by +G. W. Dillingham Company + + + + +_The Mask_ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth. . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"Yes, you are my brother. We are twins." + +"I adore you--I adore you," he murmured, as he kissed her again. + + + + +THE MASK + + +CHAPTER I + +"There! What did I tell you? The news is out!" + +With a muttered exclamation of annoyance, Kenneth Traynor put down his +coffee cup with a crash and, leaning over the table, pointed out to his +wife a despatch from London, given prominence in the morning paper, +which ran as follows: + + +Advices from Cape Town report the finding on a farm near Fontein, a +hundred miles north of here, of a diamond which in size is only second +to the famous Koh-i-noor. The stone, which is in the shape of an egg +with the top cut off, weighs 1,649 carats, and was discovered after +blasting at the foot of some rocks on land adjacent to the tract owned +by the Americo-African Mining Company of New York. It is understood +that the American Company is negotiating for the property; some say the +transfer has already been made. If this is true, the finding of this +colossal stone means a windfall for the Yankee stockholders. + + +The Traynor home, No. ---- Gramercy Park, was one of those dignified, +old-fashioned residences that still remain in New York to remind our +vulgar, ostentatious _nouveaux riches_ of the days when culture and +refinement counted for something more than mere wealth. Overlooking +the railed-in square with its green lawns, pretty winding paths and +well-dressed children romping at play, it had a high stoop which opened +into a wide hall, decorated with obsolete weapons and trophies of the +hunt. On the right were rich tapestries, masking the folding doors of +a spacious drawing-room, richly decorated and furnished in Louis XIV. +period. Beyond this, to the rear of the house which had been built out +to the extreme end of the lot, was the splendidly appointed dining-room +with its magnificent fireplace of sculptured white marble, surmounted +by a striking portrait in oils by Carolus Duran of Mrs. Traynor--a +painting which had been one of the most successful pictures of the +previous year's salon. + +In a clinging, white silk negligée gown, the gossamer folds of which +only partially veiled the outlines of a slender, graceful figure, Helen +sat at the breakfast table opposite her husband, toying languidly with +her knife and fork. It was nearly noon, long past the usual breakfast +time, and by every known gastronomical law her appetite should have +been on keen edge. But this morning she left everything untasted. +Even the delicious wheat cakes, which none better than Mammy, their +Southern cook, knew how to do to a point, did not tempt her. They had +been out to dinner the night before. Her head ached; she was nervous +and feverish. Always full of good spirits and laughter, ever the soul +and life of the house, it was unusual to find her in this mood, and if +her husband, now voraciously devouring the tempting array of ham and +eggs spread before him, had not been so absorbed in the news of the +day, he would have quickly noticed it, and guessed there was something +amiss. + +Certainly the appearance of the dining-room was enough to upset the +nerves of anyone, especially a sensitive young woman who prided herself +on her housekeeping. All around was chaos and confusion. The usually +sedate, orderly dining-room was littered with trunks, grips, umbrellas +and canes enveloped in rugs--all the confusion incidental to a hurried +departure. + +She took the newspaper, read the despatch and handed it back in silence. + +"Isn't that the very deuce!" he went on peevishly. "We've been trying +our utmost to keep it secret. Unless we're quick, there'll be a rush +of adventurers from all parts of the world before we can secure the +options. Happily the despatch is vague. They don't know all the +facts. If they did----" Lowering his voice and looking around +cautiously to make sure that the butler had left the room and no one +was listening, he continued: "Besides you know what I am to bring back. +It couldn't be entrusted to anyone else. Just think--a stone worth +nearly a million dollars! I hope no one will guess I have it in my +possession. It must be brought safe to New York. That's why it's so +important that I go at once. Even by catching the _Mauretania_ +to-morrow, I can't reach Cape Town for a month, and every moment counts +now." + +As Helen was still silent he glanced across the table at her for the +first time. Her pallor and the drooping lines about her mouth told him +something was wrong. Instantly concerned, he asked: + +"What's the matter, dear?" + +"I'm horribly nervous." + +"What about?" + +"This trip of yours, of course." + +"You ought to be used to them by this time. This isn't the first time +I've had to leave you since our marriage." + +"I didn't mind the other trips so much. When you went to Mexico and +Alaska, it didn't seem so far away. But this journey to South Africa +is different. You are running a terrible risk carrying that diamond. +I can't shake off a horrible feeling that something dreadful will +happen." + +Surprised less at what she said than at her serious manner, he laid +down the newspaper, and, jumping up, went over to her. His wife sat +motionless, her lips trembling, her large eyes filled with tears. In +spite of a palpable effort at self-control, it was evident that she was +laboring under great nervous tension. Bending caressingly over her, he +said anxiously: + +"Why Helen, old girl! What's the matter?" + +She made no answer. Her head fell on his breast. For a moment she +could not speak. Her emotion seemed to choke her utterance, paralyze +her speech. He insisted: + +"What is it, dearie?" he demanded. + +"I'm so nervous about your going, I'm so afraid about your having the +diamond," she sobbed. Suddenly, as if unable longer to control +herself, she rose from the table and threw her arms around his neck. +Passionately she cried: "Oh, Kenneth, don't go! Don't go! I feel that +something will happen." + +He laughed carelessly as he fondled her. More seriously he replied: + +"I hope something does happen. That's what I'm going out there for. +Why, Helen dear, I don't think you quite realize what this trip means +to us. If the deal goes through, and we get full control of all that +property, we'll all be as rich as Croesus. Just think, dear, 300,000 +square miles of the most wonderful diamond producing country. In ten +days they found 400 beautifully clear stones, some of them weighing +over a hundred carats. If the reports are true, we shall have a group +of mines as valuable as the famous De Beers group. Do you know what +they have produced to date in actual money?" + +The young woman shook her head. Usually she was glad enough to listen +to her husband's business plans, but to-day they wearied her. Her mind +was too much preoccupied with something that concerned her far more. +The idea of this coming separation, the knowledge that he was running a +risk, had left her singularly depressed. She had tried to remain calm +and control her emotion, but the effort was beyond her. The prospect +of this separation, with its vague, undefined forebodings of disaster, +was simply intolerable. The tears she was unable to restrain rolled +silently down her cheeks. + +He looked at her in surprise. Never had he seen her in this mood. +Approaching her more closely, he said kindly: + +"That can't be the only reason, dear, what's the matter?" + +She hesitated a moment before she answered: + +"I'm very nervous to-day. I was dreadfully irritated last night at the +dinner. I wish I hadn't gone----" + +"Who irritated you?" + +"That man Signor Keralio. I simply can't tolerate the man. How I hate +him!" + +"Why--what did he do?" + +"He did nothing. He wouldn't dare--there. But I wouldn't care to be +alone with him. His eyes were enough. He imagines he is irresistible, +and that every woman is immoral. That is the kind of man he is. He +annoyed me all evening. There was no getting away from him." + +Kenneth laughed and went back to finish his breakfast, quite +indifferent to what he had just heard. He knew his wife too well to be +afraid of any number of Signor Keralios. Humming a tune, he said +carelessly: + +"Why didn't you call me?" + +"What? Create a scandal? That would only make me ridiculous. He +wouldn't care. I can't bear the sight of the man, yet I have to be +polite to him." + +Kenneth nodded. + +"Yes--I have reasons for not caring to quarrel with Keralio just now." + +She looked up quickly. + +"Why? What is that man to you? He's your fencing master, I know, but +that's no reason for making a friend of him. I never understood why +you associated with him. He is so different to you." + +Her husband smiled. He adored his wife and admired the sex in general, +but, like most men, he had never had much respect for women's judgment. +Women were made to be loved; not to discuss business with. Indulgently +he said: + +"My dear, you don't understand. I have important financial relations +with Keralio. I don't care for him myself, but one can't choose one's +business associates. He and I are interested in a silver mine in +Mexico. Thanks to him, I got in on the ground floor. One of these +days the investment will bring me a big return." + +His wife shrugged her shoulders. Incredulously she retorted: + +"Not if Keralio has anything to do with it. I don't trust him. He has +deceit and evil written all over his face." + +Amused at her petulance, Kenneth jumped up impulsively and took his +wife in his arms. + +Abandoning herself willingly to his embrace, for a moment her head fell +back on his broad shoulder, and she smiled up at him. From her soft, +yielding form arose that subtle, familiar perfume, the intoxicating, +vague, indefinable aroma of the well groomed woman that never fails to +set a man's blood on fire. Bending low until his mouth touched hers, +he kissed her until her face glowed under the ardor of his amative +caress. But to-day she was not in the mood to respond. + +"Don't--don't!" she panted, striving to free herself. + +"Admit that you're foolish or I'll do it again," he laughed. + +"Perhaps I am. It's selfish of me to make it harder for you to go +away." + +The butler reëntered the room with the finger bowls, and she quickly +disengaged herself. To hide her confusion, she turned to the servant: + +"Did my sister go out, Robert?" + +"Yes, m'm," replied the man respectfully. "Miss Ray told me to tell +you in case you asked that she had gone shopping and would be back +soon." + +"Where's Miss Dorothy?" + +"The fraulein took her to the park, m'm." + +"When fraulein comes in, tell her to bring Dorothy upstairs." + +"Very well, m'm." + +The butler went out and Helen turned to her husband. Anxiously she +said: + +"I've been a little worried about Dorothy lately. She's not looking +well. I think she needs the country." + +Kenneth looked up quickly. Next to his wife he loved his flaxen haired +little girl better than anything in the world. There was a worried +look on his face as he asked: + +"What does the doctor say?" + +"Oh, it's nothing to be alarmed at. Only she's growing fast, and needs +all the air possible. I'm thinking of sending her to Aunt Carrie for a +while. You know she has a beautiful place in the suburbs of +Philadelphia. She would be out in the air all the time." + +"Yes--that's a good idea. Send her there by all means. Write your +aunt to-night." + +Helen glanced at the clock. There wasn't any time to lose. Turning to +her husband she said quickly: + +"You had better come upstairs and finish your packing, dear. Your +trunks aren't nearly ready and the expressman was ordered for three." + +Recalled thus abruptly to the day's duties, he turned docily and +followed her upstairs. + +Beautiful as was the Traynor home below, it was in the library in the +second floor that Helen always felt happiest and most at ease. Up the +broad, thickly carpeted stairs and turning to the right as the landing +was reached, they entered the library, a room of truly noble +proportions extending the entire width of the house and with deep +recessed windows and low seats, overlooking the park. The furnishings, +though simple, were rich and luxurious. The woodwork was of black +Flemish oak, the ceiling beamed with a dull red background. The +upholstery was a rich red plush throughout, with deep seated armchairs, +and sofas built close to the wall wherever space permitted. In the +corners, numerous electric reading lamps could be turned on or off at +pleasure, constituting ideal nooks for reading. The furniture, apart +from the red plush armchairs, was of black Flemish oak to match the +woodwork, with an immense richly carved black oak dark table in the +center of the room, lighted by an electrolier of similar size and +design to the one in the dining-room. + +It was in this room with its atmosphere of books so conducive to peace +and introspection that Helen loved to spend her spare time. The walls +were literally lined with tomes, dealing with every branch of human +knowledge--religion, science, philosophy, literature. Here when alone +she enjoyed many an intellectual treat, browsing among the world's +treasures of the mind. Even when her sister had a few intimates to +tea, or when friends dropped in in the evening, they always preferred +being in the library to anywhere else. + +Only second to the library in the affection of its young mistress was +her bed chamber with which it was connected by a small boudoir. +Furnished in Louis XVI. style, it was a beautiful room, decorated in +the most dainty and delicate of tones. The bed, copied after Marie +Antoinette's couch in the Little Trianon was in sculptured Circassian +walnut, upholstered in dull pink brocade, the broad canopy overhead +being upheld by two flying cupids. The handsome dressing table with +three mirrors and chairs were of the same wood and period. On the +floor was a thick carpet especially woven to match the other +furnishings. + +To-day, littered as it was with trunks and clothes, the room lacked its +usual sedateness and dignity, but Helen did not mind. She would have +preferred it to look far worse if only her loved one were not going +away. His clothes lay scattered all over the floor. There was still +much to be done. + +Kenneth himself realized it as he ruefully surveyed the scene. Hurry +he must. A director's meeting to-night, the steamer sailing to-morrow +and here he was not nearly ready. Helen could see no reason why +François should not do the packing, but he insisted on doing it +himself, and was soon deep in the work of filling the trunks that stood +around. + +While he worked, almost unconscious of her presence, she sat +disconsolately on a trunk and watched him, and from time to time, as if +ashamed to let him see her weakness, she turned her head aside to +furtively wipe away a tear. No doubt her misgivings were foolish. +Husbands left their wives on business trips every day. Sensible women +were not so silly as to cry over it. It was to be only temporary, she +knew that, yet her heart misgave her. She had tried to be resigned to +this South African journey, to accept it without protest, but her +feelings were too much for her. When she married Kenneth Traynor, the +energetic, prosperous Wall Street promoter, everybody knew that it was +a love match. Standing six feet two in his stockings, muscular, +sinewy, without an ounce of superfluous fat, Kenneth Traynor looked as +though he could give a good account of himself no matter in what tight +place he found himself. His clean cut features and strong chin denoted +strength of character, his deep set blue eyes, a blue of a shade so +light rarely seen except in the peasants of Normandy, beamed with +frankness and honesty, a kindly smile hovered about his smooth, firm +mouth. What at once attracted attention was his hair which was dark +and unusually thick and bushy and a peculiar characteristic was a +solitary white lock in the center of his forehead. Such a phenomenon +of the capillary glands was not uncommon, but as a rule, the white hair +is on the side of or at the back of the head. In Kenneth's case, it +was the very center of the forehead and imparted to his face an +individuality quite its own. + +When on leaving college, he had been forced, like other young men, to +choose a career, he was unable to decide what he wanted to do. Doctor, +lawyer, architect, author--none of these suited his nervous, restless +temperament. He craved a more exciting life, and at one time thought +seriously of entering the army with the hope of seeing active service +in the Philippines. But Aguinaldo's surrender put a quietus on this +project, and he entered a broker's office in Wall Street Here, in the +maelstrom of frenzied finance, his pent up energies found an outlet. +He went into the stock gambling game with the feverish energy of a born +gambler. Months of excitement followed, luck being usually with him. +He was successful. He doubled and tripled his capital, after which he +had good sense enough to stop, withdrawing from the fray before the +tide turned. But he could not give up the life entirely. The business +of stock promotion was the next best substitute. It was about that +time he met the woman he married. + +It had been an ideal union in every way, but even Helen herself could +not have guessed that day now three years ago when she left the church +a bride, how completely, how entirely this man whose sterling +qualities, good nature and charm of manner had won her heart, would +take complete possession of her, body and soul. Instead of the romance +flickering out after the first sudden blaze of fierce passion, as it +usually does after the first few months of married life, on her side, +at least, the flame had gathered in strength until now it was the one +compelling, all absorbing interest in her life. + +She recalled how they had first met. It was in the Winter time. She +was skating in Central Park. A thaw had set in and the ice was +dangerous. Suddenly there was an ominous crack, and the crowd scurried +out of harm's way, all but one child, a little nine year old girl who, +in her eagerness to escape, stumbled and fell. The next instant she +was in the water, disappearing under the ice. Just at that moment, a +tall athletic figure dashed swiftly to the hole and, stooping quickly, +caught the child by the dress. Then, by a feat of almost superhuman +strength which awed the crowd into silence, he drew the little victim +out to safety, not much the worse for her experience. + +Spellbound, hardly able to breathe from sheer excitement, Helen had +watched the work of rescue. When the stranger, tall, muscular, +handsome, passed her, carrying tenderly his burden, a human life saved +from a watery grave, she could not help murmuring: + +"Oh, how brave of you!" + +"Nonsense," he retorted abruptly. "It's nothing to make a fuss about." + +She did not see him again for six months, and had almost forgotten the +incident when one night at the opera during a performance of +"Tannhauser," a man, tall, square shouldered, entered the box where she +was and was presented to her. + +"Helen--Mr. Traynor." + +It was her hero. + +He had remained her hero ever since. + +She remembered the afternoon when he had asked her to be his wife. +They were alone in the library which overlooked the Park with its +beautiful vista of green foliage, its glimpse of rolling lawns, and +shimmering lakes. They were standing side by side, gazing idly out of +the window, conversing quietly on all kinds of topics interesting to +them both. She was enjoying his vigorous, masculine point of view and +feeling strangely happy in his company. + +"When should a man marry?" he asked all at once. + +Startled for a moment at the abruptness of the question which nothing +in their previous conversation had led up to, she answered gravely: + +"When he's tired of being alone and when he feels he has met the woman +with whom he can be happy, the kind of woman who will be a real +helpmate and aid him to achieve his ambitions." + +"How can he know that the woman to whom he is attracted will have this +influence in his life? How can he distinguish real gold from the +imitation which merely glitters?" + +"Only by his instinct. That never errs." + +"And when in your opinion, should a woman marry?" + +"When she meets the man to whom she feels she can give herself without +forfeiting her self-respect." + +He nodded approvingly, and looked at her for a few moments without +speaking. Outside it was growing dark, for which she was glad, for her +face burned under the earnestness of his gaze. Finally he said: + +"You are right. But yours is a point of view the modern girl seldom +takes. First she discusses ways and means. Love, self respect--these +she considers quite negligible." + +She protested. + +"Not all girls--only some girls. They are foolish virgins who leave +their lamps untrimmed. They sow folly to-day only to reap unhappiness +to-morrow." + +He said nothing and for a few moments they both stood there in the +increasing darkness. Suddenly, without a moment's warning, his voice +broken by emotion, he turned to her and said: + +"I am tired of being alone. I have met the woman with whom I could be +happy, the woman who can help me to do big things. Helen, I want you +to be my wife." + +She made no answer. She felt herself growing pale. A strange tremor +passed through her entire body. + +He came closer and took her unresisting hand. + +"Helen," he whispered, "I want you for my wife." + +Still no reply, but her small delicate hand remained clasped in his +big, strong one, and gradually he drew her toward him until she was so +close in his embrace that he could feel her panting breath on his cheek. + +A strange thrill passed through him as he came in contact with her +soft, yielding body. She never wore corsets, preferring the clinging +Grecian style of gowns that showed graceful lines and left the figure +free, and her form, slender yet firm and delicately chiseled like that +of some sculptured goddess, had none of that voluptuous grossness which +mars the symmetry of many women, otherwise beautiful. + +As she nestled there, pale and trembling in his strong arms, he did not +dare move, for fear that he might unwittingly injure a being so frail +and delicate. All his life Kenneth had lived a clean life. He had not +led the riotous, licentious kind of existence which some men of his +means and opportunities think necessary to their comfort. He had never +been a libertine. He had respected women; indeed, had rather avoided +them. + +But if a man, busily engaged in the battle of life, his mind always +engrossed in serious affairs, succeeds in keeping natural instincts +under control there comes a day when nature asserts herself, when his +manhood demands the satisfaction of legitimate cravings. This bachelor +who had lived a secluded, hermit-like kind of existence till he was +thirty was suddenly and violently awakened to the fact that he was made +of flesh and blood as are other men. This slim girl with her sweet +ways, her pretty face, her ready wit, had completely vanquished him, +and not alone did she satisfy him mentally, she also attracted him +physically. + +He realized it now as he held her tight against his breast. Her head +had fallen on his shoulder. Her face with its pale, delicate profile +was turned toward him, the eyes half closed. The mouth, arched like +Cupid's bow and partly open, disclosing the white, moistened teeth, and +red and luscious like some rare exotic fruit, was tempting enough to +madden a saint. Kenneth was only human. Unable to resist, he lowered +his head until his mouth grazed hers and then with a wild, almost +savage exclamation of joy, the exultant cry of lust awakened and +gratified, his lips met hers and lingered. + +To Helen it seemed as though she was in a dream of untold ecstasy. +Always a shrinking, modest girl, especially in the company of the +opposite sex, in any calmer moment she would have been shocked beyond +expression at this momentary abandonment she permitted herself. As she +lay in this man's arms and felt his warm kisses on her lips, there came +over her a strange sensation she had never known before. She grew +dizzy and for a moment thought she would faint. All at once he +released her. Almost apologetically, he murmured: + +"Forgive me--I lost control over myself--I want you Helen--I want you +for my wife. Will you marry me?" + +She drew away and turned away her head, so he might not see her burning +cheeks. + +He persisted. + +"Will you marry me?" + +She hesitated a moment before replying. Then, very simply, she +answered: + +"Yes, Kenneth." + +That was three years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +In a certain set Helen Traynor was not popular. Some people thought +her old fashioned, strait-laced, prudish. They resented her having no +taste for their frivolous, decadent amusements. They called her proud +and condescending whereas, as a matter of fact, she merely asked to be +let alone. Of course, it was only people whose opinions were worthless +that criticized her. All who were admitted to her intimacy knew that +there was no friend more loyal, no woman more womanly and charming. + +In one respect she might be called old fashioned. Her views on life +had certainly little in common with those held by most present-day +women. She had no taste for bridge, she refused to adopt freak +fashions in dress, she discouraged the looseness of tone in speech and +manner so much affected by other women of her acquaintance--in a word +she was in society but not of it. Naturally, she had more +acquaintances than friends, yet she was not unpopular among her +intimates. While secretly they laughed at what they termed her +puritanical notions, they were shrewd enough to realize that they could +hardly afford to snub a woman whose husband occupied so prominent a +position in the world of affairs. Besides, was it not to their +interest to cultivate her? Who gave more delightful dinners, who could +on occasion be a more charming hostess? An accomplished musician, a +clever talker, she easily dominated in whatever salon she happened to +be, and the men were always found crowding eagerly around her. + +Like most women of her temperament, sure of themselves and in whose +mind never enters even a thought of disloyalty to her marriage vows, +she made no concealment of her preference for the masculine sex. With +those men who were attracted by her unusual mentality,--she was +gracious, and affable, discussing with politicians, jurists, +financiers, economic and sociological questions with a brilliancy and +insight that fairly astonished them. With literary men and musicians, +she chatted intelligently of the latest novels and pictures and operas +with the facility and expertness of a connoisseur. Other men, drawn by +her exceptional beauty, fascinated by the spell of her soulful eyes, +her tall graceful figure, and delicate classic face, framed in Grecian +head dress, made violent love to her, their heated imaginations and +jaded senses conceiving a conquest compared with which the criminal +passion of Paolo for Francesca should pale. These would-be Lotharios +might as well have tried to set an iceberg on fire. Quietly, but +firmly and in unmistakable terms, she let them understand that they +were wasting their time and their ardor thus quenched, one by one they +dropped away and left her in peace. Only Signor Keralio had persisted. +She had snubbed him, insulted him, time after time, yet wherever she +turned she found him at her elbow. Society soon resigned itself to +considering her as one apart--a beautiful, chaste Juno whose ideals all +must respect. Indeed, the only thing with which she could be +reproached was that she was in love with her husband--the unpardonable +sin in society's eyes--but seeing who it was and despairing of ever +changing her point of view, society forgave her. + +It never occurred to Helen that she was different in any way from other +women. She did not see how it was possible for a woman to be untrue to +the man whose name she bore and still retain her self-respect. The day +she ceased to love her husband she would leave him forever. To her way +of thinking, it was shocking to go on living with a man merely because +it suited one's convenience and comfort. She knew married women who +did not care for their husbands, some actually detested the men they +had married, and had always held in horror the intimate relation which +marriage sanctioned. She felt sorry for such women, but secretly she +despised them. They alone were to blame. Had they not married knowing +well that there was no real affection in their hearts for the men to +whom they gave themselves? The cynicism and effrontery of young girls +regarding marriage particularly revolted her. Eager for wealth and +social position, they offered themselves with brazen effrontery in the +matrimonial market, immodestly displaying their charms to the +lecherous, covetous eyes of blasé, degenerate men. Any question of +attachment, love, affection was never for a moment considered. The +idea that a man could be even considered unless he were able to provide +a fine establishment was laughed to scorn. The girls were all men +hunters but they hunted only rich men. They called the feeling they +experienced for the man they caught in their toils "love." They meant +something quite different. To a girl of Helen's ideas, such manoeuvers +were shocking. To her the marriage tie was something sacred, a +relation not to be entered into lightly. Kenneth was rich, it was +true, but she would have loved him none the less had he been one of his +own fifteen dollar a week clerks. When they were married and the +romance was over, he stopped playing the lover to devote himself to the +more serious business of making money, but with her, time, instead of +dimming the flame, only caused it to burn the brighter. This man whom +she had married was her only thought. In him centered every interest +of her life. + +A muffled outburst of profanity from Kenneth aroused her from her +reveries. + +"That's always the way when one's in a hurry," he exclaimed petulantly. +"Ring for François. Why the devil isn't he here?" + +Quickly, Helen sprang up from the trunk and touched an electric button. + +"What's the matter, dear?" she asked. + +She approached her husband who, at the far end of the room, was red in +the face from the unusual exertion of trying to coax the buckle of a +strap into a hole obviously out of reach. He pulled and strained till +the muscles stood out on his neck and brawny arms like whipcord, and +still the obstinate buckle declined to be coerced. The more it +resisted, the more determined he was to make it obey. Go in it must, +if sheer strength would do it. The vice-president of the +Americo-African Mining Company was no weakling. A six-foot athlete and +captain of the Varsity football team in his college days, his muscles +had been toughened in a thousand lively scrimmages and in later life +plenty of golf, rowing and other out-of-door sports had kept him in +condition. When he pulled hard something had to give way. It did in +this instance. There was a tearing, rending sound and the strap broke +off short. With a gesture of despair he turned to his wife as men are +wont to do when in trouble. + +"Wouldn't that jar you?" he cried, as he threw the broken strap away. +"What the deuce am I going to do now?" + +"Why don't you let François attend to such things?" answered his wife +calmly. "He understands packing so much better than you. You're so +strong, you break everything." + +She looked fondly at her husband's tall, athletic figure. He turned to +her with a smile. + +"I guess you're right," he said. "But where the devil is François?" + +"I don't know. I sent him downstairs to tell the cook to have some +nice sandwiches ready when you come home after the director's meeting +tonight, but that's an hour ago----" + +His ill humor gone, Kenneth looked up and smiled at her. Putting his +arm about her, fondly he said: + +"Dear little wife. You're always thinking of the comfort of others. +You're the most unselfish, the most adorable, the most----" + +"Stop, Kenneth, don't be foolish or I shall believe you----" + +His face red from his recent exertions, he sat down on the arm of a +chair to rest a little. Full of the coming journey, he had already +forgotten his wife's anxiety. The great business schemes he had in +mind dwarfed for the time being every other consideration. He could +think and talk of nothing but diamonds. Huge crystals, worth untold +millions as big as a fist, flashed at him from every corner of the +room. Fabulous fortunes had been made in the diamond mines of South +Africa. Why should he not be as successful as others? The romance of +the Cullinan might be repeated, even surpassed. Well he recalled how +he had been thrilled by the sensational story of the discovery of that +colossal gem, more than three times the size of the Excelsior, the +wonder of the modern world. In imagination, he saw it now. An +old-fashioned Boer farm, transformed into a modern mining camp. A +moonlight night. A man strolling idly along the rugged, desolate +veldt, chances to look down. His eye suddenly catches a gleam in the +rough face of the jagged slope. He stoops and picks up what looks like +a piece of ice. Quickly he returns to his office and hands it to his +chief. The men look at each other in silence. To all parts of the +world goes the message that a diamond has been found four times bigger +than the largest gem in the world. A stone weighing over 3,000 carats +and worth four million dollars. He could already imagine himself far +from civilization among the barren mountains of South Africa, +prospecting in wide stretches of stone and gravel, picking up the +brilliant dazzling stones by the handful. + +"Have you any idea," he said, "what the mines have produced?" + +She shook her head indifferently. + +"No, and I don't want to know. I don't want you to go--that's all." + +"Their output in the last ten years is estimated at no less than +$400,000,000. Just think of it. Four hundred millions! Well, dear, I +and a few others want some of it, and we're going to get it." + +"But aren't we rich enough already?" she demanded petulantly. "Why +this fever to get richer and richer? We are happy with what we have. +Why run the risks to gain what after all will only be a surplus? We +can't possibly spend it." + +Her husband's eyes flashed. The lines about his mouth tightened as he +retorted: + +"One never has enough! You women don't understand. As long as you +have all the amusement you crave, all the frocks you want, all the +jewelry you covet, you think that is all there is to life." + +She looked up at him reproachfully and seemed about to protest when he +added hurriedly: + +"Oh, I don't mean you. I know you are not that kind of woman. You are +more serious, more sensible. I mean the average society woman whose +only concern in life is dress and show. We men have different aims, +higher ambitions. I'm well to do, as the term goes. I have an income +of over $100,000 a year, a splendidly appointed town house, a show +place in the country. Above all I have the most adorable wife in all +the world. Most men would be satisfied. I am not. I want still more. +I have the money craze, an uncontrollable lust to pile up millions. My +ambition is to wield the power that only the possession of vast wealth +confers. The resources of this vast country are practically in the +hands of half a dozen men. Merely by holding up a finger, these men +could, to suit their own selfish ends, start a universal panic which +might bring about a financial cataclysm, involving the whole world in +disaster. I do not say they would use this power for evil, but they +are in position to do so if it served their purpose. I want to have +such power, only if I had it I would not use it for evil. I would use +it for good. Conditions in the industrial world are very critical. We +are rapidly approaching a crisis. In all countries the forces of labor +and the forces of capital are lined up in silent, grim battalions. The +poor are getting poorer; the rich are getting richer. The cost of +living is going up beyond all reason. Why? Because the men who +control the wealth of the world will it so. The system which is +responsible for this must one day, sooner or later, give way to another +and more humane system, still to be devised, which will enable the man +who produces the wealth of the world at least to enjoy some of the +fruits of his toil. Now it goes into the hands of the privileged few +who use the power their money gives them to keep their less fortunate +fellow men in servile subjection. I want to be rich, very rich, but I +will use my wealth for good. With it I will help my fellow man rise +from the mire. I will help him throw off the shackles with which +conscienceless capitalism has fettered him. I want to be such a power +for good. I want----" + +The maid reëntered the room. + +"François is not in his room, m'm." + +Kenneth gave vent to an exclamation of impatience. Turning to his +wife, he asked: + +"Where is he? Did you send him anywhere?" + +Helen shook her head. Quickly she said: + +"He's never around except when he's not wanted." + +It was so seldom that his wife displayed irritation at any one that +Kenneth looked up in surprise. + +"He's shopping, too, I suppose. You know there's little time left and +he has things to get ready the same as I have." + +Helen made a gesture of disapproval. Quickly she said: + +"I wish you were going with someone else, with anyone but that man. I +never liked him." + +Her husband laughed. Carelessly he replied: + +"I know you never did and it's the only instance since we're married +where I've found dear little wife to be absolutely unfair. Seriously, +sweetheart, your baseless prejudice against François is unworthy of +you. I can't go without a servant of some kind. He's an honest fellow +and a faithful servant." + +Helen shrugged her shoulders. + +"I'm not so sure about that," she retorted quickly. "What do you know +about him or his honesty? He's a perfect stranger that blew in three +months ago from nowhere. He had written recommendations which may be +forged. You never took the trouble to look them up." + +"Yes, I did. I asked Keralio about him." + +Helen looked up in surprise. + +"Signor Keralio? I didn't know François was ever with him." + +"He was with him nearly a year. Keralio warmly recommends him and says +he is a very faithful fellow. He only left him because he objected to +being compelled to practise sword-play with his master. One day +Keralio's foil slipped. François got a puncture and it made him +nervous." + +"No wonder I don't like him. Like master, like valet--as the French +say." + +Her husband smiled. + +"You are down on Keralio, aren't you?" + +"I detest him. How could any self-respecting woman like such a man? +His every glance is an insult. With his polished manners and sardonic +smile he reminds one of Mephistopheles." + +"I don't fancy the fellow much myself, but I have to be polite to him. +As I told you, he's in with the people who own that silver mine. I've +found him useful." + +"Don't trust him," replied Helen warningly. "If he makes himself +useful to you, depend upon it, he has some ulterior motive in view. +Now I know François was once with him I shall dislike him more than +ever." + +"Come--come dear," protested Kenneth, "that is carrying things too far. +François is quite a decent chap if you understand him--I find him +faithful, discreet." + +"Discreet!" echoed Helen mockingly. "I beg to differ." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that you are blinded in the man. Discreet indeed! Only the +other day I caught him at your desk reading a letter which you had left +there." + +"A letter?" exclaimed Kenneth, looking up in surprise. "What letter?" + +"The letter from your agent at Cape Town, telling of the astonishing +diamond find, and suggesting that an officer of the Company be sent out +to bring home the big stone--the letter you read at the director's +meeting and which decided them to send you out there." + +Kenneth bit his lip. Quickly he said: + +"I'm sorry he saw that. It was careless of me to leave it around. Are +you sure he was reading it?" + +"He had a pencil and paper in hand and appeared to be copying from the +letter. When he saw me, he crushed the paper up in his hand and turned +away." + +Kenneth gave an expressive whistle. + +"The deuce you say! The fellow's smarter than I took him to be. All +the more reason why I should take him along with me. Then I'm sure he +can't tell tales out of school. I----. Hush, here he is!" + +The door opened cautiously and there entered a man about thirty years +of age, of medium height and slightly, even delicately, built. That he +was a Frenchman was apparent even at a glance. The dark closely +cropped hair, worn in the so-called pompadour or military style, the +pale, saturnine features, the manner and general bearing all loudly +proclaimed his Gallic nationality. His smooth shaven face showed a +firm mouth with bloodless lips so thin as to be hardly perceptible. +His eyes, when they could be seen at all, were greenish in color, and +small and restless as those of a ferret. He advanced into the room +with the obsequious deferential manner which in all well-trained +servants becomes second nature, moving across the thickly carpeted +floor with the rapidity and noiselessness of a snake. + +"Where have you been, François?" demanded Kenneth sharply. + +The valet stopped short, as if struck by a blow, but he did not stand +still. His nervous thin hands and lean body were in constant motion, +although he did not stir from the one spot. In every involuntary +movement and gesture there was something that suggested the feline. +When spoken to or given an order he replied respectfully and obeyed +with alacrity, but when addressed he listened always with eyes averted. +This had always exasperated Helen. She could not recall him ever +looking her straight in the face. For that reason alone, if, for no +other, she disliked and distrusted him, thinking not unnaturally that a +man, who is afraid to let his eyes meet another's, must be plotting in +his mind some treachery which he fears his direct gaze may betray. His +furtive glances went quickly from master to mistress. Something in +their attitude, the suddenness with which they interrupted their +conversation told him that they had been talking about him. + +"Did you hear me?" demanded Kenneth again. "Where have you been? You +knew there was this packing to be done." + +The man's eyes flashed resentfully, but he replied civilly: + +"Oui, monsieur, but monsieur forgets. Monsieur told me I must go to ze +tailor." + +Kenneth's frown disappeared. Yes, it was true. He had sent him to the +tailor. Quick to make amends for an injustice, he said more amiably: + +"That's right. I had forgotten. What did they say?" + +"Ze suits will be delivered in half hour." + +"Very well. When they come, you will know which trunk to put them in." + +"Oui, monsieur." + +"And then, when my trunks are ready you had better hustle with your own +packing. There's no time to be lost. The steamer sails at 11 o'clock +to-morrow morning." + +"Oui, monsieur." + +Quietly, stealthily, the valet retraced his cat-like steps and opening +the door retired as noiselessly as he had come. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +When the valet had disappeared, Kenneth turned to his wife with a +chuckle. + +"Who was right? You made me scold him for nothing." + +Helen shook her head. + +"I detest the man. There is something crawly and repulsive about him. +I can read evil in his face. Don't trust him, Kenneth. Remember, if +anything goes wrong, don't blame me. I warned you. My instinct seldom +fails." + +Her husband laughed and, advancing, put his arm tenderly around his +wife. + +"I guess I'm able to take care of myself, dear. Don't let's discuss +François any longer. Tell me about yourself. How are you going to +amuse yourself while I'm away?" + +Her head drooped on his breast and once more her eyes filled with +tears. With affected carelessness which cost her a great effort, she +replied: + +"Oh, the time won't hang so heavy on my hands. It never does when one +has resources within oneself. I'll read and ride and sew. I suppose +I'll have plenty to do." + +"Mr. Parker said he would drop in and look after you." + +"Yes--tell him to come and see me very often. He's rather tiresome +with his prosy talk, but he's a dear old soul." + +With a mischievous twinkle in his eye her husband went on: + +"It's not unlikely that Keralio will call, also." + +"I hope not," she said quickly. "I'll soon show him he's not wanted." + +Kenneth laughed. It amused him to see how set she was against the +Italian. He did not know the man any too well. He had met him in a +business way and the fellow had been of service, but he had not the +slightest idea of making a friend of him. He rather suspected he was +an adventurer although, a stranger in New York, no one knew anything +against him. Protestingly he said: + +"It's hardly fair to attack a man because he admires you." + +"He shows his admiration in a most offensive way. If you could see the +way he looks at me sometimes you'd be the first to resent it." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"Oh, you mustn't mind that. It's a way all foreigners have. They ogle +women more from force of habit than any desire to effect a conquest. +Besides, you won't be alone." + +"No, I shall have Ray. She is excellent company--far jollier than +I----" + +Kenneth protested. + +"No, she isn't by a long shot. Ray is all right as sisters-in-law go, +but I'd never change you for her. I'm d----d if I would!" + +Quickly Helen put her white hand over his mouth. With mock severity +she exclaimed: + +"Kenneth! How can you be so profane? I hate to hear such language +from you. Ray is the sweetest thing on earth. It's a shame she never +got married. Oh, don't be uneasy on that score. We'll have a good +time. We'll go to the theater. We'll have teas and little dinner +parties. I'll invite some interesting men to meet her. I'd love to +see her married to some nice man. There's Mr. Steell, for instance. +He's rich, young, has a brilliant future----" + +Kenneth made a grimace. Quickly he retorted: + +"It's you he admires, not Ray. He will accept your invitation--less +with the idea of letting Ray hook him in the matrimonial net, than for +the opportunity it affords for a renewed flirtation with you. Oh, +quite innocent, of course, but still a flirtation. Have I forgotten +what close friends you used to be before I appeared on the scene?" + +"And carried me off, a new Lochinvar come out of the West!" she +laughed. "Oh, Kenneth, how can you be so foolish? It is absolutely +indecent of you. I like Mr. Steell, and I think he likes me, but our +friendship is purely platonic. I never give him a thought, I assure +you." + +"I know you don't, but I'm not so sure about him. He's a man and men +are only human----" + +"He's a gentleman," corrected Helen. "He never forgets that." + +Kenneth gave a grunt of incredulity. Sulkily he said: + +"All right--all right. Have a good time. Marry him to Ray. Perhaps +it's safer that way. When he's my brother-in-law, he'll stop making +sheep's eyes at my wife." + +Helen laughed outright. + +"You silly goose. I never suspected you of having a jealous streak in +your nature. How could I prefer anyone to my handsome Kenneth?" + +As she stood before him, playfully patting his cheek, her glance +alighted on the solitary lock of gray hair in the center of his +forehead. Toying with it, she went on: + +"Isn't it strange that your hair should be white just in that place. I +rather like it. It gives an added note of distinction to your face. I +wonder what caused it." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"That's my trade mark. If ever I'm brought home on a stretcher you'll +know me by that white lock." + +Helen raised her hand in protest. + +"Don't talk that way. Never jest about accidents. Sometimes they +happen." + +"Well--I said nothing. I only said that if you were ever in doubt +about my identity, you would know me by my white lock." + +She smiled, as she patted his cheek lovingly, and said: + +"That would not be necessary, Ken dear. No matter how changed you +looked, what disguise you wore, I should still know you." + +"And if it wasn't me," he laughed, "but only someone who looked like +me?" + +"I could never be mistaken. The ring in the voice, the expression in +the eyes--no woman who really loves could ever be deceived." + +She had drawn nearer to him, her mouth upturned and tempting, her face +with that gentle, wistful expression he was never able to resist. +Throwing his arms impulsively about her, he clasped her passionately to +his breast. + +"Sweetheart," he whispered, "you don't know how dear you are to me!" + +"Nor can you," she replied, as he smothered her with kisses, "ever +realize what you are to me!" + +Suddenly they were interrupted by a sound at the door behind them. +Some one coughed discreetly. Quickly separating, Helen turned round. +In some confusion she exclaimed: + +"Hello, Ray. I thought you were out. When did you come in?" + +"I was out. I have been shopping. I met Mr. Steell in the park and we +had a lovely walk." Slyly she added: "I am afraid I returned too soon. +I see you're both busy." + +"Never too busy for you, Ray," smiled Helen trying to hide her +confusion, while Kenneth grinned broadly. + +The young girl laughed as she flung down on the sofa her muff and fur +neck-piece. Roguishly she said: + +"Lovemaking so early in the day. Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?" + +Kenneth liked to tease his sister-in-law, but the young girl was quite +his equal when it came to a battle of wits and it was not often that +she gave him the opportunity. + +"What time do you do your love making?" he demanded. + +Her cheeks reddened a little as she retorted: + +"I'm never so foolish. I leave that to you married people. My purpose +in life is far more serious." + +"Oh, come now," protested her brother-in-law, "I've noticed you and +Steell spooning often enough." + +Stylishly and tastefully dressed, her face beaming with animation, her +eyes sparkling with intelligence, Kenneth's sister-in-law was a pretty, +wholesome looking girl. She had beautiful blond hair like her sister, +and fine, white teeth that told of good health and perfect digestion. +Helen's junior only by three years, she was still unmarried and for the +present at least seemed more inclined to remain single and partake of +life's pleasures than incur the risks and responsibilities of +matrimony. Not that she had been without offers. A girl as attractive +and clever could hardly have failed to please the sterner sex. All +sorts and conditions of men had prostrated themselves at her tiny, +well-shod feet, but, capricious and headstrong, she would have none of +them. She was what might be called a singular girl. She liked men, +not because of their sex, but because their point of view was +different, their grasp of things stronger than her own. One day she +must marry. She knew that. It was, she insisted laughingly, an +ignoble state of slavery, a humiliating, degrading condition of +subjection to the male which every woman must endure, necessary +perhaps, but an ordeal to be put off, something unpleasant to be +postponed as long as possible, like the taking of a dose of unsavory +physic or having a tooth pulled at the dentist's. Meantime, heart +whole and fancy free, she enjoyed life to the limit and kept her +admirers guessing. + +"Oh, I saw such lovely things in the stores," exclaimed the young girl. +"I wish I had the money to buy them all." + +"You will have when I get back from South Africa," he laughed. + +"Don't forget," she laughed. "I'll hold you to that promise. Helen is +witness." + +"I swear it!" he said with mock solemnity. "You shall have carte +blanche in any Fifth Avenue shop to the amount of--$1.75." + +"Will you be ready in time?" she laughed, looking around with dismay at +the litter of open trunks. + +"I won't, if you stay here chattering like a magpie." + +"What time does the steamer sail?" + +"Eleven o'clock," said Helen. + +"We're all coming to see you off. Mr. Steell told me that he's coming, +too." + +"Not exactly to see me, I'm afraid," smiled Kenneth. + +"Who else?" she retorted. "If you mean me, you're mistaken. He +doesn't need to make the uncomfortable trip to Hoboken to see me." + +Her brother-in-law smiled, amused at her petulance. + +"My dear," he said, "you don't know what hardships a man will endure +for the girl he's sweet on." With mock seriousness he went on: "Say +sis, Helen and I have been having an argument. Who does Steell come +here for--for you or for me?" + +Ray burst into merry laughter. + +"How silly you are, Ken. For me, of course. At least, I flatter +myself that----" With a wink at her sister she added facetiously: "Of +course, one never knows when dealing with these handsome men. And +Helen is quite adorable. If I were a man, I should be crazy about her." + +Helen held up a protesting finger. + +"Don't talk like that, dear, or he'll believe you." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"Yes, I'm as jealous as Othello and quite as dangerous. Don't I look +it?" + +As he spoke, the front door-bell rang downstairs. Ray hastily took up +her things. + +"Here's company!" + +"I hope not!" exclaimed Helen. "I'm in no mood to see anybody." + +"I'll see them," whispered Ray, "and say you're out. It won't be the +first fib I've told." + +She ran lightly out of the room and upstairs, while Helen and her +husband went on with the work of packing. They were just stooping +together over a trunk when there came a rap on the door, and François +appeared. + +"A lady to see monsieur." + +Kenneth looked puzzled. + +"A lady? What lady?" + +Helen laughed merrily. Triumphantly, she exclaimed: + +"It's my turn now to be jealous." + +"Not exactly a lady, monsieur. An elderly person." + +"What's her name?" + +"Mrs. Mary O'Connor." + +Kenneth smiled broadly. + +"Mary O'Connor, my old nurse. Well, well, show her right in." Turning +to his wife he added quickly: "Dear old soul--no doubt she's heard I'm +off to Africa and wishes to say good-bye." + +An instant later an old woman bent with age and with a kindly face +framed with silvery white hair came in, hands outstretched. Without +any air of condescension on his part, Kenneth went forward to greet +her. Through all the long stretch of years, from his boy days to his +manhood he had never forgotten how kind Mary had been to him when a +child, taking the place of the mother he had lost in infancy. A +Christmas was never allowed to pass without a fat turkey for the old +nurse and many a little present of money had accompanied the bird. The +old woman's lips quivered as she said tremulously: + +"It's a long way you're going, Mr. Kenneth." + +"Oh, I'll soon be back, Mary," he rejoined jovially. + +She shook her head. + +"It's a long way and I'm getting old." + +The promoter laughed boisterously. Leading her gently to a chair he +exclaimed: + +"Old! Nonsense; You're just as young to me now as when I first +remember you." + +The old lady smiled. Nodding her head feebly, she replied: + +"When you used to play hide-and-seek with me. When I wanted to put you +to bed you were nowhere to be found." + +Helen laughed while Kenneth protested: + +"Oh, come now, Mary, I wasn't so bad as that." + +"No. You weren't bad--just lively and natural as all healthy children. +You were always a better boy than your brother." + +Helen looked up quickly. + +"Your brother, Kenneth? I never heard you speak of a brother." + +He looked at the old lady in amazement. + +"My brother? What brother?" + +The old lady smiled. + +"That's so--you never knew. You were too young to remember. Yes, you +had a brother--a twin brother. People hardly knew you apart. There +was only one way in which your mother and I could tell." + +"What was that?" demanded the promoter eagerly. + +"He had a scar. He caught his hand in some machinery when a baby and +it left a scar in the index finger of the left hand." + +Transfixed, Kenneth listened open-mouthed. At last breaking the spell, +he exclaimed: + +"I never heard of him. You never spoke of him before." + +"How should you remember?" went on the old woman. "It's many years +ago. Your father and mother are dead. You have no relatives living. +No one knows. But I know." + +"Did he die?" asked Kenneth, deeply interested. + +The old lady nodded affirmatively. + +"I shall never forgive myself. It was my fault. You were playing +together in the garden. I didn't dream either of you could come to +harm. I went into the house for a moment to get something. When I +came back your brother was gone--no trace of him anywhere. We never +saw him again. Your father, heart-broken, offered a fortune for news +of him. The police hunted high and low all over the country. There +was no trace. Some gypsies had passed recently through the town. I +always suspected them. That is thirty years ago and more." + +"So it's not even known if he's dead," interrupted Kenneth eagerly. + +The beldame shook her head sorrowfully, as she answered sagely: + +"Oh, he's dead all right. That's sure. There was money left to him by +your grandfather. For years the lawyers advertised for news of him. +But it was no good. If he'd been alive, he'd have claimed his own." + +"He might still be alive, yet unaware of his identity," broke in Helen, +who was a keenly interested listener. She had been so accustomed to +regard her husband as the only son of parents, both of whom were dead, +that the mere possibility of his having a brother awakened her +curiosity. + +Still under the spell of the old woman's unexpected revelation, Kenneth +had relapsed into a thoughtful silence. The surprising news had +affected him strangely. So--he had had a brother--a twin brother, and +all these years he had been in ignorance of the fact. Yet who could be +nearer or dearer than a twin brother? Together they had lain under the +same mother's heart. Together they had first seen the light and +laughed in the sun. Ah, if he had only lived to be his comrade, his +partner! With a brother at his side, to second him in his hazardous +enterprises, he felt he would indeed be invincible. He could have +conquered the world! + +The old nurse held out a withered hand, and her eyes were moist with +tears as she said: + +"Good-bye, Mr. Kenneth. A safe journey to you. Keep out of danger. +I'll be praying for the Lord to watch over you." + +Helen turned away so they might not see her emotion. Kenneth laughed +lightly as he kissed the old woman's cheek, and then, slipping a bank +note into her hand, he said carelessly: + +"All right, Mary, I'll be careful. I'll come back safe and +sound,--never fear, and I'll bring you something nice,--perhaps a big +diamond. Out in South Africa they pick 'em up like stones." + +The old woman's eyes opened incredulously. + +"Really, Mr. Kenneth?" + +"Yes, really. Diamonds as big as apples. They're found every day. +When I come back I'll have all sorts of adventures to tell you about. +Who knows? I might even run across this twin-brother of mine. +Stranger things have happened." + +"Diamonds as big as apples," she echoed. "Do you mean that, Mr. +Kenneth?" + +He laughed. + +"Indeed I do! Some of the gems are as big as cocoanuts. Didn't you +hear of that wonderful diamond we found the other day? It's worth a +million dollars." + +The old woman opened her eyes and gaped with astonishment. + +"A million dollars, Mr. Kenneth!" + +"Yes, a million dollars. What's more, I'll soon be able to show it to +you, Mary. My trip out to South Africa is ostensibly for the purpose +of negotiating for more land. The real purpose of my journey is to +bring home this astonishing stone." + +"But how will you carry it, Mr. Kenneth? A stone worth a million +dollars must be big as a house." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"No--no, Mary. It can easily go in my waistcoat pocket. But for +safety's sake it won't. I don't mind letting you into my confidence. +I'm to have a secret bottom made in----" + +Before he could complete the sentence, Helen quickly clapped her hand +over his mouth, and he had not yet recovered from his astonishment when +she sprang to the door and opened it. The movement was so sudden and +unexpected that a man who had been leaning against it, fell all his +length into the room. It was François, the French valet. + +"_Excusez_," he stammered, "I stumbled." + +Kenneth stared first at the servant, then at his wife. Slowly he began +to comprehend. Turning to the Frenchman he demanded angrily: + +"What were you doing behind that door?" + +"_Excusez_. I came back to ask monsieur how many shirts I pack." + +Thoroughly aroused, the promoter pointed to the door. Sternly he said: + +"Get out of here--you fool! If you don't know your business, I'll get +some one else who does." + +The Frenchman beat a rapid retreat. There was a malevolent look on his +face, but he murmured respectfully enough: + +"_Oui, monsieur_." + +Kenneth turned to his wife. + +"What did he come back for?" he demanded. + +"He was listening--behind the door," she replied calmly. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The dirty, sullen waters of the harbor washed lazily against the black, +precipitous sides of the giant liner which, under a full head of steam, +vibrated with suppressed energy, straining at mighty cables as if +impatient to start on her long and hazardous voyage across the tumbling +seas. A raw, piercing northeaster, howling dismally above the +monotonous creaking and puffing of the donkey-engine, swept through the +cheerless, draughty dock, chilling the spectators to the marrow. The +sun, vainly trying to break through the banks of leaden-colored clouds, +cast a grayish pall over land and sky. A day it was of sinister +portent, that could not fail to have a depressing effect on sailor and +landlubber alike. + +Yet unpropitious skies and chilly wind did not appear to keep people at +home. The steamer was crowded, both with those who were sailing and +those who were not. The gangways, staterooms were overrun not only by +passengers, but by all sorts of visitors curious to get a glimpse of +the luxurious liner. The first-class saloon, heaped high on all sides +with American Beauty roses and orchids, looked as gay and full of color +as a florist's shop. + +"Isn't it perfectly stunning? How I adore ships!" exclaimed Ray, eager +to see everything. + +Keeping close together, the two young women with difficulty elbowed +their way through the excited throng. They were anxious to rejoin +Kenneth whom they had left in the stateroom giving instructions to +François, and they began to be afraid they might lose him in the crush. +Delighted at everything she saw, Ray could not contain herself. + +"Oh, how I wish I were going! Why doesn't Ken take me?" + +Helen turned to her in mock despair. + +"If you went, what would I do? Who would take care of me?" + +"I would," said a masculine voice close by. + +The women turned quickly. + +A tall, fair man still in his thirties, had stopped and raised his hat. + +"Why, it's Mr. Steell!" exclaimed Ray, her pleasure at the meeting +betraying itself in the tone of her voice. + +"Do you doubt my ability to take care of you? Could any man wish for a +more congenial task?" + +"Flatterer!" laughed Helen. Cordially she added: "I'm awfully glad to +see you. It was very good of you to come and see Ken off." + +"Nonsense," exclaimed the newcomer. "I wanted to come--if only to make +sure he wouldn't change his mind. I'm as anxious to see those diamonds +as you are." + +"Hush!" said Helen putting up her finger to her mouth while Ray's +attention was momentarily diverted elsewhere. "No one knows--not even +Ray. It's a great secret." + +An anxious look passed over the young man's face. He hadn't approved +of this South African trip. It was wholly unnecessary. In his opinion +his old chum was taking a great risk. + +"That's right," he muttered. "You can't be too careful." + +In metropolitan legal circles Wilbur Steell was looked upon as the +coming man. His success in the courts had given him a wide reputation +before he was five and thirty, and his gifts as a public speaker, his +strong, aggressive personality made more than one political leader +anxious to secure his services. Already he was mentioned as district +attorney. Even the Governorship might have been his for the asking. +But he showed no liking for politics. His sympathies leaned more +towards the literary, intellectual life. Having all the money he +needed, he preferred to keep out of the social and political maelstrom, +leading a quiet life, following his own tastes and inclinations. +Match-making mammas saw in him a prize, but so far he had shown no +disposition to marry. He cultivated few people, in fact, was +considered somewhat of a misanthrope. Kenneth he had known all his +life. They were boys together, and the Traynors were among the few on +whom he called frequently. He made no secret of his attraction for +Ray, and the young girl liked him as well as she chose to like anybody. +He had qualities, not usually met with in successful men, that made a +strong appeal to her--fine ideals, and a purpose in life. She liked +his seriousness, finding him different in this respect from any other +man she knew. She felt he admired her, but he did not make love to her +and she was grateful to him for that. She liked his society and never +tired of discussing with him sociology and other subjects in which both +were interested. + +"When does the steamer sail?" interrupted Ray anxiously, as if afraid +that they might go off with her on board. + +"In half an hour," said the lawyer. "They ring a warning bell. There +is plenty of time. Where's Kenneth?" + +"Down below in his stateroom--wrestling with baggage," replied Helen. +"He said he would join us here." + +"Well, suppose we sit down a bit," he suggested. + +"Yes--that will be jolly," exclaimed Ray. + +The lawyer pulled up three steamer chairs and sitting down, they +watched the crowd which had already begun to thin out. The novelty of +the scene held both women fascinated. The constant bustle and +excitement, the going and coming of well-groomed men and women, the +little scraps of conversation overheard, interested them both beyond +measure. Helen studied each individual couple, wondering who they +were, how long married, if they were happy, where they were going to. +She wondered if that coarse, loudly dressed woman really cared for her +husband, or if this brutal looking man with insolent stare of the +libertine, illtreated his delicate little wife. She herself could not +understand marriage without genuine affection on both sides. Any such +intimate relation as the marriage tie involved must surely be repellent +and abhorrent to any self-respecting woman unless love were there to +sanction and sanctify it. + +Ray glanced at her sister and laughed. + +"Why so serious, Helen? He hasn't gone yet." + +Helen sighed. + +"But he soon will be. I wish he were here instead of downstairs." + +Ray protested. + +"Please be nautically correct. Remember we are on a ship. You don't +say 'downstairs'; you say 'below.'" + +Mr. Steell turned round with a smile. + +"I had no idea you were so well posted in sailor's parlance." + +The young girl laughed. + +"Oh, you don't know half my accomplishments. I'm cleverer than you +give me credit for." + +The young man leaned half over the chair as he whispered: + +"I wouldn't dare tell you how clever I think you." + +"Why?" + +"Because--of my own peace of mind." + +Helen broke in on the conversation. Addressing the lawyer, she said: + +"Now Kenneth is away, we shall expect you to come to the house very +often." + +The lawyer bowed. + +"It's always a pleasure to call." + +"Be sure to come next Sunday evening. I expect some friends. We'll +have some music." + +"May I bring someone?" + +"Certainly. Any friend of yours is welcome." + +"Who is it?" asked Ray impertinently. "Male or female?" + +"I believe it's a male," smiled the lawyer. "It looks like a male and +talks like one." More seriously he went on: "His name is Dick +Reynolds. He has just passed his bar examination and is practicing +temporarily in my office. His people live out West and being alone +here, he is glad enough to have somewhere to go." + +"Bring him by all means," exclaimed Ray. "Has he any +accomplishments--apart from being a male?" + +"Yes--he plays the piano indifferently, and tennis admirably. He swims +like a fish, and can run like a hare. But his best accomplishment is a +gift that one seldom sees developed----" + +"What is that?" exclaimed both his listeners at once. + +"He is a born detective--a regular Sherlock Holmes in real life. I +have tested him several times with extraordinary results. I have given +him the most difficult cases to unravel. He has found the solution in +every one." + +Ray clapped her hands. + +"Oh, I love that," she said. "Don't forget to invite him. Only the +trouble is we have nothing to unravel." + +"I have a skein of silk," interrupted Helen facetiously. + +Suddenly the lawyer stopped speaking and quickly sitting up in his +chair stared intently in the distance at a face in the crowd which had +caught his eye. + +"Who is it?" demanded Ray, her woman's jealousy aroused. + +"I may be mistaken," he replied, "but I thought I saw your friend +Signor Keralio." + +Helen looked up quickly. + +"My friend?" she exclaimed. "He's no friend of mine. I wonder what +he's doing here. He can't be sailing." + +"He's up to no good, I wager that," growled the lawyer. + +"You don't like him either, do you?" smiled Ray. + +"Does anyone?" he answered. "I don't see how Kenneth can have anything +to do with such a cheap type of adventurer." + +Helen hastened to explain. + +"Ken doesn't care for him at all, only they are both interested in the +same business deal--a silver mine in Mexico. Ken bought stock and +Keralio is the only man he knows connected with it. That's why." + +The lawyer gave vent to a grunt of disgust. + +"If Keralio has anything to do with it, good-bye to Ken's money. In my +opinion the fellow's a crook." + +Suddenly Helen pointed to a spot away down at the other end of the deck. + +"Yes--you're right--there he is--behind that third lifeboat. He's +talking to some one." + +The lawyer looked in the direction indicated. + +"Yes--and do you see the secretive way in which they're talking--hiding +behind that boat, as if so that no one might see them. They're +plotting some mischief, you may be sure of that. Who's the other +fellow?" + +Helen strained her eyes to see. + +"I can't see his face. Oh, yes I can--why--it's our +François--Kenneth's valet. What can they be talking about? I don't +trust that valet. Only the other day I caught him reading some +letters. I warned Ken about him; but he insists he is faithful--I +wonder what they can have in common? He used to be in Signor Keralio's +employ." + +The lawyer shook his head ominously. Gravely he said: + +"That fellow Keralio will bear watching. I think I'll put my Sherlock +Holmes on his track." + +Ray laughed. + +"Oh, that would be exciting--a drama in real life. Please do----" + +"Good morning, ladies!" said a voice close at hand. "Good morning, Mr. +Steell." + +All looked up. A tall, elderly man with white hair, distinguished +looking and fashionably dressed, had stopped. + +"Why, it's Mr. Parker!" exclaimed Helen holding out her hand. "You +came to see Kenneth off?" + +"Yes--where is he?" + +"In his stateroom--attending to his baggage. He'll be here directly." + +"I must see him at once." + +"Anything important?" + +"Very important, indeed," replied the newcomer. + +Helen jumped up, all flushed from excitement. + +"Please tell me what it is?" she exclaimed. + +The old gentleman drew a telegram from his pocket. + +"I've just received this from our agent in Cape Town. Another diamond +of extraordinary size has been picked up. It weighs over 2,000 carats +and is calculated to be worth five hundred thousand dollars. That's +the second stone of extraordinary size that we have found. Possibly +there is some exaggeration in the reports, but there is no doubt +whatever that we are on the verge of discoveries little short of +sensational. Meantime, the treasury of the Americo-African Mining +Company has been enriched by at least a million. When Kenneth returns +to New York with these wonderful gems in his possession, there is +likely to be a boom in the company's shares." + +The old gentleman spoke glibly, even eloquently and it was obvious that +he was sincere and not talking for effect. It was, indeed, largely due +to his distinguished air, and fine oratorical powers that Cornelius +Winthrop Parker had been elected president of the Americo-African +Mining Company, with fine offices in New York and London and +stockholders in every country under the sun. Trained for the ministry +and enjoying a wide acquaintance but a slim income, he had found the +business of stock company promotion more profitable than preaching the +gospel, and when Traynor had first gone to him with the suggestion that +a company be formed to take up the large tract of Transvaal land where +precious stones had actually been found he was not slow to grasp at the +unusual opportunity. He managed cleverly the preliminary publicity +campaign. The company was promptly organized and successfully floated, +the public snapping as eagerly at the shares as a fish at the bait. It +was only logical to infer, therefore, that when Kenneth returned to New +York with actual proof of the company's suddenly acquired wealth in his +possession, the stock would soar above par. With this pleasing +prospect in view, it was not surprising that Mr. Parker wore to-day his +most engaging smile. + +Ray looked up in surprise. + +"What!" she exclaimed. "Kenneth to bring home the diamonds? This is +the first I heard of it. Helen never told me." + +"Hush!" said Mr. Parker, holding up his handy warningly. "Some one +might hear you." Continuing, he said blandly: + +"Of course not, my dear lady, of course not. Your sister is far too +discreet and clever a woman to disclose her husband's plans to the +world. There are some things a man must keep secret from +everyone--even from his wife. It would have been the height of folly +to make any such announcement from the housetops. The highways are +full of rogues; even the walls have ears. Some crook might have +learned of our plans and acted accordingly. Kenneth might be followed +to South Africa, shadowed till he has the gems in his possession and +then waylaid and murdered. Remember, he will have stones in his +waistcoat pocket worth a million. Do you suppose desperate men will +stop at anything to secure such a prize?" + +Ray turned to her sister. + +"Did you know?" + +Helen nodded. + +"Yes, and it has made me very unhappy. It is terrible that he is +taking such risks." Turning to Mr. Parker she asked apprehensively: +"Do you think he will run any danger?" + +The old gentleman shook his head. + +"Of course not, my dear lady. It is preposterous to even think of such +a thing. We have kept the matter too secret. Don't be uneasy. He +will come to no harm." Raising his hat, he added: "Excuse me, ladies. +I'll go and find Kenneth and bring him to you." + +The next instant he was swallowed up by the crowd. + +Helen, uneasy at her husband's prolonged absence, suggested that they +go below and join him. + +Suddenly a stentorian voice called out: + +"All ashore--all ashore!" + +Quickly, Helen jumped to her feet, only to bump into Kenneth, who at +that moment ran up, followed by Mr. Parker. + +"All ashore, dear," he said hastily, "you had better go." + +She made no reply, but averted her head so he might not see her red +eyes. + +All about them the bustle and excitement was bewildering. People +pushed this way and that in their efforts to reach the gangway. + +The siren sounded its last deep toned blasts of warning; the final +greetings were exchanged. + +Tall and handsome looking in his tourist knicker-bockers and close +fitting steamer cap, Kenneth held both Helen's hands in his. Ray and +Mr. Parker, under the pretence of visiting the anchor weighed, had +discreetly withdrawn. François, the valet, could be seen in the +distance, making signals to some one on shore. Husband and wife were +standing alone behind one of the big ventilators, Helen glad that no +one saw them, ashamed that anyone should detect the big tears she was +unable to control. How she had dreaded this moment of actual parting, +this ordeal of saying good-bye! + +"You'll write every day, won't you?" she asked in choking voice. + +Tenderly he drew her to him. + +"Every day, sweetheart." + +"And you'll come back safe to me?" + +"I'll come back safe to you." + +Bravely she forced back the tears that blinded her. Gently she +murmured: + +"I'll wait for you, Kenneth. I shall count the days, every moment, +until you return. I never realized till now how much we are to each +other. I'll pray for you, Kenneth; I'll pray God that He watch over +and protect you." + +He said nothing, but drew her toward him. Looking searchingly into her +eyes, he said half in jest, half in earnest: + +"You'll be true, always true!" + +Gravely she answered: + +"Always--until death!" + +"You'll look at no other man." + +"How can you be so foolish, Ken dear? I see no one but you. I hear no +voice but yours. You are my life, my soul. When you return you'll +find me here, at this same dock, arms outstretched, waiting, just +waiting." + +The bell rang. + +"All ashore! All ashore!" + +He bent low. His mouth met hers in one deep, lingering kiss. + +"God bless you, darling." + +"Good-bye, Ken, good-bye." + +The next thing she knew she was back on the dock among a crowd of +spectators waving hats and handkerchiefs--the women weeping, the men +shouting and gesticulating. + +The passengers stood at the rail, waving frantic adieux in return. The +siren sounded deep-toned blasts of warning to the smaller river craft +to get out of the way. The huge vessel strained and trembled, +vibrating more violently as she gradually began to glide into the open. +Assisted by a fleet of energetic tugs she finally swung clear and +pointed her nose eastward. Slowly, majestically, the leviathan moved +out to sea. + +It was bad enough to see him go at all, but to have him sail on such a +gloomy day as this, with not a ray of sunshine to cheer him on the way, +was more than Helen could bear. Blinded by tears she stood kissing her +hand to the familiar figure now only faintly discernible on the fast +receding steamship, and she stood there long after every one else had +left the dock watching until the _Mauretania_ was only a speck in the +horizon. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Sunday evenings at Mrs. Traynor's were always enjoyable. No formal +invitations were issued. Friends just dropped in as they felt +inclined. There was good music, excellent tea _à la Russe_ and always +a number of interesting people. + +To-night, the second Sunday since Kenneth went away, promised to be +duller than usual. Mr. Steell was there, of course, and he had brought +Dick Reynolds, a slightly built, shrewd looking young man with glasses, +who kept everybody amused with exciting stories of the underworld. +Yet, for all the animation, there was an atmosphere of gloom in the +air, an indefinable sense of depression which all felt and could not +explain. The lawyer, Dick, and Ray were in a corner carrying on an +animated discussion. Helen, her mind preoccupied, her thoughts +hundreds of miles away with the loved absent one, sat quietly at the +piano, running her fingers lightly over the keys, her thoughts many +leagues distant with the man who had carried her heart away with him. + +Her face was pale, her expression grave. Why had Kenneth's going away +affected her like this? She had not had a moment's peace of mind since +his departure. She could not sleep. Horrible dreams and thoughts +haunted her all night. Some danger threatened, that she felt +instinctively. Something dreadful was going to happen. What it was, +she did not know. But it was something that threatened her happiness, +perhaps her life or Kenneth's----. At the mere thought a shiver ran +through her, and a convulsive sob rose in her throat, almost choking +her. Not until this moment had she fully realized how much she loved +him. + +A sudden burst of laughter at the other end of the room aroused her +from her reverie. Looking up, she asked: + +"What are you all so amused about?" + +Ray smiled as she replied: + +"We're arguing about dual personalities. Mr. Steell insists that there +is no such thing. Mr. Reynolds agrees with him. He is wrong of +course. I know of several well-authenticated cases, and the medical +records are there to back me up." + +"Exactly what do you mean by dual personality?" demanded the lawyer. + +Ray returned to the attack, while Helen, amused, rose from the piano +and went over to listen to the argument. + +"I mean that a person we know well may suddenly cease being that person +and assume a personality entirely different." + +Mr. Steell laughed derisively. + +"Does the patient change her or his skin?" + +"No, the change is wholly mental. Although in fact, the new mental +attitude does result in certain physical modifications. For instance, +a person who in his normal condition may be most punctilious and neat +in his dress is likely to become unkempt and slovenly in the new +character he unconsciously assumes." + +"Have you ever encountered any such dual personalities?" + +"Personally, no. But I have heard of them, and physicians often +encounter them in their practice." + +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders as he turned to Helen. + +"What do you think about it?" he asked, with an incredulous smile. + +"About what?" + +"These so-called dual personalities." + +Before his hostess could answer, the drawing-room door opened and Mr. +Parker entered. Helen rose and went forward to greet the president of +the Americo-African Mining Company. + +"Oh, Mr. Parker, how are you? I am so glad you came to see us." + +The visitor advanced smiling into the room. With a salute to all +present, he asked cheerily: + +"Well, what news of the wanderer?" + +Helen sighed. + +"None as yet." + +The visitor chuckled as he crossed the room to shake hands with Ray and +Mr. Steell. + +"Oh, well you must be patient. He'll soon be there, and then we shall +hear wonderful tales." + +"What's the latest news from the seat of war--I mean the mines?" asked +Ray roguishly. + +Mr. Parker smiled. + +"Everything is going well, thank you." + +"No new big finds?" demanded Mr. Steell. + +The president laughed. Shaking his head, he said: + +"We can't expect to make such finds every day. If we often picked up +stones of that size, we'd soon own all the wealth in the world." + +"More likely," retorted Ray quickly, "that diamonds would become so +cheap that children would buy them for marbles." + +Mr. Steell looked interested. + +"What is the real market value of the two big gems you have already +picked up?" + +The president looked at him for a moment in silence. Then, slowly, he +said: + +"A very conservative estimate is $1,200,000 for both stones. They are +the purest white. There are larger stones in the world, but none of +finer quality." + +"What do you expect to do with them?" + +"First, they will be brought here and exhibited in their crude state. +You can easily realize the value to our company of such a gigantic +advertisement. Crowds will flock to see the wonderful crystals. The +newspapers all over the country will give them the widest publicity. +After everybody has seen them, we shall probably send them to Amsterdam +to be cut." + +"Then, what will you do with them?" + +"To tell you the truth, we have not made up our minds. Such very large +stones have really no commercial value. Take for instance the famous +Cullinan, the wonder of the modern world. That gem was so huge that it +was of no real value to the owners; so, unable to realize on it +themselves, they induced the Transvaal government to buy it and present +it to the King of England. We shall try to be a little more practical. +Our first duty is to our stockholders. We shall probably have the +stones cut up into a number of smaller stones, on which we shall be +able to realize a large sum. It's a rare stroke of good fortune for +us." + +Helen had said nothing, but stood listening in silence. It was less of +the money involved in the adventure that she was thinking than of her +husband's safety. + +"Suppose Kenneth loses the gems?" she faltered. + + The old gentleman laughed. + +"There's no fear of him losing them. He may have to fight for them, +but he'll never lose them I know him too well for that." + +Helen's eyes opened wide. + +"He may have to fight for them," she echoed. "Do you mean that?" + +"No--no, of course not," said the president hastily. "No one will even +know he has them in his possession. We have kept the matter very +quiet." + +Mr. Steell shrugged his shoulders. Drily he said: + +"Oh, I guess Ken is big enough to take care of himself. It does look +as if it were tempting Providence to carry loose on one's person +valuables for so large an amount, but it's hardly likely that any of +the denizens of the underworld know of his departure. Still less that +he is carrying a million loose in his clothes. I don't see that +there's any reason to worry." + +"That's precisely my opinion," said a musical voice immediately behind +them. + +All started and looked up. Everyone had been so intent on the +conversation that they had not noticed a man who had entered the room. + +He was a tall, dark-complexioned man of five and thirty with strong, +stern features, which, in repose, were actually forbidding. The mouth, +partly concealed by a long, bristling moustache, was firm, suggesting +relentless will power, and his eyes, restless, keen and searching, had +taken in every person there long before anyone was aware of his +presence. He was fashionably, even elegantly dressed, and on his left +hand he wore a solitaire of uncommon size and luster. His hair, +carefully curled, scented and parted, was extraordinarily dark, +contrasting sharply with the unusual pallor of his face. He spoke low +and musically, with a slight foreign accent. + +Helen started involuntarily on hearing the sound of his voice, and a +cloud passed momentarily over her face. It lasted only a moment. She +was too tactful, too much the woman of the world not to greet with at +least apparent cordiality any visitor under her roof, no matter how +unwelcome he might really be. Turning quickly, she advanced and held +out her hand. + +"How do you do, Signor Keralio? How you startled us! I did not hear +you come in." + +The newcomer's black eyes flashed, and his thin lips parted in a smile +as he bent low and ceremoniously kissed his hostess' hand in +continental fashion. Fond, as are most men of the Latin race, of +making extravagant compliments, he murmured softly: + +"Your tiny ears, Madam, were not intended to distinguish such gross +sounds as ordinary mortal's footsteps. Dainty and delicately fashioned +as the shells strewn along the beach, they were modeled only to listen +to the gods or re-echo the music of the murmuring sea." Apologetically +he added: + +"But I'm afraid I intrude. Possibly you discuss family affairs----" + +A look of annoyance crossed Helen's face. Quickly withdrawing her +hand, she said: + +"Oh, not at all. We were only talking about my husband. You know he +sailed for South Africa two weeks ago. This is Mr. Steell, Signor +Keralio. I think you know my sister. Mr. Parker--Signor Keralio." + +The old gentleman nodded affably, and, putting on his glass, +scrutinized the newcomer narrowly. The president of the +Americo-African Mining Company had always made it a point not to +neglect any chance introduction. He had no idea who the visitor was, +but he looked prosperous. Possibly with a little careful manipulation, +he might be induced to invest in some A. A. M. stock. Holding out his +hand, he said affably: + +"Signor Keralio---- Let me see. Where have I heard that name before?" + +Ray came to the rescue. + +"Signor Keralio is the well-known fencing master." + +A look of disappointment came over the president's face. Only a +fencing master? Ugh! He was hardly worth bothering about. He +wondered whether the business were profitable and if all fencing +masters dressed like millionaires and had such polished manners. Helen +explained: + +"Signor Keralio is a friend of my husband. Kenneth enjoys fencing, and +Signor Keralio is his teacher." + +"Oh, yes, to be sure," smiled Mr. Parker. "Capital idea--splendid +exercise. I'd try it myself, only I'm afraid I'd do my adversary some +injury." + +The Italian gave a low chuckle. With veiled irony, he said: + +"Monsieur is right. He no doubt has a good eye, a supple wrist. An +encounter might be very unpleasant for his opponent." + +Ray, unable to control her mirth, hastily beat a retreat, followed more +leisurely by Mr. Steell, and taking refuge at the far end of the room +sat down at the piano, and began to play softly a Chopin nocturne. + +Waving the newcomer to a seat, Mr. Parker offered him a cigar, which +the fencing master, with a courteous bow, asked his hostess' permission +to smoke. + +"By all means," she said, "and with your permission I'll leave you +gentlemen alone a few moments. I have a letter to finish. It must go +tonight to catch the boat." + +"It's to your husband, I wager," said Keralio, with a sardonic smile. + +"An easy guess," she retorted. "I write him every day." + +The fencing master gave a sigh as he exclaimed: + +"Ah, such devotion is truly beautiful! Why have I never known such +love as that?" + +"Perhaps you never deserved it!" she retorted. + +Mr. Parker chuckled. + +"That's what we in the American vernacular call 'a knock-out.'" + +Helen laughed lightly. There was a swish of silken petticoats, and she +disappeared in an alcove, where she sat down at a desk. Keralio looked +after her with undisguised admiration and puffed his cigar in silence +for a few moments. Then he said: + +"It's a big job which you and Traynor are doing out there in South +Africa. I see by the papers that you've already made some valuable +finds." + +He appeared unconcerned, and looked narrowly at his _vis à vis_ to see +what effect his words had on him, possibly to draw him out. But Mr. +Parker was too old a bird to be caught napping, even by a clever +adventurer. Instantly on his guard, he said carelessly: + +"The outlook is very bright, very promising indeed. Our stockholders +are quite satisfied, and it is likely that we shall make good money. +But of course everything is in the experimental stage as yet." + +"But you have found diamonds--big diamonds?" + +"Oh, yes," replied the president with affected carelessness; "we have +picked up a few stones. As I told you, the prospects are very +promising." + +"But haven't you recently made some extraordinary finds?" + +Mr. Parker shook his head. + +"No--nothing worth mentioning.'" + +Keralio smiled skeptically. + +"Isn't your memory somewhat at fault, cher monsieur? Surely you +haven't forgotten the two stones of enormous size just picked up--finds +of sensational importance. The newspapers have been full of the story." + +Mr. Parker made a deprecatory gesture. + +"Pshaw! My dear sir, you ought to know what newspaper talk is worth! +No yarn is too fantastic to print so long as it sells their papers. We +found two stones of fair size, it is true, but to say that they are of +priceless value is a gross exaggeration." + +The Italian eyed his companion closely. Significantly he said: + +"They're valuable enough, however, to justify you in refusing to trust +their shipment to ordinary channels and in going to the expense of +sending to South Africa one of your officers to whom is confided the +task of bringing the gems home." + +"How did you know that?" demanded Mr. Parker, surprised. + +"There is very little I do not know," smiled Keralio ironically, as he +blew a ring of cigar smoke up to the ceiling. + +His curiosity aroused, the president of the A. A. M. Co. was about to +question his companion farther, but at that moment Helen rose from the +desk and came toward them. + +"I'm not in the humor to write now," she said. "I'd rather talk." +Sitting in a chair near them, she added quickly: "Won't you let me get +you some tea?" + +Both men shook their heads. Mr. Parker rose. With a mischievous +twinkle in his eye, he said: + +"I'll go over to the others and take a hand at bridge. I want to make +some money, Signor--I'll leave you to entertain Mrs. Traynor." + +With a courteous salutation to his hostess, a graceful act of +chivalrous politeness of which he was a past master, Mr. Parker crossed +the room in the direction of the card table. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +An awkward silence followed the president's departure. Helen would +have detained him had she dared. Being alone with Keralio was very +distasteful to her. Ill at ease in such close proximity to this man, +whom she feared even more than she disliked, she sat still without +saying a word. Presently between puffs of his cigar, he said: + +"You really don't mind my smoking?" + +"Oh, not at all." + +He bowed and again relapsed into silence. She looked at him sideways +and wondered why this foreigner had always inspired her with such +dislike. His manner was courteous, and he was decidedly handsome. He +had white teeth and fine eyes. They were bold eyes, but so were the +eyes of other men. They had a habit of looking a woman through and +through. She always felt embarrassed under his close scrutiny. It +seemed to her as if he were undressing her mentally and took pleasure +in surveying critically and admirably every part of her as a +connoisseur examines a statue. She had an uncomfortable feeling when +near him. She was afraid to look straight in his eyes, afraid that +possibly he might be able to throw some spell over her, exert some +hypnotic influence that she would not be able to resist. She +considered him a seductive, dangerous man, the kind of man every pure +woman, every wife who wishes to remain faithful to her marriage vows +should avoid. + +Suddenly while she was looking at him, he turned his head toward her. +Before she could prevent it their eyes met. + +He did not avert his gaze, but kept his eyes fixed on hers as if trying +to awaken in her some of his own ardor. She tried to look away, but +she could not. He seemed to hold her there by sheer force of will +power. Frightened, she started to tremble in every limb. Yet, to her +astonishment, she had no feeling of anger or resentment. It seemed +quite natural that this man should gaze at her in this intimate, +caressing way. She found herself taking pleasure in it. Her vanity +was gratified. If he looked at her so persistently, it must be that he +thought her pretty. Her face began to burn, her bosom heaved, a +strange sensation that heretofore only her husband had been able to +arouse, came over her. And still his eyes were on hers, caressing, +voluptuous. + +At the other end of this room the game of bridge was still in progress. +Ray was winning, as usual, and amusing the men with her wit and +vivaciousness. Mr. Steell had glanced over in their direction several +times, and he saw enough to convince him that the attentions of the +fencing master were unwelcome to their hostess. Had he caught Helen's +eye, had she made the slightest sign that she was being annoyed, he +would have instantly left the game and gone over to the window, if only +to break up the tête-à-tête, but she did not once look up. Suddenly he +remembered what had been suggested on the boat. It was an idea. Ray +at that moment got up to get some tea, and, profiting by the +opportunity, the lawyer leaned over and whispered: + +"Say, Dick, you see that chap over there." + +The young man looked up. + +"Who--the signor?" + +"Yes. What do you know about him?" + +"Nothing good--although nothing very bad for that matter. He's a dark +horse--keeps pretty much to himself. He's well known in the gay +resorts, in the gambling houses and where they play the ponies." + +"What's his reputation?" + +"He's known as a liberal spender. He's always flashing big rolls of +money----" + +"Where does he get it--not from the fencing school?" + +"No--that's only a blind." + +The lawyer lowered his voice. + +"Dick, my boy, that fellow will bear watching, and you're the man to do +it." + +"You want him shadowed?" + +"Yes--find out where he goes, who he knows. My opinion is that he +belongs to an international band of crooks--possibly counterfeiters, +smugglers, or blackmailers. If you land him behind the bars you'll +deserve well of your country." + +Dick glanced once or twice in the direction of the object of their +conversation, who, quite unconscious of their scrutiny, was still +talking earnestly to Helen. The young man smiled, his chest expanded +with satisfaction, and grimly he said: + +"Leave him to me." + +Quite unconscious of the attention he attracted, the Italian turned to +Helen. + +"You miss your husband very much?" + +"Yes--terribly." + +"It must be lonely for you." + +"It is," she sighed. + +"Yet you have your sister." + +"Can a sister replace a husband?" + +He gave a low, musical laugh. + +"No--not a sister. A lover is preferable." + +Quickly she retorted: + +"My husband is my lover---my lover is my husband." + +He laughed, as he said: + +"It sounds very pretty, but you must admit that it is rather banal." + +"In what way?" + +He flecked the ash from his cigar. + +"You are too pretty, too charming a woman to be commonplace. Really it +spoils you----" + +Ignoring his compliments, she persisted. + +"Do you mean I am commonplace because I call Kenneth my lover. What +other lover should I or any other woman happily married have? I am +faithful to him--he is loyal to me." + +He gave a little mocking laugh, and was silent. How she hated him for +that laugh! After a pause he said quietly and suggestively: + +"I am sure you are faithful to him----" + +For a moment she looked at him without speaking, eager to resent the +implied imputation on her husband, yet unwilling to give the slanderer +the satisfaction of seeing that his thrust had carried home. +Concealing as best she could her growing irritation, she said calmly: + +"Don't you suppose _he_ also is faithful to me?" + +Again that horrible, cynical smile. Fixing her with his piercing dark +eyes, and, in a manner, the significance of which could not escape her, +he said: + +"Don't seek to know too much, Madam. To paraphrase a famous saying: +'It's a wise woman who knows her own husband.'" + +Coloring with anger, she said: + +"You mean----" + +"Just what I say--that a woman, a wife cannot possibly be sure of her +husband's fidelity. Think how different are the conditions. The wife, +no matter if her temperament be warm or cold, is always at home, +surrounded by prying eyes, rarely beset by temptation. The husband is +often away, he goes on business journeys that free him temporarily from +the chains which keep him in good behavior. If he is good looking, the +women look at him, flirt with him. It is inevitable. The chances are +that he succumbs to the first adventure--no matter how exemplary a +husband he may be at home. If he is a man--of unusual character, he +passes through the fire unscathed; if he is--just a man, he is +attracted to the candle like the proverbial moth and sometimes singes +his wings----" + +She looked at him keenly for a moment as if trying to read on his +sphinx-like face if he knew more about Kenneth than he admitted, and +then with forced calmness she said: + +"In your opinion, Signor Keralio--is my husband a man--of unusual +character, or is he--just a man?" + +The Italian shrugged his shoulders as he replied deprecatingly: + +"My dear madam, just stop and think a moment. Isn't that a rather +indiscreet question to put to a man--a man who is a friend of your +husband----" + +Hotly she turned on him. + +"If you are his friend, why do you vilify and slander him behind his +back?" + +Keralio lifted up his long slender hands in pious protest. + +"I vilify--my best friend---- Oh, my dear Mrs. Traynor--you have quite +misunderstood me. I am a foreigner. Perhaps it is that I express +myself ill." + +She shook her head skeptically. Firmly she said: + +"No, Signor Keralio--you express yourself quite plainly. Now, I'll be +equally frank with you. I confess there is one thing I do not +understand. I have never understood it. I do not understand why my +husband, a man so honorable, so straightforward in his dealings, a man +so free from intrigue or reckless adventures, so regular, methodical +and temperate in his habits, a man so entirely apart from the reckless, +immoral kind of life you hint at, should have made a friend of +_you_----" + +The Italian raised his eyebrows, but there was only an amused smile on +his bloodless lips as he said with a mock bow: + +"Thank you, madam. You are very flattering." + +"No--I mean it. I don't want to seem unkind, but your temperament and +my husband's are as wide apart as the poles." + +He opened wide his eyes as he asked, + +"In what particular, _s'il vous plait_?" + +"Kenneth is frank, outspoken. He is not the type of man who takes rash +risks. He is very conservative, scrupulously honest. He has fine +ideals. While you----" + +He laughed loudly. + +"I? I am secretive, cunning, reckless, materialistic--is that it, +madam?" + +"I did not say so, but since you draw your portrait so well----" + +He bit his lip. This girl with the flaxen hair and large lustrous eyes +was more than a match for him in a battle of wits. He was making no +headway at all. It was time to play his trump card. Softly he said: + +"You said your husband was judicious, conservative----" + +"So he is." + +"That is a matter of opinion. Some might think otherwise. Of course, +it is difficult for a woman when she is blinded by love----" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that your husband is far from being the conservative, +afraid-to-take-risks type of man you picture him. You women think you +know your husbands. You know only such part of them as they themselves +care to reveal. Perhaps if you knew to what extent your husband was +involved in Wall Street, it would surprise you! Oh, everything is +perfectly regular, of course. As treasurer of the Americo-African +Mining Company, he has at his disposal large sums of money. He is also +trustee of several large and valuable estates. All of this money he is +supposed to invest--conservatively. He certainly invests it. Whether +conservatively or not, I leave others to judge." + +"Do you mean that he is using other people's money in Wall Street?" + +"I mean, my dear lady, that he has the get-rich-quick fever. He has a +rage for stock gambling--he is already heavily involved. I have often +warned him to go slower, to be more prudent, but he won't heed my +counsel. You know, he is very headstrong--your husband. As long as +everything goes well he is all right. If anything goes wrong, he might +find himself in an unpleasant predicament. Hasn't he spoken to you of +these matters? Why should he worry you? It is as I told you. +Husbands don't tell their wives everything--God forbid!" + +Helen raised her hand. There was the ring of scorn in her voice as she +exclaimed: + +"Don't blaspheme, Signor Keralio. It sounds incongruous to hear the +name of the Almighty on the lips of a man of your opinions and tastes. +You think you live, but you don't. You go through life, seeking only +to gratify your appetites, attracted only by material sensual +pleasures. You ignore the best part of life--the pursuit of an ideal, +a noble ambition, unselfishness, self-sacrifice. Really, Signor, I +pity you--with all my heart." + +He made no answer, but sat in silence watching her. Presently he said: + +"Mrs. Traynor--do you know that you are an extraordinary woman?" + +"In what way?" she demanded, elevating her eyebrows in surprise. + +"You are either the cleverest or the most unsophisticated woman I have +ever met. You are attractive enough to send a saint to perdition, yet +you are quite indifferent to the power of your beauty and the tumult it +arouses in the men who chance to cross your path. You seem to be +absolutely without feeling. Yet I don't believe you devoid of +temperament. I think I know women. I have met a good many. You do +not belong to the type of cold, passionless women." + +Again his eyes sought hers and found them. Again she tried to avoid +his gaze and could not. There was something in his manner, his +gestures, the tone of his voice, that conveyed to her more his real +meaning than his actual words, yet, to her surprise, she was not +aroused to anger. Sure of herself, she found herself listening, +wondering what he would say next, ready to flee at the first warning of +peril, but playing a dangerous game like the moth in the flame. As she +sat back on the sofa, her head in the sofa cushions, he leaned nearer +to her, and in those low, musical tones which held her under a kind of +spell, he murmured: + +"You are the cleverest woman I ever met." + +She smiled in spite of herself, and he, mistaking the motive, thought +she intended it as an encouragement. He glanced round to see if anyone +was watching them, but Mr. Parker was peacefully dozing in a deep +armchair a dozen yards away, and at the far end of the room Ray, Steell +and Reynolds were engrossed in an exciting game of cards. Leaning +quickly over, he seized her hand. His voice vibrating with passion, he +said: + +"Not only the cleverest, but the most desirable of women. Don't you +see that you've set me afire? I'm mad for you! Helen--I want you!" + +For a moment she was too stunned by his insolent daring to withdraw her +hand, which he continued to press in his. His eyes flashing, he went +on: + +"Haven't you seen all along that I love you--desperately, passionately. +You've set me afire. I'm mad for you. Let me awaken that love that's +in your breast, but which your husband has never awakened. Let me----" + +He did not finish, for that moment a small, jeweled hand, suddenly torn +from his grasp, struck him full on the mouth. Rising and trying with +difficulty to control the emotion in her voice, she said quickly: + +"You'd better go now--so as to prevent a scandal. If they knew, it +might be awkward for you. Of course, you must never come here again." + +That was all. She swept away from him with the dignity of an offended +queen. The silence was deadly. All one heard was the silk rustle of +her gown as she moved across the floor. + +"It's my say," exclaimed Ray. + +"I lead with trumps," said Steell. + +"Signor Keralio has to go. Isn't it too bad!" + +Mr. Steell and Dick rose and bowed politely. + +There was nothing to be done. He was ignominiously dismissed like a +lackey caught pilfering. But there was black wrath in his heart as he +picked himself up, and turning to the others, he bowed and said: + +"Good night." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Dawn broke over the desert region of the Kalihari. The gray mists of +the South African night slowly dissolved on the approach of the rising +sun, until the crimson glow of the coming day, spreading high in the +eastern heavens, tipped with gold the snow-clad peaks of the +Drachenberg, and then, swiftly inundating the valley like a flood, +chased away the shadows and filled the undulating plains with warmth +and light. + +Stretched out near the flickering embers of an expiring camp fire, not +half a day's _trek_ from the Vaal River, lay what, at first view, +appeared to be bundles of rags. A closer inspection showed them to be +the prostrate forms of two men, asleep. Huddled close together, as if +seeking all possible protection from the keen air of the open _veldt_, +they appeared grateful even for the little warmth that still came from +the dying fire. Every now and again a tiny flame, bursting from one of +the smouldering logs, would light up the recumbent figures, revealing a +brief glimpse of the sleepers. + +Both bore traces of desperate need. The rags they wore were filthy, +and gave only scant protection from the weather, their emaciated faces +and hollowed cheeks told eloquently of many days of fatigue and hunger; +their feet, long since without shoes, were clumsily protected from the +rocky _veldt_ by pieces of coarse sacking. For weeks they had tramped +across the great, merciless desert, guided only by the stars, often +losing the trail, begging their way from farm to farm, glad to do +little jobs for friendly Boers in return for a meal, always in peril of +attack by hostile Kaffirs, yet never halting, trudging ever onward in +their anxiety to reach the coast. That was the haven they painfully +sought--the open sea where at least there was a chance to die among +their fellows and not perish miserably like dogs on the lonely. +God-forsaken plains, with only the howling jackal and the screaming +vulture to pick their bones. + +They had tried and they had lost in the great gamble. Like thousands +of other reckless adventurers attracted to the newly discovered diamond +country, they had rushed out there from England, confident that they, +too, could wrest from nature that wonderful gem, ever associated with +tragedy and romance, mystery and crime, for the possession of which, +since history began, men have been ready to give up their lives. +Confident of their success, they had risked all on a turn of the wheel, +and Fortune, mocking their puny efforts, had first ruined and then +degraded them, afterward sending them back home to die. + +It was now quite light. The fire, which had flickered up fitfully at +intervals, was entirely extinguished. A chilly wind had started to +blow from the plateau on the north. The strangers stirred uneasily in +their sleep and awoke almost simultaneously. Sitting up with a start, +they yawned and rubbed their eyes. + +"What show o' gettin' some breakfast, Handsome?" asked the smaller of +the two. + +"Damned little!" was the profane and laconic rejoinder. + +They were men still in the early thirties. One was short and stocky, +his face slightly pock-marked. Pictures of a mermaid and anchor +clumsily tattooed in indigo on his wrist showed him to be a sailor. In +fact, Dick Hickey, boatswain on _H. H. S. Tartar_, having taken French +leave of his ship, as she lay in Cape Town Harbor, ran a very good +chance of being taken back to England in irons as a deserter. Just now +he was serenely indifferent as to what happened to him. Half dead from +exposure and lack of nourishment, he would have gladly welcomed ship's +officers or anybody else so long as there was some relief from his +present sufferings. Meantime he spent what little breath he had left +in cursing his hard luck, and blaming his companion as being solely +responsible for his misfortune. + +The latter was some few years his senior, stalwart and clean-limbed. +He appeared to be over six feet in height and a man of splendid +physique. At first glance it was evident that he came of superior +stock. His shapely hands were grimy, his eyes of a peculiarly light +shade of blue were hollow and haggard looking. His face, emaciated and +ghastly, was almost livid. A clean-cut chin was covered with several +weeks' growth of beard. Yet, underneath all these repellant externals, +there was in his every attitude that indefinable refinement of manner +which the world always associates with a gentleman. His dark hair, +disheveled and matted, was unusually thick and bushy, with the +exception of one spot, in the center of his forehead, where there was a +single white lock, a capillary phenomenon, which imparted at once to +his face from its very unusualness an individuality quite its own. + +No one knew who he was or where he came from. They called him +"Handsome Jack," partly because of his good looks and also on account +of his reckless liberality with his cronies when flush. What his real +name was no one knew or cared. It was a time when no one asked +questions. As soon as the news of the astonishing diamond discoveries +reached Europe, men began to flock to South Africa. Adventurers from +all over the world gathered in Cape Town, a motley crew of incompetents +and blacklegs, an investigation into the antecedents of any of whom was +apt to have unpleasant results. That he was a professional gambler, he +made no attempt to conceal, and that he had knocked about the world a +good deal was also to be inferred from his wide knowledge of men and +places. A man of aggressive, domineering personality, he was not +without a certain following, attracted by his skill with cards and +dice, but he was more feared than liked, and his reputation as a +dangerous gunman kept inquisitive strangers at a safe distance. He was +well known in every den frequented by the criminal and vicious, and it +was in one of these resorts that Hickey had met him. The sailor had +lost all his savings at faro. Dead broke, he was ready for anything +which promised to recoup his fortunes. Handsome Jack laid before him a +scheme which would make them both rich beyond the dreams of avarice. +The recent discoveries on the Vaal had startled the world. A native +had picked up a stone weighing over 80 carats. They might be equally +lucky. All that was needed was pluck and patience. The plan was to +make their way as best they could to the Vaal fields, jump a claim, and +dig for diamonds. + +They set out secretly, avoiding the larger caravans, making the long +trek across the great plateau, partly by ox wagon, partly on foot. The +trail led through a wild, desolate country, and gradually they left +civilization hundreds of miles behind them. As far as the eye could +reach in every direction was a monotonous desert of stone and sand, +broken every now and then by small kopjies, the sides and summits of +which were sparsely covered with thick brush and coarse grass. +Scattered here and there, some twenty miles apart, were the homesteads +of the Boer farmers and the thatched kraals of the dark-skinned +Kaffirs. Over this lonely waste sheep and cattle wandered undisturbed +by springbok, ostriches, crocodiles, mountain lions and other wild +animals. + +In this barren spot Nature had concealed her treasures. A child's cry +of joy over a pretty pebble led to their discovery. The little son of +a Boer farmer was playing one day in the fields near the homestead when +his eye was attracted by something glittering at his feet. Stooping, +he picked up a stone unlike any other he had ever seen. Interested, he +began to look for others and found a number of them, which with great +glee he carried home to show his mother. The worthy woman paid little +heed to what, in her ignorance, she regarded merely as pretty stones, +but she happened to speak about them to a neighboring farmer, who asked +to look at them. Already tired of his new plaything, the child had +thrown the stones away, but one was found in the field close by, and +the neighbor, a shrewd Dutchman, who had heard of certain stones picked +up in that locality having a certain value, offered to buy it. The +good woman laughed at the idea of selling a stone, and made him a +present of it. The farmer took it to the nearest town, where experts +declared it to be a twenty-one carat diamond, worth $2,500. Round the +world the telegraph flashed this remarkable story, and the rush to +South Africa began. That was in 1870. In May of that year there were +about a hundred men at the diggings in the Vaal fields. Before the +next month had closed there were seven hundred. By April of the +following year five thousand men were digging frantically in the mud +along the Vaal and Orange rivers. + +It was a rough, lawless gathering of men of every nationality under the +sun, the criminal and the vicious, the idle and the worthless. The +region being inside the border lines of the waste territory that lay +between the Boers and the Hottentots, it was therefore No Man's Land, +and beyond the pale of established law and order. The miners, +compelled, in self-protection, to institute laws of their own, +appointed committees to issue licenses, keep the peace, and punish +offenders. Natives were whipped; white men were banished, and from +this rough-and-ready justice there was no appeal. + +When Handsome and Hickey arrived at the diggings, the fever was still +at its height, and having secured a claim, they went to work with a +will. Claims were thirty feet square, and to prevent speculation in +them the owner, in order to hold title, was compelled to toil +incessantly. It was hard work, harder work than Handsome had ever been +put to in all his life. At the end of a few days, the skin was scraped +off his hands from shoveling, and he had such a kink in his back that +he couldn't straighten up. But he had come to stay, and a little; +discomfort was not going to scare him. Their implements, purchased at +the diggings, consisted of pick, shovel and rocker, this last being a +box arranged on rockers like a baby's cradle. It was a clumsy yet +useful contrivance, in which were fastened, one above the other, wire +screens of varying fineness, the coarsest being on top. As Handsome +dug the yellow earth out of the hole he shoveled it into the top +screen. When it was full Hickey poured in water while he rocked. The +water washed the dirt through the holes, leaving the stones. These +were taken out, emptied onto a sorting table, where Handsome scraped +off the worthless peddles [Transcriber's note: pebbles?], saving +anything that seemed of value. As a rule, and much to Hickey's +disgust, the table was scraped clean. Sometimes the sailor would make +a joyful exclamation on seeing some glittering pieces of rock crystal, +thinking he had found a prize, only to be disappointed a moment later +when a more experienced miner assured him it was worthless. Both soon +learned, however, to recognize at sight the precious gems, and, +although few came their way, they saw many brought to the surface by +luckier neighbors. One day sounds of great rejoicing was heard in +their tent. They had worked hard for over a month without finding +anything, and were feeling greatly discouraged and dejected, when all +at once something happened. Handsome had been rocking the cradle in a +listless sort of way, and Hickey was sorting the residue, when suddenly +the sailor gave a wild whoop of delight. Darting forward, he held up a +glittering stone. Examination proved it to be a genuine diamond, +weighing about ten carats, and valued at about $1,000. It was not much +of a find, but it was enough to turn their heads. Dropping all work, +they both proceeded to have "a good time," going on a drunken orgie, +which lasted just as long as the money held out. When they came to +their senses they were worse off than before. Weakened by prolonged +debauch, they were in no mood for digging, and to complicate matters +some one had jumped their claim during their absence. Even their tools +had disappeared. Without resource or credit, they could not procure +others. Yet work they must to keep the wolf from the door, so, cursing +others when they had only themselves to blame, Handsome secured +employment, digging for another miner, while the sailor performed such +occasional odd jobs as he could pick up. + +Broken in spirit, enraged at the long spell of ill luck, Handsome began +to drink heavily. Every cent he made went to the grog shop, and +Hickey, never over fond of work at any time, was only too glad of an +excuse to drink with him. The two cronies filled themselves with rum +until their reason tottered, and they became beasts, refusing to work, +growing ugly, even menacing, preferring to beg the food their empty +stomachs craved for rather than toil, as before. At last they made +themselves such a nuisance that the attention of the vigilance +committee was called to their particular case. In short order they +were hauled up and ordered to leave camp. There was no alternative but +to obey, and thus began the dreary trek homeward of the two broken and +miserable outcasts. + +"We cawn't go on much longer like this," moaned Hickey. + +He made a painful effort to get up, but his joints, stiff from the +all-night exposure, refused to obey his will, and he fell back with a +groan. Handsome, more successful, had already risen, and was scanning +the horizon on every side. Except for the kopjies, which in places +obstructed the view, there was a clear range for ten miles or more. If +anything alive moved within the field of vision, they could not help +seeing it, but nothing greeted their eyes. There was neither man or +beast to be seen; seemingly they were still many weary miles from the +nearest homestead. + +"We must go on," replied Handsome determinedly. Impatiently he added: +"What do you want to do--stay here and let the jackals gnaw your bones?" + +Hickey, too weak to argue, shook his head despondently. + +"You go on, Handsome. Leave me here. I cawn't go any further, s' help +me Gawd! My feet hurt somethin' awful. I'm all in. If ye get 'ome +safe, go and see the old folks, will ye, and tell 'em I put up a good +fight?" + +"Hell!" retorted the other savagely. "Don't squat there crying like a +baby. Be a man. Get up and let's hike it to the nearest homestead." +Shading his eyes as he gazed earnestly over the plain, he added: "I see +smoke in the distance. It can't be far off. Come----" + +Suddenly, to his astonishment, Hickey leaped to his feet, with an +agility unheard of in one so nearly dying. Pointing to the nearest +kopjie, he shouted hoarsely: + +"Look! There's a man--near that kopjie--he's coming this way!" + +It was no dream. A man, unarmed and unaccompanied, was advancing +toward them. From his dress and manner, it was easy to see that he was +not a Boer farmer. He looked more like an Englishman or an American. + +Scarcely able to believe the evidence of his own eyes, Handsome watched +his progress. + +As he came nearer, he waved his hand to show that he saw them, and he +walked faster, as if afraid that they might disappear before he could +reach them. Hickey, unable to restrain himself, had run forward, and +in a few minutes they met. + +"Who are you?" demanded the stranger, whose face, shaded as it was by a +big canvas helmet, it was difficult to see. + +"Miners from the Vaal," answered Hickey. "Who are you?" + +"I am a Frenchman--François Chalat. I am ze valet of an American +gentleman. Our party not know ze road. We has wandered from what you +call ze trail. Will you show ze way to us?" + +"Where's your party?" demanded Hickey. + +François pointed to a kopjie about three miles distant. + +"There! Behind zat hill." + +Just at that moment, Handsome came lumbering up almost on the run, +anxious to know what it was all about. + +"Have you any whiskey?" was his first breathless ejaculation. "We're +starving." + +The valet made no answer. He was too startled to speak. Drawing back +a few steps, he stared blankly at the big fellow. For several minutes +he stood as if struck dumb. Presently, when he found his speech, he +asked in awed tones: + +"Who are you? What's your name?" + +"What business is it of yours?" snapped Handsome, with some show of +irritation. "Have you any food or whiskey? We're starving." + +The valet made no answer, but just stared in astonished silence at the +big six-footer who towered above him. For a moment he had thought it a +trick that his master had played upon him. By walking quickly he had +got there before him, and dressed up in these rags just to have fun +with him. But that matted hair and that chin, with its weeks of growth +of beard. He could not be deceived in that. No, this man was not his +employer. Could it be possible, was it--his twin brother long since +given up for dead? The same physique, the same features, the same +eyes, the same thick, bushy hair with the single lock of white hair in +the center of the forehead. There was no room for doubt. It was his +employer's brother. It was just as well to make friends. Drawing a +flask from his pocket and holding it out, he said: + +"Here, take a drink. You need it." + +Eagerly, Handsome snatched it out of his hand. + +"You bet we do." + +He took a deep gulp and handed it to Hickey, whose bleary eyes had +watered at the very sight of the flask. François turned to Handsome. + +"Where is ze trail?" he asked. + +"Over yonder," growled the big fellow in surly tones and making a +sweeping gesture with his arm which embraced every quarter of the +compass. + +"Rather indefinite, I should say," smiled the valet. "Where you go? +Are you on ze way to ze mines?" + +Handsome Jack took another pull at the flask. His good humor returning +in proportion as he felt warmed up by the spirits, he said more amiably: + +"I guess not. My pal and I have enough of the cursed place--ain't we, +Hickey?" + +The sailor man glanced dolefully at his limping foot, and nodded his +head in acquiescence. + +"You show us the trail home. My boss is very rich man," interrupted +François quickly. "He pay anything." + +Handsome pricked up his ears. + +"Oh, he's rich, is he?" + +The valet laughed as he replied: + +"All Americans rich--très riches. Did you ever hear of poor Americans?" + +Hickey took another drink and snickered. Handsome looked thoughtful. +After a pause, he said: + +"What your boss' name?" + +"Monsieur Traynor of the Americo-African Mining Co." + +Handsome started. + +"What? Kenneth Traynor, of the Americo-African Mining Company--the +people who made those sensational finds." + +"Yes--he's vice-president of the company." + +Handsome gave a low, expressive whistle. + +"He's rich--all right! Do you know what those stones are worth?" + +"Over a million dollairs." + +"And he came out here to----" + +The valet nodded. + +"_Oui_--zat's it--to get ze big diamonds. We're on our way back from +ze mines now. He has ze stones in his possession." + +"And taking them to New York?" gasped Handsome; "a million dollars' +worth?" + +"Yes--taking zem to New York. That's what he came out for. We want to +reach ze coast as soon as possible. Again I ask. Will you guide us +back to ze trail?" + +For a few moments Handsome made no answer. The thoughtful expression +on his pale, care-worn face showed that he was thinking hard. What was +passing in his mind no one knew, but whatever it was it caused the +lines about his strong mouth to tighten and the steely blue eyes to +flash. A million dollars? God! What will a man not do for a million +dollars? Turning to the valet, he said hastily: + +"Yes, I'm on. Take me to your party. I'll show you the trail. Quick, +lead the way." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Traveling to and from the diamond fields in the days immediately +following the first rush was not an unmixed joy. Express wagons drawn +by eight horses or mules and running from Cape Town to Klipdrift once a +week charged passengers sixty dollars a head, the journey across the +plains taking about eight days. Travelers whose business was so urgent +that they could not wait for the regular stage had to hire a team of +their own at a much higher expense. + +Kenneth did not mind the cost, if only he was able to make good time. +The trip to the mines had been accomplished without mishap. Everything +had gone as well as could be desired. He had been successful in +securing valuable land options for the company, and at last the two +precious stones were in his possession. That it was a big +responsibility, he fully realized. The very knowledge that he had on +his person gems worth over a million dollars, and this in a wild, +uncivilized country where at any moment he might be followed, ambushed +and killed, and no one the wiser, was not calculated to calm his +nerves. But Kenneth Traynor had never known the meaning of the word +fear. He was ready for any emergency and he went about unarmed, cool +and unruffled. From his demeanor at least no one could guess that he +ever gave a thought to the valuable consignment of which he was the +guardian. Of course, it had been impossible to keep the thing secret. +Everybody at the mines knew he had come out for the purpose of taking +the big stones to America. Even his drivers knew, and so did François. +The news was public property and was eagerly discussed over every camp +fire as one of the sensations of the day. All this publicity did not +tend to lessen the risk, and that was why he was so anxious to reach +Cape Town without the least possible delay. He had timed his departure +from the mines so as to just catch the steamer for England, and now, +after all his trouble and careful calculation, the fool mule drivers +had gone and lost the trail. It was most exasperating. + +The wagon had come to a halt the night before under shelter of a +fair-sized kopjie. The mules, tormented by the deadly _tetse_ fly, +stood whisking their tails and biting savagely at their hereditary +enemy; the drivers, indifferent and stolid, sat on the ground smoking +their pipes, while Kenneth, fuming at this unlooked for mishap which +threatened an even more serious delay, strode up and down the _veldt_, +swearing at the mules, the stolid drivers and everything else in sight. + +François, who had left camp for assistance long before sunrise, had not +yet returned. Unless help came soon they'd be held there another +night. There was no use trying to proceed without a guide, for they +might find themselves going round and round in a circle. There was +nothing to do but wait until help came. + +Sitting down on the stump of a tree near the fire, he tried to possess +his soul in patience while one of the teamsters, who also officiated as +cook, busied himself getting breakfast. It was now broad daylight; the +weather clear and cold. As he sat there idly and smoked reflectively, +his thoughts wandered homeward, four thousand miles across the seas. +He wondered what Helen was doing, if little Dorothy was well, if +everything was all right. Only now he realized what the word home +meant to him, and a chill ran through him as he thought of all the +things that could happen. Yet how foolish it was to worry. What could +happen? Helen had her sister constantly with her, and she was well +looked after by Mr. Parker and Wilbur Steell. It was absurd to have +any anxiety on that score. Besides, if anything had gone wrong, they +would certainly have called him. He had had several letters from +Helen, all of them saying she and baby were well and waiting eagerly +for his return. Yes, he would soon be home now. In another two days +he would reach Cape Town. From there to Southampton was only a +fortnight's sail, and in another week he would be in New York. + +These and kindred thoughts of home ran through his mind as he sat +before the camp fire and tranquilly smoked his pipe. The drivers were +busying themselves cleaning the harness, the mules were docilely +browsing, the air was filled by a fragrant odor of coffee. His +memories went back to his boyhood days. He recalled what the old nurse +had told him about a twin brother. How strange it would be if he ever +turned up. Such things were possible, of course, but hardly probable. +No, the chances were that he was dead. If he had lived, how different +everything might have been. He would have inherited half their +father's money. What had been enough to start one so well in life +would only have been a meagre provision for two. Yet it might have +been an advantage, forced him to still greater effort. He might have +got even farther than he had--who knows? + +At that moment his reflections were interrupted by the sound of voices +in the distance. He heard some one running. One of the teamsters came +up hurriedly and exclaimed breathlessly: + +"He's found some one, sir; he's got two men with him. They're coming +now." + +Kenneth jumped up and, shading his eyes, looked out across the yellow +waste of stones and gravel. About a mile away he saw François, +accompanied by two strangers, who looked like miners. They were +tattered and miserable looking, as if down on their luck. One of them +was limping as if lame; the other, much taller, although ragged and +forlorn, had a soldierly bearing and the appearance of a gentleman. +The valet, who had been walking faster than his companions, came up at +that instant. + +"Who have you got there?" demanded Kenneth. + +"Two miners, monsieur. I found zem several miles away on ze _veldt_. +They have tramped for days without food; they are starving." + +"Do they know the trail?" + +"Yes, monsieur. Ze big man knows ze trail. He will show ze way--for a +consideration." + +"Good! First give them some breakfast and then we'll go." + +He waved his hand in the direction of the cook's mess, where the coffee +was already steaming on the fire, and, turning away, began to gather +his things together, preparatory to departure. There was no reason why +he should have anything to say to the strangers. In fact, it would be +better if they did not see him, or know who he was. It was possible +that they had been at the mines when he arrived, in which case they +would instantly recognize him as the American who had come to take the +big diamonds to New York. Besides, they were not particularly +attractive objects. What did their adventures and mishaps matter to +him? He had troubles of his own. François could look after their +wants. The main thing was to find the trail and get started back +toward Cape Town as soon as possible. When the strangers had been fed +they would set out, and, the trail once found, he would give them a +lift on their way and a few sovereigns into the bargain. That would +more than compensate them for all their trouble. + +Meanwhile he thought he would take a quiet walk. His legs were stiff +from sitting so long. A little exercise would do him the world of +good. So, without a word to anybody, he slipped out of camp unobserved +and started off at a brisk gait. + +The region where they had halted seemed to be the center of Nowhere, a +land where had reigned for all time the abomination of desolation +spoken of by all the prophets. Knocking about the world, as he had +done for a lifetime, Kenneth had seen some queer spots in the world, +but never had he come across so savagely repellent a spot as this. It +was Nature in her harshest mood--not a vestige in any direction of +human or animal life. There was not a farm, not a Boer or Kaffir, not +even a tree to be seen. Nothing in every direction but a monotonous +waste of yellow sand, rough stones and stunted grass. An unnatural +stillness filled the air, making the silence oppressive, and uncanny. +The soil was so poor that cultivation was impossible. The ground, +strewn with broken rocks and sharp stones which cut the shoes and hurt +the feet, suggested that in prehistoric times the plateau had been +swept by a volcanic tempest. The slopes of the few scattered kopjies +were sparsely covered with verdure and as he strode along, he passed +here and there clumps of trees, veritable oases in the desert, or deep +water holes under overhanging rocks where under cover of night, strange +beasts came to drink. Apart from these few oases, it was a dreary +monotonous waste of rock and sand, where neither beast or man could +find food or shelter. + +He had walked about three miles and was just passing a kopjie where a +group of stunted trees offered a little shelter from the glare of the +sun on the yellow gravel when he began to feel tired. Sitting down on +a decayed tree stump, he took out his pipe, removed his helmet, and +laying lazily back, closed his eyes, a favorite trick of his when he +wished to concentrate his thoughts. + +The trip, tiresome as it was, had certainly been worth while. His +ambitious dreams had been more than realized. He could scarcely wait +for his arrival to tell Helen the good news. He had secured signatures +to a plan of consolidation of practically all the mining companies +operating in South Africa. Until now, these companies had been engaged +in a fierce and disastrous competition, which cut into each other's +profits and cheapened the market price of stones. He had suggested a +scheme of amalgamation which would put all the mines under one +management, and fix arbitrary prices for diamonds which henceforth +could not be sold under a certain figure agreed upon by the Syndicate. +This plan, which had the general approval of the mining companies, +practically gave Kenneth Traynor control of the diamond industry of the +world, an industry which in South Africa alone had already produced +100,000,000 carats estimated to be worth $750,000,000. Overnight, +Kenneth found himself many times a millionaire. + +It had come at last--what he waited for all these years. This new +consolidation deal meant great wealth to its promoters. What would he +do with it? Most men need only enough for their actual needs, but he +had higher aims. An ardent socialist he would use his money for the +cause. Not, however, in the way others did, but to buy influence, +power. He would fight Capitalism, in his own way. He would go into +politics, run for public office, try and remedy some of the economic +abuses from which people of the United States were now suffering. He +would wage warfare on the high cost of living, on Greed and Graft. He +would attack the Plutocracy in its stronghold, lay bare the inner +workings of the System, the concentration of the wealth of the entire +country in the hands of a few, by which the rich each year were +becoming richer and the poor each year poorer. It would not be the +first time a multi-millionaire had espoused the cause of the +proletariat, but he would carry on the fight more vigorously than +anyone had done. He would force an issue, make Greed disgorge its +ill-gotten gains and accord to Labor its rightful place in the sun, its +proper share of the world's production of wealth. His sympathies in +the bitter struggle between the capitalists and the wage earners were +wholly with the people who under the present wage system, had little +chance to raise themselves from the mire. But he was intelligent +enough to realize that the faults were not all on the side of Capital. +Labor, too, needed the curb at times. Too ready to listen to the +reckless harangues of irresponsible professional demagogues, wage +earners were often as tyrannical as capitalists, insisting on +impossible demands, rejecting sober compromise which, in the end, must +be the basis of all amicable relations between employer and employed. + +For some time he sat there, giving free rein to his imagination, when +suddenly he fancied he heard the sound of heavy footsteps crunching on +the hard sand. Raising his head he looked quickly round but seeing no +one, concluded he was mistaken. Looking at his watch, he was amazed to +find that he had been away from camp a whole hour. There was no time +to be lost. The men had certainly finished eating by now; they could +start at once. Jumping up he turned round to retrace his steps the +same way he had come, when, suddenly, a shadow fell between him and the +white road. Looking up, he was startled to see himself reflected as in +a mirror against the green background of the kopjie. + +At first he thought he must be ill. The walk, the sun, the exposure +had no doubt overstimulated him and made him excited and feverish. He +was seeing things. His success with the diamond deal had affected his +brain. Of course, it was only an hallucination. The next time he +looked this fantastic creation of his disordered mind would be gone. +Again he glanced up in the direction of the kopjie. The apparition was +still there, a horrible, monstrous, distortion of himself, standing +still, speechless, staring at him. That it was only a mirage there +could be no doubt. He had heard of such mirages at sea and also in the +Sahara where wandering Arabs have beheld long caravans journeying in +the skies. But he had never heard of a mirage lasting as long as this +one. Would it never disappear? It must be a nightmare which still +obsessed him. That was it. He had fallen asleep on the tree and was +not yet awake. With an effort he made a step forward and tried to +articulate, but the words stuck in his throat. Suddenly the spell was +broken by the apparition itself, which moved and spoke. He recognized +who it was now--one of the strangers brought in by François--but that +astonishing likeness of himself-- + +Judging by the astonished expression on his face, Handsome was just as +much surprised as Kenneth at the encounter. After satisfying his +hunger he, too, had strayed away from the camp, unable to control his +impatience while the teamsters were harnessing the mule team. He had +left Hickey to gorge still more while he strutted on by himself, +cogitating on what the valet had told him in regard to the diamonds. +This sudden meeting with the very man who had been uppermost in his +thoughts was surprising enough, and instantly he, also, was struck with +the extraordinary resemblance between them. + +"Who the devil are you?" he demanded in surly tones. + +Thus rudely aroused to the reality, and seeing that it was really a +creature of flesh and blood he had to deal with and not a creature of +another world, Kenneth answered haughtily: + +"I'm not accustomed to being addressed in that manner." + +Handsome laughed mockingly. With affected politeness he retorted: + +"Your lordship's servant! What is his lordship's pleasure?" + +Kenneth did not hear the taunting reply or heed the sneer. He was +still staring at this counterpart of himself, this very image yet who +was not himself, but a human derelict, a wretched, sodden outcast. All +at once, an overwhelming, horrible suggestion rushed across his brain. +Could it be, was it--his long lost twin brother? Almost gasping, he +demanded: + +"Who are you?" + +Handsome chuckled. + +"I don't know." + +"What is your name?" + +The man chuckled. + +"They call me Handsome. That's because I'm a good looker. I have had +a good many other names, but I've forgotten what they are. The police +know. It's all in the records." + +"My God--a police record!" + +"What of it?" Bitterly he added: "We can't all be fine gentlemen and +millionaires." + +"Where are you from?" + +"Nowhere." + +"Who were your parents?" + +"Never had any that I know of." + +Kenneth started forward and, seizing the man's left hand, closely +examined it. Yes, there was the scar on the index finger of the left +hand. No further doubt was possible. This was his brother. Handsome, +meantime, had been watching the other's agitation with mingled interest +and amusement. + +Hoarsely, Kenneth cried: + +"Where have you been all these years?" + +Handsome stared as if he thought his interlocutor had gone crazy. +Almost angrily he retorted: + +"What d----d business is it of yours?" + +Paying no heed to the miner's offensive attitude, and anxious only to +learn something of his history, Kenneth approached him and held out his +hand. + +"I wish to be your friend." + +Handsome drew back suspiciously. Always associated with evil himself, +he looked for only evil from others. Bitterly he retorted: + +"My friend--what do your kind care for poor devils like me?" + +For answer, Kenneth removed his helmet, suddenly revealing the solitary +lock of white hair. Handsome fell back in surprise. For the first +time he realized the extraordinary resemblance. He had noticed a +marked likeness before, but now the diamond promoter's helmet was off, +it was positively startling. Hoarsely he exclaimed: + +"The devil! Who are you? You look just like----" + +Kenneth looked at him keenly for a moment. Then he said calmly: + +"Yes--I look just like you. No wonder. You are--my brother!" + +[Illustration: "Yes, you are my brother. We are twins."] + +"Your brother?" + +"Yes--my brother. We are twins. You were kidnapped by gypsies +thirty-two years ago. Our old nurse told me the story for the first +time the day before I sailed from New York. She also told me about +that scar on your hand. You cut it badly when you were a year old and +the scar has remained ever since. Everybody believed you dead. Where +have you been all these years?" + +Handsome made no answer but fell back a few steps, and passed his hand +over his brow as if bewildered. This astonishing revelation had been +made so suddenly that it had left him dazed. A wild, improbable tale, +it seemed, yet perhaps there was some truth in it. He had never known +who his parents were and it had always seemed to him that he came of +better stock than those with whom he associated. Then again, there was +the ridiculous likeness. One had only to look at them both--it was the +same face. + +Slowly, gradually, as he looked more closely at Kenneth the conviction +grew stronger that this, indeed, was his brother, his own flesh and +blood, yet it aroused within him no emotion and left him entirely cold. +No impulse seized him to throw himself into this man's arms and embrace +him. His heart was steeled against the world. Human affection and +sympathy had dried up in his breast years ago. What he saw was not a +kinsman, a brother, but a man who had succeeded in life where he had +failed, a man who was rich and happy while he was poor and miserable, a +man who had everything while he had nothing. And if the tale were +true, if indeed, he were this rich man's brother, it only made matters +worse, for he had been robbed of his rightful inheritance. This rich +man was enjoying wealth half of which rightfully belonged to him. + +Again Kenneth demanded: + +"Where have you been all these years?" + +"Here, there, everywhere," was the sullen answer. "London, Paris, +Brussels, Vienna, New York, Boston, Chicago, Havana, Buenos Ayres. I +know them all and they know me--perhaps too well. My earliest +recollection is of the Italian quarter in New York, a long narrow +always dirty street, bordered on either side by dilapidated greasy +tenements, ricketty fire escapes filled with biddy and garbage. Pietro +lived there and kept his organ in the basement cellar. When Pietro +went out with the organ he took me along to excite sympathy. Until I +was fifteen years old I begged to support Pietro. One day he beat me +and I ran away and shipped as cabin boy on a sailing vessel bound for +Liverpool. I reached London and found employment as stable boy at +Ascot. There I learned the fatal fascination of gambling. With what I +saved from my wages I bet on the horses. I won and won again. I went +back to London and frequented the gambling houses. I won, always won. +One day there was a row. Someone complained I had cheated. The police +arrested me. When I left jail I went to the continent and began +gambling again. I have gambled ever since." Pointing in the direction +of the mines he added bitterly: + +"That was my last gamble and I lost. That's all I have to tell." + +Kenneth listened with keen interest. When the other stopped speaking +he asked: + +"And now--what will you do?" + +Handsome shrugged his shoulders and made no answer. Kenneth went on: + +"You can't keep up the old life--that is impossible. You owe something +to the blood that's running in your veins. There is only one thing for +you to do. You must break off with the past for good, and come home +with me. Are you known in New York?" + +Handsome shook his head. + +"No, I never returned there since I was a child." + +"Your operations in America were confined to San Francisco, Chicago and +St. Louis----" + +"Yes." + +Kenneth breathed more freely. + +"That makes matters easier. No one in New York, therefore, has +anything against you. There it will be possible to live down your +past. You will cease being an outcast, a wanderer on the face of the +earth. You will take the place in society for which Nature intended +you." + +Handsome smiled cynically. Grimly he replied: + +"I guess Nature never expected much of me." + +"You never can tell," said Kenneth quickly. "Your environments no +doubt were responsible for your downfall. You have been a victim of +circumstances." + +Handsome was silent. This free roving life had come second nature to +him. He looked with suspicion on any other. After a pause, he asked: + +"What can I do in New York?" + +"I will dress and house you like a gentleman. For a time you can make +your home with us. If we find we can't agree, well--we'll part. I +will find you employment----" + +Handsome laughed. Mockingly he said: + +"Then I am to be dependent on you----" + +"No--not on me----. On your own efforts. There is no reason why, if +given a chance, you will not make a success in the world. You are +still young and energetic. I will give you a start in any line you +wish to enter. I will make you a present of $10,000. It should be +enough capital to start in any business." + +Handsome shrugged his shoulders. + +"Charity?" he exclaimed. + +"No--not charity--brotherly affection." + +His brother laughed mockingly. Bitterly he exclaimed: + +"Maybe it's conscience money." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You inherited from our father, didn't you?" + +"Yes--but I've increased it a hundred-fold by my own efforts." + +"How much did he leave you?" + +"Twenty thousand dollars." + +"Why didn't he leave me some?" + +"He believed you dead. The sum I offer you is the sum you would have +inherited from our father had he known you were living. Do you accept?" + +Handsome was silent. His brain was working fast. What this man +offered him was the merest pittance. Put out at interest, it would +give him the princely income of $10 a week. What did he care for the +good opinion of the world? He had knocked about so long, roughing it +everywhere, that he might as well end as he had begun--an adventurer. +Suddenly there flashed across his brain a wild, audacious idea--a +scheme so fantastic, so fraught with adventure and peril that the very +thought gave him a thrill. It involved violence, possibly a crime. +Well, what of it? He was not the kind to be deterred by trifles. This +man was nothing to him. Brotherly love, family ties--these were simply +phrases to one who had never known them. He knew and obeyed only one +instinct--the fight for life, the survival of the fittest. Society had +waged war on him; he would be merciless in his war on society. This +man--this alleged brother, threw him a sop, insulted him by offering +him charity. Why should he hesitate? It was his life or another's. +There was a big prize to be won. Life was sweet when one has millions +to enjoy it with. This man had now on his person diamonds worth over a +million and he had more millions at home. Suppose something happened +to this man here in South Africa and he went home in his stead to take +his place in his household and enjoy his millions? Who would know the +difference? + +Impatient at the other's silence Kenneth demanded somewhat sharply: + +"Well--what do you say? Do you accept?" + +He looked straight at his _vis-à-vis_, but Handsome avoided his direct +gaze. He was silent for another moment as if reflecting. Then, +slowly, he said: + +"Yes, I accept." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The string orchestra, adroitly concealed behind a bank of graceful +exotic plants, struck up a languorous waltz, and the couples, only too +eager to respond to the invitation, began to turn and glide over the +polished parquet floor. + +Not since its master's departure for South Africa had the Traynor +residence been the scene of so much life and gayety. Every window +literally blazed with light. From the front door at the top of the +high stoop down to the edge of the street curb, stretched a canvas +awning to protect arriving guests from the inclemency of the weather. + +It was a stormy night. The rain was falling in torrents, but no one +cared. Everybody was out for a good time and they knew that this was +the house to get it. + +Helen's first impulse had been to postpone the affair, held really in +celebration of Ray's birthday, until Kenneth's return, but as this idea +had met with decided opposition from the younger element, she had +reluctantly given way. Besides, there was no knowing when Kenneth +would return. Nothing as yet had been heard from him excepting a brief +cablegram announcing his safe arrival at Cape Town, and it was +manifestly unfair to let her own inclinations stand in the way of the +happiness of others. So, after due reflection, she had surrendered +completely, giving Ray _carte blanche_ to make what arrangements she +chose. That young person did not stand on the order of going. She +acted at once and sent out invitations to what proved to be one of the +biggest _soirées dansantes_ of the season. Everything was done on a +most liberal scale. The house was decorated by Herly, three +picturesque fiddlers were obtained from an agency, and Mazzoni, who +provides delicacies for the "400," had charge of the catering. + +Everybody who was anybody was invited, all Ray's personal friends +besides a lot of people she did not know so well. A number of Helen's +intimates were there and also some men friends of Mr. Steell and Dick +Reynolds. The girls in their light gowns looked pretty as angels. The +men were handsome, attentive and gallant. Altogether, everyone voted +it one of the most enjoyable social affairs of the year. + +Ray had danced her sixth waltz and at last utterly exhausted, unable to +stand any more, she allowed Dick Reynolds to escort her to a sofa. + +"Please get me an ice, will you? That's a dear boy," she gasped. + +"Will I!" echoed the youth. "What wouldn't I do for you--fire and +water--that's all!" + +"As bad as that?" laughed the girl panting. "Please don't be silly. +Go and get me an ice." + +Obediently, he left her and forced his way through the throng to the +buffet, while Ray, left alone, started to fan herself vigorously. As +she sat there Helen passed on the arm of Mr. Parker. The President +stopped short and quizzed the young girl. + +"You here?" ejaculated the old gentleman in mock amazement. "Why +aren't you dancing? This will never do." + +Helen smiled. + +"I expect she's tired out. This is the first time I've seen her sit +down all evening." + +Ray nodded. + +"You've guessed right, sis. I'm nearly dead. I sent Dick for an ice." + +"Did you ever see such a crowd?" remarked the president of the A. A. M. +Company as he surveyed the throng that passed in and out of the rooms. + +"Oh, Mrs. Traynor we're having such a jolly time," exclaimed a tall +graceful girl, gracefully dressed in light blue empire gown with +Grecian head dress. + +"I'm so glad, dear," smiled the hostess amiably. Turning to Mr. Parker +as the girl passed on she asked: "Do you know who that is?" + +He shook his head. + +"She's the granddaughter of John R. Rockerford, the money king. Fancy +her saying this is jolly after the grandeur she is accustomed to!" + +"No doubt she likes this better," retorted Ray. "Those very rich +people don't do things any better than we--sometimes not so well. +Their parties are too stiff and formal." + +Suddenly Mr. Parker nudged his hostess. + +"Here comes Mrs. Brewster-Curtis," he said in a stage whisper. "They +say her husband's worth ten millions--all made from graft." + +A handsome woman, blazing with diamonds, came up. Addressing Helen, +she exclaimed gushingly: + +"Oh, Mrs. Traynor, isn't this perfectly delightful? How do you do, Mr. +Parker. Do you know I haven't enjoyed myself so much this season. +What's the news from your dear husband?" + +"No news as yet." + +"Dear me--you poor thing! How interesting--so pretty and husband away. +What an opportunity for some of our gay Lotharios!" + +"They wouldn't have much chance with Helen!" laughed Ray. + +Mrs. Brewster-Curtis turned, and putting up her gold lorgnon, stared at +the unknown young woman who had been so bold to venture to express an +opinion. Ray, meantime, was wondering what detained Dick. Here she +was famishing with thirst and still no ice. Her partner had +disappeared completely. + +Addressing her hostess Mrs. Brewster said languidly: + +"Your niece, I believe." + +"No--my sister," corrected Helen with a smile. It was a mistake often +made. + +"Of course--of course, how silly of me. I might have known that. You +look enough alike." + +"Do you think so?" interrupted Ray hotly. "Helen is far prettier than +I." + +"You are no judge, my dear. You must let the men decide that." + +"They do," said Ray, "and they all declare in favor of Helen." + +"Not by the way Mr. Steell dodges [Transcriber's note: dogs?] your +footsteps." Looking up she exclaimed: "There he is now." + +"Oh, Mr. Steell," cried Helen, "don't forget our next waltz." + +His face all smiles, the lawyer forced his way through the press of +people. + +"Have you seen Dick?" asked Ray. "I sent him to get me an ice." + +Mr. Steell laughed outright. + +"Oh, it was you who sent him. If I had known----" + +"Why?" demanded Ray, opening wide her eyes. "Where is he? I want my +ice." + +"I'll get you an ice, dear," said Helen. + +"No, let me go," exclaimed Mr. Parker. + +"No--no one will get the ice but myself," said Mr. Steell. "It's my +fault that the ice is not already forthcoming. It is only just that I +suffer accordingly." + +Mr. Parker laughed. + +"The ice episode threatens to become a diplomatic incident." + +"Why--whatever is the matter?" smiled Helen. + +The lawyer was so much amused that he could hardly keep his face +straight. With an effort he controlled himself, and said: + +"Just now I was talking with a pretty girl and Dick suddenly forced his +way through the crowd, going in the direction of the buffet. I had no +idea on what a serious mission he was bound, of course, and so I called +him to introduce him to the pretty girl, who had with her an aunt, a +veritable witch, as hideous as a Medusa, and who, in addition, is +afflicted with a wooden leg. Dick gave the aunt only a glance. That +was enough, but he was all smiles for her pretty niece, who, I must +admit, is somewhat of a flirt. Anyhow she rolled her eyes so +eloquently at him that he forgot all about the important errand on +which he was bound. Just at that moment the musicians struck up a +_schottische_, and, on the spur of the moment, he asked the pretty girl +to dance. She declined, with an arch smile, but, pointing to the old +witch, said her aunt would be delighted. Poor Dick! There was no help +for it. The Medusa got up, seized him in her claws, and, the last +thing I saw of the poor youth, they were doing a sort of Bunny Hug, the +wooden leg of his lady partner marking time on the waxed floor." + +"Please stop! If you go on--I shall expire." + +Ray was nearly in convulsions of laughter in which all joined. When +Helen had somewhat regained her composure, she said: + +"I think it's unkind to make fun of the poor woman. Who is she?" + +"I haven't the least idea. Perhaps Dick will tell us." + +At that moment the youth emerged from the throng and came towards them, +his linen mussed, his hair dishevelled. But in one hand he held grimly +a plate of ice cream. Looking shamelessly at Ray, he smiled: + +"I've got it--at last." + +"Where have you been all this time?" she demanded innocently. + +"Oh, I've been having no end of a good time!" + +Steell burst out laughing. + +"Did she ask you to call, Dick?" + +"If she had I'd have killed her." + +"How did the artificial leg work?" + +"She jammed it on my foot once. How it did hurt!" + +Ray, by this time, was almost in hysterics, and Helen and the others, +catching the contagion, the whole group were soon shaken by +uncontrollable laughter. + +The orchestra struck up a quadrille. A man came rushing up to Ray. + +"My dance, I believe." + +With a comical expression of resignation, the young girl allowed +herself to be led away, while Helen and Mrs. Brewster-Curtis took seats +to watch the figures. + +"Come, Dick," said Steell in an undertone. "Let's go and smoke a +cigar." + +Leading the way he went into the smoking-room, where cigars and liquors +were laid out. Turning to the youth, he inquired eagerly: + +"Well--what about the Signor? What have you found out?" + +Dick lit a cigarette and then calmly he said: + +"Everything." + +"What--to be specific." + +"He's all and more than we expected." + +"In other words--a crook?" + +"Yes, and a dangerous one." + +"What's his game?" + +"Confidence man, bank robber, blackmailer." + +"How did you find out?" + +"Very easily. I found his record. The police haven't disturbed him +because his clever disguise has deceived them. They have not +recognized in the polished, suave Signor Keralio, the popular fencing +master, the man they have been hunting for years. His real name is +Richard Barton. His pals call him Baron Rapp. Five years ago he was +convicted of robbing a bank out West and was sent up for ten years. He +served a year in Joliet and then broke jail and he has been at liberty +ever since." + +"Good!" exclaimed the lawyer, rubbing his hands with satisfaction. +"We've got him where we want him. What else?" + +"He has managed to elude the police so far owing to the fact that he +has not been operating of late, but from what I've been able to ferret +out, he is preparing some big haul. Everything points that way. I +don't know what it is, but it's the biggest thing in which he has yet +been mixed up. He's affiliated with crooks who operate all over the +country. Some of his men are disguised as servants and valets in rich +houses. They spy on their masters and tell him if there is anything +worth robbing. He is the master-mind that schemes the operations that +others carry out. He tells his men what banks and homes to break into +and instructs them how to do it. He receives all the stolen property. +At this very moment his flat in the Bronx is full of stolen loot. I +also suspect him of being engaged in counterfeiting." + +The lawyer was lost in admiration. + +"Dick, you're a wonder!" + +The young man grinned with pride. + +"Well--what's it to be--shall we tip off the police?" + +"Not by a long shot. We'll have the gun loaded--all ready for use. If +the Signor gets ugly we'll shoot--that's all. Not a word, do you hear. +Leave everything to me. Come, let's go back or they'll think +something's wrong." + +In the ballroom, they were still dancing the quadrille, the pretty +gowns of the girls and black coats of the men making a picturesque +sight as they blended in the ever changing figures. + +The gayety was at its height when the maid entered and whispered in her +ear: + +"There's a gentleman downstairs." + +Helen looked at the girl in surprise. + +"A gentleman? What's his name?" + +"I don't know, m'm. He wouldn't say." + +"Very well, I'll go down." + +Slipping away unobserved, Helen made her way downstairs and throwing +back the heavy tapestry portières entered the drawing room which was +almost in complete darkness. The maid had forgotten to switch on the +electrolier and as the only light came from the distant dining-room, +the big parlor was practically all in gloom. Before her eyes had +become quite accustomed to the dark, a man advanced out of the shadow. +It was Signor Keralio. + +She recognized him instantly and instinctively she shrank back, +alarmed. How had he dared come again to her house after what had +occurred? He noticed the movement and asked: + +"I see that I'm unwelcome. Do I frighten you so much?" + +Coldly she answered: + +"You do not frighten me. You surprise me. I did not expect this +pleasure after what passed between us the last time you were here." +Making a half turn, as if about to leave the room, she added quickly: +"I have company upstairs. You must excuse me." + +She walked away and had almost reached the door, when, with a quick +stride, he intercepted her. + +"Please don't go. I am here in your own interest. I want to talk to +you--just a moment, about----" + +She hesitated. + +"About what?" she demanded haughtily. + +"About your husband." + +"My husband?" she echoed, turning and facing him. + +"Yes--your husband. He is in danger. I want to help you and--him." + +"Kenneth in danger?" she faltered. "What do you mean?" + +He pointed to a chair. + +"Won't you sit down. I won't keep you a moment. I will tell you +everything----" + +She sat down like one in a dream. Taking a seat near her, he began in +his low, musical tones. + +"Peril threatens your husband. It is known that he has gone to South +Africa to bring home diamonds of almost inestimable value. A number of +desperate men, who stop at nothing to accomplish their ends, have taken +steps to secure the diamonds at any cost--even at the price of a human +life." + +A chill ran through her, but her voice was firm as she demanded +scornfully: + +"You know these men--these murderers?" + +"Yes--I know them." + +Instantly came the bitter retort: + +"Maybe you are one of them!" + +His eyes flashed in the darkness and his voice vibrated with passion as +he answered: + +"I know you think ill of me. You do me an injustice. I have no share +in these men's operations, but I have great power over them. They must +obey my command. They know that and so respect my orders. A word from +me and your husband will be unmolested." + +Like the drowning man who in his agony will grasp eagerly at a floating +straw, Helen seized at the hope his words held out. That Kenneth was +in peril she readily believed. It was a dangerous mission. She had +scented danger from the outset. This man might be lying, and yet he +might have the influence he boasted. + +"You can avert the danger?" + +He nodded. + +"I can." + +"How?" + +"I will give orders that he be unmolested." + +"And they will obey you?" + +"They will." + +Her face brightened. More amiably she said: + +"You'll do this, won't you?" + +"Yes--for a price." + +"What price?" + +"That you recall what you said the other day and restore me to a place +in your friendship." + +There was no mistaking his true meaning. It was a price no +self-respecting woman could pay. She rose indignantly, and haughtily +she said: + +"You have never had a place in my friendship, Signor Keralio, and you +never will. I see through your motive and I despise you now all the +more. My husband, who is an honorable man, would be the first to have +done with me forever if I entered into any such bargain. He has +mistaken your character. When he returns I will enlighten him, and he +will tell you himself that his wife has no dealings with a scoundrel. +As for your threats, and tale of mysterious danger, I don't believe a +word you say. But I may think it worth while to cable my husband in +order to put him on his guard and to inform the police. Good night!" + +Before he could stop her, she had touched an electric bell and left the +room. The next instant Roberts, the butler, appeared and threw open +the front door. There was nothing to do but go. + +She had defied him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Eagerly, breathlessly, Helen tore open the cablegram. + +It was late Saturday afternoon and she had been with Ray and Mr. Steell +to see some paintings--a private view of a remarkable collection of old +masters. After having tea at the Plaza they had taken a brisk walk +through the Park, the lawyer insisting that the exercise would do them +good. + +"It's just come, m'm," said the maid, holding out the thin envelope. + +"Oh, it's from Kenneth!" exclaimed Ray excitedly, throwing down her +muff and running to look over her sister's shoulder. + +For long, dreary weeks Helen had expected, and waited for, this +message, and now it had come, she was almost afraid to read it. There +were only a few words, cold and formal, the usual matter-of-fact, +businesslike phraseology of the so-much-a-word telegram: + + +CAPE TOWN, Thursday (delay in transmission). Sail to-day on the +_Abyssinia_. All's well. KEN. + + +"Is that all?" exclaimed Ray, disappointed. + +Mr. Steell laughed. + +"How much more do you expect at $2 a word?" + +"Well, he might be a little more explicit," pouted Ray. "If I were his +wife, that wouldn't satisfy me." + +Helen laughed lightly. Her eyes sparkling, her usually pale cheeks +filled with a ruddy color from her walk in the park, the lawyer thought +he had never seen her looking so pretty. + +"It satisfies me," she said, her face all lit up with joyous +excitement. "All I want to know is that he is safe and on his way +home. The cablegram is dated Thursday. Then he's already on the water +three days! I wonder why we didn't hear before?" + +Mr. Steell glanced over her shoulder. + +"The dispatch has been delayed. Don't you see? It says, 'delayed in +transmission.'" + +Helen turned round, her face radiant. + +"When ought he to get here?" + +The lawyer was silent for a moment as if calculating. Then, looking +up, he said: + +"The _Abyssinia_ is not a very fast boat. I suppose she is the best he +could get. She's due at Southampton two weeks from to-day. A week +after that, he ought to be in New York--providing nothing happens." + +Helen, who was still reading and re-reading the cablegram, looked up +quickly. With a note of alarm in her voice, she exclaimed: + +"Providing nothing happens! What could happen?" + +"Oh, nothing serious, of course. In these days of the wireless nothing +ever happens to steamers. One is safer traveling on the sea than on +land. I didn't mean anything serious, but merely that sometimes boats +are delayed by bad weather or by fog. That prevents them arriving on +schedule time." + +Almost three months had slipped by since Kenneth's departure from New +York. To Helen it had seemed so many years. She had tried to be +contented and happy for Ray's sake. She entertained a good deal, +giving dinner and theater parties, keeping open house, playing +graciously the rôle of chatelaine in the absence of her lord, to all +outward appearances as gay and light-hearted as ever. Only Ray and her +immediate friends knew that the gayety was forced. + +The poison had done its deadly work. The few words uttered by Signor +Keralio that afternoon shortly after her husband's departure had burnt +deep into her mind like letters of fire. Well she guessed the object +of the wily Italian in speaking as he did. It availed him nothing, and +she only despised him the more. It was cowardly, contemptible, and, +from such a source, absolutely unworthy of belief. Yet secretly it +worried her just the same. She had always considered Kenneth's life an +open book. She thought she knew his every action, his every thought. +The mere suggestion that her husband might have other interests, other +attachments of which she knew nothing took her so by surprise that she +was disarmed, powerless to answer. The innuendo that he might be +unfaithful had gone through her heart like a knife. Of course it was +quite ridiculous. He was not that kind of man. It was true he had +often gone away on trips that seemed unnecessary, and now she came to +think of it Kenneth's absences had of late been both frequent and +mysterious. Then, too, she had no idea of the extent of his operations +in Wall Street. She knew he bought and sold stocks sometimes. That is +only what every investor does. But it was incredible that he was +involved to the extent Keralio said he was. She knew he was ambitious +to acquire wealth, but that he would take such fearful risks and +jeopardize funds which, after all, belonged, not to him, but to the +stockholders--that was impossible. It was a horrible libel. + +Still another cause for worry was the health of her little daughter, +Dorothy. Nothing ailed the child particularly, but she was not well. +The doctor said nothing was the matter, but a slight temperature +persisted, together with a cough which, naturally, alarmed the young +mother out of all proportion to the seriousness of the case. The +doctor also advised a change of air, so Helen at once made arrangements +to send her little daughter to Philadelphia, where, in Aunt Carrie's +beautiful house, she would have the best air and attention in the +world. Aunt Carrie came to New York to fetch the child, and, as she +stayed a couple of weeks sight-seeing and visiting friends that also +helped to keep Helen busy. + +"I do wish that I didn't have such a worrying disposition"--she laughed +nervously after the lawyer had been at some pains to assure her about +the sea-worthiness of the _Abyssinia_. "Really, it makes me so +unhappy, but I simply can't help it. The other day it was baby who +made me terribly anxious; now it is Kenneth's home-coming. I must seem +very foolish to you all." + +Ray quickly protested. + +"You sweet thing--how could you look foolish? What an idea! Only +please don't worry, dear. I never do." + +Mr. Steell nodded sympathetically. + +"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Mrs. Traynor. It shows you have a +fine, sensitive nature. It is only the grosser natures that are +callous and unaffected by the anxieties of life." + +Taking the remarks to herself, Ray threw up her head indignantly. + +"I deny the imputation that I'm gross." + +The lawyer laughed. + +"You are far too healthy to worry. Moreover, you have nothing to worry +about. If a man you loved were six thousand miles away----" + +"Yes," interrupted Helen; "that's it. Only those who care for each +other can understand----" + +"Oh, of course!" retorted her sister, flaring up. "We spinsters, +belonging, as we do, to the sisterhood of the Great Unloved, are quite +incompetent to express an intelligent opinion on that or on any other +matter. I grant that, but is Mr. Steell, a confirmed old bachelor, any +more competent than I?" + +"Hardly an old bachelor!" interrupted Helen reprovingly. + +"No--middle-aged bachelor!" corrected Ray saucily. "He never cared for +a woman in his life. He----" + +"Who told you so?" inquired the lawyer quickly, with an amused twinkle +in his eye. + +Ray colored visibly. + +"Oh, I judge so," she stammered. "You never speak of that sort of +thing. One can only draw conclusions." + +"The conclusions may be wrong," he replied gravely. "My life is a very +busy one. I have had no time to think of anything outside my immediate +work. Yet I am human. I sometimes yearn for the companionship of a +good woman. A pretty face attracts me, as it does other men, but, in +my opinion, any such attachment is too serious a matter to be treated +lightly. When a man feels deeply he keeps his own confidence until the +moment comes when he can unburden himself and say what is in his heart." + +"I like that," said Helen, nodding her head approvingly. + +Ray jumped up to conceal her embarrassment. + +"Oh, how terribly serious you two are to-day!" she exclaimed. "I +declare I'll run away unless you cheer up a bit. Suppose I get some +tea?" + +"Excellent idea!" laughed the lawyer. + +Ray touched a bell, and went to clear a small side table, which she +drew up near where they were sitting. + +"There!" she exclaimed, smiling roguishly at the lawyer. "Don't you +think I'm smart?" + +"Of course we do." Lowering his voice he added significantly: "At +least I do." + +Apparently the compliment fell on deaf ears, for, turning her head +away, she said quickly: + +"Please don't be sarcastic." + +More seriously, and in the same tone, that even Helen, who was only a +short distance away, could not hear, he said: + +"I'm never sarcastic. I think you are all a woman should be." + +"Do you mean that?" + +"I do. I have thought it for a long time." + +"Really?" + +"Really." + +The young girl colored with pleasure. For all her sophisticated and +independent manner she was still a child at heart. She had no thoughts +of marriage, but it flattered her to think that she had the power to +attract and interest this serious, brilliant man of the world. She +said nothing more, relapsing into a meditative silence as she busied +herself helping the maid to set out the tea table. + +To Helen it was a source of keen satisfaction to notice the attention +which the brilliant young lawyer was paying her sister. She had long +recognized his sterling qualities. He was a man of whom any woman +might well be proud. He could not but make a good husband. Next to +Kenneth and her baby no one was dearer to her than Ray and, since their +mother died, she had felt a certain sense of responsibility. To see +her well and happily married was the one secret wish of her life. + +But overshadowing these preoccupations at present were those other new +anxieties which preyed upon her sensitive mind with all the force of an +obsession. Was there any part of her husband's life that he had hidden +from her? Was he really as loyal as she had always fondly and blindly +believed; had his ambition led him to take grave financial risks that +might one day jeopardize their comfort and happiness, the very future +of their child? + +Ray rose to put away the tea table, and she found herself sitting alone +with the lawyer. There was a moment's silence, and then, as if +thinking out aloud what was on her mind, she said: + +"Thank God, he's safe; I had the most fearful premonitions----" + +The lawyer laughed. + +"Don't put your trust in premonitions--things happen or they don't +happen. It's absurd to believe that misfortunes are all prepared +beforehand." + +"Then you are not a fatalist?" + +"Decidedly not. I hope I have too much intelligence to believe in +anything so foolish." + +"Do you believe in a Supreme Being who has the same power to suddenly +snuff us out of existence as he had to create us?" + +"I neither believe nor disbelieve. Frankly, I do not know. What +people call God, Jehovah, Nature, according to my reasoning, is an +astounding energy, a marvellous chemical process, created and +controlled by some unknown, stupendous first cause, the origin of which +man may never understand. How should he? He has not time. We are +rushed into the world without preparation. We are ignorant, helpless, +blind. Gradually, by dint of much physical labor and mental toil, we +succeed in ferreting out a few facts regarding ourselves and the +physical laws that govern us. We are just on the verge of discovering +more--we are just beginning to understand and enjoy life--when suddenly +we find ourselves growing old and decrepit. Our physical and mental +powers fail us, and the same force that benevolently created us now +mercilessly destroys us, and we are hurled, willy-nilly, back into +eternity whence we came. Rather absurd, isn't it?" + +Intensely interested Helen looked up. Eagerly she exclaimed: + +"You have a whole system of philosophy in a mere handful of words, +haven't you?" + +He smiled. + +"It's all one needs, and perhaps as good as those more complicated and +more verbose." + +More seriously and lowering her voice so Ray, who was still busy at the +other end of the room, might not overhear, she said: + +"Mr. Steell--you are so clever--you know all about everything. Tell +me, do you know anything about Wall Street?" + +The ingenuousness of the question amused him. With a laugh he answered: + +"A little--to my sorrow." + +"It's a dangerous place, isn't it?" + +"Very; it has a graveyard at one end, the East River at the other, two +places highly convenient at times to those who play the game." + +"If luck goes against him, a man could lose his all, then?" + +"Not only his all but the all of others, too--if he's that kind of a +man." + +She was silent for a moment. Then she continued: + +"And sometimes even fine, honest men are tempted, are they not, to +gamble with money which is not theirs?" + +"Many have done so. The prisons are full of them. There is nothing so +dangerous as the get-rich-quick fever. All the men who gamble in +stocks have it. It becomes a mania, an obsession. Their judgment +becomes warped; they lose all sense of right and wrong." + +"There's something else I want to ask you. What do you think of Signor +Keralio?" + +He hesitated a moment before he answered. Then, with some warmth, he +said: + +"As I told you before, I think he's a crook, only we can't prove it. +I've been looking up his record. It's a bad one. The fellow has +behaved himself so far in New York, but out West he is known under +various names as one of the slickest rogues that ever escaped hanging. +At one time he was the chief of a band of international crooks and +blackmailers that operated in London, Paris, Buenos Ayres, and the City +of Mexico. The scheme they usually worked was to get some prominent +man so badly compromised that he would pay any amount to save himself +from exposure, and they played so successfully on the fears of their +victims that they were usually successful." + +A worried look came into the young wife's face. Perhaps there was more +in Signor Keralio's relations with her husband than she had suspected. +Quickly she asked: + +"Why do they permit a man of that character to be at large?" + +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. + +"You can't proceed against a man unless there is some specific charge +made. The police have nothing now against him. He may have reformed +for all I know. But that was his record some years ago." + +"I don't think he'll dare come here again," went on Helen. "He's +exceedingly offensive, and yet he has about him a certain magnetism +that compels your attention, even while his manner and look repels and +irritates. Only the other day he----" + +Before she could complete the sentence, there was a loud ring at the +front door bell. Helen hastily rose, but Ray had already gone forward. + +"It's Mr. Parker," she cried. "I saw him coming from the window." + +The next instant the door of the drawing-room was flung open and Mr. +Parker appeared. + +"Hallo, ladies! Howdy, Steell!" + +The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not looking his +usual debonair self that evening. His manner was nervous and +flustered, his face pale and drawn with anxious lines. His coat lacked +the customary boutonnière, and his crumpled linen and unshaved chin +suggested that he had come direct from his office after a strenuous day +without stopping to go through the formality of making a change of +attire. + +Helen was quick to note the alteration in his appearance, and her first +instinct, naturally, was to associate it with her husband. Something +was amiss. + +"There's nothing wrong, is there?" she asked in alarm. + +"No, no, my dear woman!" + +But his tone was not convincing. He always called her "my dear woman" +when nervous or excited, and "my dear lady" in his calmer moods. She +at once remarked it, and it did not tend to reassure her. Now greatly +alarmed she laid a trembling hand on his arm. + +"Tell me, please! Don't hide anything from me. Has anything happened +to Kenneth?" + +"No--no; of course not." Quickly changing the subject he asked: "You +got a message." + +"Yes--a cablegram. It came just now." + +"Have you got it? Let me see it." + +"Yes, certainly," said Helen, looking around for the dispatch. Unable +to find it, she called to her sister. + +"Ray, dear, what did you do with Kenneth's cablegram?" + +Her sister came up to assist in the search, in which even Mr. Steell +joined. But the search was fruitless. The cablegram had disappeared. + +"Oh, I know!" suddenly exclaimed Ray. "It must have been carried away +with the tea things." + +"That's right! I never thought of that!" said Helen. + +The next instant the two women hurried out of the room in the direction +of the kitchen. + +The instant they had disappeared Mr. Parker turned to the lawyer. In a +whisper he said: + +"There is terrible news! I don't know how to break it to the poor +woman----" + +Steell sprang forward. Anxiously he exclaimed: + +"Terrible news? Surely not----" + +The president nodded. + +"Yes--all lost, and the diamonds, too. A dispatch just received in +London says that, according to a wireless relayed from Cape Town, the +_Abyssinia_ caught fire twelve hours after sailing from that port and +all on board perished. It is shocking, and the pecuniary loss to us +disastrous. The stones were not insured. Hush! Here they come. Not +a word!" + +"My God!" muttered the lawyer, as he fell back and turned away, so they +might not see the effect which the shocking news had made on him. With +an effort he managed to control himself. + +The two women entered the room joyfully. + +"Here it is!" cried Helen exultantly, as she brandished the missing +telegram. "You see, he's just sailed, and all's well." + +The president said nothing, but, taking the dispatch from her hands, +slowly read it. Nodding his head, he said slowly: + +"Yes--he's just sailed, and--all's well." + +"When do you think he'll be here?" questioned the young hostess, +looking anxiously up into his face. + +The president shook his head. + +"That is hard to tell," he answered evasively. + +Mr. Steell had gone to the window, where he stood looking out, idly +drumming his fingers on the pane. How was it possible to break such +fearful tidings as that? What a horrible calamity! He wished himself +a hundred miles away, yet some one must tell her. At that moment +shrill cries arose in the street outside--the familiar, distressing, +almost exultant cries of news-venders, glad of any calamity that puts a +few nickels into their pockets. + +"_Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special ex-tra!_" + +"What's that?" exclaimed Helen apprehensively. The sound of special +editions always filled her with anxiety, especially since Kenneth's +departure. + +"_Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special edition! Ex-tra! Big steamer gone down. +Great loss of life. Extra!_" + +Her face was pale, as she turned and looked at the others, who also +stood in silence, listening to the hoarse accents of distress. + +"A steamer gone down!" she faltered. "Isn't that terrible? I wonder +what steamer it was." + +Ray ran to the door. + +"I'll get a paper," she said. + +Before Mr. Parker or Mr. Steell could prevent her the young girl had +opened the front door. Now there was no way of preventing Helen +knowing. The best thing was to prepare her gently. + +"My dear Mrs. Traynor--I didn't tell you the trouble just now. There +has been a little trouble. The _Abyssinia_----" + +Helen gave a cry of anguish. + +"I knew it! I knew it! Kenneth is dead!" + +"No, no, my dear lady. These newspaper reports are always grossly +exaggerated. The _Abyssinia_ has met with a little trouble--nothing +very serious, I assure you. Everything is all right, no doubt. Your +husband is well able to take care of himself. We may hear from him any +moment, reassuring us as to his safety." + +His words of comfort went unheeded. Her face white as death Helen +tottered rather than walked to the door, reaching it just as Ray, +almost as pale, entered, reading the paper she had just purchased. On +seeing her sister she instinctively made an effort to hide the sheet, +but Helen quickly snatched it out of her hand. Her hand trembling so +violently that she could scarcely make out the letters she glanced at +the big scare-head, printed in red ink, to imitate blood, a merciful +custom sensational newspapers have of making the most of the agony of +others. + + S. S. ABYSSINIA GONE DOWN! + ALL PERISH! + + +For a moment she stood still, looking at the big type with open, +staring eyes. Then, with a low cry, like a wounded animal, she let the +paper slip from her nerveless fingers. There was a furious throbbing +at her temples: her heart seemed to stop. The room spun round, and she +fainted just as Steell rushed forward to catch her in his arms. + +"Brandy! Brandy!" he shouted. "She's fainted!" + +While Ray ran for the smelling salts and Mr. Parker was bringing the +brandy there came another vigorous pull at the bell. An instant later +the maid entered with a cablegram, which Mr. Parker seized and tore +open. As he read the contents, a look of the greatest surprise and joy +lit up his face. + +"Look at this!" he cried. + +"What is it?" demanded Steell, still on his knees trying to revive the +unconscious woman. + +"This will do her more good than all your brandy." + +"What is it?" cried Ray impatiently. + +"He's safe!" cried Mr. Parker exultantly. + +"Safe!" they all cried. + +"Yes--safe." Handing the dispatch to the lawyer, he added: "Here--read +this." + +Steell took the dispatch and read: + + +CAPE TOWN, Saturday: Miraculously saved. Sail to-morrow on the +_Zanzibar_. KENNETH. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The house of mourning had suddenly become transformed into a house of +joy. + +From the deepest abyss of hopeless despair Helen, during the next few +days, was raised to the highest pinnacle of human felicity. Kenneth +was safe, that was all she wanted to know. Whether he had succeeded or +not in saving the diamonds she did not know or care. + +Nothing more had been heard from him. Cable dispatches reported the +_Zanzibar_ to be making good time on her way to Southampton, but, until +the steamer arrived there, no further details were to be expected. +Much, however, had been gleaned as to the fate of the _Abyssinia_, and, +as the accounts of disaster began to come in, she could only thank God +that he had succeeded in escaping such a fearful fate. The ship had +mysteriously caught fire the first day out from Cape Town, and, in the +excitement, the crew, as well as the passengers, lost their heads. +Only one boat could be lowered, and in this Kenneth got away, together +with François, his valet, and some other passengers. A news item in +connection with the affair, which was of particular interest to Helen, +ran as follows: + + +"The loss of the _Abyssinia_ brought to a tragic ending a remarkable +romance in which Mr. Kenneth Traynor, one of the rescued passengers and +a prominent New York broker, is one of the principal figures. Mr. +Traynor is one of two twins so identical in appearance that no one, not +even their own mother, knew them apart. One of the children +mysteriously disappeared when a mere child and was believed to be dead. +Mr. Kenneth Traynor went recently to South Africa on business, and on +the diamond fields found in starving condition an unlucky miner who was +a perfect counterpart of himself. It was his lost brother. Mutual +explanations followed and the identity was established. Overjoyed at +the reunion the two brothers sailed for home on the _Abyssinia_. +Suddenly came the alarm of fire. While the panic on board was at its +worst, the broker lost sight of his brother, whom he never saw again +and whom it is only too certain went down with the ship." + + +"It's almost unbelievable, isn't it?" exclaimed Helen, as she read the +paragraph for the hundredth time and handed it to Wilbur Steell, who +had dropped in to hear if there was any news. + +Ray, who loved a mystery better than anything else in the world, +clapped her hands. + +"Isn't it perfectly stunning?" + +"Not for Kenneth's brother--poor fellow," said Helen reprovingly. "He +did not live long to enjoy his bettered condition." + +"That's right. How thoughtless of me!" said Ray contritely. + +As he finished reading Mr. Steell looked puzzled. Looking toward Helen +he asked: + +"Did you know that your husband had a twin brother?" + +"I only knew it recently--just before he sailed. He did not know it +himself." + +"How did he find it out?" + +"His old nurse told him. I was present." + +"Did the nurse know the brother was in South Africa?" + +"No--she had no idea of it. I'm sure of that. It's one of those +wonderful coincidences one some-times hears of." + +The lawyer shook his head. Thoughtfully he said: + +"It's certainly strange--one of the strangest things I ever heard of." + +"Kenneth will be able to tell us more about it when he comes," said Ray. + +"Yes--no doubt," asserted her sister quickly. + +The lawyer remained thoughtful for a moment. Then, lightly he said: + +"We ought to give Kenneth a rousing welcome home. After such +experiences as he has had he richly deserves it." + +Eagerly Helen caught at the suggestion. + +"By all means!" she cried. "Suppose we give a dinner, followed by a +dance." + +"Oh, lovely!" said Ray. + +"The night following his arrival," went on Helen enthusiastically. +"We'll make it quite an affair and invite everyone we know--the +Parkers, the Galloways, the Fentons, everybody----" + +"Don't forget me!" interrupted Steell. + +"Oh, you, of course!" Roguishly she added: "Aren't you one of the +family?" + +He looked at her and smiled. In an undertone which Ray, too busy +looking at the paper, did not hear, he added: + +"Not yet, but I hope to be." + +"The sooner the better, Wilbur," she said earnestly. With a +significant glance at her sister she added, "Don't let her keep you +waiting too long." + +Every hour brought nearer the happy day when they would see Kenneth +again. A cablegram from England reported that the _Zanzibar_ had +reached Southampton. Closely following this came a brief message from +Kenneth himself, stating that he was on the point of sailing for New +York on the _Adriatic_. In five more days he would be in New York. + +Expectation now reached fever heat, the excitement being communicated +to everyone in the house. Every time the front door bell rang there +was a rush downstairs in the hope that it might be another message. + +Ray, bubbling over with excitement, was almost as eager as her sister. + +"Won't it be jolly to go down to the dock and meet him?" + +Helen shook her head. + +"I won't go to meet him. I prefer to be here when he arrives." +Anxiously she added: "I hope everything is all right." + +"Why shouldn't it be all right?" + +Her sister was silent. It seemed absurd, when everything seemed to +point to her happiness, that she should still feel depressed and +nervous, but, somehow, she could not shake off the feeling that +something was wrong. It was certainly strange that no letter had been +received from Kenneth since the accident. Yet perhaps it was wicked of +her to expect more. She ought to be grateful that he had been spared. +Almost unconsciously she remarked: + +"Isn't it strange that Ken hasn't written for so long? I haven't had a +line from him since he left Cape Town." + +"Yes--you have," protested her sister. "You had a cablegram telling +you of his safety." + +"A cablegram--yes, but no letter. I have had no letter since he left +Cape Town." + +"That's true. But how could he write? He has been traveling faster +than the mails." + +"I hope he's not hurt." + +"Of course not. You would have heard it before this. Bad news travels +fast." + +Every moment from now on was devoted to getting the house ready for the +arrival of its lord and master. Ray had skilfully fashioned out of red +letters on white paper, a big "Welcome" sign, which was to be suspended +in the hall on the complacent horns of two gigantic moose heads, +souvenirs of a month's vacation in the Adirondacks. While this was +being done downstairs Helen busied herself in the library and bedroom, +getting ready the things for his comfort--his dressing-gown, his +slippers, his pipe. She detested pipes, as do most women, but she +could not refrain from giving this pipe a furtive kiss, as she laid it +lovingly on the table within easy reach of the arm-chair. The maids, +changed since he went away, were laboriously instructed in what they +should and should not do, what towels should be put in the luxurious +bathroom, what pajamas should be laid on the bed. + +Well Helen remembered the first time she had entered this bedroom. +Just married, in the full flush of her new-found happiness, it had all +seemed so beautiful, so ideal. The dull pink color scheme, so chaste +and delicate, the gracefully carved furniture, so luxurious and +elegant, the cupids flying above the massive beautifully carved bed, a +veritable bower of love--all this seemed only a realization of her +girlhood dreams of what married life should be. And now Kenneth was +coming back, after his long absence in South Africa, it would be like +getting married all over again. + +The next four days seemed longer than any Helen had ever spent in all +her life. The delay was interminable. The minutes appeared to be like +hours, the hours like days. Having to wait patiently for what one +desired so ardently was simply intolerable. She tried to divert her +mind by busying herself about the library, dusting his favorite books, +tidying his papers, but constantly came back the thoughts that filled +her with uneasiness, a vague, undefinable alarm. Was he all right? + +At last the great day arrived. A Western Union telegram announced that +the _Adriatic_ would dock at 2 o'clock. Long before that time, Ray, +unable to restrain her impatience, was on her way down town, +accompanied by Mr. Steell, while Helen, her face a little paler than +usual, her heart beating a little faster, sat in the great recessed +window of the library, and waited for the arrival of the loved one. + +Anxiously, impatiently, she watched the hands of the clock move round. +How exasperatingly slow it was: how indifferent it seemed to her +happiness! If the ship docked at two they could hardly arrive at the +house until four. It would take at least two hours to get through the +customs. Oh, would the moment never come when she would see his dear +face and clasp him in her arms? + +It was nearly half past two when suddenly the front door bell rang. +Her heart leaping to her mouth, she rushed to the top of the stairs. +It was only Mr. Parker, who had dropped in on the chance of finding his +associate already arrived. + +To-day the president of the Americo-African Mining Company was in the +highest spirits. Everything had gone according to his expectations. +Kenneth was home with the big diamonds safe in his possession. The +directors could not fail to give him (Parker) credit for his sagacity +and enterprise. The stocks of the company would soar above par. +Fortune was smiling on them in no uncertain way. Was it a wonder he +was feeling in the best of humors? + +"How do you know the diamonds are safe?" questioned Helen anxiously. +"In such a terrible panic as there must have been on that ship a man +thinks only of saving himself." + +"Pshaw!" replied the president confidently. "I'm as sure of it as that +I'm here. It was understood that he was never to part with the stones +under any circumstances. They are in a belt he wears round his waist +next to his skin. If the diamonds were not here, Kenneth would not be +here. Knowing he is safe I am convinced that they are safe." + +"Will you wait here until he comes?" + +"No, I can't. There's a meeting of the directors this afternoon. I +must attend. I'll call him up on the telephone----" + +"But you are coming to dinner this evening----" + +"Yes, yes, of course." With a smile he added: "Now, don't get too +spoony when he comes, or else Ken will have no head for business." + +"No fear," laughed Helen. "We are too long married for that." + +"Well, good-bye. I'll see you later." + +The president took his hat and turned to go. As he reached the door he +turned round. + +"By the bye, have you seen Signor Keralio lately?" + +Helen's face grew more serious. + +"No--Signor Keralio does not call here any more-at my request." + +The president gave a low, expressive whistle. Holding out his hand he +said: + +"Got his walking papers, eh? Well, I guess if you don't like him he +isn't much good. I never did care for the look of him." + +"Why did you ask?" she inquired. + +"I was just curious--that's all. He's a persistent, uncomfortable kind +of man. I don't like his face. It's a face I wouldn't trust----" + +"That's why he's not coming here any more," she replied calmly. "He +forgot himself and that was the end----" + +The president turned to go. + +"Well, good-bye. Ken will be here soon." + +"Good-bye." + +He went away, and once more Helen resumed her lonely vigil at the +library window, straining her ears to catch the direction of every +passing car, catching her breath with suspense as each pedestrian came +into view. They could not be much longer. She wondered if he had +missed her as much as she had him. No, men do not feel these things in +the way women do. They are too busy--their minds too much preoccupied +with their work. The turmoil of affairs absorbed their attention. + +The clock struck the three-quarters, and the reverberations of the +chimes had not entirely died away, when through the partly opened +window came the sound of a taxicab suddenly stopping in front of the +door. + +At last he had come! It was surely Kenneth. Her bosom heaving with +suppressed excitement she ran to the stairs and was already in the +lower hall before the maid had answered the bell. Quickly she threw +open the door, eager to throw herself in the traveler's arms. A tall +shadow darkened the doorway. It was François, the French valet. + +Helen fell back in dismay. + +"Oh, it's you!" she exclaimed, looking over his shoulder to see if +Kenneth were following. "Where is your master?" + +A curious expression, half-defiant, half-cunning, came over the +servant's face, as he replied: + +"Monsieur coming. He sent me ahead with light baggage. He detained at +customs." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, disappointed. "When will he be here?" + +"He come presently--perhaps quarter of an hour." + +"How is your master?" + +"He very well, except his eyes--they bother him a leetle." + +Helen stared at him in alarm. + +"His eyes," she exclaimed. "What is the matter with his eyes?" + +The valet avoided her direct gaze, and, shifting uneasily on his feet, +began to fuss with the leather bags he was carrying. Awkwardly he said: + +"Didn't madame hear?" + +"Hear what?" she gasped, now thoroughly alarmed. + +The man put out his hand deprecatingly. + +"Oh, it's nothing to make madame afraid. It will soon be all right. I +assure madame----" + +"But tell me what it is, will you?" she interrupted impatiently. +"Don't have so much to say--tell me what it is----" + +"It was when the ship caught fire, madame. We were running to ze +life-boat, monsieur and me, when suddenly----" + +"Well--what?" she almost shouted, in agony of suspense. + +"Monsieur tripped over a coil of rope and fell----" + +Almost unconscious in her excitement of what she was doing Helen laid +her hand on the man's arm. Terror-stricken she cried: + +"He didn't hurt himself seriously, did he?" + +The valet shook his head. + +"No, madame--not seriously. He struck his head against a chair and +just graze ze eye. It is nothing serious, I assure madame. The doctor +says that if he wears blue spectacles for few months he will be all +right." + +"Oh, he wears blue spectacles, does he?" + +"Yes, madame, he must. Ze eye is inflamed and cannot stand ze strong +light." + +"Poor Kenneth!" she murmured, half-aloud. "I shall hardly know him in +blue spectacles." + +The valet, who had been watching her like a hawk out of his +half-closed, sleepy-looking eyes, overheard the remark. Quickly he +said: + +"Of course, madame must expect to find monsieur a little changed. What +we went through was _épouvantable_, something awful. We just escaped +with our lives. For days monsieur was so nervous he was hardly able to +speak a word. Even now he stops at times----" + +Helen looked at him in wonder. + +"'He stops!' What do you mean?" + +The valet turned away, and for a moment was silent. Then, as if making +a great effort, he turned and said: + +"Madame will pardon me, but she must be brave and not show monsieur she +notices any change. Ze doctor said it was a terrible shock to his +nervous system--that fire. Monsieur has not been ze same since, _pas +du tout_ ze same. Ze doctor he says that these symptoms will all +disappear once he gets home and has a good rest. It is only ze shock, +I assure madame." + +Helen listened appalled, her face growing whiter each moment, her lips +trembling. He had met with an accident, then, after all! Her instinct +had spoken truly. Her darling was ill. That explained his long +silence. He had been too ill to write. He had gone through a terrible +shock and he had come home ill, very ill, quite changed. Her voice +faltering she said: + +"What are the symptoms?" + +"Monsieur's memory is so bad, madame. He forgets. Only to-day, as ze +ship came up ze harbor, I ask monsieur if he expect madame to meet us +at ze dock. _C'est vraiment incroyable_! He turned to me, with a look +of ze greatest surprise, and asked: 'Who ze devil is madame?'" + +"What! Didn't he seem to remember me, even?" A look of distress came +over her face. + +The valet shook his head. + +"Non, madame." Quickly he added: "But it is nothing. It is only +temporary." + +"Didn't he know my sister and Mr. Steell? Didn't they greet him at the +dock?" + +"Yes, madame. They spoke to him and he spoke to them. But he was not +himself. They seemed surprised. They will tell madame." + +Helen fell back, sick and faint. Why had she not known this before? +She would have gone down to meet him, thrown herself weeping into his +arms. He would have known her then--who better than he would recognize +that perfume he loved so well? He would have taken her in his strong +arms and kissed her passionately. If he was not himself it was because +he was ill. The shock had affected his memory! Poor darling husband, +he must be well nursed. A few days of her devoted care and he would be +all right again. Of course, it was nothing serious. Kenneth had led +too clean and wholesome a life for anything grave to be the matter. If +only he would come! God grant that he return to her as he went away! + +As the unspoken prayer died away on her lips, there was the chugging of +an automobile stopping suddenly at the curb. + +"_Les voici_!" cried François, dropping into his native tongue in his +excitement. + +He threw open the wide doors and the next instant Ray ran up the steps. +Helen, weak and dizzy from nervous tension, feeling as if she were +about to faint, met her on the threshold. + +"Kenneth!" she gasped. "Is he all right?" + +"Certainly--he's fine. He's a little tired and nervous after the long +journey, and the blue spectacles he wears make him look different, but +he's all right." + +The wife looked searchingly, eagerly at the young girl's face, as if +seeking to read there what she dreaded to ask, and it seemed to her +that the customary ring of sincerity was lacking in her sister's voice. + +"Where is he--why isn't he with you?' + +"Here he is now--don't you see him?" + +Helen looked out. There came the tall, familiar figure she knew so +well, the square shoulders, the thick bushy hair, with its single white +lock so strangely isolated among the brown. Her heart fell as she saw +the blue glasses. They veiled from her view those dear blue eyes, so +kind and true. They made him look different. But what did she care as +long as he had come home to her? Even with the horrid glasses, that +dear form she would know in a thousand! + +Slowly he came up the long flight of stone steps, weighted down by +traveling rugs and handbag, both of which he refused to surrender to +the obsequious François. Eagerly she rushed down the steps to meet +him, her eyes half-closed, ready to swoon from excitement and joy. +Nothing was said. He opened his arms. She put up her mouth, tenderly, +submissively. For a moment he seemed to hesitate. He held her tight +in his embrace, and just looked down at her. Then, as he felt the +warmth of her soft, yielding body next to his, and saw the partly +opened mouth, ready to receive his kiss, he bent down and fastened his +lips on hers. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +For one blissful, ecstatic moment Helen lay tight in his embrace, +nestling against the breast of the one being she loved better than +anyone else in the world, responding with involuntary vibrations of her +own body to the gust of fiery passion that swept his. But only for a +moment. The next instant she had torn herself violently free, and was +gazing, wonderingly, fearfully, up into his face, trying to penetrate +those glasses which veiled, as it were, the windows of his soul. Why +she broke away so abruptly from his embrace she could not herself have +explained. Something within her, some instinct to which her reason was +unable to give a name, made her body revolt against the unusual ardor +of the caress. Strange! Never before had she felt so embarrassed at +Kenneth's demonstrations of affection. + +"How are you, dear?" she murmured, when at last she could find words. + +She had not yet heard the sound of his beloved voice, and when at last +he answered her it seemed to her ears only like an echo of its former +self, so exhausted and wearied was he by what he had gone through. + +"Very tired, sweetheart," he replied huskily. "I shall need a long +rest." + +She led the way into the house and up the stairs, where everything had +been so elaborately prepared for his welcome. In the bedroom she +pointed with pride to the real Valenciennes lace coverlet put on in his +honor, and showed him the dressing-gown and slippers so lovingly laid +out. He looked at everything, but made no comment. She half expected +a few words of praise, but none were forthcoming. While affectionately +demonstrative he was unusually reticent. She wondered what worry he +could have on his mind to make him act so strangely and suddenly +Keralio's words of warning came to her mind. Was there a side to his +life of which she knew nothing? Were his thoughts elsewhere, even +while he was with her? Quickly there came a look of dismay and +anxiety, which he was not slow to notice. Instantly on his guard, he +murmured in a low tone: + +"Forgive me, dear, I can't talk now. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my +eyes open." + +Instantly her apprehension was forgotten in her desire to make him +comfortable. + +"That's right, dear. You must be dead with fatigue. You'll take a +nice nap and when you wake up it will be time for dinner. I've planned +a nice little party to celebrate your return--only a few intimates--Mr. +Parker is coming, and Wilbur Steell, and a young man named Dick +Reynolds, an acquaintance of Wilbur's. You won't mind such old +friends, will you?" + +He shook his head. + +"No, indeed. I'm very tired, now, but I'll be all right in a few +minutes." + +"Of course you will," she smiled, as she removed the handsome lace +coverlet from the bed. "No one will disturb you. My darling hubbie +can sleep as sound as a top, and, when he wakes, we'll talk a terrible +lot, won't we?" Looking up roguishly, as she smoothed his pillow for +him, she added shyly: "There are two pillows here now. There has been +only one while you were away----" + +For the first time he seemed to evince interest in what she was saying. +His eyes flashed behind the blue spectacles, and his hands trembled, as +he quickly made a step forward and put his arm round her waist. + +"There'll always be two in the future, won't there?" he asked hoarsely. + +"Yes, of course there will," she laughed, + +"To-night?" he insisted. + +"Yes, of course," she said, her color heightening slightly under the +persistency of his gaze. What a foolish question! Changing the topic +she added, with a laugh: "Now, take your coat off, like a good boy, and +go to sleep. I'll go down and keep the house quiet. When it's time to +get up, I'll come back." + +"Don't go yet," he murmured, looking at her ardently. Taking her hand +caressingly he tried to lead her to the sofa. "Sit down here. I won't +sleep yet. Let us talk. I have so much to say." + +Firmly Helen withdrew from his embrace. + +"No, no; I won't stay a moment," she said decisively. "Not now. You +must behave yourself. We'll talk all you want to to-night. But not +now. You are very tired. The sleep will do you good. Now be a good +boy--go to bed." + +He tried to intercept her before she reached the door, but she was too +quick for him. She went out and was about to close the door behind her +when he called out: + +"Please send François to me." + +She nodded. + +"Yes, dear, I will. Of course you need him. Why didn't I think of it +before?" + +She closed the door and went downstairs. It was hard to believe that +he was back home. How long she had waited for this day, and, even now +it had come, the void did not seem filled. There still seemed +something wanting. What it was, she did not know, yet it was there. + +In the dining-room she ran into Ray, who had her arms filled with +magnificent American beauty roses. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Helen enthusiastically. "Where did you get +those flowers?" + +The young girl laughed. "They're a present from me and Wilbur--in +honor of Kenneth's arrival. Where is he?" + +"Upstairs--he's going to lie down until dinner is ready. Poor +soul--he's almost dead with fatigue." + +"Has he got the diamonds?" + +Helen gasped. She hadn't thought of that. In all the excitement the +real object of her husband's trip to South Africa had quite escaped her +mind. + +"I don't know," she said quickly. "I haven't asked him. We've hardly +exchanged a dozen words. He'll tell us later. Was nothing said about +them at the Customs? Didn't he declare them?" + +"No--I thought it was strange. That's why I asked you if he had them. +Possibly he left them to be cut in Amsterdam." + +Helen grew thoughtful. + +"I don't know. He'll tell us later." + +Ray filled the vases with the flowers, while Helen busied herself at +the buffet, getting out all the pretty silverware with which the dinner +table was to be decorated. The young girl hummed lightly as she +decorated the room with the fragrant blossoms. + +"Isn't it lovely that Kenneth is back?" she exclaimed. + +"Yes, indeed." + +"I hardly knew him at first in those spectacles." + +"I'm not surprised at that." + +"If it hadn't been for that white patch of hair I don't think we could +have picked him out of the crowd. There was an awful crush there." + +There was a pause, and then Helen asked: + +"How do you think he looks?" + +"About the same," replied the girl carelessly. "He doesn't seem in as +good spirits as when he went away. He is very quiet. He hardly spoke +a word to us on the way home. Possibly he has some business anxiety on +his mind." + +"Did he ask about me?" + +"Yes--you were his first question." + +"Did you tell him about Dorothy?" + +"That she was not so well? Yes." + +"What did he say? Was he worried?" + +"Not particularly. I think men are more sensible in those matters than +we women. He knows baby is well taken care of." Changing the subject, +the young girl went on: "I hope everybody will be jolly to-night. I've +made up my mind to have a good time." + +Helen sighed. + +"I'm feeling a little uneasy about Dorothy. I got a letter this +morning from Aunt Carrie, saying she was not feeling so well. The +doctor was going to see her to-day, and, if she got worse, they said +they'd telegraph." + +Ray looked at her sister in consternation. + +"What would you do then?" + +"I would have to go at once to Philadelphia." + +"And Kenneth just come home--oh, Helen!" + +"I couldn't help it. Kenneth couldn't go. Somebody must go. The +child could not be left alone. Who should go better than its mother?" + +Ray made a gesture of protest. + +"Well, don't let's imagine the worst. Dorothy won't get worse. +To-morrow you'll get a reassuring letter, and your worries will be +over." + +"I hope so," smiled Helen. + +Leaving the task of sorting the knives and forks Ray came over to where +Helen was standing. The young girl pointed to all the vases filled +with the crimson roses. + +"How do you like that?" she exclaimed. + +"Beautiful!" + +There was a brief silence, both women being preoccupied by their +thoughts, when Ray, in her usual vivacious, impulsive way, burst out: + +"Sis, I have something to tell you." + +Helen looked up quickly. + +"Something to tell me--something good?" + +"I'm so happy! I'm engaged at last." + +"To Wilbur, of course?" + +"Yes." + +Helen gave an exclamation of joy. + +"Oh, I'm so glad. When did it happen? Tell me all about it--quick." + +"He proposed to-day, and I said yes. We're to be married in two +months." + +The next moment the two women were in each other's arms. + +"I'm so glad--so glad," murmured Helen. "I hope you'll both be very, +very happy." + +"We certainly shall if we are like you and Kenneth. Wilbur says that +your example is the one thing that decided him to make the plunge." + +Helen smiled. + +"You'll have one advantage I don't enjoy. Your husband, being a +lawyer, won't be taking trips to South Africa all the time." + +"Oh, I don't know," laughed the girl; "it's sometimes nice to lose +sight of each other for a time. The lovemaking is all the more furious +when your husband gets back." + +"Yes--unless he happens to meet some other charmer on his travels." + +"Oh, nonsense, Helen--men don't really have such adventures. That only +happens in novels." + +"I hope so," murmured her sister. + +"Oh, by the bye," exclaimed Ray, "who do you suppose we saw on the +dock?" + +"Who?" + +"That horrid creature--Signor Keralio." + +Helen looked up in surprise. + +"Keralio? What was he doing there? Did he speak to you?" + +"No--he seemed to avoid us. Once I got lost for a moment in the crush, +and, as I turned, I thought I saw him talking earnestly to Kenneth and +François. Of course I must have been mistaken, for, when I finally +rejoined them, both denied having seen him!" + +"Keralio!" murmured Helen. "How strange! That man seems to pursue us +like some evil genius. No matter where we go, he follows like a +shadow. Oh, I forgot all about François. Where is he?" + +"Downstairs." + +Helen touched a bell. + +"Why do you need him?" + +"Kenneth wants him. I forgot all about it. All his things need +putting away. The litter upstairs is simply terrible." + +"There won't be much time for unpacking," objected Ray. "It's +half-past five already. We'll soon have to think of dressing for +dinner." + +Suddenly the door opened and François appeared. He entered quietly, +stealthily, and, advancing to where his mistress was, stood in silence, +awaiting her orders. + +"Your master wants you upstairs, François." + +The man bowed. + +"_Bien_, madame!" + +"Tell Mr. Traynor not to keep you too long, because there's a lot of +work to be done downstairs before dinner." + +"_Bien_, madame." + +The man lingered in the room, arranging the chairs, and fussing about +the table, until he began to make Helen nervous. Peremptorily she said: + +"You had better go, François; monsieur is waiting for you." + +The valet bowed obsequiously, and left the room, shutting the door +carefully. Instead of proceeding immediately upstairs, he stopped for +a moment behind the closed door and listened intently. But, unable to +overhear the two women, who were conversing in an undertone, he hurried +upstairs toward his employer's bedroom. Arrived on the landing, he +went straight to the room, and, without stopping for the formality of +knocking, he turned the handle and went in. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Instead of finding his master resting from his fatigue, as Mrs. Traynor +had said, François discovered the new arrival very much awake. He was +sitting in front of Helen's bureau, eagerly perusing a bundle of +private letters tied with blue ribbon, which he had taken from a +drawer. As the door opened, he jumped up quickly, as if detected +committing a dishonorable action; but, when he saw who it was, his face +relaxed and he gave a grim nod of recognition. + +"Lock the door!" he said in a whisper. "It won't do to have anyone +come in here now." + +The valet turned the key, and, dropping entirely the obsequious manner +of the paid menial, threw himself carelessly into a chair. Taking from +his pocket a richly chased silver cigarette box, loot from former +houses where he had been employed, he struck a match on the highly +polished Circassian walnut chair, and proceeded to enjoy a smoke. + +His companion looked at him anxiously. + +"Well?" he demanded hoarsely. "Is it all right? What do they say? +Does anyone suspect?" + +The Frenchman gracefully emitted from between his thin lips a thick +cloud of blue smoke, and broke into a laugh that, under the +circumstances, sounded strangely hollow and sinister. + +"Suspect?" he chuckled. "Why should they suspect? Are you not ze same +man who went away--ze same build, ze same face, ze same voice, ze same +in every particular--except one. Zat you have not--_non_--you have not +ze education, ze fine manners, ze _savoir faire_ of monsieur." With +that expressive shrug of the shoulder, so characteristic of his nation, +he added: "_Mais que voulez vous_? We must do ze best we can." + +His listener struck the brass bed-post savagely with his heavy fist. +With a burst of profanity he broke out: + +"Yes, damn him! He had all the advantages. I had none. But it's my +turn now. I want all that's coming to me." + +"Hush!" exclaimed the valet, raising his finger warningly. "Zey may +hear. Everything will be all right. We must be very careful. You +must not talk. You must avoid people. Let them think you sick, or +strange, or crazy, anything you like. But keep away from zem, or else +they soon discover that 'Handsome Jack,' ze penniless adventurer, is +quite a different person from ze accomplished and wealthy Monsieur +Kenneth Traynor." + +"We can't expect to keep the game up long," interrupted the big fellow +moodily. + +"We won't have to," replied his companion calmly. "Just enough time to +squeeze ze orange dry--that's all----" + +Handsome looked up quickly. Savagely he retorted: + +"Of which juice you and Keralio want a goodly share, don't you?" + +The valet's greenish eyes flashed. + +"Of course I do, and, what's more, I mean to get it." Changing his +free, careless tone to one tense with significance and menace he went +on: "Don't be a fool, Monsieur Handsome. Who put you up to this snap, +but me? Who knows what you did to monsieur out there on ze _veldt_, +better than me? Dead men tell no tales, but live ones do. Don't +forget that! If you want to keep clear of ze electric chair, you'll +keep your mouth shut, and play fair." + +The gambler listened, his mouth twitching nervously, his eyes glowing +with sullen hatred. + +"What do you and Keralio want? I gave you the diamonds--what more do +you expect?" + +The valet laughed scoffingly. + +"You gave him ze diamonds. Why? You were d----d glad to be rid of +zem. We can't do anything with zem now. We may have to wait months or +years before we can venture to cut zem up and dispose of zem. _Non_, +monsieur! If zey appeared on ze market now, ze news would be flashed +_immédiatement_ to every corner of ze globe, and your career and mine +would come to a quick end. _Voila_!" + +"Don't forget Keralio!" said Handsome, with a sneer. + +"_Eh, bien_? Has he not earned it, Signor Keralio? Is it not because +of his courage and daring that you are here--ze master in this house? +Who but Keralio would have had ze nerve to carry ze thing through?" + +Handsome shrugged his shoulders. Cynically he said: + +"Oh, I don't know. It seems to me that Keralio is safe under cover, +while here I am, disporting myself in the limelight, with every eye +turned on me. I guess I prefer Keralio's job to mine----" + +The valet's eyes flashed vindictively as he retorted: + +"Could your puny brain have conceived this scheme which will make us +all rich? Keralio outlined ze whole plan to me directly he heard of +your existence. On our reaching Cape Town, after finding you starving +on ze _veldt_, I cabled him ze news. A few hours later he told me +exactly what to do. He knew you would do it. How, I do not know. He +is no ordinary man, Keralio. When I first saw you out zere, unkempt, +in rags, starving, I could have dropped dead from surprise. It never +occurred to me that you might be useful. But Keralio knew. He knows +everything. He also knew that you would accept his leadership, that +you would quickly get rid of monsieur, and secure ze diamonds. Was it +not his idea that you set fire to ze ship? And who set fire to ze +ship, _s'il vous plait_, when you refused? Who but your very humble +servant. And a hard, dangerous job, it was, too--catch me ever wanting +to do it again!" + +"Not half so bad as mine. He put up a terrible fight before I threw +him overboard." + +"Who--monsieur?" + +"Yes--he fought like a wildcat, and he was fast getting the best of me, +when I managed to give him a rap on the head. That quieted him, and +over he went." With an exclamation of disgust, he added: "It was a +d----d nasty job. I'm sorry I ever went into it----" + +"Sorry--you fool? _Sapristi_! Just think of this wonderful +opportunity. You have ze keys to his vaults, you have control of his +bank accounts." Lowering his voice, and, with a significant leer on +his face, he added "and you have--his wife!" + +Handsome grinned, and the valet went on: + +"_Précisément_! Madame is cold and haughty, like all zese American +women. It's not exactly my taste, but she's pretty and dainty, and----" + +"Who are all these other people," interrupted the miner, "that man +Steell----" + +"Yes, that is so. You must know everyone. You must make a study of +each, so as to avoid making bad breaks. Monsieur Steell is a lawyer. +He's in love with madame's sister, Miss Ray. You've known him all your +life, went to school with him, and all that sort of thing. Say 'yes' +to everything he says. That's your cue at present. Talk as little as +you can, and agree with everybody. The man you must talk with most is +Monsieur Parker. He is president of the mining company. Happily he's +rather shortsighted, so he won't notice anything. He's the man to whom +you'll have to explain ze loss of ze diamonds. He'll be here to-night +for dinner, so you'd better get your story ready." + +"What can I say?" + +"Say that in ze panic your belt worked loose, you had to dive into ze +water. When you were dragged into ze lifeboat the belt was gone, do +you understand?" + +"Yes--but will they believe it?" + +"They must believe it. There'll be an awful fuss, of course, but +they'll get over it. No suspicion can attach to you." + +"He's coming to-night--this man Parker?" + +"Yes, to-night. He'll be here for dinner. He----" + +Before the valet could complete the sentence there was a knock on the +door and Helen outside called out: + +"May I come in?" + +Instantly the valet jumped up and assumed once more his deferential +demeanor. The gambler hurriedly shut the bureau drawers and put on the +blue spectacles. + +The door opened and Helen entered. + +Alert as the Frenchman was, he was not quick enough to quite conceal +from the wife that his present obsequious manner had been suddenly +assumed for her benefit directly she had entered the room. She had +overheard voices, as she reached the landing, and the abrupt manner in +which these sounds had ceased was not entirely natural. It had also +seemed to her that the valet's tone had had a ring of familiarity about +it which she had never known it to have before. Could it be possible +that they were discussing matters which were to be kept from her? If +so, her husband already had secrets in which not she but his valet +shared. She recalled Keralio's cynical smile, as he had whispered: +"Husbands only tell their wives half." Perhaps he had spoken the +truth. Perhaps at this very moment she was degraded, insulted in her +womanhood by a man who was secretly unloyal to her. The very thought +went through her like a knife-thrust. All her life, every hour she had +devoted to her husband. Even now she did not like to even harbor a +shade of distrust, but his strange behavior since his return, this +earnest conversation behind closed doors with a menial she despised and +distrusted--all this could not but add to her anxiety. Calmly, she +asked: + +"Have you finished with François, dear? We need him downstairs." + +The valet himself answered the question: + +"_Oui_, madame. I was just coming." + +Bowing politely, he turned on his heel, and, with a significant glance +at Handsome, which his mistress did not notice, he left the room. +Helen glanced at the bed, which was undisturbed. Surprised, she +exclaimed: + +"Why, I thought you were going to lie down!" + +He shook his head. Shifting uneasily on his feet, and, without looking +up, he answered: + +"No--I can't sleep. I'm too nervous. I'll sleep to-night." + +Advancing farther into the room she went up him and put her arm +affectionately round him. Sympathetically she said: + +"You'll feel better in a few days, dear. Just rest and take things +easy. I won't hear of your going to the office for a week at least. +All the business you and Mr. Parker have you can transact here. By the +way, dear, you haven't even mentioned the most important thing of +all--have you brought back the diamonds?" + +Instead of replying at once to her question, he turned quickly and +pulled down the blind. + +"You don't mind, do you?" he said. "The light hurts my eyes." + +"Of course not," she replied. Sitting down near him she went on: "Tell +me--have you got the diamonds? How beautiful they must be! How I +should love to see them!" + +When finally he turned and confronted her she could see his face only +indistinctly, as the drawing of the blind had left the room almost in +darkness. His voice was strained and tense as he replied huskily: + +"I have not got the diamonds!" + +Helen almost started from her seat. + +"You have not got them!" she exclaimed. "Where are they, Ken?" + +"They are lost!" + +"Lost?" she echoed, stupefied. + +"Yes--lost." + +"Oh, how terrible!" she faltered. + +This, then, was the secret of his strange manner, his depression and +nervousness. He had lost the diamonds. He had returned home to +announce to the eagerly awaiting stockholders that over a million +dollars' worth of property had suddenly been swept away. His feeling +of personal responsibility must have been awful. No wonder he was not +himself. It was enough to unnerve any man. Of course he was not to +blame, but the world is so merciless. He would have to bear the +censure, even when he was perfectly innocent. How she regretted that +he had ever undertaken so heavy a responsibility. Timidly, not wishing +to embarrass or annoy him, she said: + +"How did it happen, dear?" + +For a moment he made no answer, but just sat and stared at her. What +little light entered between the shade and the window frame fell full +on her face, lighting up the fine profile, the delicately chiseled +mouth, throwing off golden glints from her artistically arranged hair. +From her face his eyes wandered greedily down to her snow-white neck, +her slender, graceful figure, her beautifully molded arms. Certainly, +he mused to himself, his brother was an epicure in love. This woman +was dainty enough to tempt a saint. + +"How did it happen?" she asked again. + +"It was in the first rush from the burning ship," he said hoarsely. "I +was asleep when the fire broke out. It happened at two o'clock in the +morning. The diamonds were in the belt which each night I unfastened +and put under my pillow. It was more comfortable to do that than to +wear it. When the first alarm came I forgot everything--except my own +safety. I rushed pell-mell on deck. It was a nasty night. We didn't +know where we were, or how grave the situation was. Outside the wind +was howling furiously, the siren was blowing dismally, the +panic-stricken passengers and sailors were fighting like wildcats. I +lost my head along with the rest. I had reached the lifeboat when +suddenly I remembered the belt. I felt at my waist. It was not there. +I remembered I had left it under the pillow. I was horror-stricken. +Great beads of perspiration broke from every pore. The people were +fighting to get into the boat; I fought to get out and back to my +stateroom. Suddenly someone knocked me on the head. I lost +consciousness. When I came to we were miles away from the wreck, +drifting on the ocean in an open boat, and the _Abyssinia_ was nowhere +to be seen." + +Helen made an exclamation of sympathy. + +"Poor soul--how terrible you must have felt! Thank God, you escaped +with your life! We ought to feel grateful for that. Suppose I had +been compelled to tell Mary that you were drowned. It would have +killed her--you know that. Do you remember what you told her when you +went away?" + +He stared at her, not understanding. + +"Told who?" he said cautiously. + +"Mary." + +"Oh, yes--Mary--of course--you mean your sister----" + +Helen looked at him in amazement, then in alarm. Could the wreck have +affected his mind? Laughingly she retorted: + +"Ray? Of course not. How foolish you are, Kenneth. Don't you +remember that your old nurse came to see you before you sailed?" + +He nodded and coughed uneasily, moving restlessly about in his chair, +as if to hide his embarrassment. These questions were decidedly +unpleasant. Inwardly he wished François was present to help him out. + +"Mary? Oh, yes, I remember--of course--of course----" + +The look of anxiety in the young woman's face deepened. His memory +failed him completely. Changing the subject she said quickly: + +"There's something else I wish to mention to you, dear. It is about +Signor Keralio----" + +He started quickly to his feet. How came his brother's wife to know +the name of the arch-plotter, the man who had sentenced her own husband +to death? Was it possible that she knew more? Was she aware of his +real identity? Was her present amiability of manner merely simulated? +Was she waiting her time before calling in the police and exposing him +as an impostor? + +"Keralio?" he echoed hoarsely. "What about Keralio?" Making a step +forward he exclaimed savagely: "Has he squealed? Is the game up? He's +to blame, not I!" + +Impulsively, instinctively, Helen sprang from her chair and fell back +with a startled exclamation. Now thoroughly alarmed, more than ever +convinced that the shipwreck had affected his brain, her one solicitude +was to keep him quiet until she could get a doctor. Soothingly she +said: + +"Of course, dear; of course. We won't speak of Signor Keralio now. +He's not worth discussing anyhow." + +He watched her closely for a moment, as if trying to see if she were +deceiving him, but her face was frank and serene. Suddenly, taking +hold of her hand, which she abandoned willingly enough in his, he +murmured: + +"You mustn't mind what I say. I'll soon be all right. I'm a bit mixed +up. My mind's been queer ever since that awful night." + +"Perhaps you would prefer if we had no one to dinner. I could easily +give some excuse and put them all off." + +His first impulse was to promptly accept this suggestion, yet what was +the good? If he did not meet them to-day he must do so to-morrow. It +was best to get it over with. The quicker he got to know the people +the easier it would be for him. If he seemed to avoid meeting them, it +might only arouse suspicion. Shaking his head, he said: + +"No, dear. That's all right. I'm glad they're coming. It will liven +things up." + +Helen's face brightened. It was the first cheerful remark he had made. + +"That's what I think. You must forget what you have gone through. +After all it's not so bad, but it might be a lot worse. Mr. Parker +will feel badly about the stones, of course, because he had counted on +making capital out of the advertising they would receive. But who +knows? Perhaps it's all for the best. They may find other stones even +more valuable." + +A sudden knock at the door interrupted them. + +"Come in," called out Helen. + +The maid appeared. + +"Mr. Parker is downstairs, m'm." + +"Good gracious! Here already for dinner. What time is it?" + +"Seven o'clock, m'm." + +"All right. I'll be down immediately." + +The girl went away and Helen turned to her companion. + +"Now, hurry, dear, won't you? Dinner is ready. The guests are +arriving. Dress quickly and come down." + +He still held her hand. + +"You're not angry with me?" he whispered. + +"Why should I be angry?" + +"Because of the diamonds." + +"No, indeed--it was you I wanted, not the diamonds." + +Drawing her to him, he kissed her. But her lips were cold. There was +no response to his ardor. She could not herself have explained why. +She felt no inclination to respond to his caresses, which at any other +time she would have returned with warmth. With a slight shade of +impatience she broke away. + +"We have no time for that now, Kenneth. Our guests are waiting." + +"That's right," he replied, with a smile that did not escape her. +"We've no time now. But the night is still before us." + +"Will you come soon?" + +"Yes--I'll be right down." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Once more the Traynor residence was filled with the sounds of mirth and +revelry. + +From cellar to attic the old mansion was ablaze with light. The large +dining-room, decorated with flowers and plants, wore a festive air, and +the long table in the center literally groaned under its burden of fine +linen, crystal, and silver. + +The dinner, now drawing to a close, had been a huge success in every +way, and, with the serving of the _demi-tasse_, the guests sat back in +their chairs, feeling that sense of gluttony satisfied which only a +perfect dinner can impart. The rarest wines, the richest foods--Helen +had spared no expense to make the affair worthy the occasion. + +As Mr. Parker sat back and with deliberation lit the big black Corona, +which his host had given him, he felt as much at ease as can a man who +has dined well and knows that his affairs are prospering beyond all +expectations, and, as his eyes half closed, he listened dreamily while +his host, for the hundredth time, told yarns of the diamond fields, he +silently congratulated himself on his astuteness in having employed so +successful a messenger. He had not yet had an opportunity to ask any +questions about the diamonds. He had his own reasons for not wanting +those present to learn too much of his plans. There would be plenty of +time when he could get the vice-president alone. So he just sat back +and puffed his cigar, while around him went on the hum of conversation, +punctuated here and there with bursts of laughter. + +Considering his short stay at the diamond mines it was astonishing how +well stocked their host was with stories. To hear him talk one might +have thought he had been a miner all his life. Stimulated by copious +draughts of champagne, which he contrived to make flow like water, he +was highly interesting, and his listeners, greatly interested, hung on +to every word. + +"It must be a terrible life!" said Steell, as he lit another cigar. + +The host emptied his glass and again refilled it before he answered: + +"It's a life of a dog--not of a human being. The toil is incessant, +the profit doubtful. You starve to death: good food is unprocurable +save at prohibitive prices. One sleeps practically in the open, save +for such rude shelter as each man can make for himself. The flies are +a pest and constant source of danger. The water is abominable." + +"You like champagne better, eh?" laughed Ray. + +The gambler had already drunk more than was good for him, and, raising +his glass in a mock toast, began to hum the first lines of a familiar +camp ditty: + + "_La femme qui sait me plaire + C'est la petite veuve Clicquot._" + + +"Is there much stealing of diamonds by the miners?" demanded Mr. Parker. + +Handsome nodded. + +"Lots of it. They have to watch 'em all the time. They resort to all +kinds of tricks to conceal stones they find. They used to swallow +them, but when they were forced to take powerful emetics and other +drugs, they soon got tired of that game. They also try to smuggle them +across the border line. One detective, who had been for months on the +trail of a well-to-do smuggler, was badly stung. The man invited him +to go shooting, and kindly furnished guns and cartridges. The +unsuspecting policeman carried the cartridges across the border, never +dreaming that each one was filled with diamonds." + +Ray clapped her hands. + +"Oh, what a clever idea!" + +The host nodded approvingly. + +"That's what I thought. Any man as smart as that deserved to get away +with it." + +Mr. Parker protested. + +"Rogues are always smart!" he exclaimed. + +"Until they're caught," laughed Dick Reynolds. "Then they don't think +they're so smart." + +Mr. Steell nodded approval. + +"I know something about that," said the lawyer. "A crook is never +really clever. He always leaves some loophole which leads to +detection. He thinks he is secure, that his disguise is impenetrable, +but there is always someone watching him, closely observing his every +move. And, the first thing he knows, he has walked into a trap, the +handcuffs are snapped, and the electric chair looms grimly before +him----" + +_Crash_! + +All looked up to the end of the table, where their host had broken a +glass. In the act of raising the champagne to his lips the glass had +slipped and broken into a thousand pieces. Helen, frightened, started +from her seat. + +"Are you hurt, dear?" she asked. "There is blood on your hand." + +"No--no, it's nothing. I cut myself with a bit of glass. It's +nothing." + +Ray was eager for more anecdotes. + +"Do tell us more, Kenneth," she exclaimed, interrupting her chat with +her left-hand neighbor. + +"Give him a breathing spell," laughed Dick. "We've kept him at it ever +since the dinner began." + +Handsome, his face pale, his hand trembling, filled another glass with +the foaming golden wine, and drained it at a draught. What the lawyer +just said had been somewhat of a shock. Was there more meaning in it +than appeared in the chance words? He eyed Steell narrowly, when he +was not looking, but the lawyer's face was inscrutable. Again he +filled his glass and again emptied it. + +That her husband had been drinking heavily all evening had not escaped +Helen's attention, and it worried her. Nudging her sister she +whispered: + +"Ken's drinking more than is good for him. He never used to drink like +that." + +At that moment, the host looked up and caught Helen's eye. Raising his +glass he offered a toast: + +"Here's to the prettiest, the sweetest, the most desirable little woman +in the world! Gentlemen and ladies--my wife!" + +They all drank except Helen who, confused and annoyed, tried to turn it +off with a laugh. + +Noticing her embarrassment, Ray made a signal to Mr. Steell and they +both rose from the table. Helen and Dick quickly followed their +example and the hostess led the way into the drawing-room, leaving +Handsome and Mr. Parker alone to their cigars. + +The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not sorry of +the opportunity which this tête-à-tête afforded for a quiet business +talk. + +"By the way, old man," he began, "we haven't had a chance to talk +business yet. You've got the diamonds, of course." + +His host was silent. Mr. Parker thought he had not heard. A little +louder he repeated: + +"You've got the diamonds?" + +Still no answer. The president began to get uneasy. Could anything be +wrong or was his friend drunk? He had noticed that he had been +drinking heavily--something he had never known Kenneth Traynor do. +With some impatience he said sharply: "What's the matter, Kenneth? +Wake up, old man. I asked you a question. Can't you answer?" + +Handsome brought his fist down on the table with a bang that made the +glasses dance. + +"D---- it!" he exclaimed angrily. "Can't a man be left alone in his +own house for a few minutes without bothering him with business?" + +This outburst was so utterly unexpected that Mr. Parker, taken entirely +by surprise, fell back in his chair and stared at his host in +amazement. Never before had he known his old friend and partner to act +in this strange way. Could anything be amiss? Now he came to think of +it, he had noticed a great change in his associate directly he saw him. +He had seemed to lack his customary cordiality and frankness. He +appeared moody and morose, as if he had on his mind some weighty +responsibility he was unwilling to share. Evidently there was nothing +to be gained by displaying impatience, so, in more conciliatory tones, +he asked: + +"That's all right, my boy. If you don't care to talk shop to-night, we +won't. I didn't want to hurry you. I was curious, that's all. I have +scarcely been able to curb my impatience. You understand what it means +to us. Why, the very announcement that we have the diamonds safe here +in New York, will be enough to send the company's stock up twenty +points." Lowering his voice and bending over he added confidentially: +"I don't mind telling you that I've been buying for my own account all +the cheap stock I could put my hands on. As to the stockholders, +they're simply wild with impatience to see the big stones. But we +won't talk any more about it to-night. We'll wait till to-morrow." + +Handsome, his face almost livid, leaned over the table. Hoarsely, he +replied: + +"It's no use waiting till to-morrow. All that's to be told can be told +now. I haven't got the diamonds!" + +For a moment Mr. Parker did not realize what the other man was saying. +Thinking he had not heard right he asked: + +"What did you say?" + +"I have not got the diamonds!" + +The president started from his seat. His face pale as death, his hand +shaking as stricken with palsy, he almost shouted: + +"You have not got the diamonds! Then where in God's name are they?" + +"At the bottom of the ocean!" + +The senior partner dropped back in his chair, white as death. Then +this was the outcome of all his hopes, all his planning. Faintly he +gasped: + +"Why didn't you tell me so before?" + +"I had no opportunity. I didn't want to cable such news. It might +have caused a slump in the shares. I could not let you know before. +This is the first time I've seen you alone." + +The president said no more. The lines about his mouth tightened and +the expression of his face underwent a change. He uttered not a word, +but just sat there, his eyes fixed steadily on his companion, who +continued to fill his glass with champagne. Cornelius Winthrop Parker +was not a man to be easily deceived. He had too much experience of the +world for that. All his life he had been reading men and what he heard +now in the tone of his host's voice convinced him that he was lying. +That, in itself, was sufficient of a shock. To find Kenneth +Traynor--the soul of integrity and honor--deliberately betraying a +trust of such importance hurt him almost as much as the loss of the +gems. That they had gone down with the _Abyssinia_ he did not for a +moment believe. It was more likely that they had been sold--possibly +to make good Wall Street losses. Talk of big stock deals in which +Traynor had been mixed up had reached his ear before today, and more +recently this gossip had become more insistent. Kenneth was +interested, said rumor, in pool operations involving millions. The +recent sudden slump had found him unprepared. Ruin threatened him and +to save himself he had succumbed to temptation. This, at least, was +the theory which the President's alert brain rapidly evolved as he sat +watching the man in front of him. Perhaps all was not yet lost. If +the stones had not yet been disposed of, an effort might still be made +to recover them and at the same time save Traynor and his young wife +from the disgrace that such a grave scandal would entail. The first +thing necessary was to keep cool, show no concern and disarm suspicion +by pretending to accept the loss as irreparable. Then, at the first +opportunity, he would take Wilbur Steell into his confidence. That +wide awake lawyer would know exactly how to handle the case. Dick +Reynolds would have an opportunity to show his talent as a detective. +Breaking the long silence he said calmly: + +"Of course, I understand your silence. I think you acted wisely. We +had better keep the loss to ourselves as long as we can. No one can +attach any blame to you. It is a terrible loss, but we must face it +like men." + +The gambler looked up quickly, and eyed his guest narrowly. Seeing +nothing on the latter's face to arouse his suspicions, he grew more +cheerful. Less sullen and defiant, he extended his hand. + +"Thanks, old man!" he exclaimed heartily. "I expected no less from +you. I can't tell you how badly I feel about the loss. No doubt my +manner has seemed strange since my return. I have been irritable with +everybody--even my dear wife has noticed it. It was only because I did +not know how to make a clear breast of it. Since you take it so +sensibly, I'll cheer up. I declare I feel like a new man already." + +Mr. Parker lit another cigar. Calmly, he said: + +"That's right, Kenneth my boy. Keep a stiff upper lip. All's for the +best. We'll have better luck next time." + +As he spoke, Wilbur Steell passed on his way to join the ladies in the +drawing-room. The president called out to him: + +"Hello, Steell. What are you so busy about? Entertaining the women, +eh? Always thought you were a lady killer. Suppose you come and smoke +a cigar with me and let our friend here go and have a chat with his +wife. You've no right to monopolize the fair sex in that fashion, even +if you are a trust lawyer. Anyhow, I want to talk to you--just a +little matter of business--that's all!" + +Steell laughed, and, dropping into a chair, took the cigar which Mr. +Parker held out. Turning to his host, and clapping him genially on the +back the president exclaimed: + +"Go and talk to your wife, old man. You've left her alone long enough." + +"All right--I will," replied the gambler, not sorry of any excuse to +get away. + +Mr. Parker waited till he was out of hearing, then, leaning quickly +over to his companion, he exclaimed in a tense whisper: + +"Steell, I need your help." + +The lawyer looked at him in surprise. Removing his cigar from his +mouth he said: + +"My help? By all means. What can I do for you?" + +Mr. Parker gave a quick glance behind him to see if they were observed, +and then he said: + +"My God, Steell, something terrible has happened! At any cost, we +mustn't let the wife know----" + +The lawyer stared at his companion in amazement. + +"What is it, for Heaven's sake?" he demanded, looking anxiously at his +_vis-à-vis_. + +"The diamonds are lost!" replied Parker hoarsely. + +"The diamonds lost!" + +"Yes--lost--he has returned without them. They went down in the +_Abyssinia_. At least, that's what he says----" + +The lawyer started. + +"You think----" + +"I think nothing," replied the president cautiously. "I want to know. +That's why I want you to help me--to find out--you understand?" + +The lawyer nodded: + +"Some detective work, eh?" + +"Precisely. The stones may have gone down to the bottom of the ocean, +or they may not. For all we know the ship may have been set on fire +purposely, in order to create such a panic----" + +The lawyer protested. + +"Surely you don't think Kenneth----" + +The president shook his head. + +"I accuse nobody. I want to find out." + +He was silent for a moment, and then after a pause he went on: + +"I suppose you've heard, as well as everybody else, how Traynor has +been plunging in Wall Street recently." + +The lawyer nodded. Hesitatingly he replied: + +"Yes--I have. Unfortunately, the reports are true. Investigations I +have conducted privately on my own account have convinced me that +Kenneth has been a big plunger for some time. But as far as I know, he +has operated only within his means. I have often remonstrated with him +about the folly of it, but he enjoys the excitement of the speculation +game, and as long as he kept within bounds and gambled with his own +money I didn't see that anyone had any right to interfere." + +"Ah, just so--as long as he operated with his own means and with his +own money. But suppose the market suddenly goes against such a man, +and he is face to face with a tremendous loss, possibly ruin, what does +such a man do nine times out of ten?" + +"Blow his brains out." + +"Yes--sometimes that, but often he succumbs to temptation, and takes +what isn't his----" + +"Then you think that Kenneth----" + +"I think nothing. I want to know. He has come back from Africa a +changed man. He is surly, morose, secretive. That man has something +on his conscience. We must find out what it is. It is up to you to +ferret it out. Set your detectives to work. The company will spend +the last cent in its treasury to find those stones. You must trail his +associates, find out where he goes. The diamonds are probably right +here in New York. Who first took Kenneth to Wall Street?" + +"Signor Keralio----" + +"Ah--always that fellow! Who is he?" + +"An adventurer of the worst type. I have had him shadowed by one of my +men. He has a police record as a dangerous criminal of international +reputation." + +"And Kenneth's valet--that fellow François." + +"He was formerly in Keralio's employ." + +The President rose. Extending his hand to the lawyer, he said: + +"That's enough. I don't think the trail will be hard to pick up. +Spare no expense. Good night!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The last guest had gone. One by one the lights in the Traynor +residence were extinguished. The servants, tired after an exciting and +strenuous day, had gone to their quarters. + +In the hall downstairs, the grandfather's clock rang out its musical +chimes and then, in ponderous tones, slowly struck the twelve hours of +midnight. + +The master of the house was sitting at the desk in the library, looking +over some papers. From time to time he glanced significantly, first at +the clock and then at the corner where Helen and Ray were chatting over +the events of the day. At last the young girl took the hint. Jumping +up, she exclaimed good naturedly: + +"How selfish I am to be sitting gossiping here when poor Kenneth is so +tired. Go to bed, both of you. I'm so sleepy myself I can hardly keep +awake. Good night!" + +"Good night, dear!" said Helen, rising and kissing her. + +"Good night, Ken! Pleasant dreams," cried the young girl as she left +the room. + +"Good night!" he responded hoarsely. + +The sound of her footsteps died away in the distance and Helen and the +gambler sat there in silence. He watched her furtively, trying to +guess the trend of her thoughts, his eyes bloodshot with wine, feasting +on every line of her girlish figure. + +Never had she looked more beautiful, more desirable, than this evening. +Her _décolleté_ gown revealed a white, plump neck, her lips were red +and tempting, her large dark eyes fairly sparkled from excitement. It +was a vision to distract a saint and Handsome was no saint. It was +indeed only with the greatest difficulty that he curbed his impatience +to carry off the prize that lay within his grasp. + +"Are you tired," he said at last. "Do you want to go to bed?" + +"Not very," she answered. "I'm too excited to sleep. Hasn't it been +an exciting day?" + +He made no reply, pretending to be occupied at the desk, and she +relapsed into a dream silence, glad of a few quiet, peaceful moments to +be alone with her thoughts. How good it was to have him home again! +Now she could be at peace once more and enjoy life as she used to. She +could go to the opera, to the theater. The days would not be so +monotonous. She wondered why she was still unable to shake off the +feeling of anxiety and apprehension which had haunted her ever since he +went away. With a devoted husband safe at her side, what reason had +she for feeling depressed? Yet, for some reason she was unable to +explain, she was not able even now to throw off her melancholy and +presentiment of danger. + +There recurred to her mind what Signor Keralio had said, his veiled, +ambiguous words of warning. Could it be true, was it possible that her +husband had deceived her all these years and unsuspected by her, had +led a double life of deceit and disloyalty? Certainly there was much +that needed explanation. The loss of the diamonds did not directly +concern her, although she felt that, too, was part of the mystery. But +his strange aloofness of manner, his inexplicable loss of memory and +nervousness, the frenzied outburst when she had mentioned Keralio's +name that afternoon, the sudden craving for drink--was not all this to +some extent, corroboration of what the fencing master has told her? +She thought she would question him, speak to him openly, frankly, as a +loyal wife should the man she loves, and give him an opportunity to +explain. Now was as good a time as ever. Looking up she said abruptly: + +"Signor Keralio was here while you were away. I started telling you +this afternoon, but you got so excited----" + +Making a deprecatory gesture with his hand he said indifferently: + +"That's all right. I was tired and nervous. I'm quieter now. What +did Keralio have to say?" + +"Nothing worth listening to. He never says anything but impertinences." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"You mustn't take him too seriously." + +Hotly she retorted: + +"He takes himself too seriously. If he only knew how repellent he is +to a decent woman he would cease to annoy me." + +He laughed. + +"Oh, Keralio's not a bad sort--when you get to know him. Those +foreigners think nothing of making love to a woman----" + +"I don't want to know him," she retorted with spirit, "and what's more, +I don't want him coming here. One evening he was so insulting that I +had to show him the door. He had the impudence to come again. So I +had my servant put him out. You won't invite him here again, will you?" + +He was silent, while she sat watching him, amazed that he did not at +once fiercely resent the insult done her in his absence. After a +pause, he said awkwardly: + +"I don't invite him. Keralio's the kind of a chap who invites himself." + +"But can't you put him out?" she demanded with growing irritation. + +"No--I can't," he answered doggedly. + +"Why?" she demanded firmly. + +"I can't--that's all!" + +She looked at him wonderingly, and the color came and went in her face +and neck. There was a note almost of contempt in her voice as she +demanded: + +"What is the hold this creature has on you? Is it something you are +ashamed of?" + +The blood surged to his face and the veins stood out on his temples +like whipcord. Another instant and it had receded, leaving him ghastly +pale. + +"We have business interests in common, that's all," he said hastily and +apologetically. "He has been very useful to me. I don't like him any +more than you do, but in business one can't criticize too closely the +manners or morals of one's associates." + +"No, but a man can prevent his associates from annoying his wife." + +He made no answer, but toyed nervously with a paper cutter. Determined +to get at the truth, she went on: + +"What business interests can you have together? Is it legitimate +business or merely stock gambling?" + +"What do you mean?" + +Rising from the divan, she went toward him. Earnestly, she said: + +"Kenneth, I've wanted to speak to you about this matter for a long +time. During your absence I've heard rumors. Things have been +insinuated. A hint has been dropped here, gossip has been overheard +there--all to the effect that you are heavily involved in Wall Street. +Is it true?" + +For a moment he was silent, at a loss what to answer. He could not +imagine the reason for the questioning or where it might lead him, but +instinct warned him that it was dangerous ground and that caution was +necessary. Why hadn't François told him of his brother's Wall Street +operations? It would never do to show himself entirely ignorant of +them. If such rumors existed, there was probably some basis of them. +No doubt his brother had played the market and kept from his wife the +extent of his losses. + +"Is it true?" she repeated. + +He shrugged his shoulders. Nonchalantly, he replied: + +"Never believe all you hear!" + +Her face lit up with pleasure. + +"Really?" she exclaimed. "It isn't true?" + +"Not a word of it. I have money invested in stocks and bonds, but +anyone who accuses me of wild cat speculation is guilty of telling what +I would very politely call a d----d lie!" + +Reassured more by his ease and carelessness of manner than by his +actual words of denial, the young wife gave an exclamation of delight. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "You've no idea how relieved I feel. +It was worrying me terribly to feel that you might be in difficulties +and had not thought enough of me to take me into your confidence." +Looking at him appealingly she added: + +"You will always confide in me, won't you Ken?" + +"Sure I will, sweetheart----" + +Trembling with the ardor he was trying to control he seized hold of her +hand and drew her on to his knee. She offered no resistance, but +passively sat there, clasped against his broad shoulder, her face +radiant with happiness at the load which his words had taken off her +mind. + +Putting his arm round her waist, he leaned forward as if to kiss her, +but drawing quickly back she said: + +"There's still something else I must ask you before my happiness is +quite complete." + +"What's that?" he demanded, impatient at these continual interruptions +to his amorous advances. + +Turning she looked steadily into his face, as if trying to read the +truth or falsity of his answer. She could not see his eyes, veiled as +they were by the glasses, but that sensitive mouth she knew so well, +that determined chin, that high forehead crowned by the bushy brown +hair with its solitary white lock--all these were as dear to her as +they had always been. To think that he might have fondled some other +woman as he was now fondling her was intolerable agony. + +"Kenneth," she said slowly and impressively, "are you sure that there +is no part of your life that you have kept hidden from me?" + +He started and for a moment changed color. What did she mean? Was it +possible that she suspected the substitution, or was she alluding to +some past history of his brother's life, of which he knew nothing? +Evasively, he answered: + +"Why all these question, sweetheart, the first day I come home. Is +this the kind of welcome you promised me, the one I had a right to +expect. I am very tired. Let us go to bed." + +His arm still around her, he again drew her to him and, stooping, tried +to reach her mouth with his own. But again she resisted, her mind too +disturbed by jealousy to be in a mood to respond to his wooing. Gently +she said: + +"I know you are tired, Ken. I am tired, too,--tired of all these +rumors and slanderous insinuations. I have been made unhappy by +hearing this gossip. It is my right to tell you what I have heard and +ask for a straightforward, loyal explanation. I know you are true to +me. I have never doubted it for an instant. I only want a word from +you to forget what I've heard and dismiss the matter from my mind +forever." + +He looked at her, an amused kind of expression playing about the +corners of his mouth. It was only with an effort that he controlled +the muscles of his face. What a comedy, he thought to himself! Here +was this sweet little woman breaking her heart over something which, as +far as he knew, didn't exist. But he must continue to play his part, +no matter at what cost. Evidently, she had heard something for which +there might be some basis of truth. She might even have proofs of his +brother's infidelity, and ready to produce them. Too sweeping a denial +might still further complicate matters, arouse suspicion, and end in +exposure. Cautiously, he replied: + +"You know all there is in my life, sweetheart. I never conceal +anything from you." + +Looking searchingly at him, she demanded: + +"Never?" + +"Never." + +"Has there been another woman in your life, Kenneth, since you married +me?" + +"No, sweetheart--never. If anyone told you that or even insinuated it, +he was a scoundrel. It's a damned lie! You are and always will be the +only one----" + +Her head fell back on his shoulder. + +"Then I am completely happy!" she murmured. + +His arms folded about her and she felt his warm breath on her cheek. +But this time she did not resist. It felt good to be sheltered there +in those strong arms against the attacks and calumnies of the world. + +"It is late," he murmured. + +Suddenly, he threw her head back and bending down till his mouth +reached hers he kissed her full on the lips. She did not resist, but +just abandoned herself, responding only feebly to the fierce passion +that made him tremble like a leaf. His face flushed, his hands +shaking, he murmured: + +"It is very late. Are you not tired?" + +"No dear--I'm not tired. There's no hurry. We needn't get up early +to-morrow. It's so beautiful here--sitting together like this--so +happy in each other's company." + +"But I am tired," he said, trying to control his emotion. + +It was almost more than he could endure, yet still he mastered himself, +and resisted the temptation that arose violently within him to take her +by force, if needs be, and carry her into the inner room, as the wild +beast, tiring of playing with its victim, suddenly ends the game by +seizing its hapless prey and drags it away to its lair. Was he not the +master? Why should he allow her childish prattle to stand in the way +of his desires. For years, Handsome had not known female society save +that of those wretched outcasts who infest the mining camps. He had +caroused with them and quarreled with them. He had even loved one of +them--after the rough and ready fashion of the _veldt_. She was a +Spaniard, a tall handsome woman, with large black eyes and the temper +of a fury. She had killed her husband in a drunken brawl, and on +leaving prison had gone to South Africa. She met the gambler one night +in a gambling house, and, without as much as asking for an +introduction, she went up to him and, in a characteristic Spanish +style, gave him a hearty kiss on both cheeks. It was her way of +notifying her female associates that, henceforth, the big miner was her +man. Handsome accepted the challenge, and for a couple of years they +lived as happily together as can two adventurers who are in constant +hot water with the police. One day, in a fit of drunken jealousy, she +struck him. Furious with rage, he seized her by the neck. He did not +mean to harm her; it was his giant strength that was to blame. Anyhow +her neck was broken and the coroner called it an accident. For a week +or so, Handsome was really sorry. She was the only woman he had ever +cared for. She at least was a woman. + +But this slip of a girl, with her childish prattle and aristocratic +airs, was quite different. Accustomed to the rougher ways of the camp, +her fine manners and refined graces at first had rather intimidated +him. He did not feel at home with her. He felt awkward and ill at +ease. Yet, for all that, she was a woman, too--a woman of his own +race, desirable, tempting. When François had first suggested that he +impersonate his brother and enjoy his fortune, he had said nothing +about his brother's wife. Perhaps he reserved her for his master, +Keralio. At the thought, a pang of jealousy went through him. If +Keralio, why not he? Evidently Keralio had been stalking the game, for +she complained of his conduct and had dismissed him from the house. +Yet, in what position was he to frustrate Keralio in any of his +schemes? He had him in his power; he was completely at his mercy. He +allowed him to masquerade in New York as the millionaire, but he was +the real master of the Traynor home. Even now, François might be +spying on their actions, eager to report to the arch conspirator. +Rising from the chair, he lifted her to her feet. + +"Come, darling--it is late----" + +He led her slowly, almost imperceptibly, in the direction of the inner +room. A feeling of languor came over her, and she allowed him to lead +her, abandoning herself to his ardent, feverish embrace, responding +every now and then to the hot kisses he rained on her mouth and neck. +Through her thin dress he could feel her soft form pressing against +him. From her neck arose a delicious aroma, a kind of feminine incense +that still further aroused and lashed his desire. + +"I adore you--I adore you!" he murmured, as he kissed her again. +Slowly he led her past the bookcase and marble Venus to the open door +of her pink and white boudoir. + +[Illustration: "I adore you--I adore you" he murmured, as he kissed her +again.] + +She looked up at him in surprise. + +"How you love me!" she murmured. "You never used to care for me like +this." + +Her head on his shoulder, her eyes half closed, she was conscious only +of the presence of the man she loved better than anyone in the world. + +Yet even now, in the hour of her supreme content and felicity, when all +her tormenting anxieties and doubts had been dissipated by his frank +words of denial, there was still something that worried her. He was +changed somehow, even in his love making. It was delicious to be loved +passionately, fiercely, like this--to be carried off by force, as it +were, by your own husband. But she did not understand how a man could +change so much in a few weeks. Kenneth had always loved her deeply, +but never had she known him display such ardor as this. She had heard +that men change, particularly after long absences from home. Some, she +had heard, became colder; others were more demonstrative. Of the two, +she thought the latter preferable. If there was such love in the +world, why should it not be shown her. Her own temperament was cold, +but no woman could but feel flattered that she possessed the power to +arouse men to such passion. + +At last they had reached the threshold of the boudoir. What to him was +an earthly paradise, was almost attained. In a state of blissful +helplessness, intoxicated by a delicious sensation of being completely +dominated by a will stronger than her own, she permitted him to take +her where he wished. Her eyes closed, her head on his shoulder, she +submitted willingly to his fervent kisses. Another moment and he had +closed the door behind them, when, suddenly, a commotion on the landing +outside the library aroused both with a start. There was the sound of +voices and people running up the stairs. + +"What's that?" exclaimed Helen startled. + +Irritated at this unlooked for interruption, the gambler went quickly +toward the landing to investigate. François met him at the library +door. In his hand he held an envelope. Holding it out, he said: + +"A telegram for Madame!" + +"A telegram!" cried Helen, rushing forward. "Good God, I hope Dorothy +is not----" + +She tore it open, while Handsome stood by in silence. On the valet's +face there was a triumphant expression, the gratified smile of one +rogue who enjoys the discomfiture of another. + +Helen suddenly gave a cry. + +"It's as I thought!" she exclaimed. "Dorothy is worse. The doctor +thinks it is scarlet fever. I must go to her at once." + +"Go where?" demanded Handsome in consternation. + +"To Philadelphia." + +"To Philadelphia to-night?" he cried in dismay. + +"Yes--to-night," she said firmly. + +He protested vigorously. + +"Nonsense--you can't go to-night. It will do no good. Wait till the +morning. There are no trains." + +Quickly, the valet drew from his pocket a time-table. With a side +glance at his master, he said: + +"There is a train at 1.15. If Madame is quick, she will make it. The +car is already waiting downstairs." + +Helen seized her fur coat, which the obliging valet had also brought up +from the hall. + +"Yes--yes. Throw a few things in my bag. You needn't come, Ken. I'll +telephone you directly I get to Philadelphia. Good-bye!" + +The next instant she was gone and the gambler, with a muttered curse, +went to the sideboard and poured out a glass of whiskey, with which to +drown his disappointment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +For a person so fastidious and particular, so fond of the luxurious and +the elegant, Signor Keralio had certainly selected a queer neighborhood +for his abode. Miles distant from the fashionable centers, far away up +in the Bronx, he occupied the entire top floor of a dingy, broken down +tenement. There were no other people in the house, it being in such +bad repair that no one cared to live in it, and as Keralio paid as much +as all the previous tenants combined and made no requests for +improvements, the landlord was only too glad to leave him undisturbed. +It was situated at the extreme end of a blind alley and, there being no +egress from the street save at one end, there was consequently little +or no traffic and, for the great part of the day and night, the silence +was as deep and unbroken as in the open country. + +With his neighbors Signor Keralio was distantly polite, but never +intimate. The district was a poor one, being settled mostly by Italian +laborers who rose and went to bed with the sun and toiled too long and +too hard each day to bother their heads as to why such a fine gentleman +as the Signor appeared to be, should live in such squalid quarters. No +one had ever been admitted to his flat. If the baker called, he left +the bread on the mat; if a chance peddler or book agent happened to +wander in, he had to talk through closed doors. The Signor was always +busy and could not be disturbed. The lights often burned all night +long, and sometimes people drove up in a taxi and went away again. For +a while the corner gossips speculated idly as to who he might be, but +gradually they lost all interest. When he purchased trifles at the +corner grocery he gave out casually that he was a newspaper man and had +to work all night, and the fact that muffled sounds of hammering and +machinery in motion had been heard at all hours, only helped to make +the explanation more plausible. + +To-night, Keralio was perhaps more anxious than at any time to +discourage callers--especially should they happen to be inquisitive +secret service agents. Another few days and he would have nothing more +to fear. The presses would soon have completed their work and $500,000 +worth of as fine a $10 counterfeit as ever deceived a bank teller would +be ready for distribution. Half of them had already been run off and, +as he held them up to the light and critically examined the silken +thread that ran here and there through the specially prepared paper and +noted the careful coloring, the beautifully geometrical lathe work and +skilfully traced signatures, he silently congratulated himself. Here +was half a million dollars' worth of splendid currency. Detection was +absolutely impossible. Had not François already succeeded in passing a +lot? After all had been disposed of, he could afford to take a rest. +On the proceeds of this rich haul, he could live like a prince for a +few years in Europe, and when that was all gone, he still had the +diamonds to fall back upon. Glancing at the clock, he wondered why +Handsome did not come. He was anxious to get possession of the +diamonds. It was too soon to attempt doing anything with the stones +now. The hue and cry would be too loud. All the diamond markets would +be watched, if they were not already. He had a suspicion that Parker +and Steell suspected something wrong. François had seen the President +in earnest consultation with the lawyer directly after Handsome had +announced the loss. He had not been able to hear what was said, but +from their manner he inferred that the diamonds were the sole subject +of conversation. They did not question Handsome's identity. That +never entered their heads, but they doubted his story of losing the +stones. They, no doubt, thought he had used the diamonds to make good +Wall Street losses. + +He chuckled as he thought how admirably his scheme had worked out. He +had hinted at Kenneth being heavily short in this street, which at once +explained a motive for Kenneth diverting the stones to his own use. +Yes, he had triumphed over them all--except one. Helen Traynor, so +far, had foiled him in everything, and the more she resisted and +insulted him, the more determined he was to drag her at his feet. +Handsome, poor devil, fondly imagined he would inherit the wife as well +as the fortune. How could he guess that he, Keralio, would send a +bogus telegram just in time to dash the cup from his lips. + +Impatiently he strode up and down the rooms. Why was Handsome late? A +frown darkened his face. He had better not trifle with him. He must +obey without question or take the consequences. He was in no mood to +be defied. + +Suddenly, he started and listened. His alert ear had caught the sound +of approaching footsteps on the stairs outside. A moment later came +three deliberate knocks on the door, a signal which indicated a +friendly visitor. Quickly, Keralio went forward and withdrew the bolt. + +François entered, suit case in hand. Hardly before he could take +breath after the long climb, Keralio exclaimed: + +"Well, how are they going?" + +The Frenchman grinned. + +"_À merveille_! Like hot cakes. I've passed all of zem. Good work, +is it not?" + +"And the real stuff?" demanded Keralio. + +"Is in here." + +The valet pointed to the leather case. + +Eagerly Keralio seized the portmanteau, and, opening it, emptied the +contents. A perfect shower of greenbacks--genuine ones this time--fell +upon the floor. With shaking hands, like a miser who trembles as he +handles his hoarded gold, Keralio picked up the money by armfuls and, +taking it to a table, proceeded to count it. + +"Is it all here?" he demanded suspiciously. + +The valet scowled. + +"Do you think I'm holding any back on you? _Ma foi, non_!" + +Keralio, still counting, fixed his assistant with steely, piercing eyes. + +"No, François, I think you know me too well for that. You know I never +forget a service; you also know I never forgive anyone who crosses my +will." + +The valet shrugged his shoulders. In an injured tone he asked: + +"What's all ze talk about? I work well for you. I do your dirty work, +_n'est ce pas_? I never complain--I am faithful. What more would you +have?" + +"Why should you complain? You get your share," rejoined his chief +sternly. + +The valet was silent and Keralio went on: + +"A few days more and we'll be rid of all the new stuff. Then we'll +take down the presses and carry away the parts, piece by piece. When +we're ready to leave this hole, there won't be a shred of evidence +left. Have you heard any news from our man in Washington? What are +the secret service men doing?" + +"Ze alarm is given. Zey have spotted several of ze bills. Half a +dozen of ze cleverest sleuths in ze country have been put on our trail. +Zey will not succeed. Ze scent is cold. We've got zem completely +doped." + +Keralio looked anxious. + +"Is there any danger of them having shadowed you and followed you here?" + +"No--_mon cher, pas le mains du monde_. It took me three hours to come +here from ze Pennsylvania station--such a crazy in and out route I gave +ze chauffeur. If they succeed in following such a labyrinth as that, +they deserve to get us." + +Keralio smiled and pointed to a bottle of brandy on the table. +Approvingly, he said: + +"Good boy! There, take a drink and a cigar----" + +After the valet had refreshed himself, he again confronted his chief. + +"What else _à votre service_?" + +Keralio pointed carelessly to a seat. In a commanding tone, he said: + +"Yes--I have more work for you. Sit down. I will tell you." + +The valet took a chair and waited. Keralio looked at him meditatively +for a moment. Then suddenly he asked: + +"When did you leave the house?" + +"This afternoon at three o'clock." + +"When did Mrs. Traynor return from Philadelphia?" + +"Yesterday--furious at the hoax played upon her? Miss Dorothy is +perfectly well----" + +Keralio smiled. + +"Of course. I sent that telegram." + +The valet grinned. Admiringly, he exclaimed: + +"You are admirable! _Quel homme, mon dieu, quel homme_!" + +Paying no heed to the compliment, Keralio went on: + +"What did Handsome say?" + +"He is puzzled himself and can't understand. Everyone's up in the air. +They think it is a discharged maid who did it for spite." + +"The next time Mrs. Traynor receives a sudden message about her baby it +will not be a hoax." + +The valet looked up in surprise. + +"What do you mean?" + +Keralio did not answer the question immediately, but sat nervously +twisting his fingers, a moody sullen look in his pale saturnine face. +At last, breaking the heavy silence, he said: + +"That woman insulted me. You saw it. You were there----" + +The valet nodded. + +"You mean she put you out--ah, _oui_, she has a _diable_ of a temper +when angry." + +Keralio nodded. + +"Yes--that I can never forgive. She shall ask my pardon on her knees. +I will break her spirit, humiliate her pride. I have been taxing my +brain how to do it. At last I have hit on a plan--one that cannot fail +and you shall help me." + +"In what way _s'il vous plait_?" + +Bending forward, his black eyes flashing, Keralio said earnestly: + +"That woman is devoted to only two beings in this world--her husband +and her baby. Sooner or later, perhaps only in a few days, she will +discover that Handsome is an impostor. He is such a fool that exposure +is inevitable. The blow will almost kill her. Above all, it will +humiliate her pride to know that unwittingly she has allowed that +drunken brute, that poor counterfeit of her husband, to caress and +fondle her. Next in her affections comes her baby. If any danger +threatened the child, she would stop at nothing, she would make any +sacrifice to ward off the danger. I propose to bring about just that +situation----" + +The valet half started up from his chair. Hardened and callous as he +was in crime, he was hardly prepared to go to that extreme. + +"Death?" he exclaimed, horror stricken, "you would kill ze child?" + +"No fool--not kill the child. I'll kidnap it--that's all. We'll bring +the child here and, then I'll write the mother, telling her where it is +and to come to it, but warning her that if she values the child's life, +she must tell no one, and must come here unaccompanied. Once she is +here, I will take care of the rest. Do you understand?" + +The valet breathed more freely. + +"So you will that I----" + +His chief nodded. + +"Precisely. You'll take the flyer to Philadelphia. Say you come from +the mother. They'll have no suspicion. Take the child and come here +at once. Understand?" + +"_Oui_, monsieur." + +Keralio rose. In commanding tones, he said: + +"Then go at once." + +The valet went to get his hat. As he approached the door Keralio +halted him and said: + +"What's Handsome doing--keeping sober?" + +"He has to, for I lock up all ze liquor. He lives like a lord, buying +swell clothes, riding in ze automobile. Last night he lost at ze club +$10,000 he had drew from ze bank." + +Keralio gave a low whistle. + +"The deuce he did! Living high, eh? Well--that's all right. Let him +enjoy it. His gay life won't last long--only just as long as it suits +my purpose." + +"Hush! Not a word--here he is!" + +From the landing outside came the sound of a heavy body lurching. Then +came the noise of someone groping for the handle, followed by a furious +pounding on the wooden panels. + +"Open up there, will you!" shouted a hoarse voice. + +"Drunk, as usual!" said Keralio contemptuously. + +He suddenly threw the door open and the gambler, burly and unsteady on +his legs, almost fell in. He was in evening dress, his collar and tie +rumpled, his hair unkempt. His face was flushed, his eyes bloodshot. +Reeling in, he hiccoughed: + +"What'n h--ll do you live so far up town for? I thought I'd never get +here. Say, this is the end of the world, ain't it? Jumping off place, +eh? Stopped several times on the way to get a drink. My cabby nearly +got lost. Been driving me round for three hours trying to locate the +blooming house. Charged me $5. Hell of a good business, ain't it. +Tain't on the level to treat an old pal that way. Y'oughter be ashamed +o' yourself." + +"I'm more ashamed of you--for making such a beast of yourself," +rejoined Keralio angrily. "Stop your cursed noise or you'll have the +police on top of us!" + +Without ceremony, he pushed the newcomer into a seat and made a gesture +to François to go. The valet went toward the door. + +"Remember," said Keralio warningly. "There must be no blundering. I +want the child brought here----" + +"_Oui_, monsieur--it shall be as you say." + +The door closed and Keralio turned quietly to the miner. Sternly, and +in a manner that brooked no nonsense, he demanded: + +"Did you bring the diamonds?" + +Handsome grinned, and pointed to his waist. + +"I've got 'em all right!" With another hiccough, he added: "But +there's no hurry, old sport. Let's have a drink before we get talking +business." + +In two rapid strides Keralio was up to him. Fiercely he said: + +"Give me the stones--give me them I say. We've no time for your d----d +fooling. Hand them over. Come----" + +For a moment the gambler just sat and looked at his master. A giant in +physical strength compared with the slightly built foreigner, he could +have overpowered him as a child might crush an egg-shell, but he lacked +the mentality, the magnetism of the Italian. He was cowed, dominated +by the stronger mind. Grumbling, he began to fumble at his waist: + +"I don't see what's the hurry." + +"But I see," exclaimed Keralio, his eyes growing larger, as he already +saw the colossal stones glittering in his hand. + +The next instant Handsome had slid his hand under his waistcoat and +unbuckled a belt he wore next his shirt. Unfastening a pocket and +taking out the contents, he growled: + +"Here they are! I'm glad to get rid of the d----d things." + +With a cry of exultant joy Keralio took hold of the stones and, going +to the window, greedily feasted his eyes on them. Report had not +exaggerated the value and extraordinary beauty of the gems. They were +worth more than a million. + +"What do I get out of it?" whined the gambler. + +Keralio regarded him with contempt. Dryly he said: + +"You get out of it that you're not sitting in the electric chair for +murdering your twin brother. You get out of it that you're playing the +rôle of the millionaire, basking in the smiles of your brother's +charming wife, and making a drunken beast of yourself--that's what you +get out of it. Isn't it enough?" + +Handsome winced. Keralio had a direct way of saying things to which +there was no answer possible. + +"All right," he grumbled, "I'm not kicking." + +"No--I wouldn't if I were you." + +Changing the topic, Keralio carelessly lit a cigarette and, between the +puffs, asked: + +"How's your wife?" + +"My wife? You mean his wife?" + +Keralio smiled. + +"Yours--for the time being." + +Handsome scowled. + +"It isn't so easy as I thought," he replied. "I don't know if she +suspects something's wrong or not, but ever since that evening she was +called to Philadelphia she avoids me like the pest. I can see in her +face that she's puzzled. 'It's my husband, and yet not my +husband'--that's what she's thinking all the time. I can guess her +thoughts by the expression on her face." + +Keralio shrugged his shoulders. + +"That's your own fault. I gave you the opportunity. You failed to +profit by it. You got drunk the first night you arrived. Kenneth +Traynor was a temperate man. Is it no wonder you excited wonder and +talk? Then you were stupid under questioning and gave equivocal +answers. Your explanation to Parker about the diamonds was more than +unfortunate; it was idiotic. His suspicions were at once aroused. He +may yet give us trouble before we have time to get rid of the stones. +Finding the wife eluded you, you began to stay out late at night. You +caroused, you drank hard, you gambled--all of which follies your +brother never committed. In other words, you are a fool." + +The miner pointed to the diamonds which still lay on the table. +Sulkily he asked: + +"Is that all you wanted?" + +Keralio put the gems away in his pocket, and pointed to the stacks of +newly printed counterfeit money that lay in stacks all over the floor. + +"No, you can help me make up bundles of this stuff." + +Handsome opened wide his eyes at sight of the crisp currency. Greedily +he exclaimed: + +"Say--that's some money! Ain't they beauties?" + +Keralio made an impatient gesture and, taking off his coat, made a +gesture to his companion to do likewise. + +"Come--there's no time to talk. We must get rid of it all before +morning. For all I know the detectives may be watching the house now." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +"I'm sure it was Mary," exclaimed Ray positively. "I never did like +the girl. She was sullen and vicious and would stop at nothing to get +even with us for discharging her." + +"Perhaps you are right," said Helen, "although it is hard to believe +that a woman would do such a cruel thing to a mother. Just imagine how +worried I was all the way to Philadelphia, only to find when I got +there that no message had been sent, and Dorothy was perfectly well." + +It was evening. The two women were sitting alone in the library on the +second floor, Ray busy at her trousseau, Helen helping her with a piece +of embroidery. The master of the house was absent, as usual. He had +not come home to dinner, having telephoned at the last minute that he +was detained at the club, a thing of such common occurrence since his +return from South Africa that Helen had come to accept it as a matter +of course. Indeed, things had come to such a pass that she rather +welcomed his absence. She preferred the sweet, amiable companionship +of her little sister to that of a man who had suddenly become exacting, +over-bearing and quarrelsome. + +"Why don't you let Dorothy come home?" asked Ray. "Then you wouldn't +have this constant worry about her." + +"I think I will, now that we are more settled and things are quieter. +I wrote to auntie to-day that I might go to Philadelphia one day next +week to bring her home. You are right. I shall not be happy until +she's with me. I have such terrible dreams about her. If anything +were to happen that child, I think it would kill me." + +Ray nodded approvingly. Sympathetically, she said: + +"Yes, dear. You'll feel better satisfied when she's with you. Besides +she'll be a companion for you--especially when I'm married----" + +Helen sighed and turned away her face so her sister should not see the +tears that suddenly filled her eyes. Sorrowfully, she said: + +"It will be terrible to lose you, dear. Of course, I'm happy over your +marriage. It would be very selfish in me to want to stand in the way +of your happiness. I'm sure I wish you and Wilbur every joy +imaginable. But I shall certainly feel very lonely when you are gone." + +The young girl looked closely at her sister. She realized that her +sister was no longer the happy, contented woman she once was, and she +readily guessed the cause. Helen had not taken her into her +confidence, but she had ears and eyes. Living in the house in such +close intimacy, she could not help noticing that the relations between +the wife and husband were no longer what they had been. Guardedly she +said: + +"But you have Kenneth." + +Helen sighed and was silent. + +Ray looked up. More gently she said: + +"Haven't you your husband, dear?" + +Her sister shook her head. There was a note of utter discouragement +and melancholy in her voice as she answered: + +"He is seldom home--his club seems to have more attraction for him. I +rarely see him except at breakfast time." She was silent for a moment, +and then added quickly: "Would you believe that he hasn't been home a +single night since the time I was called to Philadelphia?" + +Ray opened her eyes. + +"He's out all night?" + +"Yes--all night. The other morning it was seven o'clock when he came +home--and his dress suit and shirt looked as if he had been in a fight." + +The young girl put down her work and looked at her sister in dismay. + +"Sis!--what's the matter with Ken all at once?" + +Helen made no reply, but covering her face with her two hands, burst +into tears. Ray rose quickly and going over to where she was sitting, +sat on the edge of the chair and put her arms about her. Soothingly +she said: + +"Don't cry, dear, don't cry. He will soon be himself again. His +terrible experience on the steamer upset him dreadfully. His nervous +system underwent such a shock that it has entirely changed his +character. Wilbur says it is quite a common phenomenon. Only the +other day he read in some medical book an article on that very subject. +The writer says any great shock of that kind can cause a temporary +disarrangement of the moral sense and perceptions. For example, a man +who, under ordinary circumstances is a perfect model of a husband, with +every good quality and virtue, may suddenly lose all sense of conduct +and become am unprincipled _roué_. In other words, we have two natures +within us. When our system is working normally we succeed in keeping +the evil that's in us under control; but following any great shock, the +system is disarranged, the evil gains the ascendancy, and we appear +quite another person. This explains the dual personality about which +Wilbur and I had an argument the other day. Don't you remember?" + +Helen nodded. Sadly she said: + +"I begin to think you are right. Certainly he has changed. If he had +been like this when I first met him I should never have married him. +It is not the Kenneth I learned to love." Bitterly, she added: "As he +is now, I feel I dislike and detest him. Unless he soon changes for +the better, I shall leave him. In self respect I can't go on living +like this?" + +Kissing her sister again, Ray rose and went back to her seat. +Confidently, she said: + +"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure everything will be all right soon. You +see if I'm not right. By my wedding day--only three weeks away +now--you'll think as much of Ken as ever----" + +"I hope so, dear, but three weeks is a long time to wait----" + +The young girl laughed. + +"Why that's nothing at all. Just imagine Ken is ill or gone away from +you on a visit for that length of time----" + +As she spoke the door opened, and François entered with a silver +salver, which he presented to his mistress. + +"A letter for Madame." + +Helen looked at the envelope and threw it down with a gesture of +impatience. Crossly, she exclaimed: + +"François, I do wish you'd be more careful. Can't you read. Don't you +see the letter is addressed to Mr. Traynor?" + +The valet nodded. + +"_Oui_, madame. But as Monsieur is out I thought that possibly +madame----" + +Incensed more at the fellow's impudent air than by what he actually +said, Helen lost her temper. Angrily, she exclaimed: + +"Don't think. People of your class are not hired to think; they are +paid to do as they are told. You've been very careless in your work +recently. The next time it happens I shall have to tell you to find +another place." + +The valet smiled. An insolent look passed over his sallow, angular +face. Dropping completely his deferential manner and fixing the two +women with a bold, familiar stare, he said impudently: + +"You needn't wait till next time. I'll quit right now, _parbleu_. +It's a rotten job, anyhow." + +Indignant, Helen pointed to the door. + +"Go!" she cried. "The housekeeper will settle with you. Never let me +see your face again." + +The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and went toward the door. As he +reached it, he turned round, a sneer on his face: + +"You'll see me again all right, but ze circumstances may be different? +My lady may not be so proud ze next time." + +With this parting shot, he went away, and a moment later they heard him +going up to his room to pack his things. + +Ray turned to her sister. Reprovingly, she said: + +"Weren't you a little severe with him?" + +Helen shook her head. Quickly, she said: + +"I never could bear the sight of the man. He is treacherous and +deceitful. I'm not at all sure that he's honest. It was only after +he'd been here some time that I learned he was formerly with Signor +Keralio. That was enough to set me against him. Like master, like +valet, as the saying goes, and it's usually a true saying. On several +occasions lately I have noticed things that seemed suspicious. The +fellow is more intimate now with Kenneth than I, his wife, have ever +been. Only the other day I discovered them in earnest and intimate +conversation. Directly I appeared they separated and François, instead +of continuing to converse on terms of apparent social equality, was +once more the fawning valet. I didn't take the trouble to ask Kenneth +what it all meant. So many singular things have happened since his +return, that this only adds one more to the list." + +"May I come in?" said a voice. + +Helen looked up quickly. It was Wilbur Steell who was standing at the +door with his head half in the room, laughing at them. The two women +had been so busy talking that they had not heard the sound of +approaching footsteps. With an exclamation of joy Ray jumped to her +feet and ran up to him. + +"It's Wilbur--my precious Wilbur!" + +Helen nodded approvingly, as she noticed the girl's enthusiasm. +Certainly her sister had changed. She was hardly the cold, +self-centered Ray of six months ago. With a smile she said: + +"It's astonishing how a man can alter a girl--if he's the right kind." + +The lawyer laughed. + +"It works both ways. The right kind of woman can make a man change his +ways--even a hardened old bachelor. Who could have guessed that I +would ever fall in love?" + +Helen sighed. + +"What is love? We have it to-day; it eludes us to-morrow. A few weeks +ago I thought I loved my husband better than any being in the world. +To-day, I can hardly look him in the face. How do you account for it?" + +Dropping into a chair, the lawyer look serious. + +"I can't account for it, nor can I blame you. Kenneth has returned +from South Africa a changed man. Whether the wreck and the loss of the +diamonds affected his mind I do not know. Only a psychologist could +determine that. But he is not the same. Where is he to-night?" + +Helen threw up her hands. + +"Do I ever know?" she exclaimed wearily. "I haven't seen him since +morning, and don't expect to see him before breakfast to-morrow. He's +at his club or drinking and carousing, or in some gambling house +playing roulette. How do I know?" + +"It is certainly a most singular case," said the lawyer meditatively. +"Mr. Parker and I have gone carefully over his accounts at the +Company's office. Everything is perfectly regular. There only remains +the missing diamonds. We have detectives working on half a dozen clues +but so far we have accomplished nothing. We have also gone to +Washington to get the secret service men interested in the case on the +ground that if the diamonds are here they were smuggled in and no duty +was paid. But we found the secret service men busy following up +counterfeiters. The country is being flooded with counterfeit $10 +bills--a splendid reproduction, almost defying detection. It is +believed that the plates and presses from which they are made are right +here in New York and the whole secret service force is at work trying +to run the counterfeiters to earth. This is why our diamond case is +going so slowly. They are so busy following up the counterfeiters they +have no time for us." + +Ray, much interested, leaned eagerly forward. + +"A counterfeit ten dollar bill, did you say?" she demanded. + +"Yes--it is a remarkable counterfeit. You would not know it from a +good one. Only an expert can tell the difference. But all these +crooks overreach themselves. Clever as they are, they usually leave +some mark which betrays them. For example, in printing this bill which +bears the head of Lincoln, they have spelled his first name +'Abrahem'--in other words, the engraver made an 'e' when it should have +been 'a.'" + +Ray jumped up, quite excited. Her eyes flashing, she cried. + +"Isn't that strange! I have a new $10 bill, and I noticed to-day the +queer spelling of Abraham. Wouldn't it be funny if I had one of the +counterfeits?" + +The lawyer smiled. + +"It wouldn't be funny; it would be a tragedy, considering that in a +short while from now I am to pay your bills. Where is the bank note?" + +"I'll run up and get it. It's in my purse." + +When she had disappeared, Steell turned to his hostess and said: + +"Have you seen Signor Keralio lately?" + +"Hardly--you know I dismissed him from the house." + +The lawyer sat thoughtfully drumming his fingers on the table. +Musingly, he said: + +"Somehow I have a hunch that that fellow knows something about the +diamonds. Does Kenneth ever see him?" + +"I asked him the other day. He said he did not." + +"That's strange!" exclaimed the lawyer. "It was only yesterday morning +that I saw them together in a taxicab." + +"Where?" demanded Helen, surprised. + +"Away uptown. I had business up in the Bronx. I was driving my car +and was near 200th street and going north when suddenly I had to steer +to one side to allow a taxicab to pass. There were two men in it. I +just chanced to glance inside and, to my surprise, I recognized your +husband and Keralio." + +"What time was that?" + +"Very early--about nine o'clock." + +"What direction?" + +"They were coming south." + +"Then he must have been with Keralio all night, for he didn't come +home." + +The lawyer was silent. Certainly here was a mystery which needed more +detective talent than he possessed to clear up. Yet he would not rest +until it was solved. To-morrow he would get Dick Reynolds busy, and +they would go to work in earnest. The first thing to find out was what +took Keralio and Kenneth to the Bronx. + +"Does Keralio live in the Bronx?" + +"I don't know," said Helen. + +"I'll find out," said the lawyer, grimly. + +At that moment Ray returned, holding out a new ten-dollar bill. + +"I was right," she cried. "The name Abraham is spelled with an 'e.' +Do you really think this is a counterfeit?" + +The lawyer took the bill and examined it critically. + +"I have no doubt of it," he answered. "There are other +indications--the general appearance, the touch of the paper. Where did +you get it?" + +For a moment the young girl was puzzled. + +"Let me think. Where did I get it. Oh yes, I know. François gave it +to me." + +"François!" exclaimed Helen. + +The lawyer started and looked up in surprise. + +"François, your brother-in-law's valet?" + +"Yes--I wanted a $20 bill changed to pay for some things that came home +from the store, and he went out and brought me some old bills and this +new one." + +The lawyer gave vent to a low, expressive whistle. + +"François gave it to you, eh? Where is Francois?" + +"I discharged him to-day for insolence," said Helen. + +"He's gone!" + +"Yes--he went shortly before you came in." + +The lawyer jumped to his feet, a look of exultation on his face. +Quickly, he said: + +"Didn't you say that this François was formerly with Signor Keralio?" + +"Yes--he was with him for years." + +The lawyer gave a wild whoop of joy. + +"Then we've got it--at last." + +"Got what?" cried the women. + +"A clue--a clue!" cried the lawyer, excitedly. "Can't you see it? +François is hand in glove with Keralio--the master rogue who is making +this counterfeit." + +"What do you propose to do?" + +"Find where Keralio lives--then, perhaps, we'll find the lost diamonds." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"This way," whispered Dick, as he darted swiftly from door to door, +"keep close behind me, and stick to the wall, or he'll see you." + +But François was so utterly fagged after his long walk from the +Elevated road, carrying his heavy suitcase, that he worried about +nothing save his own discomfort. Unable to find a taxi, he had been +compelled to tramp the entire distance, and the fatigue of it had made +him peevish. He could have saved himself at least a mile if he had +taken a more direct road, but Keralio's orders were explicit. He must +always follow a circuitous route so as to throw possible pursuers off +the scent. There was no disobeying the orders of the chief, so on he +trudged, looking neither to right nor left, up one street, down +another, now crossing an empty lot, now darting through a narrow alley, +through the wastes and dreariness of Bronxville. + +As he approached his journey's end, he accelerated his pace, going +along so fast that it was as much as Dick and Steell could do to keep +up with him. The night was dark and foggy, and at times they could not +see him for the mist. But as he came within the glare of each lamp +post, they could make out his lithe figure, scurrying along as if the +devil himself were at his heels. + +"Let's get up closer," gasped Dick, who was winded from the long chase. +"I guess their den is in this neighborhood. He'll slip in somewhere +and we'll lose him if we keep so far away." + +"No--he may see us," whispered Steell cautiously. "We can make him out +all right." + +They increased their pace a little. The valet was less than two blocks +away, and once he actually stopped and looked around as if to see if he +was followed. Quickly Steell and Dick darted under a doorway, and, +seeing nothing to arouse his suspicion, François went on. + +The lawyer was taking no chances to-night. It was too good a game to +spoil. That they were on the right trail at last he was morally +certain. Ray's experience had given him the first clue. After that it +was easy. For two days Dick had shadowed the valet, and seen him +changing crisp $10 bills in half a dozen different places. The lawyer +could have had him arrested at once, but he was after bigger game. It +was not enough to arrest François. He was only the tool. They must +get the man higher up, the man who employed him. That man, the lawyer +felt equally confident, was Keralio. He was the master counterfeiter. +The first step to take was to find out where the counterfeiting was +done, where Keralio had his plant, and the only way to do this was to +follow the valet to his master's secret den. + +For several days they had shadowed the Frenchman constantly, until +to-night they were rewarded by seeing him start with a suit case in the +direction of the Bronx. They quickly gave chase, the lawyer confident +of results. It was not part of his plan, however, to hurry matters or +do things prematurely. To-night they would merely reconnoiter. They +would content themselves by watching the premises, seeing who came and +went, and trying to obtain a glimpse of the interior. If the evidence +was incriminating enough to make a raid successful, it would always be +time enough to call in the police. Keralio, he was also well +convinced, had something to do with the missing diamonds, and possibly +the present investigation would throw some light on the mystery +surrounding Kenneth himself. He had made no mention of his suspicions +to Helen, but he could not help feeling that in some way, yet to be +discovered, his old comrade had become involved with a band of crooks. +How otherwise explain his acquaintance with Keralio, an utter stranger +of dubious antecedents. How explain the loss of the diamonds? The +explanation Kenneth had given was decidedly fishy. Parker did not +believe a word of it--in fact, frankly expressed, his opinion was that +his vice-president had disposed of the gems. Had he himself not seen +Kenneth driving about the Bronx with Keralio at an impossible hour? +Had not Helen discovered François conversing on intimate terms with his +master? It all looked decidedly bad; only time could unravel it all. +It was a fearful thing to suspect a man of Kenneth's standing, but +everything pointed to his being involved in a vast network of crime. + +He was aroused from his reflections by an exclamation of warning from +his companion. + +"Quick--there he goes!" whispered Dick. + +The valet had suddenly made a sharp turn to the right, and was lost to +view. But quick as he was, Dick was quicker. The young man was a +little ahead of the lawyer, and, putting on a spurt of speed, he +reached the corner just in time to see the Frenchman and suitcase +disappear into a grimy, dilapidated looking tenement at the end of a +blind alley. + +"We've run the fox to earth," whispered Steell exultantly. + +"Could any melodrama wish for a more appropriate _mise-en-scène_?" +grinned Dick. + +"Come opposite, and find out what we can see from the outside." + +Crossing the street they took up positions in the shadow of a doorway. + +The house which the Frenchman had entered was all dark and apparently +tenantless, except on the top floor where lights could be faintly seen +behind hermetically sealed shutters. Straining his ears, Steell +thought he could hear the steady hum of machinery in motion. With an +exclamation of satisfaction, he turned to his companion: + +"We've got 'em, Dick, we've got 'em. Do you hear the presses going?" + +The young man listened. The sound was plainly audible, but it was a +muffled sound, as if the walls and windows were padded with mattresses +to prevent any sounds of the operations within from reaching +inquisitive, outside ears. + +"Let's go upstairs," whispered Steell. + +Recrossing the road, they entered the house and began to grope their +way up the narrow, winding staircase. They could make only slow +progress, not only because of the absence of light, but owing to the +rotten condition of the stairs. Indescribably filthy and littered with +all sorts of rubbish and broken glass, in some places the boards had +broken through entirely, leaving gaping holes, which were so many +dangerous pitfalls. Twice the lawyer came near breaking his neck. + +At last they reached the top, both out of breath from the long and +perilous climb. + +"Hush--there it is!" whispered Dick pointing at the end of a narrow +hall to a door from underneath which issued a faint glimmer of light. + +Cautiously, noiselessly, treading on tiptoe, the lawyer and his +companion crept along the passage until they came to the door. They +listened. There was not a sound. Even the hum of machinery which they +had heard in the street, had ceased. Could the inmates have taken +alarm? + +All at once they heard people talking. Instantly, Steell recognized +the voice of Keralio. He was questioning someone, no doubt the valet. +They listened. + +"Well, did you carry out my orders?" + +"_Oui_, monsieur, ze last of ze ten-dollar bills has been passed. I +have ze money here." + +"I did not mean that," broke in Keralio impatiently. "I mean as +regards the child----" + +"_Oui_, monsieur. Didn't you receive my telegram. I brought the child +from Philadelphia yesterday evening." + +Steell, puzzled, turned to his companion. + +"What child are they talking about?" he whispered. + +"I have no idea. Some more mischief they're up to, I guess." + +Again Keralio's voice was heard asking: + +"Where is Handsome to-day? I told him to come. Why isn't he here?" + +"He's drinking again, monsieur. When he's drunk you can't do anything +with him. He's getting ugly about ze diamonds." + +Steell nudged his fellow eavesdropper. + +"Did you hear that?" he whispered. "He spoke of diamonds!" + +Keralio was heard bursting into a peal of savage laughter. + +"Getting ugly is he? What does he want?" + +"He says you promised him half of ze proceeds when ze diamonds were +sold, and that now you are trying to do him out of it---- He says he's +sick of ze whole thing and will squeal to ze police unless you do ze +right thing." + +Straining every nerve to hear, Steell glued his ear to the door. + +Keralio burst out fiercely: + +"Squeal, will he, the dog? I'd like to know what will become of him +when the final reckoning's paid. Will he tell the police that he was a +drunken adventurer in the South African mining camps before his twin +brother, Kenneth Traynor, arrived at Cape Town? Will he tell the +police that he set the steamer afire, murdered his own brother, and, +profiting by the extraordinary resemblance, returned to New York, +passing himself off as the man who went away. No, he won't tell all +that, will he? But I will. Did you bring the money? Let me see it." + +The talking suddenly ceased, and was followed by a deep silence. +Steell, staggered at this unexpected revelation, almost stumbled in his +eagerness to hear more. Turning to his companion, he exclaimed in a +horror-stricken whisper: + +"My God! Did you hear that? It's even worse than I feared. They've +done away with Kenneth. That man at the house is an impostor!" + +"An impostor?" ejaculated Dick. "Impossible. Don't we all know +Kenneth when we see him?" + +"Nothing's impossible!" rejoined the lawyer hurriedly. "Kenneth had a +twin brother--the resemblance was so extraordinary as children that no +one knew them apart. The brother disappeared years ago. They thought +him dead. Kenneth must have come across him in South Africa. This +brother killed him and took his place. It's all clear to me now. +We're in a den of assassins!" + +Inside the conversation began again. + +"Hush! Listen!" whispered Steell. + +The voice of Keralio was once more raised in angry tones. + +"Didn't I tell you that I wanted the child brought here at once?" + +"_Oui_, monsieur, but I could not. I had ze rest of ze money to get +rid of and ze suitcase to carry. I will bring her in a taxi to-morrow." + +"Where is she?" + +"Safe in the care of the woman who runs my boarding house." + +"When did you bring her from Philadelphia?" + +"Yesterday afternoon." + +"Did you have any trouble?" + +"_Non_, monsieur. I didn't even have to go to ze house, although I had +a plausible story all ready. I was going to say that Mrs. Traynor had +sent me to fetch Miss Dorothy because her mother wanted her home for ze +coming marriage of Miss Ray. But it wasn't necessary to lie about it. +I found ze child playing in ze street near the house. I merely told +her her mamma wanted her to come home, gave her some candy, and she +followed me willingly enough." + +"By this time the alarm has been given." + +"_Sans doute_, monsieur. They probably telegraphed Mrs. Traynor last +night that ze child was missing----" + +The voices again stopped. Steell, his face white, and fists clenched, +turned to his companion: + +"Good Heavens, Dick, did you hear that? They've kidnapped Mrs. +Traynor's little girl--no doubt, with the idea of demanding ransom. +Thank God, we're in time to frustrate that crime----" + +"Hush!" exclaimed his companion. "Listen!" + +Keralio proceeded: + +"Now you understand what you are to do. You bring the child here +to-morrow morning. Meantime, I have already written in a disguised +hand to Mrs. Traynor telling her that her child is safe--for the +present, and that if she wants to see her she must come here to-morrow +afternoon. I warned her that if she communicated with the police or +informed any of her friends, the child would be put to death before it +would be possible to effect a rescue. That ought to bring her here----" + +"Would monsieur go as far as to kill----" + +"Why not," demanded Keralio fiercely. "I permit nothing to stand in +the way of my will. That woman can save her child's life, but she must +pay the price I ask. She shall learn what it costs to dismiss me from +her house----" + +The valet was heard to chuckle as he said: + +"I don't love her any too much myself. She discharged me from her +employ the other day so haughtily I felt like a whipped cur." + +Again there was silence, followed by a muffled hammering. + +"They're taking the printing press apart," whispered Dick, who through +the keyhole, had managed to get a glimpse of machinery. "If we don't +act quickly, they'll get away with all the evidence. Hadn't we better +go and call the police?" + +For answer, the lawyer put his fingers to his lips with a warning +gesture, and beckoning the young man to follow, retraced his steps on +tiptoe along the narrow, dark hall and down the filthy, winding +staircase. Not a word was spoken by either man until they reached the +street. Once in the open air, the lawyer turned and said: + +"Dick, we've uncovered as black a plot as was ever hatched in hell. If +we don't queer the game and put them all in the chair it won't be my +fault. We can't bring poor Kenneth back to life, but we can and will +revenge his cowardly murder. It will be a positive joy to me to see +that arch-scoundrel Keralio electrocuted." + +"What do you propose to do?" asked his companion. "Hadn't we better +call Mrs. Traynor on the telephone and warn her before it's too late?" + +The lawyer was silent for a few moments. Then meditatively, he said: + +"No, that would be a mistake. No doubt, by this time, she has received +Keralio's anonymous letter. She is probably frantic with anxiety over +the news of her child's disappearance, and will respond eagerly to any +clue that promises to take her to her child. If we warned her she +would pay no heed. She might pretend to, but only to pacify us. +Afraid that punishment might be visited on the child, she would obey +the warning not to talk, and she will come here to Keralio's flat +to-morrow at the time the letter stated. Of course, she has no idea +Keralio wrote the letter. But even if she had, it would make no +difference. I know her. She would run any risk to save her child." + +"I think you're right," replied Dick, "but how, then, will you help +her? There is no knowing what Keralio's object is in enticing her +here--you can be sure it's nothing good." + +"Precisely--that's why we, too, must be on hand, together with a strong +force of detectives. We'll get them all. There will be no possible +escape. We'll surround the house with men. They'll be caught like +rats in a trap." + +The lawyer turned to go. + +"Where are you bound now?" asked Dick. + +"To police headquarters!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"There--take a little water--you're much better now!" said the nurse, +soothingly. + +The patient swallowed greedily the cooling drink handed to him, and, +tired even by that small effort, fell back on his pillows exhausted. + +"Where am I?" he inquired of the comely young woman, who in neat +service uniform, hovered about the bed. + +"You're in St. Mary's Hospital." + +"In New York?" he queried. + +"No--San Francisco----" + +He was too weak to question further, but his hollow blue eyes followed +her as she moved here and there, attending skilfully and swiftly to the +duties of the sick room. Presently he made another venture: + +"Have I been ill long?" + +"Yes--very long." + +"What's the matter?" + +"Concussion of the brain, pneumonia and shock. You are much better +now, but you mustn't talk so much or you may have a relapse." + +He asked no more, but passed his hand over his brow in a bewildered +sort of way. Presently, he began again: + +"Does my wife come to see me?" + +The nurse stopped in her work and looked at him curiously. In +surprise, she exclaimed: + +"Your wife! Have you a wife?" + +It was his turn now to be surprised. In somewhat peevish tone he said: + +"Of course I've a wife--everyone knows that." + +"What's her name?" + +"Helen--Helen Traynor." Enthusiastically, he added: "Oh, you'd just +love my wife if you only knew her. She's the sweetest, the most +unselfish----" + +The nurse looked at him curiously. + +"So your name is Traynor, is it? We've tried to find out for a long +time. But there were no marks on your clothes when you were picked up. +We did not know who you were and so have not been able to communicate +with any of your friends. We guessed you were a man of social position +by your hands and teeth, and we knew your name began with a T because +of the monogram on the signet ring on your finger." + +"Pick me up?" he echoed. "Where did they pick me up? What has +happened? Was it an accident?" + +"You were found unconscious, drifting in the ocean, clinging to a spar, +and were brought here by a sailing vessel. You had a fracture of the +skull and you were half drowned. It is supposed that you were one of +the passengers of the _Abyssinia_, which took fire and went down two +days after leaving Cape Town, but as several passengers and officers +whose bodies were never found also had names beginning with T, it was +impossible to identify you." + +As he listened, the vacant, stupid expression on his face gradually +gave place to a more alert, intelligent look. Indistinctly, vaguely, +he recalled things that had happened. Slowly his brain cells began to +work. + +He remembered cabling to Helen from Cape Town telling her of his +sailing on the _Abyssinia_. He recalled the incidents of the first day +at sea. The weather was beautiful. Everything pointed to a good +voyage. Who was traveling with him? He could not remember. Oh, yes, +now he knew. François, his valet, and that other queer fellow he had +picked up at the diamond mines--his twin brother. Yes, it all came +back to him now. + +Why had he gone to the diamond mines? Yes, now he knew--to take back +to New York the two big stones found on the Company's land. He had +them safe in a belt he wore round his waist next to his skin. The +second night out he went to bed about midnight and was fast asleep when +suddenly he heard shouts of "Fire! Fire!" Jumping up and looking out +of his cabin he saw stewards and passengers running excitedly about. +There was a reddish glare and a suffocating smell of smoke. Quickly he +buckled on the belt with the diamonds, and, slipping on his trousers, +went out. The electric lights had gone out. The ship was in complete +darkness. From all sides came shouts of men and screams of frightened +women. It was a scene of utter demoralization and horror. He was +groping his way along the narrow passage, when, suddenly, out of the +gloom a man sprang upon him, and, taken entirely by surprise, he was +borne to the deck before he had time to defend himself. He could not +see the man's face and thought it was one of the passengers or sailors +who had gone mad, but when he felt a tug at his belt where the diamonds +were, he knew he had to do with a thief. He fought back with all his +strength, but he was unarmed, while the stranger had a black jack which +he used unmercifully, raining fearful blows on his head. The struggle +was too unequal to last. Weak from loss of blood, he relaxed his grip, +and the thief, dealing one fearful parting blow, tore away the belt and +disappeared. His life blood was flowing away, he felt sick and dizzy, +but just as the thief turned to run he managed to get a glimpse of his +face. Now he remembered that face--it was the face of his twin +brother--the man he had rescued from starvation on the _veldt_. + +Yes, it all came back to him now, like a horrible nightmare. What had +happened since then? How could he tell, since all this time his mind +had been a blank? Helen, no doubt, believed him dead. Mr. Parker and +all the others thought he had gone down with the ship. But what of his +valet, François, and his cowardly, murderous brother--were they saved? +If so, the thief had the diamonds, and had probably disposed of them by +this time. Perhaps there might still be time to capture the would-be +assassin and save the gems for the Americo-African Company. Brother or +no brother, he would have no more pity on the unnatural, miserable +cutthroat. The first step was to let his friends know where he was. +He must telegraph at once to Helen. + +Yet, on second thought, it would not be wise to do that. If Helen +really believed him dead and was now mourning his loss, it might be +almost a fatal shock if suddenly she were to receive a telegram saying +he was alive. Such shocks have been known to kill people. A better +plan would be to get well as soon as possible, leave the hospital, and +go to New York. Once there, he could go quietly to his office and +learn how matters were. + +The days passed, the convalescent making speedy progress toward +recovery, and in a few weeks more he was able to leave the hospital. +Making himself known quietly to a San Francisco business acquaintance, +he was quickly supplied with funds and immediately he turned his face +homeward. + +The long, overland journey was tedious and exhausting, especially in +his present weakened condition, and even those who knew him well would +hardly have recognized in the pale emaciated looking stranger with ill +fitting clothes and untrimmed full growth of beard who emerged from the +train at the Grand Central Station, the carefully dressed, well groomed +Kenneth Traynor who, only a few months before, had sailed away from New +York on the _Mauretania_. + +The noise and turmoil of the big metropolis, in striking contrast to +the quiet and seclusion of the sick room in which he had lived for so +many weeks, astonished him. The crowds of suburbanites rushing +frantically for trains, elbowing and pushing in their anxiety to get +home, the strident hoarse cries of newsboys, the warning shouts of +wagon drivers as they drove recklessly here and there at murderous +speed, the blowing of auto horns, the ceaseless hum and roar of the big +city's heavy traffic--all this bewildered and dazed him. At first he +did not remember just in what direction to turn, whether he lived in +the East or West side, uptown or down. But as he got more accustomed +to his surroundings, it all came back to him. How stupid--of course he +had to go downtown to 20th Street. Once more he was himself again. +Hailing a taxi, he started for Gramercy Park. + +Conflicting emotions stirred his breast as he drew near his home. What +joy it would be to clasp Helen once more in his arms. How delighted +she would be to see him! Then he was filled with anxiety, a sudden +feeling of dread came over him. Suppose some misfortune, some calamity +had happened during his absence! Helen might have met with some +accident. Baby might have been ill. The worst might have happened. +He would never have heard. Perhaps he was only going home to find his +happiness wrecked forever. + +The driver made his way with difficulty down Fifth Avenue, threading +his way in and out the entanglement of carriages and automobiles, +until, after a ten minutes' run, turned into Gramercy Park and pulled +up short on the curb of the Traynor residence. + +Eagerly Kenneth put his head out of the window and scanned the windows +for a glimpse of the loved one, but no one, not even a servant, was +visible. The house looked deserted. His misgivings returned. +Stepping out hastily, he paid the driver, and, running up the steps, +rang the bell. + +Roberts, the faithful old butler, who had been in the family service +for years, came to open. Seeing a rather shabbily attired person +outside, he held the door partly closed and demanded, suspiciously: + +"Who is it you wish to see?" + +Irritated at the manner of his reception, Kenneth gave the door a push +that nearly knocked the servant over. Angrily, he exclaimed: + +"What's the matter, Roberts? Didn't you see it was me?" + +The butler, who had recovered himself, and now believed he had to do +with a crank or some person under the influence of liquor, again barred +the way. Trying to push the unwelcome visitor out, he said soothingly: + +"Come now, my good man, you've made a mistake. You don't live here." + +Struck almost speechless with amazement at the brazen impudence of one +whom he had always regarded as a model servant, Kenneth turned round as +if about to make a wrathful outburst. As he turned, the light from the +open door fell full on his face and now for the first time Roberts saw +the visitor's features. With a startled exclamation the man fell +backward. For a moment he was so surprised that he could not speak. +Then, in an awe-stricken whisper, he cried: + +"Who are you?" + +For a moment Kenneth thought the man had suddenly become insane. For +his own servant not to know him was too ridiculous. At that moment he +caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror of the hat stand. Ah, now he +understood. The beard and emaciated face had made quite a +difference--no wonder the man failed to recognize him. Breaking into +laughter he exclaimed: + +"No wonder you didn't recognize me, Roberts. I have changed a little, +haven't I? I've grown a beard since I saw you last and been through a +regular mill. But you know me now don't you--I'm your long lost +master." + +The servant shook his head. Still closely scrutinizing Kenneth's face +as if greatly puzzled, he said: + +"You're not my master, sir. Mr. Kenneth Traynor left the house some +ten minutes before you arrived." + +Kenneth stared at the man as if he thought he had gone clean out of his +mind. + +"I went out ten minutes before I arrived," he echoed. "What kind of +nonsense is that, Roberts?" + +"I didn't say _you_ went out," replied the servant, beginning to lose +his patience. "I said Mr. Kenneth Traynor went out. You are not Mr. +Kenneth Traynor." + +"Then who in the name of heaven am I?" + +"I haven't the remotest idea," retorted the man. Condescendingly, he +went on: "I admit you look a little like the master." Impatiently he +added: + +"You must excuse me. I want to close the door." + +Instead of obeying the hint to withdraw, Kenneth strode further into +the house, the protesting and indignant butler at his heels. + +"You must really go," said the servant. + +Kenneth turned around. + +"Roberts--don't be a fool. Don't you know me? I know why you don't +recognize me. You all think me dead, but I'm very much alive. I did +not go down on the _Abyssinia_. I was picked up and taken to San +Francisco and have been in a hospital there ever since. I have just +come home. Where's my wife?" + +The butler stared and stood motionless, as if not knowing what to make +of it. + +"But you came home long ago." + +"Who came home?" + +"You did." + +"No, I didn't. I've been in San Francisco all the time. How could I +be here if I was sick in a San Francisco hospital?" + +"Then who is the other Mr. Traynor?" + +Now it was Kenneth's turn to be surprised. + +"The other Mr. Traynor?" he echoed stupefied. + +"Yes--the gentleman who looks more like you than you do yourself. He +arrived here a month ago. We all took him for you." + +For the first time a light broke in on the darkness. Who was the +person who looked so like him that he could successfully impersonate +him? Who could it be but the man who left him for dead on the +_Abyssinia_ after murderously assaulting him? Suddenly a horrible +thought came to him. Grasping the butler's arm he exclaimed: + +"My wife? Is she well?" + +"Yes, sir. Mrs. Traynor's quite well." + +"And Dorothy?" + +"Quite well, sir." + +"Thank God!" + +The servant hesitated. + +"That is--sir--Miss Dorothy----" + +"Out with it, man. Out with it." + +"Mrs. Traynor's being greatly worried sir, lately. Miss Dorothy was at +her aunt's in Philadelphia----" + +"Yes, yes----" + +"Someone's run away with Miss Dorothy. She's been kidnapped." + +"My God!" + +"But Mrs. Traynor has a clue. She got a letter yesterday, saying where +the child was. She wouldn't confide in any of us and she left here +only half an hour ago to go to the place." + +Again Kenneth was seized by panic. + +"Gone to a kidnapper's den. Great God! She's running a terrible risk. +Where has she gone? I'll go to her." + +"I don't know, sir, but Mr. Steell may know----" + +"Ah, that's right. I'll go and see Steell." + +Not waiting to say more he rushed down the steps, and, hailing another +taxi, went off at full speed in the direction of Wilbur Steell's office. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The startling news from Philadelphia that Dorothy had suddenly +disappeared and was believed to have been kidnapped, fell upon the +Traynor home with the crushing force of a bombshell. At first Helen +refused to credit the report. It seemed impossible that any new +suffering was to be inflicted upon her after what she had already +endured. White faced, her whole being shaken by emotion, she read and +re-read her aunt's letter, telling of the child's mysterious +disappearance, and when at last she could read it no more because of +the tears that blinded her, she threw herself limp and broken hearted +into Ray's arms. Hysterically she cried: + +"What have I done that I should be made to suffer in this way? My God! +Where is my child? This maddening suspense will kill me." + +Ray tried to soothe her. Reassuringly, she said: + +"Don't worry, dear. Everything will be all right. A general alarm has +been sent out. The police all over the country are searching high and +low. It's only a question of a few hours and you'll have good news." + +But the hours passed and no news came to cheer the distracted, +broken-hearted mother. Dorothy had disappeared completely, leaving no +trace, no clue behind. + +There was neither rest nor peace for the Traynor household that day. +Helen, almost out of her mind from grief and worry, refused to eat or +sleep until news of the missing child was received. In her agony she +went down on her knees and prayed as she had never prayed before that +her child be restored to her. + +Her little daughter was, she felt, the one link that still bound her to +life. To her husband she felt she could not turn for sympathy. The +romance of their early married life had been shattered forever by the +extraordinary change that had come over him. He had long since ceased +to be to her any more than a name. In her heart, she had come to +despise and detest him as much as before she had worshiped the very +ground he trod. It was an astonishing revulsion of feeling which she +was powerless to explain; she only knew that the old love, the old +passion he had awakened was now quite dead. He inspired in her no more +affection or feeling than the merest stranger. Ever since his return +from South Africa they had lived apart. Ever since that first night of +his return when their tête-à-tête in the library was interrupted by the +bogus telegram, he had quite ceased his amorous advances. He seemed +anxious to avoid her. Only on rare occasions, and then it was by +accident, did they find themselves in each other's company. + +In fact, he was practically never home, living almost exclusively at +the club, where he went the pace with associates of his choosing, +mostly gamblers and men about town. He had begun to drink hard and +when not in pool rooms or at the races, betting recklessly on the +horses, squandering such huge sums, and overdrawing his check account +so often that the bank was compelled to ask him to desist, he sat in +the barrooms with his cronies till all hours of the morning when he +would be brought home in a condition of shocking intoxication. Happily +Helen was spared the spectacle of the degradation of a man she once had +loved with all the force of her virgin soul. Roberts, the butler, +aided by the other servants, smuggled their intoxicated master up to +his room, where he remained until sober, when he went back to his club +only to repeat the same performance. + +To such a man she could not turn for aid or consolation in the hour of +this new misfortune. Indeed, ever since his return, he had been +strangely indifferent to the welfare of the child, never asking after +her or expressing a desire to see her. At times it seemed as if he had +forgotten that he had a child. By some strange metamorphosis he had +developed into an unnatural father as well as a brutal, indifferent +husband. + +But to Helen, alone save for the devoted companionship of her sister, +this was anxiety and suffering enough. Only twenty-four hours had +passed since the child disappeared, but to the unhappy mother it seemed +as many years. Constantly at the telephone, expecting each moment to +hear that the police had been successful in finding the child, she was +gradually wearing herself away to a shadow. Breakfast she left +untouched. Lunch she refused to eat. In vain Ray remonstrated with +her. If she went on like that she would fall ill. But still Helen +refused. Tears choked her, and morning wore into afternoon and still +no news. + +After lunch Ray went out to see if Mr. Steell could help them, +promising to return as soon as possible. Helen sat and waited alone. +The clock was just striking two o'clock when the front doorbell rang +and a letter was brought to her. She did not recognize the writing, +but eagerly she tore it open. Instinctively, she felt it concerned her +missing darling. The letter read as follows: + + +No. -- Lasalle Street, Bronx. + Friday. + +Madame: + +Your child is safe and in good hands. She wants to see her mother. If +you come this afternoon (Friday) to the above address you can see her. +It is the house with the closed green shutters. But if you value your +child's life you must come unaccompanied, and you must inform no one of +the contents of this letter, not even the members of your family. If +you disobey, swift punishment will follow and your child will suffer. +Climb eight flights and knock three times on door at end of +passage.----X. + + +There was no signature. The person who wrote it evidently had reasons +of his own for wishing to remain concealed. That money would be +demanded was more than probable. What other motive could the kidnapper +have? Money she would give--all she had in the world, if only she +could get back her precious child. That a visit to such a place +unattended was full of danger she did not stop to consider. She only +knew that her child was close by--here in New York--and had asked for +her. Not for a moment did she listen to the warnings of prudence. Go +she must, and immediately. She did not even stop to leave a note of +explanation for Ray. Stuffing some money in a bag, she left the house, +saying she would return soon. + +Taking the Third Avenue "L" she left the train at Tremont Avenue, and, +after considerable difficulty, found the house indicated in the letter. +Yes, there were the closed green shutters. At first, on seeing it +apparently untenanted, she thought she must have made a mistake in the +number, but, finding that there was no other place near by that +answered the description as well, she decided to risk climbing the long +flight of stairs. + +Arrived on the top floor, breathless from the unusual exertion, she saw +a long narrow passage, and, at the end of that, a door. That, no +doubt, was the place. Her heart beating violently, she went up to the +door and gave the three knocks. For a moment or so there was no +answer. A profound stillness reigned. Then she heard footsteps +approaching, The next instant, the door was thrown open and a man's +voice, which sounded somewhat familiar, told her to enter. + +At first when she went in, she could see nothing. All the shutters of +the windows looking on the street were closed, and the only light was +that which filtered through the slats. It was an ordinary, cheap flat, +with no carpets on the floors and little or no furniture. On the +floor, scattered here and there, were nailed-up boxes, and parts of +machinery, some already crated, as if to be taken away. + +"So you've come! I thought you would," said a voice behind her. + +She turned and found herself face to face with Signor Keralio. + +At first she was so astonished that she was speechless. Then her +instinct prompted her to turn and flee. If this man had caused her to +be decoyed to this house it could be for no good purpose. But there +was no way of egress. The front door was closed and locked. Not a +human soul was within call. She was alone in an empty house with the +one man she distrusted and feared more than any one else in the world. + +Making an effort to conceal her alarm, she turned and faced him boldly: + +"What are you doing here?" she asked. + +He smiled--a horrid, cynical smile she knew only too well. + +"Has not a man the right to be in his own home?" + +She started back in surprise. + +"This your home?" she exclaimed, glancing around at the scanty and +shabby furnishings. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, don't judge by appearances. I'm really very comfortable here. +It's away from the world. I like to work undisturbed." Significantly, +he added: "Then, you see, it is all my own. I am quite at home here in +my own house. No one can put me out--not even you----" + +She raised her hand deprecatingly. + +"Please don't remind me of that. I have forgotten it long ago." + +His eyes flashed dangerously as he made a step near and exclaimed: + +"You have, but I have not. I have not forgotten that you put me out of +your house ignominiously as one turns out a servant. I have neither +forgotten nor forgiven. That is why you are here to-day." + +She looked at him in utter astonishment. + +"What do you mean?" + +He bowed and, with mock courtesy, waved her to a seat. + +"I will tell you. Did you receive a letter to-day?" + +"Yes--I did." + +"You came here in answer to that letter." + +"Yes--I did." + +"Do you know who wrote that letter?" + +"No--not the least." + +"It was I--I wrote the letter." + +With a stifled cry of mingled fright and amazement, Helen jumped up +from the chair. + +"You wrote the letter?" she exclaimed, incredulously. + +He nodded. + +"Yes--I wrote the letter." + +Her eyes opened wide with terror, her hands clasped together nervously, +she exclaimed: + +"Then you are----" + +He bowed. + +"Exactly. I am the kidnapper of your child----" + +Speechless, she stared at him, her large black eyes opened wide with +terror. Looking wildly about her as if seeking her little daughter, +she gasped: + +"Dorothy? Dorothy here? Where is she?" + +"She is safe," he replied calmly. + +"Where is she, where is she? Take me to her!" she cried, distractedly, +going up to him and clasping her hands in humble supplication. + +He shook off the hand which, in her maternal anxiety, she had laid on +his arm. Lighting a cigarette, he gave a low laugh. + +"Plenty of time. There's no hurry. You're not going yet." + +Anxiously, she scrutinized his face, as if trying to read his meaning. + +"She's going when I go, isn't she?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"That depends--on you." + +"What do you mean?" + +Again he waved her to a seat. + +"Sit down and I'll tell you." + +Trembling, she dropped once more on to a chair and waited. He puffed +deliberately at his cigarette for a few moments and then, turning his +glance in her direction, he smiled in a peculiar, horrible way and his +eyes ran over her figure in a way that made the crimson rush furiously +to her cheek. There was no mistaking that smile. It was the bold, +lustful look of the voluptuary who enjoys letting his eyes feast on the +prey that he knows cannot now escape him. + +"Mrs. Traynor," he began in the caressing, dulcet tones which she +feared more than his anger, "you are an exceptional woman. To most men +of my temperament you would not appeal. They would find your beauty +too statuesque and cold. I know you are clever, but love cannot feed +on intellect alone, I have loved many women, but never a woman just +like you. Your coldness, your haughty reserve, your refinement would +intimidate most men and keep them at a distance, but not me. Your +aloofness, your indifference only spurs me, only adds to the acuteness +of my desire. I swore to myself that I would conquer you, overcome +your resistance, bend you to my will. You turned me out of your home. +I swore to be avenged." + +He stopped for a moment and watched her closely as if studying and +enjoying the effect of his words. Then, amid a cloud of blue tobacco +smoke, he went on: + +"I knew only one way to win you--it was to humiliate you, to place you +in a position where you would have to come to me on your knees." + +She half rose from her chair. + +"I would never do that," she cried. "I would rather die!" + +"Oh, yes, you will," he continued, calmly, making a gesture to her to +remain seated. "When I've told you all, you'll see things in a +different light." Fixing her steadily with his piercing black eyes, he +asked: "Have you noticed any difference in your husband since his +return." + +She looked up quickly. + +"Yes--what does it mean? Can you explain?" + +He nodded. + +"Did you ever hear your husband speak of a twin brother he once had?" + +Her face turned white as death and her heart throbbing violently, she +stared helplessly at her persecutor. She tried to be calm, but she +could not. Yet, why be so alarmed, why should this single question so +agitate her? In the deepest recesses of her being she knew that it was +her unerring instinct warning her that she was about to hear something +that would entail worse suffering than any she had yet endured. + +"Yes--yes--why do you ask?" she gasped. + +"You all thought the brother dead." + +"Yes." + +"You were mistaken. He is alive." + +"Where is he?" she faltered. + +"Here in New York." + +"Where?" + +"In your house. The man who returned home was not your husband. He +was your husband's twin brother." + +She looked at him as one bewildered, as if she did not understand what +he was saying, as if words had suddenly lost their meaning. Her face, +white as in death, she faltered: + +"Not Kenneth--then where is Kenneth?" + +"He is dead!" + +Her powers of speech paralyzed, her large eyes starting from their +sockets from terror, an expression of mute helpless agony on her +beautiful face, she looked up at him with horror. Not yet could she +fully grasp the meaning of his words. At last the frightful spell was +broken. With an effort the words came: + +"Then you," she cried. "You are his assassin!" + +He shook his head as he replied carelessly: + +"No--not I--his brother!" + +She gave a cry of anguish and, starting to her feet, made a movement +forward, her hands clutching convulsively at her throat. Air! air! +She must have air. She felt sick and dizzy. The room was spinning +round like a top, and then everything grew dark. Lurching heavily +forward she would have fallen had he not caught her. + +Instantly she shrank from the contact as from something unclean, and +with a low moan sank down on a chair and buried her face in her hands. +Her instinct had told her true. Her loved one was dead, she would +never see him again, and that man who had come into the sanctity of her +home and fondled her in his arms was his murderer. Oh, it was too +horrible! + +The bitter, cynical smile was still on Keralio's lips as he went on: + +"You see the folly of resisting me. Had you surrendered at that time +all might have been well. The price was not too much to pay. I would +have been discreet. No one but ourselves would have known that you and +I were----" + +He did not complete the sentence, for at that moment she sprang forward +like an enraged tiger cat, and, seizing a cane that stood close by, +struck him across the face with all the force of her outraged womanhood. + +"Murderer! Assassin!" she cried indignantly. "How dare you talk like +that to me? I will denounce you to the whole world. I will not rest +till I see you and that other scoundrel punished and my poor husband is +avenged. On leaving here I shall go direct to the police." + +Imbued with strength she never dreamed she possessed, she was about to +hit him again when he seized the cane and threw it away. But across +his pale, handsome face lay a telltale red mark, the smart of which +burned into his soul. + +His eyes flashed with anger and he made a visible effort to control +himself. He took a step forward and, as he advanced she saw an +expression in his face which prompted her to retreat precipitately. It +was a dangerous look, the look of a man who knew he had a helpless +woman in his power, a man who was desperate and would stop at nothing +to encompass his ends. Now thoroughly frightened, she looked around +for some way to escape. The windows were impossible, the only way was +by the door and he barred the way. Besides, she would never go without +her child. + +He noticed the movement and look of alarm, and he smiled. Continuing +to advance, he said: + +"There's no use making a fuss. No one could hear you if you shouted +for help till the crack of doom. You are alone with me--and absolutely +in my power. Do as I ask and there is nothing you shall not have. +Refuse, and I answer for nothing. Come----" + +Her whole body trembling, her face white with terror, she kept on +retreating: + +"Leave me alone!" she gasped, "or I will scream." + +"Scream away," he laughed. "There's no one here to hear you." + +Suddenly he made a quick lunge forward and seized her. She struggled +and resisted with all the energy born of despair, pushing, twisting, +scratching. But they were too unevenly matched. She was like an +infant in the grasp of an Hercules. Slowly, she felt her strength +leaving her. His iron grasp gradually closed on her, nearer and nearer +he drew her into his embrace. + +With a last, superhuman effort, she managed to wrench herself free, out +of his grip, and breaking completely away, she fled into the next room. +But he was after her in a minute and again seized her, but not before +she screamed at the top of her voice: + +"Help! Help! Kenneth! Wilbur! Help! Help!" + +He tried to gag her mouth to stifle her cries, but it was too late. +His quick ear caught the sound of approaching footsteps in the outside +hall. Almost at the same instant there was a loud knocking at the door. + +Keralio fell back, his face white and tense. Had his plans failed at +the eleventh hour, could anyone have played him false? If the game was +up, they should never take him alive. Leaving Helen, he drew a +revolver, and, going quickly into the inner hall, he waited in grim +silence for the visitors to force an entrance. + +"Open the door, or we'll break it in!" shouted a stern voice outside. +"There's no use resisting. The place is surrounded." + +Still no answer. Keralio stood grimly in the shadow of the parlor +doorway, revolver in hand, while Helen cowered in the inner room, in +momentary expectation of a tragedy. + +Crash! The front door fell in, shattered into a thousand splinters, +and through the breach thus made rushed Wilbur Steell, Dick Reynolds, +and half a score husky Central Office detectives, revolvers in hand. + +"There is he!" cried the lawyer, pointing to Keralio. + +Quick as a flash, the Italian raised the revolver and fired, the bullet +entering the plastered wall an inch away from the lawyer's head. +Almost simultaneously, another pistol shot rang out, but this time the +aim was truer, for, with a cry of baffled rage, Keralio threw his arms +above his head and fell to the floor dead. Quickly, one of the +detectives stooped down and compared his face with a photograph he had +taken from his pocket. + +"Yes----" he exclaimed; "that's the fellow--well known counterfeiter. +Did time in San Quentin and Joliet. Known as Baron Rapp, Richard +Barton and a dozen other aliases. He's one of the slickest rogues in +the country. We've got the valet safe downstairs. I guess he'll get +twenty years." + +But Steell had not waited to hear about Keralio. There were others +more important to think about. Rushing into the inner room, he found +Helen prostrate, half fainting from fright. + +"Thank God, I'm in time!" he exclaimed. + +"Dorothy," she murmured weakly. "Save Dorothy! She's somewhere here." + +Going into another room, the lawyer found the little girl fast asleep +on a bed. Bringing her to her mother, he said tenderly: + +"Here's your treasure. Now you can be happy." + +She shook her head. The nightmare of what Keralio had told her, still +obsessed her. + +"No--" she shuddered; "--never again. They have killed him!" + +To her surprise, the lawyer, instead of sharing her sorrow, actually +smiled. + +"Helen," he said; "I have a great surprise for you. A friend has +accompanied me here. He called at your house to-day, but you had just +left, so he called on me. You have not seen him since he sailed away +three months ago on the _Mauretania_." + +She listened bewildered. Her color came and went. What did he mean? +Could it be possible that--no, had not Keralio said he was dead? +Trembling with suppressed emotion, she whispered: + +"Tell me--what is it--tell me----" + +For all reply, the lawyer went to the door and beckoned to someone who +had waited in the outer hall. A moment later a man entered, a tall, +well set figure that was strangely familiar. Straining her eyes +through her tears, it seemed to her that her mind must be playing her +some trick, for there before her, stood Kenneth, not the impostor her +instinct had warned her to detest and avoid, but the real Kenneth she +had loved, the father of her child. With a joyous exclamation, she +tottered forward. + +"Kenneth!" she cried. + +The man, his athletic form broken by sobs, opened his arms. + +"My own precious darling!" + +A moment later they were clasped in each other's arms. Ah, now she +knew that he had come home! This, indeed, was the husband she loved. +There was no deception this time. Wonderingly, she turned to Steell. + +"How did it happen?" she asked wonderingly. + +"We'll tell you later--not now," he replied. + +She shuddered as she asked in a low voice. + +"But where is his brother?" + +"Dead! He shot himself at the club. Kenneth and I went to confront +him at the club before coming here. It was his only way out." + +The detective stepped forward. Addressing the lawyer and holding out +two enormous diamonds that sparkled like fire in the sunlight, he said: + +"We've just found these, together with a lot of counterfeit money." + +The lawyer laughed as he took charge of the diamonds. + +"It'll please Mr. Parker to see these. Come, Dick. Our work is done." + +Kenneth put his arms around his wife. + +"Safe in port at last, dear." + +"You'll never go away again," she murmured through her tears. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASK*** + + +******* This file should be named 20131-8.txt or 20131-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/20131-8.zip b/20131-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e4f43c --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-8.zip diff --git a/20131-h.zip b/20131-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..325e818 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-h.zip diff --git a/20131-h/20131-h.htm b/20131-h/20131-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..deaf873 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-h/20131-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13638 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mask, by Arthur Hornblow</title> +<style type="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 5%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 5% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15% ; + margin-right: 15% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center } + + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 1%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:hover {color:#ff0000; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 75%; } + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mask, by Arthur Hornblow, Illustrated by +Paul Stahr</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Mask</p> +<p> A Story of Love and Adventure</p> +<p>Author: Arthur Hornblow</p> +<p>Release Date: December 18, 2006 [eBook #20131]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASK***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth." BORDER="2" WIDTH="427" HEIGHT="666"> +<H3 STYLE="width: 427px"> +A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth. +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE MASK +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A Story of Love and Adventure +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ARTHUR HORNBLOW +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF THE NOVELS "THE LION AND THE MOUSE," <BR> +"THE GAMBLERS," "BOUGHT AND PAID FOR," <BR> +"BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST," "THE END OF THE GAME," ETC. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS BY +<BR> +PAUL STAHR +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY +<BR> +PUBLISHERS ———— NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY +<BR> +G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY +<BR> +<I>The Mask</I> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H3> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER IXI</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</A> +</TD> + +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap20">CHAPTER XX</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth. . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-152"> +"Yes, you are my brother. We are twins." +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-280"> +"I adore you—I adore you," he murmured, as he kissed her again. +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE MASK +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<P> +"There! What did I tell you? The news is out!" +</P> + +<P> +With a muttered exclamation of annoyance, Kenneth Traynor put down his +coffee cup with a crash and, leaning over the table, pointed out to his +wife a despatch from London, given prominence in the morning paper, +which ran as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="quote"> +Advices from Cape Town report the finding on a farm near Fontein, a +hundred miles north of here, of a diamond which in size is only second +to the famous Koh-i-noor. The stone, which is in the shape of an egg +with the top cut off, weighs 1,649 carats, and was discovered after +blasting at the foot of some rocks on land adjacent to the tract owned +by the Americo-African Mining Company of New York. It is understood +that the American Company is negotiating for the property; some say the +transfer has already been made. If this is true, the finding of this +colossal stone means a windfall for the Yankee stockholders. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Traynor home, No. —— Gramercy Park, was one of those dignified, +old-fashioned residences that still remain in New York to remind our +vulgar, ostentatious <I>nouveaux riches</I> of the days when culture and +refinement counted for something more than mere wealth. Overlooking +the railed-in square with its green lawns, pretty winding paths and +well-dressed children romping at play, it had a high stoop which opened +into a wide hall, decorated with obsolete weapons and trophies of the +hunt. On the right were rich tapestries, masking the folding doors of +a spacious drawing-room, richly decorated and furnished in Louis XIV. +period. Beyond this, to the rear of the house which had been built out +to the extreme end of the lot, was the splendidly appointed dining-room +with its magnificent fireplace of sculptured white marble, surmounted +by a striking portrait in oils by Carolus Duran of Mrs. Traynor—a +painting which had been one of the most successful pictures of the +previous year's salon. +</P> + +<P> +In a clinging, white silk negligée gown, the gossamer folds of which +only partially veiled the outlines of a slender, graceful figure, Helen +sat at the breakfast table opposite her husband, toying languidly with +her knife and fork. It was nearly noon, long past the usual breakfast +time, and by every known gastronomical law her appetite should have +been on keen edge. But this morning she left everything untasted. +Even the delicious wheat cakes, which none better than Mammy, their +Southern cook, knew how to do to a point, did not tempt her. They had +been out to dinner the night before. Her head ached; she was nervous +and feverish. Always full of good spirits and laughter, ever the soul +and life of the house, it was unusual to find her in this mood, and if +her husband, now voraciously devouring the tempting array of ham and +eggs spread before him, had not been so absorbed in the news of the +day, he would have quickly noticed it, and guessed there was something +amiss. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly the appearance of the dining-room was enough to upset the +nerves of anyone, especially a sensitive young woman who prided herself +on her housekeeping. All around was chaos and confusion. The usually +sedate, orderly dining-room was littered with trunks, grips, umbrellas +and canes enveloped in rugs—all the confusion incidental to a hurried +departure. +</P> + +<P> +She took the newspaper, read the despatch and handed it back in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that the very deuce!" he went on peevishly. "We've been trying +our utmost to keep it secret. Unless we're quick, there'll be a rush +of adventurers from all parts of the world before we can secure the +options. Happily the despatch is vague. They don't know all the +facts. If they did——" Lowering his voice and looking around +cautiously to make sure that the butler had left the room and no one +was listening, he continued: "Besides you know what I am to bring back. +It couldn't be entrusted to anyone else. Just think—a stone worth +nearly a million dollars! I hope no one will guess I have it in my +possession. It must be brought safe to New York. That's why it's so +important that I go at once. Even by catching the <I>Mauretania</I> +to-morrow, I can't reach Cape Town for a month, and every moment counts +now." +</P> + +<P> +As Helen was still silent he glanced across the table at her for the +first time. Her pallor and the drooping lines about her mouth told him +something was wrong. Instantly concerned, he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm horribly nervous." +</P> + +<P> +"What about?" +</P> + +<P> +"This trip of yours, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be used to them by this time. This isn't the first time +I've had to leave you since our marriage." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mind the other trips so much. When you went to Mexico and +Alaska, it didn't seem so far away. But this journey to South Africa +is different. You are running a terrible risk carrying that diamond. +I can't shake off a horrible feeling that something dreadful will +happen." +</P> + +<P> +Surprised less at what she said than at her serious manner, he laid +down the newspaper, and, jumping up, went over to her. His wife sat +motionless, her lips trembling, her large eyes filled with tears. In +spite of a palpable effort at self-control, it was evident that she was +laboring under great nervous tension. Bending caressingly over her, he +said anxiously: +</P> + +<P> +"Why Helen, old girl! What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +She made no answer. Her head fell on his breast. For a moment she +could not speak. Her emotion seemed to choke her utterance, paralyze +her speech. He insisted: +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, dearie?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so nervous about your going, I'm so afraid about your having the +diamond," she sobbed. Suddenly, as if unable longer to control +herself, she rose from the table and threw her arms around his neck. +Passionately she cried: "Oh, Kenneth, don't go! Don't go! I feel that +something will happen." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed carelessly as he fondled her. More seriously he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"I hope something does happen. That's what I'm going out there for. +Why, Helen dear, I don't think you quite realize what this trip means +to us. If the deal goes through, and we get full control of all that +property, we'll all be as rich as Croesus. Just think, dear, 300,000 +square miles of the most wonderful diamond producing country. In ten +days they found 400 beautifully clear stones, some of them weighing +over a hundred carats. If the reports are true, we shall have a group +of mines as valuable as the famous De Beers group. Do you know what +they have produced to date in actual money?" +</P> + +<P> +The young woman shook her head. Usually she was glad enough to listen +to her husband's business plans, but to-day they wearied her. Her mind +was too much preoccupied with something that concerned her far more. +The idea of this coming separation, the knowledge that he was running a +risk, had left her singularly depressed. She had tried to remain calm +and control her emotion, but the effort was beyond her. The prospect +of this separation, with its vague, undefined forebodings of disaster, +was simply intolerable. The tears she was unable to restrain rolled +silently down her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her in surprise. Never had he seen her in this mood. +Approaching her more closely, he said kindly: +</P> + +<P> +"That can't be the only reason, dear, what's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated a moment before she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm very nervous to-day. I was dreadfully irritated last night at the +dinner. I wish I hadn't gone——" +</P> + +<P> +"Who irritated you?" +</P> + +<P> +"That man Signor Keralio. I simply can't tolerate the man. How I hate +him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why—what did he do?" +</P> + +<P> +"He did nothing. He wouldn't dare—there. But I wouldn't care to be +alone with him. His eyes were enough. He imagines he is irresistible, +and that every woman is immoral. That is the kind of man he is. He +annoyed me all evening. There was no getting away from him." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth laughed and went back to finish his breakfast, quite +indifferent to what he had just heard. He knew his wife too well to be +afraid of any number of Signor Keralios. Humming a tune, he said +carelessly: +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you call me?" +</P> + +<P> +"What? Create a scandal? That would only make me ridiculous. He +wouldn't care. I can't bear the sight of the man, yet I have to be +polite to him." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I have reasons for not caring to quarrel with Keralio just now." +</P> + +<P> +She looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why? What is that man to you? He's your fencing master, I know, but +that's no reason for making a friend of him. I never understood why +you associated with him. He is so different to you." +</P> + +<P> +Her husband smiled. He adored his wife and admired the sex in general, +but, like most men, he had never had much respect for women's judgment. +Women were made to be loved; not to discuss business with. Indulgently +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"My dear, you don't understand. I have important financial relations +with Keralio. I don't care for him myself, but one can't choose one's +business associates. He and I are interested in a silver mine in +Mexico. Thanks to him, I got in on the ground floor. One of these +days the investment will bring me a big return." +</P> + +<P> +His wife shrugged her shoulders. Incredulously she retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"Not if Keralio has anything to do with it. I don't trust him. He has +deceit and evil written all over his face." +</P> + +<P> +Amused at her petulance, Kenneth jumped up impulsively and took his +wife in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +Abandoning herself willingly to his embrace, for a moment her head fell +back on his broad shoulder, and she smiled up at him. From her soft, +yielding form arose that subtle, familiar perfume, the intoxicating, +vague, indefinable aroma of the well groomed woman that never fails to +set a man's blood on fire. Bending low until his mouth touched hers, +he kissed her until her face glowed under the ardor of his amative +caress. But to-day she was not in the mood to respond. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't—don't!" she panted, striving to free herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Admit that you're foolish or I'll do it again," he laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I am. It's selfish of me to make it harder for you to go +away." +</P> + +<P> +The butler reëntered the room with the finger bowls, and she quickly +disengaged herself. To hide her confusion, she turned to the servant: +</P> + +<P> +"Did my sister go out, Robert?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, m'm," replied the man respectfully. "Miss Ray told me to tell +you in case you asked that she had gone shopping and would be back +soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Miss Dorothy?" +</P> + +<P> +"The fraulein took her to the park, m'm." +</P> + +<P> +"When fraulein comes in, tell her to bring Dorothy upstairs." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, m'm." +</P> + +<P> +The butler went out and Helen turned to her husband. Anxiously she +said: +</P> + +<P> +"I've been a little worried about Dorothy lately. She's not looking +well. I think she needs the country." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth looked up quickly. Next to his wife he loved his flaxen haired +little girl better than anything in the world. There was a worried +look on his face as he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What does the doctor say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's nothing to be alarmed at. Only she's growing fast, and needs +all the air possible. I'm thinking of sending her to Aunt Carrie for a +while. You know she has a beautiful place in the suburbs of +Philadelphia. She would be out in the air all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—that's a good idea. Send her there by all means. Write your +aunt to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Helen glanced at the clock. There wasn't any time to lose. Turning to +her husband she said quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"You had better come upstairs and finish your packing, dear. Your +trunks aren't nearly ready and the expressman was ordered for three." +</P> + +<P> +Recalled thus abruptly to the day's duties, he turned docily and +followed her upstairs. +</P> + +<P> +Beautiful as was the Traynor home below, it was in the library in the +second floor that Helen always felt happiest and most at ease. Up the +broad, thickly carpeted stairs and turning to the right as the landing +was reached, they entered the library, a room of truly noble +proportions extending the entire width of the house and with deep +recessed windows and low seats, overlooking the park. The furnishings, +though simple, were rich and luxurious. The woodwork was of black +Flemish oak, the ceiling beamed with a dull red background. The +upholstery was a rich red plush throughout, with deep seated armchairs, +and sofas built close to the wall wherever space permitted. In the +corners, numerous electric reading lamps could be turned on or off at +pleasure, constituting ideal nooks for reading. The furniture, apart +from the red plush armchairs, was of black Flemish oak to match the +woodwork, with an immense richly carved black oak dark table in the +center of the room, lighted by an electrolier of similar size and +design to the one in the dining-room. +</P> + +<P> +It was in this room with its atmosphere of books so conducive to peace +and introspection that Helen loved to spend her spare time. The walls +were literally lined with tomes, dealing with every branch of human +knowledge—religion, science, philosophy, literature. Here when alone +she enjoyed many an intellectual treat, browsing among the world's +treasures of the mind. Even when her sister had a few intimates to +tea, or when friends dropped in in the evening, they always preferred +being in the library to anywhere else. +</P> + +<P> +Only second to the library in the affection of its young mistress was +her bed chamber with which it was connected by a small boudoir. +Furnished in Louis XVI. style, it was a beautiful room, decorated in +the most dainty and delicate of tones. The bed, copied after Marie +Antoinette's couch in the Little Trianon was in sculptured Circassian +walnut, upholstered in dull pink brocade, the broad canopy overhead +being upheld by two flying cupids. The handsome dressing table with +three mirrors and chairs were of the same wood and period. On the +floor was a thick carpet especially woven to match the other +furnishings. +</P> + +<P> +To-day, littered as it was with trunks and clothes, the room lacked its +usual sedateness and dignity, but Helen did not mind. She would have +preferred it to look far worse if only her loved one were not going +away. His clothes lay scattered all over the floor. There was still +much to be done. +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth himself realized it as he ruefully surveyed the scene. Hurry +he must. A director's meeting to-night, the steamer sailing to-morrow +and here he was not nearly ready. Helen could see no reason why +François should not do the packing, but he insisted on doing it +himself, and was soon deep in the work of filling the trunks that stood +around. +</P> + +<P> +While he worked, almost unconscious of her presence, she sat +disconsolately on a trunk and watched him, and from time to time, as if +ashamed to let him see her weakness, she turned her head aside to +furtively wipe away a tear. No doubt her misgivings were foolish. +Husbands left their wives on business trips every day. Sensible women +were not so silly as to cry over it. It was to be only temporary, she +knew that, yet her heart misgave her. She had tried to be resigned to +this South African journey, to accept it without protest, but her +feelings were too much for her. When she married Kenneth Traynor, the +energetic, prosperous Wall Street promoter, everybody knew that it was +a love match. Standing six feet two in his stockings, muscular, +sinewy, without an ounce of superfluous fat, Kenneth Traynor looked as +though he could give a good account of himself no matter in what tight +place he found himself. His clean cut features and strong chin denoted +strength of character, his deep set blue eyes, a blue of a shade so +light rarely seen except in the peasants of Normandy, beamed with +frankness and honesty, a kindly smile hovered about his smooth, firm +mouth. What at once attracted attention was his hair which was dark +and unusually thick and bushy and a peculiar characteristic was a +solitary white lock in the center of his forehead. Such a phenomenon +of the capillary glands was not uncommon, but as a rule, the white hair +is on the side of or at the back of the head. In Kenneth's case, it +was the very center of the forehead and imparted to his face an +individuality quite its own. +</P> + +<P> +When on leaving college, he had been forced, like other young men, to +choose a career, he was unable to decide what he wanted to do. Doctor, +lawyer, architect, author—none of these suited his nervous, restless +temperament. He craved a more exciting life, and at one time thought +seriously of entering the army with the hope of seeing active service +in the Philippines. But Aguinaldo's surrender put a quietus on this +project, and he entered a broker's office in Wall Street Here, in the +maelstrom of frenzied finance, his pent up energies found an outlet. +He went into the stock gambling game with the feverish energy of a born +gambler. Months of excitement followed, luck being usually with him. +He was successful. He doubled and tripled his capital, after which he +had good sense enough to stop, withdrawing from the fray before the +tide turned. But he could not give up the life entirely. The business +of stock promotion was the next best substitute. It was about that +time he met the woman he married. +</P> + +<P> +It had been an ideal union in every way, but even Helen herself could +not have guessed that day now three years ago when she left the church +a bride, how completely, how entirely this man whose sterling +qualities, good nature and charm of manner had won her heart, would +take complete possession of her, body and soul. Instead of the romance +flickering out after the first sudden blaze of fierce passion, as it +usually does after the first few months of married life, on her side, +at least, the flame had gathered in strength until now it was the one +compelling, all absorbing interest in her life. +</P> + +<P> +She recalled how they had first met. It was in the Winter time. She +was skating in Central Park. A thaw had set in and the ice was +dangerous. Suddenly there was an ominous crack, and the crowd scurried +out of harm's way, all but one child, a little nine year old girl who, +in her eagerness to escape, stumbled and fell. The next instant she +was in the water, disappearing under the ice. Just at that moment, a +tall athletic figure dashed swiftly to the hole and, stooping quickly, +caught the child by the dress. Then, by a feat of almost superhuman +strength which awed the crowd into silence, he drew the little victim +out to safety, not much the worse for her experience. +</P> + +<P> +Spellbound, hardly able to breathe from sheer excitement, Helen had +watched the work of rescue. When the stranger, tall, muscular, +handsome, passed her, carrying tenderly his burden, a human life saved +from a watery grave, she could not help murmuring: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how brave of you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," he retorted abruptly. "It's nothing to make a fuss about." +</P> + +<P> +She did not see him again for six months, and had almost forgotten the +incident when one night at the opera during a performance of +"Tannhauser," a man, tall, square shouldered, entered the box where she +was and was presented to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Helen—Mr. Traynor." +</P> + +<P> +It was her hero. +</P> + +<P> +He had remained her hero ever since. +</P> + +<P> +She remembered the afternoon when he had asked her to be his wife. +They were alone in the library which overlooked the Park with its +beautiful vista of green foliage, its glimpse of rolling lawns, and +shimmering lakes. They were standing side by side, gazing idly out of +the window, conversing quietly on all kinds of topics interesting to +them both. She was enjoying his vigorous, masculine point of view and +feeling strangely happy in his company. +</P> + +<P> +"When should a man marry?" he asked all at once. +</P> + +<P> +Startled for a moment at the abruptness of the question which nothing +in their previous conversation had led up to, she answered gravely: +</P> + +<P> +"When he's tired of being alone and when he feels he has met the woman +with whom he can be happy, the kind of woman who will be a real +helpmate and aid him to achieve his ambitions." +</P> + +<P> +"How can he know that the woman to whom he is attracted will have this +influence in his life? How can he distinguish real gold from the +imitation which merely glitters?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only by his instinct. That never errs." +</P> + +<P> +"And when in your opinion, should a woman marry?" +</P> + +<P> +"When she meets the man to whom she feels she can give herself without +forfeiting her self-respect." +</P> + +<P> +He nodded approvingly, and looked at her for a few moments without +speaking. Outside it was growing dark, for which she was glad, for her +face burned under the earnestness of his gaze. Finally he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You are right. But yours is a point of view the modern girl seldom +takes. First she discusses ways and means. Love, self respect—these +she considers quite negligible." +</P> + +<P> +She protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Not all girls—only some girls. They are foolish virgins who leave +their lamps untrimmed. They sow folly to-day only to reap unhappiness +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +He said nothing and for a few moments they both stood there in the +increasing darkness. Suddenly, without a moment's warning, his voice +broken by emotion, he turned to her and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am tired of being alone. I have met the woman with whom I could be +happy, the woman who can help me to do big things. Helen, I want you +to be my wife." +</P> + +<P> +She made no answer. She felt herself growing pale. A strange tremor +passed through her entire body. +</P> + +<P> +He came closer and took her unresisting hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Helen," he whispered, "I want you for my wife." +</P> + +<P> +Still no reply, but her small delicate hand remained clasped in his +big, strong one, and gradually he drew her toward him until she was so +close in his embrace that he could feel her panting breath on his cheek. +</P> + +<P> +A strange thrill passed through him as he came in contact with her +soft, yielding body. She never wore corsets, preferring the clinging +Grecian style of gowns that showed graceful lines and left the figure +free, and her form, slender yet firm and delicately chiseled like that +of some sculptured goddess, had none of that voluptuous grossness which +mars the symmetry of many women, otherwise beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +As she nestled there, pale and trembling in his strong arms, he did not +dare move, for fear that he might unwittingly injure a being so frail +and delicate. All his life Kenneth had lived a clean life. He had not +led the riotous, licentious kind of existence which some men of his +means and opportunities think necessary to their comfort. He had never +been a libertine. He had respected women; indeed, had rather avoided +them. +</P> + +<P> +But if a man, busily engaged in the battle of life, his mind always +engrossed in serious affairs, succeeds in keeping natural instincts +under control there comes a day when nature asserts herself, when his +manhood demands the satisfaction of legitimate cravings. This bachelor +who had lived a secluded, hermit-like kind of existence till he was +thirty was suddenly and violently awakened to the fact that he was made +of flesh and blood as are other men. This slim girl with her sweet +ways, her pretty face, her ready wit, had completely vanquished him, +and not alone did she satisfy him mentally, she also attracted him +physically. +</P> + +<P> +He realized it now as he held her tight against his breast. Her head +had fallen on his shoulder. Her face with its pale, delicate profile +was turned toward him, the eyes half closed. The mouth, arched like +Cupid's bow and partly open, disclosing the white, moistened teeth, and +red and luscious like some rare exotic fruit, was tempting enough to +madden a saint. Kenneth was only human. Unable to resist, he lowered +his head until his mouth grazed hers and then with a wild, almost +savage exclamation of joy, the exultant cry of lust awakened and +gratified, his lips met hers and lingered. +</P> + +<P> +To Helen it seemed as though she was in a dream of untold ecstasy. +Always a shrinking, modest girl, especially in the company of the +opposite sex, in any calmer moment she would have been shocked beyond +expression at this momentary abandonment she permitted herself. As she +lay in this man's arms and felt his warm kisses on her lips, there came +over her a strange sensation she had never known before. She grew +dizzy and for a moment thought she would faint. All at once he +released her. Almost apologetically, he murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me—I lost control over myself—I want you Helen—I want you +for my wife. Will you marry me?" +</P> + +<P> +She drew away and turned away her head, so he might not see her burning +cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +He persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you marry me?" +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated a moment before replying. Then, very simply, she +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Kenneth." +</P> + +<P> +That was three years ago. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + + +<P> +In a certain set Helen Traynor was not popular. Some people thought +her old fashioned, strait-laced, prudish. They resented her having no +taste for their frivolous, decadent amusements. They called her proud +and condescending whereas, as a matter of fact, she merely asked to be +let alone. Of course, it was only people whose opinions were worthless +that criticized her. All who were admitted to her intimacy knew that +there was no friend more loyal, no woman more womanly and charming. +</P> + +<P> +In one respect she might be called old fashioned. Her views on life +had certainly little in common with those held by most present-day +women. She had no taste for bridge, she refused to adopt freak +fashions in dress, she discouraged the looseness of tone in speech and +manner so much affected by other women of her acquaintance—in a word +she was in society but not of it. Naturally, she had more +acquaintances than friends, yet she was not unpopular among her +intimates. While secretly they laughed at what they termed her +puritanical notions, they were shrewd enough to realize that they could +hardly afford to snub a woman whose husband occupied so prominent a +position in the world of affairs. Besides, was it not to their +interest to cultivate her? Who gave more delightful dinners, who could +on occasion be a more charming hostess? An accomplished musician, a +clever talker, she easily dominated in whatever salon she happened to +be, and the men were always found crowding eagerly around her. +</P> + +<P> +Like most women of her temperament, sure of themselves and in whose +mind never enters even a thought of disloyalty to her marriage vows, +she made no concealment of her preference for the masculine sex. With +those men who were attracted by her unusual mentality,—she was +gracious, and affable, discussing with politicians, jurists, +financiers, economic and sociological questions with a brilliancy and +insight that fairly astonished them. With literary men and musicians, +she chatted intelligently of the latest novels and pictures and operas +with the facility and expertness of a connoisseur. Other men, drawn by +her exceptional beauty, fascinated by the spell of her soulful eyes, +her tall graceful figure, and delicate classic face, framed in Grecian +head dress, made violent love to her, their heated imaginations and +jaded senses conceiving a conquest compared with which the criminal +passion of Paolo for Francesca should pale. These would-be Lotharios +might as well have tried to set an iceberg on fire. Quietly, but +firmly and in unmistakable terms, she let them understand that they +were wasting their time and their ardor thus quenched, one by one they +dropped away and left her in peace. Only Signor Keralio had persisted. +She had snubbed him, insulted him, time after time, yet wherever she +turned she found him at her elbow. Society soon resigned itself to +considering her as one apart—a beautiful, chaste Juno whose ideals all +must respect. Indeed, the only thing with which she could be +reproached was that she was in love with her husband—the unpardonable +sin in society's eyes—but seeing who it was and despairing of ever +changing her point of view, society forgave her. +</P> + +<P> +It never occurred to Helen that she was different in any way from other +women. She did not see how it was possible for a woman to be untrue to +the man whose name she bore and still retain her self-respect. The day +she ceased to love her husband she would leave him forever. To her way +of thinking, it was shocking to go on living with a man merely because +it suited one's convenience and comfort. She knew married women who +did not care for their husbands, some actually detested the men they +had married, and had always held in horror the intimate relation which +marriage sanctioned. She felt sorry for such women, but secretly she +despised them. They alone were to blame. Had they not married knowing +well that there was no real affection in their hearts for the men to +whom they gave themselves? The cynicism and effrontery of young girls +regarding marriage particularly revolted her. Eager for wealth and +social position, they offered themselves with brazen effrontery in the +matrimonial market, immodestly displaying their charms to the +lecherous, covetous eyes of blasé, degenerate men. Any question of +attachment, love, affection was never for a moment considered. The +idea that a man could be even considered unless he were able to provide +a fine establishment was laughed to scorn. The girls were all men +hunters but they hunted only rich men. They called the feeling they +experienced for the man they caught in their toils "love." They meant +something quite different. To a girl of Helen's ideas, such manoeuvers +were shocking. To her the marriage tie was something sacred, a +relation not to be entered into lightly. Kenneth was rich, it was +true, but she would have loved him none the less had he been one of his +own fifteen dollar a week clerks. When they were married and the +romance was over, he stopped playing the lover to devote himself to the +more serious business of making money, but with her, time, instead of +dimming the flame, only caused it to burn the brighter. This man whom +she had married was her only thought. In him centered every interest +of her life. +</P> + +<P> +A muffled outburst of profanity from Kenneth aroused her from her +reveries. +</P> + +<P> +"That's always the way when one's in a hurry," he exclaimed petulantly. +"Ring for François. Why the devil isn't he here?" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly, Helen sprang up from the trunk and touched an electric button. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, dear?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +She approached her husband who, at the far end of the room, was red in +the face from the unusual exertion of trying to coax the buckle of a +strap into a hole obviously out of reach. He pulled and strained till +the muscles stood out on his neck and brawny arms like whipcord, and +still the obstinate buckle declined to be coerced. The more it +resisted, the more determined he was to make it obey. Go in it must, +if sheer strength would do it. The vice-president of the +Americo-African Mining Company was no weakling. A six-foot athlete and +captain of the Varsity football team in his college days, his muscles +had been toughened in a thousand lively scrimmages and in later life +plenty of golf, rowing and other out-of-door sports had kept him in +condition. When he pulled hard something had to give way. It did in +this instance. There was a tearing, rending sound and the strap broke +off short. With a gesture of despair he turned to his wife as men are +wont to do when in trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't that jar you?" he cried, as he threw the broken strap away. +"What the deuce am I going to do now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you let François attend to such things?" answered his wife +calmly. "He understands packing so much better than you. You're so +strong, you break everything." +</P> + +<P> +She looked fondly at her husband's tall, athletic figure. He turned to +her with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you're right," he said. "But where the devil is François?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I sent him downstairs to tell the cook to have some +nice sandwiches ready when you come home after the director's meeting +tonight, but that's an hour ago——" +</P> + +<P> +His ill humor gone, Kenneth looked up and smiled at her. Putting his +arm about her, fondly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Dear little wife. You're always thinking of the comfort of others. +You're the most unselfish, the most adorable, the most——" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop, Kenneth, don't be foolish or I shall believe you——" +</P> + +<P> +His face red from his recent exertions, he sat down on the arm of a +chair to rest a little. Full of the coming journey, he had already +forgotten his wife's anxiety. The great business schemes he had in +mind dwarfed for the time being every other consideration. He could +think and talk of nothing but diamonds. Huge crystals, worth untold +millions as big as a fist, flashed at him from every corner of the +room. Fabulous fortunes had been made in the diamond mines of South +Africa. Why should he not be as successful as others? The romance of +the Cullinan might be repeated, even surpassed. Well he recalled how +he had been thrilled by the sensational story of the discovery of that +colossal gem, more than three times the size of the Excelsior, the +wonder of the modern world. In imagination, he saw it now. An +old-fashioned Boer farm, transformed into a modern mining camp. A +moonlight night. A man strolling idly along the rugged, desolate +veldt, chances to look down. His eye suddenly catches a gleam in the +rough face of the jagged slope. He stoops and picks up what looks like +a piece of ice. Quickly he returns to his office and hands it to his +chief. The men look at each other in silence. To all parts of the +world goes the message that a diamond has been found four times bigger +than the largest gem in the world. A stone weighing over 3,000 carats +and worth four million dollars. He could already imagine himself far +from civilization among the barren mountains of South Africa, +prospecting in wide stretches of stone and gravel, picking up the +brilliant dazzling stones by the handful. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any idea," he said, "what the mines have produced?" +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"No, and I don't want to know. I don't want you to go—that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Their output in the last ten years is estimated at no less than +$400,000,000. Just think of it. Four hundred millions! Well, dear, I +and a few others want some of it, and we're going to get it." +</P> + +<P> +"But aren't we rich enough already?" she demanded petulantly. "Why +this fever to get richer and richer? We are happy with what we have. +Why run the risks to gain what after all will only be a surplus? We +can't possibly spend it." +</P> + +<P> +Her husband's eyes flashed. The lines about his mouth tightened as he +retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"One never has enough! You women don't understand. As long as you +have all the amusement you crave, all the frocks you want, all the +jewelry you covet, you think that is all there is to life." +</P> + +<P> +She looked up at him reproachfully and seemed about to protest when he +added hurriedly: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't mean you. I know you are not that kind of woman. You are +more serious, more sensible. I mean the average society woman whose +only concern in life is dress and show. We men have different aims, +higher ambitions. I'm well to do, as the term goes. I have an income +of over $100,000 a year, a splendidly appointed town house, a show +place in the country. Above all I have the most adorable wife in all +the world. Most men would be satisfied. I am not. I want still more. +I have the money craze, an uncontrollable lust to pile up millions. My +ambition is to wield the power that only the possession of vast wealth +confers. The resources of this vast country are practically in the +hands of half a dozen men. Merely by holding up a finger, these men +could, to suit their own selfish ends, start a universal panic which +might bring about a financial cataclysm, involving the whole world in +disaster. I do not say they would use this power for evil, but they +are in position to do so if it served their purpose. I want to have +such power, only if I had it I would not use it for evil. I would use +it for good. Conditions in the industrial world are very critical. We +are rapidly approaching a crisis. In all countries the forces of labor +and the forces of capital are lined up in silent, grim battalions. The +poor are getting poorer; the rich are getting richer. The cost of +living is going up beyond all reason. Why? Because the men who +control the wealth of the world will it so. The system which is +responsible for this must one day, sooner or later, give way to another +and more humane system, still to be devised, which will enable the man +who produces the wealth of the world at least to enjoy some of the +fruits of his toil. Now it goes into the hands of the privileged few +who use the power their money gives them to keep their less fortunate +fellow men in servile subjection. I want to be rich, very rich, but I +will use my wealth for good. With it I will help my fellow man rise +from the mire. I will help him throw off the shackles with which +conscienceless capitalism has fettered him. I want to be such a power +for good. I want——" +</P> + +<P> +The maid reëntered the room. +</P> + +<P> +"François is not in his room, m'm." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth gave vent to an exclamation of impatience. Turning to his +wife, he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he? Did you send him anywhere?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen shook her head. Quickly she said: +</P> + +<P> +"He's never around except when he's not wanted." +</P> + +<P> +It was so seldom that his wife displayed irritation at any one that +Kenneth looked up in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"He's shopping, too, I suppose. You know there's little time left and +he has things to get ready the same as I have." +</P> + +<P> +Helen made a gesture of disapproval. Quickly she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you were going with someone else, with anyone but that man. I +never liked him." +</P> + +<P> +Her husband laughed. Carelessly he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"I know you never did and it's the only instance since we're married +where I've found dear little wife to be absolutely unfair. Seriously, +sweetheart, your baseless prejudice against François is unworthy of +you. I can't go without a servant of some kind. He's an honest fellow +and a faithful servant." +</P> + +<P> +Helen shrugged her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not so sure about that," she retorted quickly. "What do you know +about him or his honesty? He's a perfect stranger that blew in three +months ago from nowhere. He had written recommendations which may be +forged. You never took the trouble to look them up." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I did. I asked Keralio about him." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked up in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio? I didn't know François was ever with him." +</P> + +<P> +"He was with him nearly a year. Keralio warmly recommends him and says +he is a very faithful fellow. He only left him because he objected to +being compelled to practise sword-play with his master. One day +Keralio's foil slipped. François got a puncture and it made him +nervous." +</P> + +<P> +"No wonder I don't like him. Like master, like valet—as the French +say." +</P> + +<P> +Her husband smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You are down on Keralio, aren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I detest him. How could any self-respecting woman like such a man? +His every glance is an insult. With his polished manners and sardonic +smile he reminds one of Mephistopheles." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't fancy the fellow much myself, but I have to be polite to him. +As I told you, he's in with the people who own that silver mine. I've +found him useful." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't trust him," replied Helen warningly. "If he makes himself +useful to you, depend upon it, he has some ulterior motive in view. +Now I know François was once with him I shall dislike him more than +ever." +</P> + +<P> +"Come—come dear," protested Kenneth, "that is carrying things too far. +François is quite a decent chap if you understand him—I find him +faithful, discreet." +</P> + +<P> +"Discreet!" echoed Helen mockingly. "I beg to differ." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that you are blinded in the man. Discreet indeed! Only the +other day I caught him at your desk reading a letter which you had left +there." +</P> + +<P> +"A letter?" exclaimed Kenneth, looking up in surprise. "What letter?" +</P> + +<P> +"The letter from your agent at Cape Town, telling of the astonishing +diamond find, and suggesting that an officer of the Company be sent out +to bring home the big stone—the letter you read at the director's +meeting and which decided them to send you out there." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth bit his lip. Quickly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry he saw that. It was careless of me to leave it around. Are +you sure he was reading it?" +</P> + +<P> +"He had a pencil and paper in hand and appeared to be copying from the +letter. When he saw me, he crushed the paper up in his hand and turned +away." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth gave an expressive whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce you say! The fellow's smarter than I took him to be. All +the more reason why I should take him along with me. Then I'm sure he +can't tell tales out of school. I——. Hush, here he is!" +</P> + +<P> +The door opened cautiously and there entered a man about thirty years +of age, of medium height and slightly, even delicately, built. That he +was a Frenchman was apparent even at a glance. The dark closely +cropped hair, worn in the so-called pompadour or military style, the +pale, saturnine features, the manner and general bearing all loudly +proclaimed his Gallic nationality. His smooth shaven face showed a +firm mouth with bloodless lips so thin as to be hardly perceptible. +His eyes, when they could be seen at all, were greenish in color, and +small and restless as those of a ferret. He advanced into the room +with the obsequious deferential manner which in all well-trained +servants becomes second nature, moving across the thickly carpeted +floor with the rapidity and noiselessness of a snake. +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been, François?" demanded Kenneth sharply. +</P> + +<P> +The valet stopped short, as if struck by a blow, but he did not stand +still. His nervous thin hands and lean body were in constant motion, +although he did not stir from the one spot. In every involuntary +movement and gesture there was something that suggested the feline. +When spoken to or given an order he replied respectfully and obeyed +with alacrity, but when addressed he listened always with eyes averted. +This had always exasperated Helen. She could not recall him ever +looking her straight in the face. For that reason alone, if, for no +other, she disliked and distrusted him, thinking not unnaturally that a +man, who is afraid to let his eyes meet another's, must be plotting in +his mind some treachery which he fears his direct gaze may betray. His +furtive glances went quickly from master to mistress. Something in +their attitude, the suddenness with which they interrupted their +conversation told him that they had been talking about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear me?" demanded Kenneth again. "Where have you been? You +knew there was this packing to be done." +</P> + +<P> +The man's eyes flashed resentfully, but he replied civilly: +</P> + +<P> +"Oui, monsieur, but monsieur forgets. Monsieur told me I must go to ze +tailor." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth's frown disappeared. Yes, it was true. He had sent him to the +tailor. Quick to make amends for an injustice, he said more amiably: +</P> + +<P> +"That's right. I had forgotten. What did they say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ze suits will be delivered in half hour." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. When they come, you will know which trunk to put them in." +</P> + +<P> +"Oui, monsieur." +</P> + +<P> +"And then, when my trunks are ready you had better hustle with your own +packing. There's no time to be lost. The steamer sails at 11 o'clock +to-morrow morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Oui, monsieur." +</P> + +<P> +Quietly, stealthily, the valet retraced his cat-like steps and opening +the door retired as noiselessly as he had come. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + + +<P> +When the valet had disappeared, Kenneth turned to his wife with a +chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was right? You made me scold him for nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Helen shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I detest the man. There is something crawly and repulsive about him. +I can read evil in his face. Don't trust him, Kenneth. Remember, if +anything goes wrong, don't blame me. I warned you. My instinct seldom +fails." +</P> + +<P> +Her husband laughed and, advancing, put his arm tenderly around his +wife. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I'm able to take care of myself, dear. Don't let's discuss +François any longer. Tell me about yourself. How are you going to +amuse yourself while I'm away?" +</P> + +<P> +Her head drooped on his breast and once more her eyes filled with +tears. With affected carelessness which cost her a great effort, she +replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the time won't hang so heavy on my hands. It never does when one +has resources within oneself. I'll read and ride and sew. I suppose +I'll have plenty to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Parker said he would drop in and look after you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—tell him to come and see me very often. He's rather tiresome +with his prosy talk, but he's a dear old soul." +</P> + +<P> +With a mischievous twinkle in his eye her husband went on: +</P> + +<P> +"It's not unlikely that Keralio will call, also." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not," she said quickly. "I'll soon show him he's not wanted." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth laughed. It amused him to see how set she was against the +Italian. He did not know the man any too well. He had met him in a +business way and the fellow had been of service, but he had not the +slightest idea of making a friend of him. He rather suspected he was +an adventurer although, a stranger in New York, no one knew anything +against him. Protestingly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's hardly fair to attack a man because he admires you." +</P> + +<P> +"He shows his admiration in a most offensive way. If you could see the +way he looks at me sometimes you'd be the first to resent it." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mustn't mind that. It's a way all foreigners have. They ogle +women more from force of habit than any desire to effect a conquest. +Besides, you won't be alone." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I shall have Ray. She is excellent company—far jollier than +I——" +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth protested. +</P> + +<P> +"No, she isn't by a long shot. Ray is all right as sisters-in-law go, +but I'd never change you for her. I'm d——d if I would!" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly Helen put her white hand over his mouth. With mock severity +she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth! How can you be so profane? I hate to hear such language +from you. Ray is the sweetest thing on earth. It's a shame she never +got married. Oh, don't be uneasy on that score. We'll have a good +time. We'll go to the theater. We'll have teas and little dinner +parties. I'll invite some interesting men to meet her. I'd love to +see her married to some nice man. There's Mr. Steell, for instance. +He's rich, young, has a brilliant future——" +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth made a grimace. Quickly he retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"It's you he admires, not Ray. He will accept your invitation—less +with the idea of letting Ray hook him in the matrimonial net, than for +the opportunity it affords for a renewed flirtation with you. Oh, +quite innocent, of course, but still a flirtation. Have I forgotten +what close friends you used to be before I appeared on the scene?" +</P> + +<P> +"And carried me off, a new Lochinvar come out of the West!" she +laughed. "Oh, Kenneth, how can you be so foolish? It is absolutely +indecent of you. I like Mr. Steell, and I think he likes me, but our +friendship is purely platonic. I never give him a thought, I assure +you." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you don't, but I'm not so sure about him. He's a man and men +are only human——" +</P> + +<P> +"He's a gentleman," corrected Helen. "He never forgets that." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth gave a grunt of incredulity. Sulkily he said: +</P> + +<P> +"All right—all right. Have a good time. Marry him to Ray. Perhaps +it's safer that way. When he's my brother-in-law, he'll stop making +sheep's eyes at my wife." +</P> + +<P> +Helen laughed outright. +</P> + +<P> +"You silly goose. I never suspected you of having a jealous streak in +your nature. How could I prefer anyone to my handsome Kenneth?" +</P> + +<P> +As she stood before him, playfully patting his cheek, her glance +alighted on the solitary lock of gray hair in the center of his +forehead. Toying with it, she went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it strange that your hair should be white just in that place. I +rather like it. It gives an added note of distinction to your face. I +wonder what caused it." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's my trade mark. If ever I'm brought home on a stretcher you'll +know me by that white lock." +</P> + +<P> +Helen raised her hand in protest. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't talk that way. Never jest about accidents. Sometimes they +happen." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—I said nothing. I only said that if you were ever in doubt +about my identity, you would know me by my white lock." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled, as she patted his cheek lovingly, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"That would not be necessary, Ken dear. No matter how changed you +looked, what disguise you wore, I should still know you." +</P> + +<P> +"And if it wasn't me," he laughed, "but only someone who looked like +me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could never be mistaken. The ring in the voice, the expression in +the eyes—no woman who really loves could ever be deceived." +</P> + +<P> +She had drawn nearer to him, her mouth upturned and tempting, her face +with that gentle, wistful expression he was never able to resist. +Throwing his arms impulsively about her, he clasped her passionately to +his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"Sweetheart," he whispered, "you don't know how dear you are to me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nor can you," she replied, as he smothered her with kisses, "ever +realize what you are to me!" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly they were interrupted by a sound at the door behind them. +Some one coughed discreetly. Quickly separating, Helen turned round. +In some confusion she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Ray. I thought you were out. When did you come in?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was out. I have been shopping. I met Mr. Steell in the park and we +had a lovely walk." Slyly she added: "I am afraid I returned too soon. +I see you're both busy." +</P> + +<P> +"Never too busy for you, Ray," smiled Helen trying to hide her +confusion, while Kenneth grinned broadly. +</P> + +<P> +The young girl laughed as she flung down on the sofa her muff and fur +neck-piece. Roguishly she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Lovemaking so early in the day. Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?" +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth liked to tease his sister-in-law, but the young girl was quite +his equal when it came to a battle of wits and it was not often that +she gave him the opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"What time do you do your love making?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +Her cheeks reddened a little as she retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm never so foolish. I leave that to you married people. My purpose +in life is far more serious." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come now," protested her brother-in-law, "I've noticed you and +Steell spooning often enough." +</P> + +<P> +Stylishly and tastefully dressed, her face beaming with animation, her +eyes sparkling with intelligence, Kenneth's sister-in-law was a pretty, +wholesome looking girl. She had beautiful blond hair like her sister, +and fine, white teeth that told of good health and perfect digestion. +Helen's junior only by three years, she was still unmarried and for the +present at least seemed more inclined to remain single and partake of +life's pleasures than incur the risks and responsibilities of +matrimony. Not that she had been without offers. A girl as attractive +and clever could hardly have failed to please the sterner sex. All +sorts and conditions of men had prostrated themselves at her tiny, +well-shod feet, but, capricious and headstrong, she would have none of +them. She was what might be called a singular girl. She liked men, +not because of their sex, but because their point of view was +different, their grasp of things stronger than her own. One day she +must marry. She knew that. It was, she insisted laughingly, an +ignoble state of slavery, a humiliating, degrading condition of +subjection to the male which every woman must endure, necessary +perhaps, but an ordeal to be put off, something unpleasant to be +postponed as long as possible, like the taking of a dose of unsavory +physic or having a tooth pulled at the dentist's. Meantime, heart +whole and fancy free, she enjoyed life to the limit and kept her +admirers guessing. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I saw such lovely things in the stores," exclaimed the young girl. +"I wish I had the money to buy them all." +</P> + +<P> +"You will have when I get back from South Africa," he laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget," she laughed. "I'll hold you to that promise. Helen is +witness." +</P> + +<P> +"I swear it!" he said with mock solemnity. "You shall have carte +blanche in any Fifth Avenue shop to the amount of—$1.75." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you be ready in time?" she laughed, looking around with dismay at +the litter of open trunks. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't, if you stay here chattering like a magpie." +</P> + +<P> +"What time does the steamer sail?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eleven o'clock," said Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"We're all coming to see you off. Mr. Steell told me that he's coming, +too." +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly to see me, I'm afraid," smiled Kenneth. +</P> + +<P> +"Who else?" she retorted. "If you mean me, you're mistaken. He +doesn't need to make the uncomfortable trip to Hoboken to see me." +</P> + +<P> +Her brother-in-law smiled, amused at her petulance. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear," he said, "you don't know what hardships a man will endure +for the girl he's sweet on." With mock seriousness he went on: "Say +sis, Helen and I have been having an argument. Who does Steell come +here for—for you or for me?" +</P> + +<P> +Ray burst into merry laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"How silly you are, Ken. For me, of course. At least, I flatter +myself that——" With a wink at her sister she added facetiously: "Of +course, one never knows when dealing with these handsome men. And +Helen is quite adorable. If I were a man, I should be crazy about her." +</P> + +<P> +Helen held up a protesting finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't talk like that, dear, or he'll believe you." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm as jealous as Othello and quite as dangerous. Don't I look +it?" +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke, the front door-bell rang downstairs. Ray hastily took up +her things. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's company!" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not!" exclaimed Helen. "I'm in no mood to see anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll see them," whispered Ray, "and say you're out. It won't be the +first fib I've told." +</P> + +<P> +She ran lightly out of the room and upstairs, while Helen and her +husband went on with the work of packing. They were just stooping +together over a trunk when there came a rap on the door, and François +appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"A lady to see monsieur." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth looked puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"A lady? What lady?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen laughed merrily. Triumphantly, she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"It's my turn now to be jealous." +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly a lady, monsieur. An elderly person." +</P> + +<P> +"What's her name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Mary O'Connor." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth smiled broadly. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary O'Connor, my old nurse. Well, well, show her right in." Turning +to his wife he added quickly: "Dear old soul—no doubt she's heard I'm +off to Africa and wishes to say good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +An instant later an old woman bent with age and with a kindly face +framed with silvery white hair came in, hands outstretched. Without +any air of condescension on his part, Kenneth went forward to greet +her. Through all the long stretch of years, from his boy days to his +manhood he had never forgotten how kind Mary had been to him when a +child, taking the place of the mother he had lost in infancy. A +Christmas was never allowed to pass without a fat turkey for the old +nurse and many a little present of money had accompanied the bird. The +old woman's lips quivered as she said tremulously: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long way you're going, Mr. Kenneth." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll soon be back, Mary," he rejoined jovially. +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long way and I'm getting old." +</P> + +<P> +The promoter laughed boisterously. Leading her gently to a chair he +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Old! Nonsense; You're just as young to me now as when I first +remember you." +</P> + +<P> +The old lady smiled. Nodding her head feebly, she replied: +</P> + +<P> +"When you used to play hide-and-seek with me. When I wanted to put you +to bed you were nowhere to be found." +</P> + +<P> +Helen laughed while Kenneth protested: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come now, Mary, I wasn't so bad as that." +</P> + +<P> +"No. You weren't bad—just lively and natural as all healthy children. +You were always a better boy than your brother." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Your brother, Kenneth? I never heard you speak of a brother." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at the old lady in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"My brother? What brother?" +</P> + +<P> +The old lady smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"That's so—you never knew. You were too young to remember. Yes, you +had a brother—a twin brother. People hardly knew you apart. There +was only one way in which your mother and I could tell." +</P> + +<P> +"What was that?" demanded the promoter eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"He had a scar. He caught his hand in some machinery when a baby and +it left a scar in the index finger of the left hand." +</P> + +<P> +Transfixed, Kenneth listened open-mouthed. At last breaking the spell, +he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard of him. You never spoke of him before." +</P> + +<P> +"How should you remember?" went on the old woman. "It's many years +ago. Your father and mother are dead. You have no relatives living. +No one knows. But I know." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he die?" asked Kenneth, deeply interested. +</P> + +<P> +The old lady nodded affirmatively. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never forgive myself. It was my fault. You were playing +together in the garden. I didn't dream either of you could come to +harm. I went into the house for a moment to get something. When I +came back your brother was gone—no trace of him anywhere. We never +saw him again. Your father, heart-broken, offered a fortune for news +of him. The police hunted high and low all over the country. There +was no trace. Some gypsies had passed recently through the town. I +always suspected them. That is thirty years ago and more." +</P> + +<P> +"So it's not even known if he's dead," interrupted Kenneth eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +The beldame shook her head sorrowfully, as she answered sagely: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's dead all right. That's sure. There was money left to him by +your grandfather. For years the lawyers advertised for news of him. +But it was no good. If he'd been alive, he'd have claimed his own." +</P> + +<P> +"He might still be alive, yet unaware of his identity," broke in Helen, +who was a keenly interested listener. She had been so accustomed to +regard her husband as the only son of parents, both of whom were dead, +that the mere possibility of his having a brother awakened her +curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +Still under the spell of the old woman's unexpected revelation, Kenneth +had relapsed into a thoughtful silence. The surprising news had +affected him strangely. So—he had had a brother—a twin brother, and +all these years he had been in ignorance of the fact. Yet who could be +nearer or dearer than a twin brother? Together they had lain under the +same mother's heart. Together they had first seen the light and +laughed in the sun. Ah, if he had only lived to be his comrade, his +partner! With a brother at his side, to second him in his hazardous +enterprises, he felt he would indeed be invincible. He could have +conquered the world! +</P> + +<P> +The old nurse held out a withered hand, and her eyes were moist with +tears as she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Mr. Kenneth. A safe journey to you. Keep out of danger. +I'll be praying for the Lord to watch over you." +</P> + +<P> +Helen turned away so they might not see her emotion. Kenneth laughed +lightly as he kissed the old woman's cheek, and then, slipping a bank +note into her hand, he said carelessly: +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mary, I'll be careful. I'll come back safe and +sound,—never fear, and I'll bring you something nice,—perhaps a big +diamond. Out in South Africa they pick 'em up like stones." +</P> + +<P> +The old woman's eyes opened incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Mr. Kenneth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, really. Diamonds as big as apples. They're found every day. +When I come back I'll have all sorts of adventures to tell you about. +Who knows? I might even run across this twin-brother of mine. +Stranger things have happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Diamonds as big as apples," she echoed. "Do you mean that, Mr. +Kenneth?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I do! Some of the gems are as big as cocoanuts. Didn't you +hear of that wonderful diamond we found the other day? It's worth a +million dollars." +</P> + +<P> +The old woman opened her eyes and gaped with astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"A million dollars, Mr. Kenneth!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a million dollars. What's more, I'll soon be able to show it to +you, Mary. My trip out to South Africa is ostensibly for the purpose +of negotiating for more land. The real purpose of my journey is to +bring home this astonishing stone." +</P> + +<P> +"But how will you carry it, Mr. Kenneth? A stone worth a million +dollars must be big as a house." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"No—no, Mary. It can easily go in my waistcoat pocket. But for +safety's sake it won't. I don't mind letting you into my confidence. +I'm to have a secret bottom made in——" +</P> + +<P> +Before he could complete the sentence, Helen quickly clapped her hand +over his mouth, and he had not yet recovered from his astonishment when +she sprang to the door and opened it. The movement was so sudden and +unexpected that a man who had been leaning against it, fell all his +length into the room. It was François, the French valet. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Excusez</I>," he stammered, "I stumbled." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth stared first at the servant, then at his wife. Slowly he began +to comprehend. Turning to the Frenchman he demanded angrily: +</P> + +<P> +"What were you doing behind that door?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Excusez</I>. I came back to ask monsieur how many shirts I pack." +</P> + +<P> +Thoroughly aroused, the promoter pointed to the door. Sternly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Get out of here—you fool! If you don't know your business, I'll get +some one else who does." +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman beat a rapid retreat. There was a malevolent look on his +face, but he murmured respectfully enough: +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui, monsieur</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth turned to his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"What did he come back for?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"He was listening—behind the door," she replied calmly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + + +<P> +The dirty, sullen waters of the harbor washed lazily against the black, +precipitous sides of the giant liner which, under a full head of steam, +vibrated with suppressed energy, straining at mighty cables as if +impatient to start on her long and hazardous voyage across the tumbling +seas. A raw, piercing northeaster, howling dismally above the +monotonous creaking and puffing of the donkey-engine, swept through the +cheerless, draughty dock, chilling the spectators to the marrow. The +sun, vainly trying to break through the banks of leaden-colored clouds, +cast a grayish pall over land and sky. A day it was of sinister +portent, that could not fail to have a depressing effect on sailor and +landlubber alike. +</P> + +<P> +Yet unpropitious skies and chilly wind did not appear to keep people at +home. The steamer was crowded, both with those who were sailing and +those who were not. The gangways, staterooms were overrun not only by +passengers, but by all sorts of visitors curious to get a glimpse of +the luxurious liner. The first-class saloon, heaped high on all sides +with American Beauty roses and orchids, looked as gay and full of color +as a florist's shop. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it perfectly stunning? How I adore ships!" exclaimed Ray, eager +to see everything. +</P> + +<P> +Keeping close together, the two young women with difficulty elbowed +their way through the excited throng. They were anxious to rejoin +Kenneth whom they had left in the stateroom giving instructions to +François, and they began to be afraid they might lose him in the crush. +Delighted at everything she saw, Ray could not contain herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how I wish I were going! Why doesn't Ken take me?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen turned to her in mock despair. +</P> + +<P> +"If you went, what would I do? Who would take care of me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would," said a masculine voice close by. +</P> + +<P> +The women turned quickly. +</P> + +<P> +A tall, fair man still in his thirties, had stopped and raised his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's Mr. Steell!" exclaimed Ray, her pleasure at the meeting +betraying itself in the tone of her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you doubt my ability to take care of you? Could any man wish for a +more congenial task?" +</P> + +<P> +"Flatterer!" laughed Helen. Cordially she added: "I'm awfully glad to +see you. It was very good of you to come and see Ken off." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," exclaimed the newcomer. "I wanted to come—if only to make +sure he wouldn't change his mind. I'm as anxious to see those diamonds +as you are." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" said Helen putting up her finger to her mouth while Ray's +attention was momentarily diverted elsewhere. "No one knows—not even +Ray. It's a great secret." +</P> + +<P> +An anxious look passed over the young man's face. He hadn't approved +of this South African trip. It was wholly unnecessary. In his opinion +his old chum was taking a great risk. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," he muttered. "You can't be too careful." +</P> + +<P> +In metropolitan legal circles Wilbur Steell was looked upon as the +coming man. His success in the courts had given him a wide reputation +before he was five and thirty, and his gifts as a public speaker, his +strong, aggressive personality made more than one political leader +anxious to secure his services. Already he was mentioned as district +attorney. Even the Governorship might have been his for the asking. +But he showed no liking for politics. His sympathies leaned more +towards the literary, intellectual life. Having all the money he +needed, he preferred to keep out of the social and political maelstrom, +leading a quiet life, following his own tastes and inclinations. +Match-making mammas saw in him a prize, but so far he had shown no +disposition to marry. He cultivated few people, in fact, was +considered somewhat of a misanthrope. Kenneth he had known all his +life. They were boys together, and the Traynors were among the few on +whom he called frequently. He made no secret of his attraction for +Ray, and the young girl liked him as well as she chose to like anybody. +He had qualities, not usually met with in successful men, that made a +strong appeal to her—fine ideals, and a purpose in life. She liked +his seriousness, finding him different in this respect from any other +man she knew. She felt he admired her, but he did not make love to her +and she was grateful to him for that. She liked his society and never +tired of discussing with him sociology and other subjects in which both +were interested. +</P> + +<P> +"When does the steamer sail?" interrupted Ray anxiously, as if afraid +that they might go off with her on board. +</P> + +<P> +"In half an hour," said the lawyer. "They ring a warning bell. There +is plenty of time. Where's Kenneth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Down below in his stateroom—wrestling with baggage," replied Helen. +"He said he would join us here." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, suppose we sit down a bit," he suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—that will be jolly," exclaimed Ray. +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer pulled up three steamer chairs and sitting down, they +watched the crowd which had already begun to thin out. The novelty of +the scene held both women fascinated. The constant bustle and +excitement, the going and coming of well-groomed men and women, the +little scraps of conversation overheard, interested them both beyond +measure. Helen studied each individual couple, wondering who they +were, how long married, if they were happy, where they were going to. +She wondered if that coarse, loudly dressed woman really cared for her +husband, or if this brutal looking man with insolent stare of the +libertine, illtreated his delicate little wife. She herself could not +understand marriage without genuine affection on both sides. Any such +intimate relation as the marriage tie involved must surely be repellent +and abhorrent to any self-respecting woman unless love were there to +sanction and sanctify it. +</P> + +<P> +Ray glanced at her sister and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why so serious, Helen? He hasn't gone yet." +</P> + +<P> +Helen sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"But he soon will be. I wish he were here instead of downstairs." +</P> + +<P> +Ray protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Please be nautically correct. Remember we are on a ship. You don't +say 'downstairs'; you say 'below.'" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell turned round with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I had no idea you were so well posted in sailor's parlance." +</P> + +<P> +The young girl laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you don't know half my accomplishments. I'm cleverer than you +give me credit for." +</P> + +<P> +The young man leaned half over the chair as he whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't dare tell you how clever I think you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because—of my own peace of mind." +</P> + +<P> +Helen broke in on the conversation. Addressing the lawyer, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Now Kenneth is away, we shall expect you to come to the house very +often." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's always a pleasure to call." +</P> + +<P> +"Be sure to come next Sunday evening. I expect some friends. We'll +have some music." +</P> + +<P> +"May I bring someone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. Any friend of yours is welcome." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" asked Ray impertinently. "Male or female?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it's a male," smiled the lawyer. "It looks like a male and +talks like one." More seriously he went on: "His name is Dick +Reynolds. He has just passed his bar examination and is practicing +temporarily in my office. His people live out West and being alone +here, he is glad enough to have somewhere to go." +</P> + +<P> +"Bring him by all means," exclaimed Ray. "Has he any +accomplishments—apart from being a male?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—he plays the piano indifferently, and tennis admirably. He swims +like a fish, and can run like a hare. But his best accomplishment is a +gift that one seldom sees developed——" +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" exclaimed both his listeners at once. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a born detective—a regular Sherlock Holmes in real life. I +have tested him several times with extraordinary results. I have given +him the most difficult cases to unravel. He has found the solution in +every one." +</P> + +<P> +Ray clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I love that," she said. "Don't forget to invite him. Only the +trouble is we have nothing to unravel." +</P> + +<P> +"I have a skein of silk," interrupted Helen facetiously. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the lawyer stopped speaking and quickly sitting up in his +chair stared intently in the distance at a face in the crowd which had +caught his eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" demanded Ray, her woman's jealousy aroused. +</P> + +<P> +"I may be mistaken," he replied, "but I thought I saw your friend +Signor Keralio." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"My friend?" she exclaimed. "He's no friend of mine. I wonder what +he's doing here. He can't be sailing." +</P> + +<P> +"He's up to no good, I wager that," growled the lawyer. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't like him either, do you?" smiled Ray. +</P> + +<P> +"Does anyone?" he answered. "I don't see how Kenneth can have anything +to do with such a cheap type of adventurer." +</P> + +<P> +Helen hastened to explain. +</P> + +<P> +"Ken doesn't care for him at all, only they are both interested in the +same business deal—a silver mine in Mexico. Ken bought stock and +Keralio is the only man he knows connected with it. That's why." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer gave vent to a grunt of disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"If Keralio has anything to do with it, good-bye to Ken's money. In my +opinion the fellow's a crook." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Helen pointed to a spot away down at the other end of the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—you're right—there he is—behind that third lifeboat. He's +talking to some one." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer looked in the direction indicated. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—and do you see the secretive way in which they're talking—hiding +behind that boat, as if so that no one might see them. They're +plotting some mischief, you may be sure of that. Who's the other +fellow?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen strained her eyes to see. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't see his face. Oh, yes I can—why—it's our +François—Kenneth's valet. What can they be talking about? I don't +trust that valet. Only the other day I caught him reading some +letters. I warned Ken about him; but he insists he is faithful—I +wonder what they can have in common? He used to be in Signor Keralio's +employ." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer shook his head ominously. Gravely he said: +</P> + +<P> +"That fellow Keralio will bear watching. I think I'll put my Sherlock +Holmes on his track." +</P> + +<P> +Ray laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that would be exciting—a drama in real life. Please do——" +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, ladies!" said a voice close at hand. "Good morning, Mr. +Steell." +</P> + +<P> +All looked up. A tall, elderly man with white hair, distinguished +looking and fashionably dressed, had stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's Mr. Parker!" exclaimed Helen holding out her hand. "You +came to see Kenneth off?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—where is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"In his stateroom—attending to his baggage. He'll be here directly." +</P> + +<P> +"I must see him at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Anything important?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very important, indeed," replied the newcomer. +</P> + +<P> +Helen jumped up, all flushed from excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Please tell me what it is?" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +The old gentleman drew a telegram from his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"I've just received this from our agent in Cape Town. Another diamond +of extraordinary size has been picked up. It weighs over 2,000 carats +and is calculated to be worth five hundred thousand dollars. That's +the second stone of extraordinary size that we have found. Possibly +there is some exaggeration in the reports, but there is no doubt +whatever that we are on the verge of discoveries little short of +sensational. Meantime, the treasury of the Americo-African Mining +Company has been enriched by at least a million. When Kenneth returns +to New York with these wonderful gems in his possession, there is +likely to be a boom in the company's shares." +</P> + +<P> +The old gentleman spoke glibly, even eloquently and it was obvious that +he was sincere and not talking for effect. It was, indeed, largely due +to his distinguished air, and fine oratorical powers that Cornelius +Winthrop Parker had been elected president of the Americo-African +Mining Company, with fine offices in New York and London and +stockholders in every country under the sun. Trained for the ministry +and enjoying a wide acquaintance but a slim income, he had found the +business of stock company promotion more profitable than preaching the +gospel, and when Traynor had first gone to him with the suggestion that +a company be formed to take up the large tract of Transvaal land where +precious stones had actually been found he was not slow to grasp at the +unusual opportunity. He managed cleverly the preliminary publicity +campaign. The company was promptly organized and successfully floated, +the public snapping as eagerly at the shares as a fish at the bait. It +was only logical to infer, therefore, that when Kenneth returned to New +York with actual proof of the company's suddenly acquired wealth in his +possession, the stock would soar above par. With this pleasing +prospect in view, it was not surprising that Mr. Parker wore to-day his +most engaging smile. +</P> + +<P> +Ray looked up in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" she exclaimed. "Kenneth to bring home the diamonds? This is +the first I heard of it. Helen never told me." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" said Mr. Parker, holding up his handy warningly. "Some one +might hear you." Continuing, he said blandly: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not, my dear lady, of course not. Your sister is far too +discreet and clever a woman to disclose her husband's plans to the +world. There are some things a man must keep secret from +everyone—even from his wife. It would have been the height of folly +to make any such announcement from the housetops. The highways are +full of rogues; even the walls have ears. Some crook might have +learned of our plans and acted accordingly. Kenneth might be followed +to South Africa, shadowed till he has the gems in his possession and +then waylaid and murdered. Remember, he will have stones in his +waistcoat pocket worth a million. Do you suppose desperate men will +stop at anything to secure such a prize?" +</P> + +<P> +Ray turned to her sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and it has made me very unhappy. It is terrible that he is +taking such risks." Turning to Mr. Parker she asked apprehensively: +"Do you think he will run any danger?" +</P> + +<P> +The old gentleman shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not, my dear lady. It is preposterous to even think of such +a thing. We have kept the matter too secret. Don't be uneasy. He +will come to no harm." Raising his hat, he added: "Excuse me, ladies. +I'll go and find Kenneth and bring him to you." +</P> + +<P> +The next instant he was swallowed up by the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +Helen, uneasy at her husband's prolonged absence, suggested that they +go below and join him. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a stentorian voice called out: +</P> + +<P> +"All ashore—all ashore!" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly, Helen jumped to her feet, only to bump into Kenneth, who at +that moment ran up, followed by Mr. Parker. +</P> + +<P> +"All ashore, dear," he said hastily, "you had better go." +</P> + +<P> +She made no reply, but averted her head so he might not see her red +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +All about them the bustle and excitement was bewildering. People +pushed this way and that in their efforts to reach the gangway. +</P> + +<P> +The siren sounded its last deep toned blasts of warning; the final +greetings were exchanged. +</P> + +<P> +Tall and handsome looking in his tourist knicker-bockers and close +fitting steamer cap, Kenneth held both Helen's hands in his. Ray and +Mr. Parker, under the pretence of visiting the anchor weighed, had +discreetly withdrawn. François, the valet, could be seen in the +distance, making signals to some one on shore. Husband and wife were +standing alone behind one of the big ventilators, Helen glad that no +one saw them, ashamed that anyone should detect the big tears she was +unable to control. How she had dreaded this moment of actual parting, +this ordeal of saying good-bye! +</P> + +<P> +"You'll write every day, won't you?" she asked in choking voice. +</P> + +<P> +Tenderly he drew her to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Every day, sweetheart." +</P> + +<P> +"And you'll come back safe to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come back safe to you." +</P> + +<P> +Bravely she forced back the tears that blinded her. Gently she +murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll wait for you, Kenneth. I shall count the days, every moment, +until you return. I never realized till now how much we are to each +other. I'll pray for you, Kenneth; I'll pray God that He watch over +and protect you." +</P> + +<P> +He said nothing, but drew her toward him. Looking searchingly into her +eyes, he said half in jest, half in earnest: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be true, always true!" +</P> + +<P> +Gravely she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Always—until death!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll look at no other man." +</P> + +<P> +"How can you be so foolish, Ken dear? I see no one but you. I hear no +voice but yours. You are my life, my soul. When you return you'll +find me here, at this same dock, arms outstretched, waiting, just +waiting." +</P> + +<P> +The bell rang. +</P> + +<P> +"All ashore! All ashore!" +</P> + +<P> +He bent low. His mouth met hers in one deep, lingering kiss. +</P> + +<P> +"God bless you, darling." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Ken, good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +The next thing she knew she was back on the dock among a crowd of +spectators waving hats and handkerchiefs—the women weeping, the men +shouting and gesticulating. +</P> + +<P> +The passengers stood at the rail, waving frantic adieux in return. The +siren sounded deep-toned blasts of warning to the smaller river craft +to get out of the way. The huge vessel strained and trembled, +vibrating more violently as she gradually began to glide into the open. +Assisted by a fleet of energetic tugs she finally swung clear and +pointed her nose eastward. Slowly, majestically, the leviathan moved +out to sea. +</P> + +<P> +It was bad enough to see him go at all, but to have him sail on such a +gloomy day as this, with not a ray of sunshine to cheer him on the way, +was more than Helen could bear. Blinded by tears she stood kissing her +hand to the familiar figure now only faintly discernible on the fast +receding steamship, and she stood there long after every one else had +left the dock watching until the <I>Mauretania</I> was only a speck in the +horizon. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + + +<P> +Sunday evenings at Mrs. Traynor's were always enjoyable. No formal +invitations were issued. Friends just dropped in as they felt +inclined. There was good music, excellent tea <I>à la Russe</I> and always +a number of interesting people. +</P> + +<P> +To-night, the second Sunday since Kenneth went away, promised to be +duller than usual. Mr. Steell was there, of course, and he had brought +Dick Reynolds, a slightly built, shrewd looking young man with glasses, +who kept everybody amused with exciting stories of the underworld. +Yet, for all the animation, there was an atmosphere of gloom in the +air, an indefinable sense of depression which all felt and could not +explain. The lawyer, Dick, and Ray were in a corner carrying on an +animated discussion. Helen, her mind preoccupied, her thoughts +hundreds of miles away with the loved absent one, sat quietly at the +piano, running her fingers lightly over the keys, her thoughts many +leagues distant with the man who had carried her heart away with him. +</P> + +<P> +Her face was pale, her expression grave. Why had Kenneth's going away +affected her like this? She had not had a moment's peace of mind since +his departure. She could not sleep. Horrible dreams and thoughts +haunted her all night. Some danger threatened, that she felt +instinctively. Something dreadful was going to happen. What it was, +she did not know. But it was something that threatened her happiness, +perhaps her life or Kenneth's——. At the mere thought a shiver ran +through her, and a convulsive sob rose in her throat, almost choking +her. Not until this moment had she fully realized how much she loved +him. +</P> + +<P> +A sudden burst of laughter at the other end of the room aroused her +from her reverie. Looking up, she asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What are you all so amused about?" +</P> + +<P> +Ray smiled as she replied: +</P> + +<P> +"We're arguing about dual personalities. Mr. Steell insists that there +is no such thing. Mr. Reynolds agrees with him. He is wrong of +course. I know of several well-authenticated cases, and the medical +records are there to back me up." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly what do you mean by dual personality?" demanded the lawyer. +</P> + +<P> +Ray returned to the attack, while Helen, amused, rose from the piano +and went over to listen to the argument. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that a person we know well may suddenly cease being that person +and assume a personality entirely different." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell laughed derisively. +</P> + +<P> +"Does the patient change her or his skin?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, the change is wholly mental. Although in fact, the new mental +attitude does result in certain physical modifications. For instance, +a person who in his normal condition may be most punctilious and neat +in his dress is likely to become unkempt and slovenly in the new +character he unconsciously assumes." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you ever encountered any such dual personalities?" +</P> + +<P> +"Personally, no. But I have heard of them, and physicians often +encounter them in their practice." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders as he turned to Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think about it?" he asked, with an incredulous smile. +</P> + +<P> +"About what?" +</P> + +<P> +"These so-called dual personalities." +</P> + +<P> +Before his hostess could answer, the drawing-room door opened and Mr. +Parker entered. Helen rose and went forward to greet the president of +the Americo-African Mining Company. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Parker, how are you? I am so glad you came to see us." +</P> + +<P> +The visitor advanced smiling into the room. With a salute to all +present, he asked cheerily: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what news of the wanderer?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"None as yet." +</P> + +<P> +The visitor chuckled as he crossed the room to shake hands with Ray and +Mr. Steell. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well you must be patient. He'll soon be there, and then we shall +hear wonderful tales." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the latest news from the seat of war—I mean the mines?" asked +Ray roguishly. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything is going well, thank you." +</P> + +<P> +"No new big finds?" demanded Mr. Steell. +</P> + +<P> +The president laughed. Shaking his head, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"We can't expect to make such finds every day. If we often picked up +stones of that size, we'd soon own all the wealth in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"More likely," retorted Ray quickly, "that diamonds would become so +cheap that children would buy them for marbles." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell looked interested. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the real market value of the two big gems you have already +picked up?" +</P> + +<P> +The president looked at him for a moment in silence. Then, slowly, he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"A very conservative estimate is $1,200,000 for both stones. They are +the purest white. There are larger stones in the world, but none of +finer quality." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you expect to do with them?" +</P> + +<P> +"First, they will be brought here and exhibited in their crude state. +You can easily realize the value to our company of such a gigantic +advertisement. Crowds will flock to see the wonderful crystals. The +newspapers all over the country will give them the widest publicity. +After everybody has seen them, we shall probably send them to Amsterdam +to be cut." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, what will you do with them?" +</P> + +<P> +"To tell you the truth, we have not made up our minds. Such very large +stones have really no commercial value. Take for instance the famous +Cullinan, the wonder of the modern world. That gem was so huge that it +was of no real value to the owners; so, unable to realize on it +themselves, they induced the Transvaal government to buy it and present +it to the King of England. We shall try to be a little more practical. +Our first duty is to our stockholders. We shall probably have the +stones cut up into a number of smaller stones, on which we shall be +able to realize a large sum. It's a rare stroke of good fortune for +us." +</P> + +<P> +Helen had said nothing, but stood listening in silence. It was less of +the money involved in the adventure that she was thinking than of her +husband's safety. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose Kenneth loses the gems?" she faltered. +</P> + +<P> +he old gentleman laughed.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"There's no fear of him losing them. He may have to fight for them, +but he'll never lose them I know him too well for that." +</P> + +<P> +Helen's eyes opened wide. +</P> + +<P> +"He may have to fight for them," she echoed. "Do you mean that?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—no, of course not," said the president hastily. "No one will even +know he has them in his possession. We have kept the matter very +quiet." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell shrugged his shoulders. Drily he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I guess Ken is big enough to take care of himself. It does look +as if it were tempting Providence to carry loose on one's person +valuables for so large an amount, but it's hardly likely that any of +the denizens of the underworld know of his departure. Still less that +he is carrying a million loose in his clothes. I don't see that +there's any reason to worry." +</P> + +<P> +"That's precisely my opinion," said a musical voice immediately behind +them. +</P> + +<P> +All started and looked up. Everyone had been so intent on the +conversation that they had not noticed a man who had entered the room. +</P> + +<P> +He was a tall, dark-complexioned man of five and thirty with strong, +stern features, which, in repose, were actually forbidding. The mouth, +partly concealed by a long, bristling moustache, was firm, suggesting +relentless will power, and his eyes, restless, keen and searching, had +taken in every person there long before anyone was aware of his +presence. He was fashionably, even elegantly dressed, and on his left +hand he wore a solitaire of uncommon size and luster. His hair, +carefully curled, scented and parted, was extraordinarily dark, +contrasting sharply with the unusual pallor of his face. He spoke low +and musically, with a slight foreign accent. +</P> + +<P> +Helen started involuntarily on hearing the sound of his voice, and a +cloud passed momentarily over her face. It lasted only a moment. She +was too tactful, too much the woman of the world not to greet with at +least apparent cordiality any visitor under her roof, no matter how +unwelcome he might really be. Turning quickly, she advanced and held +out her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do, Signor Keralio? How you startled us! I did not hear +you come in." +</P> + +<P> +The newcomer's black eyes flashed, and his thin lips parted in a smile +as he bent low and ceremoniously kissed his hostess' hand in +continental fashion. Fond, as are most men of the Latin race, of +making extravagant compliments, he murmured softly: +</P> + +<P> +"Your tiny ears, Madam, were not intended to distinguish such gross +sounds as ordinary mortal's footsteps. Dainty and delicately fashioned +as the shells strewn along the beach, they were modeled only to listen +to the gods or re-echo the music of the murmuring sea." Apologetically +he added: +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm afraid I intrude. Possibly you discuss family affairs——" +</P> + +<P> +A look of annoyance crossed Helen's face. Quickly withdrawing her +hand, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not at all. We were only talking about my husband. You know he +sailed for South Africa two weeks ago. This is Mr. Steell, Signor +Keralio. I think you know my sister. Mr. Parker—Signor Keralio." +</P> + +<P> +The old gentleman nodded affably, and, putting on his glass, +scrutinized the newcomer narrowly. The president of the +Americo-African Mining Company had always made it a point not to +neglect any chance introduction. He had no idea who the visitor was, +but he looked prosperous. Possibly with a little careful manipulation, +he might be induced to invest in some A. A. M. stock. Holding out his +hand, he said affably: +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio—— Let me see. Where have I heard that name before?" +</P> + +<P> +Ray came to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio is the well-known fencing master." +</P> + +<P> +A look of disappointment came over the president's face. Only a +fencing master? Ugh! He was hardly worth bothering about. He +wondered whether the business were profitable and if all fencing +masters dressed like millionaires and had such polished manners. Helen +explained: +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio is a friend of my husband. Kenneth enjoys fencing, and +Signor Keralio is his teacher." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, to be sure," smiled Mr. Parker. "Capital idea—splendid +exercise. I'd try it myself, only I'm afraid I'd do my adversary some +injury." +</P> + +<P> +The Italian gave a low chuckle. With veiled irony, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur is right. He no doubt has a good eye, a supple wrist. An +encounter might be very unpleasant for his opponent." +</P> + +<P> +Ray, unable to control her mirth, hastily beat a retreat, followed more +leisurely by Mr. Steell, and taking refuge at the far end of the room +sat down at the piano, and began to play softly a Chopin nocturne. +</P> + +<P> +Waving the newcomer to a seat, Mr. Parker offered him a cigar, which +the fencing master, with a courteous bow, asked his hostess' permission +to smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"By all means," she said, "and with your permission I'll leave you +gentlemen alone a few moments. I have a letter to finish. It must go +tonight to catch the boat." +</P> + +<P> +"It's to your husband, I wager," said Keralio, with a sardonic smile. +</P> + +<P> +"An easy guess," she retorted. "I write him every day." +</P> + +<P> +The fencing master gave a sigh as he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, such devotion is truly beautiful! Why have I never known such +love as that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you never deserved it!" she retorted. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what we in the American vernacular call 'a knock-out.'" +</P> + +<P> +Helen laughed lightly. There was a swish of silken petticoats, and she +disappeared in an alcove, where she sat down at a desk. Keralio looked +after her with undisguised admiration and puffed his cigar in silence +for a few moments. Then he said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a big job which you and Traynor are doing out there in South +Africa. I see by the papers that you've already made some valuable +finds." +</P> + +<P> +He appeared unconcerned, and looked narrowly at his <I>vis à vis</I> to see +what effect his words had on him, possibly to draw him out. But Mr. +Parker was too old a bird to be caught napping, even by a clever +adventurer. Instantly on his guard, he said carelessly: +</P> + +<P> +"The outlook is very bright, very promising indeed. Our stockholders +are quite satisfied, and it is likely that we shall make good money. +But of course everything is in the experimental stage as yet." +</P> + +<P> +"But you have found diamonds—big diamonds?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," replied the president with affected carelessness; "we have +picked up a few stones. As I told you, the prospects are very +promising." +</P> + +<P> +"But haven't you recently made some extraordinary finds?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No—nothing worth mentioning.'" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio smiled skeptically. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't your memory somewhat at fault, cher monsieur? Surely you +haven't forgotten the two stones of enormous size just picked up—finds +of sensational importance. The newspapers have been full of the story." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker made a deprecatory gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! My dear sir, you ought to know what newspaper talk is worth! +No yarn is too fantastic to print so long as it sells their papers. We +found two stones of fair size, it is true, but to say that they are of +priceless value is a gross exaggeration." +</P> + +<P> +The Italian eyed his companion closely. Significantly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"They're valuable enough, however, to justify you in refusing to trust +their shipment to ordinary channels and in going to the expense of +sending to South Africa one of your officers to whom is confided the +task of bringing the gems home." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know that?" demanded Mr. Parker, surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"There is very little I do not know," smiled Keralio ironically, as he +blew a ring of cigar smoke up to the ceiling. +</P> + +<P> +His curiosity aroused, the president of the A. A. M. Co. was about to +question his companion farther, but at that moment Helen rose from the +desk and came toward them. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not in the humor to write now," she said. "I'd rather talk." +Sitting in a chair near them, she added quickly: "Won't you let me get +you some tea?" +</P> + +<P> +Both men shook their heads. Mr. Parker rose. With a mischievous +twinkle in his eye, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go over to the others and take a hand at bridge. I want to make +some money, Signor—I'll leave you to entertain Mrs. Traynor." +</P> + +<P> +With a courteous salutation to his hostess, a graceful act of +chivalrous politeness of which he was a past master, Mr. Parker crossed +the room in the direction of the card table. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + + +<P> +An awkward silence followed the president's departure. Helen would +have detained him had she dared. Being alone with Keralio was very +distasteful to her. Ill at ease in such close proximity to this man, +whom she feared even more than she disliked, she sat still without +saying a word. Presently between puffs of his cigar, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You really don't mind my smoking?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not at all." +</P> + +<P> +He bowed and again relapsed into silence. She looked at him sideways +and wondered why this foreigner had always inspired her with such +dislike. His manner was courteous, and he was decidedly handsome. He +had white teeth and fine eyes. They were bold eyes, but so were the +eyes of other men. They had a habit of looking a woman through and +through. She always felt embarrassed under his close scrutiny. It +seemed to her as if he were undressing her mentally and took pleasure +in surveying critically and admirably every part of her as a +connoisseur examines a statue. She had an uncomfortable feeling when +near him. She was afraid to look straight in his eyes, afraid that +possibly he might be able to throw some spell over her, exert some +hypnotic influence that she would not be able to resist. She +considered him a seductive, dangerous man, the kind of man every pure +woman, every wife who wishes to remain faithful to her marriage vows +should avoid. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly while she was looking at him, he turned his head toward her. +Before she could prevent it their eyes met. +</P> + +<P> +He did not avert his gaze, but kept his eyes fixed on hers as if trying +to awaken in her some of his own ardor. She tried to look away, but +she could not. He seemed to hold her there by sheer force of will +power. Frightened, she started to tremble in every limb. Yet, to her +astonishment, she had no feeling of anger or resentment. It seemed +quite natural that this man should gaze at her in this intimate, +caressing way. She found herself taking pleasure in it. Her vanity +was gratified. If he looked at her so persistently, it must be that he +thought her pretty. Her face began to burn, her bosom heaved, a +strange sensation that heretofore only her husband had been able to +arouse, came over her. And still his eyes were on hers, caressing, +voluptuous. +</P> + +<P> +At the other end of this room the game of bridge was still in progress. +Ray was winning, as usual, and amusing the men with her wit and +vivaciousness. Mr. Steell had glanced over in their direction several +times, and he saw enough to convince him that the attentions of the +fencing master were unwelcome to their hostess. Had he caught Helen's +eye, had she made the slightest sign that she was being annoyed, he +would have instantly left the game and gone over to the window, if only +to break up the tête-à-tête, but she did not once look up. Suddenly he +remembered what had been suggested on the boat. It was an idea. Ray +at that moment got up to get some tea, and, profiting by the +opportunity, the lawyer leaned over and whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Dick, you see that chap over there." +</P> + +<P> +The young man looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"Who—the signor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. What do you know about him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing good—although nothing very bad for that matter. He's a dark +horse—keeps pretty much to himself. He's well known in the gay +resorts, in the gambling houses and where they play the ponies." +</P> + +<P> +"What's his reputation?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's known as a liberal spender. He's always flashing big rolls of +money——" +</P> + +<P> +"Where does he get it—not from the fencing school?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—that's only a blind." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer lowered his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, my boy, that fellow will bear watching, and you're the man to do +it." +</P> + +<P> +"You want him shadowed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—find out where he goes, who he knows. My opinion is that he +belongs to an international band of crooks—possibly counterfeiters, +smugglers, or blackmailers. If you land him behind the bars you'll +deserve well of your country." +</P> + +<P> +Dick glanced once or twice in the direction of the object of their +conversation, who, quite unconscious of their scrutiny, was still +talking earnestly to Helen. The young man smiled, his chest expanded +with satisfaction, and grimly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Leave him to me." +</P> + +<P> +Quite unconscious of the attention he attracted, the Italian turned to +Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"You miss your husband very much?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—terribly." +</P> + +<P> +"It must be lonely for you." +</P> + +<P> +"It is," she sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yet you have your sister." +</P> + +<P> +"Can a sister replace a husband?" +</P> + +<P> +He gave a low, musical laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"No—not a sister. A lover is preferable." +</P> + +<P> +Quickly she retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"My husband is my lover—-my lover is my husband." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, as he said: +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds very pretty, but you must admit that it is rather banal." +</P> + +<P> +"In what way?" +</P> + +<P> +He flecked the ash from his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"You are too pretty, too charming a woman to be commonplace. Really it +spoils you——" +</P> + +<P> +Ignoring his compliments, she persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean I am commonplace because I call Kenneth my lover. What +other lover should I or any other woman happily married have? I am +faithful to him—he is loyal to me." +</P> + +<P> +He gave a little mocking laugh, and was silent. How she hated him for +that laugh! After a pause he said quietly and suggestively: +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure you are faithful to him——" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment she looked at him without speaking, eager to resent the +implied imputation on her husband, yet unwilling to give the slanderer +the satisfaction of seeing that his thrust had carried home. +Concealing as best she could her growing irritation, she said calmly: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you suppose <I>he</I> also is faithful to me?" +</P> + +<P> +Again that horrible, cynical smile. Fixing her with his piercing dark +eyes, and, in a manner, the significance of which could not escape her, +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't seek to know too much, Madam. To paraphrase a famous saying: +'It's a wise woman who knows her own husband.'" +</P> + +<P> +Coloring with anger, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You mean——" +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I say—that a woman, a wife cannot possibly be sure of her +husband's fidelity. Think how different are the conditions. The wife, +no matter if her temperament be warm or cold, is always at home, +surrounded by prying eyes, rarely beset by temptation. The husband is +often away, he goes on business journeys that free him temporarily from +the chains which keep him in good behavior. If he is good looking, the +women look at him, flirt with him. It is inevitable. The chances are +that he succumbs to the first adventure—no matter how exemplary a +husband he may be at home. If he is a man—of unusual character, he +passes through the fire unscathed; if he is—just a man, he is +attracted to the candle like the proverbial moth and sometimes singes +his wings——" +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him keenly for a moment as if trying to read on his +sphinx-like face if he knew more about Kenneth than he admitted, and +then with forced calmness she said: +</P> + +<P> +"In your opinion, Signor Keralio—is my husband a man—of unusual +character, or is he—just a man?" +</P> + +<P> +The Italian shrugged his shoulders as he replied deprecatingly: +</P> + +<P> +"My dear madam, just stop and think a moment. Isn't that a rather +indiscreet question to put to a man—a man who is a friend of your +husband——" +</P> + +<P> +Hotly she turned on him. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are his friend, why do you vilify and slander him behind his +back?" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio lifted up his long slender hands in pious protest. +</P> + +<P> +"I vilify—my best friend—— Oh, my dear Mrs. Traynor—you have quite +misunderstood me. I am a foreigner. Perhaps it is that I express +myself ill." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head skeptically. Firmly she said: +</P> + +<P> +"No, Signor Keralio—you express yourself quite plainly. Now, I'll be +equally frank with you. I confess there is one thing I do not +understand. I have never understood it. I do not understand why my +husband, a man so honorable, so straightforward in his dealings, a man +so free from intrigue or reckless adventures, so regular, methodical +and temperate in his habits, a man so entirely apart from the reckless, +immoral kind of life you hint at, should have made a friend of +<I>you</I>——" +</P> + +<P> +The Italian raised his eyebrows, but there was only an amused smile on +his bloodless lips as he said with a mock bow: +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, madam. You are very flattering." +</P> + +<P> +"No—I mean it. I don't want to seem unkind, but your temperament and +my husband's are as wide apart as the poles." +</P> + +<P> +He opened wide his eyes as he asked, +</P> + +<P> +"In what particular, <I>s'il vous plait</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth is frank, outspoken. He is not the type of man who takes rash +risks. He is very conservative, scrupulously honest. He has fine +ideals. While you——" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed loudly. +</P> + +<P> +"I? I am secretive, cunning, reckless, materialistic—is that it, +madam?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not say so, but since you draw your portrait so well——" +</P> + +<P> +He bit his lip. This girl with the flaxen hair and large lustrous eyes +was more than a match for him in a battle of wits. He was making no +headway at all. It was time to play his trump card. Softly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You said your husband was judicious, conservative——" +</P> + +<P> +"So he is." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a matter of opinion. Some might think otherwise. Of course, +it is difficult for a woman when she is blinded by love——" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that your husband is far from being the conservative, +afraid-to-take-risks type of man you picture him. You women think you +know your husbands. You know only such part of them as they themselves +care to reveal. Perhaps if you knew to what extent your husband was +involved in Wall Street, it would surprise you! Oh, everything is +perfectly regular, of course. As treasurer of the Americo-African +Mining Company, he has at his disposal large sums of money. He is also +trustee of several large and valuable estates. All of this money he is +supposed to invest—conservatively. He certainly invests it. Whether +conservatively or not, I leave others to judge." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that he is using other people's money in Wall Street?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean, my dear lady, that he has the get-rich-quick fever. He has a +rage for stock gambling—he is already heavily involved. I have often +warned him to go slower, to be more prudent, but he won't heed my +counsel. You know, he is very headstrong—your husband. As long as +everything goes well he is all right. If anything goes wrong, he might +find himself in an unpleasant predicament. Hasn't he spoken to you of +these matters? Why should he worry you? It is as I told you. +Husbands don't tell their wives everything—God forbid!" +</P> + +<P> +Helen raised her hand. There was the ring of scorn in her voice as she +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't blaspheme, Signor Keralio. It sounds incongruous to hear the +name of the Almighty on the lips of a man of your opinions and tastes. +You think you live, but you don't. You go through life, seeking only +to gratify your appetites, attracted only by material sensual +pleasures. You ignore the best part of life—the pursuit of an ideal, +a noble ambition, unselfishness, self-sacrifice. Really, Signor, I +pity you—with all my heart." +</P> + +<P> +He made no answer, but sat in silence watching her. Presently he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Traynor—do you know that you are an extraordinary woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"In what way?" she demanded, elevating her eyebrows in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"You are either the cleverest or the most unsophisticated woman I have +ever met. You are attractive enough to send a saint to perdition, yet +you are quite indifferent to the power of your beauty and the tumult it +arouses in the men who chance to cross your path. You seem to be +absolutely without feeling. Yet I don't believe you devoid of +temperament. I think I know women. I have met a good many. You do +not belong to the type of cold, passionless women." +</P> + +<P> +Again his eyes sought hers and found them. Again she tried to avoid +his gaze and could not. There was something in his manner, his +gestures, the tone of his voice, that conveyed to her more his real +meaning than his actual words, yet, to her surprise, she was not +aroused to anger. Sure of herself, she found herself listening, +wondering what he would say next, ready to flee at the first warning of +peril, but playing a dangerous game like the moth in the flame. As she +sat back on the sofa, her head in the sofa cushions, he leaned nearer +to her, and in those low, musical tones which held her under a kind of +spell, he murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"You are the cleverest woman I ever met." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled in spite of herself, and he, mistaking the motive, thought +she intended it as an encouragement. He glanced round to see if anyone +was watching them, but Mr. Parker was peacefully dozing in a deep +armchair a dozen yards away, and at the far end of the room Ray, Steell +and Reynolds were engrossed in an exciting game of cards. Leaning +quickly over, he seized her hand. His voice vibrating with passion, he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Not only the cleverest, but the most desirable of women. Don't you +see that you've set me afire? I'm mad for you! Helen—I want you!" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment she was too stunned by his insolent daring to withdraw her +hand, which he continued to press in his. His eyes flashing, he went +on: +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you seen all along that I love you—desperately, passionately. +You've set me afire. I'm mad for you. Let me awaken that love that's +in your breast, but which your husband has never awakened. Let me——" +</P> + +<P> +He did not finish, for that moment a small, jeweled hand, suddenly torn +from his grasp, struck him full on the mouth. Rising and trying with +difficulty to control the emotion in her voice, she said quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better go now—so as to prevent a scandal. If they knew, it +might be awkward for you. Of course, you must never come here again." +</P> + +<P> +That was all. She swept away from him with the dignity of an offended +queen. The silence was deadly. All one heard was the silk rustle of +her gown as she moved across the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"It's my say," exclaimed Ray. +</P> + +<P> +"I lead with trumps," said Steell. +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio has to go. Isn't it too bad!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell and Dick rose and bowed politely. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to be done. He was ignominiously dismissed like a +lackey caught pilfering. But there was black wrath in his heart as he +picked himself up, and turning to the others, he bowed and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Good night." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + + +<P> +Dawn broke over the desert region of the Kalihari. The gray mists of +the South African night slowly dissolved on the approach of the rising +sun, until the crimson glow of the coming day, spreading high in the +eastern heavens, tipped with gold the snow-clad peaks of the +Drachenberg, and then, swiftly inundating the valley like a flood, +chased away the shadows and filled the undulating plains with warmth +and light. +</P> + +<P> +Stretched out near the flickering embers of an expiring camp fire, not +half a day's <I>trek</I> from the Vaal River, lay what, at first view, +appeared to be bundles of rags. A closer inspection showed them to be +the prostrate forms of two men, asleep. Huddled close together, as if +seeking all possible protection from the keen air of the open <I>veldt</I>, +they appeared grateful even for the little warmth that still came from +the dying fire. Every now and again a tiny flame, bursting from one of +the smouldering logs, would light up the recumbent figures, revealing a +brief glimpse of the sleepers. +</P> + +<P> +Both bore traces of desperate need. The rags they wore were filthy, +and gave only scant protection from the weather, their emaciated faces +and hollowed cheeks told eloquently of many days of fatigue and hunger; +their feet, long since without shoes, were clumsily protected from the +rocky <I>veldt</I> by pieces of coarse sacking. For weeks they had tramped +across the great, merciless desert, guided only by the stars, often +losing the trail, begging their way from farm to farm, glad to do +little jobs for friendly Boers in return for a meal, always in peril of +attack by hostile Kaffirs, yet never halting, trudging ever onward in +their anxiety to reach the coast. That was the haven they painfully +sought—the open sea where at least there was a chance to die among +their fellows and not perish miserably like dogs on the lonely. +God-forsaken plains, with only the howling jackal and the screaming +vulture to pick their bones. +</P> + +<P> +They had tried and they had lost in the great gamble. Like thousands +of other reckless adventurers attracted to the newly discovered diamond +country, they had rushed out there from England, confident that they, +too, could wrest from nature that wonderful gem, ever associated with +tragedy and romance, mystery and crime, for the possession of which, +since history began, men have been ready to give up their lives. +Confident of their success, they had risked all on a turn of the wheel, +and Fortune, mocking their puny efforts, had first ruined and then +degraded them, afterward sending them back home to die. +</P> + +<P> +It was now quite light. The fire, which had flickered up fitfully at +intervals, was entirely extinguished. A chilly wind had started to +blow from the plateau on the north. The strangers stirred uneasily in +their sleep and awoke almost simultaneously. Sitting up with a start, +they yawned and rubbed their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"What show o' gettin' some breakfast, Handsome?" asked the smaller of +the two. +</P> + +<P> +"Damned little!" was the profane and laconic rejoinder. +</P> + +<P> +They were men still in the early thirties. One was short and stocky, +his face slightly pock-marked. Pictures of a mermaid and anchor +clumsily tattooed in indigo on his wrist showed him to be a sailor. In +fact, Dick Hickey, boatswain on <I>H. H. S. Tartar</I>, having taken French +leave of his ship, as she lay in Cape Town Harbor, ran a very good +chance of being taken back to England in irons as a deserter. Just now +he was serenely indifferent as to what happened to him. Half dead from +exposure and lack of nourishment, he would have gladly welcomed ship's +officers or anybody else so long as there was some relief from his +present sufferings. Meantime he spent what little breath he had left +in cursing his hard luck, and blaming his companion as being solely +responsible for his misfortune. +</P> + +<P> +The latter was some few years his senior, stalwart and clean-limbed. +He appeared to be over six feet in height and a man of splendid +physique. At first glance it was evident that he came of superior +stock. His shapely hands were grimy, his eyes of a peculiarly light +shade of blue were hollow and haggard looking. His face, emaciated and +ghastly, was almost livid. A clean-cut chin was covered with several +weeks' growth of beard. Yet, underneath all these repellant externals, +there was in his every attitude that indefinable refinement of manner +which the world always associates with a gentleman. His dark hair, +disheveled and matted, was unusually thick and bushy, with the +exception of one spot, in the center of his forehead, where there was a +single white lock, a capillary phenomenon, which imparted at once to +his face from its very unusualness an individuality quite its own. +</P> + +<P> +No one knew who he was or where he came from. They called him +"Handsome Jack," partly because of his good looks and also on account +of his reckless liberality with his cronies when flush. What his real +name was no one knew or cared. It was a time when no one asked +questions. As soon as the news of the astonishing diamond discoveries +reached Europe, men began to flock to South Africa. Adventurers from +all over the world gathered in Cape Town, a motley crew of incompetents +and blacklegs, an investigation into the antecedents of any of whom was +apt to have unpleasant results. That he was a professional gambler, he +made no attempt to conceal, and that he had knocked about the world a +good deal was also to be inferred from his wide knowledge of men and +places. A man of aggressive, domineering personality, he was not +without a certain following, attracted by his skill with cards and +dice, but he was more feared than liked, and his reputation as a +dangerous gunman kept inquisitive strangers at a safe distance. He was +well known in every den frequented by the criminal and vicious, and it +was in one of these resorts that Hickey had met him. The sailor had +lost all his savings at faro. Dead broke, he was ready for anything +which promised to recoup his fortunes. Handsome Jack laid before him a +scheme which would make them both rich beyond the dreams of avarice. +The recent discoveries on the Vaal had startled the world. A native +had picked up a stone weighing over 80 carats. They might be equally +lucky. All that was needed was pluck and patience. The plan was to +make their way as best they could to the Vaal fields, jump a claim, and +dig for diamonds. +</P> + +<P> +They set out secretly, avoiding the larger caravans, making the long +trek across the great plateau, partly by ox wagon, partly on foot. The +trail led through a wild, desolate country, and gradually they left +civilization hundreds of miles behind them. As far as the eye could +reach in every direction was a monotonous desert of stone and sand, +broken every now and then by small kopjies, the sides and summits of +which were sparsely covered with thick brush and coarse grass. +Scattered here and there, some twenty miles apart, were the homesteads +of the Boer farmers and the thatched kraals of the dark-skinned +Kaffirs. Over this lonely waste sheep and cattle wandered undisturbed +by springbok, ostriches, crocodiles, mountain lions and other wild +animals. +</P> + +<P> +In this barren spot Nature had concealed her treasures. A child's cry +of joy over a pretty pebble led to their discovery. The little son of +a Boer farmer was playing one day in the fields near the homestead when +his eye was attracted by something glittering at his feet. Stooping, +he picked up a stone unlike any other he had ever seen. Interested, he +began to look for others and found a number of them, which with great +glee he carried home to show his mother. The worthy woman paid little +heed to what, in her ignorance, she regarded merely as pretty stones, +but she happened to speak about them to a neighboring farmer, who asked +to look at them. Already tired of his new plaything, the child had +thrown the stones away, but one was found in the field close by, and +the neighbor, a shrewd Dutchman, who had heard of certain stones picked +up in that locality having a certain value, offered to buy it. The +good woman laughed at the idea of selling a stone, and made him a +present of it. The farmer took it to the nearest town, where experts +declared it to be a twenty-one carat diamond, worth $2,500. Round the +world the telegraph flashed this remarkable story, and the rush to +South Africa began. That was in 1870. In May of that year there were +about a hundred men at the diggings in the Vaal fields. Before the +next month had closed there were seven hundred. By April of the +following year five thousand men were digging frantically in the mud +along the Vaal and Orange rivers. +</P> + +<P> +It was a rough, lawless gathering of men of every nationality under the +sun, the criminal and the vicious, the idle and the worthless. The +region being inside the border lines of the waste territory that lay +between the Boers and the Hottentots, it was therefore No Man's Land, +and beyond the pale of established law and order. The miners, +compelled, in self-protection, to institute laws of their own, +appointed committees to issue licenses, keep the peace, and punish +offenders. Natives were whipped; white men were banished, and from +this rough-and-ready justice there was no appeal. +</P> + +<P> +When Handsome and Hickey arrived at the diggings, the fever was still +at its height, and having secured a claim, they went to work with a +will. Claims were thirty feet square, and to prevent speculation in +them the owner, in order to hold title, was compelled to toil +incessantly. It was hard work, harder work than Handsome had ever been +put to in all his life. At the end of a few days, the skin was scraped +off his hands from shoveling, and he had such a kink in his back that +he couldn't straighten up. But he had come to stay, and a little; +discomfort was not going to scare him. Their implements, purchased at +the diggings, consisted of pick, shovel and rocker, this last being a +box arranged on rockers like a baby's cradle. It was a clumsy yet +useful contrivance, in which were fastened, one above the other, wire +screens of varying fineness, the coarsest being on top. As Handsome +dug the yellow earth out of the hole he shoveled it into the top +screen. When it was full Hickey poured in water while he rocked. The +water washed the dirt through the holes, leaving the stones. These +were taken out, emptied onto a sorting table, where Handsome scraped +off the worthless peddles [Transcriber's note: pebbles?], saving +anything that seemed of value. As a rule, and much to Hickey's +disgust, the table was scraped clean. Sometimes the sailor would make +a joyful exclamation on seeing some glittering pieces of rock crystal, +thinking he had found a prize, only to be disappointed a moment later +when a more experienced miner assured him it was worthless. Both soon +learned, however, to recognize at sight the precious gems, and, +although few came their way, they saw many brought to the surface by +luckier neighbors. One day sounds of great rejoicing was heard in +their tent. They had worked hard for over a month without finding +anything, and were feeling greatly discouraged and dejected, when all +at once something happened. Handsome had been rocking the cradle in a +listless sort of way, and Hickey was sorting the residue, when suddenly +the sailor gave a wild whoop of delight. Darting forward, he held up a +glittering stone. Examination proved it to be a genuine diamond, +weighing about ten carats, and valued at about $1,000. It was not much +of a find, but it was enough to turn their heads. Dropping all work, +they both proceeded to have "a good time," going on a drunken orgie, +which lasted just as long as the money held out. When they came to +their senses they were worse off than before. Weakened by prolonged +debauch, they were in no mood for digging, and to complicate matters +some one had jumped their claim during their absence. Even their tools +had disappeared. Without resource or credit, they could not procure +others. Yet work they must to keep the wolf from the door, so, cursing +others when they had only themselves to blame, Handsome secured +employment, digging for another miner, while the sailor performed such +occasional odd jobs as he could pick up. +</P> + +<P> +Broken in spirit, enraged at the long spell of ill luck, Handsome began +to drink heavily. Every cent he made went to the grog shop, and +Hickey, never over fond of work at any time, was only too glad of an +excuse to drink with him. The two cronies filled themselves with rum +until their reason tottered, and they became beasts, refusing to work, +growing ugly, even menacing, preferring to beg the food their empty +stomachs craved for rather than toil, as before. At last they made +themselves such a nuisance that the attention of the vigilance +committee was called to their particular case. In short order they +were hauled up and ordered to leave camp. There was no alternative but +to obey, and thus began the dreary trek homeward of the two broken and +miserable outcasts. +</P> + +<P> +"We cawn't go on much longer like this," moaned Hickey. +</P> + +<P> +He made a painful effort to get up, but his joints, stiff from the +all-night exposure, refused to obey his will, and he fell back with a +groan. Handsome, more successful, had already risen, and was scanning +the horizon on every side. Except for the kopjies, which in places +obstructed the view, there was a clear range for ten miles or more. If +anything alive moved within the field of vision, they could not help +seeing it, but nothing greeted their eyes. There was neither man or +beast to be seen; seemingly they were still many weary miles from the +nearest homestead. +</P> + +<P> +"We must go on," replied Handsome determinedly. Impatiently he added: +"What do you want to do—stay here and let the jackals gnaw your bones?" +</P> + +<P> +Hickey, too weak to argue, shook his head despondently. +</P> + +<P> +"You go on, Handsome. Leave me here. I cawn't go any further, s' help +me Gawd! My feet hurt somethin' awful. I'm all in. If ye get 'ome +safe, go and see the old folks, will ye, and tell 'em I put up a good +fight?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hell!" retorted the other savagely. "Don't squat there crying like a +baby. Be a man. Get up and let's hike it to the nearest homestead." +Shading his eyes as he gazed earnestly over the plain, he added: "I see +smoke in the distance. It can't be far off. Come——" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, to his astonishment, Hickey leaped to his feet, with an +agility unheard of in one so nearly dying. Pointing to the nearest +kopjie, he shouted hoarsely: +</P> + +<P> +"Look! There's a man—near that kopjie—he's coming this way!" +</P> + +<P> +It was no dream. A man, unarmed and unaccompanied, was advancing +toward them. From his dress and manner, it was easy to see that he was +not a Boer farmer. He looked more like an Englishman or an American. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely able to believe the evidence of his own eyes, Handsome watched +his progress. +</P> + +<P> +As he came nearer, he waved his hand to show that he saw them, and he +walked faster, as if afraid that they might disappear before he could +reach them. Hickey, unable to restrain himself, had run forward, and +in a few minutes they met. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" demanded the stranger, whose face, shaded as it was by a +big canvas helmet, it was difficult to see. +</P> + +<P> +"Miners from the Vaal," answered Hickey. "Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am a Frenchman—François Chalat. I am ze valet of an American +gentleman. Our party not know ze road. We has wandered from what you +call ze trail. Will you show ze way to us?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where's your party?" demanded Hickey. +</P> + +<P> +François pointed to a kopjie about three miles distant. +</P> + +<P> +"There! Behind zat hill." +</P> + +<P> +Just at that moment, Handsome came lumbering up almost on the run, +anxious to know what it was all about. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any whiskey?" was his first breathless ejaculation. "We're +starving." +</P> + +<P> +The valet made no answer. He was too startled to speak. Drawing back +a few steps, he stared blankly at the big fellow. For several minutes +he stood as if struck dumb. Presently, when he found his speech, he +asked in awed tones: +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you? What's your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"What business is it of yours?" snapped Handsome, with some show of +irritation. "Have you any food or whiskey? We're starving." +</P> + +<P> +The valet made no answer, but just stared in astonished silence at the +big six-footer who towered above him. For a moment he had thought it a +trick that his master had played upon him. By walking quickly he had +got there before him, and dressed up in these rags just to have fun +with him. But that matted hair and that chin, with its weeks of growth +of beard. He could not be deceived in that. No, this man was not his +employer. Could it be possible, was it—his twin brother long since +given up for dead? The same physique, the same features, the same +eyes, the same thick, bushy hair with the single lock of white hair in +the center of the forehead. There was no room for doubt. It was his +employer's brother. It was just as well to make friends. Drawing a +flask from his pocket and holding it out, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Here, take a drink. You need it." +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly, Handsome snatched it out of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet we do." +</P> + +<P> +He took a deep gulp and handed it to Hickey, whose bleary eyes had +watered at the very sight of the flask. François turned to Handsome. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is ze trail?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Over yonder," growled the big fellow in surly tones and making a +sweeping gesture with his arm which embraced every quarter of the +compass. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather indefinite, I should say," smiled the valet. "Where you go? +Are you on ze way to ze mines?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome Jack took another pull at the flask. His good humor returning +in proportion as he felt warmed up by the spirits, he said more amiably: +</P> + +<P> +"I guess not. My pal and I have enough of the cursed place—ain't we, +Hickey?" +</P> + +<P> +The sailor man glanced dolefully at his limping foot, and nodded his +head in acquiescence. +</P> + +<P> +"You show us the trail home. My boss is very rich man," interrupted +François quickly. "He pay anything." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome pricked up his ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's rich, is he?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet laughed as he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"All Americans rich—très riches. Did you ever hear of poor Americans?" +</P> + +<P> +Hickey took another drink and snickered. Handsome looked thoughtful. +After a pause, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"What your boss' name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur Traynor of the Americo-African Mining Co." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome started. +</P> + +<P> +"What? Kenneth Traynor, of the Americo-African Mining Company—the +people who made those sensational finds." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—he's vice-president of the company." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome gave a low, expressive whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"He's rich—all right! Do you know what those stones are worth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Over a million dollairs." +</P> + +<P> +"And he came out here to——" +</P> + +<P> +The valet nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>—zat's it—to get ze big diamonds. We're on our way back from +ze mines now. He has ze stones in his possession." +</P> + +<P> +"And taking them to New York?" gasped Handsome; "a million dollars' +worth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—taking zem to New York. That's what he came out for. We want to +reach ze coast as soon as possible. Again I ask. Will you guide us +back to ze trail?" +</P> + +<P> +For a few moments Handsome made no answer. The thoughtful expression +on his pale, care-worn face showed that he was thinking hard. What was +passing in his mind no one knew, but whatever it was it caused the +lines about his strong mouth to tighten and the steely blue eyes to +flash. A million dollars? God! What will a man not do for a million +dollars? Turning to the valet, he said hastily: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm on. Take me to your party. I'll show you the trail. Quick, +lead the way." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + + +<P> +Traveling to and from the diamond fields in the days immediately +following the first rush was not an unmixed joy. Express wagons drawn +by eight horses or mules and running from Cape Town to Klipdrift once a +week charged passengers sixty dollars a head, the journey across the +plains taking about eight days. Travelers whose business was so urgent +that they could not wait for the regular stage had to hire a team of +their own at a much higher expense. +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth did not mind the cost, if only he was able to make good time. +The trip to the mines had been accomplished without mishap. Everything +had gone as well as could be desired. He had been successful in +securing valuable land options for the company, and at last the two +precious stones were in his possession. That it was a big +responsibility, he fully realized. The very knowledge that he had on +his person gems worth over a million dollars, and this in a wild, +uncivilized country where at any moment he might be followed, ambushed +and killed, and no one the wiser, was not calculated to calm his +nerves. But Kenneth Traynor had never known the meaning of the word +fear. He was ready for any emergency and he went about unarmed, cool +and unruffled. From his demeanor at least no one could guess that he +ever gave a thought to the valuable consignment of which he was the +guardian. Of course, it had been impossible to keep the thing secret. +Everybody at the mines knew he had come out for the purpose of taking +the big stones to America. Even his drivers knew, and so did François. +The news was public property and was eagerly discussed over every camp +fire as one of the sensations of the day. All this publicity did not +tend to lessen the risk, and that was why he was so anxious to reach +Cape Town without the least possible delay. He had timed his departure +from the mines so as to just catch the steamer for England, and now, +after all his trouble and careful calculation, the fool mule drivers +had gone and lost the trail. It was most exasperating. +</P> + +<P> +The wagon had come to a halt the night before under shelter of a +fair-sized kopjie. The mules, tormented by the deadly <I>tetse</I> fly, +stood whisking their tails and biting savagely at their hereditary +enemy; the drivers, indifferent and stolid, sat on the ground smoking +their pipes, while Kenneth, fuming at this unlooked for mishap which +threatened an even more serious delay, strode up and down the <I>veldt</I>, +swearing at the mules, the stolid drivers and everything else in sight. +</P> + +<P> +François, who had left camp for assistance long before sunrise, had not +yet returned. Unless help came soon they'd be held there another +night. There was no use trying to proceed without a guide, for they +might find themselves going round and round in a circle. There was +nothing to do but wait until help came. +</P> + +<P> +Sitting down on the stump of a tree near the fire, he tried to possess +his soul in patience while one of the teamsters, who also officiated as +cook, busied himself getting breakfast. It was now broad daylight; the +weather clear and cold. As he sat there idly and smoked reflectively, +his thoughts wandered homeward, four thousand miles across the seas. +He wondered what Helen was doing, if little Dorothy was well, if +everything was all right. Only now he realized what the word home +meant to him, and a chill ran through him as he thought of all the +things that could happen. Yet how foolish it was to worry. What could +happen? Helen had her sister constantly with her, and she was well +looked after by Mr. Parker and Wilbur Steell. It was absurd to have +any anxiety on that score. Besides, if anything had gone wrong, they +would certainly have called him. He had had several letters from +Helen, all of them saying she and baby were well and waiting eagerly +for his return. Yes, he would soon be home now. In another two days +he would reach Cape Town. From there to Southampton was only a +fortnight's sail, and in another week he would be in New York. +</P> + +<P> +These and kindred thoughts of home ran through his mind as he sat +before the camp fire and tranquilly smoked his pipe. The drivers were +busying themselves cleaning the harness, the mules were docilely +browsing, the air was filled by a fragrant odor of coffee. His +memories went back to his boyhood days. He recalled what the old nurse +had told him about a twin brother. How strange it would be if he ever +turned up. Such things were possible, of course, but hardly probable. +No, the chances were that he was dead. If he had lived, how different +everything might have been. He would have inherited half their +father's money. What had been enough to start one so well in life +would only have been a meagre provision for two. Yet it might have +been an advantage, forced him to still greater effort. He might have +got even farther than he had—who knows? +</P> + +<P> +At that moment his reflections were interrupted by the sound of voices +in the distance. He heard some one running. One of the teamsters came +up hurriedly and exclaimed breathlessly: +</P> + +<P> +"He's found some one, sir; he's got two men with him. They're coming +now." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth jumped up and, shading his eyes, looked out across the yellow +waste of stones and gravel. About a mile away he saw François, +accompanied by two strangers, who looked like miners. They were +tattered and miserable looking, as if down on their luck. One of them +was limping as if lame; the other, much taller, although ragged and +forlorn, had a soldierly bearing and the appearance of a gentleman. +The valet, who had been walking faster than his companions, came up at +that instant. +</P> + +<P> +"Who have you got there?" demanded Kenneth. +</P> + +<P> +"Two miners, monsieur. I found zem several miles away on ze <I>veldt</I>. +They have tramped for days without food; they are starving." +</P> + +<P> +"Do they know the trail?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, monsieur. Ze big man knows ze trail. He will show ze way—for a +consideration." +</P> + +<P> +"Good! First give them some breakfast and then we'll go." +</P> + +<P> +He waved his hand in the direction of the cook's mess, where the coffee +was already steaming on the fire, and, turning away, began to gather +his things together, preparatory to departure. There was no reason why +he should have anything to say to the strangers. In fact, it would be +better if they did not see him, or know who he was. It was possible +that they had been at the mines when he arrived, in which case they +would instantly recognize him as the American who had come to take the +big diamonds to New York. Besides, they were not particularly +attractive objects. What did their adventures and mishaps matter to +him? He had troubles of his own. François could look after their +wants. The main thing was to find the trail and get started back +toward Cape Town as soon as possible. When the strangers had been fed +they would set out, and, the trail once found, he would give them a +lift on their way and a few sovereigns into the bargain. That would +more than compensate them for all their trouble. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile he thought he would take a quiet walk. His legs were stiff +from sitting so long. A little exercise would do him the world of +good. So, without a word to anybody, he slipped out of camp unobserved +and started off at a brisk gait. +</P> + +<P> +The region where they had halted seemed to be the center of Nowhere, a +land where had reigned for all time the abomination of desolation +spoken of by all the prophets. Knocking about the world, as he had +done for a lifetime, Kenneth had seen some queer spots in the world, +but never had he come across so savagely repellent a spot as this. It +was Nature in her harshest mood—not a vestige in any direction of +human or animal life. There was not a farm, not a Boer or Kaffir, not +even a tree to be seen. Nothing in every direction but a monotonous +waste of yellow sand, rough stones and stunted grass. An unnatural +stillness filled the air, making the silence oppressive, and uncanny. +The soil was so poor that cultivation was impossible. The ground, +strewn with broken rocks and sharp stones which cut the shoes and hurt +the feet, suggested that in prehistoric times the plateau had been +swept by a volcanic tempest. The slopes of the few scattered kopjies +were sparsely covered with verdure and as he strode along, he passed +here and there clumps of trees, veritable oases in the desert, or deep +water holes under overhanging rocks where under cover of night, strange +beasts came to drink. Apart from these few oases, it was a dreary +monotonous waste of rock and sand, where neither beast or man could +find food or shelter. +</P> + +<P> +He had walked about three miles and was just passing a kopjie where a +group of stunted trees offered a little shelter from the glare of the +sun on the yellow gravel when he began to feel tired. Sitting down on +a decayed tree stump, he took out his pipe, removed his helmet, and +laying lazily back, closed his eyes, a favorite trick of his when he +wished to concentrate his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +The trip, tiresome as it was, had certainly been worth while. His +ambitious dreams had been more than realized. He could scarcely wait +for his arrival to tell Helen the good news. He had secured signatures +to a plan of consolidation of practically all the mining companies +operating in South Africa. Until now, these companies had been engaged +in a fierce and disastrous competition, which cut into each other's +profits and cheapened the market price of stones. He had suggested a +scheme of amalgamation which would put all the mines under one +management, and fix arbitrary prices for diamonds which henceforth +could not be sold under a certain figure agreed upon by the Syndicate. +This plan, which had the general approval of the mining companies, +practically gave Kenneth Traynor control of the diamond industry of the +world, an industry which in South Africa alone had already produced +100,000,000 carats estimated to be worth $750,000,000. Overnight, +Kenneth found himself many times a millionaire. +</P> + +<P> +It had come at last—what he waited for all these years. This new +consolidation deal meant great wealth to its promoters. What would he +do with it? Most men need only enough for their actual needs, but he +had higher aims. An ardent socialist he would use his money for the +cause. Not, however, in the way others did, but to buy influence, +power. He would fight Capitalism, in his own way. He would go into +politics, run for public office, try and remedy some of the economic +abuses from which people of the United States were now suffering. He +would wage warfare on the high cost of living, on Greed and Graft. He +would attack the Plutocracy in its stronghold, lay bare the inner +workings of the System, the concentration of the wealth of the entire +country in the hands of a few, by which the rich each year were +becoming richer and the poor each year poorer. It would not be the +first time a multi-millionaire had espoused the cause of the +proletariat, but he would carry on the fight more vigorously than +anyone had done. He would force an issue, make Greed disgorge its +ill-gotten gains and accord to Labor its rightful place in the sun, its +proper share of the world's production of wealth. His sympathies in +the bitter struggle between the capitalists and the wage earners were +wholly with the people who under the present wage system, had little +chance to raise themselves from the mire. But he was intelligent +enough to realize that the faults were not all on the side of Capital. +Labor, too, needed the curb at times. Too ready to listen to the +reckless harangues of irresponsible professional demagogues, wage +earners were often as tyrannical as capitalists, insisting on +impossible demands, rejecting sober compromise which, in the end, must +be the basis of all amicable relations between employer and employed. +</P> + +<P> +For some time he sat there, giving free rein to his imagination, when +suddenly he fancied he heard the sound of heavy footsteps crunching on +the hard sand. Raising his head he looked quickly round but seeing no +one, concluded he was mistaken. Looking at his watch, he was amazed to +find that he had been away from camp a whole hour. There was no time +to be lost. The men had certainly finished eating by now; they could +start at once. Jumping up he turned round to retrace his steps the +same way he had come, when, suddenly, a shadow fell between him and the +white road. Looking up, he was startled to see himself reflected as in +a mirror against the green background of the kopjie. +</P> + +<P> +At first he thought he must be ill. The walk, the sun, the exposure +had no doubt overstimulated him and made him excited and feverish. He +was seeing things. His success with the diamond deal had affected his +brain. Of course, it was only an hallucination. The next time he +looked this fantastic creation of his disordered mind would be gone. +Again he glanced up in the direction of the kopjie. The apparition was +still there, a horrible, monstrous, distortion of himself, standing +still, speechless, staring at him. That it was only a mirage there +could be no doubt. He had heard of such mirages at sea and also in the +Sahara where wandering Arabs have beheld long caravans journeying in +the skies. But he had never heard of a mirage lasting as long as this +one. Would it never disappear? It must be a nightmare which still +obsessed him. That was it. He had fallen asleep on the tree and was +not yet awake. With an effort he made a step forward and tried to +articulate, but the words stuck in his throat. Suddenly the spell was +broken by the apparition itself, which moved and spoke. He recognized +who it was now—one of the strangers brought in by François—but that +astonishing likeness of himself— +</P> + +<P> +Judging by the astonished expression on his face, Handsome was just as +much surprised as Kenneth at the encounter. After satisfying his +hunger he, too, had strayed away from the camp, unable to control his +impatience while the teamsters were harnessing the mule team. He had +left Hickey to gorge still more while he strutted on by himself, +cogitating on what the valet had told him in regard to the diamonds. +This sudden meeting with the very man who had been uppermost in his +thoughts was surprising enough, and instantly he, also, was struck with +the extraordinary resemblance between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Who the devil are you?" he demanded in surly tones. +</P> + +<P> +Thus rudely aroused to the reality, and seeing that it was really a +creature of flesh and blood he had to deal with and not a creature of +another world, Kenneth answered haughtily: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not accustomed to being addressed in that manner." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome laughed mockingly. With affected politeness he retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"Your lordship's servant! What is his lordship's pleasure?" +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth did not hear the taunting reply or heed the sneer. He was +still staring at this counterpart of himself, this very image yet who +was not himself, but a human derelict, a wretched, sodden outcast. All +at once, an overwhelming, horrible suggestion rushed across his brain. +Could it be, was it—his long lost twin brother? Almost gasping, he +demanded: +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"What is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +The man chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"They call me Handsome. That's because I'm a good looker. I have had +a good many other names, but I've forgotten what they are. The police +know. It's all in the records." +</P> + +<P> +"My God—a police record!" +</P> + +<P> +"What of it?" Bitterly he added: "We can't all be fine gentlemen and +millionaires." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you from?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nowhere." +</P> + +<P> +"Who were your parents?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never had any that I know of." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth started forward and, seizing the man's left hand, closely +examined it. Yes, there was the scar on the index finger of the left +hand. No further doubt was possible. This was his brother. Handsome, +meantime, had been watching the other's agitation with mingled interest +and amusement. +</P> + +<P> +Hoarsely, Kenneth cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been all these years?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome stared as if he thought his interlocutor had gone crazy. +Almost angrily he retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"What d——d business is it of yours?" +</P> + +<P> +Paying no heed to the miner's offensive attitude, and anxious only to +learn something of his history, Kenneth approached him and held out his +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to be your friend." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome drew back suspiciously. Always associated with evil himself, +he looked for only evil from others. Bitterly he retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"My friend—what do your kind care for poor devils like me?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, Kenneth removed his helmet, suddenly revealing the solitary +lock of white hair. Handsome fell back in surprise. For the first +time he realized the extraordinary resemblance. He had noticed a +marked likeness before, but now the diamond promoter's helmet was off, +it was positively startling. Hoarsely he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"The devil! Who are you? You look just like——" +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth looked at him keenly for a moment. Then he said calmly: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I look just like you. No wonder. You are—my brother!" +</P> + +<A NAME="img-152"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-152.jpg" ALT=""Yes, you are my brother. We are twins."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="422" HEIGHT="670"> +<H3 STYLE="width: 422px"> +"Yes, you are my brother. We are twins." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Your brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—my brother. We are twins. You were kidnapped by gypsies +thirty-two years ago. Our old nurse told me the story for the first +time the day before I sailed from New York. She also told me about +that scar on your hand. You cut it badly when you were a year old and +the scar has remained ever since. Everybody believed you dead. Where +have you been all these years?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome made no answer but fell back a few steps, and passed his hand +over his brow as if bewildered. This astonishing revelation had been +made so suddenly that it had left him dazed. A wild, improbable tale, +it seemed, yet perhaps there was some truth in it. He had never known +who his parents were and it had always seemed to him that he came of +better stock than those with whom he associated. Then again, there was +the ridiculous likeness. One had only to look at them both—it was the +same face. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, gradually, as he looked more closely at Kenneth the conviction +grew stronger that this, indeed, was his brother, his own flesh and +blood, yet it aroused within him no emotion and left him entirely cold. +No impulse seized him to throw himself into this man's arms and embrace +him. His heart was steeled against the world. Human affection and +sympathy had dried up in his breast years ago. What he saw was not a +kinsman, a brother, but a man who had succeeded in life where he had +failed, a man who was rich and happy while he was poor and miserable, a +man who had everything while he had nothing. And if the tale were +true, if indeed, he were this rich man's brother, it only made matters +worse, for he had been robbed of his rightful inheritance. This rich +man was enjoying wealth half of which rightfully belonged to him. +</P> + +<P> +Again Kenneth demanded: +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been all these years?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here, there, everywhere," was the sullen answer. "London, Paris, +Brussels, Vienna, New York, Boston, Chicago, Havana, Buenos Ayres. I +know them all and they know me—perhaps too well. My earliest +recollection is of the Italian quarter in New York, a long narrow +always dirty street, bordered on either side by dilapidated greasy +tenements, ricketty fire escapes filled with biddy and garbage. Pietro +lived there and kept his organ in the basement cellar. When Pietro +went out with the organ he took me along to excite sympathy. Until I +was fifteen years old I begged to support Pietro. One day he beat me +and I ran away and shipped as cabin boy on a sailing vessel bound for +Liverpool. I reached London and found employment as stable boy at +Ascot. There I learned the fatal fascination of gambling. With what I +saved from my wages I bet on the horses. I won and won again. I went +back to London and frequented the gambling houses. I won, always won. +One day there was a row. Someone complained I had cheated. The police +arrested me. When I left jail I went to the continent and began +gambling again. I have gambled ever since." Pointing in the direction +of the mines he added bitterly: +</P> + +<P> +"That was my last gamble and I lost. That's all I have to tell." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth listened with keen interest. When the other stopped speaking +he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"And now—what will you do?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome shrugged his shoulders and made no answer. Kenneth went on: +</P> + +<P> +"You can't keep up the old life—that is impossible. You owe something +to the blood that's running in your veins. There is only one thing for +you to do. You must break off with the past for good, and come home +with me. Are you known in New York?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I never returned there since I was a child." +</P> + +<P> +"Your operations in America were confined to San Francisco, Chicago and +St. Louis——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth breathed more freely. +</P> + +<P> +"That makes matters easier. No one in New York, therefore, has +anything against you. There it will be possible to live down your +past. You will cease being an outcast, a wanderer on the face of the +earth. You will take the place in society for which Nature intended +you." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome smiled cynically. Grimly he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"I guess Nature never expected much of me." +</P> + +<P> +"You never can tell," said Kenneth quickly. "Your environments no +doubt were responsible for your downfall. You have been a victim of +circumstances." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome was silent. This free roving life had come second nature to +him. He looked with suspicion on any other. After a pause, he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What can I do in New York?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will dress and house you like a gentleman. For a time you can make +your home with us. If we find we can't agree, well—we'll part. I +will find you employment——" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome laughed. Mockingly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Then I am to be dependent on you——" +</P> + +<P> +"No—not on me——. On your own efforts. There is no reason why, if +given a chance, you will not make a success in the world. You are +still young and energetic. I will give you a start in any line you +wish to enter. I will make you a present of $10,000. It should be +enough capital to start in any business." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Charity?" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"No—not charity—brotherly affection." +</P> + +<P> +His brother laughed mockingly. Bitterly he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it's conscience money." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"You inherited from our father, didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—but I've increased it a hundred-fold by my own efforts." +</P> + +<P> +"How much did he leave you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't he leave me some?" +</P> + +<P> +"He believed you dead. The sum I offer you is the sum you would have +inherited from our father had he known you were living. Do you accept?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome was silent. His brain was working fast. What this man +offered him was the merest pittance. Put out at interest, it would +give him the princely income of $10 a week. What did he care for the +good opinion of the world? He had knocked about so long, roughing it +everywhere, that he might as well end as he had begun—an adventurer. +Suddenly there flashed across his brain a wild, audacious idea—a +scheme so fantastic, so fraught with adventure and peril that the very +thought gave him a thrill. It involved violence, possibly a crime. +Well, what of it? He was not the kind to be deterred by trifles. This +man was nothing to him. Brotherly love, family ties—these were simply +phrases to one who had never known them. He knew and obeyed only one +instinct—the fight for life, the survival of the fittest. Society had +waged war on him; he would be merciless in his war on society. This +man—this alleged brother, threw him a sop, insulted him by offering +him charity. Why should he hesitate? It was his life or another's. +There was a big prize to be won. Life was sweet when one has millions +to enjoy it with. This man had now on his person diamonds worth over a +million and he had more millions at home. Suppose something happened +to this man here in South Africa and he went home in his stead to take +his place in his household and enjoy his millions? Who would know the +difference? +</P> + +<P> +Impatient at the other's silence Kenneth demanded somewhat sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what do you say? Do you accept?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked straight at his <I>vis-à-vis</I>, but Handsome avoided his direct +gaze. He was silent for another moment as if reflecting. Then, +slowly, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I accept." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + + +<P> +The string orchestra, adroitly concealed behind a bank of graceful +exotic plants, struck up a languorous waltz, and the couples, only too +eager to respond to the invitation, began to turn and glide over the +polished parquet floor. +</P> + +<P> +Not since its master's departure for South Africa had the Traynor +residence been the scene of so much life and gayety. Every window +literally blazed with light. From the front door at the top of the +high stoop down to the edge of the street curb, stretched a canvas +awning to protect arriving guests from the inclemency of the weather. +</P> + +<P> +It was a stormy night. The rain was falling in torrents, but no one +cared. Everybody was out for a good time and they knew that this was +the house to get it. +</P> + +<P> +Helen's first impulse had been to postpone the affair, held really in +celebration of Ray's birthday, until Kenneth's return, but as this idea +had met with decided opposition from the younger element, she had +reluctantly given way. Besides, there was no knowing when Kenneth +would return. Nothing as yet had been heard from him excepting a brief +cablegram announcing his safe arrival at Cape Town, and it was +manifestly unfair to let her own inclinations stand in the way of the +happiness of others. So, after due reflection, she had surrendered +completely, giving Ray <I>carte blanche</I> to make what arrangements she +chose. That young person did not stand on the order of going. She +acted at once and sent out invitations to what proved to be one of the +biggest <I>soirées dansantes</I> of the season. Everything was done on a +most liberal scale. The house was decorated by Herly, three +picturesque fiddlers were obtained from an agency, and Mazzoni, who +provides delicacies for the "400," had charge of the catering. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody who was anybody was invited, all Ray's personal friends +besides a lot of people she did not know so well. A number of Helen's +intimates were there and also some men friends of Mr. Steell and Dick +Reynolds. The girls in their light gowns looked pretty as angels. The +men were handsome, attentive and gallant. Altogether, everyone voted +it one of the most enjoyable social affairs of the year. +</P> + +<P> +Ray had danced her sixth waltz and at last utterly exhausted, unable to +stand any more, she allowed Dick Reynolds to escort her to a sofa. +</P> + +<P> +"Please get me an ice, will you? That's a dear boy," she gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Will I!" echoed the youth. "What wouldn't I do for you—fire and +water—that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +"As bad as that?" laughed the girl panting. "Please don't be silly. +Go and get me an ice." +</P> + +<P> +Obediently, he left her and forced his way through the throng to the +buffet, while Ray, left alone, started to fan herself vigorously. As +she sat there Helen passed on the arm of Mr. Parker. The President +stopped short and quizzed the young girl. +</P> + +<P> +"You here?" ejaculated the old gentleman in mock amazement. "Why +aren't you dancing? This will never do." +</P> + +<P> +Helen smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I expect she's tired out. This is the first time I've seen her sit +down all evening." +</P> + +<P> +Ray nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"You've guessed right, sis. I'm nearly dead. I sent Dick for an ice." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever see such a crowd?" remarked the president of the A. A. M. +Company as he surveyed the throng that passed in and out of the rooms. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mrs. Traynor we're having such a jolly time," exclaimed a tall +graceful girl, gracefully dressed in light blue empire gown with +Grecian head dress. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad, dear," smiled the hostess amiably. Turning to Mr. Parker +as the girl passed on she asked: "Do you know who that is?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"She's the granddaughter of John R. Rockerford, the money king. Fancy +her saying this is jolly after the grandeur she is accustomed to!" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt she likes this better," retorted Ray. "Those very rich +people don't do things any better than we—sometimes not so well. +Their parties are too stiff and formal." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Mr. Parker nudged his hostess. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes Mrs. Brewster-Curtis," he said in a stage whisper. "They +say her husband's worth ten millions—all made from graft." +</P> + +<P> +A handsome woman, blazing with diamonds, came up. Addressing Helen, +she exclaimed gushingly: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mrs. Traynor, isn't this perfectly delightful? How do you do, Mr. +Parker. Do you know I haven't enjoyed myself so much this season. +What's the news from your dear husband?" +</P> + +<P> +"No news as yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me—you poor thing! How interesting—so pretty and husband away. +What an opportunity for some of our gay Lotharios!" +</P> + +<P> +"They wouldn't have much chance with Helen!" laughed Ray. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Brewster-Curtis turned, and putting up her gold lorgnon, stared at +the unknown young woman who had been so bold to venture to express an +opinion. Ray, meantime, was wondering what detained Dick. Here she +was famishing with thirst and still no ice. Her partner had +disappeared completely. +</P> + +<P> +Addressing her hostess Mrs. Brewster said languidly: +</P> + +<P> +"Your niece, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"No—my sister," corrected Helen with a smile. It was a mistake often +made. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course—of course, how silly of me. I might have known that. You +look enough alike." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so?" interrupted Ray hotly. "Helen is far prettier than +I." +</P> + +<P> +"You are no judge, my dear. You must let the men decide that." +</P> + +<P> +"They do," said Ray, "and they all declare in favor of Helen." +</P> + +<P> +"Not by the way Mr. Steell dodges [Transcriber's note: dogs?] your +footsteps." Looking up she exclaimed: "There he is now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Steell," cried Helen, "don't forget our next waltz." +</P> + +<P> +His face all smiles, the lawyer forced his way through the press of +people. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you seen Dick?" asked Ray. "I sent him to get me an ice." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell laughed outright. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it was you who sent him. If I had known——" +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" demanded Ray, opening wide her eyes. "Where is he? I want my +ice." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get you an ice, dear," said Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"No, let me go," exclaimed Mr. Parker. +</P> + +<P> +"No—no one will get the ice but myself," said Mr. Steell. "It's my +fault that the ice is not already forthcoming. It is only just that I +suffer accordingly." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"The ice episode threatens to become a diplomatic incident." +</P> + +<P> +"Why—whatever is the matter?" smiled Helen. +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer was so much amused that he could hardly keep his face +straight. With an effort he controlled himself, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Just now I was talking with a pretty girl and Dick suddenly forced his +way through the crowd, going in the direction of the buffet. I had no +idea on what a serious mission he was bound, of course, and so I called +him to introduce him to the pretty girl, who had with her an aunt, a +veritable witch, as hideous as a Medusa, and who, in addition, is +afflicted with a wooden leg. Dick gave the aunt only a glance. That +was enough, but he was all smiles for her pretty niece, who, I must +admit, is somewhat of a flirt. Anyhow she rolled her eyes so +eloquently at him that he forgot all about the important errand on +which he was bound. Just at that moment the musicians struck up a +<I>schottische</I>, and, on the spur of the moment, he asked the pretty girl +to dance. She declined, with an arch smile, but, pointing to the old +witch, said her aunt would be delighted. Poor Dick! There was no help +for it. The Medusa got up, seized him in her claws, and, the last +thing I saw of the poor youth, they were doing a sort of Bunny Hug, the +wooden leg of his lady partner marking time on the waxed floor." +</P> + +<P> +"Please stop! If you go on—I shall expire." +</P> + +<P> +Ray was nearly in convulsions of laughter in which all joined. When +Helen had somewhat regained her composure, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's unkind to make fun of the poor woman. Who is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't the least idea. Perhaps Dick will tell us." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the youth emerged from the throng and came towards them, +his linen mussed, his hair dishevelled. But in one hand he held grimly +a plate of ice cream. Looking shamelessly at Ray, he smiled: +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it—at last." +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been all this time?" she demanded innocently. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've been having no end of a good time!" +</P> + +<P> +Steell burst out laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Did she ask you to call, Dick?" +</P> + +<P> +"If she had I'd have killed her." +</P> + +<P> +"How did the artificial leg work?" +</P> + +<P> +"She jammed it on my foot once. How it did hurt!" +</P> + +<P> +Ray, by this time, was almost in hysterics, and Helen and the others, +catching the contagion, the whole group were soon shaken by +uncontrollable laughter. +</P> + +<P> +The orchestra struck up a quadrille. A man came rushing up to Ray. +</P> + +<P> +"My dance, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +With a comical expression of resignation, the young girl allowed +herself to be led away, while Helen and Mrs. Brewster-Curtis took seats +to watch the figures. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Dick," said Steell in an undertone. "Let's go and smoke a +cigar." +</P> + +<P> +Leading the way he went into the smoking-room, where cigars and liquors +were laid out. Turning to the youth, he inquired eagerly: +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what about the Signor? What have you found out?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick lit a cigarette and then calmly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Everything." +</P> + +<P> +"What—to be specific." +</P> + +<P> +"He's all and more than we expected." +</P> + +<P> +"In other words—a crook?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and a dangerous one." +</P> + +<P> +"What's his game?" +</P> + +<P> +"Confidence man, bank robber, blackmailer." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you find out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very easily. I found his record. The police haven't disturbed him +because his clever disguise has deceived them. They have not +recognized in the polished, suave Signor Keralio, the popular fencing +master, the man they have been hunting for years. His real name is +Richard Barton. His pals call him Baron Rapp. Five years ago he was +convicted of robbing a bank out West and was sent up for ten years. He +served a year in Joliet and then broke jail and he has been at liberty +ever since." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed the lawyer, rubbing his hands with satisfaction. +"We've got him where we want him. What else?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has managed to elude the police so far owing to the fact that he +has not been operating of late, but from what I've been able to ferret +out, he is preparing some big haul. Everything points that way. I +don't know what it is, but it's the biggest thing in which he has yet +been mixed up. He's affiliated with crooks who operate all over the +country. Some of his men are disguised as servants and valets in rich +houses. They spy on their masters and tell him if there is anything +worth robbing. He is the master-mind that schemes the operations that +others carry out. He tells his men what banks and homes to break into +and instructs them how to do it. He receives all the stolen property. +At this very moment his flat in the Bronx is full of stolen loot. I +also suspect him of being engaged in counterfeiting." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer was lost in admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you're a wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +The young man grinned with pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what's it to be—shall we tip off the police?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not by a long shot. We'll have the gun loaded—all ready for use. If +the Signor gets ugly we'll shoot—that's all. Not a word, do you hear. +Leave everything to me. Come, let's go back or they'll think +something's wrong." +</P> + +<P> +In the ballroom, they were still dancing the quadrille, the pretty +gowns of the girls and black coats of the men making a picturesque +sight as they blended in the ever changing figures. +</P> + +<P> +The gayety was at its height when the maid entered and whispered in her +ear: +</P> + +<P> +"There's a gentleman downstairs." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked at the girl in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"A gentleman? What's his name?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, m'm. He wouldn't say." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, I'll go down." +</P> + +<P> +Slipping away unobserved, Helen made her way downstairs and throwing +back the heavy tapestry portières entered the drawing room which was +almost in complete darkness. The maid had forgotten to switch on the +electrolier and as the only light came from the distant dining-room, +the big parlor was practically all in gloom. Before her eyes had +become quite accustomed to the dark, a man advanced out of the shadow. +It was Signor Keralio. +</P> + +<P> +She recognized him instantly and instinctively she shrank back, +alarmed. How had he dared come again to her house after what had +occurred? He noticed the movement and asked: +</P> + +<P> +"I see that I'm unwelcome. Do I frighten you so much?" +</P> + +<P> +Coldly she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"You do not frighten me. You surprise me. I did not expect this +pleasure after what passed between us the last time you were here." +Making a half turn, as if about to leave the room, she added quickly: +"I have company upstairs. You must excuse me." +</P> + +<P> +She walked away and had almost reached the door, when, with a quick +stride, he intercepted her. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't go. I am here in your own interest. I want to talk to +you—just a moment, about——" +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"About what?" she demanded haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"About your husband." +</P> + +<P> +"My husband?" she echoed, turning and facing him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—your husband. He is in danger. I want to help you and—him." +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth in danger?" she faltered. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you sit down. I won't keep you a moment. I will tell you +everything——" +</P> + +<P> +She sat down like one in a dream. Taking a seat near her, he began in +his low, musical tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Peril threatens your husband. It is known that he has gone to South +Africa to bring home diamonds of almost inestimable value. A number of +desperate men, who stop at nothing to accomplish their ends, have taken +steps to secure the diamonds at any cost—even at the price of a human +life." +</P> + +<P> +A chill ran through her, but her voice was firm as she demanded +scornfully: +</P> + +<P> +"You know these men—these murderers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I know them." +</P> + +<P> +Instantly came the bitter retort: +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you are one of them!" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes flashed in the darkness and his voice vibrated with passion as +he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I know you think ill of me. You do me an injustice. I have no share +in these men's operations, but I have great power over them. They must +obey my command. They know that and so respect my orders. A word from +me and your husband will be unmolested." +</P> + +<P> +Like the drowning man who in his agony will grasp eagerly at a floating +straw, Helen seized at the hope his words held out. That Kenneth was +in peril she readily believed. It was a dangerous mission. She had +scented danger from the outset. This man might be lying, and yet he +might have the influence he boasted. +</P> + +<P> +"You can avert the danger?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I can." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will give orders that he be unmolested." +</P> + +<P> +"And they will obey you?" +</P> + +<P> +"They will." +</P> + +<P> +Her face brightened. More amiably she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll do this, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—for a price." +</P> + +<P> +"What price?" +</P> + +<P> +"That you recall what you said the other day and restore me to a place +in your friendship." +</P> + +<P> +There was no mistaking his true meaning. It was a price no +self-respecting woman could pay. She rose indignantly, and haughtily +she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You have never had a place in my friendship, Signor Keralio, and you +never will. I see through your motive and I despise you now all the +more. My husband, who is an honorable man, would be the first to have +done with me forever if I entered into any such bargain. He has +mistaken your character. When he returns I will enlighten him, and he +will tell you himself that his wife has no dealings with a scoundrel. +As for your threats, and tale of mysterious danger, I don't believe a +word you say. But I may think it worth while to cable my husband in +order to put him on his guard and to inform the police. Good night!" +</P> + +<P> +Before he could stop her, she had touched an electric bell and left the +room. The next instant Roberts, the butler, appeared and threw open +the front door. There was nothing to do but go. +</P> + +<P> +She had defied him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + + +<P> +Eagerly, breathlessly, Helen tore open the cablegram. +</P> + +<P> +It was late Saturday afternoon and she had been with Ray and Mr. Steell +to see some paintings—a private view of a remarkable collection of old +masters. After having tea at the Plaza they had taken a brisk walk +through the Park, the lawyer insisting that the exercise would do them +good. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just come, m'm," said the maid, holding out the thin envelope. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's from Kenneth!" exclaimed Ray excitedly, throwing down her +muff and running to look over her sister's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +For long, dreary weeks Helen had expected, and waited for, this +message, and now it had come, she was almost afraid to read it. There +were only a few words, cold and formal, the usual matter-of-fact, +businesslike phraseology of the so-much-a-word telegram: +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +CAPE TOWN, Thursday (delay in transmission). Sail to-day on the +<I>Abyssinia</I>. All's well. KEN. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all?" exclaimed Ray, disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"How much more do you expect at $2 a word?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he might be a little more explicit," pouted Ray. "If I were his +wife, that wouldn't satisfy me." +</P> + +<P> +Helen laughed lightly. Her eyes sparkling, her usually pale cheeks +filled with a ruddy color from her walk in the park, the lawyer thought +he had never seen her looking so pretty. +</P> + +<P> +"It satisfies me," she said, her face all lit up with joyous +excitement. "All I want to know is that he is safe and on his way +home. The cablegram is dated Thursday. Then he's already on the water +three days! I wonder why we didn't hear before?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell glanced over her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"The dispatch has been delayed. Don't you see? It says, 'delayed in +transmission.'" +</P> + +<P> +Helen turned round, her face radiant. +</P> + +<P> +"When ought he to get here?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer was silent for a moment as if calculating. Then, looking +up, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>Abyssinia</I> is not a very fast boat. I suppose she is the best he +could get. She's due at Southampton two weeks from to-day. A week +after that, he ought to be in New York—providing nothing happens." +</P> + +<P> +Helen, who was still reading and re-reading the cablegram, looked up +quickly. With a note of alarm in her voice, she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Providing nothing happens! What could happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing serious, of course. In these days of the wireless nothing +ever happens to steamers. One is safer traveling on the sea than on +land. I didn't mean anything serious, but merely that sometimes boats +are delayed by bad weather or by fog. That prevents them arriving on +schedule time." +</P> + +<P> +Almost three months had slipped by since Kenneth's departure from New +York. To Helen it had seemed so many years. She had tried to be +contented and happy for Ray's sake. She entertained a good deal, +giving dinner and theater parties, keeping open house, playing +graciously the rôle of chatelaine in the absence of her lord, to all +outward appearances as gay and light-hearted as ever. Only Ray and her +immediate friends knew that the gayety was forced. +</P> + +<P> +The poison had done its deadly work. The few words uttered by Signor +Keralio that afternoon shortly after her husband's departure had burnt +deep into her mind like letters of fire. Well she guessed the object +of the wily Italian in speaking as he did. It availed him nothing, and +she only despised him the more. It was cowardly, contemptible, and, +from such a source, absolutely unworthy of belief. Yet secretly it +worried her just the same. She had always considered Kenneth's life an +open book. She thought she knew his every action, his every thought. +The mere suggestion that her husband might have other interests, other +attachments of which she knew nothing took her so by surprise that she +was disarmed, powerless to answer. The innuendo that he might be +unfaithful had gone through her heart like a knife. Of course it was +quite ridiculous. He was not that kind of man. It was true he had +often gone away on trips that seemed unnecessary, and now she came to +think of it Kenneth's absences had of late been both frequent and +mysterious. Then, too, she had no idea of the extent of his operations +in Wall Street. She knew he bought and sold stocks sometimes. That is +only what every investor does. But it was incredible that he was +involved to the extent Keralio said he was. She knew he was ambitious +to acquire wealth, but that he would take such fearful risks and +jeopardize funds which, after all, belonged, not to him, but to the +stockholders—that was impossible. It was a horrible libel. +</P> + +<P> +Still another cause for worry was the health of her little daughter, +Dorothy. Nothing ailed the child particularly, but she was not well. +The doctor said nothing was the matter, but a slight temperature +persisted, together with a cough which, naturally, alarmed the young +mother out of all proportion to the seriousness of the case. The +doctor also advised a change of air, so Helen at once made arrangements +to send her little daughter to Philadelphia, where, in Aunt Carrie's +beautiful house, she would have the best air and attention in the +world. Aunt Carrie came to New York to fetch the child, and, as she +stayed a couple of weeks sight-seeing and visiting friends that also +helped to keep Helen busy. +</P> + +<P> +"I do wish that I didn't have such a worrying disposition"—she laughed +nervously after the lawyer had been at some pains to assure her about +the sea-worthiness of the <I>Abyssinia</I>. "Really, it makes me so +unhappy, but I simply can't help it. The other day it was baby who +made me terribly anxious; now it is Kenneth's home-coming. I must seem +very foolish to you all." +</P> + +<P> +Ray quickly protested. +</P> + +<P> +"You sweet thing—how could you look foolish? What an idea! Only +please don't worry, dear. I never do." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell nodded sympathetically. +</P> + +<P> +"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Mrs. Traynor. It shows you have a +fine, sensitive nature. It is only the grosser natures that are +callous and unaffected by the anxieties of life." +</P> + +<P> +Taking the remarks to herself, Ray threw up her head indignantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I deny the imputation that I'm gross." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"You are far too healthy to worry. Moreover, you have nothing to worry +about. If a man you loved were six thousand miles away——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," interrupted Helen; "that's it. Only those who care for each +other can understand——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, of course!" retorted her sister, flaring up. "We spinsters, +belonging, as we do, to the sisterhood of the Great Unloved, are quite +incompetent to express an intelligent opinion on that or on any other +matter. I grant that, but is Mr. Steell, a confirmed old bachelor, any +more competent than I?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly an old bachelor!" interrupted Helen reprovingly. +</P> + +<P> +"No—middle-aged bachelor!" corrected Ray saucily. "He never cared for +a woman in his life. He——" +</P> + +<P> +"Who told you so?" inquired the lawyer quickly, with an amused twinkle +in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +Ray colored visibly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I judge so," she stammered. "You never speak of that sort of +thing. One can only draw conclusions." +</P> + +<P> +"The conclusions may be wrong," he replied gravely. "My life is a very +busy one. I have had no time to think of anything outside my immediate +work. Yet I am human. I sometimes yearn for the companionship of a +good woman. A pretty face attracts me, as it does other men, but, in +my opinion, any such attachment is too serious a matter to be treated +lightly. When a man feels deeply he keeps his own confidence until the +moment comes when he can unburden himself and say what is in his heart." +</P> + +<P> +"I like that," said Helen, nodding her head approvingly. +</P> + +<P> +Ray jumped up to conceal her embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how terribly serious you two are to-day!" she exclaimed. "I +declare I'll run away unless you cheer up a bit. Suppose I get some +tea?" +</P> + +<P> +"Excellent idea!" laughed the lawyer. +</P> + +<P> +Ray touched a bell, and went to clear a small side table, which she +drew up near where they were sitting. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" she exclaimed, smiling roguishly at the lawyer. "Don't you +think I'm smart?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we do." Lowering his voice he added significantly: "At +least I do." +</P> + +<P> +Apparently the compliment fell on deaf ears, for, turning her head +away, she said quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't be sarcastic." +</P> + +<P> +More seriously, and in the same tone, that even Helen, who was only a +short distance away, could not hear, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm never sarcastic. I think you are all a woman should be." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do. I have thought it for a long time." +</P> + +<P> +"Really?" +</P> + +<P> +"Really." +</P> + +<P> +The young girl colored with pleasure. For all her sophisticated and +independent manner she was still a child at heart. She had no thoughts +of marriage, but it flattered her to think that she had the power to +attract and interest this serious, brilliant man of the world. She +said nothing more, relapsing into a meditative silence as she busied +herself helping the maid to set out the tea table. +</P> + +<P> +To Helen it was a source of keen satisfaction to notice the attention +which the brilliant young lawyer was paying her sister. She had long +recognized his sterling qualities. He was a man of whom any woman +might well be proud. He could not but make a good husband. Next to +Kenneth and her baby no one was dearer to her than Ray and, since their +mother died, she had felt a certain sense of responsibility. To see +her well and happily married was the one secret wish of her life. +</P> + +<P> +But overshadowing these preoccupations at present were those other new +anxieties which preyed upon her sensitive mind with all the force of an +obsession. Was there any part of her husband's life that he had hidden +from her? Was he really as loyal as she had always fondly and blindly +believed; had his ambition led him to take grave financial risks that +might one day jeopardize their comfort and happiness, the very future +of their child? +</P> + +<P> +Ray rose to put away the tea table, and she found herself sitting alone +with the lawyer. There was a moment's silence, and then, as if +thinking out aloud what was on her mind, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God, he's safe; I had the most fearful premonitions——" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't put your trust in premonitions—things happen or they don't +happen. It's absurd to believe that misfortunes are all prepared +beforehand." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you are not a fatalist?" +</P> + +<P> +"Decidedly not. I hope I have too much intelligence to believe in +anything so foolish." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you believe in a Supreme Being who has the same power to suddenly +snuff us out of existence as he had to create us?" +</P> + +<P> +"I neither believe nor disbelieve. Frankly, I do not know. What +people call God, Jehovah, Nature, according to my reasoning, is an +astounding energy, a marvellous chemical process, created and +controlled by some unknown, stupendous first cause, the origin of which +man may never understand. How should he? He has not time. We are +rushed into the world without preparation. We are ignorant, helpless, +blind. Gradually, by dint of much physical labor and mental toil, we +succeed in ferreting out a few facts regarding ourselves and the +physical laws that govern us. We are just on the verge of discovering +more—we are just beginning to understand and enjoy life—when suddenly +we find ourselves growing old and decrepit. Our physical and mental +powers fail us, and the same force that benevolently created us now +mercilessly destroys us, and we are hurled, willy-nilly, back into +eternity whence we came. Rather absurd, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Intensely interested Helen looked up. Eagerly she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"You have a whole system of philosophy in a mere handful of words, +haven't you?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all one needs, and perhaps as good as those more complicated and +more verbose." +</P> + +<P> +More seriously and lowering her voice so Ray, who was still busy at the +other end of the room, might not overhear, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Steell—you are so clever—you know all about everything. Tell +me, do you know anything about Wall Street?" +</P> + +<P> +The ingenuousness of the question amused him. With a laugh he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"A little—to my sorrow." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a dangerous place, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very; it has a graveyard at one end, the East River at the other, two +places highly convenient at times to those who play the game." +</P> + +<P> +"If luck goes against him, a man could lose his all, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not only his all but the all of others, too—if he's that kind of a +man." +</P> + +<P> +She was silent for a moment. Then she continued: +</P> + +<P> +"And sometimes even fine, honest men are tempted, are they not, to +gamble with money which is not theirs?" +</P> + +<P> +"Many have done so. The prisons are full of them. There is nothing so +dangerous as the get-rich-quick fever. All the men who gamble in +stocks have it. It becomes a mania, an obsession. Their judgment +becomes warped; they lose all sense of right and wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"There's something else I want to ask you. What do you think of Signor +Keralio?" +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated a moment before he answered. Then, with some warmth, he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"As I told you before, I think he's a crook, only we can't prove it. +I've been looking up his record. It's a bad one. The fellow has +behaved himself so far in New York, but out West he is known under +various names as one of the slickest rogues that ever escaped hanging. +At one time he was the chief of a band of international crooks and +blackmailers that operated in London, Paris, Buenos Ayres, and the City +of Mexico. The scheme they usually worked was to get some prominent +man so badly compromised that he would pay any amount to save himself +from exposure, and they played so successfully on the fears of their +victims that they were usually successful." +</P> + +<P> +A worried look came into the young wife's face. Perhaps there was more +in Signor Keralio's relations with her husband than she had suspected. +Quickly she asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Why do they permit a man of that character to be at large?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't proceed against a man unless there is some specific charge +made. The police have nothing now against him. He may have reformed +for all I know. But that was his record some years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think he'll dare come here again," went on Helen. "He's +exceedingly offensive, and yet he has about him a certain magnetism +that compels your attention, even while his manner and look repels and +irritates. Only the other day he——" +</P> + +<P> +Before she could complete the sentence, there was a loud ring at the +front door bell. Helen hastily rose, but Ray had already gone forward. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Mr. Parker," she cried. "I saw him coming from the window." +</P> + +<P> +The next instant the door of the drawing-room was flung open and Mr. +Parker appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, ladies! Howdy, Steell!" +</P> + +<P> +The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not looking his +usual debonair self that evening. His manner was nervous and +flustered, his face pale and drawn with anxious lines. His coat lacked +the customary boutonnière, and his crumpled linen and unshaved chin +suggested that he had come direct from his office after a strenuous day +without stopping to go through the formality of making a change of +attire. +</P> + +<P> +Helen was quick to note the alteration in his appearance, and her first +instinct, naturally, was to associate it with her husband. Something +was amiss. +</P> + +<P> +"There's nothing wrong, is there?" she asked in alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, my dear woman!" +</P> + +<P> +But his tone was not convincing. He always called her "my dear woman" +when nervous or excited, and "my dear lady" in his calmer moods. She +at once remarked it, and it did not tend to reassure her. Now greatly +alarmed she laid a trembling hand on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, please! Don't hide anything from me. Has anything happened +to Kenneth?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—no; of course not." Quickly changing the subject he asked: "You +got a message." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—a cablegram. It came just now." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got it? Let me see it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, certainly," said Helen, looking around for the dispatch. Unable +to find it, she called to her sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Ray, dear, what did you do with Kenneth's cablegram?" +</P> + +<P> +Her sister came up to assist in the search, in which even Mr. Steell +joined. But the search was fruitless. The cablegram had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know!" suddenly exclaimed Ray. "It must have been carried away +with the tea things." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right! I never thought of that!" said Helen. +</P> + +<P> +The next instant the two women hurried out of the room in the direction +of the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +The instant they had disappeared Mr. Parker turned to the lawyer. In a +whisper he said: +</P> + +<P> +"There is terrible news! I don't know how to break it to the poor +woman——" +</P> + +<P> +Steell sprang forward. Anxiously he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Terrible news? Surely not——" +</P> + +<P> +The president nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—all lost, and the diamonds, too. A dispatch just received in +London says that, according to a wireless relayed from Cape Town, the +<I>Abyssinia</I> caught fire twelve hours after sailing from that port and +all on board perished. It is shocking, and the pecuniary loss to us +disastrous. The stones were not insured. Hush! Here they come. Not +a word!" +</P> + +<P> +"My God!" muttered the lawyer, as he fell back and turned away, so they +might not see the effect which the shocking news had made on him. With +an effort he managed to control himself. +</P> + +<P> +The two women entered the room joyfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Here it is!" cried Helen exultantly, as she brandished the missing +telegram. "You see, he's just sailed, and all's well." +</P> + +<P> +The president said nothing, but, taking the dispatch from her hands, +slowly read it. Nodding his head, he said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—he's just sailed, and—all's well." +</P> + +<P> +"When do you think he'll be here?" questioned the young hostess, +looking anxiously up into his face. +</P> + +<P> +The president shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"That is hard to tell," he answered evasively. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell had gone to the window, where he stood looking out, idly +drumming his fingers on the pane. How was it possible to break such +fearful tidings as that? What a horrible calamity! He wished himself +a hundred miles away, yet some one must tell her. At that moment +shrill cries arose in the street outside—the familiar, distressing, +almost exultant cries of news-venders, glad of any calamity that puts a +few nickels into their pockets. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special ex-tra!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" exclaimed Helen apprehensively. The sound of special +editions always filled her with anxiety, especially since Kenneth's +departure. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special edition! Ex-tra! Big steamer gone down. +Great loss of life. Extra!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Her face was pale, as she turned and looked at the others, who also +stood in silence, listening to the hoarse accents of distress. +</P> + +<P> +"A steamer gone down!" she faltered. "Isn't that terrible? I wonder +what steamer it was." +</P> + +<P> +Ray ran to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get a paper," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Before Mr. Parker or Mr. Steell could prevent her the young girl had +opened the front door. Now there was no way of preventing Helen +knowing. The best thing was to prepare her gently. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Mrs. Traynor—I didn't tell you the trouble just now. There +has been a little trouble. The <I>Abyssinia</I>——" +</P> + +<P> +Helen gave a cry of anguish. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it! I knew it! Kenneth is dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, my dear lady. These newspaper reports are always grossly +exaggerated. The <I>Abyssinia</I> has met with a little trouble—nothing +very serious, I assure you. Everything is all right, no doubt. Your +husband is well able to take care of himself. We may hear from him any +moment, reassuring us as to his safety." +</P> + +<P> +His words of comfort went unheeded. Her face white as death Helen +tottered rather than walked to the door, reaching it just as Ray, +almost as pale, entered, reading the paper she had just purchased. On +seeing her sister she instinctively made an effort to hide the sheet, +but Helen quickly snatched it out of her hand. Her hand trembling so +violently that she could scarcely make out the letters she glanced at +the big scare-head, printed in red ink, to imitate blood, a merciful +custom sensational newspapers have of making the most of the agony of +others. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center" STYLE="color: red"> +S. S. ABYSSINIA GONE DOWN!<BR> +ALL PERISH! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +For a moment she stood still, looking at the big type with open, +staring eyes. Then, with a low cry, like a wounded animal, she let the +paper slip from her nerveless fingers. There was a furious throbbing +at her temples: her heart seemed to stop. The room spun round, and she +fainted just as Steell rushed forward to catch her in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Brandy! Brandy!" he shouted. "She's fainted!" +</P> + +<P> +While Ray ran for the smelling salts and Mr. Parker was bringing the +brandy there came another vigorous pull at the bell. An instant later +the maid entered with a cablegram, which Mr. Parker seized and tore +open. As he read the contents, a look of the greatest surprise and joy +lit up his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at this!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" demanded Steell, still on his knees trying to revive the +unconscious woman. +</P> + +<P> +"This will do her more good than all your brandy." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" cried Ray impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"He's safe!" cried Mr. Parker exultantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Safe!" they all cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—safe." Handing the dispatch to the lawyer, he added: "Here—read +this." +</P> + +<P> +Steell took the dispatch and read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +CAPE TOWN, Saturday: Miraculously saved. Sail to-morrow on the +<I>Zanzibar</I>. KENNETH. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + + +<P> +The house of mourning had suddenly become transformed into a house of +joy. +</P> + +<P> +From the deepest abyss of hopeless despair Helen, during the next few +days, was raised to the highest pinnacle of human felicity. Kenneth +was safe, that was all she wanted to know. Whether he had succeeded or +not in saving the diamonds she did not know or care. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing more had been heard from him. Cable dispatches reported the +<I>Zanzibar</I> to be making good time on her way to Southampton, but, until +the steamer arrived there, no further details were to be expected. +Much, however, had been gleaned as to the fate of the <I>Abyssinia</I>, and, +as the accounts of disaster began to come in, she could only thank God +that he had succeeded in escaping such a fearful fate. The ship had +mysteriously caught fire the first day out from Cape Town, and, in the +excitement, the crew, as well as the passengers, lost their heads. +Only one boat could be lowered, and in this Kenneth got away, together +with François, his valet, and some other passengers. A news item in +connection with the affair, which was of particular interest to Helen, +ran as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="quote"> +"The loss of the <I>Abyssinia</I> brought to a tragic ending a remarkable +romance in which Mr. Kenneth Traynor, one of the rescued passengers and +a prominent New York broker, is one of the principal figures. Mr. +Traynor is one of two twins so identical in appearance that no one, not +even their own mother, knew them apart. One of the children +mysteriously disappeared when a mere child and was believed to be dead. +Mr. Kenneth Traynor went recently to South Africa on business, and on +the diamond fields found in starving condition an unlucky miner who was +a perfect counterpart of himself. It was his lost brother. Mutual +explanations followed and the identity was established. Overjoyed at +the reunion the two brothers sailed for home on the <I>Abyssinia</I>. +Suddenly came the alarm of fire. While the panic on board was at its +worst, the broker lost sight of his brother, whom he never saw again +and whom it is only too certain went down with the ship." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It's almost unbelievable, isn't it?" exclaimed Helen, as she read the +paragraph for the hundredth time and handed it to Wilbur Steell, who +had dropped in to hear if there was any news. +</P> + +<P> +Ray, who loved a mystery better than anything else in the world, +clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it perfectly stunning?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not for Kenneth's brother—poor fellow," said Helen reprovingly. "He +did not live long to enjoy his bettered condition." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right. How thoughtless of me!" said Ray contritely. +</P> + +<P> +As he finished reading Mr. Steell looked puzzled. Looking toward Helen +he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know that your husband had a twin brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"I only knew it recently—just before he sailed. He did not know it +himself." +</P> + +<P> +"How did he find it out?" +</P> + +<P> +"His old nurse told him. I was present." +</P> + +<P> +"Did the nurse know the brother was in South Africa?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—she had no idea of it. I'm sure of that. It's one of those +wonderful coincidences one some-times hears of." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer shook his head. Thoughtfully he said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's certainly strange—one of the strangest things I ever heard of." +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth will be able to tell us more about it when he comes," said Ray. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—no doubt," asserted her sister quickly. +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer remained thoughtful for a moment. Then, lightly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"We ought to give Kenneth a rousing welcome home. After such +experiences as he has had he richly deserves it." +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly Helen caught at the suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +"By all means!" she cried. "Suppose we give a dinner, followed by a +dance." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, lovely!" said Ray. +</P> + +<P> +"The night following his arrival," went on Helen enthusiastically. +"We'll make it quite an affair and invite everyone we know—the +Parkers, the Galloways, the Fentons, everybody——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget me!" interrupted Steell. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you, of course!" Roguishly she added: "Aren't you one of the +family?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her and smiled. In an undertone which Ray, too busy +looking at the paper, did not hear, he added: +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, but I hope to be." +</P> + +<P> +"The sooner the better, Wilbur," she said earnestly. With a +significant glance at her sister she added, "Don't let her keep you +waiting too long." +</P> + +<P> +Every hour brought nearer the happy day when they would see Kenneth +again. A cablegram from England reported that the <I>Zanzibar</I> had +reached Southampton. Closely following this came a brief message from +Kenneth himself, stating that he was on the point of sailing for New +York on the <I>Adriatic</I>. In five more days he would be in New York. +</P> + +<P> +Expectation now reached fever heat, the excitement being communicated +to everyone in the house. Every time the front door bell rang there +was a rush downstairs in the hope that it might be another message. +</P> + +<P> +Ray, bubbling over with excitement, was almost as eager as her sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't it be jolly to go down to the dock and meet him?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't go to meet him. I prefer to be here when he arrives." +Anxiously she added: "I hope everything is all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Why shouldn't it be all right?" +</P> + +<P> +Her sister was silent. It seemed absurd, when everything seemed to +point to her happiness, that she should still feel depressed and +nervous, but, somehow, she could not shake off the feeling that +something was wrong. It was certainly strange that no letter had been +received from Kenneth since the accident. Yet perhaps it was wicked of +her to expect more. She ought to be grateful that he had been spared. +Almost unconsciously she remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it strange that Ken hasn't written for so long? I haven't had a +line from him since he left Cape Town." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—you have," protested her sister. "You had a cablegram telling +you of his safety." +</P> + +<P> +"A cablegram—yes, but no letter. I have had no letter since he left +Cape Town." +</P> + +<P> +"That's true. But how could he write? He has been traveling faster +than the mails." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope he's not hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not. You would have heard it before this. Bad news travels +fast." +</P> + +<P> +Every moment from now on was devoted to getting the house ready for the +arrival of its lord and master. Ray had skilfully fashioned out of red +letters on white paper, a big "Welcome" sign, which was to be suspended +in the hall on the complacent horns of two gigantic moose heads, +souvenirs of a month's vacation in the Adirondacks. While this was +being done downstairs Helen busied herself in the library and bedroom, +getting ready the things for his comfort—his dressing-gown, his +slippers, his pipe. She detested pipes, as do most women, but she +could not refrain from giving this pipe a furtive kiss, as she laid it +lovingly on the table within easy reach of the arm-chair. The maids, +changed since he went away, were laboriously instructed in what they +should and should not do, what towels should be put in the luxurious +bathroom, what pajamas should be laid on the bed. +</P> + +<P> +Well Helen remembered the first time she had entered this bedroom. +Just married, in the full flush of her new-found happiness, it had all +seemed so beautiful, so ideal. The dull pink color scheme, so chaste +and delicate, the gracefully carved furniture, so luxurious and +elegant, the cupids flying above the massive beautifully carved bed, a +veritable bower of love—all this seemed only a realization of her +girlhood dreams of what married life should be. And now Kenneth was +coming back, after his long absence in South Africa, it would be like +getting married all over again. +</P> + +<P> +The next four days seemed longer than any Helen had ever spent in all +her life. The delay was interminable. The minutes appeared to be like +hours, the hours like days. Having to wait patiently for what one +desired so ardently was simply intolerable. She tried to divert her +mind by busying herself about the library, dusting his favorite books, +tidying his papers, but constantly came back the thoughts that filled +her with uneasiness, a vague, undefinable alarm. Was he all right? +</P> + +<P> +At last the great day arrived. A Western Union telegram announced that +the <I>Adriatic</I> would dock at 2 o'clock. Long before that time, Ray, +unable to restrain her impatience, was on her way down town, +accompanied by Mr. Steell, while Helen, her face a little paler than +usual, her heart beating a little faster, sat in the great recessed +window of the library, and waited for the arrival of the loved one. +</P> + +<P> +Anxiously, impatiently, she watched the hands of the clock move round. +How exasperatingly slow it was: how indifferent it seemed to her +happiness! If the ship docked at two they could hardly arrive at the +house until four. It would take at least two hours to get through the +customs. Oh, would the moment never come when she would see his dear +face and clasp him in her arms? +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly half past two when suddenly the front door bell rang. +Her heart leaping to her mouth, she rushed to the top of the stairs. +It was only Mr. Parker, who had dropped in on the chance of finding his +associate already arrived. +</P> + +<P> +To-day the president of the Americo-African Mining Company was in the +highest spirits. Everything had gone according to his expectations. +Kenneth was home with the big diamonds safe in his possession. The +directors could not fail to give him (Parker) credit for his sagacity +and enterprise. The stocks of the company would soar above par. +Fortune was smiling on them in no uncertain way. Was it a wonder he +was feeling in the best of humors? +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know the diamonds are safe?" questioned Helen anxiously. +"In such a terrible panic as there must have been on that ship a man +thinks only of saving himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" replied the president confidently. "I'm as sure of it as that +I'm here. It was understood that he was never to part with the stones +under any circumstances. They are in a belt he wears round his waist +next to his skin. If the diamonds were not here, Kenneth would not be +here. Knowing he is safe I am convinced that they are safe." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you wait here until he comes?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't. There's a meeting of the directors this afternoon. I +must attend. I'll call him up on the telephone——" +</P> + +<P> +"But you are coming to dinner this evening——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, of course." With a smile he added: "Now, don't get too +spoony when he comes, or else Ken will have no head for business." +</P> + +<P> +"No fear," laughed Helen. "We are too long married for that." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-bye. I'll see you later." +</P> + +<P> +The president took his hat and turned to go. As he reached the door he +turned round. +</P> + +<P> +"By the bye, have you seen Signor Keralio lately?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen's face grew more serious. +</P> + +<P> +"No—Signor Keralio does not call here any more-at my request." +</P> + +<P> +The president gave a low, expressive whistle. Holding out his hand he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Got his walking papers, eh? Well, I guess if you don't like him he +isn't much good. I never did care for the look of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you ask?" she inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just curious—that's all. He's a persistent, uncomfortable kind +of man. I don't like his face. It's a face I wouldn't trust——" +</P> + +<P> +"That's why he's not coming here any more," she replied calmly. "He +forgot himself and that was the end——" +</P> + +<P> +The president turned to go. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-bye. Ken will be here soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +He went away, and once more Helen resumed her lonely vigil at the +library window, straining her ears to catch the direction of every +passing car, catching her breath with suspense as each pedestrian came +into view. They could not be much longer. She wondered if he had +missed her as much as she had him. No, men do not feel these things in +the way women do. They are too busy—their minds too much preoccupied +with their work. The turmoil of affairs absorbed their attention. +</P> + +<P> +The clock struck the three-quarters, and the reverberations of the +chimes had not entirely died away, when through the partly opened +window came the sound of a taxicab suddenly stopping in front of the +door. +</P> + +<P> +At last he had come! It was surely Kenneth. Her bosom heaving with +suppressed excitement she ran to the stairs and was already in the +lower hall before the maid had answered the bell. Quickly she threw +open the door, eager to throw herself in the traveler's arms. A tall +shadow darkened the doorway. It was François, the French valet. +</P> + +<P> +Helen fell back in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's you!" she exclaimed, looking over his shoulder to see if +Kenneth were following. "Where is your master?" +</P> + +<P> +A curious expression, half-defiant, half-cunning, came over the +servant's face, as he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur coming. He sent me ahead with light baggage. He detained at +customs." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" she exclaimed, disappointed. "When will he be here?" +</P> + +<P> +"He come presently—perhaps quarter of an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"How is your master?" +</P> + +<P> +"He very well, except his eyes—they bother him a leetle." +</P> + +<P> +Helen stared at him in alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"His eyes," she exclaimed. "What is the matter with his eyes?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet avoided her direct gaze, and, shifting uneasily on his feet, +began to fuss with the leather bags he was carrying. Awkwardly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't madame hear?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hear what?" she gasped, now thoroughly alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +The man put out his hand deprecatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's nothing to make madame afraid. It will soon be all right. I +assure madame——" +</P> + +<P> +"But tell me what it is, will you?" she interrupted impatiently. +"Don't have so much to say—tell me what it is——" +</P> + +<P> +"It was when the ship caught fire, madame. We were running to ze +life-boat, monsieur and me, when suddenly——" +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what?" she almost shouted, in agony of suspense. +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur tripped over a coil of rope and fell——" +</P> + +<P> +Almost unconscious in her excitement of what she was doing Helen laid +her hand on the man's arm. Terror-stricken she cried: +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't hurt himself seriously, did he?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, madame—not seriously. He struck his head against a chair and +just graze ze eye. It is nothing serious, I assure madame. The doctor +says that if he wears blue spectacles for few months he will be all +right." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he wears blue spectacles, does he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, madame, he must. Ze eye is inflamed and cannot stand ze strong +light." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Kenneth!" she murmured, half-aloud. "I shall hardly know him in +blue spectacles." +</P> + +<P> +The valet, who had been watching her like a hawk out of his +half-closed, sleepy-looking eyes, overheard the remark. Quickly he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, madame must expect to find monsieur a little changed. What +we went through was <I>épouvantable</I>, something awful. We just escaped +with our lives. For days monsieur was so nervous he was hardly able to +speak a word. Even now he stops at times——" +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked at him in wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"'He stops!' What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet turned away, and for a moment was silent. Then, as if making +a great effort, he turned and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Madame will pardon me, but she must be brave and not show monsieur she +notices any change. Ze doctor said it was a terrible shock to his +nervous system—that fire. Monsieur has not been ze same since, <I>pas +du tout</I> ze same. Ze doctor he says that these symptoms will all +disappear once he gets home and has a good rest. It is only ze shock, +I assure madame." +</P> + +<P> +Helen listened appalled, her face growing whiter each moment, her lips +trembling. He had met with an accident, then, after all! Her instinct +had spoken truly. Her darling was ill. That explained his long +silence. He had been too ill to write. He had gone through a terrible +shock and he had come home ill, very ill, quite changed. Her voice +faltering she said: +</P> + +<P> +"What are the symptoms?" +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur's memory is so bad, madame. He forgets. Only to-day, as ze +ship came up ze harbor, I ask monsieur if he expect madame to meet us +at ze dock. <I>C'est vraiment incroyable</I>! He turned to me, with a look +of ze greatest surprise, and asked: 'Who ze devil is madame?'" +</P> + +<P> +"What! Didn't he seem to remember me, even?" A look of distress came +over her face. +</P> + +<P> +The valet shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Non, madame." Quickly he added: "But it is nothing. It is only +temporary." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't he know my sister and Mr. Steell? Didn't they greet him at the +dock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, madame. They spoke to him and he spoke to them. But he was not +himself. They seemed surprised. They will tell madame." +</P> + +<P> +Helen fell back, sick and faint. Why had she not known this before? +She would have gone down to meet him, thrown herself weeping into his +arms. He would have known her then—who better than he would recognize +that perfume he loved so well? He would have taken her in his strong +arms and kissed her passionately. If he was not himself it was because +he was ill. The shock had affected his memory! Poor darling husband, +he must be well nursed. A few days of her devoted care and he would be +all right again. Of course, it was nothing serious. Kenneth had led +too clean and wholesome a life for anything grave to be the matter. If +only he would come! God grant that he return to her as he went away! +</P> + +<P> +As the unspoken prayer died away on her lips, there was the chugging of +an automobile stopping suddenly at the curb. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Les voici</I>!" cried François, dropping into his native tongue in his +excitement. +</P> + +<P> +He threw open the wide doors and the next instant Ray ran up the steps. +Helen, weak and dizzy from nervous tension, feeling as if she were +about to faint, met her on the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth!" she gasped. "Is he all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly—he's fine. He's a little tired and nervous after the long +journey, and the blue spectacles he wears make him look different, but +he's all right." +</P> + +<P> +The wife looked searchingly, eagerly at the young girl's face, as if +seeking to read there what she dreaded to ask, and it seemed to her +that the customary ring of sincerity was lacking in her sister's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he—why isn't he with you?' +</P> + +<P> +"Here he is now—don't you see him?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked out. There came the tall, familiar figure she knew so +well, the square shoulders, the thick bushy hair, with its single white +lock so strangely isolated among the brown. Her heart fell as she saw +the blue glasses. They veiled from her view those dear blue eyes, so +kind and true. They made him look different. But what did she care as +long as he had come home to her? Even with the horrid glasses, that +dear form she would know in a thousand! +</P> + +<P> +Slowly he came up the long flight of stone steps, weighted down by +traveling rugs and handbag, both of which he refused to surrender to +the obsequious François. Eagerly she rushed down the steps to meet +him, her eyes half-closed, ready to swoon from excitement and joy. +Nothing was said. He opened his arms. She put up her mouth, tenderly, +submissively. For a moment he seemed to hesitate. He held her tight +in his embrace, and just looked down at her. Then, as he felt the +warmth of her soft, yielding body next to his, and saw the partly +opened mouth, ready to receive his kiss, he bent down and fastened his +lips on hers. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + + +<P> +For one blissful, ecstatic moment Helen lay tight in his embrace, +nestling against the breast of the one being she loved better than +anyone else in the world, responding with involuntary vibrations of her +own body to the gust of fiery passion that swept his. But only for a +moment. The next instant she had torn herself violently free, and was +gazing, wonderingly, fearfully, up into his face, trying to penetrate +those glasses which veiled, as it were, the windows of his soul. Why +she broke away so abruptly from his embrace she could not herself have +explained. Something within her, some instinct to which her reason was +unable to give a name, made her body revolt against the unusual ardor +of the caress. Strange! Never before had she felt so embarrassed at +Kenneth's demonstrations of affection. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, dear?" she murmured, when at last she could find words. +</P> + +<P> +She had not yet heard the sound of his beloved voice, and when at last +he answered her it seemed to her ears only like an echo of its former +self, so exhausted and wearied was he by what he had gone through. +</P> + +<P> +"Very tired, sweetheart," he replied huskily. "I shall need a long +rest." +</P> + +<P> +She led the way into the house and up the stairs, where everything had +been so elaborately prepared for his welcome. In the bedroom she +pointed with pride to the real Valenciennes lace coverlet put on in his +honor, and showed him the dressing-gown and slippers so lovingly laid +out. He looked at everything, but made no comment. She half expected +a few words of praise, but none were forthcoming. While affectionately +demonstrative he was unusually reticent. She wondered what worry he +could have on his mind to make him act so strangely and suddenly +Keralio's words of warning came to her mind. Was there a side to his +life of which she knew nothing? Were his thoughts elsewhere, even +while he was with her? Quickly there came a look of dismay and +anxiety, which he was not slow to notice. Instantly on his guard, he +murmured in a low tone: +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me, dear, I can't talk now. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my +eyes open." +</P> + +<P> +Instantly her apprehension was forgotten in her desire to make him +comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, dear. You must be dead with fatigue. You'll take a +nice nap and when you wake up it will be time for dinner. I've planned +a nice little party to celebrate your return—only a few intimates—Mr. +Parker is coming, and Wilbur Steell, and a young man named Dick +Reynolds, an acquaintance of Wilbur's. You won't mind such old +friends, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed. I'm very tired, now, but I'll be all right in a few +minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you will," she smiled, as she removed the handsome lace +coverlet from the bed. "No one will disturb you. My darling hubbie +can sleep as sound as a top, and, when he wakes, we'll talk a terrible +lot, won't we?" Looking up roguishly, as she smoothed his pillow for +him, she added shyly: "There are two pillows here now. There has been +only one while you were away——" +</P> + +<P> +For the first time he seemed to evince interest in what she was saying. +His eyes flashed behind the blue spectacles, and his hands trembled, as +he quickly made a step forward and put his arm round her waist. +</P> + +<P> +"There'll always be two in the future, won't there?" he asked hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course there will," she laughed, +</P> + +<P> +"To-night?" he insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course," she said, her color heightening slightly under the +persistency of his gaze. What a foolish question! Changing the topic +she added, with a laugh: "Now, take your coat off, like a good boy, and +go to sleep. I'll go down and keep the house quiet. When it's time to +get up, I'll come back." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't go yet," he murmured, looking at her ardently. Taking her hand +caressingly he tried to lead her to the sofa. "Sit down here. I won't +sleep yet. Let us talk. I have so much to say." +</P> + +<P> +Firmly Helen withdrew from his embrace. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no; I won't stay a moment," she said decisively. "Not now. You +must behave yourself. We'll talk all you want to to-night. But not +now. You are very tired. The sleep will do you good. Now be a good +boy—go to bed." +</P> + +<P> +He tried to intercept her before she reached the door, but she was too +quick for him. She went out and was about to close the door behind her +when he called out: +</P> + +<P> +"Please send François to me." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear, I will. Of course you need him. Why didn't I think of it +before?" +</P> + +<P> +She closed the door and went downstairs. It was hard to believe that +he was back home. How long she had waited for this day, and, even now +it had come, the void did not seem filled. There still seemed +something wanting. What it was, she did not know, yet it was there. +</P> + +<P> +In the dining-room she ran into Ray, who had her arms filled with +magnificent American beauty roses. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Helen enthusiastically. "Where did you get +those flowers?" +</P> + +<P> +The young girl laughed. "They're a present from me and Wilbur—in +honor of Kenneth's arrival. Where is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Upstairs—he's going to lie down until dinner is ready. Poor +soul—he's almost dead with fatigue." +</P> + +<P> +"Has he got the diamonds?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen gasped. She hadn't thought of that. In all the excitement the +real object of her husband's trip to South Africa had quite escaped her +mind. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," she said quickly. "I haven't asked him. We've hardly +exchanged a dozen words. He'll tell us later. Was nothing said about +them at the Customs? Didn't he declare them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—I thought it was strange. That's why I asked you if he had them. +Possibly he left them to be cut in Amsterdam." +</P> + +<P> +Helen grew thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. He'll tell us later." +</P> + +<P> +Ray filled the vases with the flowers, while Helen busied herself at +the buffet, getting out all the pretty silverware with which the dinner +table was to be decorated. The young girl hummed lightly as she +decorated the room with the fragrant blossoms. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it lovely that Kenneth is back?" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed." +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly knew him at first in those spectacles." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not surprised at that." +</P> + +<P> +"If it hadn't been for that white patch of hair I don't think we could +have picked him out of the crowd. There was an awful crush there." +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause, and then Helen asked: +</P> + +<P> +"How do you think he looks?" +</P> + +<P> +"About the same," replied the girl carelessly. "He doesn't seem in as +good spirits as when he went away. He is very quiet. He hardly spoke +a word to us on the way home. Possibly he has some business anxiety on +his mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he ask about me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—you were his first question." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you tell him about Dorothy?" +</P> + +<P> +"That she was not so well? Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"What did he say? Was he worried?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not particularly. I think men are more sensible in those matters than +we women. He knows baby is well taken care of." Changing the subject, +the young girl went on: "I hope everybody will be jolly to-night. I've +made up my mind to have a good time." +</P> + +<P> +Helen sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm feeling a little uneasy about Dorothy. I got a letter this +morning from Aunt Carrie, saying she was not feeling so well. The +doctor was going to see her to-day, and, if she got worse, they said +they'd telegraph." +</P> + +<P> +Ray looked at her sister in consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"What would you do then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would have to go at once to Philadelphia." +</P> + +<P> +"And Kenneth just come home—oh, Helen!" +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't help it. Kenneth couldn't go. Somebody must go. The +child could not be left alone. Who should go better than its mother?" +</P> + +<P> +Ray made a gesture of protest. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, don't let's imagine the worst. Dorothy won't get worse. +To-morrow you'll get a reassuring letter, and your worries will be +over." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," smiled Helen. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving the task of sorting the knives and forks Ray came over to where +Helen was standing. The young girl pointed to all the vases filled +with the crimson roses. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like that?" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a brief silence, both women being preoccupied by their +thoughts, when Ray, in her usual vivacious, impulsive way, burst out: +</P> + +<P> +"Sis, I have something to tell you." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Something to tell me—something good?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so happy! I'm engaged at last." +</P> + +<P> +"To Wilbur, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +Helen gave an exclamation of joy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm so glad. When did it happen? Tell me all about it—quick." +</P> + +<P> +"He proposed to-day, and I said yes. We're to be married in two +months." +</P> + +<P> +The next moment the two women were in each other's arms. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad—so glad," murmured Helen. "I hope you'll both be very, +very happy." +</P> + +<P> +"We certainly shall if we are like you and Kenneth. Wilbur says that +your example is the one thing that decided him to make the plunge." +</P> + +<P> +Helen smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have one advantage I don't enjoy. Your husband, being a +lawyer, won't be taking trips to South Africa all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know," laughed the girl; "it's sometimes nice to lose +sight of each other for a time. The lovemaking is all the more furious +when your husband gets back." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—unless he happens to meet some other charmer on his travels." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nonsense, Helen—men don't really have such adventures. That only +happens in novels." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," murmured her sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by the bye," exclaimed Ray, "who do you suppose we saw on the +dock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" +</P> + +<P> +"That horrid creature—Signor Keralio." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked up in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Keralio? What was he doing there? Did he speak to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—he seemed to avoid us. Once I got lost for a moment in the crush, +and, as I turned, I thought I saw him talking earnestly to Kenneth and +François. Of course I must have been mistaken, for, when I finally +rejoined them, both denied having seen him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Keralio!" murmured Helen. "How strange! That man seems to pursue us +like some evil genius. No matter where we go, he follows like a +shadow. Oh, I forgot all about François. Where is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Downstairs." +</P> + +<P> +Helen touched a bell. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you need him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth wants him. I forgot all about it. All his things need +putting away. The litter upstairs is simply terrible." +</P> + +<P> +"There won't be much time for unpacking," objected Ray. "It's +half-past five already. We'll soon have to think of dressing for +dinner." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the door opened and François appeared. He entered quietly, +stealthily, and, advancing to where his mistress was, stood in silence, +awaiting her orders. +</P> + +<P> +"Your master wants you upstairs, François." +</P> + +<P> +The man bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Bien</I>, madame!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Mr. Traynor not to keep you too long, because there's a lot of +work to be done downstairs before dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Bien</I>, madame." +</P> + +<P> +The man lingered in the room, arranging the chairs, and fussing about +the table, until he began to make Helen nervous. Peremptorily she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You had better go, François; monsieur is waiting for you." +</P> + +<P> +The valet bowed obsequiously, and left the room, shutting the door +carefully. Instead of proceeding immediately upstairs, he stopped for +a moment behind the closed door and listened intently. But, unable to +overhear the two women, who were conversing in an undertone, he hurried +upstairs toward his employer's bedroom. Arrived on the landing, he +went straight to the room, and, without stopping for the formality of +knocking, he turned the handle and went in. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + + +<P> +Instead of finding his master resting from his fatigue, as Mrs. Traynor +had said, François discovered the new arrival very much awake. He was +sitting in front of Helen's bureau, eagerly perusing a bundle of +private letters tied with blue ribbon, which he had taken from a +drawer. As the door opened, he jumped up quickly, as if detected +committing a dishonorable action; but, when he saw who it was, his face +relaxed and he gave a grim nod of recognition. +</P> + +<P> +"Lock the door!" he said in a whisper. "It won't do to have anyone +come in here now." +</P> + +<P> +The valet turned the key, and, dropping entirely the obsequious manner +of the paid menial, threw himself carelessly into a chair. Taking from +his pocket a richly chased silver cigarette box, loot from former +houses where he had been employed, he struck a match on the highly +polished Circassian walnut chair, and proceeded to enjoy a smoke. +</P> + +<P> +His companion looked at him anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he demanded hoarsely. "Is it all right? What do they say? +Does anyone suspect?" +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman gracefully emitted from between his thin lips a thick +cloud of blue smoke, and broke into a laugh that, under the +circumstances, sounded strangely hollow and sinister. +</P> + +<P> +"Suspect?" he chuckled. "Why should they suspect? Are you not ze same +man who went away—ze same build, ze same face, ze same voice, ze same +in every particular—except one. Zat you have not—<I>non</I>—you have not +ze education, ze fine manners, ze <I>savoir faire</I> of monsieur." With +that expressive shrug of the shoulder, so characteristic of his nation, +he added: "<I>Mais que voulez vous</I>? We must do ze best we can." +</P> + +<P> +His listener struck the brass bed-post savagely with his heavy fist. +With a burst of profanity he broke out: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, damn him! He had all the advantages. I had none. But it's my +turn now. I want all that's coming to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" exclaimed the valet, raising his finger warningly. "Zey may +hear. Everything will be all right. We must be very careful. You +must not talk. You must avoid people. Let them think you sick, or +strange, or crazy, anything you like. But keep away from zem, or else +they soon discover that 'Handsome Jack,' ze penniless adventurer, is +quite a different person from ze accomplished and wealthy Monsieur +Kenneth Traynor." +</P> + +<P> +"We can't expect to keep the game up long," interrupted the big fellow +moodily. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't have to," replied his companion calmly. "Just enough time to +squeeze ze orange dry—that's all——" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome looked up quickly. Savagely he retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"Of which juice you and Keralio want a goodly share, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet's greenish eyes flashed. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I do, and, what's more, I mean to get it." Changing his +free, careless tone to one tense with significance and menace he went +on: "Don't be a fool, Monsieur Handsome. Who put you up to this snap, +but me? Who knows what you did to monsieur out there on ze <I>veldt</I>, +better than me? Dead men tell no tales, but live ones do. Don't +forget that! If you want to keep clear of ze electric chair, you'll +keep your mouth shut, and play fair." +</P> + +<P> +The gambler listened, his mouth twitching nervously, his eyes glowing +with sullen hatred. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you and Keralio want? I gave you the diamonds—what more do +you expect?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet laughed scoffingly. +</P> + +<P> +"You gave him ze diamonds. Why? You were d——d glad to be rid of +zem. We can't do anything with zem now. We may have to wait months or +years before we can venture to cut zem up and dispose of zem. <I>Non</I>, +monsieur! If zey appeared on ze market now, ze news would be flashed +<I>immédiatement</I> to every corner of ze globe, and your career and mine +would come to a quick end. <I>Voila</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget Keralio!" said Handsome, with a sneer. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Eh, bien</I>? Has he not earned it, Signor Keralio? Is it not because +of his courage and daring that you are here—ze master in this house? +Who but Keralio would have had ze nerve to carry ze thing through?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome shrugged his shoulders. Cynically he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know. It seems to me that Keralio is safe under cover, +while here I am, disporting myself in the limelight, with every eye +turned on me. I guess I prefer Keralio's job to mine——" +</P> + +<P> +The valet's eyes flashed vindictively as he retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"Could your puny brain have conceived this scheme which will make us +all rich? Keralio outlined ze whole plan to me directly he heard of +your existence. On our reaching Cape Town, after finding you starving +on ze <I>veldt</I>, I cabled him ze news. A few hours later he told me +exactly what to do. He knew you would do it. How, I do not know. He +is no ordinary man, Keralio. When I first saw you out zere, unkempt, +in rags, starving, I could have dropped dead from surprise. It never +occurred to me that you might be useful. But Keralio knew. He knows +everything. He also knew that you would accept his leadership, that +you would quickly get rid of monsieur, and secure ze diamonds. Was it +not his idea that you set fire to ze ship? And who set fire to ze +ship, <I>s'il vous plait</I>, when you refused? Who but your very humble +servant. And a hard, dangerous job, it was, too—catch me ever wanting +to do it again!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not half so bad as mine. He put up a terrible fight before I threw +him overboard." +</P> + +<P> +"Who—monsieur?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—he fought like a wildcat, and he was fast getting the best of me, +when I managed to give him a rap on the head. That quieted him, and +over he went." With an exclamation of disgust, he added: "It was a +d——d nasty job. I'm sorry I ever went into it——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry—you fool? <I>Sapristi</I>! Just think of this wonderful +opportunity. You have ze keys to his vaults, you have control of his +bank accounts." Lowering his voice, and, with a significant leer on +his face, he added "and you have—his wife!" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome grinned, and the valet went on: +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Précisément</I>! Madame is cold and haughty, like all zese American +women. It's not exactly my taste, but she's pretty and dainty, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"Who are all these other people," interrupted the miner, "that man +Steell——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that is so. You must know everyone. You must make a study of +each, so as to avoid making bad breaks. Monsieur Steell is a lawyer. +He's in love with madame's sister, Miss Ray. You've known him all your +life, went to school with him, and all that sort of thing. Say 'yes' +to everything he says. That's your cue at present. Talk as little as +you can, and agree with everybody. The man you must talk with most is +Monsieur Parker. He is president of the mining company. Happily he's +rather shortsighted, so he won't notice anything. He's the man to whom +you'll have to explain ze loss of ze diamonds. He'll be here to-night +for dinner, so you'd better get your story ready." +</P> + +<P> +"What can I say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Say that in ze panic your belt worked loose, you had to dive into ze +water. When you were dragged into ze lifeboat the belt was gone, do +you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—but will they believe it?" +</P> + +<P> +"They must believe it. There'll be an awful fuss, of course, but +they'll get over it. No suspicion can attach to you." +</P> + +<P> +"He's coming to-night—this man Parker?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, to-night. He'll be here for dinner. He——" +</P> + +<P> +Before the valet could complete the sentence there was a knock on the +door and Helen outside called out: +</P> + +<P> +"May I come in?" +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the valet jumped up and assumed once more his deferential +demeanor. The gambler hurriedly shut the bureau drawers and put on the +blue spectacles. +</P> + +<P> +The door opened and Helen entered. +</P> + +<P> +Alert as the Frenchman was, he was not quick enough to quite conceal +from the wife that his present obsequious manner had been suddenly +assumed for her benefit directly she had entered the room. She had +overheard voices, as she reached the landing, and the abrupt manner in +which these sounds had ceased was not entirely natural. It had also +seemed to her that the valet's tone had had a ring of familiarity about +it which she had never known it to have before. Could it be possible +that they were discussing matters which were to be kept from her? If +so, her husband already had secrets in which not she but his valet +shared. She recalled Keralio's cynical smile, as he had whispered: +"Husbands only tell their wives half." Perhaps he had spoken the +truth. Perhaps at this very moment she was degraded, insulted in her +womanhood by a man who was secretly unloyal to her. The very thought +went through her like a knife-thrust. All her life, every hour she had +devoted to her husband. Even now she did not like to even harbor a +shade of distrust, but his strange behavior since his return, this +earnest conversation behind closed doors with a menial she despised and +distrusted—all this could not but add to her anxiety. Calmly, she +asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Have you finished with François, dear? We need him downstairs." +</P> + +<P> +The valet himself answered the question: +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, madame. I was just coming." +</P> + +<P> +Bowing politely, he turned on his heel, and, with a significant glance +at Handsome, which his mistress did not notice, he left the room. +Helen glanced at the bed, which was undisturbed. Surprised, she +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I thought you were going to lie down!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. Shifting uneasily on his feet, and, without looking +up, he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"No—I can't sleep. I'm too nervous. I'll sleep to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Advancing farther into the room she went up him and put her arm +affectionately round him. Sympathetically she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll feel better in a few days, dear. Just rest and take things +easy. I won't hear of your going to the office for a week at least. +All the business you and Mr. Parker have you can transact here. By the +way, dear, you haven't even mentioned the most important thing of +all—have you brought back the diamonds?" +</P> + +<P> +Instead of replying at once to her question, he turned quickly and +pulled down the blind. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mind, do you?" he said. "The light hurts my eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not," she replied. Sitting down near him she went on: "Tell +me—have you got the diamonds? How beautiful they must be! How I +should love to see them!" +</P> + +<P> +When finally he turned and confronted her she could see his face only +indistinctly, as the drawing of the blind had left the room almost in +darkness. His voice was strained and tense as he replied huskily: +</P> + +<P> +"I have not got the diamonds!" +</P> + +<P> +Helen almost started from her seat. +</P> + +<P> +"You have not got them!" she exclaimed. "Where are they, Ken?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are lost!" +</P> + +<P> +"Lost?" she echoed, stupefied. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—lost." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how terrible!" she faltered. +</P> + +<P> +This, then, was the secret of his strange manner, his depression and +nervousness. He had lost the diamonds. He had returned home to +announce to the eagerly awaiting stockholders that over a million +dollars' worth of property had suddenly been swept away. His feeling +of personal responsibility must have been awful. No wonder he was not +himself. It was enough to unnerve any man. Of course he was not to +blame, but the world is so merciless. He would have to bear the +censure, even when he was perfectly innocent. How she regretted that +he had ever undertaken so heavy a responsibility. Timidly, not wishing +to embarrass or annoy him, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"How did it happen, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he made no answer, but just sat and stared at her. What +little light entered between the shade and the window frame fell full +on her face, lighting up the fine profile, the delicately chiseled +mouth, throwing off golden glints from her artistically arranged hair. +From her face his eyes wandered greedily down to her snow-white neck, +her slender, graceful figure, her beautifully molded arms. Certainly, +he mused to himself, his brother was an epicure in love. This woman +was dainty enough to tempt a saint. +</P> + +<P> +"How did it happen?" she asked again. +</P> + +<P> +"It was in the first rush from the burning ship," he said hoarsely. "I +was asleep when the fire broke out. It happened at two o'clock in the +morning. The diamonds were in the belt which each night I unfastened +and put under my pillow. It was more comfortable to do that than to +wear it. When the first alarm came I forgot everything—except my own +safety. I rushed pell-mell on deck. It was a nasty night. We didn't +know where we were, or how grave the situation was. Outside the wind +was howling furiously, the siren was blowing dismally, the +panic-stricken passengers and sailors were fighting like wildcats. I +lost my head along with the rest. I had reached the lifeboat when +suddenly I remembered the belt. I felt at my waist. It was not there. +I remembered I had left it under the pillow. I was horror-stricken. +Great beads of perspiration broke from every pore. The people were +fighting to get into the boat; I fought to get out and back to my +stateroom. Suddenly someone knocked me on the head. I lost +consciousness. When I came to we were miles away from the wreck, +drifting on the ocean in an open boat, and the <I>Abyssinia</I> was nowhere +to be seen." +</P> + +<P> +Helen made an exclamation of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor soul—how terrible you must have felt! Thank God, you escaped +with your life! We ought to feel grateful for that. Suppose I had +been compelled to tell Mary that you were drowned. It would have +killed her—you know that. Do you remember what you told her when you +went away?" +</P> + +<P> +He stared at her, not understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"Told who?" he said cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes—Mary—of course—you mean your sister——" +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked at him in amazement, then in alarm. Could the wreck have +affected his mind? Laughingly she retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"Ray? Of course not. How foolish you are, Kenneth. Don't you +remember that your old nurse came to see you before you sailed?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded and coughed uneasily, moving restlessly about in his chair, +as if to hide his embarrassment. These questions were decidedly +unpleasant. Inwardly he wished François was present to help him out. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary? Oh, yes, I remember—of course—of course——" +</P> + +<P> +The look of anxiety in the young woman's face deepened. His memory +failed him completely. Changing the subject she said quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"There's something else I wish to mention to you, dear. It is about +Signor Keralio——" +</P> + +<P> +He started quickly to his feet. How came his brother's wife to know +the name of the arch-plotter, the man who had sentenced her own husband +to death? Was it possible that she knew more? Was she aware of his +real identity? Was her present amiability of manner merely simulated? +Was she waiting her time before calling in the police and exposing him +as an impostor? +</P> + +<P> +"Keralio?" he echoed hoarsely. "What about Keralio?" Making a step +forward he exclaimed savagely: "Has he squealed? Is the game up? He's +to blame, not I!" +</P> + +<P> +Impulsively, instinctively, Helen sprang from her chair and fell back +with a startled exclamation. Now thoroughly alarmed, more than ever +convinced that the shipwreck had affected his brain, her one solicitude +was to keep him quiet until she could get a doctor. Soothingly she +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, dear; of course. We won't speak of Signor Keralio now. +He's not worth discussing anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +He watched her closely for a moment, as if trying to see if she were +deceiving him, but her face was frank and serene. Suddenly, taking +hold of her hand, which she abandoned willingly enough in his, he +murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"You mustn't mind what I say. I'll soon be all right. I'm a bit mixed +up. My mind's been queer ever since that awful night." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you would prefer if we had no one to dinner. I could easily +give some excuse and put them all off." +</P> + +<P> +His first impulse was to promptly accept this suggestion, yet what was +the good? If he did not meet them to-day he must do so to-morrow. It +was best to get it over with. The quicker he got to know the people +the easier it would be for him. If he seemed to avoid meeting them, it +might only arouse suspicion. Shaking his head, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"No, dear. That's all right. I'm glad they're coming. It will liven +things up." +</P> + +<P> +Helen's face brightened. It was the first cheerful remark he had made. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I think. You must forget what you have gone through. +After all it's not so bad, but it might be a lot worse. Mr. Parker +will feel badly about the stones, of course, because he had counted on +making capital out of the advertising they would receive. But who +knows? Perhaps it's all for the best. They may find other stones even +more valuable." +</P> + +<P> +A sudden knock at the door interrupted them. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in," called out Helen. +</P> + +<P> +The maid appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Parker is downstairs, m'm." +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious! Here already for dinner. What time is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Seven o'clock, m'm." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. I'll be down immediately." +</P> + +<P> +The girl went away and Helen turned to her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, hurry, dear, won't you? Dinner is ready. The guests are +arriving. Dress quickly and come down." +</P> + +<P> +He still held her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not angry with me?" he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I be angry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because of the diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed—it was you I wanted, not the diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +Drawing her to him, he kissed her. But her lips were cold. There was +no response to his ardor. She could not herself have explained why. +She felt no inclination to respond to his caresses, which at any other +time she would have returned with warmth. With a slight shade of +impatience she broke away. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no time for that now, Kenneth. Our guests are waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," he replied, with a smile that did not escape her. +"We've no time now. But the night is still before us." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you come soon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I'll be right down." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + + +<P> +Once more the Traynor residence was filled with the sounds of mirth and +revelry. +</P> + +<P> +From cellar to attic the old mansion was ablaze with light. The large +dining-room, decorated with flowers and plants, wore a festive air, and +the long table in the center literally groaned under its burden of fine +linen, crystal, and silver. +</P> + +<P> +The dinner, now drawing to a close, had been a huge success in every +way, and, with the serving of the <I>demi-tasse</I>, the guests sat back in +their chairs, feeling that sense of gluttony satisfied which only a +perfect dinner can impart. The rarest wines, the richest foods—Helen +had spared no expense to make the affair worthy the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Parker sat back and with deliberation lit the big black Corona, +which his host had given him, he felt as much at ease as can a man who +has dined well and knows that his affairs are prospering beyond all +expectations, and, as his eyes half closed, he listened dreamily while +his host, for the hundredth time, told yarns of the diamond fields, he +silently congratulated himself on his astuteness in having employed so +successful a messenger. He had not yet had an opportunity to ask any +questions about the diamonds. He had his own reasons for not wanting +those present to learn too much of his plans. There would be plenty of +time when he could get the vice-president alone. So he just sat back +and puffed his cigar, while around him went on the hum of conversation, +punctuated here and there with bursts of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Considering his short stay at the diamond mines it was astonishing how +well stocked their host was with stories. To hear him talk one might +have thought he had been a miner all his life. Stimulated by copious +draughts of champagne, which he contrived to make flow like water, he +was highly interesting, and his listeners, greatly interested, hung on +to every word. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be a terrible life!" said Steell, as he lit another cigar. +</P> + +<P> +The host emptied his glass and again refilled it before he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a life of a dog—not of a human being. The toil is incessant, +the profit doubtful. You starve to death: good food is unprocurable +save at prohibitive prices. One sleeps practically in the open, save +for such rude shelter as each man can make for himself. The flies are +a pest and constant source of danger. The water is abominable." +</P> + +<P> +"You like champagne better, eh?" laughed Ray. +</P> + +<P> +The gambler had already drunk more than was good for him, and, raising +his glass in a mock toast, began to hum the first lines of a familiar +camp ditty: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<I>La femme qui sait me plaire<BR> +C'est la petite veuve Clicquot.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Is there much stealing of diamonds by the miners?" demanded Mr. Parker. +</P> + +<P> +Handsome nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Lots of it. They have to watch 'em all the time. They resort to all +kinds of tricks to conceal stones they find. They used to swallow +them, but when they were forced to take powerful emetics and other +drugs, they soon got tired of that game. They also try to smuggle them +across the border line. One detective, who had been for months on the +trail of a well-to-do smuggler, was badly stung. The man invited him +to go shooting, and kindly furnished guns and cartridges. The +unsuspecting policeman carried the cartridges across the border, never +dreaming that each one was filled with diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +Ray clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what a clever idea!" +</P> + +<P> +The host nodded approvingly. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I thought. Any man as smart as that deserved to get away +with it." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Rogues are always smart!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Until they're caught," laughed Dick Reynolds. "Then they don't think +they're so smart." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Steell nodded approval. +</P> + +<P> +"I know something about that," said the lawyer. "A crook is never +really clever. He always leaves some loophole which leads to +detection. He thinks he is secure, that his disguise is impenetrable, +but there is always someone watching him, closely observing his every +move. And, the first thing he knows, he has walked into a trap, the +handcuffs are snapped, and the electric chair looms grimly before +him——" +</P> + +<P> +<I>Crash</I>! +</P> + +<P> +All looked up to the end of the table, where their host had broken a +glass. In the act of raising the champagne to his lips the glass had +slipped and broken into a thousand pieces. Helen, frightened, started +from her seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you hurt, dear?" she asked. "There is blood on your hand." +</P> + +<P> +"No—no, it's nothing. I cut myself with a bit of glass. It's +nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Ray was eager for more anecdotes. +</P> + +<P> +"Do tell us more, Kenneth," she exclaimed, interrupting her chat with +her left-hand neighbor. +</P> + +<P> +"Give him a breathing spell," laughed Dick. "We've kept him at it ever +since the dinner began." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome, his face pale, his hand trembling, filled another glass with +the foaming golden wine, and drained it at a draught. What the lawyer +just said had been somewhat of a shock. Was there more meaning in it +than appeared in the chance words? He eyed Steell narrowly, when he +was not looking, but the lawyer's face was inscrutable. Again he +filled his glass and again emptied it. +</P> + +<P> +That her husband had been drinking heavily all evening had not escaped +Helen's attention, and it worried her. Nudging her sister she +whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Ken's drinking more than is good for him. He never used to drink like +that." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment, the host looked up and caught Helen's eye. Raising his +glass he offered a toast: +</P> + +<P> +"Here's to the prettiest, the sweetest, the most desirable little woman +in the world! Gentlemen and ladies—my wife!" +</P> + +<P> +They all drank except Helen who, confused and annoyed, tried to turn it +off with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +Noticing her embarrassment, Ray made a signal to Mr. Steell and they +both rose from the table. Helen and Dick quickly followed their +example and the hostess led the way into the drawing-room, leaving +Handsome and Mr. Parker alone to their cigars. +</P> + +<P> +The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not sorry of +the opportunity which this tête-à-tête afforded for a quiet business +talk. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way, old man," he began, "we haven't had a chance to talk +business yet. You've got the diamonds, of course." +</P> + +<P> +His host was silent. Mr. Parker thought he had not heard. A little +louder he repeated: +</P> + +<P> +"You've got the diamonds?" +</P> + +<P> +Still no answer. The president began to get uneasy. Could anything be +wrong or was his friend drunk? He had noticed that he had been +drinking heavily—something he had never known Kenneth Traynor do. +With some impatience he said sharply: "What's the matter, Kenneth? +Wake up, old man. I asked you a question. Can't you answer?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome brought his fist down on the table with a bang that made the +glasses dance. +</P> + +<P> +"D—— it!" he exclaimed angrily. "Can't a man be left alone in his +own house for a few minutes without bothering him with business?" +</P> + +<P> +This outburst was so utterly unexpected that Mr. Parker, taken entirely +by surprise, fell back in his chair and stared at his host in +amazement. Never before had he known his old friend and partner to act +in this strange way. Could anything be amiss? Now he came to think of +it, he had noticed a great change in his associate directly he saw him. +He had seemed to lack his customary cordiality and frankness. He +appeared moody and morose, as if he had on his mind some weighty +responsibility he was unwilling to share. Evidently there was nothing +to be gained by displaying impatience, so, in more conciliatory tones, +he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, my boy. If you don't care to talk shop to-night, we +won't. I didn't want to hurry you. I was curious, that's all. I have +scarcely been able to curb my impatience. You understand what it means +to us. Why, the very announcement that we have the diamonds safe here +in New York, will be enough to send the company's stock up twenty +points." Lowering his voice and bending over he added confidentially: +"I don't mind telling you that I've been buying for my own account all +the cheap stock I could put my hands on. As to the stockholders, +they're simply wild with impatience to see the big stones. But we +won't talk any more about it to-night. We'll wait till to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome, his face almost livid, leaned over the table. Hoarsely, he +replied: +</P> + +<P> +"It's no use waiting till to-morrow. All that's to be told can be told +now. I haven't got the diamonds!" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Mr. Parker did not realize what the other man was saying. +Thinking he had not heard right he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What did you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have not got the diamonds!" +</P> + +<P> +The president started from his seat. His face pale as death, his hand +shaking as stricken with palsy, he almost shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"You have not got the diamonds! Then where in God's name are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"At the bottom of the ocean!" +</P> + +<P> +The senior partner dropped back in his chair, white as death. Then +this was the outcome of all his hopes, all his planning. Faintly he +gasped: +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you tell me so before?" +</P> + +<P> +"I had no opportunity. I didn't want to cable such news. It might +have caused a slump in the shares. I could not let you know before. +This is the first time I've seen you alone." +</P> + +<P> +The president said no more. The lines about his mouth tightened and +the expression of his face underwent a change. He uttered not a word, +but just sat there, his eyes fixed steadily on his companion, who +continued to fill his glass with champagne. Cornelius Winthrop Parker +was not a man to be easily deceived. He had too much experience of the +world for that. All his life he had been reading men and what he heard +now in the tone of his host's voice convinced him that he was lying. +That, in itself, was sufficient of a shock. To find Kenneth +Traynor—the soul of integrity and honor—deliberately betraying a +trust of such importance hurt him almost as much as the loss of the +gems. That they had gone down with the <I>Abyssinia</I> he did not for a +moment believe. It was more likely that they had been sold—possibly +to make good Wall Street losses. Talk of big stock deals in which +Traynor had been mixed up had reached his ear before today, and more +recently this gossip had become more insistent. Kenneth was +interested, said rumor, in pool operations involving millions. The +recent sudden slump had found him unprepared. Ruin threatened him and +to save himself he had succumbed to temptation. This, at least, was +the theory which the President's alert brain rapidly evolved as he sat +watching the man in front of him. Perhaps all was not yet lost. If +the stones had not yet been disposed of, an effort might still be made +to recover them and at the same time save Traynor and his young wife +from the disgrace that such a grave scandal would entail. The first +thing necessary was to keep cool, show no concern and disarm suspicion +by pretending to accept the loss as irreparable. Then, at the first +opportunity, he would take Wilbur Steell into his confidence. That +wide awake lawyer would know exactly how to handle the case. Dick +Reynolds would have an opportunity to show his talent as a detective. +Breaking the long silence he said calmly: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I understand your silence. I think you acted wisely. We +had better keep the loss to ourselves as long as we can. No one can +attach any blame to you. It is a terrible loss, but we must face it +like men." +</P> + +<P> +The gambler looked up quickly, and eyed his guest narrowly. Seeing +nothing on the latter's face to arouse his suspicions, he grew more +cheerful. Less sullen and defiant, he extended his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, old man!" he exclaimed heartily. "I expected no less from +you. I can't tell you how badly I feel about the loss. No doubt my +manner has seemed strange since my return. I have been irritable with +everybody—even my dear wife has noticed it. It was only because I did +not know how to make a clear breast of it. Since you take it so +sensibly, I'll cheer up. I declare I feel like a new man already." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker lit another cigar. Calmly, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Kenneth my boy. Keep a stiff upper lip. All's for the +best. We'll have better luck next time." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke, Wilbur Steell passed on his way to join the ladies in the +drawing-room. The president called out to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Steell. What are you so busy about? Entertaining the women, +eh? Always thought you were a lady killer. Suppose you come and smoke +a cigar with me and let our friend here go and have a chat with his +wife. You've no right to monopolize the fair sex in that fashion, even +if you are a trust lawyer. Anyhow, I want to talk to you—just a +little matter of business—that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +Steell laughed, and, dropping into a chair, took the cigar which Mr. +Parker held out. Turning to his host, and clapping him genially on the +back the president exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Go and talk to your wife, old man. You've left her alone long enough." +</P> + +<P> +"All right—I will," replied the gambler, not sorry of any excuse to +get away. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker waited till he was out of hearing, then, leaning quickly +over to his companion, he exclaimed in a tense whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"Steell, I need your help." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer looked at him in surprise. Removing his cigar from his +mouth he said: +</P> + +<P> +"My help? By all means. What can I do for you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Parker gave a quick glance behind him to see if they were observed, +and then he said: +</P> + +<P> +"My God, Steell, something terrible has happened! At any cost, we +mustn't let the wife know——" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer stared at his companion in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, for Heaven's sake?" he demanded, looking anxiously at his +<I>vis-à-vis</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"The diamonds are lost!" replied Parker hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +"The diamonds lost!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—lost—he has returned without them. They went down in the +<I>Abyssinia</I>. At least, that's what he says——" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer started. +</P> + +<P> +"You think——" +</P> + +<P> +"I think nothing," replied the president cautiously. "I want to know. +That's why I want you to help me—to find out—you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer nodded: +</P> + +<P> +"Some detective work, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely. The stones may have gone down to the bottom of the ocean, +or they may not. For all we know the ship may have been set on fire +purposely, in order to create such a panic——" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely you don't think Kenneth——" +</P> + +<P> +The president shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I accuse nobody. I want to find out." +</P> + +<P> +He was silent for a moment, and then after a pause he went on: +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you've heard, as well as everybody else, how Traynor has +been plunging in Wall Street recently." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer nodded. Hesitatingly he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I have. Unfortunately, the reports are true. Investigations I +have conducted privately on my own account have convinced me that +Kenneth has been a big plunger for some time. But as far as I know, he +has operated only within his means. I have often remonstrated with him +about the folly of it, but he enjoys the excitement of the speculation +game, and as long as he kept within bounds and gambled with his own +money I didn't see that anyone had any right to interfere." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, just so—as long as he operated with his own means and with his +own money. But suppose the market suddenly goes against such a man, +and he is face to face with a tremendous loss, possibly ruin, what does +such a man do nine times out of ten?" +</P> + +<P> +"Blow his brains out." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—sometimes that, but often he succumbs to temptation, and takes +what isn't his——" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you think that Kenneth——" +</P> + +<P> +"I think nothing. I want to know. He has come back from Africa a +changed man. He is surly, morose, secretive. That man has something +on his conscience. We must find out what it is. It is up to you to +ferret it out. Set your detectives to work. The company will spend +the last cent in its treasury to find those stones. You must trail his +associates, find out where he goes. The diamonds are probably right +here in New York. Who first took Kenneth to Wall Street?" +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio——" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah—always that fellow! Who is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"An adventurer of the worst type. I have had him shadowed by one of my +men. He has a police record as a dangerous criminal of international +reputation." +</P> + +<P> +"And Kenneth's valet—that fellow François." +</P> + +<P> +"He was formerly in Keralio's employ." +</P> + +<P> +The President rose. Extending his hand to the lawyer, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"That's enough. I don't think the trail will be hard to pick up. +Spare no expense. Good night!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + + +<P> +The last guest had gone. One by one the lights in the Traynor +residence were extinguished. The servants, tired after an exciting and +strenuous day, had gone to their quarters. +</P> + +<P> +In the hall downstairs, the grandfather's clock rang out its musical +chimes and then, in ponderous tones, slowly struck the twelve hours of +midnight. +</P> + +<P> +The master of the house was sitting at the desk in the library, looking +over some papers. From time to time he glanced significantly, first at +the clock and then at the corner where Helen and Ray were chatting over +the events of the day. At last the young girl took the hint. Jumping +up, she exclaimed good naturedly: +</P> + +<P> +"How selfish I am to be sitting gossiping here when poor Kenneth is so +tired. Go to bed, both of you. I'm so sleepy myself I can hardly keep +awake. Good night!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, dear!" said Helen, rising and kissing her. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, Ken! Pleasant dreams," cried the young girl as she left +the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night!" he responded hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of her footsteps died away in the distance and Helen and the +gambler sat there in silence. He watched her furtively, trying to +guess the trend of her thoughts, his eyes bloodshot with wine, feasting +on every line of her girlish figure. +</P> + +<P> +Never had she looked more beautiful, more desirable, than this evening. +Her <I>décolleté</I> gown revealed a white, plump neck, her lips were red +and tempting, her large dark eyes fairly sparkled from excitement. It +was a vision to distract a saint and Handsome was no saint. It was +indeed only with the greatest difficulty that he curbed his impatience +to carry off the prize that lay within his grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you tired," he said at last. "Do you want to go to bed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not very," she answered. "I'm too excited to sleep. Hasn't it been +an exciting day?" +</P> + +<P> +He made no reply, pretending to be occupied at the desk, and she +relapsed into a dream silence, glad of a few quiet, peaceful moments to +be alone with her thoughts. How good it was to have him home again! +Now she could be at peace once more and enjoy life as she used to. She +could go to the opera, to the theater. The days would not be so +monotonous. She wondered why she was still unable to shake off the +feeling of anxiety and apprehension which had haunted her ever since he +went away. With a devoted husband safe at her side, what reason had +she for feeling depressed? Yet, for some reason she was unable to +explain, she was not able even now to throw off her melancholy and +presentiment of danger. +</P> + +<P> +There recurred to her mind what Signor Keralio had said, his veiled, +ambiguous words of warning. Could it be true, was it possible that her +husband had deceived her all these years and unsuspected by her, had +led a double life of deceit and disloyalty? Certainly there was much +that needed explanation. The loss of the diamonds did not directly +concern her, although she felt that, too, was part of the mystery. But +his strange aloofness of manner, his inexplicable loss of memory and +nervousness, the frenzied outburst when she had mentioned Keralio's +name that afternoon, the sudden craving for drink—was not all this to +some extent, corroboration of what the fencing master has told her? +She thought she would question him, speak to him openly, frankly, as a +loyal wife should the man she loves, and give him an opportunity to +explain. Now was as good a time as ever. Looking up she said abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"Signor Keralio was here while you were away. I started telling you +this afternoon, but you got so excited——" +</P> + +<P> +Making a deprecatory gesture with his hand he said indifferently: +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. I was tired and nervous. I'm quieter now. What +did Keralio have to say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing worth listening to. He never says anything but impertinences." +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"You mustn't take him too seriously." +</P> + +<P> +Hotly she retorted: +</P> + +<P> +"He takes himself too seriously. If he only knew how repellent he is +to a decent woman he would cease to annoy me." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Keralio's not a bad sort—when you get to know him. Those +foreigners think nothing of making love to a woman——" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to know him," she retorted with spirit, "and what's more, +I don't want him coming here. One evening he was so insulting that I +had to show him the door. He had the impudence to come again. So I +had my servant put him out. You won't invite him here again, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +He was silent, while she sat watching him, amazed that he did not at +once fiercely resent the insult done her in his absence. After a +pause, he said awkwardly: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't invite him. Keralio's the kind of a chap who invites himself." +</P> + +<P> +"But can't you put him out?" she demanded with growing irritation. +</P> + +<P> +"No—I can't," he answered doggedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" she demanded firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't—that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him wonderingly, and the color came and went in her face +and neck. There was a note almost of contempt in her voice as she +demanded: +</P> + +<P> +"What is the hold this creature has on you? Is it something you are +ashamed of?" +</P> + +<P> +The blood surged to his face and the veins stood out on his temples +like whipcord. Another instant and it had receded, leaving him ghastly +pale. +</P> + +<P> +"We have business interests in common, that's all," he said hastily and +apologetically. "He has been very useful to me. I don't like him any +more than you do, but in business one can't criticize too closely the +manners or morals of one's associates." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but a man can prevent his associates from annoying his wife." +</P> + +<P> +He made no answer, but toyed nervously with a paper cutter. Determined +to get at the truth, she went on: +</P> + +<P> +"What business interests can you have together? Is it legitimate +business or merely stock gambling?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +Rising from the divan, she went toward him. Earnestly, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth, I've wanted to speak to you about this matter for a long +time. During your absence I've heard rumors. Things have been +insinuated. A hint has been dropped here, gossip has been overheard +there—all to the effect that you are heavily involved in Wall Street. +Is it true?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he was silent, at a loss what to answer. He could not +imagine the reason for the questioning or where it might lead him, but +instinct warned him that it was dangerous ground and that caution was +necessary. Why hadn't François told him of his brother's Wall Street +operations? It would never do to show himself entirely ignorant of +them. If such rumors existed, there was probably some basis of them. +No doubt his brother had played the market and kept from his wife the +extent of his losses. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it true?" she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. Nonchalantly, he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Never believe all you hear!" +</P> + +<P> +Her face lit up with pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Really?" she exclaimed. "It isn't true?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a word of it. I have money invested in stocks and bonds, but +anyone who accuses me of wild cat speculation is guilty of telling what +I would very politely call a d——d lie!" +</P> + +<P> +Reassured more by his ease and carelessness of manner than by his +actual words of denial, the young wife gave an exclamation of delight. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "You've no idea how relieved I feel. +It was worrying me terribly to feel that you might be in difficulties +and had not thought enough of me to take me into your confidence." +Looking at him appealingly she added: +</P> + +<P> +"You will always confide in me, won't you Ken?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I will, sweetheart——" +</P> + +<P> +Trembling with the ardor he was trying to control he seized hold of her +hand and drew her on to his knee. She offered no resistance, but +passively sat there, clasped against his broad shoulder, her face +radiant with happiness at the load which his words had taken off her +mind. +</P> + +<P> +Putting his arm round her waist, he leaned forward as if to kiss her, +but drawing quickly back she said: +</P> + +<P> +"There's still something else I must ask you before my happiness is +quite complete." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" he demanded, impatient at these continual interruptions +to his amorous advances. +</P> + +<P> +Turning she looked steadily into his face, as if trying to read the +truth or falsity of his answer. She could not see his eyes, veiled as +they were by the glasses, but that sensitive mouth she knew so well, +that determined chin, that high forehead crowned by the bushy brown +hair with its solitary white lock—all these were as dear to her as +they had always been. To think that he might have fondled some other +woman as he was now fondling her was intolerable agony. +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth," she said slowly and impressively, "are you sure that there +is no part of your life that you have kept hidden from me?" +</P> + +<P> +He started and for a moment changed color. What did she mean? Was it +possible that she suspected the substitution, or was she alluding to +some past history of his brother's life, of which he knew nothing? +Evasively, he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Why all these question, sweetheart, the first day I come home. Is +this the kind of welcome you promised me, the one I had a right to +expect. I am very tired. Let us go to bed." +</P> + +<P> +His arm still around her, he again drew her to him and, stooping, tried +to reach her mouth with his own. But again she resisted, her mind too +disturbed by jealousy to be in a mood to respond to his wooing. Gently +she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I know you are tired, Ken. I am tired, too,—tired of all these +rumors and slanderous insinuations. I have been made unhappy by +hearing this gossip. It is my right to tell you what I have heard and +ask for a straightforward, loyal explanation. I know you are true to +me. I have never doubted it for an instant. I only want a word from +you to forget what I've heard and dismiss the matter from my mind +forever." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her, an amused kind of expression playing about the +corners of his mouth. It was only with an effort that he controlled +the muscles of his face. What a comedy, he thought to himself! Here +was this sweet little woman breaking her heart over something which, as +far as he knew, didn't exist. But he must continue to play his part, +no matter at what cost. Evidently, she had heard something for which +there might be some basis of truth. She might even have proofs of his +brother's infidelity, and ready to produce them. Too sweeping a denial +might still further complicate matters, arouse suspicion, and end in +exposure. Cautiously, he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"You know all there is in my life, sweetheart. I never conceal +anything from you." +</P> + +<P> +Looking searchingly at him, she demanded: +</P> + +<P> +"Never?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never." +</P> + +<P> +"Has there been another woman in your life, Kenneth, since you married +me?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sweetheart—never. If anyone told you that or even insinuated it, +he was a scoundrel. It's a damned lie! You are and always will be the +only one——" +</P> + +<P> +Her head fell back on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I am completely happy!" she murmured. +</P> + +<P> +His arms folded about her and she felt his warm breath on her cheek. +But this time she did not resist. It felt good to be sheltered there +in those strong arms against the attacks and calumnies of the world. +</P> + +<P> +"It is late," he murmured. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, he threw her head back and bending down till his mouth +reached hers he kissed her full on the lips. She did not resist, but +just abandoned herself, responding only feebly to the fierce passion +that made him tremble like a leaf. His face flushed, his hands +shaking, he murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"It is very late. Are you not tired?" +</P> + +<P> +"No dear—I'm not tired. There's no hurry. We needn't get up early +to-morrow. It's so beautiful here—sitting together like this—so +happy in each other's company." +</P> + +<P> +"But I am tired," he said, trying to control his emotion. +</P> + +<P> +It was almost more than he could endure, yet still he mastered himself, +and resisted the temptation that arose violently within him to take her +by force, if needs be, and carry her into the inner room, as the wild +beast, tiring of playing with its victim, suddenly ends the game by +seizing its hapless prey and drags it away to its lair. Was he not the +master? Why should he allow her childish prattle to stand in the way +of his desires. For years, Handsome had not known female society save +that of those wretched outcasts who infest the mining camps. He had +caroused with them and quarreled with them. He had even loved one of +them—after the rough and ready fashion of the <I>veldt</I>. She was a +Spaniard, a tall handsome woman, with large black eyes and the temper +of a fury. She had killed her husband in a drunken brawl, and on +leaving prison had gone to South Africa. She met the gambler one night +in a gambling house, and, without as much as asking for an +introduction, she went up to him and, in a characteristic Spanish +style, gave him a hearty kiss on both cheeks. It was her way of +notifying her female associates that, henceforth, the big miner was her +man. Handsome accepted the challenge, and for a couple of years they +lived as happily together as can two adventurers who are in constant +hot water with the police. One day, in a fit of drunken jealousy, she +struck him. Furious with rage, he seized her by the neck. He did not +mean to harm her; it was his giant strength that was to blame. Anyhow +her neck was broken and the coroner called it an accident. For a week +or so, Handsome was really sorry. She was the only woman he had ever +cared for. She at least was a woman. +</P> + +<P> +But this slip of a girl, with her childish prattle and aristocratic +airs, was quite different. Accustomed to the rougher ways of the camp, +her fine manners and refined graces at first had rather intimidated +him. He did not feel at home with her. He felt awkward and ill at +ease. Yet, for all that, she was a woman, too—a woman of his own +race, desirable, tempting. When François had first suggested that he +impersonate his brother and enjoy his fortune, he had said nothing +about his brother's wife. Perhaps he reserved her for his master, +Keralio. At the thought, a pang of jealousy went through him. If +Keralio, why not he? Evidently Keralio had been stalking the game, for +she complained of his conduct and had dismissed him from the house. +Yet, in what position was he to frustrate Keralio in any of his +schemes? He had him in his power; he was completely at his mercy. He +allowed him to masquerade in New York as the millionaire, but he was +the real master of the Traynor home. Even now, François might be +spying on their actions, eager to report to the arch conspirator. +Rising from the chair, he lifted her to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, darling—it is late——" +</P> + +<P> +He led her slowly, almost imperceptibly, in the direction of the inner +room. A feeling of languor came over her, and she allowed him to lead +her, abandoning herself to his ardent, feverish embrace, responding +every now and then to the hot kisses he rained on her mouth and neck. +Through her thin dress he could feel her soft form pressing against +him. From her neck arose a delicious aroma, a kind of feminine incense +that still further aroused and lashed his desire. +</P> + +<P> +"I adore you—I adore you!" he murmured, as he kissed her again. +Slowly he led her past the bookcase and marble Venus to the open door +of her pink and white boudoir. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-280"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-280.jpg" ALT=""I adore you--I adore you" he murmured, as he kissed her again." BORDER="2" WIDTH="416" HEIGHT="667"> +<H3 STYLE="width: 416px"> +"I adore you—I adore you" he murmured, <BR> +as he kissed her again. +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +She looked up at him in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"How you love me!" she murmured. "You never used to care for me like +this." +</P> + +<P> +Her head on his shoulder, her eyes half closed, she was conscious only +of the presence of the man she loved better than anyone in the world. +</P> + +<P> +Yet even now, in the hour of her supreme content and felicity, when all +her tormenting anxieties and doubts had been dissipated by his frank +words of denial, there was still something that worried her. He was +changed somehow, even in his love making. It was delicious to be loved +passionately, fiercely, like this—to be carried off by force, as it +were, by your own husband. But she did not understand how a man could +change so much in a few weeks. Kenneth had always loved her deeply, +but never had she known him display such ardor as this. She had heard +that men change, particularly after long absences from home. Some, she +had heard, became colder; others were more demonstrative. Of the two, +she thought the latter preferable. If there was such love in the +world, why should it not be shown her. Her own temperament was cold, +but no woman could but feel flattered that she possessed the power to +arouse men to such passion. +</P> + +<P> +At last they had reached the threshold of the boudoir. What to him was +an earthly paradise, was almost attained. In a state of blissful +helplessness, intoxicated by a delicious sensation of being completely +dominated by a will stronger than her own, she permitted him to take +her where he wished. Her eyes closed, her head on his shoulder, she +submitted willingly to his fervent kisses. Another moment and he had +closed the door behind them, when, suddenly, a commotion on the landing +outside the library aroused both with a start. There was the sound of +voices and people running up the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" exclaimed Helen startled. +</P> + +<P> +Irritated at this unlooked for interruption, the gambler went quickly +toward the landing to investigate. François met him at the library +door. In his hand he held an envelope. Holding it out, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"A telegram for Madame!" +</P> + +<P> +"A telegram!" cried Helen, rushing forward. "Good God, I hope Dorothy +is not——" +</P> + +<P> +She tore it open, while Handsome stood by in silence. On the valet's +face there was a triumphant expression, the gratified smile of one +rogue who enjoys the discomfiture of another. +</P> + +<P> +Helen suddenly gave a cry. +</P> + +<P> +"It's as I thought!" she exclaimed. "Dorothy is worse. The doctor +thinks it is scarlet fever. I must go to her at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Go where?" demanded Handsome in consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"To Philadelphia." +</P> + +<P> +"To Philadelphia to-night?" he cried in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—to-night," she said firmly. +</P> + +<P> +He protested vigorously. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense—you can't go to-night. It will do no good. Wait till the +morning. There are no trains." +</P> + +<P> +Quickly, the valet drew from his pocket a time-table. With a side +glance at his master, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"There is a train at 1.15. If Madame is quick, she will make it. The +car is already waiting downstairs." +</P> + +<P> +Helen seized her fur coat, which the obliging valet had also brought up +from the hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—yes. Throw a few things in my bag. You needn't come, Ken. I'll +telephone you directly I get to Philadelphia. Good-bye!" +</P> + +<P> +The next instant she was gone and the gambler, with a muttered curse, +went to the sideboard and poured out a glass of whiskey, with which to +drown his disappointment. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + + +<P> +For a person so fastidious and particular, so fond of the luxurious and +the elegant, Signor Keralio had certainly selected a queer neighborhood +for his abode. Miles distant from the fashionable centers, far away up +in the Bronx, he occupied the entire top floor of a dingy, broken down +tenement. There were no other people in the house, it being in such +bad repair that no one cared to live in it, and as Keralio paid as much +as all the previous tenants combined and made no requests for +improvements, the landlord was only too glad to leave him undisturbed. +It was situated at the extreme end of a blind alley and, there being no +egress from the street save at one end, there was consequently little +or no traffic and, for the great part of the day and night, the silence +was as deep and unbroken as in the open country. +</P> + +<P> +With his neighbors Signor Keralio was distantly polite, but never +intimate. The district was a poor one, being settled mostly by Italian +laborers who rose and went to bed with the sun and toiled too long and +too hard each day to bother their heads as to why such a fine gentleman +as the Signor appeared to be, should live in such squalid quarters. No +one had ever been admitted to his flat. If the baker called, he left +the bread on the mat; if a chance peddler or book agent happened to +wander in, he had to talk through closed doors. The Signor was always +busy and could not be disturbed. The lights often burned all night +long, and sometimes people drove up in a taxi and went away again. For +a while the corner gossips speculated idly as to who he might be, but +gradually they lost all interest. When he purchased trifles at the +corner grocery he gave out casually that he was a newspaper man and had +to work all night, and the fact that muffled sounds of hammering and +machinery in motion had been heard at all hours, only helped to make +the explanation more plausible. +</P> + +<P> +To-night, Keralio was perhaps more anxious than at any time to +discourage callers—especially should they happen to be inquisitive +secret service agents. Another few days and he would have nothing more +to fear. The presses would soon have completed their work and $500,000 +worth of as fine a $10 counterfeit as ever deceived a bank teller would +be ready for distribution. Half of them had already been run off and, +as he held them up to the light and critically examined the silken +thread that ran here and there through the specially prepared paper and +noted the careful coloring, the beautifully geometrical lathe work and +skilfully traced signatures, he silently congratulated himself. Here +was half a million dollars' worth of splendid currency. Detection was +absolutely impossible. Had not François already succeeded in passing a +lot? After all had been disposed of, he could afford to take a rest. +On the proceeds of this rich haul, he could live like a prince for a +few years in Europe, and when that was all gone, he still had the +diamonds to fall back upon. Glancing at the clock, he wondered why +Handsome did not come. He was anxious to get possession of the +diamonds. It was too soon to attempt doing anything with the stones +now. The hue and cry would be too loud. All the diamond markets would +be watched, if they were not already. He had a suspicion that Parker +and Steell suspected something wrong. François had seen the President +in earnest consultation with the lawyer directly after Handsome had +announced the loss. He had not been able to hear what was said, but +from their manner he inferred that the diamonds were the sole subject +of conversation. They did not question Handsome's identity. That +never entered their heads, but they doubted his story of losing the +stones. They, no doubt, thought he had used the diamonds to make good +Wall Street losses. +</P> + +<P> +He chuckled as he thought how admirably his scheme had worked out. He +had hinted at Kenneth being heavily short in this street, which at once +explained a motive for Kenneth diverting the stones to his own use. +Yes, he had triumphed over them all—except one. Helen Traynor, so +far, had foiled him in everything, and the more she resisted and +insulted him, the more determined he was to drag her at his feet. +Handsome, poor devil, fondly imagined he would inherit the wife as well +as the fortune. How could he guess that he, Keralio, would send a +bogus telegram just in time to dash the cup from his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Impatiently he strode up and down the rooms. Why was Handsome late? A +frown darkened his face. He had better not trifle with him. He must +obey without question or take the consequences. He was in no mood to +be defied. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, he started and listened. His alert ear had caught the sound +of approaching footsteps on the stairs outside. A moment later came +three deliberate knocks on the door, a signal which indicated a +friendly visitor. Quickly, Keralio went forward and withdrew the bolt. +</P> + +<P> +François entered, suit case in hand. Hardly before he could take +breath after the long climb, Keralio exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how are they going?" +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>À merveille</I>! Like hot cakes. I've passed all of zem. Good work, +is it not?" +</P> + +<P> +"And the real stuff?" demanded Keralio. +</P> + +<P> +"Is in here." +</P> + +<P> +The valet pointed to the leather case. +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly Keralio seized the portmanteau, and, opening it, emptied the +contents. A perfect shower of greenbacks—genuine ones this time—fell +upon the floor. With shaking hands, like a miser who trembles as he +handles his hoarded gold, Keralio picked up the money by armfuls and, +taking it to a table, proceeded to count it. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it all here?" he demanded suspiciously. +</P> + +<P> +The valet scowled. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think I'm holding any back on you? <I>Ma foi, non</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio, still counting, fixed his assistant with steely, piercing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"No, François, I think you know me too well for that. You know I never +forget a service; you also know I never forgive anyone who crosses my +will." +</P> + +<P> +The valet shrugged his shoulders. In an injured tone he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What's all ze talk about? I work well for you. I do your dirty work, +<I>n'est ce pas</I>? I never complain—I am faithful. What more would you +have?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you complain? You get your share," rejoined his chief +sternly. +</P> + +<P> +The valet was silent and Keralio went on: +</P> + +<P> +"A few days more and we'll be rid of all the new stuff. Then we'll +take down the presses and carry away the parts, piece by piece. When +we're ready to leave this hole, there won't be a shred of evidence +left. Have you heard any news from our man in Washington? What are +the secret service men doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ze alarm is given. Zey have spotted several of ze bills. Half a +dozen of ze cleverest sleuths in ze country have been put on our trail. +Zey will not succeed. Ze scent is cold. We've got zem completely +doped." +</P> + +<P> +Keralio looked anxious. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there any danger of them having shadowed you and followed you here?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—<I>mon cher, pas le mains du monde</I>. It took me three hours to come +here from ze Pennsylvania station—such a crazy in and out route I gave +ze chauffeur. If they succeed in following such a labyrinth as that, +they deserve to get us." +</P> + +<P> +Keralio smiled and pointed to a bottle of brandy on the table. +Approvingly, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Good boy! There, take a drink and a cigar——" +</P> + +<P> +After the valet had refreshed himself, he again confronted his chief. +</P> + +<P> +"What else <I>à votre service</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio pointed carelessly to a seat. In a commanding tone, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I have more work for you. Sit down. I will tell you." +</P> + +<P> +The valet took a chair and waited. Keralio looked at him meditatively +for a moment. Then suddenly he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"When did you leave the house?" +</P> + +<P> +"This afternoon at three o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"When did Mrs. Traynor return from Philadelphia?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday—furious at the hoax played upon her? Miss Dorothy is +perfectly well——" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course. I sent that telegram." +</P> + +<P> +The valet grinned. Admiringly, he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"You are admirable! <I>Quel homme, mon dieu, quel homme</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Paying no heed to the compliment, Keralio went on: +</P> + +<P> +"What did Handsome say?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is puzzled himself and can't understand. Everyone's up in the air. +They think it is a discharged maid who did it for spite." +</P> + +<P> +"The next time Mrs. Traynor receives a sudden message about her baby it +will not be a hoax." +</P> + +<P> +The valet looked up in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio did not answer the question immediately, but sat nervously +twisting his fingers, a moody sullen look in his pale saturnine face. +At last, breaking the heavy silence, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"That woman insulted me. You saw it. You were there——" +</P> + +<P> +The valet nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean she put you out—ah, <I>oui</I>, she has a <I>diable</I> of a temper +when angry." +</P> + +<P> +Keralio nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—that I can never forgive. She shall ask my pardon on her knees. +I will break her spirit, humiliate her pride. I have been taxing my +brain how to do it. At last I have hit on a plan—one that cannot fail +and you shall help me." +</P> + +<P> +"In what way <I>s'il vous plait</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +Bending forward, his black eyes flashing, Keralio said earnestly: +</P> + +<P> +"That woman is devoted to only two beings in this world—her husband +and her baby. Sooner or later, perhaps only in a few days, she will +discover that Handsome is an impostor. He is such a fool that exposure +is inevitable. The blow will almost kill her. Above all, it will +humiliate her pride to know that unwittingly she has allowed that +drunken brute, that poor counterfeit of her husband, to caress and +fondle her. Next in her affections comes her baby. If any danger +threatened the child, she would stop at nothing, she would make any +sacrifice to ward off the danger. I propose to bring about just that +situation——" +</P> + +<P> +The valet half started up from his chair. Hardened and callous as he +was in crime, he was hardly prepared to go to that extreme. +</P> + +<P> +"Death?" he exclaimed, horror stricken, "you would kill ze child?" +</P> + +<P> +"No fool—not kill the child. I'll kidnap it—that's all. We'll bring +the child here and, then I'll write the mother, telling her where it is +and to come to it, but warning her that if she values the child's life, +she must tell no one, and must come here unaccompanied. Once she is +here, I will take care of the rest. Do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet breathed more freely. +</P> + +<P> +"So you will that I——" +</P> + +<P> +His chief nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely. You'll take the flyer to Philadelphia. Say you come from +the mother. They'll have no suspicion. Take the child and come here +at once. Understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, monsieur." +</P> + +<P> +Keralio rose. In commanding tones, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Then go at once." +</P> + +<P> +The valet went to get his hat. As he approached the door Keralio +halted him and said: +</P> + +<P> +"What's Handsome doing—keeping sober?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has to, for I lock up all ze liquor. He lives like a lord, buying +swell clothes, riding in ze automobile. Last night he lost at ze club +$10,000 he had drew from ze bank." +</P> + +<P> +Keralio gave a low whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce he did! Living high, eh? Well—that's all right. Let him +enjoy it. His gay life won't last long—only just as long as it suits +my purpose." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush! Not a word—here he is!" +</P> + +<P> +From the landing outside came the sound of a heavy body lurching. Then +came the noise of someone groping for the handle, followed by a furious +pounding on the wooden panels. +</P> + +<P> +"Open up there, will you!" shouted a hoarse voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Drunk, as usual!" said Keralio contemptuously. +</P> + +<P> +He suddenly threw the door open and the gambler, burly and unsteady on +his legs, almost fell in. He was in evening dress, his collar and tie +rumpled, his hair unkempt. His face was flushed, his eyes bloodshot. +Reeling in, he hiccoughed: +</P> + +<P> +"What'n h—ll do you live so far up town for? I thought I'd never get +here. Say, this is the end of the world, ain't it? Jumping off place, +eh? Stopped several times on the way to get a drink. My cabby nearly +got lost. Been driving me round for three hours trying to locate the +blooming house. Charged me $5. Hell of a good business, ain't it. +Tain't on the level to treat an old pal that way. Y'oughter be ashamed +o' yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm more ashamed of you—for making such a beast of yourself," +rejoined Keralio angrily. "Stop your cursed noise or you'll have the +police on top of us!" +</P> + +<P> +Without ceremony, he pushed the newcomer into a seat and made a gesture +to François to go. The valet went toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember," said Keralio warningly. "There must be no blundering. I +want the child brought here——" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, monsieur—it shall be as you say." +</P> + +<P> +The door closed and Keralio turned quietly to the miner. Sternly, and +in a manner that brooked no nonsense, he demanded: +</P> + +<P> +"Did you bring the diamonds?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome grinned, and pointed to his waist. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got 'em all right!" With another hiccough, he added: "But +there's no hurry, old sport. Let's have a drink before we get talking +business." +</P> + +<P> +In two rapid strides Keralio was up to him. Fiercely he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Give me the stones—give me them I say. We've no time for your d——d +fooling. Hand them over. Come——" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the gambler just sat and looked at his master. A giant in +physical strength compared with the slightly built foreigner, he could +have overpowered him as a child might crush an egg-shell, but he lacked +the mentality, the magnetism of the Italian. He was cowed, dominated +by the stronger mind. Grumbling, he began to fumble at his waist: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see what's the hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"But I see," exclaimed Keralio, his eyes growing larger, as he already +saw the colossal stones glittering in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +The next instant Handsome had slid his hand under his waistcoat and +unbuckled a belt he wore next his shirt. Unfastening a pocket and +taking out the contents, he growled: +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are! I'm glad to get rid of the d——d things." +</P> + +<P> +With a cry of exultant joy Keralio took hold of the stones and, going +to the window, greedily feasted his eyes on them. Report had not +exaggerated the value and extraordinary beauty of the gems. They were +worth more than a million. +</P> + +<P> +"What do I get out of it?" whined the gambler. +</P> + +<P> +Keralio regarded him with contempt. Dryly he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You get out of it that you're not sitting in the electric chair for +murdering your twin brother. You get out of it that you're playing the +rôle of the millionaire, basking in the smiles of your brother's +charming wife, and making a drunken beast of yourself—that's what you +get out of it. Isn't it enough?" +</P> + +<P> +Handsome winced. Keralio had a direct way of saying things to which +there was no answer possible. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," he grumbled, "I'm not kicking." +</P> + +<P> +"No—I wouldn't if I were you." +</P> + +<P> +Changing the topic, Keralio carelessly lit a cigarette and, between the +puffs, asked: +</P> + +<P> +"How's your wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"My wife? You mean his wife?" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Yours—for the time being." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome scowled. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't so easy as I thought," he replied. "I don't know if she +suspects something's wrong or not, but ever since that evening she was +called to Philadelphia she avoids me like the pest. I can see in her +face that she's puzzled. 'It's my husband, and yet not my +husband'—that's what she's thinking all the time. I can guess her +thoughts by the expression on her face." +</P> + +<P> +Keralio shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"That's your own fault. I gave you the opportunity. You failed to +profit by it. You got drunk the first night you arrived. Kenneth +Traynor was a temperate man. Is it no wonder you excited wonder and +talk? Then you were stupid under questioning and gave equivocal +answers. Your explanation to Parker about the diamonds was more than +unfortunate; it was idiotic. His suspicions were at once aroused. He +may yet give us trouble before we have time to get rid of the stones. +Finding the wife eluded you, you began to stay out late at night. You +caroused, you drank hard, you gambled—all of which follies your +brother never committed. In other words, you are a fool." +</P> + +<P> +The miner pointed to the diamonds which still lay on the table. +Sulkily he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all you wanted?" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio put the gems away in his pocket, and pointed to the stacks of +newly printed counterfeit money that lay in stacks all over the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you can help me make up bundles of this stuff." +</P> + +<P> +Handsome opened wide his eyes at sight of the crisp currency. Greedily +he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Say—that's some money! Ain't they beauties?" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio made an impatient gesture and, taking off his coat, made a +gesture to his companion to do likewise. +</P> + +<P> +"Come—there's no time to talk. We must get rid of it all before +morning. For all I know the detectives may be watching the house now." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + + +<P> +"I'm sure it was Mary," exclaimed Ray positively. "I never did like +the girl. She was sullen and vicious and would stop at nothing to get +even with us for discharging her." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you are right," said Helen, "although it is hard to believe +that a woman would do such a cruel thing to a mother. Just imagine how +worried I was all the way to Philadelphia, only to find when I got +there that no message had been sent, and Dorothy was perfectly well." +</P> + +<P> +It was evening. The two women were sitting alone in the library on the +second floor, Ray busy at her trousseau, Helen helping her with a piece +of embroidery. The master of the house was absent, as usual. He had +not come home to dinner, having telephoned at the last minute that he +was detained at the club, a thing of such common occurrence since his +return from South Africa that Helen had come to accept it as a matter +of course. Indeed, things had come to such a pass that she rather +welcomed his absence. She preferred the sweet, amiable companionship +of her little sister to that of a man who had suddenly become exacting, +over-bearing and quarrelsome. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you let Dorothy come home?" asked Ray. "Then you wouldn't +have this constant worry about her." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I will, now that we are more settled and things are quieter. +I wrote to auntie to-day that I might go to Philadelphia one day next +week to bring her home. You are right. I shall not be happy until +she's with me. I have such terrible dreams about her. If anything +were to happen that child, I think it would kill me." +</P> + +<P> +Ray nodded approvingly. Sympathetically, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear. You'll feel better satisfied when she's with you. Besides +she'll be a companion for you—especially when I'm married——" +</P> + +<P> +Helen sighed and turned away her face so her sister should not see the +tears that suddenly filled her eyes. Sorrowfully, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"It will be terrible to lose you, dear. Of course, I'm happy over your +marriage. It would be very selfish in me to want to stand in the way +of your happiness. I'm sure I wish you and Wilbur every joy +imaginable. But I shall certainly feel very lonely when you are gone." +</P> + +<P> +The young girl looked closely at her sister. She realized that her +sister was no longer the happy, contented woman she once was, and she +readily guessed the cause. Helen had not taken her into her +confidence, but she had ears and eyes. Living in the house in such +close intimacy, she could not help noticing that the relations between +the wife and husband were no longer what they had been. Guardedly she +said: +</P> + +<P> +"But you have Kenneth." +</P> + +<P> +Helen sighed and was silent. +</P> + +<P> +Ray looked up. More gently she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you your husband, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +Her sister shook her head. There was a note of utter discouragement +and melancholy in her voice as she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"He is seldom home—his club seems to have more attraction for him. I +rarely see him except at breakfast time." She was silent for a moment, +and then added quickly: "Would you believe that he hasn't been home a +single night since the time I was called to Philadelphia?" +</P> + +<P> +Ray opened her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"He's out all night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—all night. The other morning it was seven o'clock when he came +home—and his dress suit and shirt looked as if he had been in a fight." +</P> + +<P> +The young girl put down her work and looked at her sister in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Sis!—what's the matter with Ken all at once?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen made no reply, but covering her face with her two hands, burst +into tears. Ray rose quickly and going over to where she was sitting, +sat on the edge of the chair and put her arms about her. Soothingly +she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't cry, dear, don't cry. He will soon be himself again. His +terrible experience on the steamer upset him dreadfully. His nervous +system underwent such a shock that it has entirely changed his +character. Wilbur says it is quite a common phenomenon. Only the +other day he read in some medical book an article on that very subject. +The writer says any great shock of that kind can cause a temporary +disarrangement of the moral sense and perceptions. For example, a man +who, under ordinary circumstances is a perfect model of a husband, with +every good quality and virtue, may suddenly lose all sense of conduct +and become am unprincipled <I>roué</I>. In other words, we have two natures +within us. When our system is working normally we succeed in keeping +the evil that's in us under control; but following any great shock, the +system is disarranged, the evil gains the ascendancy, and we appear +quite another person. This explains the dual personality about which +Wilbur and I had an argument the other day. Don't you remember?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen nodded. Sadly she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I begin to think you are right. Certainly he has changed. If he had +been like this when I first met him I should never have married him. +It is not the Kenneth I learned to love." Bitterly, she added: "As he +is now, I feel I dislike and detest him. Unless he soon changes for +the better, I shall leave him. In self respect I can't go on living +like this?" +</P> + +<P> +Kissing her sister again, Ray rose and went back to her seat. +Confidently, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure everything will be all right soon. You +see if I'm not right. By my wedding day—only three weeks away +now—you'll think as much of Ken as ever——" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so, dear, but three weeks is a long time to wait——" +</P> + +<P> +The young girl laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why that's nothing at all. Just imagine Ken is ill or gone away from +you on a visit for that length of time——" +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke the door opened, and François entered with a silver +salver, which he presented to his mistress. +</P> + +<P> +"A letter for Madame." +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked at the envelope and threw it down with a gesture of +impatience. Crossly, she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"François, I do wish you'd be more careful. Can't you read. Don't you +see the letter is addressed to Mr. Traynor?" +</P> + +<P> +The valet nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, madame. But as Monsieur is out I thought that possibly +madame——" +</P> + +<P> +Incensed more at the fellow's impudent air than by what he actually +said, Helen lost her temper. Angrily, she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't think. People of your class are not hired to think; they are +paid to do as they are told. You've been very careless in your work +recently. The next time it happens I shall have to tell you to find +another place." +</P> + +<P> +The valet smiled. An insolent look passed over his sallow, angular +face. Dropping completely his deferential manner and fixing the two +women with a bold, familiar stare, he said impudently: +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't wait till next time. I'll quit right now, <I>parbleu</I>. +It's a rotten job, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +Indignant, Helen pointed to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Go!" she cried. "The housekeeper will settle with you. Never let me +see your face again." +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and went toward the door. As he +reached it, he turned round, a sneer on his face: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll see me again all right, but ze circumstances may be different? +My lady may not be so proud ze next time." +</P> + +<P> +With this parting shot, he went away, and a moment later they heard him +going up to his room to pack his things. +</P> + +<P> +Ray turned to her sister. Reprovingly, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Weren't you a little severe with him?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen shook her head. Quickly, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I never could bear the sight of the man. He is treacherous and +deceitful. I'm not at all sure that he's honest. It was only after +he'd been here some time that I learned he was formerly with Signor +Keralio. That was enough to set me against him. Like master, like +valet, as the saying goes, and it's usually a true saying. On several +occasions lately I have noticed things that seemed suspicious. The +fellow is more intimate now with Kenneth than I, his wife, have ever +been. Only the other day I discovered them in earnest and intimate +conversation. Directly I appeared they separated and François, instead +of continuing to converse on terms of apparent social equality, was +once more the fawning valet. I didn't take the trouble to ask Kenneth +what it all meant. So many singular things have happened since his +return, that this only adds one more to the list." +</P> + +<P> +"May I come in?" said a voice. +</P> + +<P> +Helen looked up quickly. It was Wilbur Steell who was standing at the +door with his head half in the room, laughing at them. The two women +had been so busy talking that they had not heard the sound of +approaching footsteps. With an exclamation of joy Ray jumped to her +feet and ran up to him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Wilbur—my precious Wilbur!" +</P> + +<P> +Helen nodded approvingly, as she noticed the girl's enthusiasm. +Certainly her sister had changed. She was hardly the cold, +self-centered Ray of six months ago. With a smile she said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's astonishing how a man can alter a girl—if he's the right kind." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"It works both ways. The right kind of woman can make a man change his +ways—even a hardened old bachelor. Who could have guessed that I +would ever fall in love?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"What is love? We have it to-day; it eludes us to-morrow. A few weeks +ago I thought I loved my husband better than any being in the world. +To-day, I can hardly look him in the face. How do you account for it?" +</P> + +<P> +Dropping into a chair, the lawyer look serious. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't account for it, nor can I blame you. Kenneth has returned +from South Africa a changed man. Whether the wreck and the loss of the +diamonds affected his mind I do not know. Only a psychologist could +determine that. But he is not the same. Where is he to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen threw up her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Do I ever know?" she exclaimed wearily. "I haven't seen him since +morning, and don't expect to see him before breakfast to-morrow. He's +at his club or drinking and carousing, or in some gambling house +playing roulette. How do I know?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is certainly a most singular case," said the lawyer meditatively. +"Mr. Parker and I have gone carefully over his accounts at the +Company's office. Everything is perfectly regular. There only remains +the missing diamonds. We have detectives working on half a dozen clues +but so far we have accomplished nothing. We have also gone to +Washington to get the secret service men interested in the case on the +ground that if the diamonds are here they were smuggled in and no duty +was paid. But we found the secret service men busy following up +counterfeiters. The country is being flooded with counterfeit $10 +bills—a splendid reproduction, almost defying detection. It is +believed that the plates and presses from which they are made are right +here in New York and the whole secret service force is at work trying +to run the counterfeiters to earth. This is why our diamond case is +going so slowly. They are so busy following up the counterfeiters they +have no time for us." +</P> + +<P> +Ray, much interested, leaned eagerly forward. +</P> + +<P> +"A counterfeit ten dollar bill, did you say?" she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—it is a remarkable counterfeit. You would not know it from a +good one. Only an expert can tell the difference. But all these +crooks overreach themselves. Clever as they are, they usually leave +some mark which betrays them. For example, in printing this bill which +bears the head of Lincoln, they have spelled his first name +'Abrahem'—in other words, the engraver made an 'e' when it should have +been 'a.'" +</P> + +<P> +Ray jumped up, quite excited. Her eyes flashing, she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that strange! I have a new $10 bill, and I noticed to-day the +queer spelling of Abraham. Wouldn't it be funny if I had one of the +counterfeits?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't be funny; it would be a tragedy, considering that in a +short while from now I am to pay your bills. Where is the bank note?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll run up and get it. It's in my purse." +</P> + +<P> +When she had disappeared, Steell turned to his hostess and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Have you seen Signor Keralio lately?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly—you know I dismissed him from the house." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer sat thoughtfully drumming his fingers on the table. +Musingly, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Somehow I have a hunch that that fellow knows something about the +diamonds. Does Kenneth ever see him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I asked him the other day. He said he did not." +</P> + +<P> +"That's strange!" exclaimed the lawyer. "It was only yesterday morning +that I saw them together in a taxicab." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" demanded Helen, surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Away uptown. I had business up in the Bronx. I was driving my car +and was near 200th street and going north when suddenly I had to steer +to one side to allow a taxicab to pass. There were two men in it. I +just chanced to glance inside and, to my surprise, I recognized your +husband and Keralio." +</P> + +<P> +"What time was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very early—about nine o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"What direction?" +</P> + +<P> +"They were coming south." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he must have been with Keralio all night, for he didn't come +home." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer was silent. Certainly here was a mystery which needed more +detective talent than he possessed to clear up. Yet he would not rest +until it was solved. To-morrow he would get Dick Reynolds busy, and +they would go to work in earnest. The first thing to find out was what +took Keralio and Kenneth to the Bronx. +</P> + +<P> +"Does Keralio live in the Bronx?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll find out," said the lawyer, grimly. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Ray returned, holding out a new ten-dollar bill. +</P> + +<P> +"I was right," she cried. "The name Abraham is spelled with an 'e.' +Do you really think this is a counterfeit?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer took the bill and examined it critically. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no doubt of it," he answered. "There are other +indications—the general appearance, the touch of the paper. Where did +you get it?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the young girl was puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me think. Where did I get it. Oh yes, I know. François gave it +to me." +</P> + +<P> +"François!" exclaimed Helen. +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer started and looked up in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"François, your brother-in-law's valet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I wanted a $20 bill changed to pay for some things that came home +from the store, and he went out and brought me some old bills and this +new one." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer gave vent to a low, expressive whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"François gave it to you, eh? Where is Francois?" +</P> + +<P> +"I discharged him to-day for insolence," said Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"He's gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—he went shortly before you came in." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer jumped to his feet, a look of exultation on his face. +Quickly, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you say that this François was formerly with Signor Keralio?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—he was with him for years." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer gave a wild whoop of joy. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we've got it—at last." +</P> + +<P> +"Got what?" cried the women. +</P> + +<P> +"A clue—a clue!" cried the lawyer, excitedly. "Can't you see it? +François is hand in glove with Keralio—the master rogue who is making +this counterfeit." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you propose to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Find where Keralio lives—then, perhaps, we'll find the lost diamonds." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + + +<P> +"This way," whispered Dick, as he darted swiftly from door to door, +"keep close behind me, and stick to the wall, or he'll see you." +</P> + +<P> +But François was so utterly fagged after his long walk from the +Elevated road, carrying his heavy suitcase, that he worried about +nothing save his own discomfort. Unable to find a taxi, he had been +compelled to tramp the entire distance, and the fatigue of it had made +him peevish. He could have saved himself at least a mile if he had +taken a more direct road, but Keralio's orders were explicit. He must +always follow a circuitous route so as to throw possible pursuers off +the scent. There was no disobeying the orders of the chief, so on he +trudged, looking neither to right nor left, up one street, down +another, now crossing an empty lot, now darting through a narrow alley, +through the wastes and dreariness of Bronxville. +</P> + +<P> +As he approached his journey's end, he accelerated his pace, going +along so fast that it was as much as Dick and Steell could do to keep +up with him. The night was dark and foggy, and at times they could not +see him for the mist. But as he came within the glare of each lamp +post, they could make out his lithe figure, scurrying along as if the +devil himself were at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's get up closer," gasped Dick, who was winded from the long chase. +"I guess their den is in this neighborhood. He'll slip in somewhere +and we'll lose him if we keep so far away." +</P> + +<P> +"No—he may see us," whispered Steell cautiously. "We can make him out +all right." +</P> + +<P> +They increased their pace a little. The valet was less than two blocks +away, and once he actually stopped and looked around as if to see if he +was followed. Quickly Steell and Dick darted under a doorway, and, +seeing nothing to arouse his suspicion, François went on. +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer was taking no chances to-night. It was too good a game to +spoil. That they were on the right trail at last he was morally +certain. Ray's experience had given him the first clue. After that it +was easy. For two days Dick had shadowed the valet, and seen him +changing crisp $10 bills in half a dozen different places. The lawyer +could have had him arrested at once, but he was after bigger game. It +was not enough to arrest François. He was only the tool. They must +get the man higher up, the man who employed him. That man, the lawyer +felt equally confident, was Keralio. He was the master counterfeiter. +The first step to take was to find out where the counterfeiting was +done, where Keralio had his plant, and the only way to do this was to +follow the valet to his master's secret den. +</P> + +<P> +For several days they had shadowed the Frenchman constantly, until +to-night they were rewarded by seeing him start with a suit case in the +direction of the Bronx. They quickly gave chase, the lawyer confident +of results. It was not part of his plan, however, to hurry matters or +do things prematurely. To-night they would merely reconnoiter. They +would content themselves by watching the premises, seeing who came and +went, and trying to obtain a glimpse of the interior. If the evidence +was incriminating enough to make a raid successful, it would always be +time enough to call in the police. Keralio, he was also well +convinced, had something to do with the missing diamonds, and possibly +the present investigation would throw some light on the mystery +surrounding Kenneth himself. He had made no mention of his suspicions +to Helen, but he could not help feeling that in some way, yet to be +discovered, his old comrade had become involved with a band of crooks. +How otherwise explain his acquaintance with Keralio, an utter stranger +of dubious antecedents. How explain the loss of the diamonds? The +explanation Kenneth had given was decidedly fishy. Parker did not +believe a word of it—in fact, frankly expressed, his opinion was that +his vice-president had disposed of the gems. Had he himself not seen +Kenneth driving about the Bronx with Keralio at an impossible hour? +Had not Helen discovered François conversing on intimate terms with his +master? It all looked decidedly bad; only time could unravel it all. +It was a fearful thing to suspect a man of Kenneth's standing, but +everything pointed to his being involved in a vast network of crime. +</P> + +<P> +He was aroused from his reflections by an exclamation of warning from +his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Quick—there he goes!" whispered Dick. +</P> + +<P> +The valet had suddenly made a sharp turn to the right, and was lost to +view. But quick as he was, Dick was quicker. The young man was a +little ahead of the lawyer, and, putting on a spurt of speed, he +reached the corner just in time to see the Frenchman and suitcase +disappear into a grimy, dilapidated looking tenement at the end of a +blind alley. +</P> + +<P> +"We've run the fox to earth," whispered Steell exultantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Could any melodrama wish for a more appropriate <I>mise-en-scène</I>?" +grinned Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Come opposite, and find out what we can see from the outside." +</P> + +<P> +Crossing the street they took up positions in the shadow of a doorway. +</P> + +<P> +The house which the Frenchman had entered was all dark and apparently +tenantless, except on the top floor where lights could be faintly seen +behind hermetically sealed shutters. Straining his ears, Steell +thought he could hear the steady hum of machinery in motion. With an +exclamation of satisfaction, he turned to his companion: +</P> + +<P> +"We've got 'em, Dick, we've got 'em. Do you hear the presses going?" +</P> + +<P> +The young man listened. The sound was plainly audible, but it was a +muffled sound, as if the walls and windows were padded with mattresses +to prevent any sounds of the operations within from reaching +inquisitive, outside ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go upstairs," whispered Steell. +</P> + +<P> +Recrossing the road, they entered the house and began to grope their +way up the narrow, winding staircase. They could make only slow +progress, not only because of the absence of light, but owing to the +rotten condition of the stairs. Indescribably filthy and littered with +all sorts of rubbish and broken glass, in some places the boards had +broken through entirely, leaving gaping holes, which were so many +dangerous pitfalls. Twice the lawyer came near breaking his neck. +</P> + +<P> +At last they reached the top, both out of breath from the long and +perilous climb. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush—there it is!" whispered Dick pointing at the end of a narrow +hall to a door from underneath which issued a faint glimmer of light. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously, noiselessly, treading on tiptoe, the lawyer and his +companion crept along the passage until they came to the door. They +listened. There was not a sound. Even the hum of machinery which they +had heard in the street, had ceased. Could the inmates have taken +alarm? +</P> + +<P> +All at once they heard people talking. Instantly, Steell recognized +the voice of Keralio. He was questioning someone, no doubt the valet. +They listened. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, did you carry out my orders?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, monsieur, ze last of ze ten-dollar bills has been passed. I +have ze money here." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not mean that," broke in Keralio impatiently. "I mean as +regards the child——" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, monsieur. Didn't you receive my telegram. I brought the child +from Philadelphia yesterday evening." +</P> + +<P> +Steell, puzzled, turned to his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"What child are they talking about?" he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no idea. Some more mischief they're up to, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +Again Keralio's voice was heard asking: +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Handsome to-day? I told him to come. Why isn't he here?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's drinking again, monsieur. When he's drunk you can't do anything +with him. He's getting ugly about ze diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +Steell nudged his fellow eavesdropper. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear that?" he whispered. "He spoke of diamonds!" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio was heard bursting into a peal of savage laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Getting ugly is he? What does he want?" +</P> + +<P> +"He says you promised him half of ze proceeds when ze diamonds were +sold, and that now you are trying to do him out of it—— He says he's +sick of ze whole thing and will squeal to ze police unless you do ze +right thing." +</P> + +<P> +Straining every nerve to hear, Steell glued his ear to the door. +</P> + +<P> +Keralio burst out fiercely: +</P> + +<P> +"Squeal, will he, the dog? I'd like to know what will become of him +when the final reckoning's paid. Will he tell the police that he was a +drunken adventurer in the South African mining camps before his twin +brother, Kenneth Traynor, arrived at Cape Town? Will he tell the +police that he set the steamer afire, murdered his own brother, and, +profiting by the extraordinary resemblance, returned to New York, +passing himself off as the man who went away. No, he won't tell all +that, will he? But I will. Did you bring the money? Let me see it." +</P> + +<P> +The talking suddenly ceased, and was followed by a deep silence. +Steell, staggered at this unexpected revelation, almost stumbled in his +eagerness to hear more. Turning to his companion, he exclaimed in a +horror-stricken whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"My God! Did you hear that? It's even worse than I feared. They've +done away with Kenneth. That man at the house is an impostor!" +</P> + +<P> +"An impostor?" ejaculated Dick. "Impossible. Don't we all know +Kenneth when we see him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing's impossible!" rejoined the lawyer hurriedly. "Kenneth had a +twin brother—the resemblance was so extraordinary as children that no +one knew them apart. The brother disappeared years ago. They thought +him dead. Kenneth must have come across him in South Africa. This +brother killed him and took his place. It's all clear to me now. +We're in a den of assassins!" +</P> + +<P> +Inside the conversation began again. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush! Listen!" whispered Steell. +</P> + +<P> +The voice of Keralio was once more raised in angry tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I tell you that I wanted the child brought here at once?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oui</I>, monsieur, but I could not. I had ze rest of ze money to get +rid of and ze suitcase to carry. I will bring her in a taxi to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Safe in the care of the woman who runs my boarding house." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you bring her from Philadelphia?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you have any trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Non</I>, monsieur. I didn't even have to go to ze house, although I had +a plausible story all ready. I was going to say that Mrs. Traynor had +sent me to fetch Miss Dorothy because her mother wanted her home for ze +coming marriage of Miss Ray. But it wasn't necessary to lie about it. +I found ze child playing in ze street near the house. I merely told +her her mamma wanted her to come home, gave her some candy, and she +followed me willingly enough." +</P> + +<P> +"By this time the alarm has been given." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Sans doute</I>, monsieur. They probably telegraphed Mrs. Traynor last +night that ze child was missing——" +</P> + +<P> +The voices again stopped. Steell, his face white, and fists clenched, +turned to his companion: +</P> + +<P> +"Good Heavens, Dick, did you hear that? They've kidnapped Mrs. +Traynor's little girl—no doubt, with the idea of demanding ransom. +Thank God, we're in time to frustrate that crime——" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" exclaimed his companion. "Listen!" +</P> + +<P> +Keralio proceeded: +</P> + +<P> +"Now you understand what you are to do. You bring the child here +to-morrow morning. Meantime, I have already written in a disguised +hand to Mrs. Traynor telling her that her child is safe—for the +present, and that if she wants to see her she must come here to-morrow +afternoon. I warned her that if she communicated with the police or +informed any of her friends, the child would be put to death before it +would be possible to effect a rescue. That ought to bring her here——" +</P> + +<P> +"Would monsieur go as far as to kill——" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not," demanded Keralio fiercely. "I permit nothing to stand in +the way of my will. That woman can save her child's life, but she must +pay the price I ask. She shall learn what it costs to dismiss me from +her house——" +</P> + +<P> +The valet was heard to chuckle as he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't love her any too much myself. She discharged me from her +employ the other day so haughtily I felt like a whipped cur." +</P> + +<P> +Again there was silence, followed by a muffled hammering. +</P> + +<P> +"They're taking the printing press apart," whispered Dick, who through +the keyhole, had managed to get a glimpse of machinery. "If we don't +act quickly, they'll get away with all the evidence. Hadn't we better +go and call the police?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, the lawyer put his fingers to his lips with a warning +gesture, and beckoning the young man to follow, retraced his steps on +tiptoe along the narrow, dark hall and down the filthy, winding +staircase. Not a word was spoken by either man until they reached the +street. Once in the open air, the lawyer turned and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, we've uncovered as black a plot as was ever hatched in hell. If +we don't queer the game and put them all in the chair it won't be my +fault. We can't bring poor Kenneth back to life, but we can and will +revenge his cowardly murder. It will be a positive joy to me to see +that arch-scoundrel Keralio electrocuted." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you propose to do?" asked his companion. "Hadn't we better +call Mrs. Traynor on the telephone and warn her before it's too late?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer was silent for a few moments. Then meditatively, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"No, that would be a mistake. No doubt, by this time, she has received +Keralio's anonymous letter. She is probably frantic with anxiety over +the news of her child's disappearance, and will respond eagerly to any +clue that promises to take her to her child. If we warned her she +would pay no heed. She might pretend to, but only to pacify us. +Afraid that punishment might be visited on the child, she would obey +the warning not to talk, and she will come here to Keralio's flat +to-morrow at the time the letter stated. Of course, she has no idea +Keralio wrote the letter. But even if she had, it would make no +difference. I know her. She would run any risk to save her child." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you're right," replied Dick, "but how, then, will you help +her? There is no knowing what Keralio's object is in enticing her +here—you can be sure it's nothing good." +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely—that's why we, too, must be on hand, together with a strong +force of detectives. We'll get them all. There will be no possible +escape. We'll surround the house with men. They'll be caught like +rats in a trap." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer turned to go. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you bound now?" asked Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"To police headquarters!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + + +<P> +"There—take a little water—you're much better now!" said the nurse, +soothingly. +</P> + +<P> +The patient swallowed greedily the cooling drink handed to him, and, +tired even by that small effort, fell back on his pillows exhausted. +</P> + +<P> +"Where am I?" he inquired of the comely young woman, who in neat +service uniform, hovered about the bed. +</P> + +<P> +"You're in St. Mary's Hospital." +</P> + +<P> +"In New York?" he queried. +</P> + +<P> +"No—San Francisco——" +</P> + +<P> +He was too weak to question further, but his hollow blue eyes followed +her as she moved here and there, attending skilfully and swiftly to the +duties of the sick room. Presently he made another venture: +</P> + +<P> +"Have I been ill long?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—very long." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Concussion of the brain, pneumonia and shock. You are much better +now, but you mustn't talk so much or you may have a relapse." +</P> + +<P> +He asked no more, but passed his hand over his brow in a bewildered +sort of way. Presently, he began again: +</P> + +<P> +"Does my wife come to see me?" +</P> + +<P> +The nurse stopped in her work and looked at him curiously. In +surprise, she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Your wife! Have you a wife?" +</P> + +<P> +It was his turn now to be surprised. In somewhat peevish tone he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I've a wife—everyone knows that." +</P> + +<P> +"What's her name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Helen—Helen Traynor." Enthusiastically, he added: "Oh, you'd just +love my wife if you only knew her. She's the sweetest, the most +unselfish——" +</P> + +<P> +The nurse looked at him curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"So your name is Traynor, is it? We've tried to find out for a long +time. But there were no marks on your clothes when you were picked up. +We did not know who you were and so have not been able to communicate +with any of your friends. We guessed you were a man of social position +by your hands and teeth, and we knew your name began with a T because +of the monogram on the signet ring on your finger." +</P> + +<P> +"Pick me up?" he echoed. "Where did they pick me up? What has +happened? Was it an accident?" +</P> + +<P> +"You were found unconscious, drifting in the ocean, clinging to a spar, +and were brought here by a sailing vessel. You had a fracture of the +skull and you were half drowned. It is supposed that you were one of +the passengers of the <I>Abyssinia</I>, which took fire and went down two +days after leaving Cape Town, but as several passengers and officers +whose bodies were never found also had names beginning with T, it was +impossible to identify you." +</P> + +<P> +As he listened, the vacant, stupid expression on his face gradually +gave place to a more alert, intelligent look. Indistinctly, vaguely, +he recalled things that had happened. Slowly his brain cells began to +work. +</P> + +<P> +He remembered cabling to Helen from Cape Town telling her of his +sailing on the <I>Abyssinia</I>. He recalled the incidents of the first day +at sea. The weather was beautiful. Everything pointed to a good +voyage. Who was traveling with him? He could not remember. Oh, yes, +now he knew. François, his valet, and that other queer fellow he had +picked up at the diamond mines—his twin brother. Yes, it all came +back to him now. +</P> + +<P> +Why had he gone to the diamond mines? Yes, now he knew—to take back +to New York the two big stones found on the Company's land. He had +them safe in a belt he wore round his waist next to his skin. The +second night out he went to bed about midnight and was fast asleep when +suddenly he heard shouts of "Fire! Fire!" Jumping up and looking out +of his cabin he saw stewards and passengers running excitedly about. +There was a reddish glare and a suffocating smell of smoke. Quickly he +buckled on the belt with the diamonds, and, slipping on his trousers, +went out. The electric lights had gone out. The ship was in complete +darkness. From all sides came shouts of men and screams of frightened +women. It was a scene of utter demoralization and horror. He was +groping his way along the narrow passage, when, suddenly, out of the +gloom a man sprang upon him, and, taken entirely by surprise, he was +borne to the deck before he had time to defend himself. He could not +see the man's face and thought it was one of the passengers or sailors +who had gone mad, but when he felt a tug at his belt where the diamonds +were, he knew he had to do with a thief. He fought back with all his +strength, but he was unarmed, while the stranger had a black jack which +he used unmercifully, raining fearful blows on his head. The struggle +was too unequal to last. Weak from loss of blood, he relaxed his grip, +and the thief, dealing one fearful parting blow, tore away the belt and +disappeared. His life blood was flowing away, he felt sick and dizzy, +but just as the thief turned to run he managed to get a glimpse of his +face. Now he remembered that face—it was the face of his twin +brother—the man he had rescued from starvation on the <I>veldt</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, it all came back to him now, like a horrible nightmare. What had +happened since then? How could he tell, since all this time his mind +had been a blank? Helen, no doubt, believed him dead. Mr. Parker and +all the others thought he had gone down with the ship. But what of his +valet, François, and his cowardly, murderous brother—were they saved? +If so, the thief had the diamonds, and had probably disposed of them by +this time. Perhaps there might still be time to capture the would-be +assassin and save the gems for the Americo-African Company. Brother or +no brother, he would have no more pity on the unnatural, miserable +cutthroat. The first step was to let his friends know where he was. +He must telegraph at once to Helen. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, on second thought, it would not be wise to do that. If Helen +really believed him dead and was now mourning his loss, it might be +almost a fatal shock if suddenly she were to receive a telegram saying +he was alive. Such shocks have been known to kill people. A better +plan would be to get well as soon as possible, leave the hospital, and +go to New York. Once there, he could go quietly to his office and +learn how matters were. +</P> + +<P> +The days passed, the convalescent making speedy progress toward +recovery, and in a few weeks more he was able to leave the hospital. +Making himself known quietly to a San Francisco business acquaintance, +he was quickly supplied with funds and immediately he turned his face +homeward. +</P> + +<P> +The long, overland journey was tedious and exhausting, especially in +his present weakened condition, and even those who knew him well would +hardly have recognized in the pale emaciated looking stranger with ill +fitting clothes and untrimmed full growth of beard who emerged from the +train at the Grand Central Station, the carefully dressed, well groomed +Kenneth Traynor who, only a few months before, had sailed away from New +York on the <I>Mauretania</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The noise and turmoil of the big metropolis, in striking contrast to +the quiet and seclusion of the sick room in which he had lived for so +many weeks, astonished him. The crowds of suburbanites rushing +frantically for trains, elbowing and pushing in their anxiety to get +home, the strident hoarse cries of newsboys, the warning shouts of +wagon drivers as they drove recklessly here and there at murderous +speed, the blowing of auto horns, the ceaseless hum and roar of the big +city's heavy traffic—all this bewildered and dazed him. At first he +did not remember just in what direction to turn, whether he lived in +the East or West side, uptown or down. But as he got more accustomed +to his surroundings, it all came back to him. How stupid—of course he +had to go downtown to 20th Street. Once more he was himself again. +Hailing a taxi, he started for Gramercy Park. +</P> + +<P> +Conflicting emotions stirred his breast as he drew near his home. What +joy it would be to clasp Helen once more in his arms. How delighted +she would be to see him! Then he was filled with anxiety, a sudden +feeling of dread came over him. Suppose some misfortune, some calamity +had happened during his absence! Helen might have met with some +accident. Baby might have been ill. The worst might have happened. +He would never have heard. Perhaps he was only going home to find his +happiness wrecked forever. +</P> + +<P> +The driver made his way with difficulty down Fifth Avenue, threading +his way in and out the entanglement of carriages and automobiles, +until, after a ten minutes' run, turned into Gramercy Park and pulled +up short on the curb of the Traynor residence. +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly Kenneth put his head out of the window and scanned the windows +for a glimpse of the loved one, but no one, not even a servant, was +visible. The house looked deserted. His misgivings returned. +Stepping out hastily, he paid the driver, and, running up the steps, +rang the bell. +</P> + +<P> +Roberts, the faithful old butler, who had been in the family service +for years, came to open. Seeing a rather shabbily attired person +outside, he held the door partly closed and demanded, suspiciously: +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it you wish to see?" +</P> + +<P> +Irritated at the manner of his reception, Kenneth gave the door a push +that nearly knocked the servant over. Angrily, he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Roberts? Didn't you see it was me?" +</P> + +<P> +The butler, who had recovered himself, and now believed he had to do +with a crank or some person under the influence of liquor, again barred +the way. Trying to push the unwelcome visitor out, he said soothingly: +</P> + +<P> +"Come now, my good man, you've made a mistake. You don't live here." +</P> + +<P> +Struck almost speechless with amazement at the brazen impudence of one +whom he had always regarded as a model servant, Kenneth turned round as +if about to make a wrathful outburst. As he turned, the light from the +open door fell full on his face and now for the first time Roberts saw +the visitor's features. With a startled exclamation the man fell +backward. For a moment he was so surprised that he could not speak. +Then, in an awe-stricken whisper, he cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Kenneth thought the man had suddenly become insane. For +his own servant not to know him was too ridiculous. At that moment he +caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror of the hat stand. Ah, now he +understood. The beard and emaciated face had made quite a +difference—no wonder the man failed to recognize him. Breaking into +laughter he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"No wonder you didn't recognize me, Roberts. I have changed a little, +haven't I? I've grown a beard since I saw you last and been through a +regular mill. But you know me now don't you—I'm your long lost +master." +</P> + +<P> +The servant shook his head. Still closely scrutinizing Kenneth's face +as if greatly puzzled, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You're not my master, sir. Mr. Kenneth Traynor left the house some +ten minutes before you arrived." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth stared at the man as if he thought he had gone clean out of his +mind. +</P> + +<P> +"I went out ten minutes before I arrived," he echoed. "What kind of +nonsense is that, Roberts?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't say <I>you</I> went out," replied the servant, beginning to lose +his patience. "I said Mr. Kenneth Traynor went out. You are not Mr. +Kenneth Traynor." +</P> + +<P> +"Then who in the name of heaven am I?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't the remotest idea," retorted the man. Condescendingly, he +went on: "I admit you look a little like the master." Impatiently he +added: +</P> + +<P> +"You must excuse me. I want to close the door." +</P> + +<P> +Instead of obeying the hint to withdraw, Kenneth strode further into +the house, the protesting and indignant butler at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +"You must really go," said the servant. +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth turned around. +</P> + +<P> +"Roberts—don't be a fool. Don't you know me? I know why you don't +recognize me. You all think me dead, but I'm very much alive. I did +not go down on the <I>Abyssinia</I>. I was picked up and taken to San +Francisco and have been in a hospital there ever since. I have just +come home. Where's my wife?" +</P> + +<P> +The butler stared and stood motionless, as if not knowing what to make +of it. +</P> + +<P> +"But you came home long ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Who came home?" +</P> + +<P> +"You did." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't. I've been in San Francisco all the time. How could I +be here if I was sick in a San Francisco hospital?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then who is the other Mr. Traynor?" +</P> + +<P> +Now it was Kenneth's turn to be surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"The other Mr. Traynor?" he echoed stupefied. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—the gentleman who looks more like you than you do yourself. He +arrived here a month ago. We all took him for you." +</P> + +<P> +For the first time a light broke in on the darkness. Who was the +person who looked so like him that he could successfully impersonate +him? Who could it be but the man who left him for dead on the +<I>Abyssinia</I> after murderously assaulting him? Suddenly a horrible +thought came to him. Grasping the butler's arm he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"My wife? Is she well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. Mrs. Traynor's quite well." +</P> + +<P> +"And Dorothy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite well, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God!" +</P> + +<P> +The servant hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"That is—sir—Miss Dorothy——" +</P> + +<P> +"Out with it, man. Out with it." +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Traynor's being greatly worried sir, lately. Miss Dorothy was at +her aunt's in Philadelphia——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes——" +</P> + +<P> +"Someone's run away with Miss Dorothy. She's been kidnapped." +</P> + +<P> +"My God!" +</P> + +<P> +"But Mrs. Traynor has a clue. She got a letter yesterday, saying where +the child was. She wouldn't confide in any of us and she left here +only half an hour ago to go to the place." +</P> + +<P> +Again Kenneth was seized by panic. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone to a kidnapper's den. Great God! She's running a terrible risk. +Where has she gone? I'll go to her." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, sir, but Mr. Steell may know——" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, that's right. I'll go and see Steell." +</P> + +<P> +Not waiting to say more he rushed down the steps, and, hailing another +taxi, went off at full speed in the direction of Wilbur Steell's office. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + + +<P> +The startling news from Philadelphia that Dorothy had suddenly +disappeared and was believed to have been kidnapped, fell upon the +Traynor home with the crushing force of a bombshell. At first Helen +refused to credit the report. It seemed impossible that any new +suffering was to be inflicted upon her after what she had already +endured. White faced, her whole being shaken by emotion, she read and +re-read her aunt's letter, telling of the child's mysterious +disappearance, and when at last she could read it no more because of +the tears that blinded her, she threw herself limp and broken hearted +into Ray's arms. Hysterically she cried: +</P> + +<P> +"What have I done that I should be made to suffer in this way? My God! +Where is my child? This maddening suspense will kill me." +</P> + +<P> +Ray tried to soothe her. Reassuringly, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry, dear. Everything will be all right. A general alarm has +been sent out. The police all over the country are searching high and +low. It's only a question of a few hours and you'll have good news." +</P> + +<P> +But the hours passed and no news came to cheer the distracted, +broken-hearted mother. Dorothy had disappeared completely, leaving no +trace, no clue behind. +</P> + +<P> +There was neither rest nor peace for the Traynor household that day. +Helen, almost out of her mind from grief and worry, refused to eat or +sleep until news of the missing child was received. In her agony she +went down on her knees and prayed as she had never prayed before that +her child be restored to her. +</P> + +<P> +Her little daughter was, she felt, the one link that still bound her to +life. To her husband she felt she could not turn for sympathy. The +romance of their early married life had been shattered forever by the +extraordinary change that had come over him. He had long since ceased +to be to her any more than a name. In her heart, she had come to +despise and detest him as much as before she had worshiped the very +ground he trod. It was an astonishing revulsion of feeling which she +was powerless to explain; she only knew that the old love, the old +passion he had awakened was now quite dead. He inspired in her no more +affection or feeling than the merest stranger. Ever since his return +from South Africa they had lived apart. Ever since that first night of +his return when their tête-à-tête in the library was interrupted by the +bogus telegram, he had quite ceased his amorous advances. He seemed +anxious to avoid her. Only on rare occasions, and then it was by +accident, did they find themselves in each other's company. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, he was practically never home, living almost exclusively at +the club, where he went the pace with associates of his choosing, +mostly gamblers and men about town. He had begun to drink hard and +when not in pool rooms or at the races, betting recklessly on the +horses, squandering such huge sums, and overdrawing his check account +so often that the bank was compelled to ask him to desist, he sat in +the barrooms with his cronies till all hours of the morning when he +would be brought home in a condition of shocking intoxication. Happily +Helen was spared the spectacle of the degradation of a man she once had +loved with all the force of her virgin soul. Roberts, the butler, +aided by the other servants, smuggled their intoxicated master up to +his room, where he remained until sober, when he went back to his club +only to repeat the same performance. +</P> + +<P> +To such a man she could not turn for aid or consolation in the hour of +this new misfortune. Indeed, ever since his return, he had been +strangely indifferent to the welfare of the child, never asking after +her or expressing a desire to see her. At times it seemed as if he had +forgotten that he had a child. By some strange metamorphosis he had +developed into an unnatural father as well as a brutal, indifferent +husband. +</P> + +<P> +But to Helen, alone save for the devoted companionship of her sister, +this was anxiety and suffering enough. Only twenty-four hours had +passed since the child disappeared, but to the unhappy mother it seemed +as many years. Constantly at the telephone, expecting each moment to +hear that the police had been successful in finding the child, she was +gradually wearing herself away to a shadow. Breakfast she left +untouched. Lunch she refused to eat. In vain Ray remonstrated with +her. If she went on like that she would fall ill. But still Helen +refused. Tears choked her, and morning wore into afternoon and still +no news. +</P> + +<P> +After lunch Ray went out to see if Mr. Steell could help them, +promising to return as soon as possible. Helen sat and waited alone. +The clock was just striking two o'clock when the front doorbell rang +and a letter was brought to her. She did not recognize the writing, +but eagerly she tore it open. Instinctively, she felt it concerned her +missing darling. The letter read as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="salutation"> +No. — Lasalle Street, Bronx. +Friday.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="salutation"> +Madame: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Your child is safe and in good hands. She wants to see her mother. If +you come this afternoon (Friday) to the above address you can see her. +It is the house with the closed green shutters. But if you value your +child's life you must come unaccompanied, and you must inform no one of +the contents of this letter, not even the members of your family. If +you disobey, swift punishment will follow and your child will suffer. +Climb eight flights and knock three times on door at end of +passage.——X. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was no signature. The person who wrote it evidently had reasons +of his own for wishing to remain concealed. That money would be +demanded was more than probable. What other motive could the kidnapper +have? Money she would give—all she had in the world, if only she +could get back her precious child. That a visit to such a place +unattended was full of danger she did not stop to consider. She only +knew that her child was close by—here in New York—and had asked for +her. Not for a moment did she listen to the warnings of prudence. Go +she must, and immediately. She did not even stop to leave a note of +explanation for Ray. Stuffing some money in a bag, she left the house, +saying she would return soon. +</P> + +<P> +Taking the Third Avenue "L" she left the train at Tremont Avenue, and, +after considerable difficulty, found the house indicated in the letter. +Yes, there were the closed green shutters. At first, on seeing it +apparently untenanted, she thought she must have made a mistake in the +number, but, finding that there was no other place near by that +answered the description as well, she decided to risk climbing the long +flight of stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Arrived on the top floor, breathless from the unusual exertion, she saw +a long narrow passage, and, at the end of that, a door. That, no +doubt, was the place. Her heart beating violently, she went up to the +door and gave the three knocks. For a moment or so there was no +answer. A profound stillness reigned. Then she heard footsteps +approaching, The next instant, the door was thrown open and a man's +voice, which sounded somewhat familiar, told her to enter. +</P> + +<P> +At first when she went in, she could see nothing. All the shutters of +the windows looking on the street were closed, and the only light was +that which filtered through the slats. It was an ordinary, cheap flat, +with no carpets on the floors and little or no furniture. On the +floor, scattered here and there, were nailed-up boxes, and parts of +machinery, some already crated, as if to be taken away. +</P> + +<P> +"So you've come! I thought you would," said a voice behind her. +</P> + +<P> +She turned and found herself face to face with Signor Keralio. +</P> + +<P> +At first she was so astonished that she was speechless. Then her +instinct prompted her to turn and flee. If this man had caused her to +be decoyed to this house it could be for no good purpose. But there +was no way of egress. The front door was closed and locked. Not a +human soul was within call. She was alone in an empty house with the +one man she distrusted and feared more than any one else in the world. +</P> + +<P> +Making an effort to conceal her alarm, she turned and faced him boldly: +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing here?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled—a horrid, cynical smile she knew only too well. +</P> + +<P> +"Has not a man the right to be in his own home?" +</P> + +<P> +She started back in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"This your home?" she exclaimed, glancing around at the scanty and +shabby furnishings. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't judge by appearances. I'm really very comfortable here. +It's away from the world. I like to work undisturbed." Significantly, +he added: "Then, you see, it is all my own. I am quite at home here in +my own house. No one can put me out—not even you——" +</P> + +<P> +She raised her hand deprecatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't remind me of that. I have forgotten it long ago." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes flashed dangerously as he made a step near and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"You have, but I have not. I have not forgotten that you put me out of +your house ignominiously as one turns out a servant. I have neither +forgotten nor forgiven. That is why you are here to-day." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him in utter astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +He bowed and, with mock courtesy, waved her to a seat. +</P> + +<P> +"I will tell you. Did you receive a letter to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I did." +</P> + +<P> +"You came here in answer to that letter." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I did." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know who wrote that letter?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—not the least." +</P> + +<P> +"It was I—I wrote the letter." +</P> + +<P> +With a stifled cry of mingled fright and amazement, Helen jumped up +from the chair. +</P> + +<P> +"You wrote the letter?" she exclaimed, incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +He nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I wrote the letter." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes opened wide with terror, her hands clasped together nervously, +she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Then you are——" +</P> + +<P> +He bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. I am the kidnapper of your child——" +</P> + +<P> +Speechless, she stared at him, her large black eyes opened wide with +terror. Looking wildly about her as if seeking her little daughter, +she gasped: +</P> + +<P> +"Dorothy? Dorothy here? Where is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is safe," he replied calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is she, where is she? Take me to her!" she cried, distractedly, +going up to him and clasping her hands in humble supplication. +</P> + +<P> +He shook off the hand which, in her maternal anxiety, she had laid on +his arm. Lighting a cigarette, he gave a low laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Plenty of time. There's no hurry. You're not going yet." +</P> + +<P> +Anxiously, she scrutinized his face, as if trying to read his meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"She's going when I go, isn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"That depends—on you." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +Again he waved her to a seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down and I'll tell you." +</P> + +<P> +Trembling, she dropped once more on to a chair and waited. He puffed +deliberately at his cigarette for a few moments and then, turning his +glance in her direction, he smiled in a peculiar, horrible way and his +eyes ran over her figure in a way that made the crimson rush furiously +to her cheek. There was no mistaking that smile. It was the bold, +lustful look of the voluptuary who enjoys letting his eyes feast on the +prey that he knows cannot now escape him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Traynor," he began in the caressing, dulcet tones which she +feared more than his anger, "you are an exceptional woman. To most men +of my temperament you would not appeal. They would find your beauty +too statuesque and cold. I know you are clever, but love cannot feed +on intellect alone, I have loved many women, but never a woman just +like you. Your coldness, your haughty reserve, your refinement would +intimidate most men and keep them at a distance, but not me. Your +aloofness, your indifference only spurs me, only adds to the acuteness +of my desire. I swore to myself that I would conquer you, overcome +your resistance, bend you to my will. You turned me out of your home. +I swore to be avenged." +</P> + +<P> +He stopped for a moment and watched her closely as if studying and +enjoying the effect of his words. Then, amid a cloud of blue tobacco +smoke, he went on: +</P> + +<P> +"I knew only one way to win you—it was to humiliate you, to place you +in a position where you would have to come to me on your knees." +</P> + +<P> +She half rose from her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"I would never do that," she cried. "I would rather die!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, you will," he continued, calmly, making a gesture to her to +remain seated. "When I've told you all, you'll see things in a +different light." Fixing her steadily with his piercing black eyes, he +asked: "Have you noticed any difference in your husband since his +return." +</P> + +<P> +She looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—what does it mean? Can you explain?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever hear your husband speak of a twin brother he once had?" +</P> + +<P> +Her face turned white as death and her heart throbbing violently, she +stared helplessly at her persecutor. She tried to be calm, but she +could not. Yet, why be so alarmed, why should this single question so +agitate her? In the deepest recesses of her being she knew that it was +her unerring instinct warning her that she was about to hear something +that would entail worse suffering than any she had yet endured. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—yes—why do you ask?" she gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"You all thought the brother dead." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"You were mistaken. He is alive." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he?" she faltered. +</P> + +<P> +"Here in New York." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"In your house. The man who returned home was not your husband. He +was your husband's twin brother." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him as one bewildered, as if she did not understand what +he was saying, as if words had suddenly lost their meaning. Her face, +white as in death, she faltered: +</P> + +<P> +"Not Kenneth—then where is Kenneth?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is dead!" +</P> + +<P> +Her powers of speech paralyzed, her large eyes starting from their +sockets from terror, an expression of mute helpless agony on her +beautiful face, she looked up at him with horror. Not yet could she +fully grasp the meaning of his words. At last the frightful spell was +broken. With an effort the words came: +</P> + +<P> +"Then you," she cried. "You are his assassin!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head as he replied carelessly: +</P> + +<P> +"No—not I—his brother!" +</P> + +<P> +She gave a cry of anguish and, starting to her feet, made a movement +forward, her hands clutching convulsively at her throat. Air! air! +She must have air. She felt sick and dizzy. The room was spinning +round like a top, and then everything grew dark. Lurching heavily +forward she would have fallen had he not caught her. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly she shrank from the contact as from something unclean, and +with a low moan sank down on a chair and buried her face in her hands. +Her instinct had told her true. Her loved one was dead, she would +never see him again, and that man who had come into the sanctity of her +home and fondled her in his arms was his murderer. Oh, it was too +horrible! +</P> + +<P> +The bitter, cynical smile was still on Keralio's lips as he went on: +</P> + +<P> +"You see the folly of resisting me. Had you surrendered at that time +all might have been well. The price was not too much to pay. I would +have been discreet. No one but ourselves would have known that you and +I were——" +</P> + +<P> +He did not complete the sentence, for at that moment she sprang forward +like an enraged tiger cat, and, seizing a cane that stood close by, +struck him across the face with all the force of her outraged womanhood. +</P> + +<P> +"Murderer! Assassin!" she cried indignantly. "How dare you talk like +that to me? I will denounce you to the whole world. I will not rest +till I see you and that other scoundrel punished and my poor husband is +avenged. On leaving here I shall go direct to the police." +</P> + +<P> +Imbued with strength she never dreamed she possessed, she was about to +hit him again when he seized the cane and threw it away. But across +his pale, handsome face lay a telltale red mark, the smart of which +burned into his soul. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes flashed with anger and he made a visible effort to control +himself. He took a step forward and, as he advanced she saw an +expression in his face which prompted her to retreat precipitately. It +was a dangerous look, the look of a man who knew he had a helpless +woman in his power, a man who was desperate and would stop at nothing +to encompass his ends. Now thoroughly frightened, she looked around +for some way to escape. The windows were impossible, the only way was +by the door and he barred the way. Besides, she would never go without +her child. +</P> + +<P> +He noticed the movement and look of alarm, and he smiled. Continuing +to advance, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"There's no use making a fuss. No one could hear you if you shouted +for help till the crack of doom. You are alone with me—and absolutely +in my power. Do as I ask and there is nothing you shall not have. +Refuse, and I answer for nothing. Come——" +</P> + +<P> +Her whole body trembling, her face white with terror, she kept on +retreating: +</P> + +<P> +"Leave me alone!" she gasped, "or I will scream." +</P> + +<P> +"Scream away," he laughed. "There's no one here to hear you." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he made a quick lunge forward and seized her. She struggled +and resisted with all the energy born of despair, pushing, twisting, +scratching. But they were too unevenly matched. She was like an +infant in the grasp of an Hercules. Slowly, she felt her strength +leaving her. His iron grasp gradually closed on her, nearer and nearer +he drew her into his embrace. +</P> + +<P> +With a last, superhuman effort, she managed to wrench herself free, out +of his grip, and breaking completely away, she fled into the next room. +But he was after her in a minute and again seized her, but not before +she screamed at the top of her voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Help! Help! Kenneth! Wilbur! Help! Help!" +</P> + +<P> +He tried to gag her mouth to stifle her cries, but it was too late. +His quick ear caught the sound of approaching footsteps in the outside +hall. Almost at the same instant there was a loud knocking at the door. +</P> + +<P> +Keralio fell back, his face white and tense. Had his plans failed at +the eleventh hour, could anyone have played him false? If the game was +up, they should never take him alive. Leaving Helen, he drew a +revolver, and, going quickly into the inner hall, he waited in grim +silence for the visitors to force an entrance. +</P> + +<P> +"Open the door, or we'll break it in!" shouted a stern voice outside. +"There's no use resisting. The place is surrounded." +</P> + +<P> +Still no answer. Keralio stood grimly in the shadow of the parlor +doorway, revolver in hand, while Helen cowered in the inner room, in +momentary expectation of a tragedy. +</P> + +<P> +Crash! The front door fell in, shattered into a thousand splinters, +and through the breach thus made rushed Wilbur Steell, Dick Reynolds, +and half a score husky Central Office detectives, revolvers in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"There is he!" cried the lawyer, pointing to Keralio. +</P> + +<P> +Quick as a flash, the Italian raised the revolver and fired, the bullet +entering the plastered wall an inch away from the lawyer's head. +Almost simultaneously, another pistol shot rang out, but this time the +aim was truer, for, with a cry of baffled rage, Keralio threw his arms +above his head and fell to the floor dead. Quickly, one of the +detectives stooped down and compared his face with a photograph he had +taken from his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes——" he exclaimed; "that's the fellow—well known counterfeiter. +Did time in San Quentin and Joliet. Known as Baron Rapp, Richard +Barton and a dozen other aliases. He's one of the slickest rogues in +the country. We've got the valet safe downstairs. I guess he'll get +twenty years." +</P> + +<P> +But Steell had not waited to hear about Keralio. There were others +more important to think about. Rushing into the inner room, he found +Helen prostrate, half fainting from fright. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God, I'm in time!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Dorothy," she murmured weakly. "Save Dorothy! She's somewhere here." +</P> + +<P> +Going into another room, the lawyer found the little girl fast asleep +on a bed. Bringing her to her mother, he said tenderly: +</P> + +<P> +"Here's your treasure. Now you can be happy." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. The nightmare of what Keralio had told her, still +obsessed her. +</P> + +<P> +"No—" she shuddered; "—never again. They have killed him!" +</P> + +<P> +To her surprise, the lawyer, instead of sharing her sorrow, actually +smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Helen," he said; "I have a great surprise for you. A friend has +accompanied me here. He called at your house to-day, but you had just +left, so he called on me. You have not seen him since he sailed away +three months ago on the <I>Mauretania</I>." +</P> + +<P> +She listened bewildered. Her color came and went. What did he mean? +Could it be possible that—no, had not Keralio said he was dead? +Trembling with suppressed emotion, she whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me—what is it—tell me——" +</P> + +<P> +For all reply, the lawyer went to the door and beckoned to someone who +had waited in the outer hall. A moment later a man entered, a tall, +well set figure that was strangely familiar. Straining her eyes +through her tears, it seemed to her that her mind must be playing her +some trick, for there before her, stood Kenneth, not the impostor her +instinct had warned her to detest and avoid, but the real Kenneth she +had loved, the father of her child. With a joyous exclamation, she +tottered forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Kenneth!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +The man, his athletic form broken by sobs, opened his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"My own precious darling!" +</P> + +<P> +A moment later they were clasped in each other's arms. Ah, now she +knew that he had come home! This, indeed, was the husband she loved. +There was no deception this time. Wonderingly, she turned to Steell. +</P> + +<P> +"How did it happen?" she asked wonderingly. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll tell you later—not now," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +She shuddered as she asked in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"But where is his brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dead! He shot himself at the club. Kenneth and I went to confront +him at the club before coming here. It was his only way out." +</P> + +<P> +The detective stepped forward. Addressing the lawyer and holding out +two enormous diamonds that sparkled like fire in the sunlight, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"We've just found these, together with a lot of counterfeit money." +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer laughed as he took charge of the diamonds. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll please Mr. Parker to see these. Come, Dick. Our work is done." +</P> + +<P> +Kenneth put his arms around his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Safe in port at last, dear." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll never go away again," she murmured through her tears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASK***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 20131-h.txt or 20131-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/1/3/20131</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/20131-h/images/img-152.jpg b/20131-h/images/img-152.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94665d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-h/images/img-152.jpg diff --git a/20131-h/images/img-280.jpg b/20131-h/images/img-280.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3fc563 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-h/images/img-280.jpg diff --git a/20131-h/images/img-front.jpg b/20131-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c251cab --- /dev/null +++ b/20131-h/images/img-front.jpg diff --git a/20131.txt b/20131.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a3af04 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8825 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mask, by Arthur Hornblow, Illustrated by +Paul Stahr + + +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 Mask + A Story of Love and Adventure + + +Author: Arthur Hornblow + + + +Release Date: December 18, 2006 [eBook #20131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASK*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 20131-h.htm or 20131-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131/20131-h/20131-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131/20131-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MASK + +A Story of Love and Adventure + +by + +ARTHUR HORNBLOW + +Author of the Novels "The Lion and the Mouse," "The Gamblers," "Bought +and Paid For," "By Right of Conquest," "The End of the Game," Etc. + +Illustrations by Paul Stahr + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth.] + + + + +G. W. Dillingham Company +Publishers -------- New York +Copyright, 1913, by +G. W. Dillingham Company + + + + +_The Mask_ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth. . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"Yes, you are my brother. We are twins." + +"I adore you--I adore you," he murmured, as he kissed her again. + + + + +THE MASK + + +CHAPTER I + +"There! What did I tell you? The news is out!" + +With a muttered exclamation of annoyance, Kenneth Traynor put down his +coffee cup with a crash and, leaning over the table, pointed out to his +wife a despatch from London, given prominence in the morning paper, +which ran as follows: + + +Advices from Cape Town report the finding on a farm near Fontein, a +hundred miles north of here, of a diamond which in size is only second +to the famous Koh-i-noor. The stone, which is in the shape of an egg +with the top cut off, weighs 1,649 carats, and was discovered after +blasting at the foot of some rocks on land adjacent to the tract owned +by the Americo-African Mining Company of New York. It is understood +that the American Company is negotiating for the property; some say the +transfer has already been made. If this is true, the finding of this +colossal stone means a windfall for the Yankee stockholders. + + +The Traynor home, No. ---- Gramercy Park, was one of those dignified, +old-fashioned residences that still remain in New York to remind our +vulgar, ostentatious _nouveaux riches_ of the days when culture and +refinement counted for something more than mere wealth. Overlooking +the railed-in square with its green lawns, pretty winding paths and +well-dressed children romping at play, it had a high stoop which opened +into a wide hall, decorated with obsolete weapons and trophies of the +hunt. On the right were rich tapestries, masking the folding doors of +a spacious drawing-room, richly decorated and furnished in Louis XIV. +period. Beyond this, to the rear of the house which had been built out +to the extreme end of the lot, was the splendidly appointed dining-room +with its magnificent fireplace of sculptured white marble, surmounted +by a striking portrait in oils by Carolus Duran of Mrs. Traynor--a +painting which had been one of the most successful pictures of the +previous year's salon. + +In a clinging, white silk negligee gown, the gossamer folds of which +only partially veiled the outlines of a slender, graceful figure, Helen +sat at the breakfast table opposite her husband, toying languidly with +her knife and fork. It was nearly noon, long past the usual breakfast +time, and by every known gastronomical law her appetite should have +been on keen edge. But this morning she left everything untasted. +Even the delicious wheat cakes, which none better than Mammy, their +Southern cook, knew how to do to a point, did not tempt her. They had +been out to dinner the night before. Her head ached; she was nervous +and feverish. Always full of good spirits and laughter, ever the soul +and life of the house, it was unusual to find her in this mood, and if +her husband, now voraciously devouring the tempting array of ham and +eggs spread before him, had not been so absorbed in the news of the +day, he would have quickly noticed it, and guessed there was something +amiss. + +Certainly the appearance of the dining-room was enough to upset the +nerves of anyone, especially a sensitive young woman who prided herself +on her housekeeping. All around was chaos and confusion. The usually +sedate, orderly dining-room was littered with trunks, grips, umbrellas +and canes enveloped in rugs--all the confusion incidental to a hurried +departure. + +She took the newspaper, read the despatch and handed it back in silence. + +"Isn't that the very deuce!" he went on peevishly. "We've been trying +our utmost to keep it secret. Unless we're quick, there'll be a rush +of adventurers from all parts of the world before we can secure the +options. Happily the despatch is vague. They don't know all the +facts. If they did----" Lowering his voice and looking around +cautiously to make sure that the butler had left the room and no one +was listening, he continued: "Besides you know what I am to bring back. +It couldn't be entrusted to anyone else. Just think--a stone worth +nearly a million dollars! I hope no one will guess I have it in my +possession. It must be brought safe to New York. That's why it's so +important that I go at once. Even by catching the _Mauretania_ +to-morrow, I can't reach Cape Town for a month, and every moment counts +now." + +As Helen was still silent he glanced across the table at her for the +first time. Her pallor and the drooping lines about her mouth told him +something was wrong. Instantly concerned, he asked: + +"What's the matter, dear?" + +"I'm horribly nervous." + +"What about?" + +"This trip of yours, of course." + +"You ought to be used to them by this time. This isn't the first time +I've had to leave you since our marriage." + +"I didn't mind the other trips so much. When you went to Mexico and +Alaska, it didn't seem so far away. But this journey to South Africa +is different. You are running a terrible risk carrying that diamond. +I can't shake off a horrible feeling that something dreadful will +happen." + +Surprised less at what she said than at her serious manner, he laid +down the newspaper, and, jumping up, went over to her. His wife sat +motionless, her lips trembling, her large eyes filled with tears. In +spite of a palpable effort at self-control, it was evident that she was +laboring under great nervous tension. Bending caressingly over her, he +said anxiously: + +"Why Helen, old girl! What's the matter?" + +She made no answer. Her head fell on his breast. For a moment she +could not speak. Her emotion seemed to choke her utterance, paralyze +her speech. He insisted: + +"What is it, dearie?" he demanded. + +"I'm so nervous about your going, I'm so afraid about your having the +diamond," she sobbed. Suddenly, as if unable longer to control +herself, she rose from the table and threw her arms around his neck. +Passionately she cried: "Oh, Kenneth, don't go! Don't go! I feel that +something will happen." + +He laughed carelessly as he fondled her. More seriously he replied: + +"I hope something does happen. That's what I'm going out there for. +Why, Helen dear, I don't think you quite realize what this trip means +to us. If the deal goes through, and we get full control of all that +property, we'll all be as rich as Croesus. Just think, dear, 300,000 +square miles of the most wonderful diamond producing country. In ten +days they found 400 beautifully clear stones, some of them weighing +over a hundred carats. If the reports are true, we shall have a group +of mines as valuable as the famous De Beers group. Do you know what +they have produced to date in actual money?" + +The young woman shook her head. Usually she was glad enough to listen +to her husband's business plans, but to-day they wearied her. Her mind +was too much preoccupied with something that concerned her far more. +The idea of this coming separation, the knowledge that he was running a +risk, had left her singularly depressed. She had tried to remain calm +and control her emotion, but the effort was beyond her. The prospect +of this separation, with its vague, undefined forebodings of disaster, +was simply intolerable. The tears she was unable to restrain rolled +silently down her cheeks. + +He looked at her in surprise. Never had he seen her in this mood. +Approaching her more closely, he said kindly: + +"That can't be the only reason, dear, what's the matter?" + +She hesitated a moment before she answered: + +"I'm very nervous to-day. I was dreadfully irritated last night at the +dinner. I wish I hadn't gone----" + +"Who irritated you?" + +"That man Signor Keralio. I simply can't tolerate the man. How I hate +him!" + +"Why--what did he do?" + +"He did nothing. He wouldn't dare--there. But I wouldn't care to be +alone with him. His eyes were enough. He imagines he is irresistible, +and that every woman is immoral. That is the kind of man he is. He +annoyed me all evening. There was no getting away from him." + +Kenneth laughed and went back to finish his breakfast, quite +indifferent to what he had just heard. He knew his wife too well to be +afraid of any number of Signor Keralios. Humming a tune, he said +carelessly: + +"Why didn't you call me?" + +"What? Create a scandal? That would only make me ridiculous. He +wouldn't care. I can't bear the sight of the man, yet I have to be +polite to him." + +Kenneth nodded. + +"Yes--I have reasons for not caring to quarrel with Keralio just now." + +She looked up quickly. + +"Why? What is that man to you? He's your fencing master, I know, but +that's no reason for making a friend of him. I never understood why +you associated with him. He is so different to you." + +Her husband smiled. He adored his wife and admired the sex in general, +but, like most men, he had never had much respect for women's judgment. +Women were made to be loved; not to discuss business with. Indulgently +he said: + +"My dear, you don't understand. I have important financial relations +with Keralio. I don't care for him myself, but one can't choose one's +business associates. He and I are interested in a silver mine in +Mexico. Thanks to him, I got in on the ground floor. One of these +days the investment will bring me a big return." + +His wife shrugged her shoulders. Incredulously she retorted: + +"Not if Keralio has anything to do with it. I don't trust him. He has +deceit and evil written all over his face." + +Amused at her petulance, Kenneth jumped up impulsively and took his +wife in his arms. + +Abandoning herself willingly to his embrace, for a moment her head fell +back on his broad shoulder, and she smiled up at him. From her soft, +yielding form arose that subtle, familiar perfume, the intoxicating, +vague, indefinable aroma of the well groomed woman that never fails to +set a man's blood on fire. Bending low until his mouth touched hers, +he kissed her until her face glowed under the ardor of his amative +caress. But to-day she was not in the mood to respond. + +"Don't--don't!" she panted, striving to free herself. + +"Admit that you're foolish or I'll do it again," he laughed. + +"Perhaps I am. It's selfish of me to make it harder for you to go +away." + +The butler reentered the room with the finger bowls, and she quickly +disengaged herself. To hide her confusion, she turned to the servant: + +"Did my sister go out, Robert?" + +"Yes, m'm," replied the man respectfully. "Miss Ray told me to tell +you in case you asked that she had gone shopping and would be back +soon." + +"Where's Miss Dorothy?" + +"The fraulein took her to the park, m'm." + +"When fraulein comes in, tell her to bring Dorothy upstairs." + +"Very well, m'm." + +The butler went out and Helen turned to her husband. Anxiously she +said: + +"I've been a little worried about Dorothy lately. She's not looking +well. I think she needs the country." + +Kenneth looked up quickly. Next to his wife he loved his flaxen haired +little girl better than anything in the world. There was a worried +look on his face as he asked: + +"What does the doctor say?" + +"Oh, it's nothing to be alarmed at. Only she's growing fast, and needs +all the air possible. I'm thinking of sending her to Aunt Carrie for a +while. You know she has a beautiful place in the suburbs of +Philadelphia. She would be out in the air all the time." + +"Yes--that's a good idea. Send her there by all means. Write your +aunt to-night." + +Helen glanced at the clock. There wasn't any time to lose. Turning to +her husband she said quickly: + +"You had better come upstairs and finish your packing, dear. Your +trunks aren't nearly ready and the expressman was ordered for three." + +Recalled thus abruptly to the day's duties, he turned docily and +followed her upstairs. + +Beautiful as was the Traynor home below, it was in the library in the +second floor that Helen always felt happiest and most at ease. Up the +broad, thickly carpeted stairs and turning to the right as the landing +was reached, they entered the library, a room of truly noble +proportions extending the entire width of the house and with deep +recessed windows and low seats, overlooking the park. The furnishings, +though simple, were rich and luxurious. The woodwork was of black +Flemish oak, the ceiling beamed with a dull red background. The +upholstery was a rich red plush throughout, with deep seated armchairs, +and sofas built close to the wall wherever space permitted. In the +corners, numerous electric reading lamps could be turned on or off at +pleasure, constituting ideal nooks for reading. The furniture, apart +from the red plush armchairs, was of black Flemish oak to match the +woodwork, with an immense richly carved black oak dark table in the +center of the room, lighted by an electrolier of similar size and +design to the one in the dining-room. + +It was in this room with its atmosphere of books so conducive to peace +and introspection that Helen loved to spend her spare time. The walls +were literally lined with tomes, dealing with every branch of human +knowledge--religion, science, philosophy, literature. Here when alone +she enjoyed many an intellectual treat, browsing among the world's +treasures of the mind. Even when her sister had a few intimates to +tea, or when friends dropped in in the evening, they always preferred +being in the library to anywhere else. + +Only second to the library in the affection of its young mistress was +her bed chamber with which it was connected by a small boudoir. +Furnished in Louis XVI. style, it was a beautiful room, decorated in +the most dainty and delicate of tones. The bed, copied after Marie +Antoinette's couch in the Little Trianon was in sculptured Circassian +walnut, upholstered in dull pink brocade, the broad canopy overhead +being upheld by two flying cupids. The handsome dressing table with +three mirrors and chairs were of the same wood and period. On the +floor was a thick carpet especially woven to match the other +furnishings. + +To-day, littered as it was with trunks and clothes, the room lacked its +usual sedateness and dignity, but Helen did not mind. She would have +preferred it to look far worse if only her loved one were not going +away. His clothes lay scattered all over the floor. There was still +much to be done. + +Kenneth himself realized it as he ruefully surveyed the scene. Hurry +he must. A director's meeting to-night, the steamer sailing to-morrow +and here he was not nearly ready. Helen could see no reason why +Francois should not do the packing, but he insisted on doing it +himself, and was soon deep in the work of filling the trunks that stood +around. + +While he worked, almost unconscious of her presence, she sat +disconsolately on a trunk and watched him, and from time to time, as if +ashamed to let him see her weakness, she turned her head aside to +furtively wipe away a tear. No doubt her misgivings were foolish. +Husbands left their wives on business trips every day. Sensible women +were not so silly as to cry over it. It was to be only temporary, she +knew that, yet her heart misgave her. She had tried to be resigned to +this South African journey, to accept it without protest, but her +feelings were too much for her. When she married Kenneth Traynor, the +energetic, prosperous Wall Street promoter, everybody knew that it was +a love match. Standing six feet two in his stockings, muscular, +sinewy, without an ounce of superfluous fat, Kenneth Traynor looked as +though he could give a good account of himself no matter in what tight +place he found himself. His clean cut features and strong chin denoted +strength of character, his deep set blue eyes, a blue of a shade so +light rarely seen except in the peasants of Normandy, beamed with +frankness and honesty, a kindly smile hovered about his smooth, firm +mouth. What at once attracted attention was his hair which was dark +and unusually thick and bushy and a peculiar characteristic was a +solitary white lock in the center of his forehead. Such a phenomenon +of the capillary glands was not uncommon, but as a rule, the white hair +is on the side of or at the back of the head. In Kenneth's case, it +was the very center of the forehead and imparted to his face an +individuality quite its own. + +When on leaving college, he had been forced, like other young men, to +choose a career, he was unable to decide what he wanted to do. Doctor, +lawyer, architect, author--none of these suited his nervous, restless +temperament. He craved a more exciting life, and at one time thought +seriously of entering the army with the hope of seeing active service +in the Philippines. But Aguinaldo's surrender put a quietus on this +project, and he entered a broker's office in Wall Street Here, in the +maelstrom of frenzied finance, his pent up energies found an outlet. +He went into the stock gambling game with the feverish energy of a born +gambler. Months of excitement followed, luck being usually with him. +He was successful. He doubled and tripled his capital, after which he +had good sense enough to stop, withdrawing from the fray before the +tide turned. But he could not give up the life entirely. The business +of stock promotion was the next best substitute. It was about that +time he met the woman he married. + +It had been an ideal union in every way, but even Helen herself could +not have guessed that day now three years ago when she left the church +a bride, how completely, how entirely this man whose sterling +qualities, good nature and charm of manner had won her heart, would +take complete possession of her, body and soul. Instead of the romance +flickering out after the first sudden blaze of fierce passion, as it +usually does after the first few months of married life, on her side, +at least, the flame had gathered in strength until now it was the one +compelling, all absorbing interest in her life. + +She recalled how they had first met. It was in the Winter time. She +was skating in Central Park. A thaw had set in and the ice was +dangerous. Suddenly there was an ominous crack, and the crowd scurried +out of harm's way, all but one child, a little nine year old girl who, +in her eagerness to escape, stumbled and fell. The next instant she +was in the water, disappearing under the ice. Just at that moment, a +tall athletic figure dashed swiftly to the hole and, stooping quickly, +caught the child by the dress. Then, by a feat of almost superhuman +strength which awed the crowd into silence, he drew the little victim +out to safety, not much the worse for her experience. + +Spellbound, hardly able to breathe from sheer excitement, Helen had +watched the work of rescue. When the stranger, tall, muscular, +handsome, passed her, carrying tenderly his burden, a human life saved +from a watery grave, she could not help murmuring: + +"Oh, how brave of you!" + +"Nonsense," he retorted abruptly. "It's nothing to make a fuss about." + +She did not see him again for six months, and had almost forgotten the +incident when one night at the opera during a performance of +"Tannhauser," a man, tall, square shouldered, entered the box where she +was and was presented to her. + +"Helen--Mr. Traynor." + +It was her hero. + +He had remained her hero ever since. + +She remembered the afternoon when he had asked her to be his wife. +They were alone in the library which overlooked the Park with its +beautiful vista of green foliage, its glimpse of rolling lawns, and +shimmering lakes. They were standing side by side, gazing idly out of +the window, conversing quietly on all kinds of topics interesting to +them both. She was enjoying his vigorous, masculine point of view and +feeling strangely happy in his company. + +"When should a man marry?" he asked all at once. + +Startled for a moment at the abruptness of the question which nothing +in their previous conversation had led up to, she answered gravely: + +"When he's tired of being alone and when he feels he has met the woman +with whom he can be happy, the kind of woman who will be a real +helpmate and aid him to achieve his ambitions." + +"How can he know that the woman to whom he is attracted will have this +influence in his life? How can he distinguish real gold from the +imitation which merely glitters?" + +"Only by his instinct. That never errs." + +"And when in your opinion, should a woman marry?" + +"When she meets the man to whom she feels she can give herself without +forfeiting her self-respect." + +He nodded approvingly, and looked at her for a few moments without +speaking. Outside it was growing dark, for which she was glad, for her +face burned under the earnestness of his gaze. Finally he said: + +"You are right. But yours is a point of view the modern girl seldom +takes. First she discusses ways and means. Love, self respect--these +she considers quite negligible." + +She protested. + +"Not all girls--only some girls. They are foolish virgins who leave +their lamps untrimmed. They sow folly to-day only to reap unhappiness +to-morrow." + +He said nothing and for a few moments they both stood there in the +increasing darkness. Suddenly, without a moment's warning, his voice +broken by emotion, he turned to her and said: + +"I am tired of being alone. I have met the woman with whom I could be +happy, the woman who can help me to do big things. Helen, I want you +to be my wife." + +She made no answer. She felt herself growing pale. A strange tremor +passed through her entire body. + +He came closer and took her unresisting hand. + +"Helen," he whispered, "I want you for my wife." + +Still no reply, but her small delicate hand remained clasped in his +big, strong one, and gradually he drew her toward him until she was so +close in his embrace that he could feel her panting breath on his cheek. + +A strange thrill passed through him as he came in contact with her +soft, yielding body. She never wore corsets, preferring the clinging +Grecian style of gowns that showed graceful lines and left the figure +free, and her form, slender yet firm and delicately chiseled like that +of some sculptured goddess, had none of that voluptuous grossness which +mars the symmetry of many women, otherwise beautiful. + +As she nestled there, pale and trembling in his strong arms, he did not +dare move, for fear that he might unwittingly injure a being so frail +and delicate. All his life Kenneth had lived a clean life. He had not +led the riotous, licentious kind of existence which some men of his +means and opportunities think necessary to their comfort. He had never +been a libertine. He had respected women; indeed, had rather avoided +them. + +But if a man, busily engaged in the battle of life, his mind always +engrossed in serious affairs, succeeds in keeping natural instincts +under control there comes a day when nature asserts herself, when his +manhood demands the satisfaction of legitimate cravings. This bachelor +who had lived a secluded, hermit-like kind of existence till he was +thirty was suddenly and violently awakened to the fact that he was made +of flesh and blood as are other men. This slim girl with her sweet +ways, her pretty face, her ready wit, had completely vanquished him, +and not alone did she satisfy him mentally, she also attracted him +physically. + +He realized it now as he held her tight against his breast. Her head +had fallen on his shoulder. Her face with its pale, delicate profile +was turned toward him, the eyes half closed. The mouth, arched like +Cupid's bow and partly open, disclosing the white, moistened teeth, and +red and luscious like some rare exotic fruit, was tempting enough to +madden a saint. Kenneth was only human. Unable to resist, he lowered +his head until his mouth grazed hers and then with a wild, almost +savage exclamation of joy, the exultant cry of lust awakened and +gratified, his lips met hers and lingered. + +To Helen it seemed as though she was in a dream of untold ecstasy. +Always a shrinking, modest girl, especially in the company of the +opposite sex, in any calmer moment she would have been shocked beyond +expression at this momentary abandonment she permitted herself. As she +lay in this man's arms and felt his warm kisses on her lips, there came +over her a strange sensation she had never known before. She grew +dizzy and for a moment thought she would faint. All at once he +released her. Almost apologetically, he murmured: + +"Forgive me--I lost control over myself--I want you Helen--I want you +for my wife. Will you marry me?" + +She drew away and turned away her head, so he might not see her burning +cheeks. + +He persisted. + +"Will you marry me?" + +She hesitated a moment before replying. Then, very simply, she +answered: + +"Yes, Kenneth." + +That was three years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +In a certain set Helen Traynor was not popular. Some people thought +her old fashioned, strait-laced, prudish. They resented her having no +taste for their frivolous, decadent amusements. They called her proud +and condescending whereas, as a matter of fact, she merely asked to be +let alone. Of course, it was only people whose opinions were worthless +that criticized her. All who were admitted to her intimacy knew that +there was no friend more loyal, no woman more womanly and charming. + +In one respect she might be called old fashioned. Her views on life +had certainly little in common with those held by most present-day +women. She had no taste for bridge, she refused to adopt freak +fashions in dress, she discouraged the looseness of tone in speech and +manner so much affected by other women of her acquaintance--in a word +she was in society but not of it. Naturally, she had more +acquaintances than friends, yet she was not unpopular among her +intimates. While secretly they laughed at what they termed her +puritanical notions, they were shrewd enough to realize that they could +hardly afford to snub a woman whose husband occupied so prominent a +position in the world of affairs. Besides, was it not to their +interest to cultivate her? Who gave more delightful dinners, who could +on occasion be a more charming hostess? An accomplished musician, a +clever talker, she easily dominated in whatever salon she happened to +be, and the men were always found crowding eagerly around her. + +Like most women of her temperament, sure of themselves and in whose +mind never enters even a thought of disloyalty to her marriage vows, +she made no concealment of her preference for the masculine sex. With +those men who were attracted by her unusual mentality,--she was +gracious, and affable, discussing with politicians, jurists, +financiers, economic and sociological questions with a brilliancy and +insight that fairly astonished them. With literary men and musicians, +she chatted intelligently of the latest novels and pictures and operas +with the facility and expertness of a connoisseur. Other men, drawn by +her exceptional beauty, fascinated by the spell of her soulful eyes, +her tall graceful figure, and delicate classic face, framed in Grecian +head dress, made violent love to her, their heated imaginations and +jaded senses conceiving a conquest compared with which the criminal +passion of Paolo for Francesca should pale. These would-be Lotharios +might as well have tried to set an iceberg on fire. Quietly, but +firmly and in unmistakable terms, she let them understand that they +were wasting their time and their ardor thus quenched, one by one they +dropped away and left her in peace. Only Signor Keralio had persisted. +She had snubbed him, insulted him, time after time, yet wherever she +turned she found him at her elbow. Society soon resigned itself to +considering her as one apart--a beautiful, chaste Juno whose ideals all +must respect. Indeed, the only thing with which she could be +reproached was that she was in love with her husband--the unpardonable +sin in society's eyes--but seeing who it was and despairing of ever +changing her point of view, society forgave her. + +It never occurred to Helen that she was different in any way from other +women. She did not see how it was possible for a woman to be untrue to +the man whose name she bore and still retain her self-respect. The day +she ceased to love her husband she would leave him forever. To her way +of thinking, it was shocking to go on living with a man merely because +it suited one's convenience and comfort. She knew married women who +did not care for their husbands, some actually detested the men they +had married, and had always held in horror the intimate relation which +marriage sanctioned. She felt sorry for such women, but secretly she +despised them. They alone were to blame. Had they not married knowing +well that there was no real affection in their hearts for the men to +whom they gave themselves? The cynicism and effrontery of young girls +regarding marriage particularly revolted her. Eager for wealth and +social position, they offered themselves with brazen effrontery in the +matrimonial market, immodestly displaying their charms to the +lecherous, covetous eyes of blase, degenerate men. Any question of +attachment, love, affection was never for a moment considered. The +idea that a man could be even considered unless he were able to provide +a fine establishment was laughed to scorn. The girls were all men +hunters but they hunted only rich men. They called the feeling they +experienced for the man they caught in their toils "love." They meant +something quite different. To a girl of Helen's ideas, such manoeuvers +were shocking. To her the marriage tie was something sacred, a +relation not to be entered into lightly. Kenneth was rich, it was +true, but she would have loved him none the less had he been one of his +own fifteen dollar a week clerks. When they were married and the +romance was over, he stopped playing the lover to devote himself to the +more serious business of making money, but with her, time, instead of +dimming the flame, only caused it to burn the brighter. This man whom +she had married was her only thought. In him centered every interest +of her life. + +A muffled outburst of profanity from Kenneth aroused her from her +reveries. + +"That's always the way when one's in a hurry," he exclaimed petulantly. +"Ring for Francois. Why the devil isn't he here?" + +Quickly, Helen sprang up from the trunk and touched an electric button. + +"What's the matter, dear?" she asked. + +She approached her husband who, at the far end of the room, was red in +the face from the unusual exertion of trying to coax the buckle of a +strap into a hole obviously out of reach. He pulled and strained till +the muscles stood out on his neck and brawny arms like whipcord, and +still the obstinate buckle declined to be coerced. The more it +resisted, the more determined he was to make it obey. Go in it must, +if sheer strength would do it. The vice-president of the +Americo-African Mining Company was no weakling. A six-foot athlete and +captain of the Varsity football team in his college days, his muscles +had been toughened in a thousand lively scrimmages and in later life +plenty of golf, rowing and other out-of-door sports had kept him in +condition. When he pulled hard something had to give way. It did in +this instance. There was a tearing, rending sound and the strap broke +off short. With a gesture of despair he turned to his wife as men are +wont to do when in trouble. + +"Wouldn't that jar you?" he cried, as he threw the broken strap away. +"What the deuce am I going to do now?" + +"Why don't you let Francois attend to such things?" answered his wife +calmly. "He understands packing so much better than you. You're so +strong, you break everything." + +She looked fondly at her husband's tall, athletic figure. He turned to +her with a smile. + +"I guess you're right," he said. "But where the devil is Francois?" + +"I don't know. I sent him downstairs to tell the cook to have some +nice sandwiches ready when you come home after the director's meeting +tonight, but that's an hour ago----" + +His ill humor gone, Kenneth looked up and smiled at her. Putting his +arm about her, fondly he said: + +"Dear little wife. You're always thinking of the comfort of others. +You're the most unselfish, the most adorable, the most----" + +"Stop, Kenneth, don't be foolish or I shall believe you----" + +His face red from his recent exertions, he sat down on the arm of a +chair to rest a little. Full of the coming journey, he had already +forgotten his wife's anxiety. The great business schemes he had in +mind dwarfed for the time being every other consideration. He could +think and talk of nothing but diamonds. Huge crystals, worth untold +millions as big as a fist, flashed at him from every corner of the +room. Fabulous fortunes had been made in the diamond mines of South +Africa. Why should he not be as successful as others? The romance of +the Cullinan might be repeated, even surpassed. Well he recalled how +he had been thrilled by the sensational story of the discovery of that +colossal gem, more than three times the size of the Excelsior, the +wonder of the modern world. In imagination, he saw it now. An +old-fashioned Boer farm, transformed into a modern mining camp. A +moonlight night. A man strolling idly along the rugged, desolate +veldt, chances to look down. His eye suddenly catches a gleam in the +rough face of the jagged slope. He stoops and picks up what looks like +a piece of ice. Quickly he returns to his office and hands it to his +chief. The men look at each other in silence. To all parts of the +world goes the message that a diamond has been found four times bigger +than the largest gem in the world. A stone weighing over 3,000 carats +and worth four million dollars. He could already imagine himself far +from civilization among the barren mountains of South Africa, +prospecting in wide stretches of stone and gravel, picking up the +brilliant dazzling stones by the handful. + +"Have you any idea," he said, "what the mines have produced?" + +She shook her head indifferently. + +"No, and I don't want to know. I don't want you to go--that's all." + +"Their output in the last ten years is estimated at no less than +$400,000,000. Just think of it. Four hundred millions! Well, dear, I +and a few others want some of it, and we're going to get it." + +"But aren't we rich enough already?" she demanded petulantly. "Why +this fever to get richer and richer? We are happy with what we have. +Why run the risks to gain what after all will only be a surplus? We +can't possibly spend it." + +Her husband's eyes flashed. The lines about his mouth tightened as he +retorted: + +"One never has enough! You women don't understand. As long as you +have all the amusement you crave, all the frocks you want, all the +jewelry you covet, you think that is all there is to life." + +She looked up at him reproachfully and seemed about to protest when he +added hurriedly: + +"Oh, I don't mean you. I know you are not that kind of woman. You are +more serious, more sensible. I mean the average society woman whose +only concern in life is dress and show. We men have different aims, +higher ambitions. I'm well to do, as the term goes. I have an income +of over $100,000 a year, a splendidly appointed town house, a show +place in the country. Above all I have the most adorable wife in all +the world. Most men would be satisfied. I am not. I want still more. +I have the money craze, an uncontrollable lust to pile up millions. My +ambition is to wield the power that only the possession of vast wealth +confers. The resources of this vast country are practically in the +hands of half a dozen men. Merely by holding up a finger, these men +could, to suit their own selfish ends, start a universal panic which +might bring about a financial cataclysm, involving the whole world in +disaster. I do not say they would use this power for evil, but they +are in position to do so if it served their purpose. I want to have +such power, only if I had it I would not use it for evil. I would use +it for good. Conditions in the industrial world are very critical. We +are rapidly approaching a crisis. In all countries the forces of labor +and the forces of capital are lined up in silent, grim battalions. The +poor are getting poorer; the rich are getting richer. The cost of +living is going up beyond all reason. Why? Because the men who +control the wealth of the world will it so. The system which is +responsible for this must one day, sooner or later, give way to another +and more humane system, still to be devised, which will enable the man +who produces the wealth of the world at least to enjoy some of the +fruits of his toil. Now it goes into the hands of the privileged few +who use the power their money gives them to keep their less fortunate +fellow men in servile subjection. I want to be rich, very rich, but I +will use my wealth for good. With it I will help my fellow man rise +from the mire. I will help him throw off the shackles with which +conscienceless capitalism has fettered him. I want to be such a power +for good. I want----" + +The maid reentered the room. + +"Francois is not in his room, m'm." + +Kenneth gave vent to an exclamation of impatience. Turning to his +wife, he asked: + +"Where is he? Did you send him anywhere?" + +Helen shook her head. Quickly she said: + +"He's never around except when he's not wanted." + +It was so seldom that his wife displayed irritation at any one that +Kenneth looked up in surprise. + +"He's shopping, too, I suppose. You know there's little time left and +he has things to get ready the same as I have." + +Helen made a gesture of disapproval. Quickly she said: + +"I wish you were going with someone else, with anyone but that man. I +never liked him." + +Her husband laughed. Carelessly he replied: + +"I know you never did and it's the only instance since we're married +where I've found dear little wife to be absolutely unfair. Seriously, +sweetheart, your baseless prejudice against Francois is unworthy of +you. I can't go without a servant of some kind. He's an honest fellow +and a faithful servant." + +Helen shrugged her shoulders. + +"I'm not so sure about that," she retorted quickly. "What do you know +about him or his honesty? He's a perfect stranger that blew in three +months ago from nowhere. He had written recommendations which may be +forged. You never took the trouble to look them up." + +"Yes, I did. I asked Keralio about him." + +Helen looked up in surprise. + +"Signor Keralio? I didn't know Francois was ever with him." + +"He was with him nearly a year. Keralio warmly recommends him and says +he is a very faithful fellow. He only left him because he objected to +being compelled to practise sword-play with his master. One day +Keralio's foil slipped. Francois got a puncture and it made him +nervous." + +"No wonder I don't like him. Like master, like valet--as the French +say." + +Her husband smiled. + +"You are down on Keralio, aren't you?" + +"I detest him. How could any self-respecting woman like such a man? +His every glance is an insult. With his polished manners and sardonic +smile he reminds one of Mephistopheles." + +"I don't fancy the fellow much myself, but I have to be polite to him. +As I told you, he's in with the people who own that silver mine. I've +found him useful." + +"Don't trust him," replied Helen warningly. "If he makes himself +useful to you, depend upon it, he has some ulterior motive in view. +Now I know Francois was once with him I shall dislike him more than +ever." + +"Come--come dear," protested Kenneth, "that is carrying things too far. +Francois is quite a decent chap if you understand him--I find him +faithful, discreet." + +"Discreet!" echoed Helen mockingly. "I beg to differ." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that you are blinded in the man. Discreet indeed! Only the +other day I caught him at your desk reading a letter which you had left +there." + +"A letter?" exclaimed Kenneth, looking up in surprise. "What letter?" + +"The letter from your agent at Cape Town, telling of the astonishing +diamond find, and suggesting that an officer of the Company be sent out +to bring home the big stone--the letter you read at the director's +meeting and which decided them to send you out there." + +Kenneth bit his lip. Quickly he said: + +"I'm sorry he saw that. It was careless of me to leave it around. Are +you sure he was reading it?" + +"He had a pencil and paper in hand and appeared to be copying from the +letter. When he saw me, he crushed the paper up in his hand and turned +away." + +Kenneth gave an expressive whistle. + +"The deuce you say! The fellow's smarter than I took him to be. All +the more reason why I should take him along with me. Then I'm sure he +can't tell tales out of school. I----. Hush, here he is!" + +The door opened cautiously and there entered a man about thirty years +of age, of medium height and slightly, even delicately, built. That he +was a Frenchman was apparent even at a glance. The dark closely +cropped hair, worn in the so-called pompadour or military style, the +pale, saturnine features, the manner and general bearing all loudly +proclaimed his Gallic nationality. His smooth shaven face showed a +firm mouth with bloodless lips so thin as to be hardly perceptible. +His eyes, when they could be seen at all, were greenish in color, and +small and restless as those of a ferret. He advanced into the room +with the obsequious deferential manner which in all well-trained +servants becomes second nature, moving across the thickly carpeted +floor with the rapidity and noiselessness of a snake. + +"Where have you been, Francois?" demanded Kenneth sharply. + +The valet stopped short, as if struck by a blow, but he did not stand +still. His nervous thin hands and lean body were in constant motion, +although he did not stir from the one spot. In every involuntary +movement and gesture there was something that suggested the feline. +When spoken to or given an order he replied respectfully and obeyed +with alacrity, but when addressed he listened always with eyes averted. +This had always exasperated Helen. She could not recall him ever +looking her straight in the face. For that reason alone, if, for no +other, she disliked and distrusted him, thinking not unnaturally that a +man, who is afraid to let his eyes meet another's, must be plotting in +his mind some treachery which he fears his direct gaze may betray. His +furtive glances went quickly from master to mistress. Something in +their attitude, the suddenness with which they interrupted their +conversation told him that they had been talking about him. + +"Did you hear me?" demanded Kenneth again. "Where have you been? You +knew there was this packing to be done." + +The man's eyes flashed resentfully, but he replied civilly: + +"Oui, monsieur, but monsieur forgets. Monsieur told me I must go to ze +tailor." + +Kenneth's frown disappeared. Yes, it was true. He had sent him to the +tailor. Quick to make amends for an injustice, he said more amiably: + +"That's right. I had forgotten. What did they say?" + +"Ze suits will be delivered in half hour." + +"Very well. When they come, you will know which trunk to put them in." + +"Oui, monsieur." + +"And then, when my trunks are ready you had better hustle with your own +packing. There's no time to be lost. The steamer sails at 11 o'clock +to-morrow morning." + +"Oui, monsieur." + +Quietly, stealthily, the valet retraced his cat-like steps and opening +the door retired as noiselessly as he had come. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +When the valet had disappeared, Kenneth turned to his wife with a +chuckle. + +"Who was right? You made me scold him for nothing." + +Helen shook her head. + +"I detest the man. There is something crawly and repulsive about him. +I can read evil in his face. Don't trust him, Kenneth. Remember, if +anything goes wrong, don't blame me. I warned you. My instinct seldom +fails." + +Her husband laughed and, advancing, put his arm tenderly around his +wife. + +"I guess I'm able to take care of myself, dear. Don't let's discuss +Francois any longer. Tell me about yourself. How are you going to +amuse yourself while I'm away?" + +Her head drooped on his breast and once more her eyes filled with +tears. With affected carelessness which cost her a great effort, she +replied: + +"Oh, the time won't hang so heavy on my hands. It never does when one +has resources within oneself. I'll read and ride and sew. I suppose +I'll have plenty to do." + +"Mr. Parker said he would drop in and look after you." + +"Yes--tell him to come and see me very often. He's rather tiresome +with his prosy talk, but he's a dear old soul." + +With a mischievous twinkle in his eye her husband went on: + +"It's not unlikely that Keralio will call, also." + +"I hope not," she said quickly. "I'll soon show him he's not wanted." + +Kenneth laughed. It amused him to see how set she was against the +Italian. He did not know the man any too well. He had met him in a +business way and the fellow had been of service, but he had not the +slightest idea of making a friend of him. He rather suspected he was +an adventurer although, a stranger in New York, no one knew anything +against him. Protestingly he said: + +"It's hardly fair to attack a man because he admires you." + +"He shows his admiration in a most offensive way. If you could see the +way he looks at me sometimes you'd be the first to resent it." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"Oh, you mustn't mind that. It's a way all foreigners have. They ogle +women more from force of habit than any desire to effect a conquest. +Besides, you won't be alone." + +"No, I shall have Ray. She is excellent company--far jollier than +I----" + +Kenneth protested. + +"No, she isn't by a long shot. Ray is all right as sisters-in-law go, +but I'd never change you for her. I'm d----d if I would!" + +Quickly Helen put her white hand over his mouth. With mock severity +she exclaimed: + +"Kenneth! How can you be so profane? I hate to hear such language +from you. Ray is the sweetest thing on earth. It's a shame she never +got married. Oh, don't be uneasy on that score. We'll have a good +time. We'll go to the theater. We'll have teas and little dinner +parties. I'll invite some interesting men to meet her. I'd love to +see her married to some nice man. There's Mr. Steell, for instance. +He's rich, young, has a brilliant future----" + +Kenneth made a grimace. Quickly he retorted: + +"It's you he admires, not Ray. He will accept your invitation--less +with the idea of letting Ray hook him in the matrimonial net, than for +the opportunity it affords for a renewed flirtation with you. Oh, +quite innocent, of course, but still a flirtation. Have I forgotten +what close friends you used to be before I appeared on the scene?" + +"And carried me off, a new Lochinvar come out of the West!" she +laughed. "Oh, Kenneth, how can you be so foolish? It is absolutely +indecent of you. I like Mr. Steell, and I think he likes me, but our +friendship is purely platonic. I never give him a thought, I assure +you." + +"I know you don't, but I'm not so sure about him. He's a man and men +are only human----" + +"He's a gentleman," corrected Helen. "He never forgets that." + +Kenneth gave a grunt of incredulity. Sulkily he said: + +"All right--all right. Have a good time. Marry him to Ray. Perhaps +it's safer that way. When he's my brother-in-law, he'll stop making +sheep's eyes at my wife." + +Helen laughed outright. + +"You silly goose. I never suspected you of having a jealous streak in +your nature. How could I prefer anyone to my handsome Kenneth?" + +As she stood before him, playfully patting his cheek, her glance +alighted on the solitary lock of gray hair in the center of his +forehead. Toying with it, she went on: + +"Isn't it strange that your hair should be white just in that place. I +rather like it. It gives an added note of distinction to your face. I +wonder what caused it." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"That's my trade mark. If ever I'm brought home on a stretcher you'll +know me by that white lock." + +Helen raised her hand in protest. + +"Don't talk that way. Never jest about accidents. Sometimes they +happen." + +"Well--I said nothing. I only said that if you were ever in doubt +about my identity, you would know me by my white lock." + +She smiled, as she patted his cheek lovingly, and said: + +"That would not be necessary, Ken dear. No matter how changed you +looked, what disguise you wore, I should still know you." + +"And if it wasn't me," he laughed, "but only someone who looked like +me?" + +"I could never be mistaken. The ring in the voice, the expression in +the eyes--no woman who really loves could ever be deceived." + +She had drawn nearer to him, her mouth upturned and tempting, her face +with that gentle, wistful expression he was never able to resist. +Throwing his arms impulsively about her, he clasped her passionately to +his breast. + +"Sweetheart," he whispered, "you don't know how dear you are to me!" + +"Nor can you," she replied, as he smothered her with kisses, "ever +realize what you are to me!" + +Suddenly they were interrupted by a sound at the door behind them. +Some one coughed discreetly. Quickly separating, Helen turned round. +In some confusion she exclaimed: + +"Hello, Ray. I thought you were out. When did you come in?" + +"I was out. I have been shopping. I met Mr. Steell in the park and we +had a lovely walk." Slyly she added: "I am afraid I returned too soon. +I see you're both busy." + +"Never too busy for you, Ray," smiled Helen trying to hide her +confusion, while Kenneth grinned broadly. + +The young girl laughed as she flung down on the sofa her muff and fur +neck-piece. Roguishly she said: + +"Lovemaking so early in the day. Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?" + +Kenneth liked to tease his sister-in-law, but the young girl was quite +his equal when it came to a battle of wits and it was not often that +she gave him the opportunity. + +"What time do you do your love making?" he demanded. + +Her cheeks reddened a little as she retorted: + +"I'm never so foolish. I leave that to you married people. My purpose +in life is far more serious." + +"Oh, come now," protested her brother-in-law, "I've noticed you and +Steell spooning often enough." + +Stylishly and tastefully dressed, her face beaming with animation, her +eyes sparkling with intelligence, Kenneth's sister-in-law was a pretty, +wholesome looking girl. She had beautiful blond hair like her sister, +and fine, white teeth that told of good health and perfect digestion. +Helen's junior only by three years, she was still unmarried and for the +present at least seemed more inclined to remain single and partake of +life's pleasures than incur the risks and responsibilities of +matrimony. Not that she had been without offers. A girl as attractive +and clever could hardly have failed to please the sterner sex. All +sorts and conditions of men had prostrated themselves at her tiny, +well-shod feet, but, capricious and headstrong, she would have none of +them. She was what might be called a singular girl. She liked men, +not because of their sex, but because their point of view was +different, their grasp of things stronger than her own. One day she +must marry. She knew that. It was, she insisted laughingly, an +ignoble state of slavery, a humiliating, degrading condition of +subjection to the male which every woman must endure, necessary +perhaps, but an ordeal to be put off, something unpleasant to be +postponed as long as possible, like the taking of a dose of unsavory +physic or having a tooth pulled at the dentist's. Meantime, heart +whole and fancy free, she enjoyed life to the limit and kept her +admirers guessing. + +"Oh, I saw such lovely things in the stores," exclaimed the young girl. +"I wish I had the money to buy them all." + +"You will have when I get back from South Africa," he laughed. + +"Don't forget," she laughed. "I'll hold you to that promise. Helen is +witness." + +"I swear it!" he said with mock solemnity. "You shall have carte +blanche in any Fifth Avenue shop to the amount of--$1.75." + +"Will you be ready in time?" she laughed, looking around with dismay at +the litter of open trunks. + +"I won't, if you stay here chattering like a magpie." + +"What time does the steamer sail?" + +"Eleven o'clock," said Helen. + +"We're all coming to see you off. Mr. Steell told me that he's coming, +too." + +"Not exactly to see me, I'm afraid," smiled Kenneth. + +"Who else?" she retorted. "If you mean me, you're mistaken. He +doesn't need to make the uncomfortable trip to Hoboken to see me." + +Her brother-in-law smiled, amused at her petulance. + +"My dear," he said, "you don't know what hardships a man will endure +for the girl he's sweet on." With mock seriousness he went on: "Say +sis, Helen and I have been having an argument. Who does Steell come +here for--for you or for me?" + +Ray burst into merry laughter. + +"How silly you are, Ken. For me, of course. At least, I flatter +myself that----" With a wink at her sister she added facetiously: "Of +course, one never knows when dealing with these handsome men. And +Helen is quite adorable. If I were a man, I should be crazy about her." + +Helen held up a protesting finger. + +"Don't talk like that, dear, or he'll believe you." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"Yes, I'm as jealous as Othello and quite as dangerous. Don't I look +it?" + +As he spoke, the front door-bell rang downstairs. Ray hastily took up +her things. + +"Here's company!" + +"I hope not!" exclaimed Helen. "I'm in no mood to see anybody." + +"I'll see them," whispered Ray, "and say you're out. It won't be the +first fib I've told." + +She ran lightly out of the room and upstairs, while Helen and her +husband went on with the work of packing. They were just stooping +together over a trunk when there came a rap on the door, and Francois +appeared. + +"A lady to see monsieur." + +Kenneth looked puzzled. + +"A lady? What lady?" + +Helen laughed merrily. Triumphantly, she exclaimed: + +"It's my turn now to be jealous." + +"Not exactly a lady, monsieur. An elderly person." + +"What's her name?" + +"Mrs. Mary O'Connor." + +Kenneth smiled broadly. + +"Mary O'Connor, my old nurse. Well, well, show her right in." Turning +to his wife he added quickly: "Dear old soul--no doubt she's heard I'm +off to Africa and wishes to say good-bye." + +An instant later an old woman bent with age and with a kindly face +framed with silvery white hair came in, hands outstretched. Without +any air of condescension on his part, Kenneth went forward to greet +her. Through all the long stretch of years, from his boy days to his +manhood he had never forgotten how kind Mary had been to him when a +child, taking the place of the mother he had lost in infancy. A +Christmas was never allowed to pass without a fat turkey for the old +nurse and many a little present of money had accompanied the bird. The +old woman's lips quivered as she said tremulously: + +"It's a long way you're going, Mr. Kenneth." + +"Oh, I'll soon be back, Mary," he rejoined jovially. + +She shook her head. + +"It's a long way and I'm getting old." + +The promoter laughed boisterously. Leading her gently to a chair he +exclaimed: + +"Old! Nonsense; You're just as young to me now as when I first +remember you." + +The old lady smiled. Nodding her head feebly, she replied: + +"When you used to play hide-and-seek with me. When I wanted to put you +to bed you were nowhere to be found." + +Helen laughed while Kenneth protested: + +"Oh, come now, Mary, I wasn't so bad as that." + +"No. You weren't bad--just lively and natural as all healthy children. +You were always a better boy than your brother." + +Helen looked up quickly. + +"Your brother, Kenneth? I never heard you speak of a brother." + +He looked at the old lady in amazement. + +"My brother? What brother?" + +The old lady smiled. + +"That's so--you never knew. You were too young to remember. Yes, you +had a brother--a twin brother. People hardly knew you apart. There +was only one way in which your mother and I could tell." + +"What was that?" demanded the promoter eagerly. + +"He had a scar. He caught his hand in some machinery when a baby and +it left a scar in the index finger of the left hand." + +Transfixed, Kenneth listened open-mouthed. At last breaking the spell, +he exclaimed: + +"I never heard of him. You never spoke of him before." + +"How should you remember?" went on the old woman. "It's many years +ago. Your father and mother are dead. You have no relatives living. +No one knows. But I know." + +"Did he die?" asked Kenneth, deeply interested. + +The old lady nodded affirmatively. + +"I shall never forgive myself. It was my fault. You were playing +together in the garden. I didn't dream either of you could come to +harm. I went into the house for a moment to get something. When I +came back your brother was gone--no trace of him anywhere. We never +saw him again. Your father, heart-broken, offered a fortune for news +of him. The police hunted high and low all over the country. There +was no trace. Some gypsies had passed recently through the town. I +always suspected them. That is thirty years ago and more." + +"So it's not even known if he's dead," interrupted Kenneth eagerly. + +The beldame shook her head sorrowfully, as she answered sagely: + +"Oh, he's dead all right. That's sure. There was money left to him by +your grandfather. For years the lawyers advertised for news of him. +But it was no good. If he'd been alive, he'd have claimed his own." + +"He might still be alive, yet unaware of his identity," broke in Helen, +who was a keenly interested listener. She had been so accustomed to +regard her husband as the only son of parents, both of whom were dead, +that the mere possibility of his having a brother awakened her +curiosity. + +Still under the spell of the old woman's unexpected revelation, Kenneth +had relapsed into a thoughtful silence. The surprising news had +affected him strangely. So--he had had a brother--a twin brother, and +all these years he had been in ignorance of the fact. Yet who could be +nearer or dearer than a twin brother? Together they had lain under the +same mother's heart. Together they had first seen the light and +laughed in the sun. Ah, if he had only lived to be his comrade, his +partner! With a brother at his side, to second him in his hazardous +enterprises, he felt he would indeed be invincible. He could have +conquered the world! + +The old nurse held out a withered hand, and her eyes were moist with +tears as she said: + +"Good-bye, Mr. Kenneth. A safe journey to you. Keep out of danger. +I'll be praying for the Lord to watch over you." + +Helen turned away so they might not see her emotion. Kenneth laughed +lightly as he kissed the old woman's cheek, and then, slipping a bank +note into her hand, he said carelessly: + +"All right, Mary, I'll be careful. I'll come back safe and +sound,--never fear, and I'll bring you something nice,--perhaps a big +diamond. Out in South Africa they pick 'em up like stones." + +The old woman's eyes opened incredulously. + +"Really, Mr. Kenneth?" + +"Yes, really. Diamonds as big as apples. They're found every day. +When I come back I'll have all sorts of adventures to tell you about. +Who knows? I might even run across this twin-brother of mine. +Stranger things have happened." + +"Diamonds as big as apples," she echoed. "Do you mean that, Mr. +Kenneth?" + +He laughed. + +"Indeed I do! Some of the gems are as big as cocoanuts. Didn't you +hear of that wonderful diamond we found the other day? It's worth a +million dollars." + +The old woman opened her eyes and gaped with astonishment. + +"A million dollars, Mr. Kenneth!" + +"Yes, a million dollars. What's more, I'll soon be able to show it to +you, Mary. My trip out to South Africa is ostensibly for the purpose +of negotiating for more land. The real purpose of my journey is to +bring home this astonishing stone." + +"But how will you carry it, Mr. Kenneth? A stone worth a million +dollars must be big as a house." + +Kenneth laughed. + +"No--no, Mary. It can easily go in my waistcoat pocket. But for +safety's sake it won't. I don't mind letting you into my confidence. +I'm to have a secret bottom made in----" + +Before he could complete the sentence, Helen quickly clapped her hand +over his mouth, and he had not yet recovered from his astonishment when +she sprang to the door and opened it. The movement was so sudden and +unexpected that a man who had been leaning against it, fell all his +length into the room. It was Francois, the French valet. + +"_Excusez_," he stammered, "I stumbled." + +Kenneth stared first at the servant, then at his wife. Slowly he began +to comprehend. Turning to the Frenchman he demanded angrily: + +"What were you doing behind that door?" + +"_Excusez_. I came back to ask monsieur how many shirts I pack." + +Thoroughly aroused, the promoter pointed to the door. Sternly he said: + +"Get out of here--you fool! If you don't know your business, I'll get +some one else who does." + +The Frenchman beat a rapid retreat. There was a malevolent look on his +face, but he murmured respectfully enough: + +"_Oui, monsieur_." + +Kenneth turned to his wife. + +"What did he come back for?" he demanded. + +"He was listening--behind the door," she replied calmly. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The dirty, sullen waters of the harbor washed lazily against the black, +precipitous sides of the giant liner which, under a full head of steam, +vibrated with suppressed energy, straining at mighty cables as if +impatient to start on her long and hazardous voyage across the tumbling +seas. A raw, piercing northeaster, howling dismally above the +monotonous creaking and puffing of the donkey-engine, swept through the +cheerless, draughty dock, chilling the spectators to the marrow. The +sun, vainly trying to break through the banks of leaden-colored clouds, +cast a grayish pall over land and sky. A day it was of sinister +portent, that could not fail to have a depressing effect on sailor and +landlubber alike. + +Yet unpropitious skies and chilly wind did not appear to keep people at +home. The steamer was crowded, both with those who were sailing and +those who were not. The gangways, staterooms were overrun not only by +passengers, but by all sorts of visitors curious to get a glimpse of +the luxurious liner. The first-class saloon, heaped high on all sides +with American Beauty roses and orchids, looked as gay and full of color +as a florist's shop. + +"Isn't it perfectly stunning? How I adore ships!" exclaimed Ray, eager +to see everything. + +Keeping close together, the two young women with difficulty elbowed +their way through the excited throng. They were anxious to rejoin +Kenneth whom they had left in the stateroom giving instructions to +Francois, and they began to be afraid they might lose him in the crush. +Delighted at everything she saw, Ray could not contain herself. + +"Oh, how I wish I were going! Why doesn't Ken take me?" + +Helen turned to her in mock despair. + +"If you went, what would I do? Who would take care of me?" + +"I would," said a masculine voice close by. + +The women turned quickly. + +A tall, fair man still in his thirties, had stopped and raised his hat. + +"Why, it's Mr. Steell!" exclaimed Ray, her pleasure at the meeting +betraying itself in the tone of her voice. + +"Do you doubt my ability to take care of you? Could any man wish for a +more congenial task?" + +"Flatterer!" laughed Helen. Cordially she added: "I'm awfully glad to +see you. It was very good of you to come and see Ken off." + +"Nonsense," exclaimed the newcomer. "I wanted to come--if only to make +sure he wouldn't change his mind. I'm as anxious to see those diamonds +as you are." + +"Hush!" said Helen putting up her finger to her mouth while Ray's +attention was momentarily diverted elsewhere. "No one knows--not even +Ray. It's a great secret." + +An anxious look passed over the young man's face. He hadn't approved +of this South African trip. It was wholly unnecessary. In his opinion +his old chum was taking a great risk. + +"That's right," he muttered. "You can't be too careful." + +In metropolitan legal circles Wilbur Steell was looked upon as the +coming man. His success in the courts had given him a wide reputation +before he was five and thirty, and his gifts as a public speaker, his +strong, aggressive personality made more than one political leader +anxious to secure his services. Already he was mentioned as district +attorney. Even the Governorship might have been his for the asking. +But he showed no liking for politics. His sympathies leaned more +towards the literary, intellectual life. Having all the money he +needed, he preferred to keep out of the social and political maelstrom, +leading a quiet life, following his own tastes and inclinations. +Match-making mammas saw in him a prize, but so far he had shown no +disposition to marry. He cultivated few people, in fact, was +considered somewhat of a misanthrope. Kenneth he had known all his +life. They were boys together, and the Traynors were among the few on +whom he called frequently. He made no secret of his attraction for +Ray, and the young girl liked him as well as she chose to like anybody. +He had qualities, not usually met with in successful men, that made a +strong appeal to her--fine ideals, and a purpose in life. She liked +his seriousness, finding him different in this respect from any other +man she knew. She felt he admired her, but he did not make love to her +and she was grateful to him for that. She liked his society and never +tired of discussing with him sociology and other subjects in which both +were interested. + +"When does the steamer sail?" interrupted Ray anxiously, as if afraid +that they might go off with her on board. + +"In half an hour," said the lawyer. "They ring a warning bell. There +is plenty of time. Where's Kenneth?" + +"Down below in his stateroom--wrestling with baggage," replied Helen. +"He said he would join us here." + +"Well, suppose we sit down a bit," he suggested. + +"Yes--that will be jolly," exclaimed Ray. + +The lawyer pulled up three steamer chairs and sitting down, they +watched the crowd which had already begun to thin out. The novelty of +the scene held both women fascinated. The constant bustle and +excitement, the going and coming of well-groomed men and women, the +little scraps of conversation overheard, interested them both beyond +measure. Helen studied each individual couple, wondering who they +were, how long married, if they were happy, where they were going to. +She wondered if that coarse, loudly dressed woman really cared for her +husband, or if this brutal looking man with insolent stare of the +libertine, illtreated his delicate little wife. She herself could not +understand marriage without genuine affection on both sides. Any such +intimate relation as the marriage tie involved must surely be repellent +and abhorrent to any self-respecting woman unless love were there to +sanction and sanctify it. + +Ray glanced at her sister and laughed. + +"Why so serious, Helen? He hasn't gone yet." + +Helen sighed. + +"But he soon will be. I wish he were here instead of downstairs." + +Ray protested. + +"Please be nautically correct. Remember we are on a ship. You don't +say 'downstairs'; you say 'below.'" + +Mr. Steell turned round with a smile. + +"I had no idea you were so well posted in sailor's parlance." + +The young girl laughed. + +"Oh, you don't know half my accomplishments. I'm cleverer than you +give me credit for." + +The young man leaned half over the chair as he whispered: + +"I wouldn't dare tell you how clever I think you." + +"Why?" + +"Because--of my own peace of mind." + +Helen broke in on the conversation. Addressing the lawyer, she said: + +"Now Kenneth is away, we shall expect you to come to the house very +often." + +The lawyer bowed. + +"It's always a pleasure to call." + +"Be sure to come next Sunday evening. I expect some friends. We'll +have some music." + +"May I bring someone?" + +"Certainly. Any friend of yours is welcome." + +"Who is it?" asked Ray impertinently. "Male or female?" + +"I believe it's a male," smiled the lawyer. "It looks like a male and +talks like one." More seriously he went on: "His name is Dick +Reynolds. He has just passed his bar examination and is practicing +temporarily in my office. His people live out West and being alone +here, he is glad enough to have somewhere to go." + +"Bring him by all means," exclaimed Ray. "Has he any +accomplishments--apart from being a male?" + +"Yes--he plays the piano indifferently, and tennis admirably. He swims +like a fish, and can run like a hare. But his best accomplishment is a +gift that one seldom sees developed----" + +"What is that?" exclaimed both his listeners at once. + +"He is a born detective--a regular Sherlock Holmes in real life. I +have tested him several times with extraordinary results. I have given +him the most difficult cases to unravel. He has found the solution in +every one." + +Ray clapped her hands. + +"Oh, I love that," she said. "Don't forget to invite him. Only the +trouble is we have nothing to unravel." + +"I have a skein of silk," interrupted Helen facetiously. + +Suddenly the lawyer stopped speaking and quickly sitting up in his +chair stared intently in the distance at a face in the crowd which had +caught his eye. + +"Who is it?" demanded Ray, her woman's jealousy aroused. + +"I may be mistaken," he replied, "but I thought I saw your friend +Signor Keralio." + +Helen looked up quickly. + +"My friend?" she exclaimed. "He's no friend of mine. I wonder what +he's doing here. He can't be sailing." + +"He's up to no good, I wager that," growled the lawyer. + +"You don't like him either, do you?" smiled Ray. + +"Does anyone?" he answered. "I don't see how Kenneth can have anything +to do with such a cheap type of adventurer." + +Helen hastened to explain. + +"Ken doesn't care for him at all, only they are both interested in the +same business deal--a silver mine in Mexico. Ken bought stock and +Keralio is the only man he knows connected with it. That's why." + +The lawyer gave vent to a grunt of disgust. + +"If Keralio has anything to do with it, good-bye to Ken's money. In my +opinion the fellow's a crook." + +Suddenly Helen pointed to a spot away down at the other end of the deck. + +"Yes--you're right--there he is--behind that third lifeboat. He's +talking to some one." + +The lawyer looked in the direction indicated. + +"Yes--and do you see the secretive way in which they're talking--hiding +behind that boat, as if so that no one might see them. They're +plotting some mischief, you may be sure of that. Who's the other +fellow?" + +Helen strained her eyes to see. + +"I can't see his face. Oh, yes I can--why--it's our +Francois--Kenneth's valet. What can they be talking about? I don't +trust that valet. Only the other day I caught him reading some +letters. I warned Ken about him; but he insists he is faithful--I +wonder what they can have in common? He used to be in Signor Keralio's +employ." + +The lawyer shook his head ominously. Gravely he said: + +"That fellow Keralio will bear watching. I think I'll put my Sherlock +Holmes on his track." + +Ray laughed. + +"Oh, that would be exciting--a drama in real life. Please do----" + +"Good morning, ladies!" said a voice close at hand. "Good morning, Mr. +Steell." + +All looked up. A tall, elderly man with white hair, distinguished +looking and fashionably dressed, had stopped. + +"Why, it's Mr. Parker!" exclaimed Helen holding out her hand. "You +came to see Kenneth off?" + +"Yes--where is he?" + +"In his stateroom--attending to his baggage. He'll be here directly." + +"I must see him at once." + +"Anything important?" + +"Very important, indeed," replied the newcomer. + +Helen jumped up, all flushed from excitement. + +"Please tell me what it is?" she exclaimed. + +The old gentleman drew a telegram from his pocket. + +"I've just received this from our agent in Cape Town. Another diamond +of extraordinary size has been picked up. It weighs over 2,000 carats +and is calculated to be worth five hundred thousand dollars. That's +the second stone of extraordinary size that we have found. Possibly +there is some exaggeration in the reports, but there is no doubt +whatever that we are on the verge of discoveries little short of +sensational. Meantime, the treasury of the Americo-African Mining +Company has been enriched by at least a million. When Kenneth returns +to New York with these wonderful gems in his possession, there is +likely to be a boom in the company's shares." + +The old gentleman spoke glibly, even eloquently and it was obvious that +he was sincere and not talking for effect. It was, indeed, largely due +to his distinguished air, and fine oratorical powers that Cornelius +Winthrop Parker had been elected president of the Americo-African +Mining Company, with fine offices in New York and London and +stockholders in every country under the sun. Trained for the ministry +and enjoying a wide acquaintance but a slim income, he had found the +business of stock company promotion more profitable than preaching the +gospel, and when Traynor had first gone to him with the suggestion that +a company be formed to take up the large tract of Transvaal land where +precious stones had actually been found he was not slow to grasp at the +unusual opportunity. He managed cleverly the preliminary publicity +campaign. The company was promptly organized and successfully floated, +the public snapping as eagerly at the shares as a fish at the bait. It +was only logical to infer, therefore, that when Kenneth returned to New +York with actual proof of the company's suddenly acquired wealth in his +possession, the stock would soar above par. With this pleasing +prospect in view, it was not surprising that Mr. Parker wore to-day his +most engaging smile. + +Ray looked up in surprise. + +"What!" she exclaimed. "Kenneth to bring home the diamonds? This is +the first I heard of it. Helen never told me." + +"Hush!" said Mr. Parker, holding up his handy warningly. "Some one +might hear you." Continuing, he said blandly: + +"Of course not, my dear lady, of course not. Your sister is far too +discreet and clever a woman to disclose her husband's plans to the +world. There are some things a man must keep secret from +everyone--even from his wife. It would have been the height of folly +to make any such announcement from the housetops. The highways are +full of rogues; even the walls have ears. Some crook might have +learned of our plans and acted accordingly. Kenneth might be followed +to South Africa, shadowed till he has the gems in his possession and +then waylaid and murdered. Remember, he will have stones in his +waistcoat pocket worth a million. Do you suppose desperate men will +stop at anything to secure such a prize?" + +Ray turned to her sister. + +"Did you know?" + +Helen nodded. + +"Yes, and it has made me very unhappy. It is terrible that he is +taking such risks." Turning to Mr. Parker she asked apprehensively: +"Do you think he will run any danger?" + +The old gentleman shook his head. + +"Of course not, my dear lady. It is preposterous to even think of such +a thing. We have kept the matter too secret. Don't be uneasy. He +will come to no harm." Raising his hat, he added: "Excuse me, ladies. +I'll go and find Kenneth and bring him to you." + +The next instant he was swallowed up by the crowd. + +Helen, uneasy at her husband's prolonged absence, suggested that they +go below and join him. + +Suddenly a stentorian voice called out: + +"All ashore--all ashore!" + +Quickly, Helen jumped to her feet, only to bump into Kenneth, who at +that moment ran up, followed by Mr. Parker. + +"All ashore, dear," he said hastily, "you had better go." + +She made no reply, but averted her head so he might not see her red +eyes. + +All about them the bustle and excitement was bewildering. People +pushed this way and that in their efforts to reach the gangway. + +The siren sounded its last deep toned blasts of warning; the final +greetings were exchanged. + +Tall and handsome looking in his tourist knicker-bockers and close +fitting steamer cap, Kenneth held both Helen's hands in his. Ray and +Mr. Parker, under the pretence of visiting the anchor weighed, had +discreetly withdrawn. Francois, the valet, could be seen in the +distance, making signals to some one on shore. Husband and wife were +standing alone behind one of the big ventilators, Helen glad that no +one saw them, ashamed that anyone should detect the big tears she was +unable to control. How she had dreaded this moment of actual parting, +this ordeal of saying good-bye! + +"You'll write every day, won't you?" she asked in choking voice. + +Tenderly he drew her to him. + +"Every day, sweetheart." + +"And you'll come back safe to me?" + +"I'll come back safe to you." + +Bravely she forced back the tears that blinded her. Gently she +murmured: + +"I'll wait for you, Kenneth. I shall count the days, every moment, +until you return. I never realized till now how much we are to each +other. I'll pray for you, Kenneth; I'll pray God that He watch over +and protect you." + +He said nothing, but drew her toward him. Looking searchingly into her +eyes, he said half in jest, half in earnest: + +"You'll be true, always true!" + +Gravely she answered: + +"Always--until death!" + +"You'll look at no other man." + +"How can you be so foolish, Ken dear? I see no one but you. I hear no +voice but yours. You are my life, my soul. When you return you'll +find me here, at this same dock, arms outstretched, waiting, just +waiting." + +The bell rang. + +"All ashore! All ashore!" + +He bent low. His mouth met hers in one deep, lingering kiss. + +"God bless you, darling." + +"Good-bye, Ken, good-bye." + +The next thing she knew she was back on the dock among a crowd of +spectators waving hats and handkerchiefs--the women weeping, the men +shouting and gesticulating. + +The passengers stood at the rail, waving frantic adieux in return. The +siren sounded deep-toned blasts of warning to the smaller river craft +to get out of the way. The huge vessel strained and trembled, +vibrating more violently as she gradually began to glide into the open. +Assisted by a fleet of energetic tugs she finally swung clear and +pointed her nose eastward. Slowly, majestically, the leviathan moved +out to sea. + +It was bad enough to see him go at all, but to have him sail on such a +gloomy day as this, with not a ray of sunshine to cheer him on the way, +was more than Helen could bear. Blinded by tears she stood kissing her +hand to the familiar figure now only faintly discernible on the fast +receding steamship, and she stood there long after every one else had +left the dock watching until the _Mauretania_ was only a speck in the +horizon. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Sunday evenings at Mrs. Traynor's were always enjoyable. No formal +invitations were issued. Friends just dropped in as they felt +inclined. There was good music, excellent tea _a la Russe_ and always +a number of interesting people. + +To-night, the second Sunday since Kenneth went away, promised to be +duller than usual. Mr. Steell was there, of course, and he had brought +Dick Reynolds, a slightly built, shrewd looking young man with glasses, +who kept everybody amused with exciting stories of the underworld. +Yet, for all the animation, there was an atmosphere of gloom in the +air, an indefinable sense of depression which all felt and could not +explain. The lawyer, Dick, and Ray were in a corner carrying on an +animated discussion. Helen, her mind preoccupied, her thoughts +hundreds of miles away with the loved absent one, sat quietly at the +piano, running her fingers lightly over the keys, her thoughts many +leagues distant with the man who had carried her heart away with him. + +Her face was pale, her expression grave. Why had Kenneth's going away +affected her like this? She had not had a moment's peace of mind since +his departure. She could not sleep. Horrible dreams and thoughts +haunted her all night. Some danger threatened, that she felt +instinctively. Something dreadful was going to happen. What it was, +she did not know. But it was something that threatened her happiness, +perhaps her life or Kenneth's----. At the mere thought a shiver ran +through her, and a convulsive sob rose in her throat, almost choking +her. Not until this moment had she fully realized how much she loved +him. + +A sudden burst of laughter at the other end of the room aroused her +from her reverie. Looking up, she asked: + +"What are you all so amused about?" + +Ray smiled as she replied: + +"We're arguing about dual personalities. Mr. Steell insists that there +is no such thing. Mr. Reynolds agrees with him. He is wrong of +course. I know of several well-authenticated cases, and the medical +records are there to back me up." + +"Exactly what do you mean by dual personality?" demanded the lawyer. + +Ray returned to the attack, while Helen, amused, rose from the piano +and went over to listen to the argument. + +"I mean that a person we know well may suddenly cease being that person +and assume a personality entirely different." + +Mr. Steell laughed derisively. + +"Does the patient change her or his skin?" + +"No, the change is wholly mental. Although in fact, the new mental +attitude does result in certain physical modifications. For instance, +a person who in his normal condition may be most punctilious and neat +in his dress is likely to become unkempt and slovenly in the new +character he unconsciously assumes." + +"Have you ever encountered any such dual personalities?" + +"Personally, no. But I have heard of them, and physicians often +encounter them in their practice." + +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders as he turned to Helen. + +"What do you think about it?" he asked, with an incredulous smile. + +"About what?" + +"These so-called dual personalities." + +Before his hostess could answer, the drawing-room door opened and Mr. +Parker entered. Helen rose and went forward to greet the president of +the Americo-African Mining Company. + +"Oh, Mr. Parker, how are you? I am so glad you came to see us." + +The visitor advanced smiling into the room. With a salute to all +present, he asked cheerily: + +"Well, what news of the wanderer?" + +Helen sighed. + +"None as yet." + +The visitor chuckled as he crossed the room to shake hands with Ray and +Mr. Steell. + +"Oh, well you must be patient. He'll soon be there, and then we shall +hear wonderful tales." + +"What's the latest news from the seat of war--I mean the mines?" asked +Ray roguishly. + +Mr. Parker smiled. + +"Everything is going well, thank you." + +"No new big finds?" demanded Mr. Steell. + +The president laughed. Shaking his head, he said: + +"We can't expect to make such finds every day. If we often picked up +stones of that size, we'd soon own all the wealth in the world." + +"More likely," retorted Ray quickly, "that diamonds would become so +cheap that children would buy them for marbles." + +Mr. Steell looked interested. + +"What is the real market value of the two big gems you have already +picked up?" + +The president looked at him for a moment in silence. Then, slowly, he +said: + +"A very conservative estimate is $1,200,000 for both stones. They are +the purest white. There are larger stones in the world, but none of +finer quality." + +"What do you expect to do with them?" + +"First, they will be brought here and exhibited in their crude state. +You can easily realize the value to our company of such a gigantic +advertisement. Crowds will flock to see the wonderful crystals. The +newspapers all over the country will give them the widest publicity. +After everybody has seen them, we shall probably send them to Amsterdam +to be cut." + +"Then, what will you do with them?" + +"To tell you the truth, we have not made up our minds. Such very large +stones have really no commercial value. Take for instance the famous +Cullinan, the wonder of the modern world. That gem was so huge that it +was of no real value to the owners; so, unable to realize on it +themselves, they induced the Transvaal government to buy it and present +it to the King of England. We shall try to be a little more practical. +Our first duty is to our stockholders. We shall probably have the +stones cut up into a number of smaller stones, on which we shall be +able to realize a large sum. It's a rare stroke of good fortune for +us." + +Helen had said nothing, but stood listening in silence. It was less of +the money involved in the adventure that she was thinking than of her +husband's safety. + +"Suppose Kenneth loses the gems?" she faltered. + + The old gentleman laughed. + +"There's no fear of him losing them. He may have to fight for them, +but he'll never lose them I know him too well for that." + +Helen's eyes opened wide. + +"He may have to fight for them," she echoed. "Do you mean that?" + +"No--no, of course not," said the president hastily. "No one will even +know he has them in his possession. We have kept the matter very +quiet." + +Mr. Steell shrugged his shoulders. Drily he said: + +"Oh, I guess Ken is big enough to take care of himself. It does look +as if it were tempting Providence to carry loose on one's person +valuables for so large an amount, but it's hardly likely that any of +the denizens of the underworld know of his departure. Still less that +he is carrying a million loose in his clothes. I don't see that +there's any reason to worry." + +"That's precisely my opinion," said a musical voice immediately behind +them. + +All started and looked up. Everyone had been so intent on the +conversation that they had not noticed a man who had entered the room. + +He was a tall, dark-complexioned man of five and thirty with strong, +stern features, which, in repose, were actually forbidding. The mouth, +partly concealed by a long, bristling moustache, was firm, suggesting +relentless will power, and his eyes, restless, keen and searching, had +taken in every person there long before anyone was aware of his +presence. He was fashionably, even elegantly dressed, and on his left +hand he wore a solitaire of uncommon size and luster. His hair, +carefully curled, scented and parted, was extraordinarily dark, +contrasting sharply with the unusual pallor of his face. He spoke low +and musically, with a slight foreign accent. + +Helen started involuntarily on hearing the sound of his voice, and a +cloud passed momentarily over her face. It lasted only a moment. She +was too tactful, too much the woman of the world not to greet with at +least apparent cordiality any visitor under her roof, no matter how +unwelcome he might really be. Turning quickly, she advanced and held +out her hand. + +"How do you do, Signor Keralio? How you startled us! I did not hear +you come in." + +The newcomer's black eyes flashed, and his thin lips parted in a smile +as he bent low and ceremoniously kissed his hostess' hand in +continental fashion. Fond, as are most men of the Latin race, of +making extravagant compliments, he murmured softly: + +"Your tiny ears, Madam, were not intended to distinguish such gross +sounds as ordinary mortal's footsteps. Dainty and delicately fashioned +as the shells strewn along the beach, they were modeled only to listen +to the gods or re-echo the music of the murmuring sea." Apologetically +he added: + +"But I'm afraid I intrude. Possibly you discuss family affairs----" + +A look of annoyance crossed Helen's face. Quickly withdrawing her +hand, she said: + +"Oh, not at all. We were only talking about my husband. You know he +sailed for South Africa two weeks ago. This is Mr. Steell, Signor +Keralio. I think you know my sister. Mr. Parker--Signor Keralio." + +The old gentleman nodded affably, and, putting on his glass, +scrutinized the newcomer narrowly. The president of the +Americo-African Mining Company had always made it a point not to +neglect any chance introduction. He had no idea who the visitor was, +but he looked prosperous. Possibly with a little careful manipulation, +he might be induced to invest in some A. A. M. stock. Holding out his +hand, he said affably: + +"Signor Keralio---- Let me see. Where have I heard that name before?" + +Ray came to the rescue. + +"Signor Keralio is the well-known fencing master." + +A look of disappointment came over the president's face. Only a +fencing master? Ugh! He was hardly worth bothering about. He +wondered whether the business were profitable and if all fencing +masters dressed like millionaires and had such polished manners. Helen +explained: + +"Signor Keralio is a friend of my husband. Kenneth enjoys fencing, and +Signor Keralio is his teacher." + +"Oh, yes, to be sure," smiled Mr. Parker. "Capital idea--splendid +exercise. I'd try it myself, only I'm afraid I'd do my adversary some +injury." + +The Italian gave a low chuckle. With veiled irony, he said: + +"Monsieur is right. He no doubt has a good eye, a supple wrist. An +encounter might be very unpleasant for his opponent." + +Ray, unable to control her mirth, hastily beat a retreat, followed more +leisurely by Mr. Steell, and taking refuge at the far end of the room +sat down at the piano, and began to play softly a Chopin nocturne. + +Waving the newcomer to a seat, Mr. Parker offered him a cigar, which +the fencing master, with a courteous bow, asked his hostess' permission +to smoke. + +"By all means," she said, "and with your permission I'll leave you +gentlemen alone a few moments. I have a letter to finish. It must go +tonight to catch the boat." + +"It's to your husband, I wager," said Keralio, with a sardonic smile. + +"An easy guess," she retorted. "I write him every day." + +The fencing master gave a sigh as he exclaimed: + +"Ah, such devotion is truly beautiful! Why have I never known such +love as that?" + +"Perhaps you never deserved it!" she retorted. + +Mr. Parker chuckled. + +"That's what we in the American vernacular call 'a knock-out.'" + +Helen laughed lightly. There was a swish of silken petticoats, and she +disappeared in an alcove, where she sat down at a desk. Keralio looked +after her with undisguised admiration and puffed his cigar in silence +for a few moments. Then he said: + +"It's a big job which you and Traynor are doing out there in South +Africa. I see by the papers that you've already made some valuable +finds." + +He appeared unconcerned, and looked narrowly at his _vis a vis_ to see +what effect his words had on him, possibly to draw him out. But Mr. +Parker was too old a bird to be caught napping, even by a clever +adventurer. Instantly on his guard, he said carelessly: + +"The outlook is very bright, very promising indeed. Our stockholders +are quite satisfied, and it is likely that we shall make good money. +But of course everything is in the experimental stage as yet." + +"But you have found diamonds--big diamonds?" + +"Oh, yes," replied the president with affected carelessness; "we have +picked up a few stones. As I told you, the prospects are very +promising." + +"But haven't you recently made some extraordinary finds?" + +Mr. Parker shook his head. + +"No--nothing worth mentioning.'" + +Keralio smiled skeptically. + +"Isn't your memory somewhat at fault, cher monsieur? Surely you +haven't forgotten the two stones of enormous size just picked up--finds +of sensational importance. The newspapers have been full of the story." + +Mr. Parker made a deprecatory gesture. + +"Pshaw! My dear sir, you ought to know what newspaper talk is worth! +No yarn is too fantastic to print so long as it sells their papers. We +found two stones of fair size, it is true, but to say that they are of +priceless value is a gross exaggeration." + +The Italian eyed his companion closely. Significantly he said: + +"They're valuable enough, however, to justify you in refusing to trust +their shipment to ordinary channels and in going to the expense of +sending to South Africa one of your officers to whom is confided the +task of bringing the gems home." + +"How did you know that?" demanded Mr. Parker, surprised. + +"There is very little I do not know," smiled Keralio ironically, as he +blew a ring of cigar smoke up to the ceiling. + +His curiosity aroused, the president of the A. A. M. Co. was about to +question his companion farther, but at that moment Helen rose from the +desk and came toward them. + +"I'm not in the humor to write now," she said. "I'd rather talk." +Sitting in a chair near them, she added quickly: "Won't you let me get +you some tea?" + +Both men shook their heads. Mr. Parker rose. With a mischievous +twinkle in his eye, he said: + +"I'll go over to the others and take a hand at bridge. I want to make +some money, Signor--I'll leave you to entertain Mrs. Traynor." + +With a courteous salutation to his hostess, a graceful act of +chivalrous politeness of which he was a past master, Mr. Parker crossed +the room in the direction of the card table. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +An awkward silence followed the president's departure. Helen would +have detained him had she dared. Being alone with Keralio was very +distasteful to her. Ill at ease in such close proximity to this man, +whom she feared even more than she disliked, she sat still without +saying a word. Presently between puffs of his cigar, he said: + +"You really don't mind my smoking?" + +"Oh, not at all." + +He bowed and again relapsed into silence. She looked at him sideways +and wondered why this foreigner had always inspired her with such +dislike. His manner was courteous, and he was decidedly handsome. He +had white teeth and fine eyes. They were bold eyes, but so were the +eyes of other men. They had a habit of looking a woman through and +through. She always felt embarrassed under his close scrutiny. It +seemed to her as if he were undressing her mentally and took pleasure +in surveying critically and admirably every part of her as a +connoisseur examines a statue. She had an uncomfortable feeling when +near him. She was afraid to look straight in his eyes, afraid that +possibly he might be able to throw some spell over her, exert some +hypnotic influence that she would not be able to resist. She +considered him a seductive, dangerous man, the kind of man every pure +woman, every wife who wishes to remain faithful to her marriage vows +should avoid. + +Suddenly while she was looking at him, he turned his head toward her. +Before she could prevent it their eyes met. + +He did not avert his gaze, but kept his eyes fixed on hers as if trying +to awaken in her some of his own ardor. She tried to look away, but +she could not. He seemed to hold her there by sheer force of will +power. Frightened, she started to tremble in every limb. Yet, to her +astonishment, she had no feeling of anger or resentment. It seemed +quite natural that this man should gaze at her in this intimate, +caressing way. She found herself taking pleasure in it. Her vanity +was gratified. If he looked at her so persistently, it must be that he +thought her pretty. Her face began to burn, her bosom heaved, a +strange sensation that heretofore only her husband had been able to +arouse, came over her. And still his eyes were on hers, caressing, +voluptuous. + +At the other end of this room the game of bridge was still in progress. +Ray was winning, as usual, and amusing the men with her wit and +vivaciousness. Mr. Steell had glanced over in their direction several +times, and he saw enough to convince him that the attentions of the +fencing master were unwelcome to their hostess. Had he caught Helen's +eye, had she made the slightest sign that she was being annoyed, he +would have instantly left the game and gone over to the window, if only +to break up the tete-a-tete, but she did not once look up. Suddenly he +remembered what had been suggested on the boat. It was an idea. Ray +at that moment got up to get some tea, and, profiting by the +opportunity, the lawyer leaned over and whispered: + +"Say, Dick, you see that chap over there." + +The young man looked up. + +"Who--the signor?" + +"Yes. What do you know about him?" + +"Nothing good--although nothing very bad for that matter. He's a dark +horse--keeps pretty much to himself. He's well known in the gay +resorts, in the gambling houses and where they play the ponies." + +"What's his reputation?" + +"He's known as a liberal spender. He's always flashing big rolls of +money----" + +"Where does he get it--not from the fencing school?" + +"No--that's only a blind." + +The lawyer lowered his voice. + +"Dick, my boy, that fellow will bear watching, and you're the man to do +it." + +"You want him shadowed?" + +"Yes--find out where he goes, who he knows. My opinion is that he +belongs to an international band of crooks--possibly counterfeiters, +smugglers, or blackmailers. If you land him behind the bars you'll +deserve well of your country." + +Dick glanced once or twice in the direction of the object of their +conversation, who, quite unconscious of their scrutiny, was still +talking earnestly to Helen. The young man smiled, his chest expanded +with satisfaction, and grimly he said: + +"Leave him to me." + +Quite unconscious of the attention he attracted, the Italian turned to +Helen. + +"You miss your husband very much?" + +"Yes--terribly." + +"It must be lonely for you." + +"It is," she sighed. + +"Yet you have your sister." + +"Can a sister replace a husband?" + +He gave a low, musical laugh. + +"No--not a sister. A lover is preferable." + +Quickly she retorted: + +"My husband is my lover---my lover is my husband." + +He laughed, as he said: + +"It sounds very pretty, but you must admit that it is rather banal." + +"In what way?" + +He flecked the ash from his cigar. + +"You are too pretty, too charming a woman to be commonplace. Really it +spoils you----" + +Ignoring his compliments, she persisted. + +"Do you mean I am commonplace because I call Kenneth my lover. What +other lover should I or any other woman happily married have? I am +faithful to him--he is loyal to me." + +He gave a little mocking laugh, and was silent. How she hated him for +that laugh! After a pause he said quietly and suggestively: + +"I am sure you are faithful to him----" + +For a moment she looked at him without speaking, eager to resent the +implied imputation on her husband, yet unwilling to give the slanderer +the satisfaction of seeing that his thrust had carried home. +Concealing as best she could her growing irritation, she said calmly: + +"Don't you suppose _he_ also is faithful to me?" + +Again that horrible, cynical smile. Fixing her with his piercing dark +eyes, and, in a manner, the significance of which could not escape her, +he said: + +"Don't seek to know too much, Madam. To paraphrase a famous saying: +'It's a wise woman who knows her own husband.'" + +Coloring with anger, she said: + +"You mean----" + +"Just what I say--that a woman, a wife cannot possibly be sure of her +husband's fidelity. Think how different are the conditions. The wife, +no matter if her temperament be warm or cold, is always at home, +surrounded by prying eyes, rarely beset by temptation. The husband is +often away, he goes on business journeys that free him temporarily from +the chains which keep him in good behavior. If he is good looking, the +women look at him, flirt with him. It is inevitable. The chances are +that he succumbs to the first adventure--no matter how exemplary a +husband he may be at home. If he is a man--of unusual character, he +passes through the fire unscathed; if he is--just a man, he is +attracted to the candle like the proverbial moth and sometimes singes +his wings----" + +She looked at him keenly for a moment as if trying to read on his +sphinx-like face if he knew more about Kenneth than he admitted, and +then with forced calmness she said: + +"In your opinion, Signor Keralio--is my husband a man--of unusual +character, or is he--just a man?" + +The Italian shrugged his shoulders as he replied deprecatingly: + +"My dear madam, just stop and think a moment. Isn't that a rather +indiscreet question to put to a man--a man who is a friend of your +husband----" + +Hotly she turned on him. + +"If you are his friend, why do you vilify and slander him behind his +back?" + +Keralio lifted up his long slender hands in pious protest. + +"I vilify--my best friend---- Oh, my dear Mrs. Traynor--you have quite +misunderstood me. I am a foreigner. Perhaps it is that I express +myself ill." + +She shook her head skeptically. Firmly she said: + +"No, Signor Keralio--you express yourself quite plainly. Now, I'll be +equally frank with you. I confess there is one thing I do not +understand. I have never understood it. I do not understand why my +husband, a man so honorable, so straightforward in his dealings, a man +so free from intrigue or reckless adventures, so regular, methodical +and temperate in his habits, a man so entirely apart from the reckless, +immoral kind of life you hint at, should have made a friend of +_you_----" + +The Italian raised his eyebrows, but there was only an amused smile on +his bloodless lips as he said with a mock bow: + +"Thank you, madam. You are very flattering." + +"No--I mean it. I don't want to seem unkind, but your temperament and +my husband's are as wide apart as the poles." + +He opened wide his eyes as he asked, + +"In what particular, _s'il vous plait_?" + +"Kenneth is frank, outspoken. He is not the type of man who takes rash +risks. He is very conservative, scrupulously honest. He has fine +ideals. While you----" + +He laughed loudly. + +"I? I am secretive, cunning, reckless, materialistic--is that it, +madam?" + +"I did not say so, but since you draw your portrait so well----" + +He bit his lip. This girl with the flaxen hair and large lustrous eyes +was more than a match for him in a battle of wits. He was making no +headway at all. It was time to play his trump card. Softly he said: + +"You said your husband was judicious, conservative----" + +"So he is." + +"That is a matter of opinion. Some might think otherwise. Of course, +it is difficult for a woman when she is blinded by love----" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that your husband is far from being the conservative, +afraid-to-take-risks type of man you picture him. You women think you +know your husbands. You know only such part of them as they themselves +care to reveal. Perhaps if you knew to what extent your husband was +involved in Wall Street, it would surprise you! Oh, everything is +perfectly regular, of course. As treasurer of the Americo-African +Mining Company, he has at his disposal large sums of money. He is also +trustee of several large and valuable estates. All of this money he is +supposed to invest--conservatively. He certainly invests it. Whether +conservatively or not, I leave others to judge." + +"Do you mean that he is using other people's money in Wall Street?" + +"I mean, my dear lady, that he has the get-rich-quick fever. He has a +rage for stock gambling--he is already heavily involved. I have often +warned him to go slower, to be more prudent, but he won't heed my +counsel. You know, he is very headstrong--your husband. As long as +everything goes well he is all right. If anything goes wrong, he might +find himself in an unpleasant predicament. Hasn't he spoken to you of +these matters? Why should he worry you? It is as I told you. +Husbands don't tell their wives everything--God forbid!" + +Helen raised her hand. There was the ring of scorn in her voice as she +exclaimed: + +"Don't blaspheme, Signor Keralio. It sounds incongruous to hear the +name of the Almighty on the lips of a man of your opinions and tastes. +You think you live, but you don't. You go through life, seeking only +to gratify your appetites, attracted only by material sensual +pleasures. You ignore the best part of life--the pursuit of an ideal, +a noble ambition, unselfishness, self-sacrifice. Really, Signor, I +pity you--with all my heart." + +He made no answer, but sat in silence watching her. Presently he said: + +"Mrs. Traynor--do you know that you are an extraordinary woman?" + +"In what way?" she demanded, elevating her eyebrows in surprise. + +"You are either the cleverest or the most unsophisticated woman I have +ever met. You are attractive enough to send a saint to perdition, yet +you are quite indifferent to the power of your beauty and the tumult it +arouses in the men who chance to cross your path. You seem to be +absolutely without feeling. Yet I don't believe you devoid of +temperament. I think I know women. I have met a good many. You do +not belong to the type of cold, passionless women." + +Again his eyes sought hers and found them. Again she tried to avoid +his gaze and could not. There was something in his manner, his +gestures, the tone of his voice, that conveyed to her more his real +meaning than his actual words, yet, to her surprise, she was not +aroused to anger. Sure of herself, she found herself listening, +wondering what he would say next, ready to flee at the first warning of +peril, but playing a dangerous game like the moth in the flame. As she +sat back on the sofa, her head in the sofa cushions, he leaned nearer +to her, and in those low, musical tones which held her under a kind of +spell, he murmured: + +"You are the cleverest woman I ever met." + +She smiled in spite of herself, and he, mistaking the motive, thought +she intended it as an encouragement. He glanced round to see if anyone +was watching them, but Mr. Parker was peacefully dozing in a deep +armchair a dozen yards away, and at the far end of the room Ray, Steell +and Reynolds were engrossed in an exciting game of cards. Leaning +quickly over, he seized her hand. His voice vibrating with passion, he +said: + +"Not only the cleverest, but the most desirable of women. Don't you +see that you've set me afire? I'm mad for you! Helen--I want you!" + +For a moment she was too stunned by his insolent daring to withdraw her +hand, which he continued to press in his. His eyes flashing, he went +on: + +"Haven't you seen all along that I love you--desperately, passionately. +You've set me afire. I'm mad for you. Let me awaken that love that's +in your breast, but which your husband has never awakened. Let me----" + +He did not finish, for that moment a small, jeweled hand, suddenly torn +from his grasp, struck him full on the mouth. Rising and trying with +difficulty to control the emotion in her voice, she said quickly: + +"You'd better go now--so as to prevent a scandal. If they knew, it +might be awkward for you. Of course, you must never come here again." + +That was all. She swept away from him with the dignity of an offended +queen. The silence was deadly. All one heard was the silk rustle of +her gown as she moved across the floor. + +"It's my say," exclaimed Ray. + +"I lead with trumps," said Steell. + +"Signor Keralio has to go. Isn't it too bad!" + +Mr. Steell and Dick rose and bowed politely. + +There was nothing to be done. He was ignominiously dismissed like a +lackey caught pilfering. But there was black wrath in his heart as he +picked himself up, and turning to the others, he bowed and said: + +"Good night." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Dawn broke over the desert region of the Kalihari. The gray mists of +the South African night slowly dissolved on the approach of the rising +sun, until the crimson glow of the coming day, spreading high in the +eastern heavens, tipped with gold the snow-clad peaks of the +Drachenberg, and then, swiftly inundating the valley like a flood, +chased away the shadows and filled the undulating plains with warmth +and light. + +Stretched out near the flickering embers of an expiring camp fire, not +half a day's _trek_ from the Vaal River, lay what, at first view, +appeared to be bundles of rags. A closer inspection showed them to be +the prostrate forms of two men, asleep. Huddled close together, as if +seeking all possible protection from the keen air of the open _veldt_, +they appeared grateful even for the little warmth that still came from +the dying fire. Every now and again a tiny flame, bursting from one of +the smouldering logs, would light up the recumbent figures, revealing a +brief glimpse of the sleepers. + +Both bore traces of desperate need. The rags they wore were filthy, +and gave only scant protection from the weather, their emaciated faces +and hollowed cheeks told eloquently of many days of fatigue and hunger; +their feet, long since without shoes, were clumsily protected from the +rocky _veldt_ by pieces of coarse sacking. For weeks they had tramped +across the great, merciless desert, guided only by the stars, often +losing the trail, begging their way from farm to farm, glad to do +little jobs for friendly Boers in return for a meal, always in peril of +attack by hostile Kaffirs, yet never halting, trudging ever onward in +their anxiety to reach the coast. That was the haven they painfully +sought--the open sea where at least there was a chance to die among +their fellows and not perish miserably like dogs on the lonely. +God-forsaken plains, with only the howling jackal and the screaming +vulture to pick their bones. + +They had tried and they had lost in the great gamble. Like thousands +of other reckless adventurers attracted to the newly discovered diamond +country, they had rushed out there from England, confident that they, +too, could wrest from nature that wonderful gem, ever associated with +tragedy and romance, mystery and crime, for the possession of which, +since history began, men have been ready to give up their lives. +Confident of their success, they had risked all on a turn of the wheel, +and Fortune, mocking their puny efforts, had first ruined and then +degraded them, afterward sending them back home to die. + +It was now quite light. The fire, which had flickered up fitfully at +intervals, was entirely extinguished. A chilly wind had started to +blow from the plateau on the north. The strangers stirred uneasily in +their sleep and awoke almost simultaneously. Sitting up with a start, +they yawned and rubbed their eyes. + +"What show o' gettin' some breakfast, Handsome?" asked the smaller of +the two. + +"Damned little!" was the profane and laconic rejoinder. + +They were men still in the early thirties. One was short and stocky, +his face slightly pock-marked. Pictures of a mermaid and anchor +clumsily tattooed in indigo on his wrist showed him to be a sailor. In +fact, Dick Hickey, boatswain on _H. H. S. Tartar_, having taken French +leave of his ship, as she lay in Cape Town Harbor, ran a very good +chance of being taken back to England in irons as a deserter. Just now +he was serenely indifferent as to what happened to him. Half dead from +exposure and lack of nourishment, he would have gladly welcomed ship's +officers or anybody else so long as there was some relief from his +present sufferings. Meantime he spent what little breath he had left +in cursing his hard luck, and blaming his companion as being solely +responsible for his misfortune. + +The latter was some few years his senior, stalwart and clean-limbed. +He appeared to be over six feet in height and a man of splendid +physique. At first glance it was evident that he came of superior +stock. His shapely hands were grimy, his eyes of a peculiarly light +shade of blue were hollow and haggard looking. His face, emaciated and +ghastly, was almost livid. A clean-cut chin was covered with several +weeks' growth of beard. Yet, underneath all these repellant externals, +there was in his every attitude that indefinable refinement of manner +which the world always associates with a gentleman. His dark hair, +disheveled and matted, was unusually thick and bushy, with the +exception of one spot, in the center of his forehead, where there was a +single white lock, a capillary phenomenon, which imparted at once to +his face from its very unusualness an individuality quite its own. + +No one knew who he was or where he came from. They called him +"Handsome Jack," partly because of his good looks and also on account +of his reckless liberality with his cronies when flush. What his real +name was no one knew or cared. It was a time when no one asked +questions. As soon as the news of the astonishing diamond discoveries +reached Europe, men began to flock to South Africa. Adventurers from +all over the world gathered in Cape Town, a motley crew of incompetents +and blacklegs, an investigation into the antecedents of any of whom was +apt to have unpleasant results. That he was a professional gambler, he +made no attempt to conceal, and that he had knocked about the world a +good deal was also to be inferred from his wide knowledge of men and +places. A man of aggressive, domineering personality, he was not +without a certain following, attracted by his skill with cards and +dice, but he was more feared than liked, and his reputation as a +dangerous gunman kept inquisitive strangers at a safe distance. He was +well known in every den frequented by the criminal and vicious, and it +was in one of these resorts that Hickey had met him. The sailor had +lost all his savings at faro. Dead broke, he was ready for anything +which promised to recoup his fortunes. Handsome Jack laid before him a +scheme which would make them both rich beyond the dreams of avarice. +The recent discoveries on the Vaal had startled the world. A native +had picked up a stone weighing over 80 carats. They might be equally +lucky. All that was needed was pluck and patience. The plan was to +make their way as best they could to the Vaal fields, jump a claim, and +dig for diamonds. + +They set out secretly, avoiding the larger caravans, making the long +trek across the great plateau, partly by ox wagon, partly on foot. The +trail led through a wild, desolate country, and gradually they left +civilization hundreds of miles behind them. As far as the eye could +reach in every direction was a monotonous desert of stone and sand, +broken every now and then by small kopjies, the sides and summits of +which were sparsely covered with thick brush and coarse grass. +Scattered here and there, some twenty miles apart, were the homesteads +of the Boer farmers and the thatched kraals of the dark-skinned +Kaffirs. Over this lonely waste sheep and cattle wandered undisturbed +by springbok, ostriches, crocodiles, mountain lions and other wild +animals. + +In this barren spot Nature had concealed her treasures. A child's cry +of joy over a pretty pebble led to their discovery. The little son of +a Boer farmer was playing one day in the fields near the homestead when +his eye was attracted by something glittering at his feet. Stooping, +he picked up a stone unlike any other he had ever seen. Interested, he +began to look for others and found a number of them, which with great +glee he carried home to show his mother. The worthy woman paid little +heed to what, in her ignorance, she regarded merely as pretty stones, +but she happened to speak about them to a neighboring farmer, who asked +to look at them. Already tired of his new plaything, the child had +thrown the stones away, but one was found in the field close by, and +the neighbor, a shrewd Dutchman, who had heard of certain stones picked +up in that locality having a certain value, offered to buy it. The +good woman laughed at the idea of selling a stone, and made him a +present of it. The farmer took it to the nearest town, where experts +declared it to be a twenty-one carat diamond, worth $2,500. Round the +world the telegraph flashed this remarkable story, and the rush to +South Africa began. That was in 1870. In May of that year there were +about a hundred men at the diggings in the Vaal fields. Before the +next month had closed there were seven hundred. By April of the +following year five thousand men were digging frantically in the mud +along the Vaal and Orange rivers. + +It was a rough, lawless gathering of men of every nationality under the +sun, the criminal and the vicious, the idle and the worthless. The +region being inside the border lines of the waste territory that lay +between the Boers and the Hottentots, it was therefore No Man's Land, +and beyond the pale of established law and order. The miners, +compelled, in self-protection, to institute laws of their own, +appointed committees to issue licenses, keep the peace, and punish +offenders. Natives were whipped; white men were banished, and from +this rough-and-ready justice there was no appeal. + +When Handsome and Hickey arrived at the diggings, the fever was still +at its height, and having secured a claim, they went to work with a +will. Claims were thirty feet square, and to prevent speculation in +them the owner, in order to hold title, was compelled to toil +incessantly. It was hard work, harder work than Handsome had ever been +put to in all his life. At the end of a few days, the skin was scraped +off his hands from shoveling, and he had such a kink in his back that +he couldn't straighten up. But he had come to stay, and a little; +discomfort was not going to scare him. Their implements, purchased at +the diggings, consisted of pick, shovel and rocker, this last being a +box arranged on rockers like a baby's cradle. It was a clumsy yet +useful contrivance, in which were fastened, one above the other, wire +screens of varying fineness, the coarsest being on top. As Handsome +dug the yellow earth out of the hole he shoveled it into the top +screen. When it was full Hickey poured in water while he rocked. The +water washed the dirt through the holes, leaving the stones. These +were taken out, emptied onto a sorting table, where Handsome scraped +off the worthless peddles [Transcriber's note: pebbles?], saving +anything that seemed of value. As a rule, and much to Hickey's +disgust, the table was scraped clean. Sometimes the sailor would make +a joyful exclamation on seeing some glittering pieces of rock crystal, +thinking he had found a prize, only to be disappointed a moment later +when a more experienced miner assured him it was worthless. Both soon +learned, however, to recognize at sight the precious gems, and, +although few came their way, they saw many brought to the surface by +luckier neighbors. One day sounds of great rejoicing was heard in +their tent. They had worked hard for over a month without finding +anything, and were feeling greatly discouraged and dejected, when all +at once something happened. Handsome had been rocking the cradle in a +listless sort of way, and Hickey was sorting the residue, when suddenly +the sailor gave a wild whoop of delight. Darting forward, he held up a +glittering stone. Examination proved it to be a genuine diamond, +weighing about ten carats, and valued at about $1,000. It was not much +of a find, but it was enough to turn their heads. Dropping all work, +they both proceeded to have "a good time," going on a drunken orgie, +which lasted just as long as the money held out. When they came to +their senses they were worse off than before. Weakened by prolonged +debauch, they were in no mood for digging, and to complicate matters +some one had jumped their claim during their absence. Even their tools +had disappeared. Without resource or credit, they could not procure +others. Yet work they must to keep the wolf from the door, so, cursing +others when they had only themselves to blame, Handsome secured +employment, digging for another miner, while the sailor performed such +occasional odd jobs as he could pick up. + +Broken in spirit, enraged at the long spell of ill luck, Handsome began +to drink heavily. Every cent he made went to the grog shop, and +Hickey, never over fond of work at any time, was only too glad of an +excuse to drink with him. The two cronies filled themselves with rum +until their reason tottered, and they became beasts, refusing to work, +growing ugly, even menacing, preferring to beg the food their empty +stomachs craved for rather than toil, as before. At last they made +themselves such a nuisance that the attention of the vigilance +committee was called to their particular case. In short order they +were hauled up and ordered to leave camp. There was no alternative but +to obey, and thus began the dreary trek homeward of the two broken and +miserable outcasts. + +"We cawn't go on much longer like this," moaned Hickey. + +He made a painful effort to get up, but his joints, stiff from the +all-night exposure, refused to obey his will, and he fell back with a +groan. Handsome, more successful, had already risen, and was scanning +the horizon on every side. Except for the kopjies, which in places +obstructed the view, there was a clear range for ten miles or more. If +anything alive moved within the field of vision, they could not help +seeing it, but nothing greeted their eyes. There was neither man or +beast to be seen; seemingly they were still many weary miles from the +nearest homestead. + +"We must go on," replied Handsome determinedly. Impatiently he added: +"What do you want to do--stay here and let the jackals gnaw your bones?" + +Hickey, too weak to argue, shook his head despondently. + +"You go on, Handsome. Leave me here. I cawn't go any further, s' help +me Gawd! My feet hurt somethin' awful. I'm all in. If ye get 'ome +safe, go and see the old folks, will ye, and tell 'em I put up a good +fight?" + +"Hell!" retorted the other savagely. "Don't squat there crying like a +baby. Be a man. Get up and let's hike it to the nearest homestead." +Shading his eyes as he gazed earnestly over the plain, he added: "I see +smoke in the distance. It can't be far off. Come----" + +Suddenly, to his astonishment, Hickey leaped to his feet, with an +agility unheard of in one so nearly dying. Pointing to the nearest +kopjie, he shouted hoarsely: + +"Look! There's a man--near that kopjie--he's coming this way!" + +It was no dream. A man, unarmed and unaccompanied, was advancing +toward them. From his dress and manner, it was easy to see that he was +not a Boer farmer. He looked more like an Englishman or an American. + +Scarcely able to believe the evidence of his own eyes, Handsome watched +his progress. + +As he came nearer, he waved his hand to show that he saw them, and he +walked faster, as if afraid that they might disappear before he could +reach them. Hickey, unable to restrain himself, had run forward, and +in a few minutes they met. + +"Who are you?" demanded the stranger, whose face, shaded as it was by a +big canvas helmet, it was difficult to see. + +"Miners from the Vaal," answered Hickey. "Who are you?" + +"I am a Frenchman--Francois Chalat. I am ze valet of an American +gentleman. Our party not know ze road. We has wandered from what you +call ze trail. Will you show ze way to us?" + +"Where's your party?" demanded Hickey. + +Francois pointed to a kopjie about three miles distant. + +"There! Behind zat hill." + +Just at that moment, Handsome came lumbering up almost on the run, +anxious to know what it was all about. + +"Have you any whiskey?" was his first breathless ejaculation. "We're +starving." + +The valet made no answer. He was too startled to speak. Drawing back +a few steps, he stared blankly at the big fellow. For several minutes +he stood as if struck dumb. Presently, when he found his speech, he +asked in awed tones: + +"Who are you? What's your name?" + +"What business is it of yours?" snapped Handsome, with some show of +irritation. "Have you any food or whiskey? We're starving." + +The valet made no answer, but just stared in astonished silence at the +big six-footer who towered above him. For a moment he had thought it a +trick that his master had played upon him. By walking quickly he had +got there before him, and dressed up in these rags just to have fun +with him. But that matted hair and that chin, with its weeks of growth +of beard. He could not be deceived in that. No, this man was not his +employer. Could it be possible, was it--his twin brother long since +given up for dead? The same physique, the same features, the same +eyes, the same thick, bushy hair with the single lock of white hair in +the center of the forehead. There was no room for doubt. It was his +employer's brother. It was just as well to make friends. Drawing a +flask from his pocket and holding it out, he said: + +"Here, take a drink. You need it." + +Eagerly, Handsome snatched it out of his hand. + +"You bet we do." + +He took a deep gulp and handed it to Hickey, whose bleary eyes had +watered at the very sight of the flask. Francois turned to Handsome. + +"Where is ze trail?" he asked. + +"Over yonder," growled the big fellow in surly tones and making a +sweeping gesture with his arm which embraced every quarter of the +compass. + +"Rather indefinite, I should say," smiled the valet. "Where you go? +Are you on ze way to ze mines?" + +Handsome Jack took another pull at the flask. His good humor returning +in proportion as he felt warmed up by the spirits, he said more amiably: + +"I guess not. My pal and I have enough of the cursed place--ain't we, +Hickey?" + +The sailor man glanced dolefully at his limping foot, and nodded his +head in acquiescence. + +"You show us the trail home. My boss is very rich man," interrupted +Francois quickly. "He pay anything." + +Handsome pricked up his ears. + +"Oh, he's rich, is he?" + +The valet laughed as he replied: + +"All Americans rich--tres riches. Did you ever hear of poor Americans?" + +Hickey took another drink and snickered. Handsome looked thoughtful. +After a pause, he said: + +"What your boss' name?" + +"Monsieur Traynor of the Americo-African Mining Co." + +Handsome started. + +"What? Kenneth Traynor, of the Americo-African Mining Company--the +people who made those sensational finds." + +"Yes--he's vice-president of the company." + +Handsome gave a low, expressive whistle. + +"He's rich--all right! Do you know what those stones are worth?" + +"Over a million dollairs." + +"And he came out here to----" + +The valet nodded. + +"_Oui_--zat's it--to get ze big diamonds. We're on our way back from +ze mines now. He has ze stones in his possession." + +"And taking them to New York?" gasped Handsome; "a million dollars' +worth?" + +"Yes--taking zem to New York. That's what he came out for. We want to +reach ze coast as soon as possible. Again I ask. Will you guide us +back to ze trail?" + +For a few moments Handsome made no answer. The thoughtful expression +on his pale, care-worn face showed that he was thinking hard. What was +passing in his mind no one knew, but whatever it was it caused the +lines about his strong mouth to tighten and the steely blue eyes to +flash. A million dollars? God! What will a man not do for a million +dollars? Turning to the valet, he said hastily: + +"Yes, I'm on. Take me to your party. I'll show you the trail. Quick, +lead the way." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Traveling to and from the diamond fields in the days immediately +following the first rush was not an unmixed joy. Express wagons drawn +by eight horses or mules and running from Cape Town to Klipdrift once a +week charged passengers sixty dollars a head, the journey across the +plains taking about eight days. Travelers whose business was so urgent +that they could not wait for the regular stage had to hire a team of +their own at a much higher expense. + +Kenneth did not mind the cost, if only he was able to make good time. +The trip to the mines had been accomplished without mishap. Everything +had gone as well as could be desired. He had been successful in +securing valuable land options for the company, and at last the two +precious stones were in his possession. That it was a big +responsibility, he fully realized. The very knowledge that he had on +his person gems worth over a million dollars, and this in a wild, +uncivilized country where at any moment he might be followed, ambushed +and killed, and no one the wiser, was not calculated to calm his +nerves. But Kenneth Traynor had never known the meaning of the word +fear. He was ready for any emergency and he went about unarmed, cool +and unruffled. From his demeanor at least no one could guess that he +ever gave a thought to the valuable consignment of which he was the +guardian. Of course, it had been impossible to keep the thing secret. +Everybody at the mines knew he had come out for the purpose of taking +the big stones to America. Even his drivers knew, and so did Francois. +The news was public property and was eagerly discussed over every camp +fire as one of the sensations of the day. All this publicity did not +tend to lessen the risk, and that was why he was so anxious to reach +Cape Town without the least possible delay. He had timed his departure +from the mines so as to just catch the steamer for England, and now, +after all his trouble and careful calculation, the fool mule drivers +had gone and lost the trail. It was most exasperating. + +The wagon had come to a halt the night before under shelter of a +fair-sized kopjie. The mules, tormented by the deadly _tetse_ fly, +stood whisking their tails and biting savagely at their hereditary +enemy; the drivers, indifferent and stolid, sat on the ground smoking +their pipes, while Kenneth, fuming at this unlooked for mishap which +threatened an even more serious delay, strode up and down the _veldt_, +swearing at the mules, the stolid drivers and everything else in sight. + +Francois, who had left camp for assistance long before sunrise, had not +yet returned. Unless help came soon they'd be held there another +night. There was no use trying to proceed without a guide, for they +might find themselves going round and round in a circle. There was +nothing to do but wait until help came. + +Sitting down on the stump of a tree near the fire, he tried to possess +his soul in patience while one of the teamsters, who also officiated as +cook, busied himself getting breakfast. It was now broad daylight; the +weather clear and cold. As he sat there idly and smoked reflectively, +his thoughts wandered homeward, four thousand miles across the seas. +He wondered what Helen was doing, if little Dorothy was well, if +everything was all right. Only now he realized what the word home +meant to him, and a chill ran through him as he thought of all the +things that could happen. Yet how foolish it was to worry. What could +happen? Helen had her sister constantly with her, and she was well +looked after by Mr. Parker and Wilbur Steell. It was absurd to have +any anxiety on that score. Besides, if anything had gone wrong, they +would certainly have called him. He had had several letters from +Helen, all of them saying she and baby were well and waiting eagerly +for his return. Yes, he would soon be home now. In another two days +he would reach Cape Town. From there to Southampton was only a +fortnight's sail, and in another week he would be in New York. + +These and kindred thoughts of home ran through his mind as he sat +before the camp fire and tranquilly smoked his pipe. The drivers were +busying themselves cleaning the harness, the mules were docilely +browsing, the air was filled by a fragrant odor of coffee. His +memories went back to his boyhood days. He recalled what the old nurse +had told him about a twin brother. How strange it would be if he ever +turned up. Such things were possible, of course, but hardly probable. +No, the chances were that he was dead. If he had lived, how different +everything might have been. He would have inherited half their +father's money. What had been enough to start one so well in life +would only have been a meagre provision for two. Yet it might have +been an advantage, forced him to still greater effort. He might have +got even farther than he had--who knows? + +At that moment his reflections were interrupted by the sound of voices +in the distance. He heard some one running. One of the teamsters came +up hurriedly and exclaimed breathlessly: + +"He's found some one, sir; he's got two men with him. They're coming +now." + +Kenneth jumped up and, shading his eyes, looked out across the yellow +waste of stones and gravel. About a mile away he saw Francois, +accompanied by two strangers, who looked like miners. They were +tattered and miserable looking, as if down on their luck. One of them +was limping as if lame; the other, much taller, although ragged and +forlorn, had a soldierly bearing and the appearance of a gentleman. +The valet, who had been walking faster than his companions, came up at +that instant. + +"Who have you got there?" demanded Kenneth. + +"Two miners, monsieur. I found zem several miles away on ze _veldt_. +They have tramped for days without food; they are starving." + +"Do they know the trail?" + +"Yes, monsieur. Ze big man knows ze trail. He will show ze way--for a +consideration." + +"Good! First give them some breakfast and then we'll go." + +He waved his hand in the direction of the cook's mess, where the coffee +was already steaming on the fire, and, turning away, began to gather +his things together, preparatory to departure. There was no reason why +he should have anything to say to the strangers. In fact, it would be +better if they did not see him, or know who he was. It was possible +that they had been at the mines when he arrived, in which case they +would instantly recognize him as the American who had come to take the +big diamonds to New York. Besides, they were not particularly +attractive objects. What did their adventures and mishaps matter to +him? He had troubles of his own. Francois could look after their +wants. The main thing was to find the trail and get started back +toward Cape Town as soon as possible. When the strangers had been fed +they would set out, and, the trail once found, he would give them a +lift on their way and a few sovereigns into the bargain. That would +more than compensate them for all their trouble. + +Meanwhile he thought he would take a quiet walk. His legs were stiff +from sitting so long. A little exercise would do him the world of +good. So, without a word to anybody, he slipped out of camp unobserved +and started off at a brisk gait. + +The region where they had halted seemed to be the center of Nowhere, a +land where had reigned for all time the abomination of desolation +spoken of by all the prophets. Knocking about the world, as he had +done for a lifetime, Kenneth had seen some queer spots in the world, +but never had he come across so savagely repellent a spot as this. It +was Nature in her harshest mood--not a vestige in any direction of +human or animal life. There was not a farm, not a Boer or Kaffir, not +even a tree to be seen. Nothing in every direction but a monotonous +waste of yellow sand, rough stones and stunted grass. An unnatural +stillness filled the air, making the silence oppressive, and uncanny. +The soil was so poor that cultivation was impossible. The ground, +strewn with broken rocks and sharp stones which cut the shoes and hurt +the feet, suggested that in prehistoric times the plateau had been +swept by a volcanic tempest. The slopes of the few scattered kopjies +were sparsely covered with verdure and as he strode along, he passed +here and there clumps of trees, veritable oases in the desert, or deep +water holes under overhanging rocks where under cover of night, strange +beasts came to drink. Apart from these few oases, it was a dreary +monotonous waste of rock and sand, where neither beast or man could +find food or shelter. + +He had walked about three miles and was just passing a kopjie where a +group of stunted trees offered a little shelter from the glare of the +sun on the yellow gravel when he began to feel tired. Sitting down on +a decayed tree stump, he took out his pipe, removed his helmet, and +laying lazily back, closed his eyes, a favorite trick of his when he +wished to concentrate his thoughts. + +The trip, tiresome as it was, had certainly been worth while. His +ambitious dreams had been more than realized. He could scarcely wait +for his arrival to tell Helen the good news. He had secured signatures +to a plan of consolidation of practically all the mining companies +operating in South Africa. Until now, these companies had been engaged +in a fierce and disastrous competition, which cut into each other's +profits and cheapened the market price of stones. He had suggested a +scheme of amalgamation which would put all the mines under one +management, and fix arbitrary prices for diamonds which henceforth +could not be sold under a certain figure agreed upon by the Syndicate. +This plan, which had the general approval of the mining companies, +practically gave Kenneth Traynor control of the diamond industry of the +world, an industry which in South Africa alone had already produced +100,000,000 carats estimated to be worth $750,000,000. Overnight, +Kenneth found himself many times a millionaire. + +It had come at last--what he waited for all these years. This new +consolidation deal meant great wealth to its promoters. What would he +do with it? Most men need only enough for their actual needs, but he +had higher aims. An ardent socialist he would use his money for the +cause. Not, however, in the way others did, but to buy influence, +power. He would fight Capitalism, in his own way. He would go into +politics, run for public office, try and remedy some of the economic +abuses from which people of the United States were now suffering. He +would wage warfare on the high cost of living, on Greed and Graft. He +would attack the Plutocracy in its stronghold, lay bare the inner +workings of the System, the concentration of the wealth of the entire +country in the hands of a few, by which the rich each year were +becoming richer and the poor each year poorer. It would not be the +first time a multi-millionaire had espoused the cause of the +proletariat, but he would carry on the fight more vigorously than +anyone had done. He would force an issue, make Greed disgorge its +ill-gotten gains and accord to Labor its rightful place in the sun, its +proper share of the world's production of wealth. His sympathies in +the bitter struggle between the capitalists and the wage earners were +wholly with the people who under the present wage system, had little +chance to raise themselves from the mire. But he was intelligent +enough to realize that the faults were not all on the side of Capital. +Labor, too, needed the curb at times. Too ready to listen to the +reckless harangues of irresponsible professional demagogues, wage +earners were often as tyrannical as capitalists, insisting on +impossible demands, rejecting sober compromise which, in the end, must +be the basis of all amicable relations between employer and employed. + +For some time he sat there, giving free rein to his imagination, when +suddenly he fancied he heard the sound of heavy footsteps crunching on +the hard sand. Raising his head he looked quickly round but seeing no +one, concluded he was mistaken. Looking at his watch, he was amazed to +find that he had been away from camp a whole hour. There was no time +to be lost. The men had certainly finished eating by now; they could +start at once. Jumping up he turned round to retrace his steps the +same way he had come, when, suddenly, a shadow fell between him and the +white road. Looking up, he was startled to see himself reflected as in +a mirror against the green background of the kopjie. + +At first he thought he must be ill. The walk, the sun, the exposure +had no doubt overstimulated him and made him excited and feverish. He +was seeing things. His success with the diamond deal had affected his +brain. Of course, it was only an hallucination. The next time he +looked this fantastic creation of his disordered mind would be gone. +Again he glanced up in the direction of the kopjie. The apparition was +still there, a horrible, monstrous, distortion of himself, standing +still, speechless, staring at him. That it was only a mirage there +could be no doubt. He had heard of such mirages at sea and also in the +Sahara where wandering Arabs have beheld long caravans journeying in +the skies. But he had never heard of a mirage lasting as long as this +one. Would it never disappear? It must be a nightmare which still +obsessed him. That was it. He had fallen asleep on the tree and was +not yet awake. With an effort he made a step forward and tried to +articulate, but the words stuck in his throat. Suddenly the spell was +broken by the apparition itself, which moved and spoke. He recognized +who it was now--one of the strangers brought in by Francois--but that +astonishing likeness of himself-- + +Judging by the astonished expression on his face, Handsome was just as +much surprised as Kenneth at the encounter. After satisfying his +hunger he, too, had strayed away from the camp, unable to control his +impatience while the teamsters were harnessing the mule team. He had +left Hickey to gorge still more while he strutted on by himself, +cogitating on what the valet had told him in regard to the diamonds. +This sudden meeting with the very man who had been uppermost in his +thoughts was surprising enough, and instantly he, also, was struck with +the extraordinary resemblance between them. + +"Who the devil are you?" he demanded in surly tones. + +Thus rudely aroused to the reality, and seeing that it was really a +creature of flesh and blood he had to deal with and not a creature of +another world, Kenneth answered haughtily: + +"I'm not accustomed to being addressed in that manner." + +Handsome laughed mockingly. With affected politeness he retorted: + +"Your lordship's servant! What is his lordship's pleasure?" + +Kenneth did not hear the taunting reply or heed the sneer. He was +still staring at this counterpart of himself, this very image yet who +was not himself, but a human derelict, a wretched, sodden outcast. All +at once, an overwhelming, horrible suggestion rushed across his brain. +Could it be, was it--his long lost twin brother? Almost gasping, he +demanded: + +"Who are you?" + +Handsome chuckled. + +"I don't know." + +"What is your name?" + +The man chuckled. + +"They call me Handsome. That's because I'm a good looker. I have had +a good many other names, but I've forgotten what they are. The police +know. It's all in the records." + +"My God--a police record!" + +"What of it?" Bitterly he added: "We can't all be fine gentlemen and +millionaires." + +"Where are you from?" + +"Nowhere." + +"Who were your parents?" + +"Never had any that I know of." + +Kenneth started forward and, seizing the man's left hand, closely +examined it. Yes, there was the scar on the index finger of the left +hand. No further doubt was possible. This was his brother. Handsome, +meantime, had been watching the other's agitation with mingled interest +and amusement. + +Hoarsely, Kenneth cried: + +"Where have you been all these years?" + +Handsome stared as if he thought his interlocutor had gone crazy. +Almost angrily he retorted: + +"What d----d business is it of yours?" + +Paying no heed to the miner's offensive attitude, and anxious only to +learn something of his history, Kenneth approached him and held out his +hand. + +"I wish to be your friend." + +Handsome drew back suspiciously. Always associated with evil himself, +he looked for only evil from others. Bitterly he retorted: + +"My friend--what do your kind care for poor devils like me?" + +For answer, Kenneth removed his helmet, suddenly revealing the solitary +lock of white hair. Handsome fell back in surprise. For the first +time he realized the extraordinary resemblance. He had noticed a +marked likeness before, but now the diamond promoter's helmet was off, +it was positively startling. Hoarsely he exclaimed: + +"The devil! Who are you? You look just like----" + +Kenneth looked at him keenly for a moment. Then he said calmly: + +"Yes--I look just like you. No wonder. You are--my brother!" + +[Illustration: "Yes, you are my brother. We are twins."] + +"Your brother?" + +"Yes--my brother. We are twins. You were kidnapped by gypsies +thirty-two years ago. Our old nurse told me the story for the first +time the day before I sailed from New York. She also told me about +that scar on your hand. You cut it badly when you were a year old and +the scar has remained ever since. Everybody believed you dead. Where +have you been all these years?" + +Handsome made no answer but fell back a few steps, and passed his hand +over his brow as if bewildered. This astonishing revelation had been +made so suddenly that it had left him dazed. A wild, improbable tale, +it seemed, yet perhaps there was some truth in it. He had never known +who his parents were and it had always seemed to him that he came of +better stock than those with whom he associated. Then again, there was +the ridiculous likeness. One had only to look at them both--it was the +same face. + +Slowly, gradually, as he looked more closely at Kenneth the conviction +grew stronger that this, indeed, was his brother, his own flesh and +blood, yet it aroused within him no emotion and left him entirely cold. +No impulse seized him to throw himself into this man's arms and embrace +him. His heart was steeled against the world. Human affection and +sympathy had dried up in his breast years ago. What he saw was not a +kinsman, a brother, but a man who had succeeded in life where he had +failed, a man who was rich and happy while he was poor and miserable, a +man who had everything while he had nothing. And if the tale were +true, if indeed, he were this rich man's brother, it only made matters +worse, for he had been robbed of his rightful inheritance. This rich +man was enjoying wealth half of which rightfully belonged to him. + +Again Kenneth demanded: + +"Where have you been all these years?" + +"Here, there, everywhere," was the sullen answer. "London, Paris, +Brussels, Vienna, New York, Boston, Chicago, Havana, Buenos Ayres. I +know them all and they know me--perhaps too well. My earliest +recollection is of the Italian quarter in New York, a long narrow +always dirty street, bordered on either side by dilapidated greasy +tenements, ricketty fire escapes filled with biddy and garbage. Pietro +lived there and kept his organ in the basement cellar. When Pietro +went out with the organ he took me along to excite sympathy. Until I +was fifteen years old I begged to support Pietro. One day he beat me +and I ran away and shipped as cabin boy on a sailing vessel bound for +Liverpool. I reached London and found employment as stable boy at +Ascot. There I learned the fatal fascination of gambling. With what I +saved from my wages I bet on the horses. I won and won again. I went +back to London and frequented the gambling houses. I won, always won. +One day there was a row. Someone complained I had cheated. The police +arrested me. When I left jail I went to the continent and began +gambling again. I have gambled ever since." Pointing in the direction +of the mines he added bitterly: + +"That was my last gamble and I lost. That's all I have to tell." + +Kenneth listened with keen interest. When the other stopped speaking +he asked: + +"And now--what will you do?" + +Handsome shrugged his shoulders and made no answer. Kenneth went on: + +"You can't keep up the old life--that is impossible. You owe something +to the blood that's running in your veins. There is only one thing for +you to do. You must break off with the past for good, and come home +with me. Are you known in New York?" + +Handsome shook his head. + +"No, I never returned there since I was a child." + +"Your operations in America were confined to San Francisco, Chicago and +St. Louis----" + +"Yes." + +Kenneth breathed more freely. + +"That makes matters easier. No one in New York, therefore, has +anything against you. There it will be possible to live down your +past. You will cease being an outcast, a wanderer on the face of the +earth. You will take the place in society for which Nature intended +you." + +Handsome smiled cynically. Grimly he replied: + +"I guess Nature never expected much of me." + +"You never can tell," said Kenneth quickly. "Your environments no +doubt were responsible for your downfall. You have been a victim of +circumstances." + +Handsome was silent. This free roving life had come second nature to +him. He looked with suspicion on any other. After a pause, he asked: + +"What can I do in New York?" + +"I will dress and house you like a gentleman. For a time you can make +your home with us. If we find we can't agree, well--we'll part. I +will find you employment----" + +Handsome laughed. Mockingly he said: + +"Then I am to be dependent on you----" + +"No--not on me----. On your own efforts. There is no reason why, if +given a chance, you will not make a success in the world. You are +still young and energetic. I will give you a start in any line you +wish to enter. I will make you a present of $10,000. It should be +enough capital to start in any business." + +Handsome shrugged his shoulders. + +"Charity?" he exclaimed. + +"No--not charity--brotherly affection." + +His brother laughed mockingly. Bitterly he exclaimed: + +"Maybe it's conscience money." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You inherited from our father, didn't you?" + +"Yes--but I've increased it a hundred-fold by my own efforts." + +"How much did he leave you?" + +"Twenty thousand dollars." + +"Why didn't he leave me some?" + +"He believed you dead. The sum I offer you is the sum you would have +inherited from our father had he known you were living. Do you accept?" + +Handsome was silent. His brain was working fast. What this man +offered him was the merest pittance. Put out at interest, it would +give him the princely income of $10 a week. What did he care for the +good opinion of the world? He had knocked about so long, roughing it +everywhere, that he might as well end as he had begun--an adventurer. +Suddenly there flashed across his brain a wild, audacious idea--a +scheme so fantastic, so fraught with adventure and peril that the very +thought gave him a thrill. It involved violence, possibly a crime. +Well, what of it? He was not the kind to be deterred by trifles. This +man was nothing to him. Brotherly love, family ties--these were simply +phrases to one who had never known them. He knew and obeyed only one +instinct--the fight for life, the survival of the fittest. Society had +waged war on him; he would be merciless in his war on society. This +man--this alleged brother, threw him a sop, insulted him by offering +him charity. Why should he hesitate? It was his life or another's. +There was a big prize to be won. Life was sweet when one has millions +to enjoy it with. This man had now on his person diamonds worth over a +million and he had more millions at home. Suppose something happened +to this man here in South Africa and he went home in his stead to take +his place in his household and enjoy his millions? Who would know the +difference? + +Impatient at the other's silence Kenneth demanded somewhat sharply: + +"Well--what do you say? Do you accept?" + +He looked straight at his _vis-a-vis_, but Handsome avoided his direct +gaze. He was silent for another moment as if reflecting. Then, +slowly, he said: + +"Yes, I accept." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The string orchestra, adroitly concealed behind a bank of graceful +exotic plants, struck up a languorous waltz, and the couples, only too +eager to respond to the invitation, began to turn and glide over the +polished parquet floor. + +Not since its master's departure for South Africa had the Traynor +residence been the scene of so much life and gayety. Every window +literally blazed with light. From the front door at the top of the +high stoop down to the edge of the street curb, stretched a canvas +awning to protect arriving guests from the inclemency of the weather. + +It was a stormy night. The rain was falling in torrents, but no one +cared. Everybody was out for a good time and they knew that this was +the house to get it. + +Helen's first impulse had been to postpone the affair, held really in +celebration of Ray's birthday, until Kenneth's return, but as this idea +had met with decided opposition from the younger element, she had +reluctantly given way. Besides, there was no knowing when Kenneth +would return. Nothing as yet had been heard from him excepting a brief +cablegram announcing his safe arrival at Cape Town, and it was +manifestly unfair to let her own inclinations stand in the way of the +happiness of others. So, after due reflection, she had surrendered +completely, giving Ray _carte blanche_ to make what arrangements she +chose. That young person did not stand on the order of going. She +acted at once and sent out invitations to what proved to be one of the +biggest _soirees dansantes_ of the season. Everything was done on a +most liberal scale. The house was decorated by Herly, three +picturesque fiddlers were obtained from an agency, and Mazzoni, who +provides delicacies for the "400," had charge of the catering. + +Everybody who was anybody was invited, all Ray's personal friends +besides a lot of people she did not know so well. A number of Helen's +intimates were there and also some men friends of Mr. Steell and Dick +Reynolds. The girls in their light gowns looked pretty as angels. The +men were handsome, attentive and gallant. Altogether, everyone voted +it one of the most enjoyable social affairs of the year. + +Ray had danced her sixth waltz and at last utterly exhausted, unable to +stand any more, she allowed Dick Reynolds to escort her to a sofa. + +"Please get me an ice, will you? That's a dear boy," she gasped. + +"Will I!" echoed the youth. "What wouldn't I do for you--fire and +water--that's all!" + +"As bad as that?" laughed the girl panting. "Please don't be silly. +Go and get me an ice." + +Obediently, he left her and forced his way through the throng to the +buffet, while Ray, left alone, started to fan herself vigorously. As +she sat there Helen passed on the arm of Mr. Parker. The President +stopped short and quizzed the young girl. + +"You here?" ejaculated the old gentleman in mock amazement. "Why +aren't you dancing? This will never do." + +Helen smiled. + +"I expect she's tired out. This is the first time I've seen her sit +down all evening." + +Ray nodded. + +"You've guessed right, sis. I'm nearly dead. I sent Dick for an ice." + +"Did you ever see such a crowd?" remarked the president of the A. A. M. +Company as he surveyed the throng that passed in and out of the rooms. + +"Oh, Mrs. Traynor we're having such a jolly time," exclaimed a tall +graceful girl, gracefully dressed in light blue empire gown with +Grecian head dress. + +"I'm so glad, dear," smiled the hostess amiably. Turning to Mr. Parker +as the girl passed on she asked: "Do you know who that is?" + +He shook his head. + +"She's the granddaughter of John R. Rockerford, the money king. Fancy +her saying this is jolly after the grandeur she is accustomed to!" + +"No doubt she likes this better," retorted Ray. "Those very rich +people don't do things any better than we--sometimes not so well. +Their parties are too stiff and formal." + +Suddenly Mr. Parker nudged his hostess. + +"Here comes Mrs. Brewster-Curtis," he said in a stage whisper. "They +say her husband's worth ten millions--all made from graft." + +A handsome woman, blazing with diamonds, came up. Addressing Helen, +she exclaimed gushingly: + +"Oh, Mrs. Traynor, isn't this perfectly delightful? How do you do, Mr. +Parker. Do you know I haven't enjoyed myself so much this season. +What's the news from your dear husband?" + +"No news as yet." + +"Dear me--you poor thing! How interesting--so pretty and husband away. +What an opportunity for some of our gay Lotharios!" + +"They wouldn't have much chance with Helen!" laughed Ray. + +Mrs. Brewster-Curtis turned, and putting up her gold lorgnon, stared at +the unknown young woman who had been so bold to venture to express an +opinion. Ray, meantime, was wondering what detained Dick. Here she +was famishing with thirst and still no ice. Her partner had +disappeared completely. + +Addressing her hostess Mrs. Brewster said languidly: + +"Your niece, I believe." + +"No--my sister," corrected Helen with a smile. It was a mistake often +made. + +"Of course--of course, how silly of me. I might have known that. You +look enough alike." + +"Do you think so?" interrupted Ray hotly. "Helen is far prettier than +I." + +"You are no judge, my dear. You must let the men decide that." + +"They do," said Ray, "and they all declare in favor of Helen." + +"Not by the way Mr. Steell dodges [Transcriber's note: dogs?] your +footsteps." Looking up she exclaimed: "There he is now." + +"Oh, Mr. Steell," cried Helen, "don't forget our next waltz." + +His face all smiles, the lawyer forced his way through the press of +people. + +"Have you seen Dick?" asked Ray. "I sent him to get me an ice." + +Mr. Steell laughed outright. + +"Oh, it was you who sent him. If I had known----" + +"Why?" demanded Ray, opening wide her eyes. "Where is he? I want my +ice." + +"I'll get you an ice, dear," said Helen. + +"No, let me go," exclaimed Mr. Parker. + +"No--no one will get the ice but myself," said Mr. Steell. "It's my +fault that the ice is not already forthcoming. It is only just that I +suffer accordingly." + +Mr. Parker laughed. + +"The ice episode threatens to become a diplomatic incident." + +"Why--whatever is the matter?" smiled Helen. + +The lawyer was so much amused that he could hardly keep his face +straight. With an effort he controlled himself, and said: + +"Just now I was talking with a pretty girl and Dick suddenly forced his +way through the crowd, going in the direction of the buffet. I had no +idea on what a serious mission he was bound, of course, and so I called +him to introduce him to the pretty girl, who had with her an aunt, a +veritable witch, as hideous as a Medusa, and who, in addition, is +afflicted with a wooden leg. Dick gave the aunt only a glance. That +was enough, but he was all smiles for her pretty niece, who, I must +admit, is somewhat of a flirt. Anyhow she rolled her eyes so +eloquently at him that he forgot all about the important errand on +which he was bound. Just at that moment the musicians struck up a +_schottische_, and, on the spur of the moment, he asked the pretty girl +to dance. She declined, with an arch smile, but, pointing to the old +witch, said her aunt would be delighted. Poor Dick! There was no help +for it. The Medusa got up, seized him in her claws, and, the last +thing I saw of the poor youth, they were doing a sort of Bunny Hug, the +wooden leg of his lady partner marking time on the waxed floor." + +"Please stop! If you go on--I shall expire." + +Ray was nearly in convulsions of laughter in which all joined. When +Helen had somewhat regained her composure, she said: + +"I think it's unkind to make fun of the poor woman. Who is she?" + +"I haven't the least idea. Perhaps Dick will tell us." + +At that moment the youth emerged from the throng and came towards them, +his linen mussed, his hair dishevelled. But in one hand he held grimly +a plate of ice cream. Looking shamelessly at Ray, he smiled: + +"I've got it--at last." + +"Where have you been all this time?" she demanded innocently. + +"Oh, I've been having no end of a good time!" + +Steell burst out laughing. + +"Did she ask you to call, Dick?" + +"If she had I'd have killed her." + +"How did the artificial leg work?" + +"She jammed it on my foot once. How it did hurt!" + +Ray, by this time, was almost in hysterics, and Helen and the others, +catching the contagion, the whole group were soon shaken by +uncontrollable laughter. + +The orchestra struck up a quadrille. A man came rushing up to Ray. + +"My dance, I believe." + +With a comical expression of resignation, the young girl allowed +herself to be led away, while Helen and Mrs. Brewster-Curtis took seats +to watch the figures. + +"Come, Dick," said Steell in an undertone. "Let's go and smoke a +cigar." + +Leading the way he went into the smoking-room, where cigars and liquors +were laid out. Turning to the youth, he inquired eagerly: + +"Well--what about the Signor? What have you found out?" + +Dick lit a cigarette and then calmly he said: + +"Everything." + +"What--to be specific." + +"He's all and more than we expected." + +"In other words--a crook?" + +"Yes, and a dangerous one." + +"What's his game?" + +"Confidence man, bank robber, blackmailer." + +"How did you find out?" + +"Very easily. I found his record. The police haven't disturbed him +because his clever disguise has deceived them. They have not +recognized in the polished, suave Signor Keralio, the popular fencing +master, the man they have been hunting for years. His real name is +Richard Barton. His pals call him Baron Rapp. Five years ago he was +convicted of robbing a bank out West and was sent up for ten years. He +served a year in Joliet and then broke jail and he has been at liberty +ever since." + +"Good!" exclaimed the lawyer, rubbing his hands with satisfaction. +"We've got him where we want him. What else?" + +"He has managed to elude the police so far owing to the fact that he +has not been operating of late, but from what I've been able to ferret +out, he is preparing some big haul. Everything points that way. I +don't know what it is, but it's the biggest thing in which he has yet +been mixed up. He's affiliated with crooks who operate all over the +country. Some of his men are disguised as servants and valets in rich +houses. They spy on their masters and tell him if there is anything +worth robbing. He is the master-mind that schemes the operations that +others carry out. He tells his men what banks and homes to break into +and instructs them how to do it. He receives all the stolen property. +At this very moment his flat in the Bronx is full of stolen loot. I +also suspect him of being engaged in counterfeiting." + +The lawyer was lost in admiration. + +"Dick, you're a wonder!" + +The young man grinned with pride. + +"Well--what's it to be--shall we tip off the police?" + +"Not by a long shot. We'll have the gun loaded--all ready for use. If +the Signor gets ugly we'll shoot--that's all. Not a word, do you hear. +Leave everything to me. Come, let's go back or they'll think +something's wrong." + +In the ballroom, they were still dancing the quadrille, the pretty +gowns of the girls and black coats of the men making a picturesque +sight as they blended in the ever changing figures. + +The gayety was at its height when the maid entered and whispered in her +ear: + +"There's a gentleman downstairs." + +Helen looked at the girl in surprise. + +"A gentleman? What's his name?" + +"I don't know, m'm. He wouldn't say." + +"Very well, I'll go down." + +Slipping away unobserved, Helen made her way downstairs and throwing +back the heavy tapestry portieres entered the drawing room which was +almost in complete darkness. The maid had forgotten to switch on the +electrolier and as the only light came from the distant dining-room, +the big parlor was practically all in gloom. Before her eyes had +become quite accustomed to the dark, a man advanced out of the shadow. +It was Signor Keralio. + +She recognized him instantly and instinctively she shrank back, +alarmed. How had he dared come again to her house after what had +occurred? He noticed the movement and asked: + +"I see that I'm unwelcome. Do I frighten you so much?" + +Coldly she answered: + +"You do not frighten me. You surprise me. I did not expect this +pleasure after what passed between us the last time you were here." +Making a half turn, as if about to leave the room, she added quickly: +"I have company upstairs. You must excuse me." + +She walked away and had almost reached the door, when, with a quick +stride, he intercepted her. + +"Please don't go. I am here in your own interest. I want to talk to +you--just a moment, about----" + +She hesitated. + +"About what?" she demanded haughtily. + +"About your husband." + +"My husband?" she echoed, turning and facing him. + +"Yes--your husband. He is in danger. I want to help you and--him." + +"Kenneth in danger?" she faltered. "What do you mean?" + +He pointed to a chair. + +"Won't you sit down. I won't keep you a moment. I will tell you +everything----" + +She sat down like one in a dream. Taking a seat near her, he began in +his low, musical tones. + +"Peril threatens your husband. It is known that he has gone to South +Africa to bring home diamonds of almost inestimable value. A number of +desperate men, who stop at nothing to accomplish their ends, have taken +steps to secure the diamonds at any cost--even at the price of a human +life." + +A chill ran through her, but her voice was firm as she demanded +scornfully: + +"You know these men--these murderers?" + +"Yes--I know them." + +Instantly came the bitter retort: + +"Maybe you are one of them!" + +His eyes flashed in the darkness and his voice vibrated with passion as +he answered: + +"I know you think ill of me. You do me an injustice. I have no share +in these men's operations, but I have great power over them. They must +obey my command. They know that and so respect my orders. A word from +me and your husband will be unmolested." + +Like the drowning man who in his agony will grasp eagerly at a floating +straw, Helen seized at the hope his words held out. That Kenneth was +in peril she readily believed. It was a dangerous mission. She had +scented danger from the outset. This man might be lying, and yet he +might have the influence he boasted. + +"You can avert the danger?" + +He nodded. + +"I can." + +"How?" + +"I will give orders that he be unmolested." + +"And they will obey you?" + +"They will." + +Her face brightened. More amiably she said: + +"You'll do this, won't you?" + +"Yes--for a price." + +"What price?" + +"That you recall what you said the other day and restore me to a place +in your friendship." + +There was no mistaking his true meaning. It was a price no +self-respecting woman could pay. She rose indignantly, and haughtily +she said: + +"You have never had a place in my friendship, Signor Keralio, and you +never will. I see through your motive and I despise you now all the +more. My husband, who is an honorable man, would be the first to have +done with me forever if I entered into any such bargain. He has +mistaken your character. When he returns I will enlighten him, and he +will tell you himself that his wife has no dealings with a scoundrel. +As for your threats, and tale of mysterious danger, I don't believe a +word you say. But I may think it worth while to cable my husband in +order to put him on his guard and to inform the police. Good night!" + +Before he could stop her, she had touched an electric bell and left the +room. The next instant Roberts, the butler, appeared and threw open +the front door. There was nothing to do but go. + +She had defied him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Eagerly, breathlessly, Helen tore open the cablegram. + +It was late Saturday afternoon and she had been with Ray and Mr. Steell +to see some paintings--a private view of a remarkable collection of old +masters. After having tea at the Plaza they had taken a brisk walk +through the Park, the lawyer insisting that the exercise would do them +good. + +"It's just come, m'm," said the maid, holding out the thin envelope. + +"Oh, it's from Kenneth!" exclaimed Ray excitedly, throwing down her +muff and running to look over her sister's shoulder. + +For long, dreary weeks Helen had expected, and waited for, this +message, and now it had come, she was almost afraid to read it. There +were only a few words, cold and formal, the usual matter-of-fact, +businesslike phraseology of the so-much-a-word telegram: + + +CAPE TOWN, Thursday (delay in transmission). Sail to-day on the +_Abyssinia_. All's well. KEN. + + +"Is that all?" exclaimed Ray, disappointed. + +Mr. Steell laughed. + +"How much more do you expect at $2 a word?" + +"Well, he might be a little more explicit," pouted Ray. "If I were his +wife, that wouldn't satisfy me." + +Helen laughed lightly. Her eyes sparkling, her usually pale cheeks +filled with a ruddy color from her walk in the park, the lawyer thought +he had never seen her looking so pretty. + +"It satisfies me," she said, her face all lit up with joyous +excitement. "All I want to know is that he is safe and on his way +home. The cablegram is dated Thursday. Then he's already on the water +three days! I wonder why we didn't hear before?" + +Mr. Steell glanced over her shoulder. + +"The dispatch has been delayed. Don't you see? It says, 'delayed in +transmission.'" + +Helen turned round, her face radiant. + +"When ought he to get here?" + +The lawyer was silent for a moment as if calculating. Then, looking +up, he said: + +"The _Abyssinia_ is not a very fast boat. I suppose she is the best he +could get. She's due at Southampton two weeks from to-day. A week +after that, he ought to be in New York--providing nothing happens." + +Helen, who was still reading and re-reading the cablegram, looked up +quickly. With a note of alarm in her voice, she exclaimed: + +"Providing nothing happens! What could happen?" + +"Oh, nothing serious, of course. In these days of the wireless nothing +ever happens to steamers. One is safer traveling on the sea than on +land. I didn't mean anything serious, but merely that sometimes boats +are delayed by bad weather or by fog. That prevents them arriving on +schedule time." + +Almost three months had slipped by since Kenneth's departure from New +York. To Helen it had seemed so many years. She had tried to be +contented and happy for Ray's sake. She entertained a good deal, +giving dinner and theater parties, keeping open house, playing +graciously the role of chatelaine in the absence of her lord, to all +outward appearances as gay and light-hearted as ever. Only Ray and her +immediate friends knew that the gayety was forced. + +The poison had done its deadly work. The few words uttered by Signor +Keralio that afternoon shortly after her husband's departure had burnt +deep into her mind like letters of fire. Well she guessed the object +of the wily Italian in speaking as he did. It availed him nothing, and +she only despised him the more. It was cowardly, contemptible, and, +from such a source, absolutely unworthy of belief. Yet secretly it +worried her just the same. She had always considered Kenneth's life an +open book. She thought she knew his every action, his every thought. +The mere suggestion that her husband might have other interests, other +attachments of which she knew nothing took her so by surprise that she +was disarmed, powerless to answer. The innuendo that he might be +unfaithful had gone through her heart like a knife. Of course it was +quite ridiculous. He was not that kind of man. It was true he had +often gone away on trips that seemed unnecessary, and now she came to +think of it Kenneth's absences had of late been both frequent and +mysterious. Then, too, she had no idea of the extent of his operations +in Wall Street. She knew he bought and sold stocks sometimes. That is +only what every investor does. But it was incredible that he was +involved to the extent Keralio said he was. She knew he was ambitious +to acquire wealth, but that he would take such fearful risks and +jeopardize funds which, after all, belonged, not to him, but to the +stockholders--that was impossible. It was a horrible libel. + +Still another cause for worry was the health of her little daughter, +Dorothy. Nothing ailed the child particularly, but she was not well. +The doctor said nothing was the matter, but a slight temperature +persisted, together with a cough which, naturally, alarmed the young +mother out of all proportion to the seriousness of the case. The +doctor also advised a change of air, so Helen at once made arrangements +to send her little daughter to Philadelphia, where, in Aunt Carrie's +beautiful house, she would have the best air and attention in the +world. Aunt Carrie came to New York to fetch the child, and, as she +stayed a couple of weeks sight-seeing and visiting friends that also +helped to keep Helen busy. + +"I do wish that I didn't have such a worrying disposition"--she laughed +nervously after the lawyer had been at some pains to assure her about +the sea-worthiness of the _Abyssinia_. "Really, it makes me so +unhappy, but I simply can't help it. The other day it was baby who +made me terribly anxious; now it is Kenneth's home-coming. I must seem +very foolish to you all." + +Ray quickly protested. + +"You sweet thing--how could you look foolish? What an idea! Only +please don't worry, dear. I never do." + +Mr. Steell nodded sympathetically. + +"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Mrs. Traynor. It shows you have a +fine, sensitive nature. It is only the grosser natures that are +callous and unaffected by the anxieties of life." + +Taking the remarks to herself, Ray threw up her head indignantly. + +"I deny the imputation that I'm gross." + +The lawyer laughed. + +"You are far too healthy to worry. Moreover, you have nothing to worry +about. If a man you loved were six thousand miles away----" + +"Yes," interrupted Helen; "that's it. Only those who care for each +other can understand----" + +"Oh, of course!" retorted her sister, flaring up. "We spinsters, +belonging, as we do, to the sisterhood of the Great Unloved, are quite +incompetent to express an intelligent opinion on that or on any other +matter. I grant that, but is Mr. Steell, a confirmed old bachelor, any +more competent than I?" + +"Hardly an old bachelor!" interrupted Helen reprovingly. + +"No--middle-aged bachelor!" corrected Ray saucily. "He never cared for +a woman in his life. He----" + +"Who told you so?" inquired the lawyer quickly, with an amused twinkle +in his eye. + +Ray colored visibly. + +"Oh, I judge so," she stammered. "You never speak of that sort of +thing. One can only draw conclusions." + +"The conclusions may be wrong," he replied gravely. "My life is a very +busy one. I have had no time to think of anything outside my immediate +work. Yet I am human. I sometimes yearn for the companionship of a +good woman. A pretty face attracts me, as it does other men, but, in +my opinion, any such attachment is too serious a matter to be treated +lightly. When a man feels deeply he keeps his own confidence until the +moment comes when he can unburden himself and say what is in his heart." + +"I like that," said Helen, nodding her head approvingly. + +Ray jumped up to conceal her embarrassment. + +"Oh, how terribly serious you two are to-day!" she exclaimed. "I +declare I'll run away unless you cheer up a bit. Suppose I get some +tea?" + +"Excellent idea!" laughed the lawyer. + +Ray touched a bell, and went to clear a small side table, which she +drew up near where they were sitting. + +"There!" she exclaimed, smiling roguishly at the lawyer. "Don't you +think I'm smart?" + +"Of course we do." Lowering his voice he added significantly: "At +least I do." + +Apparently the compliment fell on deaf ears, for, turning her head +away, she said quickly: + +"Please don't be sarcastic." + +More seriously, and in the same tone, that even Helen, who was only a +short distance away, could not hear, he said: + +"I'm never sarcastic. I think you are all a woman should be." + +"Do you mean that?" + +"I do. I have thought it for a long time." + +"Really?" + +"Really." + +The young girl colored with pleasure. For all her sophisticated and +independent manner she was still a child at heart. She had no thoughts +of marriage, but it flattered her to think that she had the power to +attract and interest this serious, brilliant man of the world. She +said nothing more, relapsing into a meditative silence as she busied +herself helping the maid to set out the tea table. + +To Helen it was a source of keen satisfaction to notice the attention +which the brilliant young lawyer was paying her sister. She had long +recognized his sterling qualities. He was a man of whom any woman +might well be proud. He could not but make a good husband. Next to +Kenneth and her baby no one was dearer to her than Ray and, since their +mother died, she had felt a certain sense of responsibility. To see +her well and happily married was the one secret wish of her life. + +But overshadowing these preoccupations at present were those other new +anxieties which preyed upon her sensitive mind with all the force of an +obsession. Was there any part of her husband's life that he had hidden +from her? Was he really as loyal as she had always fondly and blindly +believed; had his ambition led him to take grave financial risks that +might one day jeopardize their comfort and happiness, the very future +of their child? + +Ray rose to put away the tea table, and she found herself sitting alone +with the lawyer. There was a moment's silence, and then, as if +thinking out aloud what was on her mind, she said: + +"Thank God, he's safe; I had the most fearful premonitions----" + +The lawyer laughed. + +"Don't put your trust in premonitions--things happen or they don't +happen. It's absurd to believe that misfortunes are all prepared +beforehand." + +"Then you are not a fatalist?" + +"Decidedly not. I hope I have too much intelligence to believe in +anything so foolish." + +"Do you believe in a Supreme Being who has the same power to suddenly +snuff us out of existence as he had to create us?" + +"I neither believe nor disbelieve. Frankly, I do not know. What +people call God, Jehovah, Nature, according to my reasoning, is an +astounding energy, a marvellous chemical process, created and +controlled by some unknown, stupendous first cause, the origin of which +man may never understand. How should he? He has not time. We are +rushed into the world without preparation. We are ignorant, helpless, +blind. Gradually, by dint of much physical labor and mental toil, we +succeed in ferreting out a few facts regarding ourselves and the +physical laws that govern us. We are just on the verge of discovering +more--we are just beginning to understand and enjoy life--when suddenly +we find ourselves growing old and decrepit. Our physical and mental +powers fail us, and the same force that benevolently created us now +mercilessly destroys us, and we are hurled, willy-nilly, back into +eternity whence we came. Rather absurd, isn't it?" + +Intensely interested Helen looked up. Eagerly she exclaimed: + +"You have a whole system of philosophy in a mere handful of words, +haven't you?" + +He smiled. + +"It's all one needs, and perhaps as good as those more complicated and +more verbose." + +More seriously and lowering her voice so Ray, who was still busy at the +other end of the room, might not overhear, she said: + +"Mr. Steell--you are so clever--you know all about everything. Tell +me, do you know anything about Wall Street?" + +The ingenuousness of the question amused him. With a laugh he answered: + +"A little--to my sorrow." + +"It's a dangerous place, isn't it?" + +"Very; it has a graveyard at one end, the East River at the other, two +places highly convenient at times to those who play the game." + +"If luck goes against him, a man could lose his all, then?" + +"Not only his all but the all of others, too--if he's that kind of a +man." + +She was silent for a moment. Then she continued: + +"And sometimes even fine, honest men are tempted, are they not, to +gamble with money which is not theirs?" + +"Many have done so. The prisons are full of them. There is nothing so +dangerous as the get-rich-quick fever. All the men who gamble in +stocks have it. It becomes a mania, an obsession. Their judgment +becomes warped; they lose all sense of right and wrong." + +"There's something else I want to ask you. What do you think of Signor +Keralio?" + +He hesitated a moment before he answered. Then, with some warmth, he +said: + +"As I told you before, I think he's a crook, only we can't prove it. +I've been looking up his record. It's a bad one. The fellow has +behaved himself so far in New York, but out West he is known under +various names as one of the slickest rogues that ever escaped hanging. +At one time he was the chief of a band of international crooks and +blackmailers that operated in London, Paris, Buenos Ayres, and the City +of Mexico. The scheme they usually worked was to get some prominent +man so badly compromised that he would pay any amount to save himself +from exposure, and they played so successfully on the fears of their +victims that they were usually successful." + +A worried look came into the young wife's face. Perhaps there was more +in Signor Keralio's relations with her husband than she had suspected. +Quickly she asked: + +"Why do they permit a man of that character to be at large?" + +The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. + +"You can't proceed against a man unless there is some specific charge +made. The police have nothing now against him. He may have reformed +for all I know. But that was his record some years ago." + +"I don't think he'll dare come here again," went on Helen. "He's +exceedingly offensive, and yet he has about him a certain magnetism +that compels your attention, even while his manner and look repels and +irritates. Only the other day he----" + +Before she could complete the sentence, there was a loud ring at the +front door bell. Helen hastily rose, but Ray had already gone forward. + +"It's Mr. Parker," she cried. "I saw him coming from the window." + +The next instant the door of the drawing-room was flung open and Mr. +Parker appeared. + +"Hallo, ladies! Howdy, Steell!" + +The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not looking his +usual debonair self that evening. His manner was nervous and +flustered, his face pale and drawn with anxious lines. His coat lacked +the customary boutonniere, and his crumpled linen and unshaved chin +suggested that he had come direct from his office after a strenuous day +without stopping to go through the formality of making a change of +attire. + +Helen was quick to note the alteration in his appearance, and her first +instinct, naturally, was to associate it with her husband. Something +was amiss. + +"There's nothing wrong, is there?" she asked in alarm. + +"No, no, my dear woman!" + +But his tone was not convincing. He always called her "my dear woman" +when nervous or excited, and "my dear lady" in his calmer moods. She +at once remarked it, and it did not tend to reassure her. Now greatly +alarmed she laid a trembling hand on his arm. + +"Tell me, please! Don't hide anything from me. Has anything happened +to Kenneth?" + +"No--no; of course not." Quickly changing the subject he asked: "You +got a message." + +"Yes--a cablegram. It came just now." + +"Have you got it? Let me see it." + +"Yes, certainly," said Helen, looking around for the dispatch. Unable +to find it, she called to her sister. + +"Ray, dear, what did you do with Kenneth's cablegram?" + +Her sister came up to assist in the search, in which even Mr. Steell +joined. But the search was fruitless. The cablegram had disappeared. + +"Oh, I know!" suddenly exclaimed Ray. "It must have been carried away +with the tea things." + +"That's right! I never thought of that!" said Helen. + +The next instant the two women hurried out of the room in the direction +of the kitchen. + +The instant they had disappeared Mr. Parker turned to the lawyer. In a +whisper he said: + +"There is terrible news! I don't know how to break it to the poor +woman----" + +Steell sprang forward. Anxiously he exclaimed: + +"Terrible news? Surely not----" + +The president nodded. + +"Yes--all lost, and the diamonds, too. A dispatch just received in +London says that, according to a wireless relayed from Cape Town, the +_Abyssinia_ caught fire twelve hours after sailing from that port and +all on board perished. It is shocking, and the pecuniary loss to us +disastrous. The stones were not insured. Hush! Here they come. Not +a word!" + +"My God!" muttered the lawyer, as he fell back and turned away, so they +might not see the effect which the shocking news had made on him. With +an effort he managed to control himself. + +The two women entered the room joyfully. + +"Here it is!" cried Helen exultantly, as she brandished the missing +telegram. "You see, he's just sailed, and all's well." + +The president said nothing, but, taking the dispatch from her hands, +slowly read it. Nodding his head, he said slowly: + +"Yes--he's just sailed, and--all's well." + +"When do you think he'll be here?" questioned the young hostess, +looking anxiously up into his face. + +The president shook his head. + +"That is hard to tell," he answered evasively. + +Mr. Steell had gone to the window, where he stood looking out, idly +drumming his fingers on the pane. How was it possible to break such +fearful tidings as that? What a horrible calamity! He wished himself +a hundred miles away, yet some one must tell her. At that moment +shrill cries arose in the street outside--the familiar, distressing, +almost exultant cries of news-venders, glad of any calamity that puts a +few nickels into their pockets. + +"_Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special ex-tra!_" + +"What's that?" exclaimed Helen apprehensively. The sound of special +editions always filled her with anxiety, especially since Kenneth's +departure. + +"_Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special edition! Ex-tra! Big steamer gone down. +Great loss of life. Extra!_" + +Her face was pale, as she turned and looked at the others, who also +stood in silence, listening to the hoarse accents of distress. + +"A steamer gone down!" she faltered. "Isn't that terrible? I wonder +what steamer it was." + +Ray ran to the door. + +"I'll get a paper," she said. + +Before Mr. Parker or Mr. Steell could prevent her the young girl had +opened the front door. Now there was no way of preventing Helen +knowing. The best thing was to prepare her gently. + +"My dear Mrs. Traynor--I didn't tell you the trouble just now. There +has been a little trouble. The _Abyssinia_----" + +Helen gave a cry of anguish. + +"I knew it! I knew it! Kenneth is dead!" + +"No, no, my dear lady. These newspaper reports are always grossly +exaggerated. The _Abyssinia_ has met with a little trouble--nothing +very serious, I assure you. Everything is all right, no doubt. Your +husband is well able to take care of himself. We may hear from him any +moment, reassuring us as to his safety." + +His words of comfort went unheeded. Her face white as death Helen +tottered rather than walked to the door, reaching it just as Ray, +almost as pale, entered, reading the paper she had just purchased. On +seeing her sister she instinctively made an effort to hide the sheet, +but Helen quickly snatched it out of her hand. Her hand trembling so +violently that she could scarcely make out the letters she glanced at +the big scare-head, printed in red ink, to imitate blood, a merciful +custom sensational newspapers have of making the most of the agony of +others. + + S. S. ABYSSINIA GONE DOWN! + ALL PERISH! + + +For a moment she stood still, looking at the big type with open, +staring eyes. Then, with a low cry, like a wounded animal, she let the +paper slip from her nerveless fingers. There was a furious throbbing +at her temples: her heart seemed to stop. The room spun round, and she +fainted just as Steell rushed forward to catch her in his arms. + +"Brandy! Brandy!" he shouted. "She's fainted!" + +While Ray ran for the smelling salts and Mr. Parker was bringing the +brandy there came another vigorous pull at the bell. An instant later +the maid entered with a cablegram, which Mr. Parker seized and tore +open. As he read the contents, a look of the greatest surprise and joy +lit up his face. + +"Look at this!" he cried. + +"What is it?" demanded Steell, still on his knees trying to revive the +unconscious woman. + +"This will do her more good than all your brandy." + +"What is it?" cried Ray impatiently. + +"He's safe!" cried Mr. Parker exultantly. + +"Safe!" they all cried. + +"Yes--safe." Handing the dispatch to the lawyer, he added: "Here--read +this." + +Steell took the dispatch and read: + + +CAPE TOWN, Saturday: Miraculously saved. Sail to-morrow on the +_Zanzibar_. KENNETH. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The house of mourning had suddenly become transformed into a house of +joy. + +From the deepest abyss of hopeless despair Helen, during the next few +days, was raised to the highest pinnacle of human felicity. Kenneth +was safe, that was all she wanted to know. Whether he had succeeded or +not in saving the diamonds she did not know or care. + +Nothing more had been heard from him. Cable dispatches reported the +_Zanzibar_ to be making good time on her way to Southampton, but, until +the steamer arrived there, no further details were to be expected. +Much, however, had been gleaned as to the fate of the _Abyssinia_, and, +as the accounts of disaster began to come in, she could only thank God +that he had succeeded in escaping such a fearful fate. The ship had +mysteriously caught fire the first day out from Cape Town, and, in the +excitement, the crew, as well as the passengers, lost their heads. +Only one boat could be lowered, and in this Kenneth got away, together +with Francois, his valet, and some other passengers. A news item in +connection with the affair, which was of particular interest to Helen, +ran as follows: + + +"The loss of the _Abyssinia_ brought to a tragic ending a remarkable +romance in which Mr. Kenneth Traynor, one of the rescued passengers and +a prominent New York broker, is one of the principal figures. Mr. +Traynor is one of two twins so identical in appearance that no one, not +even their own mother, knew them apart. One of the children +mysteriously disappeared when a mere child and was believed to be dead. +Mr. Kenneth Traynor went recently to South Africa on business, and on +the diamond fields found in starving condition an unlucky miner who was +a perfect counterpart of himself. It was his lost brother. Mutual +explanations followed and the identity was established. Overjoyed at +the reunion the two brothers sailed for home on the _Abyssinia_. +Suddenly came the alarm of fire. While the panic on board was at its +worst, the broker lost sight of his brother, whom he never saw again +and whom it is only too certain went down with the ship." + + +"It's almost unbelievable, isn't it?" exclaimed Helen, as she read the +paragraph for the hundredth time and handed it to Wilbur Steell, who +had dropped in to hear if there was any news. + +Ray, who loved a mystery better than anything else in the world, +clapped her hands. + +"Isn't it perfectly stunning?" + +"Not for Kenneth's brother--poor fellow," said Helen reprovingly. "He +did not live long to enjoy his bettered condition." + +"That's right. How thoughtless of me!" said Ray contritely. + +As he finished reading Mr. Steell looked puzzled. Looking toward Helen +he asked: + +"Did you know that your husband had a twin brother?" + +"I only knew it recently--just before he sailed. He did not know it +himself." + +"How did he find it out?" + +"His old nurse told him. I was present." + +"Did the nurse know the brother was in South Africa?" + +"No--she had no idea of it. I'm sure of that. It's one of those +wonderful coincidences one some-times hears of." + +The lawyer shook his head. Thoughtfully he said: + +"It's certainly strange--one of the strangest things I ever heard of." + +"Kenneth will be able to tell us more about it when he comes," said Ray. + +"Yes--no doubt," asserted her sister quickly. + +The lawyer remained thoughtful for a moment. Then, lightly he said: + +"We ought to give Kenneth a rousing welcome home. After such +experiences as he has had he richly deserves it." + +Eagerly Helen caught at the suggestion. + +"By all means!" she cried. "Suppose we give a dinner, followed by a +dance." + +"Oh, lovely!" said Ray. + +"The night following his arrival," went on Helen enthusiastically. +"We'll make it quite an affair and invite everyone we know--the +Parkers, the Galloways, the Fentons, everybody----" + +"Don't forget me!" interrupted Steell. + +"Oh, you, of course!" Roguishly she added: "Aren't you one of the +family?" + +He looked at her and smiled. In an undertone which Ray, too busy +looking at the paper, did not hear, he added: + +"Not yet, but I hope to be." + +"The sooner the better, Wilbur," she said earnestly. With a +significant glance at her sister she added, "Don't let her keep you +waiting too long." + +Every hour brought nearer the happy day when they would see Kenneth +again. A cablegram from England reported that the _Zanzibar_ had +reached Southampton. Closely following this came a brief message from +Kenneth himself, stating that he was on the point of sailing for New +York on the _Adriatic_. In five more days he would be in New York. + +Expectation now reached fever heat, the excitement being communicated +to everyone in the house. Every time the front door bell rang there +was a rush downstairs in the hope that it might be another message. + +Ray, bubbling over with excitement, was almost as eager as her sister. + +"Won't it be jolly to go down to the dock and meet him?" + +Helen shook her head. + +"I won't go to meet him. I prefer to be here when he arrives." +Anxiously she added: "I hope everything is all right." + +"Why shouldn't it be all right?" + +Her sister was silent. It seemed absurd, when everything seemed to +point to her happiness, that she should still feel depressed and +nervous, but, somehow, she could not shake off the feeling that +something was wrong. It was certainly strange that no letter had been +received from Kenneth since the accident. Yet perhaps it was wicked of +her to expect more. She ought to be grateful that he had been spared. +Almost unconsciously she remarked: + +"Isn't it strange that Ken hasn't written for so long? I haven't had a +line from him since he left Cape Town." + +"Yes--you have," protested her sister. "You had a cablegram telling +you of his safety." + +"A cablegram--yes, but no letter. I have had no letter since he left +Cape Town." + +"That's true. But how could he write? He has been traveling faster +than the mails." + +"I hope he's not hurt." + +"Of course not. You would have heard it before this. Bad news travels +fast." + +Every moment from now on was devoted to getting the house ready for the +arrival of its lord and master. Ray had skilfully fashioned out of red +letters on white paper, a big "Welcome" sign, which was to be suspended +in the hall on the complacent horns of two gigantic moose heads, +souvenirs of a month's vacation in the Adirondacks. While this was +being done downstairs Helen busied herself in the library and bedroom, +getting ready the things for his comfort--his dressing-gown, his +slippers, his pipe. She detested pipes, as do most women, but she +could not refrain from giving this pipe a furtive kiss, as she laid it +lovingly on the table within easy reach of the arm-chair. The maids, +changed since he went away, were laboriously instructed in what they +should and should not do, what towels should be put in the luxurious +bathroom, what pajamas should be laid on the bed. + +Well Helen remembered the first time she had entered this bedroom. +Just married, in the full flush of her new-found happiness, it had all +seemed so beautiful, so ideal. The dull pink color scheme, so chaste +and delicate, the gracefully carved furniture, so luxurious and +elegant, the cupids flying above the massive beautifully carved bed, a +veritable bower of love--all this seemed only a realization of her +girlhood dreams of what married life should be. And now Kenneth was +coming back, after his long absence in South Africa, it would be like +getting married all over again. + +The next four days seemed longer than any Helen had ever spent in all +her life. The delay was interminable. The minutes appeared to be like +hours, the hours like days. Having to wait patiently for what one +desired so ardently was simply intolerable. She tried to divert her +mind by busying herself about the library, dusting his favorite books, +tidying his papers, but constantly came back the thoughts that filled +her with uneasiness, a vague, undefinable alarm. Was he all right? + +At last the great day arrived. A Western Union telegram announced that +the _Adriatic_ would dock at 2 o'clock. Long before that time, Ray, +unable to restrain her impatience, was on her way down town, +accompanied by Mr. Steell, while Helen, her face a little paler than +usual, her heart beating a little faster, sat in the great recessed +window of the library, and waited for the arrival of the loved one. + +Anxiously, impatiently, she watched the hands of the clock move round. +How exasperatingly slow it was: how indifferent it seemed to her +happiness! If the ship docked at two they could hardly arrive at the +house until four. It would take at least two hours to get through the +customs. Oh, would the moment never come when she would see his dear +face and clasp him in her arms? + +It was nearly half past two when suddenly the front door bell rang. +Her heart leaping to her mouth, she rushed to the top of the stairs. +It was only Mr. Parker, who had dropped in on the chance of finding his +associate already arrived. + +To-day the president of the Americo-African Mining Company was in the +highest spirits. Everything had gone according to his expectations. +Kenneth was home with the big diamonds safe in his possession. The +directors could not fail to give him (Parker) credit for his sagacity +and enterprise. The stocks of the company would soar above par. +Fortune was smiling on them in no uncertain way. Was it a wonder he +was feeling in the best of humors? + +"How do you know the diamonds are safe?" questioned Helen anxiously. +"In such a terrible panic as there must have been on that ship a man +thinks only of saving himself." + +"Pshaw!" replied the president confidently. "I'm as sure of it as that +I'm here. It was understood that he was never to part with the stones +under any circumstances. They are in a belt he wears round his waist +next to his skin. If the diamonds were not here, Kenneth would not be +here. Knowing he is safe I am convinced that they are safe." + +"Will you wait here until he comes?" + +"No, I can't. There's a meeting of the directors this afternoon. I +must attend. I'll call him up on the telephone----" + +"But you are coming to dinner this evening----" + +"Yes, yes, of course." With a smile he added: "Now, don't get too +spoony when he comes, or else Ken will have no head for business." + +"No fear," laughed Helen. "We are too long married for that." + +"Well, good-bye. I'll see you later." + +The president took his hat and turned to go. As he reached the door he +turned round. + +"By the bye, have you seen Signor Keralio lately?" + +Helen's face grew more serious. + +"No--Signor Keralio does not call here any more-at my request." + +The president gave a low, expressive whistle. Holding out his hand he +said: + +"Got his walking papers, eh? Well, I guess if you don't like him he +isn't much good. I never did care for the look of him." + +"Why did you ask?" she inquired. + +"I was just curious--that's all. He's a persistent, uncomfortable kind +of man. I don't like his face. It's a face I wouldn't trust----" + +"That's why he's not coming here any more," she replied calmly. "He +forgot himself and that was the end----" + +The president turned to go. + +"Well, good-bye. Ken will be here soon." + +"Good-bye." + +He went away, and once more Helen resumed her lonely vigil at the +library window, straining her ears to catch the direction of every +passing car, catching her breath with suspense as each pedestrian came +into view. They could not be much longer. She wondered if he had +missed her as much as she had him. No, men do not feel these things in +the way women do. They are too busy--their minds too much preoccupied +with their work. The turmoil of affairs absorbed their attention. + +The clock struck the three-quarters, and the reverberations of the +chimes had not entirely died away, when through the partly opened +window came the sound of a taxicab suddenly stopping in front of the +door. + +At last he had come! It was surely Kenneth. Her bosom heaving with +suppressed excitement she ran to the stairs and was already in the +lower hall before the maid had answered the bell. Quickly she threw +open the door, eager to throw herself in the traveler's arms. A tall +shadow darkened the doorway. It was Francois, the French valet. + +Helen fell back in dismay. + +"Oh, it's you!" she exclaimed, looking over his shoulder to see if +Kenneth were following. "Where is your master?" + +A curious expression, half-defiant, half-cunning, came over the +servant's face, as he replied: + +"Monsieur coming. He sent me ahead with light baggage. He detained at +customs." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, disappointed. "When will he be here?" + +"He come presently--perhaps quarter of an hour." + +"How is your master?" + +"He very well, except his eyes--they bother him a leetle." + +Helen stared at him in alarm. + +"His eyes," she exclaimed. "What is the matter with his eyes?" + +The valet avoided her direct gaze, and, shifting uneasily on his feet, +began to fuss with the leather bags he was carrying. Awkwardly he said: + +"Didn't madame hear?" + +"Hear what?" she gasped, now thoroughly alarmed. + +The man put out his hand deprecatingly. + +"Oh, it's nothing to make madame afraid. It will soon be all right. I +assure madame----" + +"But tell me what it is, will you?" she interrupted impatiently. +"Don't have so much to say--tell me what it is----" + +"It was when the ship caught fire, madame. We were running to ze +life-boat, monsieur and me, when suddenly----" + +"Well--what?" she almost shouted, in agony of suspense. + +"Monsieur tripped over a coil of rope and fell----" + +Almost unconscious in her excitement of what she was doing Helen laid +her hand on the man's arm. Terror-stricken she cried: + +"He didn't hurt himself seriously, did he?" + +The valet shook his head. + +"No, madame--not seriously. He struck his head against a chair and +just graze ze eye. It is nothing serious, I assure madame. The doctor +says that if he wears blue spectacles for few months he will be all +right." + +"Oh, he wears blue spectacles, does he?" + +"Yes, madame, he must. Ze eye is inflamed and cannot stand ze strong +light." + +"Poor Kenneth!" she murmured, half-aloud. "I shall hardly know him in +blue spectacles." + +The valet, who had been watching her like a hawk out of his +half-closed, sleepy-looking eyes, overheard the remark. Quickly he +said: + +"Of course, madame must expect to find monsieur a little changed. What +we went through was _epouvantable_, something awful. We just escaped +with our lives. For days monsieur was so nervous he was hardly able to +speak a word. Even now he stops at times----" + +Helen looked at him in wonder. + +"'He stops!' What do you mean?" + +The valet turned away, and for a moment was silent. Then, as if making +a great effort, he turned and said: + +"Madame will pardon me, but she must be brave and not show monsieur she +notices any change. Ze doctor said it was a terrible shock to his +nervous system--that fire. Monsieur has not been ze same since, _pas +du tout_ ze same. Ze doctor he says that these symptoms will all +disappear once he gets home and has a good rest. It is only ze shock, +I assure madame." + +Helen listened appalled, her face growing whiter each moment, her lips +trembling. He had met with an accident, then, after all! Her instinct +had spoken truly. Her darling was ill. That explained his long +silence. He had been too ill to write. He had gone through a terrible +shock and he had come home ill, very ill, quite changed. Her voice +faltering she said: + +"What are the symptoms?" + +"Monsieur's memory is so bad, madame. He forgets. Only to-day, as ze +ship came up ze harbor, I ask monsieur if he expect madame to meet us +at ze dock. _C'est vraiment incroyable_! He turned to me, with a look +of ze greatest surprise, and asked: 'Who ze devil is madame?'" + +"What! Didn't he seem to remember me, even?" A look of distress came +over her face. + +The valet shook his head. + +"Non, madame." Quickly he added: "But it is nothing. It is only +temporary." + +"Didn't he know my sister and Mr. Steell? Didn't they greet him at the +dock?" + +"Yes, madame. They spoke to him and he spoke to them. But he was not +himself. They seemed surprised. They will tell madame." + +Helen fell back, sick and faint. Why had she not known this before? +She would have gone down to meet him, thrown herself weeping into his +arms. He would have known her then--who better than he would recognize +that perfume he loved so well? He would have taken her in his strong +arms and kissed her passionately. If he was not himself it was because +he was ill. The shock had affected his memory! Poor darling husband, +he must be well nursed. A few days of her devoted care and he would be +all right again. Of course, it was nothing serious. Kenneth had led +too clean and wholesome a life for anything grave to be the matter. If +only he would come! God grant that he return to her as he went away! + +As the unspoken prayer died away on her lips, there was the chugging of +an automobile stopping suddenly at the curb. + +"_Les voici_!" cried Francois, dropping into his native tongue in his +excitement. + +He threw open the wide doors and the next instant Ray ran up the steps. +Helen, weak and dizzy from nervous tension, feeling as if she were +about to faint, met her on the threshold. + +"Kenneth!" she gasped. "Is he all right?" + +"Certainly--he's fine. He's a little tired and nervous after the long +journey, and the blue spectacles he wears make him look different, but +he's all right." + +The wife looked searchingly, eagerly at the young girl's face, as if +seeking to read there what she dreaded to ask, and it seemed to her +that the customary ring of sincerity was lacking in her sister's voice. + +"Where is he--why isn't he with you?' + +"Here he is now--don't you see him?" + +Helen looked out. There came the tall, familiar figure she knew so +well, the square shoulders, the thick bushy hair, with its single white +lock so strangely isolated among the brown. Her heart fell as she saw +the blue glasses. They veiled from her view those dear blue eyes, so +kind and true. They made him look different. But what did she care as +long as he had come home to her? Even with the horrid glasses, that +dear form she would know in a thousand! + +Slowly he came up the long flight of stone steps, weighted down by +traveling rugs and handbag, both of which he refused to surrender to +the obsequious Francois. Eagerly she rushed down the steps to meet +him, her eyes half-closed, ready to swoon from excitement and joy. +Nothing was said. He opened his arms. She put up her mouth, tenderly, +submissively. For a moment he seemed to hesitate. He held her tight +in his embrace, and just looked down at her. Then, as he felt the +warmth of her soft, yielding body next to his, and saw the partly +opened mouth, ready to receive his kiss, he bent down and fastened his +lips on hers. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +For one blissful, ecstatic moment Helen lay tight in his embrace, +nestling against the breast of the one being she loved better than +anyone else in the world, responding with involuntary vibrations of her +own body to the gust of fiery passion that swept his. But only for a +moment. The next instant she had torn herself violently free, and was +gazing, wonderingly, fearfully, up into his face, trying to penetrate +those glasses which veiled, as it were, the windows of his soul. Why +she broke away so abruptly from his embrace she could not herself have +explained. Something within her, some instinct to which her reason was +unable to give a name, made her body revolt against the unusual ardor +of the caress. Strange! Never before had she felt so embarrassed at +Kenneth's demonstrations of affection. + +"How are you, dear?" she murmured, when at last she could find words. + +She had not yet heard the sound of his beloved voice, and when at last +he answered her it seemed to her ears only like an echo of its former +self, so exhausted and wearied was he by what he had gone through. + +"Very tired, sweetheart," he replied huskily. "I shall need a long +rest." + +She led the way into the house and up the stairs, where everything had +been so elaborately prepared for his welcome. In the bedroom she +pointed with pride to the real Valenciennes lace coverlet put on in his +honor, and showed him the dressing-gown and slippers so lovingly laid +out. He looked at everything, but made no comment. She half expected +a few words of praise, but none were forthcoming. While affectionately +demonstrative he was unusually reticent. She wondered what worry he +could have on his mind to make him act so strangely and suddenly +Keralio's words of warning came to her mind. Was there a side to his +life of which she knew nothing? Were his thoughts elsewhere, even +while he was with her? Quickly there came a look of dismay and +anxiety, which he was not slow to notice. Instantly on his guard, he +murmured in a low tone: + +"Forgive me, dear, I can't talk now. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my +eyes open." + +Instantly her apprehension was forgotten in her desire to make him +comfortable. + +"That's right, dear. You must be dead with fatigue. You'll take a +nice nap and when you wake up it will be time for dinner. I've planned +a nice little party to celebrate your return--only a few intimates--Mr. +Parker is coming, and Wilbur Steell, and a young man named Dick +Reynolds, an acquaintance of Wilbur's. You won't mind such old +friends, will you?" + +He shook his head. + +"No, indeed. I'm very tired, now, but I'll be all right in a few +minutes." + +"Of course you will," she smiled, as she removed the handsome lace +coverlet from the bed. "No one will disturb you. My darling hubbie +can sleep as sound as a top, and, when he wakes, we'll talk a terrible +lot, won't we?" Looking up roguishly, as she smoothed his pillow for +him, she added shyly: "There are two pillows here now. There has been +only one while you were away----" + +For the first time he seemed to evince interest in what she was saying. +His eyes flashed behind the blue spectacles, and his hands trembled, as +he quickly made a step forward and put his arm round her waist. + +"There'll always be two in the future, won't there?" he asked hoarsely. + +"Yes, of course there will," she laughed, + +"To-night?" he insisted. + +"Yes, of course," she said, her color heightening slightly under the +persistency of his gaze. What a foolish question! Changing the topic +she added, with a laugh: "Now, take your coat off, like a good boy, and +go to sleep. I'll go down and keep the house quiet. When it's time to +get up, I'll come back." + +"Don't go yet," he murmured, looking at her ardently. Taking her hand +caressingly he tried to lead her to the sofa. "Sit down here. I won't +sleep yet. Let us talk. I have so much to say." + +Firmly Helen withdrew from his embrace. + +"No, no; I won't stay a moment," she said decisively. "Not now. You +must behave yourself. We'll talk all you want to to-night. But not +now. You are very tired. The sleep will do you good. Now be a good +boy--go to bed." + +He tried to intercept her before she reached the door, but she was too +quick for him. She went out and was about to close the door behind her +when he called out: + +"Please send Francois to me." + +She nodded. + +"Yes, dear, I will. Of course you need him. Why didn't I think of it +before?" + +She closed the door and went downstairs. It was hard to believe that +he was back home. How long she had waited for this day, and, even now +it had come, the void did not seem filled. There still seemed +something wanting. What it was, she did not know, yet it was there. + +In the dining-room she ran into Ray, who had her arms filled with +magnificent American beauty roses. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Helen enthusiastically. "Where did you get +those flowers?" + +The young girl laughed. "They're a present from me and Wilbur--in +honor of Kenneth's arrival. Where is he?" + +"Upstairs--he's going to lie down until dinner is ready. Poor +soul--he's almost dead with fatigue." + +"Has he got the diamonds?" + +Helen gasped. She hadn't thought of that. In all the excitement the +real object of her husband's trip to South Africa had quite escaped her +mind. + +"I don't know," she said quickly. "I haven't asked him. We've hardly +exchanged a dozen words. He'll tell us later. Was nothing said about +them at the Customs? Didn't he declare them?" + +"No--I thought it was strange. That's why I asked you if he had them. +Possibly he left them to be cut in Amsterdam." + +Helen grew thoughtful. + +"I don't know. He'll tell us later." + +Ray filled the vases with the flowers, while Helen busied herself at +the buffet, getting out all the pretty silverware with which the dinner +table was to be decorated. The young girl hummed lightly as she +decorated the room with the fragrant blossoms. + +"Isn't it lovely that Kenneth is back?" she exclaimed. + +"Yes, indeed." + +"I hardly knew him at first in those spectacles." + +"I'm not surprised at that." + +"If it hadn't been for that white patch of hair I don't think we could +have picked him out of the crowd. There was an awful crush there." + +There was a pause, and then Helen asked: + +"How do you think he looks?" + +"About the same," replied the girl carelessly. "He doesn't seem in as +good spirits as when he went away. He is very quiet. He hardly spoke +a word to us on the way home. Possibly he has some business anxiety on +his mind." + +"Did he ask about me?" + +"Yes--you were his first question." + +"Did you tell him about Dorothy?" + +"That she was not so well? Yes." + +"What did he say? Was he worried?" + +"Not particularly. I think men are more sensible in those matters than +we women. He knows baby is well taken care of." Changing the subject, +the young girl went on: "I hope everybody will be jolly to-night. I've +made up my mind to have a good time." + +Helen sighed. + +"I'm feeling a little uneasy about Dorothy. I got a letter this +morning from Aunt Carrie, saying she was not feeling so well. The +doctor was going to see her to-day, and, if she got worse, they said +they'd telegraph." + +Ray looked at her sister in consternation. + +"What would you do then?" + +"I would have to go at once to Philadelphia." + +"And Kenneth just come home--oh, Helen!" + +"I couldn't help it. Kenneth couldn't go. Somebody must go. The +child could not be left alone. Who should go better than its mother?" + +Ray made a gesture of protest. + +"Well, don't let's imagine the worst. Dorothy won't get worse. +To-morrow you'll get a reassuring letter, and your worries will be +over." + +"I hope so," smiled Helen. + +Leaving the task of sorting the knives and forks Ray came over to where +Helen was standing. The young girl pointed to all the vases filled +with the crimson roses. + +"How do you like that?" she exclaimed. + +"Beautiful!" + +There was a brief silence, both women being preoccupied by their +thoughts, when Ray, in her usual vivacious, impulsive way, burst out: + +"Sis, I have something to tell you." + +Helen looked up quickly. + +"Something to tell me--something good?" + +"I'm so happy! I'm engaged at last." + +"To Wilbur, of course?" + +"Yes." + +Helen gave an exclamation of joy. + +"Oh, I'm so glad. When did it happen? Tell me all about it--quick." + +"He proposed to-day, and I said yes. We're to be married in two +months." + +The next moment the two women were in each other's arms. + +"I'm so glad--so glad," murmured Helen. "I hope you'll both be very, +very happy." + +"We certainly shall if we are like you and Kenneth. Wilbur says that +your example is the one thing that decided him to make the plunge." + +Helen smiled. + +"You'll have one advantage I don't enjoy. Your husband, being a +lawyer, won't be taking trips to South Africa all the time." + +"Oh, I don't know," laughed the girl; "it's sometimes nice to lose +sight of each other for a time. The lovemaking is all the more furious +when your husband gets back." + +"Yes--unless he happens to meet some other charmer on his travels." + +"Oh, nonsense, Helen--men don't really have such adventures. That only +happens in novels." + +"I hope so," murmured her sister. + +"Oh, by the bye," exclaimed Ray, "who do you suppose we saw on the +dock?" + +"Who?" + +"That horrid creature--Signor Keralio." + +Helen looked up in surprise. + +"Keralio? What was he doing there? Did he speak to you?" + +"No--he seemed to avoid us. Once I got lost for a moment in the crush, +and, as I turned, I thought I saw him talking earnestly to Kenneth and +Francois. Of course I must have been mistaken, for, when I finally +rejoined them, both denied having seen him!" + +"Keralio!" murmured Helen. "How strange! That man seems to pursue us +like some evil genius. No matter where we go, he follows like a +shadow. Oh, I forgot all about Francois. Where is he?" + +"Downstairs." + +Helen touched a bell. + +"Why do you need him?" + +"Kenneth wants him. I forgot all about it. All his things need +putting away. The litter upstairs is simply terrible." + +"There won't be much time for unpacking," objected Ray. "It's +half-past five already. We'll soon have to think of dressing for +dinner." + +Suddenly the door opened and Francois appeared. He entered quietly, +stealthily, and, advancing to where his mistress was, stood in silence, +awaiting her orders. + +"Your master wants you upstairs, Francois." + +The man bowed. + +"_Bien_, madame!" + +"Tell Mr. Traynor not to keep you too long, because there's a lot of +work to be done downstairs before dinner." + +"_Bien_, madame." + +The man lingered in the room, arranging the chairs, and fussing about +the table, until he began to make Helen nervous. Peremptorily she said: + +"You had better go, Francois; monsieur is waiting for you." + +The valet bowed obsequiously, and left the room, shutting the door +carefully. Instead of proceeding immediately upstairs, he stopped for +a moment behind the closed door and listened intently. But, unable to +overhear the two women, who were conversing in an undertone, he hurried +upstairs toward his employer's bedroom. Arrived on the landing, he +went straight to the room, and, without stopping for the formality of +knocking, he turned the handle and went in. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Instead of finding his master resting from his fatigue, as Mrs. Traynor +had said, Francois discovered the new arrival very much awake. He was +sitting in front of Helen's bureau, eagerly perusing a bundle of +private letters tied with blue ribbon, which he had taken from a +drawer. As the door opened, he jumped up quickly, as if detected +committing a dishonorable action; but, when he saw who it was, his face +relaxed and he gave a grim nod of recognition. + +"Lock the door!" he said in a whisper. "It won't do to have anyone +come in here now." + +The valet turned the key, and, dropping entirely the obsequious manner +of the paid menial, threw himself carelessly into a chair. Taking from +his pocket a richly chased silver cigarette box, loot from former +houses where he had been employed, he struck a match on the highly +polished Circassian walnut chair, and proceeded to enjoy a smoke. + +His companion looked at him anxiously. + +"Well?" he demanded hoarsely. "Is it all right? What do they say? +Does anyone suspect?" + +The Frenchman gracefully emitted from between his thin lips a thick +cloud of blue smoke, and broke into a laugh that, under the +circumstances, sounded strangely hollow and sinister. + +"Suspect?" he chuckled. "Why should they suspect? Are you not ze same +man who went away--ze same build, ze same face, ze same voice, ze same +in every particular--except one. Zat you have not--_non_--you have not +ze education, ze fine manners, ze _savoir faire_ of monsieur." With +that expressive shrug of the shoulder, so characteristic of his nation, +he added: "_Mais que voulez vous_? We must do ze best we can." + +His listener struck the brass bed-post savagely with his heavy fist. +With a burst of profanity he broke out: + +"Yes, damn him! He had all the advantages. I had none. But it's my +turn now. I want all that's coming to me." + +"Hush!" exclaimed the valet, raising his finger warningly. "Zey may +hear. Everything will be all right. We must be very careful. You +must not talk. You must avoid people. Let them think you sick, or +strange, or crazy, anything you like. But keep away from zem, or else +they soon discover that 'Handsome Jack,' ze penniless adventurer, is +quite a different person from ze accomplished and wealthy Monsieur +Kenneth Traynor." + +"We can't expect to keep the game up long," interrupted the big fellow +moodily. + +"We won't have to," replied his companion calmly. "Just enough time to +squeeze ze orange dry--that's all----" + +Handsome looked up quickly. Savagely he retorted: + +"Of which juice you and Keralio want a goodly share, don't you?" + +The valet's greenish eyes flashed. + +"Of course I do, and, what's more, I mean to get it." Changing his +free, careless tone to one tense with significance and menace he went +on: "Don't be a fool, Monsieur Handsome. Who put you up to this snap, +but me? Who knows what you did to monsieur out there on ze _veldt_, +better than me? Dead men tell no tales, but live ones do. Don't +forget that! If you want to keep clear of ze electric chair, you'll +keep your mouth shut, and play fair." + +The gambler listened, his mouth twitching nervously, his eyes glowing +with sullen hatred. + +"What do you and Keralio want? I gave you the diamonds--what more do +you expect?" + +The valet laughed scoffingly. + +"You gave him ze diamonds. Why? You were d----d glad to be rid of +zem. We can't do anything with zem now. We may have to wait months or +years before we can venture to cut zem up and dispose of zem. _Non_, +monsieur! If zey appeared on ze market now, ze news would be flashed +_immediatement_ to every corner of ze globe, and your career and mine +would come to a quick end. _Voila_!" + +"Don't forget Keralio!" said Handsome, with a sneer. + +"_Eh, bien_? Has he not earned it, Signor Keralio? Is it not because +of his courage and daring that you are here--ze master in this house? +Who but Keralio would have had ze nerve to carry ze thing through?" + +Handsome shrugged his shoulders. Cynically he said: + +"Oh, I don't know. It seems to me that Keralio is safe under cover, +while here I am, disporting myself in the limelight, with every eye +turned on me. I guess I prefer Keralio's job to mine----" + +The valet's eyes flashed vindictively as he retorted: + +"Could your puny brain have conceived this scheme which will make us +all rich? Keralio outlined ze whole plan to me directly he heard of +your existence. On our reaching Cape Town, after finding you starving +on ze _veldt_, I cabled him ze news. A few hours later he told me +exactly what to do. He knew you would do it. How, I do not know. He +is no ordinary man, Keralio. When I first saw you out zere, unkempt, +in rags, starving, I could have dropped dead from surprise. It never +occurred to me that you might be useful. But Keralio knew. He knows +everything. He also knew that you would accept his leadership, that +you would quickly get rid of monsieur, and secure ze diamonds. Was it +not his idea that you set fire to ze ship? And who set fire to ze +ship, _s'il vous plait_, when you refused? Who but your very humble +servant. And a hard, dangerous job, it was, too--catch me ever wanting +to do it again!" + +"Not half so bad as mine. He put up a terrible fight before I threw +him overboard." + +"Who--monsieur?" + +"Yes--he fought like a wildcat, and he was fast getting the best of me, +when I managed to give him a rap on the head. That quieted him, and +over he went." With an exclamation of disgust, he added: "It was a +d----d nasty job. I'm sorry I ever went into it----" + +"Sorry--you fool? _Sapristi_! Just think of this wonderful +opportunity. You have ze keys to his vaults, you have control of his +bank accounts." Lowering his voice, and, with a significant leer on +his face, he added "and you have--his wife!" + +Handsome grinned, and the valet went on: + +"_Precisement_! Madame is cold and haughty, like all zese American +women. It's not exactly my taste, but she's pretty and dainty, and----" + +"Who are all these other people," interrupted the miner, "that man +Steell----" + +"Yes, that is so. You must know everyone. You must make a study of +each, so as to avoid making bad breaks. Monsieur Steell is a lawyer. +He's in love with madame's sister, Miss Ray. You've known him all your +life, went to school with him, and all that sort of thing. Say 'yes' +to everything he says. That's your cue at present. Talk as little as +you can, and agree with everybody. The man you must talk with most is +Monsieur Parker. He is president of the mining company. Happily he's +rather shortsighted, so he won't notice anything. He's the man to whom +you'll have to explain ze loss of ze diamonds. He'll be here to-night +for dinner, so you'd better get your story ready." + +"What can I say?" + +"Say that in ze panic your belt worked loose, you had to dive into ze +water. When you were dragged into ze lifeboat the belt was gone, do +you understand?" + +"Yes--but will they believe it?" + +"They must believe it. There'll be an awful fuss, of course, but +they'll get over it. No suspicion can attach to you." + +"He's coming to-night--this man Parker?" + +"Yes, to-night. He'll be here for dinner. He----" + +Before the valet could complete the sentence there was a knock on the +door and Helen outside called out: + +"May I come in?" + +Instantly the valet jumped up and assumed once more his deferential +demeanor. The gambler hurriedly shut the bureau drawers and put on the +blue spectacles. + +The door opened and Helen entered. + +Alert as the Frenchman was, he was not quick enough to quite conceal +from the wife that his present obsequious manner had been suddenly +assumed for her benefit directly she had entered the room. She had +overheard voices, as she reached the landing, and the abrupt manner in +which these sounds had ceased was not entirely natural. It had also +seemed to her that the valet's tone had had a ring of familiarity about +it which she had never known it to have before. Could it be possible +that they were discussing matters which were to be kept from her? If +so, her husband already had secrets in which not she but his valet +shared. She recalled Keralio's cynical smile, as he had whispered: +"Husbands only tell their wives half." Perhaps he had spoken the +truth. Perhaps at this very moment she was degraded, insulted in her +womanhood by a man who was secretly unloyal to her. The very thought +went through her like a knife-thrust. All her life, every hour she had +devoted to her husband. Even now she did not like to even harbor a +shade of distrust, but his strange behavior since his return, this +earnest conversation behind closed doors with a menial she despised and +distrusted--all this could not but add to her anxiety. Calmly, she +asked: + +"Have you finished with Francois, dear? We need him downstairs." + +The valet himself answered the question: + +"_Oui_, madame. I was just coming." + +Bowing politely, he turned on his heel, and, with a significant glance +at Handsome, which his mistress did not notice, he left the room. +Helen glanced at the bed, which was undisturbed. Surprised, she +exclaimed: + +"Why, I thought you were going to lie down!" + +He shook his head. Shifting uneasily on his feet, and, without looking +up, he answered: + +"No--I can't sleep. I'm too nervous. I'll sleep to-night." + +Advancing farther into the room she went up him and put her arm +affectionately round him. Sympathetically she said: + +"You'll feel better in a few days, dear. Just rest and take things +easy. I won't hear of your going to the office for a week at least. +All the business you and Mr. Parker have you can transact here. By the +way, dear, you haven't even mentioned the most important thing of +all--have you brought back the diamonds?" + +Instead of replying at once to her question, he turned quickly and +pulled down the blind. + +"You don't mind, do you?" he said. "The light hurts my eyes." + +"Of course not," she replied. Sitting down near him she went on: "Tell +me--have you got the diamonds? How beautiful they must be! How I +should love to see them!" + +When finally he turned and confronted her she could see his face only +indistinctly, as the drawing of the blind had left the room almost in +darkness. His voice was strained and tense as he replied huskily: + +"I have not got the diamonds!" + +Helen almost started from her seat. + +"You have not got them!" she exclaimed. "Where are they, Ken?" + +"They are lost!" + +"Lost?" she echoed, stupefied. + +"Yes--lost." + +"Oh, how terrible!" she faltered. + +This, then, was the secret of his strange manner, his depression and +nervousness. He had lost the diamonds. He had returned home to +announce to the eagerly awaiting stockholders that over a million +dollars' worth of property had suddenly been swept away. His feeling +of personal responsibility must have been awful. No wonder he was not +himself. It was enough to unnerve any man. Of course he was not to +blame, but the world is so merciless. He would have to bear the +censure, even when he was perfectly innocent. How she regretted that +he had ever undertaken so heavy a responsibility. Timidly, not wishing +to embarrass or annoy him, she said: + +"How did it happen, dear?" + +For a moment he made no answer, but just sat and stared at her. What +little light entered between the shade and the window frame fell full +on her face, lighting up the fine profile, the delicately chiseled +mouth, throwing off golden glints from her artistically arranged hair. +From her face his eyes wandered greedily down to her snow-white neck, +her slender, graceful figure, her beautifully molded arms. Certainly, +he mused to himself, his brother was an epicure in love. This woman +was dainty enough to tempt a saint. + +"How did it happen?" she asked again. + +"It was in the first rush from the burning ship," he said hoarsely. "I +was asleep when the fire broke out. It happened at two o'clock in the +morning. The diamonds were in the belt which each night I unfastened +and put under my pillow. It was more comfortable to do that than to +wear it. When the first alarm came I forgot everything--except my own +safety. I rushed pell-mell on deck. It was a nasty night. We didn't +know where we were, or how grave the situation was. Outside the wind +was howling furiously, the siren was blowing dismally, the +panic-stricken passengers and sailors were fighting like wildcats. I +lost my head along with the rest. I had reached the lifeboat when +suddenly I remembered the belt. I felt at my waist. It was not there. +I remembered I had left it under the pillow. I was horror-stricken. +Great beads of perspiration broke from every pore. The people were +fighting to get into the boat; I fought to get out and back to my +stateroom. Suddenly someone knocked me on the head. I lost +consciousness. When I came to we were miles away from the wreck, +drifting on the ocean in an open boat, and the _Abyssinia_ was nowhere +to be seen." + +Helen made an exclamation of sympathy. + +"Poor soul--how terrible you must have felt! Thank God, you escaped +with your life! We ought to feel grateful for that. Suppose I had +been compelled to tell Mary that you were drowned. It would have +killed her--you know that. Do you remember what you told her when you +went away?" + +He stared at her, not understanding. + +"Told who?" he said cautiously. + +"Mary." + +"Oh, yes--Mary--of course--you mean your sister----" + +Helen looked at him in amazement, then in alarm. Could the wreck have +affected his mind? Laughingly she retorted: + +"Ray? Of course not. How foolish you are, Kenneth. Don't you +remember that your old nurse came to see you before you sailed?" + +He nodded and coughed uneasily, moving restlessly about in his chair, +as if to hide his embarrassment. These questions were decidedly +unpleasant. Inwardly he wished Francois was present to help him out. + +"Mary? Oh, yes, I remember--of course--of course----" + +The look of anxiety in the young woman's face deepened. His memory +failed him completely. Changing the subject she said quickly: + +"There's something else I wish to mention to you, dear. It is about +Signor Keralio----" + +He started quickly to his feet. How came his brother's wife to know +the name of the arch-plotter, the man who had sentenced her own husband +to death? Was it possible that she knew more? Was she aware of his +real identity? Was her present amiability of manner merely simulated? +Was she waiting her time before calling in the police and exposing him +as an impostor? + +"Keralio?" he echoed hoarsely. "What about Keralio?" Making a step +forward he exclaimed savagely: "Has he squealed? Is the game up? He's +to blame, not I!" + +Impulsively, instinctively, Helen sprang from her chair and fell back +with a startled exclamation. Now thoroughly alarmed, more than ever +convinced that the shipwreck had affected his brain, her one solicitude +was to keep him quiet until she could get a doctor. Soothingly she +said: + +"Of course, dear; of course. We won't speak of Signor Keralio now. +He's not worth discussing anyhow." + +He watched her closely for a moment, as if trying to see if she were +deceiving him, but her face was frank and serene. Suddenly, taking +hold of her hand, which she abandoned willingly enough in his, he +murmured: + +"You mustn't mind what I say. I'll soon be all right. I'm a bit mixed +up. My mind's been queer ever since that awful night." + +"Perhaps you would prefer if we had no one to dinner. I could easily +give some excuse and put them all off." + +His first impulse was to promptly accept this suggestion, yet what was +the good? If he did not meet them to-day he must do so to-morrow. It +was best to get it over with. The quicker he got to know the people +the easier it would be for him. If he seemed to avoid meeting them, it +might only arouse suspicion. Shaking his head, he said: + +"No, dear. That's all right. I'm glad they're coming. It will liven +things up." + +Helen's face brightened. It was the first cheerful remark he had made. + +"That's what I think. You must forget what you have gone through. +After all it's not so bad, but it might be a lot worse. Mr. Parker +will feel badly about the stones, of course, because he had counted on +making capital out of the advertising they would receive. But who +knows? Perhaps it's all for the best. They may find other stones even +more valuable." + +A sudden knock at the door interrupted them. + +"Come in," called out Helen. + +The maid appeared. + +"Mr. Parker is downstairs, m'm." + +"Good gracious! Here already for dinner. What time is it?" + +"Seven o'clock, m'm." + +"All right. I'll be down immediately." + +The girl went away and Helen turned to her companion. + +"Now, hurry, dear, won't you? Dinner is ready. The guests are +arriving. Dress quickly and come down." + +He still held her hand. + +"You're not angry with me?" he whispered. + +"Why should I be angry?" + +"Because of the diamonds." + +"No, indeed--it was you I wanted, not the diamonds." + +Drawing her to him, he kissed her. But her lips were cold. There was +no response to his ardor. She could not herself have explained why. +She felt no inclination to respond to his caresses, which at any other +time she would have returned with warmth. With a slight shade of +impatience she broke away. + +"We have no time for that now, Kenneth. Our guests are waiting." + +"That's right," he replied, with a smile that did not escape her. +"We've no time now. But the night is still before us." + +"Will you come soon?" + +"Yes--I'll be right down." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Once more the Traynor residence was filled with the sounds of mirth and +revelry. + +From cellar to attic the old mansion was ablaze with light. The large +dining-room, decorated with flowers and plants, wore a festive air, and +the long table in the center literally groaned under its burden of fine +linen, crystal, and silver. + +The dinner, now drawing to a close, had been a huge success in every +way, and, with the serving of the _demi-tasse_, the guests sat back in +their chairs, feeling that sense of gluttony satisfied which only a +perfect dinner can impart. The rarest wines, the richest foods--Helen +had spared no expense to make the affair worthy the occasion. + +As Mr. Parker sat back and with deliberation lit the big black Corona, +which his host had given him, he felt as much at ease as can a man who +has dined well and knows that his affairs are prospering beyond all +expectations, and, as his eyes half closed, he listened dreamily while +his host, for the hundredth time, told yarns of the diamond fields, he +silently congratulated himself on his astuteness in having employed so +successful a messenger. He had not yet had an opportunity to ask any +questions about the diamonds. He had his own reasons for not wanting +those present to learn too much of his plans. There would be plenty of +time when he could get the vice-president alone. So he just sat back +and puffed his cigar, while around him went on the hum of conversation, +punctuated here and there with bursts of laughter. + +Considering his short stay at the diamond mines it was astonishing how +well stocked their host was with stories. To hear him talk one might +have thought he had been a miner all his life. Stimulated by copious +draughts of champagne, which he contrived to make flow like water, he +was highly interesting, and his listeners, greatly interested, hung on +to every word. + +"It must be a terrible life!" said Steell, as he lit another cigar. + +The host emptied his glass and again refilled it before he answered: + +"It's a life of a dog--not of a human being. The toil is incessant, +the profit doubtful. You starve to death: good food is unprocurable +save at prohibitive prices. One sleeps practically in the open, save +for such rude shelter as each man can make for himself. The flies are +a pest and constant source of danger. The water is abominable." + +"You like champagne better, eh?" laughed Ray. + +The gambler had already drunk more than was good for him, and, raising +his glass in a mock toast, began to hum the first lines of a familiar +camp ditty: + + "_La femme qui sait me plaire + C'est la petite veuve Clicquot._" + + +"Is there much stealing of diamonds by the miners?" demanded Mr. Parker. + +Handsome nodded. + +"Lots of it. They have to watch 'em all the time. They resort to all +kinds of tricks to conceal stones they find. They used to swallow +them, but when they were forced to take powerful emetics and other +drugs, they soon got tired of that game. They also try to smuggle them +across the border line. One detective, who had been for months on the +trail of a well-to-do smuggler, was badly stung. The man invited him +to go shooting, and kindly furnished guns and cartridges. The +unsuspecting policeman carried the cartridges across the border, never +dreaming that each one was filled with diamonds." + +Ray clapped her hands. + +"Oh, what a clever idea!" + +The host nodded approvingly. + +"That's what I thought. Any man as smart as that deserved to get away +with it." + +Mr. Parker protested. + +"Rogues are always smart!" he exclaimed. + +"Until they're caught," laughed Dick Reynolds. "Then they don't think +they're so smart." + +Mr. Steell nodded approval. + +"I know something about that," said the lawyer. "A crook is never +really clever. He always leaves some loophole which leads to +detection. He thinks he is secure, that his disguise is impenetrable, +but there is always someone watching him, closely observing his every +move. And, the first thing he knows, he has walked into a trap, the +handcuffs are snapped, and the electric chair looms grimly before +him----" + +_Crash_! + +All looked up to the end of the table, where their host had broken a +glass. In the act of raising the champagne to his lips the glass had +slipped and broken into a thousand pieces. Helen, frightened, started +from her seat. + +"Are you hurt, dear?" she asked. "There is blood on your hand." + +"No--no, it's nothing. I cut myself with a bit of glass. It's +nothing." + +Ray was eager for more anecdotes. + +"Do tell us more, Kenneth," she exclaimed, interrupting her chat with +her left-hand neighbor. + +"Give him a breathing spell," laughed Dick. "We've kept him at it ever +since the dinner began." + +Handsome, his face pale, his hand trembling, filled another glass with +the foaming golden wine, and drained it at a draught. What the lawyer +just said had been somewhat of a shock. Was there more meaning in it +than appeared in the chance words? He eyed Steell narrowly, when he +was not looking, but the lawyer's face was inscrutable. Again he +filled his glass and again emptied it. + +That her husband had been drinking heavily all evening had not escaped +Helen's attention, and it worried her. Nudging her sister she +whispered: + +"Ken's drinking more than is good for him. He never used to drink like +that." + +At that moment, the host looked up and caught Helen's eye. Raising his +glass he offered a toast: + +"Here's to the prettiest, the sweetest, the most desirable little woman +in the world! Gentlemen and ladies--my wife!" + +They all drank except Helen who, confused and annoyed, tried to turn it +off with a laugh. + +Noticing her embarrassment, Ray made a signal to Mr. Steell and they +both rose from the table. Helen and Dick quickly followed their +example and the hostess led the way into the drawing-room, leaving +Handsome and Mr. Parker alone to their cigars. + +The president of the Americo-African Mining Company was not sorry of +the opportunity which this tete-a-tete afforded for a quiet business +talk. + +"By the way, old man," he began, "we haven't had a chance to talk +business yet. You've got the diamonds, of course." + +His host was silent. Mr. Parker thought he had not heard. A little +louder he repeated: + +"You've got the diamonds?" + +Still no answer. The president began to get uneasy. Could anything be +wrong or was his friend drunk? He had noticed that he had been +drinking heavily--something he had never known Kenneth Traynor do. +With some impatience he said sharply: "What's the matter, Kenneth? +Wake up, old man. I asked you a question. Can't you answer?" + +Handsome brought his fist down on the table with a bang that made the +glasses dance. + +"D---- it!" he exclaimed angrily. "Can't a man be left alone in his +own house for a few minutes without bothering him with business?" + +This outburst was so utterly unexpected that Mr. Parker, taken entirely +by surprise, fell back in his chair and stared at his host in +amazement. Never before had he known his old friend and partner to act +in this strange way. Could anything be amiss? Now he came to think of +it, he had noticed a great change in his associate directly he saw him. +He had seemed to lack his customary cordiality and frankness. He +appeared moody and morose, as if he had on his mind some weighty +responsibility he was unwilling to share. Evidently there was nothing +to be gained by displaying impatience, so, in more conciliatory tones, +he asked: + +"That's all right, my boy. If you don't care to talk shop to-night, we +won't. I didn't want to hurry you. I was curious, that's all. I have +scarcely been able to curb my impatience. You understand what it means +to us. Why, the very announcement that we have the diamonds safe here +in New York, will be enough to send the company's stock up twenty +points." Lowering his voice and bending over he added confidentially: +"I don't mind telling you that I've been buying for my own account all +the cheap stock I could put my hands on. As to the stockholders, +they're simply wild with impatience to see the big stones. But we +won't talk any more about it to-night. We'll wait till to-morrow." + +Handsome, his face almost livid, leaned over the table. Hoarsely, he +replied: + +"It's no use waiting till to-morrow. All that's to be told can be told +now. I haven't got the diamonds!" + +For a moment Mr. Parker did not realize what the other man was saying. +Thinking he had not heard right he asked: + +"What did you say?" + +"I have not got the diamonds!" + +The president started from his seat. His face pale as death, his hand +shaking as stricken with palsy, he almost shouted: + +"You have not got the diamonds! Then where in God's name are they?" + +"At the bottom of the ocean!" + +The senior partner dropped back in his chair, white as death. Then +this was the outcome of all his hopes, all his planning. Faintly he +gasped: + +"Why didn't you tell me so before?" + +"I had no opportunity. I didn't want to cable such news. It might +have caused a slump in the shares. I could not let you know before. +This is the first time I've seen you alone." + +The president said no more. The lines about his mouth tightened and +the expression of his face underwent a change. He uttered not a word, +but just sat there, his eyes fixed steadily on his companion, who +continued to fill his glass with champagne. Cornelius Winthrop Parker +was not a man to be easily deceived. He had too much experience of the +world for that. All his life he had been reading men and what he heard +now in the tone of his host's voice convinced him that he was lying. +That, in itself, was sufficient of a shock. To find Kenneth +Traynor--the soul of integrity and honor--deliberately betraying a +trust of such importance hurt him almost as much as the loss of the +gems. That they had gone down with the _Abyssinia_ he did not for a +moment believe. It was more likely that they had been sold--possibly +to make good Wall Street losses. Talk of big stock deals in which +Traynor had been mixed up had reached his ear before today, and more +recently this gossip had become more insistent. Kenneth was +interested, said rumor, in pool operations involving millions. The +recent sudden slump had found him unprepared. Ruin threatened him and +to save himself he had succumbed to temptation. This, at least, was +the theory which the President's alert brain rapidly evolved as he sat +watching the man in front of him. Perhaps all was not yet lost. If +the stones had not yet been disposed of, an effort might still be made +to recover them and at the same time save Traynor and his young wife +from the disgrace that such a grave scandal would entail. The first +thing necessary was to keep cool, show no concern and disarm suspicion +by pretending to accept the loss as irreparable. Then, at the first +opportunity, he would take Wilbur Steell into his confidence. That +wide awake lawyer would know exactly how to handle the case. Dick +Reynolds would have an opportunity to show his talent as a detective. +Breaking the long silence he said calmly: + +"Of course, I understand your silence. I think you acted wisely. We +had better keep the loss to ourselves as long as we can. No one can +attach any blame to you. It is a terrible loss, but we must face it +like men." + +The gambler looked up quickly, and eyed his guest narrowly. Seeing +nothing on the latter's face to arouse his suspicions, he grew more +cheerful. Less sullen and defiant, he extended his hand. + +"Thanks, old man!" he exclaimed heartily. "I expected no less from +you. I can't tell you how badly I feel about the loss. No doubt my +manner has seemed strange since my return. I have been irritable with +everybody--even my dear wife has noticed it. It was only because I did +not know how to make a clear breast of it. Since you take it so +sensibly, I'll cheer up. I declare I feel like a new man already." + +Mr. Parker lit another cigar. Calmly, he said: + +"That's right, Kenneth my boy. Keep a stiff upper lip. All's for the +best. We'll have better luck next time." + +As he spoke, Wilbur Steell passed on his way to join the ladies in the +drawing-room. The president called out to him: + +"Hello, Steell. What are you so busy about? Entertaining the women, +eh? Always thought you were a lady killer. Suppose you come and smoke +a cigar with me and let our friend here go and have a chat with his +wife. You've no right to monopolize the fair sex in that fashion, even +if you are a trust lawyer. Anyhow, I want to talk to you--just a +little matter of business--that's all!" + +Steell laughed, and, dropping into a chair, took the cigar which Mr. +Parker held out. Turning to his host, and clapping him genially on the +back the president exclaimed: + +"Go and talk to your wife, old man. You've left her alone long enough." + +"All right--I will," replied the gambler, not sorry of any excuse to +get away. + +Mr. Parker waited till he was out of hearing, then, leaning quickly +over to his companion, he exclaimed in a tense whisper: + +"Steell, I need your help." + +The lawyer looked at him in surprise. Removing his cigar from his +mouth he said: + +"My help? By all means. What can I do for you?" + +Mr. Parker gave a quick glance behind him to see if they were observed, +and then he said: + +"My God, Steell, something terrible has happened! At any cost, we +mustn't let the wife know----" + +The lawyer stared at his companion in amazement. + +"What is it, for Heaven's sake?" he demanded, looking anxiously at his +_vis-a-vis_. + +"The diamonds are lost!" replied Parker hoarsely. + +"The diamonds lost!" + +"Yes--lost--he has returned without them. They went down in the +_Abyssinia_. At least, that's what he says----" + +The lawyer started. + +"You think----" + +"I think nothing," replied the president cautiously. "I want to know. +That's why I want you to help me--to find out--you understand?" + +The lawyer nodded: + +"Some detective work, eh?" + +"Precisely. The stones may have gone down to the bottom of the ocean, +or they may not. For all we know the ship may have been set on fire +purposely, in order to create such a panic----" + +The lawyer protested. + +"Surely you don't think Kenneth----" + +The president shook his head. + +"I accuse nobody. I want to find out." + +He was silent for a moment, and then after a pause he went on: + +"I suppose you've heard, as well as everybody else, how Traynor has +been plunging in Wall Street recently." + +The lawyer nodded. Hesitatingly he replied: + +"Yes--I have. Unfortunately, the reports are true. Investigations I +have conducted privately on my own account have convinced me that +Kenneth has been a big plunger for some time. But as far as I know, he +has operated only within his means. I have often remonstrated with him +about the folly of it, but he enjoys the excitement of the speculation +game, and as long as he kept within bounds and gambled with his own +money I didn't see that anyone had any right to interfere." + +"Ah, just so--as long as he operated with his own means and with his +own money. But suppose the market suddenly goes against such a man, +and he is face to face with a tremendous loss, possibly ruin, what does +such a man do nine times out of ten?" + +"Blow his brains out." + +"Yes--sometimes that, but often he succumbs to temptation, and takes +what isn't his----" + +"Then you think that Kenneth----" + +"I think nothing. I want to know. He has come back from Africa a +changed man. He is surly, morose, secretive. That man has something +on his conscience. We must find out what it is. It is up to you to +ferret it out. Set your detectives to work. The company will spend +the last cent in its treasury to find those stones. You must trail his +associates, find out where he goes. The diamonds are probably right +here in New York. Who first took Kenneth to Wall Street?" + +"Signor Keralio----" + +"Ah--always that fellow! Who is he?" + +"An adventurer of the worst type. I have had him shadowed by one of my +men. He has a police record as a dangerous criminal of international +reputation." + +"And Kenneth's valet--that fellow Francois." + +"He was formerly in Keralio's employ." + +The President rose. Extending his hand to the lawyer, he said: + +"That's enough. I don't think the trail will be hard to pick up. +Spare no expense. Good night!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The last guest had gone. One by one the lights in the Traynor +residence were extinguished. The servants, tired after an exciting and +strenuous day, had gone to their quarters. + +In the hall downstairs, the grandfather's clock rang out its musical +chimes and then, in ponderous tones, slowly struck the twelve hours of +midnight. + +The master of the house was sitting at the desk in the library, looking +over some papers. From time to time he glanced significantly, first at +the clock and then at the corner where Helen and Ray were chatting over +the events of the day. At last the young girl took the hint. Jumping +up, she exclaimed good naturedly: + +"How selfish I am to be sitting gossiping here when poor Kenneth is so +tired. Go to bed, both of you. I'm so sleepy myself I can hardly keep +awake. Good night!" + +"Good night, dear!" said Helen, rising and kissing her. + +"Good night, Ken! Pleasant dreams," cried the young girl as she left +the room. + +"Good night!" he responded hoarsely. + +The sound of her footsteps died away in the distance and Helen and the +gambler sat there in silence. He watched her furtively, trying to +guess the trend of her thoughts, his eyes bloodshot with wine, feasting +on every line of her girlish figure. + +Never had she looked more beautiful, more desirable, than this evening. +Her _decollete_ gown revealed a white, plump neck, her lips were red +and tempting, her large dark eyes fairly sparkled from excitement. It +was a vision to distract a saint and Handsome was no saint. It was +indeed only with the greatest difficulty that he curbed his impatience +to carry off the prize that lay within his grasp. + +"Are you tired," he said at last. "Do you want to go to bed?" + +"Not very," she answered. "I'm too excited to sleep. Hasn't it been +an exciting day?" + +He made no reply, pretending to be occupied at the desk, and she +relapsed into a dream silence, glad of a few quiet, peaceful moments to +be alone with her thoughts. How good it was to have him home again! +Now she could be at peace once more and enjoy life as she used to. She +could go to the opera, to the theater. The days would not be so +monotonous. She wondered why she was still unable to shake off the +feeling of anxiety and apprehension which had haunted her ever since he +went away. With a devoted husband safe at her side, what reason had +she for feeling depressed? Yet, for some reason she was unable to +explain, she was not able even now to throw off her melancholy and +presentiment of danger. + +There recurred to her mind what Signor Keralio had said, his veiled, +ambiguous words of warning. Could it be true, was it possible that her +husband had deceived her all these years and unsuspected by her, had +led a double life of deceit and disloyalty? Certainly there was much +that needed explanation. The loss of the diamonds did not directly +concern her, although she felt that, too, was part of the mystery. But +his strange aloofness of manner, his inexplicable loss of memory and +nervousness, the frenzied outburst when she had mentioned Keralio's +name that afternoon, the sudden craving for drink--was not all this to +some extent, corroboration of what the fencing master has told her? +She thought she would question him, speak to him openly, frankly, as a +loyal wife should the man she loves, and give him an opportunity to +explain. Now was as good a time as ever. Looking up she said abruptly: + +"Signor Keralio was here while you were away. I started telling you +this afternoon, but you got so excited----" + +Making a deprecatory gesture with his hand he said indifferently: + +"That's all right. I was tired and nervous. I'm quieter now. What +did Keralio have to say?" + +"Nothing worth listening to. He never says anything but impertinences." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"You mustn't take him too seriously." + +Hotly she retorted: + +"He takes himself too seriously. If he only knew how repellent he is +to a decent woman he would cease to annoy me." + +He laughed. + +"Oh, Keralio's not a bad sort--when you get to know him. Those +foreigners think nothing of making love to a woman----" + +"I don't want to know him," she retorted with spirit, "and what's more, +I don't want him coming here. One evening he was so insulting that I +had to show him the door. He had the impudence to come again. So I +had my servant put him out. You won't invite him here again, will you?" + +He was silent, while she sat watching him, amazed that he did not at +once fiercely resent the insult done her in his absence. After a +pause, he said awkwardly: + +"I don't invite him. Keralio's the kind of a chap who invites himself." + +"But can't you put him out?" she demanded with growing irritation. + +"No--I can't," he answered doggedly. + +"Why?" she demanded firmly. + +"I can't--that's all!" + +She looked at him wonderingly, and the color came and went in her face +and neck. There was a note almost of contempt in her voice as she +demanded: + +"What is the hold this creature has on you? Is it something you are +ashamed of?" + +The blood surged to his face and the veins stood out on his temples +like whipcord. Another instant and it had receded, leaving him ghastly +pale. + +"We have business interests in common, that's all," he said hastily and +apologetically. "He has been very useful to me. I don't like him any +more than you do, but in business one can't criticize too closely the +manners or morals of one's associates." + +"No, but a man can prevent his associates from annoying his wife." + +He made no answer, but toyed nervously with a paper cutter. Determined +to get at the truth, she went on: + +"What business interests can you have together? Is it legitimate +business or merely stock gambling?" + +"What do you mean?" + +Rising from the divan, she went toward him. Earnestly, she said: + +"Kenneth, I've wanted to speak to you about this matter for a long +time. During your absence I've heard rumors. Things have been +insinuated. A hint has been dropped here, gossip has been overheard +there--all to the effect that you are heavily involved in Wall Street. +Is it true?" + +For a moment he was silent, at a loss what to answer. He could not +imagine the reason for the questioning or where it might lead him, but +instinct warned him that it was dangerous ground and that caution was +necessary. Why hadn't Francois told him of his brother's Wall Street +operations? It would never do to show himself entirely ignorant of +them. If such rumors existed, there was probably some basis of them. +No doubt his brother had played the market and kept from his wife the +extent of his losses. + +"Is it true?" she repeated. + +He shrugged his shoulders. Nonchalantly, he replied: + +"Never believe all you hear!" + +Her face lit up with pleasure. + +"Really?" she exclaimed. "It isn't true?" + +"Not a word of it. I have money invested in stocks and bonds, but +anyone who accuses me of wild cat speculation is guilty of telling what +I would very politely call a d----d lie!" + +Reassured more by his ease and carelessness of manner than by his +actual words of denial, the young wife gave an exclamation of delight. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "You've no idea how relieved I feel. +It was worrying me terribly to feel that you might be in difficulties +and had not thought enough of me to take me into your confidence." +Looking at him appealingly she added: + +"You will always confide in me, won't you Ken?" + +"Sure I will, sweetheart----" + +Trembling with the ardor he was trying to control he seized hold of her +hand and drew her on to his knee. She offered no resistance, but +passively sat there, clasped against his broad shoulder, her face +radiant with happiness at the load which his words had taken off her +mind. + +Putting his arm round her waist, he leaned forward as if to kiss her, +but drawing quickly back she said: + +"There's still something else I must ask you before my happiness is +quite complete." + +"What's that?" he demanded, impatient at these continual interruptions +to his amorous advances. + +Turning she looked steadily into his face, as if trying to read the +truth or falsity of his answer. She could not see his eyes, veiled as +they were by the glasses, but that sensitive mouth she knew so well, +that determined chin, that high forehead crowned by the bushy brown +hair with its solitary white lock--all these were as dear to her as +they had always been. To think that he might have fondled some other +woman as he was now fondling her was intolerable agony. + +"Kenneth," she said slowly and impressively, "are you sure that there +is no part of your life that you have kept hidden from me?" + +He started and for a moment changed color. What did she mean? Was it +possible that she suspected the substitution, or was she alluding to +some past history of his brother's life, of which he knew nothing? +Evasively, he answered: + +"Why all these question, sweetheart, the first day I come home. Is +this the kind of welcome you promised me, the one I had a right to +expect. I am very tired. Let us go to bed." + +His arm still around her, he again drew her to him and, stooping, tried +to reach her mouth with his own. But again she resisted, her mind too +disturbed by jealousy to be in a mood to respond to his wooing. Gently +she said: + +"I know you are tired, Ken. I am tired, too,--tired of all these +rumors and slanderous insinuations. I have been made unhappy by +hearing this gossip. It is my right to tell you what I have heard and +ask for a straightforward, loyal explanation. I know you are true to +me. I have never doubted it for an instant. I only want a word from +you to forget what I've heard and dismiss the matter from my mind +forever." + +He looked at her, an amused kind of expression playing about the +corners of his mouth. It was only with an effort that he controlled +the muscles of his face. What a comedy, he thought to himself! Here +was this sweet little woman breaking her heart over something which, as +far as he knew, didn't exist. But he must continue to play his part, +no matter at what cost. Evidently, she had heard something for which +there might be some basis of truth. She might even have proofs of his +brother's infidelity, and ready to produce them. Too sweeping a denial +might still further complicate matters, arouse suspicion, and end in +exposure. Cautiously, he replied: + +"You know all there is in my life, sweetheart. I never conceal +anything from you." + +Looking searchingly at him, she demanded: + +"Never?" + +"Never." + +"Has there been another woman in your life, Kenneth, since you married +me?" + +"No, sweetheart--never. If anyone told you that or even insinuated it, +he was a scoundrel. It's a damned lie! You are and always will be the +only one----" + +Her head fell back on his shoulder. + +"Then I am completely happy!" she murmured. + +His arms folded about her and she felt his warm breath on her cheek. +But this time she did not resist. It felt good to be sheltered there +in those strong arms against the attacks and calumnies of the world. + +"It is late," he murmured. + +Suddenly, he threw her head back and bending down till his mouth +reached hers he kissed her full on the lips. She did not resist, but +just abandoned herself, responding only feebly to the fierce passion +that made him tremble like a leaf. His face flushed, his hands +shaking, he murmured: + +"It is very late. Are you not tired?" + +"No dear--I'm not tired. There's no hurry. We needn't get up early +to-morrow. It's so beautiful here--sitting together like this--so +happy in each other's company." + +"But I am tired," he said, trying to control his emotion. + +It was almost more than he could endure, yet still he mastered himself, +and resisted the temptation that arose violently within him to take her +by force, if needs be, and carry her into the inner room, as the wild +beast, tiring of playing with its victim, suddenly ends the game by +seizing its hapless prey and drags it away to its lair. Was he not the +master? Why should he allow her childish prattle to stand in the way +of his desires. For years, Handsome had not known female society save +that of those wretched outcasts who infest the mining camps. He had +caroused with them and quarreled with them. He had even loved one of +them--after the rough and ready fashion of the _veldt_. She was a +Spaniard, a tall handsome woman, with large black eyes and the temper +of a fury. She had killed her husband in a drunken brawl, and on +leaving prison had gone to South Africa. She met the gambler one night +in a gambling house, and, without as much as asking for an +introduction, she went up to him and, in a characteristic Spanish +style, gave him a hearty kiss on both cheeks. It was her way of +notifying her female associates that, henceforth, the big miner was her +man. Handsome accepted the challenge, and for a couple of years they +lived as happily together as can two adventurers who are in constant +hot water with the police. One day, in a fit of drunken jealousy, she +struck him. Furious with rage, he seized her by the neck. He did not +mean to harm her; it was his giant strength that was to blame. Anyhow +her neck was broken and the coroner called it an accident. For a week +or so, Handsome was really sorry. She was the only woman he had ever +cared for. She at least was a woman. + +But this slip of a girl, with her childish prattle and aristocratic +airs, was quite different. Accustomed to the rougher ways of the camp, +her fine manners and refined graces at first had rather intimidated +him. He did not feel at home with her. He felt awkward and ill at +ease. Yet, for all that, she was a woman, too--a woman of his own +race, desirable, tempting. When Francois had first suggested that he +impersonate his brother and enjoy his fortune, he had said nothing +about his brother's wife. Perhaps he reserved her for his master, +Keralio. At the thought, a pang of jealousy went through him. If +Keralio, why not he? Evidently Keralio had been stalking the game, for +she complained of his conduct and had dismissed him from the house. +Yet, in what position was he to frustrate Keralio in any of his +schemes? He had him in his power; he was completely at his mercy. He +allowed him to masquerade in New York as the millionaire, but he was +the real master of the Traynor home. Even now, Francois might be +spying on their actions, eager to report to the arch conspirator. +Rising from the chair, he lifted her to her feet. + +"Come, darling--it is late----" + +He led her slowly, almost imperceptibly, in the direction of the inner +room. A feeling of languor came over her, and she allowed him to lead +her, abandoning herself to his ardent, feverish embrace, responding +every now and then to the hot kisses he rained on her mouth and neck. +Through her thin dress he could feel her soft form pressing against +him. From her neck arose a delicious aroma, a kind of feminine incense +that still further aroused and lashed his desire. + +"I adore you--I adore you!" he murmured, as he kissed her again. +Slowly he led her past the bookcase and marble Venus to the open door +of her pink and white boudoir. + +[Illustration: "I adore you--I adore you" he murmured, as he kissed her +again.] + +She looked up at him in surprise. + +"How you love me!" she murmured. "You never used to care for me like +this." + +Her head on his shoulder, her eyes half closed, she was conscious only +of the presence of the man she loved better than anyone in the world. + +Yet even now, in the hour of her supreme content and felicity, when all +her tormenting anxieties and doubts had been dissipated by his frank +words of denial, there was still something that worried her. He was +changed somehow, even in his love making. It was delicious to be loved +passionately, fiercely, like this--to be carried off by force, as it +were, by your own husband. But she did not understand how a man could +change so much in a few weeks. Kenneth had always loved her deeply, +but never had she known him display such ardor as this. She had heard +that men change, particularly after long absences from home. Some, she +had heard, became colder; others were more demonstrative. Of the two, +she thought the latter preferable. If there was such love in the +world, why should it not be shown her. Her own temperament was cold, +but no woman could but feel flattered that she possessed the power to +arouse men to such passion. + +At last they had reached the threshold of the boudoir. What to him was +an earthly paradise, was almost attained. In a state of blissful +helplessness, intoxicated by a delicious sensation of being completely +dominated by a will stronger than her own, she permitted him to take +her where he wished. Her eyes closed, her head on his shoulder, she +submitted willingly to his fervent kisses. Another moment and he had +closed the door behind them, when, suddenly, a commotion on the landing +outside the library aroused both with a start. There was the sound of +voices and people running up the stairs. + +"What's that?" exclaimed Helen startled. + +Irritated at this unlooked for interruption, the gambler went quickly +toward the landing to investigate. Francois met him at the library +door. In his hand he held an envelope. Holding it out, he said: + +"A telegram for Madame!" + +"A telegram!" cried Helen, rushing forward. "Good God, I hope Dorothy +is not----" + +She tore it open, while Handsome stood by in silence. On the valet's +face there was a triumphant expression, the gratified smile of one +rogue who enjoys the discomfiture of another. + +Helen suddenly gave a cry. + +"It's as I thought!" she exclaimed. "Dorothy is worse. The doctor +thinks it is scarlet fever. I must go to her at once." + +"Go where?" demanded Handsome in consternation. + +"To Philadelphia." + +"To Philadelphia to-night?" he cried in dismay. + +"Yes--to-night," she said firmly. + +He protested vigorously. + +"Nonsense--you can't go to-night. It will do no good. Wait till the +morning. There are no trains." + +Quickly, the valet drew from his pocket a time-table. With a side +glance at his master, he said: + +"There is a train at 1.15. If Madame is quick, she will make it. The +car is already waiting downstairs." + +Helen seized her fur coat, which the obliging valet had also brought up +from the hall. + +"Yes--yes. Throw a few things in my bag. You needn't come, Ken. I'll +telephone you directly I get to Philadelphia. Good-bye!" + +The next instant she was gone and the gambler, with a muttered curse, +went to the sideboard and poured out a glass of whiskey, with which to +drown his disappointment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +For a person so fastidious and particular, so fond of the luxurious and +the elegant, Signor Keralio had certainly selected a queer neighborhood +for his abode. Miles distant from the fashionable centers, far away up +in the Bronx, he occupied the entire top floor of a dingy, broken down +tenement. There were no other people in the house, it being in such +bad repair that no one cared to live in it, and as Keralio paid as much +as all the previous tenants combined and made no requests for +improvements, the landlord was only too glad to leave him undisturbed. +It was situated at the extreme end of a blind alley and, there being no +egress from the street save at one end, there was consequently little +or no traffic and, for the great part of the day and night, the silence +was as deep and unbroken as in the open country. + +With his neighbors Signor Keralio was distantly polite, but never +intimate. The district was a poor one, being settled mostly by Italian +laborers who rose and went to bed with the sun and toiled too long and +too hard each day to bother their heads as to why such a fine gentleman +as the Signor appeared to be, should live in such squalid quarters. No +one had ever been admitted to his flat. If the baker called, he left +the bread on the mat; if a chance peddler or book agent happened to +wander in, he had to talk through closed doors. The Signor was always +busy and could not be disturbed. The lights often burned all night +long, and sometimes people drove up in a taxi and went away again. For +a while the corner gossips speculated idly as to who he might be, but +gradually they lost all interest. When he purchased trifles at the +corner grocery he gave out casually that he was a newspaper man and had +to work all night, and the fact that muffled sounds of hammering and +machinery in motion had been heard at all hours, only helped to make +the explanation more plausible. + +To-night, Keralio was perhaps more anxious than at any time to +discourage callers--especially should they happen to be inquisitive +secret service agents. Another few days and he would have nothing more +to fear. The presses would soon have completed their work and $500,000 +worth of as fine a $10 counterfeit as ever deceived a bank teller would +be ready for distribution. Half of them had already been run off and, +as he held them up to the light and critically examined the silken +thread that ran here and there through the specially prepared paper and +noted the careful coloring, the beautifully geometrical lathe work and +skilfully traced signatures, he silently congratulated himself. Here +was half a million dollars' worth of splendid currency. Detection was +absolutely impossible. Had not Francois already succeeded in passing a +lot? After all had been disposed of, he could afford to take a rest. +On the proceeds of this rich haul, he could live like a prince for a +few years in Europe, and when that was all gone, he still had the +diamonds to fall back upon. Glancing at the clock, he wondered why +Handsome did not come. He was anxious to get possession of the +diamonds. It was too soon to attempt doing anything with the stones +now. The hue and cry would be too loud. All the diamond markets would +be watched, if they were not already. He had a suspicion that Parker +and Steell suspected something wrong. Francois had seen the President +in earnest consultation with the lawyer directly after Handsome had +announced the loss. He had not been able to hear what was said, but +from their manner he inferred that the diamonds were the sole subject +of conversation. They did not question Handsome's identity. That +never entered their heads, but they doubted his story of losing the +stones. They, no doubt, thought he had used the diamonds to make good +Wall Street losses. + +He chuckled as he thought how admirably his scheme had worked out. He +had hinted at Kenneth being heavily short in this street, which at once +explained a motive for Kenneth diverting the stones to his own use. +Yes, he had triumphed over them all--except one. Helen Traynor, so +far, had foiled him in everything, and the more she resisted and +insulted him, the more determined he was to drag her at his feet. +Handsome, poor devil, fondly imagined he would inherit the wife as well +as the fortune. How could he guess that he, Keralio, would send a +bogus telegram just in time to dash the cup from his lips. + +Impatiently he strode up and down the rooms. Why was Handsome late? A +frown darkened his face. He had better not trifle with him. He must +obey without question or take the consequences. He was in no mood to +be defied. + +Suddenly, he started and listened. His alert ear had caught the sound +of approaching footsteps on the stairs outside. A moment later came +three deliberate knocks on the door, a signal which indicated a +friendly visitor. Quickly, Keralio went forward and withdrew the bolt. + +Francois entered, suit case in hand. Hardly before he could take +breath after the long climb, Keralio exclaimed: + +"Well, how are they going?" + +The Frenchman grinned. + +"_A merveille_! Like hot cakes. I've passed all of zem. Good work, +is it not?" + +"And the real stuff?" demanded Keralio. + +"Is in here." + +The valet pointed to the leather case. + +Eagerly Keralio seized the portmanteau, and, opening it, emptied the +contents. A perfect shower of greenbacks--genuine ones this time--fell +upon the floor. With shaking hands, like a miser who trembles as he +handles his hoarded gold, Keralio picked up the money by armfuls and, +taking it to a table, proceeded to count it. + +"Is it all here?" he demanded suspiciously. + +The valet scowled. + +"Do you think I'm holding any back on you? _Ma foi, non_!" + +Keralio, still counting, fixed his assistant with steely, piercing eyes. + +"No, Francois, I think you know me too well for that. You know I never +forget a service; you also know I never forgive anyone who crosses my +will." + +The valet shrugged his shoulders. In an injured tone he asked: + +"What's all ze talk about? I work well for you. I do your dirty work, +_n'est ce pas_? I never complain--I am faithful. What more would you +have?" + +"Why should you complain? You get your share," rejoined his chief +sternly. + +The valet was silent and Keralio went on: + +"A few days more and we'll be rid of all the new stuff. Then we'll +take down the presses and carry away the parts, piece by piece. When +we're ready to leave this hole, there won't be a shred of evidence +left. Have you heard any news from our man in Washington? What are +the secret service men doing?" + +"Ze alarm is given. Zey have spotted several of ze bills. Half a +dozen of ze cleverest sleuths in ze country have been put on our trail. +Zey will not succeed. Ze scent is cold. We've got zem completely +doped." + +Keralio looked anxious. + +"Is there any danger of them having shadowed you and followed you here?" + +"No--_mon cher, pas le mains du monde_. It took me three hours to come +here from ze Pennsylvania station--such a crazy in and out route I gave +ze chauffeur. If they succeed in following such a labyrinth as that, +they deserve to get us." + +Keralio smiled and pointed to a bottle of brandy on the table. +Approvingly, he said: + +"Good boy! There, take a drink and a cigar----" + +After the valet had refreshed himself, he again confronted his chief. + +"What else _a votre service_?" + +Keralio pointed carelessly to a seat. In a commanding tone, he said: + +"Yes--I have more work for you. Sit down. I will tell you." + +The valet took a chair and waited. Keralio looked at him meditatively +for a moment. Then suddenly he asked: + +"When did you leave the house?" + +"This afternoon at three o'clock." + +"When did Mrs. Traynor return from Philadelphia?" + +"Yesterday--furious at the hoax played upon her? Miss Dorothy is +perfectly well----" + +Keralio smiled. + +"Of course. I sent that telegram." + +The valet grinned. Admiringly, he exclaimed: + +"You are admirable! _Quel homme, mon dieu, quel homme_!" + +Paying no heed to the compliment, Keralio went on: + +"What did Handsome say?" + +"He is puzzled himself and can't understand. Everyone's up in the air. +They think it is a discharged maid who did it for spite." + +"The next time Mrs. Traynor receives a sudden message about her baby it +will not be a hoax." + +The valet looked up in surprise. + +"What do you mean?" + +Keralio did not answer the question immediately, but sat nervously +twisting his fingers, a moody sullen look in his pale saturnine face. +At last, breaking the heavy silence, he said: + +"That woman insulted me. You saw it. You were there----" + +The valet nodded. + +"You mean she put you out--ah, _oui_, she has a _diable_ of a temper +when angry." + +Keralio nodded. + +"Yes--that I can never forgive. She shall ask my pardon on her knees. +I will break her spirit, humiliate her pride. I have been taxing my +brain how to do it. At last I have hit on a plan--one that cannot fail +and you shall help me." + +"In what way _s'il vous plait_?" + +Bending forward, his black eyes flashing, Keralio said earnestly: + +"That woman is devoted to only two beings in this world--her husband +and her baby. Sooner or later, perhaps only in a few days, she will +discover that Handsome is an impostor. He is such a fool that exposure +is inevitable. The blow will almost kill her. Above all, it will +humiliate her pride to know that unwittingly she has allowed that +drunken brute, that poor counterfeit of her husband, to caress and +fondle her. Next in her affections comes her baby. If any danger +threatened the child, she would stop at nothing, she would make any +sacrifice to ward off the danger. I propose to bring about just that +situation----" + +The valet half started up from his chair. Hardened and callous as he +was in crime, he was hardly prepared to go to that extreme. + +"Death?" he exclaimed, horror stricken, "you would kill ze child?" + +"No fool--not kill the child. I'll kidnap it--that's all. We'll bring +the child here and, then I'll write the mother, telling her where it is +and to come to it, but warning her that if she values the child's life, +she must tell no one, and must come here unaccompanied. Once she is +here, I will take care of the rest. Do you understand?" + +The valet breathed more freely. + +"So you will that I----" + +His chief nodded. + +"Precisely. You'll take the flyer to Philadelphia. Say you come from +the mother. They'll have no suspicion. Take the child and come here +at once. Understand?" + +"_Oui_, monsieur." + +Keralio rose. In commanding tones, he said: + +"Then go at once." + +The valet went to get his hat. As he approached the door Keralio +halted him and said: + +"What's Handsome doing--keeping sober?" + +"He has to, for I lock up all ze liquor. He lives like a lord, buying +swell clothes, riding in ze automobile. Last night he lost at ze club +$10,000 he had drew from ze bank." + +Keralio gave a low whistle. + +"The deuce he did! Living high, eh? Well--that's all right. Let him +enjoy it. His gay life won't last long--only just as long as it suits +my purpose." + +"Hush! Not a word--here he is!" + +From the landing outside came the sound of a heavy body lurching. Then +came the noise of someone groping for the handle, followed by a furious +pounding on the wooden panels. + +"Open up there, will you!" shouted a hoarse voice. + +"Drunk, as usual!" said Keralio contemptuously. + +He suddenly threw the door open and the gambler, burly and unsteady on +his legs, almost fell in. He was in evening dress, his collar and tie +rumpled, his hair unkempt. His face was flushed, his eyes bloodshot. +Reeling in, he hiccoughed: + +"What'n h--ll do you live so far up town for? I thought I'd never get +here. Say, this is the end of the world, ain't it? Jumping off place, +eh? Stopped several times on the way to get a drink. My cabby nearly +got lost. Been driving me round for three hours trying to locate the +blooming house. Charged me $5. Hell of a good business, ain't it. +Tain't on the level to treat an old pal that way. Y'oughter be ashamed +o' yourself." + +"I'm more ashamed of you--for making such a beast of yourself," +rejoined Keralio angrily. "Stop your cursed noise or you'll have the +police on top of us!" + +Without ceremony, he pushed the newcomer into a seat and made a gesture +to Francois to go. The valet went toward the door. + +"Remember," said Keralio warningly. "There must be no blundering. I +want the child brought here----" + +"_Oui_, monsieur--it shall be as you say." + +The door closed and Keralio turned quietly to the miner. Sternly, and +in a manner that brooked no nonsense, he demanded: + +"Did you bring the diamonds?" + +Handsome grinned, and pointed to his waist. + +"I've got 'em all right!" With another hiccough, he added: "But +there's no hurry, old sport. Let's have a drink before we get talking +business." + +In two rapid strides Keralio was up to him. Fiercely he said: + +"Give me the stones--give me them I say. We've no time for your d----d +fooling. Hand them over. Come----" + +For a moment the gambler just sat and looked at his master. A giant in +physical strength compared with the slightly built foreigner, he could +have overpowered him as a child might crush an egg-shell, but he lacked +the mentality, the magnetism of the Italian. He was cowed, dominated +by the stronger mind. Grumbling, he began to fumble at his waist: + +"I don't see what's the hurry." + +"But I see," exclaimed Keralio, his eyes growing larger, as he already +saw the colossal stones glittering in his hand. + +The next instant Handsome had slid his hand under his waistcoat and +unbuckled a belt he wore next his shirt. Unfastening a pocket and +taking out the contents, he growled: + +"Here they are! I'm glad to get rid of the d----d things." + +With a cry of exultant joy Keralio took hold of the stones and, going +to the window, greedily feasted his eyes on them. Report had not +exaggerated the value and extraordinary beauty of the gems. They were +worth more than a million. + +"What do I get out of it?" whined the gambler. + +Keralio regarded him with contempt. Dryly he said: + +"You get out of it that you're not sitting in the electric chair for +murdering your twin brother. You get out of it that you're playing the +role of the millionaire, basking in the smiles of your brother's +charming wife, and making a drunken beast of yourself--that's what you +get out of it. Isn't it enough?" + +Handsome winced. Keralio had a direct way of saying things to which +there was no answer possible. + +"All right," he grumbled, "I'm not kicking." + +"No--I wouldn't if I were you." + +Changing the topic, Keralio carelessly lit a cigarette and, between the +puffs, asked: + +"How's your wife?" + +"My wife? You mean his wife?" + +Keralio smiled. + +"Yours--for the time being." + +Handsome scowled. + +"It isn't so easy as I thought," he replied. "I don't know if she +suspects something's wrong or not, but ever since that evening she was +called to Philadelphia she avoids me like the pest. I can see in her +face that she's puzzled. 'It's my husband, and yet not my +husband'--that's what she's thinking all the time. I can guess her +thoughts by the expression on her face." + +Keralio shrugged his shoulders. + +"That's your own fault. I gave you the opportunity. You failed to +profit by it. You got drunk the first night you arrived. Kenneth +Traynor was a temperate man. Is it no wonder you excited wonder and +talk? Then you were stupid under questioning and gave equivocal +answers. Your explanation to Parker about the diamonds was more than +unfortunate; it was idiotic. His suspicions were at once aroused. He +may yet give us trouble before we have time to get rid of the stones. +Finding the wife eluded you, you began to stay out late at night. You +caroused, you drank hard, you gambled--all of which follies your +brother never committed. In other words, you are a fool." + +The miner pointed to the diamonds which still lay on the table. +Sulkily he asked: + +"Is that all you wanted?" + +Keralio put the gems away in his pocket, and pointed to the stacks of +newly printed counterfeit money that lay in stacks all over the floor. + +"No, you can help me make up bundles of this stuff." + +Handsome opened wide his eyes at sight of the crisp currency. Greedily +he exclaimed: + +"Say--that's some money! Ain't they beauties?" + +Keralio made an impatient gesture and, taking off his coat, made a +gesture to his companion to do likewise. + +"Come--there's no time to talk. We must get rid of it all before +morning. For all I know the detectives may be watching the house now." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +"I'm sure it was Mary," exclaimed Ray positively. "I never did like +the girl. She was sullen and vicious and would stop at nothing to get +even with us for discharging her." + +"Perhaps you are right," said Helen, "although it is hard to believe +that a woman would do such a cruel thing to a mother. Just imagine how +worried I was all the way to Philadelphia, only to find when I got +there that no message had been sent, and Dorothy was perfectly well." + +It was evening. The two women were sitting alone in the library on the +second floor, Ray busy at her trousseau, Helen helping her with a piece +of embroidery. The master of the house was absent, as usual. He had +not come home to dinner, having telephoned at the last minute that he +was detained at the club, a thing of such common occurrence since his +return from South Africa that Helen had come to accept it as a matter +of course. Indeed, things had come to such a pass that she rather +welcomed his absence. She preferred the sweet, amiable companionship +of her little sister to that of a man who had suddenly become exacting, +over-bearing and quarrelsome. + +"Why don't you let Dorothy come home?" asked Ray. "Then you wouldn't +have this constant worry about her." + +"I think I will, now that we are more settled and things are quieter. +I wrote to auntie to-day that I might go to Philadelphia one day next +week to bring her home. You are right. I shall not be happy until +she's with me. I have such terrible dreams about her. If anything +were to happen that child, I think it would kill me." + +Ray nodded approvingly. Sympathetically, she said: + +"Yes, dear. You'll feel better satisfied when she's with you. Besides +she'll be a companion for you--especially when I'm married----" + +Helen sighed and turned away her face so her sister should not see the +tears that suddenly filled her eyes. Sorrowfully, she said: + +"It will be terrible to lose you, dear. Of course, I'm happy over your +marriage. It would be very selfish in me to want to stand in the way +of your happiness. I'm sure I wish you and Wilbur every joy +imaginable. But I shall certainly feel very lonely when you are gone." + +The young girl looked closely at her sister. She realized that her +sister was no longer the happy, contented woman she once was, and she +readily guessed the cause. Helen had not taken her into her +confidence, but she had ears and eyes. Living in the house in such +close intimacy, she could not help noticing that the relations between +the wife and husband were no longer what they had been. Guardedly she +said: + +"But you have Kenneth." + +Helen sighed and was silent. + +Ray looked up. More gently she said: + +"Haven't you your husband, dear?" + +Her sister shook her head. There was a note of utter discouragement +and melancholy in her voice as she answered: + +"He is seldom home--his club seems to have more attraction for him. I +rarely see him except at breakfast time." She was silent for a moment, +and then added quickly: "Would you believe that he hasn't been home a +single night since the time I was called to Philadelphia?" + +Ray opened her eyes. + +"He's out all night?" + +"Yes--all night. The other morning it was seven o'clock when he came +home--and his dress suit and shirt looked as if he had been in a fight." + +The young girl put down her work and looked at her sister in dismay. + +"Sis!--what's the matter with Ken all at once?" + +Helen made no reply, but covering her face with her two hands, burst +into tears. Ray rose quickly and going over to where she was sitting, +sat on the edge of the chair and put her arms about her. Soothingly +she said: + +"Don't cry, dear, don't cry. He will soon be himself again. His +terrible experience on the steamer upset him dreadfully. His nervous +system underwent such a shock that it has entirely changed his +character. Wilbur says it is quite a common phenomenon. Only the +other day he read in some medical book an article on that very subject. +The writer says any great shock of that kind can cause a temporary +disarrangement of the moral sense and perceptions. For example, a man +who, under ordinary circumstances is a perfect model of a husband, with +every good quality and virtue, may suddenly lose all sense of conduct +and become am unprincipled _roue_. In other words, we have two natures +within us. When our system is working normally we succeed in keeping +the evil that's in us under control; but following any great shock, the +system is disarranged, the evil gains the ascendancy, and we appear +quite another person. This explains the dual personality about which +Wilbur and I had an argument the other day. Don't you remember?" + +Helen nodded. Sadly she said: + +"I begin to think you are right. Certainly he has changed. If he had +been like this when I first met him I should never have married him. +It is not the Kenneth I learned to love." Bitterly, she added: "As he +is now, I feel I dislike and detest him. Unless he soon changes for +the better, I shall leave him. In self respect I can't go on living +like this?" + +Kissing her sister again, Ray rose and went back to her seat. +Confidently, she said: + +"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure everything will be all right soon. You +see if I'm not right. By my wedding day--only three weeks away +now--you'll think as much of Ken as ever----" + +"I hope so, dear, but three weeks is a long time to wait----" + +The young girl laughed. + +"Why that's nothing at all. Just imagine Ken is ill or gone away from +you on a visit for that length of time----" + +As she spoke the door opened, and Francois entered with a silver +salver, which he presented to his mistress. + +"A letter for Madame." + +Helen looked at the envelope and threw it down with a gesture of +impatience. Crossly, she exclaimed: + +"Francois, I do wish you'd be more careful. Can't you read. Don't you +see the letter is addressed to Mr. Traynor?" + +The valet nodded. + +"_Oui_, madame. But as Monsieur is out I thought that possibly +madame----" + +Incensed more at the fellow's impudent air than by what he actually +said, Helen lost her temper. Angrily, she exclaimed: + +"Don't think. People of your class are not hired to think; they are +paid to do as they are told. You've been very careless in your work +recently. The next time it happens I shall have to tell you to find +another place." + +The valet smiled. An insolent look passed over his sallow, angular +face. Dropping completely his deferential manner and fixing the two +women with a bold, familiar stare, he said impudently: + +"You needn't wait till next time. I'll quit right now, _parbleu_. +It's a rotten job, anyhow." + +Indignant, Helen pointed to the door. + +"Go!" she cried. "The housekeeper will settle with you. Never let me +see your face again." + +The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and went toward the door. As he +reached it, he turned round, a sneer on his face: + +"You'll see me again all right, but ze circumstances may be different? +My lady may not be so proud ze next time." + +With this parting shot, he went away, and a moment later they heard him +going up to his room to pack his things. + +Ray turned to her sister. Reprovingly, she said: + +"Weren't you a little severe with him?" + +Helen shook her head. Quickly, she said: + +"I never could bear the sight of the man. He is treacherous and +deceitful. I'm not at all sure that he's honest. It was only after +he'd been here some time that I learned he was formerly with Signor +Keralio. That was enough to set me against him. Like master, like +valet, as the saying goes, and it's usually a true saying. On several +occasions lately I have noticed things that seemed suspicious. The +fellow is more intimate now with Kenneth than I, his wife, have ever +been. Only the other day I discovered them in earnest and intimate +conversation. Directly I appeared they separated and Francois, instead +of continuing to converse on terms of apparent social equality, was +once more the fawning valet. I didn't take the trouble to ask Kenneth +what it all meant. So many singular things have happened since his +return, that this only adds one more to the list." + +"May I come in?" said a voice. + +Helen looked up quickly. It was Wilbur Steell who was standing at the +door with his head half in the room, laughing at them. The two women +had been so busy talking that they had not heard the sound of +approaching footsteps. With an exclamation of joy Ray jumped to her +feet and ran up to him. + +"It's Wilbur--my precious Wilbur!" + +Helen nodded approvingly, as she noticed the girl's enthusiasm. +Certainly her sister had changed. She was hardly the cold, +self-centered Ray of six months ago. With a smile she said: + +"It's astonishing how a man can alter a girl--if he's the right kind." + +The lawyer laughed. + +"It works both ways. The right kind of woman can make a man change his +ways--even a hardened old bachelor. Who could have guessed that I +would ever fall in love?" + +Helen sighed. + +"What is love? We have it to-day; it eludes us to-morrow. A few weeks +ago I thought I loved my husband better than any being in the world. +To-day, I can hardly look him in the face. How do you account for it?" + +Dropping into a chair, the lawyer look serious. + +"I can't account for it, nor can I blame you. Kenneth has returned +from South Africa a changed man. Whether the wreck and the loss of the +diamonds affected his mind I do not know. Only a psychologist could +determine that. But he is not the same. Where is he to-night?" + +Helen threw up her hands. + +"Do I ever know?" she exclaimed wearily. "I haven't seen him since +morning, and don't expect to see him before breakfast to-morrow. He's +at his club or drinking and carousing, or in some gambling house +playing roulette. How do I know?" + +"It is certainly a most singular case," said the lawyer meditatively. +"Mr. Parker and I have gone carefully over his accounts at the +Company's office. Everything is perfectly regular. There only remains +the missing diamonds. We have detectives working on half a dozen clues +but so far we have accomplished nothing. We have also gone to +Washington to get the secret service men interested in the case on the +ground that if the diamonds are here they were smuggled in and no duty +was paid. But we found the secret service men busy following up +counterfeiters. The country is being flooded with counterfeit $10 +bills--a splendid reproduction, almost defying detection. It is +believed that the plates and presses from which they are made are right +here in New York and the whole secret service force is at work trying +to run the counterfeiters to earth. This is why our diamond case is +going so slowly. They are so busy following up the counterfeiters they +have no time for us." + +Ray, much interested, leaned eagerly forward. + +"A counterfeit ten dollar bill, did you say?" she demanded. + +"Yes--it is a remarkable counterfeit. You would not know it from a +good one. Only an expert can tell the difference. But all these +crooks overreach themselves. Clever as they are, they usually leave +some mark which betrays them. For example, in printing this bill which +bears the head of Lincoln, they have spelled his first name +'Abrahem'--in other words, the engraver made an 'e' when it should have +been 'a.'" + +Ray jumped up, quite excited. Her eyes flashing, she cried. + +"Isn't that strange! I have a new $10 bill, and I noticed to-day the +queer spelling of Abraham. Wouldn't it be funny if I had one of the +counterfeits?" + +The lawyer smiled. + +"It wouldn't be funny; it would be a tragedy, considering that in a +short while from now I am to pay your bills. Where is the bank note?" + +"I'll run up and get it. It's in my purse." + +When she had disappeared, Steell turned to his hostess and said: + +"Have you seen Signor Keralio lately?" + +"Hardly--you know I dismissed him from the house." + +The lawyer sat thoughtfully drumming his fingers on the table. +Musingly, he said: + +"Somehow I have a hunch that that fellow knows something about the +diamonds. Does Kenneth ever see him?" + +"I asked him the other day. He said he did not." + +"That's strange!" exclaimed the lawyer. "It was only yesterday morning +that I saw them together in a taxicab." + +"Where?" demanded Helen, surprised. + +"Away uptown. I had business up in the Bronx. I was driving my car +and was near 200th street and going north when suddenly I had to steer +to one side to allow a taxicab to pass. There were two men in it. I +just chanced to glance inside and, to my surprise, I recognized your +husband and Keralio." + +"What time was that?" + +"Very early--about nine o'clock." + +"What direction?" + +"They were coming south." + +"Then he must have been with Keralio all night, for he didn't come +home." + +The lawyer was silent. Certainly here was a mystery which needed more +detective talent than he possessed to clear up. Yet he would not rest +until it was solved. To-morrow he would get Dick Reynolds busy, and +they would go to work in earnest. The first thing to find out was what +took Keralio and Kenneth to the Bronx. + +"Does Keralio live in the Bronx?" + +"I don't know," said Helen. + +"I'll find out," said the lawyer, grimly. + +At that moment Ray returned, holding out a new ten-dollar bill. + +"I was right," she cried. "The name Abraham is spelled with an 'e.' +Do you really think this is a counterfeit?" + +The lawyer took the bill and examined it critically. + +"I have no doubt of it," he answered. "There are other +indications--the general appearance, the touch of the paper. Where did +you get it?" + +For a moment the young girl was puzzled. + +"Let me think. Where did I get it. Oh yes, I know. Francois gave it +to me." + +"Francois!" exclaimed Helen. + +The lawyer started and looked up in surprise. + +"Francois, your brother-in-law's valet?" + +"Yes--I wanted a $20 bill changed to pay for some things that came home +from the store, and he went out and brought me some old bills and this +new one." + +The lawyer gave vent to a low, expressive whistle. + +"Francois gave it to you, eh? Where is Francois?" + +"I discharged him to-day for insolence," said Helen. + +"He's gone!" + +"Yes--he went shortly before you came in." + +The lawyer jumped to his feet, a look of exultation on his face. +Quickly, he said: + +"Didn't you say that this Francois was formerly with Signor Keralio?" + +"Yes--he was with him for years." + +The lawyer gave a wild whoop of joy. + +"Then we've got it--at last." + +"Got what?" cried the women. + +"A clue--a clue!" cried the lawyer, excitedly. "Can't you see it? +Francois is hand in glove with Keralio--the master rogue who is making +this counterfeit." + +"What do you propose to do?" + +"Find where Keralio lives--then, perhaps, we'll find the lost diamonds." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"This way," whispered Dick, as he darted swiftly from door to door, +"keep close behind me, and stick to the wall, or he'll see you." + +But Francois was so utterly fagged after his long walk from the +Elevated road, carrying his heavy suitcase, that he worried about +nothing save his own discomfort. Unable to find a taxi, he had been +compelled to tramp the entire distance, and the fatigue of it had made +him peevish. He could have saved himself at least a mile if he had +taken a more direct road, but Keralio's orders were explicit. He must +always follow a circuitous route so as to throw possible pursuers off +the scent. There was no disobeying the orders of the chief, so on he +trudged, looking neither to right nor left, up one street, down +another, now crossing an empty lot, now darting through a narrow alley, +through the wastes and dreariness of Bronxville. + +As he approached his journey's end, he accelerated his pace, going +along so fast that it was as much as Dick and Steell could do to keep +up with him. The night was dark and foggy, and at times they could not +see him for the mist. But as he came within the glare of each lamp +post, they could make out his lithe figure, scurrying along as if the +devil himself were at his heels. + +"Let's get up closer," gasped Dick, who was winded from the long chase. +"I guess their den is in this neighborhood. He'll slip in somewhere +and we'll lose him if we keep so far away." + +"No--he may see us," whispered Steell cautiously. "We can make him out +all right." + +They increased their pace a little. The valet was less than two blocks +away, and once he actually stopped and looked around as if to see if he +was followed. Quickly Steell and Dick darted under a doorway, and, +seeing nothing to arouse his suspicion, Francois went on. + +The lawyer was taking no chances to-night. It was too good a game to +spoil. That they were on the right trail at last he was morally +certain. Ray's experience had given him the first clue. After that it +was easy. For two days Dick had shadowed the valet, and seen him +changing crisp $10 bills in half a dozen different places. The lawyer +could have had him arrested at once, but he was after bigger game. It +was not enough to arrest Francois. He was only the tool. They must +get the man higher up, the man who employed him. That man, the lawyer +felt equally confident, was Keralio. He was the master counterfeiter. +The first step to take was to find out where the counterfeiting was +done, where Keralio had his plant, and the only way to do this was to +follow the valet to his master's secret den. + +For several days they had shadowed the Frenchman constantly, until +to-night they were rewarded by seeing him start with a suit case in the +direction of the Bronx. They quickly gave chase, the lawyer confident +of results. It was not part of his plan, however, to hurry matters or +do things prematurely. To-night they would merely reconnoiter. They +would content themselves by watching the premises, seeing who came and +went, and trying to obtain a glimpse of the interior. If the evidence +was incriminating enough to make a raid successful, it would always be +time enough to call in the police. Keralio, he was also well +convinced, had something to do with the missing diamonds, and possibly +the present investigation would throw some light on the mystery +surrounding Kenneth himself. He had made no mention of his suspicions +to Helen, but he could not help feeling that in some way, yet to be +discovered, his old comrade had become involved with a band of crooks. +How otherwise explain his acquaintance with Keralio, an utter stranger +of dubious antecedents. How explain the loss of the diamonds? The +explanation Kenneth had given was decidedly fishy. Parker did not +believe a word of it--in fact, frankly expressed, his opinion was that +his vice-president had disposed of the gems. Had he himself not seen +Kenneth driving about the Bronx with Keralio at an impossible hour? +Had not Helen discovered Francois conversing on intimate terms with his +master? It all looked decidedly bad; only time could unravel it all. +It was a fearful thing to suspect a man of Kenneth's standing, but +everything pointed to his being involved in a vast network of crime. + +He was aroused from his reflections by an exclamation of warning from +his companion. + +"Quick--there he goes!" whispered Dick. + +The valet had suddenly made a sharp turn to the right, and was lost to +view. But quick as he was, Dick was quicker. The young man was a +little ahead of the lawyer, and, putting on a spurt of speed, he +reached the corner just in time to see the Frenchman and suitcase +disappear into a grimy, dilapidated looking tenement at the end of a +blind alley. + +"We've run the fox to earth," whispered Steell exultantly. + +"Could any melodrama wish for a more appropriate _mise-en-scene_?" +grinned Dick. + +"Come opposite, and find out what we can see from the outside." + +Crossing the street they took up positions in the shadow of a doorway. + +The house which the Frenchman had entered was all dark and apparently +tenantless, except on the top floor where lights could be faintly seen +behind hermetically sealed shutters. Straining his ears, Steell +thought he could hear the steady hum of machinery in motion. With an +exclamation of satisfaction, he turned to his companion: + +"We've got 'em, Dick, we've got 'em. Do you hear the presses going?" + +The young man listened. The sound was plainly audible, but it was a +muffled sound, as if the walls and windows were padded with mattresses +to prevent any sounds of the operations within from reaching +inquisitive, outside ears. + +"Let's go upstairs," whispered Steell. + +Recrossing the road, they entered the house and began to grope their +way up the narrow, winding staircase. They could make only slow +progress, not only because of the absence of light, but owing to the +rotten condition of the stairs. Indescribably filthy and littered with +all sorts of rubbish and broken glass, in some places the boards had +broken through entirely, leaving gaping holes, which were so many +dangerous pitfalls. Twice the lawyer came near breaking his neck. + +At last they reached the top, both out of breath from the long and +perilous climb. + +"Hush--there it is!" whispered Dick pointing at the end of a narrow +hall to a door from underneath which issued a faint glimmer of light. + +Cautiously, noiselessly, treading on tiptoe, the lawyer and his +companion crept along the passage until they came to the door. They +listened. There was not a sound. Even the hum of machinery which they +had heard in the street, had ceased. Could the inmates have taken +alarm? + +All at once they heard people talking. Instantly, Steell recognized +the voice of Keralio. He was questioning someone, no doubt the valet. +They listened. + +"Well, did you carry out my orders?" + +"_Oui_, monsieur, ze last of ze ten-dollar bills has been passed. I +have ze money here." + +"I did not mean that," broke in Keralio impatiently. "I mean as +regards the child----" + +"_Oui_, monsieur. Didn't you receive my telegram. I brought the child +from Philadelphia yesterday evening." + +Steell, puzzled, turned to his companion. + +"What child are they talking about?" he whispered. + +"I have no idea. Some more mischief they're up to, I guess." + +Again Keralio's voice was heard asking: + +"Where is Handsome to-day? I told him to come. Why isn't he here?" + +"He's drinking again, monsieur. When he's drunk you can't do anything +with him. He's getting ugly about ze diamonds." + +Steell nudged his fellow eavesdropper. + +"Did you hear that?" he whispered. "He spoke of diamonds!" + +Keralio was heard bursting into a peal of savage laughter. + +"Getting ugly is he? What does he want?" + +"He says you promised him half of ze proceeds when ze diamonds were +sold, and that now you are trying to do him out of it---- He says he's +sick of ze whole thing and will squeal to ze police unless you do ze +right thing." + +Straining every nerve to hear, Steell glued his ear to the door. + +Keralio burst out fiercely: + +"Squeal, will he, the dog? I'd like to know what will become of him +when the final reckoning's paid. Will he tell the police that he was a +drunken adventurer in the South African mining camps before his twin +brother, Kenneth Traynor, arrived at Cape Town? Will he tell the +police that he set the steamer afire, murdered his own brother, and, +profiting by the extraordinary resemblance, returned to New York, +passing himself off as the man who went away. No, he won't tell all +that, will he? But I will. Did you bring the money? Let me see it." + +The talking suddenly ceased, and was followed by a deep silence. +Steell, staggered at this unexpected revelation, almost stumbled in his +eagerness to hear more. Turning to his companion, he exclaimed in a +horror-stricken whisper: + +"My God! Did you hear that? It's even worse than I feared. They've +done away with Kenneth. That man at the house is an impostor!" + +"An impostor?" ejaculated Dick. "Impossible. Don't we all know +Kenneth when we see him?" + +"Nothing's impossible!" rejoined the lawyer hurriedly. "Kenneth had a +twin brother--the resemblance was so extraordinary as children that no +one knew them apart. The brother disappeared years ago. They thought +him dead. Kenneth must have come across him in South Africa. This +brother killed him and took his place. It's all clear to me now. +We're in a den of assassins!" + +Inside the conversation began again. + +"Hush! Listen!" whispered Steell. + +The voice of Keralio was once more raised in angry tones. + +"Didn't I tell you that I wanted the child brought here at once?" + +"_Oui_, monsieur, but I could not. I had ze rest of ze money to get +rid of and ze suitcase to carry. I will bring her in a taxi to-morrow." + +"Where is she?" + +"Safe in the care of the woman who runs my boarding house." + +"When did you bring her from Philadelphia?" + +"Yesterday afternoon." + +"Did you have any trouble?" + +"_Non_, monsieur. I didn't even have to go to ze house, although I had +a plausible story all ready. I was going to say that Mrs. Traynor had +sent me to fetch Miss Dorothy because her mother wanted her home for ze +coming marriage of Miss Ray. But it wasn't necessary to lie about it. +I found ze child playing in ze street near the house. I merely told +her her mamma wanted her to come home, gave her some candy, and she +followed me willingly enough." + +"By this time the alarm has been given." + +"_Sans doute_, monsieur. They probably telegraphed Mrs. Traynor last +night that ze child was missing----" + +The voices again stopped. Steell, his face white, and fists clenched, +turned to his companion: + +"Good Heavens, Dick, did you hear that? They've kidnapped Mrs. +Traynor's little girl--no doubt, with the idea of demanding ransom. +Thank God, we're in time to frustrate that crime----" + +"Hush!" exclaimed his companion. "Listen!" + +Keralio proceeded: + +"Now you understand what you are to do. You bring the child here +to-morrow morning. Meantime, I have already written in a disguised +hand to Mrs. Traynor telling her that her child is safe--for the +present, and that if she wants to see her she must come here to-morrow +afternoon. I warned her that if she communicated with the police or +informed any of her friends, the child would be put to death before it +would be possible to effect a rescue. That ought to bring her here----" + +"Would monsieur go as far as to kill----" + +"Why not," demanded Keralio fiercely. "I permit nothing to stand in +the way of my will. That woman can save her child's life, but she must +pay the price I ask. She shall learn what it costs to dismiss me from +her house----" + +The valet was heard to chuckle as he said: + +"I don't love her any too much myself. She discharged me from her +employ the other day so haughtily I felt like a whipped cur." + +Again there was silence, followed by a muffled hammering. + +"They're taking the printing press apart," whispered Dick, who through +the keyhole, had managed to get a glimpse of machinery. "If we don't +act quickly, they'll get away with all the evidence. Hadn't we better +go and call the police?" + +For answer, the lawyer put his fingers to his lips with a warning +gesture, and beckoning the young man to follow, retraced his steps on +tiptoe along the narrow, dark hall and down the filthy, winding +staircase. Not a word was spoken by either man until they reached the +street. Once in the open air, the lawyer turned and said: + +"Dick, we've uncovered as black a plot as was ever hatched in hell. If +we don't queer the game and put them all in the chair it won't be my +fault. We can't bring poor Kenneth back to life, but we can and will +revenge his cowardly murder. It will be a positive joy to me to see +that arch-scoundrel Keralio electrocuted." + +"What do you propose to do?" asked his companion. "Hadn't we better +call Mrs. Traynor on the telephone and warn her before it's too late?" + +The lawyer was silent for a few moments. Then meditatively, he said: + +"No, that would be a mistake. No doubt, by this time, she has received +Keralio's anonymous letter. She is probably frantic with anxiety over +the news of her child's disappearance, and will respond eagerly to any +clue that promises to take her to her child. If we warned her she +would pay no heed. She might pretend to, but only to pacify us. +Afraid that punishment might be visited on the child, she would obey +the warning not to talk, and she will come here to Keralio's flat +to-morrow at the time the letter stated. Of course, she has no idea +Keralio wrote the letter. But even if she had, it would make no +difference. I know her. She would run any risk to save her child." + +"I think you're right," replied Dick, "but how, then, will you help +her? There is no knowing what Keralio's object is in enticing her +here--you can be sure it's nothing good." + +"Precisely--that's why we, too, must be on hand, together with a strong +force of detectives. We'll get them all. There will be no possible +escape. We'll surround the house with men. They'll be caught like +rats in a trap." + +The lawyer turned to go. + +"Where are you bound now?" asked Dick. + +"To police headquarters!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"There--take a little water--you're much better now!" said the nurse, +soothingly. + +The patient swallowed greedily the cooling drink handed to him, and, +tired even by that small effort, fell back on his pillows exhausted. + +"Where am I?" he inquired of the comely young woman, who in neat +service uniform, hovered about the bed. + +"You're in St. Mary's Hospital." + +"In New York?" he queried. + +"No--San Francisco----" + +He was too weak to question further, but his hollow blue eyes followed +her as she moved here and there, attending skilfully and swiftly to the +duties of the sick room. Presently he made another venture: + +"Have I been ill long?" + +"Yes--very long." + +"What's the matter?" + +"Concussion of the brain, pneumonia and shock. You are much better +now, but you mustn't talk so much or you may have a relapse." + +He asked no more, but passed his hand over his brow in a bewildered +sort of way. Presently, he began again: + +"Does my wife come to see me?" + +The nurse stopped in her work and looked at him curiously. In +surprise, she exclaimed: + +"Your wife! Have you a wife?" + +It was his turn now to be surprised. In somewhat peevish tone he said: + +"Of course I've a wife--everyone knows that." + +"What's her name?" + +"Helen--Helen Traynor." Enthusiastically, he added: "Oh, you'd just +love my wife if you only knew her. She's the sweetest, the most +unselfish----" + +The nurse looked at him curiously. + +"So your name is Traynor, is it? We've tried to find out for a long +time. But there were no marks on your clothes when you were picked up. +We did not know who you were and so have not been able to communicate +with any of your friends. We guessed you were a man of social position +by your hands and teeth, and we knew your name began with a T because +of the monogram on the signet ring on your finger." + +"Pick me up?" he echoed. "Where did they pick me up? What has +happened? Was it an accident?" + +"You were found unconscious, drifting in the ocean, clinging to a spar, +and were brought here by a sailing vessel. You had a fracture of the +skull and you were half drowned. It is supposed that you were one of +the passengers of the _Abyssinia_, which took fire and went down two +days after leaving Cape Town, but as several passengers and officers +whose bodies were never found also had names beginning with T, it was +impossible to identify you." + +As he listened, the vacant, stupid expression on his face gradually +gave place to a more alert, intelligent look. Indistinctly, vaguely, +he recalled things that had happened. Slowly his brain cells began to +work. + +He remembered cabling to Helen from Cape Town telling her of his +sailing on the _Abyssinia_. He recalled the incidents of the first day +at sea. The weather was beautiful. Everything pointed to a good +voyage. Who was traveling with him? He could not remember. Oh, yes, +now he knew. Francois, his valet, and that other queer fellow he had +picked up at the diamond mines--his twin brother. Yes, it all came +back to him now. + +Why had he gone to the diamond mines? Yes, now he knew--to take back +to New York the two big stones found on the Company's land. He had +them safe in a belt he wore round his waist next to his skin. The +second night out he went to bed about midnight and was fast asleep when +suddenly he heard shouts of "Fire! Fire!" Jumping up and looking out +of his cabin he saw stewards and passengers running excitedly about. +There was a reddish glare and a suffocating smell of smoke. Quickly he +buckled on the belt with the diamonds, and, slipping on his trousers, +went out. The electric lights had gone out. The ship was in complete +darkness. From all sides came shouts of men and screams of frightened +women. It was a scene of utter demoralization and horror. He was +groping his way along the narrow passage, when, suddenly, out of the +gloom a man sprang upon him, and, taken entirely by surprise, he was +borne to the deck before he had time to defend himself. He could not +see the man's face and thought it was one of the passengers or sailors +who had gone mad, but when he felt a tug at his belt where the diamonds +were, he knew he had to do with a thief. He fought back with all his +strength, but he was unarmed, while the stranger had a black jack which +he used unmercifully, raining fearful blows on his head. The struggle +was too unequal to last. Weak from loss of blood, he relaxed his grip, +and the thief, dealing one fearful parting blow, tore away the belt and +disappeared. His life blood was flowing away, he felt sick and dizzy, +but just as the thief turned to run he managed to get a glimpse of his +face. Now he remembered that face--it was the face of his twin +brother--the man he had rescued from starvation on the _veldt_. + +Yes, it all came back to him now, like a horrible nightmare. What had +happened since then? How could he tell, since all this time his mind +had been a blank? Helen, no doubt, believed him dead. Mr. Parker and +all the others thought he had gone down with the ship. But what of his +valet, Francois, and his cowardly, murderous brother--were they saved? +If so, the thief had the diamonds, and had probably disposed of them by +this time. Perhaps there might still be time to capture the would-be +assassin and save the gems for the Americo-African Company. Brother or +no brother, he would have no more pity on the unnatural, miserable +cutthroat. The first step was to let his friends know where he was. +He must telegraph at once to Helen. + +Yet, on second thought, it would not be wise to do that. If Helen +really believed him dead and was now mourning his loss, it might be +almost a fatal shock if suddenly she were to receive a telegram saying +he was alive. Such shocks have been known to kill people. A better +plan would be to get well as soon as possible, leave the hospital, and +go to New York. Once there, he could go quietly to his office and +learn how matters were. + +The days passed, the convalescent making speedy progress toward +recovery, and in a few weeks more he was able to leave the hospital. +Making himself known quietly to a San Francisco business acquaintance, +he was quickly supplied with funds and immediately he turned his face +homeward. + +The long, overland journey was tedious and exhausting, especially in +his present weakened condition, and even those who knew him well would +hardly have recognized in the pale emaciated looking stranger with ill +fitting clothes and untrimmed full growth of beard who emerged from the +train at the Grand Central Station, the carefully dressed, well groomed +Kenneth Traynor who, only a few months before, had sailed away from New +York on the _Mauretania_. + +The noise and turmoil of the big metropolis, in striking contrast to +the quiet and seclusion of the sick room in which he had lived for so +many weeks, astonished him. The crowds of suburbanites rushing +frantically for trains, elbowing and pushing in their anxiety to get +home, the strident hoarse cries of newsboys, the warning shouts of +wagon drivers as they drove recklessly here and there at murderous +speed, the blowing of auto horns, the ceaseless hum and roar of the big +city's heavy traffic--all this bewildered and dazed him. At first he +did not remember just in what direction to turn, whether he lived in +the East or West side, uptown or down. But as he got more accustomed +to his surroundings, it all came back to him. How stupid--of course he +had to go downtown to 20th Street. Once more he was himself again. +Hailing a taxi, he started for Gramercy Park. + +Conflicting emotions stirred his breast as he drew near his home. What +joy it would be to clasp Helen once more in his arms. How delighted +she would be to see him! Then he was filled with anxiety, a sudden +feeling of dread came over him. Suppose some misfortune, some calamity +had happened during his absence! Helen might have met with some +accident. Baby might have been ill. The worst might have happened. +He would never have heard. Perhaps he was only going home to find his +happiness wrecked forever. + +The driver made his way with difficulty down Fifth Avenue, threading +his way in and out the entanglement of carriages and automobiles, +until, after a ten minutes' run, turned into Gramercy Park and pulled +up short on the curb of the Traynor residence. + +Eagerly Kenneth put his head out of the window and scanned the windows +for a glimpse of the loved one, but no one, not even a servant, was +visible. The house looked deserted. His misgivings returned. +Stepping out hastily, he paid the driver, and, running up the steps, +rang the bell. + +Roberts, the faithful old butler, who had been in the family service +for years, came to open. Seeing a rather shabbily attired person +outside, he held the door partly closed and demanded, suspiciously: + +"Who is it you wish to see?" + +Irritated at the manner of his reception, Kenneth gave the door a push +that nearly knocked the servant over. Angrily, he exclaimed: + +"What's the matter, Roberts? Didn't you see it was me?" + +The butler, who had recovered himself, and now believed he had to do +with a crank or some person under the influence of liquor, again barred +the way. Trying to push the unwelcome visitor out, he said soothingly: + +"Come now, my good man, you've made a mistake. You don't live here." + +Struck almost speechless with amazement at the brazen impudence of one +whom he had always regarded as a model servant, Kenneth turned round as +if about to make a wrathful outburst. As he turned, the light from the +open door fell full on his face and now for the first time Roberts saw +the visitor's features. With a startled exclamation the man fell +backward. For a moment he was so surprised that he could not speak. +Then, in an awe-stricken whisper, he cried: + +"Who are you?" + +For a moment Kenneth thought the man had suddenly become insane. For +his own servant not to know him was too ridiculous. At that moment he +caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror of the hat stand. Ah, now he +understood. The beard and emaciated face had made quite a +difference--no wonder the man failed to recognize him. Breaking into +laughter he exclaimed: + +"No wonder you didn't recognize me, Roberts. I have changed a little, +haven't I? I've grown a beard since I saw you last and been through a +regular mill. But you know me now don't you--I'm your long lost +master." + +The servant shook his head. Still closely scrutinizing Kenneth's face +as if greatly puzzled, he said: + +"You're not my master, sir. Mr. Kenneth Traynor left the house some +ten minutes before you arrived." + +Kenneth stared at the man as if he thought he had gone clean out of his +mind. + +"I went out ten minutes before I arrived," he echoed. "What kind of +nonsense is that, Roberts?" + +"I didn't say _you_ went out," replied the servant, beginning to lose +his patience. "I said Mr. Kenneth Traynor went out. You are not Mr. +Kenneth Traynor." + +"Then who in the name of heaven am I?" + +"I haven't the remotest idea," retorted the man. Condescendingly, he +went on: "I admit you look a little like the master." Impatiently he +added: + +"You must excuse me. I want to close the door." + +Instead of obeying the hint to withdraw, Kenneth strode further into +the house, the protesting and indignant butler at his heels. + +"You must really go," said the servant. + +Kenneth turned around. + +"Roberts--don't be a fool. Don't you know me? I know why you don't +recognize me. You all think me dead, but I'm very much alive. I did +not go down on the _Abyssinia_. I was picked up and taken to San +Francisco and have been in a hospital there ever since. I have just +come home. Where's my wife?" + +The butler stared and stood motionless, as if not knowing what to make +of it. + +"But you came home long ago." + +"Who came home?" + +"You did." + +"No, I didn't. I've been in San Francisco all the time. How could I +be here if I was sick in a San Francisco hospital?" + +"Then who is the other Mr. Traynor?" + +Now it was Kenneth's turn to be surprised. + +"The other Mr. Traynor?" he echoed stupefied. + +"Yes--the gentleman who looks more like you than you do yourself. He +arrived here a month ago. We all took him for you." + +For the first time a light broke in on the darkness. Who was the +person who looked so like him that he could successfully impersonate +him? Who could it be but the man who left him for dead on the +_Abyssinia_ after murderously assaulting him? Suddenly a horrible +thought came to him. Grasping the butler's arm he exclaimed: + +"My wife? Is she well?" + +"Yes, sir. Mrs. Traynor's quite well." + +"And Dorothy?" + +"Quite well, sir." + +"Thank God!" + +The servant hesitated. + +"That is--sir--Miss Dorothy----" + +"Out with it, man. Out with it." + +"Mrs. Traynor's being greatly worried sir, lately. Miss Dorothy was at +her aunt's in Philadelphia----" + +"Yes, yes----" + +"Someone's run away with Miss Dorothy. She's been kidnapped." + +"My God!" + +"But Mrs. Traynor has a clue. She got a letter yesterday, saying where +the child was. She wouldn't confide in any of us and she left here +only half an hour ago to go to the place." + +Again Kenneth was seized by panic. + +"Gone to a kidnapper's den. Great God! She's running a terrible risk. +Where has she gone? I'll go to her." + +"I don't know, sir, but Mr. Steell may know----" + +"Ah, that's right. I'll go and see Steell." + +Not waiting to say more he rushed down the steps, and, hailing another +taxi, went off at full speed in the direction of Wilbur Steell's office. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The startling news from Philadelphia that Dorothy had suddenly +disappeared and was believed to have been kidnapped, fell upon the +Traynor home with the crushing force of a bombshell. At first Helen +refused to credit the report. It seemed impossible that any new +suffering was to be inflicted upon her after what she had already +endured. White faced, her whole being shaken by emotion, she read and +re-read her aunt's letter, telling of the child's mysterious +disappearance, and when at last she could read it no more because of +the tears that blinded her, she threw herself limp and broken hearted +into Ray's arms. Hysterically she cried: + +"What have I done that I should be made to suffer in this way? My God! +Where is my child? This maddening suspense will kill me." + +Ray tried to soothe her. Reassuringly, she said: + +"Don't worry, dear. Everything will be all right. A general alarm has +been sent out. The police all over the country are searching high and +low. It's only a question of a few hours and you'll have good news." + +But the hours passed and no news came to cheer the distracted, +broken-hearted mother. Dorothy had disappeared completely, leaving no +trace, no clue behind. + +There was neither rest nor peace for the Traynor household that day. +Helen, almost out of her mind from grief and worry, refused to eat or +sleep until news of the missing child was received. In her agony she +went down on her knees and prayed as she had never prayed before that +her child be restored to her. + +Her little daughter was, she felt, the one link that still bound her to +life. To her husband she felt she could not turn for sympathy. The +romance of their early married life had been shattered forever by the +extraordinary change that had come over him. He had long since ceased +to be to her any more than a name. In her heart, she had come to +despise and detest him as much as before she had worshiped the very +ground he trod. It was an astonishing revulsion of feeling which she +was powerless to explain; she only knew that the old love, the old +passion he had awakened was now quite dead. He inspired in her no more +affection or feeling than the merest stranger. Ever since his return +from South Africa they had lived apart. Ever since that first night of +his return when their tete-a-tete in the library was interrupted by the +bogus telegram, he had quite ceased his amorous advances. He seemed +anxious to avoid her. Only on rare occasions, and then it was by +accident, did they find themselves in each other's company. + +In fact, he was practically never home, living almost exclusively at +the club, where he went the pace with associates of his choosing, +mostly gamblers and men about town. He had begun to drink hard and +when not in pool rooms or at the races, betting recklessly on the +horses, squandering such huge sums, and overdrawing his check account +so often that the bank was compelled to ask him to desist, he sat in +the barrooms with his cronies till all hours of the morning when he +would be brought home in a condition of shocking intoxication. Happily +Helen was spared the spectacle of the degradation of a man she once had +loved with all the force of her virgin soul. Roberts, the butler, +aided by the other servants, smuggled their intoxicated master up to +his room, where he remained until sober, when he went back to his club +only to repeat the same performance. + +To such a man she could not turn for aid or consolation in the hour of +this new misfortune. Indeed, ever since his return, he had been +strangely indifferent to the welfare of the child, never asking after +her or expressing a desire to see her. At times it seemed as if he had +forgotten that he had a child. By some strange metamorphosis he had +developed into an unnatural father as well as a brutal, indifferent +husband. + +But to Helen, alone save for the devoted companionship of her sister, +this was anxiety and suffering enough. Only twenty-four hours had +passed since the child disappeared, but to the unhappy mother it seemed +as many years. Constantly at the telephone, expecting each moment to +hear that the police had been successful in finding the child, she was +gradually wearing herself away to a shadow. Breakfast she left +untouched. Lunch she refused to eat. In vain Ray remonstrated with +her. If she went on like that she would fall ill. But still Helen +refused. Tears choked her, and morning wore into afternoon and still +no news. + +After lunch Ray went out to see if Mr. Steell could help them, +promising to return as soon as possible. Helen sat and waited alone. +The clock was just striking two o'clock when the front doorbell rang +and a letter was brought to her. She did not recognize the writing, +but eagerly she tore it open. Instinctively, she felt it concerned her +missing darling. The letter read as follows: + + +No. -- Lasalle Street, Bronx. + Friday. + +Madame: + +Your child is safe and in good hands. She wants to see her mother. If +you come this afternoon (Friday) to the above address you can see her. +It is the house with the closed green shutters. But if you value your +child's life you must come unaccompanied, and you must inform no one of +the contents of this letter, not even the members of your family. If +you disobey, swift punishment will follow and your child will suffer. +Climb eight flights and knock three times on door at end of +passage.----X. + + +There was no signature. The person who wrote it evidently had reasons +of his own for wishing to remain concealed. That money would be +demanded was more than probable. What other motive could the kidnapper +have? Money she would give--all she had in the world, if only she +could get back her precious child. That a visit to such a place +unattended was full of danger she did not stop to consider. She only +knew that her child was close by--here in New York--and had asked for +her. Not for a moment did she listen to the warnings of prudence. Go +she must, and immediately. She did not even stop to leave a note of +explanation for Ray. Stuffing some money in a bag, she left the house, +saying she would return soon. + +Taking the Third Avenue "L" she left the train at Tremont Avenue, and, +after considerable difficulty, found the house indicated in the letter. +Yes, there were the closed green shutters. At first, on seeing it +apparently untenanted, she thought she must have made a mistake in the +number, but, finding that there was no other place near by that +answered the description as well, she decided to risk climbing the long +flight of stairs. + +Arrived on the top floor, breathless from the unusual exertion, she saw +a long narrow passage, and, at the end of that, a door. That, no +doubt, was the place. Her heart beating violently, she went up to the +door and gave the three knocks. For a moment or so there was no +answer. A profound stillness reigned. Then she heard footsteps +approaching, The next instant, the door was thrown open and a man's +voice, which sounded somewhat familiar, told her to enter. + +At first when she went in, she could see nothing. All the shutters of +the windows looking on the street were closed, and the only light was +that which filtered through the slats. It was an ordinary, cheap flat, +with no carpets on the floors and little or no furniture. On the +floor, scattered here and there, were nailed-up boxes, and parts of +machinery, some already crated, as if to be taken away. + +"So you've come! I thought you would," said a voice behind her. + +She turned and found herself face to face with Signor Keralio. + +At first she was so astonished that she was speechless. Then her +instinct prompted her to turn and flee. If this man had caused her to +be decoyed to this house it could be for no good purpose. But there +was no way of egress. The front door was closed and locked. Not a +human soul was within call. She was alone in an empty house with the +one man she distrusted and feared more than any one else in the world. + +Making an effort to conceal her alarm, she turned and faced him boldly: + +"What are you doing here?" she asked. + +He smiled--a horrid, cynical smile she knew only too well. + +"Has not a man the right to be in his own home?" + +She started back in surprise. + +"This your home?" she exclaimed, glancing around at the scanty and +shabby furnishings. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, don't judge by appearances. I'm really very comfortable here. +It's away from the world. I like to work undisturbed." Significantly, +he added: "Then, you see, it is all my own. I am quite at home here in +my own house. No one can put me out--not even you----" + +She raised her hand deprecatingly. + +"Please don't remind me of that. I have forgotten it long ago." + +His eyes flashed dangerously as he made a step near and exclaimed: + +"You have, but I have not. I have not forgotten that you put me out of +your house ignominiously as one turns out a servant. I have neither +forgotten nor forgiven. That is why you are here to-day." + +She looked at him in utter astonishment. + +"What do you mean?" + +He bowed and, with mock courtesy, waved her to a seat. + +"I will tell you. Did you receive a letter to-day?" + +"Yes--I did." + +"You came here in answer to that letter." + +"Yes--I did." + +"Do you know who wrote that letter?" + +"No--not the least." + +"It was I--I wrote the letter." + +With a stifled cry of mingled fright and amazement, Helen jumped up +from the chair. + +"You wrote the letter?" she exclaimed, incredulously. + +He nodded. + +"Yes--I wrote the letter." + +Her eyes opened wide with terror, her hands clasped together nervously, +she exclaimed: + +"Then you are----" + +He bowed. + +"Exactly. I am the kidnapper of your child----" + +Speechless, she stared at him, her large black eyes opened wide with +terror. Looking wildly about her as if seeking her little daughter, +she gasped: + +"Dorothy? Dorothy here? Where is she?" + +"She is safe," he replied calmly. + +"Where is she, where is she? Take me to her!" she cried, distractedly, +going up to him and clasping her hands in humble supplication. + +He shook off the hand which, in her maternal anxiety, she had laid on +his arm. Lighting a cigarette, he gave a low laugh. + +"Plenty of time. There's no hurry. You're not going yet." + +Anxiously, she scrutinized his face, as if trying to read his meaning. + +"She's going when I go, isn't she?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"That depends--on you." + +"What do you mean?" + +Again he waved her to a seat. + +"Sit down and I'll tell you." + +Trembling, she dropped once more on to a chair and waited. He puffed +deliberately at his cigarette for a few moments and then, turning his +glance in her direction, he smiled in a peculiar, horrible way and his +eyes ran over her figure in a way that made the crimson rush furiously +to her cheek. There was no mistaking that smile. It was the bold, +lustful look of the voluptuary who enjoys letting his eyes feast on the +prey that he knows cannot now escape him. + +"Mrs. Traynor," he began in the caressing, dulcet tones which she +feared more than his anger, "you are an exceptional woman. To most men +of my temperament you would not appeal. They would find your beauty +too statuesque and cold. I know you are clever, but love cannot feed +on intellect alone, I have loved many women, but never a woman just +like you. Your coldness, your haughty reserve, your refinement would +intimidate most men and keep them at a distance, but not me. Your +aloofness, your indifference only spurs me, only adds to the acuteness +of my desire. I swore to myself that I would conquer you, overcome +your resistance, bend you to my will. You turned me out of your home. +I swore to be avenged." + +He stopped for a moment and watched her closely as if studying and +enjoying the effect of his words. Then, amid a cloud of blue tobacco +smoke, he went on: + +"I knew only one way to win you--it was to humiliate you, to place you +in a position where you would have to come to me on your knees." + +She half rose from her chair. + +"I would never do that," she cried. "I would rather die!" + +"Oh, yes, you will," he continued, calmly, making a gesture to her to +remain seated. "When I've told you all, you'll see things in a +different light." Fixing her steadily with his piercing black eyes, he +asked: "Have you noticed any difference in your husband since his +return." + +She looked up quickly. + +"Yes--what does it mean? Can you explain?" + +He nodded. + +"Did you ever hear your husband speak of a twin brother he once had?" + +Her face turned white as death and her heart throbbing violently, she +stared helplessly at her persecutor. She tried to be calm, but she +could not. Yet, why be so alarmed, why should this single question so +agitate her? In the deepest recesses of her being she knew that it was +her unerring instinct warning her that she was about to hear something +that would entail worse suffering than any she had yet endured. + +"Yes--yes--why do you ask?" she gasped. + +"You all thought the brother dead." + +"Yes." + +"You were mistaken. He is alive." + +"Where is he?" she faltered. + +"Here in New York." + +"Where?" + +"In your house. The man who returned home was not your husband. He +was your husband's twin brother." + +She looked at him as one bewildered, as if she did not understand what +he was saying, as if words had suddenly lost their meaning. Her face, +white as in death, she faltered: + +"Not Kenneth--then where is Kenneth?" + +"He is dead!" + +Her powers of speech paralyzed, her large eyes starting from their +sockets from terror, an expression of mute helpless agony on her +beautiful face, she looked up at him with horror. Not yet could she +fully grasp the meaning of his words. At last the frightful spell was +broken. With an effort the words came: + +"Then you," she cried. "You are his assassin!" + +He shook his head as he replied carelessly: + +"No--not I--his brother!" + +She gave a cry of anguish and, starting to her feet, made a movement +forward, her hands clutching convulsively at her throat. Air! air! +She must have air. She felt sick and dizzy. The room was spinning +round like a top, and then everything grew dark. Lurching heavily +forward she would have fallen had he not caught her. + +Instantly she shrank from the contact as from something unclean, and +with a low moan sank down on a chair and buried her face in her hands. +Her instinct had told her true. Her loved one was dead, she would +never see him again, and that man who had come into the sanctity of her +home and fondled her in his arms was his murderer. Oh, it was too +horrible! + +The bitter, cynical smile was still on Keralio's lips as he went on: + +"You see the folly of resisting me. Had you surrendered at that time +all might have been well. The price was not too much to pay. I would +have been discreet. No one but ourselves would have known that you and +I were----" + +He did not complete the sentence, for at that moment she sprang forward +like an enraged tiger cat, and, seizing a cane that stood close by, +struck him across the face with all the force of her outraged womanhood. + +"Murderer! Assassin!" she cried indignantly. "How dare you talk like +that to me? I will denounce you to the whole world. I will not rest +till I see you and that other scoundrel punished and my poor husband is +avenged. On leaving here I shall go direct to the police." + +Imbued with strength she never dreamed she possessed, she was about to +hit him again when he seized the cane and threw it away. But across +his pale, handsome face lay a telltale red mark, the smart of which +burned into his soul. + +His eyes flashed with anger and he made a visible effort to control +himself. He took a step forward and, as he advanced she saw an +expression in his face which prompted her to retreat precipitately. It +was a dangerous look, the look of a man who knew he had a helpless +woman in his power, a man who was desperate and would stop at nothing +to encompass his ends. Now thoroughly frightened, she looked around +for some way to escape. The windows were impossible, the only way was +by the door and he barred the way. Besides, she would never go without +her child. + +He noticed the movement and look of alarm, and he smiled. Continuing +to advance, he said: + +"There's no use making a fuss. No one could hear you if you shouted +for help till the crack of doom. You are alone with me--and absolutely +in my power. Do as I ask and there is nothing you shall not have. +Refuse, and I answer for nothing. Come----" + +Her whole body trembling, her face white with terror, she kept on +retreating: + +"Leave me alone!" she gasped, "or I will scream." + +"Scream away," he laughed. "There's no one here to hear you." + +Suddenly he made a quick lunge forward and seized her. She struggled +and resisted with all the energy born of despair, pushing, twisting, +scratching. But they were too unevenly matched. She was like an +infant in the grasp of an Hercules. Slowly, she felt her strength +leaving her. His iron grasp gradually closed on her, nearer and nearer +he drew her into his embrace. + +With a last, superhuman effort, she managed to wrench herself free, out +of his grip, and breaking completely away, she fled into the next room. +But he was after her in a minute and again seized her, but not before +she screamed at the top of her voice: + +"Help! Help! Kenneth! Wilbur! Help! Help!" + +He tried to gag her mouth to stifle her cries, but it was too late. +His quick ear caught the sound of approaching footsteps in the outside +hall. Almost at the same instant there was a loud knocking at the door. + +Keralio fell back, his face white and tense. Had his plans failed at +the eleventh hour, could anyone have played him false? If the game was +up, they should never take him alive. Leaving Helen, he drew a +revolver, and, going quickly into the inner hall, he waited in grim +silence for the visitors to force an entrance. + +"Open the door, or we'll break it in!" shouted a stern voice outside. +"There's no use resisting. The place is surrounded." + +Still no answer. Keralio stood grimly in the shadow of the parlor +doorway, revolver in hand, while Helen cowered in the inner room, in +momentary expectation of a tragedy. + +Crash! The front door fell in, shattered into a thousand splinters, +and through the breach thus made rushed Wilbur Steell, Dick Reynolds, +and half a score husky Central Office detectives, revolvers in hand. + +"There is he!" cried the lawyer, pointing to Keralio. + +Quick as a flash, the Italian raised the revolver and fired, the bullet +entering the plastered wall an inch away from the lawyer's head. +Almost simultaneously, another pistol shot rang out, but this time the +aim was truer, for, with a cry of baffled rage, Keralio threw his arms +above his head and fell to the floor dead. Quickly, one of the +detectives stooped down and compared his face with a photograph he had +taken from his pocket. + +"Yes----" he exclaimed; "that's the fellow--well known counterfeiter. +Did time in San Quentin and Joliet. Known as Baron Rapp, Richard +Barton and a dozen other aliases. He's one of the slickest rogues in +the country. We've got the valet safe downstairs. I guess he'll get +twenty years." + +But Steell had not waited to hear about Keralio. There were others +more important to think about. Rushing into the inner room, he found +Helen prostrate, half fainting from fright. + +"Thank God, I'm in time!" he exclaimed. + +"Dorothy," she murmured weakly. "Save Dorothy! She's somewhere here." + +Going into another room, the lawyer found the little girl fast asleep +on a bed. Bringing her to her mother, he said tenderly: + +"Here's your treasure. Now you can be happy." + +She shook her head. The nightmare of what Keralio had told her, still +obsessed her. + +"No--" she shuddered; "--never again. They have killed him!" + +To her surprise, the lawyer, instead of sharing her sorrow, actually +smiled. + +"Helen," he said; "I have a great surprise for you. A friend has +accompanied me here. He called at your house to-day, but you had just +left, so he called on me. You have not seen him since he sailed away +three months ago on the _Mauretania_." + +She listened bewildered. Her color came and went. What did he mean? +Could it be possible that--no, had not Keralio said he was dead? +Trembling with suppressed emotion, she whispered: + +"Tell me--what is it--tell me----" + +For all reply, the lawyer went to the door and beckoned to someone who +had waited in the outer hall. A moment later a man entered, a tall, +well set figure that was strangely familiar. Straining her eyes +through her tears, it seemed to her that her mind must be playing her +some trick, for there before her, stood Kenneth, not the impostor her +instinct had warned her to detest and avoid, but the real Kenneth she +had loved, the father of her child. With a joyous exclamation, she +tottered forward. + +"Kenneth!" she cried. + +The man, his athletic form broken by sobs, opened his arms. + +"My own precious darling!" + +A moment later they were clasped in each other's arms. Ah, now she +knew that he had come home! This, indeed, was the husband she loved. +There was no deception this time. Wonderingly, she turned to Steell. + +"How did it happen?" she asked wonderingly. + +"We'll tell you later--not now," he replied. + +She shuddered as she asked in a low voice. + +"But where is his brother?" + +"Dead! He shot himself at the club. Kenneth and I went to confront +him at the club before coming here. It was his only way out." + +The detective stepped forward. Addressing the lawyer and holding out +two enormous diamonds that sparkled like fire in the sunlight, he said: + +"We've just found these, together with a lot of counterfeit money." + +The lawyer laughed as he took charge of the diamonds. + +"It'll please Mr. Parker to see these. Come, Dick. Our work is done." + +Kenneth put his arms around his wife. + +"Safe in port at last, dear." + +"You'll never go away again," she murmured through her tears. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASK*** + + +******* This file should be named 20131.txt or 20131.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20131 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/20131.zip b/20131.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd144c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/20131.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c62ae95 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #20131 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20131) |
