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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of At the Time Appointed, by A. Maynard Barbour
+
+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: At the Time Appointed
+
+Author: A. Maynard Barbour
+
+Illustrator: J. N. Marchand
+
+Release Date: June 21, 2007 [EBook #21892]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE TIME APPOINTED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Dave Macfarlane, Linda McKeown
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+TWELFTH EDITION
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_By A. Maynard Barbour_
+
+THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY E. PLAISTED ABBOTT
+
+12mo. Cloth, $1.50
+
+"Possibly in a detective story the main object is to thrill. If so,
+'That Mainwaring Affair' is all right. The thrill is there, full
+measure, pressed down and running over."--_Life_, New York
+
+"The book that reminds one of Anna Katherine Green in her palmiest
+days.... Keeps the reader on the alert, defies the efforts of those who
+read backward, deserves the applause of all who like mystery."--_Town
+Topics_, New York
+
+"The tale is well told, and the intricacies of the plot so adroitly
+managed that it is impossible to foresee the correct solution of the
+mysterious case until the final act of the tragedy.... Although vividly
+told, the literary style is excellent and the story by no means
+sensational, a fact that raises it above the level of the old-time
+detective story,"--_Brooklyn Daily Eagle_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AS DARRELL DISMOUNTED, SHE CAME SWIFTLY TOWARDS HIM,
+EXTENDING HER HAND. Page 110]
+
+
+
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+BY
+
+A. Maynard Barbour
+
+AUTHOR OF "THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR," ETC.
+
+WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY
+J. N. MARCHAND
+
+
+  "Yes, greater they who on life's battle-field,
+    With unseen foes and fierce temptations fight"
+                         JOHN D. HIGINBOTHAM
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+Publishers   New York
+
+
+Copyright, 1903
+By J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+Published April, 1903
+
+
+_Electrotyped and Printed by_
+_J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A._
+
+
+TO JOHN D. HIGINBOTHAM
+
+     "AS UNKNOWN, AND YET WELL KNOWN"
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+                                                        PAGE
+
+_Chapter_      I--John Darrell                             9
+
+      "       II--A Night's Work                          25
+
+      "      III--"The Pines"                             32
+
+      "       IV--Life? or Death?                         43
+
+      "        V--John Britton                            48
+
+      "       VI--Echoes from the Past                    62
+
+      "      VII--At the Mines                            68
+
+      "     VIII--"Until the Day Break"                   81
+
+      "       IX--Two Portraits                           86
+
+      "        X--The Communion of Two Souls              95
+
+      "       XI--Impending Trouble                      104
+
+      "      XII--New Life in the Old Home               109
+
+      "     XIII--Mr. Underwood "Strikes" First          123
+
+      "      XIV--Drifting                               134
+
+      "       XV--The Awakening                          146
+
+      "      XVI--The Aftermath                          166
+
+      "     XVII--"She knows her Father's Will is Law"   180
+
+      "    XVIII--On the "Divide"                        194
+
+      "      XIX--The Return to Camp Bird                206
+
+      "       XX--Forging the Fetters                    216
+
+      "      XXI--Two Crimes by the Same Hand            224
+
+      "     XXII--The Fetters Broken                     237
+
+      "    XXIII--The Mask Lifted                        247
+
+      "     XXIV--Foreshadowings                         254
+
+      "      XXV--The "Hermitage"                        262
+
+      "     XXVI--John Britton's Story                   269
+
+      "    XXVII--The Rending of the Veil                274
+
+      "   XXVIII--"As a Dream when One Awaketh"          278
+
+      "     XXIX--John Darrell's Story                   285
+
+      "      XXX--After Many Years                       295
+
+      "     XXXI--An Eastern Home                        300
+
+      "    XXXII--Marion Holmes                          308
+
+      "   XXXIII--Into the Fulness of Life               316
+
+      "    XXXIV--A Warning                              321
+
+      "     XXXV--A Fiend at Bay                         330
+
+      "    XXXVI--Seņora Martinez                        337
+
+      "   XXXVII--The Identification                     343
+
+      "  XXXVIII--Within the "Pocket"                    352
+
+      "    XXXIV--At the Time Appointed                  360
+
+
+
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter I_
+
+JOHN DARRELL
+
+
+Upon a small station on one of the transcontinental lines winding among
+the mountains far above the level of the sea, the burning rays of the
+noonday sun fell so fiercely that the few buildings seemed ready to
+ignite from the intense heat. A season of unusual drought had added to
+the natural desolation of the scene. Mountains and foot-hills were
+blackened by smouldering fires among the timber, while a dense pall of
+smoke entirely hid the distant ranges from view. Patches of sage-brush
+and bunch grass, burned sere and brown, alternated with barren stretches
+of sand from which piles of rubble rose here and there, telling of
+worked-out and abandoned mines. Occasionally a current of air stole
+noiselessly down from the canyon above, but its breath scorched the
+withered vegetation like the blast from a furnace. Not a sound broke the
+stillness; life itself seemed temporarily suspended, while the very air
+pulsated and vibrated with the heat, rising in thin, quivering columns.
+
+Suddenly the silence was broken by the rapid approach of the stage from
+a distant mining camp, rattling noisily down the street, followed by a
+slight stir within the apparently deserted station. Whirling at
+breakneck pace around a sharp turn, it stopped precipitately, amid a
+blinding cloud of dust, to deposit its passengers at the depot.
+
+One of these, a young man of about five-and-twenty, arose with some
+difficulty from the cramped position which for seven weary hours he had
+been forced to maintain, and, with sundry stretchings and shakings of
+his superb form, seemed at last to pull himself together. Having secured
+his belongings from out the pile of miscellaneous luggage thrown from
+the stage upon the platform, he advanced towards the slouching figure of
+a man just emerging from the baggage-room, his hands thrust deep in his
+trousers pockets, his mouth stretched in a prodigious yawn, the arrival
+of the stage having evidently awakened him from his siesta.
+
+"How's the west-bound--on time?" queried the young man rather shortly,
+but despite the curtness of his accents there was a musical quality in
+the ringing tones.
+
+Before the cavernous jaws could close sufficiently for reply, two
+distant whistles sounded almost simultaneously.
+
+"That's her," drawled the man, with a backward jerk of his thumb over
+his shoulder in the direction of the sound; "she's at Blind Man's Pass;
+be here in about fifteen minutes."
+
+The young man turned and sauntered to the rear end of the platform,
+where he paused for a few moments; then, unconscious of the scrutiny of
+his fellow-passengers, he began silently pacing up and down, being in no
+mood for conversation with any one. Every bone in his body ached and his
+head throbbed with a dull pain, but these physical discomforts, which he
+attributed to his long and wearisome stage ride, caused him less
+annoyance than did the fact that he had lost several days' time, besides
+subjecting himself to numerous inconveniences and hardships, on what he
+now denominated a "fool's errand."
+
+An expert mineralogist and metallurgist, he had been commissioned by a
+large syndicate of eastern capitalists to come west, primarily to
+examine a certain mine recently offered for sale, and secondarily to
+secure any other valuable mining properties which might happen to be on
+the market. A promoter, whose acquaintance he had formed soon after
+leaving St. Paul, had poured into his ear such fabulous tales of a mine
+of untold wealth which needed but the expenditure of a few thousands to
+place it upon a dividend-paying basis, that, after making due allowance
+for optimism and exaggeration, he had thought it might be worth his
+while to stop off and investigate. The result of the investigation had
+been anything but satisfactory for either the promoter or the expert.
+
+He was the more annoyed at the loss of time because of a telegram handed
+him just before his departure from St. Paul, which he now drew forth,
+and which read as follows:
+
+     "Parkinson, expert for M. and M. on trail. Knows you as our
+     representative, but only by name. Lie low and block him if
+     possible.
+                                             "BARNARD."
+
+He well understood the import of the message. The "M. and M." stood for
+a rival syndicate of enormous wealth, and the fact that its expert was
+also on his way west promised lively competition in the purchase of the
+famous Ajax mine.
+
+"Five days," he soliloquized, glancing at the date of the message,
+which he now tore into bits, together with two or three letters of
+little importance. "I have lost my start and am now likely to meet this
+Parkinson at any stage of the game. However, he has never heard of John
+Darrell, and that name will answer my purpose as well as any among
+strangers. I'll notify Barnard when I reach Ophir."
+
+His plans for the circumvention of Parkinson were now temporarily cut
+short by the appearance of the "double-header" rounding a curve and
+rapidly approaching--a welcome sight, for the heat and blinding glare of
+light were becoming intolerable.
+
+Only for a moment the ponderous engines paused, panting and quivering
+like two living, sentient monsters; the next, with heavy, labored
+breath, as though summoning all their energies for the task before them,
+they were slowly ascending the steadily increasing grade, moment by
+moment with accelerated speed plunging into the very heart of the
+mountains, bearing John Darrell, as he was to be henceforth known, to a
+destiny of which he had little thought, but which he himself had,
+unconsciously, helped to weave.
+
+An hour later, on returning to the sleeper after an unsuccessful attempt
+at dining, Darrell sank into his seat, and, leaning wearily back,
+watched with half-closed eyes the rapidly changing scenes through which
+he was passing, for the time utterly oblivious to his surroundings.
+Gigantic rocks, grotesque in form and color, flashed past; towering
+peaks loomed suddenly before him, advancing, receding, disappearing, and
+reappearing with the swift windings and doublings of the train; massive
+walls of granite pressed close and closer, seeming for one instant a
+threatening, impenetrable barrier, the next, opening to reveal glimpses
+of distant billowy ranges, their summits white with perpetual snow. The
+train had now reached a higher altitude, and breezes redolent of pine
+and fir fanned his throbbing brow, their fragrance thronging his mind
+with memories of other and far-distant scenes, until gradually the bold
+outlines of cliff and crag grew dim, and in their place appeared a cool,
+dark forest through which flecks of golden sunlight sifted down upon the
+moss-grown, flower-strewn earth; a stream singing beneath the pines,
+then rippling onward through meadows of waving green; a wide-spreading
+house of colonial build half hidden by giant trees and clinging
+rose-vines, and, framed among the roses, a face, strong, tender, sweet,
+crowned with silvered hair--one of the few which sorrow makes
+beautiful--which came nearer and nearer, bending over him with a
+mother's blessing; and then he slept.
+
+The face of the sleeper, with its clear-cut, well-moulded features,
+formed a pleasing study, reminding one of a bit of unfinished carving,
+the strong, bold lines of which reveal the noble design of the
+sculptor--the thing of wondrous beauty yet to be--but which still lacks
+the finer strokes, the final touch requisite to bring it to perfection.
+Strength of character was indicated there; an indomitable will that
+would bend the most adverse conditions to serve its own masterful
+purpose and make of obstacles the paving-stones to success; a mind
+gifted with keen perceptive faculties, but which hitherto had dealt
+mostly with externals and knew little of itself or of its own powers.
+Young, with splendid health and superabundant vitality, there had been
+little opportunity for introspection or for the play of the finer,
+subtler faculties; and of the whole gamut of susceptibilities, ranging
+from exquisite suffering to ecstatic joy, few had been even awakened.
+His was a nature capable of producing the divinest harmonies or the
+wildest discords, according to the hand that swept the strings as yet
+untouched.
+
+For more than an hour Darrell slept. He was awakened by the murmur of
+voices near him, confused at first, but growing more distinct as he
+gradually recalled his surroundings, until, catching the name of
+"Parkinson," he was instantly on the alert.
+
+"Yes," a pleasant voice was saying, "I understand the Ajax is for sale
+if the owners can get their price, but they don't want less than a cold
+million for it, and it's my opinion they'll find buyers rather scarce at
+that figure when it comes to a show down."
+
+"Well, I don't know; that depends," was the reply. "The price won't
+stand in the way with my people, if the mine is all right. They can hand
+over a million--or two, for that matter--as easily as a thousand, if the
+property is what they want, but they've got to know what they're buying.
+That's what I'm out here for."
+
+Taking a quiet survey of the situation, Darrell found that the section
+opposite his own--which, upon his return from the dining-car, had
+contained only a motley collection of coats and grips--was now occupied
+by a party of three, two of whom were engaged in animated conversation.
+One of the speakers, who sat facing Darrell, was a young man of about
+two-and-twenty, whose self-assurance and assumption of worldly wisdom,
+combined with a boyish impetuosity, he found vastly amusing, while at
+the same time his frank, ingenuous eyes and winning smile of genuine
+friendliness, revealing a nature as unsuspecting and confiding as a
+child's, appealed to him strangely and drew him irresistibly towards the
+young stranger. The other speaker, whom Darrell surmised to be
+Parkinson, was considerably older and was seated facing the younger
+man, hence his back was towards Darrell; while the third member of the
+party, and by far the eldest, of whose face Darrell had a perfect
+profile view, although saying little, seemed an interested listener.
+
+The man whom Darrell supposed to be Parkinson inquired the quickest way
+of reaching the Ajax mine.
+
+"Well, you see it's this way," replied the young fellow. "The Ajax is on
+a spur that runs out from the main line at Ophir, and the train only
+runs between there and Ophir twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
+Let's see, this is Wednesday; we'll get into Ophir to-morrow, and you'll
+have to wait over until Saturday, unless you hire a rig to take you out
+there, and that's pretty expensive and an awfully rough jaunt besides."
+
+"I don't mind the expense," retorted the other, "but I don't know as I
+care to go on any jaunts over your mountain roads when there's no
+special necessity for it; I can get exercise enough without that."
+
+"I tell you what, Mr. Parkinson," said the young fellow, cordially, "you
+and your friend here, Mr. Hunter,"--Darrell started at the mention of
+the latter name,--"had better wait over till Saturday, and in the mean
+time I'll take you people out to Camp Bird, as we call it, and show you
+the Bird Mine; that's our mine, you know, and I tell you she is a
+'bird,' and no mistake. You'll be interested in looking her over, though
+I'll tell you beforehand she's not for sale."
+
+"Do I understand that you have an interest in this remarkable mine, Mr.
+Whitcomb?" Parkinson inquired, a tinge of amusement in his tone.
+
+"Not in the way you mean; that is, not yet, though there's no telling
+how soon I may have if things turn out as I hope," and the boyish cheek
+flushed slightly. "But I know what I'm talking about all the same.
+My uncle, D. K. Underwood, is a practical mining man of nearly thirty
+years' experience, and what he doesn't know about mines and mining isn't
+worth knowing. He's interested in a dozen or so of the best mines in the
+State, but I don't think he would exchange his half-interest in the Bird
+Mine for all his other holdings put together. She's a comparatively new
+mine yet, but taking into consideration her depth and the amount of
+development, she's the best-paying mine in the State. Here, let me show
+you something." And hastily pulling a note-book from his pocket, he took
+therefrom a narrow slip of paper which he handed to the expert.
+
+"There's a statement," he continued, "made out by the United States
+Assay Office, back here at Galena, that will show you the returns from a
+sixty days' run at the Bird mill; what do you think of that?"
+
+Parkinson's face was still invisible to Darrell, but the latter heard a
+long, low whistle of surprise. Young Whitcomb looked jubilant.
+
+"They say figures won't lie," he added, in tones of boyish enthusiasm,
+"but if you don't believe those figures, I've got the cash right here to
+show for it," accompanying the words with a significant gesture.
+
+Parkinson handed the slip to Hunter, then leaned back in his seat,
+giving Darrell a view of his profile.
+
+"Sixty days!" he said, musingly. "Seventy-five thousand dollars! I think
+I would like to take a look at the Bird Mine! I think I would like to
+make Mr. Underwood's acquaintance!"
+
+Whitcomb laughed exultingly. "I'll give you an opportunity to do both if
+you'll stop over," he said; "and don't you forget that my uncle can give
+you some pointers on the Ajax, for he knows every mine in the State."
+
+Mr. Hunter here handed the slip of paper to Whitcomb. "Young man," he
+said, with some severity, gazing fixedly at Whitcomb through his
+eye-glasses, "do you mean to say that you are travelling with
+seventy-five thousand dollars on your person?"
+
+"Certainly, sir," Whitcomb replied, evidently enjoying the situation.
+
+Mr. Hunter shook his head. "Very imprudent!" he commented. "You are
+running a tremendous risk. I wonder that your uncle would permit it!"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," said Whitcomb, confidently. "Uncle usually comes
+down himself with the shipments of bullion, and he generally banks the
+most of his money there at Galena, but he couldn't very well leave this
+time, so he sent me, and as he was going to use considerable money
+paying for a lot of improvements we've put in and paying off the men, he
+told me to bring back the cash. There's not much danger anyway; the West
+isn't as wild nowadays as it used to be."
+
+Handing a second bit of paper to Parkinson, he added: "There's something
+else that will interest you; the results of some assays made by the
+United States Assay Office on some samples taken at random from a new
+strike we made last week. I'll show you some of the samples, too."
+
+"Great Scott!" ejaculated Parkinson, running his eye over the returns.
+"You seem to have a mine there, all right!"
+
+"Sure thing! You'll think so when you see it," Whitcomb answered,
+fumbling in a grip at his feet.
+
+At sight of the specimens of ore which he produced a moment later, his
+two companions became nearly as enthusiastic as himself. Leaning eagerly
+forward, they began an inspection of the samples, commenting on their
+respective values, while Whitcomb, unfolding a tracing of the workings
+of the mine, explained the locality from which each piece was taken, its
+depth from the surface, the width and dip of the vein, and other items
+of interest.
+
+Darrell, who was carefully refraining from betraying any special
+interest in the party across the aisle, soon became aware that he was
+not the only interested listener to the conversation. In the section
+directly in front of the one occupied by Whitcomb and his companions a
+man was seated, apparently engrossed in a newspaper, but Darrell, who
+had a three-quarter view of his face, soon observed that he was not
+reading, but listening intently to the conversation of the men seated
+behind him, and particularly to young Whitcomb's share in it. Upon
+hearing the latter's statement that he had with him the cash returns for
+the shipment of bullion, Darrell saw the muscles of his face suddenly
+grow tense and rigid, while his hands involuntarily tightened their hold
+upon the paper. He grew uncomfortable under Darrell's scrutiny, moved
+restlessly once or twice, then turning, looked directly into the
+piercing dark eyes fixed upon him. His own eyes, which were small and
+shifting, instantly dropped, while the dark blood mounted angrily to his
+forehead. A few moments later, he changed his position so that Darrell
+could not see his face, but the latter determined to watch him and to
+give Whitcomb a word of warning at the earliest opportunity.
+
+"Well," said Parkinson, leaning back in his seat after examining the
+ores and listening to Whitcomb's outline of their plans for the future
+development of the mine, "it seems to me, young man, you have quite a
+knowledge of mines and mining yourself."
+
+Whitcomb flushed with pleasure. "I ought to," he said; "there isn't a
+man in this western country that understands the business better or has
+got it down any finer than my uncle. He may not be able to talk so
+glibly or use such high-sounding names for things as you fellows, but he
+can come pretty near telling whether a mine will pay for the handling,
+and if it has any value he generally knows how to go to work to find
+it."
+
+"Well, that's about the 'gist' of the whole business," said Parkinson;
+he added: "You say he can give me some 'tips' on the Ajax?"
+
+"He can if he chooses to," laughed Whitcomb, "but you'd better not let
+him know that I said so. He'll be more likely to give you information if
+you ask him offhand."
+
+"Well," continued Parkinson, "when we get to Ophir, I'll know whether or
+not I can stop over. I've heard there's another fellow out here on this
+Ajax business; whether he's ahead of me I don't know. I'll make
+inquiries when we reach Ophir, and if he hasn't come on the scene yet I
+can afford to lay off; if he has, I must lose no time in getting out to
+the mine." Parkinson glanced at Hunter, who nodded almost imperceptibly.
+
+"I guess that's the best arrangement we can make at present," said
+Parkinson, rising from his seat. "Come and have a smoke with us, Mr.
+Whitcomb?"
+
+Whitcomb declined the invitation, and, after Hunter and Parkinson had
+left, sat idly turning over the specimens of ore, until, happening to
+catch Darrell's eye, he inquired, pleasantly,--
+
+"Are you interested in this sort of thing?"
+
+"In a way, yes," said Darrell, crossing over and taking the seat vacated
+by Parkinson. "I'm not what you call a mining man; that is, I've never
+owned or operated a mine, but I take a great interest in examining the
+different ores and always try to get as much information regarding them
+as possible."
+
+Whitcomb at once launched forth enthusiastically upon a description of
+the various samples. Darrell, while careful not to show too great
+familiarity with the subject, or too thorough a knowledge of ores in
+general, yet was so keenly appreciative of their remarkable richness and
+beauty that he soon won the boy's heart.
+
+"Say!" he exclaimed, "you had better stop off at Ophir with us; we would
+make a mining man of you in less than no time! By the way, how far west
+are you travelling?"
+
+"Ophir is my destination at present, though it is uncertain how long I
+remain there."
+
+"Long enough, that we'll get well acquainted, I hope. Going into any
+particular line of business?"
+
+"No, only looking the country over, for the present."
+
+To divert the conversation from himself, Darrell, by a judicious
+question or two, led Whitcomb to speak of the expert.
+
+"Parkinson?" he said with a merry laugh. "Oh, yes, he's one of those
+eastern know-it-alls who come out here occasionally to give us fellows a
+few points on mines. They're all right, of course, for the men who
+employ them, who want to invest their money and wouldn't know a mine if
+they saw one; but when they undertake to air their knowledge among these
+old fellows who have spent a lifetime in the business, why, they're
+likely to get left, that's all. Now, this Parkinson seems to be a pretty
+fair sort of man compared with some of them, but between you and me, I'd
+wager my last dollar that they'll lose him on that Ajax mine!"
+
+"Why, what's the matter with the Ajax?" Darrell inquired, indifferently.
+
+"Well, as you're not interested in any way, I'm not telling tales out of
+school. The Ajax has been a bonanza in its day, but within the last year
+or so the bottom has dropped out of the whole thing, and that's the
+reason the owners are anxious to sell."
+
+"I hear they ask a pretty good price for the mine."
+
+"Yes, they're trading on her reputation, but that's all past. The mine
+is practically worked out. They've made a few good strikes lately, so
+that there is some good ore in sight, and this is their chance to sell,
+but there are no indications of any permanence. One of our own men was
+over there a while ago, and he said there wasn't enough ore in the mine
+to keep their mill running full force for more than six months."
+
+"Is this Hunter an expert also?"
+
+"Oh, no; Parkinson said he was a friend of his, just taking the trip for
+his health."
+
+Darrell smiled quietly, knowing Hunter to be a member of the syndicate
+employing Parkinson, but kept his knowledge to himself.
+
+A little later, when Darrell and Whitcomb left together for the
+dining-car, quite a friendship had sprung up between them. There was
+that mutual attraction often observed between two natures utterly
+diverse. Whitcomb was unaccountably drawn towards the dark-eyed,
+courteous, but rather reticent stranger, while his own frank
+friendliness and childlike confidence awoke in Darrell's nature a
+correlative tenderness and affection which he never would have believed
+himself capable of feeling towards one of his own sex.
+
+"I don't know what is the matter with me," said Darrell, as he seated
+himself at a table, facing Whitcomb. "My head seems to have a
+small-sized stamp-mill inside of it; every bone in my body aches, and my
+joints feel as though they were being pulled apart."
+
+Whitcomb looked up quickly. "Are you just from the East, or have you
+been out here any time?"
+
+"I stopped for a few days, back here a ways."
+
+"In the mountain country?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By George! I believe you've got the mountain fever; there's an awful
+lot of it round here this season, and this is just the worst time of
+year for an easterner to come out here. But we'll look after you when we
+get to Ophir, and bring you round all right."
+
+"Much obliged, but I think I'll be all right after a night's rest,"
+Darrell replied, inwardly resolved, upon reaching Ophir, to push on to
+the Ajax as quickly as possible, though his ardor was considerably
+cooled by Whitcomb's report.
+
+When they left the dining-car the train was stopping at a small station,
+and for a few moments the young men strolled up and down the platform. A
+dense, bluish-gray haze hung low over the country, rendering the
+outlines of even the nearest objects obscure and dim; the western sky
+was like burnished copper, and the sun, poised a little above the
+horizon, looked like a ball of glowing fire.
+
+Just as the train was about to start Darrell saw the man whose peculiar
+actions he had noticed earlier, leave the telegraph office and jump
+hastily aboard. Calling Whitcomb's attention as he passed them, he
+related his observations of the afternoon and cautioned him against the
+man. For an instant Whitcomb looked serious.
+
+"I suppose it was rather indiscreet in me to talk as I did," he said,
+"but it can't be helped now. However, I guess it's all right, but I'm
+obliged to you all the same."
+
+They passed into the smoker, where Darrell was introduced to Hunter and
+Parkinson. In a short time, however, he found himself suffering from
+nausea and growing faint and dizzy.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "you will have to excuse me. I'm rather off my
+base this evening, and I find that smoking isn't doing me any good."
+
+As he rose young Whitcomb sprang instantly to his feet; throwing away
+his cigar and linking his arm within Darrell's, he insisted upon
+accompanying him to the sleeper, notwithstanding his protests.
+
+"Good-night, Parkinson," he called, cheerily; "see you in the morning!"
+
+He accompanied Darrell to his section; then dropped familiarly into the
+seat beside him, throwing one arm affectionately over Darrell's
+shoulder, and during the next hour, while the sunset glow faded and the
+evening shadows deepened, he confided to this acquaintance of only a few
+hours the outlines of his past life and much regarding his hopes and
+plans for the future. He spoke of his orphaned boyhood; of the uncle who
+had given him a home in his family and initiated him into his own
+business methods; of his hope of being admitted at no distant day into
+partnership with his uncle and becoming a shareholder in the wonderful
+Bird Mine.
+
+"But that isn't all I am looking forward to," he said, in conclusion,
+his boyish tones growing strangely deep and tender. "My fondest hope of
+all I hardly dare admit even to myself, and I don't know why I am
+speaking of it to you, except that I already like you and trust you as I
+never did any other man; but you will understand what I mean when you
+see my cousin, Kate Underwood."
+
+He paused, but his silence was more eloquent to Darrell than words; the
+latter grasped his hand warmly in token that he understood.
+
+"I wish you all that you hope for," he said.
+
+A few moments later Whitcomb spoke with his usual impetuosity. "What am
+I thinking of, keeping you up in this way when you are sick and dead
+tired! You had better turn in and get all the rest you can, and when we
+reach Ophir to-morrow, just remember, my dear fellow, that no hotels
+'go.' You'll go directly home with me, where you'll find yourself in
+such good hands you'll think sure you're in your own home, and we'll
+soon have you all right."
+
+For hours Darrell tossed wearily, unable to sleep. His head throbbed
+wildly, the racking pain throughout his frame increased, while a raging
+fire seemed creeping through his veins. Not until long past midnight did
+he fall into a fitful sleep. Strange fancies surged through his fevered
+brain, torturing him with their endless repetition, their seeming
+reality. Suddenly he awoke, bewildered, exhausted, oppressed by a vague
+sense of impending evil.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter II_
+
+A NIGHT'S WORK
+
+
+For a few seconds Darrell tried vainly to recall what had awakened him.
+Low, confused sounds occasionally reached his ears, but they seemed part
+of his own troubled dreams. The heat was intolerable; he raised himself
+to the open window that he might get a breath of cooler air; his head
+whirled, but the half-sitting posture seemed to clear his brain, and he
+recalled his surroundings. At once he became conscious that the train
+was not in motion, yet no sound of trainmen's voices came through the
+open window; all was dead silence, and the vague, haunting sense of
+impending danger quickened.
+
+Suddenly he heard a muttered oath in one of the sections, followed by an
+order, low, but peremptory,--
+
+"No noise! Hand over, and be quick about it!"
+
+Instantly Darrell comprehended the situation. Peering cautiously between
+the curtains, he saw, at the forward end of the sleeper, a masked man
+with a revolver in each hand, while the mirror behind him revealed
+another figure at the rear, masked and armed in like manner. He heard
+another order; the man was doing his work swiftly. He thought at once of
+young Whitcomb, but no sound came from the opposite section, and he sank
+quietly back upon his pillow.
+
+A moment later the curtains were quickly thrust aside, the muzzle of a
+revolver confronted Darrell, and the same low voice demanded,--
+
+"Hand out your valuables!"
+
+A man of medium height, wearing a mask and full beard, stood over him.
+Darrell quietly handed over his watch and purse, noting as he did so the
+man's hands, white, well formed, well kept. He half expected a further
+demand, as the purse contained only a few small bills and some change,
+the bulk of his money being secreted about the mattress, as was his
+habit; but the man turned with peculiar abruptness to the opposite
+section, as one who had a definite object in view and was in haste to
+accomplish it. Darrell, his faculties alert, observed that the section
+in front of Whitcomb's was empty; he recalled the actions of its
+occupant on the preceding afternoon, his business later at the telegraph
+office, and the whole scheme flashed vividly before his mind. The man
+had been a spy sent out by the band now holding the train, and
+Whitcomb's money was without doubt the particular object of the hold-up.
+
+Whitcomb was asleep at the farther side of his berth. Leaning slightly
+towards him, the man shook him, and his first words confirmed Darrell's
+intuitions,--
+
+"Hand over that money, young man, and no fuss about it, either!"
+
+Whitcomb, instantly awake, gazed at the masked face without a word or
+movement. Darrell, powerless to aid his friend, watched intently,
+dreading some rash act on his part to which his impetuous nature might
+prompt him.
+
+Again he heard the low tones, this time a note of danger in them,--
+
+"No fooling! Hand that money over, lively!"
+
+With a spring, as sudden and noiseless as a panther's, Whitcomb grappled
+with the man, knocking the revolver from his hand upon the bed. A
+quick, desperate, silent struggle followed. Whitcomb suddenly reached
+for the revolver; as he did so Darrell saw a flash of steel in the dim
+light, and the next instant his friend sank, limp and motionless, upon
+the bed.
+
+"Fool!" he heard the man mutter, with an oath.
+
+An involuntary groan escaped from Darrell's lips. Slight as was the
+sound, the man heard it and turned, facing him; the latter was screened
+by the curtains, and the man, seeing no one, returned to his work, but
+that brief glance had revealed enough to Darrell that he knew he could
+henceforth identify the murderer among a thousand. In the struggle the
+mask had been partially pushed aside, exposing a portion of the man's
+face. A scar of peculiar shape showed white against the olive skin,
+close to the curling black hair. But to Darrell the pre-eminently
+distinguishing characteristic of that face was the eyes. Of the most
+perfect steel blue he had ever seen, they seemed, as they turned upon
+him in that intense glance, to glint and scintillate like the points of
+two rapiers in a brilliant sword play, while their look of concentrated
+fury and malignity, more demon-like than human, was stamped ineffaceably
+upon his brain.
+
+Having secured as much as he could find of the money, the murderer left
+hastily and silently, and a few moments later the guards, after a
+warning to the passengers not to leave their berths, took their
+departure.
+
+Having partially dressed, Darrell at once sprang across the aisle and
+took Whitcomb's limp form in his arms. His heart still beat faintly, but
+he was unconscious and bleeding profusely. All had been done so silently
+and swiftly that no one outside of Darrell dreamed of murder, and soon
+the enforced silence began to be broken by hurried questions and angry
+exclamations. A man cursed over the loss of his money and a woman sobbed
+hysterically. Suddenly, Darrell's incisive tones rang through the
+sleeper.
+
+"For God's sake, see if there is a surgeon aboard! Here is a man
+stabbed, dying; don't stop to talk of money when a life is at stake!"
+
+Instantly all thought of personal loss was for the time forgotten, and
+half a dozen men responded to Darrell's appeal. When it became known
+throughout the train what had occurred, the greatest excitement
+followed. Train officials, hurrying back and forth, stopped, hushed and
+horror-stricken, beside the section where Darrell sat holding Whitcomb
+in his arms. Passengers from the other coaches crowded in, eager to
+offer assistance that was of no avail. A physician was found and came
+quickly to the scene, who, after a brief examination, silently shook his
+head, and Darrell, watching the weakening pulse and shortening gasps,
+needed no words to tell him that the young life was ebbing fast.
+
+Just as the faint respirations had become almost imperceptible, Whitcomb
+opened his eyes, looking straight into Darrell's eyes with eager
+intensity, his face lighted with the winning smile which Darrell had
+already learned to love. His lips moved; Darrell bent his head still
+lower to listen.
+
+"Kate,--you will see her," he whispered. "Tell her----" but the sentence
+was never finished.
+
+Deftly and gently as a woman Darrell did the little which remained to be
+done for his young friend, closing the eyes in which the love-light
+kindled by his dying words still lingered, smoothing the dishevelled
+golden hair, wondering within himself at his own unwonted tenderness.
+
+"An awful pity for a bright young life to go out like that!" said a
+voice at his side, and, turning, he saw Parkinson.
+
+"How did it happen?" the latter inquired, recognizing Darrell for the
+first time in the dim light.
+
+Briefly Darrell gave the main facts as he had witnessed them, saying
+nothing, however, of his having seen the face of the murderer.
+
+"Too bad!" said Parkinson. "He ought never to have made a bluff of that
+sort; there were too many odds against him."
+
+"He was impulsive and acted on the spur of the moment," Darrell replied;
+adding, in lower tones, "the mistake was in giving one so young and
+inexperienced a commission involving so much responsibility and danger."
+
+"You knew of the money, then? Yes, that was bad business for him, poor
+fellow! I wonder, by the way, if it was all taken."
+
+At Darrell's suggestion a thorough search was made, which resulted in
+the finding of a package containing fifteen thousand dollars which the
+thief in his haste had evidently overlooked. This, it was agreed, should
+be placed in Darrell's keeping until the arrival of the train at Ophir.
+
+Gradually the crowd dispersed, most of the passengers returning to their
+berths. Darrell, knowing that sleep for himself was out of the question,
+sought an empty section in another part of the car, and, seating
+himself, bowed his head upon his hands. The veins in his temples seemed
+near bursting and his usually strong nerves quivered from the shock he
+had undergone, but of this he was scarcely conscious. His mind,
+abnormally active, for the time held his physical sufferings in
+abeyance. He was living over again the events of the past few
+hours--events which had awakened within him susceptibilities he had not
+known he possessed, which had struck a new chord in his being whose
+vibrations thrilled him with strange, undefinable pain. As he recalled
+Whitcomb's affectionate familiarity, he seemed to hear again the low,
+musical cadences of the boyish tones, to see the sunny radiance of his
+smile, to feel the irresistible magnetism of his presence, and it seemed
+as though something inexpressibly sweet, of whose sweetness he had
+barely tasted, had suddenly dropped out of his life.
+
+His heart grew sick with bitter sorrow as he recalled the look of
+mingled appeal and trust which shot from Whitcomb's eyes into his own as
+his young life, so full of hope, of ambition, of love, was passing
+through the dim portals of an unknown world. Oh, the pity of it! that
+he, an acquaintance of but a few hours, should have been the only one to
+whom those eyes could turn for their last message of earthly love and
+sympathy; and oh, the impotency of any and all human love then!
+
+Never before had Darrell been brought so near the unseen, the
+unknown,--always surrounding us, but of which few of us are
+conscious,--and for hours he sat motionless, lost in thought, grappling
+with problems hitherto unthought of, but which now perplexed and baffled
+him at every turn.
+
+At last, with a heavy sigh, he opened his eyes. The gray twilight of
+dawn was slowly creeping down from the mountain-tops, dispelling the
+shadows; and the light of a new faith, streaming downward
+
+     "From the beautiful, eternal hills
+         Of God's unbeginning past,"
+
+was banishing the doubts which had assailed him.
+
+That night had brought to him a revelation of the awful solitude of a
+human soul, standing alone on the threshold of two worlds; but it had
+also revealed to him the Love--Infinite, Divine--that meets the soul
+when human love and sympathy are no longer of avail.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter III_
+
+"THE PINES"
+
+
+As the day advanced Darrell grew gradually but steadily worse. After the
+excitement of the night had passed a reaction set in; he felt utterly
+exhausted and miserable, the pain returned with redoubled violence, and
+the fever increased perceptibly from hour to hour.
+
+He was keenly observant of those about him, and he could not but note
+how soon the tragedy of the preceding night seemed forgotten. Some
+bemoaned the loss of money or valuables; a few, more fortunate, related
+how they had outwitted the robbers and escaped with trivial loss, but
+only an occasional careless word of pity was heard for the young
+stranger who had met so sad a fate. So quickly and completely does one
+human atom sink out of sight! It is like the dropping of a pebble in the
+sea: a momentary ripple, that is all!
+
+About noon Parkinson, who had sought to while away the tedium of the
+journey by an interview with Darrell, became somewhat alarmed at the
+latter's condition and went in search of a physician. He returned with
+the one who had been summoned to Whitcomb's aid. He was an eastern
+practitioner, and, unfortunately for Darrell, was not so familiar with
+the peculiar symptoms in his case as a western physician would have
+been.
+
+"He has a high fever," he remarked to Parkinson a little later, as he
+seated himself beside Darrell to watch the effect of the remedies
+administered, "but I do not apprehend any danger. I have given him
+something to abate the fever and induce sleep. If necessary, I will
+write out a prescription which he can have filled on his arrival at
+Ophir, but I think in a few days he will be all right."
+
+They were now approaching the continental divide, the scenery moment by
+moment growing in sublimity and grandeur. Darrell soon sank into a
+sleep, light and broken at first, but which grew deeper and heavier. For
+more than an hour he slept, unconscious that the rugged scenes through
+which he was then passing were to become part of his future life; that
+each cliff and crag and mountain-peak was to be to him an open book,
+whose secrets would leave their indelible impress upon his heart and
+brain, revealing to him the breadth and length, the depth and height of
+life, moulding his soul anew into nobler, more symmetrical proportions.
+
+At last the rocks suddenly parted, like sentinels making way for the
+approaching train, disclosing a broad, sunlit plateau, from which rose,
+in gracefully rounded contours, a pine-covered mountain, about whose
+base nestled the little city of Ophir, while in the background stretched
+the majestic range of the great divide.
+
+A crowd could be seen congregated about the depot, for tidings of the
+night's tragedy had preceded the train by several hours, and Whitcomb
+from his early boyhood had been a universal favorite in Ophir, while his
+uncle was one of its wealthiest, most influential citizens.
+
+As the train slackened speed Parkinson, with a few words to the
+physician, hastily left to make arrangements for transportation for
+himself, Hunter, and Darrell to a hotel. Amid the noise and confusion
+which ensued for the next ten minutes Darrell slept heavily, till,
+roused by a gentle shake, he awoke to find the physician bending over
+him and heard voices approaching down the now nearly deserted
+sleeping-car.
+
+"Yes," said a heavy voice, speaking rapidly, "the conductor wired
+details; he said this young man did everything for the boy that could be
+done, and stayed by him to the end."
+
+"He did; he stood by him like a brother," Parkinson's voice replied.
+
+"And he is sick, you say? Well, he won't want for anything within my
+power to do for him, that's all!"
+
+Parkinson stopped at Darrell's side. "Mr. Darrell," he said, "this is
+Mr. Underwood, Whitcomb's uncle, you know; Mr. Underwood, Mr. Darrell."
+
+Darrell rose a little unsteadily; the two men grasped hands and for an
+instant neither spoke. Darrell saw before him a tall, powerfully built
+man, approaching fifty, whose somewhat bronzed face, shrewd, stern, and
+unreadable, was lighted by a pair of blue eyes which once had resembled
+Whitcomb's. With a swift, penetrating glance the elder man looked
+searchingly into the face of the younger.
+
+"True as steel, with a heart of gold!" was his mental comment; then he
+spoke abruptly, and his voice sounded brusque though his face was
+working with emotion.
+
+"Mr. Darrell, my carriage is waiting for you outside. You will go home
+with me, unless," he added, inquiringly, "you are expecting to meet
+friends or acquaintances?"
+
+"No, Mr. Underwood," Darrell replied, "I am a stranger here, but, much
+as I appreciate your kindness, I could not think of intruding upon your
+home at such a time as this."
+
+"Porter," said Mr. Underwood, with the air of one accustomed to command,
+"take this gentleman's luggage outside, and tell them out there that it
+is to go to 'The Pines;' my men are there and they will look after it;"
+then, turning to Darrell, he continued, still more brusquely:
+
+"This train pulls out in three minutes, so you had better prepare to
+follow your luggage. You don't stop in Ophir outside of my house, and I
+don't think you'll travel much farther for a while. You look as though
+you needed a bed and good nursing more than anything else just now."
+
+"I have given him a prescription, sir," said the physician, "that I
+think will set him right if he gets needed rest and sleep."
+
+"Humph!" responded Mr. Underwood, gruffly; "he'll get whatever he needs,
+you can depend on that. You gentlemen assist him out of the car; I'll go
+and despatch a messenger to the house to have everything in readiness
+for him there."
+
+At the foot of the car steps Darrell parted from the physician and,
+leaning on Parkinson's arm, slowly made his way through the crowd to the
+carriage, where Mr. Underwood awaited him. Parkinson having taken leave,
+Mr. Underwood assisted the young man into the carriage. A spasm of pain
+crossed Darrell's face as he saw, just ahead of them, waiting to precede
+them on the homeward journey, a light wagon containing a stretcher
+covered with a heavy black cloth, a line of stalwart young fellows drawn
+up on either side, and he recalled Whitcomb's parting words on the
+previous night,--"When we reach Ophir to-morrow, you'll go directly home
+with me."
+
+This was observed by Mr. Underwood, who remarked a moment later as he
+seated himself beside Darrell and they started homeward,--
+
+"This is a sad time to introduce you to our home and household, Mr.
+Darrell, but you will find your welcome none the less genuine on that
+account."
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said the young man, in a troubled voice, "this seems to
+me the most unwarrantable intrusion on my part to accept your
+hospitality at such a time----"
+
+Before he could say more, Mr. Underwood placed a firm, heavy hand on his
+knee.
+
+"You stood by my poor boy, Harry, to the last, and that is enough to
+insure you a welcome from me and mine. I'm only doing what Harry himself
+would do if he were here."
+
+"As to what I did for your nephew, God knows it was little enough I
+could do," Darrell answered, bitterly. "I was powerless to defend him
+against the fatal blow, and after that there was no help for him."
+
+"Did you see him killed?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Tell me all, everything, just as it occurred."
+
+Mr. Underwood little knew the effort it cost Darrell in his condition to
+go over the details of the terrible scene, but he forced himself to give
+a clear, succinct, calm statement of all that took place. The elder man
+sat looking straight before him, immovable, impassive, like one who
+heard not, yet in reality missing nothing that was said. Not until
+Darrell repeated Whitcomb's dying words was there any movement on his
+part; then he turned his head so that his face was hidden and remained
+motionless and silent as before. At last he inquired,--
+
+"Did he leave no message for me?"
+
+"He mentioned only your daughter, Mr. Underwood; he evidently had some
+message for her which he was unable to give."
+
+A long silence followed. Darrell, utterly exhausted, sank back into a
+corner of the carriage. The slight movement roused Mr. Underwood; he
+looked towards Darrell, whose eyes were closed, and was shocked at his
+deathly pallor. He said nothing, however, for Darrell was again sinking
+into a heavy stupor, but watched him with growing concern, making no
+attempt to rouse him until the carriage left the street and began
+ascending a long gravelled driveway; then putting his hand on Darrell's
+shoulder, he said, quite loudly,--
+
+"Wake up, my boy! We're getting home now."
+
+To Darrell his voice sounded faint and far away, like an echo out of a
+vast distance, and it was some seconds before he could realize where he
+was or form any definite idea of his surroundings. Gradually he became
+conscious that the air was no longer hot and stifling, but cool and
+fragrant with the sweet, resinous breath of pines. Looking about him, he
+saw they were winding upward along an avenue cut through a forest of
+small, slender pines, which extended below them on one side and far
+above them on the other.
+
+A moment later they came out into a clearing, whence he could see,
+rising directly before him, in a series of natural terraces, the slopes
+of the sombre-hued, pine-clad mountain which overlooked the little city.
+Upon one of the terraces of the mountain stood a massive house of unhewn
+granite, a house representing no particular style of architecture, but
+whose deep bay-windows, broad, winding verandas, and shadowy, secluded
+balconies all combined to present an aspect most inviting. To Darrell
+the place had an irresistible charm; he gazed at it as though
+fascinated, unable to take his eyes from the scene.
+
+"You certainly have a beautiful home, Mr. Underwood," he said, "and a
+most unique location. I never saw anything quite like it."
+
+"It will do," said the elder man, quietly, gratified by what he saw in
+his companion's face. "I built it for my little girl. It was her own
+idea to have it that way, and she has named it 'The Pines.' Thank God,
+I've got her left yet, but she is about all."
+
+Something in his tone caused Darrell to glance quickly towards him with
+a look of sympathetic inquiry. They were now approaching the house, and
+Mr. Underwood turned, facing him, a smile for the first time lighting up
+his stern, rugged features, as he said,--
+
+"You will find us what my little girl calls a 'patched-up' family. I am
+a widower; my widowed sister keeps house for me, and Harry, whom I had
+grown to consider almost a son, was an orphan. But the family, such as
+it is, will make you welcome; I can speak for that. Here we are!"
+
+With a supreme effort Darrell summoned all his energies as Mr. Underwood
+assisted him from the carriage and into the house. But the ringing and
+pounding in his head increased, his brain seemed reeling, and he was so
+nearly blinded by pain that, notwithstanding his efforts, he was forced
+to admit to himself, as a little later he sank upon a couch in the room
+assigned to him, that his impressions of the ladies to whom he had just
+been presented were exceedingly vague.
+
+Mr. Underwood's sister, Mrs. Dean, he remembered as a large woman,
+low-voiced, somewhat resembling her brother in manner, and like him, of
+few words, yet something in her greeting had assured him of a welcome
+as deep as it was undemonstrative. Of Kate Underwood, in whom he had
+felt more than a passing interest, remembering Whitcomb's love for his
+cousin, he recalled a tall, slender, girlish form; a wealth of
+golden-brown hair, and a pair of large, luminous brown eyes, whose
+wistful, almost appealing look haunted him strangely, though he was
+unable to recall another feature of her face.
+
+Mr. Underwood, who had left the room to telephone for a physician,
+returned with a faithful servant, and insisted upon Darrell's retiring
+to bed without delay, a proposition which the latter was only too glad
+to follow. Darrell had already given Mr. Underwood the package of
+fifteen thousand dollars found on the train, and now, while disrobing,
+handed him the belt in which he carried his own money, saying,--
+
+"I'll put this in your keeping for a few days, till I feel more like
+myself. I lost my watch and some change, but I took the precaution to
+have this hidden."
+
+He stopped abruptly and seemed to be trying to recall something, then
+continued, slowly,--
+
+"There was something else in connection with that affair which I wished
+to say to you, but my head is so confused I cannot think what it was."
+
+"Don't try to think now; it will come to you by and by," Mr. Underwood
+replied. "You're in good hands, so don't worry yourself about anything,
+but get all the rest you can."
+
+With a deep sigh of relief Darrell sank on the pillows, and was soon
+sleeping heavily.
+
+A few moments later Mr. Underwood, coming from Darrell's room, having
+left the servant in charge, met his sister coming down the long hall.
+She beckoned, and, turning, slowly retraced her steps, her brother
+following, to another part of the house, where they entered a darkened
+chamber and together stood beside a low, narrow couch strewn with
+fragrant flowers. Together, without a word or a tear, they gazed on the
+peaceful face of this sleeper, wrapped in the breathless, dreamless
+slumber we call death. They recalled the years since he had come to
+them, the dying bequest of their youngest sister, a little,
+golden-haired prattler, to fill their home with the music of his
+childish voice and the sunshine of his smile. Already the great house
+seemed strangely silent without his ringing laughter, his bursts of
+merry song.
+
+But of whatever bitter grief stirred their hearts, this silent brother
+and sister, so long accustomed to self-restraint and self-repression,
+gave no sign. Gently she replaced the covering over the face of the
+sleeper, and silently they left the room. Not until they again reached
+the door of Darrell's room was the silence broken; then the brother
+said, in low tones,--
+
+"Marcia, we've done all for the dead that can be done; it's the living
+who needs our care now."
+
+"Yes," she replied, quietly, "I was going to see what I could do for him
+when you had put him to bed."
+
+"Bennett is in there now, and I'm going downstairs to wait for Dr.
+Bradley; he telephoned that he'd be up in twenty minutes."
+
+"Very well; I'll sit by him till the doctor comes."
+
+When Dr. Bradley arrived he found Darrell in a state of coma from which
+it was almost impossible to arouse him. From Mr. Underwood and his
+sister he learned whatever details they could furnish, but from the
+patient himself very little information could be obtained.
+
+"He has this fever that is prevailing in the mountainous districts, and
+has it in its worst form," he said, when about to take leave. "Of
+course, having just come from the East, it would be worse for him in any
+event than if he were acclimated; but aside from that, the cerebral
+symptoms are greatly aggravated owing to the nervous shock which he
+received last night. To witness an occurrence of that sort would be more
+or less of a shock to nerves in a normal state, but in the condition in
+which he was at the time, it is likely to produce some rather serious
+complications. Follow these directions which I have written out, and
+I'll be in again in a couple of hours."
+
+But in two hours Darrell was delirious.
+
+"Has he recognized any one since I was here?" Dr. Bradley inquired, as
+he again stood beside the patient.
+
+"I don't think so," Mrs. Dean replied. "I could hardly rouse him enough
+to give him the medicine, and even then he didn't seem to know me."
+
+"I'll be in about midnight," said the physician, as he again took leave,
+"and I'll send a professional nurse, a man; this is likely to be a long
+siege."
+
+"Send whatever is needed," said Mr. Underwood, brusquely, "the same as
+if 'twere for the boy himself!"
+
+"And, Mrs. Dean," the physician continued, "if he should have a lucid
+interval, you had better ascertain the address of his friends."
+
+It was nearly midnight. For hours Darrell had battled against the
+darkening shadows fast settling down upon him, enveloping him with a
+horror worse than death itself. Suddenly there was a rift in the clouds,
+and the calm, sweet light of reason stole softly through. He felt a cool
+hand on his forehead, and, opening his eyes, looked with a smile into
+the face of Mrs. Dean as she bent over him. Bending still lower, she
+said, in low, distinct tones:
+
+"Can you tell me the name of your people, and where they live?"
+
+In an instant he comprehended all that her question implied; he must
+give his own name and the address of the far-away eastern home. He
+strove to recall it, but the effort was too great; before he could
+speak, the clouds surged together and all was blotted out in darkness.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IV_
+
+LIFE? OR DEATH?
+
+
+Hour by hour the clouds thickened, obscuring every ray of light, closing
+the avenues of sight and sound, until, isolated from the outer world by
+this intangible yet impenetrable barrier, Darrell was alone in a world
+peopled only with the phantoms of his imagination. Of the lapse of time,
+of the weary procession of days and nights which followed, he knew
+nothing. Day and night were to him only an endless repetition of the
+horrors which thronged his fevered brain.
+
+Again and again he lived over the tragic scene in the sleeping-car, each
+iteration and reiteration growing in dreadful realism, until it was he
+himself who grappled in deadly contest with the murderer, and the latter
+in turn became a monster whose hot breath stifled him, whose malign,
+demoniacal glance seemed to sear his eyeballs like living fire. Over and
+over, with failing strength, he waged the unequal contest, striving at
+last with a legion of hideous forms. Then, as the clouds grew still more
+dense about him, these shapes grew dim and he found himself, weak and
+trembling, adrift upon a sea of darkness whose black waves tossed him
+angrily, with each breath threatening to engulf him in their gloomy
+depths. Desperately he battled with them, each struggle leaving him
+weaker than the last, until at length, scarcely breathing, his strength
+utterly exhausted, he lay watching the towering forms as they swept
+relentlessly towards him, gathering strength and fury as they came. He
+saw the yawning abysses on each side, he heard the roar of the
+on-coming waves, but was powerless to move hand or foot.
+
+But while he waited in helpless terror the waves on which he tossed to
+and fro grew calm; then they seemed to divide, and he felt himself going
+down, down into infinite depths. The sullen roar died away; the darkness
+was flooded with golden light, and through its ethereal waves he was
+still floating downward more gently than ever a roseleaf floated to
+earth on the evening's breath. Through the waves of golden light there
+came to him a faint, distant murmur of voices, and the words,--
+
+"He is sinking fast!"
+
+He smiled with perfect content, wondering dreamily if it would never
+end; then consciousness was lost in utter oblivion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Three weeks had elapsed since Darrell came to The Pines. August had
+given place to September, but the languorous days brought no cessation
+of the fearful heat, no cooling rain to the panting earth, no promise of
+renewed life to the drought-smitten vegetation. The timber on the ranges
+had been reduced to masses of charred and smouldering embers, among
+which the low flames still crept and crawled, winding their way up and
+down the mountains. The pall of smoke overhanging the city grew more and
+more dense, until there came a morning when, as the sun looked over the
+distant ranges, the landscape was suffused with a dull red glare which
+steadily deepened until all objects assumed a blood-red hue. Two or
+three hours passed, and then a lurid light illumined the strange scene,
+brightening moment by moment, till earth and sky glowed like a mass of
+molten copper. The heat seemed to concentrate upon that part of the
+earth's surface, the air grew oppressive, and an ominous silence
+reigned, in which even the birds were hushed and the dumb brutes cowered
+beside their masters.
+
+As the brazen glow was fading to a weird, yellow light, an anxious group
+was gathered about Darrell's bedside. He still tossed and moaned in
+delirium, but his movements had grown pathetically feeble and the moans
+were those of a tired child sobbing himself to sleep.
+
+"He cannot hold out much longer," said Dr. Bradley, his fingers on the
+weakening pulse, "his strength is failing rapidly."
+
+"There will be a change soon, one way or the other," said the nurse,
+"and there's not much of a chance left him now."
+
+"One chance in a hundred," said Dr. Bradley, slowly; "and that is his
+wonderful constitution; he may pull through where ninety-nine others
+would die."
+
+Dr. Bradley watched the sick man in silence, then noting that the room
+was darkening, he stepped to an open window and cast a look of anxious
+inquiry at the murky sky. As if in answer to his thought, there came the
+low rumble of distant thunder, bringing a look of relief and hopefulness
+to the face of the physician. Returning to the bedside, he gave a few
+directions, then, as he was leaving, remarked,--
+
+"There will be a change in the weather soon, a change that may help to
+turn the tide in his favor, provided it does not come too late!"
+
+Hours passed; the distant mutterings grew louder, while the darkness and
+gloom increased, and the sense of oppression became almost intolerable.
+Suddenly the leaden mass which had overspread the sky appeared to drop
+to earth, and in the dead silence which followed could be heard the roar
+of the wind through the gorges and down the canyons. A moment more, and
+clouds of dust and débris, the outriders of the coming tempest, rushed
+madly through the streets in whirling columns towering far above the
+city. From their vantage ground the dwellers at The Pines watched the
+course of the storm, but only for a moment; then blinding sheets of
+water hid even the nearest objects from view, while lightnings flashed
+incessantly and the thunder crashed and rolled in one ceaseless,
+deafening roar. The trees waved their arms in wild, helpless terror as
+one and another of their number were prostrated by the storm, while the
+dry channels on the mountain-side became raging, foaming torrents.
+Suddenly the winds changed, a chilling blast swept across the plateau,
+and to the rush of the wind, the roar of the thunder, and the crash of
+falling timber was added the sharp staccato of swiftly descending hail.
+
+For nearly an hour the storm raged in its fury, then departed as
+suddenly as it came; but it left behind a clear atmosphere, crisp as an
+October morning.
+
+As the storm clouds, touched with beauty by the rays of the setting sun,
+were settling below the eastern ranges, Dr. Bradley again entered the
+sick-room. The room was flooded with golden light, and the physician was
+quick to note the changes which the few hours had wrought in the sick
+man. The fever had gone and, his strength spent, his splendid energies
+exhausted, life's forces were ebbing moment by moment.
+
+"He is sinking fast," said Mrs. Dean.
+
+Even as she spoke a smile stole over the pallid features; then, as they
+watched eagerly for some token of returning consciousness, the nervous
+system, so long strained to its utmost tension, suddenly relaxed and
+utter collapse followed.
+
+For hours Darrell lay as one dead, an occasional fluttering about the
+heart being the only sign of life. But late in the forenoon of the
+following day the watchers by the bedside, noting each feeble pulsation,
+thinking it might be the last, felt an almost imperceptible quickening
+of the life current. Gradually the fluttering pulse grew calm and
+steady, the faint respirations grew deeper and more regular, until at
+length, with a long, tremulous sigh, Darrell sank into slumber sweet and
+restful as a child's, and the watchers knew that the crisis had passed.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter V_
+
+JOHN BRITTON
+
+
+It was on one of those glorious October days, when every breath quickens
+the blood and when simply to live is a joy unspeakable, that Darrell
+first walked abroad into the outdoor world. Several times during his
+convalescence he had sunned himself on the balcony opening from his
+room, or when able to go downstairs had paced feebly up and down the
+verandas, but of late his strength had returned rapidly, so that now,
+accompanied by his physician, he was walking back and forth over the
+gravelled driveway under the pine-trees, his step gaining firmness with
+every turn.
+
+Seated on the veranda were Mr. Underwood and his sister, the one with
+his pipe and newspaper, the other with her knitting; but the newspaper
+had slipped unheeded to the floor, and though Mrs. Dean's skilful
+fingers did not slacken their work for an instant, yet her eyes, like
+her brother's, were fastened upon Darrell, and a shade of pity might
+have been detected in the look of each, which the occasion at first
+sight hardly seemed to warrant.
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Mr. Underwood, at length; "it's hard for a young man
+to be handicapped like that!"
+
+"Yes," assented his sister, "and he takes it hard, too, though he
+doesn't say much. I can't bear to look in his eyes sometimes, they look
+so sort of pleading and helpless."
+
+"Takes it hard!" reiterated Mr. Underwood; "why shouldn't he. I'm
+satisfied that he is a young man of unusual ability, who had a bright
+future before him, and I tell you, Marcia, it's pretty hard for him to
+wake up and find it all rubbed off the slate!"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Dean, with a sigh, "everybody has to carry their own
+burdens, but there's a look on his face when he thinks nobody sees him
+that makes me wish I could help him carry his, though I don't suppose
+anybody can, for that matter; it isn't anything that anybody feels like
+saying much about."
+
+"I'm glad Jack is coming," said Mr. Underwood, after a pause; "he may do
+him some good. He has a way of getting at those things that you and I
+haven't, Marcia."
+
+"Yes, he's seen trouble himself, though nobody knows what it was."
+
+Notwithstanding the tide of returning vitality was fast restoring tissue
+and muscle to Darrell's wasted limbs and firmness and elasticity to his
+step, it was yet evident to a close observer that some undercurrent of
+suffering was doing its work day by day; sprinkling the dark hair with
+gleams of silver, tracing faint lines in the face hitherto untouched by
+care, working its subtle, mysterious changes.
+
+When a new lease of life was granted to John Darrell and he awoke to
+consciousness, it was to find that every detail of his past life had
+been blotted out, leaving only a blank. Of his home, his friends, of his
+own name even, not a vestige of memory was left. It was as though he had
+entered upon a new existence.
+
+By degrees, as he was able to hear them, he was given the details of his
+arrival at Ophir, of his coming to The Pines, of the tragedy which he
+had witnessed in the sleeping-car, but they awoke no memories in his
+mind. For him there was no past. As a realization of his condition
+dawned upon him his mental distress was pitiable. Despite the efforts of
+physician and nurse to divert his mind, he would lie for hours trying to
+recall some fragment from the veiled and shrouded past, but all in vain.
+Yet, with returning physical strength, many of his former attainments
+seemed to return to him, naturally and without effort. Dr. Bradley one
+day used a Latin phrase in his hearing; he at once repeated it and,
+without a moment's hesitation, gave the correct rendering, but was
+unable to tell how he did it.
+
+"It simply came to me," was all the explanation he could give.
+
+From this the physician argued that the memory of his past life would
+sooner or later return, and it was this hope alone which at that time
+saved Darrell from total despair.
+
+Aside from his professional interest in so peculiar a case, Dr. Bradley
+had become interested in Darrell himself; many of his leisure hours were
+spent at The Pines, and quite a friendship existed between the two.
+
+In Mr. Underwood and his sister Darrell had found two steadfast friends,
+each seeming to vie with the other in thoughtful, unobtrusive kindness.
+His strange misfortune had only deepened and intensified the sympathy
+which had been first aroused by the peculiar circumstances under which
+he had come to them. But now, as then, they said little, and for this
+Darrell was grateful. Even the silent pity which he read in their eyes
+hurt him,--why, he could scarcely explain to himself; expressed in
+words, it would have been intolerable. Early in his convalescence
+Darrell had expressed an unwillingness to trespass upon their kindness
+by remaining after he could with safety be moved, but the few words they
+had spoken on that occasion had effectually silenced any further
+suggestion of the kind on his part. He understood that to leave them
+would be to forfeit their friendship, which he well knew was of a sort
+too rare to be slighted or thrown aside.
+
+Of Kate Underwood Darrell knew nothing, except as her father or aunt
+spoke of her, for he had no recollection of her and she had left home
+early in his illness to return to an eastern college, from which she
+would graduate the following year.
+
+With more animation than he had yet shown since his illness, Darrell
+returned to the veranda. He was flushed and trembling slightly from the
+unusual exertion, and Dr. Bradley, dropping down beside him, from force
+of habit laid his fingers on Darrell's wrist, but the latter shook them
+off playfully.
+
+"No more of that!" he exclaimed, adding, "Doctor, I challenge you for a
+race two weeks from to-day. What do you say, do you take me up?"
+
+"Two weeks from to-day!" repeated the doctor, with an incredulous smile,
+at the same time scrutinizing Darrell's form. "Well, yes. When you are
+in ordinary health I don't think I would care to do much business with
+you along that line, but two weeks from to-day is a safe proposition, I
+guess. What do you want to make it, a hundred yards?" he inquired, with
+a laughing glance at Mr. Underwood.
+
+"One hundred yards," replied Darrell, following the direction of the
+doctor's glance. "Do you want to name the winner, Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"I'll back you, my boy," said the elder man, quietly, his shrewd face
+growing a trifle shrewder.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Dr. Bradley, rising hastily;
+
+"I guess it's about time I was going, if that's your estimate of my
+athletic prowess," and, shaking hands with Darrell, he started down the
+driveway.
+
+"I'll put you up at about ten to one," Mr. Underwood called after the
+retreating figure, but a deprecatory wave of his hand over his shoulder
+was the doctor's only reply.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Darrell, looking about him, "this is glorious! This is
+one of the days that make a fellow feel that life is worth living!"
+
+Even as he spoke there came to his mind the thought of what life meant
+to him, and the smile died from his lips and the light from his eyes.
+
+For a moment nothing was said, then, with the approaching sound of
+rhythmic hoof-beats, Mr. Underwood rose, deliberately emptying the ashes
+from his pipe as a fine pair of black horses attached to a light
+carriage appeared around the house from the direction of the stables.
+
+"You will be back for lunch, David?" Mrs. Dean inquired.
+
+"Yes, and I'll bring Jack with me," was his reply, as he seated himself
+beside the driver, and the horses started at a brisk trot down the
+driveway.
+
+With a smile Mrs. Dean addressed Darrell, who was watching the horses
+with a keen appreciation of their good points.
+
+"This 'Jack' that you've heard my brother speak of is his partner."
+
+"Yes?" said Darrell, courteously, feeling slight interest in the
+expected guest, but glad of anything to divert his thoughts.
+
+"Yes," Mrs. Dean continued; "they've been partners and friends for more
+than ten years. His name is John Britton, but it's never anything but
+'Dave' and 'Jack' between the two; they're almost like two boys
+together."
+
+Darrell wondered what manner of man this might be who could transform
+his silent, stern-faced host into anything boy-like, but he said
+nothing.
+
+"To see them together you'd wonder at their friendship, too," continued
+Mrs. Dean, "for they're noways alike. My brother is all business, and
+Mr. Britton is not what you'd really call a practical business man. He
+is very rich, for he is one of those men that everything they touch
+seems to turn to gold, but he doesn't seem to care much about money. He
+spends a great deal of his time in reading and studying, and though he
+makes very few friends, he could have any number of them if he wanted,
+for he's one of those people that you always feel drawn to without
+knowing why."
+
+Mrs. Dean paused to count the stitches in her work, and Darrell, whose
+thoughts were of the speaker more than of the subject of conversation,
+watching her placid face, wondered whether it were possible for any
+emotion ever to disturb that calm exterior. Presently she resumed her
+subject, speaking in low, even tones, which a slight, gentle inflection
+now and then just saved from monotony.
+
+"He's always a friend to anybody in distress, and I guess there isn't a
+poor person or a friendless person in Ophir that doesn't know him and
+love him. He has had some great trouble; nobody knows what it is, but he
+told David once that it had changed his whole life."
+
+Darrell now became interested, and the dark eyes fixed on Mrs. Dean's
+face grew suddenly luminous with the quick sympathy her words had
+aroused.
+
+"He always seems to be on the lookout for anybody that has trouble, to
+help them; that's how he got to know my brother."
+
+Mrs. Dean hesitated a moment. "I never spoke of this to any one before,
+but I thought maybe you'd be interested to know about it," she said,
+looking at Darrell with a slightly apologetic air.
+
+"I am, and I think I understand and appreciate your motive," was his
+quiet reply.
+
+She dropped her work, folding her hands above it, and her face wore a
+reminiscent look as she continued:
+
+"When David's wife died, twelve years ago, it was an awful blow to him.
+He didn't say much,--that isn't our way,--but we were afraid he would
+never be the same again. His brother was out here at that time, but none
+of us could do anything for him. He kept on trying to attend to business
+just as usual, but he seemed, as you might say, to have lost his grip on
+things. It went on that way for nearly two years; his business got
+behind and everything seemed to be slipping through his fingers, when he
+happened to get acquainted with Mr. Britton, and he seemed to know just
+what to say and do. He got David interested in business again. He loaned
+him money to start with, and they went into business together and have
+been together ever since. They have both been successful, but David has
+worked and planned for what he has, while Mr. Britton's money seems to
+come to him. He owns property all over the State, and all through the
+West for that matter, and sometimes he's in one place and sometimes in
+another, but he never stays very long anywhere. David would like to have
+him make his home with us, but he told him once that he couldn't think
+of it; that he only stayed in a place till the pain got to be more than
+he could bear, and then he went somewhere else."
+
+A long silence followed; then, as Mrs. Dean folded her work, she said,
+softly,--
+
+"It's no wonder he knows just how to help folks who are in trouble, for
+I guess he has suffered himself more than anybody knows."
+
+A little later she had gone indoors to superintend the preparations for
+lunch, but Darrell still sat in the mellow, autumn sunlight, his eyes
+closed, picturing to himself this stranger silently bearing his hidden
+burden, changing from place to place, but always keeping the pain.
+
+It still lacked two hours of sunset when John Darrell, leaning on the
+arm of John Britton, walked slowly up the mountain-path to a rustic seat
+under the pines. They had met at lunch. Mr. Britton had already heard
+the strange story of Darrell's illness, and, looking into his eyes with
+their troubled questioning, their piteous appeal, knew at once by swift
+intuition how hopelessly bewildering and dark life must look to the
+young man before him just at the age when it usually is brightest and
+most alluring; and Darrell, meeting the steadfast gaze of the clear,
+gray eyes, saw there no pity, but something infinitely broader, deeper,
+and sweeter, and knew intuitively that they were united by the
+fellowship of suffering, that mysterious tie which has not only bound
+human hearts together in all ages, but has linked suffering humanity
+with suffering Divinity.
+
+For more than two hours Darrell, taking little part himself in the
+general conversation, had watched, as one entranced, the play of the
+fine features and listened to the deep, musical voice of this stranger
+who was a stranger no longer.
+
+He was an excellent conversationalist; humorous without being cynical,
+scholarly without being pedantic, and showing especial familiarity with
+history and the natural sciences.
+
+At last, while walking up and down the broad veranda, Mr. Britton had
+paused beside Darrell, and throwing an arm over his shoulder had said,--
+
+"Come, my son, let us have a little stroll."
+
+Darrell's heart had leaped strangely at the words, he knew not why, and
+in a silence pregnant with deep emotion on both sides, they had climbed
+to the rustic bench. Here they sat down. The ground at their feet was
+carpeted with pine-needles; the air was sweet with the fragrance of the
+pines and of the warm earth; no sound reached their ears aside from the
+chirping of the crickets, the occasional dropping of a pine-cone, or the
+gentle sighing of the light breeze through the branches above their
+heads.
+
+A glorious scene lay outspread before them; the distant ranges half
+veiled in purple haze, the valleys flooded with golden light, brightened
+by the autumnal tints of the deciduous timber which marked the courses
+of numerous small streams, and over the whole a restful silence, as
+though, the year's work ended, earth was keeping some grand, solemn
+holiday.
+
+Mr. Britton first broke the silence, as in low tones he murmured,
+reverently,--
+
+"'Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness!'"
+
+Then turning to Darrell with a smile of peculiar sweetness, he said,
+"This is one of what I call the year's 'coronation days,' when even
+Nature herself rests from her labors and dons her royal robes in honor
+of the occasion."
+
+Then, as an answering light dawned in Darrell's eyes and the tense lines
+in his face began to relax, Mr. Britton continued, musingly:
+
+"I have often wondered why we do not imitate Nature in her great annual
+holiday, and why we, a nation who garners one of the richest harvests of
+the world, do not have a national harvest festival. How effectively and
+fittingly, for instance, something similar to the old Jewish feast of
+tabernacles might be celebrated in this part of the country! In the
+earliest days of their history the Jews were commanded, when the year's
+harvest had been gathered, to take the boughs of goodly trees, of
+palm-trees and willows, and to construct booths in which they were to
+dwell, feasting and rejoicing, for seven days. In the only account given
+of one of these feasts, we read that the people brought olive-branches
+and pine-branches, myrtle-branches and palm-branches, and made
+themselves booths upon the roofs of their houses, in their courts, and
+in their streets, and dwelt in them, 'and there was very great
+gladness.' Imagine such a scene on these mountain-slopes and foot-hills,
+under these cloudless skies; the sombre, evergreen boughs interwoven
+with the brightly colored foliage from the lowlands; this mellow, golden
+sunlight by day alternating with the white, mystical radiance of the
+harvest moon by night."
+
+Mr. Britton's words had, as he intended they should, drawn Darrell's
+thoughts from himself. Under his graphic description, accompanied by the
+powerful magnetism of his voice and presence, Darrell seemed to see the
+Oriental festival which he had depicted and to feel a soothing influence
+from the very simplicity and beauty of the imaginary scene.
+
+"Think of the rest, the relaxation, in a week of such a life!" continued
+Mr. Britton. "Re-creation, in the true sense of the word. The simplest
+joys are the sweetest, but our lives have grown too complex for us to
+appreciate them. Our amusements and recreations, as we call them, are
+often more wearing and exhausting than our labors."
+
+For nearly an hour Mr. Britton led the conversation on general subjects,
+carefully avoiding every personal allusion; Darrell following,
+interested, animated, wondering more and more at the man beside him,
+until the latter tactfully led him to speak--calmly and dispassionately,
+as he could not have spoken an hour before--of himself. Almost before he
+was aware, Darrell had told all: of his vain gropings in the darkness
+for some clue to the past; of the helpless feeling akin to despair which
+sometimes took possession of him when he attempted to face the situation
+continuously confronting him.
+
+During his recital Mr. Britton had thrown his arm about Darrell's
+shoulder, and when he paused quite a silence followed.
+
+"Did it ever occur to you," Mr. Britton said at length, speaking very
+slowly, "that there are hundreds--yes, thousands--who would be only too
+glad to exchange places with you to-day?"
+
+"No," Darrell replied, too greatly astonished to say more.
+
+"But there are legions of poor souls, haunted by crime, or crushed
+beneath the weight of sorrow, whose one prayer would be, if such a thing
+were possible, that their past might be blotted out; that they might be
+free to begin life anew, with no memories dogging their steps like
+spectres, threatening at every turn to work their undoing."
+
+For a moment Darrell regarded his friend with a fixed, inquiring gaze,
+which gradually changed to a look of comprehension.
+
+"I see," he said at length, "I have got to begin life anew; but you
+consider that there are others who have to make the start under
+conditions worse than mine."
+
+"Far worse," said Mr. Britton. "Don't think for a moment that I fail to
+realize in how many ways you are handicapped or to appreciate the
+obstacles against which you will have to contend, but this I do say: the
+future is in your own hands--as much as it is in the hands of any
+mortal--to make the most of and the best of that you can, and with the
+negative advantage, at least, that you are untrammelled by a past that
+can hold you back or drag you down."
+
+The younger man laid his hand on the knee of the elder with a gesture
+almost appealing. "The future, until now, has looked very dark to me; it
+begins to look brighter. Advise me; tell me how best to begin!"
+
+"In one word," said Mr. Britton, with a smile. "Work! Just as soon as
+you are able, find some work to do. Did we but know it, work is the
+surest antidote for the poisonous discontent and ennui of this world,
+the swiftest panacea for its pains and miseries; different forms to suit
+different cases, but every form brings healing and blessing, even down
+to the humblest manual labor."
+
+"That is just what I have wanted," said Darrell, eagerly; "to go to work
+as soon as possible; but what can I do? What am I fitted for? I have not
+the slightest idea. I don't care to work at breaking stone, though I
+suppose that would be better than nothing."
+
+"That would be better than nothing," said Mr. Britton, smiling again,
+"but that would not be suited to your case. What you need is mental
+work, something to keep your mind constantly occupied, and rest assured
+you will find it when you are ready for it. Our Father provides what we
+need just when we need it. 'Day by day' we have the 'daily bread' for
+mental and spiritual life, as for temporal. But what you most want to do
+is to keep your mind pleasantly occupied, and above all things don't
+try to recall the past. In God's own good time it will return of
+itself."
+
+"And when it does, what revelations will it bring?" Darrell queried
+musingly.
+
+"Nothing that you will be afraid or ashamed to meet; of that I am sure,"
+said Mr. Britton, confidently, adding a moment later, in a lighter tone,
+"It is nearing sunset, my boy, and time that I was taking you back to
+the house."
+
+"You have given me new courage, new hope," said Darrell, rising. "I feel
+now as though there were something to live for--as though I might make
+something out of life, after all."
+
+"I realize," said Mr. Britton, tenderly, as together they began the
+descent of the mountain path, "as deeply as you do that your life is
+sadly disjointed; but strive so to live that when the broken fragments
+are at last united they will form one harmonious and symmetrical whole.
+It is a difficult task, I know, but the result will be well worth the
+effort. In your case, my son, even more than in ordinary lives, the
+words of the poet are peculiarly applicable:
+
+  "'A sacred burden is this life ye bear:
+  Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly;
+  Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly;
+  Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
+  But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.'"
+
+An hour later John Britton stood alone on one of the mountain terraces,
+his tall, lithe form silhouetted against the evening sky, his arms
+folded, his face lifted upward. It was a face of marvellous strength and
+sweetness combined. Sorrow had set its unmistakable seal upon his
+features; here and there pain had traced its ineffaceable lines; but
+the firmly set mouth was yet inexpressibly tender, the calm brow was
+unfurrowed, and the clear eyes had the far-seeing look of one who, like
+the Alpine traveller, had reached the heights above the clouds, to whose
+vision were revealed glories undreamed of by the dwellers in the vales
+below.
+
+And to Darrell, watching from his room the distant figure outlined
+against the sky, the simple grandeur, the calm triumph of its pose must
+have brought some revelation concerning this man of whom he knew so
+little, yet whose personality even more than his words had taken so firm
+a hold upon himself, for, as the light faded and deepening twilight hid
+the solitary figure from view, he turned from the window, and, pacing
+slowly up and down the room, soliloquized:
+
+"With him for a friend, I can meet the future with courage and await
+with patience the resurrection of the buried past. As he has conquered,
+so will I conquer; I will scale the heights after him, until I stand
+where he stands to-night!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VI_
+
+ECHOES FROM THE PAST
+
+
+During his stay at The Pines Mr. Britton spent the greater portion of
+his time with Mr. Underwood, either at their offices or at the mines.
+Darrell, therefore, saw little of his new-found friend except as they
+all gathered in the evening around the glowing fire in the large family
+sitting-room, for, notwithstanding the lingering warmth and sunshine of
+the days, the nights were becoming sharp and frosty, so that an open
+fire added much to the evening's enjoyment. Each morning, however,
+before his departure, Mr. Britton stopped for a few words with Darrell;
+some quaint, kindly bit of humor, the pleasant flavor of which would
+enliven the entire day; some unhackneyed expression of sympathy whose
+very genuineness and sincerity made Darrell's position seem to him less
+isolated and solitary than before; or some suggestion which, acted upon,
+relieved the monotony of the tedious hours of convalescence.
+
+At his suggestion Darrell took vigorous exercise each day in the morning
+air and sunshine, devoting his afternoons to a course of light, pleasant
+reading.
+
+"If you are going to work," said Mr. Britton, "the first requisite is to
+have your body and mind in just as healthful and normal a condition as
+possible, in order that you may be able to give an equivalent for what
+you receive. In these days of trouble between employer and employed, we
+hear a great deal about the laborer demanding an honest equivalent for
+his toil, but it does not occur to him to inquire whether he is giving
+his employer an honest equivalent for his money. The fact is, a large
+percentage of working-men and working-women, in all departments of
+labor, are squandering their energies night after night in various forms
+and degrees of dissipation until they are utterly incapacitated for one
+honest day's work; yet they do not hesitate to take a full day's wages,
+and would consider themselves wronged were the smallest fraction
+withheld."
+
+Darrell found himself rather restricted in his reading for the first few
+days, as he found but a limited number of books at The Pines, until Mrs.
+Dean, who had received a hint from Mr. Britton, meeting him one day in
+the upper hall, led him into two darkened rooms, saying, as she hastened
+to open the blinds,--
+
+"These are what the children always called their 'dens.' All their books
+are here, and I thought maybe you'd like to look them over. If you see
+anything you like, just help yourself, and use the rooms for reading or
+writing whenever you want to."
+
+Darrell, left to himself, looked about him with much interest. The two
+rooms were similar in style and design, but otherwise were as diverse as
+possible. The room in which he was standing was furnished in embossed
+leather. A leather couch stood near one of the windows, and a large
+reclining-chair of the same material was drawn up before the fireplace.
+Near the mantel was a pipe-rack filled with fine specimens of briar-wood
+and meerschaum pipes. Signs of tennis, golf, and various athletic sports
+were visible on all sides; in the centre of the room stood a large
+roll-top desk, open, and on it lay a briar pipe, filled with ashes, just
+where the owner's hand had laid it. But what most interested Darrell was
+a large portrait over the fireplace, which he knew must be that of
+Harry Whitcomb. The face was neither especially fine nor strong, but the
+winsome smile lurking about the curves of the sensitive mouth and in the
+depths of the frank blue eyes rendered it attractive, and it was with a
+sigh for the young life so suddenly blotted out that Darrell turned to
+enter the second room.
+
+He paused at the doorway, feeling decidedly out of place, and glanced
+about him with a serio-comic smile. The furnishings were as unique as
+possible, no one piece in the room bearing any relation or similarity to
+any other piece. There were chairs and tables of wicker-work, twisted
+into the most ornate designs, interspersed among heavy, antique pieces
+of carving and slender specimens of colonial simplicity; divans covered
+with pillows of every delicate shade imaginable; exquisite etchings and
+dainty bric-ā-brac. In an alcove formed by a large bay-window stood a
+writing-desk of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and on an easel in a
+secluded corner, partially concealed by silken draperies, was the
+portrait of Kate Underwood,--a childish, rather immature face, but with
+a mouth indicating both sweetness and strength of character, and with
+dark, strangely appealing eyes.
+
+The walls of both rooms were lined with bookcases, but their contents
+were widely diverse, and, to Darrell's surprise, he found the young
+girl's library contained far the better class of books. But even in
+their selection he observed the same peculiarity that he had noted in
+the furnishing of the room; there were few complete sets of books;
+instead, there were one, two, or three volumes of each author, as the
+case might be, evidently her especial favorites.
+
+But Darrell returned to the other room, which interested him far more,
+each article in it bearing eloquent testimony to the happy young life
+of whose tragic end he had now often heard, but of which he was unable
+to recall the faintest memory. Passing slowly through the room, his
+attention was caught by a violin case standing in an out-of-the-way
+corner. With a cry of joy he drew it forth, his fingers trembling with
+eagerness as he opened it and took therefrom a genuine Stradivarius. At
+that moment his happiness knew no bounds. Seating himself and bending
+his head over the instrument after the manner of a true violin lover, he
+drew the bow gently across the strings, producing a chord of such
+triumphant sweetness that the air seemed vibrating with the joy which at
+that instant thrilled his own soul.
+
+Immediately all thought of himself or of his surroundings was lost. With
+eyes half closed and dreamy he began to play, without effort, almost
+mechanically, but with the deft touch of a master hand, while liquid
+harmonies filled the room, quivering, rising, falling; at times low,
+plaintive, despairing; then swelling exultantly, only to die away in
+tremulous, minor undertones. The man's pent-up feelings had at last
+found expression,--his alternate hope and despair, his unutterable
+loneliness and longing,--all voiced by the violin.
+
+Of the lapse of time Darrell had neither thought nor consciousness until
+the door opened and Mrs. Dean's calm smile and matter-of-fact voice
+recalled him to a material world.
+
+"I see that you have found Harry's violin," she said.
+
+"I beg your pardon," Darrell stammered, somewhat dazed by his sudden
+descent to the commonplace, "I ought not to have taken it; I never
+thought,--I was so delighted to find the instrument and so carried away
+with its tones,--it never occurred to me how it might seem to you!"
+
+"Oh, that is all right," she interposed, quietly; "use it whenever you
+like. Harry bought it two years ago, but he never had the patience to
+learn it, so it has been used very little. I never heard such playing as
+yours, and I stepped in to ask you to bring it downstairs and play for
+us to-night. Mr. Britton will be delighted; he enjoys everything of that
+sort."
+
+Around the fireside that evening Darrell had an attentive audience,
+though the appreciation of his auditors was manifested in a manner
+characteristic of each. Mr. Underwood, after two or three futile
+attempts to talk business with his partner, finding him very
+uncommunicative, gave himself up to the enjoyment of his pipe and the
+music in about equal proportions, indulging surreptitiously in
+occasional brief naps, though always wide awake at the end of each
+number and joining heartily in the applause.
+
+Mrs. Dean sat gazing into the glowing embers, her face lighted with
+quiet pleasure, but her knitting-needles twinkled and flashed in the
+firelight with the same unceasing regularity, and she doubled and seamed
+and "slipped and bound" her stitches with the same monotonous precision
+as on other evenings.
+
+Mr. Britton, in a comfortable reclining-chair, sat silent, motionless,
+his head thrown back, his eyes nearly closed, but in the varying
+expression of his mobile face Darrell found both inspiration and
+compensation.
+
+For more than three hours Darrell entertained his friends; quaint
+medleys, dreamy waltzes, and bits of classical music following one after
+another, with no effort, no hesitancy, on the part of the player. To
+their eager inquiries, he could only answer,--
+
+"I don't know how I do it. They seem to come to me with the sweep of
+the bow across the strings. I have no recollection of anything that I am
+playing; it seems as though the instrument and I were simply drifting."
+
+Late in the evening, when they were nearly ready to separate for the
+night, Darrell sat idly strumming the violin, when an old familiar
+strain floated sweetly forth, and his astonished listeners suddenly
+heard him singing in a rich baritone an old love-song, forgotten until
+then by every one present.
+
+Mrs. Dean had already laid aside her work and sat with hands folded, a
+smile of unusual tenderness hovering about her lips, while Mr. Britton's
+face was quivering with emotion. At its conclusion he grasped Darrell's
+hand silently.
+
+"That is a very old song," said Mrs. Dean. "It seems queer to hear you
+sing it. I used to hear it sung when I was a young girl, and that," she
+added smiling, "was a great many years ago."
+
+"And I have sung it many a time a great many years ago," said Mr.
+Britton. And he hastily left the room.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VII_
+
+AT THE MINES
+
+
+Once fairly started on the road to health, Darrell gained marvellously.
+Each day marked some new acquisition in physical health and muscular
+vigor, while his systematic reading, the soothing influence of the music
+to which he devoted a considerable time each day, and, more than all,
+his growing intimacy with Mr. Britton, were doing much towards restoring
+a better mental equipoise.
+
+The race to which he had challenged Dr. Bradley took place on a frosty
+morning early in November, Mr. Underwood himself measuring and marking
+the course for the runners and Mr. Britton acting as starter. The result
+was a victory for Darrell, who came out more than a yard ahead of his
+opponent, somewhat to the chagrin of the latter, who had won quite a
+local reputation as an athlete.
+
+"You'll do," he said to Darrell, as he took leave a few moments later,
+"but don't pose here as an invalid any longer, or I'll expose you as a
+fraud. Understand, I cross your name off my list of patients to-day."
+
+"But not off your list of friends, I hope," Darrell rejoined, as they
+shook hands.
+
+When Dr. Bradley had gone, Darrell turned to Mr. Britton, who was
+standing near, saying, as his face grew serious,--
+
+"Dr. Bradley is right; I'm no invalid now, and I must quit this idling.
+I must find what I can do and go to work."
+
+"All in good time," said Mr. Britton, pleasantly. "We'll find something
+for you before I go from here. Meanwhile, I want to give you a little
+pleasure-trip if you are able to take it. How would you like to go out
+to the mines to-morrow with Mr. Underwood and myself? Do you think you
+could 'rough it' with us old fellows for a couple of days?"
+
+"You couldn't have suggested anything that would please me better,"
+Darrell answered. "I would like the change, and it's time I was roughing
+it. Perhaps when I get out there I'll decide to take a pick and shovel
+and start in at the bottom of the ladder and work my way up."
+
+"Is that necessary?" queried Mr. Britton, regarding the younger man with
+close but kindly scrutiny. "Mr. Underwood tells me that you brought a
+considerable amount of money with you when you came here, which he has
+deposited to your credit."
+
+Darrell met the penetrating gaze unwaveringly, as he replied, with quiet
+decision, "That money may be mine, or it may not; it may have been given
+me to hold in trust. In any event, it belongs to the past, and it will
+remain where it is, intact, until the past is unveiled."
+
+Mr. Britton looked gratified, as he remarked, in a low tone, "I don't
+think you need any assurance, my boy, that I will back you with all the
+capital you need, if you would like to start in business."
+
+"No, Mr. Britton," said Darrell, deeply touched by the elder man's
+kindness; "I know, without words, that I could have from you whatever I
+needed, but it is useless for me to think of going into business with as
+little knowledge of myself as I have at present. The best thing for me
+is to take whatever work offers itself, until I find what I am fitted
+for or to what I can best adapt myself."
+
+The next morning found Darrell at an early hour on his way to the mining
+camp with Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton. The ground was white and
+glistening with frost, and the sun, not yet far above the horizon, shone
+with a pale, cold light, but Darrell, wrapped in a fur coat of Mr.
+Underwood's, felt only the exhilarating effect of the thin, keen air,
+and as the large, double-seated carriage, drawn by two powerful horses,
+descended the pine-clad mountain and passed down one of the principal
+streets of the little city, he looked about him with lively interest.
+
+Leaving the town behind them, they soon began the ascent of a winding
+canyon. After two or three turns, to Darrell's surprise, every sign of
+human habitation vanished and only the rocky walls were visible, at
+first low and receding, but gradually growing higher and steeper. On
+they went, steadily ascending, till a turn suddenly brought the distant
+mountains into closer proximity, and Mr. Britton, pointing to a lofty,
+rugged range on Darrell's right, said,--
+
+"There lies the Great Divide."
+
+For two hours they wound steadily upward, the massive rocks towering on
+all sides, barren, grotesque in form, but beautiful in coloring,--dull
+reds, pale greens, and lovely blues and purples staining the sombre
+grays and browns.
+
+Darrell had grown silent, and his companions, supposing him absorbed in
+the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, left him to his own reflections
+while they talked on matters of interest to themselves.
+
+But to Darrell the surrounding rocks were full of a strange, deep
+significance. The colorings and markings in the gray granite were to him
+what the insignia of the secret orders are to the initiated, replete
+with mystical meaning. To him had come the sudden realization that he
+was in Nature's laboratory, and in the hieroglyphics traced on the
+granite walls he read the symbols of the mysterious alchemy silently and
+secretly wrought beneath their surface. The vastness of the scale of
+Nature's work, the multiplicity of her symbols, bewildered him, but in
+his own mind he knew that he still held the key to this mysterious code,
+and the knowledge thrilled him with delight. He gazed about him,
+fascinated, saying nothing, but trembling with joy and with eagerness to
+put himself to the test, and it was with difficulty that he controlled
+his impatience till the long ride should come to an end.
+
+At last they left the canyon and followed a steep road winding up the
+side of a mountain, which, after an hour's hard climbing, brought them
+to the mining camp. As the carriage stopped Darrell was the first to
+alight, springing quickly to the ground and looking eagerly about him.
+
+At a short distance beyond them the road was terminated by the large
+milling plant, above which the mountain rose abruptly, its sides dotted
+with shaft-houses and crossed and recrossed with trestle-work almost to
+the summit. A wooden flume clung like a huge serpent to the steep
+slopes, and a tramway descended from near the summit to the mill below.
+At a little distance from the mill were the boarding-house and
+bunk-houses, while in the foreground, near the road was the office
+building, to which the party adjourned after exchanging greetings with
+Mr. Hathaway, the superintendent, who had come out to meet them and to
+whom Darrell was duly introduced. The room they first entered was the
+superintendent's office. Beyond that was a pleasant reception-room,
+while in the rear were the private rooms of the superintendent and the
+assayer, who were not expected to share the bunk-houses with the miners.
+
+Mr. Underwood and the superintendent at once proceeded to business, but
+Mr. Britton, mindful of Darrell's comfort, ushered him into the
+reception-room. A coal-fire was glowing in a small grate; a couch, three
+or four comfortable chairs, and a few books and magazines contributed to
+give the room a cosey appearance, but the object which instantly riveted
+Darrell's attention was a large case, extending nearly across one side
+of the room, filled with rare mineralogical and geological specimens.
+There were quartz crystals gleaming with lumps of free-milling gold,
+curling masses of silver and copper wire direct from the mines, gold
+nuggets of unusual size and brilliancy, and specimens of ores from the
+principal mines not only of that vicinity, but of the West.
+
+Observing Darrell's interest in the contents of the case, Mr. Britton
+threw open the doors for a closer inspection, and began calling his
+attention to some of the finest specimens, but at Darrell's first
+remarks he paused, astonished, listened a few moments, then stepping to
+the next room, called Mr. Underwood. That gentleman looked somewhat
+perturbed at the interruption, but at a signal from Mr. Britton,
+followed the latter quietly across the room to where Darrell was
+standing. Here they stood, silently listening, while Darrell,
+unconscious of their presence, went rapidly through the specimens,
+classifying the different ores, stating the conditions which had
+contributed to their individual characteristics, giving the approximate
+value of each and the mode of treatment required for its reduction; all
+after the manner of a student rehearsing to himself a well-conned
+lesson.
+
+At last, catching sight of the astonished faces of his listeners, his
+own lighted with pleasure, as he exclaimed, joyously,--
+
+"I wanted to test myself and see if it would come back to me, and it
+has! I believed it would, and it has!"
+
+"What has come back to you?" queried Mr. Underwood, too bewildered
+himself to catch the drift of Darrell's meaning.
+
+"The knowledge of all this," Darrell answered, indicating the collection
+with a swift gesture; "it began to come to me as soon as I saw the rocks
+on our way up; it confused me at first, but it is all clear now. Take me
+to your mill, Mr. Underwood; I want to see what I can do with the ores
+there."
+
+At that moment Mr. Hathaway entered to summon the party to dinner, and
+seeing Darrell standing by the case, his hands filled with specimens, he
+said, addressing Mr. Underwood with a pleasant tone of inquiry,--
+
+"Mr. Darrell is a mining man?"
+
+But Mr. Underwood was still too confused to answer intelligibly, and it
+was Mr. Britton who replied, as he linked his arm within Darrell's on
+turning to leave the room,--
+
+"Mr. Darrell is a mineralogist."
+
+At dinner Darrell found himself too excited to eat, so overjoyed was he
+at the discovery of attainments he had not dreamed he possessed, and so
+eager to put them to every test possible.
+
+It had been Mr. Underwood's intention to visit the mines that afternoon,
+but at Darrell's urgent request, they went first to the mill. Here he
+found ample scope for his abilities. He fairly revelled in the various
+ores, separating, assorting, and classifying them with the rapidity and
+accuracy of an expert, and at once proceeded to assay some samples
+taken from a new lead recently struck, the report of which had
+occasioned this particular trip to the camp. He worked with a dexterity
+and skill surprising in one of his years, producing the most accurate
+results, to the astonishment and delight of both Mr. Underwood and Mr.
+Britton.
+
+After an extended inspection of the different departments of the large
+milling plant, he was taken into a small laboratory, where the assayer
+in charge was testing some of the recently discovered ore for the
+presence of certain metals. After watching for a while in silence
+Darrell said, turning to Mr. Underwood,--
+
+"I can give you a quicker and a surer test than that!"
+
+The assayer and himself at once exchanged places, and, unheeding the
+many eyes fixed upon him, Darrell seated himself before the long table
+and deftly began operations. Not a word broke the silence as by methods
+wholly new to his spectators he subjected the ore to successive chemical
+changes, until, within an incredibly short time, the presence of the
+suspected metals was demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt.
+
+"Mineralogist and metallurgist!" exclaimed Mr. Britton delightedly, as
+he congratulated Darrell upon his success.
+
+The short November day had now nearly drawn to a close, and after supper
+the gentlemen adjourned to the office building, where they spent an hour
+or more around the open fire. Darrell, who was quite wearied with the
+unusual exertion and excitement of the day, retired early, the
+superintendent and assayer had gone out on some business at the mill,
+and Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton were left together. No sooner were
+they by themselves than Mr. Britton, who was walking up and down the
+room, stopped beside his partner as he sat smoking and gazing
+abstractedly into the fire, and, laying a hand on his shoulder, said,--
+
+"Well, Dave, what do you think? After what we've seen to-day, can't you
+make a place over there at the mill for the boy?"
+
+"Hang it all!" answered the other, somewhat testily, secretly a little
+jealous of the growing intimacy between his partner and Darrell;
+"supposing I can, is there any need of your dipping in your oar about
+it? Do you think I need any suggestion from you in the way of
+befriending him or standing by him?"
+
+"No, Dave," said Mr. Britton, pleasantly, dropping into a chair by Mr.
+Underwood's side, "I did not put my question with a view of making any
+suggestions. I know, and Darrell knows, that he hasn't a better friend
+than you, and because I know this, and also because I am a friend to you
+both, I was interested to ask you what you intended doing for him."
+
+"What I intended doing for him and what I probably will actually do for
+him are two altogether different propositions--all on account of his own
+pig-headedness," was the rather surly response.
+
+"How's that?" Mr. Britton inquired.
+
+"Why, confound the fellow! I took a liking to him from the first, coming
+here the way he did, and after what he did for Harry there was nothing I
+wouldn't have done for him. Then, after his sickness, when we found his
+memory had gone back on him and left him helpless as a child in some
+ways, I knew he'd stand no show among strangers, and my idea was to take
+him in, in Harry's place, give him a small interest in the business
+until he got accustomed to it, and then after a while let him in as
+partner. But when I broached the subject to him, a week ago or so, he
+wouldn't hear to it; said he'd rather find some work for which he was
+adapted and stick to that, at a regular salary. I told him he was
+missing a good thing, but nothing that I could say would make any
+difference."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "I'm not sure but his is the wiser
+plan. You must remember, Dave, that his stay with us will probably be
+but temporary. Whenever that portion of his brain which is now dormant
+does awaken, you can rest assured he will not remain here long. He no
+doubt realizes this and wishes to be absolutely foot-loose, ready to
+leave at short notice. And as to the financial side of the question, if
+you give him the place in your mill for which he is eminently fitted, it
+will be fully as remunerative in the long run as the interest in the
+business which you intended giving him."
+
+"What place in the mill do you refer to?" Mr. Underwood asked, quickly.
+
+"Oh, I'm not making any 'suggestions,' Dave; you don't need them." And
+Mr. Britton smiled quietly into the fire.
+
+"Go ahead and say your say, Jack," said the other, his own face relaxing
+into a grim smile; "that was only a bit of my crankiness, and you know
+me well enough to know it."
+
+"Give him the position of assayer in charge."
+
+"Great Scott! and fire Benson, who's been there for five years?"
+
+"It makes no difference how long he's been there. Darrell is a better
+man every way,--quicker, more accurate, more scientific. You can put
+Benson to sorting and weighing ores down at the ore-bins."
+
+After a brief silence Mr. Britton continued, "You couldn't find a better
+man for the place or a better position for the man. The work is
+evidently right in the line of his profession, and therefore congenial;
+and even though you should pay him no more salary than Benson, that,
+with outside work in the way of assays for neighboring camps, will be
+better than any business interest you would give him short of twelve or
+eighteen months at least."
+
+"I guess you're right, and I'll give him the place; but hang it all! I
+did want to put him in Harry's place. You and I are getting along in
+years, Jack, and it's time we had some young man getting broke to the
+harness, so that after a while he could take the brunt of things and let
+us old fellows slack up a bit."
+
+"We could not expect that of Darrell," said Mr. Britton. "He is neither
+kith nor kin of ours, and when once Nature's ties begin to assert
+themselves in his mind, we may find our hold upon him very slight."
+
+Both men sighed deeply, as though the thought had in some way touched an
+unpleasant chord. After a pause, Mr. Britton inquired,--
+
+"You have no clue whatever as to Darrell's identity, have you?"
+
+Mr. Underwood shook his head. "Queerest case I ever saw! There wasn't a
+scrap of paper nor a pen-mark to show who he was. Parkinson, the mine
+expert who was on the same train, said he didn't remember seeing him
+until Harry introduced him; he said he supposed he was some friend of
+Harry's. Since his sickness I've looked up the conductor on that train
+and questioned him, but all he could remember was that he boarded the
+train a little this side of Galena and that he had a ticket through from
+St. Paul."
+
+"You say this Parkinson was a mine expert; what was he doing out here?"
+
+"He was one of three or four that were here at that time, looking up the
+Ajax for eastern parties."
+
+"In all probability," said Mr. Britton, musingly, "Darrell was here on
+the same business."
+
+"If that was his business, he said nothing about it to me, and I would
+have thought he would, under the circumstances."
+
+"I wonder whether we could ascertain from the owners of the Ajax what
+experts were out here or expected out here at that time?"
+
+Mr. Underwood smiled grimly. "Not from the former owners, for nobody
+knows where they are, though there are some people quite anxious to
+know; and not from the present owners, for they are too busy looking for
+their predecessors in interest to think of anything else."
+
+"Why, has the Ajax really changed owners? Did they find any one to buy
+it?"
+
+"Yes, a Scotch syndicate bought it. They sent over a man--one of their
+own number, I believe, and authorized to act for them--that I guess knew
+more about sampling liquors than ores. The Ajax people worked him
+accordingly, with the result that the mine was sold at the figure
+named,--one million, half down, you know. The man rushed back to New
+York, to meet a partner whom he had cabled to come over. About ten days
+later they arrived on the ground and began operations at the Ajax. The
+mill ran for just ten days when they discovered the condition of affairs
+and shut down, and they have been looking for the former owners ever
+since."
+
+Both men laughed, then relapsed into silence. A little later, as Mr.
+Britton stirred the fire to a brighter glow, he said, while the tender
+curves about his mouth deepened,--
+
+"I cannot help feeling that the coming to us of this young man, whose
+identity is wrapped in so much mystery, has some peculiar significance
+to each of us. I believe that in some way, whether for good or ill I
+cannot tell, his life is to be henceforth inseparably linked with our
+own lives. He already holds, as you know, a place in each of our hearts
+which no stranger has held before, and I have only this to say, David,
+old friend, that our mutual regard for him, our mutual efforts for his
+well-being, must never lead to any estrangement between ourselves. We
+have been stanch friends for too many years for any one at this late
+date to come between us; and you must never envy me my little share in
+the boy's friendship."
+
+The two men had risen and now stood before the fire with clasped hands.
+
+"I was an old fool to-night, Jack; that was all," said Mr. Underwood,
+rather gruffly. "I haven't the knack of saying things that you
+have,--never had,--but I'm with you all the time."
+
+On the forenoon of the following day Darrell was shown the underground
+workings of the various mines, not excepting the Bird Mine, located
+almost at the summit of the mountain. This was the newest mine in camp,
+but, in proportion to its development, the best producer of all.
+
+After an early dinner there was a private meeting in the reception-room
+beyond the office, at which were present only Mr. Underwood, Mr.
+Britton, and Darrell, and at which Mr. Underwood duly tendered to
+Darrell the position of assayer in charge at the Camp Bird mill, which
+the latter accepted with a frank and manly gratitude which more than
+ever endeared him to the hearts of his two friends. In this little
+proceeding Mr. Britton purposely took no part, standing before the
+grate, his back towards the others, gazing into the fire as though
+absorbed in his own thoughts. When all was over, however, he
+congratulated Darrell with a warmth and tenderness which filled both the
+heart and the eyes of the latter to overflowing. That night, after their
+arrival at The Pines, as Mr. Britton and Darrell took their accustomed
+stroll, the latter said,--
+
+"Mr. Britton, I feel that I have you to thank for my good fortune of
+to-day. You had nothing to say when Mr. Underwood offered me that
+position, but, nevertheless, I believe the offer was made at your
+suggestion. It was, in reality, your kindness, not his."
+
+"You are partly right and partly wrong," replied Mr. Britton, smiling.
+"Never doubt Mr. Underwood's kindness of heart towards yourself. If I
+had any part in that affair, it was only to indicate the channel in
+which that kindness should flow."
+
+Together they talked of the strange course of events which had finally
+brought him and the work for which he was especially adapted together.
+
+"Do you know," said Mr. Britton, as they paused on the veranda before
+entering the house, "I am no believer in accident. I believe that of the
+so-called 'happenings' in our lives, each has its appointed time and
+mission; and it is not for us to say which is trivial or which is
+important, until, knowing as we are known, we look back upon life as God
+sees it."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VIII_
+
+"UNTIL THE DAY BREAK"
+
+
+A week later Darrell was duly installed at the mining camp. Mr. Britton
+had already left, called on private business to another part of the
+State. After his departure, life at The Pines did not seem the same to
+Darrell. He sorely missed the companionship--amounting almost to
+comradeship, notwithstanding the disparity of their years--which had
+existed between them from their first meeting, and he was not sorry when
+the day came for him to exchange the comfort and luxury with which the
+kindness of Mr. Underwood and his sister had surrounded him for the
+rough fare and plain quarters of the mining camp.
+
+Mrs. Dean, when informed of Darrell's position at the camp, had most
+strenuously objected to his going, and had immediately stipulated that
+he was to return to The Pines every Saturday and remain until Monday.
+
+"Of course he's coming home every Saturday, and as much oftener as he
+likes," her brother had interposed. "This is his home, and he
+understands it without any words from us."
+
+On the morning of his departure he realized as never before the depth of
+the affection of his host and hostess for himself, manifesting itself as
+it did in silent, unobtrusive acts of homely but heartfelt kindness. As
+the storing of Darrell's belongings in the wagon which was to convey him
+to the camp was about completed, Mrs. Dean appeared, carrying a large,
+covered basket, with snow-white linen visible between the gaping edges
+of the lids. This she deposited within the wagon, saying, as she turned
+to Darrell,--
+
+"There's a few things to last you through the week, just so you don't
+forget how home cooking tastes."
+
+And at the last moment there was brought from the stables at Mr.
+Underwood's orders, for Darrell's use in going back and forth between
+The Pines and the camp, a beautiful bay mare which had belonged to Harry
+Whitcomb, and which, having sadly missed her young master, greeted
+Darrell with a low whinny, muzzling his cheek and nosing his pockets for
+sugar with the most affectionate familiarity.
+
+It was a cold, bleak morning. The ground had frozen after a heavy rain,
+and the wagon jolted roughly over the ruts in the canyon road, making
+slow progress. The sky was overcast and straggling snowflakes wandered
+aimlessly up and down in the still air.
+
+Darrell, from his seat beside the driver, turned occasionally to speak
+to Trix, the mare, fastened to the rear end of the wagon and daintily
+picking her way along the rough road. Sometimes he hummed a bit of
+half-remembered song, but for the most part he was silent. While not
+attempting any definite analysis of his feelings, he was distinctly
+conscious of conflicting emotions. He was deeply touched by the kindness
+of Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dean, and felt a sort of self-condemnation
+that he was not more responsive to their affection. He knew that their
+home and hearts were alike open to him; that he was as welcome as one of
+their own flesh and blood; yet he experienced a sense of relief at
+having escaped from the unvarying kindliness for which, at heart, he was
+profoundly grateful. Even late that night, in the solitude of his
+plainly furnished room, with the wind moaning outside and the snow
+tapping with muffled fingers against the window pane, he yet exulted in
+a sense of freedom and happiness hitherto unknown in the brief period
+which held all he recalled of life.
+
+The ensuing days and weeks passed pleasantly and swiftly for Darrell. He
+quickly familiarized himself with the work which he had in charge, and
+frequently found leisure, when his routine work was done, for
+experiments and tests of his own, as well as for outside work which came
+to him as his skill became known in neighboring camps. His evenings were
+well filled, as he had taken up his old studies along the lines of
+mineralogy and metallurgy, pushing ahead into new fields of research and
+discovery, studying by night and experimenting by day. Meanwhile, the
+rocky peaks around him seemed beckoning him with their talismanic signs,
+as though silently challenging him to learn the mighty secrets for ages
+hidden within their breasts, and he promised himself that with the
+return of lengthening days, he would start forth, a humble learner, to
+sit at the feet of those great teachers of the centuries. He had
+occasional letters from Mr. Britton, cheering, inspiring, helpful, much
+as his presence had been, and in return he wrote freely of his present
+work and his plans for future work.
+
+Sometimes, when books were closed or the plaintive tones of the violin
+had died away in silence, he would sit for hours pondering the strange
+problem of his own life; watching, listening for some sign from out the
+past; but neither ray of light nor wave of sound came to him. His
+physician had told him that some day the past would return, and that the
+intervening months or years as the case might be, would then doubtless
+be in turn forgotten, and as he revolved this in his mind he formed a
+plan which he at once proceeded to put into execution.
+
+On his return one night from a special trip to Ophir he went to his room
+with more than usual haste, and opening a package in which he seemed
+greatly interested, drew forth what appeared to be a book, about eleven
+by fifteen inches in size, bound in flexible morocco and containing some
+five or six hundred pages. The pages were blank, however, and bound
+according to an ingenious device which he had planned and given the
+binder, by which they could be removed and replaced at will, and, if
+necessary, extra pages could be added.
+
+For some time he stood by the light, turning the volume over and over
+with an expression of mingled pleasure and sadness; then removing some
+of the pages, he sat down and prepared to write. The new task to which
+he had set himself was the writing of a complete record, day by day, of
+this present life of his, beginning with the first glimmerings of
+memory, faint and confused, in the earliest days of his convalescence at
+The Pines. He dipped his pen, then hesitated; how should this strange
+volume be inscribed?
+
+Only for a moment; then his pen was gliding rapidly over the spotless
+surface, and the first page, when laid aside, bore the following
+inscription:
+
+     "To one from the outer world, whose identity is hidden among the
+     secrets of the past:
+
+     "With the hope that when the veil is lifted these pages may assist
+     him in uniting into one perfect whole the strangely disjointed
+     portions of his life, they are inscribed by
+
+                                            "JOHN DARRELL."
+
+Below was the date, and then followed the words,--
+
+     "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."
+
+After penning the last words he paused, repeating them, vainly trying to
+recall when or where he had heard them. They seemed to ring in his ears
+like a strain of melody wafted from some invisible shore, and blending
+with the minor undertone he caught a note of triumph. They had come to
+him like a voice from out the past, but ringing with joyful assurance
+for the future; the assurance that the night, however dark, must end in
+a glorious dawning, in which no haunting shadow would have an
+abiding-place.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IX_
+
+TWO PORTRAITS
+
+
+The winter proved to be mild and open, so that Darrell's weekly visits
+to The Pines were made with almost unbroken regularity, and to his
+surprise he discovered as the months slipped away that, instead of a
+mere obligation which he felt bound to perform, they were becoming a
+source of pleasure. After a week of unremitting toil and study and
+contact with the rough edges of human nature, there was something
+unspeakably restful in the atmosphere of that quiet home; something
+soothing in the silent, steadfast affection, the depth of which he was
+only beginning to fathom.
+
+One Saturday evening in the latter part of April Darrell was, as usual,
+descending the canyon road on his way to The Pines. For weeks the winter
+had lingered as though loath to leave, and Darrell, absorbed in work and
+study, had gone his way, hiding his loneliness and suffering so deeply
+as to be ofttimes forgotten even by himself, and at all times
+unsuspected by those about him. Then, in one night had come the warm
+breath of the west winds, and within a few hours the earth was
+transformed as though by magic, and the restless longing within his
+breast awoke with tenfold intensity.
+
+As he rode along he was astounded at the changes wrought in one week.
+From the southern slopes of the mountains the snow had almost
+disappeared and the sunny exposures of the ranges were fast brightening
+into vivid green. The mountain streams had burst their icy fetters and,
+augmented by the melting snows, were roaring tumultuously down their
+channels, tumbling and plunging over rocky ledges in sheets of
+shimmering silver or foaming cascades; then, their mad frolic ended,
+flowing peacefully through distant valleys onward to the rivers, ever
+chanting the song which would one day blend in the great ocean
+harmonies.
+
+The frail flowers, clinging to the rocks and smiling fearlessly up into
+the face of the sun, the silvery sheen of the willows along the distant
+water-courses, the softened outlines and pale green of budding
+cottonwoods in the valleys far below, all told of the newly released
+life currents bounding through the veins of every living thing. From the
+lower part of the canyon, the wild, ecstatic song of a robin came to him
+on the evening breeze, and in the slanting sunbeams myriads of tiny
+midges held high carnival. The whole earth seemed pulsating with new
+life, and tree and flower, bird and insect were filled anew with the
+unspeakable joy of living.
+
+Amid this universal baptism of life, what wonder that he felt his own
+pulse quicken and the warm life-blood leaping swiftly within his veins!
+His heart but throbbed in unison with the great heart of Nature, but its
+very beating stifled him as the sense of his own restrictions came back
+upon him with crushing weight. For one moment he paused, his spirit
+struggling wildly against the bars imprisoning it; then, with a look
+towards the skies of dumb, appealing anguish, he rode onward, his head
+bowed, his heart sick with unutterable longing.
+
+Arriving at The Pines, he received the usual welcome, but neither its
+undemonstrative affection nor the restful quiet of the old home could
+soothe or satisfy him that night. But if his host and hostess noted the
+gloom on his face or his restless manner they made no comments and asked
+no questions.
+
+On going upstairs at a late hour he went across the hall to the
+libraries in search of a book with which to pass away the time, as he
+was unable to sleep. He had no definite book in mind and wandered
+aimlessly through both rooms, reading titles in an abstracted manner,
+until he came at last face to face with the picture of Kate Underwood.
+
+He had seen it many times without especially observing it, but in his
+present mood it appealed to him as never before. The dark eyes seemed
+fixed upon his face with a look of entreaty from which he could not
+escape, and, drawing a chair in front of the easel, he sat down and
+became absorbed in a study of the picture. Heretofore he had considered
+it merely the portrait of a very young and somewhat plain girl. Now he
+was surprised to find that the more it was studied in detail, the more
+favorable was the impression produced. Though childish and immature,
+there was not a weak line in the face. The nose and mouth were
+especially fine, the former denoting distinct individuality, the latter
+marked strength and sweetness of character; and while the upper part of
+the face indicated keen perceptions and quick sympathies, the general
+contour showed a nature strong either to do or to endure. The eyes were
+large and beautiful, but it was not their beauty which riveted Darrell's
+attention; it was their look of wistful appeal, of unsatisfied longing,
+which led him at last to murmur, while his eyes moistened,--
+
+"You dear child! How is it that in your short life, surrounded by all
+that love can provide, you have come to know such heart hunger as that?"
+
+Long after he had returned to his room those eyes still haunted him,
+nor could he banish the conviction that some time, somewhere, in that
+young life there had been an unfilled void which in some degree, however
+slight, corresponded to the blank emptiness of his own.
+
+The next morning Darrell attended church with Mrs. Dean. The latter was
+a strict church-woman, and Darrell, by way of showing equal courtesy to
+host and hostess, usually accompanied her in the morning, devoting the
+afternoon to Mr. Underwood.
+
+After lunch he and Mr. Underwood seated themselves in one of the sunny
+bay-windows for their customary chat, Mrs. Dean having gone to her room
+for the afternoon nap which was as much a part of her Sunday programme
+as the morning sermon.
+
+For a while they talked of the latest developments at the mines, but Mr.
+Underwood seemed preoccupied, gazing out of the window and frowning
+heavily. At last, after a long silence, he said, slowly,--
+
+"I expect we're going to have trouble at the camp this season."
+
+"How is that?" Darrell asked quickly, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"Oh, it's some of this union business," the other answered, with a
+gesture of impatience, "and about the most foolish proposition I ever
+heard of, at that. But," he added, decidedly, "they know my position;
+they know they'll get no quarter from me. I've steered clear of them so
+far; they've let me alone and I've let them alone, but when it comes to
+a parcel of union bosses undertaking to run my business or make terms to
+me, I'll fight 'em to a finish, and they know it."
+
+Darrell, watching the face of the speaker, saw the lines about his mouth
+harden and his lips settle into a grim smile that boded no good to his
+opponents.
+
+"What do they want--higher wages or shorter hours?" he inquired.
+
+"Neither," said Mr. Underwood, shortly, as he re-lighted his pipe. After
+a few puffs he continued:
+
+"As I said before, it's the most foolish proposition I ever heard of.
+You see, there's five or six camps, all told, in the neighborhood of our
+camp up there. One or two of the lot, like the Buckeye group, for
+instance, are run by men that haven't much capital, and I suppose are
+working as economically as they can. Anyhow, there's been some kicking
+over there among the miners about the grub, and the upshot of the whole
+thing is that the union has taken the matter in hand and is going to
+open a union boarding-house and take in the men from all the camps at
+six bits a day for each man, instead of the regular rate of a dollar a
+day charged by the mining companies."
+
+"The scale of wages to remain the same, I suppose," said Darrell; "so
+that means a gain to each man of twenty-five cents a day?"
+
+"Exactly," said Mr. Underwood. "It means a gain of two bits a day to
+each man; it means loss and inconvenience to the companies, and it means
+a big pile of money in the pockets of the bosses who are running the
+thing."
+
+"There are not many of the owners up there that can stand that sort of
+thing," said Darrell, reflectively.
+
+"Of course they can't stand it, and they won't stand it if they've got
+any backbone! Take Dwight and Huntley; they've been to heavy expense in
+enlarging their mill and have just put up a new boarding-house, and
+they're in debt; they can't afford to have all that work and expenditure
+for nothing. Now, with us the loss wouldn't be so great as with the
+others, for we don't make so much out of our boarding-house. My motto
+has always been 'Live and let live,' and I give my men a good
+table,--just what I'd want for myself if I were in their places. It
+isn't the financial part that troubles me. What I object to is this: I
+won't have my men tramping three-quarters of a mile for meals that won't
+be as good as they can get right on their own grounds; more than that,
+I've got a good, likely set of men, and I won't have them demoralized by
+herding them in with the tough gangs from those other camps; and above
+all and once for all,"--here Mr. Underwood's tones became excited as he
+exclaimed, with an oath,--"I've always been capable of running my own
+business, and I'll run it yet, and no damned union boss will ever run it
+for me!"
+
+"How do the men feel about it? Have you talked with them?" Darrell
+inquired.
+
+"There isn't one of them that's dissatisfied or would leave of his own
+free will," Mr. Underwood replied, "but I don't suppose they would dare
+to stand out against the bosses. Why, man, if the workingmen only knew
+it, they are ten times worse slaves to the union bosses than ever they
+were to corporations. They have to pay over their wages to let those
+fellows live like nabobs; they have to come and go at their beck and
+call, and throw up good positions and live in enforced idleness because
+of some other fellows' grievances; they don't dare express an opinion or
+say their souls are their own. Humph!"
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, who had been smilingly listening to the
+other's tirade, "what will you do if this comes to a strike?"
+
+"Strike!" he exclaimed in tones of scathing contempt. "Strike? I'll
+strike too, and they'll find I can strike just as hard as they can, and
+a little harder!"
+
+"Will you close down?"
+
+The shrewd face grew a bit shrewder. "If it's necessary to close down,"
+he remarked, evasively, "I'll close down. I guess I can stand it as long
+as they can. Those mines have lain there in those rocks idle for
+centuries, for aught that I know; 'twon't hurt 'em to lie idle a few
+weeks or months now; nobody'll run off with 'em, I guess."
+
+Darrell laughed aloud. "Well, one thing is certain, Mr. Underwood; I,
+for one, wouldn't want to quarrel with you!"
+
+Mr. Underwood slowly shook his head. "You'd better not try it, my boy;
+you'd better not!"
+
+"When do you expect this trouble to come to a head?" Darrell asked at
+length.
+
+"Some time in the early part of July, probably; they expect to get their
+arrangements completed by that time."
+
+A long silence followed; Mrs. Dean came softly into the room and took
+her accustomed seat, and, as Mr. Underwood made it a point never to talk
+of business matters in his sister's presence, nothing more was said
+regarding the prospective disturbance at the mines.
+
+After dinner the beauty of the sunset brought them out upon the veranda.
+The air was warm and fragrant with the breath of spring. The buds were
+swelling on the lilacs near the house, and out on the lawn, beyond the
+driveway, millions of tiny spears of living green trembled in the light
+breeze.
+
+"David," said Mrs. Dean, presently, "have you shown Mr. Darrell that
+picture of Katherine that came yesterday?"
+
+"I declare! No; I had forgotten it!" Mr. Underwood exclaimed.
+
+"It's well for you she isn't here to hear you say that!" Mrs. Dean
+remarked, smiling.
+
+"Puss knows her old father well enough to know he wouldn't forget her
+very long. Bring the picture out, Marcia."
+
+Darrell heard Mrs. Dean approaching, and turned, with the glory of the
+sunset in his eyes.
+
+"Don't you want to see Katherine's new picture?" she inquired.
+
+Her words instantly recalled the portrait he had studied the preceding
+night, and with that in his mind he took the picture she handed him and
+silently compared the two.
+
+Ah, the beauty of the spring, everywhere confronting him, was in that
+face also; the joy of a life as yet pure, untainted, and untrammelled.
+It was like looking into the faces of the spring flowers which reflect
+only the sunshine, the purity and the sweetness of earth. There was a
+touch of womanly dignity, too, in the poise of the head, but the
+beautiful eyes, though lighted with the faint dawn of coming womanhood,
+were the same as those that had appealed to him the night before with
+their wistful longing.
+
+"It is a fine portrait, but as I do not remember her, I cannot judge
+whether it is like herself or not," he said, handing the picture to Mr.
+Underwood, who seemed almost to devour it with his eyes, though he spoke
+no word and not a muscle moved in his stern, immobile face.
+
+"She is getting to be such a young lady," remarked Mrs. Dean, "that I
+expect when she comes home we will feel as though she had grown away
+from us all."
+
+"She will never do that, Marcia, never!" said Mr. Underwood, brusquely,
+as he abruptly left the group and went into the house.
+
+There was a moment's silence, then Mrs. Dean said, in a low tone,--
+
+"She is getting to look just like her mother. I haven't seen David so
+affected since his wife died as he was when that picture came
+yesterday."
+
+Darrell bowed silently, in token that he understood.
+
+"She was a lovely woman, but she was very different from any of our
+folks," she added, with a sigh, "and I guess Katherine is going to be
+just like her."
+
+"When is Miss Underwood expected home?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"About the last of June," was the reply.
+
+Long after the sun had set Darrell paced up and down the veranda,
+pausing at intervals to gaze with unseeing eyes out over the peaceful
+scene below him, his only companions his own troubled thoughts. The
+young moon was shining, and in its pale radiance his set face gleamed
+white like marble.
+
+Like, and yet unlike, it was to the face of the sleeper journeying
+westward on that summer afternoon eight months before. Experience, the
+mighty sculptor, was doing his work, and doing it well; only a few lines
+as yet, here and there, and the face was already stronger, finer. But it
+was the face of one hardened by his own sufferings, not softened by the
+sufferings of others. The sculptor's work was as yet only begun.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter X_
+
+THE COMMUNION OF TWO SOULS
+
+
+Gradually the springtide crept upward into the heart of the mountains,
+quickening the pulses of the rocks themselves until even the mosses and
+lichens slumbering at their feet awakened to renewed life. Bits of green
+appeared wherever a grass root could push its way through the rocky
+soil, and fragile wild flowers gleamed, starlike, here and there, fed by
+tiny rivulets which trickled from slowly melting snows on the summits
+far above.
+
+With the earliest warm days Darrell had started forth to explore the
+surrounding mountains, eager to learn the secrets which they seemed ever
+challenging him to discover. New conditions confronted him, sometimes
+baffling him, but always inciting to renewed effort. His enthusiasm was
+so aroused that often, when his day's work was done, taking a light
+lunch with him, he pursued his studies while the daylight lasted,
+walking back in the long twilight, and in the solitude of his room
+making full notes of the results of that day's research before retiring
+for the night.
+
+Returning one evening from one of these expeditions he saw, pacing back
+and forth before the office building, a figure which he at once
+recognized as that of Mr. Britton. Instantly all thought of work or
+weariness was forgotten, and he hastened forward, while Mr. Britton,
+catching sight of Darrell rapidly approaching, turned and came down the
+road to meet him.
+
+"A thousand welcomes!" Darrell cried, as soon as they were within
+speaking distance; "say, but this is glorious to see you here! How long
+have I kept you waiting?"
+
+"A few hours, but that does not matter; it does us good to have to stop
+and call a halt on ourselves once in a while. How are you, my son?" And
+as the two grasped hands the elder man looked searchingly through the
+gathering dusk into the face of the younger. Even in the dim twilight,
+Darrell could feel that penetrating glance reading his inmost soul.
+
+"I am well and doing well," he answered; "my physical health is perfect;
+as for the rest--your coming is the very best thing that could have
+happened. Are you alone?" he asked, eagerly, "or did Mr. Underwood come
+with you?"
+
+"I came alone," Mr. Britton replied, with quiet emphasis, linking his
+arm within Darrell's as they ascended the road together.
+
+"How long have you been in town?"
+
+"But two days. I am on my way to the coast, and only stopped off for a
+few days. I shall spend to-morrow with you, go back with you Saturday to
+The Pines, and go on my way Monday."
+
+Having made his guest as comfortable as possible in his own room,
+Darrell laid aside his working paraphernalia, his hammer, and bag of
+rock specimens, and donning a house coat and pair of slippers seated
+himself near Mr. Britton, all the time conscious of the close but kindly
+scrutiny with which the latter was regarding him.
+
+"This is delightful!" he exclaimed; "but it is past my comprehension how
+Mr. Underwood ever let you slip off alone!"
+
+Mr. Britton looked amused. "I told him I was coming to see you, and I
+think he intended coming with me till he heard me order my saddle-horse
+for the trip. I think that settled the matter. I believe there can be no
+perfect interchange of confidence except between two. The presence of a
+third party--even though a mutual friend--breaks the magnetic circuit
+and weakens the current of sympathy. Our interviews are necessarily
+rare, and I want to make the most of them; therefore I would come to you
+alone or not at all."
+
+"Yes," Darrell replied; "your visits are so rare that every moment is
+precious to me, and think of the hours I lost by my absence to-day!"
+
+"Do you court Dame Nature so assiduously every day, subsisting on cold
+lunches and tramping the mountains till nightfall?"
+
+"Not every day, but as often as possible," Darrell replied, smiling.
+
+"And I suppose if I were not here you would now be burrowing into that
+pile over there?" Mr. Britton said, glancing significantly towards the
+table covered to a considerable depth with books of reference,
+note-books, writing-pads, and sheets of closely written manuscript.
+
+"Let me show you what I am doing; it will take but a moment," said
+Darrell, springing to his feet.
+
+He drew forth several sets of extensive notes on researches and
+experiments he was making along various lines of study, in which Mr.
+Britton became at once deeply interested.
+
+"You have a good thing here; stick to it!" he said at length, looking up
+from the perusal of Darrell's geological notes, gathered from his
+studies of the rock formations in that vicinity. "You have a fine field
+in which to pursue this branch, and with the knowledge you already have
+on this subject and the discoveries you are likely to make, you may be
+able to make some very valuable contributions to the science one of
+these days."
+
+"That is just what I hope to do!" exclaimed Darrell eagerly; "just what
+I am studying for day and night!"
+
+"But you must use moderation," said Mr. Britton, smiling at the younger
+man's enthusiasm; "you are young, you have years before you in which to
+do this work, and this constant study, night and day, added to your
+regular routine work, is too much for you. You are looking fagged
+already."
+
+"If I am, it is not the work that is fagging me," Darrell replied,
+quickly, his tones becoming excited; "Mr. Britton, I must work; I must
+accomplish all I can for two reasons. You say I have years before me in
+which to do this work. God knows I hope I haven't got to work years like
+this,--only half alive, you might say,--and when the change comes, if it
+ever does, you know, of course, I cannot and would not remain here."
+
+"I understand you would not remain here," said Mr. Britton slowly, and
+laying his hand soothingly on the arm of his agitated companion, "but
+you can readily see that not only your education, but your natural trend
+of thought, is along these lines; therefore, when you are fully restored
+to your normal self you will be the more--not the less--interested in
+these things, and I predict that no matter when the time comes for you
+to leave, you will, after a while, return to continue this same line of
+work amid the same surroundings, but, we hope, under far happier
+conditions."
+
+Darrell shook his head slowly. "It does not seem to me that I would ever
+wish to return to a place where I had suffered as I have here."
+
+Mr. Britton smiled, one of his slow, sad, sweet smiles that Darrell
+loved to watch, that seemed to dawn in his eyes and gradually to spread
+until every feature was irradiated with a tender, beneficent light.
+
+"I once thought as you do," he said, gently, "but after years of
+wandering, I find that the place most sacred to me now is that hallowed
+by the bitterest agony of my life."
+
+Without replying Darrell unconsciously drew nearer to his friend, and a
+brief silence followed, broken by Mr. Britton, who inquired, in a
+lighter tone,--
+
+"What is the other reason for your constant application to your work?
+You said there were two."
+
+Darrell bowed his head upon his hands as he answered in a low,
+despairing tone,--
+
+"To stop thinking, thinking, thinking; it will drive me mad!"
+
+"I have been there, my boy; I know," Mr. Britton responded; then, after
+a pause, he continued:
+
+"Something in the tenor of your last letter made me anxious to come to
+you. I thought I detected something of the old restlessness. Has the
+coming of spring, quickening the life forces all around you, stirred the
+life currents in your own veins till your spirit is again tugging at its
+fetters in its struggles for release?"
+
+With a startled movement Darrell raised his head, meeting the clear eyes
+fixed upon him.
+
+"How could you know?" he demanded.
+
+"Because, as Emerson says, 'the heart in thee is the heart of all.'
+There are few hearts whose pulses are not stirred by the magic influence
+of the springtide, and under its potent spell I knew you would feel your
+present limitations even more keenly than ever before."
+
+"Thank God, you understand!" Darrell exclaimed; then continued,
+passionately: "The last three weeks have been torture to me if I but
+allowed myself one moment's thought. Wherever I look I see life--life,
+perfect and complete in all its myriad forms--the life that is denied to
+me! This is not living,--this existence of mine,--with brain shackled,
+fettered, in many ways helpless as a child, knowing less than a child,
+and not even mercifully wrapped in oblivion, but compelled to feel the
+constant goading and galling of the fetters, to be reminded of them at
+every turn! My God! if it were not for constant work and study I would
+go mad!"
+
+In the silence which followed Darrell's mind reverted to that autumn day
+on which he had first met John Britton and confided to him his trouble;
+and now, as then, he was soothed and strengthened by the presence beside
+him, by the magnetism of that touch, although no word was spoken.
+
+As he reviewed their friendship of the past months he became conscious
+for the first time of its one-sidedness. He had often unburdened himself
+to his friend, confiding to him his griefs, and receiving in turn
+sympathy and counsel; but of the great, unknown sorrow that had wrought
+such havoc in his own life, what word had John Britton ever spoken? As
+Darrell recalled the bearing of his friend through all their
+acquaintance and his silence regarding his own sufferings, his eyes grew
+dim. The man at his side seemed, in the light of that revelation,
+stronger, grander, nobler than ever before; not unlike to the giant
+peaks whose hoary heads then loomed darkly against the starlit sky,
+calm, silent, majestic, giving no token of the throes of agony which,
+ages agone, had rent them asunder except in the mystic symbols graven on
+their furrowed brows. In that light his own complaints seemed puerile.
+At that moment Darrell was conscious of a new fortitude born within his
+soul; a new purpose, henceforth to dominate his life.
+
+A heavy sigh from Mr. Britton broke the silence. "I know the fetters are
+galling," he said, "but have patience and hope, for, at the time
+appointed, the shackles will be loosened, the fetters broken."
+
+Darrell faced his companion, a new light in his eyes but recently so
+dark with despair, as he asked, earnestly and tenderly,--
+
+"Dearest and best of friends, is there no time appointed for the lifting
+of the burden borne so nobly and uncomplainingly, 'lo, these many
+years?'"
+
+With a grave, sweet smile the elder man shook his head, and, rising,
+began pacing up and down the room. "There are some burdens, my son, that
+time cannot lift; they can only be laid down at the gates of eternity."
+
+With a strange, choking sensation in his throat Darrell rose, and, going
+to the window, stood looking out at the dim outlines of the neighboring
+peaks. Their vast solitude no longer oppressed him as at the first; it
+calmed and soothed him in his restless moods, and to-night those grim
+monarchs dwelling in silent fellowship seemed to him the embodiment of
+peace and rest.
+
+After a time Mr. Britton paused beside him, and, throwing his arm about
+his shoulders, asked,--
+
+"What are your thoughts, my son?"
+
+"Only a whim, a fancy that has taken possession of me the last few days,
+since my wanderings among the mountains," he answered, lightly; "a
+longing to bury myself in some sort of a retreat on one of these old
+peaks and devote myself to study."
+
+"And live a hermit's life?" Mr. Britton queried, with a peculiar smile.
+
+"For a while, yes," Darrell replied, more seriously; "until I have
+learned to fight these battles out by myself, and to conquer myself."
+
+"There are battles," said the other, speaking thoughtfully, "which are
+waged best in solitude, but self is conquered only by association with
+one's fellows. Solitude breeds selfishness."
+
+Mr. Britton had resumed his pacing up and down, but a few moments later,
+as he approached Darrell, the latter turned, suddenly confronting him.
+
+"My dear friend," he said, "you have been everything to me; you have
+done everything for me; I ask you to do one thing more,--forgive and
+answer this question: How have you conquered?"
+
+The look of pain that crossed his companion's face filled Darrell with
+regret for what he had said, but before he could speak again Mr. Britton
+replied gently, with his old smile,--
+
+"I doubt whether I have yet wholly conquered; but whatever victory is
+mine, I have won, not in solitude and seclusion, but in association with
+the sorrowing, the suffering, the sinning, and in sharing their burdens
+I found rest from my own."
+
+He paused a moment, then continued, his glowing eyes holding Darrell as
+though under a spell:
+
+"I know not why, but since our first meeting you have given me a new
+interest, a new joy in life. I have been drawn to you and I have loved
+you as I thought never again to love any human being, and some day I
+will tell you what I have told no other human being,--the story of my
+life."
+
+On Saturday Mr. Britton and Darrell returned to The Pines. The
+increasing intimacy between them was evident even there. For the last
+day or so Mr. Britton had fallen into the habit of addressing Darrell by
+his Christian name, much to the latter's delight. For this Mrs. Dean
+laughingly called him to account, compelling Mr. Britton to come to his
+own defence.
+
+"'John,'" he exclaimed; "of course I'll call him 'John.' It seems
+wonderfully pleasant to me. I've always wanted a namesake, and I can
+consider him one."
+
+"A namesake!" ejaculated Mrs. Dean, smiling broadly; "I wonder if
+there's a poor family or one that's seen trouble of any kind anywhere
+around here that hasn't a 'John Britton' among its children! I should
+think you had namesakes enough now!"
+
+"One might possibly like to have one of his own selection," he replied,
+dryly.
+
+As Darrell took leave of Mr. Britton the following Monday morning the
+latter said,--
+
+"By the way, John, whenever you are ready to enter upon that hermit life
+let me know; I'll provide the hermitage."
+
+"Are you joking?" Darrell queried, unable to catch his meaning.
+
+"Never more serious in my life," he replied, with such unusual gravity
+that Darrell forbore to question further.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XI_
+
+IMPENDING TROUBLE
+
+
+The five or six weeks following Mr. Britton's visit passed so swiftly
+that Darrell was scarcely conscious of their flight. His work at the
+mill, which had been increased by valuable strikes recently made in the
+mines, in addition to considerable outside work in the way of attests
+and assays, had left him little time for study or experiment. For nearly
+three weeks he had not left the mining camp, the last two Saturdays
+having found him too weary with the preceding week's work to undertake
+the long ride to Ophir.
+
+During this time Mr. Underwood had been a frequent visitor at the camp,
+led not only by his interest in the mining developments, but also by his
+curiosity regarding the progress made by the union in the construction
+of its boarding-house, and also to watch the effect on his own
+employees.
+
+Entering the laboratory one day after one of his rounds of the camp, he
+stood for some time silently watching Darrell at his work.
+
+"In case of a shut-down here," he said at length, speaking abruptly,
+"how would you like a clerical position in my office down there at
+Ophir,--book-keeping or something of the sort,--just temporarily, you
+know?"
+
+Darrell looked up from his work in surprise. "Do you regard a shut-down
+as imminent?" he inquired, smiling.
+
+"Well, yes; there's no half-way measures with me. No man that works for
+me will go off the grounds for his meals. But that isn't answering my
+question."
+
+Darrell's face grew serious. "You forget, Mr. Underwood, that until I am
+put to the test, I have no means of knowing whether or not I can do the
+work you wish done."
+
+"By George! I never once thought of that!" Mr. Underwood exclaimed,
+somewhat embarrassed, adding, hastily, "but then, I didn't mean
+book-keeping in particular, but clerical work generally; copying
+instruments, looking up records, and so on. You see, it's like this," he
+continued, seating himself near Darrell; "I'm thinking of taking in a
+partner--not in this mining business, it has nothing to do with that,
+but just in my mortgage-loan business down there; and in case I do,
+we'll need two or three additional clerks and book-keepers, and I
+thought you might like to come in just temporarily until we resume
+operations here. Of course, the salary wouldn't be so very much, but I
+thought it might be better than nothing to bridge over."
+
+"How long do you expect to be closed down here, Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"Until the men come to their senses or we find others to take their
+places," the elder man answered, decidedly; "it may be six weeks or it
+may be six months. I was talking with Dwight, from the Buckeye Camp,
+this morning. He says they've been to too much expense to put up with
+the proposition for a moment; they simply can't stand it, and won't;
+they'll shut down and pull out first. I don't believe that mine is
+paying very well, anyway."
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "if this were a question of
+accommodation to yourself, of coming into your office and helping you
+out personally, I would gladly do it; salary would be no object; but to
+take a merely clerical position for an indefinite time when I have a
+good, lucrative profession does not seem to me a very wise policy. There
+must be plenty of assaying to be done in Ophir; why couldn't I
+temporarily open an office there?"
+
+"I guess there's no reason why you couldn't if you want to," Mr.
+Underwood replied, evidently disappointed by Darrell's reply and eying
+him sharply, "and if you want to open up an office of your own there's
+plenty of room for you in our building. You know the building was
+formerly occupied by one of Ophir's wildcat banks that collapsed in the
+general crash six years ago, and there's a fine lot of private offices
+in the rear, opening on the side street; one of those rooms fitted up
+would be just the place for you."
+
+"Much obliged," said Darrell, smiling; "we'll see about it if the time
+comes that I need it. Possibly your prospective partner will have use
+for all the private offices."
+
+"I guess I'll have some say about that," Mr. Underwood returned,
+gruffly; then, after a short pause, he continued: "I haven't fully
+decided about this partnership business. I talked it over with Jack when
+he was here, but he didn't seem to favor the idea; told me that at my
+age I had better let well enough alone. I told him that I didn't see
+what my age had to do with it, that I was capable of looking after my
+own interests, partner or no partner, but that I'd no objection to
+having some one else take the brunt of the work while I looked on."
+
+"Is the man a stranger or an acquaintance?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"I'm not personally acquainted with him, but he's not exactly a
+stranger, for he's lived in Ophir, off and on, for the last five years.
+His name is Walcott. He says his father is an Englishman and very
+wealthy; he himself, I should judge, has some Spanish blood in his
+veins. He spends part of his time in Texas, where he has heavy cattle
+interests; in fact, has been there for the greater part of the past
+year. He wants to go into the mortgage-loan business, and offers to put
+in seventy-five thousand and give his personal attention to the business
+for thirty-three and a third per cent. of the profits."
+
+"What has been his business in Ophir all these years?"
+
+"Life insurance mostly, I believe; had two offices, one in Ophir and one
+at Galena, and has also done some private loan business."
+
+"What sort of a reputation has he?"
+
+"First-rate. I've made a number of inquiries about him in both places,
+and nobody has a word to say against him; very quiet, minds his own
+business, a man of few words; just about my sort of a man, I should
+judge," Mr. Underwood concluded as he rose from his chair.
+
+"Well, Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, "whatever arrangements you decide
+to make, I wish you success."
+
+"No more than I do you, my boy, in anything your pig-headedness leads
+you into," Mr. Underwood replied, brusquely, but with a humorous twinkle
+in his eyes. "Confound you!" he added; "I'd help you if you'd give me a
+chance, but maybe it's best to let you 'gang your ain gait.'" And he
+walked out of the room before Darrell could reply.
+
+A moment later he looked in at the door. "By the way, if you're not at
+The Pines by five o'clock sharp next Saturday afternoon, Marcia says
+she's going to send an officer up here after you with a writ of habeas
+corpus, or something of the sort."
+
+"All right; I'll be there," Darrell laughed.
+
+"You'll find the old place a bit brighter than you've seen it yet, for
+we had a letter from Puss this morning that she'll be home to-morrow."
+
+With the last words the door closed and Darrell was left alone with his
+thoughts, to which, however, he could then give little time. But when
+the day's work was done he went for a stroll, and, seating himself upon
+a large rock, carefully reviewed the situation.
+
+Hitherto he had given little thought to the impending trouble at the
+camp, supposing it would affect himself but slightly; but he now
+realized that a suspension of operations there would mean an entire
+change in his mode of living. The prospective change weighed on his
+sensitive spirits like an incubus. Even The Pines, he dismally
+reflected, would no longer seem the same quiet, homelike retreat, since
+it was to be invaded and dominated by a youthful presence between whom
+and himself there would probably be little congeniality.
+
+But finally telling himself that these reflections were childish, he
+rose as the last sunset rays were sinking behind the western ranges and
+the rosy flush on the summits was fading, and, walking swiftly to his
+room, resolutely buried himself in his studies.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XII_
+
+NEW LIFE IN THE OLD HOME
+
+
+On the following Saturday, as Darrell ascended the long driveway leading
+to The Pines, he was startled at the transformation which the place had
+undergone since last he was there. The rolling lawn seemed carpeted with
+green velvet, enlivened here and there with groups of beautiful foliage
+plants. Fountains were playing in the sunlight, their glistening spray
+tinted with rainbow lights. Flowers bloomed in profusion, their colors
+set off by the gray background of the stone walls of the house. The
+syringas by the bay-windows were bent to the ground with their burden of
+snowy blossoms, whose fragrance, mingled with that of the June roses,
+greeted him as he approached. He forgot his three weeks' absence and the
+rapid growth in that high altitude; the change seemed simply magical.
+Then, as he caught a glimpse through the pines of a slender, girlish
+figure, dressed in white, darting hither and thither, he wondered no
+longer; it was but the fit accompaniment of the young, joyous life which
+had come to the old place.
+
+As he came out into the open, he saw a young girl romping up and down
+before the house with a fine Scotch collie, and he could not restrain a
+smile as he recalled Mrs. Dean's oft-repeated declaration that there was
+one thing she would never tolerate, and that was a dog or a cat about
+the house. She had not yet seen him; but when she did, the frolic ceased
+and she started towards the house. Then suddenly she stopped, as though
+she recognized some one or something, and stood awaiting his approach,
+her lips parted in a smile, two small, shapely hands shading her eyes
+from the sun. As he came nearer, he had time to note the lithe, supple
+figure, just rounding into the graceful outlines of womanhood; the full,
+smiling lips, the flushed cheeks, and the glint of gold in her brown
+hair; and the light, the beauty, the fragrance surrounding her seemed an
+appropriate setting to the picture. She was a part of the scene.
+
+Darrell, of course, had no knowledge of his own age, but at that moment
+he felt very remote from the embodiment of youth before him; he seemed
+to himself to have been suddenly relegated to the background, among the
+elder members of the family.
+
+The collie had been standing beside his mistress with his head on one
+side, regarding Darrell with a sharp, inquisitive look, and he now broke
+the silence, which threatened to prove rather embarrassing, with a short
+bark.
+
+"Hush, Duke!" said the girl, in a low tone; then, as Darrell dismounted,
+she came swiftly towards him, extending her hand.
+
+"This is Mr. Darrell, I know," she said, speaking quite rapidly in a
+clear, musical voice, without a shade of affectation, "and you probably
+know who I am, so we will need no introduction."
+
+"Yes, Miss Underwood," said Darrell, smiling into the beautiful brown
+eyes, "I would have recognized you anywhere from your picture."
+
+"And you have Trix, haven't you?" she exclaimed, turning to caress the
+mare. "Dear old Trix! Just let her go, Mr. Darrell; she will go to the
+stables of her own accord and Bennett will take care of her; that was
+the way Harry taught her. Go find Bennett, Trix!"
+
+They watched Trix follow the driveway and disappear around the corner,
+then both turned towards the house.
+
+"Auntie is out just now," said the girl; "she had to go down town, but I
+am expecting her back every minute. Will you go into the house, Mr.
+Darrell, or do you prefer a seat on the veranda?"
+
+"The veranda looks inviting; suppose we sit here," Darrell suggested.
+
+They had reached the steps leading to the entrance. On the top step the
+collie had seated himself and was now awaiting their approach with the
+air of one expecting due recognition.
+
+"Mr. Darrell," said the young girl, with a merry little laugh, "allow me
+to present you to His Highness, the Duke of Argyle!"
+
+The collie gave his head a slight backward toss, and, with great
+dignity, extended his right paw to Darrell, which the latter, instantly
+entering into the spirit of the joke, took, saying, with much gravity,--
+
+"I am pleased to meet His Highness!"
+
+The girl's brown eyes danced with enjoyment.
+
+"You have made a friend of him for life, now," she said as they seated
+themselves, Duke stationing himself at her side in such a manner as to
+show his snow-white vest and great double ruff to the best possible
+advantage. "He is a very aristocratic dog, and if any one fails to show
+him what he considers proper respect, he is greatly affronted."
+
+"He certainly is a royal-looking fellow," said Darrell, "but I cannot
+imagine how you ever gained Mrs. Dean's consent to his presence here.
+You must possess even more than the ordinary powers of feminine
+persuasion."
+
+"Aunt Marcia?" laughed the girl; "oh, well, you see it was a case of
+'love me, love my dog.' Wherever I go, Duke must go, so auntie had to
+submit to the inevitable."
+
+Darrell found the situation far less embarrassing than he had expected.
+His young companion, with keen, womanly intuition, had divined something
+of his feeling, and tactfully avoiding any allusion to their previous
+meeting, of which he had no recollection, kept the conversation on
+subjects within the brief span of his memory. She seemed altogether
+unconscious of the peculiar conditions surrounding himself, and the
+brown eyes, meeting his own so frankly, had in their depths nothing of
+the curiosity or the pity he had so often encountered, and had grown to
+dread. She appeared so childlike and unaffected, and her joyous,
+rippling laughter proved so contagious, that unconsciously the extra
+years which a few moments before seemed to have been added to his life
+dropped away; the grave, tense lines of his face relaxed, and before he
+was aware he was laughing heartily at the account of some school-girl
+escapade or at some tricks performed by Duke for his especial
+entertainment.
+
+In the midst of their merriment they heard the sound of hoof-beats, and,
+turning, saw the family carriage approaching, containing both Mr.
+Underwood and his sister.
+
+"You two children seem to be enjoying yourselves!" was Mr. Underwood's
+comment as the carriage stopped.
+
+Darrell sprang to Mrs. Dean's assistance as she alighted, while Kate
+Underwood ran down the steps to meet her father. Both greeted Darrell
+warmly, but Mrs. Dean retained his hand a moment as she looked at him
+with genuine motherly interest.
+
+"I'm glad the truant has returned," she said, with her quiet smile; "I
+only hope it seems as good to you to come home as it does to us to have
+you here!"
+
+Darrell was touched by her unusual kindness. "You can rest assured that
+it does, mother," he said, earnestly. He was astonished at the effect of
+his words: her face flushed, her lips trembled, and as she passed on
+into the house her eyes glistened with tears.
+
+Darrell looked about him in bewilderment. "What have I said?" he
+questioned; "how did I wound her feelings?"
+
+"She lost a son years ago, and she's never got over it," Mr. Underwood
+explained, briefly.
+
+"You did not hurt her feelings--she was pleased," Kate hastened to
+reassure him; "but did she never speak to you about it?"
+
+"Never," Darrell replied.
+
+"Well, that is not to be wondered at, for she seldom alludes to it. He
+died years ago, before I can remember, but she always grieves for him;
+that was the reason," she added, reflectively, half to herself, "that
+she always loved Harry better than she did me."
+
+"Better than you, you jealous little Puss!" said her father, pinching
+her cheek; "don't you have love enough, I'd like to know?"
+
+"I can never have too much, you know, papa," she answered, very
+seriously, and Darrell, watching, saw in the brown eyes for the first
+time the wistful look he had seen in the two portraits.
+
+She soon followed her aunt, but her father and Darrell remained outside
+talking of business matters until summoned to dinner. On entering the
+house Darrell saw on every hand evidences of the young life in the old
+home. There was just a pleasant touch of disorder in the rooms he had
+always seen kept with such precision: here a bit of unfinished
+embroidery; there a book open, face down, just where the fair reader had
+left it; the piano was open and sheets of music lay scattered over it.
+From every side came the fragrance of flowers, and in the usually sombre
+dining-room Darrell noted the fireplace nearly concealed by palms and
+potted plants, the chandelier trimmed with trailing vines, the epergne
+of roses and ferns on the table, and the tiny boutonničres at his plate
+and Mr. Underwood's. With a smile of thanks at the happy young face
+opposite, he appropriated the one intended for himself, but Mr.
+Underwood, picking up the one beside his plate, sat twirling it in his
+fingers with a look of mock perplexity.
+
+"Puss has introduced so many of her folderols I haven't got used to them
+yet," he said. "How is this to be taken,--before eating, or after?" he
+inquired, looking at her from under heavy, frowning brows.
+
+"To be taken! Oh, papa!" she ejaculated; "why don't you put it on as Mr.
+Darrell has his? Here, I'll fix it for you!"
+
+With an air of resignation he waited while she fastened the flowers in
+the lapel of his coat, giving the latter an approving little pat as she
+finished.
+
+"There!" she exclaimed; "you ought to see how nice you look!"
+
+"H'm! I'm glad to hear it," he grunted; "I feel like a prize steer at a
+county fair!"
+
+In the laughter which followed Kate joined as merrily as the rest, and
+no one but Darrell observed the deepening flush on her cheek or heard
+the tremulous sigh when the laughter was ended.
+
+After dinner they adjourned to the large sitting-room, Mr. Underwood
+with his pipe, Mrs. Dean with her knitting, and Darrell, while
+conversing with the former, watched with a new interest the latter's
+placid face, wondering at the depth of feeling concealed beneath that
+calm exterior.
+
+As the twilight deepened and conversation began to flag, there came from
+the piano a few sweet chords, followed by one of Chopin's dreamy
+nocturnes. Mr. Underwood began to doze in his chair, and Darrell sat
+silent, his eyes closed, his whole soul given up to the spell of the
+music. Unconscious of the pleasure she was giving, Kate played till the
+room was veiled in darkness; then going to the fireplace she lighted the
+fire already laid--for the nights were still somewhat chilly--and sat
+down on a low seat before the fire, while Duke came and lay at her feet.
+It was a pretty picture; the young girl in white, her eyes fixed
+dreamily on the glowing embers, the firelight dancing over her form and
+face and lighting up her hair with gleams of gold; the dog at her feet,
+his head thrown proudly back, and his eyes fastened on her face with a
+look of loyal devotion seldom seen even in human eyes.
+
+Happening to glance in Mr. Underwood's direction Darrell saw pride,
+pleasure, and pain struggling for the mastery in the father's face as he
+watched the picture in the firelight. Pain won, and with a sudden
+gesture of impatience he covered his eyes with his hand, as though to
+shut out the scene. It was but a little thing, but taken in connection
+with the incident before dinner, it appealed to Darrell, showing, as it
+did, the silent, stoical manner in which these people bore their grief.
+
+Mrs. Dean's quiet voice interrupted his musings and broke the spell
+which the music seemed to have thrown around them.
+
+"You will have some one now, Katherine, to accompany you on the violin,
+as you have always wanted; Mr. Darrell is a fine violinist."
+
+Kate was instantly all animation. "Oh, that will be delightful, Mr.
+Darrell!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "there is nothing I enjoy so much as a
+violin accompaniment; it adds so much expression to the music. I think a
+piano alone is so unsympathetic; you can't get any feeling out of it!"
+
+"I'm afraid, Miss Underwood, I will prove a disappointment to you,"
+Darrell replied; "I have never yet attempted any new music, or even to
+play by note, and don't know what success I would have, if any. So far I
+have only played what drifts to me--some way, I don't know how--from out
+of the past."
+
+The unconscious sadness in his voice stirred the depths of Kate's tender
+heart. "Oh, that is too bad!" she exclaimed, quickly, thinking, not of
+her own disappointment, but of his trouble of which she had unwittingly
+reminded him; then she added, gently, almost timidly,--
+
+"But you will, at any rate, let me hear you play, won't you?"
+
+"Certainly, if it will give you any pleasure," he replied, with a slight
+smile.
+
+"Very well; then we will arrange it this way," she continued, her
+cheerful manner restored; "you will play your music, and, if I am
+familiar with it, I will accompany you on the piano. I will get out
+Harry's violin to-morrow, and while auntie is taking her nap and papa is
+engaged, we will see what we can accomplish in a musical way."
+
+Before Darrell could reply, Mr. Underwood, who had started from his
+revery, demanded,--
+
+"What engagement are you talking about, you chatterbox?"
+
+"I can't say, papa," she replied, playfully seating herself on the arm
+of his chair; "I only know that when I asked your company for a walk
+to-morrow afternoon, you pleaded a very important engagement. Now, how
+is that?" she asked archly; "have you an engagement, really, or didn't
+you care for my society?"
+
+"Why, yes, to be sure; it had escaped my mind for the moment," her
+father answered, rather vaguely she thought; then, looking at Darrell,
+he said,--
+
+"Walcott is coming to-morrow for my final decision in that matter."
+
+Darrell bowed in token that he understood, but did not feel at liberty
+to inquire whether the decision was to be favorable to Mr. Walcott, or
+otherwise. Kate glanced quickly from one to the other, but before she
+could speak her father continued:
+
+"I rather think if he consents to two or three conditions which I shall
+insist upon, that my answer will be in the affirmative."
+
+"I thought that quite probable from your conversation the other day,"
+Darrell replied.
+
+"See here, papa!" Kate exclaimed, mischievously, "you needn't talk over
+my head! You used to do so when I was little, but you can't any longer,
+you know. Who is this 'Walcott,' and what is this important decision
+about?"
+
+Mr. Underwood, who did not believe in taking what he called the "women
+folks" into his confidence regarding business affairs, looked
+quizzically into the laughing face beside him.
+
+"Didn't I hear you arranging some sort of a musical programme with Mr.
+Darrell?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes; what has that to do with your engagement?" she queried.
+
+"Nothing whatever; only you carry out your engagement and I will mine,
+and we'll compare notes afterwards."
+
+For an instant her face sobered; then catching sight of her father's
+eyes twinkling under their beetling brows, she laughingly withdrew from
+his side, saying,--
+
+"That's all very well; you can score one this time, papa, but don't you
+think we won't come out pretty near even in the end!"
+
+Upon learning from Darrell that the violin she expected him to use was
+in his room at the mining camp, she then proposed a stroll to the summit
+of the pine-clad mountain for the following afternoon, and having
+secured his promise that he would bring the violin with him on his next
+visit, she waltzed gayly across the floor, turned on the light, and
+seating herself at the piano soon had the room ringing with music and
+laughter while she sang a number of college songs.
+
+To Darrell she seemed more child than woman, and he was constantly
+impressed with her unlikeness to her father or aunt. She seemed to have
+absolutely none of their self-repression. Warm-hearted, sympathetic, and
+demonstrative, every shade of feeling betrayed itself in her sensitive,
+mobile face and in the brown eyes, one moment pensive and wistful, the
+next luminous with sympathy or dancing with merriment.
+
+As Darrell took leave of Mrs. Dean that night, he said, looking frankly
+into her calm, kindly face,--
+
+"I am very sorry if I wounded your feelings this afternoon; it was
+wholly unintentional, I assure you."
+
+"You did not in the least," she answered; "it is so long since I have
+been called by that name it took me by surprise, but it sounded very
+pleasant to me. My boy, if he had lived, would have been just about your
+age."
+
+"It seemed pleasant to me to call you 'mother,'" said Darrell; "it made
+me feel less like an outsider."
+
+"You can call me so as often as you wish; you are no outsider here; we
+consider you one of ourselves," she responded, with more warmth in her
+tones than he had ever heard before.
+
+The following morning Darrell accompanied the ladies to church. After
+lunch he lounged for an hour or more in one of the hammocks on the
+veranda, listening alternately to Mr. Underwood's comments as he
+leisurely smoked his pipe, and to the faint tones of a mandolin coming
+from some remote part of the house. Mr. Underwood grew more and more
+abstracted, the mandolin ceased, and Darrell, soothed by his
+surroundings to a temporary forgetfulness of his troubles, swung gently
+back and forth in a sort of dreamy content. After a while, Kate
+Underwood appeared, dressed for a walk, and, accompanied by Duke, the
+two set forth for their mountain ramble, for the time as light-hearted
+as two children.
+
+Upon their return, two or three hours later, while still at a little
+distance from the house, they saw Mr. Underwood and a stranger standing
+together on the veranda. The latter, who was apparently about to take
+his departure, and whom Darrell at once assumed to be Mr. Walcott, was
+about thirty years of age, of medium height, with a finely proportioned
+and rather muscular form, erect and dignified in his bearing, with a
+lithe suppleness and grace in all his movements. He was standing with
+his hat in his hand, and Darrell, who had time to observe him closely,
+noting his jet-black hair, close cut excepting where it curled slightly
+over his forehead, his black, silky moustache, and the oval contour of
+his olive face, remembered Mr. Underwood's remark of the probability of
+Spanish blood in his veins.
+
+As they came near, Duke gave a low growl, but Kate instantly hushed him,
+chiding him for his rudeness. At the sound, the stranger turned towards
+them, and Mr. Underwood at once introduced Mr. Walcott to his daughter
+and Mr. Darrell. He greeted them both with the most punctilious
+courtesy, but as he faced Darrell, the latter saw for an instant in the
+half-closed, blue-black eyes, the pity tinged with contempt to which he
+had long since become accustomed, yet which, as often as he met it,
+thrilled him anew with pain. The look passed, however, and Mr. Walcott,
+in low, well-modulated tones, conversed pleasantly for a few moments
+with the new-comers, the three young people forming a striking trio as
+they stood there in the bright sunshine amid the June roses; then, with
+a graceful adieu, he walked swiftly away.
+
+As soon as he was out of hearing Mr. Underwood, turning to Darrell,
+said,--
+
+"It is decided; the papers will be drawn to-morrow."
+
+Then taking his daughter's flushed, perplexed face between his hands, he
+said,--
+
+"Mr. Walcott and I are going into partnership; how do you like the looks
+of my partner, Puss?"
+
+She looked incredulous. "That young man your partner!" she exclaimed;
+"why, he seems the very last man I should ever expect you to fancy!"
+Then she added, laughing,--
+
+"Oh, papa, I think he must have hypnotized you! Does Aunt Marcia know?
+May I tell her?" And, having gained his consent, she ran into the house
+to impart the news to Mrs. Dean.
+
+"That's the woman of it!" said Mr. Underwood, grimly; "they always want
+to immediately tell some other woman! But what do you think of my
+partner?" he asked, looking searchingly at Darrell, who had not yet
+spoken.
+
+Darrell did not reply at once; he felt in some way bewildered. All the
+content, the joy, the sunshine of the last few hours seemed to have been
+suddenly blotted out, though he could not have told why. The remembrance
+of that glance still stung him, but aside from that, he felt his whole
+soul filled with an inexplicable antagonism towards this man.
+
+"I hardly know yet just what I do think of him," he answered, slowly; "I
+have not formed a definite opinion of him, but I think, as your daughter
+says, he somehow seems the last man whom I would have expected you to
+associate yourself with."
+
+Mr. Underwood frowned. "I don't generally make mistakes in people," he
+said, rather gruffly; "if I'm mistaken in this man, it will be the first
+time."
+
+Nothing further was said on the subject, though it remained uppermost in
+the minds of both, with the result that their conversation was rather
+spasmodic and desultory. At the dinner-table, Kate was quick to observe
+the unusual silence, and, intuitively connecting it in some way with the
+new partnership, refrained alike from question or comment regarding
+either that subject or Mr. Walcott, while it was a rule with Mrs. Dean
+never to refer to her brother's business affairs unless he first alluded
+to them himself.
+
+The evening passed more pleasantly, as Kate coaxed her father into
+telling some reminiscences of his early western life, which greatly
+interested Darrell. Something of the old restlessness had returned to
+him, however. He spent a wakeful night, and was glad when morning came
+and he could return to his work.
+
+As he came out of the house at an early hour to set forth on his long
+ride he found Kate engaged in feeding Trix with lumps of sugar. She
+greeted him merrily, and as he started down the avenue he was followed
+by a rippling laugh and a shower of roses, one of which he caught and
+fastened in his buttonhole, but on looking back over his shoulder she
+had vanished, and only Duke was visible.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XIII_
+
+MR. UNDERWOOD "STRIKES" FIRST
+
+
+The ensuing days were filled with work demanding close attention and
+concentration of thought, but often in the long, cool twilight, while
+Darrell rested from his day's work before entering upon the night's
+study, he recalled his visit to The Pines with a degree of pleasure
+hitherto unknown. He had found Kate Underwood far different from his
+anticipations, though just what his anticipations had been he did not
+stop to define. There was at times a womanly grace and dignity in her
+bearing which he would have expected from her portrait and which he
+admired, but what especially attracted him was her utter lack of
+affectation or self-consciousness. She was as unconscious as a child;
+her sympathy towards himself and her pleasant familiarity with him were
+those of a warm-hearted, winsome child.
+
+He liked best to recall her as she looked that evening seated by the
+fireside: the childish pose, the graceful outlines of her form
+silhouetted against the light; the dreamy eyes, with their long golden
+lashes curling upward; the lips parted in a half smile, and the gleam of
+the firelight on her hair. But it was always as a child that he recalled
+her, and the thought that to himself, or to any other, she could be
+aught else never occurred to him. Of young Whitcomb's love for her, of
+course, he had no recollection, nor had it ever been mentioned in his
+hearing since his illness.
+
+Day by day the work at the camp increased, and there also began to be
+indications of an approaching outbreak among the men. The union
+boarding-house was nearing completion; it was rumored that it would be
+ready for occupancy within a week or ten days; the walking delegates
+from the union could be frequently seen loitering about the camp,
+especially when the changes in shifts were made, waiting to get word
+with the men, and it was nothing uncommon to see occasional groups of
+the men engaged in argument, which suddenly broke off at the appearance
+of Darrell, or of Hathaway, the superintendent.
+
+So engrossed was Mr. Underwood with the arrangement of details for the
+inauguration of the new firm of Underwood & Walcott that he was unable
+to be at the camp that week. On Saturday afternoon Darrell, having
+learned that Hathaway was to be gone over Sunday, and believing it best
+under existing circumstances not to leave the camp, sent Mr. Underwood a
+message to that effect, and also informing him of the status of affairs
+there.
+
+Early the following week Mr. Underwood made his appearance at the camp,
+and if the union bosses had entertained any hope of effecting a
+compromise with the owner of Camp Bird, as it was known, such hope must
+have been blasted upon mere sight of that gentleman's face upon his
+arrival. Darrell himself could scarcely restrain a smile of amusement as
+they met. Mr. Underwood fairly bristled with defiance, and, after the
+briefest kind of a greeting, started to make his usual rounds of the
+camp. He stopped abruptly, fumbled in his pocket for an instant, then,
+handing a dainty envelope to Darrell, hastened on without a word.
+Darrell saw smiles exchanged among the men, but he preserved the utmost
+gravity until, having reached his desk, he opened and read the little
+note. It contained merely a few pleasant lines from Kate, expressing
+disappointment at his failure to come to The Pines on the preceding
+Saturday, and reminding him of his promise concerning the violin; but
+the postscript, which in true feminine style comprised the real gist of
+the note, made him smile audibly. It ran:
+
+     "Papa has donned his paint and feathers this morning and is
+     evidently starting out on the war-path. I haven't an idea whose
+     scalps he intends taking, but hope you will at least preserve your
+     own intact."
+
+At dinner Mr. Underwood maintained an ominous silence, replying in
+monosyllables to any question or remark addressed to him. He soon left
+the table, and Darrell did not see him again till late in the afternoon,
+when he entered the laboratory. A glance at the set lines of his face
+told Darrell as plainly as words that his line of action was fully
+determined upon, and that it would be as fixed and unalterable as the
+laws of the Medes and Persians.
+
+"I am going home now," he announced briefly, in reply to Darrell's
+somewhat questioning look; "I'll be back here the last of the week."
+
+"What do you think of the outlook, Mr. Underwood?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"It is about what I expected. I have seen all the men. They are, as I
+supposed, under the thumb of the union bosses. A few of them realize
+that the whole proposition is unreasonable and absurd, and they don't
+want to go out, but they don't dare say so above their breath, and they
+don't dare disobey orders, because they are owned, body and soul, by the
+union."
+
+"Have any of the leaders tried to make terms?"
+
+"I met one of their 'walking delegates' this morning," said Mr.
+Underwood, with scornful emphasis; "I told him to 'walk' himself out of
+the camp or I'd boot him out; and he walked!"
+
+Darrell laughed. Mr. Underwood continued: "The boarding-house opens on
+Thursday; on next Monday every man not enrolled in that institution will
+be ordered out."
+
+"It's to be a strike then, sure thing, is it?" Darrell asked.
+
+"Yes, there'll be a strike," Mr. Underwood answered, grimly, while a
+quick gleam shot across his face; "but remember one thing," he added, as
+he turned to leave the room, "no man ever yet got the drop or the first
+blow on me!"
+
+Matters continued about the same at the camp. On Friday favorable
+reports concerning the new boarding-house began to be circulated,
+brought the preceding evening by miners from another camp. Some of the
+men looked sullen and defiant, others only painfully self-conscious, in
+the presence of Darrell and the superintendent, but it was evident that
+the crisis was approaching.
+
+Late Friday night a horseman dismounted silently before the door of the
+office building and Mr. Underwood walked quietly into Darrell's room.
+
+"How's the new hotel? Overrun with boarders?" he asked, as he seated
+himself, paying little attention to Darrell's exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Chapman's men--about fifty in all--are the only ones there at present."
+
+"Chapman!" ejaculated Mr. Underwood; "what is Chapman doing? He agreed
+to stand in with the rest of us on this thing!"
+
+"He told Hathaway this morning he was only doing it for experiment. The
+boarding-house is located near his claims, you know, and he has
+comparatively few men. So he said he didn't mind trying it for a month
+or so."
+
+"Confound him! I'll make it the dearest experiment ever he tried," said
+Mr. Underwood, wrathfully; "he was in our office the other day trying to
+negotiate a loan for twenty-five thousand dollars that he said he had
+got to have within ten days or go to the wall. I'll see that he doesn't
+get it anywhere about here unless he stands by his word with us."
+
+After further conversation Mr. Underwood went out, saying he had a
+little business about the camp to attend to. He returned in the course
+of an hour, and Darrell heard him holding a long consultation with
+Hathaway before he retired for the night.
+
+The following morning the mill men of the camp, on going to their work,
+were astonished to find the mill closed and silent, while fastened on
+the great doors was a large placard which read as follows:
+
+     NOTICE.
+
+     The entire mining and milling plant of Camp Bird is closed down for
+     an indefinite period. All employees are requested to call at the
+     superintendent's office and receive their wages up to and including
+     Saturday, the 10th inst.
+                                                  D. K. UNDERWOOD.
+
+The miners found the hoist-house and the various shaft-houses closed and
+deserted, with notices similar to the above posted on their doors.
+
+Darrell, upon going to breakfast, learned that Mr. Underwood and the
+superintendent had breakfasted at an early hour. A little later, on his
+way to the mill, he observed groups of men here and there, some
+standing, some moving in the direction of the office, but gave the
+matter no particular thought until he reached the mill and was himself
+confronted by the placard. As he read the notice and recalled the groups
+of idlers, certain remarks made by Mr. Underwood came to his mind, and
+he seemed struck by the humorous side of the situation.
+
+"The old gentleman seems to have got the 'drop' on them, all right!" he
+said to himself, as, with an amused smile, he walked past the mill and
+out in the direction of the hoist. The ore-bins were closed and locked,
+the tram-cars stood empty on their tracks, the hoisting engine was
+still, the hoist-house and shaft-houses deserted. After the ceaseless
+noise and activity to which he had become accustomed at the camp the
+silence seemed oppressive, and he turned and retraced his steps to the
+office.
+
+A crowd of men was gathered outside the office building. In single file
+they passed into the office to the superintendent's window, received
+their money silently, in almost every instance without comment or
+question, and passed out again. Once outside, however, there they
+remained, their number constantly augmented by new arrivals, for the men
+on the night shift had been aroused by their comrades and were now
+streaming down from the bunk-houses. A few laughed and joked, some
+looked sullen, some troubled and anxious, but all remained packed about
+the building, quiet, undemonstrative, and mute as dumb brutes as to
+their reason for staying there. They were all prepared to march boldly
+out of the mill and mines on the following Monday, on a strike, in
+obedience to orders; even to resort to violence in defence of their
+so-called "rights" if so ordered, but Mr. Underwood's sudden move had
+disarmed them; there had been no opportunity for a conference with their
+leaders, with the result that they acted more in accordance with their
+own individual instincts, and the loss of work for which they would have
+cared little in the event of a strike was now uppermost in their minds.
+
+They eyed Darrell furtively and curiously, making way for him as he
+entered the building, but still they waited. For a few moments Darrell
+watched the scene, then he passed through the office into the room
+beyond, where he found Mr. Underwood engaged in sorting and filing
+papers. The latter looked up with a grim smile:
+
+"Been down to the mill?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Darrell answered, laughing; "I went to work as usual, only to
+find the door shut in my face, the same as the rest."
+
+"H'm! What do you think of the 'strike' now?"
+
+"I think you are making them swallow their own medicine, but I don't see
+why you need give me a dose of it; I haven't threatened to strike."
+
+Mr. Underwood's eyes twinkled shrewdly as he replied, "You had better go
+out there and get your pay along with the rest, and then go to your room
+and pack up. You may not be needed at the mill again for the next six
+months."
+
+"Will it be as serious as that, do you think?" Darrell inquired.
+
+Before Mr. Underwood could reply the superintendent opened the office
+door hastily.
+
+"Mr. Underwood," he said, "will you come out and speak to the men? They
+are all waiting outside and I can't drive them away; they say they won't
+stir till they've seen you."
+
+With a look of annoyance Mr. Underwood rose and passed out into the
+office; Darrell, somewhat interested, followed.
+
+"Well, boys," said Mr. Underwood, as he appeared in the doorway, "what
+do you want of me?"
+
+"If you please, sir," said one man, evidently spokesman for the crowd,
+and whom Darrell at once recognized as Dan, the engineer,--"if you
+please, sir, we would like to know how long this shut-down is going to
+last."
+
+"Can't tell," Mr. Underwood replied, shortly; "can't tell anything about
+it at present; it's indefinite."
+
+"Well," persisted the man, "there's some of us as thought that mebbe
+'twould only be till this 'ere trouble about the meals is settled, one
+way or t'other; and there's some as thought mebbe it hadn't nothing to
+do with that."
+
+"Well?" said Mr. Underwood, impatiently.
+
+"Well, sir," said Dan, lowering his voice a little and edging nearer Mr.
+Underwood, "you know as how the most of us was satisfied with things as
+they was, and didn't want no change and wouldn't have made no kick,
+only, you see, we had to, and we felt kinder anxious to know whether if
+this thing got settled some way and the camp opened up again, whether we
+could get back in our old places?"
+
+"Dan," said Mr. Underwood, impressively, and speaking loudly enough for
+every man to hear, "there can be no settlement of this question except
+to have things go on under precisely the same terms and conditions as
+they've always gone; so none of your leaders need come to me for terms,
+for they won't get 'em. And as to opening up the mines and mill, I'll
+open them up whenever I get ready, not a day sooner or later; and when I
+do start up again, if you men have come to your senses by that time and
+are ready to come back on the same terms, all right; if not," he paused
+an instant, then added with emphasis, "just remember there'll be others,
+and plenty of 'em, too."
+
+"Yes, sir; thank ye, sir," Dan answered, somewhat dubiously; then one
+and all moved slowly and mechanically away.
+
+Mr. Underwood turned to Darrell. "Get your things together as soon as
+you can. I'm going to send down three or four of the teams after dinner,
+and they can take your things along. And here's the key to the mill; go
+over and pick out whatever you will want in the way of an assaying
+outfit, and have that taken down with the rest. There's no need of your
+going to the expense of buying an outfit just for temporary use."
+
+By two o'clock scarcely a man remained at the camp. Mr. Underwood and
+Darrell were among the last to leave. Two faithful servants of Mr.
+Underwood's had arrived an hour or so before, who were to act as
+watchmen during the shut-down. Having taken them around the camp and
+given them the necessary instructions, Mr. Underwood then gave them the
+keys of the various buildings, saying, as he took his departure,--
+
+"There's grub enough in the boarding-house to last you two for some
+time, but whenever there's anything needed, let me know. Bring over some
+beds from the bunk-house and make yourselves comfortable."
+
+He climbed to a seat on one of the wagons, and, as they started, turned
+back to the watchmen for his parting admonition:
+
+"Keep an eye on things, boys! You're both good shots; if you catch
+anybody prowling 'round here, day or night, wing him, boys, wing him!"
+
+The teams then rattled noisily down the canyon road, Darrell, with Trix,
+bringing up the rear, feeling himself a sort of shuttlecock tossed to
+and fro by antagonistic forces in whose conflicts he personally had no
+part and no interest. However, he wasted no moments in useless regrets,
+but rode along in deep thought, planning for the uninterrupted pursuit
+of his studies amid the new and less favorable surroundings. Thus far he
+had met with unlooked-for success along the line of his researches and
+experiments, and each success but stimulated him to more diligent study.
+
+On their arrival at Ophir, Mr. Underwood gave directions to have the
+assaying outfit taken to the rooms in the rear of his own offices, after
+which he and Darrell, with the remaining teams, proceeded in the
+direction of The Pines. Trix, on finding herself headed for home,
+quickened her steps to such a brisk pace that on reaching the long
+driveway Darrell was considerably in advance of the others. He had no
+sooner emerged from the pines into the open, in full view of the house,
+than Duke came bounding down the driveway to meet him, with every
+possible demonstration of joyous welcome. His loud barking brought the
+ladies to the door just as Darrell, having quickly dismounted and sent
+Trix to the stables, was running up the broad stairs to the veranda, the
+collie close at his side.
+
+"Just look at Duke!" Kate Underwood exclaimed, shaking hands with
+Darrell; "and this is only the second time he has met you! You surely
+have won his heart, Mr. Darrell."
+
+"You are the only person outside of Katherine he has ever condescended
+to notice," said Mrs. Dean, with a smile.
+
+"I assure you I feel immensely flattered by his friendship," Darrell
+replied, caressing the collie; "the more so because I know it to be
+genuine."
+
+"He won't so much as look at me," Mrs. Dean added.
+
+"That is because you objected at first to having him here," said Kate;
+"he knows it, and he'll not forget it. But, Mr. Darrell, where is papa?"
+
+"He will be here directly," Darrell answered, smiling as he suddenly
+recalled the little note within his pocket; "he is returning from the
+war-path with the trophies of victory."
+
+Kate laughed and colored slightly. "Your own scalp has not suffered, at
+any rate," she said.
+
+"But he has brought me back a captive; here he comes now!"
+
+The wagon loaded with Darrell's belongings was just coming slowly into
+view, with Mr. Underwood on the seat beside the driver, the other teams
+having been sent to the stables by another route.
+
+Darrell noted the surprise depicted on the faces beside him, and,
+turning to Mrs. Dean, who stood next him, he said, in a low tone,--
+
+"I have come back to the old home, mother, for a little while; is there
+room for me?"
+
+Mrs. Dean looked at him steadily for an instant, while Kate ran to meet
+her father; then she replied, earnestly,--
+
+"There will always be room in the old home for you. I only wish that I
+could hope it would always hold you."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XIV_
+
+DRIFTING
+
+
+Early the following week Darrell was established in his new office. The
+building containing the offices of the firm of Underwood & Walcott had,
+as Mr. Underwood informed Darrell, been formerly occupied by one of the
+leading banks of Ophir, and was situated on the corner of two of its
+principal streets. Of the three handsome private offices in the rear Mr.
+Underwood occupied the one immediately adjoining the general offices;
+the next, separated from the first by a narrow entrance way, had been
+appropriated by Mr. Walcott, while the third, communicating with the
+second and opening directly upon the street, was now fitted up for
+Darrell's occupancy. The carpets and much of the original furnishing of
+the rooms still remained, but in the preparation of Darrell's room Kate
+Underwood and her aunt made numerous trips in their carriage between the
+offices and The Pines, with the result that when Darrell took possession
+many changes had been effected. Heavy curtains separated that portion of
+the room in which the laboratory work was to be done from that to be
+used as a study, and to the latter there had been added a rug or two, a
+bookcase in which Darrell could arrange his small library of scientific
+works, a cabinet of mineralogical specimens, and a pair of paintings
+intended to conceal some of Time's ravages on the once finely decorated
+walls, while palms and blooming plants transformed the large plate-glass
+windows into bowers of fragrance and beauty, at the same time forming a
+screen from the too inquisitive eyes of passers-by.
+
+Just as Darrell was completing the arrangement of his effects, Mr.
+Underwood and his partner sauntered into the room from their apartments.
+Within a few feet of the door Mr. Underwood came to a stop, his hands
+deep in his trousers pockets, his square chin thrust aggressively
+forward, while, with a face unreadable as granite, his keen eyes scanned
+every detail in the room. Mr. Walcott, on the contrary, made the entire
+circuit of the room, his hands carelessly clasped behind him, his head
+thrown well back, his every step characterized by a graceful, undulatory
+motion, like the movements of the feline tribe.
+
+"H'm!" was Mr. Underwood's sole comment when he had finished his survey
+of the room.
+
+Mr. Walcott turned towards his partner with a smile. "Mr. Darrell is
+evidently a prime favorite with the ladies," he remarked, pleasantly.
+
+"Well, they don't want to try any of their prime favorite business on
+me," retorted Mr. Underwood, as he slowly turned and left the room.
+
+Both young men laughed, and Walcott, with an easy, nonchalant air,
+seated himself near Darrell.
+
+"I find the old gentleman has a keen sense of humor," he said, still
+smiling; "but some of his jokes are inclined to be a little ponderous at
+times."
+
+"His humor generally lies along the lines of sarcasm," Darrell replied.
+
+"Ah, something of a cynic, is he?"
+
+"No," said Darrell; "he has too kind a heart to be cynical, but he is
+very fond of concealing it by sarcasm and brusqueness."
+
+"He is quite original and unique in his way. I find him really a much
+more agreeable man than I anticipated. You have very pleasant quarters
+here, Mr. Darrell. I should judge you intended this as a sort of study
+as well as an office."
+
+"I do intend it so. Probably for a while I shall do more studying than
+anything else, as it may be some time before I get any assaying."
+
+"I think we can probably throw quite a bit of work your way, as we
+frequently have inquiries from some of our clients wanting something in
+that line."
+
+"Walcott," said Mr. Underwood, re-entering suddenly, "Chapman is out
+there; go and meet him. You can conduct negotiations with him on the
+terms we agreed upon, but I don't care to figure in the deal. If he asks
+for me, tell him I'm out."
+
+"I see; as the ladies say, you're 'not at home,'" said Walcott, smiling,
+as he sprang quickly to his feet. "Well, Mr. Darrell," he continued, "I
+consider myself fortunate in having you for so near a neighbor, and I
+trust that we shall prove good friends and our relations mutually
+agreeable."
+
+Darrell's dark, penetrating eyes looked squarely into the half-closed,
+smiling ones, which met his glance for an instant, then wavered and
+dropped.
+
+"I know of no reason why we should not be friends," he replied, quietly,
+knowing he could say that much with all candor, yet feeling that
+friendship between them was an utter impossibility, and that of this
+Walcott was as conscious as was he himself.
+
+"Well, my boy," said Mr. Underwood, seating himself before Darrell's
+desk, "I guess 'twas a good thing you took the old man's advice for
+once. I don't know where you would find better quarters than these."
+
+Darrell smiled. "As to following your advice, Mr. Underwood, you didn't
+even give me a chance. You suggested my taking one of these rooms, and
+then gave orders on your own responsibility for my paraphernalia to be
+deposited here, and there was nothing left for me to do but to settle
+down. However," he added, laying some money on the desk before Mr.
+Underwood, "I have no complaint to make. Just kindly receipt for that."
+
+"Receipt for this! What do you mean? What is it, anyway?" exclaimed Mr.
+Underwood, in a bewildered tone.
+
+"It is the month's rent in advance, according to your custom."
+
+"Rent!" Mr. Underwood ejaculated, now thoroughly angry; "what do I want
+of rent from you? Can't you let me be a friend to you? Time and time
+again I've tried to help you and you wouldn't have it. Now I'll give you
+warning, young man, that one of these days you'll go a little too far in
+this thing, and then you'll have to look somewhere else for friends, for
+when I'm done with a man, I'm done with him forever!"
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, with dignity, "you are yourself going too
+far at this moment. You know I do not refuse favors from you personally.
+Do I not consider your home mine? Have I ever offered you compensation
+for anything that you or your sister have done for me? But this is a
+different affair altogether."
+
+"Different! I'd like to know wherein."
+
+"Mr. Underwood, if, in addition to your other kindnesses, you personally
+offered me the use of this room gratis, I might accept it; but I will
+accept no favors from the firm of Underwood & Walcott."
+
+"Humph! I don't see what difference that need make!" Mr. Underwood
+retorted.
+
+He sat silently studying Darrell for a few moments, but the latter's
+face was as unreadable as his own.
+
+"What have you got against that fellow?" he asked at length, curiously.
+
+"I have nothing whatever against him, Mr. Underwood."
+
+"But you're not friendly to him."
+
+Darrell remained silent.
+
+"He is friendly to you," continued Mr. Underwood; "he has talked with me
+considerably about you and takes quite an interest in you and in your
+success."
+
+"Possibly," Darrell answered, dryly; "but you will oblige me by not
+talking of me to him. I have nothing against Mr. Walcott; I am neither
+friendly nor unfriendly to him, but he is a man to whom I do not wish to
+be under any obligations whatsoever."
+
+In vain Mr. Underwood argued; Darrell remained obdurate, and when he
+left the office a little later he carried with him the receipt of
+Underwood & Walcott for office rent.
+
+Darrell's reputation as an expert which he had already established at
+the mining camp soon reached Ophir, with the result that he was not long
+without work in the new office. For a time he devoted his leisure hours
+to unremitting study. The brief but intense summer season of the high
+altitudes was now well advanced, however, and in its stifling heat, amid
+the noise of the busy little city, and constantly subjected to
+interruptions, his scientific studies and researches lost half their
+charm.
+
+And in proportion as they lost their power to interest him the home on
+the mountain-side, beyond reach of the city's heat and dust and clamor,
+drew him with increasing and irresistible force. Never before had it
+seemed to him so attractive, so beautiful, so homelike as now. He did
+not stop to ask himself wherein its new charm consisted or to analyze
+the sense of relief and gladness with which he turned his face homeward
+when the day's work was ended. He only felt vaguely that the silent,
+undemonstrative love which the old place had so long held for him had
+suddenly found expression. It smiled to him from the flowers nodding
+gayly to him as he passed; it echoed in the tinkling music of the
+fountains; the murmuring pines whispered it to him as their fragrant
+breath fanned his cheek; but more than all he read it in the brown eyes
+which grew luminous with welcome at his approach and heard it in the
+low, sweet voice whose wonderful modulations were themselves more
+eloquent than words. And with this interpretation of the strange, new
+joy day by day permeating his whole life, he went his way in deep
+content.
+
+And to Kate Underwood this summer seemed the brightest and the fairest
+of all the summers of her young life; why, she could not have told,
+except that the skies were bluer, the sunlight more golden, and the
+birds sang more joyously than ever before.
+
+In a mining town like Ophir there was comparatively little society for
+her, so that most of her evenings were spent at home, and she and
+Darrell were of necessity thrown much together. Sometimes he joined her
+in a game of tennis, a ride or drive or a short mountain ramble;
+sometimes he sat on the veranda with the elder couple, listening while
+she played and sang; but more often their voices blended, while the
+wild, plaintive notes of the violin rose and fell on the evening air
+accompanied by the piano or by the guitar or mandolin. Together they
+watched the sunsets or walked up and down the mountain terrace in the
+moonlight, enjoying to the full the beauty around them, neither as yet
+dreaming that,--more than their joy in the bloom and beauty and
+fragrance, in the music of the fountains or the murmuring voices of the
+pines, in the sunset's glory, or the moonlight's mystical
+radiance,--above all, deeper than all, pervading all, was their joy in
+each other. Hers was a nature essentially childlike; his very infirmity
+rendered him in experience less than a child; and so, devoid of worldly
+wisdom,--like Earth's first pair of lovers, without knowledge of good or
+evil,--all unconsciously they entered their Eden.
+
+One sultry Sunday afternoon they sat within the vine-clad veranda, the
+strains of the violin and guitar blending on the languorous, perfumed
+air. As the last notes died away Kate exclaimed,--
+
+"I never had any one accompany me who played with so much expression.
+You give me an altogether different conception of a piece of music; you
+seem to make it full of new meaning."
+
+"And why not?" Darrell inquired. "Music is a language of itself, capable
+of infinitely more expression than our spoken language."
+
+"Who is speaking, then, when you play as you did just now--the soul of
+the musician or your own?"
+
+"The musician's; I am only the interpreter. The more perfect the harmony
+or sympathy between his soul, as expressed in the music, and mine, the
+truer will be the rendering I give. A fine elocutionist will reveal the
+beauties of a classic poem to hundreds who, of themselves, might never
+have understood it; but the poem is not his, he is only the poet's
+interpreter."
+
+"If you call that piece of music which you have just rendered only an
+interpretation," Kate answered, in a low tone, "I only wish that I could
+for once hear your own soul speaking through the violin!"
+
+Darrell smiled. "Do you really wish it?" he asked, after a pause,
+looking into the wistful brown eyes.
+
+"I do."
+
+She was seated in a low hammock, swinging gently to and fro. He sat at a
+little distance from her feet, on the topmost of the broad stairs, his
+back against one of the large, vine-wreathed columns, Duke stretched
+full length beside him.
+
+A slight breeze stirred the flower-scented air and set the pines
+whispering for a moment; then all was silent. With eyes half closed,
+Darrell raised the violin and, drawing the bow softly across the
+strings, began one of his own improvisos, the exquisite, piercing
+sweetness of the first notes swelling with an indescribable pathos until
+Kate could scarcely restrain a cry of pain. Higher and higher they
+soared, until above the clouds they poised lightly for an instant, then
+descended in a flood of liquid harmonies which alternately rose and
+fell, sometimes tremulous with hope, sometimes moaning in low undertones
+of grief, never despairing, but always with the same heart-rending
+pathos, always voicing the same unutterable longing.
+
+Unmindful of his surroundings, his whole soul absorbed in the music,
+Darrell played on, till, as the strains sank to a minor undertone, he
+heard a stifled sob, followed by a low whine from Duke. He glanced
+towards Kate, and the music ceased instantly. Unobserved by him she had
+left the hammock and was seated opposite himself, listening as though
+entranced, her lips quivering, her eyes shining with unshed tears, while
+Duke, alarmed by what he considered signs of evident distress, looked
+anxiously from her to Darrell as though entreating his help.
+
+"Why, my dear child, what is the matter?" Darrell exclaimed, moving
+quickly to her side.
+
+"Oh," she cried, piteously, "how could you stop so suddenly! It was
+like snapping a beautiful golden thread!" And burying her face in her
+hands, her whole frame shook with sobs.
+
+Darrell, somewhat alarmed himself, laid his hand on her shoulder in an
+attempt to soothe her. In a moment she raised her head, the tear-drops
+still glistening on her cheeks and her long golden lashes.
+
+"It was childish in me to give way like that," she said, with a smile
+that reminded Darrell of the sun shining through a summer shower; "but
+oh, that music! It was the saddest and the sweetest I ever heard! It was
+breaking my heart, and yet I could have listened to it forever!"
+
+"It was my fault," said Darrell, regretfully; "I should not have played
+so long, but I always forget myself when playing that way."
+
+Kate's face grew suddenly grave and serious. "Mr. Darrell," she said,
+hesitatingly, "I have thought very often about the sad side of your
+life--since your illness, you know; but I never realized till now the
+terrible loneliness of it all."
+
+She paused as though uncertain how to proceed. Darrell's face had in
+turn become grave.
+
+"Did the violin tell you that?" he asked, gently.
+
+She nodded silently.
+
+"Yes, it has been lonely, inexpressibly so," he said, unconsciously
+using the past tense; "but I had no right to cause you this suffering by
+inflicting my loneliness upon you."
+
+"Do not say that," she replied, quickly; "I am glad that you told
+me,--in the way you did; glad not only that I understand you better and
+can better sympathize with you, but also because I believe you can
+understand me as no one else has; for one reason why the music affected
+me so much was that it seemed the expression of my own feelings, of my
+hunger for sympathy all these years."
+
+"Have there been shadows in your life, then, too? It looked to be all
+sunshine," Darrell said, his face growing tender as he saw the
+tear-drops falling.
+
+"Yes, it would seem so, with this beautiful home and all that papa does
+for me, and sometimes I'm afraid I'm ungrateful. But oh, Mr. Darrell, if
+you could have known my mother, you would understand! She was so
+different from papa and auntie, and she loved me so! And it seems as
+though since she died I've had nobody to love me. I suppose papa does in
+a fashion, but he is too busy to show it, or else he doesn't know how;
+and Aunt Marcia! well, you know she's good as she can be, but if she
+loved you, you would never know it. I've wondered sometimes if poor
+mamma didn't die just for want of love; it has seemed lots of times as
+though I would!"
+
+"Poor little girl!" said Darrell, pityingly. He understood now the
+wistful, appealing look of the brown eyes. He intended to say something
+expressive of sympathy, but the right words would not come. He could
+think of nothing that did not sound stilted and formal. Almost
+unconsciously he laid his hand with a tender caress on the slender
+little white hand lying near him, much as he would have laid it on a
+wounded bird; and just as unconsciously, the little hand nestled
+contentedly, like a bird, within his clasp.
+
+A few days later Darrell heard from Walcott the story of Harry
+Whitcomb's love for his cousin. It had been reported, Walcott said, in
+low tones, as though imparting a secret, that young Whitcomb was
+hopelessly in love with Miss Underwood, but that she seemed rather
+indifferent to his attentions. It was thought, however, that the old
+gentleman had favored the match, as he had given his nephew an interest
+in his mining business, and had the latter lived and proved himself a
+good financier, it was believed that Mr. Underwood would in time have
+bestowed his daughter upon him.
+
+Darrell listened silently. Of young Whitcomb, of his death, and of his
+own part in that sad affair he had often heard, but no mention of
+anything of this nature. He sat lost in thought.
+
+"Of course, you know how sadly the romance ended," Walcott continued,
+wondering somewhat at Darrell's silence. "I have understood that you
+were a witness of young Whitcomb's tragic death."
+
+"I know from hearsay, that is all," Darrell replied, quietly; "I have
+heard the story a number of times."
+
+Walcott expressed great surprise. "Pardon me, Mr. Darrell, for referring
+to the matter. I had heard something regarding the peculiar nature of
+your malady, but I had no idea it was so marked as that. Is it possible
+that you have no recollection of that affair?"
+
+"None whatever," Darrell answered, briefly, as though he did not care to
+discuss the matter.
+
+"How strange! One would naturally have supposed that anything so
+terrible, so shocking to the sensibilities, would have left an
+impression on your mind never to have been effaced! But I fear the
+subject is unpleasant to you, Mr. Darrell; pardon me for having alluded
+to it."
+
+The conversation turned, but Darrell could not banish the subject from
+his thoughts. Kate had often spoken to him of her cousin, but never as a
+lover. He recalled his portrait at The Pines; the frank, boyish face
+with its winning smile--a bonnie lover surely! Had she, or had she not,
+he wondered, learned to reciprocate his love before the tragic ending
+came? And if not, did she now regret it?
+
+He watched her that evening, fearing to broach a subject so delicate,
+but pondering long and deeply, till at last she rallied him on his
+unusual seriousness, and he told her what he had heard.
+
+"Yes," she said, in reply; "Harry loved me, or thought he did; though he
+was like the others--he did not understand me any better than they. But
+he had always been just like a brother to me, and I could never have
+loved him in any other way, and I told him so. Papa said I would learn
+in time, and I think perhaps he would have insisted upon it if Harry had
+lived. I was sorry I couldn't care for him as he wished; he thought I
+would after a while, but I never could, for I think that kind of love is
+far different from all others; don't you, Mr. Darrell?"
+
+And Darrell, looking from the mountain-side where they were standing out
+into the deep blue spaces where the stars, one by one, were gliding into
+sight, answered, reverently,--
+
+"As far above all others 'as the heaven is high above the earth.'"
+
+To him at that instant love--the love that should exist between two who,
+out of earth's millions, have chosen each the other--seemed something as
+yet remote; a sacred temple whose golden dome, like some mystic shrine,
+gleamed from afar, but into which he might some day enter; unaware that
+he already stood within its outer court.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XV_
+
+THE AWAKENING
+
+
+As Darrell was returning home one evening, some ten days later, he heard
+Kate's rippling laughter and sounds of unusual merriment, and, on coming
+out into view of the house, beheld her engaged in executing a waltz on
+the veranda, with Duke as a partner. The latter, in his efforts to
+oblige his young mistress and at the same time preserve his own dignity,
+presented so ludicrous a spectacle that Darrell was unable to restrain
+his risibility. Hearing his peals of laughter and finding herself
+discovered, Kate rather hastily released her partner, and the collie,
+glad to be once more permitted the use of four feet, bounded down the
+steps to give Darrell his customary welcome, his mistress following
+slowly with somewhat heightened color.
+
+Darrell at once apologized for his hilarity, pleading as an excuse
+Duke's comical appearance.
+
+"We both must have made a ridiculous appearance," she replied, "but as
+Duke seems to have forgiven you, I suppose I must, and I think I had
+better explain such undignified conduct on my part. Auntie has just told
+me that she is going to give a grand reception for me two weeks from
+to-day, or, really, two of them, for there is to be an afternoon
+reception from three until six for her acquaintances, with a few young
+ladies to assist me in receiving; and then, in the evening, I am to have
+a reception of my own. We are going to send nearly two hundred
+invitations to Galena, besides our friends here. Papa is going to have
+the ball-room on the top floor fitted up for the occasion, and we are
+to have an orchestra from Galena, and altogether it will be quite 'the
+event of the season.' Now do you wonder," she added, archly, "that I
+seized hold of the first object that came in my way and started out for
+a waltz?"
+
+"Not in the least," Darrell answered, his dark eyes full of merriment.
+"I only wish I had been fortunate enough to have arrived a little
+earlier."
+
+A mischievous response to his challenge sparkled in Kate's eyes for a
+moment, but she only replied, demurely,--
+
+"You shall have your opportunity later."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Two weeks from to-night."
+
+"Ah! am I to be honored with an invitation?"
+
+"Most assuredly you will be invited," Kate replied, quietly; then added,
+shyly, "and I myself invite you personally, here and now, and that is
+honoring you as no other guest of mine will be honored."
+
+"Thank you," he replied, gently, with one of his tender smiles; "I
+accept the personal invitation for your sake."
+
+She was standing on the topmost stair, slightly above him, one hand
+toying with a spray of blossoms depending from the vines above her head.
+With a swift movement Darrell caught the little hand and was in the act
+of carrying it to his lips, when it suddenly slipped from his grasp and
+its owner as quickly turned and disappeared.
+
+Darrell seated himself with a curious expression. It was not the first
+time Kate had eluded him thus within the last few days. He had missed of
+late certain pleasant little familiarities and light, tender caresses,
+to which he had become accustomed, and he began to wonder at this
+change in his child companion, as he regarded her.
+
+"What has come over the child?" he soliloquized; "two weeks ago if I had
+given her a challenge for a waltz she would have taken me up, but lately
+she is as demure as a little nun! We will have to give it up, won't we,
+Duke, old boy?" he continued, addressing the collie, whose intelligent
+eyes were fastened on his face with a shrewd expression, as though,
+aware of the trend of Darrell's thoughts, he, too, considered his
+beloved young mistress rather incomprehensible.
+
+The ensuing days were so crowded with preparations for the coming event
+and with such constant demands upon Kate's time that Darrell seldom saw
+her except at meals, and opportunities for anything like their
+accustomed pleasant interchange of confidence were few and far between.
+On those rare occasions, however, when he succeeded in meeting her
+alone, Darrell could not but be impressed by the subtle and to him
+inexplicable change in her manner. She seemed in some way so remotely
+removed from the young girl who, but a few days before, in response to
+the violin's tale, had confided to him the loneliness of her own life. A
+shy, sweet, but impenetrable reserve seemed to have replaced the
+childlike familiarity. Her eyes still brightened with welcome at his
+approach, but their light was quickly veiled beneath drooping lids, and
+through the cadences of her low tones he caught at times the vibration
+of a new chord, to whose meaning his ear was as yet unattuned.
+
+He did not know, nor did any other, that within that short time she had
+learned her own heart's secret. Child that she was, she had met Love
+face to face, and in that one swift, burning glance of recognition the
+womanhood within her had expanded as the bud expands, bursting its
+imprisoning calyx under the ardent glance of the sun. But Darrell,
+seeing only the effect and knowing nothing of the cause, was vaguely
+troubled.
+
+On the day of the reception both Mr. Underwood and Darrell lunched and
+dined down town, returning together to The Pines in the interim between
+the afternoon and evening entertainments. As Darrell sprang from the
+carriage and ran up the stairs the servants were already turning on the
+lights temporarily suspended within the veranda and throughout the
+grounds, so that the place seemed transformed into a bit of fairyland.
+He heard chatter and laughter, and caught glimpses of young
+ladies--special guests from out of town--flitting from room to room, but
+Kate was nowhere to be seen.
+
+Going to his room, he quickly donned an evening suit, not omitting a
+dainty boutonničre awaiting him on his dressing-case, and betook himself
+to the libraries across the hall, where, by previous arrangement, Kate
+was to call for him when it was time to go downstairs.
+
+From below came the ceaseless hum of conversation, the constant ripple
+of laughter, mingled with bits of song, and the occasional strains of a
+waltz. Reading was out of the question. Sinking into the depths of a
+large arm-chair, Darrell was soon lost in dreamy reverie, from which he
+was roused by a slight sound.
+
+Looking up, he saw framed in the arched doorway between the two rooms a
+vision, like and yet so unlike the maiden for whom he waited and who had
+occupied his thoughts but a moment before that he gazed in silent
+astonishment, uncertain whether it were a reality or part of his dreams.
+For a moment the silence was unbroken; then,--
+
+"How do you like my gown?" said the Vision, demurely.
+
+Darrell sprang to his feet and approached slowly, a new consciousness
+dawning in his soul, a new light in his eyes. Of the style or texture of
+her gown, a filmy, gleaming mass of white, he knew absolutely nothing;
+he only knew that its clinging softness revealed in new beauty the
+rounded outlines of her form; that its snowy sheen set off the exquisite
+moulding of her neck and arms; that its long, shimmering folds
+accentuated the height and grace of her slender figure; but a knowledge
+had come to him in that moment like a revelation, stunning, bewildering
+him, thrilling his whole being, irradiating every lineament of his face.
+
+"I know very little about ladies' dress," he said apologetically, "and I
+fear I may express myself rather bunglingly, but to me the chief beauty
+of your gown consists in the fact that it reveals and enhances the
+beauty of the wearer; in that sense, I consider it very beautiful."
+
+"Thank you," Kate replied, with a low, sweeping courtesy to conceal the
+blushes which she felt mantling her cheeks, not so much at his words as
+at what she read in his eyes; "that is the most delicate compliment I
+ever heard. I know I shall not receive another so delicious this whole
+evening, and to think of prefacing it with an apology!"
+
+"I am glad to hear that voice," said Darrell, possessing himself of one
+little gloved hand and surveying his companion critically, from the
+charmingly coiffed head to the dainty white slipper peeping from beneath
+her skirt; "the voice and the eyes seem about all that is left of the
+little girl I had known and loved."
+
+She regarded him silently, with a gracious little smile, but with
+deepening color and quickening pulse.
+
+He continued: "She has seemed different of late, somehow; she has eluded
+me so often I have felt as though she were in some way slipping away
+from me, and now I fear I have lost her altogether. How is it?"
+
+Darrell gently raised the sweet face so that he looked into the clear
+depths of the brown eyes.
+
+"Tell me, Kathie dear, has she drifted away from me?"
+
+For an instant the eyes were hidden under the curling lashes; then they
+lifted as she replied, with an enigmatical smile,--
+
+"Not so far but that you may follow, if you choose."
+
+Darrell bowed his head and his lips touched the golden-brown hair.
+
+"Sweetheart," he said, in low tones, scarcely above a whisper, "I
+follow; if I overtake her, what then? Will I find her the same as in the
+past?"
+
+Her heart was beating wildly with a new, strange joy; she longed to get
+away by herself and taste its sweetness to the full.
+
+"The same, and yet not the same," she answered, slowly; then, before he
+could say more, she added, lightly, as a wave of laughter was borne
+upward from the parlors.
+
+"But I came to see if you were ready to go downstairs; ought we not to
+join the others?"
+
+"As you please," he replied, stooping to pick up the programme she had
+dropped; "are the guests arriving yet?"
+
+"No; it is still early, but I want to introduce you to my friends. Oh,
+yes, my programme; thanks! That reminds me, I am going to ask you to put
+your name down for two or three waltzes; you know," she added, smiling,
+"I promised you two weeks ago some waltzes for this evening, so take
+your choice."
+
+For an instant Darrell hesitated, and the old troubled look returned to
+his face.
+
+"You are very kind," he said, slowly, "and I appreciate the honor; but
+it has just occurred to me that really I am not at all certain regarding
+my proficiency in that line."
+
+Kate understood his dilemma. They had reached the hall; some one was at
+the piano below and the strains of a dreamy waltz floated through the
+rooms.
+
+"I haven't a doubt of your proficiency myself," she replied, with a
+confident smile, "but if you would like a test, here is a good
+opportunity," and she glanced up and down the vacant but brightly
+lighted corridor. Darrell needed no second hint, and almost before she
+was aware they were gliding over the floor.
+
+To Kate, intoxicated with her new-found joy, it seemed as though she
+were borne along on the waves of the music without effort or volition of
+her own. She dared not trust herself to speak. Once or twice she raised
+her eyes to meet the dark ones whose gaze she felt upon her face, but
+the love-light shining in their depths overpowered her glance and she
+turned her eyes away. She knew that he had seen and recognized the
+woman, and that as such--and not as a child--he loved her, and for the
+present this knowledge was happiness enough.
+
+And Darrell was silent, still bewildered by the twofold revelation which
+had so suddenly come to him; the revelation of the lovely womanhood at
+his side, to which he had, until now, been blind, and of the love within
+his own heart, of which, till now, he had been unconscious.
+
+Before they had completed two turns up and down the corridor the music
+ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
+
+"Oh, that was heavenly! It seemed like a dream!" Kate exclaimed, with a
+sigh.
+
+"It seemed a very blessed bit of reality to me," Darrell laughed in
+return, drawing her arm within his own as they proceeded towards the
+stairs.
+
+"You are a superb dancer; now you certainly can have no scruples about
+claiming some waltzes," Kate replied, withdrawing her arm and again
+placing her programme in his hands.
+
+As they paused at the head of the stairs while Darrell complied with her
+request, a chorus of voices was heard in the hall below.
+
+"Kate, are you never coming?" some one called, and a sprightly brunette
+appeared for an instant on the first landing, but vanished quickly at
+sight of Darrell.
+
+"Girls!" they heard her exclaim to the merry group below; "would you
+believe it? She is taking a base advantage of us; she has discovered
+what we did not suppose existed in this house--a young man--and is
+getting her programme filled in advance!"
+
+Cries of "Oh, Kate, that's not fair!" followed. Kate leaned laughingly
+over the balustrade.
+
+"He's an angel of a dancer, girls," she called, "but I'll promise not to
+monopolize him!"
+
+Darrell returned the programme, saying, as they passed down the stairs
+together,--
+
+"I didn't want to appear selfish, so I only selected three, but give me
+more if you can, later."
+
+Kate smiled. "I think," she replied, "you will speedily find yourself in
+such demand that I will consider myself fortunate to have secured those
+three; but," she added shyly, as her eyes met his, "my first waltz was
+with you, and that was just as I intended it should be!"
+
+Through the hours which followed so swiftly Darrell was in a sort of
+waking dream, a state of superlative happiness, unmarred as yet by
+phantoms from the shrouded past or misgivings as to the dim, uncertain
+future; past and future were for the time alike forgotten. One image
+dominated his mind,--the form and face of the fair young hostess moving
+among her guests as a queen amid her court, carrying her daintily poised
+head as though conscious of the twofold royal crown of womanhood and
+woman's love. One thought surged continuously through and through his
+brain,--that she was his, his by the sovereign right of love. Whatever
+courtesy he showed to others was for her sake, because they were her
+guests, her friends, and when unengaged he stationed himself in some
+quiet corner or dimly lighted alcove where, unobserved, he could watch
+her movements with their rhythmic grace or catch the music of her voice,
+the sight or sound thrilling him with joy so exquisite as to be akin to
+pain. The oft-repeated compliments of the crowd about him seemed to him
+empty, trite, meaningless; what could they know of her real beauty
+compared with himself who saw her through Love's eyes!
+
+As he stood thus alone in a deep bay-window, shaded by giant palms, some
+one paused beside him.
+
+"Our little débutante has surpassed herself to-night; she is fairest of
+the fair!"
+
+Darrell turned to see at his side Walcott, faultlessly attired, elegant,
+nonchalant; a half-smile playing about his lips as through half-closed
+eyes he watched the dancers. Instantly all the antagonism in Darrell's
+nature rose against the man; strive as he might, he was powerless to
+subdue it. There was no trace of it in his voice, however, as he
+answered, quietly,--
+
+"Miss Underwood certainly looks very beautiful to-night."
+
+"She has matured marvellously of late," continued the other, in low,
+pleasant tones; "her development within the past few weeks has been
+remarkable. But that is to be expected in women of her style, and this
+is but the beginning. Mark my words, Mr. Darrell," Walcott faced his
+auditor with a smile, "Miss Underwood's beauty to-night is but the pale
+shining of a taper beside one of those lights yonder, compared with what
+it will be a few years hence; are you aware of that?"
+
+"It had not occurred to me," Darrell replied, with studied calmness, for
+the conversation was becoming distasteful to him.
+
+"Look at her now!" said Walcott, bowing and smiling as Kate floated past
+them, but regarding her with a scrutiny that aroused Darrell's quick
+resentment; "very fair, very lovely, I admit, but a trifle too slender;
+a little too colorless, too neutral, as it were! A few years will change
+all that. You will see her a woman of magnificent proportions and with
+the cold, neutral tints replaced by warmth and color. I have made a
+study of women, and I know that class well. Five or ten years from now
+she will be simply superb, and at the age when ordinary women lose their
+power to charm she will only be in the zenith of her beauty."
+
+The look and tone accompanying the words filled Darrell with indignation
+and disgust.
+
+"You will have to excuse me," he said, coldly; "you seem, as you say, to
+have made a study of women from your own standpoint, but our standards
+of beauty differ so radically that further discussion of the subject is
+useless."
+
+"Ah, well, every man according to his taste, of course," Walcott
+remarked, indifferently, and, turning lightly, he walked away, a faint
+gleam of amusement lighting his dark features.
+
+Half an hour later, as Darrell glided over the floor with Kate, some
+irresistible force drew his glance towards the bay-window where within
+the shadow of the palms Walcott was now standing alone, suave as ever.
+Their eyes met for an instant only, and Walcott smiled. The dance went
+on, but the smile, like a poisoned shaft, entered Darrell's soul and
+rankled there.
+
+Both Darrell and Walcott were marked men that night and attracted
+universal attention and comment. Darrell's pale, intellectual face,
+penetrating eyes, and dark hair already streaked with gray would have
+attracted attention anywhere, as would also Walcott with his olive skin,
+his cynical smile, and graceful, sinuous movement. In addition,
+Darrell's peculiar mental condition and the fact that his identity was
+enveloped in a degree of mystery rendered him doubly interesting. In the
+case of each this was his introduction to the social life of Ophir. Each
+had been a resident of the town, the one as a student and recluse, the
+other as a business man, but each was a stranger to the stratum known as
+society. Each held himself aloof that evening from the throng: the one,
+through natural reserve, courteous but indifferent to the passing crowd;
+the other alert, watchful, studying the crowd; weighing, gauging this
+new element, speculating whether or not it were worth his while to court
+its favor, whether or not he could make of it an ally for his own future
+advantage.
+
+Soon after his arrival Walcott had begged of Kate Underwood the honor of
+a waltz, but her programme being then nearly filled she could only give
+him one well towards the end. As he intended to render himself
+conspicuous by dancing only once, and then with the belle of the
+evening, it was at quite a late hour when he first made his appearance
+on the floor. Kate was on his arm, and at that instant his criticism,
+made earlier in the evening, that she was too colorless, certainly could
+not have applied.
+
+As he led her out upon the floor he bent his gaze upon her with a look
+which brought the color swiftly to her face in crimson waves that
+flooded the full, snow-white throat and, surging upward, reached even to
+the blue-veined temples. Instinctively she shrank from him with a
+sensation almost of fear, but something in his gaze held her as though
+spell-bound. She looked into his eyes like one fascinated, scarcely
+knowing what he said or what reply she made. The waltz began, and as
+their fingers touched Kate's nerves tingled as though from an electric
+shock. She shivered slightly, then, angry with herself, used every
+exertion to overcome the strange spell. To a great extent she succeeded,
+but she felt benumbed, as though moving in a dream or in obedience to
+some will stronger than her own, while her temples throbbed painfully
+and her respiration grew hurried and difficult. She grew dizzy, but
+pride came to her rescue, and, except for the color which now ran riot
+in her cheeks and a slight tremor through her frame, there was no hint
+of her agitation. Her partner was all that could be desired, guiding her
+through the circling crowds, and supporting her in the swift turns with
+the utmost grace and courtesy, but it was a relief when it was over. At
+her request, Walcott escorted her to a seat near her aunt, then
+smilingly withdrew with much inward self-congratulation.
+
+At that moment Darrell, seeing Kate unengaged, hastened to her side.
+
+"You look warm and the air here is oppressive," he said, observing her
+flushed face and fanning her gently; "shall we go outside for a few
+moments?"
+
+"Yes, please; anywhere out of this heat and glare," she answered; "my
+temples throb as if they would burst and my face feels as though it were
+on fire!"
+
+Darrell hastened to the hall, returning an instant later with a light
+wrap which he proceeded to throw about Kate's shoulders.
+
+"You are tired, Katherine," said Mrs. Dean, "more tired than you realize
+now; you had better not dance any more to-night."
+
+"I have but two more dances, auntie," the young girl answered, smiling;
+"you surely would not wish me to forego those;" adding, in a lower tone,
+as she turned towards Darrell, "one of them is your waltz, and I would
+not miss that for anything!"
+
+They passed through the hall and out upon a broad balcony. They could
+hear the subdued laughter of couples strolling through the brightly
+lighted grounds below, while over the distant landscape shone the pale
+weird light of the waning moon, just rising in the east. None of the
+guests had discovered the balcony opening from the hall on the third
+floor, so they had it exclusively to themselves.
+
+As Darrell drew Kate's arm closer within his own he was surprised to
+feel her trembling slightly, while the hand lying on his own was cold as
+marble.
+
+"My dear child!" he exclaimed; "your hands are cold and you are
+trembling! What is the matter--are you cold?"
+
+"No, not cold exactly, only shivery," she answered, with a laugh. "My
+head was burning up in there, and I feel sort of hot flashes and then a
+creepy, shivery feeling by turns; but I am not cold out here, really,"
+she added, earnestly, as Darrell drew her wrap more closely about her.
+
+"Nevertheless, I cannot allow you to stay out here any longer," Darrell
+replied, finding his first taste of masculine authority very sweet.
+
+For an instant Kate felt a very feminine desire to put his authority to
+the test, but the sense of his protection and his solicitude for her
+welfare seemed particularly soothing just then, and so, with only a
+saucy little smile, she silently allowed him to lead her into the house.
+At his suggestion, however, they did not return to the ball-room, but
+passed around through an anteroom, coming out into a small, circular
+apartment, dimly lighted and cosily furnished, opening upon one corner
+of the ball-room.
+
+"It strikes me," said Darrell, as he drew aside the silken hangings
+dividing the two rooms and pushed a low divan before the open space,
+"this will be fully as pleasant as the balcony and much safer."
+
+"The very thing!" Kate exclaimed, sinking upon the divan with a sigh of
+relief; "we will have a fine view of the dancers and yet be quite
+secluded ourselves."
+
+A minuet was already in progress on the floor, and for a few moments
+Kate watched the stately, graceful dance, while Darrell, having adjusted
+her wrap lightly about her, seated himself beside her and silently
+watched her face with deep content.
+
+Gradually the throbbing in her temples subsided, the nervous tremor
+ceased, her color became natural, and she felt quite herself again. She
+leaned back against the divan and looked with laughing eyes into
+Darrell's face.
+
+"Mr. Darrell, do you believe in hypnotism?" she suddenly inquired.
+
+"In hypnotism? Yes; but not in many of those who claim to practise it.
+Most of them are mere impostors. But why do you ask?" he continued,
+drawing her head down upon his shoulder and looking playfully into her
+eyes; "are you trying to hypnotize me?"
+
+Kate laughed merrily and shook her head. "I'm afraid I wouldn't find you
+a good subject," she said; then added, slowly, as her face grew serious:
+
+"Do you know, I believe I was hypnotized to-night by that dreadful Mr.
+Walcott. He certainly cast a malign spell of some kind over me from the
+moment we went on the floor together till he left me."
+
+"Why do you say that?" Darrell asked, quickly; "you know I did not see
+you on the floor with him, for Miss Stockton asked me to go with her for
+a promenade. We came back just as the waltz had ended and Mr. Walcott
+was escorting you to your aunt. I noticed that you seemed greatly
+fatigued and excused myself to Miss Stockton and came over at once. What
+had happened?"
+
+Kate related what had occurred. "I can't give you any idea of it," she
+said, in conclusion; "it seemed unaccountable, but it was simply
+dreadful. You know his eyes are nearly always closed in that peculiar
+way of his, and really I don't think I had any idea how they looked; but
+to-night as he looked at me they were wide open; and, do you know, I
+can't describe them, but they looked so soft and melting they were
+beautiful, and yet there was something absolutely terrible in their
+depths. It seemed some way like looking down into a volcano! And the
+worst of it was, they seemed to hold me--I couldn't take my eyes from
+his. He was as kind and courteous as could be, I'll admit that, but even
+the touch of his fingers made me shiver."
+
+Darrell's face had darkened during Kate's recital, but he controlled his
+anger.
+
+"Now, was that due to my own imagination or to some uncanny spell of
+his?" Kate insisted.
+
+"To neither wholly, and yet perhaps a little of each," Darrell answered,
+lightly, not wishing to alarm her or lead her to attach undue importance
+to the occurrence. "I think Mr. Walcott has an abnormal amount of
+conceit, and that most of those little mannerisms of his are mainly to
+attract attention to himself. He was probably trying to produce some
+sort of an impression on your mind, and to that extent he certainly
+succeeded, only the impression does not seem to have been as favorable
+as he perhaps would have wished. No one but a conceited cad would have
+attempted such a thing, and with your supersensitive nature the effect
+on you was anything but pleasant, but don't allow yourself to think
+about it or be annoyed by it. At the same time I would advise you not to
+place yourself in his power or where he could have any advantage of you.
+By the way, this is our waltz, is it not?"
+
+"It is," Kate replied, rising and watching Darrell as he removed her
+wrap and prepared to escort her to the ball-room. His playful badinage
+had not deceived her. As she took his arm she said, in a low tone,--
+
+"You affect to treat this matter rather lightly, but, all the same, you
+have warned me against this man. 'Forewarned is forearmed,' you know,
+and no man can ever attempt to harm me or mine with impunity!"
+
+Darrell turned quickly in surprise; there was a quality in her tone
+wholly unfamiliar.
+
+"But I fear you exaggerate what I intended to convey," he said, hastily;
+"I do not know that he would ever deliberately seek to harm you, but he
+might render himself obnoxious in some way, as he did to-night."
+
+She shook her head. "I was taken off guard to-night," she said; "but he
+had best never attempt anything of the kind a second time!"
+
+They were now waiting for the waltz to begin; she continued, in the same
+low tone:
+
+"I have had a western girl's education. When I was a child this place
+was little more than a rough mining camp, with plenty of desperate
+characters. My father trained me as he would have trained a boy, and,"
+she added, significantly, with a bright, proud smile, "I am just as
+proficient now as I was then!"
+
+Darrell scarcely heeded the import of her words, so struck was he by the
+change in her face, which had suddenly grown wonderfully like her
+father's,--stern, impassive, unrelenting. She smiled, and the look
+vanished, and for the time he thought no more of it, but as the passing
+cloud sometimes reveals features in a landscape unnoticed in the
+sunlight, so it had disclosed a phase of character latent, unguessed
+even by those who knew her best.
+
+Two hours later the last carriage had gone; the guests from out of town
+who were to remain at The Pines for the night had retired, and darkness
+and silence had gradually settled over the house. A light still burned
+in Mr. Underwood's private room, where he paced back and forth, his
+brows knit in deep thought, but his stern face lighted with a smile of
+intense satisfaction. Darrell, who had remained below to assist Mrs.
+Dean in the performance of a few last duties, having accompanied her in
+a final tour of the deserted rooms to make sure that all was safe, bade
+her good-night and went upstairs. To his surprise, Kate's library was
+still lighted, and through the open door he could see her at her desk
+writing.
+
+She looked up on hearing his step, and, as he approached, rose and came
+to the door.
+
+She had exchanged her evening gown for a dainty robe de chambre of
+white cashmere and lace, and, standing there against the background of
+mellow light, her hair coiled low on her neck, while numerous
+intractable locks curled about her ears and temples, it was small wonder
+that Darrell's eyes bespoke his admiration and love, even if his lips
+did not.
+
+"Writing at this time of night!" he exclaimed; "we supposed you asleep
+long ago."
+
+"Sh! don't speak so loud," she protested. "You'll have Aunt Marcia up
+here! I have nearly finished my writing, so you needn't scold."
+
+Glancing at the large journal lying open on her desk, Darrell asked,
+with a quizzical smile,--
+
+"Couldn't that have been postponed for a few hours?"
+
+"Not to-night," she replied, with emphasis; "ordinarily, you know, it
+could and would have been postponed, perhaps indefinitely, but not
+to-night!"
+
+She glanced shyly into his eyes, and her own fell, as she added, in a
+lower tone,--
+
+"To-night has memories so golden I want to preserve them before they
+have been dimmed by even one hour's sleep!"
+
+Darrell's face grew marvellously tender; he drew her head down upon his
+breast while he caressed the rippling hair with its waves of light and
+shade.
+
+"This night will always have golden memories for me, Kathie," he said,
+"and neither days nor years can ever dim their lustre; of that I am
+sure."
+
+Kate raised her head, drawing herself slightly away from his embrace so
+that she could look him in the face.
+
+"'Kathie!'" she repeated, softly; "that is the second time you have
+called me by that name to-night. I never heard it before; where did you
+get it?"
+
+"Oh, it came to me," he said, smiling; "and somehow it seemed just the
+name for you; but I'll not call you so unless you like it."
+
+"I do like it immensely," she replied; "I am tired of 'Kate' and
+'Kittie' and Aunt Marcia's terrible 'Katherine;' I am glad you are
+original enough to call me by something different, but it sounds so odd;
+I wondered if there might have been a 'Kathie' in the past. But," she
+added, quickly, "I must not stay here. I just came out to say good-night
+to you."
+
+"We had better say good-morning," Darrell laughed, as the clock in the
+hall below chimed one of the "wee, sma' hours;" "promise me that you
+will go to rest at once, won't you?"
+
+"Very soon," she answered, smiling; then, a sudden impulsiveness
+conquering her reserve, she exclaimed, "Do you know, this has been the
+happiest night of my whole life. I hardly dare go to sleep for fear I
+will wake up and find it all a dream."
+
+For answer Darrell folded her close to his breast, kissing her hair and
+brow with passionate tenderness; then suddenly, neither knew just how,
+their lips met in long, lingering, rapturous kisses.
+
+"Will that make it seem more real, sweetheart?" he asked, in a low voice
+vibrating with emotion.
+
+"Yes, oh yes!" she panted, half frightened by his fervor; "but let me
+go; please do!"
+
+He released her, only retaining her hands for an instant, which he bent
+and kissed; then bidding her good-night, he hastened down the hall to
+his room.
+
+At the door, however, he looked back and saw her still standing where he
+had left her. She wafted him a kiss on her finger-tips and disappeared.
+Going to her desk, she read with shining eyes and smiling lips the last
+lines written in her journal, then dipped her pen as though to write
+further, hesitated, and, closing the book, whispered,--
+
+"That is too sacred to intrust even to you, you dear, old journal! I
+shall keep it locked in my own breast."
+
+Then, locking her desk and turning off the light, she stole noiselessly
+to her room.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XVI_
+
+THE AFTERMATH
+
+
+As Darrell entered his room its dim solitude seemed doubly grateful
+after the glare of the crowded rooms he had lately left. His brain
+whirled from the unusual excitement. He wanted to be alone with his own
+thoughts--alone with this new, overpowering joy, and assure himself of
+its reality. He seated himself by an open window till the air had cooled
+his brow, and his brain, under the mysterious, soothing influence of the
+night, grew less confused; then, partially disrobing, he threw himself
+upon his bed to rest, but not to sleep.
+
+Again he lived over the last few weeks at The Pines, comprehending at
+last the gracious influence which, entering into his barren, meagre
+life, had rendered it so inexpressibly rich and sweet and complete. Ah,
+how blind! to have walked day after day hand in hand with Love, not
+knowing that he entertained an angel unawares!
+
+And then had followed the revelation, when the scales had fallen from
+his eyes before the vision of lovely maiden-womanhood which had suddenly
+confronted him. He recalled her as she stood awaiting his tardy
+recognition--recalled her every word and look throughout the evening
+down to their parting, and again he seemed to hold her in his arms, to
+look into her eyes, to feel her head upon his breast, her kisses on his
+lips.
+
+But even with the remembrance of those moments, while yet he felt the
+pressure of her lips upon his own, pure and cool like the dewy petals
+of a rose at sunrise, there came to him the first consciousness of pain
+mingled with the rapture, the first dash of bitter in the sweet, as he
+recalled the question in her eyes and the half-whispered, "I wondered if
+there might have been a 'Kathie' in the past."
+
+The past! How could he for one moment have forgotten that awful shadow
+overhanging his life! As it suddenly loomed before him in its hideous
+blackness, Darrell started from his pillow in horror, a cold sweat
+bursting from every pore. Gradually the terrible significance of it all
+dawned upon him,--the realization of what he had done and of what he
+must, as best he might, undo. It meant the relinquishment of what was
+sweetest and holiest on earth just as it seemed within his grasp; the
+renunciation of all that had made life seem worth living! Darrell buried
+his face in his hands and groaned aloud. So it was only a mockery, a
+dream. He recalled Kate's words: "I hardly dare go to sleep for fear I
+will wake up and find it all a dream," and self-reproach and remorse
+added their bitterness to his agony. What right had he to bring that
+bright young life under the cloud overhanging his own, to wreck her
+happiness by contact with his own misfortune! What would it be for her
+when she came to know the truth, as she must know it; and how was he to
+tell her? In his anguish he groaned,--
+
+"God pity us both and be merciful to her!"
+
+For more than an hour he walked the room; then kneeling by the bed, just
+as a pale, silvery streak appeared along the eastern horizon, he
+cried,--
+
+"O God, leave me not in darkness; give me some clew to the vanished
+past, that I may know whether or not I have the right to this most
+precious of all thine earthly gifts!"
+
+And, burying his face, he strove as never before to pierce the darkness
+enveloping his brain. Long he knelt there, his hands clinching the
+bedclothes convulsively, even the muscles of his body tense and rigid
+under the terrible mental strain he was undergoing, while at times his
+powerful frame shook with agony.
+
+The silvery radiance crept upward over the deep blue dome; the stars
+dwindled to glimmering points of light, then faded one by one; a roseate
+flush tinged the eastern sky, growing and deepening, and the first
+golden rays were shooting upward from a sea of crimson flame as Darrell
+rose from his knees. He walked to the window, but even the sunlight
+seemed to mock him--there was no light for him, no rift in the cloud
+darkening his path, and with a heavy sigh he turned away. The struggle
+was not yet over; this was to be a day of battle with himself, and he
+nerved himself for the coming ordeal.
+
+After a cold bath he dressed and descended to the breakfast-room. It was
+still early, but Mr. Underwood was already at the table and Mrs. Dean
+entered a moment later from the kitchen, where she had been giving
+directions for breakfast for Kate and her guests. Both were shocked at
+Darrell's haggard face and heavy eyes, but by a forced cheerfulness he
+succeeded in diverting the scrutiny of the one and the anxious
+solicitude of the other. Mr. Underwood returned to his paper and his
+sister and Darrell had the conversation to themselves.
+
+"Last night's dissipation proved too much for me," Darrell said,
+playfully, in reply to some protest of Mrs. Dean's regarding his light
+appetite.
+
+"You don't look fit to go down town!" she exclaimed; "you had better
+stay at home and help Katherine entertain her guests. I noticed you
+seemed to be very popular with them last night."
+
+"I'm afraid I would prove a sorry entertainer," Darrell answered,
+lightly, as he rose from the table, "so you will kindly excuse me to
+Miss Underwood and her friends."
+
+"Aren't you going to wait and ride down?" Mr. Underwood inquired.
+
+"Not this morning," Darrell replied; "a brisk walk will do me good." And
+a moment later they heard his firm step on the gravelled driveway.
+
+Mr. Underwood having finished his reading of the morning paper passed it
+to his sister.
+
+"Pretty good write-up of last night's affair," he commented, as he
+replaced his spectacles in their case.
+
+"Is there? I'll look it up after breakfast; I haven't my glasses now,"
+Mrs. Dean replied. "I thought myself that everything passed off pretty
+well. What did you think of Katherine last night, David?"
+
+The lines about his mouth deepened as he answered, quietly,--
+
+"She'll do, if she is my child. I didn't see any finer than she; and old
+Stockton's daughter, with all her father's millions, couldn't touch
+her!"
+
+"I had no idea the child was so beautiful," Mrs. Dean continued; "she
+seemed to come out so unexpectedly some way, just like a flower
+unfolding. I never was so surprised in my life."
+
+"I guess the little girl took a good many of 'em by surprise, judging by
+appearances," Mr. Underwood remarked, a shrewd smile lighting his stern
+features.
+
+"Yes, she received a great deal of attention," rejoined his sister. "I
+suppose," she added thoughtfully, "she'll have lots of admirers 'round
+here now."
+
+"No, she won't," Mr. Underwood retorted, with decision, at the same
+time pushing back his chair and rising hastily; "I'll see to it that she
+doesn't. If the right man steps up and means business, all right; but
+I'll have no hangers-on or fortune-hunters dawdling about!"
+
+His sister watched him curiously with a faint smile. "You had better
+advertise for the kind of man you want," she said, dryly, "and state
+that 'none others need apply,' as a warning to applicants whom you might
+consider undesirable."
+
+Mr. Underwood turned quickly. "What are you driving at?" he demanded,
+impatiently. "I've no time for beating about the bush."
+
+"And I've no time for explanations," she replied, with exasperating
+calmness; "you can think it over at your leisure."
+
+With a contemptuous "Humph!" Mr. Underwood left the house. After he had
+gone his sister sat for a while in deep thought, then, with a sigh, rose
+and went about her accustomed duties. She had been far more keen than
+her brother to observe the growing intimacy between her niece and
+Darrell, and she had seen some indications on the previous evening which
+troubled her, as much on Darrell's account as Kate's, for she had become
+deeply attached to the young man, and she well knew that her brother
+would not look upon him with favor as a suitor for his daughter.
+
+Meanwhile, Darrell, on reaching the office, found work and study alike
+impossible. The room seemed narrow and stifling; the medley of sound
+from the adjoining offices and from the street was distracting. He
+recalled the companions of his earlier days of pain and conflict,--the
+mountains,--and his heart yearned for their restful silence, for the
+soothing and uplifting of their solemn presence.
+
+Having left a brief note on Mr. Underwood's desk he closed his office,
+and, leaving the city behind him, started on foot up the familiar canyon
+road. After a walk of an hour or more he left the road, and, striking
+into a steep, narrow trail, began the ascent of one of the mountains of
+the main range. It still lacked a little of midday when he at last found
+himself on a narrow bench, near the summit, in a small growth of pines
+and firs. He stopped from sheer exhaustion and looked about him. Not a
+sign of human life was visible; not a sound broke the stillness save an
+occasional breath of air murmuring through the pines and the trickling
+of a tiny rivulet over the rocks just above where he stood. Going to the
+little stream he caught the crystal drops as they fell, quenching his
+thirst and bathing his heated brow; then, somewhat refreshed, he braced
+himself for the inevitable conflict.
+
+Slowly he paced up and down the rocky ledge, giving no heed to the
+passage of time, all his faculties centred upon the struggle between the
+inexorable demands of conscience on the one hand and the insatiate
+cravings of a newly awakened passion on the other. Vainly he strove to
+find some middle ground. Gradually, as his brain grew calm, the various
+courses of action which had at first suggested themselves to his mind
+appeared weak and cowardly, and the only course open to him was that of
+renunciation and of self-immolation.
+
+With a bitter cry he threw himself, face downward, upon the ground. A
+long time he lay there, till at last the peace from the great pitying
+heart of Nature touched his heart, and he slept on the warm bosom of
+Mother Earth as a child on its mother's breast.
+
+The sun was sinking towards the western ranges and slowly lengthening
+shadows were creeping athwart the distant valleys when Darrell rose to
+his feet and, after silently drinking in the beauty of the scene about
+him, prepared to descend. His face bore traces of the recent struggle,
+but it was the face of one who had conquered, whose mastery of himself
+was beyond all doubt or question. He took the homeward trail with firm
+step, with head erect, with face set and determined, and there was in
+his bearing that which indicated that there would be no wavering, no
+swerving from his purpose. His own hand had closed and bolted the gates
+of the Eden whose sweets he had but just tasted, and his conscience held
+the flaming sword which was henceforth to guard those portals.
+
+A little later, as Darrell in the early twilight passed up the driveway
+to The Pines, he was conscious only of a dull, leaden weight within his
+breast; his very senses seemed benumbed and he almost believed himself
+incapable of further suffering, till, as he approached the house, the
+sight of Kate seated in the veranda with her father and aunt and the
+thought of the suffering yet in store for her thrilled him anew with
+most poignant pain.
+
+His face was in the shadow as he came up the steps, and only Kate,
+seated near him, saw its pallor. She started and would have uttered an
+exclamation, but something in its expression awed and restrained her.
+There was a grave tenderness in his eyes as they met hers, but the light
+and joy which had been there when last she looked into them had gone out
+and in their place were dark gloom and despair. She heard as in a dream
+his answers to the inquiries of her father and aunt; heard him pass into
+the house accompanied by her aunt, who had prepared a substantial lunch
+against his return, and, with a strange sinking at her heart, sat
+silently awaiting his coming out.
+
+It had been a trying day for her. On waking, her happiness had seemed
+complete, but Darrell's absence on that morning of all mornings had
+seemed to her inexplicable, and when her guests had taken their
+departure and the long day wore on without his return and with no
+message from him, an indefinable dread haunted her. She had watched
+eagerly for Darrell's return, believing that one look into his face
+would banish her forebodings, but, instead, she had read there only a
+confirmation of her fears. And now she waited in suspense, longing, yet
+dreading to hear his step.
+
+At last he came, and, as he faced the light, Kate was shocked at the
+change which so few hours had wrought. He, too, was touched by the
+piteous appeal in her eyes, and there was a rare tenderness in voice and
+smile as he suggested a stroll through the grounds according to their
+custom, which somewhat reassured her.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Underwood and his sister had observed the old shadow of
+gloom in Darrell's face, and surmised something of its cause, for their
+eyes followed the young people in their walk up and down under the pines
+and a softened look stole into their usually impassive faces. At last,
+as they passed out of sight on one of the mountain terraces, Mrs. Dean
+said, with slight hesitation,--
+
+"Did it ever occur to you, David, that Katherine and Mr. Darrell are
+thrown in each other's society a great deal?"
+
+Mr. Underwood shot a keen glance at his sister from under his heavy
+brows, as he replied,--
+
+"Come to think of it, I suppose they are, though I can't say as I've
+ever given the matter much thought."
+
+"Perhaps it's time you did think about it."
+
+"Come, Marcia," said her brother, good-humoredly, "come to the point;
+are you, woman-like, scenting a love-affair in that direction?"
+
+Mrs. Dean found herself unexpectedly cornered. "I don't say that there
+is, but I don't know what else you could expect of two young folks like
+them, thrown together constantly as they are."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Underwood, with an air of comic perplexity, "do you
+want me to send Darrell adrift, or shall I pack Puss off to a convent?"
+
+"Now, David, I'm serious," his sister remonstrated, mildly. "Of course,
+I don't know that anything will come of it; but if you don't want that
+anything should, I think it's your duty, for Katherine's sake and Mr.
+Darrell's also, to prevent it. I think too much of them both to see any
+trouble come to either of them."
+
+Mr. Underwood puffed at his pipe in silence, while the gleaming needles
+in his sister's fingers clicked with monotonous regularity. When he
+spoke his tones lacked their usual brusqueness and had an element almost
+of gentleness.
+
+"Was this what was in your mind this morning, Marcia?"
+
+"Well, maybe so," his sister assented.
+
+"I don't think, Marcia, that I need any one to tell me my duty,
+especially regarding my child. I have my own plans for her future, and I
+will allow nothing to interfere with them. And as for John Darrell, he
+has the good, sterling sense to know that anything more than friendship
+between him and Kate is not to be thought of for a moment, and I can
+trust to his honor as a gentleman that he will not go beyond it. So I
+rather think your anxieties are groundless."
+
+"Perhaps so," his sister answered, doubtfully, "but young folks are not
+generally governed much by common sense in things of this kind; and then
+you know, David, Katherine is different from us,--she grows more and
+more like her mother,--and if she once got her heart set on any one, I
+don't think anybody--even you--could make her change."
+
+The muscles of Mr. Underwood's face suddenly contracted as though by
+acute pain.
+
+"That will do, Marcia," he said, gravely, with a silencing wave of his
+hand; "there is no need to call up the past. I know Kate is like her
+mother, but she has my blood in her veins also,--enough that when the
+time comes she'll not let any childish sentimentality stand in the way
+of what I think is for her good."
+
+Mrs. Dean silently folded her knitting and rose to go into the house. At
+the door, however, she paused, and, looking back at her brother, said,
+in her low, even tones,--
+
+"I have said my last word of this affair, David, no matter what comes of
+it. You think you understand Katherine better than I, but you may find
+some day that it's better to prevent trouble than to try to cure it."
+
+Meanwhile, Darrell and Kate had reached their favorite seat beneath the
+pines and, after one or two futile attempts at talking, had lapsed into
+a constrained silence. To Kate there came a sudden realization that the
+merely friendly relations heretofore existing between them had been
+swept away; that henceforth she must either give the man at her side the
+concentrated affection of her whole being or, should he prove
+unworthy,--she glanced at his haggard face and could not complete the
+supposition even to herself. He was troubled, and her tender heart
+longed to comfort him, but his strange appearance held her back. At one
+word, one sign of love from him, she would have thrown herself upon his
+breast and begged to share his burden in true woman fashion; but he was
+so cold, so distant; he did not even take her hand as in the careless,
+happy days before either of them thought of love.
+
+Kate could endure the silence no longer, and ventured some timid word of
+loving sympathy.
+
+Darrell turned, facing her, his dark eyes strangely hollow and sunken.
+
+"Yes," he said, in a low voice, "God knows I have suffered since I saw
+you, but I deserve to suffer for having so far forgotten myself last
+night. That is not what is troubling me now; it is the thought of the
+sorrow and wretchedness I have brought into your pure, innocent
+life,--that you must suffer for my folly, my wrong-doing."
+
+"But," interposed Kate, "I don't understand; what wrong have you done?"
+
+"Kathie," he answered, brokenly, "it was all a mistake--a terrible
+mistake of mine! Can you forgive me? Can you forget? God grant you can!"
+
+"Forgive! Forget!" she exclaimed, in bewildered tones; "a mistake?" her
+voice faltered and she paused, her face growing deathly pale.
+
+"I cannot think," he continued, "how I came to so forget myself, the
+circumstances under which I am here, the kindness you and your people
+have shown me, and the trust they have reposed in me. I must have been
+beside myself. But I have no excuse to offer; I can only ask your
+forgiveness, and that I may, so far as possible, undo what has been
+done."
+
+While he was speaking she had drawn away from him, and, sitting proudly
+erect, she scanned his face in the waning light as though to read there
+the full significance of his meaning. Her cheeks blanched at his last
+words, but there was no tremor in her tones as she replied,--
+
+"I understand you to refer to what occurred last night; is that what you
+wish undone--what you would have me forget?"
+
+"I would give worlds if only it might be undone," he answered, "but that
+is an impossibility. Oh Kathie, I know how monstrous, how cruel this
+must seem to you, but it is the only honorable course left me after my
+stupidity, my cursed folly; and, believe me, it is far more of a
+kindness even to you to stop this wretched business right here than to
+carry it farther."
+
+"It is not necessary to consider my feelings in the matter, Mr. Darrell.
+If, as you say, you found yourself mistaken, to attempt after that to
+carry on what could only be a mere farce would be simply unpardonable. A
+mistake I could forgive; a deliberate deception, never!"
+
+The tones, so unlike Kate's, caused Darrell to turn in pained surprise.
+The deepening shadows hid the white, drawn face and quivering lips; he
+saw only the motionless, slender figure held so rigidly erect.
+
+"But, Kathie--Miss Underwood--you must have misunderstood me," he said,
+earnestly. "I have acted foolishly, but in no way falsely. You could
+not, under any circumstances, accuse me of deception----"
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Darrell," she interposed, more gently; "I did
+not intend to accuse you of deception. I only meant that, regardless of
+any personal feeling, it was, as you said, better to stop this; that to
+carry it farther after you had found you did not care for me as you
+supposed--or as I was led to suppose----" She paused an instant,
+uncertain how to proceed.
+
+"Kathie, Kathie! what are you saying?" Darrell exclaimed. "What have I
+said that you should so misunderstand me?"
+
+"But," she protested, piteously, struggling to control her voice, "did
+you not say that it was all a mistake on your part--that you wished it
+all undone? What else could I understand?"
+
+"My poor child!" said Darrell, tenderly; then reaching over and
+possessing himself of one of her hands, he continued, gravely:
+
+"The mistake was mine in that I ever allowed myself to think of loving
+you when love is not for me. I have no right, Kathie, to love you, or
+any other woman, as I am now. I did not know until last night that I did
+love you. Then it came upon me like a revelation,--a revelation so
+overwhelming that it swept all else before it. You, and you alone,
+filled my thoughts. Wherever I was, I saw you, heard you, and you only.
+Again and again in imagination I clasped you to my breast, I felt your
+kisses on my lips,--just as I afterwards felt them in reality."
+
+He paused a moment and dropped the hand he had taken. Under cover of the
+shadows Kate's tears were falling unchecked; one, falling on Darrell's
+hand, had warned him that there must be no weakening, no softening.
+
+His voice was almost stern as he resumed. "For those few hours I forgot
+that I was a being apart from the rest of the world, exiled to darkness
+and oblivion; forgot the obligations to myself and to others which my
+own condition imposes upon me. But the dream passed; I awoke to a
+realization of what I had done, and whatever I have suffered since is
+but the just penalty of my folly. The worst of all is that I have
+involved you in needless suffering; I have won your love only to have to
+put it aside--to renounce it. But even this is better--far better than
+to allow your young life to come one step farther within the clouds
+that envelop my own. Do you understand me now, Kathie?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, calmly; "I understand it from your view, as it looks
+to you."
+
+"But is not that the only view?"
+
+She did not speak at once, and when she did it was with a peculiar
+deliberation.
+
+"The clouds will lift one day; what then?"
+
+Darrell's voice trembled with emotion as he replied, "We cannot trust to
+that, for neither you nor I know what the light will reveal."
+
+She remained silent, and Darrell, after a pause, continued: "Don't make
+it harder for me, Kathie; there is but one course for us to follow in
+honor to ourselves or to each other."
+
+They sat in silence for a few moments; then both rose simultaneously to
+return to the house, and as they did so Darrell was conscious of a new
+bearing in Kate's manner,--an added dignity and womanliness. As they
+faced one another Darrell took both her hands in his, saying,--
+
+"What is it to be, Kathie? Can we return to the old friendship?"
+
+She stood for a moment with averted face, watching the stars brightening
+one by one in the evening sky.
+
+"No," she said, presently, "we can never return to that now; it would
+seem too bare, too meagre. There will always be something deeper and
+sweeter than mere friendship between us,--unless you fail me, and I know
+you will not."
+
+"And do you forgive me?" he asked.
+
+She turned then, looking him full in the eyes, and her own seemed to
+have caught the radiance of the stars themselves, as she answered,
+simply,--
+
+"No, John Darrell, for there is nothing to forgive."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XVII_
+
+"SHE KNOWS HER FATHER'S WILL IS LAW"
+
+
+Though the succeeding days and weeks dragged wearily for Darrell, he
+applied himself anew to work and study, and only the lurking shadows
+within his eyes, the deepening lines on his face, the fast multiplying
+gleams of silver in his dark hair, gave evidence of his suffering.
+
+And if to Kate the summer seemed suddenly to have lost its glory and
+music, if she found the round of social pleasures on which she had just
+entered grown strangely insipid, if it sometimes seemed to her that she
+had quaffed all the richness and sweetness of life on that wondrous
+first night till only the dregs remained, she gave no sign. With her
+sunny smile and lightsome ways she reigned supreme, both in society and
+in the home, and none but her aunt and Darrell missed the old-time
+rippling laughter or noted the deepening wistfulness and seriousness of
+the fair young face.
+
+Her father watched her with growing pride, and with a visible
+satisfaction which told of carefully laid plans known only to himself,
+whose consummation he deemed not far distant.
+
+Acting on the suggestion of his sister, he had been closely observant of
+both Kate and Darrell, but any conclusions which he formed he kept to
+himself and went his way apparently well satisfied.
+
+At the close of an unusually busy day late in the summer Darrell was
+seated alone in his office, reviewing his life in the West and vaguely
+wondering what would yet be the outcome of it all, when Mr. Underwood
+entered from the adjoining room. Exultation and elation were patent in
+his very step, but Darrell, lost in thought, was hardly conscious even
+of his presence.
+
+"Well, my boy, what are you mooning over?" Mr. Underwood asked,
+good-naturedly, noting Darrell's abstraction.
+
+"Only trying to find a solution for problems as yet insoluble," Darrell
+answered, with a smile that ended in a sigh.
+
+"Stick to the practical side of life, boy, and let the problems solve
+themselves."
+
+"A very good rule to follow, provided the problems would solve
+themselves," commented Darrell.
+
+"Those things generally work themselves out after a while," said Mr.
+Underwood, walking up and down the room. "I say, don't meddle with what
+you can't understand; take what you can understand and make a practical
+application of it. That's always been my motto, and if people would
+stick to that principle in commercial life, in religion, and everything
+else, there'd be fewer failures in business, less wrangling in the
+churches, and more good accomplished generally."
+
+"I guess you are about right there," Darrell admitted.
+
+"Been pretty busy to-day, haven't you?" Mr. Underwood asked, abruptly,
+after a short pause.
+
+"Yes, uncommonly so; work is increasing of late."
+
+"That's good. Well, it has been a busy day with us; rather an eventful
+one, in fact; one which Walcott and I will remember with pleasure, I
+trust, for a good many years to come."
+
+"How is that?" Darrell inquired, wondering at the pleasurable excitement
+in the elder man's tones.
+
+"We made a little change in the partnership to-day: Walcott is now an
+equal partner with myself."
+
+Darrell remained silent from sheer astonishment. Mr. Underwood evidently
+considered his silence an indication of disapproval, for he continued:
+
+"I know you don't like the man, Darrell, so there's no use of arguing
+that side of the question, but I tell you he has proved himself
+invaluable to me. You might not think it, but it's a fact that the
+business in this office has increased fifty per cent. since he came into
+it. He is thoroughly capable, responsible, honest,--just the sort of man
+that I can intrust the business to as I grow older and know that it will
+be carried on as well as though I was at the helm myself."
+
+"Still, a half-interest seems pretty large for a man with no more
+capital in the business than he has," said Darrell, determined to make
+no personal reference to Walcott.
+
+"He has put in fifty thousand additional since he came in," Mr.
+Underwood replied.
+
+Darrell whistled softly.
+
+"Oh, he has money all right; I'm satisfied of that. I'm satisfied that
+he could have furnished the money to begin with, only he was lying low."
+
+"Well, he certainly has nothing to complain of; you've done more than
+well by him."
+
+"No better proportionately than I would have done by you, my boy, if you
+had come in with me last spring when I asked you to. I had this thing in
+view then, and had made up my mind you'd make the right man for the
+place, but you wouldn't hear to it."
+
+"That's all right, Mr. Underwood," said Darrell; "I appreciate your kind
+intentions just the same, but I am more than ever satisfied that I
+wouldn't have been the right man for the place."
+
+Both men were silent for some little time, but neither showed any
+inclination to terminate the interview. Mr. Underwood was still pacing
+back and forth, while Darrell had risen and was standing by the window,
+looking out absently into the street.
+
+"That isn't all of it, and I may as well tell you the rest," said Mr.
+Underwood, suddenly pausing near Darrell, his manner much like a
+school-boy who has a confession to make and hardly knows how to begin.
+"Mr. Walcott to-day asked me--asked my permission to pay his addresses
+to my daughter--my little girl," he added, under his breath, and there
+was a strange note of tenderness in the usually brusque voice.
+
+If ever Darrell was thankful, it was that he could at that moment look
+the father squarely in the face. He turned, facing Mr. Underwood, his
+dark eyes fairly blazing.
+
+"And you gave your permission?" he asked, slowly, with terrible emphasis
+on each word.
+
+"Most assuredly," Mr. Underwood retorted, quickly, stung to self-defence
+by Darrell's look and tone. "I may add that I have had this thing in
+mind for some time--have felt that it was coming; in fact, this new
+partnership arrangement was made with a view to facilitate matters, and
+he was enough of a gentleman to come forward at once with his
+proposition."
+
+Darrell gazed out of the window again with unseeing eyes. "Mr.
+Underwood," he said, in a low tone, "I would never have believed it
+possible that your infatuation for that man would have led to this."
+
+"There is no infatuation about it," the elder man replied, hotly; "it is
+a matter of good, sound judgment and business calculation. I know of no
+man among our townspeople, or even in the State, to whom I would give my
+daughter as soon as I would to Walcott. There are others who may have
+larger means now, but they haven't got his business ability. With what I
+can give Puss, what he has now, and what he will make within the next
+few years, she will have a home and position equal to the best."
+
+"Is that all you think of, Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"Not all, by any means; but it's a mighty important consideration, just
+the same. But the man is all right morally; you, with all your prejudice
+against him, can't lay your finger on one flaw in his character."
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "I have studied that man, I have
+heard him talk. He has no conception of life beyond the sensual, the
+animal; he is a brute, a beast, in thought and act. He is no more fit to
+marry your daughter, or even to associate with her, than----"
+
+"Young man," interrupted Mr. Underwood, laughing good-humoredly, "I have
+only one thing against you: you are not exactly practical. You are, like
+my friend Britton, inclined to rather high ideals. We don't generally
+find men built according to those ideals, and we have to take 'em as we
+find 'em."
+
+"But you will, of course, allow your daughter to act according to her
+own judgment? You surely would not force her into any marriage
+distasteful to her?" Darrell asked, remembering Kate's aversion for
+Walcott.
+
+"A young girl's judgment in those matters is not often to be relied
+upon. Kate knows that I consider only her best interests, and I think
+her judgment could be brought to coincide with my own. At any rate, she
+knows her father's will is law."
+
+As Darrell, convinced that argument would be useless, made no reply, Mr.
+Underwood added, after a pause,--
+
+"I know I can trust to your honor that you will not influence her
+against Walcott?"
+
+"I shall not, of course, attempt to influence her one way or the other.
+I have no right; but if I had the right,--if she were my sister,--that
+man should never so much as touch the hem of her garment!"
+
+"My boy," said Mr. Underwood, rather brusquely, extending one hand and
+laying the other on Darrell's shoulder, "I understand, and you're all
+right. We all consider you one of ourselves, and," he added, somewhat
+awkwardly, "you understand, if conditions were not just as they are----"
+
+"But conditions are just as they are," Darrell interposed, quickly, "so
+there is no use discussing what might be were they different."
+
+The bitterness in his tones struck a chord of sympathy within the heart
+of the man beside him, but he knew not how to express it, and it is
+doubtful whether he would have voiced it had he known how. The two
+clasped hands silently; then, without a word, the elder man left the
+room.
+
+Not until now had Darrell realized how strong had been the hope within
+his breast that some crisis in his condition might yet reveal enough to
+make possible the fulfilment of his love. The pleasant relations between
+himself and Kate in many respects still remained practically unchanged.
+True, his sense of honor forbade any return to the tender familiarities
+of the past, but there yet existed between them a tacit, unspoken
+comradeship, beneath which flowed, deeply and silently, the undercurrent
+of love, not to be easily diverted or turned aside. But this he now felt
+would soon be changed, while all hope for the future must be abandoned.
+
+With a heavy heart Darrell awaited developments. He soon noted a marked
+increase in the frequency of Walcott's calls at The Pines, and, not
+caring to embarrass Kate by his presence, he absented himself from the
+house as often as possible on those occasions.
+
+Walcott himself must have been very soon aware that in his courtship Mr.
+Underwood was his sole partisan, but he bore himself with a confidence
+and assurance which would brook no thought of defeat. Mrs. Dean, knowing
+her brother as she did, was quick to understand the situation, and
+silently showed her disapproval; but Walcott politely ignored her
+disfavor as not worth his consideration.
+
+At first, Kate, considering him her father's guest, received him with
+the same frank, winning courtesy which she extended to others, and he,
+quick to make the most of every opportunity, exerted himself to the
+utmost in his efforts to entertain his young hostess and her friends. To
+a certain extent he succeeded, in that Kate was compelled to admit to
+herself that he could be far more agreeable than she had ever supposed.
+He had travelled extensively and was possessed of good descriptive
+powers; his voice was low and musical, and his eyes, limpid and tender
+whenever he fixed them upon her face, held her glance by some
+irresistible, magnetic force, and invariably brought the deepening color
+to her cheeks.
+
+With the first inkling, however, of the nature of his visits, all her
+old abhorrence of him returned with increased intensity, but her
+ill-concealed aversion only furnished him with a new incentive and
+spurred him to redouble his attentions.
+
+The only opposition encountered by him that appeared in the least to
+disturb his equanimity, was that of Duke, which was on all occasions
+most forcibly expressed, the latter never failing to greet him with a
+low growl, meeting all overtures of friendship with an ominous gleam in
+his intelligent eyes and a display of ivory that made Mr. Walcott only
+too willing to desist.
+
+"Really, Miss Underwood," Walcott remarked one evening when Duke had
+been more than usually demonstrative, "your pet's attentions to me are
+sometimes a trifle distracting. Could you not occasionally bestow the
+pleasure of his society upon some one else--Mr. Darrell, for instance? I
+imagine the two might prove quite congenial to each other."
+
+"Please remember, Mr. Walcott, you are speaking of a friend of mine,"
+Kate replied, coldly.
+
+"Mr. Darrell? I beg pardon, I meant no offence; but since he and Duke
+seem to share the same unaccountable antipathy towards myself, I
+naturally thought there would be a bond of sympathy between them."
+
+Kate had been playing, and was still seated at the piano, idly waiting
+for Walcott, who was turning the pages of a new music-book, to make
+another selection. She now rose rather wearily, and, leaving the piano,
+joined her father and aunt upon the veranda outside.
+
+Walcott pushed the music from him, and, taking Kate's mandolin from off
+the piano, followed. Throwing himself down upon the steps at Kate's feet
+in an attitude of genuine Spanish abandon and grace, he said, lightly,--
+
+"Since you will not favor us further, I will see what I can do."
+
+He possessed little technical knowledge of music, but had quite a
+repertoire of songs picked up in his travels in various countries, to
+which he could accompany himself upon the guitar or mandolin.
+
+He strummed the strings carelessly for a moment, then, in a low voice,
+began a Spanish love-song. There was no need of an interpreter to make
+known to Kate the meaning of the song. The low, sweet cadences were full
+of tender pleading, every note was tremulous with passion, while the
+dark eyes holding her own seemed burning into her very soul.
+
+But the spell of the music worked far differently from Walcott's hopes
+or anticipations. Even while angry at herself for listening, Kate could
+scarcely restrain the tears, for the tender love-strains brought back so
+vividly the memory of those hours--so brief and fleeting--in which she
+had known the pure, unalloyed joy of love, that her heart seemed near
+bursting. As the last lingering notes died away, the pain was more than
+she could endure, and, pleading a slight headache, she excused herself
+and went to her room. Throwing herself upon the bed, she gave way to her
+feelings, sobbing bitterly as she recalled the sudden, hopeless ending
+of the most perfect happiness her young life had ever known. Gradually
+the violence of her grief subsided and she grew more calm, but a dull
+pain was at her heart, for though unwilling to admit it even to herself,
+she was hurt at Darrell's absence on the occasions of Walcott's visits.
+
+"Why does he leave me when he knows I can't endure the sight of that
+man?" she soliloquized, sorrowfully. "If he would stay by me the
+creature would not dare make love to me. Oh, if we could only just be
+lovers until all this dreadful uncertainty is past! I'm sure it would
+come out all right, and I would gladly wait years for him, if only he
+would let me!"
+
+As she sat alone in her misery she heard Walcott take his departure. A
+little later Darrell returned and went to his room, and soon after she
+heard her aunt's step in the hall, followed by a quiet knock at her
+door.
+
+"Come in, auntie," she called, wondering what her errand might be.
+
+"Have you gone to bed, Katherine, or are you up?" Mrs. Dean inquired,
+for the room was dark.
+
+"I'm up; why, auntie?"
+
+"Your father said to tell you he wanted to see you, if you had not
+retired."
+
+Mrs. Dean stopped a moment to inquire for Kate's headache, and as she
+left the room Kate heard her sigh heavily.
+
+A happy thought occurred to Kate as she ran downstairs,--she would have
+her father put a stop to Walcott's attentions; if he knew how they
+annoyed her he would certainly do it. She entered the room where he
+waited with her sunniest smile, for the stern, gruff-voiced man was the
+idol of her heart and she believed implicitly in his love for her, even
+though it seldom found expression in words.
+
+But her smile faded before the displeasure in her father's face. He
+scrutinized her keenly from under his heavy brows, but if he noted the
+traces of tears upon her face, he made no comment.
+
+"I did not suppose, Kate," he said, slowly, for he could not bring
+himself to speak harshly to her,--"I did not suppose that a child of
+mine would treat any guest of this house as rudely as you treated Mr.
+Walcott to-night. I sent for you for an explanation."
+
+"I did not mean to be rude, papa," Kate replied, seating herself on her
+father's knee and laying one arm caressingly about his neck, "but he did
+annoy me so to-night,--he has annoyed me so often of late,--I just
+couldn't endure it any longer."
+
+"Has Mr. Walcott ever conducted himself other than as a gentleman?"
+
+"Why, no, papa, he is gentlemanly enough, so far as that is concerned."
+
+"I thought so," her father interposed; "I should say that he had laid
+himself out to entertain you and your friends and to make it pleasant
+for all of us whenever he has been here. It strikes me that his manners
+are very far from annoying; that he is a gentleman in every sense of the
+word; he certainly carried himself like one to-night in the face of the
+treatment you gave him."
+
+"Well, I'm sorry if I was rude. I have no objection to him as a
+gentleman or as an acquaintance, if he would not go beyond that; but I
+detest his attentions and his love-making, and he will not stop even
+when he sees that it annoys me."
+
+"No one has a better right to pay his attentions to you, for he has
+asked and received my permission to do so."
+
+Kate drew herself upright and gazed at her father with eyes full of
+horror.
+
+"You gave him permission to pay attention to me!" she exclaimed, slowly,
+as though scarcely comprehending his meaning; then, springing to her
+feet and drawing herself to her full height, she demanded,--
+
+"Do you mean, papa, that you intend me to marry him?"
+
+For an instant Mr. Underwood felt ill at ease; Kate's face was white and
+her eyes had the look of a creature brought to bay, that sees no escape
+from the death confronting it, for even in that brief time Kate, knowing
+her father's indomitable will, realized with a sense of despair the
+hopelessness of her situation.
+
+"I suppose your marriage will be the outcome,--at least, I hope so,"
+her father replied, quickly recovering his composure, "for I certainly
+know of no one to whom I would so willingly intrust your future
+happiness. Listen to me, Kate: have I not always planned and worked for
+your best interests?"
+
+"You always have, papa."
+
+"Have I not always chosen what was for your good and for your
+happiness?"
+
+Kate gave a silent assent.
+
+"Very well; then I think you can trust to my judgment in this case."
+
+"But, papa," she protested, "this is different. I never can love that
+man; I abhor him--loathe him! Do you think there can be any happiness or
+good in a marriage without love? Would you and mamma have been happy
+together if you had not loved each other?"
+
+No sooner had she spoken the words than she regretted them as she noted
+the look of pain that crossed her father's face. In his silent,
+undemonstrative way he had idolized his wife, and it was seldom that he
+would allow any allusion to her in his presence.
+
+"I don't know why you should call up the past," he said, after a pause,
+"but since you have I will tell you that your mother when a girl like
+yourself objected to our marriage; she thought that we were unsuited to
+each other and that we could never live happily together. She listened,
+however, to the advice of those older and wiser than she, and you know
+the result." The strong man's voice trembled slightly. "I think our
+married life was a happy one. It was for me, I know; I hope it was for
+her."
+
+A long silence followed. To Kate there came the memory of the frail,
+young mother lying, day after day, upon her couch in the solitude of her
+sick-room, often weeping silently, while she, a mere child, knelt sadly
+and wistfully beside her, as silently wiping the tear-drops as they fell
+and wondering at their cause. She understood now, but not for worlds
+would she have spoken one word to pain her father's heart.
+
+At last Mr. Underwood said, rising as though to end the interview, "I
+think I can depend upon you now, Kate, to carry out my wishes in this
+matter."
+
+Kate rose proudly. "I have never disobeyed you, papa; I will treat Mr.
+Walcott courteously; but even though you force me to marry him I will
+never, never love him, and I shall tell him so."
+
+Her father smiled. "Mr. Walcott, I think, has too much good sense to
+attach much weight to any girlish whims; that will pass, you will think
+differently by and by."
+
+As she stopped for her usual good-night kiss she threw her arms about
+her father's neck, and, looking appealingly into his face, said,--
+
+"Papa, it need not be very soon, need it? You are not in a hurry to be
+rid of your little girl?"
+
+"Don't talk foolishly, child," he answered, hastily; "you know I've no
+wish to be rid of you, but I do want to see you settled in a home of
+your own--equal to the best, and, as I said a while ago, and told Mr.
+Darrell in talking the matter over with him, I know of no one in whose
+hands I would so willingly place you and your happiness as Mr.
+Walcott's. As for the date and other matters of that sort," he added,
+playfully pinching her cheeks, "I suppose those will all be mutually
+arranged between the gentleman and yourself."
+
+Kate had started back slightly. "You have talked this over with Mr.
+Darrell?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, why not?"
+
+"What did he think of it?"
+
+"Well," said her father, slowly, "naturally he did not quite fall in
+with my views, for I think he is not just what you could call a
+disinterested party. I more than half suspect that Mr. Darrell would
+like to step into Mr. Walcott's place himself, if he were only eligible,
+but knowing that he is not, he is too much of a gentleman to commit
+himself in any way."
+
+Mr. Underwood scanned his daughter's face keenly as he spoke, but it was
+as impassive as his own. To Kate, Darrell's absences of late were now
+explained; he understood it all. She kissed her father silently.
+
+"You know, Puss, I am looking out for your best interests in all of
+this," said her father, a little troubled by her silence.
+
+"I know that is your intention, papa," she replied, with gentle gravity,
+and left the room.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XVIII_
+
+ON THE "DIVIDE"
+
+
+Summer had merged into autumn. Crisp, exhilarating mornings ushered in
+glorious days flooded with sunshine, followed by sparkling, frosty
+nights.
+
+The strike at the mining camp had been adjusted; the union
+boarding-house after two months was found a failure and abandoned, and
+the strikers gradually returned to their work. Mr. Underwood, during the
+shut-down, had improved the time to enlarge the mill and add
+considerable new machinery; this work was now nearly completed; in two
+weeks the mill would again be running, and he offered Darrell his old
+position as assayer in charge, which the latter, somewhat to Mr.
+Underwood's surprise, accepted.
+
+Although his city business was now quite well established, Darrell felt
+that life at The Pines was becoming unendurable. Walcott's visits were
+now so frequent it was impossible longer to avoid him. The latter's air
+of easy self-assurance, the terms of endearment which fell so flippantly
+from his lips, and his bold, passionate glances which never failed to
+bring the rich, warm blood to Kate's cheeks and brow, all to one
+possessing Darrell's fine chivalric nature and his delicacy of feeling
+were intolerable. In addition, the growing indications of Kate's
+unhappiness, the silent appeal in her eyes, the pathetic curves forming
+about her mouth, and the touch of pathos in the voice whose every tone
+was music to his ear, seemed at times more than he could bear.
+
+There were hours--silent, brooding hours of the night--when he was
+sorely tempted to defy past and future alike, and, despite the
+conditions surrounding himself, to rescue her from a life which could
+have in store for her nothing but bitterness and sorrow. But with the
+dawn his better judgment returned; conscience, inexorable as ever, still
+held sway; he kept his own counsel as in duty bound, going his way with
+a heart that grew heavier day by day, and was hence glad of an
+opportunity to return once more to the seclusion of the mountains.
+
+Kate, realizing that all further appeal to her father was useless, as a
+last resort trusted to Walcott's sense of honor, that, when he should
+fully understand her feelings towards himself, he would discontinue his
+attentions. But in this she found herself mistaken. Taking advantage of
+the courtesy which she extended to him in accordance with the promise
+given her father, he pressed his suit more ardently than ever.
+
+"Why do you persist in annoying me in this manner?" she demanded one
+day, indignantly withdrawing from his attempted caresses. "The fact that
+my father has given you his permission to pay attention to me does not
+warrant any such familiarity on your part."
+
+"Perhaps not," Walcott replied, in his low, musical tones, "but stolen
+waters are often sweetest. If I have offended, pardon. I supposed my
+love for you would justify me in offering any expression of it, but
+since you say I have no right to do so, I beg of you, my dear Miss
+Underwood, to give me that right."
+
+"That is impossible," Kate answered, firmly.
+
+"Why impossible?" he asked.
+
+"Because I will not accept any expressions of a love that I cannot
+reciprocate."
+
+"Love begets love," he argued, softly; "so long as you keep me at arm's
+length you have no means of knowing whether or not you could reciprocate
+my affection. Mr. Underwood has done me the great honor to consent to
+bestow his daughter's hand upon me, and I have no doubt of yet winning
+the consent of the lady herself if she will but give me a fair chance."
+
+"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, her eyes ablaze with indignation, "would you
+make a woman your wife who did not love you--who never could, under any
+circumstances, love you?"
+
+Walcott suddenly seized her hands in his, looking down into her eyes
+with his steady, dominant gaze.
+
+"If I loved her as I love you," he said, slowly, "I would make her my
+wife though she hated me,--and win her love afterwards! I can win it,
+and I will!"
+
+"Never!" Kate exclaimed, passionately, but he had kissed her hands and
+was gone before she could recover herself.
+
+In that look she had for the first time comprehended something of the
+man's real nature, of the powerful brute force concealed beneath the
+smooth, smiling exterior. Her heart seemed seized and held in a
+vise-like grip, while a cold, benumbing despair settled upon her like an
+incubus, which she was unable to throw off for days.
+
+It lacked only two days of the time set for Darrell's return to the
+mining camp when he and Kate set out one afternoon accompanied by Duke
+for a ride up the familiar canyon road. At first their ponies cantered
+briskly, but as the road grew more rough and steep they were finally
+content to walk quietly side by side.
+
+For a while neither Darrell nor Kate had much to say. Their hearts were
+too oppressed for words. Each realized that this little jaunt into the
+mountains was their last together; that it constituted a sort of
+farewell to their happy life of the past summer and to each other. Each
+was thinking of their first meeting under the pines on that evening
+gorgeous with the sunset rays and sweet with the breath of June roses.
+
+At last they turned into a trail which soon grew so steep and narrow
+that they dismounted, and, fastening their ponies, proceeded up the
+trail on foot. Slowly they wended their way upward, pausing at length on
+a broad, projecting ledge a little below the summit, where they seated
+themselves on the rocks to rest a while. Kate's eyes wandered afar over
+the wonderful scene before them, wrapped in unbroken silence, yet
+palpitating in the mellow, golden sunlight with a mysterious life and
+beauty all its own.
+
+But Darrell was for once oblivious to the scene; his eyes were fastened
+on Kate's face, a look in them of insatiable hunger, as though he were
+storing up the memory of every line and lineament against the barren
+days to come. He wondered if the silent, calm-faced, self-contained
+woman beside him could be the laughing, joyous maiden whom he had seen
+flitting among the trees and fountains at their first meeting little
+more than three months past. He recalled how he had then thought her
+unlike either her father or her aunt, and believed her to be wholly
+without their self-restraint and self-repression. Now he saw that the
+same stoical blood was in her veins. Already the sensitive, mobile face,
+which had mirrored every emotion of the impulsive, sympathetic soul
+within, bore something of the impassive calm of the rocks surrounding
+them; it might have been chiselled in marble, so devoid was it at that
+moment of any trace of feeling.
+
+A faint sigh seemed to break the spell, and she turned facing him with
+her old-time sunny smile.
+
+"What a regal day!" she exclaimed.
+
+"It is," he replied; "it was on such a day as this, about a year ago,
+that I first met Mr. Britton. He called it, I remember, one of the
+'coronation days' of the year. I have been reminded of the phrase and of
+him all day."
+
+"Dear Mr. Britton," said Kate, "I have not seen him for more than two
+years. He has always been like a second father to me; he used to have me
+call him 'papa' when I was little, and I've always loved him next to
+papa. You and he correspond, do you not?"
+
+"Yes; he writes rather irregularly, but his letters are precious to me.
+He was the first to make me feel that this cramped fettered life of mine
+held any good or anything worth living for. He made me ashamed of my
+selfish sorrow, and every message from him, no matter how brief, seems
+like an inspiration to something higher and nobler."
+
+"He makes us all conscious of our selfishness," Kate answered, "for if
+ever there was an unselfish life,--a life devoted to the alleviation of
+the sufferings and sorrows of others,--it is his. I wish he were here
+now," she added, with a sigh; "he has more influence with papa than all
+the rest of us combined, though perhaps nothing even he might say would
+be availing in this instance."
+
+In all their friendly intercourse of the last few weeks there had been
+one subject tacitly avoided by each, to which, although present in the
+mind of each, no reference was ever made. From Kate's last words Darrell
+knew that subject must now be met; he must know from her own lips the
+worst. He turned sick with dread and remained silent.
+
+A moment later Kate again faced him with a smile, but her eyes glistened
+with unshed tears.
+
+"Poor papa!" she said, softly, her lips quivering; "he thinks he is
+doing it all for my happiness, and no matter what wretchedness or misery
+I suffer, no knowledge of it shall ever pain his dear old heart!"
+
+"Kathie, must it be?" Darrell exclaimed, each word vibrating with
+anguish; "is there no hope--no chance of escape for you from such a
+fate?"
+
+"I cannot see the slightest reason to hope for escape," she replied,
+with the calmness born of despair. She clasped her small hands tightly
+and turned a pale, determined face towards Darrell.
+
+"You know, you understand it all, and I know that you do," she said, "so
+there is no use in our avoiding this any longer. I want to talk it over
+with you and tell you all the truth, so you will not think, by and by,
+that I have been false or fickle or weak; but first there is something I
+want you to tell me."
+
+She paused a moment, then, looking him full in the eyes, she asked,
+earnestly,--
+
+"John Darrell, do you still love me?"
+
+Startled out of his customary self-control, Darrell suddenly clasped her
+in his arms, exclaiming,--
+
+"Kathie darling, how can you ask such a question? Do you think my love
+for you could ever grow less?"
+
+For a moment her head nestled against his breast with a little movement
+of ineffable content, as she replied,--
+
+"No; it was not that I doubted your love, but I wanted an assurance of
+it to carry with me through the coming days."
+
+Then, gently withdrawing herself from his embrace, she continued, in the
+same calm, even tones:
+
+"You ask if there is no chance of escape; I can see absolutely none;
+but I want you to understand, if I am forced into this marriage which
+papa has planned for me, that it is not through any weakness or
+cowardice on my part; that if I yield, it will be simply because of the
+love and reverence I bear my father."
+
+Though her face was slightly averted, Darrell could see the tear-drops
+falling, but after a slight pause she proceeded as calmly as before:
+
+"In all these years he has tried to be both father and mother to me, and
+even in this he thinks he is acting for my good. I have never disobeyed
+him, and were I to do so now I believe it would break his heart. I am
+all that he has left, and after what he has suffered in his silent,
+Spartan way, I must bring joy--not sorrow--to his declining years. And
+this will be my only reason for yielding."
+
+"But, Kathie, dear child," Darrell interposed, "have you considered what
+such a life means to you--what is involved in such a sacrifice?"
+
+She met his troubled gaze with a smile. "Yes, I know," she replied;
+"there is not a phase of this affair which I have not considered. I am
+years older than when we met three months ago, and I have thought of
+everything that a woman can think of."
+
+She watched him a moment, the smile on her lips deepening. "Have you
+considered this?" she asked. "Only those whom we love have the power to
+wound us deeply; one whom I do not love will have little power to hurt
+me; he can never reach my heart; that will be safe in your keeping."
+
+Darrell bowed his head upon his hands with a low moan. Kate, laying her
+hand lightly upon his shoulder, continued:
+
+"What I particularly wanted you to know before our parting and to
+remember is this: that come what may, I shall never be false to my love
+for you. No matter what the future may bring to you or to me, my heart
+will be yours."
+
+Darrell raised his head, his face tense and rigid with emotion; she had
+risen and was standing beside him.
+
+"I can never forgive myself for having won your heart, Kathie," he said,
+gravely; "It is the most precious gift that I could ask or you could
+bestow, but one to which I have no right."
+
+"Then hold it in trust," she said, softly, "until such time as I have
+the right to bestow it upon you and you have the right to accept it."
+
+Startled not only by her words but by the gravity of her tone and
+manner, Darrell glanced swiftly towards Kate, but she had turned and was
+slowly climbing the mountain path. Springing to his feet he was quickly
+at her side. Drawing her arm within his own he assisted her up the rocky
+trail, scanning her face as he did so for some clew to the words she had
+just spoken. But, excepting a faint flush which deepened under his
+scrutiny, she gave no sign, and, the trail for the next half-hour being
+too difficult to admit of conversation, they made the ascent in silence.
+
+On reaching the summit an involuntary exclamation burst from Darrell at
+the grandeur of the scene. North, west, and south, far as the eye could
+reach, stretched the vast mountain ranges, unbroken, with here and there
+gigantic peaks, snow-crowned, standing in bold relief against the sky;
+while far to the eastward lay the valleys, threaded with silver streams,
+and beyond them in the purple distance outlines of other ranges scarcely
+distinguishable from the clouds against which they seemed to rest.
+
+Kate watched Darrell, silently enjoying his surprise. "This is my
+favorite resort,--on the summit of the 'divide,'" she said; "I thought
+you would appreciate it. It involves hard climbing, but it is worth the
+effort."
+
+"Worth the effort! Yes, a thousand times! What must it be to see the
+sunrise here!"
+
+Lifted out of themselves, they wandered over the rocks, picking the late
+flowers which still lingered in the crevices, watching the shifting
+beauty of the scene from various points, for a time forgetful of their
+trouble, till, looking in each other's eyes, they read the final
+farewell underlying all, and the old pain returned with tenfold
+intensity.
+
+Seating themselves on the highest point accessible, they talked of the
+future, ignoring so far as possible the one dreaded subject, speaking of
+Darrell's life in the mining camp, of his studies, and of what he hoped
+to accomplish, and of certain plans of her own.
+
+Duke, after an extended tour among the rocks, came and lay at their
+feet, watching their faces with anxious solicitude, quick to read their
+unspoken sorrow though unable to divine its cause.
+
+At last the little that could be said had been spoken; they paused,
+their hearts oppressed with the burden of what remained unsaid, which no
+words could express. Duke, perplexed by the long silence, rose and,
+coming to Kate's side, stood looking into her eyes with mute inquiry. As
+Kate caressed the noble head she turned suddenly to Darrell:
+
+"John, would you like to have Duke with you? Will you take him as a
+parting gift from me?"
+
+"I would like to have him above anything you could give me, Kathie," he
+replied; "but you must not think of giving him up to me."
+
+"I will have to give him up," she said, simply; "Papa dislikes him
+already, he is so unfriendly to Mr. Walcott, and he himself absolutely
+hates Duke; I believe he would kill him if he dared; so you understand I
+could not keep him much longer. He will be happy with you, for he loves
+you, and I will be happy in remembering that you have him."
+
+"In that case," said Darrell, "I shall be only too glad to take him, and
+you can rest assured I will never part with him."
+
+The sinking sun warned them that it was time to return, and, after one
+farewell look about them, they prepared to descend. As they picked their
+way back to the trail they came upon two tiny streams flowing from some
+secret spring above them. Side by side, separated by only a few inches,
+they rippled over their rocky bed, murmuring to each other in tones so
+low that only an attentive ear could catch them, sparkling in the
+sunlight as though for very joy. Suddenly, near the edge of the narrow
+plateau over which they ran, they turned, and, with a tinkling plash of
+farewell, plunged in opposite directions,--the one eastward, hastening
+on its way to the Great Father of Waters, the other westward bound,
+towards the land of the setting sun.
+
+Silently Kate and Darrell watched them; as their eyes met, his face had
+grown white, but Kate smiled, though the tears trembled on the golden
+lashes.
+
+"A fit emblem of our loves, Kathie!" Darrell said, sadly.
+
+"Yes," she replied, but her clear voice had a ring of triumph; "a fit
+emblem, dear, for though parted now, they will meet in the commingling
+of the oceans, just as by and by our loves will mingle in the great
+ocean of love. I can imagine how those two little streams will go on
+their way, as we must go, each joining in the labor and song of the
+rivers as they meet them, but each preserving its own individuality
+until they find one another in the ocean currents, as we shall find one
+another some day!"
+
+"Kathie," said Darrell, earnestly, drawing nearer to her, "have you such
+a hope as that?"
+
+"It is more than hope," she answered, "it is assurance; an assurance
+that came to me, I know not whence or how, out of the darkness of
+despair."
+
+They had reached the trail, and here Kate paused for a moment. It was a
+picture for an artist, the pair standing on that solitary height! The
+young girl, fair and slender as the wild flowers clinging to the rocks
+at their feet, yet with a poise of conscious strength; the man at her
+side, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, strong-limbed; his face dark with
+despair, hers lighted with hope.
+
+Suddenly a small white hand swept the horizon with a swift, undulatory
+motion that reminded Darrell of the flight of some white-winged bird,
+and Kate cried,--
+
+"Did we think of the roughness and steepness of the path below when we
+stood here two hours ago and looked on the glory of this scene? Did we
+stop to think of the bruises and scratches of the ascent, of how many
+times we had stumbled, or of the weariness of the way? No, it was all
+forgotten. And so, when we come to stand together, by and by, upon the
+heights of love,--such love as we have not even dreamed of yet,--will we
+then look back upon the tears, the pain, the heartache of to-day? Will
+we stop to recount the sorrows through which we climbed to the shining
+heights? No, they will be forgotten in the excess of joy!"
+
+Darrell gazed at Kate in astonishment; her head was uncovered and the
+rays of the sinking sun touched with gleams of gold the curling locks
+which the breeze had blown about her face, till they seemed like a
+golden halo; she had the look of one who sees within the veil which
+covers mortal faces; she seemed at that moment something apart from
+earth.
+
+Taking her hand in his, he asked, brokenly, "Sweetheart, will that day
+ever come, and when?"
+
+Her eyes, luminous with love and hope, rested tenderly upon his shadowed
+face as she replied,--
+
+"At the time appointed,
+
+     "'And that will be
+     God's own good time, for you and me.'"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XIX_
+
+THE RETURN TO CAMP BIRD
+
+
+The day preceding Darrell's departure found him busily engaged in
+"breaking camp," as he termed it. The assayer's outfit which he had
+brought from the mill was to be packed, as were also his books, and
+quantities of carefully written notes, the results of his explorations
+and experiments, to be embodied later in the work which he had in
+preparation, were to be sorted and filed.
+
+Late in the afternoon Kate and her aunt, down town on a shopping tour,
+looked in upon him.
+
+"Buried up to his ears!" Kate announced at the door, as she caught a
+glimpse of Darrell's head over a table piled high with books and
+manuscripts; "it's well we came when we did, auntie; a few minutes later
+and he would have been invisible!"
+
+"Don't take the trouble to look for seats, Mr. Darrell," she added, her
+eyes dancing with mischief as he hastily emerged and began a futile
+search for vacant chairs, "we only dropped in for a minute, and
+'standing room only' will be sufficient."
+
+"Yes, don't let us hinder you, Mr. Darrell," said Mrs. Dean; "we just
+came in to see how you were getting on, and to tell you not to trouble
+yourself about the things from the house; we will send and get them
+whenever we want them."
+
+"I was thinking of those a while ago," Darrell answered, glancing at the
+pictures and hangings which had not yet been removed; "I was wondering
+if I ought not to send them up to the house."
+
+"No," said Mrs. Dean, "we do not need them there at present, and any
+time we should want them we can send Bennett down after them."
+
+"We will not send for them at all, auntie," said Kate, in her impulsive
+way; "I shall keep the room looking as much as possible as when Mr.
+Darrell had it, and I shall use it as a waiting-room whenever I have to
+wait for papa; it will be much pleasanter than waiting in that dusty,
+musty old office of his."
+
+"My room at the camp will look very bare and plain now," said Darrell,
+"after all the luxuries with which you have surrounded me; though I
+will, of course, get accustomed to it in a few days."
+
+Kate and her aunt slyly exchanged smiles, which Darrell in his momentary
+abstraction failed to observe. They chatted pleasantly for a few
+moments, but underneath the light words and manner was a sadness that
+could not be disguised, and it was with a still heavier heart that
+Darrell returned to his work after Kate and her aunt had gone.
+
+At last all was done, the last package was stowed away in the large
+wagon which was to carry the goods to camp, and the team moved up the
+street in the direction of The Pines, where it was to remain over night
+ready for an early start the next morning. Darrell, after a farewell
+survey of the little room, followed on foot, heartsick and weary, going
+directly to the stables to see the wagon safely stored for the night. He
+was surprised to see a second wagon, loaded with furniture, rugs, and
+pictures, all of which looked strangely familiar, and which on closer
+inspection he recognized as belonging to the room which he had always
+occupied at The Pines. He turned to Bennett, who was standing at a
+little distance, ostensibly cleaning some harness, but quietly enjoying
+the scene.
+
+"Bennett, what does this mean?" he inquired. "Where are these goods
+going?"
+
+"To the camp, sir."
+
+"Surely not to the mining camp, Bennett; you must be mistaken."
+
+"No mistake about it, sir; they goes to Camp Bird to-morrow morning;
+them's Mrs. Dean's orders."
+
+Darrell was more touched than he cared to betray. He went at once to the
+house, and in the hall, dim with the early twilight, was met by Mrs.
+Dean herself.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Darrell," she began, "but you can't occupy your room
+to-night; you'll have to take the one adjoining on the south. Your room
+was torn up to-day, and we haven't got it put to rights yet."
+
+"Mrs. Dean," Darrell answered, his voice slightly unsteady, "you are too
+kind; it breaks a fellow all up and makes this sort of thing the
+harder!"
+
+Mrs. Dean turned on the light as though for a better understanding.
+
+"I don't see any special kindness in turning you out of your room on
+your last night here," she remarked, quietly, "but we couldn't get it
+settled."
+
+Darrell could not restrain a smile as he replied, "I'm afraid it will be
+some time before it is settled with the furniture packed out there in
+the stables."
+
+"Have you been to the stables?" she exclaimed, in dismay.
+
+A smile was sufficient answer.
+
+"If that isn't too bad!" she continued; "I was going to have that wagon
+sent ahead in the morning before you were up and have it for a surprise
+when you got there, and now it's all spoiled. I declare, I'm too
+disappointed to say a word!"
+
+"But, Mrs. Dean," Darrell interposed, hastily, as she turned to leave,
+"you need not feel like that; the surprise was just as genuine and as
+pleasant as though it had been as you intended; besides, I can thank you
+now, whereas I couldn't then."
+
+"That's just what I didn't want, and don't want now," she answered,
+quickly; "if there is anything I can do for you, God knows I'll do it
+the same as though you were my own son, and I want no thanks for it,
+either." And with these words she left the room before Darrell could
+reply.
+
+Everything that could be done to make the rooms look cheerful and
+homelike as possible had been done for that night. The dining-room was
+decorated with flowers, and when, after dinner, the family adjourned to
+the sitting-room, a fire was burning in the grate, and around it had
+been drawn the most comfortable seats in the room.
+
+But to Darrell the extra touches of brightness and beauty seemed only to
+emphasize the fact that this was the last night of anything like home
+life that he would know for some time to come.
+
+It had been agreed that he and Kate were to have some music that
+evening, and on the piano he saw the violin which he had not used since
+the summer's happy days. He lifted it with the tender, caressing manner
+with which he always handled it, as though it were something living and
+human. Turning it lovingly in his hands, he caught the gleam of
+something in the fire-light, and, bending over it, saw a richly engraved
+gold plate, on which he read the words:
+
+     TO JOHN DARRELL
+     A SOUVENIR OF "THE PINES"
+     FROM "KATHIE"
+
+A mist rose before his eyes--he could not see, he could not trust
+himself to speak, but, raising the violin, his pent-up feelings burst
+forth in a flood of liquid music of such commingled sweetness and
+sadness as to hold his listeners entranced. Mr. Underwood, for once
+forgetful of his pipe, looked into the fire with a troubled gaze; he
+understood little of the power of expression, but even he comprehended
+dimly the sorrow that surged and ebbed in those wild harmonies. Mrs.
+Dean, her hands folded idly above her work, sat with eyes closed, a
+solitary tear occasionally rolling down her cheek, while in the shadows
+Kate, her face buried on Duke's head and neck, was sobbing quietly.
+
+Gradually the wild strains subsided, as the summer tempest dies away
+till nothing is heard but the patter of the rain-drops, and, after a few
+bars from a love-song, a favorite of Kate's, the music glided into the
+simple strains of "Home, Sweet Home." And as the oppressed and
+overheated atmosphere is cleared by the brief storm, so the overwrought
+feelings of those present were relieved by this little outburst of
+emotion.
+
+A pleasant evening followed, and, except that the "good-nights"
+exchanged on parting were tenderer, more heartfelt than usual, there
+were no indications that this was their last night together as a family
+circle.
+
+Darrell had been in his room but a short time, however, when he heard a
+light tap at his door, and, opening it, Mrs. Dean entered.
+
+"You seem like a son to me, Mr. Darrell," she said, with quiet dignity,
+"so I have taken the liberty to come to your room for a few minutes the
+same as I would to a son's."
+
+"That is right, Mrs. Dean," Darrell replied, escorting her to a large
+arm-chair; "my own mother could not be more welcome."
+
+"You know us pretty well by this time, Mr. Darrell," she said, as she
+seated herself, "and you know that we're not given to expressing our
+feelings very much, but I felt that I couldn't let you go away without a
+few words with you first. I sometimes think that those who can't express
+themselves are the ones that feel the deepest, though I guess we often
+get the credit of not having any feelings at all."
+
+"If I ever had such an impression of you or your brother, I found out my
+error long ago," Darrell remarked, gravely, as she paused.
+
+"Yes, I think you understand us; I think you will understand me, Mr.
+Darrell, when I say to you that I haven't felt anything so deeply in
+years as I do your leaving us now--not so much the mere fact of your
+going away as the real reason of your going. I felt bad when you left
+for camp a year ago, but this is altogether different; then you felt,
+and we felt, that you were one of us, that your home was with us, and I
+hoped that as long as you remained in the West your home would be with
+us. Now, although there is no change in our love for you, or yours for
+us, I know that the place is no longer a home to you, that you do not
+care to stay; and about the hardest part of it all is, that, knowing the
+circumstances as I do, I myself would not ask you to stay."
+
+"You seem to understand the situation, Mrs. Dean; how did you learn the
+circumstances?" Darrell asked, wonderingly.
+
+She regarded him a moment with a motherly smile. "Did you think I was
+blind? I could see for myself. Katherine has told me nothing," she
+added, in answer to the unspoken inquiry which she read in his eyes;
+"she has told me no more than you, but I saw what was coming long before
+either you or she realized it."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Dean, why didn't you warn me in time?" Darrell exclaimed.
+
+"The time for warning was when you two first met," Mrs. Dean replied;
+"for two as congenial to be thrown together so constantly would
+naturally result just as it has; it is no more than was to be expected,
+and neither of you can be blamed. And," she added, slowly, "that is not
+the phase of the affair which I most regret. I think such love as you
+two bear each other would work little harm or sorrow to either of you in
+the end, if matters could only be left to take their own course. I may
+as well tell you that I think no good will come of this scheme of
+David's. Mr. Walcott is not a suitable man for Katherine, even if she
+were heart free, and loving you as she does--as she always will, for I
+understand the child--it would have been much better to have waited a
+year or two; I have no doubt that everything would come out all right.
+Of course, as I'm not her mother, I have no say in the matter and no
+right to interfere; but mark my words: David will regret this, and at no
+very distant day, either."
+
+"I know that nothing but unhappiness can come of it for Kate, and that
+is what troubles me far more than any sorrow of my own," said Darrell,
+in a low voice.
+
+"It will bring unhappiness and evil all around, but to no one so much as
+David Underwood himself," said Mrs. Dean, impressively, as she rose.
+
+"Mrs. Dean," said Darrell, springing quickly to his feet, "you don't
+know the good this little interview has done me! I thank you for it and
+for your sympathy from the bottom of my heart."
+
+"I wish I could give you something more practical than sympathy," said
+Mrs. Dean, with a smile, "and I will if I ever have the opportunity. And
+one thing in particular I want to say to you, Mr. Darrell: so long as
+you are in the West, whether your home is with us or not, I want you to
+feel that you have a mother in me, and should you ever be sick or in
+trouble and need a mother's care and love, no matter where you are, I
+will come to you as I would to my own son."
+
+They had reached the door; Darrell, too deeply moved for speech and
+knowing her aversion to many words, bent over her and kissed her on the
+forehead.
+
+"Thank you, mother; good-night!" he said.
+
+She turned and looked at him with glistening eyes, as she replied,
+calmly,--
+
+"Good-night, my son!"
+
+The household was astir at an early hour the next morning. There were
+forced smiles and some desultory conversation at the breakfast-table,
+but it was a silent group which gathered outside in the early morning
+sunlight as Darrell was about taking his departure. He dreaded the
+parting, and, as he glanced at the faces of the waiting group, he
+determined to make it as brief as possible for their sakes as well as
+his own.
+
+The heavy teams came slowly around from the stables, and behind them
+came Trix, daintily picking her steps along the driveway. With a word or
+two of instructions to the drivers Darrell sent the teams ahead; then,
+having adjusted saddle and bridle to his satisfaction, he turned to Mr.
+Underwood, who stood nearest.
+
+"My boy," said the latter, extending his hand, "we hate to spare you
+from the old home, but I don't know where I would have got a man to
+take your place; with you up there I feel just as safe as though I were
+there myself."
+
+"Much obliged, Mr. Underwood," Darrell replied, looking straight into
+the elder man's eyes; "I think you'll find me worthy of any trust you
+may repose in me--at the camp or elsewhere."
+
+"Every time, my boy, every time!" exclaimed the old gentleman, wringing
+his hand.
+
+Mrs. Dean's usually placid face was stern from her effort to repress her
+feelings, but there was a glance of mother-love in her eyes and a slight
+quivering of her lips as she bade him a quiet good-by.
+
+But it was Kate's pale, sweet face that nearly broke his own composure
+as he turned to her, last of all. Their hands clasped and they looked
+silently into each other's eyes for an instant.
+
+"Good-by, John; God bless you!" she said, in tones audible only to his
+ear.
+
+"God bless and help you, Kathie!" he replied, and turned quickly to Trix
+waiting at his side.
+
+"Look at Duke," said Kate, a moment later, as Darrell sprang into the
+saddle; "he doesn't know what to make of it that you haven't bade him
+good-by."
+
+Duke, who had shown considerable excitement over the unusual
+proceedings, had bounded to Kate's side as Darrell approached her,
+expecting his usual recognition; not having received it, he sat
+regarding Darrell with an evident sense of personal injury quite
+pathetic.
+
+Darrell looked at the drooping head and smiled. "Come, Duke," he said,
+slowly starting down the driveway.
+
+Kate bent quickly for a final caress. "Go on, Duke!" she whispered.
+
+Nothing loath to follow Darrell, he bounded forward, but after a few
+leaps, on discovering that his beloved mistress was not accompanying
+them, he stopped, looking back in great perplexity. At a signal from her
+and a word from Darrell he again started onward, but his backward
+glances were more than Kate could bear, and she turned to go into the
+house.
+
+"What are you sending the dog after him for, anyway?" inquired her
+father, himself somewhat puzzled.
+
+"I have given Duke to Mr. Darrell, papa," she replied.
+
+Something in the unnatural calmness of her tone startled him; he turned
+to question her. She had gone, but in the glimpse which he had of her
+face he read a little of the anguish which at that moment wrung her
+young heart, and happening at the same time to catch his sister's eye,
+he walked away, silent and uncomfortable.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XX_
+
+FORGING THE FETTERS
+
+
+During the weeks immediately following Darrell's departure the daily
+routine of life at The Pines continued in the accustomed channels, but
+there was not a member of the family, including Mr. Underwood himself,
+to whom it did not seem strangely empty, as though some essential
+element were missing.
+
+To Kate her present life, compared with the first months of her return
+home, was like the narrow current creeping sluggishly beneath the icy
+fetters of winter as compared with the same stream laughing and singing
+on its way under summer skies. But she was learning the lesson that all
+must learn; that the world sweeps relentlessly onward with no pause for
+individual woe, and each must keep step in its ceaseless march, no
+matter how weary the brain or how heavy the heart.
+
+Walcott's visits continued with the same frequency, but he was less
+annoying in his attentions than formerly. It had gradually dawned upon
+him that Kate was no longer a child, but a woman; and a woman with a
+will as indomitable as her father's once it was aroused. He was not
+displeased at the discovery; on the contrary, he looked forward with all
+the keener anticipation to the pleasure of what he mentally termed the
+"taming" process, once she was fairly within his power. Meantime, he was
+content to make a study of her, sitting evening after evening either in
+conversation with her father or listening while she played and sang,
+but always watching her every movement, scanning every play of her
+features.
+
+"A loose rein for the present," he would say to himself, with a smile;
+"but by and by, my lady, you will find whether or no I am master!"
+
+He seldom attempted now to draw her into a tęte ā tęte conversation, but
+finding her one evening sitting upon a low divan in one of the
+bay-windows looking out into the moonlight, he seated himself beside her
+and began one of his entertaining tales of travel. An hour or more
+passed pleasantly, and Walcott inquired, casually,--
+
+"By the way, Miss Underwood, what has become of my four-footed friend? I
+have not seen him for three weeks or more, and his attentions to me were
+so marked I naturally miss them."
+
+"Duke is at the mining camp," Kate answered, with a faint smile.
+
+Walcott raised his eyebrows incredulously. "Possible! With my other
+admirer, Mr. Darrell?"
+
+"He is with Mr. Darrell."
+
+"Accept my gratitude, Miss Underwood, for having made my entrée to your
+home much pleasanter, not to say safer."
+
+"I neither claim nor accept your gratitude, Mr. Walcott," Kate replied,
+with cool dignity, "since I did it simply out of regard for Duke's
+welfare and not out of any consideration whatever for your wishes in the
+matter."
+
+"I might have known as much," said Walcott, with a mock sigh of
+resignation, settling back comfortably among the pillows on the divan
+and fixing his eyes on Kate's face; "I might have known that
+consideration for any wish of mine could never by any chance be assigned
+as the motive for an act of yours."
+
+Kate made no reply, but the lines about her mouth deepened. For a moment
+he watched her silently; then he continued slowly, in low, nonchalant
+tones:
+
+"I am positive that when I at last gain your consent to marry me,"--he
+paused an instant to note the effect of his words, but there was not the
+quiver of an eyelash on her part,--"even then, you will have the
+audacity to tell me that you gave it for any other reason under heaven
+than consideration for me or my wishes."
+
+"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, facing him with sudden hauteur of tone and
+manner, "you are correct. If ever I consent to marry you I can tell you
+now as well as then my reason for doing so: it will be simply and solely
+for my dear father's sake, for the love I bear him, out of consideration
+for his wishes, and with no more thought of you than if you did not
+exist."
+
+Conflicting emotions filled Walcott's breast at these words, but he
+preserved a calm, smiling exterior. He could not but admire Kate's
+spirit; at the same time the thought flashed through his mind that this
+apparent slip of a girl might prove rather difficult to "tame;" but he
+reflected that the more difficult, the keener would be his enjoyment of
+the final victory.
+
+"A novel situation, surely!" he commented, with a low, musical laugh;
+"decidedly unique!"
+
+"But, my dear Miss Underwood," he continued, a moment later, "if your
+love for your father and regard for his wishes are to constitute your
+sole reasons for consenting to become my wife, why need you withhold
+that consent longer? I am sure his wishes in the matter will remain
+unchanged, as will also your love for him; why then should our marriage
+be further delayed?"
+
+"After what I have just told you, Mr. Walcott, do you still ask me to
+be your wife?" Kate demanded, indignantly.
+
+"I do, Miss Underwood; and, pardon me, I feel that you have trifled with
+me long enough; I must have your answer."
+
+She rose, drawing herself proudly to her full height.
+
+"Take me to my father," she said, imperiously.
+
+Walcott offered his arm, which she refused with a gesture of scorn, and
+they proceeded to the adjoining room, where Mr. Underwood and his sister
+were seated together before the fire. As Kate advanced towards her
+father both looked up simultaneously, and each read in her white face
+and proud bearing that a crisis was at hand. Mrs. Dean at once arose and
+noiselessly withdrew from the room.
+
+Walcott paused at a little distance from Mr. Underwood, assuming a
+graceful attitude as he leaned languidly over the large chair just
+vacated by Mrs. Dean, but Kate did not stop till she reached her
+father's side, where she bowed coldly to Walcott to proceed with what he
+had to say.
+
+"Some time ago, Mr. Underwood," he began, smoothly and easily, "I asked
+you for your daughter's hand in marriage, and you honored me with your
+consent. Since that time I have paid my addresses to Miss Underwood in
+so marked a manner as to leave her no room for doubt or misunderstanding
+regarding my intentions, although, finding that she was not inclined to
+look upon me with favor, I have hitherto refrained from pressing my
+suit. Feeling now that I have given her abundance of time I have this
+evening asked her to become my wife, and insisted that I was entitled to
+a decision. Instead, however, of giving me a direct answer, she has
+suggested that we refer the matter to yourself."
+
+"How is this, Kate?" her father asked, not unkindly; "I supposed you and
+I had settled this matter long ago."
+
+Her voice was clear, her tones unfaltering, as she replied: "Before
+giving my answer I wanted to ask you, papa, for the last time, whether,
+knowing the circumstances as you do and how I regard Mr. Walcott, it is
+still your wish that I marry him?"
+
+"It is; and I expect my child to be governed by my wishes in this matter
+rather than by her own feelings."
+
+"Have I ever gone contrary to your wishes, papa, or disobeyed you?"
+
+"No, my child, no!"
+
+"Then I shall not attempt it at this late day. I only wanted to be sure
+that this was still your wish."
+
+"I desire it above all things," said Mr. Underwood, delighted to find
+Kate so ready to accede to his wishes, rising and taking her hand in
+his; "and the day that I see my little girl settled in the home which
+she will receive as a wedding-gift from her old father will be the
+proudest and happiest day of my life."
+
+Kate smiled sadly. "No home can ever seem to me like The Pines, papa,
+but I appreciate your kindness, and I want you to know that I am taking
+this step solely for your happiness."
+
+She then turned, facing Walcott, who advanced slightly, while Mr.
+Underwood made a movement as though to place her hand in his.
+
+"Not yet, papa," she said, gently; then, addressing Walcott, she
+continued:
+
+"Mr. Walcott, this must be my answer, since you insist upon having one:
+Out of love for him who has been both father and mother to me, out of
+reverence for his gray hairs frosted by the sorrows of earlier years,
+out of regard for his wishes, which have always been my law,--for his
+sake only,--I consent to become your wife upon one condition."
+
+"Name it," Walcott replied.
+
+"There can be no love between us, either in our engagement or our
+marriage, for, as I have told you, I can never love you, and you
+yourself are incapable of love in its best sense; you have not even the
+slightest knowledge of what it is. For this reason any token of love
+between us would be only a mockery, a farce, and true wedded love is
+something too holy, too sacred, to be travestied in any such manner. I
+consent to our marriage, therefore, only upon this condition: that we
+henceforth treat each other simply with kindness and courtesy; that no
+expressions of affection or endearment are to be used by either of us to
+the other, and that no word or sign of love ever pass between us."
+
+"Kate," interposed her father, sternly, "this is preposterous! I cannot
+allow such absurdity;" but Walcott silenced him with a deprecatory wave
+of his hand, and, taking Kate's hand in his, replied, with smiling
+indifference,--
+
+"I accept the condition imposed by Miss Underwood, since it is no more
+unique than the entire situation, and I congratulate her upon her
+decided originality. I suppose," he added, addressing Kate, at the same
+time producing a superb diamond ring, "you will not object to wearing
+this?"
+
+"I yield that much to conventionality," she replied, allowing him to
+place it on her finger; "there is no need to advertise the situation
+publicly; besides, it is a fitting symbol of my future fetters."
+
+"Conventionality, I believe, would require that it be placed on your
+hand with a kiss and some appropriate bit of sentiment, but since that
+sort of thing is tabooed between us, we will have to dispense with that
+part of the ceremony."
+
+Then turning to Mr. Underwood, who stood looking on frowningly, somewhat
+troubled by the turn matters had taken, Walcott added, playfully,--
+
+"According to the usual custom, I believe the next thing on the
+programme is for you to embrace us and give us a father's blessing, but
+my lady might not approve of anything so commonplace."
+
+Before her father could reply Kate spoke for him, glancing at him with
+an affectionate smile:
+
+"Papa is not one of the demonstrative sort, and he and I need no
+demonstration of our love for each other; do we, dear?"
+
+"No, child, we understand each other," said her father, reseating
+himself, with Kate in her accustomed place on the arm of his chair,
+while Walcott took the large chair on the other side of the fire; "and
+you neither of you need any assurance of my good wishes or good
+intentions towards you; but," he continued, doubtfully, shaking his
+head, "I don't quite like the way you've gone about this business,
+Puss."
+
+"It was the only way for me, papa," Kate answered, gravely and
+decidedly.
+
+"I admit," said Walcott, "it will be quite a departure from the mode of
+procedure ordinarily laid down for newly engaged and newly wedded
+couples; but really, come to think it over, I am inclined to think that
+Miss Underwood's proposition will save us an immense amount of boredom
+which is the usual concomitant of engagements and honeymoons. That sort
+of thing, you know," he added, his lip curling just perceptibly, "is apt
+to get a little monotonous after a while."
+
+Kate, watching him from under level brows, saw the slight sneer and
+inwardly rejoiced at the stand she had taken.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Underwood, resignedly, "fix it up between you any way
+to suit yourselves; but for heaven's sake, don't do anything to cause
+comment or remarks!"
+
+"Papa, you can depend on me not to make myself conspicuous in any way,"
+Kate replied, with dignity. "What I have said to-night was said simply
+to let you and Mr. Walcott know just where I stand, and just what you
+may, and may not, expect of me; but this is only between us three, and
+you can rest assured that I shall never wear my heart upon my sleeve or
+take the public into my confidence regarding my home life."
+
+"I think myself you need have no fear on that score, Mr. Underwood,"
+Walcott remarked, with a smile of amusement; "I believe Miss Underwood
+is entirely capable of carrying out to perfection any rôle she may
+assume, and if she chooses to take the part of leading lady in the
+little comedy of 'The Model Husband and Wife, I shall be only too
+delighted to render her any assistance within my power."
+
+As Walcott bade Kate good-night at a late hour he inquired, "What do you
+think of the little comedy I suggested to-night for our future line of
+action? Does it meet with your approval?"
+
+She was quick to catch the significance of the question, and, looking
+him straight in the eyes, she replied, calmly,--
+
+"It will answer as well as any, I suppose; but it has in it more of the
+elements of tragedy than of comedy."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXI_
+
+TWO CRIMES BY THE SAME HAND
+
+
+At Walcott's request the date of the wedding was set early in January,
+he having announced that business would call him to the South the first
+week in December for about a month, and that he wished the wedding to
+take place immediately upon his return.
+
+The announcement of the engagement and speedily approaching marriage of
+the daughter of D. K. Underwood to his junior partner caused a ripple of
+excitement throughout the social circles of Ophir and Galena. Though
+little known, Walcott was quite popular. It was therefore generally
+conceded that the shrewd "mining king," as Mr. Underwood was denominated
+in that region, had selected a party in every way eligible as the future
+husband of the sole heiress of his fortune. Kate received the
+congratulations showered upon her with perfect equanimity, but with a
+shade of quiet reserve which effectually distanced all undue familiarity
+or curiosity.
+
+Through the daily paper which found its way to the mining camp Darrell
+received his first news of Kate's engagement. It did not come as a
+surprise, however; he knew it was inevitable; he even drew a sigh of
+relief that the blow had fallen, for a burden is far more easily borne
+as an actual reality than by anticipation, and applied himself with an
+almost dogged persistency to his work.
+
+The winter set in early and with unusual severity. The snowfall in the
+mountains was heavier than had been known in years. Much of the time
+the canyon road was impassable, making it impracticable for Darrell to
+visit The Pines with any frequency, even had he wished to do so.
+
+The weeks passed, and ere he was aware the holidays were at hand. By
+special messenger came a little note from Kate informing him of
+Walcott's absence and begging him to spend Christmas at the old home.
+There had been a lull of two or three days in the storm, the messenger
+reported the road somewhat broken, and early on the morning preceding
+Christmas the trio, Darrell, Duke, and Trix, started forth, and, after a
+twelve hours' siege, arrived at The Pines wet, cold, and thoroughly
+exhausted, but all joyfully responsive to the welcome awaiting them.
+
+Christmas dawned bright and clear; tokens of love and good will abounded
+on every side, but at an early hour news came over the wires which
+shocked and saddened all who heard, particularly the household at The
+Pines. There had been a hold-up on the west-bound express the preceding
+night, a few miles from Galena, in which the mail and express had been
+robbed, and the express clerk, a brave young fellow who stanchly refused
+to open the safe or give the combination, had been fatally stabbed. It
+was said to be without doubt the work of the same band that had
+conducted the hold-up in which Harry Whitcomb had lost his life, as it
+was characterized by the same boldness of plan and cleverness of
+execution.
+
+The affair brought back so vividly to Mr. Underwood and the family the
+details of Harry's death that it cast a shadow over the Christmas
+festivities, which seemed to deepen as the day wore on. Outside, too,
+gathering clouds, harbingers of coming storm, added to the general
+gloom.
+
+It was with a sense of relief that Darrell set out at an early hour the
+following morning for the camp. He realized as never before that the
+place teemed with painful memories whose very sweetness tortured his
+soul until he almost wished that the months since his coming to The
+Pines might be wrapped in the same oblivion which veiled his life up to
+that period. He was glad to escape from its depressing influence and to
+return to the camp with its routine of work and study.
+
+This second winter of Darrell's life at camp was far more normal and
+healthful than the first. His love and sympathy for Kate had
+unconsciously drawn him out of himself, making him less mindful of his
+own sorrow and more susceptible to the sufferings of others. To the men
+at the camp he was far different, interesting himself in their welfare
+in numerous ways where before he had ignored them. The unusual severity
+of the winter had caused some sickness among them, and it was nothing
+uncommon for Darrell to go of an evening to the miners' quarters with
+medicines, newspapers, and magazines for the sick and convalescent.
+
+He was returning from one of these expeditions late one evening about
+ten days after Christmas, accompanied by the collie. It had been snowing
+lightly and steadily all day and the snow was still falling. Darrell was
+whistling softly to himself, and Duke, who showed a marvellous
+adaptation to Darrell's varying moods, catching the cue for his own
+conduct, began to plunge into the freshly fallen snow, wheeling and
+darting swiftly towards Darrell as though challenging him to a
+wrestling-match. Darrell gratified his evident wish and they tumbled
+promiscuously in the snow, emerging at length from a big drift near the
+office, their coats white, Duke barking with delight, and Darrell
+laughing like a school-boy.
+
+Shaking themselves, they entered the office, but no sooner had they
+stepped within than the collie bounded to the door of the next room
+where he began a vigorous sniffing and scratching, accompanied by a
+series of short barks. As Darrell, somewhat puzzled by his actions,
+opened the door, he saw a figure seated by the fire, which rose and
+turned quickly, revealing to his astonished gaze the tall form and
+strong, sweet face of John Britton.
+
+For a moment the two men stood with clasped hands, looking into each
+other's eyes with a satisfaction too deep for words.
+
+After an affectionate scrutiny of his young friend Mr. Britton resumed
+his seat, remarking,--
+
+"You are looking well--better than I have ever seen you; and I was glad
+to hear that laughter outside; it had the right ring to it."
+
+"Duke was responsible for that," Darrell answered, with a smiling glance
+at the collie who had stationed himself by the fire and near Mr.
+Britton; "he challenged me to wrestle with him, and got rather the worst
+of it."
+
+A moment later, having divested himself of his great coat, he drew a
+second seat before the fire, saying,--
+
+"You evidently knew where to look for me?"
+
+"Yes, your last letter, which, by the way, followed me for nearly six
+weeks before reaching me, apprised me of your return to the camp. I was
+somewhat surprised, too, after you had established yourself so well in
+town."
+
+"It was best for me--and for others," Darrell answered; then, noting the
+inquiry in his friend's eyes, he added:
+
+"It is a long story, but it will keep; there will be plenty of time for
+that later. Tell me of yourself first. For two months I have hungered
+for word from you, and now I simply want to listen to you a while."
+
+Mr. Britton smiled. "I owe you an apology, but you know I am a poor
+correspondent at best, and of late business has called me here and there
+until I scarcely knew one day where I would be the next; consequently I
+have received my mail irregularly and have been irregular myself in
+writing."
+
+Darrell's face grew tender, for he knew it was not business alone which
+drove his friend from place to place, but the old pain which found
+relief only in ceaseless activity and an equally unceasing beneficence.
+He well knew that many of his friend's journeys were purely of a
+philanthropic nature, and he remarked, with a peculiar smile,--
+
+"Your travels always remind me very forcibly of the journey of the good
+Samaritan; when he met a case of suffering on the way he was not the one
+to 'pass by on the other side;' nor are you."
+
+"Perhaps," said Mr. Britton, gravely, "he had found, as others have
+since, that pouring oil and wine into his neighbor's wounds was the
+surest method of assuaging the pain in some secret wound of his own."
+
+Darrell watched his friend closely while he gave a brief account of his
+recent journeys along the western coast. Never before had he seen the
+lines of suffering so marked upon the face beside him as that night.
+Something evidently had reopened the old wound, causing it to throb
+anew.
+
+"I need not ask what has brought you back into the mountains at this
+time of year and in this storm," Darrell remarked, as his friend
+concluded.
+
+For answer Mr. Britton drew from his pocket an envelope which Darrell
+at once recognized as a counterpart of one which had come to him some
+weeks before, but which he had laid away unopened, knowing only too well
+its contents.
+
+"I am particularly glad, for Miss Underwood's sake, that you are here,"
+he said; "she feared you might not come, and it worried her."
+
+"Which accounts for the importunate little note which accompanied the
+invitation," said Mr. Britton, with a half-smile; "but I would have made
+it a point to be present in any event; why did she doubt my coming?"
+
+"Because of the season, I suppose, and the unusual storms; then, too,"
+Darrell spoke with some hesitation, "she told me she believed you had a
+sort of aversion to weddings."
+
+"She was partly right," Mr. Britton said, after a pause; "I have not
+been present at a wedding ceremony for more than twenty-five years--not
+since my own marriage," he added, slowly, in a low tone, as though
+making a confession.
+
+Darrell's heart throbbed painfully; it was the first allusion he had
+ever heard the other make to his own past, and from his tone and manner
+Darrell knew that he himself had unwittingly touched the great, hidden
+sorrow in his friend's life.
+
+"Forgive me!" he said, with the humility and simplicity of a child.
+
+"I have nothing to forgive," Mr. Britton replied, gently, fixing his
+eyes with a look of peculiar affection upon Darrell's face. "You know
+more now, my son, than the whole world knows or has known in all these
+years; and some day in the near future you shall know all, because, for
+some inexplicable reason, you, out of the whole world, seem nearest to
+me."
+
+A few moments later he resumed, with more of his usual manner, "I am not
+quite myself to-night. The events of the last few days have rather upset
+me, and," with one of his rare smiles, "I have come to you to get
+righted."
+
+"To me?" Darrell exclaimed.
+
+"Yes; why not?"
+
+"I am but your pupil,--one who is just beginning to look above his own
+selfish sorrows only through the lessons you have taught him."
+
+"You over-estimate the little I have tried to do for you; but were it
+even as you say, I would come to you and to no one else. To whom did the
+Divine Master himself turn for human sympathy in his last hours of grief
+and suffering but to his little band of pupils--his disciples? And in
+proportion as they had learned of Him and imbibed His spirit, in just
+that proportion could they enter into his feelings and minister to his
+soul."
+
+Mr. Britton had withdrawn the cards from the envelope and was regarding
+them thoughtfully.
+
+"The receipt of those bits of pasteboard," he said, slowly, "unmanned me
+more than anything that has occurred in nearly a score of years. They
+called up long-forgotten scenes,--little pathetic, heart-rending
+memories which I thought buried long ago. I don't mind confessing to
+you, my boy, that for a while I was unnerved. It did not seem as though
+I could ever bring myself to hear again the music of wedding-bells and
+wedding-marches, to listen to the old words of the marriage service. But
+for the sake of one who has seemed almost as my own child I throttled
+those feelings and started for the mountains, resolved that no
+selfishness of mine should cloud her happiness on her wedding day. I
+came, to find, what I would never have believed possible, that my old
+friend would sacrifice his child's happiness, all that is sweetest and
+holiest in her life, to gratify his own ambition. I cannot tell you the
+shock it was to me. D. K. Underwood and I have been friends for many
+years, but that did not prevent my talking plainly with him--so plainly
+that perhaps our friendship may never be the same again. But it was of
+no avail, and the worst is, he has persuaded himself that he is acting
+for her good, when it is simply for the gratification of his own pride.
+I could not stay there; the very atmosphere seemed oppressive; so I came
+up here for a day or two, as I told you, to get righted."
+
+"And you came to me to be righted," Darrell said, musingly; "'Can the
+blind lead the blind?'"
+
+Mr. Britton was quick to catch the significance of he other's query.
+
+"Yes, John," he answered, covering Darrell's hand with his own; "I came
+to you for the very reason that your hurt is far deeper than mine."
+
+Under the magnetism of that tone and touch Darrell calmly and in few
+words told his story and Kate's,--the story of their love and brief
+happiness, and of the wretchedness which followed.
+
+"For a while I constantly reproached myself for having spoken to her of
+love," he said, in conclusion; "for having awakened her love, as I
+thought, by my own; but gradually I came to see that she had loved me,
+as I had her, unconsciously, almost from our first meeting, and that the
+awakening must in any event have come sooner or later to each of us.
+Then it seemed as though my suffering all converged in sorrow for her,
+that her life, instead of being gladdened by love, should be saddened
+and marred, perhaps wrecked, by it."
+
+"Love works strange havoc with human lives sometimes," Mr. Britton
+remarked, reflectively, as Darrell paused.
+
+"I was tempted at times," Darrell continued, "as I thought of what was
+in store for her, to rescue her at any cost; tempted to take her and go
+with her to the ends of the earth, if necessary; anywhere, to save her
+from the life she dreads."
+
+"Thank God that you did not, my son!" Mr. Britton exclaimed, strangely
+agitated by Darrell's words; "you do not know what the cost might have
+been in the end; what bitter remorse, what agony of ceaseless regret!"
+
+He stopped abruptly, and again Darrell felt that he had looked for an
+instant into those depths so sacredly guarded from the eyes of the
+world.
+
+"You did well to leave as you did," Mr. Britton said, after a moment's
+silence, in which he had regained his composure.
+
+"I had to; I should have done something desperate if I had remained
+there much longer."
+
+Darrell spoke quietly, but it was the quiet of suppressed passion.
+
+"It was better so--better for you both," Mr. Britton continued; "when we
+find ourselves powerless to save our loved ones from impending trouble,
+all that is left us is to help them bear that trouble as best we may.
+The best help you can give Kate now is to take yourself as completely as
+possible out of her life. How you can best help her later time alone
+will show."
+
+A long silence followed, while both watched the flickering flames and
+listened to the crooning of the wind outside. When at length they spoke
+it was on topics of general interest; the outlook at the mining camp,
+the latest news in the town below, till their talk at last drifted to
+the recent hold-up.
+
+"A dastardly piece of work!" exclaimed Mr. Britton. "The death of that
+young express clerk was in some ways even sadder than that of Harry
+Whitcomb. I knew him well; the only child of a widowed mother; a poor
+boy who, by indomitable energy and unswerving integrity, had just
+succeeded in securing the position which cost him his life. Two such
+brutal, cowardly murders ought to arouse the people to such systematic,
+concerted action as would result in the final arrest and conviction of
+the murderer."
+
+"It is the general opinion that both were committed by one and the same
+party," Darrell remarked, as his friend paused.
+
+"Undoubtedly both were the work of the same hand, in all probability
+that of the leader himself. He is a man capable of any crime, probably
+guilty of nearly every crime that could be mentioned, and his men are
+mere tools in his hands. He exerts a strange power over them and they
+obey him, knowing that their lives would pay the forfeit for
+disobedience. Human life is nothing to him, and any one who stood in the
+way of the accomplishment of his purposes would simply go the way those
+two poor fellows have gone."
+
+"Why, do you know anything regarding this man?" Darrell asked in
+surprise.
+
+"Only so far as I have made a study of him and his methods, aided by
+whatever information I could gather from time to time concerning him."
+
+"Surely, you are not a detective!" Darrell exclaimed; "you spoke like
+one just now."
+
+"Not professionally," his friend answered, with a smile; "though I have
+often assisted in running down criminals. I have enough of the hound
+nature about me, however, that when a scent is given me I delight in
+following the trail till I run my game to cover, as I hope some day to
+run this man to cover," he added, with peculiar earnestness.
+
+"But how did you ever gain so much knowledge of him? To every one else
+he seems an utter mystery."
+
+"Partly, as I said, through a study of him and his methods, and partly
+from facts which I learned from one of the band who was fatally shot a
+few years ago in a skirmish between the brigands and a posse of
+officials. The man was deserted by his associates and was brought to
+town and placed in a hospital. I did what I could to make the poor
+fellow comfortable, with the result that he became quite communicative
+with me, and, while in no way betraying his confederates, he gave me
+much interesting information regarding the band and its leader. It is a
+thoroughly organized body of men, bound together by the most fearful
+oaths, possessing a perfect system of signals and passwords, and with a
+retreat in the mountains, known as the 'Pocket,' so inaccessible to any
+but themselves that no one as yet has been able even to definitely
+locate it--a sort of basin walled about by perpendicular rocks. The
+leader is a man of mixed blood, who has travelled in all countries and
+knows many dark secrets, and whose power lies mainly in the mystery with
+which he surrounds himself. No one knows who he is, but many of his men
+believe him to be the very devil personified."
+
+"But how can you or any one else hope to run down a man with such
+powerful followers and with a hiding-place so inaccessible?" Darrell
+inquired.
+
+"From a remark inadvertently dropped, I was led to infer that this man
+spends comparatively little time with the band. He communicates with
+them, directs them, and personally conducts any especially bold or
+difficult venture; but most of the time he is amid far different
+surroundings, leading an altogether different life."
+
+"One of those men with double lives," Darrell commented.
+
+Mr. Britton bowed in assent.
+
+"But if that were so," Darrell persisted, his interest thoroughly
+aroused, as much by Mr. Britton's manner as by his words, "in the event,
+say, of your meeting him, how would you be able to recognize or identify
+him? Have you any clew to his identity?"
+
+"Years ago," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "I formed the habit of studying
+people; at first as I met them; later as I heard or read of them. Facts
+gathered here and there concerning a person's life I put together, piece
+by piece, studying his actions and the probable motives governing those
+actions, until I had a mental picture of the real man, the 'ego' that
+constitutes the foundation of the character of every individual. Having
+that fixed in my mind I next strove to form an idea of the exterior
+which that particular 'ego' would gradually build about himself through
+his habits of thought and speech and action. In this way, by a careful
+study of a man's life, I can form something of an idea of his
+appearance. I have often put this to the test by visiting various
+penitentiaries in order to meet some of the noted criminals of whose
+careers I had made a study, and invariably, in expression, in voice and
+manner, in gait and bearing, in the hundred and one little indices by
+which the soul betrays itself, I have found them as I had mentally
+portrayed them."
+
+Mr. Britton had risen while speaking and was walking back and forth
+before the fire.
+
+"I see!" Darrell exclaimed; "and you have formed a mental portrait of
+this man by which you expect to recognize and identify him?"
+
+"I am satisfied that I would have no difficulty in recognizing him," Mr.
+Britton replied, with peculiar emphasis on the last words; "the work of
+identification,"--he paused in front of Darrell, looking him earnestly
+in the face,--"that, I hope, will one day be yours."
+
+"Mine!" exclaimed Darrell. "How so? I do not understand."
+
+"Mr. Underwood has told me that soon after your arrival at The Pines and
+just before you became delirious, there was something on your mind in
+connection with the robbery and Whitcomb's death which you wished to
+tell him but were unable to recall; and both he and his sister have said
+that often during your delirium you would mutter, 'That face! I can
+never forget it; it will haunt me as long as I live!' It has always been
+my belief that amidst the horrors of the scene you witnessed that night,
+you in some way got sight of the murderer's face, which impressed you so
+strongly that it haunted you even in your delirium. It is my hope that
+with the return of memory there will come a vision of that face
+sufficiently clear that you will be able to identify it should you meet
+it, as I believe you will."
+
+Darrell scrutinized his friend closely before replying, noting his
+evident agitation.
+
+"You have already met this man and recognized him!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Possibly!" was the only reply.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXII_
+
+THE FETTERS BROKEN
+
+
+Early on the morning of the third day after Mr. Britton's arrival at
+camp he and Darrell set forth for The Pines. But little snow had fallen
+within the last two days, and the trip was made without much difficulty,
+though progress was slow. Late in the day, as they neared The Pines, the
+clouds, which for hours had been more or less broken, suddenly
+dispersed, and the setting sun sank in a flood of gold and crimson light
+which gave promise of glorious weather for the morrow.
+
+Arriving at the house, they found it filled with guests invited to the
+wedding from different parts of the State, the rooms resounding with
+light badinage and laughter, the very atmosphere charged with excitement
+as messengers came and went and servants hurried to and fro, busied with
+preparations for the following day.
+
+Kate herself hastened forward to meet them, a trifle pale, but calm and
+wearing the faint, inscrutable smile which of late was becoming habitual
+with her. At sight of Darrell and his friend, however, her face lighted
+with the old-time, sunny smile and her cheeks flushed with pleasure. She
+bestowed upon Mr. Britton the same affectionate greeting with which she
+had been accustomed to meet him since her childhood's days. He was
+visibly affected, and though he returned her greeting, kissing her on
+brow and cheek, he was unable to speak. Her color deepened and her eyes
+grew luminous as she turned to welcome Darrell, but she only said,--
+
+"I am inexpressibly glad that you came. It will be good to feel there is
+one amid all the crowd who knows."
+
+"He knows also, Kathie," Darrell replied, in low tones, indicating Mr.
+Britton with a slight motion of his head.
+
+"Does he know all?" she asked, quickly.
+
+"Yes; I thought you could have no objection."
+
+"No," she answered, after a brief pause; "I am glad that it is so."
+
+There was no opportunity for further speech, as Mr. Underwood came
+forward to welcome his old friend and Darrell, and they were hurried off
+to their rooms to prepare for dinner.
+
+Mr. Underwood was not a man to do things by halves, and the elaborate
+but informal dinner to which he and his guests sat down was all that
+could be desired as a gastronomic success. He himself, despite his
+brusque manners, was a genial host, and Walcott speedily ingratiated
+himself into the favor of the guests by his quiet, unobtrusive
+attentions, his punctilious courtesy to each and all alike.
+
+Darrell and his friend felt ill at ease and out of place amid the gayety
+that filled the house that evening, and at an early hour they retired to
+their rooms.
+
+"It is awful!" Darrell exclaimed, as they stood for a moment together at
+the door of his room listening to the sounds of merriment from below;
+"it is all so hollow, such a mockery; it seems like dancing over a
+hidden sepulchre!"
+
+"And we are to stand by to-morrow and witness this farce carried out to
+the final culmination!" Mr. Britton commented, in low tones; "it is
+worse than a farce,--it is a crime! My boy, how will you be able to
+stand it?" he suddenly inquired.
+
+Darrell turned away abruptly. "I could not stand it; I would not attempt
+it, except that my presence will comfort and help her," he answered. And
+so they parted for the night.
+
+The following morning dawned clear and cloudless, the spotless, unbroken
+expanse of snow gleaming in the sunlight as though strewn with myriads
+of jewels; it seemed as if Earth herself had donned her bridal array in
+honor of the occasion.
+
+"An ideal wedding-day!" was the universal exclamation; and such it was.
+
+The wedding was to take place at noon. A little more than an hour before
+the bridal party was to leave the house Darrell was walking up and down
+the double libraries upstairs, whither he had been summoned by a note
+from Kate, begging him to await her there.
+
+His thoughts went back to that summer night less than six months gone,
+when he had waited her coming in those very rooms. Not yet six months,
+and he seemed to have lived years since then! He recalled her as she
+appeared before him that night in all the grace and witchery of lovely
+maidenhood just opening into womanhood. How beautiful, how joyous she
+had been! without a thought of sorrow, and now----
+
+A faint sound like the breath of the wind through the leaves roused him,
+and Kate stood before him once more. Kate in her bridal robes, their
+shimmering folds trailing behind her like the gleaming foam in the wake
+of a ship on a moonlit sea, while her veil, like a filmy cloud,
+enveloped her from head to foot.
+
+There was a moment of silence in which Darrell studied the face before
+him; the same, yet not the same, as on that summer night. The childlike
+naïveté, the charming piquancy, had given place to a sweet seriousness,
+but it was more tender, more womanly, more beautiful.
+
+She came a step nearer, and, raising her clasped hands, placed them
+within Darrell's.
+
+"I felt that I must see you once more, John," she said, in the low,
+sweet tones that always thrilled his very soul; "there is something I
+wish to say to you, if I can only make my meaning clear, and I feel sure
+you will understand me. I want to pledge to you, John, for time and for
+eternity, my heart's best and purest love. Though forced into this union
+with a man whom I can never love, yet I will be true as a wife; God
+knows I would not be otherwise; that is farthest from my thoughts. But I
+have learned much within the past few months, and I have learned that
+there is a love far above all passion and sensuality; a love tender as a
+wife's, pure as a mother's, and lasting as eternity itself. Such love I
+pledge you, John Darrell. Do you understand me?"
+
+As she raised her eyes to his it seemed to Darrell that he was looking
+into the face of one of the saints whom the old masters loved to portray
+centuries ago, so spiritual was it, so devoid of everything of earth!
+
+"Kathie, darling," he said, clasping her hands tenderly, "I do
+understand, and, thank God, I believe I am able to reciprocate your love
+with one as chastened and pure. When I left The Pines last fall I did so
+because I could not any longer endure to be near you, loving you as I
+did. I felt in some blind, unreasoning way that it was wrong, and yet I
+knew that to cease to love you was an impossibility. But in the solitude
+of the mountains God showed me a better way. He showed me the true
+meaning of those words, 'In the resurrection they neither marry nor are
+given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.' Those words
+had always seemed to me austere and cold, as though they implied that
+our poor love would be superseded by higher attributes possessed by the
+angelic hosts, of which we knew nothing. Now I know that they mean that
+our human love shall be refined from all the dross of earthly passion,
+purified and exalted above mortal conception. I prayed that my love for
+you might be in some such measure refined and purified, and I know that
+prayer has been answered. I pledge you that love, Kathie; a love that
+will never wrong you even in thought; that you can trust in all the days
+to come as ready to defend or protect you if necessary, and as always
+seeking your best and highest happiness."
+
+"Thank you, John," she said, and bowed her head above their clasped
+hands for a moment.
+
+When she raised her head her eyes were glistening. "We need not be
+afraid or ashamed to acknowledge love such as ours," she said, proudly;
+"and with the assurance you have given me I shall have strength and
+courage, whatever may come. I must go," she added, lifting her face to
+his; "I want your kiss now, John, rather than amid all the meaningless
+kisses that will be given me after the ceremony."
+
+Their lips met in a lingering kiss, then she silently withdrew from the
+room.
+
+As she crossed the hall Walcott suddenly brushed past her breathlessly,
+without seeing her, and ran swiftly downstairs. His evident excitement
+caused her to pause for an instant; as she did, she heard him exclaim,
+in a low, angry tone and with an oath,--
+
+"You dog! What brings you here? How dare you come here?"
+
+There came a low reply in Spanish, followed by a few quick, sharp words
+from Walcott in the same tongue, but which by their inflection Kate
+understood to be an exclamation and a question.
+
+Her curiosity aroused, she noiselessly descended to the first landing,
+and, leaning over the balustrade, saw a small man, with dark olive skin,
+standing close to Walcott, with whom he was talking excitedly. He spoke
+rapidly in Spanish. Kate caught only one word, "Seņora," as he handed a
+note to Walcott, at the same time pointing backward over his shoulder
+towards the entrance. Kate saw Walcott grow pale as he read the missive,
+then, with a muttered curse, he started for the door, followed by the
+other.
+
+Quickly descending to the next landing, where there was an alcove window
+looking out upon the driveway, Kate could see a closed carriage standing
+before the entrance, and Walcott, holding the door partially open,
+talking with some one inside. The colloquy was brief, and, as Walcott
+stepped back from the carriage, the smaller man, who had been standing
+at a little distance, sprang in hastily. As he swung the door open for
+an instant Kate had a glimpse of a woman on the rear seat, dressed in
+black and heavily veiled. As the man closed the door Walcott stepped to
+the window for a word or two, then turned towards the house, and the
+carriage rolled rapidly down the driveway. Kate slowly ascended the
+stairs, listening for Walcott, who entered the house, but, instead of
+coming upstairs, passed through the lower hall, going directly to a
+private room of Mr. Underwood's in which he received any who happened to
+call at the house on business.
+
+Kate went to her room, her pulse beating quickly. She felt intuitively
+that something was wrong; that here was revealed a phase of Walcott's
+personality which she in her innocence had not considered, had not even
+suspected. She knew that her father believed him to be a moral man, and
+hitherto she had regarded the lack of affinity between herself and him
+as due to a sort of mental disparity--a lack of affiliation in thought
+and taste. Now the conviction flashed upon her that the disparity was a
+moral one. She recalled the sense of loathing with which she
+instinctively shrank from his touch; she understood it now. And within
+two hours she was to have married this man! Never!
+
+Passing a large mirror, she paused and looked at the reflection there.
+Was her soul, its purity and beauty symbolized by her very dress, to be
+united to that other soul in its grossness and deformity? Her cheek
+blanched with horror at the thought. No! that fair body should perish
+first, rather than soul or body ever be contaminated by his touch!
+
+Her decision was taken from that moment, and it was irrevocable.
+Nothing--not even her father's love or anger, his wishes or his
+commands--could turn her now, for, as he himself boasted, his own blood
+flowed within her veins.
+
+Swiftly she disrobed, tearing the veil in her haste and throwing the
+shimmering white garments to one side as though she hated the sight of
+them. Taking from her jewel casket the engagement ring which had been
+laid aside for the wedding ceremony, she quickly shut it within its own
+case, to be returned as early as possible to the giver; it seemed to
+burn her fingers like living fire.
+
+A few moments later her aunt, entering her room, found her dressed in
+one of her favorite house gowns,--a camel's hair of creamy white. She
+looked at Kate, then at the discarded robes on a couch near by, and
+stopped speechless for an instant, then stammered,--
+
+"Katherine, child, what does this mean?"
+
+"It means, auntie," said Kate, putting her arms about her aunt's neck,
+"that there will be no wedding and no bride to-day."
+
+Then, looking her straight in the eyes, she added: "Really, auntie, deep
+down in your heart, aren't you glad of it?"
+
+Mrs. Dean gasped, then replied, slowly, "Yes; it will make me very glad
+if you do not have to marry that man; but, Katherine, I don't
+understand; what will your father say?"
+
+Before Kate could reply there was a heavy knock at the door, which Mrs.
+Dean answered. She came back looking rather frightened.
+
+"Your father wishes to see you, Katherine, in your library. Something
+must have happened; he looks excited and worried. I don't know what
+he'll say to you in that dress."
+
+"I'm not afraid," Kate replied, brightly.
+
+A moment later she entered the room where less than half an hour before
+she had left Darrell. Mr. Underwood was walking up and down. As Kate
+entered he turned towards her with a look of solicitude, which quickly
+changed to one of surprise, tinged with anger.
+
+"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, looking at his watch; "it is
+within an hour of the time set for your wedding; you don't look much
+like a bride. Do you expect to be married in that dress?"
+
+"I am not to be married to-day, papa; nor any other day to Mr. Walcott,"
+Kate answered, calmly.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, scarcely comprehending the full import of her
+words; "isn't the matter bad enough as it is without your making it
+worse by any foolish talk or actions?"
+
+"I don't understand you, papa; to what do you refer?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Walcott has just been called out of town by news that his
+father is lying at the point of death; it is doubtful whether he will
+live till his son can reach him. He has to take the first train south
+which leaves within half an hour; otherwise, he would have waited for
+the ceremony to be performed."
+
+"Did he tell you that?" Kate asked, with intense scorn.
+
+"Certainly, and he left his farewells for you, as he hadn't time even to
+stop to see you."
+
+"It is well that he didn't attempt it," Kate replied, with spirit; "I
+would have told him to his face that he lied."
+
+"What do you mean by such language?" her father demanded, angrily; "do
+you doubt his word to me?"
+
+"I haven't a doubt that he was called away suddenly, but I saw him when
+he received the message, and he didn't appear like a man called by
+sickness. He was terribly excited,--so excited he did not even see me
+when he passed me; and he was angry, for he cursed both the message and
+the man who brought it."
+
+"Excited? Naturally; he was excited in talking with me, and his anger,
+no doubt, was over the postponement of the wedding. You show yourself
+very foolish in getting angry in turn. This is a devilishly awkward
+affair, though, thank heaven, there's no disgrace or scandal attached to
+it, and we must make the best we can of it. I have already sent
+messengers to the church to disperse the guests as they arrive, and have
+also sent a statement of the facts to the different papers, so there
+will be no garbled accounts or misstatements to-morrow morning."
+
+"Father," said Kate, drawing herself up with new dignity as he paused,
+"I want you to understand that this is no childish anger or pique on my
+part. I have not told all that I saw, nor is it necessary at present;
+but I saw enough that my eyes are opened to his real character. I want
+you to understand that I will never marry him! I will die first!"
+
+Her father's face grew dark with anger at her words, but the eyes
+looking fearlessly into his own never quailed. Perhaps he recognized his
+own spirit, for he checked the wrathful words he was about to speak and
+merely inquired,--
+
+"Are you going to make a fool of yourself and involve this affair in a
+scandal, or will you allow it to pass quietly and with no unpleasant
+notoriety?"
+
+"You can dispose of it among outsiders as you please, papa, but I want
+you to understand my decision in this matter, and that it is
+irrevocable."
+
+"Until you come to your senses!" he retorted, and left the room.
+
+With comparatively little excitement the guests dispersed, and no one,
+not even Darrell or Mr. Britton, knew aught beyond the statement made by
+Mr. Underwood.
+
+Some particular friends of Kate's, living in a remote part of the State,
+thinking it might be rather embarrassing for her to remain in Ophir,
+invited her to their home for two or three months, and she, realizing
+that she had incurred her father's displeasure, gladly accepted.
+
+The next morning found Darrell on his way to the camp, looking longingly
+forward to his busy life amid the mountains, and firmly believing that
+it would be many a day before he again saw The Pines.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXIII_
+
+THE MASK LIFTED
+
+
+Three weeks of clear, cold weather followed, in which the snow became
+packed and frozen until the horses' hoofs on the mountain roads
+resounded as though on asphalt, and the steel shoes of the heavily laden
+sleds rang out a cheerful rhyme on the frosty air.
+
+These were weeks of strenuous application to work on Darrell's part. His
+evenings were now spent, far into the night, in writing. He still kept
+the journal begun during his first winter in camp, believing it would
+one day prove of inestimable value as a connecting link between past and
+future. The geological and mineralogical data which he had collected
+through more than twelve months' research and experiment was now nearly
+complete, and he had undertaken the work of arranging it, along with
+copious notes, in form for publication. It was an arduous but
+fascinating task and one to which he often wished he might devote his
+entire time.
+
+He was sitting before the fire at night, deeply engrossed in this work,
+when he was aroused by the sound of hoof-beats on the mountain road
+leading from the canyon to the camp. He listened; they came rapidly
+nearer; it was a horseman riding fast and furiously, and by the heavy
+pounding of the foot-falls Darrell knew the animal he rode was nearly
+exhausted. On they came past the miners' quarters towards the office
+building; it was then some messenger from The Pines, and at that
+hour--Darrell glanced at the clock, it was nearly midnight--it could be
+no message of trifling import.
+
+Darrell sprang to his feet and, rushing through the outer room, followed
+by Duke barking excitedly, opened the door just as the rider drew rein
+before it. What was his astonishment to see Bennett, one of the house
+servants, on a panting, foam-covered horse.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Darrell," the man cried, as the door opened, "it's a good thing
+that you keep late hours; right glad I was to see the light in your
+window, I can tell you, sir!"
+
+"But, Bennett, what brings you here at this time of night?" Darrell
+asked, hastily.
+
+"Mrs. Dean sent me, sir. Mr. Underwood, he's had a stroke and is as
+helpless as a baby, sir, and Mrs. Dean's alone, excepting for us
+servants. She sent me for you, sir; here's a note from her, and she said
+you was to ride right back with me, if you would, sir."
+
+"Certainly, I'll go with you," Darrell answered, taking the note; "but
+that horse must not stand in the cold another minute. Ride right over
+into the stables yonder; wake up the stable-men and tell them to rub him
+down and blanket him at once, and then to saddle Trix and Rob Roy as
+quickly as they can. And while they're looking after the horses, you go
+over to the boarding-house and wake up the cook and tell him to get us
+up a good, substantial hand-out; we'll need it before morning. I'll be
+ready in a few minutes, and I'll meet you over there."
+
+"All right, sir," Bennett responded, starting in the direction of the
+stables, while Darrell went back into his room. Opening the note, he
+read the following:
+
+     "MY DEAR JOHN: I am in trouble and look to you as to a son. David
+     has had a paralytic stroke; was brought home helpless about five
+     o'clock. I am alone, as you might say, as there is none of the
+     family here. Will you come at once?
+
+                               Yours in sorrow, but with love,
+                                                    MARCIA DEAN."
+
+Darrell's face grew thoughtful as he refolded the missive. He glanced
+regretfully at his notes and manuscript, then carefully gathered them
+together and locked them in his desk, little thinking that months would
+pass ere he would again resume the work thus interrupted. Then only
+stopping long enough to write a few lines of explanation to Hathaway,
+the superintendent, he seized his fur coat, cap, and gloves, and
+hastened over to the boarding-house where a lunch was already awaiting
+him. Half an hour later he and Bennett were riding rapidly down the
+road, Duke bounding on ahead.
+
+They reached The Pines between four and five o'clock. Darrell, leaving
+the horses in Bennett's care, went directly to the house. Before he
+could reach the door it was opened by Mrs. Dean.
+
+"I ought not to have sent for you on such a night as this!" she
+exclaimed, as Darrell entered the room, his clothes glistening with
+frost, the broad collar turned up about his face a mass of icicles from
+his frozen breath; "but I felt as though I didn't know what to do, and I
+wanted some one here who did. I was afraid to take the responsibility
+any longer."
+
+"You did just right," Darrell answered, dashing away the ice from his
+face; "I only wish you had sent for me earlier--as soon as this
+happened. How is Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"He is in pretty bad shape, but the doctors think he will pull through.
+They have been working over him all night, and he is getting so he can
+move the right hand a little, but the other side seems badly paralyzed."
+
+"Is he conscious?"
+
+"Yes, he moves his hand when we speak to him, but he looks so worried.
+That was one reason why I sent for you; I thought he would feel easier
+to know you were here."
+
+As Darrell approached the bedside he was shocked at the changes wrought
+in so short a time in the stern, but genial face. It had aged twenty
+years, and the features, partially drawn to one side, had, as Mrs. Dean
+remarked, a strained, worried expression. The eyes of the sick man
+brightened for an instant as Darrell bent over him, assuring him that he
+would attend to everything, but the anxious look still remained.
+
+"I don't know anything about David's business affairs," Mrs. Dean
+remarked, as she and Darrell left the room, "but I know as well as I
+want to that this was brought on by some business trouble. I am
+satisfied something was wrong at the office yesterday, though I wouldn't
+say so to any one but you."
+
+"Why do you think so?" Darrell queried, in surprise.
+
+"Because he was all right when he went away yesterday morning, but when
+he came home at noon he was different from what I had ever seen him
+before. He had just that worried look he has now, and he seemed
+absent-minded. He was in a great hurry to get back, and the head
+book-keeper tells me he called for the books to be brought into his
+private office, and that he spent most of the afternoon going through
+them. He says that about four o'clock he went through the office, and
+David was sitting before his desk with his head on his hands, and he
+didn't speak or look up. A little while afterwards they heard the sound
+of something heavy falling and ran to his room, and he had fallen on the
+floor."
+
+"It does look," Darrell admitted, thoughtfully, "as though this may have
+been caused by the discovery of some wrong condition of affairs."
+
+"Yes, and it must be pretty serious," Mrs. Dean rejoined, "to bring
+about such results as these."
+
+"Well," said Darrell, "we may not be able to arrive at the cause of this
+for some time. The first thing to be done is to see that you take a good
+rest; don't have any anxiety; I will look after everything. As soon as
+it is daylight it would be well to telegraph for Mr. Britton if you know
+his address, and possibly for Miss Underwood unless he should seem
+decidedly better."
+
+But Mrs. Dean did not know Mr. Britton's address, no word having been
+received from him since his departure, and with the return of daylight
+Mr. Underwood had gained so perceptibly it was thought best not to alarm
+Kate unnecessarily.
+
+For the first few days the improvement in Mr. Underwood's condition was
+slow, but gradually became quite pronounced. Nothing had been heard from
+Walcott since his sudden leave-taking, but about a week after Mr.
+Underwood's seizure word was received from him that he was on his way
+home. As an excuse for his prolonged absence and silence he stated that
+his father had died and that he had been delayed in the adjustment of
+business matters.
+
+It was noticeable that after receiving word from Walcott the look of
+anxiety in Mr. Underwood's face deepened, but his improvement was more
+marked than ever. It seemed as though the powerful brain and
+indomitable will dominated the body, forcing it to resume its former
+activity. By this time he was able to move about his room on crutches,
+and on the day of Walcott's return he insisted upon being placed in his
+carriage and taken to the office. At his request Darrell accompanied him
+and remained with him.
+
+Walcott, upon his arrival in the city, had heard of the illness of his
+senior partner, and was therefore greatly surprised on entering the
+offices to find him there. He quickly recovered himself and greeted Mr.
+Underwood with expressions of profound sympathy. To his words of
+condolence, however, Mr. Underwood deigned no reply, but his keen eyes
+bent a searching look upon the face of the younger man, under which the
+latter quailed visibly; then, without any preliminaries or any inquiries
+regarding his absence, Mr. Underwood at once proceeded to business
+affairs.
+
+His stay at the office was brief, as he soon found himself growing
+fatigued. As he was leaving Walcott inquired politely for Mrs. Dean,
+then with great particularity for Miss Underwood.
+
+"She is out of town at present," Mr. Underwood replied, watching
+Walcott.
+
+"Out of town? Indeed! Since when, may I inquire?"
+
+"You evidently have not been in correspondence with her," Mr. Underwood
+commented, ignoring the other's question.
+
+"Well, no," the latter stammered, slightly taken aback by his partner's
+manner; "I had absolutely no opportunity for writing, or I would have
+written you earlier, and then, really, you know, it was hardly to be
+expected that I would write Miss Underwood, considering her attitude
+towards myself. I am hoping that she will regard me with more favor
+after this little absence."
+
+"You will probably be able to judge of that on her return," the elder
+man answered, dryly.
+
+Kate, on being informed by letter of her father's condition, had wished
+to return home at once. She had been deterred from doing so by brief
+messages from him to the effect that she remain with her friends, but
+she was unable to determine whether those messages were prompted by
+kindness or anger. On the evening following Walcott's return, however,
+Mr. Underwood dictated to Darrell a letter to Kate, addressing her by
+her pet name, assuring her of his constant improvement, and that she
+need on no account shorten her visit but enjoy herself as long as
+possible, and enclosing a generous check as a present.
+
+To Darrell and to Mrs. Dean, who was sitting near by with her knitting,
+this letter seemed rather significant, and their eyes met in a glance of
+mutual inquiry. After Mr. Underwood had retired Darrell surprised that
+worthy lady by an account of her brother's reception of Walcott that
+day, while she in turn treated Darrell to a greater surprise by telling
+him of Kate's renunciation of Walcott at the last moment, before she
+knew anything of the postponement of the wedding.
+
+As they separated for the night Darrell remarked, "I may be wrong, but
+it looks to me as though the cause of Mr. Underwood's illness was the
+discovery of some evidence of bad faith on Walcott's part."
+
+"It looks that way," Mrs. Dean assented; "I've always felt that man
+would bring us trouble, and I hope David does find him out before it's
+too late."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXIV_
+
+FORESHADOWINGS
+
+
+During Mr. Underwood's illness and convalescence it was pathetic to
+watch his dependence upon Darrell. He seemed to regard him almost as a
+son, and when, as his health improved, Darrell spoke of returning to the
+camp, he would not hear of it.
+
+Every day after Walcott's return Mr. Underwood was taken to the office,
+where he gradually resumed charge, directing the business of the firm
+though able to do little himself. As he was still unable to write, he
+wished Darrell to act as his secretary, and the latter, glad of an
+opportunity to reciprocate Mr. Underwood's many kindnesses to himself,
+readily acceded to his wishes. When engaged in this work he used the
+room which had formerly been his own office and which of late had been
+unoccupied.
+
+Returning to his office after the transaction of some outside business,
+to await, as usual, the carriage to convey Mr. Underwood and himself to
+The Pines, he heard Walcott's voice in the adjoining room. A peculiar
+quality in his tones, as though he were pleading for favor, arrested
+Darrell's attention, and he could not then avoid hearing what followed.
+
+"But surely," he was saying, "an amount so trifling, and taking all the
+circumstances into consideration, that I regarded myself already one of
+your family and looked upon you as my father, you certainly cannot take
+so harsh a view of it!"
+
+"That makes no difference whatever," Mr. Underwood interposed sternly;
+"misappropriation of funds is misappropriation of funds, no matter what
+the amount or the circumstances under which it is taken, and as for your
+looking upon me as a father, I wouldn't allow my own son, if I had one,
+to appropriate one dollar of my money without my knowledge and consent.
+If you needed money you had only to say so, and I would have loaned you
+any amount necessary."
+
+"But I regarded this in the nature of a loan," Walcott protested, "only
+I was so limited for time I did not think it necessary to speak of it
+until my return."
+
+"You were not so limited but that you had time to tamper with the books
+and make false entries in them," Mr. Underwood retorted.
+
+"That was done simply to blind the employees, so they need not catch on
+that I was borrowing."
+
+"There is no use in further talk," the other interrupted, impatiently;
+"what you have done is done, and your talk will not smooth it over.
+Besides, I have already told you that I care far less for the money
+withdrawn from my personal account than for the way you are conducting
+business generally. There is not a client of mine who can say that I
+have ever wronged him or taken an unfair advantage of him, and I'll not
+have any underhanded work started here now. Everything has got to be
+open and above-board."
+
+"As I have said, Mr. Underwood, in the hurry and excitement of the last
+week or so before my going away I was forced to neglect some business
+matters; but if I will straighten everything into satisfactory shape and
+repay that small loan, as I still regard it, I hope then that our former
+pleasant relations will be resumed, and that no little misapprehension
+of this sort will make any difference between us."
+
+"Walcott," said Mr. Underwood, rising on his crutches and preparing to
+leave the room, "I had absolute confidence in you; I trusted you
+implicitly. Your own conduct has shaken that confidence, and it may be
+some time before it is wholly restored. We will continue business as
+before; but remember, you are on probation, sir--on probation!"
+
+When Kate Underwood received her father's letter, instead of prolonging
+her visit she at once prepared to return home. She understood that the
+barrier between her father and herself had been swept away, and nothing
+could then hold her back from him.
+
+Two days later, as Mr. Underwood was seated by the fire on his return
+from the office, there came a ring at the door which he took to be the
+postman's. Mrs. Dean answered the door.
+
+"Any letter from Kate?" he asked, as his sister returned.
+
+"Yes, there's a pretty good-sized one," she replied, with a broad smile,
+adding, as he glanced in surprise at her empty hands, "I didn't bring
+it; 'twas too heavy!"
+
+The next instant two arms were thrown about his neck, a slender figure
+was kneeling beside him, and a fair young face was pressed close to his,
+while words of endearment were murmured in his ear.
+
+Without a word he clasped her to his breast, holding her for a few
+moments as though he feared to let her go. Then, relaxing his hold, he
+playfully pinched her cheeks and stroked the brown hair, calling her by
+the familiar name "Puss," while his face lighted with the old genial
+smile for the first time since his illness. Each scanned the other's
+face, striving to gauge the other's feelings, but each read only that
+the old relations were re-established between them, and each was
+satisfied.
+
+Within a day or so of her return Kate despatched a messenger to Walcott
+with the ring, accompanied by a brief note to the effect that everything
+between them was at an end, but that it was useless for him to seek an
+explanation, as she would give none whatever.
+
+He at once took the note to his senior partner.
+
+"I understood, Mr. Underwood, that everything was amicably adjusted
+between us; I did not suppose that you had carried your suspicions
+against me to any such length as this!"
+
+Mr. Underwood read the note. "I know nothing whatever regarding my
+daughter's reasons for her decision, and have had nothing whatever to do
+with it. I knew that she had formed that decision at the last moment
+before the wedding ceremony was to be performed, before she was even
+aware of its postponement. She seemed to think she had sufficient
+reasons, but what those reasons were I have never asked and do not
+know."
+
+"But do you intend to allow her to play fast and loose with me in this
+way? Is she not to fulfil her engagement?" Walcott inquired, with
+difficulty concealing his anger.
+
+Mr. Underwood regarded him steadily for a moment. "Mr. Walcott, taking
+all things into consideration, I think perhaps we had better let things
+remain as they are, say, for a year or so. My daughter is young; there
+is no need of haste in the consummation of this marriage. I have found
+what she is worth to me, and I am in no haste to spare her from my home.
+If she is worth having as a wife, she is worth winning, and I shall not
+force her against her wishes a second time."
+
+Mr. Underwood spoke quietly, but Walcott understood that further
+discussion was useless.
+
+Meeting Kate a few days later in her father's office, he greeted her
+with marked politeness. After a few inquiries regarding her visit, he
+said,--
+
+"May I be allowed to inquire who is responsible for your sudden decision
+against me?"
+
+"You, and you alone, are responsible," she replied.
+
+"But I do not understand you," he said.
+
+"Explanations are unnecessary," she rejoined, coldly.
+
+Walcott grew angry. "I know very well that certain of your friends are
+no friends of mine. If I thought that either or both of them had had a
+hand in this I would make it a bitter piece of work for them!"
+
+"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, with dignity, "you only demean yourself by
+such threats. No one has influenced me in this matter but you yourself.
+You unwittingly afforded me, at the last moment, an insight into your
+real character. That is enough!"
+
+Walcott felt that he had gone too far. "Perhaps I spoke hastily, but
+surely it was pardonable considering my grievance. I hope you will
+overlook it and allow me to see you at The Pines, will you not, Miss
+Underwood?"
+
+"If my father sees fit to invite you to his house I will probably meet
+you as his guest, but not otherwise."
+
+Although Mr. Underwood had resumed charge of the downtown offices as
+before his illness, it soon became evident to all that his active
+business life was practically over, and that some of his varied
+interests, involving as they did a multiplicity of cares and
+responsibilities, must be curtailed. It was therefore decided to sell
+the mines at Camp Bird at as early a date as practicable, and Mr.
+Britton, Mr. Underwood's partner in the mining business, was summoned
+from a distant State to conduct negotiations for the sale. He arrived
+early in April, and from that time on he and Darrell were engaged in
+appraising and advertising the property embraced in the great mining and
+milling plant, in arranging the terms of sale, and in accompanying
+various prospective purchasers or their agents to and from the mines.
+
+Darrell's work as Mr. Underwood's secretary had been taken up by Kate,
+who now seldom left her father's side. Between herself and Darrell there
+was a comradeship similar to that which existed between them previous to
+her engagement with Walcott, only more healthful and normal, being
+unmixed with any regret for the past or dread of the future.
+
+"You will remain at The Pines when the mines are sold, will you not?"
+she inquired one day on his return from a trip to the camp.
+
+"Not unless I am needed," he replied; "your father will need me but
+little longer; then, unless you need me, I had better not remain."
+
+She was silent for a moment. "No," she said, slowly, "I do not need you;
+I have the assurance of your love; that is enough. I know you will be
+loyal to me as I to you, wherever you may be."
+
+"I will feel far less regret in going away now that I know you are free
+from that man Walcott," Darrell continued; "but I wish you would please
+answer me one question, Kathie: have you any fear of him?"
+
+"Not for myself," she answered; "but I believe he is a man to be feared,
+and," she added, significantly, "I do sometimes fear him for my friends;
+perhaps for that reason it is, as you say, better that you should not
+remain."
+
+"Have no fear for me, Kathie. I understand. That man has been my enemy
+from our first meeting; but have no fear; I am not afraid."
+
+By the latter part of May negotiations for the sale of the mines had
+been consummated, and Camp Bird passed into the possession of strangers.
+It was with a feeling of exile and homelessness that Darrell, riding for
+the last time down the canyon road, turned to bid the mountains
+farewell, looking back with lingering glances into the frowning faces he
+had learned to love.
+
+"What do you propose doing now?" Mr. Britton asked of him as they were
+walking together the evening after his return from camp.
+
+"That is just what I have been asking myself," Darrell replied.
+
+"Without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion?"
+
+"Not as yet."
+
+"What would you wish to do, were you given your choice?"
+
+"What I wish to do, and what I intend to do if possible, is to devote
+the next few months to the completion of my book. I can now afford to
+devote my entire time to it, but I could not do the work justice unless
+amid the right surroundings, and the question is, where to find them. I
+do not care to remain here, and yet I shrink from going among
+strangers."
+
+"There is no need of that," Mr. Britton interposed, quickly; after a
+pause he continued: "You once expressed a desire for a sort of hermit
+life. I think by this time you have grown sufficiently out of yourself
+that you could safely live alone with yourself for a while. How would
+that suit you for three or four months?"
+
+"I should like it above all things," Darrell answered enthusiastically;
+"it would be just the thing for my work, but where or how could I live
+in such a manner?"
+
+"I believe I agreed at that time to furnish the hermitage whenever you
+were ready for it."
+
+"Yes, you said something of the kind, but I never understood what you
+meant by it."
+
+"Settle up your business here, pack together what things you need for a
+few months' sojourn in the mountains, be ready to start with me next
+week, and you will soon understand."
+
+"What is this hermitage, as you call it, and where is it?" Darrell
+asked, curiously.
+
+The other only shook his head with a smile.
+
+"All right," said Darrell, laughing; "I only hope it is as secluded and
+beautiful as Camp Bird; I am homesick to-night for my old quarters."
+
+"You can spend your entire time, if you so desire, without a glimpse of
+a human being other than the man who will look after your needs, except
+as I may occasionally inflict myself upon you for a day or so."
+
+"Good!" Darrell ejaculated.
+
+"It is amid some of the grandest scenery ever created," Mr. Britton
+continued, adding, slowly, "and to me it is the most sacred spot on
+earth,--a veritable Holy of Holies; some day you will know why."
+
+"I thank you, and I beg pardon for my levity," said Darrell, touched by
+the other's manner. And the two men clasped hands and parted for the
+night.
+
+A few days later, as Darrell bade his friends at The Pines good-by, Kate
+whispered,--
+
+"You think this is a parting for three or four months; I feel that it is
+more. Something tells me that before we meet again there will be a
+change--I cannot tell what--that will involve a long separation; but I
+know that through it all our hearts will be true to each other and that
+out of it will come joy to each of us."
+
+"God grant it, Kathie!" Darrell murmured.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXV_
+
+THE "HERMITAGE"
+
+
+Deep within the heart of the Rockies a June day was drawing to its
+close. Behind a range of snow-crowned peaks the sun was sinking into a
+sea of fire which glowed and shimmered along the western horizon and in
+whose transfiguring radiance the bold outlines of the mountains,
+extending far as the eye could reach in endless ranks, were marvellously
+softened; the nearer cliffs and crags were wrapped in a golden glory,
+while the hoary peaks against the eastern sky wore tints of rose and
+amethyst, and over the whole brooded the silence of the ages.
+
+Less than a score of miles distant a busy city throbbed with ceaseless
+life and activity, but these royal monarchs, towering one above another,
+their hands joined in mystic fellowship, their heads white with eternal
+snows, dwelt in the same unbroken calm in which, with noiseless step,
+the centuries had come and gone, leaving their footprints in the granite
+rocks.
+
+Amid those vast distances only two signs of human handiwork were
+visible. Close clinging to the sides of a rugged mountain a narrow track
+of shining steel wound its way upward, marking the pathway of
+civilization in its march from sea to sea, while near the summit of a
+neighboring peak a quaint cabin of unhewn logs arranged in Gothic
+fashion was built into the granite ledge.
+
+On a small plateau before this unique dwelling stood John Britton and
+John Darrell, the latter absorbed in the wondrous scene, the other
+watching with intense satisfaction the surprise and rapture of his young
+companion. They stood thus till the sun dipped out of sight. The
+radiance faded, rose and amethyst deepened to purple; the mountains grew
+sombre and dun, their rugged outlines standing in bold relief against
+the evening sky. A nighthawk, circling above their heads, broke the
+silence with his shrill, plaintive cry, and with a sigh of deep content
+Darrell turned to his friend.
+
+"What do you think of it?" the latter asked.
+
+"It is unspeakably grand," was the reply, in awed tones.
+
+Beckoning Darrell to follow, Mr. Britton led the way to the cabin, which
+he unlocked and entered.
+
+"Welcome to the 'Hermitage!'" he said, smilingly, as Darrell paused on
+the threshold with an exclamation of delight.
+
+A huge fireplace, blasted from solid rock, extended nearly across one
+side of the room. Over it hung antlers of moose, elk, and deer, while
+skins of mountain lion, bear, and wolf covered the floor. A large
+writing-table stood in the centre of the room, and beside it a bookcase
+filled with the works of some of the world's greatest authors.
+
+Darrell lifted one book after another with the reverential touch of the
+true book-lover, while Mr. Britton hastily arranged the belongings of
+the room so as to render it as cosey and attractive as possible.
+
+"The evenings are so cool at this altitude that a fire will soon seem
+grateful," he remarked, lighting the fragrant boughs of spruce and
+hemlock which filled the fireplace and drawing chairs before the
+crackling, dancing flames.
+
+Duke, who had accompanied them, stretched himself in the firelight with
+a low growl of satisfaction, at which both men smiled.
+
+It was the first time Darrell had ever seen his friend in the rôle of
+host, but Mr. Britton proved himself a royal entertainer. His
+experiences of mountain life had been varied and thrilling, and the
+cabin contained many relics and trophies of his prowess as huntsman and
+trapper. As the evening wore on Mr. Britton opened a small store-room
+built in the rock, and took therefrom a tempting repast of venison and
+wild fowl which his forethought had ordered placed there for the
+occasion. To Darrell, sitting by the fragrant fire and listening to
+tales of adventure, the time passed only too swiftly, and he was sorry
+when the entrance of the man with his luggage recalled them to the
+lateness of the hour.
+
+"There is a genuine hermit for you," Mr. Britton remarked, as the man
+took his departure after agreeing to come to the cabin once a day to do
+whatever might be needed.
+
+"Who is he?" Darrell asked.
+
+"No one knows. He goes by the name of 'Peter,' but nothing is known of
+his real name or history. He has lived in these mountains for thirty
+years and has not visited a city or town of any size in that time. He is
+a trapper, but acts as guide during the summers. He is very popular with
+tourist and hunting parties that come to the mountains, but nothing will
+induce him to leave his haunts except as he occasionally goes to some
+small station for supplies."
+
+"Where does he live?"
+
+"In a cabin about half-way down the trail. He is a good cook, a faithful
+man every way, but you will find him very reticent. He is one of the
+many in this country whose past is buried out of sight."
+
+Mr. Britton then led the way to two smaller rooms,--a kitchen,
+equipped with a small stove, table, and cooking utensils, and a
+sleeping-apartment, its two bunks piled with soft blankets and
+wolf-skins.
+
+As Darrell proceeded to disrobe his attention was suddenly attracted by
+an object in one corner of the room which he was unable to distinguish
+clearly in the dim light. Upon going over to examine it more closely,
+what was his astonishment to see a large crucifix of exquisite design
+and workmanship. As he turned towards Mr. Britton the latter smiled to
+see the bewilderment depicted on his face.
+
+"You did not expect to find such a souvenir of old Rome in a mountain
+cabin, did you?" he asked.
+
+"Perhaps not," Darrell admitted; "but that of itself is not what so
+greatly surprises me. Are you a----" He paused abruptly, without
+finishing the question.
+
+"I will answer the question you hesitate to ask," the other replied;
+"no, I am not a Catholic; neither am I, in the strict sense of the word,
+a Protestant, or one who protests, since, if I were, I would protest no
+more earnestly against the errors of the Catholic Church than against
+the evils existing in other so-called Christian churches."
+
+Darrell's eyes returned to the crucifix.
+
+"That," continued Mr. Britton, "was given me years ago by a beloved
+friend of mine--a priest, now an archbishop--in return for a few
+services rendered some of his people. I keep it for the lessons it
+taught me in the years of my sorrow, and whenever my burden seems
+greater than I can bear, I come back here and look at that, and beside
+the suffering which it symbolizes my own is dwarfed to insignificance."
+
+A long silence followed; then, as they lay down in the darkness, Darrell
+said, in subdued tones,--
+
+"I have never heard you say, and it never before occurred to me to ask,
+what was your religion."
+
+"I don't know that I have any particular religion," Mr. Britton
+answered, slowly; "I have no formulated creed. I am a child of God and a
+disciple of Jesus, the Christ. Like Him, I am the child of a King, a son
+of the highest Royalty, yet a servant to my fellow-men; that is all."
+
+The following morning Mr. Britton awakened Darrell at an early hour.
+
+"Forgive me for disturbing your slumbers, but I want you to see the
+sunrise from these heights; I think you will feel repaid. You could not
+see it at the camp, you were so hemmed in by higher mountains."
+
+Darrell rose and, having dressed hastily, stepped out into the gray
+twilight of the early dawn. A faint flush tinged the eastern sky, which
+deepened to a roseate hue, growing moment by moment brighter and more
+vivid. Chain after chain of mountains, slumbering dark and grim against
+the horizon, suddenly awoke, blushing and smiling in the rosy light.
+Then, as rays of living flame shot upward, mingling with the crimson
+waves and changing them to molten gold, the snowy caps of the higher
+peaks were transformed to jewelled crowns. There was a moment of
+transcendent beauty, then, in a burst of glory, the sun appeared.
+
+"That is a sight I shall never forget, and one I shall try to see
+often," Darrell said, as they retraced their steps to the cabin.
+
+"You will never find it twice the same," Mr. Britton answered; "Nature
+varies her gifts so that to her true lovers they will not pall."
+
+After breakfast they again strolled out into the sunlight, Mr. Britton
+seating himself upon a projecting ledge of granite, while Darrell threw
+himself down upon the mountain grass, his head resting within his
+clasped hands.
+
+"What an ideal spot for my work!" he exclaimed.
+
+Mr. Britton smiled. "I fear you would never accomplish much with me
+here. I must return to the city soon, or you will degenerate into a
+confirmed idler."
+
+"I have often thought," said Darrell, reflectively, "that when I have
+completed this work I would like to attempt a novel. It seems as though
+there is plenty of material out here for a strong one. Think of the
+lives one comes in contact with almost daily--stranger than fiction,
+every one!"
+
+"Your own, for instance," Mr. Britton suggested.
+
+"Yours also," Darrell replied, in low tones; "the story of your life, if
+rightly told, would do more to uplift men's souls than nine-tenths of
+the sermons."
+
+"The story of my life, my son, will never be told to any ear other than
+your own, and I trust to your love for me that it will go no farther."
+
+"Of that you can rest assured," Darrell replied.
+
+As the sun climbed towards the zenith they returned to the cabin and
+seated themselves on a broad settee of rustic work under an overhanging
+vine near the cabin door.
+
+"I have been wondering ever since I came here," said Darrell, "how you
+ever discovered such a place as this. It is so unique and so appropriate
+to the surroundings."
+
+"I discovered," said Mr. Britton, with slight emphasis on the word,
+"only the 'surroundings.' The cabin is my own work."
+
+"What! do you mean to say that you built it?"
+
+"Yes, little by little. At first it was hardly more than a rude shelter,
+but I gradually enlarged it and beautified it, trying always, as you
+say, to keep it in harmony with its surroundings."
+
+"Then you are an artist and a genius."
+
+"But that is not the only work I did during the first months of my life
+here. Come with me and I will show you."
+
+He led the way along the trail, farther up the mountain, till a sharp
+turn hid him from view. Darrell, following closely, came upon the
+entrance of an incline shaft leading into the mountain. Just within he
+saw Mr. Britton lighting two candles which he had taken from a rocky
+ledge; one of these he handed to Darrell, and then proceeded down the
+shaft.
+
+"A mine!" Darrell exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, and a valuable one, were it only accessible so that it could be
+developed without enormous expense; but that is out of the question."
+
+The underground workings were not extensive, but the vein was one of
+exceptional richness. When they emerged later Darrell brought with him
+some specimens and a tiny nugget of gold as souvenirs.
+
+"The first season," said Mr. Britton, "I worked the mine and built the
+cabin as a shelter for the coming winter. The winter months I spent in
+hunting and trapping when I could go out in the mountains, and
+hibernated during the long storms. Early in the spring I began mining
+again and worked the following season. By that time I was ready to start
+forth into the world, so I gave Peter an interest in the mine, and he
+works it from time to time, doing little more than the representation
+each year."
+
+As they descended towards the cabin Mr. Britton continued: "I have shown
+you this that you may the better understand the story I have to tell you
+before I leave you as sole occupant of the Hermitage."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXVI_
+
+JOHN BRITTON'S STORY
+
+
+Evening found Darrell and his friend seated on the rocks watching the
+sunset. Mr. Britton was unusually silent, and Darrell, through a sort of
+intuitive sympathy, refrained from breaking the silence. At last, as the
+glow was fading from earth and sky, Mr. Britton said,--
+
+"I have chosen this day and this hour to tell you my story, because,
+being the anniversary of my wedding, it seemed peculiarly appropriate.
+Twenty-eight years ago, at sunset, on such a royal day as this, we were
+married--my love and I."
+
+He spoke with an unnatural calmness, as though it were another's story
+he was telling.
+
+"I was young, with a decided aptitude for commercial life, ambitious,
+determined to make my way in life, but with little capital besides sound
+health and a good education. She was the daughter of a wealthy man. We
+speak in this country of 'mining kings;' he might be denominated an
+'agricultural king.' He prided himself upon his hundreds of fertile
+acres, his miles of forest, his immense dairy, his blooded horses, his
+magnificent barns and granaries, his beautiful home. She was the younger
+daughter--his especial pet and pride. For a while, as a friend and
+acquaintance of his two daughters, I was welcome at his home; later, as
+a lover of the younger, I was banished and its doors closed against me.
+Our love was no foolish boy and girl romance, and we had no word of
+kindly counsel; only unreasoning, stubborn opposition. What followed
+was only what might have been expected. Strong in our love for and trust
+in each other, we went to a neighboring village, and, going to a little
+country parsonage, were married, without one thought of the madness, the
+folly of what we were doing. We found the minister and his family seated
+outside the house under a sort of arbor of flowering shrubs, and I
+remember it was her wish that the ceremony be performed there. Never can
+I forget her as she stood there, her hand trembling in mine at the
+strangeness of the situation, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her
+lips quivering as she made the responses, the slanting sunbeams kissing
+her hair and brow and the fragrant, snowy petals of the mock-orange
+falling about her.
+
+"A few weeks of unalloyed happiness followed; then gradually my eyes
+were opened to the wrong I had done her. My heart smote me as I saw her,
+day by day, performing household tasks to which she was unaccustomed,
+subjected to petty trials and privations, denying herself in many little
+ways in order to help me. She never murmured, but her very fortitude and
+cheerfulness were a constant reproach to me.
+
+"But a few months elapsed when we found that another was coming to share
+our home and our love. We rejoiced together, but my heart reproached me
+more bitterly than ever as I realized how ill prepared she was for what
+awaited her. Our trials and privations brought us only closer to each
+other, but my brain was racked with anxiety and my heart bled as day by
+day I saw the dawning motherhood in her eyes,--the growing tenderness,
+the look of sweet, wondering expectancy. I grew desperate.
+
+"From a booming western city came reports of marvellous openings for
+business men--of small investments bringing swift and large returns. I
+placed my wife in the care of a good, motherly woman and bade her
+good-by, while she, brave heart, without a tear, bade me God-speed. I
+went there determined to win, to make a home to which I would bring both
+wife and child later. For three months I made money, sending half to
+her, and investing every cent which I did not absolutely need of the
+other half. Then came tales from a mining district still farther west,
+of fabulous fortunes made in a month, a week, sometimes a day. What was
+the use of dallying where I was? I hastened to the mining camp. In less
+than a week I had 'struck it rich,' and knew that in all probability I
+would within a month draw out a fortune.
+
+"Just at this time the letters from home ceased. For seven days I heard
+nothing, and half mad with anxiety and suspense I awaited each night the
+incoming train to bring me tidings. One night, just as the train was
+about to leave, I caught sight of a former acquaintance from a
+neighboring village, bound for a camp yet farther west, and, as I
+greeted him, he told me in few words and pitying tones of the death of
+my wife and child."
+
+For a moment Mr. Britton paused, and Darrell drew instinctively nearer,
+though saying nothing.
+
+"I have no distinct recollection of what followed. I was told afterwards
+that friendly hands caught me as the train started, to save me from
+being crushed beneath the wheels. For three months I wandered from one
+mining camp to another, working mechanically, with no thought or care as
+to success or failure. An old miner from the first camp who had taken a
+liking to me followed me in my wanderings and worked beside me, caring
+for me and guarding my savings as though he had been a father. The old
+fellow never left me, nor I him, until his death three years later. He
+taught me many valuable points in practical mining, and I think his
+rough but kindly care was all that saved me from insanity during those
+years.
+
+"After his death I brooded over my grief till I became nearly frenzied.
+I could not banish the thought that but for my rashness and foolishness
+in taking her from her home my wife might still have been living. To
+myself I seemed little short of a murderer. I left the camp and
+wandered, night and day, afar into the mountains. I came to this
+mountain on which we are sitting and climbed nearly to the top. God was
+there, but, like Jacob of old, 'I knew it not.' But something seemed to
+speak to me out of the infinite silence, calming my frenzied brain and
+soothing my troubled soul. I sat there till the stars appeared, and then
+I sank into a deep, peaceful sleep--the first in years. When I awoke the
+sun was shining in my face, and, though the old pain still throbbed, I
+had a sense of new strength with which to bear it. I ate of the food I
+carried with me and drank from a mountain stream--the same that trickles
+past us now, only nearer its source. The place fascinated me; I dared
+not leave it, and I spent the day in wandering up and down the rocks. My
+steps were guided to the mine I showed you to-day. I saw the indications
+of richness there, and, overturning the earth with my pick, found gold
+among the very grassroots. Then followed the life of which I have
+already given you an outline.
+
+"For a while I worked in pain and anguish, but gradually, in the
+solitude of the mountains, my spirit found peace; against their infinity
+my life with its burden dwindled to an atom, and from the lesson of
+their centuries of silent waiting I gathered strength and fortitude to
+await my appointed time.
+
+"But after a time God spoke to me and bade me go forth from my solitude
+into the world, to comfort other sorrowing souls as I had been
+comforted. From that time I have travelled almost constantly. I have no
+home; I wish none. I want to bring comfort and help to as many of
+earth's sorrowing, sinning children as possible; but when the old wound
+bleeds afresh and the pain becomes more than I can bear I flee as a bird
+to my mountain for balm and healing. Do you wonder, my son, that the
+place is sacred to me? Do you understand my love for you in bringing you
+here?"
+
+Darrell sat with bowed head, speechless, but one hand went out to Mr.
+Britton, which the latter clasped in both his own.
+
+When at last he raised his head he exclaimed, "Strange! but your story
+has wrung my soul! It seems in some inexplicable way a part of my very
+life!"
+
+"Our souls seem united by some mystic tie--I cannot explain what, unless
+it be that in some respects our sufferings have been similar."
+
+"Mine have been as nothing to yours," Darrell replied. A moment later he
+added:
+
+"I feel as one in a dream; what you have told me has taken such hold
+upon me."
+
+Night had fallen when they returned to the cabin.
+
+"This seems hallowed ground to me now," Darrell remarked.
+
+"It has always seemed so to me," Mr. Britton replied; "but remember, so
+long as you have need of the place it is always open to you."
+
+"'Until the day break and the shadows flee away,'" Darrell responded, in
+low tones, as though to himself.
+
+Mr. Britton caught his meaning. "My son," he said, "when the day breaks
+for you do not forget those who still sit in darkness!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXVII_
+
+THE RENDING OF THE VEIL
+
+
+The story of Mr. Britton's life impressed Darrell deeply. In the days
+following his friend's departure he would sit for hours revolving it in
+his mind, unable to rid himself of the impression that it was in some
+way connected with his own life. Impelled by some motive he could
+scarcely explain, he recorded it in his journal as told by Mr. Britton
+as nearly as he could recall it.
+
+Left to himself he worked with unabated ardor, but his work soon grew
+unsatisfying. The inspiring nature of his surroundings seemed to
+stimulate him to higher effort and loftier work, which should call into
+play the imaginative faculties and in which the brain would be free to
+weave its own creations. Stronger within him grew the desire to write a
+novel which should have in it something of the power, the force, of the
+strenuous western life,--something which would seem, in a measure at
+least, worthy of his surroundings. His day's work ended, he would walk
+up and down the rocks, sometimes far into the night, the plot for this
+story forming within his brain, till at last its outlines grew distinct
+and he knew the thing that was to be, as the sculptor knows what will
+come forth at his bidding from the lifeless marble. He made a careful
+synopsis of the plot that nothing might escape him in the uncertain
+future, and then began to write.
+
+The order of his work was now reversed, the new undertaking being given
+his first and best thought; then, when imagination wearied and refused
+to rise above the realms of fact, he fell back upon his scientific work
+as a rest from the other. Thus employed the weeks passed with incredible
+swiftness, the monotony broken by an occasional visit from Mr. Britton,
+until August came, its hot breath turning the grasses sere and brown.
+
+One evening Darrell came forth from his work at a later hour than usual.
+His mind had been unusually active, his imagination vivid, but, wearied
+at last, he was compelled to stop short of the task he had set for
+himself.
+
+The heat had been intense that day, and the atmosphere seemed peculiarly
+oppressive. The sun was sinking amid light clouds of gorgeous tints, and
+as Darrell watched their changing outlines they seemed fit emblems of
+the thoughts at that moment baffling his weary brain,--elusive,
+intangible, presenting themselves in numberless forms, yet always beyond
+his grasp.
+
+Standing erect, with arms folded, his pose indicated conscious strength,
+and the face lifted to the evening sky was one which would have
+commanded attention amid a sea of human faces. Two years had wrought
+wondrous changes in it. Strength and firmness were there still, but
+sweetness was mingled with the strength, and the old, indomitable will
+was tempered with gentleness. All the finer susceptibilities had been
+awakened and had left their impress there. Introspection had done its
+work. It was the face of a man who knew himself and had conquered
+himself. The sculptor's work was almost complete.
+
+Not a breath stirred the air, which moment by moment grew more
+oppressive, presaging a coming storm. Darrell was suddenly filled with a
+strange unrest--a presentiment of some impending catastrophe. For a
+while he walked restlessly up and down the narrow plateau; then, seating
+himself in front of the cabin, he bowed his head upon his hands,
+shutting out all sight and thought of the present, for his mind seemed
+teeming with vague, shadowy forms of the past. Duke came near and laid
+his head against his master's shoulder, and the twilight deepened around
+them both.
+
+Far up the neighboring mountain a mighty engine loomed out from the
+gathering darkness--a fiery-headed monster--and with its long train of
+coaches crawled serpent-like around the rocky height, then vanished as
+it came. The clouds which had been roving indolently across the western
+horizon suddenly formed in line and moved steadily--a solid
+battalion--upward towards the zenith, while from the east another
+phalanx, black and threatening, advanced with low, wrathful mutterings.
+
+Unmindful of the approaching storm Darrell sat, silent and motionless,
+till a sudden peal of thunder--the first note of the impending
+battle--roused him from his revery. Springing to his feet he watched the
+rapidly advancing armies marshalling their forces upon the
+battle-ground. Another roll of thunder, and the conflict began. Up and
+down the mountain passes the winds rushed wildly, shrieking like demons.
+Around the lofty summits the lightnings played like the burnished swords
+of giants in mortal combat, while peal after peal resounded through the
+vast spaces, reverberated from peak to peak, echoed and re-echoed, till
+the rocks themselves seemed to tremble.
+
+With quickening pulse and bated breath Darrell watched the
+storm,--fascinated, entranced,--while emotions he could neither
+understand nor control surged through his breast. More and more fiercely
+the battle waged; more swift and brilliant grew the sword-play, while
+the roar of heaven's artillery grew louder and louder. His spirit rose
+with the strife, filling him with a strange sense of exaltation.
+
+Suddenly the universe seemed wrapped in flame, there was a deafening
+crash as though the eternal hills were being rent asunder, and
+then--oblivion!
+
+When that instant of blinding light and deafening sound had passed John
+Darrell lay prostrate, unconscious on the rocks.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXVIII_
+
+"AS A DREAM WHEN ONE AWAKETH"
+
+
+As the morning sun arose over the snowy summits of the Great Divide, the
+sleeper on the rocks stirred restlessly; then gradually awoke to
+consciousness--a delightful consciousness of renewed life and vigor, a
+subtle sense of revivification of body and mind. The racking pain, the
+burning fever, the legions of torturing phantoms, all were gone; his
+pulse was calm, his blood cool, his brain clear.
+
+With a sigh of deep content he opened his eyes; then suddenly rose to a
+sitting posture and gazed about him in utter bewilderment; above him
+only the boundless dome of heaven, around him only endless mountain
+ranges! Dazed by the strangeness, the isolation of the scene, he began
+for an instant to doubt his sanity; was this a reality or a chimera of
+his own imagination? But only for an instant, for with his first
+movement a large collie had bounded to his side and now began licking
+his hands and face with the most joyful demonstrations. There was
+something soothing and reassuring in the companionship even of the dumb
+brute, and he caressed the noble creature, confident that he would soon
+find some sign of human life in that strange region; but the dog,
+reading no look of recognition in the face beside him, drew back and
+began whining piteously.
+
+Perplexed, but with his faculties thoroughly aroused and active, the
+young man sprang to his feet, and, looking eagerly about him,
+discovered at a little distance the cabin against the mountain ledge.
+Hastening thither he found the door open, and, after vainly waiting for
+any response to his knocking, entered.
+
+The furnishings were mostly hand-made, but fashioned with considerable
+artistic skill, and contributed to give the interior a most attractive
+appearance, while etchings, books and papers, pages of written
+manuscript, and a violin indicated its occupants to be a man of refined
+tastes and studious habits. The dog had accompanied him, sometimes
+following closely, sometimes going on in advance as though to lead the
+way. Once within the cabin he led him to the store-room in the rock
+where was an abundance of food, which the latter proceeded to divide
+between himself and his dumb guide.
+
+Having satisfied his hunger, the young man took a newspaper from the
+table, and, going outside the cabin, seated himself to await the return
+of his unknown host. Sitting there, he discovered for the first time the
+railway winding around the sides of the lofty mountain opposite. The
+sight filled him with delight, for those slender rails, gleaming in the
+morning sunlight, seemed to connect him with the world which he
+remembered, but from which he appeared so strangely isolated.
+
+Unfolding the newspaper his attention was attracted by the date, at
+which he gazed in consternation, his eyes riveted to the page. For a
+moment his head swam, he was unable to believe his own senses. Dropping
+the sheet and bowing his head upon his hands he went carefully over the
+past as he now remembered it,--the business on which he had been
+commissioned to come west; his journey westward; the tragedy in the
+sleeping-car--he shuddered as the memory of the murderer's face flashed
+before him with terrible distinctness; his reception at The Pines,--all
+was as clear as though it had happened but yesterday; it was in August,
+and this was August, but two years later! Great God! had two years
+dropped out of his life? Again he recalled his illness, the long agony,
+the final sinking into oblivion, the strange awakening in perfect
+health; yes, surely there must be a missing link; but how? where?
+
+He rose to re-enter the cabin, and, passing the window, caught a glimpse
+of his face reflected there; a face like, and yet unlike, his own, and
+crowned with snow-white hair! In doubt and bewilderment he paced up and
+down within the cabin, vainly striving to connect these fragmentary
+parts, to reconcile the present with the past. As he passed and repassed
+the table covered with manuscript his attention was attracted by an
+odd-looking volume bound in flexible morocco and containing several
+hundred pages of written matter. It lay partly open in a conspicuous
+place, and upon the fly-leaf was written, in large, bold characters,--
+
+     "To my Other Self, should he awaken."
+
+He could not banish the words from his mind; they drew him with
+irresistible magnetism. Again and again he read them, until, impelled by
+some power he could not explain, he seized the volume and, seating
+himself in the doorway of the cabin, proceeded to examine it. Lifting
+the fly-leaf, he read the following inscription:
+
+     "To one from the outer world, whose identity is hidden among the
+     secrets of the past:
+
+     "With the hope that when the veil is lifted, these pages may assist
+     him in uniting into one perfect whole the strangely disjointed
+     portions of his life, they are inscribed by
+
+                                             "JOHN DARRELL."
+
+He smiled as he read the name and recalled the circumstances under which
+he had taken it, but he no longer felt any hesitation regarding the
+volume in his hands, and he began to read. It was written as a
+communication from one stranger to another, from the mountain recluse to
+one of whose life he had not the slightest knowledge; but he knew
+without doubt that it was addressed to himself, yet written by
+himself,--that writer and reader were one and the same.
+
+For more than two hours he read on and on, deeply absorbed in the tale
+of that solitary life, his own heart responding to each note of joy or
+sorrow, of hope or despair, and vibrating to the undertone of loneliness
+and longing running through it all.
+
+He strove vainly to recall the characters in the strange drama in which
+he had played his part but of which he had now no distinct recollection;
+dimly they passed before his vision like the shadowy phantoms of a dream
+from which one has just awakened. He started at the first mention of
+John Britton's name, eagerly following each outline of that noble
+character, his heart kindling with affection as he read his words of
+loving, helpful counsel. His face grew tender and his eyes filled at the
+love-story, so pathetically brief, faithfully transcribed on those
+pages, but of Kate Underwood he could only recall a slender girl with
+golden-brown hair and wistful, appealing brown eyes; he wondered at the
+strength of character shown by her speech and conduct, and his heart
+went out to this unknown love, notwithstanding that memory now showed
+him the picture of another and earlier love in the far East.
+
+But it was the story of John Britton's life which moved him most. With
+strained, eager eyes and bated breath he read that sad recital, and at
+its termination, buried his face in his hands and sobbed like a child.
+
+When he had grown calm he sat for some time reviewing the past and
+forming plans for future action. While thus absorbed in thought he heard
+a step, and, looking up, saw standing before him a man of apparently
+sixty years, with bronzed face and grizzled hair, whose small, piercing
+eyes regarded himself with keen scrutiny. In response to the younger
+man's greeting he only bowed silently.
+
+"You must be Peter, the hermit," the young man exclaimed; "but whoever
+you are, you are welcome; I am glad to see a human face."
+
+"And you," replied the other, slowly, "you are not the same man that you
+were yesterday; you have awakened, as he said you would some day."
+
+"As who said?" the young man questioned.
+
+"John Britton," the other replied.
+
+"Yes, I have awakened, and my life here is like a dream. Sit down,
+Peter; I want to ask you some questions."
+
+For half an hour they sat together, the younger man asking questions,
+the other answering in as few words as possible, his keen eyes never
+leaving the face of his interlocutor.
+
+"Where is this John Britton?" the young man finally inquired.
+
+"In Ophir--at a place called The Pines."
+
+"I know the place; I remember it. How far is it from here?"
+
+"Fifteen miles by rail from the station at the foot of the mountain."
+
+"I must go to him at once; you will show me the way. How soon can we get
+away from here?"
+
+Peter glanced at the sun. "We cannot get down the trail in season for
+to-day's train. We will start to-morrow morning."
+
+Without further speech he then went into the cabin and busied himself
+with his accustomed duties. When he reappeared he again stood silently
+regarding the younger man with his fixed, penetrating gaze.
+
+"What awakened you?" he asked, at length.
+
+The abruptness of the question, as well as its tenor, startled the
+other; that was a phase of the mystery surrounding himself of which he
+had not even thought.
+
+"I do not know," he replied, slowly; "that question had not occurred to
+me before. What do you think? Might it not have come about in the
+ordinary sequence of events?"
+
+Peter shook his head. "Not likely," he muttered; "there must have been a
+shock of some kind."
+
+The young man smiled brightly. "Well, I cannot answer for yesterday's
+events," he said, "having neither record nor recollection of the day;
+but I certainly sustained a shock this morning on awaking on the bare
+rocks at such an altitude as this and with no trace of a human being
+visible!"
+
+"On the rocks!" Peter repeated; "where?"
+
+"Yonder," said the young man, indicating the direction; "come, I will
+show you the exact spot."
+
+He led the way to his rocky bed, near one end of the plateau, then
+watched his companion's movements as he knelt down and carefully
+inspected the rock, then, rising to his feet, looked searchingly in
+every direction with his ferret-like glance.
+
+"Ah!" the latter suddenly exclaimed, with emphasis, at the same time
+pointing to a rock almost overhanging their heads.
+
+Following the direction indicated, the young man saw a pine-tree on the
+edge of the overhanging rock, the entire length of its trunk split open,
+its branches shrivelled and blackened as though by fire.
+
+Peter, notwithstanding his age, sprang up the rocks with the agility of
+a panther, the younger man following more slowly. As he came up Peter
+turned from an examination of the dead tree and looked at him
+significantly.
+
+"An electric shock!" he said; "that was a living tree yesterday. There
+was an electric storm last night, the worst in years; it brought death
+to the tree, but life to you."
+
+To the younger man the words of the old hermit seemed incredible, but
+that night brought him a strange confirmation of their truth. Upon
+disrobing for the night, what was his astonishment to discover upon his
+right shoulder and extending downward diagonally across the right breast
+a long, blue mark of irregular, zigzag form, while running parallel with
+it its entire length, perfect as though done in India ink with an
+artist's pen, was the outline of the very scene surrounding him where he
+lay that morning--cliff and crag and mountain peak--traced indelibly
+upon the living flesh, an indubitable evidence of the power which had
+finally aroused his dormant faculties and a souvenir of the lost years
+which he would carry with him to his dying day.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXIX_
+
+JOHN DARRELL'S STORY
+
+
+On the following morning the cabin on the mountain side was closed at an
+early hour, and its late occupant, accompanied by Peter and the collie,
+descended the trail to the small station near the base of the mountain,
+where he took leave of the old hermit. On his arrival at Ophir he
+ordered a carriage and drove directly to The Pines, for he was impatient
+to see John Britton at as early a date as possible, and was fearful lest
+the latter, with his migratory habits, might escape him.
+
+It was near noon when, having dismissed the carriage, he rang for
+admission. He recalled the house and grounds as they appeared to him on
+his first arrival, but he found it hard to realize that he was looking
+upon the scenes among which most of that strange drama of the last two
+years had been enacted. Mr. Underwood himself came to the door.
+
+"Why, Darrell, my boy, how do you do?" he exclaimed, shaking hands
+heartily; "thought you'd take us by surprise, eh? Got a little tired of
+living alone, I guess, and thought you'd come back to your friends.
+Well, it's mighty good to see you; come in; we'll have lunch in about an
+hour."
+
+To Mr. Underwood's surprise the young man did not immediately accept the
+invitation to come in, but seemed to hesitate for a moment.
+
+"I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Underwood," he responded, pleasantly,
+but with a shade of reserve in his manner; "I remember you very well,
+indeed, and probably yours is about the only face I will be able to
+recall."
+
+For a moment Mr. Underwood seemed staggered, unable to comprehend the
+meaning of the other's words.
+
+The young man continued: "I understand Mr. Britton is stopping with you;
+is he still here, or has he left?"
+
+"He is here," Mr. Underwood replied; "but, good God! Darrell, what does
+this mean?"
+
+Before the other could reply Mr. Britton, who was in an adjoining room
+and had overheard the colloquy, came quickly forward. He gave a swift,
+penetrating glance into the young man's face, then, turning to Mr.
+Underwood, said,--
+
+"It means, David, that our young friend has come to his own again. He is
+no longer of our world or of us."
+
+Then turning to the young man, he said, "I am John Britton; do you wish
+to see me?"
+
+The other looked earnestly into the face of the speaker, and his own
+features betrayed emotion as he replied,--
+
+"I do; I must see you on especially important business."
+
+"David, you will let us have the use of your private room for a while?"
+Mr. Britton inquired.
+
+Mr. Underwood nodded silently, his eyes fixed with a troubled expression
+upon the young man's face. The latter, observing his distress, said,--
+
+"Don't think, Mr. Underwood, that I am insensible to all your kindness
+to me since my coming here two years ago. I shall see you later and show
+you that I am not lacking in appreciation, though I can never express
+my gratitude to you; but before I can do that--before I can even tell
+you who I am--it is necessary that I see Mr. Britton."
+
+"Tut! tut!" said Mr. Underwood, gruffly; "don't talk to me of gratitude;
+I don't want any; but, my God! boy, I had come to look on you almost as
+my own son!" And, turning abruptly, he left the room before either of
+the others could speak.
+
+"He is a man of very strong feelings," said Mr. Britton, leading the way
+to Mr. Underwood's room; "and, to tell the truth, this is a pretty hard
+blow to each of us, although we should have prepared ourselves for it.
+Be seated, my son."
+
+Seating himself beside the young man and again looking into his face, he
+said,--
+
+"I see that the day has dawned; when did the light come, and how?"
+
+Briefly the other related his awakening on the rocks and the events
+which followed down to his finding and reading the journal which
+recorded so faithfully the history of the missing years, Mr. Britton
+listening with intense interest. At last the young man said,--
+
+"Of all the records of that journal, there was nothing that interested
+me so greatly or moved me so deeply as did the story of your own life.
+That is what brought me here to-day. I have come to tell you my
+story,--the story of John Darrell, as you have known him,--and possibly
+you may find it in some ways a counterpart to your own."
+
+"I was drawn towards you in some inexplicable way from our first
+meeting," Mr. Britton replied, slowly; "you became as dear to me as a
+son, so that I gave you in confidence the story that no other human
+being has ever heard. It is needless to say that I appreciate this mark
+of your confidence in return, and that you can rest assured of my
+deepest interest in anything concerning yourself."
+
+The younger man drew his chair nearer his companion. "As you already
+know," he said, "I am a mine expert. I came out here on a commission for
+a large eastern syndicate, and as there was likely to be lively
+competition and I wished to remain incognito, I took the name of John
+Darrell, which in reality was a part of my own name. My home is in New
+York State. I was a country-bred boy, brought up on one of those great
+farms which abound a little north of the central part of the State; but,
+though country-bred, I was not a rustic, for my mother, who was my
+principal instructor until I was about fourteen years of age, was a
+woman of refinement and culture. My mother and I lived at her father's
+house--a beautiful country home; but even while a mere child I became
+aware that there was some kind of an unpleasant secret in our family. My
+grandfather would never allow my father's name mentioned, and he had
+little love for me as his child; but my earliest recollections of my
+mother are of her kneeling with me night after night in prayer, teaching
+me to love and revere the father I had never known, who, she told me,
+was 'gone away,' and to pray always for his welfare and for his return.
+At fourteen I was sent away to a preparatory school, and afterwards to
+college. Then, as I developed a taste for mineralogy and metallurgy, I
+took a course in the Columbian School of Mines. By this time I had
+learned that while it was generally supposed my mother was a widow,
+there were those, my grandfather among them, who believed that my father
+had deserted her. My first intimation of this was an insinuation to that
+effect by my grandfather himself, soon after my graduation. I was an
+athlete and already had a good position at a fair salary, and so great
+was my love and reverence for my father's name that I told the old
+gentleman that nothing but his white hairs saved him from a sound
+thrashing, and that at the first repetition of any such insinuation I
+would take my mother from under his roof and provide a home for her
+myself. That sufficed to silence him effectually, for he idolized her.
+After this little episode I went to my mother and begged her to tell me
+the secret regarding my father."
+
+The young man paused for a moment, his dark eyes gazing earnestly into
+the clear gray eyes watching him intently; then, without shifting his
+gaze, he continued, in low tones:
+
+"She told me that about a year before my birth she and my father were
+married against her father's will, his only objection to the marriage
+being that my father was poor. She told me of their happy married life
+that followed, but that my father was ambitious, and the consciousness
+of poverty and the fact that he could not provide for her as he wished
+galled him. She told me how, when there was revealed to them the promise
+of a new love and life within their little home, he redoubled his
+efforts to do for her and hers, and then, dissatisfied with what he
+could accomplish there, went out into the new West to build a home for
+his little family. She told of the brave, loving letters that came so
+faithfully and the generous remittances to provide for every possible
+need in the coming emergency. Then Fortune beckoned him still farther
+west, and he obeyed, daring the dangers of that strange, wild country
+for the love he bore his wife and his unborn child. From that country
+only one letter ever was received from him. Just at that time I was
+born, and my life came near costing hers who bore me. For weeks she lay
+between life and death, so low that the report of her death reached her
+parents, bringing them broken-hearted and, as they supposed, too late to
+her humble home. They found her yet living and threw their love and
+their wealth into the battle against death. In all this time no news
+came from the great West. As soon as she could be moved my mother and
+her child were taken to her father's home. Her father forgave her, but
+he had no forgiveness for her husband and no love for his child. He
+tried to make my mother believe her husband had deserted her, but she
+was loyal in her trust in him as in her love for him. She named her
+child for his father, 'John,' but as her father would not allow the name
+repeated in his hearing she gave him the additional name of 'Darrell,'
+by which he was universally known; but in those sacred hours when she
+told me of my father and taught me to pray for him, she always called me
+by his name, 'John Britton.'"
+
+As he ceased speaking both men rose simultaneously to their feet. The
+elder man placed his hands upon the shoulders of the younger, and,
+standing thus face to face, they looked into each other's eyes as though
+each were reading the other's inmost soul.
+
+"What was your mother's name?" Mr. Britton asked, in low tones.
+
+"Patience--Patience Jewett," replied the other.
+
+Mr. Britton bowed his head with deep emotion, and father and son were
+clasped in each other's arms.
+
+When they had grown calm enough for speech Mr. Britton's first words
+were of his wife.
+
+"What of your mother, my son,--was she living when you came west?"
+
+"Yes, but her health was delicate, and I am fearful of the effects of my
+long absence; it must have been a terrible strain upon her. As soon as I
+reached the city this morning I telegraphed an old schoolmate for
+tidings of her, and I am expecting an answer any moment."
+
+They talked of the strange chain of circumstances which had brought them
+together and of the mysterious bond by which they had been so closely
+united while as yet unconscious of their relationship. The summons to
+lunch recalled them to the present. As they rose to leave the room Mr.
+Britton threw his arm affectionately about Darrell's shoulders,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"My son! Mine! and I have loved you as such from the first time I looked
+into your eyes! If God will now only permit me to see my beloved wife
+again, I can ask nothing more!"
+
+And as Darrell gazed at the noble form, towering slightly above his own,
+and looked into the depths of those gray eyes, penetrating, fearless,
+yet tender as a woman's, he felt that however sweet and sacred had been
+the friendship between them in the past, it was as naught compared with
+the infinitely sweeter and holier relationship of father and son.
+
+They passed into the dining-room where Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dean
+awaited them, a look of eager expectancy on both faces, the wistful
+expression of Mrs. Dean as she watched for the first token of
+recognition on Darrell's part being almost pathetic.
+
+Mr. Britton, who had entered slightly in advance, paused half-way across
+the room, and, placing his hand on Darrell's shoulder, said, in a voice
+which vibrated with emotion,--
+
+"My dear friends, Mrs. Dean and Mr. Underwood, allow me to introduce my
+son, John Darrell Britton!"
+
+There, was a moment of strained silence in which only the labored
+breathing of Mr. Underwood could be heard.
+
+"Do you mean that you have adopted him?" Mr. Underwood asked, slowly,
+seeming to speak with difficulty.
+
+"No, David; he is my own flesh and blood--my legitimate son; I will
+explain later."
+
+Mrs. Dean and Darrell had clasped hands and were scanning each other's
+faces.
+
+"John, do you remember me?" she asked, with trembling lips.
+
+Darrell bent his head and kissed her. "I do, Mrs. Dean," he replied.
+
+She smiled, at the same time wiping away a tear with the corner of her
+white apron.
+
+"I don't think I could have borne it if you hadn't," she remarked,
+simply; then, shaking hands with Mr. Britton, she added:
+
+"I congratulate you, Mr. Britton; I congratulate you both. If ever there
+were two who ought to be father and son, you are the two."
+
+Mr. Underwood wrung Darrell's hand. "I congratulate you, boy, and I'm
+mighty glad to find you're not a stranger to us, after all."
+
+Then, grasping his old-time partner's hand, he added: "Jack, you old
+fraud! You've always got the best of me on every bargain, but I forgive
+you this time. I wanted the boy myself, but you seem to have the best
+title, so there's no use to try to jump your claim."
+
+Lunch was just over as a messenger was announced, and a moment later a
+telegram was handed to Darrell. As he opened the missive his fingers
+trembled and Mr. Britton's face grew pale. Darrell hastily read the
+contents, then met his father's anxious glance with a reassuring smile.
+
+"She is living and in usual health, though my friend says she is much
+more delicate than when I left."
+
+"We must go to her at once, my boy," said Mr. Britton; "how soon can you
+leave?"
+
+"In a very few hours, father; when do you wish to start?"
+
+Mr. Britton consulted a time-table. "The east-bound express leaves at
+ten-thirty to-night; can we make that?"
+
+"Sure!" Darrell responded, with an enthusiasm new to his western
+friends; "you can't start too soon for me, and there isn't a train that
+travels fast enough to take me to that little mother of mine, especially
+with the good news I have for her."
+
+Half an hour later, as he was hastily gathering together his
+possessions, he came suddenly upon a picture, at sight of which he
+paused, then stood spellbound, all else for the time forgotten. It was a
+portrait of Kate Underwood, taken in the gown she had worn on that night
+of her first reception. It served as a connecting link between the past
+and present. Gazing at it he was able to understand how the young girl
+whom he faintly remembered had grown into the strong, sweet character
+delineated in the recorded story of his love. He was able to recall some
+of the scenes portrayed there; he recalled her as she stood that day on
+the "Divide," her head uncovered, her gleaming hair like a halo about
+her face, her eyes shining with a light that was not of earth.
+
+He kissed the picture reverently. "Sweet angel of my dream!" he
+murmured; "come what may, you hold, and always will, a place in my heart
+which no other can ever take from you. I will lay your sweet face away,
+never again to be lifted from its hiding-place until I can look upon it
+as the face of my betrothed."
+
+His trunk was packed, his preparations for departure nearly complete,
+when there came a gentle tap at his door, and Mrs. Dean entered.
+
+"I was afraid," she said, speaking with some hesitation, "that you might
+think it strange if you did not see Katherine, and I wanted to explain
+that she is away. She went out of town, to be gone for a few days. She
+will be very sorry when she returns to find that she has missed seeing
+you."
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Dean," said Darrell, slowly; "on some accounts I would
+have been very glad to meet Kate; but on the whole I think perhaps it is
+better as it is."
+
+"I don't suppose you remember her except as you saw her when you first
+came," Mrs. Dean added, wistfully; "I should like to have you see her as
+she is now. I think she has matured into a beautiful young woman."
+
+"Yes, I remember her, Mrs. Dean; she is beautiful."
+
+"Oh, do you? She will be glad to hear that!" Mrs. Dean exclaimed, with a
+happy smile.
+
+Darrell came nearer and took her hands within his own. "Will you give
+her a message from me, just as I give it to you? She will understand."
+
+"Oh, yes; gladly."
+
+"Tell her," said Darrell, and his voice trembled slightly, "I remember
+her. Tell her I will see her 'at the time appointed;' and that I never
+forget!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXX_
+
+AFTER MANY YEARS
+
+
+The evening train, as it was known,--a local from the south,--was
+approaching the little village of Ellisburg, winding its way over miles
+of rolling country dotted with farm-houses of snowy white; to the east,
+rough, rugged hills surmounted by a wall of forest, while far to the
+west could be seen the sandy beaches and blue waters of Lake Ontario.
+
+The arrival of this train formed one of the chief events in the daily
+life of the little town, and each summer evening found a group of from
+twenty to fifty of the village folk awaiting its incoming. To them it
+afforded a welcome break in the monotony of their lives, a fleeting
+glimpse of people and things from that vague world outside the horizon
+bounding their own.
+
+Amid the usual handful of passengers left at the station on this
+particular evening were two who immediately drew the attention of the
+crowd. Two men, one something over fifty years of age, tall, with erect
+form and dark hair well silvered, and with a grave, sweet face; the
+other not more than seven-and-twenty, but with hair as white as snow,
+while his face wore an inscrutable look, as though the dark, piercing
+eyes held within their depths secrets which the sphinx-like lips would
+not reveal. Closely following them was a splendid collie, trying in
+various ways to give expression to his delight at being released from
+the confinement of the baggage-car.
+
+There was a sudden, swift movement in the crowd as a young man stepped
+quickly forward and grasped the younger of the two by the hand.
+
+"Darrell, old boy! is this you?" he exclaimed; "Great Scott! what have
+you been doing to yourself these two years?"
+
+"Plenty of time for explanations later," said Darrell, shaking hands
+heartily; "Ned, I want you to know my father; father, this is my old
+chum, now Dr. Elliott."
+
+The young physician's face betrayed astonishment, but he shook hands
+with Mr. Britton with no remarks beyond the customary greeting.
+
+"Now, Ned," continued Darrell, "get us out of this mob as quickly as you
+can; I don't want to be recognized here."
+
+"Not much danger with that white pate of yours; but come this way, my
+carriage is waiting. I did not let out that you were coming back, for I
+thought you wouldn't want any demonstration from the crowd here, so I
+told no one but father; he's waiting for you in the carriage."
+
+"You're as level-headed as ever," Darrell remarked.
+
+They reached the carriage, greetings were exchanged with Mr. Elliott,
+and soon the party was driving rapidly towards the village.
+
+"We will go at once to my office," Dr. Elliott remarked to Darrell, who
+was seated beside himself; "we can make arrangements there as to the
+best method of breaking this news to your mother."
+
+"You have told her nothing, then?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"No; life has so many uncertainties and she has already suffered so
+much. You had a long journey before you; if anything had happened to
+detain you, it was better not to have her in suspense."
+
+"You were right," Darrell replied; "you know I left all that to your own
+judgment."
+
+"Darrell, old boy," said the doctor, inspecting his companion
+critically, "do satisfy my curiosity: is that white hair genuine or a
+wig donned for the occasion?"
+
+"What reason could I have for any such masquerading?" Darrell demanded;
+"when you come to know my experience for the past two years you will not
+wonder that my hair is white."
+
+"I beg your pardon, old fellow; I meant no offence. We had all given you
+up for dead--all but your mother; and your telegram nearly knocked me
+off my feet."
+
+Here the doctor drew rein, and, fastening the horses outside, they
+entered his office, a small, one-story building standing close to the
+street in one corner of the great dooryard of his father's home, and
+sheltered alike from sun and storm by giant maples.
+
+After brief consultation it was decided that as Dr. Elliott and his
+father were frequent callers at the Jewett home, the entire party would
+drive out there, and, in the probable event of not seeing Mrs. Britton,
+who was an invalid and retired at an early hour, Darrell and his father
+would spend the night at the old homestead, but their presence would not
+be known by the wife and mother until the following morning.
+
+"You see, sir," Dr. Elliott remarked to Mr. Britton, "your coming has
+complicated matters a little. I would not apprehend any danger from the
+meeting between Mrs. Britton and her son, for she has looked for his
+return every day; but I cannot say what might be the result of the shock
+her nervous system would sustain in meeting you. We are safe, however,
+in going out there this evening, for she always retires to her room
+before this time."
+
+Both Mr. Britton and Darrell grew silent as the old Jewett homestead
+came in view. It was a wide-spreading house of colonial build, snowy
+white with green shutters and overrun with climbing roses and
+honeysuckle vines. It stood back at a little distance from the street,
+and a broad walk, under interlacing boughs of oak, elm, and maple, led
+from the street to the lofty pillared veranda across its front. The full
+moon was rising opposite, its mellow light throwing every twig and
+flower into bold relief. Two figures could be seen seated within the
+veranda, and as the carriage stopped Dr. Elliott remarked,--
+
+"I was right; Mr. Jewett and his elder daughter are sitting outside, but
+Mrs. Britton has retired."
+
+As the four men alighted and proceeded up the walk towards the house
+strangely varied emotions surged through the breasts of Darrell and his
+father. To one this was his childhood's home, the only home of which he
+had any distinct memory; to the other it was the home to which long ago
+he had been welcomed as a friend, but from which he had been banished as
+a lover. But all reminiscent thoughts were suddenly put to flight.
+
+They had advanced only about half-way up the walk when one of the long,
+old-fashioned windows upon the veranda was hastily thrown open and a
+slender figure robed in a white dressing-gown came with swift but
+tremulous steps down the walk to meet them, crying, in glad accents,--
+
+"Oh, my son! my son! you have come, as I knew you would some day!"
+
+Darrell sprang forward and caught his mother in his arms, and then,
+unable to speak, held her close to his breast, his tears falling on her
+upturned face, while she caressed him and crooned fond words of
+endearment as in the days when she had held him in her arms. Dr.
+Elliott and his father stood near, nonplussed, uncertain what to do or
+what course to take. The old gentleman on the veranda left his seat and
+took a few steps towards the group, as though to assist his daughter to
+the house, but Dr. Elliott motioned him to remain where he was. Mr.
+Britton, scarcely able to restrain his feelings, yet fearful of
+agitating his wife, had withdrawn slightly to one side, but
+unconsciously was standing so that the moonlight fell full across his
+face.
+
+At that instant Mrs. Britton raised her head, and, seeing the familiar
+faces of Dr. Elliott and his father, looked at the solitary figure as
+though to see who it might be. Their eyes met, his shining with the
+old-time love with which he had looked on her as she stood a bride on
+that summer evening crowned with the sunset rays, only a thousand-fold
+more tender. She gave a startled glance, then raised her arms to him
+with one shrill, sweet cry,--the cry of the lone night-bird for its
+mate,--
+
+"John!"
+
+"Patience!" came the responsive note, deep, resonant, tender.
+
+He held her folded within his arms until he suddenly felt the fragile
+form grow limp in his clasp, then, lifting her, he bore her tenderly up
+the walk, past the bewildered father and sister, into the house, Dr.
+Elliott leading the way, and laid her on a couch in her own room.
+
+She was soon restored to consciousness, and, though able to say little,
+lay feasting her eyes alternately upon the face of husband and son, her
+glance, however, returning oftener and dwelling longer on the face of
+the lover, who, after more than twenty-seven years of absence, was a
+lover still.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXI_
+
+AN EASTERN HOME
+
+
+Within a few days Darrell and his father were domiciled in the Jewett
+homestead, the physicians pronouncing it unwise to attempt to remove
+Mrs. Britton to another home.
+
+To Experience Jewett, who reigned supreme in her father's house, it
+seemed as though two vandals had invaded her domain, so ruthlessly did
+they open up the rooms for years jealously guarded from sunshine and
+dust, while her cherished household gods were removed by sacrilegious
+hands from their time-honored niches and consigned to the ignominy of
+obscure back chambers or the oblivion of the garret.
+
+Under Mr. Britton's supervision, soon after his arrival, the great
+double parlors, which had not been used since the funeral of Mrs. Jewett
+some seven years before, were thrown wide open, Sally, the "help,"
+standing with open mouth and arms akimbo, aghast at such proceedings,
+while Miss Jewett executed a lively quick-step in pursuit of a moth,
+which, startled by the unusual light, was circling above her head.
+
+Not only were the gayly flowered Brussels carpet and the black haircloth
+furniture the same as when he had been a guest in those rooms nearly
+thirty years before, but each piece of furniture occupied the same
+position as then. He smiled as he noted the arm-chair by one of the
+front windows, to which he had been invariably assigned and in which he
+had slipped and slid throughout each evening to the detriment of the
+crocheted "tidy" pinned upon its back. The vases and candlesticks upon
+the mantel were arranged with the same mathematical precision. He could
+detect only one change, which was that to the collection of family
+photographs framed and hanging above the mantel, there had been added a
+portrait of the late Mrs. Jewett.
+
+Within a week the old furnishings had been relegated to other parts of
+the house and modern upholstery had taken their places, the soft subdued
+tints of which blended harmoniously, forming a general impression of
+warmth and light.
+
+Most of these innovations Miss Jewett viewed with disfavor, particularly
+the staining of the floors preparatory to laying down two Turkish rugs
+of exquisite coloring and design.
+
+"I don't see any use in being so skimping with the carpets," she
+remarked to Sally; "if I'd been in his place I'd have got enough to
+cover the whole floor while I was about it, even if I'd bought something
+a little cheaper. A carpet with bare floor showing all 'round it puts me
+in mind of Dick's hat-band that went part way 'round and stopped."
+
+"That's jest what it does!" Sally assented.
+
+"I wanted to lay down some strips of carpeting along the edges, but he
+wouldn't hear to it," Miss Jewett continued, regretfully.
+
+"I s'pose," Sally remarked, sagely, "it's all on account of livin' out
+west along with them wild Injuns and cow-boys so many years. Western
+folks 'most always has queer ideas about things."
+
+"I never would have believed it to see such overturnings in my house!"
+exclaimed Miss Jewett, with a sigh; "and if 'twas anybody but John
+Britton I wouldn't stand it. I wonder if he won't be telling me how to
+make butter and raise chickens and turkeys next!"
+
+"Mebbe he'll bring 'round one o' them new-fangled contrivances for
+hatchin' chickens without hens," Sally ventured, with a laugh; adding,
+reflectively, "I wonder why, when they was about it, they didn't invent
+a machine to lay aigs as well as hatch 'em; that would 'ave been a
+savin', for a hen's keep don't amount to much when she's settin', but
+they're powerful big eaters generally."
+
+Miss Jewett prided herself upon her thrift and economy; her well-kept
+house where nothing was allowed to go to waste; her spotless dairy-rooms
+and rolls of golden butter which never failed to bring a cent and a half
+more a pound than any other; her fine breeds of poultry which annually
+carried off the blue ribbons at the county fair. She had achieved a
+local reputation of which she was quite proud; she would brook no
+interference in her management of household affairs, and, as she said,
+no one but John Britton would ever have been allowed to infringe upon
+her established rules and regulations. There had been a time when she
+had shared equally with her sister John Britton's attentions. It had
+been the only bit of romance in her life, but a lingering sweetness from
+it still remained in her heart through all the commonplace years that
+had followed, like the faint perfume from rose-leaves, faded and
+shrivelled, but cherished as sacred mementos. She had not blamed him for
+choosing her younger and more attractive sister, and she had secretly
+admired her sister for braving their father's displeasure to marry him.
+And now she was glad that he had returned; glad for his own sake that
+the imputations cast upon him by her father and others were refuted; for
+her sister's sake, that her last days should be so brightened and
+glorified; but deep within her heart, glad for her own sake, because it
+was good to look upon his face and hear his voice again.
+
+Sally's strident tones broke in upon her retrospection:
+
+"There's one thing, Miss Jewett, I guess you needn't be afeard they'll
+meddle with, and that's your cookin'. Mr. Darrell, he was tellin' me
+about the prices people had to pay for meals on them
+eatin'-cars,--'diners' he called 'em,--and I told him there wasn't no
+vittles on earth worth any such price as that, and I up and asked him
+whether they was as good as the vittles he gets here, and he laughed and
+said there wasn't nobody could beat his Aunt Espey at cookin'."
+
+Miss Jewett's eyes brightened. "Bless the boy's heart!" she exclaimed;
+"I'm glad they're going to be here for Thanksgiving; I'll see that they
+get such a dinner as they neither of them ever dreamed of!"
+
+Darrell had won a warm place in her heart in his baby days with his
+earliest efforts to speak her name. "Espey" had been the result of his
+first attack on the formidable name of "Experience," and "Aunt Espey"
+she had been to him ever since.
+
+Her father, Hosea Jewett, was a hale, hearty man of upward of seventy,
+hard and unyielding as the granite ledges cropping out along the
+hill-sides of his farm, and with a face gnarled and weather-beaten as
+the oaks before his door. He was scrupulously honest, but exacting,
+relentless, unforgiving.
+
+He was not easily reconciled to the new order of things, but for his
+daughter's sake he held his peace. Then, too, though he never forgave
+John Britton for having married his daughter, yet John Britton as a man
+whose wealth exceeded even his own was an altogether different person
+from the ambitious but impecunious lover of thirty years before. He had
+never forgiven Darrell for being John Britton's son, but mingled with
+his long-cherished animosity was a secret pride in the splendid physical
+and intellectual manhood of this sole representative of his own line.
+
+Between the sisters there had been few points of resemblance. Patience
+Jewett had been of an ardent, emotional nature, passionately fond of
+music, a great reader, and with little taste for the household tasks in
+which her more practical sister delighted. Having a more delicate
+constitution, she had little share in the busy routine of farm life, but
+was allowed to follow her own inclinations. She was still absorbed in
+her music and studies when Love found her, and the woman within her
+awoke at his call.
+
+After Darrell's birth her health was seriously impaired. It seemed as
+though her faith in her husband, her belief that he would one day
+return, and her love for her son were the only ties holding soul and
+body together, and, with her natural religious tendencies, the spiritual
+nature developed at the expense of the physical. Since Darrell's strange
+disappearance she had failed rapidly.
+
+With the return of her husband and son she seemed temporarily to renew
+her hold on life, appearing stronger than for many months. For the first
+few days much of her time was spent at her piano, singing with her
+husband the old songs of their early love, but oftenest a favorite of
+his which she had sung during the years of his absence, and which
+Darrell had sung on that night at The Pines following his discovery of
+the violin,--"Loyal to Love and Thee."
+
+Her delight in the rooms newly fitted up for her was unbounded, and
+against the background of their subdued, warm tints she made a
+strikingly beautiful picture, with her sweet, spirituelle face crowned
+with waving silver hair.
+
+Either Darrell or his father, or both, were constantly with her, for
+they realized that the time was short in which to make amends for the
+missing years. She loved to listen to her husband's tales of the great
+West or to bits which Darrell read from his journal of that strange
+chapter of his own life.
+
+"You have not yet asked after your sweetheart, Darrell," his mother said
+one evening soon after his arrival, as they sat awaiting his father's
+return from a short stroll.
+
+"You are my sweetheart now, little mother," he replied, kissing the hand
+that lay within his own.
+
+"Does that mean that you care less for Marion than before you went
+away?" she queried.
+
+"No," Darrell answered, slowly; "I cannot say that my regard for her has
+decreased. I may have changed in some respects, but not in my feelings
+towards Marion. I will ask you a question, mother: Do you think she
+still cares for me as before I left home?"
+
+"I hardly know how to answer you, because, as you know, Marion is so
+silent and secretive. I never could understand the girl. To be candid,
+Darrell dear, I never could understand why you should care for her, and
+I never thought she cared for you as she ought."
+
+"You know, mother, how I came to be attracted to her in the first place;
+we were schoolmates, and you know she was an exceptionally brilliant
+girl, and different from most of the others. We were interested in the
+same subjects, and naturally there sprang up quite an intimacy between
+us. Then we corresponded while I was at college, and her letters were so
+bright and entertaining that my admiration for her increased. I thought
+her the most brilliant and the best girl, every way, in all my
+acquaintance, and I think so still."
+
+"But, my dear boy," his mother exclaimed, "admiration is not love; I
+don't believe you ever really loved her, and she always seemed to me to
+be all brains and no heart--one of those cold, silent natures incapable
+of loving."
+
+"I think you are wrong there, mother. Marion is silent, but I don't
+believe she is cold or incapable of loving. She may, or may not, be
+incapable of expressing it, but I believe she could love very deeply and
+sincerely were her love once awakened."
+
+"You know she has taken up the study of medicine?"
+
+"Ned Elliott told me she had been studying with Dr. Parker for about a
+year."
+
+"Dr. Parker tells me she is making remarkable progress."
+
+"I don't doubt it, mother; she will probably make a success of it; she
+is just the woman to do so."
+
+"There never was any mention of love between you two, was there, or any
+engagement?" Darrell's mother asked, with some hesitation, after a brief
+silence.
+
+"None whatever," he replied, then added, with a smile: "We considered
+ourselves in love at the time,--at least, I did; but as I look back now
+it seems a very Platonic affair; but I thought I loved her, and I think
+she loved me."
+
+"You say, Darrell, that your regard for her is unchanged?"
+
+"Yes; the same as ever."
+
+"But you do not think now that you love her or loved her then?"
+
+"No, mother; I know I do not, and did not."
+
+"Then, Darrell, my boy, some one else has taught you what love really
+is?"
+
+For answer Darrell bowed his head in assent over his mother's hand.
+
+For a few moments she silently stroked his hair as in his boyish days;
+then she said, in low tones,--
+
+"Answer me one question, Darrell: Was she a good, pure woman?"
+
+Darrell raised his head, his eyes looking straight into the searching
+dark eyes, so like his own.
+
+"My little mother," he replied, tenderly, "don't think that your
+teachings all the past years or the lessons of your own sweet life were
+lost in those two years; their influence lived even when memory had
+failed."
+
+He bent and kissed her, then added: "She was scarcely more than a child;
+not so brilliant, perhaps, as Marion, but beautiful, good, and pure as
+the driven snow."
+
+Hearing his father's voice outside, Darrell rose and, picking up his
+journal, opened it at the story of his love and Kate's. Then placing it
+open upon a table beside his mother, he said,--
+
+"There, mother, is the story of my Dream-Love, as I call her. Read it,
+and if you should wish to know anything further regarding it, ask my
+father, for he knows all."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXII_
+
+MARION HOLMES
+
+
+The following day when Darrell entered his mother's rooms he found her
+with his journal lying open before her. Looking up with a smile, she
+said,--
+
+"Darrell, my dear, I would like to meet your 'Kathie,' but that can
+never be in this world. But you will meet her again, and when you do,
+give her a mother's love and blessing from me."
+
+Then, laying her hand on his arm, she added: "I understand now your
+question regarding Marion. As I told you, it is difficult to judge
+anything about her real feelings. For the first year after you went away
+she came often to see me and frequently inquired for tidings of you, but
+this last year she has seemed different. She has come here less
+frequently and seldom referred to you, and appeared so engrossed in her
+studies I concluded she had little thought or care for you. I may have
+misjudged her, but even were that so and she did care for you still, you
+would not marry her now, loving another as you do, would you?"
+
+Darrell smiled as he met his mother's eager, questioning gaze. "If I had
+won the love of a girl like Marion Holmes," he said, "I would do nothing
+that would seem like trifling with that love; but, in justice to all
+parties concerned, herself in particular, I would never marry her
+without first giving her enough knowledge of the facts in the case that
+she would thoroughly understand the situation."
+
+His mother seemed satisfied. "Marion has brains, whether she has a
+heart or not," she replied, with quiet emphasis; "and a girl of brains
+would never marry a man under such circumstances."
+
+Handing him his journal she pointed with a smile to its inscription.
+
+"'Until the day break,'" she quoted; "that has been my daily watchword
+all these years; strange that you, too, should have chosen it as your
+own."
+
+Had Darrell gone to his aunt for a gauge of Marion Holmes's feelings
+towards himself she could have informed him more correctly than his
+mother. She, with an old love hidden so deeply in her heart that no one
+even suspected its existence, understood the silent, reticent girl far
+better than her emotional, demonstrative sister.
+
+A few days after moving into the rooms newly fitted up for her Mrs.
+Britton gave what she termed "a little house-warming," to which were
+invited a few old-time friends of her own and Mr. Britton's, together
+with some of Darrell's associates. Among the latter Marion was, of
+course, included, but happening at the time to be out of town, she did
+not receive the invitation until two days afterwards. Meantime, Darrell,
+who was anxious to meet the syndicate from whom he had received his
+western commission two years before, left on the following day for New
+York City. Consequently when Marion, upon her return, called on Mrs.
+Britton to explain her absence, Darrell was away.
+
+Marion Holmes was, as Mrs. Britton had said, a silent girl; not from any
+habitual self-repression, but from an inherent inability to express her
+deeper feelings. Hers was one of those dumb speechless souls, that,
+finding no means of communicating with others, unable to get in touch
+with those about them, go on their silent, lonely ways, no one dreaming
+of the depth of feeling or wealth of affection they really possess.
+
+The eldest child of a widowed mother, in moderate circumstances, her
+life had been one of constant restriction and self-denial. Her
+association with Darrell marked a new epoch in the dreary years. For the
+first time within her memory there was something each morning to which
+she could look forward with pleasant anticipation; something to look
+back upon with pleasure when the day was done. As their intimacy grew
+her happiness increased, and when he returned from college with high
+honors her joy was unbounded. Brought up in a home where there was
+little demonstration of affection, she did not look for it here; she
+loved and supposed herself loved in return, else how could there be such
+an affinity between them? The depth of her love for Darrell Britton she
+herself did not know until his strange disappearance; then she learned
+the place he had filled in her heart and life by the void that remained.
+As months passed without tidings of him she lost hope. Unable to endure
+the blank monotony of her home life she took up the study of medicine,
+partly to divert her mind and also as a means of future self-support
+more remunerative than teaching.
+
+With the news of Darrell's return, hope sprang into new life, and it was
+with a wild, sweet joy, which would not be stilled, pulsating through
+her heart, that she went to call on Mrs. Britton.
+
+She had a nature supersensitive, and as she entered Mrs. Britton's rooms
+her heart sank and her whole soul recoiled as from a blow. With her
+limited means and her multiplicity of home duties her outings had been
+confined to the small towns within a short distance of her native
+village. These rooms, in such marked contrast to everything to which
+she had been accustomed, were to her a revelation of something beyond
+her of which she had had no conception; a revelation also that her
+comrade of by-gone days had grown away from her, beyond her--beyond even
+her reach or ken.
+
+Quietly, with a strange, benumbing pain, she noted every detail as she
+answered Mrs. Britton's inquiries, but conscious of the lack of affinity
+between herself and Darrell's mother, it seemed to her that the dark
+eyes regarding her so searchingly must read with what hopes she had
+come, and how those hopes had died. She was glad Darrell was not at
+home; she could not have met him then and there. But so quiet were her
+words and manner, so like her usual demeanor, that Mrs. Britton said to
+herself, as Marion took leave,--
+
+"I was right; she cares for Darrell only as a mere acquaintance."
+
+On her return she entered the parlor of her own home and stood for some
+moments gazing silently about her. How shabby, how pitiably bare and
+meagre and colorless! An emblem of her own life! Throwing herself upon
+the threadbare little sofa where she and Darrell had spent so many happy
+hours reviewing their studies and talking of hopes and plans for the
+future, she burst into such bitter, passionate weeping as only natures
+like hers can know.
+
+Darrell's trip proved successful beyond his anticipations. He found the
+leading members of the syndicate, to whom he explained his two years'
+absence and into whose possession he gave the money intrusted to his
+keeping. So delighted were they to see him after having given him up for
+dead, and so pleased were they with his honesty and integrity that they
+tendered him his old position with them, offering to continue his
+salary from the date of his western commission. This offer he promptly
+declined, declaring that he would undertake no commissions or enter into
+no business agreements during his mother's present state of health.
+
+He had taken with him the completed manuscript of his geological work,
+and this, through the influence of one or two members of the syndicate,
+he succeeded in placing with a publishing house making a specialty of
+scientific works.
+
+These facts, communicated to his parents, soon reached Miss Jewett,
+filling her with a pride and delight that knew no bounds. Ellisburg had
+no daily paper, but it possessed a few individuals of the gentler sex
+who as advertising mediums answered almost as well, and whom Miss Jewett
+included among her acquaintance. She suddenly remembered a number of
+calls which her household duties had hitherto prevented her returning,
+and decided that this was the most opportune time for paying them.
+Ordering her carriage and donning her best black silk gown, she
+proceeded with due ceremony to make her round of calls, judiciously
+dropping a few words here and there, which, like the seed sown on good
+ground, brought forth fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold. As a
+result Darrell, upon his return, found himself a literary star of the
+first magnitude,--the cynosure of all eyes.
+
+These reports reaching Marion only widened the gulf which she felt now
+intervened between herself and Darrell.
+
+Almost immediately upon his return Darrell called upon her. She was at
+home, but sent a younger sister to admit him while she nerved herself
+for the dreaded interview. As he awaited her coming he looked around him
+with a sort of wonder. Each object seemed familiar, and yet, was it
+possible this was the room that used to seem so bright and pleasant as
+he and Marion conned their lessons together? Had it changed, he
+wondered, or had he?
+
+Marion's entrance put a stop to his musings. He sprang to meet her, she
+advanced slowly. She had changed very little. Her face, unless animated,
+was always serious, determined; it was a shade more determined, almost
+stern, but it had the same strong, intellectual look which had always
+distinguished it and for which he had admired it.
+
+Darrell, on the contrary, was greatly changed. Marion, gazing at the
+snow-white hair, the dark eyes with their piercing, inscrutable look,
+the firmly set mouth, and noting the bearing of conscious strength and
+power, was unable to recognize her quondam schoolmate until he spoke;
+the voice and smile were the same as of old!
+
+They clasped hands for an instant, then Darrell, as in the old days,
+dropped easily into one corner of the little sofa, supposing she would
+take her accustomed place in the other corner, but, instead, she drew a
+small rocker opposite and facing him, in which she seated herself. His
+manner was cordial and free as, after a few inquiries regarding herself,
+he spoke of his absence, touching lightly upon his illness and its
+strange consequences, and expressed his joy at finding himself at home
+once more.
+
+She was kind and sympathetic, but her manner was constrained. She could
+not banish the remembrance of her call upon his mother, of the contrast
+between his home and hers; and as he talked something indefinable in his
+language, in his very movements and gestures, revealed to her sensitive
+nature a contrast, a difference, between them; he had somehow reached
+ground to which she could not attain. He drew her out to speak of her
+new studies and congratulated her upon her progress; but the call was
+not a success, socially or otherwise.
+
+When Darrell left the house he believed more firmly than ever that
+Marion had loved him in the past. Whether she had ceased to love him he
+could not then determine; time would tell.
+
+During the weeks that followed there were numerous gatherings of a
+social and informal nature where Darrell and Marion were thrown in each
+other's society, but, though he still showed a preference for her over
+the girls of his acquaintance, she shrank from his attentions, avoiding
+him whenever she could do so without causing remark.
+
+Thanksgiving Day came, and Miss Jewett's guests were compelled to admit
+that she had surpassed herself. The dinner was one long to be
+remembered. Her prize turkey occupied the place of honor, flanked on one
+side by a roast duck, superbly browned, and on the other by an immense
+chicken pie, while savory vegetables, crisp pickles, and tempting
+relishes such as she only could concoct crowded the table in every
+direction. A huge plum-pudding headed the second course, with an almost
+endless retinue of pies,--mince, pumpkin, and apple,--while golden
+custards and jellies--red, purple, and amber, of currant, grape, and
+peach--brought up the rear. A third course of fruits and nuts followed,
+but by that time scarcely any one was able to do more than make a
+pretence of eating.
+
+To this dinner were invited the minister and his wife, one or two
+far-removed cousins who usually put in an appearance at this season of
+the year, Marion Holmes, and a decrepit old lady, a former friend of
+Mrs. Jewett's, who confided to the minister's wife that she had eaten a
+very light breakfast and no lunch whatever in order that she might be
+able to "do justice to Experience's dinner."
+
+Marion Holmes was not there, and Darrell, meeting her on the street the
+next day, playfully took her to task.
+
+"Why were you not at dinner yesterday?" he inquired; "have you no more
+regard for my feelings than to leave me to be sandwiched between the
+parson's wife and old Mrs. Pettigrew?"
+
+"I might have gone had I known such a fate as that awaited you," she
+replied, laughing; "but," she added with some spirit, thinking it best
+to come to the point at once, "I can see no reason for thrusting myself
+into your family gatherings simply because you and I were good comrades
+in the past."
+
+"Were we not something more than merely good comrades, Marion?" he
+asked, anxious to ascertain her real feelings towards himself; "it
+seemed to me we were, or at least that we thought we were."
+
+"That may be," she answered, her color rising slightly; "but if we
+thought so then, that is no reason for deceiving ourselves any longer."
+
+She intended to mislead him, and she did.
+
+"Very well," he replied; "we will not deceive ourselves; we will have a
+good understanding with ourselves and with each other. Is there any
+reason why we should not be at least good comrades now?"
+
+"I know of none," she answered, meeting his eyes without wavering.
+
+"Then let us act as such, and not like two silly children, afraid of
+each other. Is that a compact?" he asked, smiling and extending his
+hand.
+
+"It is," she replied, smiling brightly in return as their hands clasped,
+thus by word and act renouncing her dearest hopes without his dreaming
+of the sacrifice.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXIII_
+
+INTO THE FULNESS OF LIFE
+
+
+With the opening of cold weather the seeming betterment in Mrs.
+Britton's health proved but temporary. As the winter advanced she failed
+rapidly, until, unable to sit up, she lay on a low couch, wheeled from
+room to room to afford all the rest and change possible. Day by day her
+pallor grew more and more like the waxen petals of the lily, while the
+fatal rose flush in her cheek deepened, and her eyes, unnaturally large
+and lustrous, had in them the look of those who dwell in the borderland.
+
+She realized her condition as fully as those about her, but there was
+neither fear nor regret in the eyes, which, fixed on the glory invisible
+to them, caught and reflected the light of the other world, till, in the
+last days, those watching her saw her face "as it had been the face of
+an angel."
+
+No demonstration of sorrow marred the peace in which her soul dwelt the
+last days of its stay, for the very room seemed hallowed, a place too
+sacred for the intrusion of any personal grief.
+
+Turning one day to her husband, who seldom left her side, she said,--
+
+"My sorrow made me selfish; I see it now. Look at the good you have
+done, the many you have helped; what have I done, what have I to show
+for all these years?"
+
+Just then Darrell passed the window before which she was lying.
+
+"There is your work, Patience," Mr. Britton replied, tenderly; "you have
+that to show for those years of loneliness and suffering. Surely, love,
+you have done noble work there; work whose results will last for
+years--probably for generations--yet to come!"
+
+Her face lighted with a rapturous smile. "I had not thought of that,"
+she whispered; "I will not go empty-handed after all. Perhaps He will
+say of me, as of one of old, 'She hath done what she could.'"
+
+From that time she sank rapidly, sleeping lightly, waking occasionally
+with a child-like smile, then lapsing again into unconsciousness.
+
+One evening as the day was fading she awoke from a long sleep and looked
+intently into the faces gathered about her. Her pastor, who had known
+her through all the years of her sorrow, was beside her. Bending over
+her and looking into the eyes now dimmed by the approaching shadows, he
+said,--
+
+"You have not much longer to wait, my dear sister."
+
+With a significant gesture she pointed to the fading light.
+
+"'Until the day break,'" she murmured, with difficulty.
+
+He was quick to catch her meaning and bowed his head in token that he
+understood; then, raising his hand above her head, as though in
+benediction, in broken tones he slowly pronounced the words,--
+
+"'Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
+for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy
+mourning shall be ended.'"
+
+Her face brightened; a seraphic smile burst forth, irradiating every
+feature with a light which never faded, for, with a look of loving
+farewell into the faces of husband and son, she sank into a sleep from
+which she did not wake, and when, as the day was breaking over the
+eastern hill-tops, her soul took flight, the smile still lingered,
+deepening into such perfect peace as is seldom seen on mortal faces.
+
+As Darrell, a few moments later, stood at the window, watching the stars
+paling one by one in the light of the coming dawn, a bit of verse with
+which he had been familiar years before, but which he had not recalled
+until then, recurred to him with peculiar force:
+
+  "A soul passed out on its way toward Heaven
+  As soon as the word of release was given;
+  And the trail of the meteor swept around
+  The lovely form of the homeward-bound.
+  Glimmering, shimmering, there on high,
+  The stars grew dim as one passed them by;
+  And the earth was never again so bright,
+  For a soul had slipped from its place that night."
+
+After Mrs. Britton's death, deprived of her companionship and of the
+numberless little ministrations to her comfort in which they had
+delighted, both Mr. Britton and Darrell found life strangely empty. They
+also missed the strenuous western life to which they had been
+accustomed, with its ceaseless demands upon both muscle and brain. The
+life around them seemed narrow and restricted; the very monotony of the
+landscape wearied them; they longed for the freedom and activity of the
+West, the breadth and height of the mountains.
+
+As both were standing one day beside the resting-place of the wife and
+mother, which Mr. Britton had himself chosen for her, the latter said,--
+
+"John, there are no longer any ties to hold us here. You may have to
+remain here until affairs are settled, but I have no place, and want
+none, in Hosea Jewett's home. I am going back to the West; and I know
+that sooner or later you will return also, for your heart is among the
+mountains. But before we separate I want one promise from you, my son."
+
+"Name it," said Darrell; "you know, father, I would fulfil any and every
+wish of yours within my power."
+
+"It was my wish in the past, when my time should come to die, to be
+buried on the mountain-side, near the Hermitage. But life henceforth for
+me will be altogether different from what it has been heretofore; and I
+want your promise, John, if you outlive me, that when the end comes, no
+matter where I may be, you will bring me back to her, that when our
+souls are reunited our bodies may rest together here, within sound of
+the river's voice and shielded by the overhanging boughs from winter's
+storm and summer's heat."
+
+Father and son clasped hands above the newly made grave.
+
+"I promise you, father," Darrell replied; "but you did not need to ask
+the pledge."
+
+When John Britton left Ellisburg a few days later a crowd of friends
+were gathered at the little depot to extend their sympathy and bid him
+farewell. A few were old associates of his own, some were his wife's
+friends, and some Darrell's. To those who had known him in the past he
+was greatly changed, and none of them quite understood his quaint
+philosophizings, his broad views, or his seeming isolation from their
+work-a-day, business world in which he had formerly taken so active a
+part. They knew naught of his years of solitary life or of how lives
+spent in years of contemplation and reflection, of retrospection and
+introspection, become gradually lifted out of the ordinary channels of
+thought and out of touch with the more practical life of the world. But
+they had had abundant evidence of his love and devotion to his wife, and
+of his kindness and liberality towards many of their own number, and for
+these they loved him.
+
+There was not one, however, who mourned his departure so deeply as
+Experience Jewett, though she gave little expression to her sorrow. She
+had hoped that after her sister's death his home would still be with
+them. This, not from any weak sentimentality or any thought that he
+would ever be aught than as a brother to her, but because his very
+presence in the home was refreshing, helpful, comforting, and because it
+was a joy to be near him, to hear him talk, and to minister to his
+comfort. But he was going from them, as she well knew, never to return,
+and beneath the brave, smiling face she carried a sore and aching heart.
+
+Thus John Britton bade the East farewell and turned his face towards the
+great West, mindful only of the grave under the elms, to which the river
+murmured night and day, and with no thought of return until he, too,
+should come to share that peaceful resting place.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXIV_
+
+A WARNING
+
+
+Spring had come again and Walcott's probationary year with Mr. Underwood
+had nearly expired. For a while he had maintained his old suavity of
+manner and business had been conducted satisfactorily, but as months
+passed and Kate Underwood was unapproachable as ever and the prospect of
+reconciliation between them seemed more remote, he grew sullen and
+morose, and Mr. Underwood began to detect signs of mismanagement.
+Determined to wait until he had abundance of evidence with which to
+confront him, however, he said nothing, but continued to watch him with
+unceasing vigilance.
+
+Mr. Underwood, though able to attend to business, had never fully
+recovered from the illness of the preceding year. His physician advised
+him to retire from business, as any excitement or shock would be likely
+to cause a second attack far more serious than the first; but to this
+Mr. Underwood would not listen, clinging tenaciously to the old routine
+to which he had been accustomed. Kate, realizing her father's condition,
+guarded him with watchful solicitude from every possible worry and
+anxiety, spending much of her time with him, and even familiarizing
+herself with many details of his business in order to assist him.
+
+In the months since Darrell's return east Kate had matured in many ways.
+Her tall, slender form was beginning to round out in symmetrical
+proportions, and her voice, always sweet, had developed wonderfully in
+volume and range. She had taken up the study of music anew, both vocal
+and instrumental, devoting her leisure hours to arduous practice, her
+father having promised her a thorough course of study in Europe, for
+which she was preparing herself with great enthusiasm.
+
+Though no words were exchanged between Mr. Underwood and Walcott, the
+latter became conscious of the other's growing disfavor, and the
+conviction gradually forced itself upon him that all hope of gaining his
+partner's daughter in marriage was futile. For Kate Underwood he cared
+little, except as a means of securing a hold upon her father's wealth.
+As he found himself compelled to abandon this scheme and saw the prize
+he had thus hoped to gain slipping farther and farther from his grasp,
+his rage made him desperate, and he determined to gain all or lose all
+in one mad venture. To make ready for this would require weeks, perhaps
+months, but he set about his preparations with method and deliberation.
+Either the boldness of his plan or his absorption in the expected
+outcome made him negligent of details, however, and slowly, but surely,
+Mr. Underwood gathered the proofs of his guilt with which he intended to
+confront him when the opportune moment arrived. But even yet he did not
+dream the extent of his partner's frauds or the villany of which he was
+capable; he therefore took no one into his confidence and sought no
+assistance.
+
+Kate was quick to observe the change in Walcott's manner and to note the
+malignity lurking in the half-closed eyes whenever they encountered her
+own or her father's gaze, and, while saying nothing to excite or worry
+the latter, redoubled her vigilance, seldom leaving him alone.
+
+Affairs had reached this state when, with the early spring days, Mr.
+Britton returned from the East and stopped for a brief visit at The
+Pines. In a few days he divined enough of the situation to lead him to
+suspect that danger of some kind threatened his old friend. A hint from
+Kate confirmed his suspicion, and he resolved to prolong his stay and
+await developments.
+
+One afternoon soon after his arrival Kate, returning from a walk, while
+passing up the driveway met a woman coming from The Pines. The latter
+was tall, dressed in black, and closely veiled,--a stranger,--yet
+something in her appearance seemed familiar. Suddenly Kate recalled the
+"Seņora" who sent the summons to Walcott on that day set for their
+marriage, more than a year before. Though she had caught only a brief
+glimpse of the black-robed and veiled figure within the carriage, she
+remembered a peculiarly graceful poise of the head as she had leaned
+forward for a final word with Walcott, and by that she identified the
+woman now approaching her. Each regarded the other closely as they met.
+To Kate it seemed as though the woman hesitated for the fraction of a
+second, as though about to speak, but she passed on silently. On
+reaching a turn in the driveway Kate, looking back, saw the woman
+standing near the large gates watching her, but the latter, finding
+herself observed, passed through the gates to the street and walked
+away.
+
+Perplexed and somewhat annoyed, Kate proceeded on her way to the house.
+She believed the woman to be in some way associated with Walcott, and
+that her presence there presaged evil of some sort. As she entered the
+sitting-room her aunt looked up with a smile from her seat before the
+fire.
+
+"You have just had rather a remarkable caller, Katherine."
+
+"That woman in black whom I just met?" Kate asked, betraying no
+surprise, for she felt none; she was prepared at that moment for almost
+any announcement.
+
+"Who was she, Aunt Marcia? and what did she want with me?"
+
+"She refused to give her name, but said to tell you 'a friend' called.
+She seemed disappointed at not seeing you, and as she was leaving she
+said, 'Say to her she has a friend where she least thinks it, and if
+she, or any one she loves, is in danger, I will come and warn her.' She
+was very quiet-appearing, notwithstanding her tragic language. You say
+you met her; what do you think of her?"
+
+Kate had been thinking rapidly. "I have seen her once before, auntie. I
+am positive she is in some way connected with Mr. Walcott, and equally
+positive that he has some evil designs against papa; but why she should
+warn me against him, if that is her intention, I cannot imagine."
+
+"Is there no way of warning your father, Katherine?" Mrs. Dean inquired,
+anxiously.
+
+"Mr. Britton and I have talked it over, auntie. We think papa suspects
+him and is watching him, but so long as he doesn't take either of us
+into his confidence we don't want to excite or worry him by suggesting
+any danger. This woman may or may not be friendly, as she claims, but in
+any event, if she comes again, I must see her. Whatever danger there may
+be I want to know it; then I'm not afraid but that I can defend papa or
+myself in case of trouble."
+
+For several days Kate scanned her horizon closely for portents of the
+coming storm. She saw nothing of the mysterious woman who had styled
+herself a friend, but on more than one occasion she had a fleeting
+glimpse of the man who on that memorable day brought the message from
+her to Walcott, and Kate felt that a dénouement of some kind was near.
+
+Walcott's preparations were nearly perfected; another week would
+complete them. By that time the funds of the firm as well as large
+deposits held in trust, would be where he could lay his fingers on them
+at a moment's notice. At a given signal two trusted agents would be at
+the side entrance with fleet horses on which they would travel to a
+neighboring village, and there, where their appearance would excite no
+suspicion, they were to board the late express, which would carry them
+to a point whence they could easily reach a place of safety.
+
+But his well-laid plans were suddenly checked by a request one afternoon
+from his senior partner to meet him in his private office that evening
+at eight o'clock. The tone in which this request was preferred aroused
+Walcott's suspicions that an investigation might be pending, and,
+enraged at being thus checkmated, he determined to strike at once.
+
+At dinner Mr. Underwood mentioned an engagement which would, he said,
+detain him for an hour or so that evening, but having never since his
+illness gone to the offices in the evening, no one supposed it more than
+an ordinary business appointment with some friend.
+
+He had left the house only a few moments when a caller was announced for
+Miss Underwood.
+
+Kate's heart gave a sudden bound as, on entering the reception-hall, she
+saw again the woman whose coming was to be a warning of danger. She was,
+as usual, dressed in black and heavily veiled. Kate was conscious of no
+fear; rather a joy that the suspense was over, that there was at last
+something definite and tangible to face.
+
+"Seņorita, may I see you in private?" The voice was sweet, but somewhat
+muffled by the veil, while the words had just enough of the Spanish
+accent to render them liquid and musical.
+
+Kate bowed in assent, and silently led the way to a small reception-room
+of her own. She motioned her caller to a seat, but the latter remained
+standing and turned swiftly, facing Kate, still veiled.
+
+"Seņorita, you do not know me?" The words had the rising inflection of a
+question.
+
+"No," Kate replied, slowly; "I do not know you; but I know that this is
+not your first call at The Pines."
+
+"I called some ten days since to see you."
+
+"You called," Kate spoke deliberately, "more than a year since to see
+Mr. Walcott."
+
+The woman started and drew back slightly. "How could you know?" she
+exclaimed; "surely he did not tell you!"
+
+"I saw you."
+
+There was a moment's silence; when next she spoke her voice was lower
+and more musical.
+
+"Seņorita, I come as your friend; do you believe me?"
+
+"I want to believe you," Kate answered, frankly, "but I can tell better
+whether I do or not when I know more of you and of your errands here."
+
+For answer the woman, with a sudden swift movement, threw back her veil,
+revealing a face of unusual beauty,--oval in contour, of a rich olive
+tint, with waving masses of jet-black hair, framing a low, broad
+forehead. But her eyes were what drew Kate's attention: large, lustrous,
+but dark and unfathomable as night, yet with a look in them of dumb,
+agonizing appeal. The two women formed a striking contrast as they
+stood face to face; they seemed to impersonate Hope and Despair.
+
+"Seņorita," she said, in a low, passionless voice, "I am Seņor Walcott's
+wife."
+
+Kate's very soul seemed to recoil at the words, but she did not start or
+shrink.
+
+"I have the certificate of our marriage here," she continued, producing
+a paper, "signed by the holy father who united us."
+
+Kate waved it back. "I do not wish to see it, nor do I doubt your word,"
+she replied, gently; "I understand now why you first came to this house.
+What brings you here to-night?"
+
+"I come to warn you that your father is in danger."
+
+"My father!" Kate exclaimed, quickly, her whole manner changed. "Where?
+How?"
+
+"Seņor Walcott has an engagement with him at eight o'clock at their
+offices, and he means to do him harm, I know not just what; but he is
+angry with him, I know not why, and he is a dangerous man when he is
+angry."
+
+Kate touched a bell to summon a servant. "I will go to him at once;
+but," she added, looking keenly into the woman's face, "how do you know
+of this? How did you learn it? Did he tell you?"
+
+The other shook her head with a significant gesture. "He tells me
+nothing; he tells no one but Tony, and Tony tells me nothing; but I saw
+them talking together to-night, and he was very angry. I overheard some
+words. I heard him say he would see your father to-night and make him
+sorry he had not done as he agreed, and he showed Tony a little stiletto
+which he carries with him, and then he laughed."
+
+Kate shuddered slightly. "Who is Tony?" she asked.
+
+The woman smiled with another gesture. "Tony is--Tony; that is all I
+know. He and my husband know each other."
+
+A servant appeared; Kate ordered her own carriage brought to the door at
+once. Then, turning on a sudden impulse to the stranger, she said,--
+
+"Will you come with me? Or are you afraid of him--afraid to have him
+know you warned me?"
+
+The woman laughed bitterly. "I feared him once," she said; "but I fear
+him no longer; he fears me now. Yes, I will go with you."
+
+"Then wait here; I will be ready in a moment."
+
+At twenty minutes of eight Kate and the stranger passed down the hall
+together--the woman veiled, Kate attired in a trim walking suit. The
+latter stopped to look in at the sitting-room door.
+
+"Aunt Marcia, Mr. Britton said he would be out but a few minutes. When
+he comes in please tell him I want to see him at papa's office; my
+carriage will be waiting for him here."
+
+Her aunt looked her surprise, but she knew Kate to be enough like her
+father that it was useless to ask an explanation where she herself made
+none.
+
+Once seated in the carriage and driving rapidly down the street Kate
+laid her hand on the arm of her strange companion.
+
+"Seņora," she said, "you say you are my friend; were you my friend the
+first time you came to the house? If not then, why are you now?"
+
+"No, I was not your friend;" for the first time there was a ring of
+passion in her voice; "I hated you, for I thought he loved you--that you
+had stolen his heart and made him forget me. I travelled many miles. I
+vowed to kill you both before you should marry him. Then I found he
+could not marry you while I was his wife; he had told me our marriage
+was void here because performed in another country. I found he had told
+me wrong, and I told him unless he came with me I would go to the church
+and tell them there I was his wife."
+
+"And he went away with you?" Kate questioned.
+
+"Yes, and he gave me money, and then he told me----" The woman
+hesitated.
+
+"Go on," said Kate.
+
+"He told me that he did not love you; that he only wanted to marry you
+that he might get money from your father, and then he would leave you.
+So when I found he wanted to make you suffer as he had me I began to
+pity you. I came back to Ophir to see what you were like. He does not
+know that I am here. I found he was angry because you would not marry
+him. Then I was glad. I saw you many times that you did not know. Your
+face was kind and good, as though you would pity me if you knew all, and
+I loved you. I heard something about a lover you had a few years ago who
+died, and I knew your heart must have been sad for him, and I vowed he
+should never harm you or any one you loved."
+
+They had reached the offices; the carriage stopped, but not before
+Kate's hand had sought and found the stranger's in silent token that she
+understood.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXV_
+
+A FIEND AT BAY
+
+
+Kate, on leaving her carriage, directed the driver to go back to The
+Pines to await Mr. Britton's return and bring him immediately to the
+office. She then unlocked the door to the room which had been Darrell's
+office and which opened directly upon the street, and she and her
+companion entered and seated themselves in the darkness. The room next
+adjoining was Walcott's private office, and beyond that was Mr.
+Underwood's private office, the two latter rooms being separated by a
+small entrance. They had waited but a few moments when Mr. Underwood's
+carriage stopped before this entrance, and an instant later Kate heard
+her father's voice directing the coachman to call for him in about an
+hour. As the key turned in the lock she heard Walcott's voice also. The
+two men entered and went at once into Mr. Underwood's private office.
+
+Mr. Underwood immediately proceeded to business in his usual abrupt
+fashion:
+
+"Mr. Walcott, there is no use dallying or beating about the bush; I want
+this partnership terminated at once. There's no use in an honest man and
+a thief trying to do business together, and this interview to-night is
+to find the shortest way of dissolving the partnership."
+
+"I think that can be very easily and quickly done, Mr. Underwood,"
+Walcott replied.
+
+Kate, who had stationed herself in the entrance where she had a view of
+both men, saw the cruel leer that accompanied Walcott's words and
+understood their significance as her father did not. Her hand sought the
+bosom of her dress for an instant, then dropped quietly at her side, but
+swift as the movement was, her companion had seen in the dim light the
+gleam of the weapon now partially concealed by the folds of her skirt.
+With noiseless, cat-like step she approached Kate and touched her arm.
+
+"You will not shoot? You will not kill him?" she breathed rather than
+whispered.
+
+Kate's only reply was to lay her finger on her lips, never removing her
+eyes from Walcott's face, but even then, in her absorption, she noted a
+peculiar quality in those scarcely audible tones, something that was
+neither fear nor love; there seemed somehow an element of savagery in
+them.
+
+Meanwhile, Mr. Underwood was going rapidly through the evidence which he
+had accumulated, showing mismanagement and fraud in the conduct of the
+business of the firm and misappropriation of some of the funds held in
+trust. Of the wholesale robbery, the plans for which Walcott had so
+nearly perfected, he knew absolutely nothing. As Walcott listened, the
+sneer on his face deepened.
+
+"You seem to have gone to a vast amount of labor for nothing," he
+remarked, as Mr. Underwood concluded. "I could have given you that much
+information off-hand. You have not lived up to your part of the
+contract, and I see no reason why I should be expected to fulfil mine.
+You promised me your daughter in marriage, and then simply because she
+saw fit----"
+
+"We will leave my daughter's name out of this controversy, sir," Mr.
+Underwood interposed, sternly. "Were it not for the fact that your name
+has been publicly associated with hers, I would prosecute you for the
+scoundrel and black-leg that you are."
+
+"But for the sake of your daughter's name you intend to deal leniently
+with me," Walcott sneered. "Supposing we come at once to the point of
+dissolving our partnership; it cannot be done any too quickly for me.
+May I inquire on what terms you propose to settle?"
+
+Mr. Underwood went briefly over the terms which he had outlined on a
+sheet of paper before him on his desk; Walcott, seated eight or ten feet
+distant, listened, his dark face paling with anger.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, at the conclusion; "I think I missed a few
+details; suppose we go over that again together."
+
+He rose and advanced towards Mr. Underwood's chair as though to look
+over his shoulder, at the same time thrusting his right hand within the
+inner pocket of his coat. Before he had covered half the space, however,
+a voice rang through the room with startling clearness,--
+
+"Not a step farther, or you are a dead man!"
+
+Both men turned, to see Kate Underwood standing in the doorway, holding
+a revolver levelled at Walcott with an aim which the latter's practised
+eye told him to be both sure and deadly. Astonishment and rage passed in
+quick succession over his countenance; he looked for an instant as
+though contemplating some desperate move.
+
+"Stir one hair's breadth, and you are a dead man!" she repeated. He
+remained motionless, and the hand just withdrawn from his coat disclosed
+to view a tiny, glittering stiletto.
+
+Kate's only anxious thought was for her father, who, too bewildered to
+move or speak, was for the time as motionless as Walcott himself; she
+feared lest the suddenness of the shock might prove too much for him. To
+her relief, she heard Mr. Britton entering. He took in the situation at
+a glance and sprang at once to her side.
+
+"I am all right," she cried, brightly; "look after papa, first; then we
+will attend to this creature."
+
+With the revolver still levelled at Walcott, Kate slowly advanced
+towards him.
+
+"Give me that weapon!" she demanded.
+
+He gave a sinister smile, but before she had taken another step, her
+companion sprang into the room with a piercing cry and intercepted her:
+
+"No, no, Seņorita!" she exclaimed; "do not touch it! Mother of God! it
+is poisoned; a single scratch means death!"
+
+At sight of her, Walcott's face grew livid. "You fiend! You she-devil!"
+he hissed; "this is your doing, is it?" and he burst into a torrent of
+curses and imprecations.
+
+"Be silent!" Mr. Britton ordered, sternly, and Kate accompanied the
+command with an ominous click of her revolver. The wretch cowered into
+silence, but his eyes glowed with fairly demoniac fury.
+
+"Now," said Mr. Underwood, his faculties fully restored, "I want to know
+the meaning of this; let us sift this whole thing to the bottom."
+
+"Search your man, first, David," said Mr. Britton, and suiting the
+action to the word he approached Walcott, but was warded off by the
+woman standing near.
+
+"No, no, Seņor, a little turn of the wrist, so slight you would not see,
+would cause death. I will take it from him; the viper dare not sting
+me!"
+
+As she extended her hand she tauntingly held her wrist close to the tiny
+point, scarcely larger than a good-sized pin.
+
+"Life and freedom are precious, Seņor!" she said, in low, mocking tones,
+as she took the weapon from him and handed it to Mr. Britton, who laid
+it carefully on a table near by, and then proceeded to search Walcott's
+clothing, saying.--
+
+"I want you to see what you have been dealing with, David."
+
+To the stiletto already placed upon the table were added another of
+larger size, two loaded revolvers, several packages of valuable
+securities taken from the vaults of the firm that afternoon, and a
+nearly complete set of duplicate keys to the safes and deposit boxes of
+the offices.
+
+Mr. Britton then relieved Kate, congratulating her warmly, and stationed
+himself near Walcott, who glowered like a wild beast that, temporarily
+restrained by the keeper's lash, only awaits opportunity for a more
+furious onslaught later.
+
+Kate stepped at once to her father's side; he turned upon her a look of
+affectionate pride, but before he could speak, she had drawn forward her
+companion, saying,--
+
+"Here is one, papa, to whom we owe much. She has saved your life
+to-night, for I would not have known you were in danger if she had not
+warned me, and she saved me from worse than death in preventing the
+carrying out of the farce of an illegal marriage with that villain, by
+giving me a glimpse of his real character before it was too late."
+
+The change that passed over Mr. Underwood's countenance during Kate's
+words was fearful to see. From the kindliness and courtesy with which he
+had greeted the stranger his face seemed changed to granite, so hard
+and relentless it became.
+
+"An illegal marriage? What do you mean?" he demanded, and there was
+something in his voice that no one present had ever heard there before.
+
+"Illegal, papa, because this woman is his lawful wife." And Kate gave a
+brief explanation of the situation.
+
+"Is that so?" he appealed to the woman, his tones strangely quiet.
+
+"Yes, Seņor; I have the papers to prove it."
+
+"Do you admit it?" he demanded of Walcott, with a glance which made the
+latter quail, while his hand sought one of the loaded revolvers lying on
+the table.
+
+"We were married years ago, but I did not know the woman was living; I
+swear I did not. I supposed she was dead until the day she came to me."
+
+"How about the past year? You have known all this time that she was
+living, yet you have dared to press your suit for my daughter, you dog!
+Not another word!" he exclaimed, as Walcott strove to form some excuse.
+
+He raised his hand and the revolver gleamed in the light. Mr. Britton
+grasped him by the arm.
+
+"David, old friend, calm yourself!" he exclaimed. "Don't be rash or
+foolish; let the law take its course."
+
+"The law!" interposed Mr. Underwood, fiercely; "do you think I'd take a
+case of this kind into the courts? Charges such as these against a man
+whose name has been publicly associated with my daughter's as her
+betrothed husband, and the principal witness against that man his own
+wife! Do you suppose for a moment I'll have my daughter's name dragged
+through such mire? No, by God! I'll blow the dog's brains out with my
+own hand first!"
+
+A fierce struggle ensued for a moment between the two men, which ended
+in John Britton's disarming his friend, Kate meanwhile keeping Walcott
+at bay as he sought in the momentary confusion to effect an escape.
+
+Once calmed, Mr. Underwood, notwithstanding Mr. Britton's protestations,
+sullenly refused to prosecute Walcott. Telephoning for an attorney who
+was an old-time and trusted friend, he had an agreement drawn and
+signed, whereby, upon the repayment of the funds belonging to him, after
+deducting an amount therefrom sufficient to replace what he had
+misappropriated, he was to leave the country altogether.
+
+"You have escaped this time," were Mr. Underwood's parting words; "but
+remember, if you ever again seek to injure me or mine, no power on earth
+can save you, and I'll not go into the courts either."
+
+As Kate and her strange companion parted, the former inquired, "Why did
+you ask me not to shoot him? You surely cannot love him!"
+
+"Love him?" she exclaimed, softly. "No, but I feared you would kill him.
+His time has not come yet, Seņorita, but when it does, this must be the
+hand!" She lifted her own right hand with a significant movement as she
+said this, and glided out into the darkness and was gone ere Kate could
+recall her.
+
+When Kate and her father, with Mr. Britton's assistance, before
+returning home for the night, removed the articles taken from Walcott's
+pockets, the tiny, poisoned stiletto was nowhere to be found.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXVI_
+
+SENORA MARTINEZ
+
+
+Although Mr. Underwood escaped the stroke which it was feared might
+follow the excitement of his final interview with Walcott, it was soon
+apparent that his nervous system had suffered from the shock. His
+physician became insistent in his demands that he not only retire from
+business, but have an entire change of scene, to insure absolute
+relaxation and rest. This advice was earnestly seconded by Mr. Britton,
+not alone for the sake of his friend's health, but more especially
+because he believed it unsafe for Mr. Underwood or Kate to remain in
+that part of the country so long as Walcott had his liberty. Their
+combined counsel and entreaties at length prevailed. A responsible man
+was found to take charge, under Mr. Britton's supervision, of Mr.
+Underwood's business interests. The Pines was closed, two or three
+faithful servants being retained to guard and care for the property, and
+early in April Mr. Underwood, accompanied by his sister and daughter,
+left Ophir ostensibly for the South. They remained south, however, only
+until he had recuperated sufficiently for a longer journey, and then
+sailed for Europe, but of this fact no one in Ophir had knowledge save
+Mr. Britton.
+
+During the last days of Kate's stay in Ophir she watched in vain for
+another glimpse of her strange friend. On the morning of her departure,
+as the train was leaving the depot, she suddenly saw the olive-skinned
+messenger of former occasions running alongside the Pullman in which
+she was seated. Catching her eye, he motioned for her to raise the
+window; she did so, whereupon he tossed a little package into her lap,
+pointing at the same time farther down the platform, and lifting his
+ragged sombrero, vanished. An instant later the Seņora came into view,
+standing at the extreme end of the platform, a lace mantilla thrown
+about her head and shoulders, the ends of which she now waved in token
+of farewell. Kate held up the little package with a smile; she responded
+with a deprecatory gesture indicative of its insignificance, then with
+another wave of the lace scarf and a flutter of Kate's handkerchief,
+they passed out of each other's sight.
+
+Kate hastily undid the package; a little box of ebony inlaid with pearl
+slipped from the wrappings, which, upon touching a secret spring,
+opened, disclosing a small cross of Etruscan gold of the most exquisite
+workmanship. In her first letter to Mr. Britton Kate related the
+incident, and begged him to look out for the woman and render her any
+assistance possible.
+
+To this Mr. Britton needed no urging. Since his first sight of her that
+night in Mr. Underwood's office he had been looking for her, for a
+twofold purpose. For a number of weeks he failed to get even a glimpse
+of her, nor could he obtain any clew to her whereabouts.
+
+One night, well into the summer, he came upon her, unexpectedly,
+standing in front of a cheap restaurant, looking at the edibles
+displayed in the window. She was not veiled, her face was pale and
+haggard, and there was no mistaking the expression in her eyes as she
+finally turned away.
+
+"My friend," said Mr. Britton, laying his hand gently on her shoulder,
+"are you hungry?"
+
+She shrank from him with a start till a glance in his face reassured
+her, and she answered, with an expressive gesture,--
+
+"Yes, Seņor; I have had nothing to eat to-day, and but little
+yesterday."
+
+"This is no fit place; come with me," Mr. Britton replied, leading the
+way two or three blocks down the street, to a first-class restaurant. He
+conducted her through the ladies' entrance into a private box, where he
+ordered a substantial dinner for two.
+
+"Seņor," she protested, as the waiter left the box, "I have no money, no
+way to repay you for this, you understand?"
+
+"I understand," he answered, quickly; "I want no return for this. Miss
+Underwood wished me to find you, and help you, if I could."
+
+"Yes, I know; you are the Seņorita's friend."
+
+"And your friend also, if I can help you."
+
+"You saved his life that night, Seņor; I do not forget," the woman said,
+with peculiar emphasis.
+
+"Yes, I undoubtedly saved the scoundrel from a summary vengeance;
+possibly I might not have done it, had I known what the alternative
+would be. Where is that man now?" he asked, with sudden directness.
+
+"I do not know, Seņor; he tells me nothing, but I have heard he went
+south some time ago."
+
+The entrance of the waiter with their orders put a temporary stop to
+conversation. The woman ate silently, regarding Mr. Britton from time to
+time with an expression of childlike wonder. When her hunger was
+appeased, and she seemed inclined to talk, he said,--
+
+"Tell me something of yourself. When and where did you marry that man?"
+
+"We were married in Mexico, seven years ago."
+
+"Your home was in Mexico?"
+
+"No, Seņor, my father owned a big cattle ranch in Texas. Seņor Walcott,
+as you call him here, worked for him. He wanted to marry me, but my
+father opposed the marriage. We lived close to the line, so we went
+across one day and were married. My father was very angry, but I was his
+only child, and by and by he forgave and took us back."
+
+"Do I understand you that Walcott is not this man's real name?" Mr.
+Britton interposed.
+
+"His name is José Martinez, Seņor."
+
+"But is he not a half-breed? I have understood his father was an
+Englishman."
+
+"His father was an Englishman, but no one ever knew who he was, you
+understand, Seņor? Afterwards his mother married Pablo Martinez, and her
+child took his name. That was why my father opposed our marriage."
+
+"I understand," said Mr. Britton; "but he claims heavy cattle interests
+in the South; how did he come by them?"
+
+"My father's, all of them;" she replied. "He and my father quarrelled
+soon after we went there to live. Then we came away north; we lived for
+a while in this State,"--she paused and hesitated as though fearing she
+had said too much, but Mr. Britton's face betrayed nothing, and she
+continued: "Then, in a year or so, we went south and he and my father
+quarrelled again. My father was found dead on the plains, trampled by
+the cattle, but no one knew how it came about. Then José took everything
+and told me I had nothing. He went north again three years ago. A year
+later he came back and told me I was not his wife, that our marriage was
+void because it was not performed in this country. I became very ill. He
+took me away among strangers and left me there, to die, as he thought.
+But he was mistaken. I had something to live for,--to follow him, as I
+have followed him and will follow him to the end."
+
+The woman rose from the table; Mr. Britton rose also, and stood for a
+moment, facing her.
+
+"He is a dangerous man," he said; "how is it that you do not fear him?"
+
+She laughed softly. "He fears me, Seņor; why should I fear him?"
+
+"I understand," Mr. Britton said; "he fears you because you know him to
+be a criminal; because his freedom--perhaps his very life--is in your
+hands. Why are you not in danger on that account? What is to hinder his
+taking a life so inimical to his own?"
+
+A cunning, treacherous smile crept over her face and a baleful light
+gleamed in her eyes, as she replied, "If I die at his hand my secret
+does not die with me. I have fixed that. If I die to-day, the world
+knows my secret to-morrow. He knows it, Seņor, and I am safe."
+
+"Did it never occur to you," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "that for the
+safety of others your secret should be made known now?"
+
+The woman's whole appearance changed; she regarded Mr. Britton with a
+look of mingled anger and terror, as he continued:
+
+"That man's life and freedom are a constant menace to other lives. Are
+you willing to take the responsibility of the results which may follow
+your withholding that secret, keeping it locked within your own breast?"
+
+The woman looked quickly for a chance of escape, but Mr. Britton barred
+the only means of exit. Her expression was that of a creature brought to
+bay.
+
+"I understand the meaning of your kindness to-night," she cried,
+fiercely. "You are one of the 'fly' men, and you thought to buy my
+secret from me. Let me tell you, you will never buy it, nor can you
+force it from me! So long as he does me no harm I will never make it
+known, and if I die a natural death, it dies with me!"
+
+"You are mistaken," he replied, calmly; "I am no detective, no official
+of any sort. My bringing you here to-night was of itself wholly
+disinterested, done for the sake of a friend who wished me to help you.
+I have wished to meet you and talk with you, as I was interested to
+learn your story, out of sympathy for you and a desire to help you, and
+also to shed new light on your husband's character, of which I have made
+quite a study; but I am not seeking to force you into making any
+disclosures against your will."
+
+Her anger had subsided as quickly as it had been aroused.
+
+"Pardon me, Seņor," she said; "I was wrong. Accept my gratitude for your
+kindness; I will not forget."
+
+"Don't mention it. If you need help at any time, let me know; I do not
+forget that you saved my friend's life. But one word in parting: don't
+think your secret will not become known. Those things always work
+themselves out, and justice will overtake that man yet. When it does,
+your own life may not be as safe as you now think it is. If you need a
+friend then, come to me."
+
+The woman regarded him silently for a moment. "Thank you, Seņor," she
+said, gently; "I understand. Justice will yet overtake him, as you say;
+and when it does," she added, significantly, "I will need no help."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXVII_
+
+THE IDENTIFICATION
+
+
+The following September found Darrell again in Ophir and re-established
+in his old-time quarters. To his old office he had added the room
+formerly occupied by Walcott, his increasing business demanding more
+office room and the presence of an assistant.
+
+Before leaving the East he revisited the members of his old syndicate
+and informed them that he intended henceforth making his head-quarters
+in the West, and if they wished to employ him as their expert, he would
+execute commissions from that point. To this they readily agreed, and
+also gave him letters of introduction to a number of capitalists
+interested in western mining properties, who were only too glad to
+secure the services of a reliable expert who would be on the ground and
+familiar with existing conditions. As a result, Darrell had scarcely
+reopened business at his former quarters before he found himself with
+numerous eastern commissions to be executed, in addition to his old work
+as assayer.
+
+He was prepared for the changes which had taken place during the year of
+his absence, his father having kept him thoroughly informed of all that
+had occurred.
+
+Darrell was delighted at the story of Kate Underwood's coolness and
+bravery in saving her father's life, and sent her a note of hearty
+congratulation, which she kept among her cherished treasures. Since that
+time, occasional letters were exchanged between them; hers, bright,
+entertaining sketches of their travels here and there, with comments
+characteristic of herself regarding places and people; his, permeated
+with the fresh, exhilarating atmosphere of the mountains, and pervaded
+by a vigor and virility which roused Kate's admiration, yet led her to
+wonder if this could be the same lover who had won her childish heart in
+those idyllic days. Each realized the fact that notwithstanding their
+love, notwithstanding their stanch comradeship, at present they were
+little more than strangers. Darrell's love for Kate was a reality, but
+her personality, so far as he could recall it, was little more than a
+dream; each letter revealed some unexpected phase of her character; he
+found their correspondence an unfailing source of pleasure, and was
+content to await the time of their meeting, confident that he would find
+the real woman all and more than the ideal which he fondly cherished as
+his Dream-Love. And to Kate, each letter of Darrell's brought more and
+more forcibly the conviction that the lover whom she remembered was as a
+dream compared with the reality she was to meet some day.
+
+About six months had elapsed when Darrell received, early one morning,
+the following telegram from his father, summoning him to Galena:
+
+     "Come over on first train. Important."
+
+By the first train he would reach Galena a little before noon; he had
+not breakfasted, and had but twenty minutes in which to make it. Calling
+a carriage, he went directly to his office, where he left a brief
+explanatory note for the clerk, written on the way, then drove with all
+possible speed to the depot, arriving on time but without a minute to
+spare. He breakfasted on the train, and while running over the morning
+paper, his attention was caught by a despatch from Galena to the effect
+that one of the leading banks in that city had been entered and the safe
+opened and robbed on the preceding night. The robbers, of whom there
+were three, had been discovered by the police. A fight had ensued in
+which one officer and one of the robbers were killed, the second robber
+wounded, while the third had made his escape with most of the plunder.
+It was further stated that they were known to belong to the notorious
+band of outlaws so long the terror of that region, and it was believed
+the wounded man was none other than the leader himself, the murderer of
+Harry Whitcomb and the young express clerk, for whom there was a
+standing reward of twenty-five thousand dollars, dead or alive. The man
+was to have a preliminary examination that afternoon, and the greatest
+excitement prevailed in Galena, as it was rumored that others of the
+band would probably be present, scattered throughout the crowd, for the
+purpose of rescuing their leader.
+
+In a flash Darrell understood his father's summons. He let the paper
+fall and, unmindful of his breakfast, gazed abstractedly out of the
+window. His thoughts had reverted to that scene in the sleeper on his
+first trip west. He seemed to see it again in all its sickening detail,
+the face of the assassin standing out before him with such startling
+distinctness and realism that he involuntarily placed his hand over his
+eyes to shut out the hateful sight.
+
+At Galena he was met by his father, who took a closed carriage to his
+hotel, conducting Darrell immediately to his own room, where he ordered
+lunch served for both.
+
+"Do you know why I have sent for you?" Mr. Britton inquired, as soon as
+they were left alone together.
+
+"I had no idea when I started," Darrell replied, "but on reading the
+morning paper, on my way over, I concluded you wanted me at that trial
+this afternoon."
+
+"You are correct. Are you prepared to identify that face? Is your
+recollection of it as distinct as ever?"
+
+"Yes; after reading of that bank robbery this morning, the whole affair
+in the car that night came back to me so vividly I could see the man's
+face as clearly as any face on the train with me."
+
+"Good!" Mr. Britton ejaculated.
+
+"Do you think there is any likelihood of an attempt to rescue him, as
+stated by the paper?" Darrell inquired, rather incredulously.
+
+"If the leader of the band finds himself in need of help it will be
+forthcoming," Mr. Britton answered, with peculiar emphasis. "The
+citizens are expecting trouble and have sworn in about a dozen extra
+deputy sheriffs, myself among the number."
+
+When lunch was over Mr. Britton ordered a carriage at once, and they
+proceeded to the court-room.
+
+"What is your opinion of this man?" Darrell asked his father, while on
+the way. "Would you have selected him as the murderer, from your study
+of him?"
+
+"I reserve my opinions until later," Mr. Britton replied. "I want you to
+act from memory alone, unbiased by any outside influence."
+
+Arriving at the court-room, they found it already well filled. Darrell
+was about to enter, but his father took him into a small anteroom, while
+he himself went to look for seats. He had a little difficulty in finding
+the seats he wanted, which delayed them so that proceedings had begun as
+he and Darrell entered from a side door and took their places in rather
+an obscure part of the room.
+
+"You will have a good view here," Mr. Britton said to Darrell, as they
+seated themselves, "and there is little likelihood of your being
+recognized from this point."
+
+"There is little probability of the man's recognizing me, even if he is
+here," Darrell replied, "for he did not give me a second thought that
+night, and if he had, I am so changed he would not know me."
+
+"We cannot be too cautious," his father answered.
+
+In a few moments the prisoner was brought in, and there was a general
+craning of necks to see him, a number of men in Darrell's vicinity
+standing and thus obstructing his view.
+
+"Wait," said his father, as he was about to rise with the others; "don't
+make yourself conspicuous; when the man is called for examination you
+will have an excellent view from here."
+
+Curiosity gradually subsided, and the men sank back into their seats as
+proceedings went on. Then the prisoner was called and stood up for
+examination. Darrell drew a quick breath and leaned eagerly forward. The
+man was of medium height and size, but his movements seemed heavy and
+clumsy, whereas Darrell had been impressed by a litheness and agility in
+the movements of the other.
+
+He stood facing his interlocutor, affording Darrell a three-quarter view
+of his face, but soon he turned in Darrell's direction, scanning the
+crowd slowly, as though in search of some one.
+
+Darrell saw a squarely built, colorless face, surmounted by a shock of
+coarse, straight black hair, with heavy, repulsive features, and small,
+bullet-shaped, leaden eyes of rather light blue. The face was so utterly
+unlike what he had expected to see that he sank back into his seat with
+a smothered exclamation of disgust. His father, watching closely,
+smiled, seeming rather pleased than otherwise, but Darrell was half
+indignant.
+
+"The idea of a lout like that being taken for the leader!" he exclaimed.
+"He is nothing but a tool, and a pretty clumsy one at that."
+
+Notwithstanding his vexation, Darrell continued to watch the
+proceedings, and in a few moments began to grow interested, not so much
+in the examination as in the conduct of the prisoner. The latter
+evidently had found the face for which he was looking, for his eyes
+seemed glued to a certain spot. Occasionally he would shift them for a
+moment, but invariably, with each new interrogatory, they would turn to
+that particular spot, as the needle to the pole, not through any
+volition of his own, but drawn by some influence against which he was
+temporarily powerless.
+
+"That man is under a spell; he is being worked by some one in the
+crowd," Darrell exclaimed to his father, in a low tone.
+
+"Yes, and by some one not very far from us; I have spotted him, see if
+you cannot."
+
+Following the direction of the man's glance, Darrell began to scan the
+faces of the crowd. Suddenly his pulses gave a bound. Seated at a little
+distance and partially facing them was a man of the same size and height
+as the prisoner, but whose every move and poise suggested alertness. He
+was leaning his arms on the back of the seat before him; his head was
+lowered so that his chin rested lightly on one hand, while the other
+hand played nervously with the seat on which he leaned. His whole
+attitude was that of a wild beast crouched, ready to spring upon his
+prey. He had an oval face, with deep olive skin, wavy black hair, cut
+close except where it curled low over his forehead, and through the
+half-closed eyes, fixed upon the prisoner's face, Darrell caught a
+glint like that of burnished steel. For an instant Darrell gazed like
+one fascinated; he had not expected such an exact reproduction of the
+face as he had seen it on that night. His father touched him lightly; he
+nodded significantly in reply.
+
+"There is your man!" he exclaimed.
+
+"You are sure? You could swear to it?" queried his father.
+
+"Swear to it? Yes. I would have known him anywhere, but sitting there,
+watching that man, his face is precisely as I saw it that night. Wait a
+moment, look!"
+
+The man in his agitation at some word of the prisoner's, raised one hand
+and brushed his forehead with a nervous gesture, which lifted his hair
+slightly, disclosing one end of a scar.
+
+"Did you see that scar?" Darrell questioned, eagerly. "You will find it
+almost crescent shaped, rather jagged, and nearly three inches in
+length."
+
+"That is all I wanted," his father replied. "I have the warrant for his
+arrest with me, and the examination is so nearly over I shall serve it
+at once."
+
+"Can I help you?" Darrell asked, as his father moved away.
+
+"No; stay where you are; don't let him see you until after he is under
+arrest."
+
+The examination of the prisoner had just ended when Mr. Britton,
+accompanied by two deputies, re-entered the court-room. The man still
+maintained his crouching attitude, intently watching proceedings. Mr.
+Britton approached from the rear. Seizing the man suddenly by the arms,
+he pinioned him so that for an instant he was unable to move, and one of
+the deputies, leaning over, snapped the handcuffs on him before he
+fairly realized what had happened. Then, with a swift movement, Mr.
+Britton raised him to his feet and lifted him quickly out into the
+aisle, while his voice rang authoritatively through the court-room,--
+
+"José Martinez, alias Walcott, I arrest you in the name of the State!"
+
+The man shouted something in Spanish, evidently a signal, for it was
+repeated in different parts of the room. Instantly all was confusion. A
+shot fired from the rear wounded one of the deputies; a man seated near
+Darrell drew a revolver, but before he could level it Darrell knocked it
+from his hand and felled him to the floor. The officers rushed to the
+spot, and as the outbreak subsided Mr. Britton brought forward his
+prisoner.
+
+A murmur of consternation rose throughout the room, for Walcott had been
+known years before among the business men of Galena, and there were not
+a few citizens present who had known him as Mr. Underwood's partner.
+Walcott, taking advantage of the situation, began to protest his
+innocence. Mr. Britton, unmoved, at once beckoned Darrell to his side.
+Upon seeing him Walcott's face took on a ghastly hue and he seemed for a
+moment on the verge of collapse, but he quickly pulled himself together,
+regarding Darrell meanwhile with a venomous malignity seldom seen on a
+human face. Not the least surprised man in the crowd was Darrell
+himself.
+
+"Do you mean to say," he asked his father, "that this is the Walcott of
+whose villany you have been writing me, and that he and the murderer of
+Harry Whitcomb are one and the same?"
+
+"So it seems," Mr. Britton replied; "but that is no more than I have
+suspected all along."
+
+"Now I understand your fear of my being recognized; it seemed
+inexplicable to me," said Darrell.
+
+"If he had seen you," his father replied, "he would have suspected your
+errand here at once."
+
+Incredulity was apparent on many faces as Walcott's examination was
+begun. He was morose and silent, and nothing could be elicited from him.
+When Darrell was called upon, however, and gave his evidence,
+incredulity gave place to conviction. As he completed his testimony with
+a description of the scar, which, upon examination, was found correct,
+the crowd became angry and threats of lynching and personal violence
+were heard on various sides. The judge therefore ordered that the
+prisoners be removed from the court-room to the jail before any in the
+audience had left their places.
+
+In charge of the regular sheriff and four or five deputies the prisoners
+were led from the court-room. They had but just reached the street,
+however, when those inside heard shots fired in quick succession,
+followed by angry cries and shouts for help. The crowd surged to the
+doors, to see the officers surrounded by a band of the outlaws who had
+been lying in wait for their appearance, having been summoned by the
+signal given on the arrest of the leader. With the help of the citizens
+the fight was soon terminated, but when the męlée was over it was
+discovered that the sheriff had been killed, a number of citizens and
+outlaws wounded, and Martinez, alias Walcott, had escaped.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXVIII_
+
+WITHIN THE "POCKET"
+
+
+The remainder of that day and the following night were spent in
+fruitless efforts to determine the whereabouts of the fugitive.
+Telegrams were sent along the various railway lines into every part of
+the State; messengers were despatched to neighboring towns and camps,
+but all in vain. For the first thirty-six hours it seemed as though the
+earth must have opened and swallowed him up; there was not even a clue
+as to the direction in which he had gone.
+
+The second morning after his disappearance reports began to come in from
+a dozen different quarters of as many different men, all answering the
+description given of the fugitive, who had been identified as the
+criminal. Four or five posses, averaging a dozen men each, all armed,
+set forth in various directions to follow the clews which seemed most
+worthy of credence. For the next few days reports were constantly
+received from one posse or another, to the effect that they were on the
+right trail, the fugitive had been seen only the preceding night at a
+miners' cabin where he had forced two men at the point of a revolver to
+surrender their supper of pork and beans; or some lonely ranchman and
+his wife had entertained him at dinner the day before. He was always
+reported as only about ten hours ahead, footsore and weary, but at the
+end of ten days they returned, disorganized, dilapidated, and disgusted,
+without even having had a sight of their man.
+
+Other bands were sent out with instructions to separate into squads of
+three or four and search the ground thoroughly. Some of them were more
+successful, in that they did, occasionally, get sight of the fugitive,
+but always under circumstances disadvantageous to themselves. Three of
+them stood one day talking with a rancher, who only two hours before had
+furnished the man, under protest, with a hearty dinner and a fine rifle.
+The rancher pointed out the direction in which he had gone, over a rocky
+road leading down a steep, rough ravine; as he did so, his guest
+appeared on the other side of the ravine, within good rifle range. A
+mutual recognition followed; the men started to raise their rifles, but
+the other was too quick for them. Covering them with the rifle which he
+carried, he walked backward a distance of about forty yards and then,
+with a mocking salute, disappeared. Bloodhounds were next employed, but
+the man swam and waded streams and doubled back on his own trail till
+men and dogs were alike baffled. This continued for about two months;
+then all reports regarding the man ceased; nothing was heard of him, it
+was surmised that he had reached the "Pocket," and all efforts at
+further search were for the time abandoned.
+
+Of all those concerned in the efforts for his capture there was not one
+more thoroughly disgusted with the outcome than Mr. Britton. For months
+he had had this man under surveillance, convinced that he was a criminal
+and planning to bring about his capture. Through his own efforts he had
+been identified, and by his coolness and presence of mind he had
+accomplished his arrest when nine out of ten others would have failed,
+and all seemed now to have been effort thrown away. He regretted the
+man's escape the more especially as he felt that his own life, as well
+as that of his son, was endangered so long as he was at liberty.
+
+About a month after the search was abandoned Mr. Britton was one day
+surprised by a call from the wife of Martinez. He had not seen her since
+his one interview with her months before.
+
+He was sitting in Mr. Underwood's office, looking over the books brought
+in for his inspection, when she entered, alone and unannounced.
+
+She seated herself in the chair indicated by Mr. Britton and proceeded
+at once to the object of her visit.
+
+"Seņor, you told me when I last saw you that my secret would one day
+come out. You were right; it has. It is my secret no longer and José
+Martinez fears me no longer. You have been kind to me. You saved his
+life once; you fed me when I was hungry and asked no return. I will show
+you I do not forget. Seņor, there is twenty-five thousand dollars reward
+for that man. The officers will never find him; but I will take you to
+him, the reward is then yours, and justice overtakes José Martinez, as
+you said it would. Do you accept?"
+
+"Do you know where he is?" Mr. Britton queried, somewhat surprised by
+the woman's proposition.
+
+"Yes, Seņor; I have just come from there."
+
+"He is in the Pocket, is he not?"
+
+"Yes, Seņor, but neither you nor your men could find the Pocket without
+a guide. I know it well; I have lived there."
+
+"What is your proposition?" Mr. Britton inquired, after a brief silence;
+"how do you propose to do this?"
+
+"I will start to-morrow for the Pocket. You come with me and bring the
+dogs. I will take you to a cabin where you can stay over night while I
+go on alone to the Pocket to see that all is right. I will leave you my
+veil for a scent. The next morning you will set the dogs on my trail
+and follow them till you come to a certain place I will tell you of.
+From there you will see me; I will watch for you and give you the signal
+that all is right. The dogs will bring you to the Pocket in half an
+hour. The rest will be easy work, Seņor, I promise you."
+
+"But isn't the place constantly guarded?"
+
+"Not now, Seņor; the men have gone away on another expedition, but José
+does not dare go out with them at present. Only one man is there beside
+José; I know him well; he will be asleep when you come."
+
+"I shall need men with me to help in bringing him back," said Mr.
+Britton.
+
+"Bring them, but I think he will give you little trouble, Seņor."
+
+As Mr. Britton cared nothing for the reward himself, he chose five men
+to accompany him to whom he thought the money would be particularly
+acceptable, and the following morning, with two blood-hounds, they
+started forth in three separate detachments to attract as little
+attention as possible. The first part of their journey was by rail, the
+men taking the same train as the woman herself. On their arrival at the
+little station which she had designated, conveyances, for which Mr.
+Britton had privately wired a personal friend living in that vicinity,
+were waiting to take them to their next stopping-place.
+
+They reached the cabin of which the woman had spoken, late in the
+afternoon. Here they picketed their horses and prepared to stay over
+night, while she went on to the Pocket. Before leaving she gave Mr.
+Britton the lace scarf which she wore about her head.
+
+"I shall not go in there until night," she said; "then I can watch and
+find if all is right. You start early to-morrow morning on foot. Set the
+dogs on my trail and follow them to the fork; then turn to the left and
+follow them till you come to a small tree standing in the trail, on
+which I will tie this handkerchief. Straight ahead of you you will see
+the entrance to the Pocket. Wait by the tree till you see my signal. If
+everything is right I will wave a white signal. If I wave a black
+signal, wait till you see the white one, or till I come to you."
+
+Early the next morning Mr. Britton and his men set forth with the hounds
+in leash, leaving the horses in charge of their drivers. The dogs took
+the scent at once and started up the trail, the men following. They
+found it no easy task they had undertaken; the trail was rough and steep
+and in many places so narrow they were forced to go in single file. Some
+of the men, in order to be prepared for emergencies, were heavily armed,
+and progress was necessarily slow, but at last the fork was passed, and
+then the time seemed comparatively short ere a small tree confronted
+them, a white handkerchief fluttering among its branches.
+
+They paused and drew back the hounds, then looked about them. Less than
+ten feet ahead the trail ended. The rocks looked as though they had been
+cut in two, the half on which they were standing falling perpendicularly
+a distance of some eighty feet, while across a rocky ravine some forty
+feet in width, the other half rose, an almost perpendicular wall eighty
+or ninety feet in height. In this massive wall of rock there was one
+opening visible, resembling a gateway, and while the men speculated as
+to what it might be, the woman appeared, waving a white handkerchief,
+and they knew it to be the entrance to the Pocket.
+
+"She evidently expects us to come over there," said one of the men, "but
+blamed if I can see a trail wide enough for a cat!"
+
+"Send the dogs ahead!" ordered Mr. Britton.
+
+The dogs on taking the scent plunged downward through the brush on one
+side, bringing them out into a narrow trail leading down and across the
+ravine. Just above, on the other side, they could see the woman watching
+their every move.
+
+"I've always heard," said one of the men, "there was no getting into
+this place without you had a special invitation, and it looks like it.
+Just imagine one of those fellows up there with a gun! Holy Moses! he'd
+hold the place against all the men the State, or the United States, for
+that matter, could send down here!"
+
+The ascent of the other side was difficult, but the men put forth their
+best efforts, and ere they were aware found themselves before the
+gateway in the rocks, where the woman still awaited them. She silently
+beckoned them to enter.
+
+Emerging from a narrow pass some six feet in length, they found
+themselves in a circular basin, about two hundred feet in diameter,
+surrounded by perpendicular walls of rock from one hundred to five
+hundred feet in height. The bottom of the basin was level as a floor and
+covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, while in the centre a small
+lake, clear as crystal, reflecting the blue sky which seemed to rise
+like a dome from the rocky walls, gleamed like a sapphire in the
+sunlight. Sheer and dark the walls rose on all sides, but at one end of
+the basin, where the rocks were more rough and jagged, a silver stream
+fell in glistening cascades to the bottom, where it disappeared among
+the rocks.
+
+For a moment the men, lost in admiration of the scene, forgot that they
+were in the den of a notorious band of outlaws, but a second glance
+recalled them to the situation, for on all sides of the basin were
+caves leading into the walls of rock, and evidently used as dwellings.
+
+To one of these the woman now led the way. At the entrance a man lay on
+the ground, his heavy stertorous breathing proclaiming him a victim of
+some sleeping potion. The woman regarded him with a smile of amusement.
+
+"I made him sleep, Seņor," she said, addressing Mr. Britton, "so he will
+not trouble you."
+
+Still leading the way into the farther part of the cave, she came to a
+low couch of skins at the foot of which she paused. Pointing to the
+figure outlined upon it, she said, calmly,--
+
+"He sleeps also, Seņor, but sound; so sound you will need have no fear
+of waking him!"
+
+Her words aroused a strange suspicion in Mr. Britton's mind. The light
+was so dim he could not see the sleeper, but a lantern, burning low,
+hung on the wall above his head. Seizing the lantern, he turned on the
+light, holding it so it would strike the face of the sleeper. It was the
+face of José Martinez, but the features were drawn and ghastly. He bent
+lower, listening for his breath, but no sound came; he laid his hand
+upon his heart, but it was still.
+
+Raising himself quickly, he threw the rays of the lantern full upon the
+woman standing before him, a small crucifix clasped in her hands. Under
+his searching gaze her face grew pale and ghastly as that upon the
+couch.
+
+"You have killed him!" he said, slowly, with terrible emphasis.
+
+She made the sign of the cross. "Holy Mother, forgive!" she muttered;
+then, though she still quailed beneath his look, she exclaimed, half
+defiantly, "I have not wronged you; you have your reward, and justice
+has overtaken him, as you said it would!"
+
+"That is not justice," said Mr. Britton, pointing to the couch; "it is
+murder, and you are his murderer. You should have let the law take its
+course."
+
+"The law!" she laughed, mockingly; "would your law avenge my father's
+death, or the wrongs I have suffered? No! My father had no son to avenge
+him, I had no brother, but I have avenged him and myself. I have
+followed him all these years, waiting till the right time should come,
+waiting for this, dreaming of it night and day! I have had my revenge,
+and it was sweet! I did not kill him in his sleep, Seņor; I wakened him,
+just to let him know he was in my power, just to hear him plead for
+mercy----"
+
+"Hush!" said Mr. Britton, firmly, for the woman seemed to have gone mad.
+"You do not know what you are saying. You must get ready to return with
+me."
+
+She grew calm at once and her face lighted with a strange smile.
+
+"I am ready to go with you, Seņor," she said, at the same time clasping
+the crucifix suddenly to her breast.
+
+With the last word she fell to the ground and a slight tremor shook her
+frame for an instant. Quickly Mr. Britton lifted her and bore her to the
+light, but life was already extinct. Within her clasped hands,
+underneath the crucifix, they found the little poisoned stiletto.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXIX_
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+
+For a year and a half Darrell worked uninterruptedly at Ophir, his
+constantly increasing commissions from eastern States testifying to his
+marked ability as a mining expert.
+
+Notwithstanding the incessant demands upon his time, he still adhered to
+his old rule, reserving a few hours out of each twenty-four, which he
+devoted to scientific or literary study, as his mood impelled. He soon
+found himself again drawn irresistibly towards the story begun during
+his stay at the Hermitage, but temporarily laid aside on his return
+east. He carefully reviewed the synopsis, which he had written in
+detail, and as he did, he felt himself entering into the spirit of the
+story till it seemed once more part of his own existence. He revised the
+work already done, eliminating, adding, making the outlines clearer,
+more defined; then, with steady, unfaltering hand, carried the work
+forward to completion.
+
+Eighteen months after his re-establishment at Ophir he was commissioned
+to go to Alaska to examine certain mining properties in a deal involving
+over a million dollars, and, anxious to be on the ground as early as
+possible, he took the first boat north that season. His story was
+published on the eve of his departure. He received a few copies, which
+he regarded with a half-fond, half-whimsical air. One he sent to Kate
+Underwood, having first written his initials on the fly-leaf underneath
+the brief petition, "Be merciful." He then went his way, his time and
+attention wholly occupied by his work, with little thought as to whether
+the newly launched craft was destined to ride the waves of popularity or
+be engulfed beneath the waters of oblivion.
+
+Months of constant travel, of hard work and rough fare, followed. His
+report on the mines was satisfactory, the deal was consummated, and he
+received a handsome percentage, but not content with this, determined to
+familiarize himself with the general situation in that country and the
+conditions obtaining, he pushed on into the interior, pursuing his
+explorations till the return of the cold season. Touching at British
+Columbia on his way home and finding tempting inducements there in the
+way of mining properties, he stopped to investigate, and remained during
+the winter and spring months.
+
+It was therefore not until the following June that he found himself
+really homeward bound and once more within the mountain ranges guarding
+the approach to the busy little town of Ophir.
+
+He had been gone considerably over a year; he had accumulated a vast
+amount of information invaluable for future work along his line, and he
+had succeeded financially beyond his anticipations. Occasionally during
+his absence, in papers picked up here and there, he had seen favorable
+mention of his story, from which he inferred that his first venture in
+the realms of fiction had not been quite a failure, and in this opinion
+he was confirmed by a letter just received from his publishers, which
+had followed him for months. But all thought of these things was for the
+time forgotten in an almost boyish delight that he was at last on his
+way home.
+
+As he came within sight of the familiar ranges his thoughts reverted
+again and again to Kate Underwood. His whole soul seemed to cry out for
+her with a sudden, insatiable longing. His mail had of necessity been
+irregular and infrequent; their letters had somehow miscarried, and he
+had not heard directly from her for months. Her last letter was from
+Germany; she was then still engrossed in her music, but her father's
+health was greatly improved and he was beginning to talk of home. His
+father's latest letter had stated that the Underwoods would probably
+return early in July. And this was June! Darrell felt a twinge of
+disappointment. He was now able to remember many incidents in their
+acquaintance. He recalled their first meeting at The Pines on that June
+day five years ago. How beautiful the old place must look now! But
+without Kate's presence the charm would be lost for him. He regretted he
+had started homeward quite so soon; the time would not have seemed so
+long among the mining camps of the great Northwest as here, where
+everything reminded him of her.
+
+The stopping of the train at a health resort far up among the mountains,
+a few miles from Ophir, roused Darrell from his revery. With a sigh he
+recalled his wandering thoughts and left the car for a walk up and down
+the platform. The town, perched saucily on the slopes of a heavily
+timbered mountain, looked very attractive in the gathering twilight.
+Though early in the season, the hotel and sanitarium seemed well filled,
+while numerous pleasure-seekers were promenading the walks leading to
+and from the springs which gave the place its popularity.
+
+Darrell felt a sudden, unaccountable desire to remain. Without waiting
+to analyze the impulse, as inexplicable as it was irresistible, which
+actuated him, he hastened into the sleeper and secured his grip and top
+coat. As the train pulled out he stepped into the station and sent a
+message to his father at Ophir, stating that he had decided to remain
+over a day or two at the Springs and asking him to look after his
+baggage on its arrival. He then took a carriage for the hotel. It was
+not without some compunctions of conscience that Darrell wired his
+father of his decision, and even as he rode swiftly along the winding
+streets he wondered what strange fancy possessed him that he should stop
+among strangers instead of continuing his journey home. To his father it
+would certainly seem unaccountable, as it did now to himself.
+
+Mr. Britton, however, on receiving his son's message, could not restrain
+a smile, for only the preceding day he had received a telegram from Kate
+Underwood, at the same place, in which she stated that they had started
+home earlier than at first intended, and as her father was somewhat
+fatigued by their long journey, they had decided to stop for two or
+three days' rest at the Springs.
+
+Darrell arrived at the hotel at a late hour for dinner; the dining-room
+was therefore nearly deserted when he took his place at the table.
+Dinner over, he went out for a stroll, and, glad to be alone with his
+thoughts, walked up and down the entire length of the little town. His
+mind was constantly on Kate. Again and again he seemed to see her, as he
+loved best to recall her, standing on the summit of the "Divide," her
+wind-tossed hair blown about her brow, her eyes shining, as she
+predicted their reunion and perfect love. Over and over he seemed to
+hear her words, and his heart burned with desire for their fulfilment.
+He had waited patiently, he had shown what he could achieve, how he
+could win, but all achievements, all victories, were worthless without
+her love and presence.
+
+The moon was just rising as he returned to the hotel, but it was still
+early. His decision was taken; he would go to Ophir by the morning
+train, learn Kate's whereabouts from his father, and go to meet her and
+accompany her home. He had chosen a path leading through a secluded
+portion of the grounds, and as he approached the hotel his attention was
+arrested by some one singing. Glancing in the direction whence the song
+came, he saw one of the private parlors brightly lighted, the long, low
+window open upon the veranda. Something in the song held him entranced,
+spell-bound. The voice was incomparably rich, possessing wonderful range
+and power of expression, but this alone was not what especially appealed
+to him. Through all and underlying all was a quality so strangely,
+sweetly familiar, which thrilled his soul to its very depths, whether
+with joy or pain he could not have told; it seemed akin to both.
+
+Still held as by a spell, he drew nearer the window, until he heard the
+closing words of the refrain,--words which had been ringing with strange
+persistency in his mind for the last two or three hours,--
+
+  "Some time, some time, and that will be
+  God's own good time for you and me."
+
+His heart leaped wildly. With a bound, swift and noiseless, he was on
+the veranda, just as the singer, with tender, lingering emphasis,
+repeated the words so low as to be barely audible to Darrell standing
+before the open window. But even while he listened he gazed in
+astonishment at the singer; could that magnificent woman be his
+girl-love? She was superbly formed, splendidly proportioned; the rich,
+warm blood glowed in her cheeks, and her hair gleamed in the light like
+spun gold. He stood motionless; he would not retreat, he dared not
+advance.
+
+As the last words of the song died away, a slight sound caused the
+singer to turn, facing him, and their eyes met. That was enough; in that
+one glance the memory of his love returned to him like an overwhelming
+flood. She was no longer his Dream-Love, but a splendid, living reality,
+only more beautiful than his dreams or his imagination had portrayed
+her.
+
+He stretched out his arms towards her with the one word, "Kathie!"
+
+She had already risen, a great, unspeakable joy illumining her face, but
+at the sound of that name, vibrating with the pent-up emotion, the
+concentrated love of all the years of their separation, she came swiftly
+forward, her bosom palpitating, her eyes shining with the love called
+forth by his cry. He stepped through the low window, within the room. In
+an instant his arms were clasped about her, and, holding her close to
+his breast, his dark eyes told her more eloquently than words of his
+heart's hunger for her, while in her eyes and in the blushes running
+riot in her cheeks he read his welcome.
+
+He kissed her hair and brow, with a sort of reverence; then, hearing
+voices in the corridor and rooms adjoining, he seized a light wrap from
+a chair near by and threw it about her shoulders.
+
+"Come outside, sweetheart," he whispered, and drawing her arm within his
+own led her out onto the veranda and down the path along which he had
+just come. In the first transport of their joy they were silent, each
+almost fearing to break the spell which seemed laid upon them. The moon
+had risen, transforming the sombre scene to one of beauty, but to them
+Love's radiance had suddenly made the world inexpressibly fair; the very
+flowers as they passed breathed perfume like incense in their path, and
+the trees whispered benedictions upon them.
+
+Darrell first broke the silence. "I would have been in Ophir to-night,
+but some mysterious, irresistible impulse led me to stop here. Did you
+weave a spell about me, you sweet sorceress?" he asked, gazing tenderly
+into her face.
+
+"I think it must have been some higher influence than mine," she
+replied, with sweet gravity, "for I was also under the spell. I supposed
+you many miles away, yet, as I sang to-night, it seemed as though you
+were close to me, as though if I turned I should see you--just as I
+did," she concluded, with a radiant smile. "But how did you find me?"
+
+"How does the night-bird find its mate?" he queried, in low, vibrant
+tones; then, as her color deepened, he continued, with passionate
+earnestness,--
+
+"I was here, where we are now, my very soul crying out for you, when I
+heard your song. It thrilled me; I felt as though waking from a dream,
+but I knew my love was near. Down through the years I heard her soul
+calling mine; following that call, I found my love, and listening, heard
+the very words which my own heart had been repeating over and over to
+itself, alone and in the darkness."
+
+Almost unconsciously they had stopped at a turn in the path. Darrell
+paused a moment, for tears were trembling on the golden lashes. Drawing
+her closer, he whispered,--
+
+"Kathie, do you remember our parting on the 'Divide'?"
+
+"Do you think I ever could forget?" she asked.
+
+"You predicted we would one day stand reunited on the heights of such
+love as we had not dreamed of then. I asked you when that day would be;
+do you remember your answer?"
+
+"I do."
+
+He continued, in impassioned tones: "Are not the conditions fulfilled,
+sweetheart? My love for you then was as a dream, a myth, compared with
+that I bring you to-day, and looking in your eyes I need no words to
+tell me that your love has broadened and deepened with the years.
+Kathie, is not this 'the time appointed'?"
+
+"It must be," she replied; "there could be none other like this!"
+
+Holding her head against his breast and raising her face to his, he
+said, "You gave me your heart that day, Kathie, to hold in trust. I have
+been faithful to that trust through all these years; do you give it me
+now for my very own?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, slowly, with sweet solemnity; "to have and to hold,
+forever!"
+
+He sealed the promise with a long, rapturous kiss; but what followed,
+the broken, disjointed phrases, the mutual pledges, the tokens of love
+given and received, are all among the secrets which the mountains never
+told.
+
+As they retraced their steps towards the hotel, Darrell said, "We have
+waited long, sweetheart."
+
+"Yes, but the waiting has brought us good of itself," she answered.
+"Think of all you have accomplished,--I know better than you think, for
+your father has kept me posted,--and better yet, what these years have
+fitted you for accomplishing in the future! To me, that was the best
+part of your work in your story. It was strong and cleverly told, but
+what pleased me most was the evidence that it was but the beginning, the
+promise of something better yet to come."
+
+"If only I could persuade all critics to see it through your eyes!"
+Darrell replied, with a smile.
+
+"Do you wish to know," she asked, with sudden seriousness, "what will
+always remain to me the noblest, most heroic act of your life?"
+
+"Most assuredly I do," he answered, her own gravity checking the
+laughing reply which rose to his lips.
+
+"The fight you made and won alone in the mountains the day that you
+renounced our love for honor's sake. I can see now that the stand you
+took and maintained so nobly formed the turning-point in both our lives.
+I did not look at it then as you did. I would have married you then and
+there and gone with you to the ends of the earth rather than sacrifice
+your love, but you upheld my honor with your own. You fought against
+heavy odds, and won, and to me no other victory will compare with it,
+since--
+
+     'greater they who on life's battle-field
+     With unseen foes and fierce temptations fight.'"
+
+Darrell silently drew her nearer himself, feeling that even in this
+foretaste of joy he had received ample compensation for the past.
+
+A few days later there was a quiet wedding at the Springs. The beautiful
+church on the mountain-side had been decorated for the occasion, and at
+an early hour, while yet the robins were singing their matins, the
+little wedding-party gathered about the altar where John Darrell Britton
+and Kate Underwood plighted their troth for life. Above the jubilant
+bird-songs, above the low, subdued tones of the organ, the words of the
+grand old marriage service rang out with impressiveness.
+
+Besides the rector and his wife, there were present only Mr. Underwood,
+Mrs. Dean, and Mr. Britton. It had been Kate's wish, with which Darrell
+had gladly coincided, thus to be quietly married, surrounded only by
+their immediate relatives.
+
+"Let our wedding be a fit consummation of our betrothal," she had said
+to him, "without publicity, unhampered by conventionalities, so it will
+always seem the sweeter and more sacred."
+
+That evening found them all at The Pines, assembled on the veranda
+watching the sunset, the old home seeming wonderfully restful and
+peaceful to the returned travellers.
+
+The years which had come and gone since Darrell first came to the Pines
+told heaviest on Mr. Underwood. His hair was nearly white and he had
+aged in many ways, appearing older than Mr. Britton, who was
+considerably his senior; but age had brought its compensations, for the
+stern, immobile face had softened and the deep-set eyes glowed with a
+kindly, beneficent light. Mr. Britton's hair was well silvered, but his
+face bore evidence of the great joy which had come into his life, and as
+his eyes rested upon his son he seemed to live anew in that glorious
+young life. To Mrs. Dean the years had brought only a few silver threads
+in the brown hair and an added serenity to the placid, unfurrowed brow.
+Calm and undemonstrative as ever, but with a smile of deep content, she
+sat in her accustomed place, her knitting-needles flashing and clicking
+with their old-time regularity. Duke, who had been left in Mr. Britton's
+care during Darren's absence, occupied his old place on the top stair,
+but even his five years of added dignity could not restrain him from
+occasional demonstrations of joy at finding himself again at The Pines
+and with his beloved master and mistress.
+
+As the twilight began to deepen Kate suggested that they go inside, and
+led the way, not to the family sitting-room, but to a spacious room on
+the eastern side, a room which had originally been intended as a
+library, but never furnished as such. It was beautifully decorated with
+palms and flowers, while the fireplace had been filled with light boughs
+of spruce and fir.
+
+As they entered the room, Kate, slipping her arm within Mr. Britton's,
+led him before the fireplace.
+
+"My dear father," she said, "we have chosen this evening as the one most
+appropriate for your formal installation in our family circle and our
+home. I say formal because you have really been one of ourselves for
+years; you have shared our joys and our sorrows; we have had no secrets
+from you; but from this time we want you to take your place in our home,
+as you did long ago in our hearts. We have prepared this room for you,
+to be your _sanctum sanctorum_, and have placed in it a few little
+tokens of our love for you and gratitude to you, which we beg you to
+accept as such."
+
+She bent towards the fireplace. "The hearthstone is ever an emblem of
+home. In lighting the fires upon this hearthstone, we dedicate it to
+your use and christen this 'our father's room.'"
+
+The flames burst upward as she finished speaking, sending a resinous
+fragrance into the air and revealing a room fitted with such loving
+thought and care that nothing which could add to his comfort had been
+omitted. Near the centre of the room stood a desk of solid oak, a gift
+from Mr. Underwood; beside it a reclining chair from Mrs. Dean, while on
+the wall opposite, occupying nearly a third of that side of the room,
+was a superb painting of the Hermitage,--standing out in the firelight
+with wonderful realism, perfect in its bold outlines and sombre
+coloring,--the united gift of his son and daughter, which Darrell had
+ordered executed before his departure for Alaska.
+
+With loving congratulations the rest of the group gathered about Mr.
+Britton, who was nearly speechless with emotion. As Mr. Underwood wrung
+his hand he exclaimed, with assumed gruffness,--
+
+"Jack, old partner, you thought you'd got a monopoly on that boy of
+yours, but I've got in on the deal at last!"
+
+"You haven't got any the best of me, Dave," Mr. Britton retorted,
+smiling through his tears, "for I've got a share now in the sweetest
+daughter on earth!"
+
+"Yes, papa," Kate laughingly rejoined, "there are three of us Brittons
+now; the Underwoods are in the minority."
+
+Which, though a new view of the situation to that gentleman, seemed
+eminently satisfactory.
+
+Later, as Kate found Darrell at a window, looking thoughtfully out into
+the moonlit night, she asked,--
+
+"Of what are you thinking, John?"
+
+"Of what the years have done for us, Kathie; of how much better fitted
+for each other we are now than when we first loved."
+
+"Yes," she whispered, as their eyes met, "'God's own good time' was the
+best."
+
+THE END
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+     successful and widely sold Nature Book yet published.
+
+BIRDS THAT HUNT AND ARE HUNTED. Life Histories of 170 Birds of Prey,
+Game Birds and Water-Fowls. By Neltje Blanchan. With Introduction by G.
+O. Shields (Coquina). 24 photographic illustrations in color. Large
+Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8. Formerly published at $2.00. Our special
+price, $1.00.
+
+     No work of its class has ever been issued that contains so much
+     valuable information, presented with such felicity and charm. The
+     colored plates are true to nature. By their aid alone any bird
+     illustrated may be readily identified. Sportsmen will especially
+     relish the twenty-four color plates which show the more important
+     birds in characteristic poses. They are probably the most valuable
+     and artistic pictures of the kind available to-day.
+
+NATURE'S GARDEN. An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their
+Insect Visitors. 24 colored plates, and many other illustrations
+photographed directly from nature. Text by Neltje Blanchan. Large
+Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8. Cloth. Formerly published at $3.00 net. Our
+special price, $1.25.
+
+     Superb color portraits of many familiar flowers in their living
+     tints, and no less beautiful pictures in black and white of
+     others--each blossom photographed directly from nature--form an
+     unrivaled series. By their aid alone the novice can name the
+     flowers met afield.
+
+     Intimate life-histories of over five hundred species of wild
+     flowers, written in untechnical, vivid language, emphasize the
+     marvelously interesting and vital relationship existing between
+     these flowers and the special insect to which each is adapted.
+
+     The flowers are divided into five color groups, because by this
+     arrangement any one with no knowledge of botany whatever can
+     readily identify the specimens met during a walk. The various
+     popular names by which each species is known, its preferred
+     dwelling-place, months of blooming and geographical distribution
+     follow its description. Lists of berry-bearing and other plants
+     most conspicuous after the flowering season, of such as grow
+     together in different kinds of soil, and finally of family groups
+     arranged by that method of scientific classification adopted by the
+     International Botanical Congress which has now superseded all
+     others, combine to make "Nature's Garden" an indispensable guide.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP,   -   NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS
+
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+postpaid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. By Myrtle Reed.
+
+     A charming story of a quaint corner of New England where bygone
+     romance finds a modern parallel. One of the prettiest, sweetest,
+     and quaintest of old-fashioned love stories * * * A rare book,
+     exquisite in spirit and conception, full of delicate fancy, of
+     tenderness, of delightful humor and spontaneity. A dainty volume,
+     especially suitable for a gift.
+
+DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Norman Duncan. With a frontispiece and
+inlay cover.
+
+     How the doctor came to the bleak Labrador coast and there in saving
+     life made expiation. In dignity, simplicity, humor, in sympathetic
+     etching of a sturdy fisher people, and above all in the echoes of
+     the sea, _Doctor Luke_ is worthy of great praise. Character, humor,
+     poignant pathos, and the sad grotesque conjunctions of old and new
+     civilizations are expressed through the medium of a style that has
+     distinction and strikes a note of rare personality.
+
+THE DAY'S WORK. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated.
+
+     The _London Morning Post_ says: "It would be hard to find better
+     reading * * * the book is so varied, so full of color and life from
+     end to end, that few who read the first two or three stories will
+     lay it down till they have read the last--and the last is a
+     veritable gem * * * contains some of the best of his highly vivid
+     work * * * Kipling is a born story-teller and a man of humor into
+     the bargain."
+
+ELEANOR LEE. By Margaret E. Sangster. With a frontispiece.
+
+     A story of married life, and attractive picture of wedded bliss * *
+     an entertaining story of a man's redemption through a woman's
+     love * * * no one who knows anything of marriage or parenthood can
+     read this story with eyes that are always dry * * * goes straight
+     to the heart of every one who knows the meaning of "love" and
+     "home."
+
+THE COLONEL OF THE RED HUZZARS. By John Reed Scott. Illustrated by
+Clarence F. Underwood.
+
+     "Full of absorbing charm, sustained interest, and a wealth of
+     thrilling and romantic situations. "So naively fresh in its
+     handling, so plausible through its naturalness, that it comes like
+     a mountain breeze across the far-spreading desert of similar
+     romances."--_Gazette-Times, Pittsburg._ "A slap-dashing day
+     romance."--_New York Sun._
+
+THE FAIR GOD; OR, THE LAST OF THE TZINS. By Lew Wallace. With
+illustrations by Eric Pape.
+
+     "The story tells of the love of a native princess for Alvarado, and
+     it is worked out with all of Wallace's skill * * * it gives a fine
+     picture of the heroism of the Spanish conquerors and of the culture
+     and nobility of the Aztecs."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "Ben Hur sold enormously, but _The Fair God_ was the best of the
+     General's stories--a powerful and romantic treatment of the defeat
+     of Montezuma by Cortes."--_Athenæum._
+
+THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. By Louis Tracy.
+
+     A story of love and the salt sea--of a helpless ship whirled into
+     the hands of cannibal Fuegians--of desperate fighting and tender
+     romance, enhanced by the art of a master of story telling who
+     describes with his wonted felicity and power of holding the
+     reader's attention * * * filled with the swing of adventure.
+
+A MIDNIGHT GUEST. A Detective Story. By Fred M. White. With a
+frontispiece.
+
+     The scene of the story centers in London and Italy. The book is
+     skilfully written and makes one of the most baffling, mystifying,
+     exciting detective stories ever written--cleverly keeping the
+     suspense and mystery intact until the surprising discoveries which
+     precede the end.
+
+THE HONOUR OF SAVELLI. A Romance. By S. Levett Yeats. With cover and
+wrapper in four colors.
+
+     Those who enjoyed Stanley Weyman's _A Gentleman of France_ will be
+     engrossed and captivated by this delightful romance of Italian
+     history. It is replete with exciting episodes, hair-breath escapes,
+     magnificent sword-play, and deals with the agitating times in
+     Italian history when Alexander II was Pope and the famous and
+     infamous Borgias were tottering to their fall.
+
+SISTER CARRIE. By Theodore Drieser. With a frontispiece, and wrapper in
+color.
+
+     In all fiction there is probably no more graphic and poignant study
+     of the way in which man loses his grip on life, lets his pride, his
+     courage, his self-respect slip from him, and, finally, even ceases
+     to struggle in the mire that has engulfed him. * * * There is more
+     tonic value in _Sister Carrie_ than in a whole shelfful of sermons.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP,   -    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+PRINCESS MARITZA
+A NOVEL OF RAPID ROMANCE.
+BY PERCY BREBNER
+With Harrison Fisher Illustrations in Color.
+
+     Offers more real entertainment and keen enjoyment than any book
+     since "Graustark." Full of picturesque life and color and a
+     delightful love-story. The scene of the story is Wallaria, one of
+     those mythical kingdoms in Southern Europe. Maritza is the rightful
+     heir to the throne, but is kept away from her own country. The hero
+     is a young Englishman of noble family. It is a pleasing book of
+     fiction. Large 12mo. size. Handsomely bound in
+     cloth. White coated wrapper, with Harrison Fisher portrait in
+     colors. Price 75 cents, postpaid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Books by George Barr McCutcheon
+
+BREWSTER'S MILLIONS
+
+Mr. Montgomery Brewster is required to spend a million dollars in one
+year in order to inherit seven millions. He must be absolutely penniless
+at that time, and yet have spent the million in a way that will commend
+him as fit to inherit the larger sum. How he does it forms the basis for
+one of the most crisp and breezy romances of recent years.
+
+CASTLE CRANEYCROW
+
+The story revolves around the abduction of a young American woman and
+the adventures created through her rescue. The title is taken from the
+name of an old castle on the Continent, the scene of her imprisonment.
+
+GRAUSTARK: A Story of a Love Behind a Throne.
+
+This work has been and is to-day one of the most popular works of
+fiction of this decade. The meeting of the Princess of Graustark with
+the hero, while travelling incognito in this country, his efforts to
+find her, his success, the defeat of conspiracies to dethrone her, and
+their happy marriage, provide entertainment which every type of reader
+will enjoy.
+
+THE SHERRODS. With illustrations by C. D. Williams
+
+A novel quite unlike Mr. McCutcheon's previous works in the field of
+romantic fiction and yet possessing the charm inseparable from anything
+he writes. The scene is laid in Indiana and the theme is best described
+in the words, "Whom God hath joined, let no man put asunder."
+
+Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Large 12mo. size. Price 75 cents
+per volume, postpaid.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+_NEW POPULAR EDITIONS OF_
+MARY JOHNSTON'S
+NOVELS
+
+TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
+
+It was something new and startling to see an author's first novel sell
+up into the hundreds of thousands, as did this one. The ablest critics
+spoke of it in such terms as "Breathless interest," "The high water mark
+of American fiction since Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Surpasses all," "Without
+a rival," "Tender and delicate," "As good a story of adventure as one
+can find," "The best style of love story, clean, pure and wholesome."
+
+AUDREY
+
+With the brilliant imagination and the splendid courage of youth, she
+has stormed the very citadel of adventure. Indeed it would be impossible
+to carry the romantic spirit any deeper into fiction.--_Agnes Repplier._
+
+PRISONERS OF HOPE
+
+Pronounced by the critics classical, accurate, interesting, American,
+original, vigorous, full of movement and life, dramatic and fascinating,
+instinct with life and passion, and preserving throughout a singularly
+even level of excellence.
+
+Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Large 12mo. size. Price, 75
+cents per volume, postpaid.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+_GET THE BEST OUT-DOOR STORIES_
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+Stewart Edward White's
+Great Novels of Western Life.
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+GROSSET & DUNLAP EDITIONS
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+THE BLAZED TRAIL
+
+Mingles the romance of the forest with the romance of man's heart,
+making a story that is big and elemental, while not lacking in sweetness
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+forest of the Northwest, permeated by out of door freshness, and the
+glory of the struggle with nature.
+
+THE SILENT PLACES
+
+A powerful story of strenuous endeavor and fateful privation in the
+frozen North, embodying also a detective story of much strength and
+skill. The author brings out with sure touch and deep understanding the
+mystery and poetry of the still, frost-bound forest.
+
+THE CLAIM JUMPERS
+
+A Tale of a Western mining camp and the making of a man, with which a
+charming young lady has much to do. The tenderfoot has a hard time of
+it, but meets the situation, shows the stuff he is made of, and "wins
+out."
+
+THE WESTERNERS
+
+A tale of the mining camp and the Indian country, full of color and
+thrilling incident.
+
+
+THE MAGIC FOREST: A Modern Fairy Story.
+
+"No better book could be put in a young boy's hands," says the New York
+_Sun_. It is a happy blend of knowledge of wood life with an
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+
+Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Price, seventy-five cents per
+volume, postpaid.
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+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+_THE GROSSET & DUNLAP EDITIONS OF STANDARD WORKS_
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+
+A FULL AND COMPLETE EDITION OF TENNYSON'S POEMS.
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+Containing all the Poems issued under the protection of copyright. Cloth
+bound, small 8 vo. 882 pages, with index to first lines. Price,
+postpaid, seventy-five cents. The same, bound in three-quarter morocco,
+gilt top, $2.50, postpaid.
+
+THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON AND HER TIMES, by Mrs. Roger A. Pryor.
+
+The brilliant social life of the time passes before the reader, packed
+full of curious and delightful information. More kinds of interest enter
+into it than into any other volume on Colonial Virginia. Sixty
+illustrations. Price, seventy-five cents, postpaid.
+
+SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND, by William Winter
+
+A record of rambles in England, relating largely to Warwickshire and
+depicting not so much the England of fact, as the England created and
+hallowed by the spirit of her poetry, of which Shakespeare is the soul.
+Profusely illustrated. Price, seventy-five cents, postpaid.
+
+THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE CITIZEN, by Jacob A. Riis.
+
+Should be read by every man and boy in America. Because it sets forth an
+ideal of American Citizenship. An Inspired Biography by one who knows
+him best. A large, handsomely illustrated cloth bound book. Price,
+postpaid, seventy-five cents.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+
+
+
+_THE GROSSET AND DUNLAP SPECIAL EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS THAT HAVE
+BEEN DRAMATIZED._
+
+
+BREWSTER'S MILLIONS: By George Barr McCutcheon.
+
+A clever, fascinating tale, with a striking and unusual plot. With
+illustrations from the original New York production of the play.
+
+THE LITTLE MINISTER: By J. M. Barrie.
+
+With illustrations from the play as presented by Maude Adams, and a
+vignette in gold of Miss Adams on the cover.
+
+CHECKERS: By Henry M. Blossom, Jr.
+
+A story of the Race Track. Illustrated with scenes from the play as
+originally presented in New York by Thomas W. Ross who created the stage
+character.
+
+THE CHRISTIAN: By Hall Caine.
+THE ETERNAL CITY: By Hall Caine.
+
+Each has been elaborately and successfully staged.
+
+IN THE PALACE OF THE KING: By F. Marion Crawford.
+
+A love story of Old Madrid, with full page illustrations. Originally
+played with great success by Viola Allen.
+
+JANICE MEREDITH: By Paul Leicester Ford.
+
+New edition with an especially attractive cover, a really handsome book.
+Originally played by Mary Mannering, who created the title role.
+
+
+These books are handsomely bound in cloth, are well-made in every
+respect, and aside from their unusual merit as stories, are particularly
+interesting to those who like things theatrical. Price, postpaid,
+seventy-five cents each.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of At The Time Appointed, by A. Maynard Barbour.
+    </title>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of At the Time Appointed, by A. Maynard Barbour
+
+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: At the Time Appointed
+
+Author: A. Maynard Barbour
+
+Illustrator: J. N. Marchand
+
+Release Date: June 21, 2007 [EBook #21892]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE TIME APPOINTED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Dave Macfarlane, Linda McKeown
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 900px;">
+<img src="images/fcoversm.jpg" width="450" height="681" alt="FRONT COVER" title="" />
+</div>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;">
+<img src="images/spinesm.jpg" width="125" height="661" alt="SPINE" title="" />
+</div><p>
+
+<!-- Page 1 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>AT THE TIME APPOINTED</h1>
+
+<p class='center'>TWELFTH EDITION</p>
+<p><!-- Page 2 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>By A. Maynard Barbour</i></p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">ILLUSTRATED BY E. PLAISTED ABBOTT</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">12mo. Cloth, $1.50</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">"Possibly in a detective story the main object is to thrill. If so,
+'That Mainwaring Affair' is all right. The thrill is there, full
+measure, pressed down and running over."&mdash;<i>Life</i>, New York</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">"The book that reminds one of Anna Katherine Green in her palmiest
+days.... Keeps the reader on the alert, defies the efforts of those who
+read backward, deserves the applause of all who like mystery."&mdash;<i>Town
+Topics</i>, New York</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">"The tale is well told, and the intricacies of the plot so adroitly
+managed that it is impossible to foresee the correct solution of the
+mysterious case until the final act of the tragedy.... Although vividly
+told, the literary style is excellent and the story by no means
+sensational, a fact that raises it above the level of the old-time detective story,"&mdash;<i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><!-- Page 3 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 4 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 5 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+<p><a name="Illustration_AS_DARRELL_DISMOUNTED_SHE_CAME_SWIFTLY_TOWARDS_HIM" id="Illustration_AS_DARRELL_DISMOUNTED_SHE_CAME_SWIFTLY_TOWARDS_HIM"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<img src="images/front.jpg" width="450" height="665" alt="AS DARRELL DISMOUNTED SHE CAME SWIFTLY TOWARDS HIM" title="" />
+<span class="caption">AS DARRELL DISMOUNTED SHE CAME SWIFTLY TOWARDS HIM. Page 110</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>AT THE TIME APPOINTED</h2>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>A. Maynard Barbour</h2>
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF "THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR," ETC.</h4>
+
+<h3>WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY J. N. MARCHAND</h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Yes, greater they who on life's battle-field,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With unseen foes and fierce temptations fight"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;"><span class="smcap">John D. Higinbotham</span></span><br />
+</p>
+<p><br/><br/><br/></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 75px;">
+<img src="images/tplogosm.jpg" width="75" height="71" alt="LOGO" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br/></p>
+<h4>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</h4>
+<h5>Publishers   New York</h5>
+<p><!-- Page 6 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<h5>Copyright, 1903</h5>
+<h5>By <span class="smcap">J. B. Lippincott Company</span></h5>
+<h5>Published April, 1903</h5>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+<h5><i>Electrotyped and Printed by</i></h5>
+<h5><i>J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.</i></h5>
+
+<p><!-- Page 7 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<h5>TO</h5>
+<h3>JOHN D. HIGINBOTHAM</h3>
+
+<h5>"AS UNKNOWN, AND YET</h5>
+<h5> WELL KNOWN"<br /></h5>
+
+<p><!-- Page 8 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+<p><!-- Page 9 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Illustration_AS_DARRELL_DISMOUNTED_SHE_CAME_SWIFTLY_TOWARDS_HIM"><b>Illustration: As Darrell Dismounted, She Came Swiftly Towards Him</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_I"><b>Chapter I&mdash;<span class="smcap">John Darrell</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>9</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_II"><b>Chapter II&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Night's Work</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_III"><b>Chapter III&mdash;<span class="smcap">"The Pines"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>32</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_IV"><b>Chapter IV&mdash;<span class="smcap">Life? or Death?</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>43</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_V"><b>Chapter V&mdash;<span class="smcap">John Britton</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>48</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_VI"><b>Chapter VI&mdash;<span class="smcap">Echoes from the Past</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>62</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_VII"><b>Chapter VII&mdash;<span class="smcap">At the Mines</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>68</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_VIII"><b>Chapter VIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">"Until the Day Break"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>81</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_IX"><b>Chapter IX&mdash;<span class="smcap">Two Portraits</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>86</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_X"><b>Chapter X&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Communion of Two Souls</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>95</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XI"><b>Chapter XI&mdash;<span class="smcap">Impending Trouble</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>104</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XII"><b>Chapter XII&mdash;<span class="smcap">New Life in the Old Home</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>109</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XIII"><b>Chapter XIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">Mr. Underwood "Strikes" First</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>123</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XIV"><b>Chapter XIV&mdash;<span class="smcap">Drifting</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>134</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XV"><b>Chapter XV&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Awakening</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>146</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XVI"><b>Chapter XVI&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Aftermath</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>166</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XVII"><b>Chapter XVII&mdash;<span class="smcap">"She knows her Father's Will is Law"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>180</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XVIII"><b>Chapter XVIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">On the "Divide"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>194</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XIX"><b>Chapter XIX&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Return to Camp Bird</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>206</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XX"><b>Chapter XX&mdash;<span class="smcap">Forging the Fetters</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>216</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXI"><b>Chapter XXI&mdash;<span class="smcap">Two Crimes by the Same Hand</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>224</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXII"><b>Chapter XXII&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Fetters Broken</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>237</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXIII"><b>Chapter XXIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Mask Lifted</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>247</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXIV"><b>Chapter XXIV&mdash;<span class="smcap">Foreshadowings</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>254</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXV"><b>Chapter XXV&mdash;<span class="smcap">The "Hermitage"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>262</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXVI"><b>Chapter XXVI&mdash;<span class="smcap">John Britton's Story</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>269</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXVII"><b>Chapter XXVII&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Rending of the Veil</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>274</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXVIII"><b>Chapter XXVIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">"As a Dream when One Awaketh"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>278</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXIX"><b>Chapter XXIX&mdash;<span class="smcap">John Darrell's Story</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>285</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXX"><b>Chapter XXX&mdash;<span class="smcap">After Many Years</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>295</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXI"><b>Chapter XXXI&mdash;<span class="smcap">An Eastern Home</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>300</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXII"><b>Chapter XXXII&mdash;<span class="smcap">Marion Holmes</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>308</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXIII"><b>Chapter XXXIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">Into the Fulness of Life</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>316</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXIV"><b>Chapter XXXIV&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Warning</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>321</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXV"><b>Chapter XXXV&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Fiend at Bay</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>330</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXVI"><b>Chapter XXXVI&mdash;<span class="smcap">Se&ntilde;ora Martinez</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>337</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXVII"><b>Chapter XXXVII&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Identification</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>343</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXVIII"><b>Chapter XXXVIII&mdash;<span class="smcap">Within the "Pocket"</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>352</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XXXIX"><b>Chapter XXXIX&mdash;<span class="smcap">At the Time Appointed</span></b></a></td><td align='right'>360</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 10 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+<p><!-- Page 11 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1><a name="AT_THE_TIME_APPOINTED" id="AT_THE_TIME_APPOINTED"></a>AT THE</h1>
+<h1>TIME APPOINTED</h1>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><h2><i>Chapter I</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">John Darrell</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+
+
+<p>Upon a small station on one of the transcontinental lines winding among
+the mountains far above the level of the sea, the burning rays of the
+noonday sun fell so fiercely that the few buildings seemed ready to
+ignite from the intense heat. A season of unusual drought had added to
+the natural desolation of the scene. Mountains and foot-hills were
+blackened by smouldering fires among the timber, while a dense pall of
+smoke entirely hid the distant ranges from view. Patches of sage-brush
+and bunch grass, burned sere and brown, alternated with barren stretches
+of sand from which piles of rubble rose here and there, telling of
+worked-out and abandoned mines. Occasionally a current of air stole
+noiselessly down from the canyon above, but its breath scorched the
+withered vegetation like the blast from a furnace. Not a sound broke the
+stillness; life itself seemed temporarily suspended, while the very air
+pulsated and vibrated with the heat, rising in thin, quivering columns.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the silence was broken by the rapid approach of the stage from
+a distant mining camp, rattling noisily down the street, followed by a
+slight stir within the apparently deserted station. Whirling at
+<!-- Page 12 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+breakneck pace around a sharp turn, it stopped precipitately, amid a
+blinding cloud of dust, to deposit its passengers at the depot.</p>
+
+<p>One of these, a young man of about five-and-twenty, arose with some
+difficulty from the cramped position which for seven weary hours he had
+been forced to maintain, and, with sundry stretchings and shakings of
+his superb form, seemed at last to pull himself together. Having secured
+his belongings from out the pile of miscellaneous luggage thrown from
+the stage upon the platform, he advanced towards the slouching figure of
+a man just emerging from the baggage-room, his hands thrust deep in his
+trousers pockets, his mouth stretched in a prodigious yawn, the arrival
+of the stage having evidently awakened him from his siesta.</p>
+
+<p>"How's the west-bound&mdash;on time?" queried the young man rather shortly,
+but despite the curtness of his accents there was a musical quality in
+the ringing tones.</p>
+
+<p>Before the cavernous jaws could close sufficiently for reply, two
+distant whistles sounded almost simultaneously.</p>
+
+<p>"That's her," drawled the man, with a backward jerk of his thumb over
+his shoulder in the direction of the sound; "she's at Blind Man's Pass;
+be here in about fifteen minutes."</p>
+
+<p>The young man turned and sauntered to the rear end of the platform,
+where he paused for a few moments; then, unconscious of the scrutiny of
+his fellow-passengers, he began silently pacing up and down, being in no
+mood for conversation with any one. Every bone in his body ached and his
+head throbbed with a dull pain, but these physical discomforts, which he
+attributed to his long and wearisome stage ride,
+<!-- Page 13 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> caused him less
+annoyance than did the fact that he had lost several days' time, besides
+subjecting himself to numerous inconveniences and hardships, on what he
+now denominated a "fool's errand."</p>
+
+<p>An expert mineralogist and metallurgist, he had been commissioned by a
+large syndicate of eastern capitalists to come west, primarily to
+examine a certain mine recently offered for sale, and secondarily to
+secure any other valuable mining properties which might happen to be on
+the market. A promoter, whose acquaintance he had formed soon after
+leaving St. Paul, had poured into his ear such fabulous tales of a mine
+of untold wealth which needed but the expenditure of a few thousands to
+place it upon a dividend-paying basis, that, after making due allowance
+for optimism and exaggeration, he had thought it might be worth his
+while to stop off and investigate. The result of the investigation had
+been anything but satisfactory for either the promoter or the expert.</p>
+
+<p>He was the more annoyed at the loss of time because of a telegram handed
+him just before his departure from St. Paul, which he now drew forth,
+and which read as follows:</p>
+
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">"Parkinson, expert for M. and M. on trail. Knows you as our</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">representative, but only by name. Lie low and block him</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">if possible.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 30.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Barnard</span>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He well understood the import of the message. The "M. and M." stood for
+a rival syndicate of enormous wealth, and the fact that its expert was
+also on his way west promised lively competition in the purchase of the
+famous Ajax mine.</p>
+
+<p>"Five days," he soliloquized, glancing at the date
+<!-- Page 14 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> of the message,
+which he now tore into bits, together with two or three letters of
+little importance. "I have lost my start and am now likely to meet this
+Parkinson at any stage of the game. However, he has never heard of John
+Darrell, and that name will answer my purpose as well as any among
+strangers. I'll notify Barnard when I reach Ophir."</p>
+
+<p>His plans for the circumvention of Parkinson were now temporarily cut
+short by the appearance of the "double-header" rounding a curve and
+rapidly approaching&mdash;a welcome sight, for the heat and blinding glare of
+light were becoming intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>Only for a moment the ponderous engines paused, panting and quivering
+like two living, sentient monsters; the next, with heavy, labored
+breath, as though summoning all their energies for the task before them,
+they were slowly ascending the steadily increasing grade, moment by
+moment with accelerated speed plunging into the very heart of the
+mountains, bearing John Darrell, as he was to be henceforth known, to a
+destiny of which he had little thought, but which he himself had,
+unconsciously, helped to weave.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later, on returning to the sleeper after an unsuccessful attempt
+at dining, Darrell sank into his seat, and, leaning wearily back,
+watched with half-closed eyes the rapidly changing scenes through which
+he was passing, for the time utterly oblivious to his surroundings.
+Gigantic rocks, grotesque in form and color, flashed past; towering
+peaks loomed suddenly before him, advancing, receding, disappearing, and
+reappearing with the swift windings and doublings of the train; massive
+walls of granite pressed close and closer, seeming for one instant a
+threatening, impenetrable barrier, the next, opening to reveal glimpses
+of distant billowy ranges, their summits white with
+<!-- Page 15 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> perpetual snow. The
+train had now reached a higher altitude, and breezes redolent of pine
+and fir fanned his throbbing brow, their fragrance thronging his mind
+with memories of other and far-distant scenes, until gradually the bold
+outlines of cliff and crag grew dim, and in their place appeared a cool,
+dark forest through which flecks of golden sunlight sifted down upon the
+moss-grown, flower-strewn earth; a stream singing beneath the pines,
+then rippling onward through meadows of waving green; a wide-spreading
+house of colonial build half hidden by giant trees and clinging
+rose-vines, and, framed among the roses, a face, strong, tender, sweet,
+crowned with silvered hair&mdash;one of the few which sorrow makes
+beautiful&mdash;which came nearer and nearer, bending over him with a
+mother's blessing; and then he slept.</p>
+
+<p>The face of the sleeper, with its clear-cut, well-moulded features,
+formed a pleasing study, reminding one of a bit of unfinished carving,
+the strong, bold lines of which reveal the noble design of the
+sculptor&mdash;the thing of wondrous beauty yet to be&mdash;but which still lacks
+the finer strokes, the final touch requisite to bring it to perfection.
+Strength of character was indicated there; an indomitable will that
+would bend the most adverse conditions to serve its own masterful
+purpose and make of obstacles the paving-stones to success; a mind
+gifted with keen perceptive faculties, but which hitherto had dealt
+mostly with externals and knew little of itself or of its own powers.
+Young, with splendid health and superabundant vitality, there had been
+little opportunity for introspection or for the play of the finer,
+subtler faculties; and of the whole gamut of susceptibilities, ranging
+from exquisite suffering to ecstatic joy, few had been even awakened.
+His was a nature capable of producing the divinest harmonies
+<!-- Page 16 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> or the
+wildest discords, according to the hand that swept the strings as yet
+untouched.</p>
+
+<p>For more than an hour Darrell slept. He was awakened by the murmur of
+voices near him, confused at first, but growing more distinct as he
+gradually recalled his surroundings, until, catching the name of
+"Parkinson," he was instantly on the alert.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," a pleasant voice was saying, "I understand the Ajax is for sale
+if the owners can get their price, but they don't want less than a cold
+million for it, and it's my opinion they'll find buyers rather scarce at
+that figure when it comes to a show down."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know; that depends," was the reply. "The price won't
+stand in the way with my people, if the mine is all right. They can hand
+over a million&mdash;or two, for that matter&mdash;as easily as a thousand, if the
+property is what they want, but they've got to know what they're buying.
+That's what I'm out here for."</p>
+
+<p>Taking a quiet survey of the situation, Darrell found that the section
+opposite his own&mdash;which, upon his return from the dining-car, had
+contained only a motley collection of coats and grips&mdash;was now occupied
+by a party of three, two of whom were engaged in animated conversation.
+One of the speakers, who sat facing Darrell, was a young man of about
+two-and-twenty, whose self-assurance and assumption of worldly wisdom,
+combined with a boyish impetuosity, he found vastly amusing, while at
+the same time his frank, ingenuous eyes and winning smile of genuine
+friendliness, revealing a nature as unsuspecting and confiding as a
+child's, appealed to him strangely and drew him irresistibly towards the
+young stranger. The other speaker, whom Darrell surmised to be
+Parkinson, was considerably older and was seated facing the younger
+<!-- Page 17 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+man, hence his back was towards Darrell; while the third member of the
+party, and by far the eldest, of whose face Darrell had a perfect
+profile view, although saying little, seemed an interested listener.</p>
+
+<p>The man whom Darrell supposed to be Parkinson inquired the quickest way
+of reaching the Ajax mine.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see it's this way," replied the young fellow. "The Ajax is on
+a spur that runs out from the main line at Ophir, and the train only
+runs between there and Ophir twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
+Let's see, this is Wednesday; we'll get into Ophir to-morrow, and you'll
+have to wait over until Saturday, unless you hire a rig to take you out
+there, and that's pretty expensive and an awfully rough jaunt besides."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind the expense," retorted the other, "but I don't know as I
+care to go on any jaunts over your mountain roads when there's no
+special necessity for it; I can get exercise enough without that."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what, Mr. Parkinson," said the young fellow, cordially, "you
+and your friend here, Mr. Hunter,"&mdash;Darrell started at the mention of
+the latter name,&mdash;"had better wait over till Saturday, and in the mean
+time I'll take you people out to Camp Bird, as we call it, and show you
+the Bird Mine; that's our mine, you know, and I tell you she is a
+'bird,' and no mistake. You'll be interested in looking her over, though
+I'll tell you beforehand she's not for sale."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I understand that you have an interest in this remarkable mine, Mr.
+Whitcomb?" Parkinson inquired, a tinge of amusement in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the way you mean; that is, not yet, though there's no telling
+how soon I may have if things turn out as I hope," and the boyish cheek
+flushed slightly. "But I know what I'm talking about all the same.
+<!-- Page 18 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+My uncle, D. K. Underwood, is a practical mining man of nearly thirty
+years' experience, and what he doesn't know about mines and mining isn't
+worth knowing. He's interested in a dozen or so of the best mines in the
+State, but I don't think he would exchange his half-interest in the Bird
+Mine for all his other holdings put together. She's a comparatively new
+mine yet, but taking into consideration her depth and the amount of
+development, she's the best-paying mine in the State. Here, let me show
+you something." And hastily pulling a note-book from his pocket, he took
+therefrom a narrow slip of paper which he handed to the expert.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a statement," he continued, "made out by the United States
+Assay Office, back here at Galena, that will show you the returns from a
+sixty days' run at the Bird mill; what do you think of that?"</p>
+
+<p>Parkinson's face was still invisible to Darrell, but the latter heard a
+long, low whistle of surprise. Young Whitcomb looked jubilant.</p>
+
+<p>"They say figures won't lie," he added, in tones of boyish enthusiasm,
+"but if you don't believe those figures, I've got the cash right here to
+show for it," accompanying the words with a significant gesture.</p>
+
+<p>Parkinson handed the slip to Hunter, then leaned back in his seat,
+giving Darrell a view of his profile.</p>
+
+<p>"Sixty days!" he said, musingly. "Seventy-five thousand dollars! I think
+I would like to take a look at the Bird Mine! I think I would like to
+make Mr. Underwood's acquaintance!"</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb laughed exultingly. "I'll give you an opportunity to do both if
+you'll stop over," he said; "and don't you forget that my uncle can give
+you some pointers on the Ajax, for he knows every mine in the State."
+<!-- Page 19 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hunter here handed the slip of paper to Whitcomb. "Young man," he
+said, with some severity, gazing fixedly at Whitcomb through his
+eye-glasses, "do you mean to say that you are travelling with
+seventy-five thousand dollars on your person?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, sir," Whitcomb replied, evidently enjoying the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hunter shook his head. "Very imprudent!" he commented. "You are
+running a tremendous risk. I wonder that your uncle would permit it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's all right," said Whitcomb, confidently. "Uncle usually comes
+down himself with the shipments of bullion, and he generally banks the
+most of his money there at Galena, but he couldn't very well leave this
+time, so he sent me, and as he was going to use considerable money
+paying for a lot of improvements we've put in and paying off the men, he
+told me to bring back the cash. There's not much danger anyway; the West
+isn't as wild nowadays as it used to be."</p>
+
+<p>Handing a second bit of paper to Parkinson, he added: "There's something
+else that will interest you; the results of some assays made by the
+United States Assay Office on some samples taken at random from a new
+strike we made last week. I'll show you some of the samples, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott!" ejaculated Parkinson, running his eye over the returns.
+"You seem to have a mine there, all right!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure thing! You'll think so when you see it," Whitcomb answered,
+fumbling in a grip at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of the specimens of ore which he produced a moment later, his
+two companions became nearly as enthusiastic as himself. Leaning eagerly
+forward, they began an inspection of the samples, commenting on their
+respective values, while Whitcomb, unfolding
+<!-- Page 20 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> a tracing of the workings
+of the mine, explained the locality from which each piece was taken, its
+depth from the surface, the width and dip of the vein, and other items
+of interest.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, who was carefully refraining from betraying any special
+interest in the party across the aisle, soon became aware that he was
+not the only interested listener to the conversation. In the section
+directly in front of the one occupied by Whitcomb and his companions a
+man was seated, apparently engrossed in a newspaper, but Darrell, who
+had a three-quarter view of his face, soon observed that he was not
+reading, but listening intently to the conversation of the men seated
+behind him, and particularly to young Whitcomb's share in it. Upon
+hearing the latter's statement that he had with him the cash returns for
+the shipment of bullion, Darrell saw the muscles of his face suddenly
+grow tense and rigid, while his hands involuntarily tightened their hold
+upon the paper. He grew uncomfortable under Darrell's scrutiny, moved
+restlessly once or twice, then turning, looked directly into the
+piercing dark eyes fixed upon him. His own eyes, which were small and
+shifting, instantly dropped, while the dark blood mounted angrily to his
+forehead. A few moments later, he changed his position so that Darrell
+could not see his face, but the latter determined to watch him and to
+give Whitcomb a word of warning at the earliest opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Parkinson, leaning back in his seat after examining the
+ores and listening to Whitcomb's outline of their plans for the future
+development of the mine, "it seems to me, young man, you have quite a
+knowledge of mines and mining yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb flushed with pleasure. "I ought to," he said; "there isn't a
+man in this western country that
+<!-- Page 21 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> understands the business better or has
+got it down any finer than my uncle. He may not be able to talk so
+glibly or use such high-sounding names for things as you fellows, but he
+can come pretty near telling whether a mine will pay for the handling,
+and if it has any value he generally knows how to go to work to find
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's about the 'gist' of the whole business," said Parkinson;
+he added: "You say he can give me some 'tips' on the Ajax?"</p>
+
+<p>"He can if he chooses to," laughed Whitcomb, "but you'd better not let
+him know that I said so. He'll be more likely to give you information if
+you ask him offhand."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued Parkinson, "when we get to Ophir, I'll know whether or
+not I can stop over. I've heard there's another fellow out here on this
+Ajax business; whether he's ahead of me I don't know. I'll make
+inquiries when we reach Ophir, and if he hasn't come on the scene yet I
+can afford to lay off; if he has, I must lose no time in getting out to
+the mine." Parkinson glanced at Hunter, who nodded almost imperceptibly.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that's the best arrangement we can make at present," said
+Parkinson, rising from his seat. "Come and have a smoke with us, Mr.
+Whitcomb?"</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb declined the invitation, and, after Hunter and Parkinson had
+left, sat idly turning over the specimens of ore, until, happening to
+catch Darrell's eye, he inquired, pleasantly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you interested in this sort of thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a way, yes," said Darrell, crossing over and taking the seat vacated
+by Parkinson. "I'm not what you call a mining man; that is, I've never
+owned or operated a mine, but I take a great interest in examining
+<!-- Page 22 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> the
+different ores and always try to get as much information regarding them
+as possible."</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb at once launched forth enthusiastically upon a description of
+the various samples. Darrell, while careful not to show too great
+familiarity with the subject, or too thorough a knowledge of ores in
+general, yet was so keenly appreciative of their remarkable richness and
+beauty that he soon won the boy's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Say!" he exclaimed, "you had better stop off at Ophir with us; we would
+make a mining man of you in less than no time! By the way, how far west
+are you travelling?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ophir is my destination at present, though it is uncertain how long I
+remain there."</p>
+
+<p>"Long enough, that we'll get well acquainted, I hope. Going into any
+particular line of business?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, only looking the country over, for the present."</p>
+
+<p>To divert the conversation from himself, Darrell, by a judicious
+question or two, led Whitcomb to speak of the expert.</p>
+
+<p>"Parkinson?" he said with a merry laugh. "Oh, yes, he's one of those
+eastern know-it-alls who come out here occasionally to give us fellows a
+few points on mines. They're all right, of course, for the men who
+employ them, who want to invest their money and wouldn't know a mine if
+they saw one; but when they undertake to air their knowledge among these
+old fellows who have spent a lifetime in the business, why, they're
+likely to get left, that's all. Now, this Parkinson seems to be a pretty
+fair sort of man compared with some of them, but between you and me, I'd
+wager my last dollar that they'll lose him on that Ajax mine!"
+<!-- Page 23 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter with the Ajax?" Darrell inquired, indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as you're not interested in any way, I'm not telling tales out of
+school. The Ajax has been a bonanza in its day, but within the last year
+or so the bottom has dropped out of the whole thing, and that's the
+reason the owners are anxious to sell."</p>
+
+<p>"I hear they ask a pretty good price for the mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they're trading on her reputation, but that's all past. The mine
+is practically worked out. They've made a few good strikes lately, so
+that there is some good ore in sight, and this is their chance to sell,
+but there are no indications of any permanence. One of our own men was
+over there a while ago, and he said there wasn't enough ore in the mine
+to keep their mill running full force for more than six months."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this Hunter an expert also?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; Parkinson said he was a friend of his, just taking the trip for
+his health."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell smiled quietly, knowing Hunter to be a member of the syndicate
+employing Parkinson, but kept his knowledge to himself.</p>
+
+<p>A little later, when Darrell and Whitcomb left together for the
+dining-car, quite a friendship had sprung up between them. There was
+that mutual attraction often observed between two natures utterly
+diverse. Whitcomb was unaccountably drawn towards the dark-eyed,
+courteous, but rather reticent stranger, while his own frank
+friendliness and childlike confidence awoke in Darrell's nature a
+correlative tenderness and affection which he never would have believed
+himself capable of feeling towards one of his own sex.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what is the matter with me," said Darrell, as he seated
+himself at a table, facing Whitcomb.
+<!-- Page 24 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> "My head seems to have a
+small-sized stamp-mill inside of it; every bone in my body aches, and my
+joints feel as though they were being pulled apart."</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb looked up quickly. "Are you just from the East, or have you
+been out here any time?"</p>
+
+<p>"I stopped for a few days, back here a ways."</p>
+
+<p>"In the mountain country?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"By George! I believe you've got the mountain fever; there's an awful
+lot of it round here this season, and this is just the worst time of
+year for an easterner to come out here. But we'll look after you when we
+get to Ophir, and bring you round all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged, but I think I'll be all right after a night's rest,"
+Darrell replied, inwardly resolved, upon reaching Ophir, to push on to
+the Ajax as quickly as possible, though his ardor was considerably
+cooled by Whitcomb's report.</p>
+
+<p>When they left the dining-car the train was stopping at a small station,
+and for a few moments the young men strolled up and down the platform. A
+dense, bluish-gray haze hung low over the country, rendering the
+outlines of even the nearest objects obscure and dim; the western sky
+was like burnished copper, and the sun, poised a little above the
+horizon, looked like a ball of glowing fire.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the train was about to start Darrell saw the man whose peculiar
+actions he had noticed earlier, leave the telegraph office and jump
+hastily aboard. Calling Whitcomb's attention as he passed them, he
+related his observations of the afternoon and cautioned him against the
+man. For an instant Whitcomb looked serious.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it was rather indiscreet in me to talk as
+<!-- Page 25 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> I did," he said,
+"but it can't be helped now. However, I guess it's all right, but I'm
+obliged to you all the same."</p>
+
+<p>They passed into the smoker, where Darrell was introduced to Hunter and
+Parkinson. In a short time, however, he found himself suffering from
+nausea and growing faint and dizzy.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," he said, "you will have to excuse me. I'm rather off my
+base this evening, and I find that smoking isn't doing me any good."</p>
+
+<p>As he rose young Whitcomb sprang instantly to his feet; throwing away
+his cigar and linking his arm within Darrell's, he insisted upon
+accompanying him to the sleeper, notwithstanding his protests.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, Parkinson," he called, cheerily; "see you in the morning!"</p>
+
+<p>He accompanied Darrell to his section; then dropped familiarly into the
+seat beside him, throwing one arm affectionately over Darrell's
+shoulder, and during the next hour, while the sunset glow faded and the
+evening shadows deepened, he confided to this acquaintance of only a few
+hours the outlines of his past life and much regarding his hopes and
+plans for the future. He spoke of his orphaned boyhood; of the uncle who
+had given him a home in his family and initiated him into his own
+business methods; of his hope of being admitted at no distant day into
+partnership with his uncle and becoming a shareholder in the wonderful
+Bird Mine.</p>
+
+<p>"But that isn't all I am looking forward to," he said, in conclusion,
+his boyish tones growing strangely deep and tender. "My fondest hope of
+all I hardly dare admit even to myself, and I don't know why I am
+speaking of it to you, except that I already like you and trust you as I
+never did any other man; but
+<!-- Page 26 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> you will understand what I mean when you
+see my cousin, Kate Underwood."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, but his silence was more eloquent to Darrell than words; the
+latter grasped his hand warmly in token that he understood.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you all that you hope for," he said.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later Whitcomb spoke with his usual impetuosity. "What am
+I thinking of, keeping you up in this way when you are sick and dead
+tired! You had better turn in and get all the rest you can, and when we
+reach Ophir to-morrow, just remember, my dear fellow, that no hotels
+'go.' You'll go directly home with me, where you'll find yourself in
+such good hands you'll think sure you're in your own home, and we'll
+soon have you all right."</p>
+
+<p>For hours Darrell tossed wearily, unable to sleep. His head throbbed
+wildly, the racking pain throughout his frame increased, while a raging
+fire seemed creeping through his veins. Not until long past midnight did
+he fall into a fitful sleep. Strange fancies surged through his fevered
+brain, torturing him with their endless repetition, their seeming
+reality. Suddenly he awoke, bewildered, exhausted, oppressed by a vague
+sense of impending evil.<!-- Page 27 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a><h2><i>Chapter II</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">A Night's Work</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+
+<p>For a few seconds Darrell tried vainly to recall what had awakened him.
+Low, confused sounds occasionally reached his ears, but they seemed part
+of his own troubled dreams. The heat was intolerable; he raised himself
+to the open window that he might get a breath of cooler air; his head
+whirled, but the half-sitting posture seemed to clear his brain, and he
+recalled his surroundings. At once he became conscious that the train
+was not in motion, yet no sound of trainmen's voices came through the
+open window; all was dead silence, and the vague, haunting sense of
+impending danger quickened.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he heard a muttered oath in one of the sections, followed by an
+order, low, but peremptory,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No noise! Hand over, and be quick about it!"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly Darrell comprehended the situation. Peering cautiously between
+the curtains, he saw, at the forward end of the sleeper, a masked man
+with a revolver in each hand, while the mirror behind him revealed
+another figure at the rear, masked and armed in like manner. He heard
+another order; the man was doing his work swiftly. He thought at once of
+young Whitcomb, but no sound came from the opposite section, and he sank
+quietly back upon his pillow.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the curtains were quickly thrust aside, the muzzle of a
+revolver confronted Darrell, and the same low voice demanded,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hand out your valuables!"<!-- Page 28 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A man of medium height, wearing a mask and full beard, stood over him.
+Darrell quietly handed over his watch and purse, noting as he did so the
+man's hands, white, well formed, well kept. He half expected a further
+demand, as the purse contained only a few small bills and some change,
+the bulk of his money being secreted about the mattress, as was his
+habit; but the man turned with peculiar abruptness to the opposite
+section, as one who had a definite object in view and was in haste to
+accomplish it. Darrell, his faculties alert, observed that the section
+in front of Whitcomb's was empty; he recalled the actions of its
+occupant on the preceding afternoon, his business later at the telegraph
+office, and the whole scheme flashed vividly before his mind. The man
+had been a spy sent out by the band now holding the train, and
+Whitcomb's money was without doubt the particular object of the hold-up.</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb was asleep at the farther side of his berth. Leaning slightly
+towards him, the man shook him, and his first words confirmed Darrell's
+intuitions,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hand over that money, young man, and no fuss about it, either!"</p>
+
+<p>Whitcomb, instantly awake, gazed at the masked face without a word or
+movement. Darrell, powerless to aid his friend, watched intently,
+dreading some rash act on his part to which his impetuous nature might
+prompt him.</p>
+
+<p>Again he heard the low tones, this time a note of danger in them,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No fooling! Hand that money over, lively!"</p>
+
+<p>With a spring, as sudden and noiseless as a panther's, Whitcomb grappled
+with the man, knocking the revolver from his hand upon the bed. A
+quick,<!-- Page 29 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> desperate, silent struggle followed. Whitcomb suddenly reached
+for the revolver; as he did so Darrell saw a flash of steel in the dim
+light, and the next instant his friend sank, limp and motionless, upon
+the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Fool!" he heard the man mutter, with an oath.</p>
+
+<p>An involuntary groan escaped from Darrell's lips. Slight as was the
+sound, the man heard it and turned, facing him; the latter was screened
+by the curtains, and the man, seeing no one, returned to his work, but
+that brief glance had revealed enough to Darrell that he knew he could
+henceforth identify the murderer among a thousand. In the struggle the
+mask had been partially pushed aside, exposing a portion of the man's
+face. A scar of peculiar shape showed white against the olive skin,
+close to the curling black hair. But to Darrell the pre-eminently
+distinguishing characteristic of that face was the eyes. Of the most
+perfect steel blue he had ever seen, they seemed, as they turned upon
+him in that intense glance, to glint and scintillate like the points of
+two rapiers in a brilliant sword play, while their look of concentrated
+fury and malignity, more demon-like than human, was stamped ineffaceably
+upon his brain.</p>
+
+<p>Having secured as much as he could find of the money, the murderer left
+hastily and silently, and a few moments later the guards, after a
+warning to the passengers not to leave their berths, took their
+departure.</p>
+
+<p>Having partially dressed, Darrell at once sprang across the aisle and
+took Whitcomb's limp form in his arms. His heart still beat faintly, but
+he was unconscious and bleeding profusely. All had been done so silently
+and swiftly that no one outside of Darrell dreamed of murder, and soon
+the enforced silence
+<!-- Page 30 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+began to be broken by hurried questions and angry
+exclamations. A man cursed over the loss of his money and a woman sobbed
+hysterically. Suddenly, Darrell's incisive tones rang through the
+sleeper.</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake, see if there is a surgeon aboard! Here is a man
+stabbed, dying; don't stop to talk of money when a life is at stake!"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly all thought of personal loss was for the time forgotten, and
+half a dozen men responded to Darrell's appeal. When it became known
+throughout the train what had occurred, the greatest excitement
+followed. Train officials, hurrying back and forth, stopped, hushed and
+horror-stricken, beside the section where Darrell sat holding Whitcomb
+in his arms. Passengers from the other coaches crowded in, eager to
+offer assistance that was of no avail. A physician was found and came
+quickly to the scene, who, after a brief examination, silently shook his
+head, and Darrell, watching the weakening pulse and shortening gasps,
+needed no words to tell him that the young life was ebbing fast.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the faint respirations had become almost imperceptible, Whitcomb
+opened his eyes, looking straight into Darrell's eyes with eager
+intensity, his face lighted with the winning smile which Darrell had
+already learned to love. His lips moved; Darrell bent his head still
+lower to listen.</p>
+
+<p>"Kate,&mdash;you will see her," he whispered. "Tell her&mdash;&mdash;" but the sentence
+was never finished.</p>
+
+<p>Deftly and gently as a woman Darrell did the little which remained to be
+done for his young friend, closing the eyes in which the love-light
+kindled by his dying words still lingered, smoothing the dishevelled
+golden hair, wondering within himself at his own unwonted tenderness.
+<!-- Page 31 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"An awful pity for a bright young life to go out like that!" said a
+voice at his side, and, turning, he saw Parkinson.</p>
+
+<p>"How did it happen?" the latter inquired, recognizing Darrell for the
+first time in the dim light.</p>
+
+<p>Briefly Darrell gave the main facts as he had witnessed them, saying
+nothing, however, of his having seen the face of the murderer.</p>
+
+<p>"Too bad!" said Parkinson. "He ought never to have made a bluff of that
+sort; there were too many odds against him."</p>
+
+<p>"He was impulsive and acted on the spur of the moment," Darrell replied;
+adding, in lower tones, "the mistake was in giving one so young and
+inexperienced a commission involving so much responsibility and danger."</p>
+
+<p>"You knew of the money, then? Yes, that was bad business for him, poor
+fellow! I wonder, by the way, if it was all taken."</p>
+
+<p>At Darrell's suggestion a thorough search was made, which resulted in
+the finding of a package containing fifteen thousand dollars which the
+thief in his haste had evidently overlooked. This, it was agreed, should
+be placed in Darrell's keeping until the arrival of the train at Ophir.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the crowd dispersed, most of the passengers returning to their
+berths. Darrell, knowing that sleep for himself was out of the question,
+sought an empty section in another part of the car, and, seating
+himself, bowed his head upon his hands. The veins in his temples seemed
+near bursting and his usually strong nerves quivered from the shock he
+had undergone, but of this he was scarcely conscious. His mind,
+abnormally active, for the time held his physical sufferings in
+abeyance. He was living over again the events
+<!-- Page 32 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> of the past few
+hours&mdash;events which had awakened within him susceptibilities he had not
+known he possessed, which had struck a new chord in his being whose
+vibrations thrilled him with strange, undefinable pain. As he recalled
+Whitcomb's affectionate familiarity, he seemed to hear again the low,
+musical cadences of the boyish tones, to see the sunny radiance of his
+smile, to feel the irresistible magnetism of his presence, and it seemed
+as though something inexpressibly sweet, of whose sweetness he had
+barely tasted, had suddenly dropped out of his life.</p>
+
+<p>His heart grew sick with bitter sorrow as he recalled the look of
+mingled appeal and trust which shot from Whitcomb's eyes into his own as
+his young life, so full of hope, of ambition, of love, was passing
+through the dim portals of an unknown world. Oh, the pity of it! that
+he, an acquaintance of but a few hours, should have been the only one to
+whom those eyes could turn for their last message of earthly love and
+sympathy; and oh, the impotency of any and all human love then!</p>
+
+<p>Never before had Darrell been brought so near the unseen, the
+unknown,&mdash;always surrounding us, but of which few of us are
+conscious,&mdash;and for hours he sat motionless, lost in thought, grappling
+with problems hitherto unthought of, but which now perplexed and baffled
+him at every turn.</p>
+
+<p>At last, with a heavy sigh, he opened his eyes. The gray twilight of
+dawn was slowly creeping down from the mountain-tops, dispelling the
+shadows; and the light of a new faith, streaming downward</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"From the beautiful, eternal hills</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Of God's unbeginning past,"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>was banishing the doubts which had assailed him.
+<!-- Page 33 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 34 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+<p>That night had brought to him a revelation of the awful solitude of a
+human soul, standing alone on the threshold of two worlds; but it had
+also revealed to him the Love&mdash;Infinite, Divine&mdash;that meets the soul
+when human love and sympathy are no longer of avail.</p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a><h2><i>Chapter III</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Pines</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>As the day advanced Darrell grew gradually but steadily worse. After the
+excitement of the night had passed a reaction set in; he felt utterly
+exhausted and miserable, the pain returned with redoubled violence, and
+the fever increased perceptibly from hour to hour.</p>
+
+<p>He was keenly observant of those about him, and he could not but note
+how soon the tragedy of the preceding night seemed forgotten. Some
+bemoaned the loss of money or valuables; a few, more fortunate, related
+how they had outwitted the robbers and escaped with trivial loss, but
+only an occasional careless word of pity was heard for the young
+stranger who had met so sad a fate. So quickly and completely does one
+human atom sink out of sight! It is like the dropping of a pebble in the
+sea: a momentary ripple, that is all!</p>
+
+<p>About noon Parkinson, who had sought to while away the tedium of the
+journey by an interview with Darrell, became somewhat alarmed at the
+latter's condition and went in search of a physician. He returned with
+the one who had been summoned to Whitcomb's aid. He was an eastern
+practitioner, and, unfortunately for Darrell, was not so familiar with
+the peculiar symptoms in his case as a western physician would have
+been.</p>
+
+<p>"He has a high fever," he remarked to Parkinson a little later, as he
+seated himself beside Darrell to
+<!-- Page 35 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> watch the effect of the remedies
+administered, "but I do not apprehend any danger. I have given him
+something to abate the fever and induce sleep. If necessary, I will
+write out a prescription which he can have filled on his arrival at
+Ophir, but I think in a few days he will be all right."</p>
+
+<p>They were now approaching the continental divide, the scenery moment by
+moment growing in sublimity and grandeur. Darrell soon sank into a
+sleep, light and broken at first, but which grew deeper and heavier. For
+more than an hour he slept, unconscious that the rugged scenes through
+which he was then passing were to become part of his future life; that
+each cliff and crag and mountain-peak was to be to him an open book,
+whose secrets would leave their indelible impress upon his heart and
+brain, revealing to him the breadth and length, the depth and height of
+life, moulding his soul anew into nobler, more symmetrical proportions.</p>
+
+<p>At last the rocks suddenly parted, like sentinels making way for the
+approaching train, disclosing a broad, sunlit plateau, from which rose,
+in gracefully rounded contours, a pine-covered mountain, about whose
+base nestled the little city of Ophir, while in the background stretched
+the majestic range of the great divide.</p>
+
+<p>A crowd could be seen congregated about the depot, for tidings of the
+night's tragedy had preceded the train by several hours, and Whitcomb
+from his early boyhood had been a universal favorite in Ophir, while his
+uncle was one of its wealthiest, most influential citizens.</p>
+
+<p>As the train slackened speed Parkinson, with a few words to the
+physician, hastily left to make arrangements for transportation for
+himself, Hunter, and
+<!-- Page 36 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+Darrell to a hotel. Amid the noise and confusion
+which ensued for the next ten minutes Darrell slept heavily, till,
+roused by a gentle shake, he awoke to find the physician bending over
+him and heard voices approaching down the now nearly deserted
+sleeping-car.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said a heavy voice, speaking rapidly, "the conductor wired
+details; he said this young man did everything for the boy that could be
+done, and stayed by him to the end."</p>
+
+<p>"He did; he stood by him like a brother," Parkinson's voice replied.</p>
+
+<p>"And he is sick, you say? Well, he won't want for anything within my
+power to do for him, that's all!"</p>
+
+<p>Parkinson stopped at Darrell's side. "Mr. Darrell," he said, "this is
+Mr. Underwood, Whitcomb's uncle, you know; Mr. Underwood, Mr. Darrell."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell rose a little unsteadily; the two men grasped hands and for an
+instant neither spoke. Darrell saw before him a tall, powerfully built
+man, approaching fifty, whose somewhat bronzed face, shrewd, stern, and
+unreadable, was lighted by a pair of blue eyes which once had resembled
+Whitcomb's. With a swift, penetrating glance the elder man looked
+searchingly into the face of the younger.</p>
+
+<p>"True as steel, with a heart of gold!" was his mental comment; then he
+spoke abruptly, and his voice sounded brusque though his face was
+working with emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Darrell, my carriage is waiting for you outside. You will go home
+with me, unless," he added, inquiringly, "you are expecting to meet
+friends or acquaintances?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Underwood," Darrell replied, "I am a stranger here, but, much
+as I appreciate your kindness,
+<!-- Page 37 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+I could not think of intruding upon your
+home at such a time as this."</p>
+
+<p>"Porter," said Mr. Underwood, with the air of one accustomed to command,
+"take this gentleman's luggage outside, and tell them out there that it
+is to go to 'The Pines;' my men are there and they will look after it;"
+then, turning to Darrell, he continued, still more brusquely:</p>
+
+<p>"This train pulls out in three minutes, so you had better prepare to
+follow your luggage. You don't stop in Ophir outside of my house, and I
+don't think you'll travel much farther for a while. You look as though
+you needed a bed and good nursing more than anything else just now."</p>
+
+<p>"I have given him a prescription, sir," said the physician, "that I
+think will set him right if he gets needed rest and sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" responded Mr. Underwood, gruffly; "he'll get whatever he needs,
+you can depend on that. You gentlemen assist him out of the car; I'll go
+and despatch a messenger to the house to have everything in readiness
+for him there."</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the car steps Darrell parted from the physician and,
+leaning on Parkinson's arm, slowly made his way through the crowd to the
+carriage, where Mr. Underwood awaited him. Parkinson having taken leave,
+Mr. Underwood assisted the young man into the carriage. A spasm of pain
+crossed Darrell's face as he saw, just ahead of them, waiting to precede
+them on the homeward journey, a light wagon containing a stretcher
+covered with a heavy black cloth, a line of stalwart young fellows drawn
+up on either side, and he recalled Whitcomb's parting words on the
+previous night,&mdash;"When we reach Ophir to-morrow, you'll go directly home
+with me."<!-- Page 38 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This was observed by Mr. Underwood, who remarked a moment later as he
+seated himself beside Darrell and they started homeward,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This is a sad time to introduce you to our home and household, Mr.
+Darrell, but you will find your welcome none the less genuine on that
+account."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood," said the young man, in a troubled voice, "this seems to
+me the most unwarrantable intrusion on my part to accept your
+hospitality at such a time&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Before he could say more, Mr. Underwood placed a firm, heavy hand on his
+knee.</p>
+
+<p>"You stood by my poor boy, Harry, to the last, and that is enough to
+insure you a welcome from me and mine. I'm only doing what Harry himself
+would do if he were here."</p>
+
+<p>"As to what I did for your nephew, God knows it was little enough I
+could do," Darrell answered, bitterly. "I was powerless to defend him
+against the fatal blow, and after that there was no help for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see him killed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all, everything, just as it occurred."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood little knew the effort it cost Darrell in his condition to
+go over the details of the terrible scene, but he forced himself to give
+a clear, succinct, calm statement of all that took place. The elder man
+sat looking straight before him, immovable, impassive, like one who
+heard not, yet in reality missing nothing that was said. Not until
+Darrell repeated Whitcomb's dying words was there any movement on his
+part; then he turned his head so that his face was hidden and remained
+motionless and silent as before. At last he inquired,
+<!-- Page 39 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Did he leave no message for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"He mentioned only your daughter, Mr. Underwood; he evidently had some
+message for her which he was unable to give."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed. Darrell, utterly exhausted, sank back into a
+corner of the carriage. The slight movement roused Mr. Underwood; he
+looked towards Darrell, whose eyes were closed, and was shocked at his
+deathly pallor. He said nothing, however, for Darrell was again sinking
+into a heavy stupor, but watched him with growing concern, making no
+attempt to rouse him until the carriage left the street and began
+ascending a long gravelled driveway; then putting his hand on Darrell's
+shoulder, he said, quite loudly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wake up, my boy! We're getting home now."</p>
+
+<p>To Darrell his voice sounded faint and far away, like an echo out of a
+vast distance, and it was some seconds before he could realize where he
+was or form any definite idea of his surroundings. Gradually he became
+conscious that the air was no longer hot and stifling, but cool and
+fragrant with the sweet, resinous breath of pines. Looking about him, he
+saw they were winding upward along an avenue cut through a forest of
+small, slender pines, which extended below them on one side and far
+above them on the other.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later they came out into a clearing, whence he could see,
+rising directly before him, in a series of natural terraces, the slopes
+of the sombre-hued, pine-clad mountain which overlooked the little city.
+Upon one of the terraces of the mountain stood a massive house of unhewn
+granite, a house representing no particular style of architecture, but
+whose deep bay-windows, broad, winding verandas, and shadowy, secluded
+balconies all combined to present an aspect most inviting. To Darrell
+the place had an irresistible
+<!-- Page 40 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+charm; he gazed at it as though
+fascinated, unable to take his eyes from the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"You certainly have a beautiful home, Mr. Underwood," he said, "and a
+most unique location. I never saw anything quite like it."</p>
+
+<p>"It will do," said the elder man, quietly, gratified by what he saw in
+his companion's face. "I built it for my little girl. It was her own
+idea to have it that way, and she has named it 'The Pines.' Thank God,
+I've got her left yet, but she is about all."</p>
+
+<p>Something in his tone caused Darrell to glance quickly towards him with
+a look of sympathetic inquiry. They were now approaching the house, and
+Mr. Underwood turned, facing him, a smile for the first time lighting up
+his stern, rugged features, as he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You will find us what my little girl calls a 'patched-up' family. I am
+a widower; my widowed sister keeps house for me, and Harry, whom I had
+grown to consider almost a son, was an orphan. But the family, such as
+it is, will make you welcome; I can speak for that. Here we are!"</p>
+
+<p>With a supreme effort Darrell summoned all his energies as Mr. Underwood
+assisted him from the carriage and into the house. But the ringing and
+pounding in his head increased, his brain seemed reeling, and he was so
+nearly blinded by pain that, notwithstanding his efforts, he was forced
+to admit to himself, as a little later he sank upon a couch in the room
+assigned to him, that his impressions of the ladies to whom he had just
+been presented were exceedingly vague.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood's sister, Mrs. Dean, he remembered as a large woman,
+low-voiced, somewhat resembling her brother in manner, and like him, of
+few words,
+<!-- Page 41 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+yet something in her greeting had assured him of a welcome
+as deep as it was undemonstrative. Of Kate Underwood, in whom he had
+felt more than a passing interest, remembering Whitcomb's love for his
+cousin, he recalled a tall, slender, girlish form; a wealth of
+golden-brown hair, and a pair of large, luminous brown eyes, whose
+wistful, almost appealing look haunted him strangely, though he was
+unable to recall another feature of her face.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood, who had left the room to telephone for a physician,
+returned with a faithful servant, and insisted upon Darrell's retiring
+to bed without delay, a proposition which the latter was only too glad
+to follow. Darrell had already given Mr. Underwood the package of
+fifteen thousand dollars found on the train, and now, while disrobing,
+handed him the belt in which he carried his own money, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I'll put this in your keeping for a few days, till I feel more like
+myself. I lost my watch and some change, but I took the precaution to
+have this hidden."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped abruptly and seemed to be trying to recall something, then
+continued, slowly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There was something else in connection with that affair which I wished
+to say to you, but my head is so confused I cannot think what it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't try to think now; it will come to you by and by," Mr. Underwood
+replied. "You're in good hands, so don't worry yourself about anything,
+but get all the rest you can."</p>
+
+<p>With a deep sigh of relief Darrell sank on the pillows, and was soon
+sleeping heavily.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later Mr. Underwood, coming from Darrell's room, having
+left the servant in charge, met his sister coming down the long hall.
+She beckoned, and, turning, slowly retraced her steps, her brother
+<!-- Page 42 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+following, to another part of the house, where they entered a darkened
+chamber and together stood beside a low, narrow couch strewn with
+fragrant flowers. Together, without a word or a tear, they gazed on the
+peaceful face of this sleeper, wrapped in the breathless, dreamless
+slumber we call death. They recalled the years since he had come to
+them, the dying bequest of their youngest sister, a little,
+golden-haired prattler, to fill their home with the music of his
+childish voice and the sunshine of his smile. Already the great house
+seemed strangely silent without his ringing laughter, his bursts of
+merry song.</p>
+
+<p>But of whatever bitter grief stirred their hearts, this silent brother
+and sister, so long accustomed to self-restraint and self-repression,
+gave no sign. Gently she replaced the covering over the face of the
+sleeper, and silently they left the room. Not until they again reached
+the door of Darrell's room was the silence broken; then the brother
+said, in low tones,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Marcia, we've done all for the dead that can be done; it's the living
+who needs our care now."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied, quietly, "I was going to see what I could do for him
+when you had put him to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Bennett is in there now, and I'm going downstairs to wait for Dr.
+Bradley; he telephoned that he'd be up in twenty minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; I'll sit by him till the doctor comes."</p>
+
+<p>When Dr. Bradley arrived he found Darrell in a state of coma from which
+it was almost impossible to arouse him. From Mr. Underwood and his
+sister he learned whatever details they could furnish, but from the
+patient himself very little information could be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>"He has this fever that is prevailing in the mountainous
+<!-- Page 43 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> districts, and
+has it in its worst form," he said, when about to take leave. "Of
+course, having just come from the East, it would be worse for him in any
+event than if he were acclimated; but aside from that, the cerebral
+symptoms are greatly aggravated owing to the nervous shock which he
+received last night. To witness an occurrence of that sort would be more
+or less of a shock to nerves in a normal state, but in the condition in
+which he was at the time, it is likely to produce some rather serious
+complications. Follow these directions which I have written out, and
+I'll be in again in a couple of hours."</p>
+
+<p>But in two hours Darrell was delirious.</p>
+
+<p>"Has he recognized any one since I was here?" Dr. Bradley inquired, as
+he again stood beside the patient.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," Mrs. Dean replied. "I could hardly rouse him enough
+to give him the medicine, and even then he didn't seem to know me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be in about midnight," said the physician, as he again took leave,
+"and I'll send a professional nurse, a man; this is likely to be a long
+siege."</p>
+
+<p>"Send whatever is needed," said Mr. Underwood, brusquely, "the same as
+if 'twere for the boy himself!"</p>
+
+<p>"And, Mrs. Dean," the physician continued, "if he should have a lucid
+interval, you had better ascertain the address of his friends."</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly midnight. For hours Darrell had battled against the
+darkening shadows fast settling down upon him, enveloping him with a
+horror worse than death itself. Suddenly there was a rift in the clouds,
+and the calm, sweet light of reason stole softly through. He felt a cool
+hand on his forehead, and, opening his eyes, looked with a smile into
+the face of Mrs. Dean
+<!-- Page 44 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+as she bent over him. Bending still lower, she
+said, in low, distinct tones:</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me the name of your people, and where they live?"</p>
+
+<p>In an instant he comprehended all that her question implied; he must
+give his own name and the address of the far-away eastern home. He
+strove to recall it, but the effort was too great; before he could
+speak, the clouds surged together and all was blotted out in darkness.
+<!-- Page 45 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a><h2><i>Chapter IV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Life? or Death?</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Hour by hour the clouds thickened, obscuring every ray of light, closing
+the avenues of sight and sound, until, isolated from the outer world by
+this intangible yet impenetrable barrier, Darrell was alone in a world
+peopled only with the phantoms of his imagination. Of the lapse of time,
+of the weary procession of days and nights which followed, he knew
+nothing. Day and night were to him only an endless repetition of the
+horrors which thronged his fevered brain.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again he lived over the tragic scene in the sleeping-car, each
+iteration and reiteration growing in dreadful realism, until it was he
+himself who grappled in deadly contest with the murderer, and the latter
+in turn became a monster whose hot breath stifled him, whose malign,
+demoniacal glance seemed to sear his eyeballs like living fire. Over and
+over, with failing strength, he waged the unequal contest, striving at
+last with a legion of hideous forms. Then, as the clouds grew still more
+dense about him, these shapes grew dim and he found himself, weak and
+trembling, adrift upon a sea of darkness whose black waves tossed him
+angrily, with each breath threatening to engulf him in their gloomy
+depths. Desperately he battled with them, each struggle leaving him
+weaker than the last, until at length, scarcely breathing, his strength
+utterly exhausted, he lay watching the towering forms as they swept
+relentlessly towards him, gathering strength and fury as they came. He
+saw<!-- Page 46 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> the yawning abysses on each side, he heard the roar of the
+on-coming waves, but was powerless to move hand or foot.</p>
+
+<p>But while he waited in helpless terror the waves on which he tossed to
+and fro grew calm; then they seemed to divide, and he felt himself going
+down, down into infinite depths. The sullen roar died away; the darkness
+was flooded with golden light, and through its ethereal waves he was
+still floating downward more gently than ever a roseleaf floated to
+earth on the evening's breath. Through the waves of golden light there
+came to him a faint, distant murmur of voices, and the words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He is sinking fast!"</p>
+
+<p>He smiled with perfect content, wondering dreamily if it would never
+end; then consciousness was lost in utter oblivion.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Three weeks had elapsed since Darrell came to The Pines. August had
+given place to September, but the languorous days brought no cessation
+of the fearful heat, no cooling rain to the panting earth, no promise of
+renewed life to the drought-smitten vegetation. The timber on the ranges
+had been reduced to masses of charred and smouldering embers, among
+which the low flames still crept and crawled, winding their way up and
+down the mountains. The pall of smoke overhanging the city grew more and
+more dense, until there came a morning when, as the sun looked over the
+distant ranges, the landscape was suffused with a dull red glare which
+steadily deepened until all objects assumed a blood-red hue. Two or
+three hours passed, and then a lurid light illumined the strange scene,
+brightening moment by moment, till earth and sky glowed like a mass of
+molten copper. The heat seemed
+<!-- Page 47 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> to concentrate upon that part of the
+earth's surface, the air grew oppressive, and an ominous silence
+reigned, in which even the birds were hushed and the dumb brutes cowered
+beside their masters.</p>
+
+<p>As the brazen glow was fading to a weird, yellow light, an anxious group
+was gathered about Darrell's bedside. He still tossed and moaned in
+delirium, but his movements had grown pathetically feeble and the moans
+were those of a tired child sobbing himself to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>"He cannot hold out much longer," said Dr. Bradley, his fingers on the
+weakening pulse, "his strength is failing rapidly."</p>
+
+<p>"There will be a change soon, one way or the other," said the nurse,
+"and there's not much of a chance left him now."</p>
+
+<p>"One chance in a hundred," said Dr. Bradley, slowly; "and that is his
+wonderful constitution; he may pull through where ninety-nine others
+would die."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Bradley watched the sick man in silence, then noting that the room
+was darkening, he stepped to an open window and cast a look of anxious
+inquiry at the murky sky. As if in answer to his thought, there came the
+low rumble of distant thunder, bringing a look of relief and hopefulness
+to the face of the physician. Returning to the bedside, he gave a few
+directions, then, as he was leaving, remarked,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There will be a change in the weather soon, a change that may help to
+turn the tide in his favor, provided it does not come too late!"</p>
+
+<p>Hours passed; the distant mutterings grew louder, while the darkness and
+gloom increased, and the sense of oppression became almost intolerable.
+Suddenly the leaden mass which had overspread the sky ap<!-- Page 48 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>peared to drop
+to earth, and in the dead silence which followed could be heard the roar
+of the wind through the gorges and down the canyons. A moment more, and
+clouds of dust and d&eacute;bris, the outriders of the coming tempest, rushed
+madly through the streets in whirling columns towering far above the
+city. From their vantage ground the dwellers at The Pines watched the
+course of the storm, but only for a moment; then blinding sheets of
+water hid even the nearest objects from view, while lightnings flashed
+incessantly and the thunder crashed and rolled in one ceaseless,
+deafening roar. The trees waved their arms in wild, helpless terror as
+one and another of their number were prostrated by the storm, while the
+dry channels on the mountain-side became raging, foaming torrents.
+Suddenly the winds changed, a chilling blast swept across the plateau,
+and to the rush of the wind, the roar of the thunder, and the crash of
+falling timber was added the sharp staccato of swiftly descending hail.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly an hour the storm raged in its fury, then departed as
+suddenly as it came; but it left behind a clear atmosphere, crisp as an
+October morning.</p>
+
+<p>As the storm clouds, touched with beauty by the rays of the setting sun,
+were settling below the eastern ranges, Dr. Bradley again entered the
+sick-room. The room was flooded with golden light, and the physician was
+quick to note the changes which the few hours had wrought in the sick
+man. The fever had gone and, his strength spent, his splendid energies
+exhausted, life's forces were ebbing moment by moment.</p>
+
+<p>"He is sinking fast," said Mrs. Dean.</p>
+
+<p>Even as she spoke a smile stole over the pallid features; then, as they
+watched eagerly for some token of returning consciousness, the nervous
+system, so<!-- Page 49 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> long strained to its utmost tension, suddenly relaxed and
+utter collapse followed.</p>
+
+<p>For hours Darrell lay as one dead, an occasional fluttering about the
+heart being the only sign of life. But late in the forenoon of the
+following day the watchers by the bedside, noting each feeble pulsation,
+thinking it might be the last, felt an almost imperceptible quickening
+of the life current. Gradually the fluttering pulse grew calm and
+steady, the faint respirations grew deeper and more regular, until at
+length, with a long, tremulous sigh, Darrell sank into slumber sweet and
+restful as a child's, and the watchers knew that the crisis had passed.<!-- Page 50 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a><h2><i>Chapter V</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">John Britton</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>It was on one of those glorious October days, when every breath quickens
+the blood and when simply to live is a joy unspeakable, that Darrell
+first walked abroad into the outdoor world. Several times during his
+convalescence he had sunned himself on the balcony opening from his
+room, or when able to go downstairs had paced feebly up and down the
+verandas, but of late his strength had returned rapidly, so that now,
+accompanied by his physician, he was walking back and forth over the
+gravelled driveway under the pine-trees, his step gaining firmness with
+every turn.</p>
+
+<p>Seated on the veranda were Mr. Underwood and his sister, the one with
+his pipe and newspaper, the other with her knitting; but the newspaper
+had slipped unheeded to the floor, and though Mrs. Dean's skilful
+fingers did not slacken their work for an instant, yet her eyes, like
+her brother's, were fastened upon Darrell, and a shade of pity might
+have been detected in the look of each, which the occasion at first
+sight hardly seemed to warrant.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow!" said Mr. Underwood, at length; "it's hard for a young man
+to be handicapped like that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented his sister, "and he takes it hard, too, though he
+doesn't say much. I can't bear to look in his eyes sometimes, they look
+so sort of pleading and helpless."<!-- Page 51 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Takes it hard!" reiterated Mr. Underwood; "why shouldn't he. I'm
+satisfied that he is a young man of unusual ability, who had a bright
+future before him, and I tell you, Marcia, it's pretty hard for him to
+wake up and find it all rubbed off the slate!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Dean, with a sigh, "everybody has to carry their own
+burdens, but there's a look on his face when he thinks nobody sees him
+that makes me wish I could help him carry his, though I don't suppose
+anybody can, for that matter; it isn't anything that anybody feels like
+saying much about."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad Jack is coming," said Mr. Underwood, after a pause; "he may do
+him some good. He has a way of getting at those things that you and I
+haven't, Marcia."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he's seen trouble himself, though nobody knows what it was."</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the tide of returning vitality was fast restoring tissue
+and muscle to Darrell's wasted limbs and firmness and elasticity to his
+step, it was yet evident to a close observer that some undercurrent of
+suffering was doing its work day by day; sprinkling the dark hair with
+gleams of silver, tracing faint lines in the face hitherto untouched by
+care, working its subtle, mysterious changes.</p>
+
+<p>When a new lease of life was granted to John Darrell and he awoke to
+consciousness, it was to find that every detail of his past life had
+been blotted out, leaving only a blank. Of his home, his friends, of his
+own name even, not a vestige of memory was left. It was as though he had
+entered upon a new existence.</p>
+
+<p>By degrees, as he was able to hear them, he was given the details of his
+arrival at Ophir, of his coming to The Pines, of the tragedy which he
+had witnessed<!-- Page 52 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> in the sleeping-car, but they awoke no memories in his
+mind. For him there was no past. As a realization of his condition
+dawned upon him his mental distress was pitiable. Despite the efforts of
+physician and nurse to divert his mind, he would lie for hours trying to
+recall some fragment from the veiled and shrouded past, but all in vain.
+Yet, with returning physical strength, many of his former attainments
+seemed to return to him, naturally and without effort. Dr. Bradley one
+day used a Latin phrase in his hearing; he at once repeated it and,
+without a moment's hesitation, gave the correct rendering, but was
+unable to tell how he did it.</p>
+
+<p>"It simply came to me," was all the explanation he could give.</p>
+
+<p>From this the physician argued that the memory of his past life would
+sooner or later return, and it was this hope alone which at that time
+saved Darrell from total despair.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from his professional interest in so peculiar a case, Dr. Bradley
+had become interested in Darrell himself; many of his leisure hours were
+spent at The Pines, and quite a friendship existed between the two.</p>
+
+<p>In Mr. Underwood and his sister Darrell had found two steadfast friends,
+each seeming to vie with the other in thoughtful, unobtrusive kindness.
+His strange misfortune had only deepened and intensified the sympathy
+which had been first aroused by the peculiar circumstances under which
+he had come to them. But now, as then, they said little, and for this
+Darrell was grateful. Even the silent pity which he read in their eyes
+hurt him,&mdash;why, he could scarcely explain to himself; expressed in
+words, it would have been intolerable. Early in his convalescence
+Darrell had expressed an unwillingness to trespass upon their kind<!-- Page 53 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>ness
+by remaining after he could with safety be moved, but the few words they
+had spoken on that occasion had effectually silenced any further
+suggestion of the kind on his part. He understood that to leave them
+would be to forfeit their friendship, which he well knew was of a sort
+too rare to be slighted or thrown aside.</p>
+
+<p>Of Kate Underwood Darrell knew nothing, except as her father or aunt
+spoke of her, for he had no recollection of her and she had left home
+early in his illness to return to an eastern college, from which she
+would graduate the following year.</p>
+
+<p>With more animation than he had yet shown since his illness, Darrell
+returned to the veranda. He was flushed and trembling slightly from the
+unusual exertion, and Dr. Bradley, dropping down beside him, from force
+of habit laid his fingers on Darrell's wrist, but the latter shook them
+off playfully.</p>
+
+<p>"No more of that!" he exclaimed, adding, "Doctor, I challenge you for a
+race two weeks from to-day. What do you say, do you take me up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two weeks from to-day!" repeated the doctor, with an incredulous smile,
+at the same time scrutinizing Darrell's form. "Well, yes. When you are
+in ordinary health I don't think I would care to do much business with
+you along that line, but two weeks from to-day is a safe proposition, I
+guess. What do you want to make it, a hundred yards?" he inquired, with
+a laughing glance at Mr. Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>"One hundred yards," replied Darrell, following the direction of the
+doctor's glance. "Do you want to name the winner, Mr. Underwood?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll back you, my boy," said the elder man, quietly, his shrewd face
+growing a trifle shrewder.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed Dr. Bradley, rising hastily;<!-- Page 54 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I guess it's about time I was going, if that's your estimate of my
+athletic prowess," and, shaking hands with Darrell, he started down the
+driveway.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll put you up at about ten to one," Mr. Underwood called after the
+retreating figure, but a deprecatory wave of his hand over his shoulder
+was the doctor's only reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," exclaimed Darrell, looking about him, "this is glorious! This is
+one of the days that make a fellow feel that life is worth living!"</p>
+
+<p>Even as he spoke there came to his mind the thought of what life meant
+to him, and the smile died from his lips and the light from his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment nothing was said, then, with the approaching sound of
+rhythmic hoof-beats, Mr. Underwood rose, deliberately emptying the ashes
+from his pipe as a fine pair of black horses attached to a light
+carriage appeared around the house from the direction of the stables.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be back for lunch, David?" Mrs. Dean inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I'll bring Jack with me," was his reply, as he seated himself
+beside the driver, and the horses started at a brisk trot down the
+driveway.</p>
+
+<p>With a smile Mrs. Dean addressed Darrell, who was watching the horses
+with a keen appreciation of their good points.</p>
+
+<p>"This 'Jack' that you've heard my brother speak of is his partner."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" said Darrell, courteously, feeling slight interest in the
+expected guest, but glad of anything to divert his thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Mrs. Dean continued; "they've been partners and friends for more
+than ten years. His name is John Britton, but it's never anything but
+'Dave'<!-- Page 55 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> and 'Jack' between the two; they're almost like two boys
+together."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell wondered what manner of man this might be who could transform
+his silent, stern-faced host into anything boy-like, but he said
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"To see them together you'd wonder at their friendship, too," continued
+Mrs. Dean, "for they're noways alike. My brother is all business, and
+Mr. Britton is not what you'd really call a practical business man. He
+is very rich, for he is one of those men that everything they touch
+seems to turn to gold, but he doesn't seem to care much about money. He
+spends a great deal of his time in reading and studying, and though he
+makes very few friends, he could have any number of them if he wanted,
+for he's one of those people that you always feel drawn to without
+knowing why."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean paused to count the stitches in her work, and Darrell, whose
+thoughts were of the speaker more than of the subject of conversation,
+watching her placid face, wondered whether it were possible for any
+emotion ever to disturb that calm exterior. Presently she resumed her
+subject, speaking in low, even tones, which a slight, gentle inflection
+now and then just saved from monotony.</p>
+
+<p>"He's always a friend to anybody in distress, and I guess there isn't a
+poor person or a friendless person in Ophir that doesn't know him and
+love him. He has had some great trouble; nobody knows what it is, but he
+told David once that it had changed his whole life."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell now became interested, and the dark eyes fixed on Mrs. Dean's
+face grew suddenly luminous with the quick sympathy her words had
+aroused.</p>
+
+<p>"He always seems to be on the lookout for anybody that has trouble, to
+help them; that's how he got to know my brother."<!-- Page 56 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean hesitated a moment. "I never spoke of this to any one before,
+but I thought maybe you'd be interested to know about it," she said,
+looking at Darrell with a slightly apologetic air.</p>
+
+<p>"I am, and I think I understand and appreciate your motive," was his
+quiet reply.</p>
+
+<p>She dropped her work, folding her hands above it, and her face wore a
+reminiscent look as she continued:</p>
+
+<p>"When David's wife died, twelve years ago, it was an awful blow to him.
+He didn't say much,&mdash;that isn't our way,&mdash;but we were afraid he would
+never be the same again. His brother was out here at that time, but none
+of us could do anything for him. He kept on trying to attend to business
+just as usual, but he seemed, as you might say, to have lost his grip on
+things. It went on that way for nearly two years; his business got
+behind and everything seemed to be slipping through his fingers, when he
+happened to get acquainted with Mr. Britton, and he seemed to know just
+what to say and do. He got David interested in business again. He loaned
+him money to start with, and they went into business together and have
+been together ever since. They have both been successful, but David has
+worked and planned for what he has, while Mr. Britton's money seems to
+come to him. He owns property all over the State, and all through the
+West for that matter, and sometimes he's in one place and sometimes in
+another, but he never stays very long anywhere. David would like to have
+him make his home with us, but he told him once that he couldn't think
+of it; that he only stayed in a place till the pain got to be more than
+he could bear, and then he went somewhere else."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed; then, as Mrs. Dean folded her work, she said,
+softly,<!-- Page 57 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's no wonder he knows just how to help folks who are in trouble, for
+I guess he has suffered himself more than anybody knows."</p>
+
+<p>A little later she had gone indoors to superintend the preparations for
+lunch, but Darrell still sat in the mellow, autumn sunlight, his eyes
+closed, picturing to himself this stranger silently bearing his hidden
+burden, changing from place to place, but always keeping the pain.</p>
+
+<p>It still lacked two hours of sunset when John Darrell, leaning on the
+arm of John Britton, walked slowly up the mountain-path to a rustic seat
+under the pines. They had met at lunch. Mr. Britton had already heard
+the strange story of Darrell's illness, and, looking into his eyes with
+their troubled questioning, their piteous appeal, knew at once by swift
+intuition how hopelessly bewildering and dark life must look to the
+young man before him just at the age when it usually is brightest and
+most alluring; and Darrell, meeting the steadfast gaze of the clear,
+gray eyes, saw there no pity, but something infinitely broader, deeper,
+and sweeter, and knew intuitively that they were united by the
+fellowship of suffering, that mysterious tie which has not only bound
+human hearts together in all ages, but has linked suffering humanity
+with suffering Divinity.</p>
+
+<p>For more than two hours Darrell, taking little part himself in the
+general conversation, had watched, as one entranced, the play of the
+fine features and listened to the deep, musical voice of this stranger
+who was a stranger no longer.</p>
+
+<p>He was an excellent conversationalist; humorous without being cynical,
+scholarly without being pedantic, and showing especial familiarity with
+history and the natural sciences.<!-- Page 58 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At last, while walking up and down the broad veranda, Mr. Britton had
+paused beside Darrell, and throwing an arm over his shoulder had said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come, my son, let us have a little stroll."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's heart had leaped strangely at the words, he knew not why, and
+in a silence pregnant with deep emotion on both sides, they had climbed
+to the rustic bench. Here they sat down. The ground at their feet was
+carpeted with pine-needles; the air was sweet with the fragrance of the
+pines and of the warm earth; no sound reached their ears aside from the
+chirping of the crickets, the occasional dropping of a pine-cone, or the
+gentle sighing of the light breeze through the branches above their
+heads.</p>
+
+<p>A glorious scene lay outspread before them; the distant ranges half
+veiled in purple haze, the valleys flooded with golden light, brightened
+by the autumnal tints of the deciduous timber which marked the courses
+of numerous small streams, and over the whole a restful silence, as
+though, the year's work ended, earth was keeping some grand, solemn
+holiday.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton first broke the silence, as in low tones he murmured,
+reverently,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness!'"</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to Darrell with a smile of peculiar sweetness, he said,
+"This is one of what I call the year's 'coronation days,' when even
+Nature herself rests from her labors and dons her royal robes in honor
+of the occasion."</p>
+
+<p>Then, as an answering light dawned in Darrell's eyes and the tense lines
+in his face began to relax, Mr. Britton continued, musingly:</p>
+
+<p>"I have often wondered why we do not imitate Nature in her great annual
+holiday, and why we, a nation who garners one of the richest harvests of
+the<!-- Page 59 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> world, do not have a national harvest festival. How effectively and
+fittingly, for instance, something similar to the old Jewish feast of
+tabernacles might be celebrated in this part of the country! In the
+earliest days of their history the Jews were commanded, when the year's
+harvest had been gathered, to take the boughs of goodly trees, of
+palm-trees and willows, and to construct booths in which they were to
+dwell, feasting and rejoicing, for seven days. In the only account given
+of one of these feasts, we read that the people brought olive-branches
+and pine-branches, myrtle-branches and palm-branches, and made
+themselves booths upon the roofs of their houses, in their courts, and
+in their streets, and dwelt in them, 'and there was very great
+gladness.' Imagine such a scene on these mountain-slopes and foot-hills,
+under these cloudless skies; the sombre, evergreen boughs interwoven
+with the brightly colored foliage from the lowlands; this mellow, golden
+sunlight by day alternating with the white, mystical radiance of the
+harvest moon by night."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton's words had, as he intended they should, drawn Darrell's
+thoughts from himself. Under his graphic description, accompanied by the
+powerful magnetism of his voice and presence, Darrell seemed to see the
+Oriental festival which he had depicted and to feel a soothing influence
+from the very simplicity and beauty of the imaginary scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of the rest, the relaxation, in a week of such a life!" continued
+Mr. Britton. "Re-creation, in the true sense of the word. The simplest
+joys are the sweetest, but our lives have grown too complex for us to
+appreciate them. Our amusements and recreations, as we call them, are
+often more wearing and exhausting than our labors."<!-- Page 60 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For nearly an hour Mr. Britton led the conversation on general subjects,
+carefully avoiding every personal allusion; Darrell following,
+interested, animated, wondering more and more at the man beside him,
+until the latter tactfully led him to speak&mdash;calmly and dispassionately,
+as he could not have spoken an hour before&mdash;of himself. Almost before he
+was aware, Darrell had told all: of his vain gropings in the darkness
+for some clue to the past; of the helpless feeling akin to despair which
+sometimes took possession of him when he attempted to face the situation
+continuously confronting him.</p>
+
+<p>During his recital Mr. Britton had thrown his arm about Darrell's
+shoulder, and when he paused quite a silence followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Did it ever occur to you," Mr. Britton said at length, speaking very
+slowly, "that there are hundreds&mdash;yes, thousands&mdash;who would be only too
+glad to exchange places with you to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Darrell replied, too greatly astonished to say more.</p>
+
+<p>"But there are legions of poor souls, haunted by crime, or crushed
+beneath the weight of sorrow, whose one prayer would be, if such a thing
+were possible, that their past might be blotted out; that they might be
+free to begin life anew, with no memories dogging their steps like
+spectres, threatening at every turn to work their undoing."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Darrell regarded his friend with a fixed, inquiring gaze,
+which gradually changed to a look of comprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"I see," he said at length, "I have got to begin life anew; but you
+consider that there are others who have to make the start under
+conditions worse than mine."<!-- Page 61 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Far worse," said Mr. Britton. "Don't think for a moment that I fail to
+realize in how many ways you are handicapped or to appreciate the
+obstacles against which you will have to contend, but this I do say: the
+future is in your own hands&mdash;as much as it is in the hands of any
+mortal&mdash;to make the most of and the best of that you can, and with the
+negative advantage, at least, that you are untrammelled by a past that
+can hold you back or drag you down."</p>
+
+<p>The younger man laid his hand on the knee of the elder with a gesture
+almost appealing. "The future, until now, has looked very dark to me; it
+begins to look brighter. Advise me; tell me how best to begin!"</p>
+
+<p>"In one word," said Mr. Britton, with a smile. "Work! Just as soon as
+you are able, find some work to do. Did we but know it, work is the
+surest antidote for the poisonous discontent and ennui of this world,
+the swiftest panacea for its pains and miseries; different forms to suit
+different cases, but every form brings healing and blessing, even down
+to the humblest manual labor."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I have wanted," said Darrell, eagerly; "to go to work
+as soon as possible; but what can I do? What am I fitted for? I have not
+the slightest idea. I don't care to work at breaking stone, though I
+suppose that would be better than nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be better than nothing," said Mr. Britton, smiling again,
+"but that would not be suited to your case. What you need is mental
+work, something to keep your mind constantly occupied, and rest assured
+you will find it when you are ready for it. Our Father provides what we
+need just when we need it. 'Day by day' we have the 'daily bread' for
+mental and spiritual life, as for temporal. But what you most want to do
+is to keep your mind pleasantly occupied,<!-- Page 62 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> and above all things don't
+try to recall the past. In God's own good time it will return of
+itself."</p>
+
+<p>"And when it does, what revelations will it bring?" Darrell queried
+musingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing that you will be afraid or ashamed to meet; of that I am sure,"
+said Mr. Britton, confidently, adding a moment later, in a lighter tone,
+"It is nearing sunset, my boy, and time that I was taking you back to
+the house."</p>
+
+<p>"You have given me new courage, new hope," said Darrell, rising. "I feel
+now as though there were something to live for&mdash;as though I might make
+something out of life, after all."</p>
+
+<p>"I realize," said Mr. Britton, tenderly, as together they began the
+descent of the mountain path, "as deeply as you do that your life is
+sadly disjointed; but strive so to live that when the broken fragments
+are at last united they will form one harmonious and symmetrical whole.
+It is a difficult task, I know, but the result will be well worth the
+effort. In your case, my son, even more than in ordinary lives, the
+words of the poet are peculiarly applicable:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">"'A sacred burden is this life ye bear:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.'"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>An hour later John Britton stood alone on one of the mountain terraces,
+his tall, lithe form silhouetted against the evening sky, his arms
+folded, his face lifted upward. It was a face of marvellous strength and
+sweetness combined. Sorrow had set its unmistakable seal upon his
+features; here and there pain had traced<!-- Page 63 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> its ineffaceable lines; but
+the firmly set mouth was yet inexpressibly tender, the calm brow was
+unfurrowed, and the clear eyes had the far-seeing look of one who, like
+the Alpine traveller, had reached the heights above the clouds, to whose
+vision were revealed glories undreamed of by the dwellers in the vales
+below.</p>
+
+<p>And to Darrell, watching from his room the distant figure outlined
+against the sky, the simple grandeur, the calm triumph of its pose must
+have brought some revelation concerning this man of whom he knew so
+little, yet whose personality even more than his words had taken so firm
+a hold upon himself, for, as the light faded and deepening twilight hid
+the solitary figure from view, he turned from the window, and, pacing
+slowly up and down the room, soliloquized:</p>
+
+<p>"With him for a friend, I can meet the future with courage and await
+with patience the resurrection of the buried past. As he has conquered,
+so will I conquer; I will scale the heights after him, until I stand
+where he stands to-night!"<!-- Page 64 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a><h2><i>Chapter VI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Echoes from the Past</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>During his stay at The Pines Mr. Britton spent the greater portion of
+his time with Mr. Underwood, either at their offices or at the mines.
+Darrell, therefore, saw little of his new-found friend except as they
+all gathered in the evening around the glowing fire in the large family
+sitting-room, for, notwithstanding the lingering warmth and sunshine of
+the days, the nights were becoming sharp and frosty, so that an open
+fire added much to the evening's enjoyment. Each morning, however,
+before his departure, Mr. Britton stopped for a few words with Darrell;
+some quaint, kindly bit of humor, the pleasant flavor of which would
+enliven the entire day; some unhackneyed expression of sympathy whose
+very genuineness and sincerity made Darrell's position seem to him less
+isolated and solitary than before; or some suggestion which, acted upon,
+relieved the monotony of the tedious hours of convalescence.</p>
+
+<p>At his suggestion Darrell took vigorous exercise each day in the morning
+air and sunshine, devoting his afternoons to a course of light, pleasant
+reading.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are going to work," said Mr. Britton, "the first requisite is to
+have your body and mind in just as healthful and normal a condition as
+possible, in order that you may be able to give an equivalent for what
+you receive. In these days of trouble between employer and employed, we
+hear a great deal about the laborer demanding an honest equivalent for
+his<!-- Page 65 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> toil, but it does not occur to him to inquire whether he is giving
+his employer an honest equivalent for his money. The fact is, a large
+percentage of working-men and working-women, in all departments of
+labor, are squandering their energies night after night in various forms
+and degrees of dissipation until they are utterly incapacitated for one
+honest day's work; yet they do not hesitate to take a full day's wages,
+and would consider themselves wronged were the smallest fraction
+withheld."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell found himself rather restricted in his reading for the first few
+days, as he found but a limited number of books at The Pines, until Mrs.
+Dean, who had received a hint from Mr. Britton, meeting him one day in
+the upper hall, led him into two darkened rooms, saying, as she hastened
+to open the blinds,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"These are what the children always called their 'dens.' All their books
+are here, and I thought maybe you'd like to look them over. If you see
+anything you like, just help yourself, and use the rooms for reading or
+writing whenever you want to."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, left to himself, looked about him with much interest. The two
+rooms were similar in style and design, but otherwise were as diverse as
+possible. The room in which he was standing was furnished in embossed
+leather. A leather couch stood near one of the windows, and a large
+reclining-chair of the same material was drawn up before the fireplace.
+Near the mantel was a pipe-rack filled with fine specimens of briar-wood
+and meerschaum pipes. Signs of tennis, golf, and various athletic sports
+were visible on all sides; in the centre of the room stood a large
+roll-top desk, open, and on it lay a briar pipe, filled with ashes, just
+where the owner's hand had laid it. But what most interested Darrell was
+a large portrait over<!-- Page 66 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> the fireplace, which he knew must be that of
+Harry Whitcomb. The face was neither especially fine nor strong, but the
+winsome smile lurking about the curves of the sensitive mouth and in the
+depths of the frank blue eyes rendered it attractive, and it was with a
+sigh for the young life so suddenly blotted out that Darrell turned to
+enter the second room.</p>
+
+<p>He paused at the doorway, feeling decidedly out of place, and glanced
+about him with a serio-comic smile. The furnishings were as unique as
+possible, no one piece in the room bearing any relation or similarity to
+any other piece. There were chairs and tables of wicker-work, twisted
+into the most ornate designs, interspersed among heavy, antique pieces
+of carving and slender specimens of colonial simplicity; divans covered
+with pillows of every delicate shade imaginable; exquisite etchings and
+dainty bric-&agrave;-brac. In an alcove formed by a large bay-window stood a
+writing-desk of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and on an easel in a
+secluded corner, partially concealed by silken draperies, was the
+portrait of Kate Underwood,&mdash;a childish, rather immature face, but with
+a mouth indicating both sweetness and strength of character, and with
+dark, strangely appealing eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The walls of both rooms were lined with bookcases, but their contents
+were widely diverse, and, to Darrell's surprise, he found the young
+girl's library contained far the better class of books. But even in
+their selection he observed the same peculiarity that he had noted in
+the furnishing of the room; there were few complete sets of books;
+instead, there were one, two, or three volumes of each author, as the
+case might be, evidently her especial favorites.</p>
+
+<p>But Darrell returned to the other room, which interested him far more,
+each article in it bearing eloquent<!-- Page 67 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> testimony to the happy young life
+of whose tragic end he had now often heard, but of which he was unable
+to recall the faintest memory. Passing slowly through the room, his
+attention was caught by a violin case standing in an out-of-the-way
+corner. With a cry of joy he drew it forth, his fingers trembling with
+eagerness as he opened it and took therefrom a genuine Stradivarius. At
+that moment his happiness knew no bounds. Seating himself and bending
+his head over the instrument after the manner of a true violin lover, he
+drew the bow gently across the strings, producing a chord of such
+triumphant sweetness that the air seemed vibrating with the joy which at
+that instant thrilled his own soul.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately all thought of himself or of his surroundings was lost. With
+eyes half closed and dreamy he began to play, without effort, almost
+mechanically, but with the deft touch of a master hand, while liquid
+harmonies filled the room, quivering, rising, falling; at times low,
+plaintive, despairing; then swelling exultantly, only to die away in
+tremulous, minor undertones. The man's pent-up feelings had at last
+found expression,&mdash;his alternate hope and despair, his unutterable
+loneliness and longing,&mdash;all voiced by the violin.</p>
+
+<p>Of the lapse of time Darrell had neither thought nor consciousness until
+the door opened and Mrs. Dean's calm smile and matter-of-fact voice
+recalled him to a material world.</p>
+
+<p>"I see that you have found Harry's violin," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," Darrell stammered, somewhat dazed by his sudden
+descent to the commonplace, "I ought not to have taken it; I never
+thought,&mdash;I was so delighted to find the instrument and so carried away<!-- Page 68 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+with its tones,&mdash;it never occurred to me how it might seem to you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is all right," she interposed, quietly; "use it whenever you
+like. Harry bought it two years ago, but he never had the patience to
+learn it, so it has been used very little. I never heard such playing as
+yours, and I stepped in to ask you to bring it downstairs and play for
+us to-night. Mr. Britton will be delighted; he enjoys everything of that
+sort."</p>
+
+<p>Around the fireside that evening Darrell had an attentive audience,
+though the appreciation of his auditors was manifested in a manner
+characteristic of each. Mr. Underwood, after two or three futile
+attempts to talk business with his partner, finding him very
+uncommunicative, gave himself up to the enjoyment of his pipe and the
+music in about equal proportions, indulging surreptitiously in
+occasional brief naps, though always wide awake at the end of each
+number and joining heartily in the applause.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean sat gazing into the glowing embers, her face lighted with
+quiet pleasure, but her knitting-needles twinkled and flashed in the
+firelight with the same unceasing regularity, and she doubled and seamed
+and "slipped and bound" her stitches with the same monotonous precision
+as on other evenings.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton, in a comfortable reclining-chair, sat silent, motionless,
+his head thrown back, his eyes nearly closed, but in the varying
+expression of his mobile face Darrell found both inspiration and
+compensation.</p>
+
+<p>For more than three hours Darrell entertained his friends; quaint
+medleys, dreamy waltzes, and bits of classical music following one after
+another, with no effort, no hesitancy, on the part of the player. To
+their eager inquiries, he could only answer,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how I do it. They seem to come to<!-- Page 69 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> me with the sweep of
+the bow across the strings. I have no recollection of anything that I am
+playing; it seems as though the instrument and I were simply drifting."</p>
+
+<p>Late in the evening, when they were nearly ready to separate for the
+night, Darrell sat idly strumming the violin, when an old familiar
+strain floated sweetly forth, and his astonished listeners suddenly
+heard him singing in a rich baritone an old love-song, forgotten until
+then by every one present.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean had already laid aside her work and sat with hands folded, a
+smile of unusual tenderness hovering about her lips, while Mr. Britton's
+face was quivering with emotion. At its conclusion he grasped Darrell's
+hand silently.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very old song," said Mrs. Dean. "It seems queer to hear you
+sing it. I used to hear it sung when I was a young girl, and that," she
+added smiling, "was a great many years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"And I have sung it many a time a great many years ago," said Mr.
+Britton. And he hastily left the room.<!-- Page 70 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a><h2><i>Chapter VII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">At the Mines</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Once fairly started on the road to health, Darrell gained marvellously.
+Each day marked some new acquisition in physical health and muscular
+vigor, while his systematic reading, the soothing influence of the music
+to which he devoted a considerable time each day, and, more than all,
+his growing intimacy with Mr. Britton, were doing much towards restoring
+a better mental equipoise.</p>
+
+<p>The race to which he had challenged Dr. Bradley took place on a frosty
+morning early in November, Mr. Underwood himself measuring and marking
+the course for the runners and Mr. Britton acting as starter. The result
+was a victory for Darrell, who came out more than a yard ahead of his
+opponent, somewhat to the chagrin of the latter, who had won quite a
+local reputation as an athlete.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do," he said to Darrell, as he took leave a few moments later,
+"but don't pose here as an invalid any longer, or I'll expose you as a
+fraud. Understand, I cross your name off my list of patients to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"But not off your list of friends, I hope," Darrell rejoined, as they
+shook hands.</p>
+
+<p>When Dr. Bradley had gone, Darrell turned to Mr. Britton, who was
+standing near, saying, as his face grew serious,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Bradley is right; I'm no invalid now, and I must quit this idling.
+I must find what I can do and go to work."<!-- Page 71 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All in good time," said Mr. Britton, pleasantly. "We'll find something
+for you before I go from here. Meanwhile, I want to give you a little
+pleasure-trip if you are able to take it. How would you like to go out
+to the mines to-morrow with Mr. Underwood and myself? Do you think you
+could 'rough it' with us old fellows for a couple of days?"</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't have suggested anything that would please me better,"
+Darrell answered. "I would like the change, and it's time I was roughing
+it. Perhaps when I get out there I'll decide to take a pick and shovel
+and start in at the bottom of the ladder and work my way up."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that necessary?" queried Mr. Britton, regarding the younger man with
+close but kindly scrutiny. "Mr. Underwood tells me that you brought a
+considerable amount of money with you when you came here, which he has
+deposited to your credit."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell met the penetrating gaze unwaveringly, as he replied, with quiet
+decision, "That money may be mine, or it may not; it may have been given
+me to hold in trust. In any event, it belongs to the past, and it will
+remain where it is, intact, until the past is unveiled."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton looked gratified, as he remarked, in a low tone, "I don't
+think you need any assurance, my boy, that I will back you with all the
+capital you need, if you would like to start in business."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Britton," said Darrell, deeply touched by the elder man's
+kindness; "I know, without words, that I could have from you whatever I
+needed, but it is useless for me to think of going into business with as
+little knowledge of myself as I have at present. The best thing for me
+is to take whatever work offers itself, until I find what I am fitted
+for or to what I can best adapt myself."<!-- Page 72 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The next morning found Darrell at an early hour on his way to the mining
+camp with Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton. The ground was white and
+glistening with frost, and the sun, not yet far above the horizon, shone
+with a pale, cold light, but Darrell, wrapped in a fur coat of Mr.
+Underwood's, felt only the exhilarating effect of the thin, keen air,
+and as the large, double-seated carriage, drawn by two powerful horses,
+descended the pine-clad mountain and passed down one of the principal
+streets of the little city, he looked about him with lively interest.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the town behind them, they soon began the ascent of a winding
+canyon. After two or three turns, to Darrell's surprise, every sign of
+human habitation vanished and only the rocky walls were visible, at
+first low and receding, but gradually growing higher and steeper. On
+they went, steadily ascending, till a turn suddenly brought the distant
+mountains into closer proximity, and Mr. Britton, pointing to a lofty,
+rugged range on Darrell's right, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There lies the Great Divide."</p>
+
+<p>For two hours they wound steadily upward, the massive rocks towering on
+all sides, barren, grotesque in form, but beautiful in coloring,&mdash;dull
+reds, pale greens, and lovely blues and purples staining the sombre
+grays and browns.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell had grown silent, and his companions, supposing him absorbed in
+the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, left him to his own reflections
+while they talked on matters of interest to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>But to Darrell the surrounding rocks were full of a strange, deep
+significance. The colorings and markings in the gray granite were to him
+what the insignia of the secret orders are to the initiated, replete
+with mystical meaning. To him had come the sudden reali<!-- Page 73 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>zation that he
+was in Nature's laboratory, and in the hieroglyphics traced on the
+granite walls he read the symbols of the mysterious alchemy silently and
+secretly wrought beneath their surface. The vastness of the scale of
+Nature's work, the multiplicity of her symbols, bewildered him, but in
+his own mind he knew that he still held the key to this mysterious code,
+and the knowledge thrilled him with delight. He gazed about him,
+fascinated, saying nothing, but trembling with joy and with eagerness to
+put himself to the test, and it was with difficulty that he controlled
+his impatience till the long ride should come to an end.</p>
+
+<p>At last they left the canyon and followed a steep road winding up the
+side of a mountain, which, after an hour's hard climbing, brought them
+to the mining camp. As the carriage stopped Darrell was the first to
+alight, springing quickly to the ground and looking eagerly about him.</p>
+
+<p>At a short distance beyond them the road was terminated by the large
+milling plant, above which the mountain rose abruptly, its sides dotted
+with shaft-houses and crossed and recrossed with trestle-work almost to
+the summit. A wooden flume clung like a huge serpent to the steep
+slopes, and a tramway descended from near the summit to the mill below.
+At a little distance from the mill were the boarding-house and
+bunk-houses, while in the foreground, near the road was the office
+building, to which the party adjourned after exchanging greetings with
+Mr. Hathaway, the superintendent, who had come out to meet them and to
+whom Darrell was duly introduced. The room they first entered was the
+superintendent's office. Beyond that was a pleasant reception-room,
+while in the rear were the private rooms of the superintendent<!-- Page 74 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> and the
+assayer, who were not expected to share the bunk-houses with the miners.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood and the superintendent at once proceeded to business, but
+Mr. Britton, mindful of Darrell's comfort, ushered him into the
+reception-room. A coal-fire was glowing in a small grate; a couch, three
+or four comfortable chairs, and a few books and magazines contributed to
+give the room a cosey appearance, but the object which instantly riveted
+Darrell's attention was a large case, extending nearly across one side
+of the room, filled with rare mineralogical and geological specimens.
+There were quartz crystals gleaming with lumps of free-milling gold,
+curling masses of silver and copper wire direct from the mines, gold
+nuggets of unusual size and brilliancy, and specimens of ores from the
+principal mines not only of that vicinity, but of the West.</p>
+
+<p>Observing Darrell's interest in the contents of the case, Mr. Britton
+threw open the doors for a closer inspection, and began calling his
+attention to some of the finest specimens, but at Darrell's first
+remarks he paused, astonished, listened a few moments, then stepping to
+the next room, called Mr. Underwood. That gentleman looked somewhat
+perturbed at the interruption, but at a signal from Mr. Britton,
+followed the latter quietly across the room to where Darrell was
+standing. Here they stood, silently listening, while Darrell,
+unconscious of their presence, went rapidly through the specimens,
+classifying the different ores, stating the conditions which had
+contributed to their individual characteristics, giving the approximate
+value of each and the mode of treatment required for its reduction; all
+after the manner of a student rehearsing to himself a well-conned
+lesson.</p>
+
+<p>At last, catching sight of the astonished faces of his<!-- Page 75 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> listeners, his
+own lighted with pleasure, as he exclaimed, joyously,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted to test myself and see if it would come back to me, and it
+has! I believed it would, and it has!"</p>
+
+<p>"What has come back to you?" queried Mr. Underwood, too bewildered
+himself to catch the drift of Darrell's meaning.</p>
+
+<p>"The knowledge of all this," Darrell answered, indicating the collection
+with a swift gesture; "it began to come to me as soon as I saw the rocks
+on our way up; it confused me at first, but it is all clear now. Take me
+to your mill, Mr. Underwood; I want to see what I can do with the ores
+there."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Mr. Hathaway entered to summon the party to dinner, and
+seeing Darrell standing by the case, his hands filled with specimens, he
+said, addressing Mr. Underwood with a pleasant tone of inquiry,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Darrell is a mining man?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Underwood was still too confused to answer intelligibly, and it
+was Mr. Britton who replied, as he linked his arm within Darrell's on
+turning to leave the room,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Darrell is a mineralogist."</p>
+
+<p>At dinner Darrell found himself too excited to eat, so overjoyed was he
+at the discovery of attainments he had not dreamed he possessed, and so
+eager to put them to every test possible.</p>
+
+<p>It had been Mr. Underwood's intention to visit the mines that afternoon,
+but at Darrell's urgent request, they went first to the mill. Here he
+found ample scope for his abilities. He fairly revelled in the various
+ores, separating, assorting, and classifying them with the rapidity and
+accuracy of an expert, and at once pro<!-- Page 76 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>ceeded to assay some samples
+taken from a new lead recently struck, the report of which had
+occasioned this particular trip to the camp. He worked with a dexterity
+and skill surprising in one of his years, producing the most accurate
+results, to the astonishment and delight of both Mr. Underwood and Mr.
+Britton.</p>
+
+<p>After an extended inspection of the different departments of the large
+milling plant, he was taken into a small laboratory, where the assayer
+in charge was testing some of the recently discovered ore for the
+presence of certain metals. After watching for a while in silence
+Darrell said, turning to Mr. Underwood,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I can give you a quicker and a surer test than that!"</p>
+
+<p>The assayer and himself at once exchanged places, and, unheeding the
+many eyes fixed upon him, Darrell seated himself before the long table
+and deftly began operations. Not a word broke the silence as by methods
+wholly new to his spectators he subjected the ore to successive chemical
+changes, until, within an incredibly short time, the presence of the
+suspected metals was demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"Mineralogist and metallurgist!" exclaimed Mr. Britton delightedly, as
+he congratulated Darrell upon his success.</p>
+
+<p>The short November day had now nearly drawn to a close, and after supper
+the gentlemen adjourned to the office building, where they spent an hour
+or more around the open fire. Darrell, who was quite wearied with the
+unusual exertion and excitement of the day, retired early, the
+superintendent and assayer had gone out on some business at the mill,
+and Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton were left together. No sooner were
+they by themselves than Mr. Britton, who was walking<!-- Page 77 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> up and down the
+room, stopped beside his partner as he sat smoking and gazing
+abstractedly into the fire, and, laying a hand on his shoulder, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Dave, what do you think? After what we've seen to-day, can't you
+make a place over there at the mill for the boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it all!" answered the other, somewhat testily, secretly a little
+jealous of the growing intimacy between his partner and Darrell;
+"supposing I can, is there any need of your dipping in your oar about
+it? Do you think I need any suggestion from you in the way of
+befriending him or standing by him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Dave," said Mr. Britton, pleasantly, dropping into a chair by Mr.
+Underwood's side, "I did not put my question with a view of making any
+suggestions. I know, and Darrell knows, that he hasn't a better friend
+than you, and because I know this, and also because I am a friend to you
+both, I was interested to ask you what you intended doing for him."</p>
+
+<p>"What I intended doing for him and what I probably will actually do for
+him are two altogether different propositions&mdash;all on account of his own
+pig-headedness," was the rather surly response.</p>
+
+<p>"How's that?" Mr. Britton inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, confound the fellow! I took a liking to him from the first, coming
+here the way he did, and after what he did for Harry there was nothing I
+wouldn't have done for him. Then, after his sickness, when we found his
+memory had gone back on him and left him helpless as a child in some
+ways, I knew he'd stand no show among strangers, and my idea was to take
+him in, in Harry's place, give him a small interest in the business
+until he got accustomed to it, and then after a while let him in as
+partner. But when I broached the subject to him, a week ago or so, he<!-- Page 78 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+wouldn't hear to it; said he'd rather find some work for which he was
+adapted and stick to that, at a regular salary. I told him he was
+missing a good thing, but nothing that I could say would make any
+difference."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "I'm not sure but his is the wiser
+plan. You must remember, Dave, that his stay with us will probably be
+but temporary. Whenever that portion of his brain which is now dormant
+does awaken, you can rest assured he will not remain here long. He no
+doubt realizes this and wishes to be absolutely foot-loose, ready to
+leave at short notice. And as to the financial side of the question, if
+you give him the place in your mill for which he is eminently fitted, it
+will be fully as remunerative in the long run as the interest in the
+business which you intended giving him."</p>
+
+<p>"What place in the mill do you refer to?" Mr. Underwood asked, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm not making any 'suggestions,' Dave; you don't need them." And
+Mr. Britton smiled quietly into the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead and say your say, Jack," said the other, his own face relaxing
+into a grim smile; "that was only a bit of my crankiness, and you know
+me well enough to know it."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him the position of assayer in charge."</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott! and fire Benson, who's been there for five years?"</p>
+
+<p>"It makes no difference how long he's been there. Darrell is a better
+man every way,&mdash;quicker, more accurate, more scientific. You can put
+Benson to sorting and weighing ores down at the ore-bins."</p>
+
+<p>After a brief silence Mr. Britton continued, "You couldn't find a better
+man for the place or a better position for the man. The work is
+evidently right in<!-- Page 79 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> the line of his profession, and therefore congenial;
+and even though you should pay him no more salary than Benson, that,
+with outside work in the way of assays for neighboring camps, will be
+better than any business interest you would give him short of twelve or
+eighteen months at least."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you're right, and I'll give him the place; but hang it all! I
+did want to put him in Harry's place. You and I are getting along in
+years, Jack, and it's time we had some young man getting broke to the
+harness, so that after a while he could take the brunt of things and let
+us old fellows slack up a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"We could not expect that of Darrell," said Mr. Britton. "He is neither
+kith nor kin of ours, and when once Nature's ties begin to assert
+themselves in his mind, we may find our hold upon him very slight."</p>
+
+<p>Both men sighed deeply, as though the thought had in some way touched an
+unpleasant chord. After a pause, Mr. Britton inquired,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You have no clue whatever as to Darrell's identity, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood shook his head. "Queerest case I ever saw! There wasn't a
+scrap of paper nor a pen-mark to show who he was. Parkinson, the mine
+expert who was on the same train, said he didn't remember seeing him
+until Harry introduced him; he said he supposed he was some friend of
+Harry's. Since his sickness I've looked up the conductor on that train
+and questioned him, but all he could remember was that he boarded the
+train a little this side of Galena and that he had a ticket through from
+St. Paul."</p>
+
+<p>"You say this Parkinson was a mine expert; what was he doing out here?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was one of three or four that were here at that time, looking up the
+Ajax for eastern parties."<!-- Page 80 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"In all probability," said Mr. Britton, musingly, "Darrell was here on
+the same business."</p>
+
+<p>"If that was his business, he said nothing about it to me, and I would
+have thought he would, under the circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder whether we could ascertain from the owners of the Ajax what
+experts were out here or expected out here at that time?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood smiled grimly. "Not from the former owners, for nobody
+knows where they are, though there are some people quite anxious to
+know; and not from the present owners, for they are too busy looking for
+their predecessors in interest to think of anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, has the Ajax really changed owners? Did they find any one to buy
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a Scotch syndicate bought it. They sent over a man&mdash;one of their
+own number, I believe, and authorized to act for them&mdash;that I guess knew
+more about sampling liquors than ores. The Ajax people worked him
+accordingly, with the result that the mine was sold at the figure
+named,&mdash;one million, half down, you know. The man rushed back to New
+York, to meet a partner whom he had cabled to come over. About ten days
+later they arrived on the ground and began operations at the Ajax. The
+mill ran for just ten days when they discovered the condition of affairs
+and shut down, and they have been looking for the former owners ever
+since."</p>
+
+<p>Both men laughed, then relapsed into silence. A little later, as Mr.
+Britton stirred the fire to a brighter glow, he said, while the tender
+curves about his mouth deepened,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help feeling that the coming to us of this young man, whose
+identity is wrapped in so much mystery,
+<!-- Page 81 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> has some peculiar significance
+to each of us. I believe that in some way, whether for good or ill I
+cannot tell, his life is to be henceforth inseparably linked with our
+own lives. He already holds, as you know, a place in each of our hearts
+which no stranger has held before, and I have only this to say, David,
+old friend, that our mutual regard for him, our mutual efforts for his
+well-being, must never lead to any estrangement between ourselves. We
+have been stanch friends for too many years for any one at this late
+date to come between us; and you must never envy me my little share in
+the boy's friendship."</p>
+
+<p>The two men had risen and now stood before the fire with clasped hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I was an old fool to-night, Jack; that was all," said Mr. Underwood,
+rather gruffly. "I haven't the knack of saying things that you
+have,&mdash;never had,&mdash;but I'm with you all the time."</p>
+
+<p>On the forenoon of the following day Darrell was shown the underground
+workings of the various mines, not excepting the Bird Mine, located
+almost at the summit of the mountain. This was the newest mine in camp,
+but, in proportion to its development, the best producer of all.</p>
+
+<p>After an early dinner there was a private meeting in the reception-room
+beyond the office, at which were present only Mr. Underwood, Mr.
+Britton, and Darrell, and at which Mr. Underwood duly tendered to
+Darrell the position of assayer in charge at the Camp Bird mill, which
+the latter accepted with a frank and manly gratitude which more than
+ever endeared him to the hearts of his two friends. In this little
+proceeding Mr. Britton purposely took no part, standing before the
+grate, his back towards the others, gazing into the fire as though
+absorbed in his own thoughts. When
+<!-- Page 82 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> all was over, however, he
+congratulated Darrell with a warmth and tenderness which filled both the
+heart and the eyes of the latter to overflowing. That night, after their
+arrival at The Pines, as Mr. Britton and Darrell took their accustomed
+stroll, the latter said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Britton, I feel that I have you to thank for my good fortune of
+to-day. You had nothing to say when Mr. Underwood offered me that
+position, but, nevertheless, I believe the offer was made at your
+suggestion. It was, in reality, your kindness, not his."</p>
+
+<p>"You are partly right and partly wrong," replied Mr. Britton, smiling.
+"Never doubt Mr. Underwood's kindness of heart towards yourself. If I
+had any part in that affair, it was only to indicate the channel in
+which that kindness should flow."</p>
+
+<p>Together they talked of the strange course of events which had finally
+brought him and the work for which he was especially adapted together.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," said Mr. Britton, as they paused on the veranda before
+entering the house, "I am no believer in accident. I believe that of the
+so-called 'happenings' in our lives, each has its appointed time and
+mission; and it is not for us to say which is trivial or which is
+important, until, knowing as we are known, we look back upon life as God
+sees it."<!-- Page 83 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter VIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">"Until the Day Break"</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>A week later Darrell was duly installed at the mining camp. Mr. Britton
+had already left, called on private business to another part of the
+State. After his departure, life at The Pines did not seem the same to
+Darrell. He sorely missed the companionship&mdash;amounting almost to
+comradeship, notwithstanding the disparity of their years&mdash;which had
+existed between them from their first meeting, and he was not sorry when
+the day came for him to exchange the comfort and luxury with which the
+kindness of Mr. Underwood and his sister had surrounded him for the
+rough fare and plain quarters of the mining camp.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean, when informed of Darrell's position at the camp, had most
+strenuously objected to his going, and had immediately stipulated that
+he was to return to The Pines every Saturday and remain until Monday.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he's coming home every Saturday, and as much oftener as he
+likes," her brother had interposed. "This is his home, and he
+understands it without any words from us."</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of his departure he realized as never before the depth of
+the affection of his host and hostess for himself, manifesting itself as
+it did in silent, unobtrusive acts of homely but heartfelt kindness. As
+the storing of Darrell's belongings in the wagon which was to convey him
+to the camp was about completed, Mrs. Dean appeared, carrying a large,
+covered basket, with snow-white linen visible between the gaping edges<!-- Page 84 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+of the lids. This she deposited within the wagon, saying, as she turned
+to Darrell,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There's a few things to last you through the week, just so you don't
+forget how home cooking tastes."</p>
+
+<p>And at the last moment there was brought from the stables at Mr.
+Underwood's orders, for Darrell's use in going back and forth between
+The Pines and the camp, a beautiful bay mare which had belonged to Harry
+Whitcomb, and which, having sadly missed her young master, greeted
+Darrell with a low whinny, muzzling his cheek and nosing his pockets for
+sugar with the most affectionate familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>It was a cold, bleak morning. The ground had frozen after a heavy rain,
+and the wagon jolted roughly over the ruts in the canyon road, making
+slow progress. The sky was overcast and straggling snowflakes wandered
+aimlessly up and down in the still air.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, from his seat beside the driver, turned occasionally to speak
+to Trix, the mare, fastened to the rear end of the wagon and daintily
+picking her way along the rough road. Sometimes he hummed a bit of
+half-remembered song, but for the most part he was silent. While not
+attempting any definite analysis of his feelings, he was distinctly
+conscious of conflicting emotions. He was deeply touched by the kindness
+of Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dean, and felt a sort of self-condemnation
+that he was not more responsive to their affection. He knew that their
+home and hearts were alike open to him; that he was as welcome as one of
+their own flesh and blood; yet he experienced a sense of relief at
+having escaped from the unvarying kindliness for which, at heart, he was
+profoundly grateful. Even late that night, in the solitude of his
+plainly furnished room, with the wind moaning outside and the snow
+tapping with muffled fingers against the<!-- Page 85 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> window pane, he yet exulted in
+a sense of freedom and happiness hitherto unknown in the brief period
+which held all he recalled of life.</p>
+
+<p>The ensuing days and weeks passed pleasantly and swiftly for Darrell. He
+quickly familiarized himself with the work which he had in charge, and
+frequently found leisure, when his routine work was done, for
+experiments and tests of his own, as well as for outside work which came
+to him as his skill became known in neighboring camps. His evenings were
+well filled, as he had taken up his old studies along the lines of
+mineralogy and metallurgy, pushing ahead into new fields of research and
+discovery, studying by night and experimenting by day. Meanwhile, the
+rocky peaks around him seemed beckoning him with their talismanic signs,
+as though silently challenging him to learn the mighty secrets for ages
+hidden within their breasts, and he promised himself that with the
+return of lengthening days, he would start forth, a humble learner, to
+sit at the feet of those great teachers of the centuries. He had
+occasional letters from Mr. Britton, cheering, inspiring, helpful, much
+as his presence had been, and in return he wrote freely of his present
+work and his plans for future work.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, when books were closed or the plaintive tones of the violin
+had died away in silence, he would sit for hours pondering the strange
+problem of his own life; watching, listening for some sign from out the
+past; but neither ray of light nor wave of sound came to him. His
+physician had told him that some day the past would return, and that the
+intervening months or years as the case might be, would then doubtless
+be in turn forgotten, and as he revolved this in his mind he formed a
+plan which he at once proceeded to put into execution.<!-- Page 86 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On his return one night from a special trip to Ophir he went to his room
+with more than usual haste, and opening a package in which he seemed
+greatly interested, drew forth what appeared to be a book, about eleven
+by fifteen inches in size, bound in flexible morocco and containing some
+five or six hundred pages. The pages were blank, however, and bound
+according to an ingenious device which he had planned and given the
+binder, by which they could be removed and replaced at will, and, if
+necessary, extra pages could be added.</p>
+
+<p>For some time he stood by the light, turning the volume over and over
+with an expression of mingled pleasure and sadness; then removing some
+of the pages, he sat down and prepared to write. The new task to which
+he had set himself was the writing of a complete record, day by day, of
+this present life of his, beginning with the first glimmerings of
+memory, faint and confused, in the earliest days of his convalescence at
+The Pines. He dipped his pen, then hesitated; how should this strange
+volume be inscribed?</p>
+
+<p>Only for a moment; then his pen was gliding rapidly over the spotless
+surface, and the first page, when laid aside, bore the following
+inscription:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"To one from the outer world, whose identity is hidden among the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">secrets of the past:</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"With the hope that when the veil is lifted these pages may assist</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">him in uniting into one perfect whole the strangely disjointed</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">portions of his life, they are inscribed by</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 22em;">"<span class="smcap">John Darrell</span>."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>Below was the date, and then followed the words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 87 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+<p>After penning the last words he paused, repeating them, vainly trying to
+recall when or where he had heard them. They seemed to ring in his ears
+like a strain of melody wafted from some invisible shore, and blending
+with the minor undertone he caught a note of triumph. They had come to
+him like a voice from out the past, but ringing with joyful assurance
+for the future; the assurance that the night, however dark, must end in
+a glorious dawning, in which no haunting shadow would have an
+abiding-place.<!-- Page 88 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a><h2><i>Chapter IX</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Two Portraits</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The winter proved to be mild and open, so that Darrell's weekly visits
+to The Pines were made with almost unbroken regularity, and to his
+surprise he discovered as the months slipped away that, instead of a
+mere obligation which he felt bound to perform, they were becoming a
+source of pleasure. After a week of unremitting toil and study and
+contact with the rough edges of human nature, there was something
+unspeakably restful in the atmosphere of that quiet home; something
+soothing in the silent, steadfast affection, the depth of which he was
+only beginning to fathom.</p>
+
+<p>One Saturday evening in the latter part of April Darrell was, as usual,
+descending the canyon road on his way to The Pines. For weeks the winter
+had lingered as though loath to leave, and Darrell, absorbed in work and
+study, had gone his way, hiding his loneliness and suffering so deeply
+as to be ofttimes forgotten even by himself, and at all times
+unsuspected by those about him. Then, in one night had come the warm
+breath of the west winds, and within a few hours the earth was
+transformed as though by magic, and the restless longing within his
+breast awoke with tenfold intensity.</p>
+
+<p>As he rode along he was astounded at the changes wrought in one week.
+From the southern slopes of the mountains the snow had almost
+disappeared and the sunny exposures of the ranges were fast brighten<!-- Page 89 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>ing
+into vivid green. The mountain streams had burst their icy fetters and,
+augmented by the melting snows, were roaring tumultuously down their
+channels, tumbling and plunging over rocky ledges in sheets of
+shimmering silver or foaming cascades; then, their mad frolic ended,
+flowing peacefully through distant valleys onward to the rivers, ever
+chanting the song which would one day blend in the great ocean
+harmonies.</p>
+
+<p>The frail flowers, clinging to the rocks and smiling fearlessly up into
+the face of the sun, the silvery sheen of the willows along the distant
+water-courses, the softened outlines and pale green of budding
+cottonwoods in the valleys far below, all told of the newly released
+life currents bounding through the veins of every living thing. From the
+lower part of the canyon, the wild, ecstatic song of a robin came to him
+on the evening breeze, and in the slanting sunbeams myriads of tiny
+midges held high carnival. The whole earth seemed pulsating with new
+life, and tree and flower, bird and insect were filled anew with the
+unspeakable joy of living.</p>
+
+<p>Amid this universal baptism of life, what wonder that he felt his own
+pulse quicken and the warm life-blood leaping swiftly within his veins!
+His heart but throbbed in unison with the great heart of Nature, but its
+very beating stifled him as the sense of his own restrictions came back
+upon him with crushing weight. For one moment he paused, his spirit
+struggling wildly against the bars imprisoning it; then, with a look
+towards the skies of dumb, appealing anguish, he rode onward, his head
+bowed, his heart sick with unutterable longing.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at The Pines, he received the usual welcome, but neither its
+undemonstrative affection nor the restful quiet of the old home could
+soothe or satisfy<!-- Page 90 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> him that night. But if his host and hostess noted the
+gloom on his face or his restless manner they made no comments and asked
+no questions.</p>
+
+<p>On going upstairs at a late hour he went across the hall to the
+libraries in search of a book with which to pass away the time, as he
+was unable to sleep. He had no definite book in mind and wandered
+aimlessly through both rooms, reading titles in an abstracted manner,
+until he came at last face to face with the picture of Kate Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>He had seen it many times without especially observing it, but in his
+present mood it appealed to him as never before. The dark eyes seemed
+fixed upon his face with a look of entreaty from which he could not
+escape, and, drawing a chair in front of the easel, he sat down and
+became absorbed in a study of the picture. Heretofore he had considered
+it merely the portrait of a very young and somewhat plain girl. Now he
+was surprised to find that the more it was studied in detail, the more
+favorable was the impression produced. Though childish and immature,
+there was not a weak line in the face. The nose and mouth were
+especially fine, the former denoting distinct individuality, the latter
+marked strength and sweetness of character; and while the upper part of
+the face indicated keen perceptions and quick sympathies, the general
+contour showed a nature strong either to do or to endure. The eyes were
+large and beautiful, but it was not their beauty which riveted Darrell's
+attention; it was their look of wistful appeal, of unsatisfied longing,
+which led him at last to murmur, while his eyes moistened,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You dear child! How is it that in your short life, surrounded by all
+that love can provide, you have come to know such heart hunger as that?"</p>
+
+<p>Long after he had returned to his room those eyes<!-- Page 91 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> still haunted him,
+nor could he banish the conviction that some time, somewhere, in that
+young life there had been an unfilled void which in some degree, however
+slight, corresponded to the blank emptiness of his own.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Darrell attended church with Mrs. Dean. The latter was
+a strict church-woman, and Darrell, by way of showing equal courtesy to
+host and hostess, usually accompanied her in the morning, devoting the
+afternoon to Mr. Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>After lunch he and Mr. Underwood seated themselves in one of the sunny
+bay-windows for their customary chat, Mrs. Dean having gone to her room
+for the afternoon nap which was as much a part of her Sunday programme
+as the morning sermon.</p>
+
+<p>For a while they talked of the latest developments at the mines, but Mr.
+Underwood seemed preoccupied, gazing out of the window and frowning
+heavily. At last, after a long silence, he said, slowly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I expect we're going to have trouble at the camp this season."</p>
+
+<p>"How is that?" Darrell asked quickly, in a tone of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's some of this union business," the other answered, with a
+gesture of impatience, "and about the most foolish proposition I ever
+heard of, at that. But," he added, decidedly, "they know my position;
+they know they'll get no quarter from me. I've steered clear of them so
+far; they've let me alone and I've let them alone, but when it comes to
+a parcel of union bosses undertaking to run my business or make terms to
+me, I'll fight 'em to a finish, and they know it."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, watching the face of the speaker, saw the lines about his mouth
+harden and his lips settle into a grim smile that boded no good to his
+opponents.<!-- Page 92 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What do they want&mdash;higher wages or shorter hours?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither," said Mr. Underwood, shortly, as he re-lighted his pipe. After
+a few puffs he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"As I said before, it's the most foolish proposition I ever heard of.
+You see, there's five or six camps, all told, in the neighborhood of our
+camp up there. One or two of the lot, like the Buckeye group, for
+instance, are run by men that haven't much capital, and I suppose are
+working as economically as they can. Anyhow, there's been some kicking
+over there among the miners about the grub, and the upshot of the whole
+thing is that the union has taken the matter in hand and is going to
+open a union boarding-house and take in the men from all the camps at
+six bits a day for each man, instead of the regular rate of a dollar a
+day charged by the mining companies."</p>
+
+<p>"The scale of wages to remain the same, I suppose," said Darrell; "so
+that means a gain to each man of twenty-five cents a day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," said Mr. Underwood. "It means a gain of two bits a day to
+each man; it means loss and inconvenience to the companies, and it means
+a big pile of money in the pockets of the bosses who are running the
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"There are not many of the owners up there that can stand that sort of
+thing," said Darrell, reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they can't stand it, and they won't stand it if they've got
+any backbone! Take Dwight and Huntley; they've been to heavy expense in
+enlarging their mill and have just put up a new boarding-house, and
+they're in debt; they can't afford to have all that work and expenditure
+for nothing. Now, with us the loss wouldn't be so great as with the
+others, for we don't make so much out of our boarding-house. My<!-- Page 93 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> motto
+has always been 'Live and let live,' and I give my men a good
+table,&mdash;just what I'd want for myself if I were in their places. It
+isn't the financial part that troubles me. What I object to is this: I
+won't have my men tramping three-quarters of a mile for meals that won't
+be as good as they can get right on their own grounds; more than that,
+I've got a good, likely set of men, and I won't have them demoralized by
+herding them in with the tough gangs from those other camps; and above
+all and once for all,"&mdash;here Mr. Underwood's tones became excited as he
+exclaimed, with an oath,&mdash;"I've always been capable of running my own
+business, and I'll run it yet, and no damned union boss will ever run it
+for me!"</p>
+
+<p>"How do the men feel about it? Have you talked with them?" Darrell
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't one of them that's dissatisfied or would leave of his own
+free will," Mr. Underwood replied, "but I don't suppose they would dare
+to stand out against the bosses. Why, man, if the workingmen only knew
+it, they are ten times worse slaves to the union bosses than ever they
+were to corporations. They have to pay over their wages to let those
+fellows live like nabobs; they have to come and go at their beck and
+call, and throw up good positions and live in enforced idleness because
+of some other fellows' grievances; they don't dare express an opinion or
+say their souls are their own. Humph!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, who had been smilingly listening to the
+other's tirade, "what will you do if this comes to a strike?"</p>
+
+<p>"Strike!" he exclaimed in tones of scathing contempt. "Strike? I'll
+strike too, and they'll find I can strike just as hard as they can, and
+a little harder!"</p>
+
+<p>"Will you close down?"<!-- Page 94 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The shrewd face grew a bit shrewder. "If it's necessary to close down,"
+he remarked, evasively, "I'll close down. I guess I can stand it as long
+as they can. Those mines have lain there in those rocks idle for
+centuries, for aught that I know; 'twon't hurt 'em to lie idle a few
+weeks or months now; nobody'll run off with 'em, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell laughed aloud. "Well, one thing is certain, Mr. Underwood; I,
+for one, wouldn't want to quarrel with you!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood slowly shook his head. "You'd better not try it, my boy;
+you'd better not!"</p>
+
+<p>"When do you expect this trouble to come to a head?" Darrell asked at
+length.</p>
+
+<p>"Some time in the early part of July, probably; they expect to get their
+arrangements completed by that time."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed; Mrs. Dean came softly into the room and took
+her accustomed seat, and, as Mr. Underwood made it a point never to talk
+of business matters in his sister's presence, nothing more was said
+regarding the prospective disturbance at the mines.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner the beauty of the sunset brought them out upon the veranda.
+The air was warm and fragrant with the breath of spring. The buds were
+swelling on the lilacs near the house, and out on the lawn, beyond the
+driveway, millions of tiny spears of living green trembled in the light
+breeze.</p>
+
+<p>"David," said Mrs. Dean, presently, "have you shown Mr. Darrell that
+picture of Katherine that came yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"I declare! No; I had forgotten it!" Mr. Underwood exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's well for you she isn't here to hear you say that!" Mrs. Dean
+remarked, smiling.<!-- Page 95 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Puss knows her old father well enough to know he wouldn't forget her
+very long. Bring the picture out, Marcia."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell heard Mrs. Dean approaching, and turned, with the glory of the
+sunset in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want to see Katherine's new picture?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Her words instantly recalled the portrait he had studied the preceding
+night, and with that in his mind he took the picture she handed him and
+silently compared the two.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, the beauty of the spring, everywhere confronting him, was in that
+face also; the joy of a life as yet pure, untainted, and untrammelled.
+It was like looking into the faces of the spring flowers which reflect
+only the sunshine, the purity and the sweetness of earth. There was a
+touch of womanly dignity, too, in the poise of the head, but the
+beautiful eyes, though lighted with the faint dawn of coming womanhood,
+were the same as those that had appealed to him the night before with
+their wistful longing.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a fine portrait, but as I do not remember her, I cannot judge
+whether it is like herself or not," he said, handing the picture to Mr.
+Underwood, who seemed almost to devour it with his eyes, though he spoke
+no word and not a muscle moved in his stern, immobile face.</p>
+
+<p>"She is getting to be such a young lady," remarked Mrs. Dean, "that I
+expect when she comes home we will feel as though she had grown away
+from us all."</p>
+
+<p>"She will never do that, Marcia, never!" said Mr. Underwood, brusquely,
+as he abruptly left the group and went into the house.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence, then Mrs. Dean said, in a low tone,<!-- Page 96 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She is getting to look just like her mother. I haven't seen David so
+affected since his wife died as he was when that picture came
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell bowed silently, in token that he understood.</p>
+
+<p>"She was a lovely woman, but she was very different from any of our
+folks," she added, with a sigh, "and I guess Katherine is going to be
+just like her."</p>
+
+<p>"When is Miss Underwood expected home?" Darrell inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"About the last of June," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>Long after the sun had set Darrell paced up and down the veranda,
+pausing at intervals to gaze with unseeing eyes out over the peaceful
+scene below him, his only companions his own troubled thoughts. The
+young moon was shining, and in its pale radiance his set face gleamed
+white like marble.</p>
+
+<p>Like, and yet unlike, it was to the face of the sleeper journeying
+westward on that summer afternoon eight months before. Experience, the
+mighty sculptor, was doing his work, and doing it well; only a few lines
+as yet, here and there, and the face was already stronger, finer. But it
+was the face of one hardened by his own sufferings, not softened by the
+sufferings of others. The sculptor's work was as yet only begun.<!-- Page 97 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a><h2><i>Chapter X</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Communion of Two Souls</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+
+<p>Gradually the springtide crept upward into the heart of the mountains,
+quickening the pulses of the rocks themselves until even the mosses and
+lichens slumbering at their feet awakened to renewed life. Bits of green
+appeared wherever a grass root could push its way through the rocky
+soil, and fragile wild flowers gleamed, starlike, here and there, fed by
+tiny rivulets which trickled from slowly melting snows on the summits
+far above.</p>
+
+<p>With the earliest warm days Darrell had started forth to explore the
+surrounding mountains, eager to learn the secrets which they seemed ever
+challenging him to discover. New conditions confronted him, sometimes
+baffling him, but always inciting to renewed effort. His enthusiasm was
+so aroused that often, when his day's work was done, taking a light
+lunch with him, he pursued his studies while the daylight lasted,
+walking back in the long twilight, and in the solitude of his room
+making full notes of the results of that day's research before retiring
+for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Returning one evening from one of these expeditions he saw, pacing back
+and forth before the office building, a figure which he at once
+recognized as that of Mr. Britton. Instantly all thought of work or
+weariness was forgotten, and he hastened forward, while Mr. Britton,
+catching sight of Darrell rapidly approaching, turned and came down the
+road to meet him.<!-- Page 98 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A thousand welcomes!" Darrell cried, as soon as they were within
+speaking distance; "say, but this is glorious to see you here! How long
+have I kept you waiting?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few hours, but that does not matter; it does us good to have to stop
+and call a halt on ourselves once in a while. How are you, my son?" And
+as the two grasped hands the elder man looked searchingly through the
+gathering dusk into the face of the younger. Even in the dim twilight,
+Darrell could feel that penetrating glance reading his inmost soul.</p>
+
+<p>"I am well and doing well," he answered; "my physical health is perfect;
+as for the rest&mdash;your coming is the very best thing that could have
+happened. Are you alone?" he asked, eagerly, "or did Mr. Underwood come
+with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came alone," Mr. Britton replied, with quiet emphasis, linking his
+arm within Darrell's as they ascended the road together.</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been in town?"</p>
+
+<p>"But two days. I am on my way to the coast, and only stopped off for a
+few days. I shall spend to-morrow with you, go back with you Saturday to
+The Pines, and go on my way Monday."</p>
+
+<p>Having made his guest as comfortable as possible in his own room,
+Darrell laid aside his working paraphernalia, his hammer, and bag of
+rock specimens, and donning a house coat and pair of slippers seated
+himself near Mr. Britton, all the time conscious of the close but kindly
+scrutiny with which the latter was regarding him.</p>
+
+<p>"This is delightful!" he exclaimed; "but it is past my comprehension how
+Mr. Underwood ever let you slip off alone!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton looked amused. "I told him I was<!-- Page 99 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> coming to see you, and I
+think he intended coming with me till he heard me order my saddle-horse
+for the trip. I think that settled the matter. I believe there can be no
+perfect interchange of confidence except between two. The presence of a
+third party&mdash;even though a mutual friend&mdash;breaks the magnetic circuit
+and weakens the current of sympathy. Our interviews are necessarily
+rare, and I want to make the most of them; therefore I would come to you
+alone or not at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Darrell replied; "your visits are so rare that every moment is
+precious to me, and think of the hours I lost by my absence to-day!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you court Dame Nature so assiduously every day, subsisting on cold
+lunches and tramping the mountains till nightfall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not every day, but as often as possible," Darrell replied, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"And I suppose if I were not here you would now be burrowing into that
+pile over there?" Mr. Britton said, glancing significantly towards the
+table covered to a considerable depth with books of reference,
+note-books, writing-pads, and sheets of closely written manuscript.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me show you what I am doing; it will take but a moment," said
+Darrell, springing to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>He drew forth several sets of extensive notes on researches and
+experiments he was making along various lines of study, in which Mr.
+Britton became at once deeply interested.</p>
+
+<p>"You have a good thing here; stick to it!" he said at length, looking up
+from the perusal of Darrell's geological notes, gathered from his
+studies of the rock formations in that vicinity. "You have a fine field
+in which to pursue this branch, and with the knowledge you already have
+on this subject and the discoveries<!-- Page 100 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> you are likely to make, you may be
+able to make some very valuable contributions to the science one of
+these days."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I hope to do!" exclaimed Darrell eagerly; "just what
+I am studying for day and night!"</p>
+
+<p>"But you must use moderation," said Mr. Britton, smiling at the younger
+man's enthusiasm; "you are young, you have years before you in which to
+do this work, and this constant study, night and day, added to your
+regular routine work, is too much for you. You are looking fagged
+already."</p>
+
+<p>"If I am, it is not the work that is fagging me," Darrell replied,
+quickly, his tones becoming excited; "Mr. Britton, I must work; I must
+accomplish all I can for two reasons. You say I have years before me in
+which to do this work. God knows I hope I haven't got to work years like
+this,&mdash;only half alive, you might say,&mdash;and when the change comes, if it
+ever does, you know, of course, I cannot and would not remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand you would not remain here," said Mr. Britton slowly, and
+laying his hand soothingly on the arm of his agitated companion, "but
+you can readily see that not only your education, but your natural trend
+of thought, is along these lines; therefore, when you are fully restored
+to your normal self you will be the more&mdash;not the less&mdash;interested in
+these things, and I predict that no matter when the time comes for you
+to leave, you will, after a while, return to continue this same line of
+work amid the same surroundings, but, we hope, under far happier
+conditions."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell shook his head slowly. "It does not seem to me that I would ever
+wish to return to a place where I had suffered as I have here."<!-- Page 101 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton smiled, one of his slow, sad, sweet smiles that Darrell
+loved to watch, that seemed to dawn in his eyes and gradually to spread
+until every feature was irradiated with a tender, beneficent light.</p>
+
+<p>"I once thought as you do," he said, gently, "but after years of
+wandering, I find that the place most sacred to me now is that hallowed
+by the bitterest agony of my life."</p>
+
+<p>Without replying Darrell unconsciously drew nearer to his friend, and a
+brief silence followed, broken by Mr. Britton, who inquired, in a
+lighter tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What is the other reason for your constant application to your work?
+You said there were two."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell bowed his head upon his hands as he answered in a low,
+despairing tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To stop thinking, thinking, thinking; it will drive me mad!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been there, my boy; I know," Mr. Britton responded; then, after
+a pause, he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Something in the tenor of your last letter made me anxious to come to
+you. I thought I detected something of the old restlessness. Has the
+coming of spring, quickening the life forces all around you, stirred the
+life currents in your own veins till your spirit is again tugging at its
+fetters in its struggles for release?"</p>
+
+<p>With a startled movement Darrell raised his head, meeting the clear eyes
+fixed upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"How could you know?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Because, as Emerson says, 'the heart in thee is the heart of all.'
+There are few hearts whose pulses are not stirred by the magic influence
+of the springtide, and under its potent spell I knew you would feel your
+present limitations even more keenly than ever before."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God, you understand!" Darrell exclaimed; then continued,
+passionately: "The last three weeks<!-- Page 102 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> have been torture to me if I but
+allowed myself one moment's thought. Wherever I look I see life&mdash;life,
+perfect and complete in all its myriad forms&mdash;the life that is denied to
+me! This is not living,&mdash;this existence of mine,&mdash;with brain shackled,
+fettered, in many ways helpless as a child, knowing less than a child,
+and not even mercifully wrapped in oblivion, but compelled to feel the
+constant goading and galling of the fetters, to be reminded of them at
+every turn! My God! if it were not for constant work and study I would
+go mad!"</p>
+
+<p>In the silence which followed Darrell's mind reverted to that autumn day
+on which he had first met John Britton and confided to him his trouble;
+and now, as then, he was soothed and strengthened by the presence beside
+him, by the magnetism of that touch, although no word was spoken.</p>
+
+<p>As he reviewed their friendship of the past months he became conscious
+for the first time of its one-sidedness. He had often unburdened himself
+to his friend, confiding to him his griefs, and receiving in turn
+sympathy and counsel; but of the great, unknown sorrow that had wrought
+such havoc in his own life, what word had John Britton ever spoken? As
+Darrell recalled the bearing of his friend through all their
+acquaintance and his silence regarding his own sufferings, his eyes grew
+dim. The man at his side seemed, in the light of that revelation,
+stronger, grander, nobler than ever before; not unlike to the giant
+peaks whose hoary heads then loomed darkly against the starlit sky,
+calm, silent, majestic, giving no token of the throes of agony which,
+ages agone, had rent them asunder except in the mystic symbols graven on
+their furrowed brows. In that light his own complaints seemed puerile.
+At that moment Darrell was conscious of a new fortitude born<!-- Page 103 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> within his
+soul; a new purpose, henceforth to dominate his life.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy sigh from Mr. Britton broke the silence. "I know the fetters are
+galling," he said, "but have patience and hope, for, at the time
+appointed, the shackles will be loosened, the fetters broken."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell faced his companion, a new light in his eyes but recently so
+dark with despair, as he asked, earnestly and tenderly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest and best of friends, is there no time appointed for the lifting
+of the burden borne so nobly and uncomplainingly, 'lo, these many
+years?'"</p>
+
+<p>With a grave, sweet smile the elder man shook his head, and, rising,
+began pacing up and down the room. "There are some burdens, my son, that
+time cannot lift; they can only be laid down at the gates of eternity."</p>
+
+<p>With a strange, choking sensation in his throat Darrell rose, and, going
+to the window, stood looking out at the dim outlines of the neighboring
+peaks. Their vast solitude no longer oppressed him as at the first; it
+calmed and soothed him in his restless moods, and to-night those grim
+monarchs dwelling in silent fellowship seemed to him the embodiment of
+peace and rest.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Mr. Britton paused beside him, and, throwing his arm about
+his shoulders, asked,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What are your thoughts, my son?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a whim, a fancy that has taken possession of me the last few days,
+since my wanderings among the mountains," he answered, lightly; "a
+longing to bury myself in some sort of a retreat on one of these old
+peaks and devote myself to study."</p>
+
+<p>"And live a hermit's life?" Mr. Britton queried, with a peculiar smile.</p>
+
+<p>"For a while, yes," Darrell replied, more seriously;<!-- Page 104 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> "until I have
+learned to fight these battles out by myself, and to conquer myself."</p>
+
+<p>"There are battles," said the other, speaking thoughtfully, "which are
+waged best in solitude, but self is conquered only by association with
+one's fellows. Solitude breeds selfishness."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton had resumed his pacing up and down, but a few moments later,
+as he approached Darrell, the latter turned, suddenly confronting him.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend," he said, "you have been everything to me; you have
+done everything for me; I ask you to do one thing more,&mdash;forgive and
+answer this question: How have you conquered?"</p>
+
+<p>The look of pain that crossed his companion's face filled Darrell with
+regret for what he had said, but before he could speak again Mr. Britton
+replied gently, with his old smile,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt whether I have yet wholly conquered; but whatever victory is
+mine, I have won, not in solitude and seclusion, but in association with
+the sorrowing, the suffering, the sinning, and in sharing their burdens
+I found rest from my own."</p>
+
+<p>He paused a moment, then continued, his glowing eyes holding Darrell as
+though under a spell:</p>
+
+<p>"I know not why, but since our first meeting you have given me a new
+interest, a new joy in life. I have been drawn to you and I have loved
+you as I thought never again to love any human being, and some day I
+will tell you what I have told no other human being,&mdash;the story of my
+life."</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday Mr. Britton and Darrell returned to The Pines. The
+increasing intimacy between them was evident even there. For the last
+day or so Mr. Britton had fallen into the habit of addressing Darrell by
+his Christian name, much to the latter's delight.<!-- Page 105 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> For this Mrs. Dean
+laughingly called him to account, compelling Mr. Britton to come to his
+own defence.</p>
+
+<p>"'John,'" he exclaimed; "of course I'll call him 'John.' It seems
+wonderfully pleasant to me. I've always wanted a namesake, and I can
+consider him one."</p>
+
+<p>"A namesake!" ejaculated Mrs. Dean, smiling broadly; "I wonder if
+there's a poor family or one that's seen trouble of any kind anywhere
+around here that hasn't a 'John Britton' among its children! I should
+think you had namesakes enough now!"</p>
+
+<p>"One might possibly like to have one of his own selection," he replied,
+dryly.</p>
+
+<p>As Darrell took leave of Mr. Britton the following Monday morning the
+latter said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, John, whenever you are ready to enter upon that hermit life
+let me know; I'll provide the hermitage."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you joking?" Darrell queried, unable to catch his meaning.</p>
+
+<p>"Never more serious in my life," he replied, with such unusual gravity
+that Darrell forbore to question further.<!-- Page 106 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a><h2><i>Chapter XI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Impending Trouble</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The five or six weeks following Mr. Britton's visit passed so swiftly
+that Darrell was scarcely conscious of their flight. His work at the
+mill, which had been increased by valuable strikes recently made in the
+mines, in addition to considerable outside work in the way of attests
+and assays, had left him little time for study or experiment. For nearly
+three weeks he had not left the mining camp, the last two Saturdays
+having found him too weary with the preceding week's work to undertake
+the long ride to Ophir.</p>
+
+<p>During this time Mr. Underwood had been a frequent visitor at the camp,
+led not only by his interest in the mining developments, but also by his
+curiosity regarding the progress made by the union in the construction
+of its boarding-house, and also to watch the effect on his own
+employees.</p>
+
+<p>Entering the laboratory one day after one of his rounds of the camp, he
+stood for some time silently watching Darrell at his work.</p>
+
+<p>"In case of a shut-down here," he said at length, speaking abruptly,
+"how would you like a clerical position in my office down there at
+Ophir,&mdash;book-keeping or something of the sort,&mdash;just temporarily, you
+know?"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell looked up from his work in surprise. "Do you regard a shut-down
+as imminent?" he inquired, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes; there's no half-way measures with me.<!-- Page 107 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> No man that works for
+me will go off the grounds for his meals. But that isn't answering my
+question."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's face grew serious. "You forget, Mr. Underwood, that until I am
+put to the test, I have no means of knowing whether or not I can do the
+work you wish done."</p>
+
+<p>"By George! I never once thought of that!" Mr. Underwood exclaimed,
+somewhat embarrassed, adding, hastily, "but then, I didn't mean
+book-keeping in particular, but clerical work generally; copying
+instruments, looking up records, and so on. You see, it's like this," he
+continued, seating himself near Darrell; "I'm thinking of taking in a
+partner&mdash;not in this mining business, it has nothing to do with that,
+but just in my mortgage-loan business down there; and in case I do,
+we'll need two or three additional clerks and book-keepers, and I
+thought you might like to come in just temporarily until we resume
+operations here. Of course, the salary wouldn't be so very much, but I
+thought it might be better than nothing to bridge over."</p>
+
+<p>"How long do you expect to be closed down here, Mr. Underwood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Until the men come to their senses or we find others to take their
+places," the elder man answered, decidedly; "it may be six weeks or it
+may be six months. I was talking with Dwight, from the Buckeye Camp,
+this morning. He says they've been to too much expense to put up with
+the proposition for a moment; they simply can't stand it, and won't;
+they'll shut down and pull out first. I don't believe that mine is
+paying very well, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "if this were a question of
+accommodation to yourself, of coming into your office and helping you
+out personally,<!-- Page 108 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> I would gladly do it; salary would be no object; but to
+take a merely clerical position for an indefinite time when I have a
+good, lucrative profession does not seem to me a very wise policy. There
+must be plenty of assaying to be done in Ophir; why couldn't I
+temporarily open an office there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess there's no reason why you couldn't if you want to," Mr.
+Underwood replied, evidently disappointed by Darrell's reply and eying
+him sharply, "and if you want to open up an office of your own there's
+plenty of room for you in our building. You know the building was
+formerly occupied by one of Ophir's wildcat banks that collapsed in the
+general crash six years ago, and there's a fine lot of private offices
+in the rear, opening on the side street; one of those rooms fitted up
+would be just the place for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged," said Darrell, smiling; "we'll see about it if the time
+comes that I need it. Possibly your prospective partner will have use
+for all the private offices."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'll have some say about that," Mr. Underwood returned,
+gruffly; then, after a short pause, he continued: "I haven't fully
+decided about this partnership business. I talked it over with Jack when
+he was here, but he didn't seem to favor the idea; told me that at my
+age I had better let well enough alone. I told him that I didn't see
+what my age had to do with it, that I was capable of looking after my
+own interests, partner or no partner, but that I'd no objection to
+having some one else take the brunt of the work while I looked on."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the man a stranger or an acquaintance?" Darrell inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not personally acquainted with him, but he's not exactly a
+stranger, for he's lived in Ophir, off and<!-- Page 109 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> on, for the last five years.
+His name is Walcott. He says his father is an Englishman and very
+wealthy; he himself, I should judge, has some Spanish blood in his
+veins. He spends part of his time in Texas, where he has heavy cattle
+interests; in fact, has been there for the greater part of the past
+year. He wants to go into the mortgage-loan business, and offers to put
+in seventy-five thousand and give his personal attention to the business
+for thirty-three and a third per cent. of the profits."</p>
+
+<p>"What has been his business in Ophir all these years?"</p>
+
+<p>"Life insurance mostly, I believe; had two offices, one in Ophir and one
+at Galena, and has also done some private loan business."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a reputation has he?"</p>
+
+<p>"First-rate. I've made a number of inquiries about him in both places,
+and nobody has a word to say against him; very quiet, minds his own
+business, a man of few words; just about my sort of a man, I should
+judge," Mr. Underwood concluded as he rose from his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, "whatever arrangements you decide
+to make, I wish you success."</p>
+
+<p>"No more than I do you, my boy, in anything your pig-headedness leads
+you into," Mr. Underwood replied, brusquely, but with a humorous twinkle
+in his eyes. "Confound you!" he added; "I'd help you if you'd give me a
+chance, but maybe it's best to let you 'gang your ain gait.'" And he
+walked out of the room before Darrell could reply.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later he looked in at the door. "By the way, if you're not at
+The Pines by five o'clock sharp next Saturday afternoon, Marcia says
+she's going to<!-- Page 110 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> send an officer up here after you with a writ of habeas
+corpus, or something of the sort."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; I'll be there," Darrell laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find the old place a bit brighter than you've seen it yet, for
+we had a letter from Puss this morning that she'll be home to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>With the last words the door closed and Darrell was left alone with his
+thoughts, to which, however, he could then give little time. But when
+the day's work was done he went for a stroll, and, seating himself upon
+a large rock, carefully reviewed the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto he had given little thought to the impending trouble at the
+camp, supposing it would affect himself but slightly; but he now
+realized that a suspension of operations there would mean an entire
+change in his mode of living. The prospective change weighed on his
+sensitive spirits like an incubus. Even The Pines, he dismally
+reflected, would no longer seem the same quiet, homelike retreat, since
+it was to be invaded and dominated by a youthful presence between whom
+and himself there would probably be little congeniality.</p>
+
+<p>But finally telling himself that these reflections were childish, he
+rose as the last sunset rays were sinking behind the western ranges and
+the rosy flush on the summits was fading, and, walking swiftly to his
+room, resolutely buried himself in his studies.<!-- Page 111 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">New Life in the Old Home</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>On the following Saturday, as Darrell ascended the long driveway leading
+to The Pines, he was startled at the transformation which the place had
+undergone since last he was there. The rolling lawn seemed carpeted with
+green velvet, enlivened here and there with groups of beautiful foliage
+plants. Fountains were playing in the sunlight, their glistening spray
+tinted with rainbow lights. Flowers bloomed in profusion, their colors
+set off by the gray background of the stone walls of the house. The
+syringas by the bay-windows were bent to the ground with their burden of
+snowy blossoms, whose fragrance, mingled with that of the June roses,
+greeted him as he approached. He forgot his three weeks' absence and the
+rapid growth in that high altitude; the change seemed simply magical.
+Then, as he caught a glimpse through the pines of a slender, girlish
+figure, dressed in white, darting hither and thither, he wondered no
+longer; it was but the fit accompaniment of the young, joyous life which
+had come to the old place.</p>
+
+<p>As he came out into the open, he saw a young girl romping up and down
+before the house with a fine Scotch collie, and he could not restrain a
+smile as he recalled Mrs. Dean's oft-repeated declaration that there was
+one thing she would never tolerate, and that was a dog or a cat about
+the house. She had not yet seen him; but when she did, the frolic ceased
+and she started towards the house. Then suddenly she stopped,<!-- Page 112 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> as though
+she recognized some one or something, and stood awaiting his approach,
+her lips parted in a smile, two small, shapely hands shading her eyes
+from the sun. As he came nearer, he had time to note the lithe, supple
+figure, just rounding into the graceful outlines of womanhood; the full,
+smiling lips, the flushed cheeks, and the glint of gold in her brown
+hair; and the light, the beauty, the fragrance surrounding her seemed an
+appropriate setting to the picture. She was a part of the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, of course, had no knowledge of his own age, but at that moment
+he felt very remote from the embodiment of youth before him; he seemed
+to himself to have been suddenly relegated to the background, among the
+elder members of the family.</p>
+
+<p>The collie had been standing beside his mistress with his head on one
+side, regarding Darrell with a sharp, inquisitive look, and he now broke
+the silence, which threatened to prove rather embarrassing, with a short
+bark.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Duke!" said the girl, in a low tone; then, as Darrell dismounted,
+she came swiftly towards him, extending her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Mr. Darrell, I know," she said, speaking quite rapidly in a
+clear, musical voice, without a shade of affectation, "and you probably
+know who I am, so we will need no introduction."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Underwood," said Darrell, smiling into the beautiful brown
+eyes, "I would have recognized you anywhere from your picture."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have Trix, haven't you?" she exclaimed, turning to caress the
+mare. "Dear old Trix! Just let her go, Mr. Darrell; she will go to the
+stables of her own accord and Bennett will take care of her; that was
+the way Harry taught her. Go find Bennett, Trix!"<!-- Page 113 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They watched Trix follow the driveway and disappear around the corner,
+then both turned towards the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Auntie is out just now," said the girl; "she had to go down town, but I
+am expecting her back every minute. Will you go into the house, Mr.
+Darrell, or do you prefer a seat on the veranda?"</p>
+
+<p>"The veranda looks inviting; suppose we sit here," Darrell suggested.</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the steps leading to the entrance. On the top step the
+collie had seated himself and was now awaiting their approach with the
+air of one expecting due recognition.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Darrell," said the young girl, with a merry little laugh, "allow me
+to present you to His Highness, the Duke of Argyle!"</p>
+
+<p>The collie gave his head a slight backward toss, and, with great
+dignity, extended his right paw to Darrell, which the latter, instantly
+entering into the spirit of the joke, took, saying, with much gravity,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am pleased to meet His Highness!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl's brown eyes danced with enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>"You have made a friend of him for life, now," she said as they seated
+themselves, Duke stationing himself at her side in such a manner as to
+show his snow-white vest and great double ruff to the best possible
+advantage. "He is a very aristocratic dog, and if any one fails to show
+him what he considers proper respect, he is greatly affronted."</p>
+
+<p>"He certainly is a royal-looking fellow," said Darrell, "but I cannot
+imagine how you ever gained Mrs. Dean's consent to his presence here.
+You must possess even more than the ordinary powers of feminine
+persuasion."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Marcia?" laughed the girl; "oh, well, you<!-- Page 114 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> see it was a case of
+'love me, love my dog.' Wherever I go, Duke must go, so auntie had to
+submit to the inevitable."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell found the situation far less embarrassing than he had expected.
+His young companion, with keen, womanly intuition, had divined something
+of his feeling, and tactfully avoiding any allusion to their previous
+meeting, of which he had no recollection, kept the conversation on
+subjects within the brief span of his memory. She seemed altogether
+unconscious of the peculiar conditions surrounding himself, and the
+brown eyes, meeting his own so frankly, had in their depths nothing of
+the curiosity or the pity he had so often encountered, and had grown to
+dread. She appeared so childlike and unaffected, and her joyous,
+rippling laughter proved so contagious, that unconsciously the extra
+years which a few moments before seemed to have been added to his life
+dropped away; the grave, tense lines of his face relaxed, and before he
+was aware he was laughing heartily at the account of some school-girl
+escapade or at some tricks performed by Duke for his especial
+entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of their merriment they heard the sound of hoof-beats, and,
+turning, saw the family carriage approaching, containing both Mr.
+Underwood and his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"You two children seem to be enjoying yourselves!" was Mr. Underwood's
+comment as the carriage stopped.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell sprang to Mrs. Dean's assistance as she alighted, while Kate
+Underwood ran down the steps to meet her father. Both greeted Darrell
+warmly, but Mrs. Dean retained his hand a moment as she looked at him
+with genuine motherly interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad the truant has returned," she said, with<!-- Page 115 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> her quiet smile; "I
+only hope it seems as good to you to come home as it does to us to have
+you here!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell was touched by her unusual kindness. "You can rest assured that
+it does, mother," he said, earnestly. He was astonished at the effect of
+his words: her face flushed, her lips trembled, and as she passed on
+into the house her eyes glistened with tears.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell looked about him in bewilderment. "What have I said?" he
+questioned; "how did I wound her feelings?"</p>
+
+<p>"She lost a son years ago, and she's never got over it," Mr. Underwood
+explained, briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not hurt her feelings&mdash;she was pleased," Kate hastened to
+reassure him; "but did she never speak to you about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never," Darrell replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that is not to be wondered at, for she seldom alludes to it. He
+died years ago, before I can remember, but she always grieves for him;
+that was the reason," she added, reflectively, half to herself, "that
+she always loved Harry better than she did me."</p>
+
+<p>"Better than you, you jealous little Puss!" said her father, pinching
+her cheek; "don't you have love enough, I'd like to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can never have too much, you know, papa," she answered, very
+seriously, and Darrell, watching, saw in the brown eyes for the first
+time the wistful look he had seen in the two portraits.</p>
+
+<p>She soon followed her aunt, but her father and Darrell remained outside
+talking of business matters until summoned to dinner. On entering the
+house Darrell saw on every hand evidences of the young life in the old
+home. There was just a pleasant touch of disorder in the rooms he had
+always seen kept with such<!-- Page 116 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> precision: here a bit of unfinished
+embroidery; there a book open, face down, just where the fair reader had
+left it; the piano was open and sheets of music lay scattered over it.
+From every side came the fragrance of flowers, and in the usually sombre
+dining-room Darrell noted the fireplace nearly concealed by palms and
+potted plants, the chandelier trimmed with trailing vines, the epergne
+of roses and ferns on the table, and the tiny boutonni&egrave;res at his plate
+and Mr. Underwood's. With a smile of thanks at the happy young face
+opposite, he appropriated the one intended for himself, but Mr.
+Underwood, picking up the one beside his plate, sat twirling it in his
+fingers with a look of mock perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"Puss has introduced so many of her folderols I haven't got used to them
+yet," he said. "How is this to be taken,&mdash;before eating, or after?" he
+inquired, looking at her from under heavy, frowning brows.</p>
+
+<p>"To be taken! Oh, papa!" she ejaculated; "why don't you put it on as Mr.
+Darrell has his? Here, I'll fix it for you!"</p>
+
+<p>With an air of resignation he waited while she fastened the flowers in
+the lapel of his coat, giving the latter an approving little pat as she
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" she exclaimed; "you ought to see how nice you look!"</p>
+
+<p>"H'm! I'm glad to hear it," he grunted; "I feel like a prize steer at a
+county fair!"</p>
+
+<p>In the laughter which followed Kate joined as merrily as the rest, and
+no one but Darrell observed the deepening flush on her cheek or heard
+the tremulous sigh when the laughter was ended.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner they adjourned to the large sitting-room, Mr. Underwood
+with his pipe, Mrs. Dean with her knitting, and Darrell, while
+conversing with the<!-- Page 117 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> former, watched with a new interest the latter's
+placid face, wondering at the depth of feeling concealed beneath that
+calm exterior.</p>
+
+<p>As the twilight deepened and conversation began to flag, there came from
+the piano a few sweet chords, followed by one of Chopin's dreamy
+nocturnes. Mr. Underwood began to doze in his chair, and Darrell sat
+silent, his eyes closed, his whole soul given up to the spell of the
+music. Unconscious of the pleasure she was giving, Kate played till the
+room was veiled in darkness; then going to the fireplace she lighted the
+fire already laid&mdash;for the nights were still somewhat chilly&mdash;and sat
+down on a low seat before the fire, while Duke came and lay at her feet.
+It was a pretty picture; the young girl in white, her eyes fixed
+dreamily on the glowing embers, the firelight dancing over her form and
+face and lighting up her hair with gleams of gold; the dog at her feet,
+his head thrown proudly back, and his eyes fastened on her face with a
+look of loyal devotion seldom seen even in human eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Happening to glance in Mr. Underwood's direction Darrell saw pride,
+pleasure, and pain struggling for the mastery in the father's face as he
+watched the picture in the firelight. Pain won, and with a sudden
+gesture of impatience he covered his eyes with his hand, as though to
+shut out the scene. It was but a little thing, but taken in connection
+with the incident before dinner, it appealed to Darrell, showing, as it
+did, the silent, stoical manner in which these people bore their grief.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean's quiet voice interrupted his musings and broke the spell
+which the music seemed to have thrown around them.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have some one now, Katherine, to accom<!-- Page 118 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>pany you on the violin,
+as you have always wanted; Mr. Darrell is a fine violinist."</p>
+
+<p>Kate was instantly all animation. "Oh, that will be delightful, Mr.
+Darrell!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "there is nothing I enjoy so much as a
+violin accompaniment; it adds so much expression to the music. I think a
+piano alone is so unsympathetic; you can't get any feeling out of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid, Miss Underwood, I will prove a disappointment to you,"
+Darrell replied; "I have never yet attempted any new music, or even to
+play by note, and don't know what success I would have, if any. So far I
+have only played what drifts to me&mdash;some way, I don't know how&mdash;from out
+of the past."</p>
+
+<p>The unconscious sadness in his voice stirred the depths of Kate's tender
+heart. "Oh, that is too bad!" she exclaimed, quickly, thinking, not of
+her own disappointment, but of his trouble of which she had unwittingly
+reminded him; then she added, gently, almost timidly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"But you will, at any rate, let me hear you play, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, if it will give you any pleasure," he replied, with a slight
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; then we will arrange it this way," she continued, her
+cheerful manner restored; "you will play your music, and, if I am
+familiar with it, I will accompany you on the piano. I will get out
+Harry's violin to-morrow, and while auntie is taking her nap and papa is
+engaged, we will see what we can accomplish in a musical way."</p>
+
+<p>Before Darrell could reply, Mr. Underwood, who had started from his
+revery, demanded,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What engagement are you talking about, you chatterbox?"<!-- Page 119 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, papa," she replied, playfully seating herself on the arm
+of his chair; "I only know that when I asked your company for a walk
+to-morrow afternoon, you pleaded a very important engagement. Now, how
+is that?" she asked archly; "have you an engagement, really, or didn't
+you care for my society?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, to be sure; it had escaped my mind for the moment," her
+father answered, rather vaguely she thought; then, looking at Darrell,
+he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Walcott is coming to-morrow for my final decision in that matter."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell bowed in token that he understood, but did not feel at liberty
+to inquire whether the decision was to be favorable to Mr. Walcott, or
+otherwise. Kate glanced quickly from one to the other, but before she
+could speak her father continued:</p>
+
+<p>"I rather think if he consents to two or three conditions which I shall
+insist upon, that my answer will be in the affirmative."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that quite probable from your conversation the other day,"
+Darrell replied.</p>
+
+<p>"See here, papa!" Kate exclaimed, mischievously, "you needn't talk over
+my head! You used to do so when I was little, but you can't any longer,
+you know. Who is this 'Walcott,' and what is this important decision
+about?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood, who did not believe in taking what he called the "women
+folks" into his confidence regarding business affairs, looked
+quizzically into the laughing face beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't I hear you arranging some sort of a musical programme with Mr.
+Darrell?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; what has that to do with your engagement?" she queried.<!-- Page 120 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing whatever; only you carry out your engagement and I will mine,
+and we'll compare notes afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>For an instant her face sobered; then catching sight of her father's
+eyes twinkling under their beetling brows, she laughingly withdrew from
+his side, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That's all very well; you can score one this time, papa, but don't you
+think we won't come out pretty near even in the end!"</p>
+
+<p>Upon learning from Darrell that the violin she expected him to use was
+in his room at the mining camp, she then proposed a stroll to the summit
+of the pine-clad mountain for the following afternoon, and having
+secured his promise that he would bring the violin with him on his next
+visit, she waltzed gayly across the floor, turned on the light, and
+seating herself at the piano soon had the room ringing with music and
+laughter while she sang a number of college songs.</p>
+
+<p>To Darrell she seemed more child than woman, and he was constantly
+impressed with her unlikeness to her father or aunt. She seemed to have
+absolutely none of their self-repression. Warm-hearted, sympathetic, and
+demonstrative, every shade of feeling betrayed itself in her sensitive,
+mobile face and in the brown eyes, one moment pensive and wistful, the
+next luminous with sympathy or dancing with merriment.</p>
+
+<p>As Darrell took leave of Mrs. Dean that night, he said, looking frankly
+into her calm, kindly face,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry if I wounded your feelings this afternoon; it was
+wholly unintentional, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not in the least," she answered; "it is so long since I have
+been called by that name it took<!-- Page 121 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> me by surprise, but it sounded very
+pleasant to me. My boy, if he had lived, would have been just about your
+age."</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed pleasant to me to call you 'mother,'" said Darrell; "it made
+me feel less like an outsider."</p>
+
+<p>"You can call me so as often as you wish; you are no outsider here; we
+consider you one of ourselves," she responded, with more warmth in her
+tones than he had ever heard before.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning Darrell accompanied the ladies to church. After
+lunch he lounged for an hour or more in one of the hammocks on the
+veranda, listening alternately to Mr. Underwood's comments as he
+leisurely smoked his pipe, and to the faint tones of a mandolin coming
+from some remote part of the house. Mr. Underwood grew more and more
+abstracted, the mandolin ceased, and Darrell, soothed by his
+surroundings to a temporary forgetfulness of his troubles, swung gently
+back and forth in a sort of dreamy content. After a while, Kate
+Underwood appeared, dressed for a walk, and, accompanied by Duke, the
+two set forth for their mountain ramble, for the time as light-hearted
+as two children.</p>
+
+<p>Upon their return, two or three hours later, while still at a little
+distance from the house, they saw Mr. Underwood and a stranger standing
+together on the veranda. The latter, who was apparently about to take
+his departure, and whom Darrell at once assumed to be Mr. Walcott, was
+about thirty years of age, of medium height, with a finely proportioned
+and rather muscular form, erect and dignified in his bearing, with a
+lithe suppleness and grace in all his movements. He was standing with
+his hat in his hand, and Darrell, who had time to observe him closely,
+noting his jet<!-- Page 122 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>-black hair, close cut excepting where it curled slightly
+over his forehead, his black, silky moustache, and the oval contour of
+his olive face, remembered Mr. Underwood's remark of the probability of
+Spanish blood in his veins.</p>
+
+<p>As they came near, Duke gave a low growl, but Kate instantly hushed him,
+chiding him for his rudeness. At the sound, the stranger turned towards
+them, and Mr. Underwood at once introduced Mr. Walcott to his daughter
+and Mr. Darrell. He greeted them both with the most punctilious
+courtesy, but as he faced Darrell, the latter saw for an instant in the
+half-closed, blue-black eyes, the pity tinged with contempt to which he
+had long since become accustomed, yet which, as often as he met it,
+thrilled him anew with pain. The look passed, however, and Mr. Walcott,
+in low, well-modulated tones, conversed pleasantly for a few moments
+with the new-comers, the three young people forming a striking trio as
+they stood there in the bright sunshine amid the June roses; then, with
+a graceful adieu, he walked swiftly away.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was out of hearing Mr. Underwood, turning to Darrell,
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is decided; the papers will be drawn to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Then taking his daughter's flushed, perplexed face between his hands, he
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Walcott and I are going into partnership; how do you like the looks
+of my partner, Puss?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked incredulous. "That young man your partner!" she exclaimed;
+"why, he seems the very last man I should ever expect you to fancy!"
+Then she added, laughing,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, papa, I think he must have hypnotized you! Does Aunt Marcia know?
+May I tell her?" And,<!-- Page 123 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> having gained his consent, she ran into the house
+to impart the news to Mrs. Dean.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the woman of it!" said Mr. Underwood, grimly; "they always want
+to immediately tell some other woman! But what do you think of my
+partner?" he asked, looking searchingly at Darrell, who had not yet
+spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell did not reply at once; he felt in some way bewildered. All the
+content, the joy, the sunshine of the last few hours seemed to have been
+suddenly blotted out, though he could not have told why. The remembrance
+of that glance still stung him, but aside from that, he felt his whole
+soul filled with an inexplicable antagonism towards this man.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know yet just what I do think of him," he answered, slowly; "I
+have not formed a definite opinion of him, but I think, as your daughter
+says, he somehow seems the last man whom I would have expected you to
+associate yourself with."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood frowned. "I don't generally make mistakes in people," he
+said, rather gruffly; "if I'm mistaken in this man, it will be the first
+time."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing further was said on the subject, though it remained uppermost in
+the minds of both, with the result that their conversation was rather
+spasmodic and desultory. At the dinner-table, Kate was quick to observe
+the unusual silence, and, intuitively connecting it in some way with the
+new partnership, refrained alike from question or comment regarding
+either that subject or Mr. Walcott, while it was a rule with Mrs. Dean
+never to refer to her brother's business affairs unless he first alluded
+to them himself.</p>
+
+<p>The evening passed more pleasantly, as Kate coaxed her father into
+telling some reminiscences of his early western life, which greatly
+interested Darrell. Some<!-- Page 124 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>thing of the old restlessness had returned to
+him, however. He spent a wakeful night, and was glad when morning came
+and he could return to his work.</p>
+
+<p>As he came out of the house at an early hour to set forth on his long
+ride he found Kate engaged in feeding Trix with lumps of sugar. She
+greeted him merrily, and as he started down the avenue he was followed
+by a rippling laugh and a shower of roses, one of which he caught and
+fastened in his buttonhole, but on looking back over his shoulder she
+had vanished, and only Duke was visible.<!-- Page 125 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Mr. Underwood "Strikes" First</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The ensuing days were filled with work demanding close attention and
+concentration of thought, but often in the long, cool twilight, while
+Darrell rested from his day's work before entering upon the night's
+study, he recalled his visit to The Pines with a degree of pleasure
+hitherto unknown. He had found Kate Underwood far different from his
+anticipations, though just what his anticipations had been he did not
+stop to define. There was at times a womanly grace and dignity in her
+bearing which he would have expected from her portrait and which he
+admired, but what especially attracted him was her utter lack of
+affectation or self-consciousness. She was as unconscious as a child;
+her sympathy towards himself and her pleasant familiarity with him were
+those of a warm-hearted, winsome child.</p>
+
+<p>He liked best to recall her as she looked that evening seated by the
+fireside: the childish pose, the graceful outlines of her form
+silhouetted against the light; the dreamy eyes, with their long golden
+lashes curling upward; the lips parted in a half smile, and the gleam of
+the firelight on her hair. But it was always as a child that he recalled
+her, and the thought that to himself, or to any other, she could be
+aught else never occurred to him. Of young Whitcomb's love for her, of
+course, he had no recollection, nor had it ever been mentioned in his
+hearing since his illness.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day the work at the camp increased, and<!-- Page 126 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> there also began to be
+indications of an approaching outbreak among the men. The union
+boarding-house was nearing completion; it was rumored that it would be
+ready for occupancy within a week or ten days; the walking delegates
+from the union could be frequently seen loitering about the camp,
+especially when the changes in shifts were made, waiting to get word
+with the men, and it was nothing uncommon to see occasional groups of
+the men engaged in argument, which suddenly broke off at the appearance
+of Darrell, or of Hathaway, the superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>So engrossed was Mr. Underwood with the arrangement of details for the
+inauguration of the new firm of Underwood &amp; Walcott that he was unable
+to be at the camp that week. On Saturday afternoon Darrell, having
+learned that Hathaway was to be gone over Sunday, and believing it best
+under existing circumstances not to leave the camp, sent Mr. Underwood a
+message to that effect, and also informing him of the status of affairs
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Early the following week Mr. Underwood made his appearance at the camp,
+and if the union bosses had entertained any hope of effecting a
+compromise with the owner of Camp Bird, as it was known, such hope must
+have been blasted upon mere sight of that gentleman's face upon his
+arrival. Darrell himself could scarcely restrain a smile of amusement as
+they met. Mr. Underwood fairly bristled with defiance, and, after the
+briefest kind of a greeting, started to make his usual rounds of the
+camp. He stopped abruptly, fumbled in his pocket for an instant, then,
+handing a dainty envelope to Darrell, hastened on without a word.
+Darrell saw smiles exchanged among the men, but he preserved the utmost
+gravity until, having reached his desk, he opened and read the little
+note. It contained<!-- Page 127 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> merely a few pleasant lines from Kate, expressing
+disappointment at his failure to come to The Pines on the preceding
+Saturday, and reminding him of his promise concerning the violin; but
+the postscript, which in true feminine style comprised the real gist of
+the note, made him smile audibly. It ran:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Papa has donned his paint and feathers this morning and is
+evidently starting out on the war-path. I haven't an idea whose
+scalps he intends taking, but hope you will at least preserve your
+own intact."</p></div>
+
+<p>At dinner Mr. Underwood maintained an ominous silence, replying in
+monosyllables to any question or remark addressed to him. He soon left
+the table, and Darrell did not see him again till late in the afternoon,
+when he entered the laboratory. A glance at the set lines of his face
+told Darrell as plainly as words that his line of action was fully
+determined upon, and that it would be as fixed and unalterable as the
+laws of the Medes and Persians.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going home now," he announced briefly, in reply to Darrell's
+somewhat questioning look; "I'll be back here the last of the week."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of the outlook, Mr. Underwood?" Darrell inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"It is about what I expected. I have seen all the men. They are, as I
+supposed, under the thumb of the union bosses. A few of them realize
+that the whole proposition is unreasonable and absurd, and they don't
+want to go out, but they don't dare say so above their breath, and they
+don't dare disobey orders, because they are owned, body and soul, by the
+union."</p>
+
+<p>"Have any of the leaders tried to make terms?"<!-- Page 128 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I met one of their 'walking delegates' this morning," said Mr.
+Underwood, with scornful emphasis; "I told him to 'walk' himself out of
+the camp or I'd boot him out; and he walked!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell laughed. Mr. Underwood continued: "The boarding-house opens on
+Thursday; on next Monday every man not enrolled in that institution will
+be ordered out."</p>
+
+<p>"It's to be a strike then, sure thing, is it?" Darrell asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there'll be a strike," Mr. Underwood answered, grimly, while a
+quick gleam shot across his face; "but remember one thing," he added, as
+he turned to leave the room, "no man ever yet got the drop or the first
+blow on me!"</p>
+
+<p>Matters continued about the same at the camp. On Friday favorable
+reports concerning the new boarding-house began to be circulated,
+brought the preceding evening by miners from another camp. Some of the
+men looked sullen and defiant, others only painfully self-conscious, in
+the presence of Darrell and the superintendent, but it was evident that
+the crisis was approaching.</p>
+
+<p>Late Friday night a horseman dismounted silently before the door of the
+office building and Mr. Underwood walked quietly into Darrell's room.</p>
+
+<p>"How's the new hotel? Overrun with boarders?" he asked, as he seated
+himself, paying little attention to Darrell's exclamation of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Chapman's men&mdash;about fifty in all&mdash;are the only ones there at present."</p>
+
+<p>"Chapman!" ejaculated Mr. Underwood; "what is Chapman doing? He agreed
+to stand in with the rest of us on this thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"He told Hathaway this morning he was only doing<!-- Page 129 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> it for experiment. The
+boarding-house is located near his claims, you know, and he has
+comparatively few men. So he said he didn't mind trying it for a month
+or so."</p>
+
+<p>"Confound him! I'll make it the dearest experiment ever he tried," said
+Mr. Underwood, wrathfully; "he was in our office the other day trying to
+negotiate a loan for twenty-five thousand dollars that he said he had
+got to have within ten days or go to the wall. I'll see that he doesn't
+get it anywhere about here unless he stands by his word with us."</p>
+
+<p>After further conversation Mr. Underwood went out, saying he had a
+little business about the camp to attend to. He returned in the course
+of an hour, and Darrell heard him holding a long consultation with
+Hathaway before he retired for the night.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning the mill men of the camp, on going to their work,
+were astonished to find the mill closed and silent, while fastened on
+the great doors was a large placard which read as follows:</p>
+
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">NOTICE.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The entire mining and milling plant of Camp Bird is closed down for</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">an indefinite period. All employees are requested to call at the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">superintendent's office and receive their wages up to and including</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Saturday, the 10th inst.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">D. K. Underwood</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The miners found the hoist-house and the various shaft-houses closed and
+deserted, with notices similar to the above posted on their doors.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, upon going to breakfast, learned that Mr. Underwood and the
+superintendent had breakfasted at an early hour. A little later, on his
+way to the mill,<!-- Page 130 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> he observed groups of men here and there, some
+standing, some moving in the direction of the office, but gave the
+matter no particular thought until he reached the mill and was himself
+confronted by the placard. As he read the notice and recalled the groups
+of idlers, certain remarks made by Mr. Underwood came to his mind, and
+he seemed struck by the humorous side of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"The old gentleman seems to have got the 'drop' on them, all right!" he
+said to himself, as, with an amused smile, he walked past the mill and
+out in the direction of the hoist. The ore-bins were closed and locked,
+the tram-cars stood empty on their tracks, the hoisting engine was
+still, the hoist-house and shaft-houses deserted. After the ceaseless
+noise and activity to which he had become accustomed at the camp the
+silence seemed oppressive, and he turned and retraced his steps to the
+office.</p>
+
+<p>A crowd of men was gathered outside the office building. In single file
+they passed into the office to the superintendent's window, received
+their money silently, in almost every instance without comment or
+question, and passed out again. Once outside, however, there they
+remained, their number constantly augmented by new arrivals, for the men
+on the night shift had been aroused by their comrades and were now
+streaming down from the bunk-houses. A few laughed and joked, some
+looked sullen, some troubled and anxious, but all remained packed about
+the building, quiet, undemonstrative, and mute as dumb brutes as to
+their reason for staying there. They were all prepared to march boldly
+out of the mill and mines on the following Monday, on a strike, in
+obedience to orders; even to resort to violence in defence of their
+so-called "rights" if so ordered, but Mr. Underwood's sudden move had<!-- Page 131 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+disarmed them; there had been no opportunity for a conference with their
+leaders, with the result that they acted more in accordance with their
+own individual instincts, and the loss of work for which they would have
+cared little in the event of a strike was now uppermost in their minds.</p>
+
+<p>They eyed Darrell furtively and curiously, making way for him as he
+entered the building, but still they waited. For a few moments Darrell
+watched the scene, then he passed through the office into the room
+beyond, where he found Mr. Underwood engaged in sorting and filing
+papers. The latter looked up with a grim smile:</p>
+
+<p>"Been down to the mill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," Darrell answered, laughing; "I went to work as usual, only to
+find the door shut in my face, the same as the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"H'm! What do you think of the 'strike' now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are making them swallow their own medicine, but I don't see
+why you need give me a dose of it; I haven't threatened to strike."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood's eyes twinkled shrewdly as he replied, "You had better go
+out there and get your pay along with the rest, and then go to your room
+and pack up. You may not be needed at the mill again for the next six
+months."</p>
+
+<p>"Will it be as serious as that, do you think?" Darrell inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Before Mr. Underwood could reply the superintendent opened the office
+door hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood," he said, "will you come out and speak to the men? They
+are all waiting outside and I can't drive them away; they say they won't
+stir till they've seen you."</p>
+
+<p>With a look of annoyance Mr. Underwood rose and<!-- Page 132 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> passed out into the
+office; Darrell, somewhat interested, followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys," said Mr. Underwood, as he appeared in the doorway, "what
+do you want of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, sir," said one man, evidently spokesman for the crowd,
+and whom Darrell at once recognized as Dan, the engineer,&mdash;"if you
+please, sir, we would like to know how long this shut-down is going to
+last."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't tell," Mr. Underwood replied, shortly; "can't tell anything about
+it at present; it's indefinite."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," persisted the man, "there's some of us as thought that mebbe
+'twould only be till this 'ere trouble about the meals is settled, one
+way or t'other; and there's some as thought mebbe it hadn't nothing to
+do with that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said Mr. Underwood, impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said Dan, lowering his voice a little and edging nearer Mr.
+Underwood, "you know as how the most of us was satisfied with things as
+they was, and didn't want no change and wouldn't have made no kick,
+only, you see, we had to, and we felt kinder anxious to know whether if
+this thing got settled some way and the camp opened up again, whether we
+could get back in our old places?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dan," said Mr. Underwood, impressively, and speaking loudly enough for
+every man to hear, "there can be no settlement of this question except
+to have things go on under precisely the same terms and conditions as
+they've always gone; so none of your leaders need come to me for terms,
+for they won't get 'em. And as to opening up the mines and mill, I'll
+open them up whenever I get ready, not a day sooner or later; and when I
+do start up again, if you men have come to your senses by that time and
+are ready to come<!-- Page 133 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> back on the same terms, all right; if not," he paused
+an instant, then added with emphasis, "just remember there'll be others,
+and plenty of 'em, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; thank ye, sir," Dan answered, somewhat dubiously; then one
+and all moved slowly and mechanically away.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood turned to Darrell. "Get your things together as soon as
+you can. I'm going to send down three or four of the teams after dinner,
+and they can take your things along. And here's the key to the mill; go
+over and pick out whatever you will want in the way of an assaying
+outfit, and have that taken down with the rest. There's no need of your
+going to the expense of buying an outfit just for temporary use."</p>
+
+<p>By two o'clock scarcely a man remained at the camp. Mr. Underwood and
+Darrell were among the last to leave. Two faithful servants of Mr.
+Underwood's had arrived an hour or so before, who were to act as
+watchmen during the shut-down. Having taken them around the camp and
+given them the necessary instructions, Mr. Underwood then gave them the
+keys of the various buildings, saying, as he took his departure,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There's grub enough in the boarding-house to last you two for some
+time, but whenever there's anything needed, let me know. Bring over some
+beds from the bunk-house and make yourselves comfortable."</p>
+
+<p>He climbed to a seat on one of the wagons, and, as they started, turned
+back to the watchmen for his parting admonition:</p>
+
+<p>"Keep an eye on things, boys! You're both good shots; if you catch
+anybody prowling 'round here, day or night, wing him, boys, wing him!"</p>
+
+<p>The teams then rattled noisily down the canyon road, Darrell, with Trix,
+bringing up the rear, feeling himself<!-- Page 134 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> a sort of shuttlecock tossed to
+and fro by antagonistic forces in whose conflicts he personally had no
+part and no interest. However, he wasted no moments in useless regrets,
+but rode along in deep thought, planning for the uninterrupted pursuit
+of his studies amid the new and less favorable surroundings. Thus far he
+had met with unlooked-for success along the line of his researches and
+experiments, and each success but stimulated him to more diligent study.</p>
+
+<p>On their arrival at Ophir, Mr. Underwood gave directions to have the
+assaying outfit taken to the rooms in the rear of his own offices, after
+which he and Darrell, with the remaining teams, proceeded in the
+direction of The Pines. Trix, on finding herself headed for home,
+quickened her steps to such a brisk pace that on reaching the long
+driveway Darrell was considerably in advance of the others. He had no
+sooner emerged from the pines into the open, in full view of the house,
+than Duke came bounding down the driveway to meet him, with every
+possible demonstration of joyous welcome. His loud barking brought the
+ladies to the door just as Darrell, having quickly dismounted and sent
+Trix to the stables, was running up the broad stairs to the veranda, the
+collie close at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Just look at Duke!" Kate Underwood exclaimed, shaking hands with
+Darrell; "and this is only the second time he has met you! You surely
+have won his heart, Mr. Darrell."</p>
+
+<p>"You are the only person outside of Katherine he has ever condescended
+to notice," said Mrs. Dean, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you I feel immensely flattered by his friendship," Darrell
+replied, caressing the collie; "the more so because I know it to be
+genuine."<!-- Page 135 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He won't so much as look at me," Mrs. Dean added.</p>
+
+<p>"That is because you objected at first to having him here," said Kate;
+"he knows it, and he'll not forget it. But, Mr. Darrell, where is papa?"</p>
+
+<p>"He will be here directly," Darrell answered, smiling as he suddenly
+recalled the little note within his pocket; "he is returning from the
+war-path with the trophies of victory."</p>
+
+<p>Kate laughed and colored slightly. "Your own scalp has not suffered, at
+any rate," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"But he has brought me back a captive; here he comes now!"</p>
+
+<p>The wagon loaded with Darrell's belongings was just coming slowly into
+view, with Mr. Underwood on the seat beside the driver, the other teams
+having been sent to the stables by another route.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell noted the surprise depicted on the faces beside him, and,
+turning to Mrs. Dean, who stood next him, he said, in a low tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have come back to the old home, mother, for a little while; is there
+room for me?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean looked at him steadily for an instant, while Kate ran to meet
+her father; then she replied, earnestly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There will always be room in the old home for you. I only wish that I
+could hope it would always hold you."<!-- Page 136 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a><h2><i>Chapter XIV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Drifting</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Early the following week Darrell was established in his new office. The
+building containing the offices of the firm of Underwood &amp; Walcott had,
+as Mr. Underwood informed Darrell, been formerly occupied by one of the
+leading banks of Ophir, and was situated on the corner of two of its
+principal streets. Of the three handsome private offices in the rear Mr.
+Underwood occupied the one immediately adjoining the general offices;
+the next, separated from the first by a narrow entrance way, had been
+appropriated by Mr. Walcott, while the third, communicating with the
+second and opening directly upon the street, was now fitted up for
+Darrell's occupancy. The carpets and much of the original furnishing of
+the rooms still remained, but in the preparation of Darrell's room Kate
+Underwood and her aunt made numerous trips in their carriage between the
+offices and The Pines, with the result that when Darrell took possession
+many changes had been effected. Heavy curtains separated that portion of
+the room in which the laboratory work was to be done from that to be
+used as a study, and to the latter there had been added a rug or two, a
+bookcase in which Darrell could arrange his small library of scientific
+works, a cabinet of mineralogical specimens, and a pair of paintings
+intended to conceal some of Time's ravages on the once finely decorated
+walls, while palms and blooming plants transformed the large plate-glass
+windows into bowers of fragrance and beauty, at the<!-- Page 137 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> same time forming a
+screen from the too inquisitive eyes of passers-by.</p>
+
+<p>Just as Darrell was completing the arrangement of his effects, Mr.
+Underwood and his partner sauntered into the room from their apartments.
+Within a few feet of the door Mr. Underwood came to a stop, his hands
+deep in his trousers pockets, his square chin thrust aggressively
+forward, while, with a face unreadable as granite, his keen eyes scanned
+every detail in the room. Mr. Walcott, on the contrary, made the entire
+circuit of the room, his hands carelessly clasped behind him, his head
+thrown well back, his every step characterized by a graceful, undulatory
+motion, like the movements of the feline tribe.</p>
+
+<p>"H'm!" was Mr. Underwood's sole comment when he had finished his survey
+of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Walcott turned towards his partner with a smile. "Mr. Darrell is
+evidently a prime favorite with the ladies," he remarked, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they don't want to try any of their prime favorite business on
+me," retorted Mr. Underwood, as he slowly turned and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Both young men laughed, and Walcott, with an easy, nonchalant air,
+seated himself near Darrell.</p>
+
+<p>"I find the old gentleman has a keen sense of humor," he said, still
+smiling; "but some of his jokes are inclined to be a little ponderous at
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"His humor generally lies along the lines of sarcasm," Darrell replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, something of a cynic, is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Darrell; "he has too kind a heart to be cynical, but he is
+very fond of concealing it by sarcasm and brusqueness."</p>
+
+<p>"He is quite original and unique in his way. I find him really a much
+more agreeable man than I antici<!-- Page 138 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>pated. You have very pleasant quarters
+here, Mr. Darrell. I should judge you intended this as a sort of study
+as well as an office."</p>
+
+<p>"I do intend it so. Probably for a while I shall do more studying than
+anything else, as it may be some time before I get any assaying."</p>
+
+<p>"I think we can probably throw quite a bit of work your way, as we
+frequently have inquiries from some of our clients wanting something in
+that line."</p>
+
+<p>"Walcott," said Mr. Underwood, re-entering suddenly, "Chapman is out
+there; go and meet him. You can conduct negotiations with him on the
+terms we agreed upon, but I don't care to figure in the deal. If he asks
+for me, tell him I'm out."</p>
+
+<p>"I see; as the ladies say, you're 'not at home,'" said Walcott, smiling,
+as he sprang quickly to his feet. "Well, Mr. Darrell," he continued, "I
+consider myself fortunate in having you for so near a neighbor, and I
+trust that we shall prove good friends and our relations mutually
+agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's dark, penetrating eyes looked squarely into the half-closed,
+smiling ones, which met his glance for an instant, then wavered and
+dropped.</p>
+
+<p>"I know of no reason why we should not be friends," he replied, quietly,
+knowing he could say that much with all candor, yet feeling that
+friendship between them was an utter impossibility, and that of this
+Walcott was as conscious as was he himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my boy," said Mr. Underwood, seating himself before Darrell's
+desk, "I guess 'twas a good thing you took the old man's advice for
+once. I don't know where you would find better quarters than these."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell smiled. "As to following your advice, Mr. Underwood, you didn't
+even give me a chance. You suggested my taking one of these rooms, and
+then gave<!-- Page 139 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> orders on your own responsibility for my paraphernalia to be
+deposited here, and there was nothing left for me to do but to settle
+down. However," he added, laying some money on the desk before Mr.
+Underwood, "I have no complaint to make. Just kindly receipt for that."</p>
+
+<p>"Receipt for this! What do you mean? What is it, anyway?" exclaimed Mr.
+Underwood, in a bewildered tone.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the month's rent in advance, according to your custom."</p>
+
+<p>"Rent!" Mr. Underwood ejaculated, now thoroughly angry; "what do I want
+of rent from you? Can't you let me be a friend to you? Time and time
+again I've tried to help you and you wouldn't have it. Now I'll give you
+warning, young man, that one of these days you'll go a little too far in
+this thing, and then you'll have to look somewhere else for friends, for
+when I'm done with a man, I'm done with him forever!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, with dignity, "you are yourself going too
+far at this moment. You know I do not refuse favors from you personally.
+Do I not consider your home mine? Have I ever offered you compensation
+for anything that you or your sister have done for me? But this is a
+different affair altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"Different! I'd like to know wherein."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood, if, in addition to your other kindnesses, you personally
+offered me the use of this room gratis, I might accept it; but I will
+accept no favors from the firm of Underwood &amp; Walcott."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I don't see what difference that need make!" Mr. Underwood
+retorted.</p>
+
+<p>He sat silently studying Darrell for a few moments, but the latter's
+face was as unreadable as his own.<!-- Page 140 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What have you got against that fellow?" he asked at length, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing whatever against him, Mr. Underwood."</p>
+
+<p>"But you're not friendly to him."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>"He is friendly to you," continued Mr. Underwood; "he has talked with me
+considerably about you and takes quite an interest in you and in your
+success."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly," Darrell answered, dryly; "but you will oblige me by not
+talking of me to him. I have nothing against Mr. Walcott; I am neither
+friendly nor unfriendly to him, but he is a man to whom I do not wish to
+be under any obligations whatsoever."</p>
+
+<p>In vain Mr. Underwood argued; Darrell remained obdurate, and when he
+left the office a little later he carried with him the receipt of
+Underwood &amp; Walcott for office rent.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's reputation as an expert which he had already established at
+the mining camp soon reached Ophir, with the result that he was not long
+without work in the new office. For a time he devoted his leisure hours
+to unremitting study. The brief but intense summer season of the high
+altitudes was now well advanced, however, and in its stifling heat, amid
+the noise of the busy little city, and constantly subjected to
+interruptions, his scientific studies and researches lost half their
+charm.</p>
+
+<p>And in proportion as they lost their power to interest him the home on
+the mountain-side, beyond reach of the city's heat and dust and clamor,
+drew him with increasing and irresistible force. Never before had it
+seemed to him so attractive, so beautiful, so homelike as now. He did
+not stop to ask himself wherein its new charm consisted or to analyze
+the sense of relief<!-- Page 141 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> and gladness with which he turned his face homeward
+when the day's work was ended. He only felt vaguely that the silent,
+undemonstrative love which the old place had so long held for him had
+suddenly found expression. It smiled to him from the flowers nodding
+gayly to him as he passed; it echoed in the tinkling music of the
+fountains; the murmuring pines whispered it to him as their fragrant
+breath fanned his cheek; but more than all he read it in the brown eyes
+which grew luminous with welcome at his approach and heard it in the
+low, sweet voice whose wonderful modulations were themselves more
+eloquent than words. And with this interpretation of the strange, new
+joy day by day permeating his whole life, he went his way in deep
+content.</p>
+
+<p>And to Kate Underwood this summer seemed the brightest and the fairest
+of all the summers of her young life; why, she could not have told,
+except that the skies were bluer, the sunlight more golden, and the
+birds sang more joyously than ever before.</p>
+
+<p>In a mining town like Ophir there was comparatively little society for
+her, so that most of her evenings were spent at home, and she and
+Darrell were of necessity thrown much together. Sometimes he joined her
+in a game of tennis, a ride or drive or a short mountain ramble;
+sometimes he sat on the veranda with the elder couple, listening while
+she played and sang; but more often their voices blended, while the
+wild, plaintive notes of the violin rose and fell on the evening air
+accompanied by the piano or by the guitar or mandolin. Together they
+watched the sunsets or walked up and down the mountain terrace in the
+moonlight, enjoying to the full the beauty around them, neither as yet
+dreaming that,&mdash;more than their joy in the bloom and beauty and
+fragrance, in the music of the foun<!-- Page 142 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>tains or the murmuring voices of the
+pines, in the sunset's glory, or the moonlight's mystical
+radiance,&mdash;above all, deeper than all, pervading all, was their joy in
+each other. Hers was a nature essentially childlike; his very infirmity
+rendered him in experience less than a child; and so, devoid of worldly
+wisdom,&mdash;like Earth's first pair of lovers, without knowledge of good or
+evil,&mdash;all unconsciously they entered their Eden.</p>
+
+<p>One sultry Sunday afternoon they sat within the vine-clad veranda, the
+strains of the violin and guitar blending on the languorous, perfumed
+air. As the last notes died away Kate exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I never had any one accompany me who played with so much expression.
+You give me an altogether different conception of a piece of music; you
+seem to make it full of new meaning."</p>
+
+<p>"And why not?" Darrell inquired. "Music is a language of itself, capable
+of infinitely more expression than our spoken language."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is speaking, then, when you play as you did just now&mdash;the soul of
+the musician or your own?"</p>
+
+<p>"The musician's; I am only the interpreter. The more perfect the harmony
+or sympathy between his soul, as expressed in the music, and mine, the
+truer will be the rendering I give. A fine elocutionist will reveal the
+beauties of a classic poem to hundreds who, of themselves, might never
+have understood it; but the poem is not his, he is only the poet's
+interpreter."</p>
+
+<p>"If you call that piece of music which you have just rendered only an
+interpretation," Kate answered, in a low tone, "I only wish that I could
+for once hear your own soul speaking through the violin!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell smiled. "Do you really wish it?" he asked, after a pause,
+looking into the wistful brown eyes.<!-- Page 143 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>She was seated in a low hammock, swinging gently to and fro. He sat at a
+little distance from her feet, on the topmost of the broad stairs, his
+back against one of the large, vine-wreathed columns, Duke stretched
+full length beside him.</p>
+
+<p>A slight breeze stirred the flower-scented air and set the pines
+whispering for a moment; then all was silent. With eyes half closed,
+Darrell raised the violin and, drawing the bow softly across the
+strings, began one of his own improvisos, the exquisite, piercing
+sweetness of the first notes swelling with an indescribable pathos until
+Kate could scarcely restrain a cry of pain. Higher and higher they
+soared, until above the clouds they poised lightly for an instant, then
+descended in a flood of liquid harmonies which alternately rose and
+fell, sometimes tremulous with hope, sometimes moaning in low undertones
+of grief, never despairing, but always with the same heart-rending
+pathos, always voicing the same unutterable longing.</p>
+
+<p>Unmindful of his surroundings, his whole soul absorbed in the music,
+Darrell played on, till, as the strains sank to a minor undertone, he
+heard a stifled sob, followed by a low whine from Duke. He glanced
+towards Kate, and the music ceased instantly. Unobserved by him she had
+left the hammock and was seated opposite himself, listening as though
+entranced, her lips quivering, her eyes shining with unshed tears, while
+Duke, alarmed by what he considered signs of evident distress, looked
+anxiously from her to Darrell as though entreating his help.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear child, what is the matter?" Darrell exclaimed, moving
+quickly to her side.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she cried, piteously, "how could you stop so<!-- Page 144 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> suddenly! It was
+like snapping a beautiful golden thread!" And burying her face in her
+hands, her whole frame shook with sobs.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, somewhat alarmed himself, laid his hand on her shoulder in an
+attempt to soothe her. In a moment she raised her head, the tear-drops
+still glistening on her cheeks and her long golden lashes.</p>
+
+<p>"It was childish in me to give way like that," she said, with a smile
+that reminded Darrell of the sun shining through a summer shower; "but
+oh, that music! It was the saddest and the sweetest I ever heard! It was
+breaking my heart, and yet I could have listened to it forever!"</p>
+
+<p>"It was my fault," said Darrell, regretfully; "I should not have played
+so long, but I always forget myself when playing that way."</p>
+
+<p>Kate's face grew suddenly grave and serious. "Mr. Darrell," she said,
+hesitatingly, "I have thought very often about the sad side of your
+life&mdash;since your illness, you know; but I never realized till now the
+terrible loneliness of it all."</p>
+
+<p>She paused as though uncertain how to proceed. Darrell's face had in
+turn become grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Did the violin tell you that?" he asked, gently.</p>
+
+<p>She nodded silently.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it has been lonely, inexpressibly so," he said, unconsciously
+using the past tense; "but I had no right to cause you this suffering by
+inflicting my loneliness upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not say that," she replied, quickly; "I am glad that you told
+me,&mdash;in the way you did; glad not only that I understand you better and
+can better sympathize with you, but also because I believe you can
+understand me as no one else has; for one reason why the music affected
+me so much was that it seemed the expression<!-- Page 145 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> of my own feelings, of my
+hunger for sympathy all these years."</p>
+
+<p>"Have there been shadows in your life, then, too? It looked to be all
+sunshine," Darrell said, his face growing tender as he saw the
+tear-drops falling.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it would seem so, with this beautiful home and all that papa does
+for me, and sometimes I'm afraid I'm ungrateful. But oh, Mr. Darrell, if
+you could have known my mother, you would understand! She was so
+different from papa and auntie, and she loved me so! And it seems as
+though since she died I've had nobody to love me. I suppose papa does in
+a fashion, but he is too busy to show it, or else he doesn't know how;
+and Aunt Marcia! well, you know she's good as she can be, but if she
+loved you, you would never know it. I've wondered sometimes if poor
+mamma didn't die just for want of love; it has seemed lots of times as
+though I would!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little girl!" said Darrell, pityingly. He understood now the
+wistful, appealing look of the brown eyes. He intended to say something
+expressive of sympathy, but the right words would not come. He could
+think of nothing that did not sound stilted and formal. Almost
+unconsciously he laid his hand with a tender caress on the slender
+little white hand lying near him, much as he would have laid it on a
+wounded bird; and just as unconsciously, the little hand nestled
+contentedly, like a bird, within his clasp.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later Darrell heard from Walcott the story of Harry
+Whitcomb's love for his cousin. It had been reported, Walcott said, in
+low tones, as though imparting a secret, that young Whitcomb was
+hopelessly in love with Miss Underwood, but that she seemed rather
+indifferent to his attentions. It was thought, however, that the old
+gentleman had favored the match,<!-- Page 146 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> as he had given his nephew an interest
+in his mining business, and had the latter lived and proved himself a
+good financier, it was believed that Mr. Underwood would in time have
+bestowed his daughter upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell listened silently. Of young Whitcomb, of his death, and of his
+own part in that sad affair he had often heard, but no mention of
+anything of this nature. He sat lost in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, you know how sadly the romance ended," Walcott continued,
+wondering somewhat at Darrell's silence. "I have understood that you
+were a witness of young Whitcomb's tragic death."</p>
+
+<p>"I know from hearsay, that is all," Darrell replied, quietly; "I have
+heard the story a number of times."</p>
+
+<p>Walcott expressed great surprise. "Pardon me, Mr. Darrell, for referring
+to the matter. I had heard something regarding the peculiar nature of
+your malady, but I had no idea it was so marked as that. Is it possible
+that you have no recollection of that affair?"</p>
+
+<p>"None whatever," Darrell answered, briefly, as though he did not care to
+discuss the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"How strange! One would naturally have supposed that anything so
+terrible, so shocking to the sensibilities, would have left an
+impression on your mind never to have been effaced! But I fear the
+subject is unpleasant to you, Mr. Darrell; pardon me for having alluded
+to it."</p>
+
+<p>The conversation turned, but Darrell could not banish the subject from
+his thoughts. Kate had often spoken to him of her cousin, but never as a
+lover. He recalled his portrait at The Pines; the frank, boyish face
+with its winning smile&mdash;a bonnie lover surely! Had she, or had she not,
+he wondered, learned to reciprocate his love before the tragic ending
+came? And if not, did she now regret it?<!-- Page 147 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He watched her that evening, fearing to broach a subject so delicate,
+but pondering long and deeply, till at last she rallied him on his
+unusual seriousness, and he told her what he had heard.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, in reply; "Harry loved me, or thought he did; though he
+was like the others&mdash;he did not understand me any better than they. But
+he had always been just like a brother to me, and I could never have
+loved him in any other way, and I told him so. Papa said I would learn
+in time, and I think perhaps he would have insisted upon it if Harry had
+lived. I was sorry I couldn't care for him as he wished; he thought I
+would after a while, but I never could, for I think that kind of love is
+far different from all others; don't you, Mr. Darrell?"</p>
+
+<p>And Darrell, looking from the mountain-side where they were standing out
+into the deep blue spaces where the stars, one by one, were gliding into
+sight, answered, reverently,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"As far above all others 'as the heaven is high above the earth.'"</p>
+
+<p>To him at that instant love&mdash;the love that should exist between two who,
+out of earth's millions, have chosen each the other&mdash;seemed something as
+yet remote; a sacred temple whose golden dome, like some mystic shrine,
+gleamed from afar, but into which he might some day enter; unaware that
+he already stood within its outer court.<!-- Page 148 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a><h2><i>Chapter XV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Awakening</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>As Darrell was returning home one evening, some ten days later, he heard
+Kate's rippling laughter and sounds of unusual merriment, and, on coming
+out into view of the house, beheld her engaged in executing a waltz on
+the veranda, with Duke as a partner. The latter, in his efforts to
+oblige his young mistress and at the same time preserve his own dignity,
+presented so ludicrous a spectacle that Darrell was unable to restrain
+his risibility. Hearing his peals of laughter and finding herself
+discovered, Kate rather hastily released her partner, and the collie,
+glad to be once more permitted the use of four feet, bounded down the
+steps to give Darrell his customary welcome, his mistress following
+slowly with somewhat heightened color.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell at once apologized for his hilarity, pleading as an excuse
+Duke's comical appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"We both must have made a ridiculous appearance," she replied, "but as
+Duke seems to have forgiven you, I suppose I must, and I think I had
+better explain such undignified conduct on my part. Auntie has just told
+me that she is going to give a grand reception for me two weeks from
+to-day, or, really, two of them, for there is to be an afternoon
+reception from three until six for her acquaintances, with a few young
+ladies to assist me in receiving; and then, in the evening, I am to have
+a reception of my own. We are going to send nearly two hundred
+invitations to Galena, besides our friends here. Papa is going to have
+the ball-room on<!-- Page 149 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> the top floor fitted up for the occasion, and we are
+to have an orchestra from Galena, and altogether it will be quite 'the
+event of the season.' Now do you wonder," she added, archly, "that I
+seized hold of the first object that came in my way and started out for
+a waltz?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least," Darrell answered, his dark eyes full of merriment.
+"I only wish I had been fortunate enough to have arrived a little
+earlier."</p>
+
+<p>A mischievous response to his challenge sparkled in Kate's eyes for a
+moment, but she only replied, demurely,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have your opportunity later."</p>
+
+<p>"When?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two weeks from to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! am I to be honored with an invitation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most assuredly you will be invited," Kate replied, quietly; then added,
+shyly, "and I myself invite you personally, here and now, and that is
+honoring you as no other guest of mine will be honored."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," he replied, gently, with one of his tender smiles; "I
+accept the personal invitation for your sake."</p>
+
+<p>She was standing on the topmost stair, slightly above him, one hand
+toying with a spray of blossoms depending from the vines above her head.
+With a swift movement Darrell caught the little hand and was in the act
+of carrying it to his lips, when it suddenly slipped from his grasp and
+its owner as quickly turned and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell seated himself with a curious expression. It was not the first
+time Kate had eluded him thus within the last few days. He had missed of
+late certain pleasant little familiarities and light, tender caresses,
+to which he had become accustomed, and he began to<!-- Page 150 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> wonder at this
+change in his child companion, as he regarded her.</p>
+
+<p>"What has come over the child?" he soliloquized; "two weeks ago if I had
+given her a challenge for a waltz she would have taken me up, but lately
+she is as demure as a little nun! We will have to give it up, won't we,
+Duke, old boy?" he continued, addressing the collie, whose intelligent
+eyes were fastened on his face with a shrewd expression, as though,
+aware of the trend of Darrell's thoughts, he, too, considered his
+beloved young mistress rather incomprehensible.</p>
+
+<p>The ensuing days were so crowded with preparations for the coming event
+and with such constant demands upon Kate's time that Darrell seldom saw
+her except at meals, and opportunities for anything like their
+accustomed pleasant interchange of confidence were few and far between.
+On those rare occasions, however, when he succeeded in meeting her
+alone, Darrell could not but be impressed by the subtle and to him
+inexplicable change in her manner. She seemed in some way so remotely
+removed from the young girl who, but a few days before, in response to
+the violin's tale, had confided to him the loneliness of her own life. A
+shy, sweet, but impenetrable reserve seemed to have replaced the
+childlike familiarity. Her eyes still brightened with welcome at his
+approach, but their light was quickly veiled beneath drooping lids, and
+through the cadences of her low tones he caught at times the vibration
+of a new chord, to whose meaning his ear was as yet unattuned.</p>
+
+<p>He did not know, nor did any other, that within that short time she had
+learned her own heart's secret. Child that she was, she had met Love
+face to face, and in that one swift, burning glance of recognition the
+womanhood within her had expanded as the bud ex<!-- Page 151 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>pands, bursting its
+imprisoning calyx under the ardent glance of the sun. But Darrell,
+seeing only the effect and knowing nothing of the cause, was vaguely
+troubled.</p>
+
+<p>On the day of the reception both Mr. Underwood and Darrell lunched and
+dined down town, returning together to The Pines in the interim between
+the afternoon and evening entertainments. As Darrell sprang from the
+carriage and ran up the stairs the servants were already turning on the
+lights temporarily suspended within the veranda and throughout the
+grounds, so that the place seemed transformed into a bit of fairyland.
+He heard chatter and laughter, and caught glimpses of young
+ladies&mdash;special guests from out of town&mdash;flitting from room to room, but
+Kate was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Going to his room, he quickly donned an evening suit, not omitting a
+dainty boutonni&egrave;re awaiting him on his dressing-case, and betook himself
+to the libraries across the hall, where, by previous arrangement, Kate
+was to call for him when it was time to go downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>From below came the ceaseless hum of conversation, the constant ripple
+of laughter, mingled with bits of song, and the occasional strains of a
+waltz. Reading was out of the question. Sinking into the depths of a
+large arm-chair, Darrell was soon lost in dreamy reverie, from which he
+was roused by a slight sound.</p>
+
+<p>Looking up, he saw framed in the arched doorway between the two rooms a
+vision, like and yet so unlike the maiden for whom he waited and who had
+occupied his thoughts but a moment before that he gazed in silent
+astonishment, uncertain whether it were a reality or part of his dreams.
+For a moment the silence was unbroken; then,<!-- Page 152 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like my gown?" said the Vision, demurely.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell sprang to his feet and approached slowly, a new consciousness
+dawning in his soul, a new light in his eyes. Of the style or texture of
+her gown, a filmy, gleaming mass of white, he knew absolutely nothing;
+he only knew that its clinging softness revealed in new beauty the
+rounded outlines of her form; that its snowy sheen set off the exquisite
+moulding of her neck and arms; that its long, shimmering folds
+accentuated the height and grace of her slender figure; but a knowledge
+had come to him in that moment like a revelation, stunning, bewildering
+him, thrilling his whole being, irradiating every lineament of his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I know very little about ladies' dress," he said apologetically, "and I
+fear I may express myself rather bunglingly, but to me the chief beauty
+of your gown consists in the fact that it reveals and enhances the
+beauty of the wearer; in that sense, I consider it very beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," Kate replied, with a low, sweeping courtesy to conceal the
+blushes which she felt mantling her cheeks, not so much at his words as
+at what she read in his eyes; "that is the most delicate compliment I
+ever heard. I know I shall not receive another so delicious this whole
+evening, and to think of prefacing it with an apology!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to hear that voice," said Darrell, possessing himself of one
+little gloved hand and surveying his companion critically, from the
+charmingly coiffed head to the dainty white slipper peeping from beneath
+her skirt; "the voice and the eyes seem about all that is left of the
+little girl I had known and loved."</p>
+
+<p>She regarded him silently, with a gracious little smile, but with
+deepening color and quickening pulse.<!-- Page 153 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He continued: "She has seemed different of late, somehow; she has eluded
+me so often I have felt as though she were in some way slipping away
+from me, and now I fear I have lost her altogether. How is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell gently raised the sweet face so that he looked into the clear
+depths of the brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, Kathie dear, has she drifted away from me?"</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the eyes were hidden under the curling lashes; then they
+lifted as she replied, with an enigmatical smile,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Not so far but that you may follow, if you choose."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell bowed his head and his lips touched the golden-brown hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Sweetheart," he said, in low tones, scarcely above a whisper, "I
+follow; if I overtake her, what then? Will I find her the same as in the
+past?"</p>
+
+<p>Her heart was beating wildly with a new, strange joy; she longed to get
+away by herself and taste its sweetness to the full.</p>
+
+<p>"The same, and yet not the same," she answered, slowly; then, before he
+could say more, she added, lightly, as a wave of laughter was borne
+upward from the parlors.</p>
+
+<p>"But I came to see if you were ready to go downstairs; ought we not to
+join the others?"</p>
+
+<p>"As you please," he replied, stooping to pick up the programme she had
+dropped; "are the guests arriving yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; it is still early, but I want to introduce you to my friends. Oh,
+yes, my programme; thanks! That reminds me, I am going to ask you to put
+your name down for two or three waltzes; you know," she added, smiling,
+"I promised you two weeks ago some waltzes for this evening, so take
+your choice."<!-- Page 154 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For an instant Darrell hesitated, and the old troubled look returned to
+his face.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind," he said, slowly, "and I appreciate the honor; but
+it has just occurred to me that really I am not at all certain regarding
+my proficiency in that line."</p>
+
+<p>Kate understood his dilemma. They had reached the hall; some one was at
+the piano below and the strains of a dreamy waltz floated through the
+rooms.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't a doubt of your proficiency myself," she replied, with a
+confident smile, "but if you would like a test, here is a good
+opportunity," and she glanced up and down the vacant but brightly
+lighted corridor. Darrell needed no second hint, and almost before she
+was aware they were gliding over the floor.</p>
+
+<p>To Kate, intoxicated with her new-found joy, it seemed as though she
+were borne along on the waves of the music without effort or volition of
+her own. She dared not trust herself to speak. Once or twice she raised
+her eyes to meet the dark ones whose gaze she felt upon her face, but
+the love-light shining in their depths overpowered her glance and she
+turned her eyes away. She knew that he had seen and recognized the
+woman, and that as such&mdash;and not as a child&mdash;he loved her, and for the
+present this knowledge was happiness enough.</p>
+
+<p>And Darrell was silent, still bewildered by the twofold revelation which
+had so suddenly come to him; the revelation of the lovely womanhood at
+his side, to which he had, until now, been blind, and of the love within
+his own heart, of which, till now, he had been unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>Before they had completed two turns up and down the corridor the music
+ceased as suddenly as it had begun.<!-- Page 155 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that was heavenly! It seemed like a dream!" Kate exclaimed, with a
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed a very blessed bit of reality to me," Darrell laughed in
+return, drawing her arm within his own as they proceeded towards the
+stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a superb dancer; now you certainly can have no scruples about
+claiming some waltzes," Kate replied, withdrawing her arm and again
+placing her programme in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>As they paused at the head of the stairs while Darrell complied with her
+request, a chorus of voices was heard in the hall below.</p>
+
+<p>"Kate, are you never coming?" some one called, and a sprightly brunette
+appeared for an instant on the first landing, but vanished quickly at
+sight of Darrell.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls!" they heard her exclaim to the merry group below; "would you
+believe it? She is taking a base advantage of us; she has discovered
+what we did not suppose existed in this house&mdash;a young man&mdash;and is
+getting her programme filled in advance!"</p>
+
+<p>Cries of "Oh, Kate, that's not fair!" followed. Kate leaned laughingly
+over the balustrade.</p>
+
+<p>"He's an angel of a dancer, girls," she called, "but I'll promise not to
+monopolize him!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell returned the programme, saying, as they passed down the stairs
+together,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't want to appear selfish, so I only selected three, but give me
+more if you can, later."</p>
+
+<p>Kate smiled. "I think," she replied, "you will speedily find yourself in
+such demand that I will consider myself fortunate to have secured those
+three; but," she added shyly, as her eyes met his, "my first waltz was
+with you, and that was just as I intended it should be!"</p>
+
+<p>Through the hours which followed so swiftly Dar<!-- Page 156 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>rell was in a sort of
+waking dream, a state of superlative happiness, unmarred as yet by
+phantoms from the shrouded past or misgivings as to the dim, uncertain
+future; past and future were for the time alike forgotten. One image
+dominated his mind,&mdash;the form and face of the fair young hostess moving
+among her guests as a queen amid her court, carrying her daintily poised
+head as though conscious of the twofold royal crown of womanhood and
+woman's love. One thought surged continuously through and through his
+brain,&mdash;that she was his, his by the sovereign right of love. Whatever
+courtesy he showed to others was for her sake, because they were her
+guests, her friends, and when unengaged he stationed himself in some
+quiet corner or dimly lighted alcove where, unobserved, he could watch
+her movements with their rhythmic grace or catch the music of her voice,
+the sight or sound thrilling him with joy so exquisite as to be akin to
+pain. The oft-repeated compliments of the crowd about him seemed to him
+empty, trite, meaningless; what could they know of her real beauty
+compared with himself who saw her through Love's eyes!</p>
+
+<p>As he stood thus alone in a deep bay-window, shaded by giant palms, some
+one paused beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Our little d&eacute;butante has surpassed herself to-night; she is fairest of
+the fair!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell turned to see at his side Walcott, faultlessly attired, elegant,
+nonchalant; a half-smile playing about his lips as through half-closed
+eyes he watched the dancers. Instantly all the antagonism in Darrell's
+nature rose against the man; strive as he might, he was powerless to
+subdue it. There was no trace of it in his voice, however, as he
+answered, quietly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Underwood certainly looks very beautiful to-night."<!-- Page 157 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She has matured marvellously of late," continued the other, in low,
+pleasant tones; "her development within the past few weeks has been
+remarkable. But that is to be expected in women of her style, and this
+is but the beginning. Mark my words, Mr. Darrell," Walcott faced his
+auditor with a smile, "Miss Underwood's beauty to-night is but the pale
+shining of a taper beside one of those lights yonder, compared with what
+it will be a few years hence; are you aware of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It had not occurred to me," Darrell replied, with studied calmness, for
+the conversation was becoming distasteful to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at her now!" said Walcott, bowing and smiling as Kate floated past
+them, but regarding her with a scrutiny that aroused Darrell's quick
+resentment; "very fair, very lovely, I admit, but a trifle too slender;
+a little too colorless, too neutral, as it were! A few years will change
+all that. You will see her a woman of magnificent proportions and with
+the cold, neutral tints replaced by warmth and color. I have made a
+study of women, and I know that class well. Five or ten years from now
+she will be simply superb, and at the age when ordinary women lose their
+power to charm she will only be in the zenith of her beauty."</p>
+
+<p>The look and tone accompanying the words filled Darrell with indignation
+and disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to excuse me," he said, coldly; "you seem, as you say, to
+have made a study of women from your own standpoint, but our standards
+of beauty differ so radically that further discussion of the subject is
+useless."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well, every man according to his taste, of course," Walcott
+remarked, indifferently, and, turning<!-- Page 158 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> lightly, he walked away, a faint
+gleam of amusement lighting his dark features.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, as Darrell glided over the floor with Kate, some
+irresistible force drew his glance towards the bay-window where within
+the shadow of the palms Walcott was now standing alone, suave as ever.
+Their eyes met for an instant only, and Walcott smiled. The dance went
+on, but the smile, like a poisoned shaft, entered Darrell's soul and
+rankled there.</p>
+
+<p>Both Darrell and Walcott were marked men that night and attracted
+universal attention and comment. Darrell's pale, intellectual face,
+penetrating eyes, and dark hair already streaked with gray would have
+attracted attention anywhere, as would also Walcott with his olive skin,
+his cynical smile, and graceful, sinuous movement. In addition,
+Darrell's peculiar mental condition and the fact that his identity was
+enveloped in a degree of mystery rendered him doubly interesting. In the
+case of each this was his introduction to the social life of Ophir. Each
+had been a resident of the town, the one as a student and recluse, the
+other as a business man, but each was a stranger to the stratum known as
+society. Each held himself aloof that evening from the throng: the one,
+through natural reserve, courteous but indifferent to the passing crowd;
+the other alert, watchful, studying the crowd; weighing, gauging this
+new element, speculating whether or not it were worth his while to court
+its favor, whether or not he could make of it an ally for his own future
+advantage.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after his arrival Walcott had begged of Kate Underwood the honor of
+a waltz, but her programme being then nearly filled she could only give
+him one well towards the end. As he intended to render himself
+conspicuous by dancing only once, and then with the belle of the
+evening, it was at quite a late hour<!-- Page 159 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> when he first made his appearance
+on the floor. Kate was on his arm, and at that instant his criticism,
+made earlier in the evening, that she was too colorless, certainly could
+not have applied.</p>
+
+<p>As he led her out upon the floor he bent his gaze upon her with a look
+which brought the color swiftly to her face in crimson waves that
+flooded the full, snow-white throat and, surging upward, reached even to
+the blue-veined temples. Instinctively she shrank from him with a
+sensation almost of fear, but something in his gaze held her as though
+spell-bound. She looked into his eyes like one fascinated, scarcely
+knowing what he said or what reply she made. The waltz began, and as
+their fingers touched Kate's nerves tingled as though from an electric
+shock. She shivered slightly, then, angry with herself, used every
+exertion to overcome the strange spell. To a great extent she succeeded,
+but she felt benumbed, as though moving in a dream or in obedience to
+some will stronger than her own, while her temples throbbed painfully
+and her respiration grew hurried and difficult. She grew dizzy, but
+pride came to her rescue, and, except for the color which now ran riot
+in her cheeks and a slight tremor through her frame, there was no hint
+of her agitation. Her partner was all that could be desired, guiding her
+through the circling crowds, and supporting her in the swift turns with
+the utmost grace and courtesy, but it was a relief when it was over. At
+her request, Walcott escorted her to a seat near her aunt, then
+smilingly withdrew with much inward self-congratulation.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Darrell, seeing Kate unengaged, hastened to her side.</p>
+
+<p>"You look warm and the air here is oppressive," he said, observing her
+flushed face and fanning her gently; "shall we go outside for a few
+moments?"<!-- Page 160 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, please; anywhere out of this heat and glare," she answered; "my
+temples throb as if they would burst and my face feels as though it were
+on fire!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell hastened to the hall, returning an instant later with a light
+wrap which he proceeded to throw about Kate's shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"You are tired, Katherine," said Mrs. Dean, "more tired than you realize
+now; you had better not dance any more to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I have but two more dances, auntie," the young girl answered, smiling;
+"you surely would not wish me to forego those;" adding, in a lower tone,
+as she turned towards Darrell, "one of them is your waltz, and I would
+not miss that for anything!"</p>
+
+<p>They passed through the hall and out upon a broad balcony. They could
+hear the subdued laughter of couples strolling through the brightly
+lighted grounds below, while over the distant landscape shone the pale
+weird light of the waning moon, just rising in the east. None of the
+guests had discovered the balcony opening from the hall on the third
+floor, so they had it exclusively to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>As Darrell drew Kate's arm closer within his own he was surprised to
+feel her trembling slightly, while the hand lying on his own was cold as
+marble.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child!" he exclaimed; "your hands are cold and you are
+trembling! What is the matter&mdash;are you cold?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not cold exactly, only shivery," she answered, with a laugh. "My
+head was burning up in there, and I feel sort of hot flashes and then a
+creepy, shivery feeling by turns; but I am not cold out here, really,"
+she added, earnestly, as Darrell drew her wrap more closely about her.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, I cannot allow you to stay out here<!-- Page 161 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> any longer," Darrell
+replied, finding his first taste of masculine authority very sweet.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant Kate felt a very feminine desire to put his authority to
+the test, but the sense of his protection and his solicitude for her
+welfare seemed particularly soothing just then, and so, with only a
+saucy little smile, she silently allowed him to lead her into the house.
+At his suggestion, however, they did not return to the ball-room, but
+passed around through an anteroom, coming out into a small, circular
+apartment, dimly lighted and cosily furnished, opening upon one corner
+of the ball-room.</p>
+
+<p>"It strikes me," said Darrell, as he drew aside the silken hangings
+dividing the two rooms and pushed a low divan before the open space,
+"this will be fully as pleasant as the balcony and much safer."</p>
+
+<p>"The very thing!" Kate exclaimed, sinking upon the divan with a sigh of
+relief; "we will have a fine view of the dancers and yet be quite
+secluded ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>A minuet was already in progress on the floor, and for a few moments
+Kate watched the stately, graceful dance, while Darrell, having adjusted
+her wrap lightly about her, seated himself beside her and silently
+watched her face with deep content.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the throbbing in her temples subsided, the nervous tremor
+ceased, her color became natural, and she felt quite herself again. She
+leaned back against the divan and looked with laughing eyes into
+Darrell's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Darrell, do you believe in hypnotism?" she suddenly inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"In hypnotism? Yes; but not in many of those who claim to practise it.
+Most of them are mere impostors. But why do you ask?" he continued,
+drawing<!-- Page 162 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> her head down upon his shoulder and looking playfully into her
+eyes; "are you trying to hypnotize me?"</p>
+
+<p>Kate laughed merrily and shook her head. "I'm afraid I wouldn't find you
+a good subject," she said; then added, slowly, as her face grew serious:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, I believe I was hypnotized to-night by that dreadful Mr.
+Walcott. He certainly cast a malign spell of some kind over me from the
+moment we went on the floor together till he left me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you say that?" Darrell asked, quickly; "you know I did not see
+you on the floor with him, for Miss Stockton asked me to go with her for
+a promenade. We came back just as the waltz had ended and Mr. Walcott
+was escorting you to your aunt. I noticed that you seemed greatly
+fatigued and excused myself to Miss Stockton and came over at once. What
+had happened?"</p>
+
+<p>Kate related what had occurred. "I can't give you any idea of it," she
+said, in conclusion; "it seemed unaccountable, but it was simply
+dreadful. You know his eyes are nearly always closed in that peculiar
+way of his, and really I don't think I had any idea how they looked; but
+to-night as he looked at me they were wide open; and, do you know, I
+can't describe them, but they looked so soft and melting they were
+beautiful, and yet there was something absolutely terrible in their
+depths. It seemed some way like looking down into a volcano! And the
+worst of it was, they seemed to hold me&mdash;I couldn't take my eyes from
+his. He was as kind and courteous as could be, I'll admit that, but even
+the touch of his fingers made me shiver."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's face had darkened during Kate's recital, but he controlled his
+anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, was that due to my own imagination or to some uncanny spell of
+his?" Kate insisted.<!-- Page 163 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To neither wholly, and yet perhaps a little of each," Darrell answered,
+lightly, not wishing to alarm her or lead her to attach undue importance
+to the occurrence. "I think Mr. Walcott has an abnormal amount of
+conceit, and that most of those little mannerisms of his are mainly to
+attract attention to himself. He was probably trying to produce some
+sort of an impression on your mind, and to that extent he certainly
+succeeded, only the impression does not seem to have been as favorable
+as he perhaps would have wished. No one but a conceited cad would have
+attempted such a thing, and with your supersensitive nature the effect
+on you was anything but pleasant, but don't allow yourself to think
+about it or be annoyed by it. At the same time I would advise you not to
+place yourself in his power or where he could have any advantage of you.
+By the way, this is our waltz, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is," Kate replied, rising and watching Darrell as he removed her
+wrap and prepared to escort her to the ball-room. His playful badinage
+had not deceived her. As she took his arm she said, in a low tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You affect to treat this matter rather lightly, but, all the same, you
+have warned me against this man. 'Forewarned is forearmed,' you know,
+and no man can ever attempt to harm me or mine with impunity!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell turned quickly in surprise; there was a quality in her tone
+wholly unfamiliar.</p>
+
+<p>"But I fear you exaggerate what I intended to convey," he said, hastily;
+"I do not know that he would ever deliberately seek to harm you, but he
+might render himself obnoxious in some way, as he did to-night."</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head. "I was taken off guard to-night," she said; "but he
+had best never attempt anything of the kind a second time!"<!-- Page 164 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were now waiting for the waltz to begin; she continued, in the same
+low tone:</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a western girl's education. When I was a child this place
+was little more than a rough mining camp, with plenty of desperate
+characters. My father trained me as he would have trained a boy, and,"
+she added, significantly, with a bright, proud smile, "I am just as
+proficient now as I was then!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell scarcely heeded the import of her words, so struck was he by the
+change in her face, which had suddenly grown wonderfully like her
+father's,&mdash;stern, impassive, unrelenting. She smiled, and the look
+vanished, and for the time he thought no more of it, but as the passing
+cloud sometimes reveals features in a landscape unnoticed in the
+sunlight, so it had disclosed a phase of character latent, unguessed
+even by those who knew her best.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later the last carriage had gone; the guests from out of town
+who were to remain at The Pines for the night had retired, and darkness
+and silence had gradually settled over the house. A light still burned
+in Mr. Underwood's private room, where he paced back and forth, his
+brows knit in deep thought, but his stern face lighted with a smile of
+intense satisfaction. Darrell, who had remained below to assist Mrs.
+Dean in the performance of a few last duties, having accompanied her in
+a final tour of the deserted rooms to make sure that all was safe, bade
+her good-night and went upstairs. To his surprise, Kate's library was
+still lighted, and through the open door he could see her at her desk
+writing.</p>
+
+<p>She looked up on hearing his step, and, as he approached, rose and came
+to the door.</p>
+
+<p>She had exchanged her evening gown for a dainty<!-- Page 165 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> robe de chambre of
+white cashmere and lace, and, standing there against the background of
+mellow light, her hair coiled low on her neck, while numerous
+intractable locks curled about her ears and temples, it was small wonder
+that Darrell's eyes bespoke his admiration and love, even if his lips
+did not.</p>
+
+<p>"Writing at this time of night!" he exclaimed; "we supposed you asleep
+long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Sh! don't speak so loud," she protested. "You'll have Aunt Marcia up
+here! I have nearly finished my writing, so you needn't scold."</p>
+
+<p>Glancing at the large journal lying open on her desk, Darrell asked, with
+a quizzical smile,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't that have been postponed for a few hours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to-night," she replied, with emphasis; "ordinarily, you know, it
+could and would have been postponed, perhaps indefinitely, but not
+to-night!"</p>
+
+<p>She glanced shyly into his eyes, and her own fell, as she added, in a
+lower tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To-night has memories so golden I want to preserve them before they
+have been dimmed by even one hour's sleep!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's face grew marvellously tender; he drew her head down upon his
+breast while he caressed the rippling hair with its waves of light and
+shade.</p>
+
+<p>"This night will always have golden memories for me, Kathie," he said,
+"and neither days nor years can ever dim their lustre; of that I am
+sure."</p>
+
+<p>Kate raised her head, drawing herself slightly away from his embrace so
+that she could look him in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"'Kathie!'" she repeated, softly; "that is the second time you have
+called me by that name to-night. I never heard it before; where did you
+get it?"<!-- Page 166 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it came to me," he said, smiling; "and somehow it seemed just the
+name for you; but I'll not call you so unless you like it."</p>
+
+<p>"I do like it immensely," she replied; "I am tired of 'Kate' and
+'Kittie' and Aunt Marcia's terrible 'Katherine;' I am glad you are
+original enough to call me by something different, but it sounds so odd;
+I wondered if there might have been a 'Kathie' in the past. But," she
+added, quickly, "I must not stay here. I just came out to say good-night
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>"We had better say good-morning," Darrell laughed, as the clock in the
+hall below chimed one of the "wee, sma' hours;" "promise me that you
+will go to rest at once, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very soon," she answered, smiling; then, a sudden impulsiveness
+conquering her reserve, she exclaimed, "Do you know, this has been the
+happiest night of my whole life. I hardly dare go to sleep for fear I
+will wake up and find it all a dream."</p>
+
+<p>For answer Darrell folded her close to his breast, kissing her hair and
+brow with passionate tenderness; then suddenly, neither knew just how,
+their lips met in long, lingering, rapturous kisses.</p>
+
+<p>"Will that make it seem more real, sweetheart?" he asked, in a low voice
+vibrating with emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, oh yes!" she panted, half frightened by his fervor; "but let me
+go; please do!"</p>
+
+<p>He released her, only retaining her hands for an instant, which he bent
+and kissed; then bidding her good-night, he hastened down the hall to
+his room.</p>
+
+<p>At the door, however, he looked back and saw her still standing where he
+had left her. She wafted him a kiss on her finger-tips and disappeared.
+Going to her desk, she read with shining eyes and smiling lips the last
+lines written in her journal, then dipped her<!-- Page 167 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> pen as though to write
+further, hesitated, and, closing the book, whispered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That is too sacred to intrust even to you, you dear, old journal! I
+shall keep it locked in my own breast."</p>
+
+<p>Then, locking her desk and turning off the light, she stole noiselessly
+to her room.<!-- Page 168 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a><h2><i>Chapter XVI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Aftermath</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>As Darrell entered his room its dim solitude seemed doubly grateful
+after the glare of the crowded rooms he had lately left. His brain
+whirled from the unusual excitement. He wanted to be alone with his own
+thoughts&mdash;alone with this new, overpowering joy, and assure himself of
+its reality. He seated himself by an open window till the air had cooled
+his brow, and his brain, under the mysterious, soothing influence of the
+night, grew less confused; then, partially disrobing, he threw himself
+upon his bed to rest, but not to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Again he lived over the last few weeks at The Pines, comprehending at
+last the gracious influence which, entering into his barren, meagre
+life, had rendered it so inexpressibly rich and sweet and complete. Ah,
+how blind! to have walked day after day hand in hand with Love, not
+knowing that he entertained an angel unawares!</p>
+
+<p>And then had followed the revelation, when the scales had fallen from
+his eyes before the vision of lovely maiden-womanhood which had suddenly
+confronted him. He recalled her as she stood awaiting his tardy
+recognition&mdash;recalled her every word and look throughout the evening
+down to their parting, and again he seemed to hold her in his arms, to
+look into her eyes, to feel her head upon his breast, her kisses on his
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>But even with the remembrance of those moments, while yet he felt the
+pressure of her lips upon his<!-- Page 169 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> own, pure and cool like the dewy petals
+of a rose at sunrise, there came to him the first consciousness of pain
+mingled with the rapture, the first dash of bitter in the sweet, as he
+recalled the question in her eyes and the half-whispered, "I wondered if
+there might have been a 'Kathie' in the past."</p>
+
+<p>The past! How could he for one moment have forgotten that awful shadow
+overhanging his life! As it suddenly loomed before him in its hideous
+blackness, Darrell started from his pillow in horror, a cold sweat
+bursting from every pore. Gradually the terrible significance of it all
+dawned upon him,&mdash;the realization of what he had done and of what he
+must, as best he might, undo. It meant the relinquishment of what was
+sweetest and holiest on earth just as it seemed within his grasp; the
+renunciation of all that had made life seem worth living! Darrell buried
+his face in his hands and groaned aloud. So it was only a mockery, a
+dream. He recalled Kate's words: "I hardly dare go to sleep for fear I
+will wake up and find it all a dream," and self-reproach and remorse
+added their bitterness to his agony. What right had he to bring that
+bright young life under the cloud overhanging his own, to wreck her
+happiness by contact with his own misfortune! What would it be for her
+when she came to know the truth, as she must know it; and how was he to
+tell her? In his anguish he groaned,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"God pity us both and be merciful to her!"</p>
+
+<p>For more than an hour he walked the room; then kneeling by the bed, just
+as a pale, silvery streak appeared along the eastern horizon, he
+cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O God, leave me not in darkness; give me some clew to the vanished
+past, that I may know whether or not I have the right to this most
+precious of all thine earthly gifts!"<!-- Page 170 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And, burying his face, he strove as never before to pierce the darkness
+enveloping his brain. Long he knelt there, his hands clinching the
+bedclothes convulsively, even the muscles of his body tense and rigid
+under the terrible mental strain he was undergoing, while at times his
+powerful frame shook with agony.</p>
+
+<p>The silvery radiance crept upward over the deep blue dome; the stars
+dwindled to glimmering points of light, then faded one by one; a roseate
+flush tinged the eastern sky, growing and deepening, and the first
+golden rays were shooting upward from a sea of crimson flame as Darrell
+rose from his knees. He walked to the window, but even the sunlight
+seemed to mock him&mdash;there was no light for him, no rift in the cloud
+darkening his path, and with a heavy sigh he turned away. The struggle
+was not yet over; this was to be a day of battle with himself, and he
+nerved himself for the coming ordeal.</p>
+
+<p>After a cold bath he dressed and descended to the breakfast-room. It was
+still early, but Mr. Underwood was already at the table and Mrs. Dean
+entered a moment later from the kitchen, where she had been giving
+directions for breakfast for Kate and her guests. Both were shocked at
+Darrell's haggard face and heavy eyes, but by a forced cheerfulness he
+succeeded in diverting the scrutiny of the one and the anxious
+solicitude of the other. Mr. Underwood returned to his paper and his
+sister and Darrell had the conversation to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Last night's dissipation proved too much for me," Darrell said,
+playfully, in reply to some protest of Mrs. Dean's regarding his light
+appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't look fit to go down town!" she exclaimed; "you had better
+stay at home and help Kath<!-- Page 171 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>erine entertain her guests. I noticed you
+seemed to be very popular with them last night."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I would prove a sorry entertainer," Darrell answered,
+lightly, as he rose from the table, "so you will kindly excuse me to
+Miss Underwood and her friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you going to wait and ride down?" Mr. Underwood inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Not this morning," Darrell replied; "a brisk walk will do me good." And
+a moment later they heard his firm step on the gravelled driveway.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood having finished his reading of the morning paper passed it
+to his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty good write-up of last night's affair," he commented, as he
+replaced his spectacles in their case.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there? I'll look it up after breakfast; I haven't my glasses now,"
+Mrs. Dean replied. "I thought myself that everything passed off pretty
+well. What did you think of Katherine last night, David?"</p>
+
+<p>The lines about his mouth deepened as he answered, quietly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She'll do, if she is my child. I didn't see any finer than she; and old
+Stockton's daughter, with all her father's millions, couldn't touch
+her!"</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea the child was so beautiful," Mrs. Dean continued; "she
+seemed to come out so unexpectedly some way, just like a flower
+unfolding. I never was so surprised in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess the little girl took a good many of 'em by surprise, judging by
+appearances," Mr. Underwood remarked, a shrewd smile lighting his stern
+features.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she received a great deal of attention," rejoined his sister. "I
+suppose," she added thoughtfully, "she'll have lots of admirers 'round
+here now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, she won't," Mr. Underwood retorted, with decision, at the same
+<!-- Page 172 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+time pushing back his chair and rising hastily; "I'll see to it that she
+doesn't. If the right man steps up and means business, all right; but
+I'll have no hangers-on or fortune-hunters dawdling about!"</p>
+
+<p>His sister watched him curiously with a faint smile. "You had better
+advertise for the kind of man you want," she said, dryly, "and state
+that 'none others need apply,' as a warning to applicants whom you might
+consider undesirable."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood turned quickly. "What are you driving at?" he demanded,
+impatiently. "I've no time for beating about the bush."</p>
+
+<p>"And I've no time for explanations," she replied, with exasperating
+calmness; "you can think it over at your leisure."</p>
+
+<p>With a contemptuous "Humph!" Mr. Underwood left the house. After he had
+gone his sister sat for a while in deep thought, then, with a sigh, rose
+and went about her accustomed duties. She had been far more keen than
+her brother to observe the growing intimacy between her niece and
+Darrell, and she had seen some indications on the previous evening which
+troubled her, as much on Darrell's account as Kate's, for she had become
+deeply attached to the young man, and she well knew that her brother
+would not look upon him with favor as a suitor for his daughter.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Darrell, on reaching the office, found work and study alike
+impossible. The room seemed narrow and stifling; the medley of sound
+from the adjoining offices and from the street was distracting. He
+recalled the companions of his earlier days of pain and conflict,&mdash;the
+mountains,&mdash;and his heart yearned for their restful silence, for the
+soothing and uplifting of their solemn presence.
+<!-- Page 173 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Having left a brief note on Mr. Underwood's desk he closed his office,
+and, leaving the city behind him, started on foot up the familiar canyon
+road. After a walk of an hour or more he left the road, and, striking
+into a steep, narrow trail, began the ascent of one of the mountains of
+the main range. It still lacked a little of midday when he at last found
+himself on a narrow bench, near the summit, in a small growth of pines
+and firs. He stopped from sheer exhaustion and looked about him. Not a
+sign of human life was visible; not a sound broke the stillness save an
+occasional breath of air murmuring through the pines and the trickling
+of a tiny rivulet over the rocks just above where he stood. Going to the
+little stream he caught the crystal drops as they fell, quenching his
+thirst and bathing his heated brow; then, somewhat refreshed, he braced
+himself for the inevitable conflict.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly he paced up and down the rocky ledge, giving no heed to the
+passage of time, all his faculties centred upon the struggle between the
+inexorable demands of conscience on the one hand and the insatiate
+cravings of a newly awakened passion on the other. Vainly he strove to
+find some middle ground. Gradually, as his brain grew calm, the various
+courses of action which had at first suggested themselves to his mind
+appeared weak and cowardly, and the only course open to him was that of
+renunciation and of self-immolation.</p>
+
+<p>With a bitter cry he threw himself, face downward, upon the ground. A
+long time he lay there, till at last the peace from the great pitying
+heart of Nature touched his heart, and he slept on the warm bosom of
+Mother Earth as a child on its mother's breast.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was sinking towards the western ranges and slowly lengthening
+shadows were creeping athwart the distant valleys when Darrell rose to
+his feet and,<!-- Page 174 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> after silently drinking in the beauty of the scene about
+him, prepared to descend. His face bore traces of the recent struggle,
+but it was the face of one who had conquered, whose mastery of himself
+was beyond all doubt or question. He took the homeward trail with firm
+step, with head erect, with face set and determined, and there was in
+his bearing that which indicated that there would be no wavering, no
+swerving from his purpose. His own hand had closed and bolted the gates
+of the Eden whose sweets he had but just tasted, and his conscience held
+the flaming sword which was henceforth to guard those portals.</p>
+
+<p>A little later, as Darrell in the early twilight passed up the driveway
+to The Pines, he was conscious only of a dull, leaden weight within his
+breast; his very senses seemed benumbed and he almost believed himself
+incapable of further suffering, till, as he approached the house, the
+sight of Kate seated in the veranda with her father and aunt and the
+thought of the suffering yet in store for her thrilled him anew with
+most poignant pain.</p>
+
+<p>His face was in the shadow as he came up the steps, and only Kate,
+seated near him, saw its pallor. She started and would have uttered an
+exclamation, but something in its expression awed and restrained her.
+There was a grave tenderness in his eyes as they met hers, but the light
+and joy which had been there when last she looked into them had gone out
+and in their place were dark gloom and despair. She heard as in a dream
+his answers to the inquiries of her father and aunt; heard him pass into
+the house accompanied by her aunt, who had prepared a substantial lunch
+against his return, and, with a strange sinking at her heart, sat
+silently awaiting his coming out.</p>
+
+<p>It had been a trying day for her. On waking, her<!-- Page 175 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> happiness had seemed
+complete, but Darrell's absence on that morning of all mornings had
+seemed to her inexplicable, and when her guests had taken their
+departure and the long day wore on without his return and with no
+message from him, an indefinable dread haunted her. She had watched
+eagerly for Darrell's return, believing that one look into his face
+would banish her forebodings, but, instead, she had read there only a
+confirmation of her fears. And now she waited in suspense, longing, yet
+dreading to hear his step.</p>
+
+<p>At last he came, and, as he faced the light, Kate was shocked at the
+change which so few hours had wrought. He, too, was touched by the
+piteous appeal in her eyes, and there was a rare tenderness in voice and
+smile as he suggested a stroll through the grounds according to their
+custom, which somewhat reassured her.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Mr. Underwood and his sister had observed the old shadow of
+gloom in Darrell's face, and surmised something of its cause, for their
+eyes followed the young people in their walk up and down under the pines
+and a softened look stole into their usually impassive faces. At last,
+as they passed out of sight on one of the mountain terraces, Mrs. Dean
+said, with slight hesitation,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Did it ever occur to you, David, that Katherine and Mr. Darrell are
+thrown in each other's society a great deal?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood shot a keen glance at his sister from under his heavy
+brows, as he replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come to think of it, I suppose they are, though I can't say as I've
+ever given the matter much thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it's time you did think about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Marcia," said her brother, good-humoredly,<!-- Page 176 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> "come to the point;
+are you, woman-like, scenting a love-affair in that direction?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean found herself unexpectedly cornered. "I don't say that there
+is, but I don't know what else you could expect of two young folks like
+them, thrown together constantly as they are."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mr. Underwood, with an air of comic perplexity, "do you
+want me to send Darrell adrift, or shall I pack Puss off to a convent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, David, I'm serious," his sister remonstrated, mildly. "Of course,
+I don't know that anything will come of it; but if you don't want that
+anything should, I think it's your duty, for Katherine's sake and Mr.
+Darrell's also, to prevent it. I think too much of them both to see any
+trouble come to either of them."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood puffed at his pipe in silence, while the gleaming needles
+in his sister's fingers clicked with monotonous regularity. When he
+spoke his tones lacked their usual brusqueness and had an element almost
+of gentleness.</p>
+
+<p>"Was this what was in your mind this morning, Marcia?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, maybe so," his sister assented.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think, Marcia, that I need any one to tell me my duty,
+especially regarding my child. I have my own plans for her future, and I
+will allow nothing to interfere with them. And as for John Darrell, he
+has the good, sterling sense to know that anything more than friendship
+between him and Kate is not to be thought of for a moment, and I can
+trust to his honor as a gentleman that he will not go beyond it. So I
+rather think your anxieties are groundless."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so," his sister answered, doubtfully, "but young folks are not
+generally governed much by common sense in things of this kind; and then
+you know,<!-- Page 177 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> David, Katherine is different from us,&mdash;she grows more and
+more like her mother,&mdash;and if she once got her heart set on any one, I
+don't think anybody&mdash;even you&mdash;could make her change."</p>
+
+<p>The muscles of Mr. Underwood's face suddenly contracted as though by
+acute pain.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do, Marcia," he said, gravely, with a silencing wave of his
+hand; "there is no need to call up the past. I know Kate is like her
+mother, but she has my blood in her veins also,&mdash;enough that when the
+time comes she'll not let any childish sentimentality stand in the way
+of what I think is for her good."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean silently folded her knitting and rose to go into the house. At
+the door, however, she paused, and, looking back at her brother, said,
+in her low, even tones,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have said my last word of this affair, David, no matter what comes of
+it. You think you understand Katherine better than I, but you may find
+some day that it's better to prevent trouble than to try to cure it."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Darrell and Kate had reached their favorite seat beneath the
+pines and, after one or two futile attempts at talking, had lapsed into
+a constrained silence. To Kate there came a sudden realization that the
+merely friendly relations heretofore existing between them had been
+swept away; that henceforth she must either give the man at her side the
+concentrated affection of her whole being or, should he prove
+unworthy,&mdash;she glanced at his haggard face and could not complete the
+supposition even to herself. He was troubled, and her tender heart
+longed to comfort him, but his strange appearance held her back. At one
+word, one sign of love from him, she would have thrown herself upon his
+breast and begged to share his burden in true woman fashion; but he was
+so cold,<!-- Page 178 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> so distant; he did not even take her hand as in the careless,
+happy days before either of them thought of love.</p>
+
+<p>Kate could endure the silence no longer, and ventured some timid word of
+loving sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell turned, facing her, his dark eyes strangely hollow and sunken.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, in a low voice, "God knows I have suffered since I saw
+you, but I deserve to suffer for having so far forgotten myself last
+night. That is not what is troubling me now; it is the thought of the
+sorrow and wretchedness I have brought into your pure, innocent
+life,&mdash;that you must suffer for my folly, my wrong-doing."</p>
+
+<p>"But," interposed Kate, "I don't understand; what wrong have you done?"</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie," he answered, brokenly, "it was all a mistake&mdash;a terrible
+mistake of mine! Can you forgive me? Can you forget? God grant you can!"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive! Forget!" she exclaimed, in bewildered tones; "a mistake?" her
+voice faltered and she paused, her face growing deathly pale.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot think," he continued, "how I came to so forget myself, the
+circumstances under which I am here, the kindness you and your people
+have shown me, and the trust they have reposed in me. I must have been
+beside myself. But I have no excuse to offer; I can only ask your
+forgiveness, and that I may, so far as possible, undo what has been
+done."</p>
+
+<p>While he was speaking she had drawn away from him, and, sitting proudly
+erect, she scanned his face in the waning light as though to read there
+the full significance of his meaning. Her cheeks blanched at his last
+words, but there was no tremor in her tones as she replied,<!-- Page 179 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I understand you to refer to what occurred last night; is that what you
+wish undone&mdash;what you would have me forget?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would give worlds if only it might be undone," he answered, "but that
+is an impossibility. Oh Kathie, I know how monstrous, how cruel this
+must seem to you, but it is the only honorable course left me after my
+stupidity, my cursed folly; and, believe me, it is far more of a
+kindness even to you to stop this wretched business right here than to
+carry it farther."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not necessary to consider my feelings in the matter, Mr. Darrell.
+If, as you say, you found yourself mistaken, to attempt after that to
+carry on what could only be a mere farce would be simply unpardonable. A
+mistake I could forgive; a deliberate deception, never!"</p>
+
+<p>The tones, so unlike Kate's, caused Darrell to turn in pained surprise.
+The deepening shadows hid the white, drawn face and quivering lips; he
+saw only the motionless, slender figure held so rigidly erect.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Kathie&mdash;Miss Underwood&mdash;you must have misunderstood me," he said,
+earnestly. "I have acted foolishly, but in no way falsely. You could
+not, under any circumstances, accuse me of deception&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Darrell," she interposed, more gently; "I did
+not intend to accuse you of deception. I only meant that, regardless of
+any personal feeling, it was, as you said, better to stop this; that to
+carry it farther after you had found you did not care for me as you
+supposed&mdash;or as I was led to suppose&mdash;&mdash;" She paused an instant,
+uncertain how to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie, Kathie! what are you saying?" Darrell exclaimed. "What have I
+said that you should so misunderstand me?"<!-- Page 180 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But," she protested, piteously, struggling to control her voice, "did
+you not say that it was all a mistake on your part&mdash;that you wished it
+all undone? What else could I understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"My poor child!" said Darrell, tenderly; then reaching over and
+possessing himself of one of her hands, he continued, gravely:</p>
+
+<p>"The mistake was mine in that I ever allowed myself to think of loving
+you when love is not for me. I have no right, Kathie, to love you, or
+any other woman, as I am now. I did not know until last night that I did
+love you. Then it came upon me like a revelation,&mdash;a revelation so
+overwhelming that it swept all else before it. You, and you alone,
+filled my thoughts. Wherever I was, I saw you, heard you, and you only.
+Again and again in imagination I clasped you to my breast, I felt your
+kisses on my lips,&mdash;just as I afterwards felt them in reality."</p>
+
+<p>He paused a moment and dropped the hand he had taken. Under cover of the
+shadows Kate's tears were falling unchecked; one, falling on Darrell's
+hand, had warned him that there must be no weakening, no softening.</p>
+
+<p>His voice was almost stern as he resumed. "For those few hours I forgot
+that I was a being apart from the rest of the world, exiled to darkness
+and oblivion; forgot the obligations to myself and to others which my
+own condition imposes upon me. But the dream passed; I awoke to a
+realization of what I had done, and whatever I have suffered since is
+but the just penalty of my folly. The worst of all is that I have
+involved you in needless suffering; I have won your love only to have to
+put it aside&mdash;to renounce it. But even this is better&mdash;far better than
+to allow your young life to come one step farther within the clouds<!-- Page 181 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+that envelop my own. Do you understand me now, Kathie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied, calmly; "I understand it from your view, as it looks
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>"But is not that the only view?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not speak at once, and when she did it was with a peculiar
+deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>"The clouds will lift one day; what then?"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's voice trembled with emotion as he replied, "We cannot trust to
+that, for neither you nor I know what the light will reveal."</p>
+
+<p>She remained silent, and Darrell, after a pause, continued: "Don't make
+it harder for me, Kathie; there is but one course for us to follow in
+honor to ourselves or to each other."</p>
+
+<p>They sat in silence for a few moments; then both rose simultaneously to
+return to the house, and as they did so Darrell was conscious of a new
+bearing in Kate's manner,&mdash;an added dignity and womanliness. As they
+faced one another Darrell took both her hands in his, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What is it to be, Kathie? Can we return to the old friendship?"</p>
+
+<p>She stood for a moment with averted face, watching the stars brightening
+one by one in the evening sky.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said, presently, "we can never return to that now; it would
+seem too bare, too meagre. There will always be something deeper and
+sweeter than mere friendship between us,&mdash;unless you fail me, and I know
+you will not."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you forgive me?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She turned then, looking him full in the eyes, and her own seemed to
+have caught the radiance of the stars themselves, as she answered,
+simply,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No, John Darrell, for there is nothing to forgive."<!-- Page 182 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XVII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">"She knows her Father's Will is Law"</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Though the succeeding days and weeks dragged wearily for Darrell, he
+applied himself anew to work and study, and only the lurking shadows
+within his eyes, the deepening lines on his face, the fast multiplying
+gleams of silver in his dark hair, gave evidence of his suffering.</p>
+
+<p>And if to Kate the summer seemed suddenly to have lost its glory and
+music, if she found the round of social pleasures on which she had just
+entered grown strangely insipid, if it sometimes seemed to her that she
+had quaffed all the richness and sweetness of life on that wondrous
+first night till only the dregs remained, she gave no sign. With her
+sunny smile and lightsome ways she reigned supreme, both in society and
+in the home, and none but her aunt and Darrell missed the old-time
+rippling laughter or noted the deepening wistfulness and seriousness of
+the fair young face.</p>
+
+<p>Her father watched her with growing pride, and with a visible
+satisfaction which told of carefully laid plans known only to himself,
+whose consummation he deemed not far distant.</p>
+
+<p>Acting on the suggestion of his sister, he had been closely observant of
+both Kate and Darrell, but any conclusions which he formed he kept to
+himself and went his way apparently well satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of an unusually busy day late in the<!-- Page 183 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> summer Darrell was
+seated alone in his office, reviewing his life in the West and vaguely
+wondering what would yet be the outcome of it all, when Mr. Underwood
+entered from the adjoining room. Exultation and elation were patent in
+his very step, but Darrell, lost in thought, was hardly conscious even
+of his presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my boy, what are you mooning over?" Mr. Underwood asked,
+good-naturedly, noting Darrell's abstraction.</p>
+
+<p>"Only trying to find a solution for problems as yet insoluble," Darrell
+answered, with a smile that ended in a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Stick to the practical side of life, boy, and let the problems solve
+themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"A very good rule to follow, provided the problems would solve
+themselves," commented Darrell.</p>
+
+<p>"Those things generally work themselves out after a while," said Mr.
+Underwood, walking up and down the room. "I say, don't meddle with what
+you can't understand; take what you can understand and make a practical
+application of it. That's always been my motto, and if people would
+stick to that principle in commercial life, in religion, and everything
+else, there'd be fewer failures in business, less wrangling in the
+churches, and more good accomplished generally."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you are about right there," Darrell admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"Been pretty busy to-day, haven't you?" Mr. Underwood asked, abruptly,
+after a short pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, uncommonly so; work is increasing of late."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good. Well, it has been a busy day with us; rather an eventful
+one, in fact; one which Walcott and I will remember with pleasure, I
+trust, for a good many years to come."<!-- Page 184 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How is that?" Darrell inquired, wondering at the pleasurable excitement
+in the elder man's tones.</p>
+
+<p>"We made a little change in the partnership to-day: Walcott is now an
+equal partner with myself."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell remained silent from sheer astonishment. Mr. Underwood evidently
+considered his silence an indication of disapproval, for he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"I know you don't like the man, Darrell, so there's no use of arguing
+that side of the question, but I tell you he has proved himself
+invaluable to me. You might not think it, but it's a fact that the
+business in this office has increased fifty per cent. since he came into
+it. He is thoroughly capable, responsible, honest,&mdash;just the sort of man
+that I can intrust the business to as I grow older and know that it will
+be carried on as well as though I was at the helm myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, a half-interest seems pretty large for a man with no more
+capital in the business than he has," said Darrell, determined to make
+no personal reference to Walcott.</p>
+
+<p>"He has put in fifty thousand additional since he came in," Mr.
+Underwood replied.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell whistled softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he has money all right; I'm satisfied of that. I'm satisfied that
+he could have furnished the money to begin with, only he was lying low."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he certainly has nothing to complain of; you've done more than
+well by him."</p>
+
+<p>"No better proportionately than I would have done by you, my boy, if you
+had come in with me last spring when I asked you to. I had this thing in
+view then, and had made up my mind you'd make the right man for the
+place, but you wouldn't hear to it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right, Mr. Underwood," said Darrell; "I appreciate your kind
+intentions just the same, but<!-- Page 185 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> I am more than ever satisfied that I
+wouldn't have been the right man for the place."</p>
+
+<p>Both men were silent for some little time, but neither showed any
+inclination to terminate the interview. Mr. Underwood was still pacing
+back and forth, while Darrell had risen and was standing by the window,
+looking out absently into the street.</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't all of it, and I may as well tell you the rest," said Mr.
+Underwood, suddenly pausing near Darrell, his manner much like a
+school-boy who has a confession to make and hardly knows how to begin.
+"Mr. Walcott to-day asked me&mdash;asked my permission to pay his addresses
+to my daughter&mdash;my little girl," he added, under his breath, and there
+was a strange note of tenderness in the usually brusque voice.</p>
+
+<p>If ever Darrell was thankful, it was that he could at that moment look
+the father squarely in the face. He turned, facing Mr. Underwood, his
+dark eyes fairly blazing.</p>
+
+<p>"And you gave your permission?" he asked, slowly, with terrible emphasis
+on each word.</p>
+
+<p>"Most assuredly," Mr. Underwood retorted, quickly, stung to self-defence
+by Darrell's look and tone. "I may add that I have had this thing in
+mind for some time&mdash;have felt that it was coming; in fact, this new
+partnership arrangement was made with a view to facilitate matters, and
+he was enough of a gentleman to come forward at once with his
+proposition."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell gazed out of the window again with unseeing eyes. "Mr.
+Underwood," he said, in a low tone, "I would never have believed it
+possible that your infatuation for that man would have led to this."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no infatuation about it," the elder man replied, hotly; "it is
+a matter of good, sound judgment<!-- Page 186 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> and business calculation. I know of no
+man among our townspeople, or even in the State, to whom I would give my
+daughter as soon as I would to Walcott. There are others who may have
+larger means now, but they haven't got his business ability. With what I
+can give Puss, what he has now, and what he will make within the next
+few years, she will have a home and position equal to the best."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all you think of, Mr. Underwood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not all, by any means; but it's a mighty important consideration, just
+the same. But the man is all right morally; you, with all your prejudice
+against him, can't lay your finger on one flaw in his character."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "I have studied that man, I have
+heard him talk. He has no conception of life beyond the sensual, the
+animal; he is a brute, a beast, in thought and act. He is no more fit to
+marry your daughter, or even to associate with her, than&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Young man," interrupted Mr. Underwood, laughing good-humoredly, "I have
+only one thing against you: you are not exactly practical. You are, like
+my friend Britton, inclined to rather high ideals. We don't generally
+find men built according to those ideals, and we have to take 'em as we
+find 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will, of course, allow your daughter to act according to her
+own judgment? You surely would not force her into any marriage
+distasteful to her?" Darrell asked, remembering Kate's aversion for
+Walcott.</p>
+
+<p>"A young girl's judgment in those matters is not often to be relied
+upon. Kate knows that I consider only her best interests, and I think
+her judgment could be brought to coincide with my own. At any rate, she
+knows her father's will is law."<!-- Page 187 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As Darrell, convinced that argument would be useless, made no reply, Mr.
+Underwood added, after a pause,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I know I can trust to your honor that you will not influence her
+against Walcott?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not, of course, attempt to influence her one way or the other.
+I have no right; but if I had the right,&mdash;if she were my sister,&mdash;that
+man should never so much as touch the hem of her garment!"</p>
+
+<p>"My boy," said Mr. Underwood, rather brusquely, extending one hand and
+laying the other on Darrell's shoulder, "I understand, and you're all
+right. We all consider you one of ourselves, and," he added, somewhat
+awkwardly, "you understand, if conditions were not just as they are&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But conditions are just as they are," Darrell interposed, quickly, "so
+there is no use discussing what might be were they different."</p>
+
+<p>The bitterness in his tones struck a chord of sympathy within the heart
+of the man beside him, but he knew not how to express it, and it is
+doubtful whether he would have voiced it had he known how. The two
+clasped hands silently; then, without a word, the elder man left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>Not until now had Darrell realized how strong had been the hope within
+his breast that some crisis in his condition might yet reveal enough to
+make possible the fulfilment of his love. The pleasant relations between
+himself and Kate in many respects still remained practically unchanged.
+True, his sense of honor forbade any return to the tender familiarities
+of the past, but there yet existed between them a tacit, unspoken
+comradeship, beneath which flowed, deeply and silently, the undercurrent
+of love, not to be easily diverted or turned aside. But this he now felt
+would soon be changed, while all hope for the future must be abandoned.</p>
+<p><!-- Page 188 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With a heavy heart Darrell awaited developments. He soon noted a marked
+increase in the frequency of Walcott's calls at The Pines, and, not
+caring to embarrass Kate by his presence, he absented himself from the
+house as often as possible on those occasions.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott himself must have been very soon aware that in his courtship Mr.
+Underwood was his sole partisan, but he bore himself with a confidence
+and assurance which would brook no thought of defeat. Mrs. Dean, knowing
+her brother as she did, was quick to understand the situation, and
+silently showed her disapproval; but Walcott politely ignored her
+disfavor as not worth his consideration.</p>
+
+<p>At first, Kate, considering him her father's guest, received him with
+the same frank, winning courtesy which she extended to others, and he,
+quick to make the most of every opportunity, exerted himself to the
+utmost in his efforts to entertain his young hostess and her friends. To
+a certain extent he succeeded, in that Kate was compelled to admit to
+herself that he could be far more agreeable than she had ever supposed.
+He had travelled extensively and was possessed of good descriptive
+powers; his voice was low and musical, and his eyes, limpid and tender
+whenever he fixed them upon her face, held her glance by some
+irresistible, magnetic force, and invariably brought the deepening color
+to her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>With the first inkling, however, of the nature of his visits, all her
+old abhorrence of him returned with increased intensity, but her
+ill-concealed aversion only furnished him with a new incentive and
+spurred him to redouble his attentions.</p>
+
+<p>The only opposition encountered by him that ap<!-- Page 189 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>peared in the least to
+disturb his equanimity, was that of Duke, which was on all occasions
+most forcibly expressed, the latter never failing to greet him with a
+low growl, meeting all overtures of friendship with an ominous gleam in
+his intelligent eyes and a display of ivory that made Mr. Walcott only
+too willing to desist.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Miss Underwood," Walcott remarked one evening when Duke had
+been more than usually demonstrative, "your pet's attentions to me are
+sometimes a trifle distracting. Could you not occasionally bestow the
+pleasure of his society upon some one else&mdash;Mr. Darrell, for instance? I
+imagine the two might prove quite congenial to each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Please remember, Mr. Walcott, you are speaking of a friend of mine,"
+Kate replied, coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Darrell? I beg pardon, I meant no offence; but since he and Duke
+seem to share the same unaccountable antipathy towards myself, I
+naturally thought there would be a bond of sympathy between them."</p>
+
+<p>Kate had been playing, and was still seated at the piano, idly waiting
+for Walcott, who was turning the pages of a new music-book, to make
+another selection. She now rose rather wearily, and, leaving the piano,
+joined her father and aunt upon the veranda outside.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott pushed the music from him, and, taking Kate's mandolin from off
+the piano, followed. Throwing himself down upon the steps at Kate's feet
+in an attitude of genuine Spanish abandon and grace, he said, lightly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Since you will not favor us further, I will see what I can do."</p>
+
+<p>He possessed little technical knowledge of music, but had quite a
+repertoire of songs picked up in his travels<!-- Page 190 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> in various countries, to
+which he could accompany himself upon the guitar or mandolin.</p>
+
+<p>He strummed the strings carelessly for a moment, then, in a low voice,
+began a Spanish love-song. There was no need of an interpreter to make
+known to Kate the meaning of the song. The low, sweet cadences were full
+of tender pleading, every note was tremulous with passion, while the
+dark eyes holding her own seemed burning into her very soul.</p>
+
+<p>But the spell of the music worked far differently from Walcott's hopes
+or anticipations. Even while angry at herself for listening, Kate could
+scarcely restrain the tears, for the tender love-strains brought back so
+vividly the memory of those hours&mdash;so brief and fleeting&mdash;in which she
+had known the pure, unalloyed joy of love, that her heart seemed near
+bursting. As the last lingering notes died away, the pain was more than
+she could endure, and, pleading a slight headache, she excused herself
+and went to her room. Throwing herself upon the bed, she gave way to her
+feelings, sobbing bitterly as she recalled the sudden, hopeless ending
+of the most perfect happiness her young life had ever known. Gradually
+the violence of her grief subsided and she grew more calm, but a dull
+pain was at her heart, for though unwilling to admit it even to herself,
+she was hurt at Darrell's absence on the occasions of Walcott's visits.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does he leave me when he knows I can't endure the sight of that
+man?" she soliloquized, sorrowfully. "If he would stay by me the
+creature would not dare make love to me. Oh, if we could only just be
+lovers until all this dreadful uncertainty is past! I'm sure it would
+come out all right, and I would gladly wait years for him, if only he
+would let me!"</p>
+
+<p>As she sat alone in her misery she heard Walcott<!-- Page 191 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> take his departure. A
+little later Darrell returned and went to his room, and soon after she
+heard her aunt's step in the hall, followed by a quiet knock at her
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, auntie," she called, wondering what her errand might be.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you gone to bed, Katherine, or are you up?" Mrs. Dean inquired,
+for the room was dark.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm up; why, auntie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your father said to tell you he wanted to see you, if you had not
+retired."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean stopped a moment to inquire for Kate's headache, and as she
+left the room Kate heard her sigh heavily.</p>
+
+<p>A happy thought occurred to Kate as she ran downstairs,&mdash;she would have
+her father put a stop to Walcott's attentions; if he knew how they
+annoyed her he would certainly do it. She entered the room where he
+waited with her sunniest smile, for the stern, gruff-voiced man was the
+idol of her heart and she believed implicitly in his love for her, even
+though it seldom found expression in words.</p>
+
+<p>But her smile faded before the displeasure in her father's face. He
+scrutinized her keenly from under his heavy brows, but if he noted the
+traces of tears upon her face, he made no comment.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not suppose, Kate," he said, slowly, for he could not bring
+himself to speak harshly to her,&mdash;"I did not suppose that a child of
+mine would treat any guest of this house as rudely as you treated Mr.
+Walcott to-night. I sent for you for an explanation."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not mean to be rude, papa," Kate replied, seating herself on her
+father's knee and laying one arm caressingly about his neck, "but he did
+annoy me so to-night,&mdash;he has annoyed me so often of late,&mdash;I just
+couldn't endure it any longer."<!-- Page 192 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Has Mr. Walcott ever conducted himself other than as a gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no, papa, he is gentlemanly enough, so far as that is concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so," her father interposed; "I should say that he had laid
+himself out to entertain you and your friends and to make it pleasant
+for all of us whenever he has been here. It strikes me that his manners
+are very far from annoying; that he is a gentleman in every sense of the
+word; he certainly carried himself like one to-night in the face of the
+treatment you gave him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm sorry if I was rude. I have no objection to him as a
+gentleman or as an acquaintance, if he would not go beyond that; but I
+detest his attentions and his love-making, and he will not stop even
+when he sees that it annoys me."</p>
+
+<p>"No one has a better right to pay his attentions to you, for he has
+asked and received my permission to do so."</p>
+
+<p>Kate drew herself upright and gazed at her father with eyes full of
+horror.</p>
+
+<p>"You gave him permission to pay attention to me!" she exclaimed, slowly,
+as though scarcely comprehending his meaning; then, springing to her
+feet and drawing herself to her full height, she demanded,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean, papa, that you intend me to marry him?"</p>
+
+<p>For an instant Mr. Underwood felt ill at ease; Kate's face was white and
+her eyes had the look of a creature brought to bay, that sees no escape
+from the death confronting it, for even in that brief time Kate, knowing
+her father's indomitable will, realized with a sense of despair the
+hopelessness of her situation.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose your marriage will be the outcome,&mdash;at<!-- Page 193 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> least, I hope so,"
+her father replied, quickly recovering his composure, "for I certainly
+know of no one to whom I would so willingly intrust your future
+happiness. Listen to me, Kate: have I not always planned and worked for
+your best interests?"</p>
+
+<p>"You always have, papa."</p>
+
+<p>"Have I not always chosen what was for your good and for your
+happiness?"</p>
+
+<p>Kate gave a silent assent.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; then I think you can trust to my judgment in this case."</p>
+
+<p>"But, papa," she protested, "this is different. I never can love that
+man; I abhor him&mdash;loathe him! Do you think there can be any happiness or
+good in a marriage without love? Would you and mamma have been happy
+together if you had not loved each other?"</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had she spoken the words than she regretted them as she noted
+the look of pain that crossed her father's face. In his silent,
+undemonstrative way he had idolized his wife, and it was seldom that he
+would allow any allusion to her in his presence.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know why you should call up the past," he said, after a pause,
+"but since you have I will tell you that your mother when a girl like
+yourself objected to our marriage; she thought that we were unsuited to
+each other and that we could never live happily together. She listened,
+however, to the advice of those older and wiser than she, and you know
+the result." The strong man's voice trembled slightly. "I think our
+married life was a happy one. It was for me, I know; I hope it was for
+her."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed. To Kate there came the memory of the frail,
+young mother lying, day after day, upon her couch in the solitude of her
+sick-room, often weeping silently, while she, a mere child, knelt<!-- Page 194 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> sadly
+and wistfully beside her, as silently wiping the tear-drops as they fell
+and wondering at their cause. She understood now, but not for worlds
+would she have spoken one word to pain her father's heart.</p>
+
+<p>At last Mr. Underwood said, rising as though to end the interview, "I
+think I can depend upon you now, Kate, to carry out my wishes in this
+matter."</p>
+
+<p>Kate rose proudly. "I have never disobeyed you, papa; I will treat Mr.
+Walcott courteously; but even though you force me to marry him I will
+never, never love him, and I shall tell him so."</p>
+
+<p>Her father smiled. "Mr. Walcott, I think, has too much good sense to
+attach much weight to any girlish whims; that will pass, you will think
+differently by and by."</p>
+
+<p>As she stopped for her usual good-night kiss she threw her arms about
+her father's neck, and, looking appealingly into his face, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Papa, it need not be very soon, need it? You are not in a hurry to be
+rid of your little girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk foolishly, child," he answered, hastily; "you know I've no
+wish to be rid of you, but I do want to see you settled in a home of
+your own&mdash;equal to the best, and, as I said a while ago, and told Mr.
+Darrell in talking the matter over with him, I know of no one in whose
+hands I would so willingly place you and your happiness as Mr.
+Walcott's. As for the date and other matters of that sort," he added,
+playfully pinching her cheeks, "I suppose those will all be mutually
+arranged between the gentleman and yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Kate had started back slightly. "You have talked this over with Mr.
+Darrell?" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"What did he think of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said her father, slowly, "naturally he did<!-- Page 195 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> not quite fall in
+with my views, for I think he is not just what you could call a
+disinterested party. I more than half suspect that Mr. Darrell would
+like to step into Mr. Walcott's place himself, if he were only eligible,
+but knowing that he is not, he is too much of a gentleman to commit
+himself in any way."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood scanned his daughter's face keenly as he spoke, but it was
+as impassive as his own. To Kate, Darrell's absences of late were now
+explained; he understood it all. She kissed her father silently.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, Puss, I am looking out for your best interests in all of
+this," said her father, a little troubled by her silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that is your intention, papa," she replied, with gentle gravity,
+and left the room.<!-- Page 196 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XVIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">"On the "Divide"</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Summer had merged into autumn. Crisp, exhilarating mornings ushered in
+glorious days flooded with sunshine, followed by sparkling, frosty
+nights.</p>
+
+<p>The strike at the mining camp had been adjusted; the union
+boarding-house after two months was found a failure and abandoned, and
+the strikers gradually returned to their work. Mr. Underwood, during the
+shut-down, had improved the time to enlarge the mill and add
+considerable new machinery; this work was now nearly completed; in two
+weeks the mill would again be running, and he offered Darrell his old
+position as assayer in charge, which the latter, somewhat to Mr.
+Underwood's surprise, accepted.</p>
+
+<p>Although his city business was now quite well established, Darrell felt
+that life at The Pines was becoming unendurable. Walcott's visits were
+now so frequent it was impossible longer to avoid him. The latter's air
+of easy self-assurance, the terms of endearment which fell so flippantly
+from his lips, and his bold, passionate glances which never failed to
+bring the rich, warm blood to Kate's cheeks and brow, all to one
+possessing Darrell's fine chivalric nature and his delicacy of feeling
+were intolerable. In addition, the growing indications of Kate's
+unhappiness, the silent appeal in her eyes, the pathetic curves forming
+about her mouth, and the touch of pathos in the voice whose every tone
+was music to his ear, seemed at times more than he could bear.<!-- Page 197 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There were hours&mdash;silent, brooding hours of the night&mdash;when he was
+sorely tempted to defy past and future alike, and, despite the
+conditions surrounding himself, to rescue her from a life which could
+have in store for her nothing but bitterness and sorrow. But with the
+dawn his better judgment returned; conscience, inexorable as ever, still
+held sway; he kept his own counsel as in duty bound, going his way with
+a heart that grew heavier day by day, and was hence glad of an
+opportunity to return once more to the seclusion of the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Kate, realizing that all further appeal to her father was useless, as a
+last resort trusted to Walcott's sense of honor, that, when he should
+fully understand her feelings towards himself, he would discontinue his
+attentions. But in this she found herself mistaken. Taking advantage of
+the courtesy which she extended to him in accordance with the promise
+given her father, he pressed his suit more ardently than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you persist in annoying me in this manner?" she demanded one
+day, indignantly withdrawing from his attempted caresses. "The fact that
+my father has given you his permission to pay attention to me does not
+warrant any such familiarity on your part."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not," Walcott replied, in his low, musical tones, "but stolen
+waters are often sweetest. If I have offended, pardon. I supposed my
+love for you would justify me in offering any expression of it, but
+since you say I have no right to do so, I beg of you, my dear Miss
+Underwood, to give me that right."</p>
+
+<p>"That is impossible," Kate answered, firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why impossible?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I will not accept any expressions of a love that I cannot
+reciprocate."<!-- Page 198 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Love begets love," he argued, softly; "so long as you keep me at arm's
+length you have no means of knowing whether or not you could reciprocate
+my affection. Mr. Underwood has done me the great honor to consent to
+bestow his daughter's hand upon me, and I have no doubt of yet winning
+the consent of the lady herself if she will but give me a fair chance."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, her eyes ablaze with indignation, "would you
+make a woman your wife who did not love you&mdash;who never could, under any
+circumstances, love you?"</p>
+
+<p>Walcott suddenly seized her hands in his, looking down into her eyes
+with his steady, dominant gaze.</p>
+
+<p>"If I loved her as I love you," he said, slowly, "I would make her my
+wife though she hated me,&mdash;and win her love afterwards! I can win it,
+and I will!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never!" Kate exclaimed, passionately, but he had kissed her hands and
+was gone before she could recover herself.</p>
+
+<p>In that look she had for the first time comprehended something of the
+man's real nature, of the powerful brute force concealed beneath the
+smooth, smiling exterior. Her heart seemed seized and held in a
+vise-like grip, while a cold, benumbing despair settled upon her like an
+incubus, which she was unable to throw off for days.</p>
+
+<p>It lacked only two days of the time set for Darrell's return to the
+mining camp when he and Kate set out one afternoon accompanied by Duke
+for a ride up the familiar canyon road. At first their ponies cantered
+briskly, but as the road grew more rough and steep they were finally
+content to walk quietly side by side.</p>
+
+<p>For a while neither Darrell nor Kate had much to say. Their hearts were
+too oppressed for words.<!-- Page 199 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> Each realized that this little jaunt into the
+mountains was their last together; that it constituted a sort of
+farewell to their happy life of the past summer and to each other. Each
+was thinking of their first meeting under the pines on that evening
+gorgeous with the sunset rays and sweet with the breath of June roses.</p>
+
+<p>At last they turned into a trail which soon grew so steep and narrow
+that they dismounted, and, fastening their ponies, proceeded up the
+trail on foot. Slowly they wended their way upward, pausing at length on
+a broad, projecting ledge a little below the summit, where they seated
+themselves on the rocks to rest a while. Kate's eyes wandered afar over
+the wonderful scene before them, wrapped in unbroken silence, yet
+palpitating in the mellow, golden sunlight with a mysterious life and
+beauty all its own.</p>
+
+<p>But Darrell was for once oblivious to the scene; his eyes were fastened
+on Kate's face, a look in them of insatiable hunger, as though he were
+storing up the memory of every line and lineament against the barren
+days to come. He wondered if the silent, calm-faced, self-contained
+woman beside him could be the laughing, joyous maiden whom he had seen
+flitting among the trees and fountains at their first meeting little
+more than three months past. He recalled how he had then thought her
+unlike either her father or her aunt, and believed her to be wholly
+without their self-restraint and self-repression. Now he saw that the
+same stoical blood was in her veins. Already the sensitive, mobile face,
+which had mirrored every emotion of the impulsive, sympathetic soul
+within, bore something of the impassive calm of the rocks surrounding
+them; it might have been chiselled in marble, so devoid was it at that
+moment of any trace of feeling.<!-- Page 200 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A faint sigh seemed to break the spell, and she turned facing him with
+her old-time sunny smile.</p>
+
+<p>"What a regal day!" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is," he replied; "it was on such a day as this, about a year ago,
+that I first met Mr. Britton. He called it, I remember, one of the
+'coronation days' of the year. I have been reminded of the phrase and of
+him all day."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Mr. Britton," said Kate, "I have not seen him for more than two
+years. He has always been like a second father to me; he used to have me
+call him 'papa' when I was little, and I've always loved him next to
+papa. You and he correspond, do you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he writes rather irregularly, but his letters are precious to me.
+He was the first to make me feel that this cramped fettered life of mine
+held any good or anything worth living for. He made me ashamed of my
+selfish sorrow, and every message from him, no matter how brief, seems
+like an inspiration to something higher and nobler."</p>
+
+<p>"He makes us all conscious of our selfishness," Kate answered, "for if
+ever there was an unselfish life,&mdash;a life devoted to the alleviation of
+the sufferings and sorrows of others,&mdash;it is his. I wish he were here
+now," she added, with a sigh; "he has more influence with papa than all
+the rest of us combined, though perhaps nothing even he might say would
+be availing in this instance."</p>
+
+<p>In all their friendly intercourse of the last few weeks there had been
+one subject tacitly avoided by each, to which, although present in the
+mind of each, no reference was ever made. From Kate's last words Darrell
+knew that subject must now be met; he must know from her own lips the
+worst. He turned sick with dread and remained silent.<!-- Page 201 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A moment later Kate again faced him with a smile, but her eyes glistened
+with unshed tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor papa!" she said, softly, her lips quivering; "he thinks he is
+doing it all for my happiness, and no matter what wretchedness or misery
+I suffer, no knowledge of it shall ever pain his dear old heart!"</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie, must it be?" Darrell exclaimed, each word vibrating with
+anguish; "is there no hope&mdash;no chance of escape for you from such a
+fate?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot see the slightest reason to hope for escape," she replied,
+with the calmness born of despair. She clasped her small hands tightly
+and turned a pale, determined face towards Darrell.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, you understand it all, and I know that you do," she said, "so
+there is no use in our avoiding this any longer. I want to talk it over
+with you and tell you all the truth, so you will not think, by and by,
+that I have been false or fickle or weak; but first there is something I
+want you to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>She paused a moment, then, looking him full in the eyes, she asked,
+earnestly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"John Darrell, do you still love me?"</p>
+
+<p>Startled out of his customary self-control, Darrell suddenly clasped her
+in his arms, exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie darling, how can you ask such a question? Do you think my love
+for you could ever grow less?"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment her head nestled against his breast with a little movement
+of ineffable content, as she replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No; it was not that I doubted your love, but I wanted an assurance of
+it to carry with me through the coming days."</p>
+
+<p>Then, gently withdrawing herself from his embrace, she continued, in the
+same calm, even tones:</p>
+
+<p>"You ask if there is no chance of escape; I can<!-- Page 202 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> see absolutely none;
+but I want you to understand, if I am forced into this marriage which
+papa has planned for me, that it is not through any weakness or
+cowardice on my part; that if I yield, it will be simply because of the
+love and reverence I bear my father."</p>
+
+<p>Though her face was slightly averted, Darrell could see the tear-drops
+falling, but after a slight pause she proceeded as calmly as before:</p>
+
+<p>"In all these years he has tried to be both father and mother to me, and
+even in this he thinks he is acting for my good. I have never disobeyed
+him, and were I to do so now I believe it would break his heart. I am
+all that he has left, and after what he has suffered in his silent,
+Spartan way, I must bring joy&mdash;not sorrow&mdash;to his declining years. And
+this will be my only reason for yielding."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Kathie, dear child," Darrell interposed, "have you considered what
+such a life means to you&mdash;what is involved in such a sacrifice?"</p>
+
+<p>She met his troubled gaze with a smile. "Yes, I know," she replied;
+"there is not a phase of this affair which I have not considered. I am
+years older than when we met three months ago, and I have thought of
+everything that a woman can think of."</p>
+
+<p>She watched him a moment, the smile on her lips deepening. "Have you
+considered this?" she asked. "Only those whom we love have the power to
+wound us deeply; one whom I do not love will have little power to hurt
+me; he can never reach my heart; that will be safe in your keeping."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell bowed his head upon his hands with a low moan. Kate, laying her
+hand lightly upon his shoulder, continued:</p>
+
+<p>"What I particularly wanted you to know before<!-- Page 203 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> our parting and to
+remember is this: that come what may, I shall never be false to my love
+for you. No matter what the future may bring to you or to me, my heart
+will be yours."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell raised his head, his face tense and rigid with emotion; she had
+risen and was standing beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I can never forgive myself for having won your heart, Kathie," he said,
+gravely; "It is the most precious gift that I could ask or you could
+bestow, but one to which I have no right."</p>
+
+<p>"Then hold it in trust," she said, softly, "until such time as I have
+the right to bestow it upon you and you have the right to accept it."</p>
+
+<p>Startled not only by her words but by the gravity of her tone and
+manner, Darrell glanced swiftly towards Kate, but she had turned and was
+slowly climbing the mountain path. Springing to his feet he was quickly
+at her side. Drawing her arm within his own he assisted her up the rocky
+trail, scanning her face as he did so for some clew to the words she had
+just spoken. But, excepting a faint flush which deepened under his
+scrutiny, she gave no sign, and, the trail for the next half-hour being
+too difficult to admit of conversation, they made the ascent in silence.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the summit an involuntary exclamation burst from Darrell at
+the grandeur of the scene. North, west, and south, far as the eye could
+reach, stretched the vast mountain ranges, unbroken, with here and there
+gigantic peaks, snow-crowned, standing in bold relief against the sky;
+while far to the eastward lay the valleys, threaded with silver streams,
+and beyond them in the purple distance outlines of other ranges scarcely
+distinguishable from the clouds against which they seemed to rest.</p>
+
+<p>Kate watched Darrell, silently enjoying his surprise.<!-- Page 204 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> "This is my
+favorite resort,&mdash;on the summit of the 'divide,'" she said; "I thought
+you would appreciate it. It involves hard climbing, but it is worth the
+effort."</p>
+
+<p>"Worth the effort! Yes, a thousand times! What must it be to see the
+sunrise here!"</p>
+
+<p>Lifted out of themselves, they wandered over the rocks, picking the late
+flowers which still lingered in the crevices, watching the shifting
+beauty of the scene from various points, for a time forgetful of their
+trouble, till, looking in each other's eyes, they read the final
+farewell underlying all, and the old pain returned with tenfold
+intensity.</p>
+
+<p>Seating themselves on the highest point accessible, they talked of the
+future, ignoring so far as possible the one dreaded subject, speaking of
+Darrell's life in the mining camp, of his studies, and of what he hoped
+to accomplish, and of certain plans of her own.</p>
+
+<p>Duke, after an extended tour among the rocks, came and lay at their
+feet, watching their faces with anxious solicitude, quick to read their
+unspoken sorrow though unable to divine its cause.</p>
+
+<p>At last the little that could be said had been spoken; they paused,
+their hearts oppressed with the burden of what remained unsaid, which no
+words could express. Duke, perplexed by the long silence, rose and,
+coming to Kate's side, stood looking into her eyes with mute inquiry. As
+Kate caressed the noble head she turned suddenly to Darrell:</p>
+
+<p>"John, would you like to have Duke with you? Will you take him as a
+parting gift from me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would like to have him above anything you could give me, Kathie," he
+replied; "but you must not think of giving him up to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I will have to give him up," she said, simply;<!-- Page 205 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> "Papa dislikes him
+already, he is so unfriendly to Mr. Walcott, and he himself absolutely
+hates Duke; I believe he would kill him if he dared; so you understand I
+could not keep him much longer. He will be happy with you, for he loves
+you, and I will be happy in remembering that you have him."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case," said Darrell, "I shall be only too glad to take him, and
+you can rest assured I will never part with him."</p>
+
+<p>The sinking sun warned them that it was time to return, and, after one
+farewell look about them, they prepared to descend. As they picked their
+way back to the trail they came upon two tiny streams flowing from some
+secret spring above them. Side by side, separated by only a few inches,
+they rippled over their rocky bed, murmuring to each other in tones so
+low that only an attentive ear could catch them, sparkling in the
+sunlight as though for very joy. Suddenly, near the edge of the narrow
+plateau over which they ran, they turned, and, with a tinkling plash of
+farewell, plunged in opposite directions,&mdash;the one eastward, hastening
+on its way to the Great Father of Waters, the other westward bound,
+towards the land of the setting sun.</p>
+
+<p>Silently Kate and Darrell watched them; as their eyes met, his face had
+grown white, but Kate smiled, though the tears trembled on the golden
+lashes.</p>
+
+<p>"A fit emblem of our loves, Kathie!" Darrell said, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied, but her clear voice had a ring of triumph; "a fit
+emblem, dear, for though parted now, they will meet in the commingling
+of the oceans, just as by and by our loves will mingle in the great
+ocean of love. I can imagine how those two little streams will go on
+their way, as we must go, each<!-- Page 206 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> joining in the labor and song of the
+rivers as they meet them, but each preserving its own individuality
+until they find one another in the ocean currents, as we shall find one
+another some day!"</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie," said Darrell, earnestly, drawing nearer to her, "have you such
+a hope as that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is more than hope," she answered, "it is assurance; an assurance
+that came to me, I know not whence or how, out of the darkness of
+despair."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the trail, and here Kate paused for a moment. It was a
+picture for an artist, the pair standing on that solitary height! The
+young girl, fair and slender as the wild flowers clinging to the rocks
+at their feet, yet with a poise of conscious strength; the man at her
+side, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, strong-limbed; his face dark with
+despair, hers lighted with hope.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a small white hand swept the horizon with a swift, undulatory
+motion that reminded Darrell of the flight of some white-winged bird,
+and Kate cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Did we think of the roughness and steepness of the path below when we
+stood here two hours ago and looked on the glory of this scene? Did we
+stop to think of the bruises and scratches of the ascent, of how many
+times we had stumbled, or of the weariness of the way? No, it was all
+forgotten. And so, when we come to stand together, by and by, upon the
+heights of love,&mdash;such love as we have not even dreamed of yet,&mdash;will we
+then look back upon the tears, the pain, the heartache of to-day? Will
+we stop to recount the sorrows through which we climbed to the shining
+heights? No, they will be forgotten in the excess of joy!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell gazed at Kate in astonishment; her head was<!-- Page 207 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> uncovered and the
+rays of the sinking sun touched with gleams of gold the curling locks
+which the breeze had blown about her face, till they seemed like a
+golden halo; she had the look of one who sees within the veil which
+covers mortal faces; she seemed at that moment something apart from
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>Taking her hand in his, he asked, brokenly, "Sweetheart, will that day
+ever come, and when?"</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes, luminous with love and hope, rested tenderly upon his shadowed
+face as she replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 208 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+<p>"At the time appointed,</p>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='right'>"'And that will be</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>God's own good time, for you and me.'"</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a><h2><i>Chapter XIX</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Return to Camp Bird</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The day preceding Darrell's departure found him busily engaged in
+"breaking camp," as he termed it. The assayer's outfit which he had
+brought from the mill was to be packed, as were also his books, and
+quantities of carefully written notes, the results of his explorations
+and experiments, to be embodied later in the work which he had in
+preparation, were to be sorted and filed.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon Kate and her aunt, down town on a shopping tour,
+looked in upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"Buried up to his ears!" Kate announced at the door, as she caught a
+glimpse of Darrell's head over a table piled high with books and
+manuscripts; "it's well we came when we did, auntie; a few minutes later
+and he would have been invisible!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't take the trouble to look for seats, Mr. Darrell," she added, her
+eyes dancing with mischief as he hastily emerged and began a futile
+search for vacant chairs, "we only dropped in for a minute, and
+'standing room only' will be sufficient."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, don't let us hinder you, Mr. Darrell," said Mrs. Dean; "we just
+came in to see how you were getting on, and to tell you not to trouble
+yourself about the things from the house; we will send and get them
+whenever we want them."</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking of those a while ago," Darrell answered, glancing at the
+pictures and hangings which<!-- Page 209 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> had not yet been removed; "I was wondering
+if I ought not to send them up to the house."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mrs. Dean, "we do not need them there at present, and any
+time we should want them we can send Bennett down after them."</p>
+
+<p>"We will not send for them at all, auntie," said Kate, in her impulsive
+way; "I shall keep the room looking as much as possible as when Mr.
+Darrell had it, and I shall use it as a waiting-room whenever I have to
+wait for papa; it will be much pleasanter than waiting in that dusty,
+musty old office of his."</p>
+
+<p>"My room at the camp will look very bare and plain now," said Darrell,
+"after all the luxuries with which you have surrounded me; though I
+will, of course, get accustomed to it in a few days."</p>
+
+<p>Kate and her aunt slyly exchanged smiles, which Darrell in his momentary
+abstraction failed to observe. They chatted pleasantly for a few
+moments, but underneath the light words and manner was a sadness that
+could not be disguised, and it was with a still heavier heart that
+Darrell returned to his work after Kate and her aunt had gone.</p>
+
+<p>At last all was done, the last package was stowed away in the large
+wagon which was to carry the goods to camp, and the team moved up the
+street in the direction of The Pines, where it was to remain over night
+ready for an early start the next morning. Darrell, after a farewell
+survey of the little room, followed on foot, heartsick and weary, going
+directly to the stables to see the wagon safely stored for the night. He
+was surprised to see a second wagon, loaded with furniture, rugs, and
+pictures, all of which looked strangely familiar, and which on closer
+inspection he recognized as belonging to the room which he had always
+occupied at The Pines. He turned to Ben<!-- Page 210 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>nett, who was standing at a
+little distance, ostensibly cleaning some harness, but quietly enjoying
+the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Bennett, what does this mean?" he inquired. "Where are these goods
+going?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the camp, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely not to the mining camp, Bennett; you must be mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>"No mistake about it, sir; they goes to Camp Bird to-morrow morning;
+them's Mrs. Dean's orders."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell was more touched than he cared to betray. He went at once to the
+house, and in the hall, dim with the early twilight, was met by Mrs.
+Dean herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry, Mr. Darrell," she began, "but you can't occupy your room
+to-night; you'll have to take the one adjoining on the south. Your room
+was torn up to-day, and we haven't got it put to rights yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dean," Darrell answered, his voice slightly unsteady, "you are too
+kind; it breaks a fellow all up and makes this sort of thing the
+harder!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean turned on the light as though for a better understanding.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see any special kindness in turning you out of your room on
+your last night here," she remarked, quietly, "but we couldn't get it
+settled."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell could not restrain a smile as he replied, "I'm afraid it will be
+some time before it is settled with the furniture packed out there in
+the stables."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been to the stables?" she exclaimed, in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>A smile was sufficient answer.</p>
+
+<p>"If that isn't too bad!" she continued; "I was going to have that wagon
+sent ahead in the morning before you were up and have it for a surprise
+when you got there, and now it's all spoiled. I declare, I'm too
+disappointed to say a word!"<!-- Page 211 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Mrs. Dean," Darrell interposed, hastily, as she turned to leave,
+"you need not feel like that; the surprise was just as genuine and as
+pleasant as though it had been as you intended; besides, I can thank you
+now, whereas I couldn't then."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I didn't want, and don't want now," she answered,
+quickly; "if there is anything I can do for you, God knows I'll do it
+the same as though you were my own son, and I want no thanks for it,
+either." And with these words she left the room before Darrell could
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>Everything that could be done to make the rooms look cheerful and
+homelike as possible had been done for that night. The dining-room was
+decorated with flowers, and when, after dinner, the family adjourned to
+the sitting-room, a fire was burning in the grate, and around it had
+been drawn the most comfortable seats in the room.</p>
+
+<p>But to Darrell the extra touches of brightness and beauty seemed only to
+emphasize the fact that this was the last night of anything like home
+life that he would know for some time to come.</p>
+
+<p>It had been agreed that he and Kate were to have some music that
+evening, and on the piano he saw the violin which he had not used since
+the summer's happy days. He lifted it with the tender, caressing manner
+with which he always handled it, as though it were something living and
+human. Turning it lovingly in his hands, he caught the gleam of
+something in the fire-light, and, bending over it, saw a richly engraved
+gold plate, on which he read the words:</p>
+
+
+<p class="center" >
+TO JOHN DARRELL<br />
+A SOUVENIR OF "THE PINES"<br />
+FROM "KATHIE"<br /></p>
+<p><!-- Page 212 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A mist rose before his eyes&mdash;he could not see, he could not trust
+himself to speak, but, raising the violin, his pent-up feelings burst
+forth in a flood of liquid music of such commingled sweetness and
+sadness as to hold his listeners entranced. Mr. Underwood, for once
+forgetful of his pipe, looked into the fire with a troubled gaze; he
+understood little of the power of expression, but even he comprehended
+dimly the sorrow that surged and ebbed in those wild harmonies. Mrs.
+Dean, her hands folded idly above her work, sat with eyes closed, a
+solitary tear occasionally rolling down her cheek, while in the shadows
+Kate, her face buried on Duke's head and neck, was sobbing quietly.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the wild strains subsided, as the summer tempest dies away
+till nothing is heard but the patter of the rain-drops, and, after a few
+bars from a love-song, a favorite of Kate's, the music glided into the
+simple strains of "Home, Sweet Home." And as the oppressed and
+overheated atmosphere is cleared by the brief storm, so the overwrought
+feelings of those present were relieved by this little outburst of
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>A pleasant evening followed, and, except that the "good-nights"
+exchanged on parting were tenderer, more heartfelt than usual, there
+were no indications that this was their last night together as a family
+circle.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell had been in his room but a short time, however, when he heard a
+light tap at his door, and, opening it, Mrs. Dean entered.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem like a son to me, Mr. Darrell," she said, with quiet dignity,
+"so I have taken the liberty to come to your room for a few minutes the
+same as I would to a son's."</p>
+
+<p>"That is right, Mrs. Dean," Darrell replied, es<!-- Page 213 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>corting her to a large
+arm-chair; "my own mother could not be more welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"You know us pretty well by this time, Mr. Darrell," she said, as she
+seated herself, "and you know that we're not given to expressing our
+feelings very much, but I felt that I couldn't let you go away without a
+few words with you first. I sometimes think that those who can't express
+themselves are the ones that feel the deepest, though I guess we often
+get the credit of not having any feelings at all."</p>
+
+<p>"If I ever had such an impression of you or your brother, I found out my
+error long ago," Darrell remarked, gravely, as she paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think you understand us; I think you will understand me, Mr.
+Darrell, when I say to you that I haven't felt anything so deeply in
+years as I do your leaving us now&mdash;not so much the mere fact of your
+going away as the real reason of your going. I felt bad when you left
+for camp a year ago, but this is altogether different; then you felt,
+and we felt, that you were one of us, that your home was with us, and I
+hoped that as long as you remained in the West your home would be with
+us. Now, although there is no change in our love for you, or yours for
+us, I know that the place is no longer a home to you, that you do not
+care to stay; and about the hardest part of it all is, that, knowing the
+circumstances as I do, I myself would not ask you to stay."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to understand the situation, Mrs. Dean; how did you learn the
+circumstances?" Darrell asked, wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>She regarded him a moment with a motherly smile. "Did you think I was
+blind? I could see for myself. Katherine has told me nothing," she
+added, in answer to the unspoken inquiry which she read in his eyes;<!-- Page 214 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+"she has told me no more than you, but I saw what was coming long before
+either you or she realized it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Dean, why didn't you warn me in time?" Darrell exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"The time for warning was when you two first met," Mrs. Dean replied;
+"for two as congenial to be thrown together so constantly would
+naturally result just as it has; it is no more than was to be expected,
+and neither of you can be blamed. And," she added, slowly, "that is not
+the phase of the affair which I most regret. I think such love as you
+two bear each other would work little harm or sorrow to either of you in
+the end, if matters could only be left to take their own course. I may
+as well tell you that I think no good will come of this scheme of
+David's. Mr. Walcott is not a suitable man for Katherine, even if she
+were heart free, and loving you as she does&mdash;as she always will, for I
+understand the child&mdash;it would have been much better to have waited a
+year or two; I have no doubt that everything would come out all right.
+Of course, as I'm not her mother, I have no say in the matter and no
+right to interfere; but mark my words: David will regret this, and at no
+very distant day, either."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that nothing but unhappiness can come of it for Kate, and that
+is what troubles me far more than any sorrow of my own," said Darrell,
+in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"It will bring unhappiness and evil all around, but to no one so much as
+David Underwood himself," said Mrs. Dean, impressively, as she rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dean," said Darrell, springing quickly to his feet, "you don't
+know the good this little interview has done me! I thank you for it and
+for your sympathy from the bottom of my heart."<!-- Page 215 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could give you something more practical than sympathy," said
+Mrs. Dean, with a smile, "and I will if I ever have the opportunity. And
+one thing in particular I want to say to you, Mr. Darrell: so long as
+you are in the West, whether your home is with us or not, I want you to
+feel that you have a mother in me, and should you ever be sick or in
+trouble and need a mother's care and love, no matter where you are, I
+will come to you as I would to my own son."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the door; Darrell, too deeply moved for speech and
+knowing her aversion to many words, bent over her and kissed her on the
+forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, mother; good-night!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>She turned and looked at him with glistening eyes, as she replied,
+calmly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, my son!"</p>
+
+<p>The household was astir at an early hour the next morning. There were
+forced smiles and some desultory conversation at the breakfast-table,
+but it was a silent group which gathered outside in the early morning
+sunlight as Darrell was about taking his departure. He dreaded the
+parting, and, as he glanced at the faces of the waiting group, he
+determined to make it as brief as possible for their sakes as well as
+his own.</p>
+
+<p>The heavy teams came slowly around from the stables, and behind them
+came Trix, daintily picking her steps along the driveway. With a word or
+two of instructions to the drivers Darrell sent the teams ahead; then,
+having adjusted saddle and bridle to his satisfaction, he turned to Mr.
+Underwood, who stood nearest.</p>
+
+<p>"My boy," said the latter, extending his hand, "we hate to spare you
+from the old home, but I don't know<!-- Page 216 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> where I would have got a man to
+take your place; with you up there I feel just as safe as though I were
+there myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged, Mr. Underwood," Darrell replied, looking straight into
+the elder man's eyes; "I think you'll find me worthy of any trust you
+may repose in me&mdash;at the camp or elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Every time, my boy, every time!" exclaimed the old gentleman, wringing
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean's usually placid face was stern from her effort to repress her
+feelings, but there was a glance of mother-love in her eyes and a slight
+quivering of her lips as she bade him a quiet good-by.</p>
+
+<p>But it was Kate's pale, sweet face that nearly broke his own composure
+as he turned to her, last of all. Their hands clasped and they looked
+silently into each other's eyes for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, John; God bless you!" she said, in tones audible only to his
+ear.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless and help you, Kathie!" he replied, and turned quickly to Trix
+waiting at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at Duke," said Kate, a moment later, as Darrell sprang into the
+saddle; "he doesn't know what to make of it that you haven't bade him
+good-by."</p>
+
+<p>Duke, who had shown considerable excitement over the unusual
+proceedings, had bounded to Kate's side as Darrell approached her,
+expecting his usual recognition; not having received it, he sat
+regarding Darrell with an evident sense of personal injury quite
+pathetic.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell looked at the drooping head and smiled. "Come, Duke," he said,
+slowly starting down the driveway.</p>
+
+<p>Kate bent quickly for a final caress. "Go on, Duke!" she whispered.<!-- Page 217 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nothing loath to follow Darrell, he bounded forward, but after a few
+leaps, on discovering that his beloved mistress was not accompanying
+them, he stopped, looking back in great perplexity. At a signal from her
+and a word from Darrell he again started onward, but his backward
+glances were more than Kate could bear, and she turned to go into the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you sending the dog after him for, anyway?" inquired her
+father, himself somewhat puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"I have given Duke to Mr. Darrell, papa," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>Something in the unnatural calmness of her tone startled him; he turned
+to question her. She had gone, but in the glimpse which he had of her
+face he read a little of the anguish which at that moment wrung her
+young heart, and happening at the same time to catch his sister's eye,
+he walked away, silent and uncomfortable.<!-- Page 218 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a><h2><i>Chapter XX</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Forging the Fetters</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>During the weeks immediately following Darrell's departure the daily
+routine of life at The Pines continued in the accustomed channels, but
+there was not a member of the family, including Mr. Underwood himself,
+to whom it did not seem strangely empty, as though some essential
+element were missing.</p>
+
+<p>To Kate her present life, compared with the first months of her return
+home, was like the narrow current creeping sluggishly beneath the icy
+fetters of winter as compared with the same stream laughing and singing
+on its way under summer skies. But she was learning the lesson that all
+must learn; that the world sweeps relentlessly onward with no pause for
+individual woe, and each must keep step in its ceaseless march, no
+matter how weary the brain or how heavy the heart.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott's visits continued with the same frequency, but he was less
+annoying in his attentions than formerly. It had gradually dawned upon
+him that Kate was no longer a child, but a woman; and a woman with a
+will as indomitable as her father's once it was aroused. He was not
+displeased at the discovery; on the contrary, he looked forward with all
+the keener anticipation to the pleasure of what he mentally termed the
+"taming" process, once she was fairly within his power. Meantime, he was
+content to make a study of her, sitting evening after evening either in
+conversation with her father or listening while she played and sang,<!-- Page 219 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+but always watching her every movement, scanning every play of her
+features.</p>
+
+<p>"A loose rein for the present," he would say to himself, with a smile;
+"but by and by, my lady, you will find whether or no I am master!"</p>
+
+<p>He seldom attempted now to draw her into a t&ecirc;te &agrave; t&ecirc;te conversation, but
+finding her one evening sitting upon a low divan in one of the
+bay-windows looking out into the moonlight, he seated himself beside her
+and began one of his entertaining tales of travel. An hour or more
+passed pleasantly, and Walcott inquired, casually,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Miss Underwood, what has become of my four-footed friend? I
+have not seen him for three weeks or more, and his attentions to me were
+so marked I naturally miss them."</p>
+
+<p>"Duke is at the mining camp," Kate answered, with a faint smile.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott raised his eyebrows incredulously. "Possible! With my other
+admirer, Mr. Darrell?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is with Mr. Darrell."</p>
+
+<p>"Accept my gratitude, Miss Underwood, for having made my entr&eacute;e to your
+home much pleasanter, not to say safer."</p>
+
+<p>"I neither claim nor accept your gratitude, Mr. Walcott," Kate replied,
+with cool dignity, "since I did it simply out of regard for Duke's
+welfare and not out of any consideration whatever for your wishes in the
+matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I might have known as much," said Walcott, with a mock sigh of
+resignation, settling back comfortably among the pillows on the divan
+and fixing his eyes on Kate's face; "I might have known that
+consideration for any wish of mine could never by any chance be assigned
+as the motive for an act of yours."<!-- Page 220 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Kate made no reply, but the lines about her mouth deepened. For a moment
+he watched her silently; then he continued slowly, in low, nonchalant
+tones:</p>
+
+<p>"I am positive that when I at last gain your consent to marry me,"&mdash;he
+paused an instant to note the effect of his words, but there was not the
+quiver of an eyelash on her part,&mdash;"even then, you will have the
+audacity to tell me that you gave it for any other reason under heaven
+than consideration for me or my wishes."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, facing him with sudden hauteur of tone and
+manner, "you are correct. If ever I consent to marry you I can tell you
+now as well as then my reason for doing so: it will be simply and solely
+for my dear father's sake, for the love I bear him, out of consideration
+for his wishes, and with no more thought of you than if you did not
+exist."</p>
+
+<p>Conflicting emotions filled Walcott's breast at these words, but he
+preserved a calm, smiling exterior. He could not but admire Kate's
+spirit; at the same time the thought flashed through his mind that this
+apparent slip of a girl might prove rather difficult to "tame;" but he
+reflected that the more difficult, the keener would be his enjoyment of
+the final victory.</p>
+
+<p>"A novel situation, surely!" he commented, with a low, musical laugh;
+"decidedly unique!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear Miss Underwood," he continued, a moment later, "if your
+love for your father and regard for his wishes are to constitute your
+sole reasons for consenting to become my wife, why need you withhold
+that consent longer? I am sure his wishes in the matter will remain
+unchanged, as will also your love for him; why then should our marriage
+be further delayed?"</p>
+
+<p>"After what I have just told you, Mr. Walcott, do<!-- Page 221 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> you still ask me to
+be your wife?" Kate demanded, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I do, Miss Underwood; and, pardon me, I feel that you have trifled with
+me long enough; I must have your answer."</p>
+
+<p>She rose, drawing herself proudly to her full height.</p>
+
+<p>"Take me to my father," she said, imperiously.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott offered his arm, which she refused with a gesture of scorn, and
+they proceeded to the adjoining room, where Mr. Underwood and his sister
+were seated together before the fire. As Kate advanced towards her
+father both looked up simultaneously, and each read in her white face
+and proud bearing that a crisis was at hand. Mrs. Dean at once arose and
+noiselessly withdrew from the room.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott paused at a little distance from Mr. Underwood, assuming a
+graceful attitude as he leaned languidly over the large chair just
+vacated by Mrs. Dean, but Kate did not stop till she reached her
+father's side, where she bowed coldly to Walcott to proceed with what he
+had to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Some time ago, Mr. Underwood," he began, smoothly and easily, "I asked
+you for your daughter's hand in marriage, and you honored me with your
+consent. Since that time I have paid my addresses to Miss Underwood in
+so marked a manner as to leave her no room for doubt or misunderstanding
+regarding my intentions, although, finding that she was not inclined to
+look upon me with favor, I have hitherto refrained from pressing my
+suit. Feeling now that I have given her abundance of time I have this
+evening asked her to become my wife, and insisted that I was entitled to
+a decision. Instead, however, of giving me a direct answer, she has
+suggested that we refer the matter to yourself."<!-- Page 222 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How is this, Kate?" her father asked, not unkindly; "I supposed you and
+I had settled this matter long ago."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was clear, her tones unfaltering, as she replied: "Before
+giving my answer I wanted to ask you, papa, for the last time, whether,
+knowing the circumstances as you do and how I regard Mr. Walcott, it is
+still your wish that I marry him?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is; and I expect my child to be governed by my wishes in this matter
+rather than by her own feelings."</p>
+
+<p>"Have I ever gone contrary to your wishes, papa, or disobeyed you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my child, no!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall not attempt it at this late day. I only wanted to be sure
+that this was still your wish."</p>
+
+<p>"I desire it above all things," said Mr. Underwood, delighted to find
+Kate so ready to accede to his wishes, rising and taking her hand in
+his; "and the day that I see my little girl settled in the home which
+she will receive as a wedding-gift from her old father will be the
+proudest and happiest day of my life."</p>
+
+<p>Kate smiled sadly. "No home can ever seem to me like The Pines, papa,
+but I appreciate your kindness, and I want you to know that I am taking
+this step solely for your happiness."</p>
+
+<p>She then turned, facing Walcott, who advanced slightly, while Mr.
+Underwood made a movement as though to place her hand in his.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, papa," she said, gently; then, addressing Walcott, she
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Walcott, this must be my answer, since you insist upon having one:
+Out of love for him who has been both father and mother to me, out of
+reverence for his gray hairs frosted by the sorrows of earlier years,
+out of regard for his wishes, which have always<!-- Page 223 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> been my law,&mdash;for his
+sake only,&mdash;I consent to become your wife upon one condition."</p>
+
+<p>"Name it," Walcott replied.</p>
+
+<p>"There can be no love between us, either in our engagement or our
+marriage, for, as I have told you, I can never love you, and you
+yourself are incapable of love in its best sense; you have not even the
+slightest knowledge of what it is. For this reason any token of love
+between us would be only a mockery, a farce, and true wedded love is
+something too holy, too sacred, to be travestied in any such manner. I
+consent to our marriage, therefore, only upon this condition: that we
+henceforth treat each other simply with kindness and courtesy; that no
+expressions of affection or endearment are to be used by either of us to
+the other, and that no word or sign of love ever pass between us."</p>
+
+<p>"Kate," interposed her father, sternly, "this is preposterous! I cannot
+allow such absurdity;" but Walcott silenced him with a deprecatory wave
+of his hand, and, taking Kate's hand in his, replied, with smiling
+indifference,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I accept the condition imposed by Miss Underwood, since it is no more
+unique than the entire situation, and I congratulate her upon her
+decided originality. I suppose," he added, addressing Kate, at the same
+time producing a superb diamond ring, "you will not object to wearing
+this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I yield that much to conventionality," she replied, allowing him to
+place it on her finger; "there is no need to advertise the situation
+publicly; besides, it is a fitting symbol of my future fetters."</p>
+
+<p>"Conventionality, I believe, would require that it be placed on your
+hand with a kiss and some appropriate bit of sentiment, but since that
+sort of thing is<!-- Page 224 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> tabooed between us, we will have to dispense with that
+part of the ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to Mr. Underwood, who stood looking on frowningly, somewhat
+troubled by the turn matters had taken, Walcott added, playfully,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"According to the usual custom, I believe the next thing on the
+programme is for you to embrace us and give us a father's blessing, but
+my lady might not approve of anything so commonplace."</p>
+
+<p>Before her father could reply Kate spoke for him, glancing at him with
+an affectionate smile:</p>
+
+<p>"Papa is not one of the demonstrative sort, and he and I need no
+demonstration of our love for each other; do we, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, child, we understand each other," said her father, reseating
+himself, with Kate in her accustomed place on the arm of his chair,
+while Walcott took the large chair on the other side of the fire; "and
+you neither of you need any assurance of my good wishes or good
+intentions towards you; but," he continued, doubtfully, shaking his
+head, "I don't quite like the way you've gone about this business,
+Puss."</p>
+
+<p>"It was the only way for me, papa," Kate answered, gravely and
+decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I admit," said Walcott, "it will be quite a departure from the mode of
+procedure ordinarily laid down for newly engaged and newly wedded
+couples; but really, come to think it over, I am inclined to think that
+Miss Underwood's proposition will save us an immense amount of boredom
+which is the usual concomitant of engagements and honeymoons. That sort
+of thing, you know," he added, his lip curling just perceptibly, "is apt
+to get a little monotonous after a while."</p>
+
+<p>Kate, watching him from under level brows, saw<!-- Page 225 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> the slight sneer and
+inwardly rejoiced at the stand she had taken.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mr. Underwood, resignedly, "fix it up between you any way
+to suit yourselves; but for heaven's sake, don't do anything to cause
+comment or remarks!"</p>
+
+<p>"Papa, you can depend on me not to make myself conspicuous in any way,"
+Kate replied, with dignity. "What I have said to-night was said simply
+to let you and Mr. Walcott know just where I stand, and just what you
+may, and may not, expect of me; but this is only between us three, and
+you can rest assured that I shall never wear my heart upon my sleeve or
+take the public into my confidence regarding my home life."</p>
+
+<p>"I think myself you need have no fear on that score, Mr. Underwood,"
+Walcott remarked, with a smile of amusement; "I believe Miss Underwood
+is entirely capable of carrying out to perfection any r&ocirc;le she may
+assume, and if she chooses to take the part of leading lady in the
+little comedy of 'The Model Husband and Wife, I shall be only too
+delighted to render her any assistance within my power."</p>
+
+<p>As Walcott bade Kate good-night at a late hour he inquired, "What do you
+think of the little comedy I suggested to-night for our future line of
+action? Does it meet with your approval?"</p>
+
+<p>She was quick to catch the significance of the question, and, looking
+him straight in the eyes, she replied, calmly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It will answer as well as any, I suppose; but it has in it more of the
+elements of tragedy than of comedy."<!-- Page 226 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXI" id="Chapter_XXI"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Two Crimes by the Same Hand</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>At Walcott's request the date of the wedding was set early in January,
+he having announced that business would call him to the South the first
+week in December for about a month, and that he wished the wedding to
+take place immediately upon his return.</p>
+
+<p>The announcement of the engagement and speedily approaching marriage of
+the daughter of D. K. Underwood to his junior partner caused a ripple of
+excitement throughout the social circles of Ophir and Galena. Though
+little known, Walcott was quite popular. It was therefore generally
+conceded that the shrewd "mining king," as Mr. Underwood was denominated
+in that region, had selected a party in every way eligible as the future
+husband of the sole heiress of his fortune. Kate received the
+congratulations showered upon her with perfect equanimity, but with a
+shade of quiet reserve which effectually distanced all undue familiarity
+or curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>Through the daily paper which found its way to the mining camp Darrell
+received his first news of Kate's engagement. It did not come as a
+surprise, however; he knew it was inevitable; he even drew a sigh of
+relief that the blow had fallen, for a burden is far more easily borne
+as an actual reality than by anticipation, and applied himself with an
+almost dogged persistency to his work.</p>
+
+<p>The winter set in early and with unusual severity. The snowfall in the
+mountains was heavier than had<!-- Page 227 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> been known in years. Much of the time
+the canyon road was impassable, making it impracticable for Darrell to
+visit The Pines with any frequency, even had he wished to do so.</p>
+
+<p>The weeks passed, and ere he was aware the holidays were at hand. By
+special messenger came a little note from Kate informing him of
+Walcott's absence and begging him to spend Christmas at the old home.
+There had been a lull of two or three days in the storm, the messenger
+reported the road somewhat broken, and early on the morning preceding
+Christmas the trio, Darrell, Duke, and Trix, started forth, and, after a
+twelve hours' siege, arrived at The Pines wet, cold, and thoroughly
+exhausted, but all joyfully responsive to the welcome awaiting them.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas dawned bright and clear; tokens of love and good will abounded
+on every side, but at an early hour news came over the wires which
+shocked and saddened all who heard, particularly the household at The
+Pines. There had been a hold-up on the west-bound express the preceding
+night, a few miles from Galena, in which the mail and express had been
+robbed, and the express clerk, a brave young fellow who stanchly refused
+to open the safe or give the combination, had been fatally stabbed. It
+was said to be without doubt the work of the same band that had
+conducted the hold-up in which Harry Whitcomb had lost his life, as it
+was characterized by the same boldness of plan and cleverness of
+execution.</p>
+
+<p>The affair brought back so vividly to Mr. Underwood and the family the
+details of Harry's death that it cast a shadow over the Christmas
+festivities, which seemed to deepen as the day wore on. Outside, too,
+gathering clouds, harbingers of coming storm, added to the general
+gloom.<!-- Page 228 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was with a sense of relief that Darrell set out at an early hour the
+following morning for the camp. He realized as never before that the
+place teemed with painful memories whose very sweetness tortured his
+soul until he almost wished that the months since his coming to The
+Pines might be wrapped in the same oblivion which veiled his life up to
+that period. He was glad to escape from its depressing influence and to
+return to the camp with its routine of work and study.</p>
+
+<p>This second winter of Darrell's life at camp was far more normal and
+healthful than the first. His love and sympathy for Kate had
+unconsciously drawn him out of himself, making him less mindful of his
+own sorrow and more susceptible to the sufferings of others. To the men
+at the camp he was far different, interesting himself in their welfare
+in numerous ways where before he had ignored them. The unusual severity
+of the winter had caused some sickness among them, and it was nothing
+uncommon for Darrell to go of an evening to the miners' quarters with
+medicines, newspapers, and magazines for the sick and convalescent.</p>
+
+<p>He was returning from one of these expeditions late one evening about
+ten days after Christmas, accompanied by the collie. It had been snowing
+lightly and steadily all day and the snow was still falling. Darrell was
+whistling softly to himself, and Duke, who showed a marvellous
+adaptation to Darrell's varying moods, catching the cue for his own
+conduct, began to plunge into the freshly fallen snow, wheeling and
+darting swiftly towards Darrell as though challenging him to a
+wrestling-match. Darrell gratified his evident wish and they tumbled
+promiscuously in the snow, emerging at length from a big drift near the<!-- Page 229 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+office, their coats white, Duke barking with delight, and Darrell
+laughing like a school-boy.</p>
+
+<p>Shaking themselves, they entered the office, but no sooner had they
+stepped within than the collie bounded to the door of the next room
+where he began a vigorous sniffing and scratching, accompanied by a
+series of short barks. As Darrell, somewhat puzzled by his actions,
+opened the door, he saw a figure seated by the fire, which rose and
+turned quickly, revealing to his astonished gaze the tall form and
+strong, sweet face of John Britton.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the two men stood with clasped hands, looking into each
+other's eyes with a satisfaction too deep for words.</p>
+
+<p>After an affectionate scrutiny of his young friend Mr. Britton resumed
+his seat, remarking,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are looking well&mdash;better than I have ever seen you; and I was glad
+to hear that laughter outside; it had the right ring to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Duke was responsible for that," Darrell answered, with a smiling glance
+at the collie who had stationed himself by the fire and near Mr.
+Britton; "he challenged me to wrestle with him, and got rather the worst
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>A moment later, having divested himself of his great coat, he drew a
+second seat before the fire, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You evidently knew where to look for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, your last letter, which, by the way, followed me for nearly six
+weeks before reaching me, apprised me of your return to the camp. I was
+somewhat surprised, too, after you had established yourself so well in
+town."</p>
+
+<p>"It was best for me&mdash;and for others," Darrell answered; then, noting the
+inquiry in his friend's eyes, he added:<!-- Page 230 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is a long story, but it will keep; there will be plenty of time for
+that later. Tell me of yourself first. For two months I have hungered
+for word from you, and now I simply want to listen to you a while."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton smiled. "I owe you an apology, but you know I am a poor
+correspondent at best, and of late business has called me here and there
+until I scarcely knew one day where I would be the next; consequently I
+have received my mail irregularly and have been irregular myself in
+writing."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's face grew tender, for he knew it was not business alone which
+drove his friend from place to place, but the old pain which found
+relief only in ceaseless activity and an equally unceasing beneficence.
+He well knew that many of his friend's journeys were purely of a
+philanthropic nature, and he remarked, with a peculiar smile,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Your travels always remind me very forcibly of the journey of the good
+Samaritan; when he met a case of suffering on the way he was not the one
+to 'pass by on the other side;' nor are you."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," said Mr. Britton, gravely, "he had found, as others have
+since, that pouring oil and wine into his neighbor's wounds was the
+surest method of assuaging the pain in some secret wound of his own."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell watched his friend closely while he gave a brief account of his
+recent journeys along the western coast. Never before had he seen the
+lines of suffering so marked upon the face beside him as that night.
+Something evidently had reopened the old wound, causing it to throb
+anew.</p>
+
+<p>"I need not ask what has brought you back into the mountains at this
+time of year and in this storm," Darrell remarked, as his friend
+concluded.</p>
+
+<p>For answer Mr. Britton drew from his pocket an<!-- Page 231 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> envelope which Darrell
+at once recognized as a counterpart of one which had come to him some
+weeks before, but which he had laid away unopened, knowing only too well
+its contents.</p>
+
+<p>"I am particularly glad, for Miss Underwood's sake, that you are here,"
+he said; "she feared you might not come, and it worried her."</p>
+
+<p>"Which accounts for the importunate little note which accompanied the
+invitation," said Mr. Britton, with a half-smile; "but I would have made
+it a point to be present in any event; why did she doubt my coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because of the season, I suppose, and the unusual storms; then, too,"
+Darrell spoke with some hesitation, "she told me she believed you had a
+sort of aversion to weddings."</p>
+
+<p>"She was partly right," Mr. Britton said, after a pause; "I have not
+been present at a wedding ceremony for more than twenty-five years&mdash;not
+since my own marriage," he added, slowly, in a low tone, as though
+making a confession.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's heart throbbed painfully; it was the first allusion he had
+ever heard the other make to his own past, and from his tone and manner
+Darrell knew that he himself had unwittingly touched the great, hidden
+sorrow in his friend's life.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me!" he said, with the humility and simplicity of a child.</p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing to forgive," Mr. Britton replied, gently, fixing his
+eyes with a look of peculiar affection upon Darrell's face. "You know
+more now, my son, than the whole world knows or has known in all these
+years; and some day in the near future you shall know all, because, for
+some inexplicable reason, you, out of the whole world, seem nearest to
+me."<!-- Page 232 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A few moments later he resumed, with more of his usual manner, "I am not
+quite myself to-night. The events of the last few days have rather upset
+me, and," with one of his rare smiles, "I have come to you to get
+righted."</p>
+
+<p>"To me?" Darrell exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am but your pupil,&mdash;one who is just beginning to look above his own
+selfish sorrows only through the lessons you have taught him."</p>
+
+<p>"You over-estimate the little I have tried to do for you; but were it
+even as you say, I would come to you and to no one else. To whom did the
+Divine Master himself turn for human sympathy in his last hours of grief
+and suffering but to his little band of pupils&mdash;his disciples? And in
+proportion as they had learned of Him and imbibed His spirit, in just
+that proportion could they enter into his feelings and minister to his
+soul."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton had withdrawn the cards from the envelope and was regarding
+them thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"The receipt of those bits of pasteboard," he said, slowly, "unmanned me
+more than anything that has occurred in nearly a score of years. They
+called up long-forgotten scenes,&mdash;little pathetic, heart-rending
+memories which I thought buried long ago. I don't mind confessing to
+you, my boy, that for a while I was unnerved. It did not seem as though
+I could ever bring myself to hear again the music of wedding-bells and
+wedding-marches, to listen to the old words of the marriage service. But
+for the sake of one who has seemed almost as my own child I throttled
+those feelings and started for the mountains, resolved that no
+selfishness of mine should cloud her happiness on her wedding day. I
+came, to find, what I would never<!-- Page 233 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> have believed possible, that my old
+friend would sacrifice his child's happiness, all that is sweetest and
+holiest in her life, to gratify his own ambition. I cannot tell you the
+shock it was to me. D. K. Underwood and I have been friends for many
+years, but that did not prevent my talking plainly with him&mdash;so plainly
+that perhaps our friendship may never be the same again. But it was of
+no avail, and the worst is, he has persuaded himself that he is acting
+for her good, when it is simply for the gratification of his own pride.
+I could not stay there; the very atmosphere seemed oppressive; so I came
+up here for a day or two, as I told you, to get righted."</p>
+
+<p>"And you came to me to be righted," Darrell said, musingly; "'Can the
+blind lead the blind?'"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton was quick to catch the significance of he other's query.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, John," he answered, covering Darrell's hand with his own; "I came
+to you for the very reason that your hurt is far deeper than mine."</p>
+
+<p>Under the magnetism of that tone and touch Darrell calmly and in few
+words told his story and Kate's,&mdash;the story of their love and brief
+happiness, and of the wretchedness which followed.</p>
+
+<p>"For a while I constantly reproached myself for having spoken to her of
+love," he said, in conclusion; "for having awakened her love, as I
+thought, by my own; but gradually I came to see that she had loved me,
+as I had her, unconsciously, almost from our first meeting, and that the
+awakening must in any event have come sooner or later to each of us.
+Then it seemed as though my suffering all converged in sorrow for her,
+that her life, instead of being gladdened by love, should be saddened
+and marred, perhaps wrecked, by it."<!-- Page 234 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Love works strange havoc with human lives sometimes," Mr. Britton
+remarked, reflectively, as Darrell paused.</p>
+
+<p>"I was tempted at times," Darrell continued, "as I thought of what was
+in store for her, to rescue her at any cost; tempted to take her and go
+with her to the ends of the earth, if necessary; anywhere, to save her
+from the life she dreads."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God that you did not, my son!" Mr. Britton exclaimed, strangely
+agitated by Darrell's words; "you do not know what the cost might have
+been in the end; what bitter remorse, what agony of ceaseless regret!"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped abruptly, and again Darrell felt that he had looked for an
+instant into those depths so sacredly guarded from the eyes of the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>"You did well to leave as you did," Mr. Britton said, after a moment's
+silence, in which he had regained his composure.</p>
+
+<p>"I had to; I should have done something desperate if I had remained
+there much longer."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell spoke quietly, but it was the quiet of suppressed passion.</p>
+
+<p>"It was better so&mdash;better for you both," Mr. Britton continued; "when we
+find ourselves powerless to save our loved ones from impending trouble,
+all that is left us is to help them bear that trouble as best we may.
+The best help you can give Kate now is to take yourself as completely as
+possible out of her life. How you can best help her later time alone
+will show."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed, while both watched the flickering flames and
+listened to the crooning of the wind outside. When at length they spoke
+it was on topics of general interest; the outlook at the mining camp,<!-- Page 235 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+the latest news in the town below, till their talk at last drifted to
+the recent hold-up.</p>
+
+<p>"A dastardly piece of work!" exclaimed Mr. Britton. "The death of that
+young express clerk was in some ways even sadder than that of Harry
+Whitcomb. I knew him well; the only child of a widowed mother; a poor
+boy who, by indomitable energy and unswerving integrity, had just
+succeeded in securing the position which cost him his life. Two such
+brutal, cowardly murders ought to arouse the people to such systematic,
+concerted action as would result in the final arrest and conviction of
+the murderer."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the general opinion that both were committed by one and the same
+party," Darrell remarked, as his friend paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly both were the work of the same hand, in all probability
+that of the leader himself. He is a man capable of any crime, probably
+guilty of nearly every crime that could be mentioned, and his men are
+mere tools in his hands. He exerts a strange power over them and they
+obey him, knowing that their lives would pay the forfeit for
+disobedience. Human life is nothing to him, and any one who stood in the
+way of the accomplishment of his purposes would simply go the way those
+two poor fellows have gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, do you know anything regarding this man?" Darrell asked in
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Only so far as I have made a study of him and his methods, aided by
+whatever information I could gather from time to time concerning him."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, you are not a detective!" Darrell exclaimed; "you spoke like
+one just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Not professionally," his friend answered, with a smile; "though I have
+often assisted in running down<!-- Page 236 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> criminals. I have enough of the hound
+nature about me, however, that when a scent is given me I delight in
+following the trail till I run my game to cover, as I hope some day to
+run this man to cover," he added, with peculiar earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"But how did you ever gain so much knowledge of him? To every one else
+he seems an utter mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"Partly, as I said, through a study of him and his methods, and partly
+from facts which I learned from one of the band who was fatally shot a
+few years ago in a skirmish between the brigands and a posse of
+officials. The man was deserted by his associates and was brought to
+town and placed in a hospital. I did what I could to make the poor
+fellow comfortable, with the result that he became quite communicative
+with me, and, while in no way betraying his confederates, he gave me
+much interesting information regarding the band and its leader. It is a
+thoroughly organized body of men, bound together by the most fearful
+oaths, possessing a perfect system of signals and passwords, and with a
+retreat in the mountains, known as the 'Pocket,' so inaccessible to any
+but themselves that no one as yet has been able even to definitely
+locate it&mdash;a sort of basin walled about by perpendicular rocks. The
+leader is a man of mixed blood, who has travelled in all countries and
+knows many dark secrets, and whose power lies mainly in the mystery with
+which he surrounds himself. No one knows who he is, but many of his men
+believe him to be the very devil personified."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can you or any one else hope to run down a man with such
+powerful followers and with a hiding-place so inaccessible?" Darrell
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"From a remark inadvertently dropped, I was led<!-- Page 237 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> to infer that this man
+spends comparatively little time with the band. He communicates with
+them, directs them, and personally conducts any especially bold or
+difficult venture; but most of the time he is amid far different
+surroundings, leading an altogether different life."</p>
+
+<p>"One of those men with double lives," Darrell commented.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton bowed in assent.</p>
+
+<p>"But if that were so," Darrell persisted, his interest thoroughly
+aroused, as much by Mr. Britton's manner as by his words, "in the event,
+say, of your meeting him, how would you be able to recognize or identify
+him? Have you any clew to his identity?"</p>
+
+<p>"Years ago," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "I formed the habit of studying
+people; at first as I met them; later as I heard or read of them. Facts
+gathered here and there concerning a person's life I put together, piece
+by piece, studying his actions and the probable motives governing those
+actions, until I had a mental picture of the real man, the 'ego' that
+constitutes the foundation of the character of every individual. Having
+that fixed in my mind I next strove to form an idea of the exterior
+which that particular 'ego' would gradually build about himself through
+his habits of thought and speech and action. In this way, by a careful
+study of a man's life, I can form something of an idea of his
+appearance. I have often put this to the test by visiting various
+penitentiaries in order to meet some of the noted criminals of whose
+careers I had made a study, and invariably, in expression, in voice and
+manner, in gait and bearing, in the hundred and one little indices by
+which the soul betrays itself, I have found them as I had mentally
+portrayed them."<!-- Page 238 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton had risen while speaking and was walking back and forth
+before the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I see!" Darrell exclaimed; "and you have formed a mental portrait of
+this man by which you expect to recognize and identify him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied that I would have no difficulty in recognizing him," Mr.
+Britton replied, with peculiar emphasis on the last words; "the work of
+identification,"&mdash;he paused in front of Darrell, looking him earnestly
+in the face,&mdash;"that, I hope, will one day be yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine!" exclaimed Darrell. "How so? I do not understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underwood has told me that soon after your arrival at The Pines and
+just before you became delirious, there was something on your mind in
+connection with the robbery and Whitcomb's death which you wished to
+tell him but were unable to recall; and both he and his sister have said
+that often during your delirium you would mutter, 'That face! I can
+never forget it; it will haunt me as long as I live!' It has always been
+my belief that amidst the horrors of the scene you witnessed that night,
+you in some way got sight of the murderer's face, which impressed you so
+strongly that it haunted you even in your delirium. It is my hope that
+with the return of memory there will come a vision of that face
+sufficiently clear that you will be able to identify it should you meet
+it, as I believe you will."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell scrutinized his friend closely before replying, noting his
+evident agitation.</p>
+
+<p>"You have already met this man and recognized him!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly!" was the only reply.<!-- Page 239 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXII" id="Chapter_XXII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Fetters Broken</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Early on the morning of the third day after Mr. Britton's arrival at
+camp he and Darrell set forth for The Pines. But little snow had fallen
+within the last two days, and the trip was made without much difficulty,
+though progress was slow. Late in the day, as they neared The Pines, the
+clouds, which for hours had been more or less broken, suddenly
+dispersed, and the setting sun sank in a flood of gold and crimson light
+which gave promise of glorious weather for the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the house, they found it filled with guests invited to the
+wedding from different parts of the State, the rooms resounding with
+light badinage and laughter, the very atmosphere charged with excitement
+as messengers came and went and servants hurried to and fro, busied with
+preparations for the following day.</p>
+
+<p>Kate herself hastened forward to meet them, a trifle pale, but calm and
+wearing the faint, inscrutable smile which of late was becoming habitual
+with her. At sight of Darrell and his friend, however, her face lighted
+with the old-time, sunny smile and her cheeks flushed with pleasure. She
+bestowed upon Mr. Britton the same affectionate greeting with which she
+had been accustomed to meet him since her childhood's days. He was
+visibly affected, and though he returned her greeting, kissing her on
+brow and cheek, he was unable to speak. Her color deepened and her eyes
+grew<!-- Page 240 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> luminous as she turned to welcome Darrell, but she only said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am inexpressibly glad that you came. It will be good to feel there is
+one amid all the crowd who knows."</p>
+
+<p>"He knows also, Kathie," Darrell replied, in low tones, indicating Mr.
+Britton with a slight motion of his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Does he know all?" she asked, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I thought you could have no objection."</p>
+
+<p>"No," she answered, after a brief pause; "I am glad that it is so."</p>
+
+<p>There was no opportunity for further speech, as Mr. Underwood came
+forward to welcome his old friend and Darrell, and they were hurried off
+to their rooms to prepare for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood was not a man to do things by halves, and the elaborate
+but informal dinner to which he and his guests sat down was all that
+could be desired as a gastronomic success. He himself, despite his
+brusque manners, was a genial host, and Walcott speedily ingratiated
+himself into the favor of the guests by his quiet, unobtrusive
+attentions, his punctilious courtesy to each and all alike.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell and his friend felt ill at ease and out of place amid the gayety
+that filled the house that evening, and at an early hour they retired to
+their rooms.</p>
+
+<p>"It is awful!" Darrell exclaimed, as they stood for a moment together at
+the door of his room listening to the sounds of merriment from below;
+"it is all so hollow, such a mockery; it seems like dancing over a
+hidden sepulchre!"</p>
+
+<p>"And we are to stand by to-morrow and witness this farce carried out to
+the final culmination!" Mr. Britton commented, in low tones; "it is
+worse than a<!-- Page 241 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> farce,&mdash;it is a crime! My boy, how will you be able to
+stand it?" he suddenly inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell turned away abruptly. "I could not stand it; I would not attempt
+it, except that my presence will comfort and help her," he answered. And
+so they parted for the night.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning dawned clear and cloudless, the spotless, unbroken
+expanse of snow gleaming in the sunlight as though strewn with myriads
+of jewels; it seemed as if Earth herself had donned her bridal array in
+honor of the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"An ideal wedding-day!" was the universal exclamation; and such it was.</p>
+
+<p>The wedding was to take place at noon. A little more than an hour before
+the bridal party was to leave the house Darrell was walking up and down
+the double libraries upstairs, whither he had been summoned by a note
+from Kate, begging him to await her there.</p>
+
+<p>His thoughts went back to that summer night less than six months gone,
+when he had waited her coming in those very rooms. Not yet six months,
+and he seemed to have lived years since then! He recalled her as she
+appeared before him that night in all the grace and witchery of lovely
+maidenhood just opening into womanhood. How beautiful, how joyous she
+had been! without a thought of sorrow, and now&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>A faint sound like the breath of the wind through the leaves roused him,
+and Kate stood before him once more. Kate in her bridal robes, their
+shimmering folds trailing behind her like the gleaming foam in the wake
+of a ship on a moonlit sea, while her veil, like a filmy cloud,
+enveloped her from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment of silence in which Darrell studied the face before
+him; the same, yet not the same, as on that summer night. The childlike
+na&iuml;vet&eacute;,<!-- Page 242 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> the charming piquancy, had given place to a sweet seriousness,
+but it was more tender, more womanly, more beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>She came a step nearer, and, raising her clasped hands, placed them
+within Darrell's.</p>
+
+<p>"I felt that I must see you once more, John," she said, in the low,
+sweet tones that always thrilled his very soul; "there is something I
+wish to say to you, if I can only make my meaning clear, and I feel sure
+you will understand me. I want to pledge to you, John, for time and for
+eternity, my heart's best and purest love. Though forced into this union
+with a man whom I can never love, yet I will be true as a wife; God
+knows I would not be otherwise; that is farthest from my thoughts. But I
+have learned much within the past few months, and I have learned that
+there is a love far above all passion and sensuality; a love tender as a
+wife's, pure as a mother's, and lasting as eternity itself. Such love I
+pledge you, John Darrell. Do you understand me?"</p>
+
+<p>As she raised her eyes to his it seemed to Darrell that he was looking
+into the face of one of the saints whom the old masters loved to portray
+centuries ago, so spiritual was it, so devoid of everything of earth!</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie, darling," he said, clasping her hands tenderly, "I do
+understand, and, thank God, I believe I am able to reciprocate your love
+with one as chastened and pure. When I left The Pines last fall I did so
+because I could not any longer endure to be near you, loving you as I
+did. I felt in some blind, unreasoning way that it was wrong, and yet I
+knew that to cease to love you was an impossibility. But in the solitude
+of the mountains God showed me a better way. He showed me the true
+meaning of those words, 'In the resurrection they neither marry nor are
+given in marriage,<!-- Page 243 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> but are as the angels of God in heaven.' Those words
+had always seemed to me austere and cold, as though they implied that
+our poor love would be superseded by higher attributes possessed by the
+angelic hosts, of which we knew nothing. Now I know that they mean that
+our human love shall be refined from all the dross of earthly passion,
+purified and exalted above mortal conception. I prayed that my love for
+you might be in some such measure refined and purified, and I know that
+prayer has been answered. I pledge you that love, Kathie; a love that
+will never wrong you even in thought; that you can trust in all the days
+to come as ready to defend or protect you if necessary, and as always
+seeking your best and highest happiness."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, John," she said, and bowed her head above their clasped
+hands for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>When she raised her head her eyes were glistening. "We need not be
+afraid or ashamed to acknowledge love such as ours," she said, proudly;
+"and with the assurance you have given me I shall have strength and
+courage, whatever may come. I must go," she added, lifting her face to
+his; "I want your kiss now, John, rather than amid all the meaningless
+kisses that will be given me after the ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>Their lips met in a lingering kiss, then she silently withdrew from the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>As she crossed the hall Walcott suddenly brushed past her breathlessly,
+without seeing her, and ran swiftly downstairs. His evident excitement
+caused her to pause for an instant; as she did, she heard him exclaim,
+in a low, angry tone and with an oath,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You dog! What brings you here? How dare you come here?"</p>
+
+<p>There came a low reply in Spanish, followed by a<!-- Page 244 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> few quick, sharp words
+from Walcott in the same tongue, but which by their inflection Kate
+understood to be an exclamation and a question.</p>
+
+<p>Her curiosity aroused, she noiselessly descended to the first landing,
+and, leaning over the balustrade, saw a small man, with dark olive skin,
+standing close to Walcott, with whom he was talking excitedly. He spoke
+rapidly in Spanish. Kate caught only one word, "Se&ntilde;ora," as he handed a
+note to Walcott, at the same time pointing backward over his shoulder
+towards the entrance. Kate saw Walcott grow pale as he read the missive,
+then, with a muttered curse, he started for the door, followed by the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Quickly descending to the next landing, where there was an alcove window
+looking out upon the driveway, Kate could see a closed carriage standing
+before the entrance, and Walcott, holding the door partially open,
+talking with some one inside. The colloquy was brief, and, as Walcott
+stepped back from the carriage, the smaller man, who had been standing
+at a little distance, sprang in hastily. As he swung the door open for
+an instant Kate had a glimpse of a woman on the rear seat, dressed in
+black and heavily veiled. As the man closed the door Walcott stepped to
+the window for a word or two, then turned towards the house, and the
+carriage rolled rapidly down the driveway. Kate slowly ascended the
+stairs, listening for Walcott, who entered the house, but, instead of
+coming upstairs, passed through the lower hall, going directly to a
+private room of Mr. Underwood's in which he received any who happened to
+call at the house on business.</p>
+
+<p>Kate went to her room, her pulse beating quickly. She felt intuitively
+that something was wrong; that here was revealed a phase of Walcott's
+personality which she in her innocence had not considered, had<!-- Page 245 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> not even
+suspected. She knew that her father believed him to be a moral man, and
+hitherto she had regarded the lack of affinity between herself and him
+as due to a sort of mental disparity&mdash;a lack of affiliation in thought
+and taste. Now the conviction flashed upon her that the disparity was a
+moral one. She recalled the sense of loathing with which she
+instinctively shrank from his touch; she understood it now. And within
+two hours she was to have married this man! Never!</p>
+
+<p>Passing a large mirror, she paused and looked at the reflection there.
+Was her soul, its purity and beauty symbolized by her very dress, to be
+united to that other soul in its grossness and deformity? Her cheek
+blanched with horror at the thought. No! that fair body should perish
+first, rather than soul or body ever be contaminated by his touch!</p>
+
+<p>Her decision was taken from that moment, and it was irrevocable.
+Nothing&mdash;not even her father's love or anger, his wishes or his
+commands&mdash;could turn her now, for, as he himself boasted, his own blood
+flowed within her veins.</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly she disrobed, tearing the veil in her haste and throwing the
+shimmering white garments to one side as though she hated the sight of
+them. Taking from her jewel casket the engagement ring which had been
+laid aside for the wedding ceremony, she quickly shut it within its own
+case, to be returned as early as possible to the giver; it seemed to
+burn her fingers like living fire.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later her aunt, entering her room, found her dressed in
+one of her favorite house gowns,&mdash;a camel's hair of creamy white. She
+looked at Kate, then at the discarded robes on a couch near by, and
+stopped speechless for an instant, then stammered,<!-- Page 246 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Katherine, child, what does this mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means, auntie," said Kate, putting her arms about her aunt's neck,
+"that there will be no wedding and no bride to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Then, looking her straight in the eyes, she added: "Really, auntie, deep
+down in your heart, aren't you glad of it?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean gasped, then replied, slowly, "Yes; it will make me very glad
+if you do not have to marry that man; but, Katherine, I don't
+understand; what will your father say?"</p>
+
+<p>Before Kate could reply there was a heavy knock at the door, which Mrs.
+Dean answered. She came back looking rather frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father wishes to see you, Katherine, in your library. Something
+must have happened; he looks excited and worried. I don't know what
+he'll say to you in that dress."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not afraid," Kate replied, brightly.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later she entered the room where less than half an hour before
+she had left Darrell. Mr. Underwood was walking up and down. As Kate
+entered he turned towards her with a look of solicitude, which quickly
+changed to one of surprise, tinged with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, looking at his watch; "it is
+within an hour of the time set for your wedding; you don't look much
+like a bride. Do you expect to be married in that dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not to be married to-day, papa; nor any other day to Mr. Walcott,"
+Kate answered, calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" he exclaimed, scarcely comprehending the full import of her
+words; "isn't the matter bad enough as it is without your making it
+worse by any foolish talk or actions?"<!-- Page 247 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand you, papa; to what do you refer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mr. Walcott has just been called out of town by news that his
+father is lying at the point of death; it is doubtful whether he will
+live till his son can reach him. He has to take the first train south
+which leaves within half an hour; otherwise, he would have waited for
+the ceremony to be performed."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he tell you that?" Kate asked, with intense scorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, and he left his farewells for you, as he hadn't time even to
+stop to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"It is well that he didn't attempt it," Kate replied, with spirit; "I
+would have told him to his face that he lied."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by such language?" her father demanded, angrily; "do
+you doubt his word to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't a doubt that he was called away suddenly, but I saw him when
+he received the message, and he didn't appear like a man called by
+sickness. He was terribly excited,&mdash;so excited he did not even see me
+when he passed me; and he was angry, for he cursed both the message and
+the man who brought it."</p>
+
+<p>"Excited? Naturally; he was excited in talking with me, and his anger,
+no doubt, was over the postponement of the wedding. You show yourself
+very foolish in getting angry in turn. This is a devilishly awkward
+affair, though, thank heaven, there's no disgrace or scandal attached to
+it, and we must make the best we can of it. I have already sent
+messengers to the church to disperse the guests as they arrive, and have
+also sent a statement of the facts to the different papers, so there
+will be no garbled accounts or misstatements to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Kate, drawing herself up with new<!-- Page 248 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> dignity as he paused,
+"I want you to understand that this is no childish anger or pique on my
+part. I have not told all that I saw, nor is it necessary at present;
+but I saw enough that my eyes are opened to his real character. I want
+you to understand that I will never marry him! I will die first!"</p>
+
+<p>Her father's face grew dark with anger at her words, but the eyes
+looking fearlessly into his own never quailed. Perhaps he recognized his
+own spirit, for he checked the wrathful words he was about to speak and
+merely inquired,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to make a fool of yourself and involve this affair in a
+scandal, or will you allow it to pass quietly and with no unpleasant
+notoriety?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can dispose of it among outsiders as you please, papa, but I want
+you to understand my decision in this matter, and that it is
+irrevocable."</p>
+
+<p>"Until you come to your senses!" he retorted, and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>With comparatively little excitement the guests dispersed, and no one,
+not even Darrell or Mr. Britton, knew aught beyond the statement made by
+Mr. Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>Some particular friends of Kate's, living in a remote part of the State,
+thinking it might be rather embarrassing for her to remain in Ophir,
+invited her to their home for two or three months, and she, realizing
+that she had incurred her father's displeasure, gladly accepted.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning found Darrell on his way to the camp, looking longingly
+forward to his busy life amid the mountains, and firmly believing that
+it would be many a day before he again saw The Pines.<!-- Page 249 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXIII" id="Chapter_XXIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Mask Lifted</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Three weeks of clear, cold weather followed, in which the snow became
+packed and frozen until the horses' hoofs on the mountain roads
+resounded as though on asphalt, and the steel shoes of the heavily laden
+sleds rang out a cheerful rhyme on the frosty air.</p>
+
+<p>These were weeks of strenuous application to work on Darrell's part. His
+evenings were now spent, far into the night, in writing. He still kept
+the journal begun during his first winter in camp, believing it would
+one day prove of inestimable value as a connecting link between past and
+future. The geological and mineralogical data which he had collected
+through more than twelve months' research and experiment was now nearly
+complete, and he had undertaken the work of arranging it, along with
+copious notes, in form for publication. It was an arduous but
+fascinating task and one to which he often wished he might devote his
+entire time.</p>
+
+<p>He was sitting before the fire at night, deeply engrossed in this work,
+when he was aroused by the sound of hoof-beats on the mountain road
+leading from the canyon to the camp. He listened; they came rapidly
+nearer; it was a horseman riding fast and furiously, and by the heavy
+pounding of the foot-falls Darrell knew the animal he rode was nearly
+exhausted. On they came past the miners' quarters towards the office
+building; it was then some messenger from The Pines,<!-- Page 250 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> and at that
+hour&mdash;Darrell glanced at the clock, it was nearly midnight&mdash;it could be
+no message of trifling import.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell sprang to his feet and, rushing through the outer room, followed
+by Duke barking excitedly, opened the door just as the rider drew rein
+before it. What was his astonishment to see Bennett, one of the house
+servants, on a panting, foam-covered horse.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Mr. Darrell," the man cried, as the door opened, "it's a good thing
+that you keep late hours; right glad I was to see the light in your
+window, I can tell you, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Bennett, what brings you here at this time of night?" Darrell
+asked, hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dean sent me, sir. Mr. Underwood, he's had a stroke and is as
+helpless as a baby, sir, and Mrs. Dean's alone, excepting for us
+servants. She sent me for you, sir; here's a note from her, and she said
+you was to ride right back with me, if you would, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, I'll go with you," Darrell answered, taking the note; "but
+that horse must not stand in the cold another minute. Ride right over
+into the stables yonder; wake up the stable-men and tell them to rub him
+down and blanket him at once, and then to saddle Trix and Rob Roy as
+quickly as they can. And while they're looking after the horses, you go
+over to the boarding-house and wake up the cook and tell him to get us
+up a good, substantial hand-out; we'll need it before morning. I'll be
+ready in a few minutes, and I'll meet you over there."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, sir," Bennett responded, starting in the direction of the
+stables, while Darrell went back into his room. Opening the note, he
+read the following:<!-- Page 251 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"My dear John</span>: I am in trouble and look</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>to you as to a son. David has had a paralytic</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>stroke; was brought home helpless about five</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>o'clock. I am alone, as you might say, as there is</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>none of the family here. Will you come at</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>once?</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 5em;">Yours in sorrow, but with love,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><span style="margin-right: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Marcia Dean."</span></span></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>Darrell's face grew thoughtful as he refolded the missive. He glanced
+regretfully at his notes and manuscript, then carefully gathered them
+together and locked them in his desk, little thinking that months would
+pass ere he would again resume the work thus interrupted. Then only
+stopping long enough to write a few lines of explanation to Hathaway,
+the superintendent, he seized his fur coat, cap, and gloves, and
+hastened over to the boarding-house where a lunch was already awaiting
+him. Half an hour later he and Bennett were riding rapidly down the
+road, Duke bounding on ahead.</p>
+
+<p>They reached The Pines between four and five o'clock. Darrell, leaving
+the horses in Bennett's care, went directly to the house. Before he
+could reach the door it was opened by Mrs. Dean.</p>
+
+<p>"I ought not to have sent for you on such a night as this!" she
+exclaimed, as Darrell entered the room, his clothes glistening with
+frost, the broad collar turned up about his face a mass of icicles from
+his frozen breath; "but I felt as though I didn't know what to do, and I
+wanted some one here who did. I was afraid to take the responsibility
+any longer."</p>
+
+<p>"You did just right," Darrell answered, dashing away the ice from his
+face; "I only wish you had sent for me earlier&mdash;as soon as this
+happened. How is Mr. Underwood?"<!-- Page 252 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He is in pretty bad shape, but the doctors think he will pull through.
+They have been working over him all night, and he is getting so he can
+move the right hand a little, but the other side seems badly paralyzed."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he conscious?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he moves his hand when we speak to him, but he looks so worried.
+That was one reason why I sent for you; I thought he would feel easier
+to know you were here."</p>
+
+<p>As Darrell approached the bedside he was shocked at the changes wrought
+in so short a time in the stern, but genial face. It had aged twenty
+years, and the features, partially drawn to one side, had, as Mrs. Dean
+remarked, a strained, worried expression. The eyes of the sick man
+brightened for an instant as Darrell bent over him, assuring him that he
+would attend to everything, but the anxious look still remained.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about David's business affairs," Mrs. Dean
+remarked, as she and Darrell left the room, "but I know as well as I
+want to that this was brought on by some business trouble. I am
+satisfied something was wrong at the office yesterday, though I wouldn't
+say so to any one but you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think so?" Darrell queried, in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Because he was all right when he went away yesterday morning, but when
+he came home at noon he was different from what I had ever seen him
+before. He had just that worried look he has now, and he seemed
+absent-minded. He was in a great hurry to get back, and the head
+book-keeper tells me he called for the books to be brought into his
+private office, and that he spent most of the afternoon going through
+them. He says that about four o'clock he went through<!-- Page 253 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> the office, and
+David was sitting before his desk with his head on his hands, and he
+didn't speak or look up. A little while afterwards they heard the sound
+of something heavy falling and ran to his room, and he had fallen on the
+floor."</p>
+
+<p>"It does look," Darrell admitted, thoughtfully, "as though this may have
+been caused by the discovery of some wrong condition of affairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and it must be pretty serious," Mrs. Dean rejoined, "to bring
+about such results as these."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Darrell, "we may not be able to arrive at the cause of this
+for some time. The first thing to be done is to see that you take a good
+rest; don't have any anxiety; I will look after everything. As soon as
+it is daylight it would be well to telegraph for Mr. Britton if you know
+his address, and possibly for Miss Underwood unless he should seem
+decidedly better."</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Dean did not know Mr. Britton's address, no word having been
+received from him since his departure, and with the return of daylight
+Mr. Underwood had gained so perceptibly it was thought best not to alarm
+Kate unnecessarily.</p>
+
+<p>For the first few days the improvement in Mr. Underwood's condition was
+slow, but gradually became quite pronounced. Nothing had been heard from
+Walcott since his sudden leave-taking, but about a week after Mr.
+Underwood's seizure word was received from him that he was on his way
+home. As an excuse for his prolonged absence and silence he stated that
+his father had died and that he had been delayed in the adjustment of
+business matters.</p>
+
+<p>It was noticeable that after receiving word from Walcott the look of
+anxiety in Mr. Underwood's face deepened, but his improvement was more
+marked than<!-- Page 254 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> ever. It seemed as though the powerful brain and
+indomitable will dominated the body, forcing it to resume its former
+activity. By this time he was able to move about his room on crutches,
+and on the day of Walcott's return he insisted upon being placed in his
+carriage and taken to the office. At his request Darrell accompanied him
+and remained with him.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott, upon his arrival in the city, had heard of the illness of his
+senior partner, and was therefore greatly surprised on entering the
+offices to find him there. He quickly recovered himself and greeted Mr.
+Underwood with expressions of profound sympathy. To his words of
+condolence, however, Mr. Underwood deigned no reply, but his keen eyes
+bent a searching look upon the face of the younger man, under which the
+latter quailed visibly; then, without any preliminaries or any inquiries
+regarding his absence, Mr. Underwood at once proceeded to business
+affairs.</p>
+
+<p>His stay at the office was brief, as he soon found himself growing
+fatigued. As he was leaving Walcott inquired politely for Mrs. Dean,
+then with great particularity for Miss Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>"She is out of town at present," Mr. Underwood replied, watching
+Walcott.</p>
+
+<p>"Out of town? Indeed! Since when, may I inquire?"</p>
+
+<p>"You evidently have not been in correspondence with her," Mr. Underwood
+commented, ignoring the other's question.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no," the latter stammered, slightly taken aback by his partner's
+manner; "I had absolutely no opportunity for writing, or I would have
+written you earlier, and then, really, you know, it was hardly to be
+expected that I would write Miss Underwood, considering her attitude
+towards myself. I am hoping that<!-- Page 255 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> she will regard me with more favor
+after this little absence."</p>
+
+<p>"You will probably be able to judge of that on her return," the elder
+man answered, dryly.</p>
+
+<p>Kate, on being informed by letter of her father's condition, had wished
+to return home at once. She had been deterred from doing so by brief
+messages from him to the effect that she remain with her friends, but
+she was unable to determine whether those messages were prompted by
+kindness or anger. On the evening following Walcott's return, however,
+Mr. Underwood dictated to Darrell a letter to Kate, addressing her by
+her pet name, assuring her of his constant improvement, and that she
+need on no account shorten her visit but enjoy herself as long as
+possible, and enclosing a generous check as a present.</p>
+
+<p>To Darrell and to Mrs. Dean, who was sitting near by with her knitting,
+this letter seemed rather significant, and their eyes met in a glance of
+mutual inquiry. After Mr. Underwood had retired Darrell surprised that
+worthy lady by an account of her brother's reception of Walcott that
+day, while she in turn treated Darrell to a greater surprise by telling
+him of Kate's renunciation of Walcott at the last moment, before she
+knew anything of the postponement of the wedding.</p>
+
+<p>As they separated for the night Darrell remarked, "I may be wrong, but
+it looks to me as though the cause of Mr. Underwood's illness was the
+discovery of some evidence of bad faith on Walcott's part."</p>
+
+<p>"It looks that way," Mrs. Dean assented; "I've always felt that man
+would bring us trouble, and I hope David does find him out before it's
+too late."<!-- Page 256 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXIV" id="Chapter_XXIV"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXIV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Foreshadowings</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>During Mr. Underwood's illness and convalescence it was pathetic to
+watch his dependence upon Darrell. He seemed to regard him almost as a
+son, and when, as his health improved, Darrell spoke of returning to the
+camp, he would not hear of it.</p>
+
+<p>Every day after Walcott's return Mr. Underwood was taken to the office,
+where he gradually resumed charge, directing the business of the firm
+though able to do little himself. As he was still unable to write, he
+wished Darrell to act as his secretary, and the latter, glad of an
+opportunity to reciprocate Mr. Underwood's many kindnesses to himself,
+readily acceded to his wishes. When engaged in this work he used the
+room which had formerly been his own office and which of late had been
+unoccupied.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to his office after the transaction of some outside business,
+to await, as usual, the carriage to convey Mr. Underwood and himself to
+The Pines, he heard Walcott's voice in the adjoining room. A peculiar
+quality in his tones, as though he were pleading for favor, arrested
+Darrell's attention, and he could not then avoid hearing what followed.</p>
+
+<p>"But surely," he was saying, "an amount so trifling, and taking all the
+circumstances into consideration, that I regarded myself already one of
+your family and looked upon you as my father, you certainly cannot take
+so harsh a view of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"That makes no difference whatever," Mr. Under<!-- Page 257 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>wood interposed sternly;
+"misappropriation of funds is misappropriation of funds, no matter what
+the amount or the circumstances under which it is taken, and as for your
+looking upon me as a father, I wouldn't allow my own son, if I had one,
+to appropriate one dollar of my money without my knowledge and consent.
+If you needed money you had only to say so, and I would have loaned you
+any amount necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"But I regarded this in the nature of a loan," Walcott protested, "only
+I was so limited for time I did not think it necessary to speak of it
+until my return."</p>
+
+<p>"You were not so limited but that you had time to tamper with the books
+and make false entries in them," Mr. Underwood retorted.</p>
+
+<p>"That was done simply to blind the employees, so they need not catch on
+that I was borrowing."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no use in further talk," the other interrupted, impatiently;
+"what you have done is done, and your talk will not smooth it over.
+Besides, I have already told you that I care far less for the money
+withdrawn from my personal account than for the way you are conducting
+business generally. There is not a client of mine who can say that I
+have ever wronged him or taken an unfair advantage of him, and I'll not
+have any underhanded work started here now. Everything has got to be
+open and above-board."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said, Mr. Underwood, in the hurry and excitement of the last
+week or so before my going away I was forced to neglect some business
+matters; but if I will straighten everything into satisfactory shape and
+repay that small loan, as I still regard it, I hope then that our former
+pleasant relations will be resumed, and that no little misapprehension
+of this sort will make any difference between us."</p>
+
+<p>"Walcott," said Mr. Underwood, rising on his<!-- Page 258 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> crutches and preparing to
+leave the room, "I had absolute confidence in you; I trusted you
+implicitly. Your own conduct has shaken that confidence, and it may be
+some time before it is wholly restored. We will continue business as
+before; but remember, you are on probation, sir&mdash;on probation!"</p>
+
+<p>When Kate Underwood received her father's letter, instead of prolonging
+her visit she at once prepared to return home. She understood that the
+barrier between her father and herself had been swept away, and nothing
+could then hold her back from him.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later, as Mr. Underwood was seated by the fire on his return
+from the office, there came a ring at the door which he took to be the
+postman's. Mrs. Dean answered the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Any letter from Kate?" he asked, as his sister returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there's a pretty good-sized one," she replied, with a broad smile,
+adding, as he glanced in surprise at her empty hands, "I didn't bring
+it; 'twas too heavy!"</p>
+
+<p>The next instant two arms were thrown about his neck, a slender figure
+was kneeling beside him, and a fair young face was pressed close to his,
+while words of endearment were murmured in his ear.</p>
+
+<p>Without a word he clasped her to his breast, holding her for a few
+moments as though he feared to let her go. Then, relaxing his hold, he
+playfully pinched her cheeks and stroked the brown hair, calling her by
+the familiar name "Puss," while his face lighted with the old genial
+smile for the first time since his illness. Each scanned the other's
+face, striving to gauge the other's feelings, but each read only that
+the old relations were re-established between them, and each was
+satisfied.<!-- Page 259 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Within a day or so of her return Kate despatched a messenger to Walcott
+with the ring, accompanied by a brief note to the effect that everything
+between them was at an end, but that it was useless for him to seek an
+explanation, as she would give none whatever.</p>
+
+<p>He at once took the note to his senior partner.</p>
+
+<p>"I understood, Mr. Underwood, that everything was amicably adjusted
+between us; I did not suppose that you had carried your suspicions
+against me to any such length as this!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood read the note. "I know nothing whatever regarding my
+daughter's reasons for her decision, and have had nothing whatever to do
+with it. I knew that she had formed that decision at the last moment
+before the wedding ceremony was to be performed, before she was even
+aware of its postponement. She seemed to think she had sufficient
+reasons, but what those reasons were I have never asked and do not
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"But do you intend to allow her to play fast and loose with me in this
+way? Is she not to fulfil her engagement?" Walcott inquired, with
+difficulty concealing his anger.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood regarded him steadily for a moment. "Mr. Walcott, taking
+all things into consideration, I think perhaps we had better let things
+remain as they are, say, for a year or so. My daughter is young; there
+is no need of haste in the consummation of this marriage. I have found
+what she is worth to me, and I am in no haste to spare her from my home.
+If she is worth having as a wife, she is worth winning, and I shall not
+force her against her wishes a second time."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood spoke quietly, but Walcott understood that further
+discussion was useless.<!-- Page 260 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Meeting Kate a few days later in her father's office, he greeted her
+with marked politeness. After a few inquiries regarding her visit, he
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"May I be allowed to inquire who is responsible for your sudden decision
+against me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You, and you alone, are responsible," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"But I do not understand you," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Explanations are unnecessary," she rejoined, coldly.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott grew angry. "I know very well that certain of your friends are
+no friends of mine. If I thought that either or both of them had had a
+hand in this I would make it a bitter piece of work for them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, with dignity, "you only demean yourself by
+such threats. No one has influenced me in this matter but you yourself.
+You unwittingly afforded me, at the last moment, an insight into your
+real character. That is enough!"</p>
+
+<p>Walcott felt that he had gone too far. "Perhaps I spoke hastily, but
+surely it was pardonable considering my grievance. I hope you will
+overlook it and allow me to see you at The Pines, will you not, Miss
+Underwood?"</p>
+
+<p>"If my father sees fit to invite you to his house I will probably meet
+you as his guest, but not otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>Although Mr. Underwood had resumed charge of the downtown offices as
+before his illness, it soon became evident to all that his active
+business life was practically over, and that some of his varied
+interests, involving as they did a multiplicity of cares and
+responsibilities, must be curtailed. It was therefore decided to sell
+the mines at Camp Bird at as early a date as practicable, and Mr.
+Britton, Mr. Underwood's partner in the mining business, was summoned
+from a distant State to conduct negotiations for the sale. He<!-- Page 261 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> arrived
+early in April, and from that time on he and Darrell were engaged in
+appraising and advertising the property embraced in the great mining and
+milling plant, in arranging the terms of sale, and in accompanying
+various prospective purchasers or their agents to and from the mines.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's work as Mr. Underwood's secretary had been taken up by Kate,
+who now seldom left her father's side. Between herself and Darrell there
+was a comradeship similar to that which existed between them previous to
+her engagement with Walcott, only more healthful and normal, being
+unmixed with any regret for the past or dread of the future.</p>
+
+<p>"You will remain at The Pines when the mines are sold, will you not?"
+she inquired one day on his return from a trip to the camp.</p>
+
+<p>"Not unless I am needed," he replied; "your father will need me but
+little longer; then, unless you need me, I had better not remain."</p>
+
+<p>She was silent for a moment. "No," she said, slowly, "I do not need you;
+I have the assurance of your love; that is enough. I know you will be
+loyal to me as I to you, wherever you may be."</p>
+
+<p>"I will feel far less regret in going away now that I know you are free
+from that man Walcott," Darrell continued; "but I wish you would please
+answer me one question, Kathie: have you any fear of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for myself," she answered; "but I believe he is a man to be feared,
+and," she added, significantly, "I do sometimes fear him for my friends;
+perhaps for that reason it is, as you say, better that you should not
+remain."</p>
+
+<p>"Have no fear for me, Kathie. I understand. That man has been my enemy
+from our first meeting; but have no fear; I am not afraid."<!-- Page 262 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>By the latter part of May negotiations for the sale of the mines had
+been consummated, and Camp Bird passed into the possession of strangers.
+It was with a feeling of exile and homelessness that Darrell, riding for
+the last time down the canyon road, turned to bid the mountains
+farewell, looking back with lingering glances into the frowning faces he
+had learned to love.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you propose doing now?" Mr. Britton asked of him as they were
+walking together the evening after his return from camp.</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I have been asking myself," Darrell replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not as yet."</p>
+
+<p>"What would you wish to do, were you given your choice?"</p>
+
+<p>"What I wish to do, and what I intend to do if possible, is to devote
+the next few months to the completion of my book. I can now afford to
+devote my entire time to it, but I could not do the work justice unless
+amid the right surroundings, and the question is, where to find them. I
+do not care to remain here, and yet I shrink from going among
+strangers."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no need of that," Mr. Britton interposed, quickly; after a
+pause he continued: "You once expressed a desire for a sort of hermit
+life. I think by this time you have grown sufficiently out of yourself
+that you could safely live alone with yourself for a while. How would
+that suit you for three or four months?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like it above all things," Darrell answered enthusiastically;
+"it would be just the thing for my work, but where or how could I live
+in such a manner?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I agreed at that time to furnish the hermitage whenever you
+were ready for it."<!-- Page 263 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you said something of the kind, but I never understood what you
+meant by it."</p>
+
+<p>"Settle up your business here, pack together what things you need for a
+few months' sojourn in the mountains, be ready to start with me next
+week, and you will soon understand."</p>
+
+<p>"What is this hermitage, as you call it, and where is it?" Darrell
+asked, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>The other only shook his head with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Darrell, laughing; "I only hope it is as secluded and
+beautiful as Camp Bird; I am homesick to-night for my old quarters."</p>
+
+<p>"You can spend your entire time, if you so desire, without a glimpse of
+a human being other than the man who will look after your needs, except
+as I may occasionally inflict myself upon you for a day or so."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" Darrell ejaculated.</p>
+
+<p>"It is amid some of the grandest scenery ever created," Mr. Britton
+continued, adding, slowly, "and to me it is the most sacred spot on
+earth,&mdash;a veritable Holy of Holies; some day you will know why."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, and I beg pardon for my levity," said Darrell, touched by
+the other's manner. And the two men clasped hands and parted for the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, as Darrell bade his friends at The Pines good-by, Kate
+whispered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You think this is a parting for three or four months; I feel that it is
+more. Something tells me that before we meet again there will be a
+change&mdash;I cannot tell what&mdash;that will involve a long separation; but I
+know that through it all our hearts will be true to each other and that
+out of it will come joy to each of us."</p>
+
+<p>"God grant it, Kathie!" Darrell murmured.<!-- Page 264 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXV" id="Chapter_XXV"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The "Hermitage"</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Deep within the heart of the Rockies a June day was drawing to its
+close. Behind a range of snow-crowned peaks the sun was sinking into a
+sea of fire which glowed and shimmered along the western horizon and in
+whose transfiguring radiance the bold outlines of the mountains,
+extending far as the eye could reach in endless ranks, were marvellously
+softened; the nearer cliffs and crags were wrapped in a golden glory,
+while the hoary peaks against the eastern sky wore tints of rose and
+amethyst, and over the whole brooded the silence of the ages.</p>
+
+<p>Less than a score of miles distant a busy city throbbed with ceaseless
+life and activity, but these royal monarchs, towering one above another,
+their hands joined in mystic fellowship, their heads white with eternal
+snows, dwelt in the same unbroken calm in which, with noiseless step,
+the centuries had come and gone, leaving their footprints in the granite
+rocks.</p>
+
+<p>Amid those vast distances only two signs of human handiwork were
+visible. Close clinging to the sides of a rugged mountain a narrow track
+of shining steel wound its way upward, marking the pathway of
+civilization in its march from sea to sea, while near the summit of a
+neighboring peak a quaint cabin of unhewn logs arranged in Gothic
+fashion was built into the granite ledge.</p>
+
+<p>On a small plateau before this unique dwelling stood John Britton and
+John Darrell, the latter absorbed in<!-- Page 265 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> the wondrous scene, the other
+watching with intense satisfaction the surprise and rapture of his young
+companion. They stood thus till the sun dipped out of sight. The
+radiance faded, rose and amethyst deepened to purple; the mountains grew
+sombre and dun, their rugged outlines standing in bold relief against
+the evening sky. A nighthawk, circling above their heads, broke the
+silence with his shrill, plaintive cry, and with a sigh of deep content
+Darrell turned to his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of it?" the latter asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It is unspeakably grand," was the reply, in awed tones.</p>
+
+<p>Beckoning Darrell to follow, Mr. Britton led the way to the cabin, which
+he unlocked and entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome to the 'Hermitage!'" he said, smilingly, as Darrell paused on
+the threshold with an exclamation of delight.</p>
+
+<p>A huge fireplace, blasted from solid rock, extended nearly across one
+side of the room. Over it hung antlers of moose, elk, and deer, while
+skins of mountain lion, bear, and wolf covered the floor. A large
+writing-table stood in the centre of the room, and beside it a bookcase
+filled with the works of some of the world's greatest authors.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell lifted one book after another with the reverential touch of the
+true book-lover, while Mr. Britton hastily arranged the belongings of
+the room so as to render it as cosey and attractive as possible.</p>
+
+<p>"The evenings are so cool at this altitude that a fire will soon seem
+grateful," he remarked, lighting the fragrant boughs of spruce and
+hemlock which filled the fireplace and drawing chairs before the
+crackling, dancing flames.</p>
+
+<p>Duke, who had accompanied them, stretched him<!-- Page 266 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>self in the firelight with
+a low growl of satisfaction, at which both men smiled.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time Darrell had ever seen his friend in the r&ocirc;le of
+host, but Mr. Britton proved himself a royal entertainer. His
+experiences of mountain life had been varied and thrilling, and the
+cabin contained many relics and trophies of his prowess as huntsman and
+trapper. As the evening wore on Mr. Britton opened a small store-room
+built in the rock, and took therefrom a tempting repast of venison and
+wild fowl which his forethought had ordered placed there for the
+occasion. To Darrell, sitting by the fragrant fire and listening to
+tales of adventure, the time passed only too swiftly, and he was sorry
+when the entrance of the man with his luggage recalled them to the
+lateness of the hour.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a genuine hermit for you," Mr. Britton remarked, as the man
+took his departure after agreeing to come to the cabin once a day to do
+whatever might be needed.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he?" Darrell asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No one knows. He goes by the name of 'Peter,' but nothing is known of
+his real name or history. He has lived in these mountains for thirty
+years and has not visited a city or town of any size in that time. He is
+a trapper, but acts as guide during the summers. He is very popular with
+tourist and hunting parties that come to the mountains, but nothing will
+induce him to leave his haunts except as he occasionally goes to some
+small station for supplies."</p>
+
+<p>"Where does he live?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a cabin about half-way down the trail. He is a good cook, a faithful
+man every way, but you will find him very reticent. He is one of the
+many in this country whose past is buried out of sight."<!-- Page 267 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton then led the way to two smaller rooms,&mdash;a kitchen, equipped
+with a small stove, table, and cooking utensils, and a
+sleeping-apartment, its two bunks piled with soft blankets and
+wolf-skins.</p>
+
+<p>As Darrell proceeded to disrobe his attention was suddenly attracted by
+an object in one corner of the room which he was unable to distinguish
+clearly in the dim light. Upon going over to examine it more closely,
+what was his astonishment to see a large crucifix of exquisite design
+and workmanship. As he turned towards Mr. Britton the latter smiled to
+see the bewilderment depicted on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not expect to find such a souvenir of old Rome in a mountain
+cabin, did you?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not," Darrell admitted; "but that of itself is not what so
+greatly surprises me. Are you a&mdash;&mdash;" He paused abruptly, without
+finishing the question.</p>
+
+<p>"I will answer the question you hesitate to ask," the other replied;
+"no, I am not a Catholic; neither am I, in the strict sense of the word,
+a Protestant, or one who protests, since, if I were, I would protest no
+more earnestly against the errors of the Catholic Church than against
+the evils existing in other so-called Christian churches."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's eyes returned to the crucifix.</p>
+
+<p>"That," continued Mr. Britton, "was given me years ago by a beloved
+friend of mine&mdash;a priest, now an archbishop&mdash;in return for a few
+services rendered some of his people. I keep it for the lessons it
+taught me in the years of my sorrow, and whenever my burden seems
+greater than I can bear, I come back here and look at that, and beside
+the suffering which it symbolizes my own is dwarfed to insignificance."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed; then, as they lay down in the darkness, Darrell
+said, in subdued tones,<!-- Page 268 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have never heard you say, and it never before occurred to me to ask,
+what was your religion."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I have any particular religion," Mr. Britton
+answered, slowly; "I have no formulated creed. I am a child of God and a
+disciple of Jesus, the Christ. Like Him, I am the child of a King, a son
+of the highest Royalty, yet a servant to my fellow-men; that is all."</p>
+
+<p>The following morning Mr. Britton awakened Darrell at an early hour.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me for disturbing your slumbers, but I want you to see the
+sunrise from these heights; I think you will feel repaid. You could not
+see it at the camp, you were so hemmed in by higher mountains."</p>
+
+<p>Darrell rose and, having dressed hastily, stepped out into the gray
+twilight of the early dawn. A faint flush tinged the eastern sky, which
+deepened to a roseate hue, growing moment by moment brighter and more
+vivid. Chain after chain of mountains, slumbering dark and grim against
+the horizon, suddenly awoke, blushing and smiling in the rosy light.
+Then, as rays of living flame shot upward, mingling with the crimson
+waves and changing them to molten gold, the snowy caps of the higher
+peaks were transformed to jewelled crowns. There was a moment of
+transcendent beauty, then, in a burst of glory, the sun appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a sight I shall never forget, and one I shall try to see
+often," Darrell said, as they retraced their steps to the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>"You will never find it twice the same," Mr. Britton answered; "Nature
+varies her gifts so that to her true lovers they will not pall."</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast they again strolled out into the sunlight, Mr. Britton
+seating himself upon a projecting ledge of granite, while Darrell threw
+himself down<!-- Page 269 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> upon the mountain grass, his head resting within his
+clasped hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What an ideal spot for my work!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton smiled. "I fear you would never accomplish much with me
+here. I must return to the city soon, or you will degenerate into a
+confirmed idler."</p>
+
+<p>"I have often thought," said Darrell, reflectively, "that when I have
+completed this work I would like to attempt a novel. It seems as though
+there is plenty of material out here for a strong one. Think of the
+lives one comes in contact with almost daily&mdash;stranger than fiction,
+every one!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your own, for instance," Mr. Britton suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Yours also," Darrell replied, in low tones; "the story of your life, if
+rightly told, would do more to uplift men's souls than nine-tenths of
+the sermons."</p>
+
+<p>"The story of my life, my son, will never be told to any ear other than
+your own, and I trust to your love for me that it will go no farther."</p>
+
+<p>"Of that you can rest assured," Darrell replied.</p>
+
+<p>As the sun climbed towards the zenith they returned to the cabin and
+seated themselves on a broad settee of rustic work under an overhanging
+vine near the cabin door.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been wondering ever since I came here," said Darrell, "how you
+ever discovered such a place as this. It is so unique and so appropriate
+to the surroundings."</p>
+
+<p>"I discovered," said Mr. Britton, with slight emphasis on the word,
+"only the 'surroundings.' The cabin is my own work."</p>
+
+<p>"What! do you mean to say that you built it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, little by little. At first it was hardly more than a rude shelter,
+but I gradually enlarged it and<!-- Page 270 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> beautified it, trying always, as you
+say, to keep it in harmony with its surroundings."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are an artist and a genius."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is not the only work I did during the first months of my life
+here. Come with me and I will show you."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way along the trail, farther up the mountain, till a sharp
+turn hid him from view. Darrell, following closely, came upon the
+entrance of an incline shaft leading into the mountain. Just within he
+saw Mr. Britton lighting two candles which he had taken from a rocky
+ledge; one of these he handed to Darrell, and then proceeded down the
+shaft.</p>
+
+<p>"A mine!" Darrell exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and a valuable one, were it only accessible so that it could be
+developed without enormous expense; but that is out of the question."</p>
+
+<p>The underground workings were not extensive, but the vein was one of
+exceptional richness. When they emerged later Darrell brought with him
+some specimens and a tiny nugget of gold as souvenirs.</p>
+
+<p>"The first season," said Mr. Britton, "I worked the mine and built the
+cabin as a shelter for the coming winter. The winter months I spent in
+hunting and trapping when I could go out in the mountains, and
+hibernated during the long storms. Early in the spring I began mining
+again and worked the following season. By that time I was ready to start
+forth into the world, so I gave Peter an interest in the mine, and he
+works it from time to time, doing little more than the representation
+each year."</p>
+
+<p>As they descended towards the cabin Mr. Britton continued: "I have shown
+you this that you may the better understand the story I have to tell you
+before I leave you as sole occupant of the Hermitage."<!-- Page 271 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXVI" id="Chapter_XXVI"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXVI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">John Britton's Story</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Evening found Darrell and his friend seated on the rocks watching the
+sunset. Mr. Britton was unusually silent, and Darrell, through a sort of
+intuitive sympathy, refrained from breaking the silence. At last, as the
+glow was fading from earth and sky, Mr. Britton said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have chosen this day and this hour to tell you my story, because,
+being the anniversary of my wedding, it seemed peculiarly appropriate.
+Twenty-eight years ago, at sunset, on such a royal day as this, we were
+married&mdash;my love and I."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with an unnatural calmness, as though it were another's story
+he was telling.</p>
+
+<p>"I was young, with a decided aptitude for commercial life, ambitious,
+determined to make my way in life, but with little capital besides sound
+health and a good education. She was the daughter of a wealthy man. We
+speak in this country of 'mining kings;' he might be denominated an
+'agricultural king.' He prided himself upon his hundreds of fertile
+acres, his miles of forest, his immense dairy, his blooded horses, his
+magnificent barns and granaries, his beautiful home. She was the younger
+daughter&mdash;his especial pet and pride. For a while, as a friend and
+acquaintance of his two daughters, I was welcome at his home; later, as
+a lover of the younger, I was banished and its doors closed against me.
+Our love was no foolish boy and girl romance, and we had no word of
+kindly<!-- Page 272 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> counsel; only unreasoning, stubborn opposition. What followed
+was only what might have been expected. Strong in our love for and trust
+in each other, we went to a neighboring village, and, going to a little
+country parsonage, were married, without one thought of the madness, the
+folly of what we were doing. We found the minister and his family seated
+outside the house under a sort of arbor of flowering shrubs, and I
+remember it was her wish that the ceremony be performed there. Never can
+I forget her as she stood there, her hand trembling in mine at the
+strangeness of the situation, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her
+lips quivering as she made the responses, the slanting sunbeams kissing
+her hair and brow and the fragrant, snowy petals of the mock-orange
+falling about her.</p>
+
+<p>"A few weeks of unalloyed happiness followed; then gradually my eyes
+were opened to the wrong I had done her. My heart smote me as I saw her,
+day by day, performing household tasks to which she was unaccustomed,
+subjected to petty trials and privations, denying herself in many little
+ways in order to help me. She never murmured, but her very fortitude and
+cheerfulness were a constant reproach to me.</p>
+
+<p>"But a few months elapsed when we found that another was coming to share
+our home and our love. We rejoiced together, but my heart reproached me
+more bitterly than ever as I realized how ill prepared she was for what
+awaited her. Our trials and privations brought us only closer to each
+other, but my brain was racked with anxiety and my heart bled as day by
+day I saw the dawning motherhood in her eyes,&mdash;the growing tenderness,
+the look of sweet, wondering expectancy. I grew desperate.</p>
+
+<p>"From a booming western city came reports of marvellous openings for
+business men&mdash;of small invest<!-- Page 273 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>ments bringing swift and large returns. I
+placed my wife in the care of a good, motherly woman and bade her
+good-by, while she, brave heart, without a tear, bade me God-speed. I
+went there determined to win, to make a home to which I would bring both
+wife and child later. For three months I made money, sending half to
+her, and investing every cent which I did not absolutely need of the
+other half. Then came tales from a mining district still farther west,
+of fabulous fortunes made in a month, a week, sometimes a day. What was
+the use of dallying where I was? I hastened to the mining camp. In less
+than a week I had 'struck it rich,' and knew that in all probability I
+would within a month draw out a fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"Just at this time the letters from home ceased. For seven days I heard
+nothing, and half mad with anxiety and suspense I awaited each night the
+incoming train to bring me tidings. One night, just as the train was
+about to leave, I caught sight of a former acquaintance from a
+neighboring village, bound for a camp yet farther west, and, as I
+greeted him, he told me in few words and pitying tones of the death of
+my wife and child."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Mr. Britton paused, and Darrell drew instinctively nearer,
+though saying nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no distinct recollection of what followed. I was told afterwards
+that friendly hands caught me as the train started, to save me from
+being crushed beneath the wheels. For three months I wandered from one
+mining camp to another, working mechanically, with no thought or care as
+to success or failure. An old miner from the first camp who had taken a
+liking to me followed me in my wanderings and worked beside me, caring
+for me and guarding my savings as though he had been a father. The old
+fellow never<!-- Page 274 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> left me, nor I him, until his death three years later. He
+taught me many valuable points in practical mining, and I think his
+rough but kindly care was all that saved me from insanity during those
+years.</p>
+
+<p>"After his death I brooded over my grief till I became nearly frenzied.
+I could not banish the thought that but for my rashness and foolishness
+in taking her from her home my wife might still have been living. To
+myself I seemed little short of a murderer. I left the camp and
+wandered, night and day, afar into the mountains. I came to this
+mountain on which we are sitting and climbed nearly to the top. God was
+there, but, like Jacob of old, 'I knew it not.' But something seemed to
+speak to me out of the infinite silence, calming my frenzied brain and
+soothing my troubled soul. I sat there till the stars appeared, and then
+I sank into a deep, peaceful sleep&mdash;the first in years. When I awoke the
+sun was shining in my face, and, though the old pain still throbbed, I
+had a sense of new strength with which to bear it. I ate of the food I
+carried with me and drank from a mountain stream&mdash;the same that trickles
+past us now, only nearer its source. The place fascinated me; I dared
+not leave it, and I spent the day in wandering up and down the rocks. My
+steps were guided to the mine I showed you to-day. I saw the indications
+of richness there, and, overturning the earth with my pick, found gold
+among the very grassroots. Then followed the life of which I have
+already given you an outline.</p>
+
+<p>"For a while I worked in pain and anguish, but gradually, in the
+solitude of the mountains, my spirit found peace; against their infinity
+my life with its burden dwindled to an atom, and from the lesson of
+their centuries of silent waiting I gathered strength and fortitude to
+await my appointed time.<!-- Page 275 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But after a time God spoke to me and bade me go forth from my solitude
+into the world, to comfort other sorrowing souls as I had been
+comforted. From that time I have travelled almost constantly. I have no
+home; I wish none. I want to bring comfort and help to as many of
+earth's sorrowing, sinning children as possible; but when the old wound
+bleeds afresh and the pain becomes more than I can bear I flee as a bird
+to my mountain for balm and healing. Do you wonder, my son, that the
+place is sacred to me? Do you understand my love for you in bringing you
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell sat with bowed head, speechless, but one hand went out to Mr.
+Britton, which the latter clasped in both his own.</p>
+
+<p>When at last he raised his head he exclaimed, "Strange! but your story
+has wrung my soul! It seems in some inexplicable way a part of my very
+life!"</p>
+
+<p>"Our souls seem united by some mystic tie&mdash;I cannot explain what, unless
+it be that in some respects our sufferings have been similar."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine have been as nothing to yours," Darrell replied. A moment later he
+added:</p>
+
+<p>"I feel as one in a dream; what you have told me has taken such hold
+upon me."</p>
+
+<p>Night had fallen when they returned to the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>"This seems hallowed ground to me now," Darrell remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"It has always seemed so to me," Mr. Britton replied; "but remember, so
+long as you have need of the place it is always open to you."</p>
+
+<p>"'Until the day break and the shadows flee away,'" Darrell responded, in
+low tones, as though to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton caught his meaning. "My son," he said, "when the day breaks
+for you do not forget those who still sit in darkness!"<!-- Page 276 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXVII" id="Chapter_XXVII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXVII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Rending of the Veil</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The story of Mr. Britton's life impressed Darrell deeply. In the days
+following his friend's departure he would sit for hours revolving it in
+his mind, unable to rid himself of the impression that it was in some
+way connected with his own life. Impelled by some motive he could
+scarcely explain, he recorded it in his journal as told by Mr. Britton
+as nearly as he could recall it.</p>
+
+<p>Left to himself he worked with unabated ardor, but his work soon grew
+unsatisfying. The inspiring nature of his surroundings seemed to
+stimulate him to higher effort and loftier work, which should call into
+play the imaginative faculties and in which the brain would be free to
+weave its own creations. Stronger within him grew the desire to write a
+novel which should have in it something of the power, the force, of the
+strenuous western life,&mdash;something which would seem, in a measure at
+least, worthy of his surroundings. His day's work ended, he would walk
+up and down the rocks, sometimes far into the night, the plot for this
+story forming within his brain, till at last its outlines grew distinct
+and he knew the thing that was to be, as the sculptor knows what will
+come forth at his bidding from the lifeless marble. He made a careful
+synopsis of the plot that nothing might escape him in the uncertain
+future, and then began to write.</p>
+
+<p>The order of his work was now reversed, the new undertaking being given
+his first and best thought;<!-- Page 277 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> then, when imagination wearied and refused
+to rise above the realms of fact, he fell back upon his scientific work
+as a rest from the other. Thus employed the weeks passed with incredible
+swiftness, the monotony broken by an occasional visit from Mr. Britton,
+until August came, its hot breath turning the grasses sere and brown.</p>
+
+<p>One evening Darrell came forth from his work at a later hour than usual.
+His mind had been unusually active, his imagination vivid, but, wearied
+at last, he was compelled to stop short of the task he had set for
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>The heat had been intense that day, and the atmosphere seemed peculiarly
+oppressive. The sun was sinking amid light clouds of gorgeous tints, and
+as Darrell watched their changing outlines they seemed fit emblems of
+the thoughts at that moment baffling his weary brain,&mdash;elusive,
+intangible, presenting themselves in numberless forms, yet always beyond
+his grasp.</p>
+
+<p>Standing erect, with arms folded, his pose indicated conscious strength,
+and the face lifted to the evening sky was one which would have
+commanded attention amid a sea of human faces. Two years had wrought
+wondrous changes in it. Strength and firmness were there still, but
+sweetness was mingled with the strength, and the old, indomitable will
+was tempered with gentleness. All the finer susceptibilities had been
+awakened and had left their impress there. Introspection had done its
+work. It was the face of a man who knew himself and had conquered
+himself. The sculptor's work was almost complete.</p>
+
+<p>Not a breath stirred the air, which moment by moment grew more
+oppressive, presaging a coming storm. Darrell was suddenly filled with a
+strange unrest&mdash;a presentiment of some impending catastrophe. For a<!-- Page 278 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+while he walked restlessly up and down the narrow plateau; then, seating
+himself in front of the cabin, he bowed his head upon his hands,
+shutting out all sight and thought of the present, for his mind seemed
+teeming with vague, shadowy forms of the past. Duke came near and laid
+his head against his master's shoulder, and the twilight deepened around
+them both.</p>
+
+<p>Far up the neighboring mountain a mighty engine loomed out from the
+gathering darkness&mdash;a fiery-headed monster&mdash;and with its long train of
+coaches crawled serpent-like around the rocky height, then vanished as
+it came. The clouds which had been roving indolently across the western
+horizon suddenly formed in line and moved steadily&mdash;a solid
+battalion&mdash;upward towards the zenith, while from the east another
+phalanx, black and threatening, advanced with low, wrathful mutterings.</p>
+
+<p>Unmindful of the approaching storm Darrell sat, silent and motionless,
+till a sudden peal of thunder&mdash;the first note of the impending
+battle&mdash;roused him from his revery. Springing to his feet he watched the
+rapidly advancing armies marshalling their forces upon the
+battle-ground. Another roll of thunder, and the conflict began. Up and
+down the mountain passes the winds rushed wildly, shrieking like demons.
+Around the lofty summits the lightnings played like the burnished swords
+of giants in mortal combat, while peal after peal resounded through the
+vast spaces, reverberated from peak to peak, echoed and re-echoed, till
+the rocks themselves seemed to tremble.</p>
+
+<p>With quickening pulse and bated breath Darrell watched the
+storm,&mdash;fascinated, entranced,&mdash;while emotions he could neither
+understand nor control surged through his breast. More and more fiercely
+the battle waged; more swift and brilliant grew the<!-- Page 279 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> sword-play, while
+the roar of heaven's artillery grew louder and louder. His spirit rose
+with the strife, filling him with a strange sense of exaltation.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the universe seemed wrapped in flame, there was a deafening
+crash as though the eternal hills were being rent asunder, and
+then&mdash;oblivion!</p>
+
+<p>When that instant of blinding light and deafening sound had passed John
+Darrell lay prostrate, unconscious on the rocks.<!-- Page 280 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXVIII" id="Chapter_XXVIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXVIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">As a Dream when One Awaketh</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>As the morning sun arose over the snowy summits of the Great Divide, the
+sleeper on the rocks stirred restlessly; then gradually awoke to
+consciousness&mdash;a delightful consciousness of renewed life and vigor, a
+subtle sense of revivification of body and mind. The racking pain, the
+burning fever, the legions of torturing phantoms, all were gone; his
+pulse was calm, his blood cool, his brain clear.</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh of deep content he opened his eyes; then suddenly rose to a
+sitting posture and gazed about him in utter bewilderment; above him
+only the boundless dome of heaven, around him only endless mountain
+ranges! Dazed by the strangeness, the isolation of the scene, he began
+for an instant to doubt his sanity; was this a reality or a chimera of
+his own imagination? But only for an instant, for with his first
+movement a large collie had bounded to his side and now began licking
+his hands and face with the most joyful demonstrations. There was
+something soothing and reassuring in the companionship even of the dumb
+brute, and he caressed the noble creature, confident that he would soon
+find some sign of human life in that strange region; but the dog,
+reading no look of recognition in the face beside him, drew back and
+began whining piteously.</p>
+
+<p>Perplexed, but with his faculties thoroughly aroused and active, the
+young man sprang to his feet, and, looking eagerly about him,
+<!-- Page 281 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
+discovered at a little distance the cabin against the mountain ledge.
+Hastening thither he found the door open, and, after vainly waiting for
+any response to his knocking, entered.</p>
+
+<p>The furnishings were mostly hand-made, but fashioned with considerable
+artistic skill, and contributed to give the interior a most attractive
+appearance, while etchings, books and papers, pages of written
+manuscript, and a violin indicated its occupants to be a man of refined
+tastes and studious habits. The dog had accompanied him, sometimes
+following closely, sometimes going on in advance as though to lead the
+way. Once within the cabin he led him to the store-room in the rock
+where was an abundance of food, which the latter proceeded to divide
+between himself and his dumb guide.</p>
+
+<p>Having satisfied his hunger, the young man took a newspaper from the
+table, and, going outside the cabin, seated himself to await the return
+of his unknown host. Sitting there, he discovered for the first time the
+railway winding around the sides of the lofty mountain opposite. The
+sight filled him with delight, for those slender rails, gleaming in the
+morning sunlight, seemed to connect him with the world which he
+remembered, but from which he appeared so strangely isolated.</p>
+
+<p>Unfolding the newspaper his attention was attracted by the date, at
+which he gazed in consternation, his eyes riveted to the page. For a
+moment his head swam, he was unable to believe his own senses. Dropping
+the sheet and bowing his head upon his hands he went carefully over the
+past as he now remembered it,&mdash;the business on which he had been
+commissioned to come west; his journey westward; the tragedy in the
+sleeping-car&mdash;he shuddered as the memory of the murderer's face flashed
+before him with terrible distinctness; his reception at The Pines,&mdash;all
+was as clear as<!-- Page 282 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> though it had happened but yesterday; it was in August,
+and this was August, but two years later! Great God! had two years
+dropped out of his life? Again he recalled his illness, the long agony,
+the final sinking into oblivion, the strange awakening in perfect
+health; yes, surely there must be a missing link; but how? where?</p>
+
+<p>He rose to re-enter the cabin, and, passing the window, caught a glimpse
+of his face reflected there; a face like, and yet unlike, his own, and
+crowned with snow-white hair! In doubt and bewilderment he paced up and
+down within the cabin, vainly striving to connect these fragmentary
+parts, to reconcile the present with the past. As he passed and repassed
+the table covered with manuscript his attention was attracted by an
+odd-looking volume bound in flexible morocco and containing several
+hundred pages of written matter. It lay partly open in a conspicuous
+place, and upon the fly-leaf was written, in large, bold characters,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class='center'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"To my Other Self, should he awaken."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
+
+<p>He could not banish the words from his mind; they drew him with
+irresistible magnetism. Again and again he read them, until, impelled by
+some power he could not explain, he seized the volume and, seating
+himself in the doorway of the cabin, proceeded to examine it. Lifting
+the fly-leaf, he read the following inscription:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"To one from the outer world, whose identity</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0em;">is hidden among the secrets of the past:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"With the hope that when the veil is lifted,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0em;">these pages may assist him in uniting into one</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perfect whole the strangely disjointed portions</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: -5em;">of his life, they are inscribed by</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"<span class="smcap">John Darrell</span>."</span><br /></div>
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 283 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He smiled as he read the name and recalled the circumstances under which
+he had taken it, but he no longer felt any hesitation regarding the
+volume in his hands, and he began to read. It was written as a
+communication from one stranger to another, from the mountain recluse to
+one of whose life he had not the slightest knowledge; but he knew
+without doubt that it was addressed to himself, yet written by
+himself,&mdash;that writer and reader were one and the same.</p>
+
+<p>For more than two hours he read on and on, deeply absorbed in the tale
+of that solitary life, his own heart responding to each note of joy or
+sorrow, of hope or despair, and vibrating to the undertone of loneliness
+and longing running through it all.</p>
+
+<p>He strove vainly to recall the characters in the strange drama in which
+he had played his part but of which he had now no distinct recollection;
+dimly they passed before his vision like the shadowy phantoms of a dream
+from which one has just awakened. He started at the first mention of
+John Britton's name, eagerly following each outline of that noble
+character, his heart kindling with affection as he read his words of
+loving, helpful counsel. His face grew tender and his eyes filled at the
+love-story, so pathetically brief, faithfully transcribed on those
+pages, but of Kate Underwood he could only recall a slender girl with
+golden-brown hair and wistful, appealing brown eyes; he wondered at the
+strength of character shown by her speech and conduct, and his heart
+went out to this unknown love, notwithstanding that memory now showed
+him the picture of another and earlier love in the far East.</p>
+
+<p>But it was the story of John Britton's life which moved him most. With
+strained, eager eyes and bated breath he read that sad recital, and at
+its termination, buried his face in his hands and sobbed like a child.<!-- Page 284 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When he had grown calm he sat for some time reviewing the past and
+forming plans for future action. While thus absorbed in thought he heard
+a step, and, looking up, saw standing before him a man of apparently
+sixty years, with bronzed face and grizzled hair, whose small, piercing
+eyes regarded himself with keen scrutiny. In response to the younger
+man's greeting he only bowed silently.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be Peter, the hermit," the young man exclaimed; "but whoever
+you are, you are welcome; I am glad to see a human face."</p>
+
+<p>"And you," replied the other, slowly, "you are not the same man that you
+were yesterday; you have awakened, as he said you would some day."</p>
+
+<p>"As who said?" the young man questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"John Britton," the other replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have awakened, and my life here is like a dream. Sit down,
+Peter; I want to ask you some questions."</p>
+
+<p>For half an hour they sat together, the younger man asking questions,
+the other answering in as few words as possible, his keen eyes never
+leaving the face of his interlocutor.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is this John Britton?" the young man finally inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"In Ophir&mdash;at a place called The Pines."</p>
+
+<p>"I know the place; I remember it. How far is it from here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fifteen miles by rail from the station at the foot of the mountain."</p>
+
+<p>"I must go to him at once; you will show me the way. How soon can we get
+away from here?"</p>
+
+<p>Peter glanced at the sun. "We cannot get down the trail in season for
+to-day's train. We will start to-morrow morning."<!-- Page 285 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Without further speech he then went into the cabin and busied himself
+with his accustomed duties. When he reappeared he again stood silently
+regarding the younger man with his fixed, penetrating gaze.</p>
+
+<p>"What awakened you?" he asked, at length.</p>
+
+<p>The abruptness of the question, as well as its tenor, startled the
+other; that was a phase of the mystery surrounding himself of which he
+had not even thought.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know," he replied, slowly; "that question had not occurred to
+me before. What do you think? Might it not have come about in the
+ordinary sequence of events?"</p>
+
+<p>Peter shook his head. "Not likely," he muttered; "there must have been a
+shock of some kind."</p>
+
+<p>The young man smiled brightly. "Well, I cannot answer for yesterday's
+events," he said, "having neither record nor recollection of the day;
+but I certainly sustained a shock this morning on awaking on the bare
+rocks at such an altitude as this and with no trace of a human being
+visible!"</p>
+
+<p>"On the rocks!" Peter repeated; "where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder," said the young man, indicating the direction; "come, I will
+show you the exact spot."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way to his rocky bed, near one end of the plateau, then
+watched his companion's movements as he knelt down and carefully
+inspected the rock, then, rising to his feet, looked searchingly in
+every direction with his ferret-like glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" the latter suddenly exclaimed, with emphasis, at the same time
+pointing to a rock almost overhanging their heads.</p>
+
+<p>Following the direction indicated, the young man saw a pine-tree on the
+edge of the overhanging rock, the entire length of its trunk split open,
+its branches shrivelled and blackened as though by fire.<!-- Page 286 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Peter, notwithstanding his age, sprang up the rocks with the agility of
+a panther, the younger man following more slowly. As he came up Peter
+turned from an examination of the dead tree and looked at him
+significantly.</p>
+
+<p>"An electric shock!" he said; "that was a living tree yesterday. There
+was an electric storm last night, the worst in years; it brought death
+to the tree, but life to you."</p>
+
+<p>To the younger man the words of the old hermit seemed incredible, but
+that night brought him a strange confirmation of their truth. Upon
+disrobing for the night, what was his astonishment to discover upon his
+right shoulder and extending downward diagonally across the right breast
+a long, blue mark of irregular, zigzag form, while running parallel with
+it its entire length, perfect as though done in India ink with an
+artist's pen, was the outline of the very scene surrounding him where he
+lay that morning&mdash;cliff and crag and mountain peak&mdash;traced indelibly
+upon the living flesh, an indubitable evidence of the power which had
+finally aroused his dormant faculties and a souvenir of the lost years
+which he would carry with him to his dying day.
+<!-- Page 287 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXIX" id="Chapter_XXIX"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXIX</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">John Darrell's Story</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>On the following morning the cabin on the mountain side was closed at an
+early hour, and its late occupant, accompanied by Peter and the collie,
+descended the trail to the small station near the base of the mountain,
+where he took leave of the old hermit. On his arrival at Ophir he
+ordered a carriage and drove directly to The Pines, for he was impatient
+to see John Britton at as early a date as possible, and was fearful lest
+the latter, with his migratory habits, might escape him.</p>
+
+<p>It was near noon when, having dismissed the carriage, he rang for
+admission. He recalled the house and grounds as they appeared to him on
+his first arrival, but he found it hard to realize that he was looking
+upon the scenes among which most of that strange drama of the last two
+years had been enacted. Mr. Underwood himself came to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Darrell, my boy, how do you do?" he exclaimed, shaking hands
+heartily; "thought you'd take us by surprise, eh? Got a little tired of
+living alone, I guess, and thought you'd come back to your friends.
+Well, it's mighty good to see you; come in; we'll have lunch in about an
+hour."</p>
+
+<p>To Mr. Underwood's surprise the young man did not immediately accept the
+invitation to come in, but seemed to hesitate for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Underwood," he responded, pleasantly,
+but with a shade of reserve in
+<!-- Page 288 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> his manner; "I remember you very well,
+indeed, and probably yours is about the only face I will be able to
+recall."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Mr. Underwood seemed staggered, unable to comprehend the
+meaning of the other's words.</p>
+
+<p>The young man continued: "I understand Mr. Britton is stopping with you;
+is he still here, or has he left?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is here," Mr. Underwood replied; "but, good God! Darrell, what does
+this mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Before the other could reply Mr. Britton, who was in an adjoining room
+and had overheard the colloquy, came quickly forward. He gave a swift,
+penetrating glance into the young man's face, then, turning to Mr.
+Underwood, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It means, David, that our young friend has come to his own again. He is
+no longer of our world or of us."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to the young man, he said, "I am John Britton; do you wish
+to see me?"</p>
+
+<p>The other looked earnestly into the face of the speaker, and his own
+features betrayed emotion as he replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I do; I must see you on especially important business."</p>
+
+<p>"David, you will let us have the use of your private room for a while?"
+Mr. Britton inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood nodded silently, his eyes fixed with a troubled expression
+upon the young man's face. The latter, observing his distress, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Don't think, Mr. Underwood, that I am insensible to all your kindness
+to me since my coming here two years ago. I shall see you later and show
+you that I am not lacking in appreciation, though I can never<!-- Page 289 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> express
+my gratitude to you; but before I can do that&mdash;before I can even tell
+you who I am&mdash;it is necessary that I see Mr. Britton."</p>
+
+<p>"Tut! tut!" said Mr. Underwood, gruffly; "don't talk to me of gratitude;
+I don't want any; but, my God! boy, I had come to look on you almost as
+my own son!" And, turning abruptly, he left the room before either of
+the others could speak.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a man of very strong feelings," said Mr. Britton, leading the way
+to Mr. Underwood's room; "and, to tell the truth, this is a pretty hard
+blow to each of us, although we should have prepared ourselves for it.
+Be seated, my son."</p>
+
+<p>Seating himself beside the young man and again looking into his face, he
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I see that the day has dawned; when did the light come, and how?"</p>
+
+<p>Briefly the other related his awakening on the rocks and the events
+which followed down to his finding and reading the journal which
+recorded so faithfully the history of the missing years, Mr. Britton
+listening with intense interest. At last the young man said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Of all the records of that journal, there was nothing that interested
+me so greatly or moved me so deeply as did the story of your own life.
+That is what brought me here to-day. I have come to tell you my
+story,&mdash;the story of John Darrell, as you have known him,&mdash;and possibly
+you may find it in some ways a counterpart to your own."</p>
+
+<p>"I was drawn towards you in some inexplicable way from our first
+meeting," Mr. Britton replied, slowly; "you became as dear to me as a
+son, so that I gave you in confidence the story that no other human
+being has ever heard. It is needless to say that I appreciate this mark
+of your confidence in return, and that you can<!-- Page 290 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> rest assured of my
+deepest interest in anything concerning yourself."</p>
+
+<p>The younger man drew his chair nearer his companion. "As you already
+know," he said, "I am a mine expert. I came out here on a commission for
+a large eastern syndicate, and as there was likely to be lively
+competition and I wished to remain incognito, I took the name of John
+Darrell, which in reality was a part of my own name. My home is in New
+York State. I was a country-bred boy, brought up on one of those great
+farms which abound a little north of the central part of the State; but,
+though country-bred, I was not a rustic, for my mother, who was my
+principal instructor until I was about fourteen years of age, was a
+woman of refinement and culture. My mother and I lived at her father's
+house&mdash;a beautiful country home; but even while a mere child I became
+aware that there was some kind of an unpleasant secret in our family. My
+grandfather would never allow my father's name mentioned, and he had
+little love for me as his child; but my earliest recollections of my
+mother are of her kneeling with me night after night in prayer, teaching
+me to love and revere the father I had never known, who, she told me,
+was 'gone away,' and to pray always for his welfare and for his return.
+At fourteen I was sent away to a preparatory school, and afterwards to
+college. Then, as I developed a taste for mineralogy and metallurgy, I
+took a course in the Columbian School of Mines. By this time I had
+learned that while it was generally supposed my mother was a widow,
+there were those, my grandfather among them, who believed that my father
+had deserted her. My first intimation of this was an insinuation to that
+effect by my grandfather himself, soon after my graduation. I was an
+athlete and already had a good position at a fair salary, and so great
+<!-- Page 291 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>
+was my love and reverence for my father's name that I told the old
+gentleman that nothing but his white hairs saved him from a sound
+thrashing, and that at the first repetition of any such insinuation I
+would take my mother from under his roof and provide a home for her
+myself. That sufficed to silence him effectually, for he idolized her.
+After this little episode I went to my mother and begged her to tell me
+the secret regarding my father."</p>
+
+<p>The young man paused for a moment, his dark eyes gazing earnestly into
+the clear gray eyes watching him intently; then, without shifting his
+gaze, he continued, in low tones:</p>
+
+<p>"She told me that about a year before my birth she and my father were
+married against her father's will, his only objection to the marriage
+being that my father was poor. She told me of their happy married life
+that followed, but that my father was ambitious, and the consciousness
+of poverty and the fact that he could not provide for her as he wished
+galled him. She told me how, when there was revealed to them the promise
+of a new love and life within their little home, he redoubled his
+efforts to do for her and hers, and then, dissatisfied with what he
+could accomplish there, went out into the new West to build a home for
+his little family. She told of the brave, loving letters that came so
+faithfully and the generous remittances to provide for every possible
+need in the coming emergency. Then Fortune beckoned him still farther
+west, and he obeyed, daring the dangers of that strange, wild country
+for the love he bore his wife and his unborn child. From that country
+only one letter ever was received from him. Just at that time I was
+born, and my life came near costing hers who bore me. For weeks she lay
+between life and death, so low that the<!-- Page 292 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> report of her death reached her
+parents, bringing them broken-hearted and, as they supposed, too late to
+her humble home. They found her yet living and threw their love and
+their wealth into the battle against death. In all this time no news
+came from the great West. As soon as she could be moved my mother and
+her child were taken to her father's home. Her father forgave her, but
+he had no forgiveness for her husband and no love for his child. He
+tried to make my mother believe her husband had deserted her, but she
+was loyal in her trust in him as in her love for him. She named her
+child for his father, 'John,' but as her father would not allow the name
+repeated in his hearing she gave him the additional name of 'Darrell,'
+by which he was universally known; but in those sacred hours when she
+told me of my father and taught me to pray for him, she always called me
+by his name, 'John Britton.'"</p>
+
+<p>As he ceased speaking both men rose simultaneously to their feet. The
+elder man placed his hands upon the shoulders of the younger, and,
+standing thus face to face, they looked into each other's eyes as though
+each were reading the other's inmost soul.</p>
+
+<p>"What was your mother's name?" Mr. Britton asked, in low tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Patience&mdash;Patience Jewett," replied the other.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton bowed his head with deep emotion, and father and son were
+clasped in each other's arms.</p>
+
+<p>When they had grown calm enough for speech Mr. Britton's first words
+were of his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"What of your mother, my son,&mdash;was she living when you came west?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but her health was delicate, and I am fearful of the effects of my
+long absence; it must have been a terrible strain upon her. As soon as I
+reached the city<!-- Page 293 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> this morning I telegraphed an old schoolmate for
+tidings of her, and I am expecting an answer any moment."</p>
+
+<p>They talked of the strange chain of circumstances which had brought them
+together and of the mysterious bond by which they had been so closely
+united while as yet unconscious of their relationship. The summons to
+lunch recalled them to the present. As they rose to leave the room Mr.
+Britton threw his arm affectionately about Darrell's shoulders,
+exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My son! Mine! and I have loved you as such from the first time I looked
+into your eyes! If God will now only permit me to see my beloved wife
+again, I can ask nothing more!"</p>
+
+<p>And as Darrell gazed at the noble form, towering slightly above his own,
+and looked into the depths of those gray eyes, penetrating, fearless,
+yet tender as a woman's, he felt that however sweet and sacred had been
+the friendship between them in the past, it was as naught compared with
+the infinitely sweeter and holier relationship of father and son.</p>
+
+<p>They passed into the dining-room where Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dean
+awaited them, a look of eager expectancy on both faces, the wistful
+expression of Mrs. Dean as she watched for the first token of
+recognition on Darrell's part being almost pathetic.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton, who had entered slightly in advance, paused half-way across
+the room, and, placing his hand on Darrell's shoulder, said, in a voice
+which vibrated with emotion,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friends, Mrs. Dean and Mr. Underwood, allow me to introduce my
+son, John Darrell Britton!"</p>
+
+<p>There, was a moment of strained silence in which only the labored
+breathing of Mr. Underwood could be heard.<!-- Page 294 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that you have adopted him?" Mr. Underwood asked, slowly,
+seeming to speak with difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>"No, David; he is my own flesh and blood&mdash;my legitimate son; I will
+explain later."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean and Darrell had clasped hands and were scanning each other's
+faces.</p>
+
+<p>"John, do you remember me?" she asked, with trembling lips.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell bent his head and kissed her. "I do, Mrs. Dean," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>She smiled, at the same time wiping away a tear with the corner of her
+white apron.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I could have borne it if you hadn't," she remarked,
+simply; then, shaking hands with Mr. Britton, she added:</p>
+
+<p>"I congratulate you, Mr. Britton; I congratulate you both. If ever there
+were two who ought to be father and son, you are the two."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood wrung Darrell's hand. "I congratulate you, boy, and I'm
+mighty glad to find you're not a stranger to us, after all."</p>
+
+<p>Then, grasping his old-time partner's hand, he added: "Jack, you old
+fraud! You've always got the best of me on every bargain, but I forgive
+you this time. I wanted the boy myself, but you seem to have the best
+title, so there's no use to try to jump your claim."</p>
+
+<p>Lunch was just over as a messenger was announced, and a moment later a
+telegram was handed to Darrell. As he opened the missive his fingers
+trembled and Mr. Britton's face grew pale. Darrell hastily read the
+contents, then met his father's anxious glance with a reassuring smile.</p>
+
+<p>"She is living and in usual health, though my friend says she is much
+more delicate than when I left."<!-- Page 295 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We must go to her at once, my boy," said Mr. Britton; "how soon can you
+leave?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a very few hours, father; when do you wish to start?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton consulted a time-table. "The east-bound express leaves at
+ten-thirty to-night; can we make that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure!" Darrell responded, with an enthusiasm new to his western
+friends; "you can't start too soon for me, and there isn't a train that
+travels fast enough to take me to that little mother of mine, especially
+with the good news I have for her."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, as he was hastily gathering together his
+possessions, he came suddenly upon a picture, at sight of which he
+paused, then stood spellbound, all else for the time forgotten. It was a
+portrait of Kate Underwood, taken in the gown she had worn on that night
+of her first reception. It served as a connecting link between the past
+and present. Gazing at it he was able to understand how the young girl
+whom he faintly remembered had grown into the strong, sweet character
+delineated in the recorded story of his love. He was able to recall some
+of the scenes portrayed there; he recalled her as she stood that day on
+the "Divide," her head uncovered, her gleaming hair like a halo about
+her face, her eyes shining with a light that was not of earth.</p>
+
+<p>He kissed the picture reverently. "Sweet angel of my dream!" he
+murmured; "come what may, you hold, and always will, a place in my heart
+which no other can ever take from you. I will lay your sweet face away,
+never again to be lifted from its hiding-place until I can look upon it
+as the face of my betrothed."</p>
+
+<p>His trunk was packed, his preparations for departure<!-- Page 296 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> nearly complete,
+when there came a gentle tap at his door, and Mrs. Dean entered.</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid," she said, speaking with some hesitation, "that you might
+think it strange if you did not see Katherine, and I wanted to explain
+that she is away. She went out of town, to be gone for a few days. She
+will be very sorry when she returns to find that she has missed seeing
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Dean," said Darrell, slowly; "on some accounts I would
+have been very glad to meet Kate; but on the whole I think perhaps it is
+better as it is."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose you remember her except as you saw her when you first
+came," Mrs. Dean added, wistfully; "I should like to have you see her as
+she is now. I think she has matured into a beautiful young woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember her, Mrs. Dean; she is beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you? She will be glad to hear that!" Mrs. Dean exclaimed, with a
+happy smile.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell came nearer and took her hands within his own. "Will you give
+her a message from me, just as I give it to you? She will understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; gladly."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell her," said Darrell, and his voice trembled slightly, "I remember
+her. Tell her I will see her 'at the time appointed;' and that I never
+forget!"<!-- Page 297 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXX" id="Chapter_XXX"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXX</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">After Many Years</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The evening train, as it was known,&mdash;a local from the south,&mdash;was
+approaching the little village of Ellisburg, winding its way over miles
+of rolling country dotted with farm-houses of snowy white; to the east,
+rough, rugged hills surmounted by a wall of forest, while far to the
+west could be seen the sandy beaches and blue waters of Lake Ontario.</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of this train formed one of the chief events in the daily
+life of the little town, and each summer evening found a group of from
+twenty to fifty of the village folk awaiting its incoming. To them it
+afforded a welcome break in the monotony of their lives, a fleeting
+glimpse of people and things from that vague world outside the horizon
+bounding their own.</p>
+
+<p>Amid the usual handful of passengers left at the station on this
+particular evening were two who immediately drew the attention of the
+crowd. Two men, one something over fifty years of age, tall, with erect
+form and dark hair well silvered, and with a grave, sweet face; the
+other not more than seven-and-twenty, but with hair as white as snow,
+while his face wore an inscrutable look, as though the dark, piercing
+eyes held within their depths secrets which the sphinx-like lips would
+not reveal. Closely following them was a splendid collie, trying in
+various ways to give expression to his delight at being released from
+the confinement of the baggage-car.</p>
+
+<p>There was a sudden, swift movement in the crowd<!-- Page 298 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> as a young man stepped
+quickly forward and grasped the younger of the two by the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Darrell, old boy! is this you?" he exclaimed; "Great Scott! what have
+you been doing to yourself these two years?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty of time for explanations later," said Darrell, shaking hands
+heartily; "Ned, I want you to know my father; father, this is my old
+chum, now Dr. Elliott."</p>
+
+<p>The young physician's face betrayed astonishment, but he shook hands
+with Mr. Britton with no remarks beyond the customary greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Ned," continued Darrell, "get us out of this mob as quickly as you
+can; I don't want to be recognized here."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much danger with that white pate of yours; but come this way, my
+carriage is waiting. I did not let out that you were coming back, for I
+thought you wouldn't want any demonstration from the crowd here, so I
+told no one but father; he's waiting for you in the carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"You're as level-headed as ever," Darrell remarked.</p>
+
+<p>They reached the carriage, greetings were exchanged with Mr. Elliott,
+and soon the party was driving rapidly towards the village.</p>
+
+<p>"We will go at once to my office," Dr. Elliott remarked to Darrell, who
+was seated beside himself; "we can make arrangements there as to the
+best method of breaking this news to your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"You have told her nothing, then?" Darrell inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"No; life has so many uncertainties and she has already suffered so
+much. You had a long journey before you; if anything had happened to
+detain you, it was better not to have her in suspense."<!-- Page 299 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You were right," Darrell replied; "you know I left all that to your own
+judgment."</p>
+
+<p>"Darrell, old boy," said the doctor, inspecting his companion
+critically, "do satisfy my curiosity: is that white hair genuine or a
+wig donned for the occasion?"</p>
+
+<p>"What reason could I have for any such masquerading?" Darrell demanded;
+"when you come to know my experience for the past two years you will not
+wonder that my hair is white."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, old fellow; I meant no offence. We had all given you
+up for dead&mdash;all but your mother; and your telegram nearly knocked me
+off my feet."</p>
+
+<p>Here the doctor drew rein, and, fastening the horses outside, they
+entered his office, a small, one-story building standing close to the
+street in one corner of the great dooryard of his father's home, and
+sheltered alike from sun and storm by giant maples.</p>
+
+<p>After brief consultation it was decided that as Dr. Elliott and his
+father were frequent callers at the Jewett home, the entire party would
+drive out there, and, in the probable event of not seeing Mrs. Britton,
+who was an invalid and retired at an early hour, Darrell and his father
+would spend the night at the old homestead, but their presence would not
+be known by the wife and mother until the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, sir," Dr. Elliott remarked to Mr. Britton, "your coming has
+complicated matters a little. I would not apprehend any danger from the
+meeting between Mrs. Britton and her son, for she has looked for his
+return every day; but I cannot say what might be the result of the shock
+her nervous system would sustain in meeting you. We are safe, however,
+in going out there this evening, for she always retires to her room
+before this time."</p>
+
+<p>Both Mr. Britton and Darrell grew silent as the old<!-- Page 300 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> Jewett homestead
+came in view. It was a wide-spreading house of colonial build, snowy
+white with green shutters and overrun with climbing roses and
+honeysuckle vines. It stood back at a little distance from the street,
+and a broad walk, under interlacing boughs of oak, elm, and maple, led
+from the street to the lofty pillared veranda across its front. The full
+moon was rising opposite, its mellow light throwing every twig and
+flower into bold relief. Two figures could be seen seated within the
+veranda, and as the carriage stopped Dr. Elliott remarked,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I was right; Mr. Jewett and his elder daughter are sitting outside, but
+Mrs. Britton has retired."</p>
+
+<p>As the four men alighted and proceeded up the walk towards the house
+strangely varied emotions surged through the breasts of Darrell and his
+father. To one this was his childhood's home, the only home of which he
+had any distinct memory; to the other it was the home to which long ago
+he had been welcomed as a friend, but from which he had been banished as
+a lover. But all reminiscent thoughts were suddenly put to flight.</p>
+
+<p>They had advanced only about half-way up the walk when one of the long,
+old-fashioned windows upon the veranda was hastily thrown open and a
+slender figure robed in a white dressing-gown came with swift but
+tremulous steps down the walk to meet them, crying, in glad accents,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my son! my son! you have come, as I knew you would some day!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell sprang forward and caught his mother in his arms, and then,
+unable to speak, held her close to his breast, his tears falling on her
+upturned face, while she caressed him and crooned fond words of
+endearment as in the days when she had held him in her<!-- Page 301 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> arms. Dr.
+Elliott and his father stood near, nonplussed, uncertain what to do or
+what course to take. The old gentleman on the veranda left his seat and
+took a few steps towards the group, as though to assist his daughter to
+the house, but Dr. Elliott motioned him to remain where he was. Mr.
+Britton, scarcely able to restrain his feelings, yet fearful of
+agitating his wife, had withdrawn slightly to one side, but
+unconsciously was standing so that the moonlight fell full across his
+face.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant Mrs. Britton raised her head, and, seeing the familiar
+faces of Dr. Elliott and his father, looked at the solitary figure as
+though to see who it might be. Their eyes met, his shining with the
+old-time love with which he had looked on her as she stood a bride on
+that summer evening crowned with the sunset rays, only a thousand-fold
+more tender. She gave a startled glance, then raised her arms to him
+with one shrill, sweet cry,&mdash;the cry of the lone night-bird for its
+mate,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"John!"</p>
+
+<p>"Patience!" came the responsive note, deep, resonant, tender.</p>
+
+<p>He held her folded within his arms until he suddenly felt the fragile
+form grow limp in his clasp, then, lifting her, he bore her tenderly up
+the walk, past the bewildered father and sister, into the house, Dr.
+Elliott leading the way, and laid her on a couch in her own room.</p>
+
+<p>She was soon restored to consciousness, and, though able to say little,
+lay feasting her eyes alternately upon the face of husband and son, her
+glance, however, returning oftener and dwelling longer on the face of
+the lover, who, after more than twenty-seven years of absence, was a
+lover still.<!-- Page 302 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXI" id="Chapter_XXXI"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">An Eastern Home</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Within a few days Darrell and his father were domiciled in the Jewett
+homestead, the physicians pronouncing it unwise to attempt to remove
+Mrs. Britton to another home.</p>
+
+<p>To Experience Jewett, who reigned supreme in her father's house, it
+seemed as though two vandals had invaded her domain, so ruthlessly did
+they open up the rooms for years jealously guarded from sunshine and
+dust, while her cherished household gods were removed by sacrilegious
+hands from their time-honored niches and consigned to the ignominy of
+obscure back chambers or the oblivion of the garret.</p>
+
+<p>Under Mr. Britton's supervision, soon after his arrival, the great
+double parlors, which had not been used since the funeral of Mrs. Jewett
+some seven years before, were thrown wide open, Sally, the "help,"
+standing with open mouth and arms akimbo, aghast at such proceedings,
+while Miss Jewett executed a lively quick-step in pursuit of a moth,
+which, startled by the unusual light, was circling above her head.</p>
+
+<p>Not only were the gayly flowered Brussels carpet and the black haircloth
+furniture the same as when he had been a guest in those rooms nearly
+thirty years before, but each piece of furniture occupied the same
+position as then. He smiled as he noted the arm-chair by one of the
+front windows, to which he had been invariably assigned and in which he
+had slipped and slid throughout each evening to the detriment of the<!-- Page 303 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>
+crocheted "tidy" pinned upon its back. The vases and candlesticks upon
+the mantel were arranged with the same mathematical precision. He could
+detect only one change, which was that to the collection of family
+photographs framed and hanging above the mantel, there had been added a
+portrait of the late Mrs. Jewett.</p>
+
+<p>Within a week the old furnishings had been relegated to other parts of
+the house and modern upholstery had taken their places, the soft subdued
+tints of which blended harmoniously, forming a general impression of
+warmth and light.</p>
+
+<p>Most of these innovations Miss Jewett viewed with disfavor, particularly
+the staining of the floors preparatory to laying down two Turkish rugs
+of exquisite coloring and design.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see any use in being so skimping with the carpets," she
+remarked to Sally; "if I'd been in his place I'd have got enough to
+cover the whole floor while I was about it, even if I'd bought something
+a little cheaper. A carpet with bare floor showing all 'round it puts me
+in mind of Dick's hat-band that went part way 'round and stopped."</p>
+
+<p>"That's jest what it does!" Sally assented.</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted to lay down some strips of carpeting along the edges, but he
+wouldn't hear to it," Miss Jewett continued, regretfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose," Sally remarked, sagely, "it's all on account of livin' out
+west along with them wild Injuns and cow-boys so many years. Western
+folks 'most always has queer ideas about things."</p>
+
+<p>"I never would have believed it to see such overturnings in my house!"
+exclaimed Miss Jewett, with a sigh; "and if 'twas anybody but John
+Britton I wouldn't stand it. I wonder if he won't be telling me<!-- Page 304 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> how to
+make butter and raise chickens and turkeys next!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mebbe he'll bring 'round one o' them new-fangled contrivances for
+hatchin' chickens without hens," Sally ventured, with a laugh; adding,
+reflectively, "I wonder why, when they was about it, they didn't invent
+a machine to lay aigs as well as hatch 'em; that would 'ave been a
+savin', for a hen's keep don't amount to much when she's settin', but
+they're powerful big eaters generally."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jewett prided herself upon her thrift and economy; her well-kept
+house where nothing was allowed to go to waste; her spotless dairy-rooms
+and rolls of golden butter which never failed to bring a cent and a half
+more a pound than any other; her fine breeds of poultry which annually
+carried off the blue ribbons at the county fair. She had achieved a
+local reputation of which she was quite proud; she would brook no
+interference in her management of household affairs, and, as she said,
+no one but John Britton would ever have been allowed to infringe upon
+her established rules and regulations. There had been a time when she
+had shared equally with her sister John Britton's attentions. It had
+been the only bit of romance in her life, but a lingering sweetness from
+it still remained in her heart through all the commonplace years that
+had followed, like the faint perfume from rose-leaves, faded and
+shrivelled, but cherished as sacred mementos. She had not blamed him for
+choosing her younger and more attractive sister, and she had secretly
+admired her sister for braving their father's displeasure to marry him.
+And now she was glad that he had returned; glad for his own sake that
+the imputations cast upon him by her father and others were refuted; for
+her sister's sake, that her last days should be so brightened and
+glorified; but deep<!-- Page 305 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> within her heart, glad for her own sake, because it
+was good to look upon his face and hear his voice again.</p>
+
+<p>Sally's strident tones broke in upon her retrospection:</p>
+
+<p>"There's one thing, Miss Jewett, I guess you needn't be afeard they'll
+meddle with, and that's your cookin'. Mr. Darrell, he was tellin' me
+about the prices people had to pay for meals on them
+eatin'-cars,&mdash;'diners' he called 'em,&mdash;and I told him there wasn't no
+vittles on earth worth any such price as that, and I up and asked him
+whether they was as good as the vittles he gets here, and he laughed and
+said there wasn't nobody could beat his Aunt Espey at cookin'."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jewett's eyes brightened. "Bless the boy's heart!" she exclaimed;
+"I'm glad they're going to be here for Thanksgiving; I'll see that they
+get such a dinner as they neither of them ever dreamed of!"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell had won a warm place in her heart in his baby days with his
+earliest efforts to speak her name. "Espey" had been the result of his
+first attack on the formidable name of "Experience," and "Aunt Espey"
+she had been to him ever since.</p>
+
+<p>Her father, Hosea Jewett, was a hale, hearty man of upward of seventy,
+hard and unyielding as the granite ledges cropping out along the
+hill-sides of his farm, and with a face gnarled and weather-beaten as
+the oaks before his door. He was scrupulously honest, but exacting,
+relentless, unforgiving.</p>
+
+<p>He was not easily reconciled to the new order of things, but for his
+daughter's sake he held his peace. Then, too, though he never forgave
+John Britton for having married his daughter, yet John Britton as a man
+whose wealth exceeded even his own was an altogether different person
+from the ambitious but impecunious lover of thirty years before. He had
+<!-- Page 306 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>
+never forgiven Darrell for being John Britton's son, but mingled with
+his long-cherished animosity was a secret pride in the splendid physical
+and intellectual manhood of this sole representative of his own line.</p>
+
+<p>Between the sisters there had been few points of resemblance. Patience
+Jewett had been of an ardent, emotional nature, passionately fond of
+music, a great reader, and with little taste for the household tasks in
+which her more practical sister delighted. Having a more delicate
+constitution, she had little share in the busy routine of farm life, but
+was allowed to follow her own inclinations. She was still absorbed in
+her music and studies when Love found her, and the woman within her
+awoke at his call.</p>
+
+<p>After Darrell's birth her health was seriously impaired. It seemed as
+though her faith in her husband, her belief that he would one day
+return, and her love for her son were the only ties holding soul and
+body together, and, with her natural religious tendencies, the spiritual
+nature developed at the expense of the physical. Since Darrell's strange
+disappearance she had failed rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>With the return of her husband and son she seemed temporarily to renew
+her hold on life, appearing stronger than for many months. For the first
+few days much of her time was spent at her piano, singing with her
+husband the old songs of their early love, but oftenest a favorite of
+his which she had sung during the years of his absence, and which
+Darrell had sung on that night at The Pines following his discovery of
+the violin,&mdash;"Loyal to Love and Thee."</p>
+
+<p>Her delight in the rooms newly fitted up for her was unbounded, and
+against the background of their subdued, warm tints she made a
+strikingly beautiful pic<!-- Page 307 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>ture, with her sweet, spirituelle face crowned
+with waving silver hair.</p>
+
+<p>Either Darrell or his father, or both, were constantly with her, for
+they realized that the time was short in which to make amends for the
+missing years. She loved to listen to her husband's tales of the great
+West or to bits which Darrell read from his journal of that strange
+chapter of his own life.</p>
+
+<p>"You have not yet asked after your sweetheart, Darrell," his mother said
+one evening soon after his arrival, as they sat awaiting his father's
+return from a short stroll.</p>
+
+<p>"You are my sweetheart now, little mother," he replied, kissing the hand
+that lay within his own.</p>
+
+<p>"Does that mean that you care less for Marion than before you went
+away?" she queried.</p>
+
+<p>"No," Darrell answered, slowly; "I cannot say that my regard for her has
+decreased. I may have changed in some respects, but not in my feelings
+towards Marion. I will ask you a question, mother: Do you think she
+still cares for me as before I left home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know how to answer you, because, as you know, Marion is so
+silent and secretive. I never could understand the girl. To be candid,
+Darrell dear, I never could understand why you should care for her, and
+I never thought she cared for you as she ought."</p>
+
+<p>"You know, mother, how I came to be attracted to her in the first place;
+we were schoolmates, and you know she was an exceptionally brilliant
+girl, and different from most of the others. We were interested in the
+same subjects, and naturally there sprang up quite an intimacy between
+us. Then we corresponded while I was at college, and her letters were so
+bright and entertaining that my admiration for her increased.<!-- Page 308 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> I thought
+her the most brilliant and the best girl, every way, in all my
+acquaintance, and I think so still."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear boy," his mother exclaimed, "admiration is not love; I
+don't believe you ever really loved her, and she always seemed to me to
+be all brains and no heart&mdash;one of those cold, silent natures incapable
+of loving."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are wrong there, mother. Marion is silent, but I don't
+believe she is cold or incapable of loving. She may, or may not, be
+incapable of expressing it, but I believe she could love very deeply and
+sincerely were her love once awakened."</p>
+
+<p>"You know she has taken up the study of medicine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ned Elliott told me she had been studying with Dr. Parker for about a
+year."</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Parker tells me she is making remarkable progress."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't doubt it, mother; she will probably make a success of it; she
+is just the woman to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"There never was any mention of love between you two, was there, or any
+engagement?" Darrell's mother asked, with some hesitation, after a brief
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>"None whatever," he replied, then added, with a smile: "We considered
+ourselves in love at the time,&mdash;at least, I did; but as I look back now
+it seems a very Platonic affair; but I thought I loved her, and I think
+she loved me."</p>
+
+<p>"You say, Darrell, that your regard for her is unchanged?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; the same as ever."</p>
+
+<p>"But you do not think now that you love her or loved her then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mother; I know I do not, and did not."<!-- Page 309 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then, Darrell, my boy, some one else has taught you what love really
+is?"</p>
+
+<p>For answer Darrell bowed his head in assent over his mother's hand.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments she silently stroked his hair as in his boyish days;
+then she said, in low tones,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Answer me one question, Darrell: Was she a good, pure woman?"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell raised his head, his eyes looking straight into the searching
+dark eyes, so like his own.</p>
+
+<p>"My little mother," he replied, tenderly, "don't think that your
+teachings all the past years or the lessons of your own sweet life were
+lost in those two years; their influence lived even when memory had
+failed."</p>
+
+<p>He bent and kissed her, then added: "She was scarcely more than a child;
+not so brilliant, perhaps, as Marion, but beautiful, good, and pure as
+the driven snow."</p>
+
+<p>Hearing his father's voice outside, Darrell rose and, picking up his
+journal, opened it at the story of his love and Kate's. Then placing it
+open upon a table beside his mother, he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There, mother, is the story of my Dream-Love, as I call her. Read it,
+and if you should wish to know anything further regarding it, ask my
+father, for he knows all."<!-- Page 310 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXII" id="Chapter_XXXII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Marion Holmes</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The following day when Darrell entered his mother's rooms he found her
+with his journal lying open before her. Looking up with a smile, she
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Darrell, my dear, I would like to meet your 'Kathie,' but that can
+never be in this world. But you will meet her again, and when you do,
+give her a mother's love and blessing from me."</p>
+
+<p>Then, laying her hand on his arm, she added: "I understand now your
+question regarding Marion. As I told you, it is difficult to judge
+anything about her real feelings. For the first year after you went away
+she came often to see me and frequently inquired for tidings of you, but
+this last year she has seemed different. She has come here less
+frequently and seldom referred to you, and appeared so engrossed in her
+studies I concluded she had little thought or care for you. I may have
+misjudged her, but even were that so and she did care for you still, you
+would not marry her now, loving another as you do, would you?"</p>
+
+<p>Darrell smiled as he met his mother's eager, questioning gaze. "If I had
+won the love of a girl like Marion Holmes," he said, "I would do nothing
+that would seem like trifling with that love; but, in justice to all
+parties concerned, herself in particular, I would never marry her
+without first giving her enough knowledge of the facts in the case that
+she would thoroughly understand the situation."</p>
+
+<p>His mother seemed satisfied. "Marion has brains,<!-- Page 311 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> whether she has a
+heart or not," she replied, with quiet emphasis; "and a girl of brains
+would never marry a man under such circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>Handing him his journal she pointed with a smile to its inscription.</p>
+
+<p>"'Until the day break,'" she quoted; "that has been my daily watchword
+all these years; strange that you, too, should have chosen it as your
+own."</p>
+
+<p>Had Darrell gone to his aunt for a gauge of Marion Holmes's feelings
+towards himself she could have informed him more correctly than his
+mother. She, with an old love hidden so deeply in her heart that no one
+even suspected its existence, understood the silent, reticent girl far
+better than her emotional, demonstrative sister.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after moving into the rooms newly fitted up for her Mrs.
+Britton gave what she termed "a little house-warming," to which were
+invited a few old-time friends of her own and Mr. Britton's, together
+with some of Darrell's associates. Among the latter Marion was, of
+course, included, but happening at the time to be out of town, she did
+not receive the invitation until two days afterwards. Meantime, Darrell,
+who was anxious to meet the syndicate from whom he had received his
+western commission two years before, left on the following day for New
+York City. Consequently when Marion, upon her return, called on Mrs.
+Britton to explain her absence, Darrell was away.</p>
+
+<p>Marion Holmes was, as Mrs. Britton had said, a silent girl; not from any
+habitual self-repression, but from an inherent inability to express her
+deeper feelings. Hers was one of those dumb speechless souls, that,
+finding no means of communicating with others, unable to get in touch
+with those about them, go on their silent, lonely ways, no one dreaming
+of the<!-- Page 312 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> depth of feeling or wealth of affection they really possess.</p>
+
+<p>The eldest child of a widowed mother, in moderate circumstances, her
+life had been one of constant restriction and self-denial. Her
+association with Darrell marked a new epoch in the dreary years. For the
+first time within her memory there was something each morning to which
+she could look forward with pleasant anticipation; something to look
+back upon with pleasure when the day was done. As their intimacy grew
+her happiness increased, and when he returned from college with high
+honors her joy was unbounded. Brought up in a home where there was
+little demonstration of affection, she did not look for it here; she
+loved and supposed herself loved in return, else how could there be such
+an affinity between them? The depth of her love for Darrell Britton she
+herself did not know until his strange disappearance; then she learned
+the place he had filled in her heart and life by the void that remained.
+As months passed without tidings of him she lost hope. Unable to endure
+the blank monotony of her home life she took up the study of medicine,
+partly to divert her mind and also as a means of future self-support
+more remunerative than teaching.</p>
+
+<p>With the news of Darrell's return, hope sprang into new life, and it was
+with a wild, sweet joy, which would not be stilled, pulsating through
+her heart, that she went to call on Mrs. Britton.</p>
+
+<p>She had a nature supersensitive, and as she entered Mrs. Britton's rooms
+her heart sank and her whole soul recoiled as from a blow. With her
+limited means and her multiplicity of home duties her outings had been
+confined to the small towns within a short distance of her native
+village. These rooms, in such<!-- Page 313 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> marked contrast to everything to which
+she had been accustomed, were to her a revelation of something beyond
+her of which she had had no conception; a revelation also that her
+comrade of by-gone days had grown away from her, beyond her&mdash;beyond even
+her reach or ken.</p>
+
+<p>Quietly, with a strange, benumbing pain, she noted every detail as she
+answered Mrs. Britton's inquiries, but conscious of the lack of affinity
+between herself and Darrell's mother, it seemed to her that the dark
+eyes regarding her so searchingly must read with what hopes she had
+come, and how those hopes had died. She was glad Darrell was not at
+home; she could not have met him then and there. But so quiet were her
+words and manner, so like her usual demeanor, that Mrs. Britton said to
+herself, as Marion took leave,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I was right; she cares for Darrell only as a mere acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>On her return she entered the parlor of her own home and stood for some
+moments gazing silently about her. How shabby, how pitiably bare and
+meagre and colorless! An emblem of her own life! Throwing herself upon
+the threadbare little sofa where she and Darrell had spent so many happy
+hours reviewing their studies and talking of hopes and plans for the
+future, she burst into such bitter, passionate weeping as only natures
+like hers can know.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell's trip proved successful beyond his anticipations. He found the
+leading members of the syndicate, to whom he explained his two years'
+absence and into whose possession he gave the money intrusted to his
+keeping. So delighted were they to see him after having given him up for
+dead, and so pleased were they with his honesty and integrity that they
+tendered him his old position with them, offering to continue his
+<!-- Page 314 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+salary from the date of his western commission. This offer he promptly
+declined, declaring that he would undertake no commissions or enter into
+no business agreements during his mother's present state of health.</p>
+
+<p>He had taken with him the completed manuscript of his geological work,
+and this, through the influence of one or two members of the syndicate,
+he succeeded in placing with a publishing house making a specialty of
+scientific works.</p>
+
+<p>These facts, communicated to his parents, soon reached Miss Jewett,
+filling her with a pride and delight that knew no bounds. Ellisburg had
+no daily paper, but it possessed a few individuals of the gentler sex
+who as advertising mediums answered almost as well, and whom Miss Jewett
+included among her acquaintance. She suddenly remembered a number of
+calls which her household duties had hitherto prevented her returning,
+and decided that this was the most opportune time for paying them.
+Ordering her carriage and donning her best black silk gown, she
+proceeded with due ceremony to make her round of calls, judiciously
+dropping a few words here and there, which, like the seed sown on good
+ground, brought forth fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold. As a
+result Darrell, upon his return, found himself a literary star of the
+first magnitude,&mdash;the cynosure of all eyes.</p>
+
+<p>These reports reaching Marion only widened the gulf which she felt now
+intervened between herself and Darrell.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately upon his return Darrell called upon her. She was at
+home, but sent a younger sister to admit him while she nerved herself
+for the dreaded interview. As he awaited her coming he looked around him
+with a sort of wonder. Each object seemed familiar, and yet, was it
+<!-- Page 315 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>
+possible this was the room that used to seem so bright and pleasant as
+he and Marion conned their lessons together? Had it changed, he
+wondered, or had he?</p>
+
+<p>Marion's entrance put a stop to his musings. He sprang to meet her, she
+advanced slowly. She had changed very little. Her face, unless animated,
+was always serious, determined; it was a shade more determined, almost
+stern, but it had the same strong, intellectual look which had always
+distinguished it and for which he had admired it.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell, on the contrary, was greatly changed. Marion, gazing at the
+snow-white hair, the dark eyes with their piercing, inscrutable look,
+the firmly set mouth, and noting the bearing of conscious strength and
+power, was unable to recognize her quondam schoolmate until he spoke;
+the voice and smile were the same as of old!</p>
+
+<p>They clasped hands for an instant, then Darrell, as in the old days,
+dropped easily into one corner of the little sofa, supposing she would
+take her accustomed place in the other corner, but, instead, she drew a
+small rocker opposite and facing him, in which she seated herself. His
+manner was cordial and free as, after a few inquiries regarding herself,
+he spoke of his absence, touching lightly upon his illness and its
+strange consequences, and expressed his joy at finding himself at home
+once more.</p>
+
+<p>She was kind and sympathetic, but her manner was constrained. She could
+not banish the remembrance of her call upon his mother, of the contrast
+between his home and hers; and as he talked something indefinable in his
+language, in his very movements and gestures, revealed to her sensitive
+nature a contrast, a difference, between them; he had somehow reached
+<!-- Page 316 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
+ground to which she could not attain. He drew her out to speak of her
+new studies and congratulated her upon her progress; but the call was
+not a success, socially or otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>When Darrell left the house he believed more firmly than ever that
+Marion had loved him in the past. Whether she had ceased to love him he
+could not then determine; time would tell.</p>
+
+<p>During the weeks that followed there were numerous gatherings of a
+social and informal nature where Darrell and Marion were thrown in each
+other's society, but, though he still showed a preference for her over
+the girls of his acquaintance, she shrank from his attentions, avoiding
+him whenever she could do so without causing remark.</p>
+
+<p>Thanksgiving Day came, and Miss Jewett's guests were compelled to admit
+that she had surpassed herself. The dinner was one long to be
+remembered. Her prize turkey occupied the place of honor, flanked on one
+side by a roast duck, superbly browned, and on the other by an immense
+chicken pie, while savory vegetables, crisp pickles, and tempting
+relishes such as she only could concoct crowded the table in every
+direction. A huge plum-pudding headed the second course, with an almost
+endless retinue of pies,&mdash;mince, pumpkin, and apple,&mdash;while golden
+custards and jellies&mdash;red, purple, and amber, of currant, grape, and
+peach&mdash;brought up the rear. A third course of fruits and nuts followed,
+but by that time scarcely any one was able to do more than make a
+pretence of eating.</p>
+
+<p>To this dinner were invited the minister and his wife, one or two
+far-removed cousins who usually put in an appearance at this season of
+the year, Marion Holmes, and a decrepit old lady, a former friend of
+Mrs. Jewett's, who confided to the minister's wife that she had
+<!-- Page 317 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> eaten a
+very light breakfast and no lunch whatever in order that she might be
+able to "do justice to Experience's dinner."</p>
+
+<p>Marion Holmes was not there, and Darrell, meeting her on the street the
+next day, playfully took her to task.</p>
+
+<p>"Why were you not at dinner yesterday?" he inquired; "have you no more
+regard for my feelings than to leave me to be sandwiched between the
+parson's wife and old Mrs. Pettigrew?"</p>
+
+<p>"I might have gone had I known such a fate as that awaited you," she
+replied, laughing; "but," she added with some spirit, thinking it best
+to come to the point at once, "I can see no reason for thrusting myself
+into your family gatherings simply because you and I were good comrades
+in the past."</p>
+
+<p>"Were we not something more than merely good comrades, Marion?" he
+asked, anxious to ascertain her real feelings towards himself; "it
+seemed to me we were, or at least that we thought we were."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be," she answered, her color rising slightly; "but if we
+thought so then, that is no reason for deceiving ourselves any longer."</p>
+
+<p>She intended to mislead him, and she did.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," he replied; "we will not deceive ourselves; we will have a
+good understanding with ourselves and with each other. Is there any
+reason why we should not be at least good comrades now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know of none," she answered, meeting his eyes without wavering.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us act as such, and not like two silly children, afraid of
+each other. Is that a compact?" he asked, smiling and extending his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"It is," she replied, smiling brightly in return as their hands clasped,
+thus by word and act renouncing her dearest hopes without his dreaming
+of the sacrifice.<!-- Page 318 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXIII" id="Chapter_XXXIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Into the Fulness of Life</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>With the opening of cold weather the seeming betterment in Mrs.
+Britton's health proved but temporary. As the winter advanced she failed
+rapidly, until, unable to sit up, she lay on a low couch, wheeled from
+room to room to afford all the rest and change possible. Day by day her
+pallor grew more and more like the waxen petals of the lily, while the
+fatal rose flush in her cheek deepened, and her eyes, unnaturally large
+and lustrous, had in them the look of those who dwell in the borderland.</p>
+
+<p>She realized her condition as fully as those about her, but there was
+neither fear nor regret in the eyes, which, fixed on the glory invisible
+to them, caught and reflected the light of the other world, till, in the
+last days, those watching her saw her face "as it had been the face of
+an angel."</p>
+
+<p>No demonstration of sorrow marred the peace in which her soul dwelt the
+last days of its stay, for the very room seemed hallowed, a place too
+sacred for the intrusion of any personal grief.</p>
+
+<p>Turning one day to her husband, who seldom left her side, she said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My sorrow made me selfish; I see it now. Look at the good you have
+done, the many you have helped; what have I done, what have I to show
+for all these years?"</p>
+
+<p>Just then Darrell passed the window before which she was lying.
+<!-- Page 319 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There is your work, Patience," Mr. Britton replied, tenderly; "you have
+that to show for those years of loneliness and suffering. Surely, love,
+you have done noble work there; work whose results will last for
+years&mdash;probably for generations&mdash;yet to come!"</p>
+
+<p>Her face lighted with a rapturous smile. "I had not thought of that,"
+she whispered; "I will not go empty-handed after all. Perhaps He will
+say of me, as of one of old, 'She hath done what she could.'"</p>
+
+<p>From that time she sank rapidly, sleeping lightly, waking occasionally
+with a child-like smile, then lapsing again into unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>One evening as the day was fading she awoke from a long sleep and looked
+intently into the faces gathered about her. Her pastor, who had known
+her through all the years of her sorrow, was beside her. Bending over
+her and looking into the eyes now dimmed by the approaching shadows, he
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You have not much longer to wait, my dear sister."</p>
+
+<p>With a significant gesture she pointed to the fading light.</p>
+
+<p>"'Until the day break,'" she murmured, with difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>He was quick to catch her meaning and bowed his head in token that he
+understood; then, raising his hand above her head, as though in
+benediction, in broken tones he slowly pronounced the words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
+for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy
+mourning shall be ended.'"</p>
+
+<p>Her face brightened; a seraphic smile burst forth, irradiating every
+feature with a light which never faded, for, with a look of loving
+farewell into the faces of husband and son, she sank into a sleep from
+which she did not wake, and when, as the day was breaking over the
+<!-- Page 320 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
+eastern hill-tops, her soul took flight, the smile still lingered,
+deepening into such perfect peace as is seldom seen on mortal faces.</p>
+
+<p>As Darrell, a few moments later, stood at the window, watching the stars
+paling one by one in the light of the coming dawn, a bit of verse with
+which he had been familiar years before, but which he had not recalled
+until then, recurred to him with peculiar force:</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"A soul passed out on its way toward Heaven</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As soon as the word of release was given;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And the trail of the meteor swept around</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The lovely form of the homeward-bound.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0em;">Glimmering, shimmering, there on high,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The stars grew dim as one passed them by;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the earth was never again so bright,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">For a soul had slipped from its place that night."</span><br /></div>
+
+<p>After Mrs. Britton's death, deprived of her companionship and of the
+numberless little ministrations to her comfort in which they had
+delighted, both Mr. Britton and Darrell found life strangely empty. They
+also missed the strenuous western life to which they had been
+accustomed, with its ceaseless demands upon both muscle and brain. The
+life around them seemed narrow and restricted; the very monotony of the
+landscape wearied them; they longed for the freedom and activity of the
+West, the breadth and height of the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>As both were standing one day beside the resting-place of the wife and
+mother, which Mr. Britton had himself chosen for her, the latter said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"John, there are no longer any ties to hold us here. You may have to
+remain here until affairs are settled, but I have no place, and want
+none, in Hosea Jewett's home. I am going back to the West; and I know
+<!-- Page 321 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>
+that sooner or later you will return also, for your heart is among the
+mountains. But before we separate I want one promise from you, my son."</p>
+
+<p>"Name it," said Darrell; "you know, father, I would fulfil any and every
+wish of yours within my power."</p>
+
+<p>"It was my wish in the past, when my time should come to die, to be
+buried on the mountain-side, near the Hermitage. But life henceforth for
+me will be altogether different from what it has been heretofore; and I
+want your promise, John, if you outlive me, that when the end comes, no
+matter where I may be, you will bring me back to her, that when our
+souls are reunited our bodies may rest together here, within sound of
+the river's voice and shielded by the overhanging boughs from winter's
+storm and summer's heat."</p>
+
+<p>Father and son clasped hands above the newly made grave.</p>
+
+<p>"I promise you, father," Darrell replied; "but you did not need to ask
+the pledge."</p>
+
+<p>When John Britton left Ellisburg a few days later a crowd of friends
+were gathered at the little depot to extend their sympathy and bid him
+farewell. A few were old associates of his own, some were his wife's
+friends, and some Darrell's. To those who had known him in the past he
+was greatly changed, and none of them quite understood his quaint
+philosophizings, his broad views, or his seeming isolation from their
+work-a-day, business world in which he had formerly taken so active a
+part. They knew naught of his years of solitary life or of how lives
+spent in years of contemplation and reflection, of retrospection and
+introspection, become gradually lifted out of the ordinary channels of
+<!-- Page 322 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>
+thought and out of touch with the more practical life of the world. But
+they had had abundant evidence of his love and devotion to his wife, and
+of his kindness and liberality towards many of their own number, and for
+these they loved him.</p>
+
+<p>There was not one, however, who mourned his departure so deeply as
+Experience Jewett, though she gave little expression to her sorrow. She
+had hoped that after her sister's death his home would still be with
+them. This, not from any weak sentimentality or any thought that he
+would ever be aught than as a brother to her, but because his very
+presence in the home was refreshing, helpful, comforting, and because it
+was a joy to be near him, to hear him talk, and to minister to his
+comfort. But he was going from them, as she well knew, never to return,
+and beneath the brave, smiling face she carried a sore and aching heart.</p>
+
+<p>Thus John Britton bade the East farewell and turned his face towards the
+great West, mindful only of the grave under the elms, to which the river
+murmured night and day, and with no thought of return until he, too,
+should come to share that peaceful resting place.
+<!-- Page 323 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXIV" id="Chapter_XXXIV"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXIV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">A Warning</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Spring had come again and Walcott's probationary year with Mr. Underwood
+had nearly expired. For a while he had maintained his old suavity of
+manner and business had been conducted satisfactorily, but as months
+passed and Kate Underwood was unapproachable as ever and the prospect of
+reconciliation between them seemed more remote, he grew sullen and
+morose, and Mr. Underwood began to detect signs of mismanagement.
+Determined to wait until he had abundance of evidence with which to
+confront him, however, he said nothing, but continued to watch him with
+unceasing vigilance.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood, though able to attend to business, had never fully
+recovered from the illness of the preceding year. His physician advised
+him to retire from business, as any excitement or shock would be likely
+to cause a second attack far more serious than the first; but to this
+Mr. Underwood would not listen, clinging tenaciously to the old routine
+to which he had been accustomed. Kate, realizing her father's condition,
+guarded him with watchful solicitude from every possible worry and
+anxiety, spending much of her time with him, and even familiarizing
+herself with many details of his business in order to assist him.</p>
+
+<p>In the months since Darrell's return east Kate had matured in many ways.
+Her tall, slender form was beginning to round out in symmetrical
+proportions, and her voice, always sweet, had developed wonderfully<!-- Page 324 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> in
+volume and range. She had taken up the study of music anew, both vocal
+and instrumental, devoting her leisure hours to arduous practice, her
+father having promised her a thorough course of study in Europe, for
+which she was preparing herself with great enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Though no words were exchanged between Mr. Underwood and Walcott, the
+latter became conscious of the other's growing disfavor, and the
+conviction gradually forced itself upon him that all hope of gaining his
+partner's daughter in marriage was futile. For Kate Underwood he cared
+little, except as a means of securing a hold upon her father's wealth.
+As he found himself compelled to abandon this scheme and saw the prize
+he had thus hoped to gain slipping farther and farther from his grasp,
+his rage made him desperate, and he determined to gain all or lose all
+in one mad venture. To make ready for this would require weeks, perhaps
+months, but he set about his preparations with method and deliberation.
+Either the boldness of his plan or his absorption in the expected
+outcome made him negligent of details, however, and slowly, but surely,
+Mr. Underwood gathered the proofs of his guilt with which he intended to
+confront him when the opportune moment arrived. But even yet he did not
+dream the extent of his partner's frauds or the villany of which he was
+capable; he therefore took no one into his confidence and sought no
+assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Kate was quick to observe the change in Walcott's manner and to note the
+malignity lurking in the half-closed eyes whenever they encountered her
+own or her father's gaze, and, while saying nothing to excite or worry
+the latter, redoubled her vigilance, seldom leaving him alone.</p>
+
+<p>Affairs had reached this state when, with the early<!-- Page 325 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> spring days, Mr.
+Britton returned from the East and stopped for a brief visit at The
+Pines. In a few days he divined enough of the situation to lead him to
+suspect that danger of some kind threatened his old friend. A hint from
+Kate confirmed his suspicion, and he resolved to prolong his stay and
+await developments.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon soon after his arrival Kate, returning from a walk, while
+passing up the driveway met a woman coming from The Pines. The latter
+was tall, dressed in black, and closely veiled,&mdash;a stranger,&mdash;yet
+something in her appearance seemed familiar. Suddenly Kate recalled the
+"Se&ntilde;ora" who sent the summons to Walcott on that day set for their
+marriage, more than a year before. Though she had caught only a brief
+glimpse of the black-robed and veiled figure within the carriage, she
+remembered a peculiarly graceful poise of the head as she had leaned
+forward for a final word with Walcott, and by that she identified the
+woman now approaching her. Each regarded the other closely as they met.
+To Kate it seemed as though the woman hesitated for the fraction of a
+second, as though about to speak, but she passed on silently. On
+reaching a turn in the driveway Kate, looking back, saw the woman
+standing near the large gates watching her, but the latter, finding
+herself observed, passed through the gates to the street and walked
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Perplexed and somewhat annoyed, Kate proceeded on her way to the house.
+She believed the woman to be in some way associated with Walcott, and
+that her presence there presaged evil of some sort. As she entered the
+sitting-room her aunt looked up with a smile from her seat before the
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>"You have just had rather a remarkable caller, Katherine."</p>
+
+<p>"That woman in black whom I just met?" Kate<!-- Page 326 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> asked, betraying no
+surprise, for she felt none; she was prepared at that moment for almost
+any announcement.</p>
+
+<p>"Who was she, Aunt Marcia? and what did she want with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"She refused to give her name, but said to tell you 'a friend' called.
+She seemed disappointed at not seeing you, and as she was leaving she
+said, 'Say to her she has a friend where she least thinks it, and if
+she, or any one she loves, is in danger, I will come and warn her.' She
+was very quiet-appearing, notwithstanding her tragic language. You say
+you met her; what do you think of her?"</p>
+
+<p>Kate had been thinking rapidly. "I have seen her once before, auntie. I
+am positive she is in some way connected with Mr. Walcott, and equally
+positive that he has some evil designs against papa; but why she should
+warn me against him, if that is her intention, I cannot imagine."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no way of warning your father, Katherine?" Mrs. Dean inquired,
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Britton and I have talked it over, auntie. We think papa suspects
+him and is watching him, but so long as he doesn't take either of us
+into his confidence we don't want to excite or worry him by suggesting
+any danger. This woman may or may not be friendly, as she claims, but in
+any event, if she comes again, I must see her. Whatever danger there may
+be I want to know it; then I'm not afraid but that I can defend papa or
+myself in case of trouble."</p>
+
+<p>For several days Kate scanned her horizon closely for portents of the
+coming storm. She saw nothing of the mysterious woman who had styled
+herself a friend, but on more than one occasion she had a fleeting
+glimpse of the man who on that memorable day<!-- Page 327 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> brought the message from
+her to Walcott, and Kate felt that a d&eacute;nouement of some kind was near.</p>
+
+<p>Walcott's preparations were nearly perfected; another week would
+complete them. By that time the funds of the firm as well as large
+deposits held in trust, would be where he could lay his fingers on them
+at a moment's notice. At a given signal two trusted agents would be at
+the side entrance with fleet horses on which they would travel to a
+neighboring village, and there, where their appearance would excite no
+suspicion, they were to board the late express, which would carry them
+to a point whence they could easily reach a place of safety.</p>
+
+<p>But his well-laid plans were suddenly checked by a request one afternoon
+from his senior partner to meet him in his private office that evening
+at eight o'clock. The tone in which this request was preferred aroused
+Walcott's suspicions that an investigation might be pending, and,
+enraged at being thus checkmated, he determined to strike at once.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner Mr. Underwood mentioned an engagement which would, he said,
+detain him for an hour or so that evening, but having never since his
+illness gone to the offices in the evening, no one supposed it more than
+an ordinary business appointment with some friend.</p>
+
+<p>He had left the house only a few moments when a caller was announced for
+Miss Underwood.</p>
+
+<p>Kate's heart gave a sudden bound as, on entering the reception-hall, she
+saw again the woman whose coming was to be a warning of danger. She was,
+as usual, dressed in black and heavily veiled. Kate was conscious of no
+fear; rather a joy that the suspense was over, that there was at last
+something definite and tangible to face.<!-- Page 328 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;orita, may I see you in private?" The voice was sweet, but somewhat
+muffled by the veil, while the words had just enough of the Spanish
+accent to render them liquid and musical.</p>
+
+<p>Kate bowed in assent, and silently led the way to a small reception-room
+of her own. She motioned her caller to a seat, but the latter remained
+standing and turned swiftly, facing Kate, still veiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;orita, you do not know me?" The words had the rising inflection of a
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"No," Kate replied, slowly; "I do not know you; but I know that this is
+not your first call at The Pines."</p>
+
+<p>"I called some ten days since to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"You called," Kate spoke deliberately, "more than a year since to see
+Mr. Walcott."</p>
+
+<p>The woman started and drew back slightly. "How could you know?" she
+exclaimed; "surely he did not tell you!"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence; when next she spoke her voice was lower
+and more musical.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;orita, I come as your friend; do you believe me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to believe you," Kate answered, frankly, "but I can tell better
+whether I do or not when I know more of you and of your errands here."</p>
+
+<p>For answer the woman, with a sudden swift movement, threw back her veil,
+revealing a face of unusual beauty,&mdash;oval in contour, of a rich olive
+tint, with waving masses of jet-black hair, framing a low, broad
+forehead. But her eyes were what drew Kate's attention: large, lustrous,
+but dark and unfathomable as night, yet with a look in them of dumb,
+agonizing appeal. The two women formed a striking contrast<!-- Page 329 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> as they
+stood face to face; they seemed to impersonate Hope and Despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;orita," she said, in a low, passionless voice, "I am Se&ntilde;or Walcott's
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>Kate's very soul seemed to recoil at the words, but she did not start or
+shrink.</p>
+
+<p>"I have the certificate of our marriage here," she continued, producing
+a paper, "signed by the holy father who united us."</p>
+
+<p>Kate waved it back. "I do not wish to see it, nor do I doubt your word,"
+she replied, gently; "I understand now why you first came to this house.
+What brings you here to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I come to warn you that your father is in danger."</p>
+
+<p>"My father!" Kate exclaimed, quickly, her whole manner changed. "Where?
+How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;or Walcott has an engagement with him at eight o'clock at their
+offices, and he means to do him harm, I know not just what; but he is
+angry with him, I know not why, and he is a dangerous man when he is
+angry."</p>
+
+<p>Kate touched a bell to summon a servant. "I will go to him at once;
+but," she added, looking keenly into the woman's face, "how do you know
+of this? How did you learn it? Did he tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>The other shook her head with a significant gesture. "He tells me
+nothing; he tells no one but Tony, and Tony tells me nothing; but I saw
+them talking together to-night, and he was very angry. I overheard some
+words. I heard him say he would see your father to-night and make him
+sorry he had not done as he agreed, and he showed Tony a little stiletto
+which he carries with him, and then he laughed."</p>
+
+<p>Kate shuddered slightly. "Who is Tony?" she asked.<!-- Page 330 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The woman smiled with another gesture. "Tony is&mdash;Tony; that is all I
+know. He and my husband know each other."</p>
+
+<p>A servant appeared; Kate ordered her own carriage brought to the door at
+once. Then, turning on a sudden impulse to the stranger, she said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come with me? Or are you afraid of him&mdash;afraid to have him
+know you warned me?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman laughed bitterly. "I feared him once," she said; "but I fear
+him no longer; he fears me now. Yes, I will go with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then wait here; I will be ready in a moment."</p>
+
+<p>At twenty minutes of eight Kate and the stranger passed down the hall
+together&mdash;the woman veiled, Kate attired in a trim walking suit. The
+latter stopped to look in at the sitting-room door.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Marcia, Mr. Britton said he would be out but a few minutes. When
+he comes in please tell him I want to see him at papa's office; my
+carriage will be waiting for him here."</p>
+
+<p>Her aunt looked her surprise, but she knew Kate to be enough like her
+father that it was useless to ask an explanation where she herself made
+none.</p>
+
+<p>Once seated in the carriage and driving rapidly down the street Kate
+laid her hand on the arm of her strange companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;ora," she said, "you say you are my friend; were you my friend the
+first time you came to the house? If not then, why are you now?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I was not your friend;" for the first time there was a ring of
+passion in her voice; "I hated you, for I thought he loved you&mdash;that you
+had stolen his heart and made him forget me. I travelled many miles. I
+vowed to kill you both before you should marry him. Then I found he
+could not marry you while I was his<!-- Page 331 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> wife; he had told me our marriage
+was void here because performed in another country. I found he had told
+me wrong, and I told him unless he came with me I would go to the church
+and tell them there I was his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"And he went away with you?" Kate questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and he gave me money, and then he told me&mdash;&mdash;" The woman
+hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," said Kate.</p>
+
+<p>"He told me that he did not love you; that he only wanted to marry you
+that he might get money from your father, and then he would leave you.
+So when I found he wanted to make you suffer as he had me I began to
+pity you. I came back to Ophir to see what you were like. He does not
+know that I am here. I found he was angry because you would not marry
+him. Then I was glad. I saw you many times that you did not know. Your
+face was kind and good, as though you would pity me if you knew all, and
+I loved you. I heard something about a lover you had a few years ago who
+died, and I knew your heart must have been sad for him, and I vowed he
+should never harm you or any one you loved."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the offices; the carriage stopped, but not before
+Kate's hand had sought and found the stranger's in silent token that she
+understood.<!-- Page 332 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXV" id="Chapter_XXXV"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXV</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">A Fiend at Bay</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Kate, on leaving her carriage, directed the driver to go back to The
+Pines to await Mr. Britton's return and bring him immediately to the
+office. She then unlocked the door to the room which had been Darrell's
+office and which opened directly upon the street, and she and her
+companion entered and seated themselves in the darkness. The room next
+adjoining was Walcott's private office, and beyond that was Mr.
+Underwood's private office, the two latter rooms being separated by a
+small entrance. They had waited but a few moments when Mr. Underwood's
+carriage stopped before this entrance, and an instant later Kate heard
+her father's voice directing the coachman to call for him in about an
+hour. As the key turned in the lock she heard Walcott's voice also. The
+two men entered and went at once into Mr. Underwood's private office.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood immediately proceeded to business in his usual abrupt
+fashion:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Walcott, there is no use dallying or beating about the bush; I want
+this partnership terminated at once. There's no use in an honest man and
+a thief trying to do business together, and this interview to-night is
+to find the shortest way of dissolving the partnership."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that can be very easily and quickly done, Mr. Underwood,"
+Walcott replied.</p>
+
+<p>Kate, who had stationed herself in the entrance<!-- Page 333 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> where she had a view of
+both men, saw the cruel leer that accompanied Walcott's words and
+understood their significance as her father did not. Her hand sought the
+bosom of her dress for an instant, then dropped quietly at her side, but
+swift as the movement was, her companion had seen in the dim light the
+gleam of the weapon now partially concealed by the folds of her skirt.
+With noiseless, cat-like step she approached Kate and touched her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not shoot? You will not kill him?" she breathed rather than
+whispered.</p>
+
+<p>Kate's only reply was to lay her finger on her lips, never removing her
+eyes from Walcott's face, but even then, in her absorption, she noted a
+peculiar quality in those scarcely audible tones, something that was
+neither fear nor love; there seemed somehow an element of savagery in
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Mr. Underwood was going rapidly through the evidence which he
+had accumulated, showing mismanagement and fraud in the conduct of the
+business of the firm and misappropriation of some of the funds held in
+trust. Of the wholesale robbery, the plans for which Walcott had so
+nearly perfected, he knew absolutely nothing. As Walcott listened, the
+sneer on his face deepened.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to have gone to a vast amount of labor for nothing," he
+remarked, as Mr. Underwood concluded. "I could have given you that much
+information off-hand. You have not lived up to your part of the
+contract, and I see no reason why I should be expected to fulfil mine.
+You promised me your daughter in marriage, and then simply because she
+saw fit&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We will leave my daughter's name out of this controversy, sir," Mr.
+Underwood interposed, sternly.<!-- Page 334 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> "Were it not for the fact that your name
+has been publicly associated with hers, I would prosecute you for the
+scoundrel and black-leg that you are."</p>
+
+<p>"But for the sake of your daughter's name you intend to deal leniently
+with me," Walcott sneered. "Supposing we come at once to the point of
+dissolving our partnership; it cannot be done any too quickly for me.
+May I inquire on what terms you propose to settle?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underwood went briefly over the terms which he had outlined on a
+sheet of paper before him on his desk; Walcott, seated eight or ten feet
+distant, listened, his dark face paling with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," he said, at the conclusion; "I think I missed a few
+details; suppose we go over that again together."</p>
+
+<p>He rose and advanced towards Mr. Underwood's chair as though to look
+over his shoulder, at the same time thrusting his right hand within the
+inner pocket of his coat. Before he had covered half the space, however,
+a voice rang through the room with startling clearness,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Not a step farther, or you are a dead man!"</p>
+
+<p>Both men turned, to see Kate Underwood standing in the doorway, holding
+a revolver levelled at Walcott with an aim which the latter's practised
+eye told him to be both sure and deadly. Astonishment and rage passed in
+quick succession over his countenance; he looked for an instant as
+though contemplating some desperate move.</p>
+
+<p>"Stir one hair's breadth, and you are a dead man!" she repeated. He
+remained motionless, and the hand just withdrawn from his coat disclosed
+to view a tiny, glittering stiletto.</p>
+
+<p>Kate's only anxious thought was for her father, who,<!-- Page 335 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> too bewildered to
+move or speak, was for the time as motionless as Walcott himself; she
+feared lest the suddenness of the shock might prove too much for him. To
+her relief, she heard Mr. Britton entering. He took in the situation at
+a glance and sprang at once to her side.</p>
+
+<p>"I am all right," she cried, brightly; "look after papa, first; then we
+will attend to this creature."</p>
+
+<p>With the revolver still levelled at Walcott, Kate slowly advanced
+towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me that weapon!" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>He gave a sinister smile, but before she had taken another step, her
+companion sprang into the room with a piercing cry and intercepted her:</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Se&ntilde;orita!" she exclaimed; "do not touch it! Mother of God! it
+is poisoned; a single scratch means death!"</p>
+
+<p>At sight of her, Walcott's face grew livid. "You fiend! You she-devil!"
+he hissed; "this is your doing, is it?" and he burst into a torrent of
+curses and imprecations.</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent!" Mr. Britton ordered, sternly, and Kate accompanied the
+command with an ominous click of her revolver. The wretch cowered into
+silence, but his eyes glowed with fairly demoniac fury.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Mr. Underwood, his faculties fully restored, "I want to know
+the meaning of this; let us sift this whole thing to the bottom."</p>
+
+<p>"Search your man, first, David," said Mr. Britton, and suiting the
+action to the word he approached Walcott, but was warded off by the
+woman standing near.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Se&ntilde;or, a little turn of the wrist, so slight you would not see,
+would cause death. I will take it from him; the viper dare not sting
+me!"<!-- Page 336 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As she extended her hand she tauntingly held her wrist close to the tiny
+point, scarcely larger than a good-sized pin.</p>
+
+<p>"Life and freedom are precious, Se&ntilde;or!" she said, in low, mocking tones,
+as she took the weapon from him and handed it to Mr. Britton, who laid
+it carefully on a table near by, and then proceeded to search Walcott's
+clothing, saying.&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to see what you have been dealing with, David."</p>
+
+<p>To the stiletto already placed upon the table were added another of
+larger size, two loaded revolvers, several packages of valuable
+securities taken from the vaults of the firm that afternoon, and a
+nearly complete set of duplicate keys to the safes and deposit boxes of
+the offices.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton then relieved Kate, congratulating her warmly, and stationed
+himself near Walcott, who glowered like a wild beast that, temporarily
+restrained by the keeper's lash, only awaits opportunity for a more
+furious onslaught later.</p>
+
+<p>Kate stepped at once to her father's side; he turned upon her a look of
+affectionate pride, but before he could speak, she had drawn forward her
+companion, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here is one, papa, to whom we owe much. She has saved your life
+to-night, for I would not have known you were in danger if she had not
+warned me, and she saved me from worse than death in preventing the
+carrying out of the farce of an illegal marriage with that villain, by
+giving me a glimpse of his real character before it was too late."</p>
+
+<p>The change that passed over Mr. Underwood's countenance during Kate's
+words was fearful to see. From the kindliness and courtesy with which he
+had greeted<!-- Page 337 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> the stranger his face seemed changed to granite, so hard
+and relentless it became.</p>
+
+<p>"An illegal marriage? What do you mean?" he demanded, and there was
+something in his voice that no one present had ever heard there before.</p>
+
+<p>"Illegal, papa, because this woman is his lawful wife." And Kate gave a
+brief explanation of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so?" he appealed to the woman, his tones strangely quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Se&ntilde;or; I have the papers to prove it."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you admit it?" he demanded of Walcott, with a glance which made the
+latter quail, while his hand sought one of the loaded revolvers lying on
+the table.</p>
+
+<p>"We were married years ago, but I did not know the woman was living; I
+swear I did not. I supposed she was dead until the day she came to me."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the past year? You have known all this time that she was
+living, yet you have dared to press your suit for my daughter, you dog!
+Not another word!" he exclaimed, as Walcott strove to form some excuse.</p>
+
+<p>He raised his hand and the revolver gleamed in the light. Mr. Britton
+grasped him by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"David, old friend, calm yourself!" he exclaimed. "Don't be rash or
+foolish; let the law take its course."</p>
+
+<p>"The law!" interposed Mr. Underwood, fiercely; "do you think I'd take a
+case of this kind into the courts? Charges such as these against a man
+whose name has been publicly associated with my daughter's as her
+betrothed husband, and the principal witness against that man his own
+wife! Do you suppose for a moment I'll have my daughter's name dragged
+through such mire? No, by God! I'll blow the dog's brains out with my
+own hand first!"<!-- Page 338 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A fierce struggle ensued for a moment between the two men, which ended
+in John Britton's disarming his friend, Kate meanwhile keeping Walcott
+at bay as he sought in the momentary confusion to effect an escape.</p>
+
+<p>Once calmed, Mr. Underwood, notwithstanding Mr. Britton's protestations,
+sullenly refused to prosecute Walcott. Telephoning for an attorney who
+was an old-time and trusted friend, he had an agreement drawn and
+signed, whereby, upon the repayment of the funds belonging to him, after
+deducting an amount therefrom sufficient to replace what he had
+misappropriated, he was to leave the country altogether.</p>
+
+<p>"You have escaped this time," were Mr. Underwood's parting words; "but
+remember, if you ever again seek to injure me or mine, no power on earth
+can save you, and I'll not go into the courts either."</p>
+
+<p>As Kate and her strange companion parted, the former inquired, "Why did
+you ask me not to shoot him? You surely cannot love him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Love him?" she exclaimed, softly. "No, but I feared you would kill him.
+His time has not come yet, Se&ntilde;orita, but when it does, this must be the
+hand!" She lifted her own right hand with a significant movement as she
+said this, and glided out into the darkness and was gone ere Kate could
+recall her.</p>
+
+<p>When Kate and her father, with Mr. Britton's assistance, before
+returning home for the night, removed the articles taken from Walcott's
+pockets, the tiny, poisoned stiletto was nowhere to be found.<!-- Page 339 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXVI" id="Chapter_XXXVI"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXVI</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Senora Martinez</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>Although Mr. Underwood escaped the stroke which it was feared might
+follow the excitement of his final interview with Walcott, it was soon
+apparent that his nervous system had suffered from the shock. His
+physician became insistent in his demands that he not only retire from
+business, but have an entire change of scene, to insure absolute
+relaxation and rest. This advice was earnestly seconded by Mr. Britton,
+not alone for the sake of his friend's health, but more especially
+because he believed it unsafe for Mr. Underwood or Kate to remain in
+that part of the country so long as Walcott had his liberty. Their
+combined counsel and entreaties at length prevailed. A responsible man
+was found to take charge, under Mr. Britton's supervision, of Mr.
+Underwood's business interests. The Pines was closed, two or three
+faithful servants being retained to guard and care for the property, and
+early in April Mr. Underwood, accompanied by his sister and daughter,
+left Ophir ostensibly for the South. They remained south, however, only
+until he had recuperated sufficiently for a longer journey, and then
+sailed for Europe, but of this fact no one in Ophir had knowledge save
+Mr. Britton.</p>
+
+<p>During the last days of Kate's stay in Ophir she watched in vain for
+another glimpse of her strange friend. On the morning of her departure,
+as the train was leaving the depot, she suddenly saw the olive-skinned
+messenger of former occasions running along<!-- Page 340 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>side the Pullman in which
+she was seated. Catching her eye, he motioned for her to raise the
+window; she did so, whereupon he tossed a little package into her lap,
+pointing at the same time farther down the platform, and lifting his
+ragged sombrero, vanished. An instant later the Se&ntilde;ora came into view,
+standing at the extreme end of the platform, a lace mantilla thrown
+about her head and shoulders, the ends of which she now waved in token
+of farewell. Kate held up the little package with a smile; she responded
+with a deprecatory gesture indicative of its insignificance, then with
+another wave of the lace scarf and a flutter of Kate's handkerchief,
+they passed out of each other's sight.</p>
+
+<p>Kate hastily undid the package; a little box of ebony inlaid with pearl
+slipped from the wrappings, which, upon touching a secret spring,
+opened, disclosing a small cross of Etruscan gold of the most exquisite
+workmanship. In her first letter to Mr. Britton Kate related the
+incident, and begged him to look out for the woman and render her any
+assistance possible.</p>
+
+<p>To this Mr. Britton needed no urging. Since his first sight of her that
+night in Mr. Underwood's office he had been looking for her, for a
+twofold purpose. For a number of weeks he failed to get even a glimpse
+of her, nor could he obtain any clew to her whereabouts.</p>
+
+<p>One night, well into the summer, he came upon her, unexpectedly,
+standing in front of a cheap restaurant, looking at the edibles
+displayed in the window. She was not veiled, her face was pale and
+haggard, and there was no mistaking the expression in her eyes as she
+finally turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend," said Mr. Britton, laying his hand gently on her shoulder,
+"are you hungry?"<!-- Page 341 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She shrank from him with a start till a glance in his face reassured
+her, and she answered, with an expressive gesture,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Se&ntilde;or; I have had nothing to eat to-day, and but little
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"This is no fit place; come with me," Mr. Britton replied, leading the
+way two or three blocks down the street, to a first-class restaurant. He
+conducted her through the ladies' entrance into a private box, where he
+ordered a substantial dinner for two.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;or," she protested, as the waiter left the box, "I have no money, no
+way to repay you for this, you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," he answered, quickly; "I want no return for this. Miss
+Underwood wished me to find you, and help you, if I could."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know; you are the Se&ntilde;orita's friend."</p>
+
+<p>"And your friend also, if I can help you."</p>
+
+<p>"You saved his life that night, Se&ntilde;or; I do not forget," the woman said,
+with peculiar emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I undoubtedly saved the scoundrel from a summary vengeance;
+possibly I might not have done it, had I known what the alternative
+would be. Where is that man now?" he asked, with sudden directness.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, Se&ntilde;or; he tells me nothing, but I have heard he went
+south some time ago."</p>
+
+<p>The entrance of the waiter with their orders put a temporary stop to
+conversation. The woman ate silently, regarding Mr. Britton from time to
+time with an expression of childlike wonder. When her hunger was
+appeased, and she seemed inclined to talk, he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me something of yourself. When and where did you marry that man?"</p>
+
+<p>"We were married in Mexico, seven years ago."
+<!-- Page 342 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Your home was in Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Se&ntilde;or, my father owned a big cattle ranch in Texas. Se&ntilde;or Walcott,
+as you call him here, worked for him. He wanted to marry me, but my
+father opposed the marriage. We lived close to the line, so we went
+across one day and were married. My father was very angry, but I was his
+only child, and by and by he forgave and took us back."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I understand you that Walcott is not this man's real name?" Mr.
+Britton interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"His name is Jos&eacute; Martinez, Se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"But is he not a half-breed? I have understood his father was an
+Englishman."</p>
+
+<p>"His father was an Englishman, but no one ever knew who he was, you
+understand, Se&ntilde;or? Afterwards his mother married Pablo Martinez, and her
+child took his name. That was why my father opposed our marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," said Mr. Britton; "but he claims heavy cattle interests
+in the South; how did he come by them?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father's, all of them;" she replied. "He and my father quarrelled
+soon after we went there to live. Then we came away north; we lived for
+a while in this State,"&mdash;she paused and hesitated as though fearing she
+had said too much, but Mr. Britton's face betrayed nothing, and she
+continued: "Then, in a year or so, we went south and he and my father
+quarrelled again. My father was found dead on the plains, trampled by
+the cattle, but no one knew how it came about. Then Jos&eacute; took everything
+and told me I had nothing. He went north again three years ago. A year
+later he came back and told me I was not his wife, that our marriage was
+void because it was not performed in this country. I became very ill. He
+took me away<!-- Page 343 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> among strangers and left me there, to die, as he thought.
+But he was mistaken. I had something to live for,&mdash;to follow him, as I
+have followed him and will follow him to the end."</p>
+
+<p>The woman rose from the table; Mr. Britton rose also, and stood for a
+moment, facing her.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a dangerous man," he said; "how is it that you do not fear him?"</p>
+
+<p>She laughed softly. "He fears me, Se&ntilde;or; why should I fear him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," Mr. Britton said; "he fears you because you know him to
+be a criminal; because his freedom&mdash;perhaps his very life&mdash;is in your
+hands. Why are you not in danger on that account? What is to hinder his
+taking a life so inimical to his own?"</p>
+
+<p>A cunning, treacherous smile crept over her face and a baleful light
+gleamed in her eyes, as she replied, "If I die at his hand my secret
+does not die with me. I have fixed that. If I die to-day, the world
+knows my secret to-morrow. He knows it, Se&ntilde;or, and I am safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Did it never occur to you," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "that for the
+safety of others your secret should be made known now?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman's whole appearance changed; she regarded Mr. Britton with a
+look of mingled anger and terror, as he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"That man's life and freedom are a constant menace to other lives. Are
+you willing to take the responsibility of the results which may follow
+your withholding that secret, keeping it locked within your own breast?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman looked quickly for a chance of escape, but Mr. Britton barred
+the only means of exit. Her expression was that of a creature brought to
+bay.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand the meaning of your kindness to-night," she cried,
+fiercely. "You are one of the 'fly'<!-- Page 344 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> men, and you thought to buy my
+secret from me. Let me tell you, you will never buy it, nor can you
+force it from me! So long as he does me no harm I will never make it
+known, and if I die a natural death, it dies with me!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken," he replied, calmly; "I am no detective, no official
+of any sort. My bringing you here to-night was of itself wholly
+disinterested, done for the sake of a friend who wished me to help you.
+I have wished to meet you and talk with you, as I was interested to
+learn your story, out of sympathy for you and a desire to help you, and
+also to shed new light on your husband's character, of which I have made
+quite a study; but I am not seeking to force you into making any
+disclosures against your will."</p>
+
+<p>Her anger had subsided as quickly as it had been aroused.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Se&ntilde;or," she said; "I was wrong. Accept my gratitude for your
+kindness; I will not forget."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mention it. If you need help at any time, let me know; I do not
+forget that you saved my friend's life. But one word in parting: don't
+think your secret will not become known. Those things always work
+themselves out, and justice will overtake that man yet. When it does,
+your own life may not be as safe as you now think it is. If you need a
+friend then, come to me."</p>
+
+<p>The woman regarded him silently for a moment. "Thank you, Se&ntilde;or," she
+said, gently; "I understand. Justice will yet overtake him, as you say;
+and when it does," she added, significantly, "I will need no help."
+<!-- Page 345 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXVII" id="Chapter_XXXVII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXVII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">The Identification</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The following September found Darrell again in Ophir and re-established
+in his old-time quarters. To his old office he had added the room
+formerly occupied by Walcott, his increasing business demanding more
+office room and the presence of an assistant.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the East he revisited the members of his old syndicate
+and informed them that he intended henceforth making his head-quarters
+in the West, and if they wished to employ him as their expert, he would
+execute commissions from that point. To this they readily agreed, and
+also gave him letters of introduction to a number of capitalists
+interested in western mining properties, who were only too glad to
+secure the services of a reliable expert who would be on the ground and
+familiar with existing conditions. As a result, Darrell had scarcely
+reopened business at his former quarters before he found himself with
+numerous eastern commissions to be executed, in addition to his old work
+as assayer.</p>
+
+<p>He was prepared for the changes which had taken place during the year of
+his absence, his father having kept him thoroughly informed of all that
+had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell was delighted at the story of Kate Underwood's coolness and
+bravery in saving her father's life, and sent her a note of hearty
+congratulation, which she kept among her cherished treasures. Since that
+time, occasional letters were exchanged between them; hers, bright,
+entertaining sketches of their travels here and
+<!-- Page 346 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> there, with comments
+characteristic of herself regarding places and people; his, permeated
+with the fresh, exhilarating atmosphere of the mountains, and pervaded
+by a vigor and virility which roused Kate's admiration, yet led her to
+wonder if this could be the same lover who had won her childish heart in
+those idyllic days. Each realized the fact that notwithstanding their
+love, notwithstanding their stanch comradeship, at present they were
+little more than strangers. Darrell's love for Kate was a reality, but
+her personality, so far as he could recall it, was little more than a
+dream; each letter revealed some unexpected phase of her character; he
+found their correspondence an unfailing source of pleasure, and was
+content to await the time of their meeting, confident that he would find
+the real woman all and more than the ideal which he fondly cherished as
+his Dream-Love. And to Kate, each letter of Darrell's brought more and
+more forcibly the conviction that the lover whom she remembered was as a
+dream compared with the reality she was to meet some day.</p>
+
+<p>About six months had elapsed when Darrell received, early one morning,
+the following telegram from his father, summoning him to Galena:</p>
+
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Come over on first train. Important."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>By the first train he would reach Galena a little before noon; he had
+not breakfasted, and had but twenty minutes in which to make it. Calling
+a carriage, he went directly to his office, where he left a brief
+explanatory note for the clerk, written on the way, then drove with all
+possible speed to the depot, arriving on time but without a minute to
+spare. He breakfasted on the train, and while running over the morning
+paper,
+<!-- Page 347 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>
+ his attention was caught by a despatch from Galena to the effect
+that one of the leading banks in that city had been entered and the safe
+opened and robbed on the preceding night. The robbers, of whom there
+were three, had been discovered by the police. A fight had ensued in
+which one officer and one of the robbers were killed, the second robber
+wounded, while the third had made his escape with most of the plunder.
+It was further stated that they were known to belong to the notorious
+band of outlaws so long the terror of that region, and it was believed
+the wounded man was none other than the leader himself, the murderer of
+Harry Whitcomb and the young express clerk, for whom there was a
+standing reward of twenty-five thousand dollars, dead or alive. The man
+was to have a preliminary examination that afternoon, and the greatest
+excitement prevailed in Galena, as it was rumored that others of the
+band would probably be present, scattered throughout the crowd, for the
+purpose of rescuing their leader.</p>
+
+<p>In a flash Darrell understood his father's summons. He let the paper
+fall and, unmindful of his breakfast, gazed abstractedly out of the
+window. His thoughts had reverted to that scene in the sleeper on his
+first trip west. He seemed to see it again in all its sickening detail,
+the face of the assassin standing out before him with such startling
+distinctness and realism that he involuntarily placed his hand over his
+eyes to shut out the hateful sight.</p>
+
+<p>At Galena he was met by his father, who took a closed carriage to his
+hotel, conducting Darrell immediately to his own room, where he ordered
+lunch served for both.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know why I have sent for you?" Mr. Britton inquired, as soon as
+they were left alone together.
+<!-- Page 348 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea when I started," Darrell replied, "but on reading the
+morning paper, on my way over, I concluded you wanted me at that trial
+this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"You are correct. Are you prepared to identify that face? Is your
+recollection of it as distinct as ever?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; after reading of that bank robbery this morning, the whole affair
+in the car that night came back to me so vividly I could see the man's
+face as clearly as any face on the train with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" Mr. Britton ejaculated.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think there is any likelihood of an attempt to rescue him, as
+stated by the paper?" Darrell inquired, rather incredulously.</p>
+
+<p>"If the leader of the band finds himself in need of help it will be
+forthcoming," Mr. Britton answered, with peculiar emphasis. "The
+citizens are expecting trouble and have sworn in about a dozen extra
+deputy sheriffs, myself among the number."</p>
+
+<p>When lunch was over Mr. Britton ordered a carriage at once, and they
+proceeded to the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your opinion of this man?" Darrell asked his father, while on
+the way. "Would you have selected him as the murderer, from your study
+of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reserve my opinions until later," Mr. Britton replied. "I want you to
+act from memory alone, unbiased by any outside influence."</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the court-room, they found it already well filled. Darrell
+was about to enter, but his father took him into a small anteroom, while
+he himself went to look for seats. He had a little difficulty in finding
+the seats he wanted, which delayed them so that proceedings had begun as
+he and Darrell entered from a side door and took their places in rather
+an obscure part of the room.
+<!-- Page 349 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You will have a good view here," Mr. Britton said to Darrell, as they
+seated themselves, "and there is little likelihood of your being
+recognized from this point."</p>
+
+<p>"There is little probability of the man's recognizing me, even if he is
+here," Darrell replied, "for he did not give me a second thought that
+night, and if he had, I am so changed he would not know me."</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot be too cautious," his father answered.</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments the prisoner was brought in, and there was a general
+craning of necks to see him, a number of men in Darrell's vicinity
+standing and thus obstructing his view.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," said his father, as he was about to rise with the others; "don't
+make yourself conspicuous; when the man is called for examination you
+will have an excellent view from here."</p>
+
+<p>Curiosity gradually subsided, and the men sank back into their seats as
+proceedings went on. Then the prisoner was called and stood up for
+examination. Darrell drew a quick breath and leaned eagerly forward. The
+man was of medium height and size, but his movements seemed heavy and
+clumsy, whereas Darrell had been impressed by a litheness and agility in
+the movements of the other.</p>
+
+<p>He stood facing his interlocutor, affording Darrell a three-quarter view
+of his face, but soon he turned in Darrell's direction, scanning the
+crowd slowly, as though in search of some one.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell saw a squarely built, colorless face, surmounted by a shock of
+coarse, straight black hair, with heavy, repulsive features, and small,
+bullet-shaped, leaden eyes of rather light blue. The face was so utterly
+unlike what he had expected to see that he sank back into his seat with
+a smothered exclamation of disgust. His father, watching closely,
+smiled, seeming  rather pleased than otherwise, but Darrell was half
+<!-- Page 350 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+indignant.</p>
+
+<p>"The idea of a lout like that being taken for the leader!" he exclaimed.
+"He is nothing but a tool, and a pretty clumsy one at that."</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding his vexation, Darrell continued to watch the
+proceedings, and in a few moments began to grow interested, not so much
+in the examination as in the conduct of the prisoner. The latter
+evidently had found the face for which he was looking, for his eyes
+seemed glued to a certain spot. Occasionally he would shift them for a
+moment, but invariably, with each new interrogatory, they would turn to
+that particular spot, as the needle to the pole, not through any
+volition of his own, but drawn by some influence against which he was
+temporarily powerless.</p>
+
+<p>"That man is under a spell; he is being worked by some one in the
+crowd," Darrell exclaimed to his father, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and by some one not very far from us; I have spotted him, see if
+you cannot."</p>
+
+<p>Following the direction of the man's glance, Darrell began to scan the
+faces of the crowd. Suddenly his pulses gave a bound. Seated at a little
+distance and partially facing them was a man of the same size and height
+as the prisoner, but whose every move and poise suggested alertness. He
+was leaning his arms on the back of the seat before him; his head was
+lowered so that his chin rested lightly on one hand, while the other
+hand played nervously with the seat on which he leaned. His whole
+attitude was that of a wild beast crouched, ready to spring upon his
+prey. He had an oval face, with deep olive skin, wavy black hair, cut
+close except where it curled low over his forehead, and through the
+half-closed eyes, fixed upon the prisoner's
+<!-- Page 351 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> face, Darrell caught a
+glint like that of burnished steel. For an instant Darrell gazed like
+one fascinated; he had not expected such an exact reproduction of the
+face as he had seen it on that night. His father touched him lightly; he
+nodded significantly in reply.</p>
+
+<p>"There is your man!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure? You could swear to it?" queried his father.</p>
+
+<p>"Swear to it? Yes. I would have known him anywhere, but sitting there,
+watching that man, his face is precisely as I saw it that night. Wait a
+moment, look!"</p>
+
+<p>The man in his agitation at some word of the prisoner's, raised one hand
+and brushed his forehead with a nervous gesture, which lifted his hair
+slightly, disclosing one end of a scar.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see that scar?" Darrell questioned, eagerly. "You will find it
+almost crescent shaped, rather jagged, and nearly three inches in
+length."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all I wanted," his father replied. "I have the warrant for his
+arrest with me, and the examination is so nearly over I shall serve it
+at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Can I help you?" Darrell asked, as his father moved away.</p>
+
+<p>"No; stay where you are; don't let him see you until after he is under
+arrest."</p>
+
+<p>The examination of the prisoner had just ended when Mr. Britton,
+accompanied by two deputies, re-entered the court-room. The man still
+maintained his crouching attitude, intently watching proceedings. Mr.
+Britton approached from the rear. Seizing the man suddenly by the arms,
+he pinioned him so that for an instant he was unable to move, and one of
+the deputies, leaning over, snapped the handcuffs on him before he
+fairly realized what had happened. Then, with a
+<!-- Page 352 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> swift movement, Mr.
+Britton raised him to his feet and lifted him quickly out into the
+aisle, while his voice rang authoritatively through the court-room,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Jos&eacute; Martinez, alias Walcott, I arrest you in the name of the State!"</p>
+
+<p>The man shouted something in Spanish, evidently a signal, for it was
+repeated in different parts of the room. Instantly all was confusion. A
+shot fired from the rear wounded one of the deputies; a man seated near
+Darrell drew a revolver, but before he could level it Darrell knocked it
+from his hand and felled him to the floor. The officers rushed to the
+spot, and as the outbreak subsided Mr. Britton brought forward his
+prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of consternation rose throughout the room, for Walcott had been
+known years before among the business men of Galena, and there were not
+a few citizens present who had known him as Mr. Underwood's partner.
+Walcott, taking advantage of the situation, began to protest his
+innocence. Mr. Britton, unmoved, at once beckoned Darrell to his side.
+Upon seeing him Walcott's face took on a ghastly hue and he seemed for a
+moment on the verge of collapse, but he quickly pulled himself together,
+regarding Darrell meanwhile with a venomous malignity seldom seen on a
+human face. Not the least surprised man in the crowd was Darrell
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say," he asked his father, "that this is the Walcott of
+whose villany you have been writing me, and that he and the murderer of
+Harry Whitcomb are one and the same?"</p>
+
+<p>"So it seems," Mr. Britton replied; "but that is no more than I have
+suspected all along."</p>
+
+<p>"Now I understand your fear of my being recognized; it seemed
+inexplicable to me," said Darrell.
+<!-- Page 353 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If he had seen you," his father replied, "he would have suspected your
+errand here at once."</p>
+
+<p>Incredulity was apparent on many faces as Walcott's examination was
+begun. He was morose and silent, and nothing could be elicited from him.
+When Darrell was called upon, however, and gave his evidence,
+incredulity gave place to conviction. As he completed his testimony with
+a description of the scar, which, upon examination, was found correct,
+the crowd became angry and threats of lynching and personal violence
+were heard on various sides. The judge therefore ordered that the
+prisoners be removed from the court-room to the jail before any in the
+audience had left their places.</p>
+
+<p>In charge of the regular sheriff and four or five deputies the prisoners
+were led from the court-room. They had but just reached the street,
+however, when those inside heard shots fired in quick succession,
+followed by angry cries and shouts for help. The crowd surged to the
+doors, to see the officers surrounded by a band of the outlaws who had
+been lying in wait for their appearance, having been summoned by the
+signal given on the arrest of the leader. With the help of the citizens
+the fight was soon terminated, but when the m&ecirc;l&eacute;e was over it was
+discovered that the sheriff had been killed, a number of citizens and
+outlaws wounded, and Martinez, alias Walcott, had escaped.
+<!-- Page 354 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXVIII" id="Chapter_XXXVIII"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXVIII</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">Within the "Pocket"</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>The remainder of that day and the following night were spent in
+fruitless efforts to determine the whereabouts of the fugitive.
+Telegrams were sent along the various railway lines into every part of
+the State; messengers were despatched to neighboring towns and camps,
+but all in vain. For the first thirty-six hours it seemed as though the
+earth must have opened and swallowed him up; there was not even a clue
+as to the direction in which he had gone.</p>
+
+<p>The second morning after his disappearance reports began to come in from
+a dozen different quarters of as many different men, all answering the
+description given of the fugitive, who had been identified as the
+criminal. Four or five posses, averaging a dozen men each, all armed,
+set forth in various directions to follow the clews which seemed most
+worthy of credence. For the next few days reports were constantly
+received from one posse or another, to the effect that they were on the
+right trail, the fugitive had been seen only the preceding night at a
+miners' cabin where he had forced two men at the point of a revolver to
+surrender their supper of pork and beans; or some lonely ranchman and
+his wife had entertained him at dinner the day before. He was always
+reported as only about ten hours ahead, footsore and weary, but at the
+end of ten days they returned, disorganized, dilapidated, and disgusted,
+without even having had a sight of their man.</p>
+
+<p>Other bands were sent out with instructions to separate into squads of
+<!-- Page 355 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>
+three or four and search the ground thoroughly. Some of them were more
+successful, in that they did, occasionally, get sight of the fugitive,
+but always under circumstances disadvantageous to themselves. Three of
+them stood one day talking with a rancher, who only two hours before had
+furnished the man, under protest, with a hearty dinner and a fine rifle.
+The rancher pointed out the direction in which he had gone, over a rocky
+road leading down a steep, rough ravine; as he did so, his guest
+appeared on the other side of the ravine, within good rifle range. A
+mutual recognition followed; the men started to raise their rifles, but
+the other was too quick for them. Covering them with the rifle which he
+carried, he walked backward a distance of about forty yards and then,
+with a mocking salute, disappeared. Bloodhounds were next employed, but
+the man swam and waded streams and doubled back on his own trail till
+men and dogs were alike baffled. This continued for about two months;
+then all reports regarding the man ceased; nothing was heard of him, it
+was surmised that he had reached the "Pocket," and all efforts at
+further search were for the time abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Of all those concerned in the efforts for his capture there was not one
+more thoroughly disgusted with the outcome than Mr. Britton. For months
+he had had this man under surveillance, convinced that he was a criminal
+and planning to bring about his capture. Through his own efforts he had
+been identified, and by his coolness and presence of mind he had
+accomplished his arrest when nine out of ten others would have failed,
+and all seemed now to have been effort thrown away. He regretted the
+man's escape the more especially as he felt that his own life, as well
+as that of his son, was endangered so long as he was at liberty.
+<!-- Page 356 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>About a month after the search was abandoned Mr. Britton was one day
+surprised by a call from the wife of Martinez. He had not seen her since
+his one interview with her months before.</p>
+
+<p>He was sitting in Mr. Underwood's office, looking over the books brought
+in for his inspection, when she entered, alone and unannounced.</p>
+
+<p>She seated herself in the chair indicated by Mr. Britton and proceeded
+at once to the object of her visit.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;or, you told me when I last saw you that my secret would one day
+come out. You were right; it has. It is my secret no longer and Jos&eacute;
+Martinez fears me no longer. You have been kind to me. You saved his
+life once; you fed me when I was hungry and asked no return. I will show
+you I do not forget. Se&ntilde;or, there is twenty-five thousand dollars reward
+for that man. The officers will never find him; but I will take you to
+him, the reward is then yours, and justice overtakes Jos&eacute; Martinez, as
+you said it would. Do you accept?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know where he is?" Mr. Britton queried, somewhat surprised by
+the woman's proposition.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Se&ntilde;or; I have just come from there."</p>
+
+<p>"He is in the Pocket, is he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Se&ntilde;or, but neither you nor your men could find the Pocket without
+a guide. I know it well; I have lived there."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your proposition?" Mr. Britton inquired, after a brief silence;
+"how do you propose to do this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will start to-morrow for the Pocket. You come with me and bring the
+dogs. I will take you to a cabin where you can stay over night while I
+go on alone to the Pocket to see that all is right. I will leave you my
+veil for a scent. The next morning you will<!-- Page 357 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> set the dogs on my trail
+and follow them till you come to a certain place I will tell you of.
+From there you will see me; I will watch for you and give you the signal
+that all is right. The dogs will bring you to the Pocket in half an
+hour. The rest will be easy work, Se&ntilde;or, I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>"But isn't the place constantly guarded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not now, Se&ntilde;or; the men have gone away on another expedition, but Jos&eacute;
+does not dare go out with them at present. Only one man is there beside
+Jos&eacute;; I know him well; he will be asleep when you come."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall need men with me to help in bringing him back," said Mr.
+Britton.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring them, but I think he will give you little trouble, Se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>As Mr. Britton cared nothing for the reward himself, he chose five men
+to accompany him to whom he thought the money would be particularly
+acceptable, and the following morning, with two blood-hounds, they
+started forth in three separate detachments to attract as little
+attention as possible. The first part of their journey was by rail, the
+men taking the same train as the woman herself. On their arrival at the
+little station which she had designated, conveyances, for which Mr.
+Britton had privately wired a personal friend living in that vicinity,
+were waiting to take them to their next stopping-place.</p>
+
+<p>They reached the cabin of which the woman had spoken, late in the
+afternoon. Here they picketed their horses and prepared to stay over
+night, while she went on to the Pocket. Before leaving she gave Mr.
+Britton the lace scarf which she wore about her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not go in there until night," she said; "then I can watch and
+find if all is right. You start early to-morrow morning on foot. Set the
+dogs on my trail and<!-- Page 358 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> follow them to the fork; then turn to the left and
+follow them till you come to a small tree standing in the trail, on
+which I will tie this handkerchief. Straight ahead of you you will see
+the entrance to the Pocket. Wait by the tree till you see my signal. If
+everything is right I will wave a white signal. If I wave a black
+signal, wait till you see the white one, or till I come to you."</p>
+
+<p>Early the next morning Mr. Britton and his men set forth with the hounds
+in leash, leaving the horses in charge of their drivers. The dogs took
+the scent at once and started up the trail, the men following. They
+found it no easy task they had undertaken; the trail was rough and steep
+and in many places so narrow they were forced to go in single file. Some
+of the men, in order to be prepared for emergencies, were heavily armed,
+and progress was necessarily slow, but at last the fork was passed, and
+then the time seemed comparatively short ere a small tree confronted
+them, a white handkerchief fluttering among its branches.</p>
+
+<p>They paused and drew back the hounds, then looked about them. Less than
+ten feet ahead the trail ended. The rocks looked as though they had been
+cut in two, the half on which they were standing falling perpendicularly
+a distance of some eighty feet, while across a rocky ravine some forty
+feet in width, the other half rose, an almost perpendicular wall eighty
+or ninety feet in height. In this massive wall of rock there was one
+opening visible, resembling a gateway, and while the men speculated as
+to what it might be, the woman appeared, waving a white handkerchief,
+and they knew it to be the entrance to the Pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"She evidently expects us to come over there," said one of the men, "but
+blamed if I can see a trail wide enough for a cat!"
+<!-- Page 359 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Send the dogs ahead!" ordered Mr. Britton.</p>
+
+<p>The dogs on taking the scent plunged downward through the brush on one
+side, bringing them out into a narrow trail leading down and across the
+ravine. Just above, on the other side, they could see the woman watching
+their every move.</p>
+
+<p>"I've always heard," said one of the men, "there was no getting into
+this place without you had a special invitation, and it looks like it.
+Just imagine one of those fellows up there with a gun! Holy Moses! he'd
+hold the place against all the men the State, or the United States, for
+that matter, could send down here!"</p>
+
+<p>The ascent of the other side was difficult, but the men put forth their
+best efforts, and ere they were aware found themselves before the
+gateway in the rocks, where the woman still awaited them. She silently
+beckoned them to enter.</p>
+
+<p>Emerging from a narrow pass some six feet in length, they found
+themselves in a circular basin, about two hundred feet in diameter,
+surrounded by perpendicular walls of rock from one hundred to five
+hundred feet in height. The bottom of the basin was level as a floor and
+covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, while in the centre a small
+lake, clear as crystal, reflecting the blue sky which seemed to rise
+like a dome from the rocky walls, gleamed like a sapphire in the
+sunlight. Sheer and dark the walls rose on all sides, but at one end of
+the basin, where the rocks were more rough and jagged, a silver stream
+fell in glistening cascades to the bottom, where it disappeared among
+the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the men, lost in admiration of the scene, forgot that they
+were in the den of a notorious band of outlaws, but a second glance
+recalled them to  the situation, for on all sides of the basin were
+<!-- Page 360 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>
+caves leading into the walls of rock, and evidently used as dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>To one of these the woman now led the way. At the entrance a man lay on
+the ground, his heavy stertorous breathing proclaiming him a victim of
+some sleeping potion. The woman regarded him with a smile of amusement.</p>
+
+<p>"I made him sleep, Se&ntilde;or," she said, addressing Mr. Britton, "so he will
+not trouble you."</p>
+
+<p>Still leading the way into the farther part of the cave, she came to a
+low couch of skins at the foot of which she paused. Pointing to the
+figure outlined upon it, she said, calmly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He sleeps also, Se&ntilde;or, but sound; so sound you will need have no fear
+of waking him!"</p>
+
+<p>Her words aroused a strange suspicion in Mr. Britton's mind. The light
+was so dim he could not see the sleeper, but a lantern, burning low,
+hung on the wall above his head. Seizing the lantern, he turned on the
+light, holding it so it would strike the face of the sleeper. It was the
+face of Jos&eacute; Martinez, but the features were drawn and ghastly. He bent
+lower, listening for his breath, but no sound came; he laid his hand
+upon his heart, but it was still.</p>
+
+<p>Raising himself quickly, he threw the rays of the lantern full upon the
+woman standing before him, a small crucifix clasped in her hands. Under
+his searching gaze her face grew pale and ghastly as that upon the
+couch.</p>
+
+<p>"You have killed him!" he said, slowly, with terrible emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>She made the sign of the cross. "Holy Mother, forgive!" she muttered;
+then, though she still quailed beneath his look, she exclaimed, half
+defiantly, "I have not wronged you; you have your reward, and justice
+<!-- Page 361 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
+has overtaken him, as you said it would!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not justice," said Mr. Britton, pointing to the couch; "it is
+murder, and you are his murderer. You should have let the law take its
+course."</p>
+
+<p>"The law!" she laughed, mockingly; "would your law avenge my father's
+death, or the wrongs I have suffered? No! My father had no son to avenge
+him, I had no brother, but I have avenged him and myself. I have
+followed him all these years, waiting till the right time should come,
+waiting for this, dreaming of it night and day! I have had my revenge,
+and it was sweet! I did not kill him in his sleep, Se&ntilde;or; I wakened him,
+just to let him know he was in my power, just to hear him plead for
+mercy&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said Mr. Britton, firmly, for the woman seemed to have gone mad.
+"You do not know what you are saying. You must get ready to return with
+me."</p>
+
+<p>She grew calm at once and her face lighted with a strange smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to go with you, Se&ntilde;or," she said, at the same time clasping
+the crucifix suddenly to her breast.</p>
+
+<p>With the last word she fell to the ground and a slight tremor shook her
+frame for an instant. Quickly Mr. Britton lifted her and bore her to the
+light, but life was already extinct. Within her clasped hands,
+underneath the crucifix, they found the little poisoned stiletto.
+<!-- Page 362 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="">
+<tr><th align='left'><a name="Chapter_XXXIX" id="Chapter_XXXIX"></a><h2><i>Chapter XXXIX</i></h2></th><th align='right'><h2><span class="smcap">At the Time Appointed</span></h2></th></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p>For a year and a half Darrell worked uninterruptedly at Ophir, his
+constantly increasing commissions from eastern States testifying to his
+marked ability as a mining expert.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the incessant demands upon his time, he still adhered to
+his old rule, reserving a few hours out of each twenty-four, which he
+devoted to scientific or literary study, as his mood impelled. He soon
+found himself again drawn irresistibly towards the story begun during
+his stay at the Hermitage, but temporarily laid aside on his return
+east. He carefully reviewed the synopsis, which he had written in
+detail, and as he did, he felt himself entering into the spirit of the
+story till it seemed once more part of his own existence. He revised the
+work already done, eliminating, adding, making the outlines clearer,
+more defined; then, with steady, unfaltering hand, carried the work
+forward to completion.</p>
+
+<p>Eighteen months after his re-establishment at Ophir he was commissioned
+to go to Alaska to examine certain mining properties in a deal involving
+over a million dollars, and, anxious to be on the ground as early as
+possible, he took the first boat north that season. His story was
+published on the eve of his departure. He received a few copies, which
+he regarded with a half-fond, half-whimsical air. One he sent to Kate
+Underwood, having first written his initials on the fly-leaf underneath
+the brief petition, "Be merciful." He then<!-- Page 363 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> went his way, his time and
+attention wholly occupied by his work, with little thought as to whether
+the newly launched craft was destined to ride the waves of popularity or
+be engulfed beneath the waters of oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>Months of constant travel, of hard work and rough fare, followed. His
+report on the mines was satisfactory, the deal was consummated, and he
+received a handsome percentage, but not content with this, determined to
+familiarize himself with the general situation in that country and the
+conditions obtaining, he pushed on into the interior, pursuing his
+explorations till the return of the cold season. Touching at British
+Columbia on his way home and finding tempting inducements there in the
+way of mining properties, he stopped to investigate, and remained during
+the winter and spring months.</p>
+
+<p>It was therefore not until the following June that he found himself
+really homeward bound and once more within the mountain ranges guarding
+the approach to the busy little town of Ophir.</p>
+
+<p>He had been gone considerably over a year; he had accumulated a vast
+amount of information invaluable for future work along his line, and he
+had succeeded financially beyond his anticipations. Occasionally during
+his absence, in papers picked up here and there, he had seen favorable
+mention of his story, from which he inferred that his first venture in
+the realms of fiction had not been quite a failure, and in this opinion
+he was confirmed by a letter just received from his publishers, which
+had followed him for months. But all thought of these things was for the
+time forgotten in an almost boyish delight that he was at last on his
+way home.</p>
+
+<p>As he came within sight of the familiar ranges his thoughts reverted
+again and again to Kate Underwood. His whole soul seemed to cry out for
+her with a sud<!-- Page 364 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>den, insatiable longing. His mail had of necessity been
+irregular and infrequent; their letters had somehow miscarried, and he
+had not heard directly from her for months. Her last letter was from
+Germany; she was then still engrossed in her music, but her father's
+health was greatly improved and he was beginning to talk of home. His
+father's latest letter had stated that the Underwoods would probably
+return early in July. And this was June! Darrell felt a twinge of
+disappointment. He was now able to remember many incidents in their
+acquaintance. He recalled their first meeting at The Pines on that June
+day five years ago. How beautiful the old place must look now! But
+without Kate's presence the charm would be lost for him. He regretted he
+had started homeward quite so soon; the time would not have seemed so
+long among the mining camps of the great Northwest as here, where
+everything reminded him of her.</p>
+
+<p>The stopping of the train at a health resort far up among the mountains,
+a few miles from Ophir, roused Darrell from his revery. With a sigh he
+recalled his wandering thoughts and left the car for a walk up and down
+the platform. The town, perched saucily on the slopes of a heavily
+timbered mountain, looked very attractive in the gathering twilight.
+Though early in the season, the hotel and sanitarium seemed well filled,
+while numerous pleasure-seekers were promenading the walks leading to
+and from the springs which gave the place its popularity.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell felt a sudden, unaccountable desire to remain. Without waiting
+to analyze the impulse, as inexplicable as it was irresistible, which
+actuated him, he hastened into the sleeper and secured his grip and top
+coat. As the train pulled out he stepped into the station and sent a
+message to his father at Ophir, stating<!-- Page 365 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> that he had decided to remain
+over a day or two at the Springs and asking him to look after his
+baggage on its arrival. He then took a carriage for the hotel. It was
+not without some compunctions of conscience that Darrell wired his
+father of his decision, and even as he rode swiftly along the winding
+streets he wondered what strange fancy possessed him that he should stop
+among strangers instead of continuing his journey home. To his father it
+would certainly seem unaccountable, as it did now to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Britton, however, on receiving his son's message, could not restrain
+a smile, for only the preceding day he had received a telegram from Kate
+Underwood, at the same place, in which she stated that they had started
+home earlier than at first intended, and as her father was somewhat
+fatigued by their long journey, they had decided to stop for two or
+three days' rest at the Springs.</p>
+
+<p>Darrell arrived at the hotel at a late hour for dinner; the dining-room
+was therefore nearly deserted when he took his place at the table.
+Dinner over, he went out for a stroll, and, glad to be alone with his
+thoughts, walked up and down the entire length of the little town. His
+mind was constantly on Kate. Again and again he seemed to see her, as he
+loved best to recall her, standing on the summit of the "Divide," her
+wind-tossed hair blown about her brow, her eyes shining, as she
+predicted their reunion and perfect love. Over and over he seemed to
+hear her words, and his heart burned with desire for their fulfilment.
+He had waited patiently, he had shown what he could achieve, how he
+could win, but all achievements, all victories, were worthless without
+her love and presence.</p>
+
+<p>The moon was just rising as he returned to the hotel, but it was still
+early. His decision was taken; he<!-- Page 366 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> would go to Ophir by the morning
+train, learn Kate's whereabouts from his father, and go to meet her and
+accompany her home. He had chosen a path leading through a secluded
+portion of the grounds, and as he approached the hotel his attention was
+arrested by some one singing. Glancing in the direction whence the song
+came, he saw one of the private parlors brightly lighted, the long, low
+window open upon the veranda. Something in the song held him entranced,
+spell-bound. The voice was incomparably rich, possessing wonderful range
+and power of expression, but this alone was not what especially appealed
+to him. Through all and underlying all was a quality so strangely,
+sweetly familiar, which thrilled his soul to its very depths, whether
+with joy or pain he could not have told; it seemed akin to both.</p>
+
+<p>Still held as by a spell, he drew nearer the window, until he heard the
+closing words of the refrain,&mdash;words which had been ringing with strange
+persistency in his mind for the last two or three hours,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+"Some time, some time, and that will be<br />
+God's own good time for you and me."<br /></p>
+
+<p>His heart leaped wildly. With a bound, swift and noiseless, he was on
+the veranda, just as the singer, with tender, lingering emphasis,
+repeated the words so low as to be barely audible to Darrell standing
+before the open window. But even while he listened he gazed in
+astonishment at the singer; could that magnificent woman be his
+girl-love? She was superbly formed, splendidly proportioned; the rich,
+warm blood glowed in her cheeks, and her hair gleamed in the light like
+spun gold. He stood motionless; he would not retreat, he dared not
+advance.</p>
+
+<p>As the last words of the song died away, a slight<!-- Page 367 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> sound caused the
+singer to turn, facing him, and their eyes met. That was enough; in that
+one glance the memory of his love returned to him like an overwhelming
+flood. She was no longer his Dream-Love, but a splendid, living reality,
+only more beautiful than his dreams or his imagination had portrayed
+her.</p>
+
+<p>He stretched out his arms towards her with the one word, "Kathie!"</p>
+
+<p>She had already risen, a great, unspeakable joy illumining her face, but
+at the sound of that name, vibrating with the pent-up emotion, the
+concentrated love of all the years of their separation, she came swiftly
+forward, her bosom palpitating, her eyes shining with the love called
+forth by his cry. He stepped through the low window, within the room. In
+an instant his arms were clasped about her, and, holding her close to
+his breast, his dark eyes told her more eloquently than words of his
+heart's hunger for her, while in her eyes and in the blushes running
+riot in her cheeks he read his welcome.</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her hair and brow, with a sort of reverence; then, hearing
+voices in the corridor and rooms adjoining, he seized a light wrap from
+a chair near by and threw it about her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Come outside, sweetheart," he whispered, and drawing her arm within his
+own led her out onto the veranda and down the path along which he had
+just come. In the first transport of their joy they were silent, each
+almost fearing to break the spell which seemed laid upon them. The moon
+had risen, transforming the sombre scene to one of beauty, but to them
+Love's radiance had suddenly made the world inexpressibly fair; the very
+flowers as they passed breathed perfume like incense in their path, and
+the trees whispered benedictions upon them.<!-- Page 368 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Darrell first broke the silence. "I would have been in Ophir to-night,
+but some mysterious, irresistible impulse led me to stop here. Did you
+weave a spell about me, you sweet sorceress?" he asked, gazing tenderly
+into her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it must have been some higher influence than mine," she
+replied, with sweet gravity, "for I was also under the spell. I supposed
+you many miles away, yet, as I sang to-night, it seemed as though you
+were close to me, as though if I turned I should see you&mdash;just as I
+did," she concluded, with a radiant smile. "But how did you find me?"</p>
+
+<p>"How does the night-bird find its mate?" he queried, in low, vibrant
+tones; then, as her color deepened, he continued, with passionate
+earnestness,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I was here, where we are now, my very soul crying out for you, when I
+heard your song. It thrilled me; I felt as though waking from a dream,
+but I knew my love was near. Down through the years I heard her soul
+calling mine; following that call, I found my love, and listening, heard
+the very words which my own heart had been repeating over and over to
+itself, alone and in the darkness."</p>
+
+<p>Almost unconsciously they had stopped at a turn in the path. Darrell
+paused a moment, for tears were trembling on the golden lashes. Drawing
+her closer, he whispered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Kathie, do you remember our parting on the 'Divide'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I ever could forget?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"You predicted we would one day stand reunited on the heights of such
+love as we had not dreamed of then. I asked you when that day would be;
+do you remember your answer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."<!-- Page 369 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He continued, in impassioned tones: "Are not the conditions fulfilled,
+sweetheart? My love for you then was as a dream, a myth, compared with
+that I bring you to-day, and looking in your eyes I need no words to
+tell me that your love has broadened and deepened with the years.
+Kathie, is not this 'the time appointed'?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must be," she replied; "there could be none other like this!"</p>
+
+<p>Holding her head against his breast and raising her face to his, he
+said, "You gave me your heart that day, Kathie, to hold in trust. I have
+been faithful to that trust through all these years; do you give it me
+now for my very own?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she answered, slowly, with sweet solemnity; "to have and to hold,
+forever!"</p>
+
+<p>He sealed the promise with a long, rapturous kiss; but what followed,
+the broken, disjointed phrases, the mutual pledges, the tokens of love
+given and received, are all among the secrets which the mountains never
+told.</p>
+
+<p>As they retraced their steps towards the hotel, Darrell said, "We have
+waited long, sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but the waiting has brought us good of itself," she answered.
+"Think of all you have accomplished,&mdash;I know better than you think, for
+your father has kept me posted,&mdash;and better yet, what these years have
+fitted you for accomplishing in the future! To me, that was the best
+part of your work in your story. It was strong and cleverly told, but
+what pleased me most was the evidence that it was but the beginning, the
+promise of something better yet to come."</p>
+
+<p>"If only I could persuade all critics to see it through your eyes!"
+Darrell replied, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish to know," she asked, with sudden<!-- Page 370 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> seriousness, "what will
+always remain to me the noblest, most heroic act of your life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most assuredly I do," he answered, her own gravity checking the
+laughing reply which rose to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"The fight you made and won alone in the mountains the day that you
+renounced our love for honor's sake. I can see now that the stand you
+took and maintained so nobly formed the turning-point in both our lives.
+I did not look at it then as you did. I would have married you then and
+there and gone with you to the ends of the earth rather than sacrifice
+your love, but you upheld my honor with your own. You fought against
+heavy odds, and won, and to me no other victory will compare with it,
+since&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+'greater they who on life's battle-field<br />
+With unseen foes and fierce temptations fight.'"<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Darrell silently drew her nearer himself, feeling that even in this
+foretaste of joy he had received ample compensation for the past.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later there was a quiet wedding at the Springs. The beautiful
+church on the mountain-side had been decorated for the occasion, and at
+an early hour, while yet the robins were singing their matins, the
+little wedding-party gathered about the altar where John Darrell Britton
+and Kate Underwood plighted their troth for life. Above the jubilant
+bird-songs, above the low, subdued tones of the organ, the words of the
+grand old marriage service rang out with impressiveness.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the rector and his wife, there were present only Mr. Underwood,
+Mrs. Dean, and Mr. Britton. It had been Kate's wish, with which Darrell
+had gladly coincided, thus to be quietly married, surrounded only by
+their immediate relatives.<!-- Page 371 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Let our wedding be a fit consummation of our betrothal," she had said
+to him, "without publicity, unhampered by conventionalities, so it will
+always seem the sweeter and more sacred."</p>
+
+<p>That evening found them all at The Pines, assembled on the veranda
+watching the sunset, the old home seeming wonderfully restful and
+peaceful to the returned travellers.</p>
+
+<p>The years which had come and gone since Darrell first came to the Pines
+told heaviest on Mr. Underwood. His hair was nearly white and he had
+aged in many ways, appearing older than Mr. Britton, who was
+considerably his senior; but age had brought its compensations, for the
+stern, immobile face had softened and the deep-set eyes glowed with a
+kindly, beneficent light. Mr. Britton's hair was well silvered, but his
+face bore evidence of the great joy which had come into his life, and as
+his eyes rested upon his son he seemed to live anew in that glorious
+young life. To Mrs. Dean the years had brought only a few silver threads
+in the brown hair and an added serenity to the placid, unfurrowed brow.
+Calm and undemonstrative as ever, but with a smile of deep content, she
+sat in her accustomed place, her knitting-needles flashing and clicking
+with their old-time regularity. Duke, who had been left in Mr. Britton's
+care during Darren's absence, occupied his old place on the top stair,
+but even his five years of added dignity could not restrain him from
+occasional demonstrations of joy at finding himself again at The Pines
+and with his beloved master and mistress.</p>
+
+<p>As the twilight began to deepen Kate suggested that they go inside, and
+led the way, not to the family sitting-room, but to a spacious room on
+the eastern side, a room which had originally been intended as a
+library,<!-- Page 372 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> but never furnished as such. It was beautifully decorated with
+palms and flowers, while the fireplace had been filled with light boughs
+of spruce and fir.</p>
+
+<p>As they entered the room, Kate, slipping her arm within Mr. Britton's,
+led him before the fireplace.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear father," she said, "we have chosen this evening as the one most
+appropriate for your formal installation in our family circle and our
+home. I say formal because you have really been one of ourselves for
+years; you have shared our joys and our sorrows; we have had no secrets
+from you; but from this time we want you to take your place in our home,
+as you did long ago in our hearts. We have prepared this room for you,
+to be your <i>sanctum sanctorum</i>, and have placed in it a few little
+tokens of our love for you and gratitude to you, which we beg you to
+accept as such."</p>
+
+<p>She bent towards the fireplace. "The hearthstone is ever an emblem of
+home. In lighting the fires upon this hearthstone, we dedicate it to
+your use and christen this 'our father's room.'"</p>
+
+<p>The flames burst upward as she finished speaking, sending a resinous
+fragrance into the air and revealing a room fitted with such loving
+thought and care that nothing which could add to his comfort had been
+omitted. Near the centre of the room stood a desk of solid oak, a gift
+from Mr. Underwood; beside it a reclining chair from Mrs. Dean, while on
+the wall opposite, occupying nearly a third of that side of the room,
+was a superb painting of the Hermitage,&mdash;standing out in the firelight
+with wonderful realism, perfect in its bold outlines and sombre
+coloring,&mdash;the united gift of his son and daughter, which Darrell had
+ordered executed before his departure for Alaska.</p>
+
+<p>With loving congratulations the rest of the group gathered about Mr.
+Britton, who was nearly speechless<!-- Page 373 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> with emotion. As Mr. Underwood wrung
+his hand he exclaimed, with assumed gruffness,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Jack, old partner, you thought you'd got a monopoly on that boy of
+yours, but I've got in on the deal at last!"</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't got any the best of me, Dave," Mr. Britton retorted,
+smiling through his tears, "for I've got a share now in the sweetest
+daughter on earth!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, papa," Kate laughingly rejoined, "there are three of us Brittons
+now; the Underwoods are in the minority."</p>
+
+<p>Which, though a new view of the situation to that gentleman, seemed
+eminently satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>Later, as Kate found Darrell at a window, looking thoughtfully out into
+the moonlit night, she asked,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Of what are you thinking, John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of what the years have done for us, Kathie; of how much better fitted
+for each other we are now than when we first loved."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she whispered, as their eyes met, "'God's own good time' was the
+best."</p>
+
+<p>THE END
+<!-- Page 374 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
+<!-- Page 375 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<h1>FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS<br />
+IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS</h1>
+
+<div class="blockquot">Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. Library size.
+Printed on excellent paper&mdash;most of them with illustrations of marked
+beauty&mdash;and handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents a volume,
+postpaid.</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<p>BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. By George Barr McCutcheon. With Color Frontispiece
+and other illustrations by Harrison Fisher. Beautiful inlay picture in
+colors of Beverly on the cover.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"The most fascinating, engrossing and picturesque of the season's</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">novels."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald.</i> "'Beverly' is altogether</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">charming&mdash;almost living flesh and blood."&mdash;<i>Louisville Times.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Better than 'Graustark'."&mdash;<i>Mail and Express.</i> "A sequel quite as</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">impossible as 'Graustark' and quite as entertaining."&mdash;<i>Bookman.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"A charming love story well told."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>HALF A ROGUE. By Harold MacGrath. With illustrations and inlay cover
+picture by Harrison Fisher.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Here are dexterity of plot, glancing play at witty talk,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">characters really human and humanly real, spirit and gladness,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">freshness and quick movement. 'Half a Rogue' is as brisk as a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">horseback ride on a glorious morning. It is as varied as an April</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">day. It is as charming as two most charming girls can make it. Love</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and honor and success and all the great things worth fighting for</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and living for the involved in 'Half a Rogue.'"&mdash;<i>Phila. Press.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE GIRL FROM TIM'S PLACE. By Charles Clark Munn. With illustrations by
+Frank T. Merrill.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Figuring in the pages of this story there are several strong</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">characters. Typical New England folk and an especially sturdy one,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">old Cy Walker, through whose instrumentality Chip comes to</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">happiness and fortune. There is a chain of comedy, tragedy, pathos</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and love, which makes a dramatic story."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE LION AND THE MOUSE. A story of American Life. By Charles Klein, and
+Arthur Hornblow. With illustrations by Stuart Travis, and Scenes from
+the Play.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The novel duplicated the success of the play; in fact the book is</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">greater than the play. A portentous clash of dominant personalities</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">that form the essence of the play are necessarily touched upon but</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">briefly in the short space of four acts. All this is narrated in</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the novel with a wealth of fascinating and absorbing detail, making</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">it one of the most powerfully written and exciting works of fiction</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">given to the world in years.</span><br /></p>
+<p><!-- Page 376 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>BARBARA WINSLOW, REBEL. By Elizabeth Ellis. With illustrations by John
+Rae, and colored inlay cover.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The following, taken from story, will best describe the heroine: A</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">TOAST: "To the bravest comrade in misfortune, the sweetest</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">companion in peace and at all times the most courageous of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">women."&mdash;<i>Barbara Winslow.</i> "A romantic story, buoyant, eventful,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and in matters of love exactly what the heart could desire."&mdash;<i>New</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>York Sun.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>SUSAN. By Ernest Oldmeadow. With a color frontispiece by Frank Haviland.
+Medallion in color on front cover.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lord Ruddington falls helplessly in love with Miss Langley, whom he</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">sees in one of her walks accompanied by her maid, Susan. Through a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">misapprehension of personalities his lordship addresses a love</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">missive to the maid. Susan accepts in perfect good faith, and an</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">epistolary love-making goes on till they are disillusioned. It</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">naturally makes a droll and delightful little comedy; and is a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">story that is particularly clever in the telling.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>WHEN PATTY WENT TO COLLEGE. By Jean Webster. With illustrations by C. D.
+Williams.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"The book is a treasure."&mdash;<i>Chicago Daily News.</i> "Bright,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">whimsical, and thoroughly entertaining."&mdash;<i>Buffalo Express.</i> "One</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">of the best stories of life in a girl's college that has ever been</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">written."&mdash;<i>N. Y. Press.</i> "To any woman who has enjoyed the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">pleasures of a college life this book cannot fail to bring back</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">many sweet recollections; and to those who have not been to college</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the wit, lightness, and charm of Patty are sure to be no less</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">delightful."&mdash;<i>Public Opinion.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE MASQUERADER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by
+Clarence F. Underwood.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"You can't drop it till you have turned the last page."&mdash;<i>Cleveland</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Leader.</i> "Its very audacity of motive, of execution, of solution,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">almost takes one's breath away. The boldness of its denouement is</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">sublime."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i> "The literary hit of a generation.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The best of it is the story deserves all its success. A masterly</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">story."&mdash;<i>St. Louis Dispatch.</i> "The story is ingeniously told, and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">cleverly constructed."&mdash;<i>The Dial.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE GAMBLER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by John
+Campbell.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Tells of a high strung young Irish woman who has a passion for</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">gambling, inherited from a long line of sporting ancestors. She has</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">a high sense of honor, too, and that causes complications. She is a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">very human, lovable character, and love saves her."&mdash;<i>N. Y. Times.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 377 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p><p>THE AFFAIR AT THE INN. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by
+Martin Justice.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"As superlatively clever in the writing as it is entertaining in</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the reading. It is actual comedy of the most artistic sort, and it</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">is handled with a freshness and originality that is unquestionably</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">novel."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i> "A feast of humor and good cheer, yet</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">subtly pervaded by special shades of feeling, fancy, tenderness, or</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">whimsicality. A merry thing in prose."&mdash;<i>St. Louis Democrat.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>ROSE O' THE RIVER. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by George
+Wright.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"'Rose o' the River,' a charming bit of sentiment, gracefully</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">written and deftly touched with a gentle humor. It is a dainty</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">book&mdash;daintily illustrated."&mdash;<i>New York Tribune.</i> "A wholesome,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">bright, refreshing story, an ideal book to give a young</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">girl."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i> "An idyllic story, replete with</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">pathos and inimitable humor. As story-telling it is perfection, and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">as portrait-painting it is true to the life."&mdash;<i>London Mail.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>TILLIE: A Mennonite Maid. By Helen R. Martin. With illustrations by
+Florence Scovel Shinn.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The little "Mennonite Maid" who wanders through these pages is</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">something quite new in fiction. Tillie is hungry for books and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">beauty and love; and she comes into her inheritance at the end.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Tillie is faulty, sensitive, big-hearted, eminently human, and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">first, last and always lovable. Her charm glows warmly, the story</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">is well handled, the characters skilfully developed."&mdash;<i>The Book</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Buyer.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>LADY ROSE'S DAUGHTER. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. With illustrations by Howard
+Chandler Christy.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"The most marvellous work of its wonderful author."&mdash;<i>New York</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>World.</i> "We touch regions and attain altitudes which it is not</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">given to the ordinary novelist even to approach."&mdash;<i>London Times.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"In no other story has Mrs. Ward approached the brilliancy and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">vivacity of Lady Rose's Daughter."&mdash;<i>North American Review.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE BANKER AND THE BEAR. By Henry K. Webster.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"An exciting and absorbing story."&mdash;<i>New York Times.</i> "Intensely</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">thrilling in parts, but an unusually good story all through. There</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">is a love affair of real charm and most novel surroundings, there</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">is a run on the bank which is almost worth a year's growth, and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">there is all manner of exhilarating men and deeds which should</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">bring the book into high and permanent favor."&mdash;<i>Chicago Evening</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Post.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 80%;" />
+
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   - &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   NEW YORK</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 378 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>NATURE BOOKS</h1>
+
+<h2>With Colored Plates, and Photographs from Life.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<p>BIRD NEIGHBORS. An Introductory Acquaintance with 150 Birds Commonly
+Found in the Woods, Fields and Gardens About Our Homes. By Neltje
+Blanchan. With an Introduction by John Burroughs, and many plates of
+birds in natural colors. Large Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8, Cloth.
+Formerly published at $2.00. Our special price, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">As an aid to the elementary study of bird life nothing has ever</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">been published more satisfactory than this most successful of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nature Books. This book makes the identification of our birds</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">simple and positive, even to the uninitiated, through certain</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">unique features. I. All the birds are grouped according to color,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">in the belief that a bird's coloring is the first and often the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">only characteristic noticed. II. By another classification, the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">birds are grouped according to their season. III. All the popular</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">names by which a bird is known are given both in the descriptions</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and the index. The colored plates are the most beautiful and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">accurate ever given in a moderate-priced and popular book. The most</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">successful and widely sold Nature Book yet published.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>BIRDS THAT HUNT AND ARE HUNTED. Life Histories of 170 Birds of Prey,
+Game Birds and Water-Fowls. By Neltje Blanchan. With Introduction by G.
+O. Shields (Coquina). 24 photographic illustrations in color. Large
+Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8. Formerly published at $2.00. Our special
+price, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">No work of its class has ever been issued that contains so much</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">valuable information, presented with such felicity and charm. The</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">colored plates are true to nature. By their aid alone any bird</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">illustrated may be readily identified. Sportsmen will especially</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">relish the twenty-four color plates which show the more important</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">birds in characteristic poses. They are probably the most valuable</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and artistic pictures of the kind available to-day.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 379 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>NATURE'S GARDEN. An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their
+Insect Visitors. 24 colored plates, and many other illustrations
+photographed directly from nature. Text by Neltje Blanchan. Large
+Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8. Cloth. Formerly published at $3.00 net. Our
+special price, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p>
+Superb color portraits of many familiar flowers in their living
+tints, and no less beautiful pictures in black and white of
+others&mdash;each blossom photographed directly from nature&mdash;form an
+unrivaled series. By their aid alone the novice can name the
+flowers met afield.</p>
+<p>
+Intimate life-histories of over five hundred species of wild
+flowers, written in untechnical, vivid language, emphasize the
+marvelously interesting and vital relationship existing between
+these flowers and the special insect to which each is adapted.</p>
+<p>
+The flowers are divided into five color groups, because by this
+arrangement any one with no knowledge of botany whatever can
+readily identify the specimens met during a walk. The various
+popular names by which each species is known, its preferred
+dwelling-place, months of blooming and geographical distribution
+follow its description. Lists of berry-bearing and other plants
+most conspicuous after the flowering season, of such as grow
+together in different kinds of soil, and finally of family groups
+arranged by that method of scientific classification adopted by the
+International Botanical Congress which has now superseded all
+others, combine to make "Nature's Garden" an indispensable guide.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 80%;" />
+
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   - &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   NEW YORK</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 380 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h1>FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS<br />
+IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS</h1>
+
+<div class="blockquot">Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. Library size.
+Printed on excellent paper&mdash;most of them with illustrations of marked
+beauty&mdash;and handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents a volume,
+postpaid.</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<p>LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. By Myrtle Reed.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A charming story of a quaint corner of New England where bygone</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">romance finds a modern parallel. One of the prettiest, sweetest,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and quaintest of old-fashioned love stories * * * A rare book,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">exquisite in spirit and conception, full of delicate fancy, of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">tenderness, of delightful humor and spontaneity. A dainty volume,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">especially suitable for a gift.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Norman Duncan. With a frontispiece and
+inlay cover.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">How the doctor came to the bleak Labrador coast and there in saving</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">life made expiation. In dignity, simplicity, humor, in sympathetic</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">etching of a sturdy fisher people, and above all in the echoes of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the sea, <i>Doctor Luke</i> is worthy of great praise. Character, humor,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">poignant pathos, and the sad grotesque conjunctions of old and new</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">civilizations are expressed through the medium of a style that has</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">distinction and strikes a note of rare personality.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE DAY'S WORK. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The <i>London Morning Post</i> says: "It would be hard to find better</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">reading * * * the book is so varied, so full of color and life from</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">end to end, that few who read the first two or three stories will</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">lay it down till they have read the last&mdash;and the last is a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">veritable gem * * * contains some of the best of his highly vivid</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">work * * * Kipling is a born story-teller and a man of humor into</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the bargain."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>ELEANOR LEE. By Margaret E. Sangster. With a frontispiece.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A story of married life, and attractive picture of wedded bliss * *</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">an entertaining story of a man's redemption through a woman's</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">love * * * no one who knows anything of marriage or parenthood can</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">read this story with eyes that are always dry * * * goes straight</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">to the heart of every one who knows the meaning of "love" and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"home."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE COLONEL OF THE RED HUZZARS. By John Reed Scott. Illustrated by
+Clarence F. Underwood.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Full of absorbing charm, sustained interest, and a wealth of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">thrilling and romantic situations. "So naively fresh in its</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">handling, so plausible through its naturalness, that it comes like</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">a mountain breeze across the far-spreading desert of similar</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">romances."&mdash;<i>Gazette-Times, Pittsburg.</i> "A slap-dashing day</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">romance."&mdash;<i>New York Sun.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p><!-- Page 381 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>THE FAIR GOD; OR, THE LAST OF THE TZINS. By Lew Wallace. With
+illustrations by Eric Pape.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"The story tells of the love of a native princess for Alvarado, and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">it is worked out with all of Wallace's skill * * * it gives a fine</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">picture of the heroism of the Spanish conquerors and of the culture</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and nobility of the Aztecs."&mdash;<i>New York Commercial Advertiser.</i></span><br /></p>
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Ben Hur sold enormously, but <i>The Fair God</i> was the best of the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">General's stories&mdash;a powerful and romantic treatment of the defeat</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">of Montezuma by Cortes."&mdash;<i>Athen&aelig;um.</i></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. By Louis Tracy.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A story of love and the salt sea&mdash;of a helpless ship whirled into</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the hands of cannibal Fuegians&mdash;of desperate fighting and tender</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">romance, enhanced by the art of a master of story telling who</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">describes with his wonted felicity and power of holding the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">reader's attention * * * filled with the swing of adventure.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>A MIDNIGHT GUEST. A Detective Story. By Fred M. White. With a
+frontispiece.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The scene of the story centers in London and Italy. The book is</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">skilfully written and makes one of the most baffling, mystifying,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">exciting detective stories ever written&mdash;cleverly keeping the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">suspense and mystery intact until the surprising discoveries which</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">precede the end.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE HONOUR OF SAVELLI. A Romance. By S. Levett Yeats. With cover and
+wrapper in four colors.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Those who enjoyed Stanley Weyman's <i>A Gentleman of France</i> will be</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">engrossed and captivated by this delightful romance of Italian</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">history. It is replete with exciting episodes, hair-breath escapes,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">magnificent sword-play, and deals with the agitating times in</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Italian history when Alexander II was Pope and the famous and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">infamous Borgias were tottering to their fall.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>SISTER CARRIE. By Theodore Drieser. With a frontispiece, and wrapper in
+color.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In all fiction there is probably no more graphic and poignant study</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">of the way in which man loses his grip on life, lets his pride, his</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">courage, his self-respect slip from him, and, finally, even ceases</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">to struggle in the mire that has engulfed him. * * * There is more</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">tonic value in <i>Sister Carrie</i> than in a whole shelfful of sermons.</span><br /></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 80%;" />
+
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   - &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   NEW YORK</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+
+<p><!-- Page 382 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>PRINCESS MARITZA</h1>
+<h3>A NOVEL OF RAPID ROMANCE.<br />
+BY PERCY BREBNER</h3>
+<p class='center'>With Harrison Fisher Illustrations in Color.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Offers more real entertainment and keen enjoyment than any book</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">since "Graustark." Full of picturesque life and color and a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">delightful love-story. The scene of the story is Wallaria, one of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">those mythical kingdoms in Southern Europe. Maritza is the rightful</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">heir to the throne, but is kept away from her own country. The hero</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">is a young Englishman of noble family. It is a pleasing book of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">fiction. Large 12mo. size. Handsomely bound in</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">cloth. White coated wrapper, with Harrison Fisher portrait in</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">colors. Price 75 cents, postpaid.</span><br /></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<h2>Books by George Barr McCutcheon</h2>
+
+<p>BREWSTER'S MILLIONS</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mr. Montgomery Brewster is required to spend a million dollars in one</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">year in order to inherit seven millions. He must be absolutely penniless</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">at that time, and yet have spent the million in a way that will commend</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">him as fit to inherit the larger sum. How he does it forms the basis for</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">one of the most crisp and breezy romances of recent years.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>CASTLE CRANEYCROW</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The story revolves around the abduction of a young American woman and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the adventures created through her rescue. The title is taken from the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">name of an old castle on the Continent, the scene of her imprisonment.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>GRAUSTARK: A Story of a Love Behind a Throne.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">This work has been and is to-day one of the most popular works of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">fiction of this decade. The meeting of the Princess of Graustark with</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">the hero, while travelling incognito in this country, his efforts to</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">find her, his success, the defeat of conspiracies to dethrone her, and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">their happy marriage, provide entertainment which every type of reader</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">will enjoy.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE SHERRODS. With illustrations by C. D. Williams</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A novel quite unlike Mr. McCutcheon's previous works in the field of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">romantic fiction and yet possessing the charm inseparable from anything</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">he writes. The scene is laid in Indiana and the theme is best described</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">in the words, "Whom God hath joined, let no man put asunder."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Large 12mo. size. Price 75 cents per volume, postpaid.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PUBLISHERS<br />
+52 DUANE STREET &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW YORK</h2>
+<hr style='width: 100%;' />
+
+<p><!-- Page 383 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><i>NEW POPULAR EDITIONS OF</i></h2>
+<h1>MARY JOHNSTON'S<br />
+NOVELS</h1>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<p>TO HAVE AND TO HOLD</p>
+
+<p>
+It was something new and startling to see an author's first novel sell
+up into the hundreds of thousands, as did this one. The ablest critics
+spoke of it in such terms as "Breathless interest," "The high water mark
+of American fiction since Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Surpasses all," "Without
+a rival," "Tender and delicate," "As good a story of adventure as one
+can find," "The best style of love story, clean, pure and wholesome."</p>
+
+<p>AUDREY</p>
+
+<p>With the brilliant imagination and the splendid courage of youth, she
+has stormed the very citadel of adventure. Indeed it would be impossible
+to carry the romantic spirit any deeper into fiction.&mdash;<i>Agnes Repplier.</i></p>
+
+<p>PRISONERS OF HOPE</p>
+
+<p>Pronounced by the critics classical, accurate, interesting, American,
+original, vigorous, full of movement and life, dramatic and fascinating,
+instinct with life and passion, and preserving throughout a singularly
+even level of excellence.</p>
+
+<p>Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Large 12mo. size. Price, 75
+cents per volume, postpaid.</p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PUBLISHERS<br />
+52 DUANE STREET &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW YORK</h2>
+<hr style='width: 100%;' />
+
+<p><!-- Page 384 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3><i>GET THE BEST OUT-DOOR STORIES</i></h3>
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h1>Stewart Edward White's</h1>
+<h2>Great Novels of Western Life.</h2>
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h3>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP EDITIONS</h3>
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<p>THE BLAZED TRAIL</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mingles the romance of the forest with the romance of man's heart,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">making a story that is big and elemental, while not lacking in sweetness</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">and tenderness. It is an epic of the life of the lumbermen of the great</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">forest of the Northwest, permeated by out of door freshness, and the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">glory of the struggle with nature.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE SILENT PLACES</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A powerful story of strenuous endeavor and fateful privation in the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">frozen North, embodying also a detective story of much strength and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">skill. The author brings out with sure touch and deep understanding the</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">mystery and poetry of the still, frost-bound forest.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE CLAIM JUMPERS</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A Tale of a Western mining camp and the making of a man, with which a</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">charming young lady has much to do. The tenderfoot has a hard time of</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">it, but meets the situation, shows the stuff he is made of, and "wins</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">out."</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE WESTERNERS</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A tale of the mining camp and the Indian country, full of color and</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">thrilling incident.</span><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>THE MAGIC FOREST: A Modern Fairy Story.</p>
+
+<p class='blockquot'>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"No better book could be put in a young boy's hands," says the New York</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sun</i>. It is a happy blend of knowledge of wood life with an</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">understanding of Indian character, as well as that of small boys.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Price, seventy-five cents per
+volume, postpaid.</p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PUBLISHERS<br />
+52 DUANE STREET &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW YORK</h2>
+<hr style='width: 100%;' />
+
+<p><!-- Page 385 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><i>THE GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP EDITIONS</i><br />
+<i>OF STANDARD WORKS</i></h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+
+<h3>A FULL AND COMPLETE EDITION OF<br />
+TENNYSON'S POEMS.</h3>
+
+<p>Containing all the Poems issued under the protection of copyright. Cloth
+bound, small 8 vo. 882 pages, with index to first lines. Price,
+postpaid, seventy-five cents. The same, bound in three-quarter morocco,
+gilt top, $2.50, postpaid.</p>
+
+<h3>THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON AND HER<br />
+TIMES, by Mrs. Roger A. Pryor.</h3>
+
+<p>The brilliant social life of the time passes before the reader, packed
+full of curious and delightful information. More kinds of interest enter
+into it than into any other volume on Colonial Virginia. Sixty
+illustrations. Price, seventy-five cents, postpaid.</p>
+
+<h3>SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND, by William Winter</h3>
+
+<p>A record of rambles in England, relating largely to Warwickshire and
+depicting not so much the England of fact, as the England created and
+hallowed by the spirit of her poetry, of which Shakespeare is the soul.
+Profusely illustrated. Price, seventy-five cents, postpaid.</p>
+
+<h3>THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE CITIZEN, by Jacob A. Riis.</h3>
+
+<p>Should be read by every man and boy in America. Because it sets forth an
+ideal of American Citizenship. An Inspired Biography by one who knows
+him best. A large, handsomely illustrated cloth bound book. Price,
+postpaid, seventy-five cents.</p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PUBLISHERS<br />
+52 DUANE STREET &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW YORK</h2>
+<hr style='width: 100%;' />
+
+<p><!-- Page 386 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><i>THE GROSSET AND DUNLAP SPECIAL<br />
+EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS THAT<br />
+HAVE BEEN DRAMATIZED.</i></h2>
+
+
+<p>BREWSTER'S MILLIONS: By George Barr McCutcheon.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A clever, fascinating tale, with a striking and unusual plot. With
+illustrations from the original New York production of the play.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE LITTLE MINISTER: By J. M. Barrie.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">With illustrations from the play as presented by Maude Adams, and a
+vignette in gold of Miss Adams on the cover.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>CHECKERS: By Henry M. Blossom, Jr.</p>
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A story of the Race Track. Illustrated with scenes from the play as originally presented in New York</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">by Thomas W. Ross who created the stage character.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>THE CHRISTIAN: By Hall Caine.
+THE ETERNAL CITY: By Hall Caine.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Each has been elaborately and successfully staged.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>IN THE PALACE OF THE KING: By F. Marion Crawford.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A love story of Old Madrid, with full page illustrations. Originally
+played with great success by Viola Allen.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>JANICE MEREDITH: By Paul Leicester Ford.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">New edition with an especially attractive cover, a really handsome book.
+Originally played by Mary Mannering,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">who created the title role.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+These books are handsomely bound in cloth, are well-made in every
+respect, and aside from their unusual merit as stories, are particularly
+interesting to those who like things theatrical. Price, postpaid,
+seventy-five cents each.</p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 80%;' />
+<h2>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PUBLISHERS<br />
+52 DUANE STREET &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW YORK</h2>
+<hr style='width: 100%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's At the Time Appointed, by A. Maynard Barbour
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of At the Time Appointed, by A. Maynard Barbour
+
+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: At the Time Appointed
+
+Author: A. Maynard Barbour
+
+Illustrator: J. N. Marchand
+
+Release Date: June 21, 2007 [EBook #21892]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE TIME APPOINTED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Dave Macfarlane, Linda McKeown
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+TWELFTH EDITION
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_By A. Maynard Barbour_
+
+THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY E. PLAISTED ABBOTT
+
+12mo. Cloth, $1.50
+
+"Possibly in a detective story the main object is to thrill. If so,
+'That Mainwaring Affair' is all right. The thrill is there, full
+measure, pressed down and running over."--_Life_, New York
+
+"The book that reminds one of Anna Katherine Green in her palmiest
+days.... Keeps the reader on the alert, defies the efforts of those who
+read backward, deserves the applause of all who like mystery."--_Town
+Topics_, New York
+
+"The tale is well told, and the intricacies of the plot so adroitly
+managed that it is impossible to foresee the correct solution of the
+mysterious case until the final act of the tragedy.... Although vividly
+told, the literary style is excellent and the story by no means
+sensational, a fact that raises it above the level of the old-time
+detective story,"--_Brooklyn Daily Eagle_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AS DARRELL DISMOUNTED, SHE CAME SWIFTLY TOWARDS HIM,
+EXTENDING HER HAND. Page 110]
+
+
+
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+BY
+
+A. Maynard Barbour
+
+AUTHOR OF "THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR," ETC.
+
+WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY
+J. N. MARCHAND
+
+
+  "Yes, greater they who on life's battle-field,
+    With unseen foes and fierce temptations fight"
+                         JOHN D. HIGINBOTHAM
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+Publishers   New York
+
+
+Copyright, 1903
+By J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+Published April, 1903
+
+
+_Electrotyped and Printed by_
+_J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A._
+
+
+TO JOHN D. HIGINBOTHAM
+
+     "AS UNKNOWN, AND YET WELL KNOWN"
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+                                                        PAGE
+
+_Chapter_      I--John Darrell                             9
+
+      "       II--A Night's Work                          25
+
+      "      III--"The Pines"                             32
+
+      "       IV--Life? or Death?                         43
+
+      "        V--John Britton                            48
+
+      "       VI--Echoes from the Past                    62
+
+      "      VII--At the Mines                            68
+
+      "     VIII--"Until the Day Break"                   81
+
+      "       IX--Two Portraits                           86
+
+      "        X--The Communion of Two Souls              95
+
+      "       XI--Impending Trouble                      104
+
+      "      XII--New Life in the Old Home               109
+
+      "     XIII--Mr. Underwood "Strikes" First          123
+
+      "      XIV--Drifting                               134
+
+      "       XV--The Awakening                          146
+
+      "      XVI--The Aftermath                          166
+
+      "     XVII--"She knows her Father's Will is Law"   180
+
+      "    XVIII--On the "Divide"                        194
+
+      "      XIX--The Return to Camp Bird                206
+
+      "       XX--Forging the Fetters                    216
+
+      "      XXI--Two Crimes by the Same Hand            224
+
+      "     XXII--The Fetters Broken                     237
+
+      "    XXIII--The Mask Lifted                        247
+
+      "     XXIV--Foreshadowings                         254
+
+      "      XXV--The "Hermitage"                        262
+
+      "     XXVI--John Britton's Story                   269
+
+      "    XXVII--The Rending of the Veil                274
+
+      "   XXVIII--"As a Dream when One Awaketh"          278
+
+      "     XXIX--John Darrell's Story                   285
+
+      "      XXX--After Many Years                       295
+
+      "     XXXI--An Eastern Home                        300
+
+      "    XXXII--Marion Holmes                          308
+
+      "   XXXIII--Into the Fulness of Life               316
+
+      "    XXXIV--A Warning                              321
+
+      "     XXXV--A Fiend at Bay                         330
+
+      "    XXXVI--Senora Martinez                        337
+
+      "   XXXVII--The Identification                     343
+
+      "  XXXVIII--Within the "Pocket"                    352
+
+      "    XXXIV--At the Time Appointed                  360
+
+
+
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter I_
+
+JOHN DARRELL
+
+
+Upon a small station on one of the transcontinental lines winding among
+the mountains far above the level of the sea, the burning rays of the
+noonday sun fell so fiercely that the few buildings seemed ready to
+ignite from the intense heat. A season of unusual drought had added to
+the natural desolation of the scene. Mountains and foot-hills were
+blackened by smouldering fires among the timber, while a dense pall of
+smoke entirely hid the distant ranges from view. Patches of sage-brush
+and bunch grass, burned sere and brown, alternated with barren stretches
+of sand from which piles of rubble rose here and there, telling of
+worked-out and abandoned mines. Occasionally a current of air stole
+noiselessly down from the canyon above, but its breath scorched the
+withered vegetation like the blast from a furnace. Not a sound broke the
+stillness; life itself seemed temporarily suspended, while the very air
+pulsated and vibrated with the heat, rising in thin, quivering columns.
+
+Suddenly the silence was broken by the rapid approach of the stage from
+a distant mining camp, rattling noisily down the street, followed by a
+slight stir within the apparently deserted station. Whirling at
+breakneck pace around a sharp turn, it stopped precipitately, amid a
+blinding cloud of dust, to deposit its passengers at the depot.
+
+One of these, a young man of about five-and-twenty, arose with some
+difficulty from the cramped position which for seven weary hours he had
+been forced to maintain, and, with sundry stretchings and shakings of
+his superb form, seemed at last to pull himself together. Having secured
+his belongings from out the pile of miscellaneous luggage thrown from
+the stage upon the platform, he advanced towards the slouching figure of
+a man just emerging from the baggage-room, his hands thrust deep in his
+trousers pockets, his mouth stretched in a prodigious yawn, the arrival
+of the stage having evidently awakened him from his siesta.
+
+"How's the west-bound--on time?" queried the young man rather shortly,
+but despite the curtness of his accents there was a musical quality in
+the ringing tones.
+
+Before the cavernous jaws could close sufficiently for reply, two
+distant whistles sounded almost simultaneously.
+
+"That's her," drawled the man, with a backward jerk of his thumb over
+his shoulder in the direction of the sound; "she's at Blind Man's Pass;
+be here in about fifteen minutes."
+
+The young man turned and sauntered to the rear end of the platform,
+where he paused for a few moments; then, unconscious of the scrutiny of
+his fellow-passengers, he began silently pacing up and down, being in no
+mood for conversation with any one. Every bone in his body ached and his
+head throbbed with a dull pain, but these physical discomforts, which he
+attributed to his long and wearisome stage ride, caused him less
+annoyance than did the fact that he had lost several days' time, besides
+subjecting himself to numerous inconveniences and hardships, on what he
+now denominated a "fool's errand."
+
+An expert mineralogist and metallurgist, he had been commissioned by a
+large syndicate of eastern capitalists to come west, primarily to
+examine a certain mine recently offered for sale, and secondarily to
+secure any other valuable mining properties which might happen to be on
+the market. A promoter, whose acquaintance he had formed soon after
+leaving St. Paul, had poured into his ear such fabulous tales of a mine
+of untold wealth which needed but the expenditure of a few thousands to
+place it upon a dividend-paying basis, that, after making due allowance
+for optimism and exaggeration, he had thought it might be worth his
+while to stop off and investigate. The result of the investigation had
+been anything but satisfactory for either the promoter or the expert.
+
+He was the more annoyed at the loss of time because of a telegram handed
+him just before his departure from St. Paul, which he now drew forth,
+and which read as follows:
+
+     "Parkinson, expert for M. and M. on trail. Knows you as our
+     representative, but only by name. Lie low and block him if
+     possible.
+                                             "BARNARD."
+
+He well understood the import of the message. The "M. and M." stood for
+a rival syndicate of enormous wealth, and the fact that its expert was
+also on his way west promised lively competition in the purchase of the
+famous Ajax mine.
+
+"Five days," he soliloquized, glancing at the date of the message,
+which he now tore into bits, together with two or three letters of
+little importance. "I have lost my start and am now likely to meet this
+Parkinson at any stage of the game. However, he has never heard of John
+Darrell, and that name will answer my purpose as well as any among
+strangers. I'll notify Barnard when I reach Ophir."
+
+His plans for the circumvention of Parkinson were now temporarily cut
+short by the appearance of the "double-header" rounding a curve and
+rapidly approaching--a welcome sight, for the heat and blinding glare of
+light were becoming intolerable.
+
+Only for a moment the ponderous engines paused, panting and quivering
+like two living, sentient monsters; the next, with heavy, labored
+breath, as though summoning all their energies for the task before them,
+they were slowly ascending the steadily increasing grade, moment by
+moment with accelerated speed plunging into the very heart of the
+mountains, bearing John Darrell, as he was to be henceforth known, to a
+destiny of which he had little thought, but which he himself had,
+unconsciously, helped to weave.
+
+An hour later, on returning to the sleeper after an unsuccessful attempt
+at dining, Darrell sank into his seat, and, leaning wearily back,
+watched with half-closed eyes the rapidly changing scenes through which
+he was passing, for the time utterly oblivious to his surroundings.
+Gigantic rocks, grotesque in form and color, flashed past; towering
+peaks loomed suddenly before him, advancing, receding, disappearing, and
+reappearing with the swift windings and doublings of the train; massive
+walls of granite pressed close and closer, seeming for one instant a
+threatening, impenetrable barrier, the next, opening to reveal glimpses
+of distant billowy ranges, their summits white with perpetual snow. The
+train had now reached a higher altitude, and breezes redolent of pine
+and fir fanned his throbbing brow, their fragrance thronging his mind
+with memories of other and far-distant scenes, until gradually the bold
+outlines of cliff and crag grew dim, and in their place appeared a cool,
+dark forest through which flecks of golden sunlight sifted down upon the
+moss-grown, flower-strewn earth; a stream singing beneath the pines,
+then rippling onward through meadows of waving green; a wide-spreading
+house of colonial build half hidden by giant trees and clinging
+rose-vines, and, framed among the roses, a face, strong, tender, sweet,
+crowned with silvered hair--one of the few which sorrow makes
+beautiful--which came nearer and nearer, bending over him with a
+mother's blessing; and then he slept.
+
+The face of the sleeper, with its clear-cut, well-moulded features,
+formed a pleasing study, reminding one of a bit of unfinished carving,
+the strong, bold lines of which reveal the noble design of the
+sculptor--the thing of wondrous beauty yet to be--but which still lacks
+the finer strokes, the final touch requisite to bring it to perfection.
+Strength of character was indicated there; an indomitable will that
+would bend the most adverse conditions to serve its own masterful
+purpose and make of obstacles the paving-stones to success; a mind
+gifted with keen perceptive faculties, but which hitherto had dealt
+mostly with externals and knew little of itself or of its own powers.
+Young, with splendid health and superabundant vitality, there had been
+little opportunity for introspection or for the play of the finer,
+subtler faculties; and of the whole gamut of susceptibilities, ranging
+from exquisite suffering to ecstatic joy, few had been even awakened.
+His was a nature capable of producing the divinest harmonies or the
+wildest discords, according to the hand that swept the strings as yet
+untouched.
+
+For more than an hour Darrell slept. He was awakened by the murmur of
+voices near him, confused at first, but growing more distinct as he
+gradually recalled his surroundings, until, catching the name of
+"Parkinson," he was instantly on the alert.
+
+"Yes," a pleasant voice was saying, "I understand the Ajax is for sale
+if the owners can get their price, but they don't want less than a cold
+million for it, and it's my opinion they'll find buyers rather scarce at
+that figure when it comes to a show down."
+
+"Well, I don't know; that depends," was the reply. "The price won't
+stand in the way with my people, if the mine is all right. They can hand
+over a million--or two, for that matter--as easily as a thousand, if the
+property is what they want, but they've got to know what they're buying.
+That's what I'm out here for."
+
+Taking a quiet survey of the situation, Darrell found that the section
+opposite his own--which, upon his return from the dining-car, had
+contained only a motley collection of coats and grips--was now occupied
+by a party of three, two of whom were engaged in animated conversation.
+One of the speakers, who sat facing Darrell, was a young man of about
+two-and-twenty, whose self-assurance and assumption of worldly wisdom,
+combined with a boyish impetuosity, he found vastly amusing, while at
+the same time his frank, ingenuous eyes and winning smile of genuine
+friendliness, revealing a nature as unsuspecting and confiding as a
+child's, appealed to him strangely and drew him irresistibly towards the
+young stranger. The other speaker, whom Darrell surmised to be
+Parkinson, was considerably older and was seated facing the younger
+man, hence his back was towards Darrell; while the third member of the
+party, and by far the eldest, of whose face Darrell had a perfect
+profile view, although saying little, seemed an interested listener.
+
+The man whom Darrell supposed to be Parkinson inquired the quickest way
+of reaching the Ajax mine.
+
+"Well, you see it's this way," replied the young fellow. "The Ajax is on
+a spur that runs out from the main line at Ophir, and the train only
+runs between there and Ophir twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
+Let's see, this is Wednesday; we'll get into Ophir to-morrow, and you'll
+have to wait over until Saturday, unless you hire a rig to take you out
+there, and that's pretty expensive and an awfully rough jaunt besides."
+
+"I don't mind the expense," retorted the other, "but I don't know as I
+care to go on any jaunts over your mountain roads when there's no
+special necessity for it; I can get exercise enough without that."
+
+"I tell you what, Mr. Parkinson," said the young fellow, cordially, "you
+and your friend here, Mr. Hunter,"--Darrell started at the mention of
+the latter name,--"had better wait over till Saturday, and in the mean
+time I'll take you people out to Camp Bird, as we call it, and show you
+the Bird Mine; that's our mine, you know, and I tell you she is a
+'bird,' and no mistake. You'll be interested in looking her over, though
+I'll tell you beforehand she's not for sale."
+
+"Do I understand that you have an interest in this remarkable mine, Mr.
+Whitcomb?" Parkinson inquired, a tinge of amusement in his tone.
+
+"Not in the way you mean; that is, not yet, though there's no telling
+how soon I may have if things turn out as I hope," and the boyish cheek
+flushed slightly. "But I know what I'm talking about all the same.
+My uncle, D. K. Underwood, is a practical mining man of nearly thirty
+years' experience, and what he doesn't know about mines and mining isn't
+worth knowing. He's interested in a dozen or so of the best mines in the
+State, but I don't think he would exchange his half-interest in the Bird
+Mine for all his other holdings put together. She's a comparatively new
+mine yet, but taking into consideration her depth and the amount of
+development, she's the best-paying mine in the State. Here, let me show
+you something." And hastily pulling a note-book from his pocket, he took
+therefrom a narrow slip of paper which he handed to the expert.
+
+"There's a statement," he continued, "made out by the United States
+Assay Office, back here at Galena, that will show you the returns from a
+sixty days' run at the Bird mill; what do you think of that?"
+
+Parkinson's face was still invisible to Darrell, but the latter heard a
+long, low whistle of surprise. Young Whitcomb looked jubilant.
+
+"They say figures won't lie," he added, in tones of boyish enthusiasm,
+"but if you don't believe those figures, I've got the cash right here to
+show for it," accompanying the words with a significant gesture.
+
+Parkinson handed the slip to Hunter, then leaned back in his seat,
+giving Darrell a view of his profile.
+
+"Sixty days!" he said, musingly. "Seventy-five thousand dollars! I think
+I would like to take a look at the Bird Mine! I think I would like to
+make Mr. Underwood's acquaintance!"
+
+Whitcomb laughed exultingly. "I'll give you an opportunity to do both if
+you'll stop over," he said; "and don't you forget that my uncle can give
+you some pointers on the Ajax, for he knows every mine in the State."
+
+Mr. Hunter here handed the slip of paper to Whitcomb. "Young man," he
+said, with some severity, gazing fixedly at Whitcomb through his
+eye-glasses, "do you mean to say that you are travelling with
+seventy-five thousand dollars on your person?"
+
+"Certainly, sir," Whitcomb replied, evidently enjoying the situation.
+
+Mr. Hunter shook his head. "Very imprudent!" he commented. "You are
+running a tremendous risk. I wonder that your uncle would permit it!"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," said Whitcomb, confidently. "Uncle usually comes
+down himself with the shipments of bullion, and he generally banks the
+most of his money there at Galena, but he couldn't very well leave this
+time, so he sent me, and as he was going to use considerable money
+paying for a lot of improvements we've put in and paying off the men, he
+told me to bring back the cash. There's not much danger anyway; the West
+isn't as wild nowadays as it used to be."
+
+Handing a second bit of paper to Parkinson, he added: "There's something
+else that will interest you; the results of some assays made by the
+United States Assay Office on some samples taken at random from a new
+strike we made last week. I'll show you some of the samples, too."
+
+"Great Scott!" ejaculated Parkinson, running his eye over the returns.
+"You seem to have a mine there, all right!"
+
+"Sure thing! You'll think so when you see it," Whitcomb answered,
+fumbling in a grip at his feet.
+
+At sight of the specimens of ore which he produced a moment later, his
+two companions became nearly as enthusiastic as himself. Leaning eagerly
+forward, they began an inspection of the samples, commenting on their
+respective values, while Whitcomb, unfolding a tracing of the workings
+of the mine, explained the locality from which each piece was taken, its
+depth from the surface, the width and dip of the vein, and other items
+of interest.
+
+Darrell, who was carefully refraining from betraying any special
+interest in the party across the aisle, soon became aware that he was
+not the only interested listener to the conversation. In the section
+directly in front of the one occupied by Whitcomb and his companions a
+man was seated, apparently engrossed in a newspaper, but Darrell, who
+had a three-quarter view of his face, soon observed that he was not
+reading, but listening intently to the conversation of the men seated
+behind him, and particularly to young Whitcomb's share in it. Upon
+hearing the latter's statement that he had with him the cash returns for
+the shipment of bullion, Darrell saw the muscles of his face suddenly
+grow tense and rigid, while his hands involuntarily tightened their hold
+upon the paper. He grew uncomfortable under Darrell's scrutiny, moved
+restlessly once or twice, then turning, looked directly into the
+piercing dark eyes fixed upon him. His own eyes, which were small and
+shifting, instantly dropped, while the dark blood mounted angrily to his
+forehead. A few moments later, he changed his position so that Darrell
+could not see his face, but the latter determined to watch him and to
+give Whitcomb a word of warning at the earliest opportunity.
+
+"Well," said Parkinson, leaning back in his seat after examining the
+ores and listening to Whitcomb's outline of their plans for the future
+development of the mine, "it seems to me, young man, you have quite a
+knowledge of mines and mining yourself."
+
+Whitcomb flushed with pleasure. "I ought to," he said; "there isn't a
+man in this western country that understands the business better or has
+got it down any finer than my uncle. He may not be able to talk so
+glibly or use such high-sounding names for things as you fellows, but he
+can come pretty near telling whether a mine will pay for the handling,
+and if it has any value he generally knows how to go to work to find
+it."
+
+"Well, that's about the 'gist' of the whole business," said Parkinson;
+he added: "You say he can give me some 'tips' on the Ajax?"
+
+"He can if he chooses to," laughed Whitcomb, "but you'd better not let
+him know that I said so. He'll be more likely to give you information if
+you ask him offhand."
+
+"Well," continued Parkinson, "when we get to Ophir, I'll know whether or
+not I can stop over. I've heard there's another fellow out here on this
+Ajax business; whether he's ahead of me I don't know. I'll make
+inquiries when we reach Ophir, and if he hasn't come on the scene yet I
+can afford to lay off; if he has, I must lose no time in getting out to
+the mine." Parkinson glanced at Hunter, who nodded almost imperceptibly.
+
+"I guess that's the best arrangement we can make at present," said
+Parkinson, rising from his seat. "Come and have a smoke with us, Mr.
+Whitcomb?"
+
+Whitcomb declined the invitation, and, after Hunter and Parkinson had
+left, sat idly turning over the specimens of ore, until, happening to
+catch Darrell's eye, he inquired, pleasantly,--
+
+"Are you interested in this sort of thing?"
+
+"In a way, yes," said Darrell, crossing over and taking the seat vacated
+by Parkinson. "I'm not what you call a mining man; that is, I've never
+owned or operated a mine, but I take a great interest in examining the
+different ores and always try to get as much information regarding them
+as possible."
+
+Whitcomb at once launched forth enthusiastically upon a description of
+the various samples. Darrell, while careful not to show too great
+familiarity with the subject, or too thorough a knowledge of ores in
+general, yet was so keenly appreciative of their remarkable richness and
+beauty that he soon won the boy's heart.
+
+"Say!" he exclaimed, "you had better stop off at Ophir with us; we would
+make a mining man of you in less than no time! By the way, how far west
+are you travelling?"
+
+"Ophir is my destination at present, though it is uncertain how long I
+remain there."
+
+"Long enough, that we'll get well acquainted, I hope. Going into any
+particular line of business?"
+
+"No, only looking the country over, for the present."
+
+To divert the conversation from himself, Darrell, by a judicious
+question or two, led Whitcomb to speak of the expert.
+
+"Parkinson?" he said with a merry laugh. "Oh, yes, he's one of those
+eastern know-it-alls who come out here occasionally to give us fellows a
+few points on mines. They're all right, of course, for the men who
+employ them, who want to invest their money and wouldn't know a mine if
+they saw one; but when they undertake to air their knowledge among these
+old fellows who have spent a lifetime in the business, why, they're
+likely to get left, that's all. Now, this Parkinson seems to be a pretty
+fair sort of man compared with some of them, but between you and me, I'd
+wager my last dollar that they'll lose him on that Ajax mine!"
+
+"Why, what's the matter with the Ajax?" Darrell inquired, indifferently.
+
+"Well, as you're not interested in any way, I'm not telling tales out of
+school. The Ajax has been a bonanza in its day, but within the last year
+or so the bottom has dropped out of the whole thing, and that's the
+reason the owners are anxious to sell."
+
+"I hear they ask a pretty good price for the mine."
+
+"Yes, they're trading on her reputation, but that's all past. The mine
+is practically worked out. They've made a few good strikes lately, so
+that there is some good ore in sight, and this is their chance to sell,
+but there are no indications of any permanence. One of our own men was
+over there a while ago, and he said there wasn't enough ore in the mine
+to keep their mill running full force for more than six months."
+
+"Is this Hunter an expert also?"
+
+"Oh, no; Parkinson said he was a friend of his, just taking the trip for
+his health."
+
+Darrell smiled quietly, knowing Hunter to be a member of the syndicate
+employing Parkinson, but kept his knowledge to himself.
+
+A little later, when Darrell and Whitcomb left together for the
+dining-car, quite a friendship had sprung up between them. There was
+that mutual attraction often observed between two natures utterly
+diverse. Whitcomb was unaccountably drawn towards the dark-eyed,
+courteous, but rather reticent stranger, while his own frank
+friendliness and childlike confidence awoke in Darrell's nature a
+correlative tenderness and affection which he never would have believed
+himself capable of feeling towards one of his own sex.
+
+"I don't know what is the matter with me," said Darrell, as he seated
+himself at a table, facing Whitcomb. "My head seems to have a
+small-sized stamp-mill inside of it; every bone in my body aches, and my
+joints feel as though they were being pulled apart."
+
+Whitcomb looked up quickly. "Are you just from the East, or have you
+been out here any time?"
+
+"I stopped for a few days, back here a ways."
+
+"In the mountain country?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By George! I believe you've got the mountain fever; there's an awful
+lot of it round here this season, and this is just the worst time of
+year for an easterner to come out here. But we'll look after you when we
+get to Ophir, and bring you round all right."
+
+"Much obliged, but I think I'll be all right after a night's rest,"
+Darrell replied, inwardly resolved, upon reaching Ophir, to push on to
+the Ajax as quickly as possible, though his ardor was considerably
+cooled by Whitcomb's report.
+
+When they left the dining-car the train was stopping at a small station,
+and for a few moments the young men strolled up and down the platform. A
+dense, bluish-gray haze hung low over the country, rendering the
+outlines of even the nearest objects obscure and dim; the western sky
+was like burnished copper, and the sun, poised a little above the
+horizon, looked like a ball of glowing fire.
+
+Just as the train was about to start Darrell saw the man whose peculiar
+actions he had noticed earlier, leave the telegraph office and jump
+hastily aboard. Calling Whitcomb's attention as he passed them, he
+related his observations of the afternoon and cautioned him against the
+man. For an instant Whitcomb looked serious.
+
+"I suppose it was rather indiscreet in me to talk as I did," he said,
+"but it can't be helped now. However, I guess it's all right, but I'm
+obliged to you all the same."
+
+They passed into the smoker, where Darrell was introduced to Hunter and
+Parkinson. In a short time, however, he found himself suffering from
+nausea and growing faint and dizzy.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "you will have to excuse me. I'm rather off my
+base this evening, and I find that smoking isn't doing me any good."
+
+As he rose young Whitcomb sprang instantly to his feet; throwing away
+his cigar and linking his arm within Darrell's, he insisted upon
+accompanying him to the sleeper, notwithstanding his protests.
+
+"Good-night, Parkinson," he called, cheerily; "see you in the morning!"
+
+He accompanied Darrell to his section; then dropped familiarly into the
+seat beside him, throwing one arm affectionately over Darrell's
+shoulder, and during the next hour, while the sunset glow faded and the
+evening shadows deepened, he confided to this acquaintance of only a few
+hours the outlines of his past life and much regarding his hopes and
+plans for the future. He spoke of his orphaned boyhood; of the uncle who
+had given him a home in his family and initiated him into his own
+business methods; of his hope of being admitted at no distant day into
+partnership with his uncle and becoming a shareholder in the wonderful
+Bird Mine.
+
+"But that isn't all I am looking forward to," he said, in conclusion,
+his boyish tones growing strangely deep and tender. "My fondest hope of
+all I hardly dare admit even to myself, and I don't know why I am
+speaking of it to you, except that I already like you and trust you as I
+never did any other man; but you will understand what I mean when you
+see my cousin, Kate Underwood."
+
+He paused, but his silence was more eloquent to Darrell than words; the
+latter grasped his hand warmly in token that he understood.
+
+"I wish you all that you hope for," he said.
+
+A few moments later Whitcomb spoke with his usual impetuosity. "What am
+I thinking of, keeping you up in this way when you are sick and dead
+tired! You had better turn in and get all the rest you can, and when we
+reach Ophir to-morrow, just remember, my dear fellow, that no hotels
+'go.' You'll go directly home with me, where you'll find yourself in
+such good hands you'll think sure you're in your own home, and we'll
+soon have you all right."
+
+For hours Darrell tossed wearily, unable to sleep. His head throbbed
+wildly, the racking pain throughout his frame increased, while a raging
+fire seemed creeping through his veins. Not until long past midnight did
+he fall into a fitful sleep. Strange fancies surged through his fevered
+brain, torturing him with their endless repetition, their seeming
+reality. Suddenly he awoke, bewildered, exhausted, oppressed by a vague
+sense of impending evil.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter II_
+
+A NIGHT'S WORK
+
+
+For a few seconds Darrell tried vainly to recall what had awakened him.
+Low, confused sounds occasionally reached his ears, but they seemed part
+of his own troubled dreams. The heat was intolerable; he raised himself
+to the open window that he might get a breath of cooler air; his head
+whirled, but the half-sitting posture seemed to clear his brain, and he
+recalled his surroundings. At once he became conscious that the train
+was not in motion, yet no sound of trainmen's voices came through the
+open window; all was dead silence, and the vague, haunting sense of
+impending danger quickened.
+
+Suddenly he heard a muttered oath in one of the sections, followed by an
+order, low, but peremptory,--
+
+"No noise! Hand over, and be quick about it!"
+
+Instantly Darrell comprehended the situation. Peering cautiously between
+the curtains, he saw, at the forward end of the sleeper, a masked man
+with a revolver in each hand, while the mirror behind him revealed
+another figure at the rear, masked and armed in like manner. He heard
+another order; the man was doing his work swiftly. He thought at once of
+young Whitcomb, but no sound came from the opposite section, and he sank
+quietly back upon his pillow.
+
+A moment later the curtains were quickly thrust aside, the muzzle of a
+revolver confronted Darrell, and the same low voice demanded,--
+
+"Hand out your valuables!"
+
+A man of medium height, wearing a mask and full beard, stood over him.
+Darrell quietly handed over his watch and purse, noting as he did so the
+man's hands, white, well formed, well kept. He half expected a further
+demand, as the purse contained only a few small bills and some change,
+the bulk of his money being secreted about the mattress, as was his
+habit; but the man turned with peculiar abruptness to the opposite
+section, as one who had a definite object in view and was in haste to
+accomplish it. Darrell, his faculties alert, observed that the section
+in front of Whitcomb's was empty; he recalled the actions of its
+occupant on the preceding afternoon, his business later at the telegraph
+office, and the whole scheme flashed vividly before his mind. The man
+had been a spy sent out by the band now holding the train, and
+Whitcomb's money was without doubt the particular object of the hold-up.
+
+Whitcomb was asleep at the farther side of his berth. Leaning slightly
+towards him, the man shook him, and his first words confirmed Darrell's
+intuitions,--
+
+"Hand over that money, young man, and no fuss about it, either!"
+
+Whitcomb, instantly awake, gazed at the masked face without a word or
+movement. Darrell, powerless to aid his friend, watched intently,
+dreading some rash act on his part to which his impetuous nature might
+prompt him.
+
+Again he heard the low tones, this time a note of danger in them,--
+
+"No fooling! Hand that money over, lively!"
+
+With a spring, as sudden and noiseless as a panther's, Whitcomb grappled
+with the man, knocking the revolver from his hand upon the bed. A
+quick, desperate, silent struggle followed. Whitcomb suddenly reached
+for the revolver; as he did so Darrell saw a flash of steel in the dim
+light, and the next instant his friend sank, limp and motionless, upon
+the bed.
+
+"Fool!" he heard the man mutter, with an oath.
+
+An involuntary groan escaped from Darrell's lips. Slight as was the
+sound, the man heard it and turned, facing him; the latter was screened
+by the curtains, and the man, seeing no one, returned to his work, but
+that brief glance had revealed enough to Darrell that he knew he could
+henceforth identify the murderer among a thousand. In the struggle the
+mask had been partially pushed aside, exposing a portion of the man's
+face. A scar of peculiar shape showed white against the olive skin,
+close to the curling black hair. But to Darrell the pre-eminently
+distinguishing characteristic of that face was the eyes. Of the most
+perfect steel blue he had ever seen, they seemed, as they turned upon
+him in that intense glance, to glint and scintillate like the points of
+two rapiers in a brilliant sword play, while their look of concentrated
+fury and malignity, more demon-like than human, was stamped ineffaceably
+upon his brain.
+
+Having secured as much as he could find of the money, the murderer left
+hastily and silently, and a few moments later the guards, after a
+warning to the passengers not to leave their berths, took their
+departure.
+
+Having partially dressed, Darrell at once sprang across the aisle and
+took Whitcomb's limp form in his arms. His heart still beat faintly, but
+he was unconscious and bleeding profusely. All had been done so silently
+and swiftly that no one outside of Darrell dreamed of murder, and soon
+the enforced silence began to be broken by hurried questions and angry
+exclamations. A man cursed over the loss of his money and a woman sobbed
+hysterically. Suddenly, Darrell's incisive tones rang through the
+sleeper.
+
+"For God's sake, see if there is a surgeon aboard! Here is a man
+stabbed, dying; don't stop to talk of money when a life is at stake!"
+
+Instantly all thought of personal loss was for the time forgotten, and
+half a dozen men responded to Darrell's appeal. When it became known
+throughout the train what had occurred, the greatest excitement
+followed. Train officials, hurrying back and forth, stopped, hushed and
+horror-stricken, beside the section where Darrell sat holding Whitcomb
+in his arms. Passengers from the other coaches crowded in, eager to
+offer assistance that was of no avail. A physician was found and came
+quickly to the scene, who, after a brief examination, silently shook his
+head, and Darrell, watching the weakening pulse and shortening gasps,
+needed no words to tell him that the young life was ebbing fast.
+
+Just as the faint respirations had become almost imperceptible, Whitcomb
+opened his eyes, looking straight into Darrell's eyes with eager
+intensity, his face lighted with the winning smile which Darrell had
+already learned to love. His lips moved; Darrell bent his head still
+lower to listen.
+
+"Kate,--you will see her," he whispered. "Tell her----" but the sentence
+was never finished.
+
+Deftly and gently as a woman Darrell did the little which remained to be
+done for his young friend, closing the eyes in which the love-light
+kindled by his dying words still lingered, smoothing the dishevelled
+golden hair, wondering within himself at his own unwonted tenderness.
+
+"An awful pity for a bright young life to go out like that!" said a
+voice at his side, and, turning, he saw Parkinson.
+
+"How did it happen?" the latter inquired, recognizing Darrell for the
+first time in the dim light.
+
+Briefly Darrell gave the main facts as he had witnessed them, saying
+nothing, however, of his having seen the face of the murderer.
+
+"Too bad!" said Parkinson. "He ought never to have made a bluff of that
+sort; there were too many odds against him."
+
+"He was impulsive and acted on the spur of the moment," Darrell replied;
+adding, in lower tones, "the mistake was in giving one so young and
+inexperienced a commission involving so much responsibility and danger."
+
+"You knew of the money, then? Yes, that was bad business for him, poor
+fellow! I wonder, by the way, if it was all taken."
+
+At Darrell's suggestion a thorough search was made, which resulted in
+the finding of a package containing fifteen thousand dollars which the
+thief in his haste had evidently overlooked. This, it was agreed, should
+be placed in Darrell's keeping until the arrival of the train at Ophir.
+
+Gradually the crowd dispersed, most of the passengers returning to their
+berths. Darrell, knowing that sleep for himself was out of the question,
+sought an empty section in another part of the car, and, seating
+himself, bowed his head upon his hands. The veins in his temples seemed
+near bursting and his usually strong nerves quivered from the shock he
+had undergone, but of this he was scarcely conscious. His mind,
+abnormally active, for the time held his physical sufferings in
+abeyance. He was living over again the events of the past few
+hours--events which had awakened within him susceptibilities he had not
+known he possessed, which had struck a new chord in his being whose
+vibrations thrilled him with strange, undefinable pain. As he recalled
+Whitcomb's affectionate familiarity, he seemed to hear again the low,
+musical cadences of the boyish tones, to see the sunny radiance of his
+smile, to feel the irresistible magnetism of his presence, and it seemed
+as though something inexpressibly sweet, of whose sweetness he had
+barely tasted, had suddenly dropped out of his life.
+
+His heart grew sick with bitter sorrow as he recalled the look of
+mingled appeal and trust which shot from Whitcomb's eyes into his own as
+his young life, so full of hope, of ambition, of love, was passing
+through the dim portals of an unknown world. Oh, the pity of it! that
+he, an acquaintance of but a few hours, should have been the only one to
+whom those eyes could turn for their last message of earthly love and
+sympathy; and oh, the impotency of any and all human love then!
+
+Never before had Darrell been brought so near the unseen, the
+unknown,--always surrounding us, but of which few of us are
+conscious,--and for hours he sat motionless, lost in thought, grappling
+with problems hitherto unthought of, but which now perplexed and baffled
+him at every turn.
+
+At last, with a heavy sigh, he opened his eyes. The gray twilight of
+dawn was slowly creeping down from the mountain-tops, dispelling the
+shadows; and the light of a new faith, streaming downward
+
+     "From the beautiful, eternal hills
+         Of God's unbeginning past,"
+
+was banishing the doubts which had assailed him.
+
+That night had brought to him a revelation of the awful solitude of a
+human soul, standing alone on the threshold of two worlds; but it had
+also revealed to him the Love--Infinite, Divine--that meets the soul
+when human love and sympathy are no longer of avail.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter III_
+
+"THE PINES"
+
+
+As the day advanced Darrell grew gradually but steadily worse. After the
+excitement of the night had passed a reaction set in; he felt utterly
+exhausted and miserable, the pain returned with redoubled violence, and
+the fever increased perceptibly from hour to hour.
+
+He was keenly observant of those about him, and he could not but note
+how soon the tragedy of the preceding night seemed forgotten. Some
+bemoaned the loss of money or valuables; a few, more fortunate, related
+how they had outwitted the robbers and escaped with trivial loss, but
+only an occasional careless word of pity was heard for the young
+stranger who had met so sad a fate. So quickly and completely does one
+human atom sink out of sight! It is like the dropping of a pebble in the
+sea: a momentary ripple, that is all!
+
+About noon Parkinson, who had sought to while away the tedium of the
+journey by an interview with Darrell, became somewhat alarmed at the
+latter's condition and went in search of a physician. He returned with
+the one who had been summoned to Whitcomb's aid. He was an eastern
+practitioner, and, unfortunately for Darrell, was not so familiar with
+the peculiar symptoms in his case as a western physician would have
+been.
+
+"He has a high fever," he remarked to Parkinson a little later, as he
+seated himself beside Darrell to watch the effect of the remedies
+administered, "but I do not apprehend any danger. I have given him
+something to abate the fever and induce sleep. If necessary, I will
+write out a prescription which he can have filled on his arrival at
+Ophir, but I think in a few days he will be all right."
+
+They were now approaching the continental divide, the scenery moment by
+moment growing in sublimity and grandeur. Darrell soon sank into a
+sleep, light and broken at first, but which grew deeper and heavier. For
+more than an hour he slept, unconscious that the rugged scenes through
+which he was then passing were to become part of his future life; that
+each cliff and crag and mountain-peak was to be to him an open book,
+whose secrets would leave their indelible impress upon his heart and
+brain, revealing to him the breadth and length, the depth and height of
+life, moulding his soul anew into nobler, more symmetrical proportions.
+
+At last the rocks suddenly parted, like sentinels making way for the
+approaching train, disclosing a broad, sunlit plateau, from which rose,
+in gracefully rounded contours, a pine-covered mountain, about whose
+base nestled the little city of Ophir, while in the background stretched
+the majestic range of the great divide.
+
+A crowd could be seen congregated about the depot, for tidings of the
+night's tragedy had preceded the train by several hours, and Whitcomb
+from his early boyhood had been a universal favorite in Ophir, while his
+uncle was one of its wealthiest, most influential citizens.
+
+As the train slackened speed Parkinson, with a few words to the
+physician, hastily left to make arrangements for transportation for
+himself, Hunter, and Darrell to a hotel. Amid the noise and confusion
+which ensued for the next ten minutes Darrell slept heavily, till,
+roused by a gentle shake, he awoke to find the physician bending over
+him and heard voices approaching down the now nearly deserted
+sleeping-car.
+
+"Yes," said a heavy voice, speaking rapidly, "the conductor wired
+details; he said this young man did everything for the boy that could be
+done, and stayed by him to the end."
+
+"He did; he stood by him like a brother," Parkinson's voice replied.
+
+"And he is sick, you say? Well, he won't want for anything within my
+power to do for him, that's all!"
+
+Parkinson stopped at Darrell's side. "Mr. Darrell," he said, "this is
+Mr. Underwood, Whitcomb's uncle, you know; Mr. Underwood, Mr. Darrell."
+
+Darrell rose a little unsteadily; the two men grasped hands and for an
+instant neither spoke. Darrell saw before him a tall, powerfully built
+man, approaching fifty, whose somewhat bronzed face, shrewd, stern, and
+unreadable, was lighted by a pair of blue eyes which once had resembled
+Whitcomb's. With a swift, penetrating glance the elder man looked
+searchingly into the face of the younger.
+
+"True as steel, with a heart of gold!" was his mental comment; then he
+spoke abruptly, and his voice sounded brusque though his face was
+working with emotion.
+
+"Mr. Darrell, my carriage is waiting for you outside. You will go home
+with me, unless," he added, inquiringly, "you are expecting to meet
+friends or acquaintances?"
+
+"No, Mr. Underwood," Darrell replied, "I am a stranger here, but, much
+as I appreciate your kindness, I could not think of intruding upon your
+home at such a time as this."
+
+"Porter," said Mr. Underwood, with the air of one accustomed to command,
+"take this gentleman's luggage outside, and tell them out there that it
+is to go to 'The Pines;' my men are there and they will look after it;"
+then, turning to Darrell, he continued, still more brusquely:
+
+"This train pulls out in three minutes, so you had better prepare to
+follow your luggage. You don't stop in Ophir outside of my house, and I
+don't think you'll travel much farther for a while. You look as though
+you needed a bed and good nursing more than anything else just now."
+
+"I have given him a prescription, sir," said the physician, "that I
+think will set him right if he gets needed rest and sleep."
+
+"Humph!" responded Mr. Underwood, gruffly; "he'll get whatever he needs,
+you can depend on that. You gentlemen assist him out of the car; I'll go
+and despatch a messenger to the house to have everything in readiness
+for him there."
+
+At the foot of the car steps Darrell parted from the physician and,
+leaning on Parkinson's arm, slowly made his way through the crowd to the
+carriage, where Mr. Underwood awaited him. Parkinson having taken leave,
+Mr. Underwood assisted the young man into the carriage. A spasm of pain
+crossed Darrell's face as he saw, just ahead of them, waiting to precede
+them on the homeward journey, a light wagon containing a stretcher
+covered with a heavy black cloth, a line of stalwart young fellows drawn
+up on either side, and he recalled Whitcomb's parting words on the
+previous night,--"When we reach Ophir to-morrow, you'll go directly home
+with me."
+
+This was observed by Mr. Underwood, who remarked a moment later as he
+seated himself beside Darrell and they started homeward,--
+
+"This is a sad time to introduce you to our home and household, Mr.
+Darrell, but you will find your welcome none the less genuine on that
+account."
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said the young man, in a troubled voice, "this seems to
+me the most unwarrantable intrusion on my part to accept your
+hospitality at such a time----"
+
+Before he could say more, Mr. Underwood placed a firm, heavy hand on his
+knee.
+
+"You stood by my poor boy, Harry, to the last, and that is enough to
+insure you a welcome from me and mine. I'm only doing what Harry himself
+would do if he were here."
+
+"As to what I did for your nephew, God knows it was little enough I
+could do," Darrell answered, bitterly. "I was powerless to defend him
+against the fatal blow, and after that there was no help for him."
+
+"Did you see him killed?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Tell me all, everything, just as it occurred."
+
+Mr. Underwood little knew the effort it cost Darrell in his condition to
+go over the details of the terrible scene, but he forced himself to give
+a clear, succinct, calm statement of all that took place. The elder man
+sat looking straight before him, immovable, impassive, like one who
+heard not, yet in reality missing nothing that was said. Not until
+Darrell repeated Whitcomb's dying words was there any movement on his
+part; then he turned his head so that his face was hidden and remained
+motionless and silent as before. At last he inquired,--
+
+"Did he leave no message for me?"
+
+"He mentioned only your daughter, Mr. Underwood; he evidently had some
+message for her which he was unable to give."
+
+A long silence followed. Darrell, utterly exhausted, sank back into a
+corner of the carriage. The slight movement roused Mr. Underwood; he
+looked towards Darrell, whose eyes were closed, and was shocked at his
+deathly pallor. He said nothing, however, for Darrell was again sinking
+into a heavy stupor, but watched him with growing concern, making no
+attempt to rouse him until the carriage left the street and began
+ascending a long gravelled driveway; then putting his hand on Darrell's
+shoulder, he said, quite loudly,--
+
+"Wake up, my boy! We're getting home now."
+
+To Darrell his voice sounded faint and far away, like an echo out of a
+vast distance, and it was some seconds before he could realize where he
+was or form any definite idea of his surroundings. Gradually he became
+conscious that the air was no longer hot and stifling, but cool and
+fragrant with the sweet, resinous breath of pines. Looking about him, he
+saw they were winding upward along an avenue cut through a forest of
+small, slender pines, which extended below them on one side and far
+above them on the other.
+
+A moment later they came out into a clearing, whence he could see,
+rising directly before him, in a series of natural terraces, the slopes
+of the sombre-hued, pine-clad mountain which overlooked the little city.
+Upon one of the terraces of the mountain stood a massive house of unhewn
+granite, a house representing no particular style of architecture, but
+whose deep bay-windows, broad, winding verandas, and shadowy, secluded
+balconies all combined to present an aspect most inviting. To Darrell
+the place had an irresistible charm; he gazed at it as though
+fascinated, unable to take his eyes from the scene.
+
+"You certainly have a beautiful home, Mr. Underwood," he said, "and a
+most unique location. I never saw anything quite like it."
+
+"It will do," said the elder man, quietly, gratified by what he saw in
+his companion's face. "I built it for my little girl. It was her own
+idea to have it that way, and she has named it 'The Pines.' Thank God,
+I've got her left yet, but she is about all."
+
+Something in his tone caused Darrell to glance quickly towards him with
+a look of sympathetic inquiry. They were now approaching the house, and
+Mr. Underwood turned, facing him, a smile for the first time lighting up
+his stern, rugged features, as he said,--
+
+"You will find us what my little girl calls a 'patched-up' family. I am
+a widower; my widowed sister keeps house for me, and Harry, whom I had
+grown to consider almost a son, was an orphan. But the family, such as
+it is, will make you welcome; I can speak for that. Here we are!"
+
+With a supreme effort Darrell summoned all his energies as Mr. Underwood
+assisted him from the carriage and into the house. But the ringing and
+pounding in his head increased, his brain seemed reeling, and he was so
+nearly blinded by pain that, notwithstanding his efforts, he was forced
+to admit to himself, as a little later he sank upon a couch in the room
+assigned to him, that his impressions of the ladies to whom he had just
+been presented were exceedingly vague.
+
+Mr. Underwood's sister, Mrs. Dean, he remembered as a large woman,
+low-voiced, somewhat resembling her brother in manner, and like him, of
+few words, yet something in her greeting had assured him of a welcome
+as deep as it was undemonstrative. Of Kate Underwood, in whom he had
+felt more than a passing interest, remembering Whitcomb's love for his
+cousin, he recalled a tall, slender, girlish form; a wealth of
+golden-brown hair, and a pair of large, luminous brown eyes, whose
+wistful, almost appealing look haunted him strangely, though he was
+unable to recall another feature of her face.
+
+Mr. Underwood, who had left the room to telephone for a physician,
+returned with a faithful servant, and insisted upon Darrell's retiring
+to bed without delay, a proposition which the latter was only too glad
+to follow. Darrell had already given Mr. Underwood the package of
+fifteen thousand dollars found on the train, and now, while disrobing,
+handed him the belt in which he carried his own money, saying,--
+
+"I'll put this in your keeping for a few days, till I feel more like
+myself. I lost my watch and some change, but I took the precaution to
+have this hidden."
+
+He stopped abruptly and seemed to be trying to recall something, then
+continued, slowly,--
+
+"There was something else in connection with that affair which I wished
+to say to you, but my head is so confused I cannot think what it was."
+
+"Don't try to think now; it will come to you by and by," Mr. Underwood
+replied. "You're in good hands, so don't worry yourself about anything,
+but get all the rest you can."
+
+With a deep sigh of relief Darrell sank on the pillows, and was soon
+sleeping heavily.
+
+A few moments later Mr. Underwood, coming from Darrell's room, having
+left the servant in charge, met his sister coming down the long hall.
+She beckoned, and, turning, slowly retraced her steps, her brother
+following, to another part of the house, where they entered a darkened
+chamber and together stood beside a low, narrow couch strewn with
+fragrant flowers. Together, without a word or a tear, they gazed on the
+peaceful face of this sleeper, wrapped in the breathless, dreamless
+slumber we call death. They recalled the years since he had come to
+them, the dying bequest of their youngest sister, a little,
+golden-haired prattler, to fill their home with the music of his
+childish voice and the sunshine of his smile. Already the great house
+seemed strangely silent without his ringing laughter, his bursts of
+merry song.
+
+But of whatever bitter grief stirred their hearts, this silent brother
+and sister, so long accustomed to self-restraint and self-repression,
+gave no sign. Gently she replaced the covering over the face of the
+sleeper, and silently they left the room. Not until they again reached
+the door of Darrell's room was the silence broken; then the brother
+said, in low tones,--
+
+"Marcia, we've done all for the dead that can be done; it's the living
+who needs our care now."
+
+"Yes," she replied, quietly, "I was going to see what I could do for him
+when you had put him to bed."
+
+"Bennett is in there now, and I'm going downstairs to wait for Dr.
+Bradley; he telephoned that he'd be up in twenty minutes."
+
+"Very well; I'll sit by him till the doctor comes."
+
+When Dr. Bradley arrived he found Darrell in a state of coma from which
+it was almost impossible to arouse him. From Mr. Underwood and his
+sister he learned whatever details they could furnish, but from the
+patient himself very little information could be obtained.
+
+"He has this fever that is prevailing in the mountainous districts, and
+has it in its worst form," he said, when about to take leave. "Of
+course, having just come from the East, it would be worse for him in any
+event than if he were acclimated; but aside from that, the cerebral
+symptoms are greatly aggravated owing to the nervous shock which he
+received last night. To witness an occurrence of that sort would be more
+or less of a shock to nerves in a normal state, but in the condition in
+which he was at the time, it is likely to produce some rather serious
+complications. Follow these directions which I have written out, and
+I'll be in again in a couple of hours."
+
+But in two hours Darrell was delirious.
+
+"Has he recognized any one since I was here?" Dr. Bradley inquired, as
+he again stood beside the patient.
+
+"I don't think so," Mrs. Dean replied. "I could hardly rouse him enough
+to give him the medicine, and even then he didn't seem to know me."
+
+"I'll be in about midnight," said the physician, as he again took leave,
+"and I'll send a professional nurse, a man; this is likely to be a long
+siege."
+
+"Send whatever is needed," said Mr. Underwood, brusquely, "the same as
+if 'twere for the boy himself!"
+
+"And, Mrs. Dean," the physician continued, "if he should have a lucid
+interval, you had better ascertain the address of his friends."
+
+It was nearly midnight. For hours Darrell had battled against the
+darkening shadows fast settling down upon him, enveloping him with a
+horror worse than death itself. Suddenly there was a rift in the clouds,
+and the calm, sweet light of reason stole softly through. He felt a cool
+hand on his forehead, and, opening his eyes, looked with a smile into
+the face of Mrs. Dean as she bent over him. Bending still lower, she
+said, in low, distinct tones:
+
+"Can you tell me the name of your people, and where they live?"
+
+In an instant he comprehended all that her question implied; he must
+give his own name and the address of the far-away eastern home. He
+strove to recall it, but the effort was too great; before he could
+speak, the clouds surged together and all was blotted out in darkness.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IV_
+
+LIFE? OR DEATH?
+
+
+Hour by hour the clouds thickened, obscuring every ray of light, closing
+the avenues of sight and sound, until, isolated from the outer world by
+this intangible yet impenetrable barrier, Darrell was alone in a world
+peopled only with the phantoms of his imagination. Of the lapse of time,
+of the weary procession of days and nights which followed, he knew
+nothing. Day and night were to him only an endless repetition of the
+horrors which thronged his fevered brain.
+
+Again and again he lived over the tragic scene in the sleeping-car, each
+iteration and reiteration growing in dreadful realism, until it was he
+himself who grappled in deadly contest with the murderer, and the latter
+in turn became a monster whose hot breath stifled him, whose malign,
+demoniacal glance seemed to sear his eyeballs like living fire. Over and
+over, with failing strength, he waged the unequal contest, striving at
+last with a legion of hideous forms. Then, as the clouds grew still more
+dense about him, these shapes grew dim and he found himself, weak and
+trembling, adrift upon a sea of darkness whose black waves tossed him
+angrily, with each breath threatening to engulf him in their gloomy
+depths. Desperately he battled with them, each struggle leaving him
+weaker than the last, until at length, scarcely breathing, his strength
+utterly exhausted, he lay watching the towering forms as they swept
+relentlessly towards him, gathering strength and fury as they came. He
+saw the yawning abysses on each side, he heard the roar of the
+on-coming waves, but was powerless to move hand or foot.
+
+But while he waited in helpless terror the waves on which he tossed to
+and fro grew calm; then they seemed to divide, and he felt himself going
+down, down into infinite depths. The sullen roar died away; the darkness
+was flooded with golden light, and through its ethereal waves he was
+still floating downward more gently than ever a roseleaf floated to
+earth on the evening's breath. Through the waves of golden light there
+came to him a faint, distant murmur of voices, and the words,--
+
+"He is sinking fast!"
+
+He smiled with perfect content, wondering dreamily if it would never
+end; then consciousness was lost in utter oblivion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Three weeks had elapsed since Darrell came to The Pines. August had
+given place to September, but the languorous days brought no cessation
+of the fearful heat, no cooling rain to the panting earth, no promise of
+renewed life to the drought-smitten vegetation. The timber on the ranges
+had been reduced to masses of charred and smouldering embers, among
+which the low flames still crept and crawled, winding their way up and
+down the mountains. The pall of smoke overhanging the city grew more and
+more dense, until there came a morning when, as the sun looked over the
+distant ranges, the landscape was suffused with a dull red glare which
+steadily deepened until all objects assumed a blood-red hue. Two or
+three hours passed, and then a lurid light illumined the strange scene,
+brightening moment by moment, till earth and sky glowed like a mass of
+molten copper. The heat seemed to concentrate upon that part of the
+earth's surface, the air grew oppressive, and an ominous silence
+reigned, in which even the birds were hushed and the dumb brutes cowered
+beside their masters.
+
+As the brazen glow was fading to a weird, yellow light, an anxious group
+was gathered about Darrell's bedside. He still tossed and moaned in
+delirium, but his movements had grown pathetically feeble and the moans
+were those of a tired child sobbing himself to sleep.
+
+"He cannot hold out much longer," said Dr. Bradley, his fingers on the
+weakening pulse, "his strength is failing rapidly."
+
+"There will be a change soon, one way or the other," said the nurse,
+"and there's not much of a chance left him now."
+
+"One chance in a hundred," said Dr. Bradley, slowly; "and that is his
+wonderful constitution; he may pull through where ninety-nine others
+would die."
+
+Dr. Bradley watched the sick man in silence, then noting that the room
+was darkening, he stepped to an open window and cast a look of anxious
+inquiry at the murky sky. As if in answer to his thought, there came the
+low rumble of distant thunder, bringing a look of relief and hopefulness
+to the face of the physician. Returning to the bedside, he gave a few
+directions, then, as he was leaving, remarked,--
+
+"There will be a change in the weather soon, a change that may help to
+turn the tide in his favor, provided it does not come too late!"
+
+Hours passed; the distant mutterings grew louder, while the darkness and
+gloom increased, and the sense of oppression became almost intolerable.
+Suddenly the leaden mass which had overspread the sky appeared to drop
+to earth, and in the dead silence which followed could be heard the roar
+of the wind through the gorges and down the canyons. A moment more, and
+clouds of dust and debris, the outriders of the coming tempest, rushed
+madly through the streets in whirling columns towering far above the
+city. From their vantage ground the dwellers at The Pines watched the
+course of the storm, but only for a moment; then blinding sheets of
+water hid even the nearest objects from view, while lightnings flashed
+incessantly and the thunder crashed and rolled in one ceaseless,
+deafening roar. The trees waved their arms in wild, helpless terror as
+one and another of their number were prostrated by the storm, while the
+dry channels on the mountain-side became raging, foaming torrents.
+Suddenly the winds changed, a chilling blast swept across the plateau,
+and to the rush of the wind, the roar of the thunder, and the crash of
+falling timber was added the sharp staccato of swiftly descending hail.
+
+For nearly an hour the storm raged in its fury, then departed as
+suddenly as it came; but it left behind a clear atmosphere, crisp as an
+October morning.
+
+As the storm clouds, touched with beauty by the rays of the setting sun,
+were settling below the eastern ranges, Dr. Bradley again entered the
+sick-room. The room was flooded with golden light, and the physician was
+quick to note the changes which the few hours had wrought in the sick
+man. The fever had gone and, his strength spent, his splendid energies
+exhausted, life's forces were ebbing moment by moment.
+
+"He is sinking fast," said Mrs. Dean.
+
+Even as she spoke a smile stole over the pallid features; then, as they
+watched eagerly for some token of returning consciousness, the nervous
+system, so long strained to its utmost tension, suddenly relaxed and
+utter collapse followed.
+
+For hours Darrell lay as one dead, an occasional fluttering about the
+heart being the only sign of life. But late in the forenoon of the
+following day the watchers by the bedside, noting each feeble pulsation,
+thinking it might be the last, felt an almost imperceptible quickening
+of the life current. Gradually the fluttering pulse grew calm and
+steady, the faint respirations grew deeper and more regular, until at
+length, with a long, tremulous sigh, Darrell sank into slumber sweet and
+restful as a child's, and the watchers knew that the crisis had passed.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter V_
+
+JOHN BRITTON
+
+
+It was on one of those glorious October days, when every breath quickens
+the blood and when simply to live is a joy unspeakable, that Darrell
+first walked abroad into the outdoor world. Several times during his
+convalescence he had sunned himself on the balcony opening from his
+room, or when able to go downstairs had paced feebly up and down the
+verandas, but of late his strength had returned rapidly, so that now,
+accompanied by his physician, he was walking back and forth over the
+gravelled driveway under the pine-trees, his step gaining firmness with
+every turn.
+
+Seated on the veranda were Mr. Underwood and his sister, the one with
+his pipe and newspaper, the other with her knitting; but the newspaper
+had slipped unheeded to the floor, and though Mrs. Dean's skilful
+fingers did not slacken their work for an instant, yet her eyes, like
+her brother's, were fastened upon Darrell, and a shade of pity might
+have been detected in the look of each, which the occasion at first
+sight hardly seemed to warrant.
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Mr. Underwood, at length; "it's hard for a young man
+to be handicapped like that!"
+
+"Yes," assented his sister, "and he takes it hard, too, though he
+doesn't say much. I can't bear to look in his eyes sometimes, they look
+so sort of pleading and helpless."
+
+"Takes it hard!" reiterated Mr. Underwood; "why shouldn't he. I'm
+satisfied that he is a young man of unusual ability, who had a bright
+future before him, and I tell you, Marcia, it's pretty hard for him to
+wake up and find it all rubbed off the slate!"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Dean, with a sigh, "everybody has to carry their own
+burdens, but there's a look on his face when he thinks nobody sees him
+that makes me wish I could help him carry his, though I don't suppose
+anybody can, for that matter; it isn't anything that anybody feels like
+saying much about."
+
+"I'm glad Jack is coming," said Mr. Underwood, after a pause; "he may do
+him some good. He has a way of getting at those things that you and I
+haven't, Marcia."
+
+"Yes, he's seen trouble himself, though nobody knows what it was."
+
+Notwithstanding the tide of returning vitality was fast restoring tissue
+and muscle to Darrell's wasted limbs and firmness and elasticity to his
+step, it was yet evident to a close observer that some undercurrent of
+suffering was doing its work day by day; sprinkling the dark hair with
+gleams of silver, tracing faint lines in the face hitherto untouched by
+care, working its subtle, mysterious changes.
+
+When a new lease of life was granted to John Darrell and he awoke to
+consciousness, it was to find that every detail of his past life had
+been blotted out, leaving only a blank. Of his home, his friends, of his
+own name even, not a vestige of memory was left. It was as though he had
+entered upon a new existence.
+
+By degrees, as he was able to hear them, he was given the details of his
+arrival at Ophir, of his coming to The Pines, of the tragedy which he
+had witnessed in the sleeping-car, but they awoke no memories in his
+mind. For him there was no past. As a realization of his condition
+dawned upon him his mental distress was pitiable. Despite the efforts of
+physician and nurse to divert his mind, he would lie for hours trying to
+recall some fragment from the veiled and shrouded past, but all in vain.
+Yet, with returning physical strength, many of his former attainments
+seemed to return to him, naturally and without effort. Dr. Bradley one
+day used a Latin phrase in his hearing; he at once repeated it and,
+without a moment's hesitation, gave the correct rendering, but was
+unable to tell how he did it.
+
+"It simply came to me," was all the explanation he could give.
+
+From this the physician argued that the memory of his past life would
+sooner or later return, and it was this hope alone which at that time
+saved Darrell from total despair.
+
+Aside from his professional interest in so peculiar a case, Dr. Bradley
+had become interested in Darrell himself; many of his leisure hours were
+spent at The Pines, and quite a friendship existed between the two.
+
+In Mr. Underwood and his sister Darrell had found two steadfast friends,
+each seeming to vie with the other in thoughtful, unobtrusive kindness.
+His strange misfortune had only deepened and intensified the sympathy
+which had been first aroused by the peculiar circumstances under which
+he had come to them. But now, as then, they said little, and for this
+Darrell was grateful. Even the silent pity which he read in their eyes
+hurt him,--why, he could scarcely explain to himself; expressed in
+words, it would have been intolerable. Early in his convalescence
+Darrell had expressed an unwillingness to trespass upon their kindness
+by remaining after he could with safety be moved, but the few words they
+had spoken on that occasion had effectually silenced any further
+suggestion of the kind on his part. He understood that to leave them
+would be to forfeit their friendship, which he well knew was of a sort
+too rare to be slighted or thrown aside.
+
+Of Kate Underwood Darrell knew nothing, except as her father or aunt
+spoke of her, for he had no recollection of her and she had left home
+early in his illness to return to an eastern college, from which she
+would graduate the following year.
+
+With more animation than he had yet shown since his illness, Darrell
+returned to the veranda. He was flushed and trembling slightly from the
+unusual exertion, and Dr. Bradley, dropping down beside him, from force
+of habit laid his fingers on Darrell's wrist, but the latter shook them
+off playfully.
+
+"No more of that!" he exclaimed, adding, "Doctor, I challenge you for a
+race two weeks from to-day. What do you say, do you take me up?"
+
+"Two weeks from to-day!" repeated the doctor, with an incredulous smile,
+at the same time scrutinizing Darrell's form. "Well, yes. When you are
+in ordinary health I don't think I would care to do much business with
+you along that line, but two weeks from to-day is a safe proposition, I
+guess. What do you want to make it, a hundred yards?" he inquired, with
+a laughing glance at Mr. Underwood.
+
+"One hundred yards," replied Darrell, following the direction of the
+doctor's glance. "Do you want to name the winner, Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"I'll back you, my boy," said the elder man, quietly, his shrewd face
+growing a trifle shrewder.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Dr. Bradley, rising hastily;
+
+"I guess it's about time I was going, if that's your estimate of my
+athletic prowess," and, shaking hands with Darrell, he started down the
+driveway.
+
+"I'll put you up at about ten to one," Mr. Underwood called after the
+retreating figure, but a deprecatory wave of his hand over his shoulder
+was the doctor's only reply.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Darrell, looking about him, "this is glorious! This is
+one of the days that make a fellow feel that life is worth living!"
+
+Even as he spoke there came to his mind the thought of what life meant
+to him, and the smile died from his lips and the light from his eyes.
+
+For a moment nothing was said, then, with the approaching sound of
+rhythmic hoof-beats, Mr. Underwood rose, deliberately emptying the ashes
+from his pipe as a fine pair of black horses attached to a light
+carriage appeared around the house from the direction of the stables.
+
+"You will be back for lunch, David?" Mrs. Dean inquired.
+
+"Yes, and I'll bring Jack with me," was his reply, as he seated himself
+beside the driver, and the horses started at a brisk trot down the
+driveway.
+
+With a smile Mrs. Dean addressed Darrell, who was watching the horses
+with a keen appreciation of their good points.
+
+"This 'Jack' that you've heard my brother speak of is his partner."
+
+"Yes?" said Darrell, courteously, feeling slight interest in the
+expected guest, but glad of anything to divert his thoughts.
+
+"Yes," Mrs. Dean continued; "they've been partners and friends for more
+than ten years. His name is John Britton, but it's never anything but
+'Dave' and 'Jack' between the two; they're almost like two boys
+together."
+
+Darrell wondered what manner of man this might be who could transform
+his silent, stern-faced host into anything boy-like, but he said
+nothing.
+
+"To see them together you'd wonder at their friendship, too," continued
+Mrs. Dean, "for they're noways alike. My brother is all business, and
+Mr. Britton is not what you'd really call a practical business man. He
+is very rich, for he is one of those men that everything they touch
+seems to turn to gold, but he doesn't seem to care much about money. He
+spends a great deal of his time in reading and studying, and though he
+makes very few friends, he could have any number of them if he wanted,
+for he's one of those people that you always feel drawn to without
+knowing why."
+
+Mrs. Dean paused to count the stitches in her work, and Darrell, whose
+thoughts were of the speaker more than of the subject of conversation,
+watching her placid face, wondered whether it were possible for any
+emotion ever to disturb that calm exterior. Presently she resumed her
+subject, speaking in low, even tones, which a slight, gentle inflection
+now and then just saved from monotony.
+
+"He's always a friend to anybody in distress, and I guess there isn't a
+poor person or a friendless person in Ophir that doesn't know him and
+love him. He has had some great trouble; nobody knows what it is, but he
+told David once that it had changed his whole life."
+
+Darrell now became interested, and the dark eyes fixed on Mrs. Dean's
+face grew suddenly luminous with the quick sympathy her words had
+aroused.
+
+"He always seems to be on the lookout for anybody that has trouble, to
+help them; that's how he got to know my brother."
+
+Mrs. Dean hesitated a moment. "I never spoke of this to any one before,
+but I thought maybe you'd be interested to know about it," she said,
+looking at Darrell with a slightly apologetic air.
+
+"I am, and I think I understand and appreciate your motive," was his
+quiet reply.
+
+She dropped her work, folding her hands above it, and her face wore a
+reminiscent look as she continued:
+
+"When David's wife died, twelve years ago, it was an awful blow to him.
+He didn't say much,--that isn't our way,--but we were afraid he would
+never be the same again. His brother was out here at that time, but none
+of us could do anything for him. He kept on trying to attend to business
+just as usual, but he seemed, as you might say, to have lost his grip on
+things. It went on that way for nearly two years; his business got
+behind and everything seemed to be slipping through his fingers, when he
+happened to get acquainted with Mr. Britton, and he seemed to know just
+what to say and do. He got David interested in business again. He loaned
+him money to start with, and they went into business together and have
+been together ever since. They have both been successful, but David has
+worked and planned for what he has, while Mr. Britton's money seems to
+come to him. He owns property all over the State, and all through the
+West for that matter, and sometimes he's in one place and sometimes in
+another, but he never stays very long anywhere. David would like to have
+him make his home with us, but he told him once that he couldn't think
+of it; that he only stayed in a place till the pain got to be more than
+he could bear, and then he went somewhere else."
+
+A long silence followed; then, as Mrs. Dean folded her work, she said,
+softly,--
+
+"It's no wonder he knows just how to help folks who are in trouble, for
+I guess he has suffered himself more than anybody knows."
+
+A little later she had gone indoors to superintend the preparations for
+lunch, but Darrell still sat in the mellow, autumn sunlight, his eyes
+closed, picturing to himself this stranger silently bearing his hidden
+burden, changing from place to place, but always keeping the pain.
+
+It still lacked two hours of sunset when John Darrell, leaning on the
+arm of John Britton, walked slowly up the mountain-path to a rustic seat
+under the pines. They had met at lunch. Mr. Britton had already heard
+the strange story of Darrell's illness, and, looking into his eyes with
+their troubled questioning, their piteous appeal, knew at once by swift
+intuition how hopelessly bewildering and dark life must look to the
+young man before him just at the age when it usually is brightest and
+most alluring; and Darrell, meeting the steadfast gaze of the clear,
+gray eyes, saw there no pity, but something infinitely broader, deeper,
+and sweeter, and knew intuitively that they were united by the
+fellowship of suffering, that mysterious tie which has not only bound
+human hearts together in all ages, but has linked suffering humanity
+with suffering Divinity.
+
+For more than two hours Darrell, taking little part himself in the
+general conversation, had watched, as one entranced, the play of the
+fine features and listened to the deep, musical voice of this stranger
+who was a stranger no longer.
+
+He was an excellent conversationalist; humorous without being cynical,
+scholarly without being pedantic, and showing especial familiarity with
+history and the natural sciences.
+
+At last, while walking up and down the broad veranda, Mr. Britton had
+paused beside Darrell, and throwing an arm over his shoulder had said,--
+
+"Come, my son, let us have a little stroll."
+
+Darrell's heart had leaped strangely at the words, he knew not why, and
+in a silence pregnant with deep emotion on both sides, they had climbed
+to the rustic bench. Here they sat down. The ground at their feet was
+carpeted with pine-needles; the air was sweet with the fragrance of the
+pines and of the warm earth; no sound reached their ears aside from the
+chirping of the crickets, the occasional dropping of a pine-cone, or the
+gentle sighing of the light breeze through the branches above their
+heads.
+
+A glorious scene lay outspread before them; the distant ranges half
+veiled in purple haze, the valleys flooded with golden light, brightened
+by the autumnal tints of the deciduous timber which marked the courses
+of numerous small streams, and over the whole a restful silence, as
+though, the year's work ended, earth was keeping some grand, solemn
+holiday.
+
+Mr. Britton first broke the silence, as in low tones he murmured,
+reverently,--
+
+"'Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness!'"
+
+Then turning to Darrell with a smile of peculiar sweetness, he said,
+"This is one of what I call the year's 'coronation days,' when even
+Nature herself rests from her labors and dons her royal robes in honor
+of the occasion."
+
+Then, as an answering light dawned in Darrell's eyes and the tense lines
+in his face began to relax, Mr. Britton continued, musingly:
+
+"I have often wondered why we do not imitate Nature in her great annual
+holiday, and why we, a nation who garners one of the richest harvests of
+the world, do not have a national harvest festival. How effectively and
+fittingly, for instance, something similar to the old Jewish feast of
+tabernacles might be celebrated in this part of the country! In the
+earliest days of their history the Jews were commanded, when the year's
+harvest had been gathered, to take the boughs of goodly trees, of
+palm-trees and willows, and to construct booths in which they were to
+dwell, feasting and rejoicing, for seven days. In the only account given
+of one of these feasts, we read that the people brought olive-branches
+and pine-branches, myrtle-branches and palm-branches, and made
+themselves booths upon the roofs of their houses, in their courts, and
+in their streets, and dwelt in them, 'and there was very great
+gladness.' Imagine such a scene on these mountain-slopes and foot-hills,
+under these cloudless skies; the sombre, evergreen boughs interwoven
+with the brightly colored foliage from the lowlands; this mellow, golden
+sunlight by day alternating with the white, mystical radiance of the
+harvest moon by night."
+
+Mr. Britton's words had, as he intended they should, drawn Darrell's
+thoughts from himself. Under his graphic description, accompanied by the
+powerful magnetism of his voice and presence, Darrell seemed to see the
+Oriental festival which he had depicted and to feel a soothing influence
+from the very simplicity and beauty of the imaginary scene.
+
+"Think of the rest, the relaxation, in a week of such a life!" continued
+Mr. Britton. "Re-creation, in the true sense of the word. The simplest
+joys are the sweetest, but our lives have grown too complex for us to
+appreciate them. Our amusements and recreations, as we call them, are
+often more wearing and exhausting than our labors."
+
+For nearly an hour Mr. Britton led the conversation on general subjects,
+carefully avoiding every personal allusion; Darrell following,
+interested, animated, wondering more and more at the man beside him,
+until the latter tactfully led him to speak--calmly and dispassionately,
+as he could not have spoken an hour before--of himself. Almost before he
+was aware, Darrell had told all: of his vain gropings in the darkness
+for some clue to the past; of the helpless feeling akin to despair which
+sometimes took possession of him when he attempted to face the situation
+continuously confronting him.
+
+During his recital Mr. Britton had thrown his arm about Darrell's
+shoulder, and when he paused quite a silence followed.
+
+"Did it ever occur to you," Mr. Britton said at length, speaking very
+slowly, "that there are hundreds--yes, thousands--who would be only too
+glad to exchange places with you to-day?"
+
+"No," Darrell replied, too greatly astonished to say more.
+
+"But there are legions of poor souls, haunted by crime, or crushed
+beneath the weight of sorrow, whose one prayer would be, if such a thing
+were possible, that their past might be blotted out; that they might be
+free to begin life anew, with no memories dogging their steps like
+spectres, threatening at every turn to work their undoing."
+
+For a moment Darrell regarded his friend with a fixed, inquiring gaze,
+which gradually changed to a look of comprehension.
+
+"I see," he said at length, "I have got to begin life anew; but you
+consider that there are others who have to make the start under
+conditions worse than mine."
+
+"Far worse," said Mr. Britton. "Don't think for a moment that I fail to
+realize in how many ways you are handicapped or to appreciate the
+obstacles against which you will have to contend, but this I do say: the
+future is in your own hands--as much as it is in the hands of any
+mortal--to make the most of and the best of that you can, and with the
+negative advantage, at least, that you are untrammelled by a past that
+can hold you back or drag you down."
+
+The younger man laid his hand on the knee of the elder with a gesture
+almost appealing. "The future, until now, has looked very dark to me; it
+begins to look brighter. Advise me; tell me how best to begin!"
+
+"In one word," said Mr. Britton, with a smile. "Work! Just as soon as
+you are able, find some work to do. Did we but know it, work is the
+surest antidote for the poisonous discontent and ennui of this world,
+the swiftest panacea for its pains and miseries; different forms to suit
+different cases, but every form brings healing and blessing, even down
+to the humblest manual labor."
+
+"That is just what I have wanted," said Darrell, eagerly; "to go to work
+as soon as possible; but what can I do? What am I fitted for? I have not
+the slightest idea. I don't care to work at breaking stone, though I
+suppose that would be better than nothing."
+
+"That would be better than nothing," said Mr. Britton, smiling again,
+"but that would not be suited to your case. What you need is mental
+work, something to keep your mind constantly occupied, and rest assured
+you will find it when you are ready for it. Our Father provides what we
+need just when we need it. 'Day by day' we have the 'daily bread' for
+mental and spiritual life, as for temporal. But what you most want to do
+is to keep your mind pleasantly occupied, and above all things don't
+try to recall the past. In God's own good time it will return of
+itself."
+
+"And when it does, what revelations will it bring?" Darrell queried
+musingly.
+
+"Nothing that you will be afraid or ashamed to meet; of that I am sure,"
+said Mr. Britton, confidently, adding a moment later, in a lighter tone,
+"It is nearing sunset, my boy, and time that I was taking you back to
+the house."
+
+"You have given me new courage, new hope," said Darrell, rising. "I feel
+now as though there were something to live for--as though I might make
+something out of life, after all."
+
+"I realize," said Mr. Britton, tenderly, as together they began the
+descent of the mountain path, "as deeply as you do that your life is
+sadly disjointed; but strive so to live that when the broken fragments
+are at last united they will form one harmonious and symmetrical whole.
+It is a difficult task, I know, but the result will be well worth the
+effort. In your case, my son, even more than in ordinary lives, the
+words of the poet are peculiarly applicable:
+
+  "'A sacred burden is this life ye bear:
+  Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly;
+  Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly;
+  Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
+  But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.'"
+
+An hour later John Britton stood alone on one of the mountain terraces,
+his tall, lithe form silhouetted against the evening sky, his arms
+folded, his face lifted upward. It was a face of marvellous strength and
+sweetness combined. Sorrow had set its unmistakable seal upon his
+features; here and there pain had traced its ineffaceable lines; but
+the firmly set mouth was yet inexpressibly tender, the calm brow was
+unfurrowed, and the clear eyes had the far-seeing look of one who, like
+the Alpine traveller, had reached the heights above the clouds, to whose
+vision were revealed glories undreamed of by the dwellers in the vales
+below.
+
+And to Darrell, watching from his room the distant figure outlined
+against the sky, the simple grandeur, the calm triumph of its pose must
+have brought some revelation concerning this man of whom he knew so
+little, yet whose personality even more than his words had taken so firm
+a hold upon himself, for, as the light faded and deepening twilight hid
+the solitary figure from view, he turned from the window, and, pacing
+slowly up and down the room, soliloquized:
+
+"With him for a friend, I can meet the future with courage and await
+with patience the resurrection of the buried past. As he has conquered,
+so will I conquer; I will scale the heights after him, until I stand
+where he stands to-night!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VI_
+
+ECHOES FROM THE PAST
+
+
+During his stay at The Pines Mr. Britton spent the greater portion of
+his time with Mr. Underwood, either at their offices or at the mines.
+Darrell, therefore, saw little of his new-found friend except as they
+all gathered in the evening around the glowing fire in the large family
+sitting-room, for, notwithstanding the lingering warmth and sunshine of
+the days, the nights were becoming sharp and frosty, so that an open
+fire added much to the evening's enjoyment. Each morning, however,
+before his departure, Mr. Britton stopped for a few words with Darrell;
+some quaint, kindly bit of humor, the pleasant flavor of which would
+enliven the entire day; some unhackneyed expression of sympathy whose
+very genuineness and sincerity made Darrell's position seem to him less
+isolated and solitary than before; or some suggestion which, acted upon,
+relieved the monotony of the tedious hours of convalescence.
+
+At his suggestion Darrell took vigorous exercise each day in the morning
+air and sunshine, devoting his afternoons to a course of light, pleasant
+reading.
+
+"If you are going to work," said Mr. Britton, "the first requisite is to
+have your body and mind in just as healthful and normal a condition as
+possible, in order that you may be able to give an equivalent for what
+you receive. In these days of trouble between employer and employed, we
+hear a great deal about the laborer demanding an honest equivalent for
+his toil, but it does not occur to him to inquire whether he is giving
+his employer an honest equivalent for his money. The fact is, a large
+percentage of working-men and working-women, in all departments of
+labor, are squandering their energies night after night in various forms
+and degrees of dissipation until they are utterly incapacitated for one
+honest day's work; yet they do not hesitate to take a full day's wages,
+and would consider themselves wronged were the smallest fraction
+withheld."
+
+Darrell found himself rather restricted in his reading for the first few
+days, as he found but a limited number of books at The Pines, until Mrs.
+Dean, who had received a hint from Mr. Britton, meeting him one day in
+the upper hall, led him into two darkened rooms, saying, as she hastened
+to open the blinds,--
+
+"These are what the children always called their 'dens.' All their books
+are here, and I thought maybe you'd like to look them over. If you see
+anything you like, just help yourself, and use the rooms for reading or
+writing whenever you want to."
+
+Darrell, left to himself, looked about him with much interest. The two
+rooms were similar in style and design, but otherwise were as diverse as
+possible. The room in which he was standing was furnished in embossed
+leather. A leather couch stood near one of the windows, and a large
+reclining-chair of the same material was drawn up before the fireplace.
+Near the mantel was a pipe-rack filled with fine specimens of briar-wood
+and meerschaum pipes. Signs of tennis, golf, and various athletic sports
+were visible on all sides; in the centre of the room stood a large
+roll-top desk, open, and on it lay a briar pipe, filled with ashes, just
+where the owner's hand had laid it. But what most interested Darrell was
+a large portrait over the fireplace, which he knew must be that of
+Harry Whitcomb. The face was neither especially fine nor strong, but the
+winsome smile lurking about the curves of the sensitive mouth and in the
+depths of the frank blue eyes rendered it attractive, and it was with a
+sigh for the young life so suddenly blotted out that Darrell turned to
+enter the second room.
+
+He paused at the doorway, feeling decidedly out of place, and glanced
+about him with a serio-comic smile. The furnishings were as unique as
+possible, no one piece in the room bearing any relation or similarity to
+any other piece. There were chairs and tables of wicker-work, twisted
+into the most ornate designs, interspersed among heavy, antique pieces
+of carving and slender specimens of colonial simplicity; divans covered
+with pillows of every delicate shade imaginable; exquisite etchings and
+dainty bric-a-brac. In an alcove formed by a large bay-window stood a
+writing-desk of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and on an easel in a
+secluded corner, partially concealed by silken draperies, was the
+portrait of Kate Underwood,--a childish, rather immature face, but with
+a mouth indicating both sweetness and strength of character, and with
+dark, strangely appealing eyes.
+
+The walls of both rooms were lined with bookcases, but their contents
+were widely diverse, and, to Darrell's surprise, he found the young
+girl's library contained far the better class of books. But even in
+their selection he observed the same peculiarity that he had noted in
+the furnishing of the room; there were few complete sets of books;
+instead, there were one, two, or three volumes of each author, as the
+case might be, evidently her especial favorites.
+
+But Darrell returned to the other room, which interested him far more,
+each article in it bearing eloquent testimony to the happy young life
+of whose tragic end he had now often heard, but of which he was unable
+to recall the faintest memory. Passing slowly through the room, his
+attention was caught by a violin case standing in an out-of-the-way
+corner. With a cry of joy he drew it forth, his fingers trembling with
+eagerness as he opened it and took therefrom a genuine Stradivarius. At
+that moment his happiness knew no bounds. Seating himself and bending
+his head over the instrument after the manner of a true violin lover, he
+drew the bow gently across the strings, producing a chord of such
+triumphant sweetness that the air seemed vibrating with the joy which at
+that instant thrilled his own soul.
+
+Immediately all thought of himself or of his surroundings was lost. With
+eyes half closed and dreamy he began to play, without effort, almost
+mechanically, but with the deft touch of a master hand, while liquid
+harmonies filled the room, quivering, rising, falling; at times low,
+plaintive, despairing; then swelling exultantly, only to die away in
+tremulous, minor undertones. The man's pent-up feelings had at last
+found expression,--his alternate hope and despair, his unutterable
+loneliness and longing,--all voiced by the violin.
+
+Of the lapse of time Darrell had neither thought nor consciousness until
+the door opened and Mrs. Dean's calm smile and matter-of-fact voice
+recalled him to a material world.
+
+"I see that you have found Harry's violin," she said.
+
+"I beg your pardon," Darrell stammered, somewhat dazed by his sudden
+descent to the commonplace, "I ought not to have taken it; I never
+thought,--I was so delighted to find the instrument and so carried away
+with its tones,--it never occurred to me how it might seem to you!"
+
+"Oh, that is all right," she interposed, quietly; "use it whenever you
+like. Harry bought it two years ago, but he never had the patience to
+learn it, so it has been used very little. I never heard such playing as
+yours, and I stepped in to ask you to bring it downstairs and play for
+us to-night. Mr. Britton will be delighted; he enjoys everything of that
+sort."
+
+Around the fireside that evening Darrell had an attentive audience,
+though the appreciation of his auditors was manifested in a manner
+characteristic of each. Mr. Underwood, after two or three futile
+attempts to talk business with his partner, finding him very
+uncommunicative, gave himself up to the enjoyment of his pipe and the
+music in about equal proportions, indulging surreptitiously in
+occasional brief naps, though always wide awake at the end of each
+number and joining heartily in the applause.
+
+Mrs. Dean sat gazing into the glowing embers, her face lighted with
+quiet pleasure, but her knitting-needles twinkled and flashed in the
+firelight with the same unceasing regularity, and she doubled and seamed
+and "slipped and bound" her stitches with the same monotonous precision
+as on other evenings.
+
+Mr. Britton, in a comfortable reclining-chair, sat silent, motionless,
+his head thrown back, his eyes nearly closed, but in the varying
+expression of his mobile face Darrell found both inspiration and
+compensation.
+
+For more than three hours Darrell entertained his friends; quaint
+medleys, dreamy waltzes, and bits of classical music following one after
+another, with no effort, no hesitancy, on the part of the player. To
+their eager inquiries, he could only answer,--
+
+"I don't know how I do it. They seem to come to me with the sweep of
+the bow across the strings. I have no recollection of anything that I am
+playing; it seems as though the instrument and I were simply drifting."
+
+Late in the evening, when they were nearly ready to separate for the
+night, Darrell sat idly strumming the violin, when an old familiar
+strain floated sweetly forth, and his astonished listeners suddenly
+heard him singing in a rich baritone an old love-song, forgotten until
+then by every one present.
+
+Mrs. Dean had already laid aside her work and sat with hands folded, a
+smile of unusual tenderness hovering about her lips, while Mr. Britton's
+face was quivering with emotion. At its conclusion he grasped Darrell's
+hand silently.
+
+"That is a very old song," said Mrs. Dean. "It seems queer to hear you
+sing it. I used to hear it sung when I was a young girl, and that," she
+added smiling, "was a great many years ago."
+
+"And I have sung it many a time a great many years ago," said Mr.
+Britton. And he hastily left the room.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VII_
+
+AT THE MINES
+
+
+Once fairly started on the road to health, Darrell gained marvellously.
+Each day marked some new acquisition in physical health and muscular
+vigor, while his systematic reading, the soothing influence of the music
+to which he devoted a considerable time each day, and, more than all,
+his growing intimacy with Mr. Britton, were doing much towards restoring
+a better mental equipoise.
+
+The race to which he had challenged Dr. Bradley took place on a frosty
+morning early in November, Mr. Underwood himself measuring and marking
+the course for the runners and Mr. Britton acting as starter. The result
+was a victory for Darrell, who came out more than a yard ahead of his
+opponent, somewhat to the chagrin of the latter, who had won quite a
+local reputation as an athlete.
+
+"You'll do," he said to Darrell, as he took leave a few moments later,
+"but don't pose here as an invalid any longer, or I'll expose you as a
+fraud. Understand, I cross your name off my list of patients to-day."
+
+"But not off your list of friends, I hope," Darrell rejoined, as they
+shook hands.
+
+When Dr. Bradley had gone, Darrell turned to Mr. Britton, who was
+standing near, saying, as his face grew serious,--
+
+"Dr. Bradley is right; I'm no invalid now, and I must quit this idling.
+I must find what I can do and go to work."
+
+"All in good time," said Mr. Britton, pleasantly. "We'll find something
+for you before I go from here. Meanwhile, I want to give you a little
+pleasure-trip if you are able to take it. How would you like to go out
+to the mines to-morrow with Mr. Underwood and myself? Do you think you
+could 'rough it' with us old fellows for a couple of days?"
+
+"You couldn't have suggested anything that would please me better,"
+Darrell answered. "I would like the change, and it's time I was roughing
+it. Perhaps when I get out there I'll decide to take a pick and shovel
+and start in at the bottom of the ladder and work my way up."
+
+"Is that necessary?" queried Mr. Britton, regarding the younger man with
+close but kindly scrutiny. "Mr. Underwood tells me that you brought a
+considerable amount of money with you when you came here, which he has
+deposited to your credit."
+
+Darrell met the penetrating gaze unwaveringly, as he replied, with quiet
+decision, "That money may be mine, or it may not; it may have been given
+me to hold in trust. In any event, it belongs to the past, and it will
+remain where it is, intact, until the past is unveiled."
+
+Mr. Britton looked gratified, as he remarked, in a low tone, "I don't
+think you need any assurance, my boy, that I will back you with all the
+capital you need, if you would like to start in business."
+
+"No, Mr. Britton," said Darrell, deeply touched by the elder man's
+kindness; "I know, without words, that I could have from you whatever I
+needed, but it is useless for me to think of going into business with as
+little knowledge of myself as I have at present. The best thing for me
+is to take whatever work offers itself, until I find what I am fitted
+for or to what I can best adapt myself."
+
+The next morning found Darrell at an early hour on his way to the mining
+camp with Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton. The ground was white and
+glistening with frost, and the sun, not yet far above the horizon, shone
+with a pale, cold light, but Darrell, wrapped in a fur coat of Mr.
+Underwood's, felt only the exhilarating effect of the thin, keen air,
+and as the large, double-seated carriage, drawn by two powerful horses,
+descended the pine-clad mountain and passed down one of the principal
+streets of the little city, he looked about him with lively interest.
+
+Leaving the town behind them, they soon began the ascent of a winding
+canyon. After two or three turns, to Darrell's surprise, every sign of
+human habitation vanished and only the rocky walls were visible, at
+first low and receding, but gradually growing higher and steeper. On
+they went, steadily ascending, till a turn suddenly brought the distant
+mountains into closer proximity, and Mr. Britton, pointing to a lofty,
+rugged range on Darrell's right, said,--
+
+"There lies the Great Divide."
+
+For two hours they wound steadily upward, the massive rocks towering on
+all sides, barren, grotesque in form, but beautiful in coloring,--dull
+reds, pale greens, and lovely blues and purples staining the sombre
+grays and browns.
+
+Darrell had grown silent, and his companions, supposing him absorbed in
+the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, left him to his own reflections
+while they talked on matters of interest to themselves.
+
+But to Darrell the surrounding rocks were full of a strange, deep
+significance. The colorings and markings in the gray granite were to him
+what the insignia of the secret orders are to the initiated, replete
+with mystical meaning. To him had come the sudden realization that he
+was in Nature's laboratory, and in the hieroglyphics traced on the
+granite walls he read the symbols of the mysterious alchemy silently and
+secretly wrought beneath their surface. The vastness of the scale of
+Nature's work, the multiplicity of her symbols, bewildered him, but in
+his own mind he knew that he still held the key to this mysterious code,
+and the knowledge thrilled him with delight. He gazed about him,
+fascinated, saying nothing, but trembling with joy and with eagerness to
+put himself to the test, and it was with difficulty that he controlled
+his impatience till the long ride should come to an end.
+
+At last they left the canyon and followed a steep road winding up the
+side of a mountain, which, after an hour's hard climbing, brought them
+to the mining camp. As the carriage stopped Darrell was the first to
+alight, springing quickly to the ground and looking eagerly about him.
+
+At a short distance beyond them the road was terminated by the large
+milling plant, above which the mountain rose abruptly, its sides dotted
+with shaft-houses and crossed and recrossed with trestle-work almost to
+the summit. A wooden flume clung like a huge serpent to the steep
+slopes, and a tramway descended from near the summit to the mill below.
+At a little distance from the mill were the boarding-house and
+bunk-houses, while in the foreground, near the road was the office
+building, to which the party adjourned after exchanging greetings with
+Mr. Hathaway, the superintendent, who had come out to meet them and to
+whom Darrell was duly introduced. The room they first entered was the
+superintendent's office. Beyond that was a pleasant reception-room,
+while in the rear were the private rooms of the superintendent and the
+assayer, who were not expected to share the bunk-houses with the miners.
+
+Mr. Underwood and the superintendent at once proceeded to business, but
+Mr. Britton, mindful of Darrell's comfort, ushered him into the
+reception-room. A coal-fire was glowing in a small grate; a couch, three
+or four comfortable chairs, and a few books and magazines contributed to
+give the room a cosey appearance, but the object which instantly riveted
+Darrell's attention was a large case, extending nearly across one side
+of the room, filled with rare mineralogical and geological specimens.
+There were quartz crystals gleaming with lumps of free-milling gold,
+curling masses of silver and copper wire direct from the mines, gold
+nuggets of unusual size and brilliancy, and specimens of ores from the
+principal mines not only of that vicinity, but of the West.
+
+Observing Darrell's interest in the contents of the case, Mr. Britton
+threw open the doors for a closer inspection, and began calling his
+attention to some of the finest specimens, but at Darrell's first
+remarks he paused, astonished, listened a few moments, then stepping to
+the next room, called Mr. Underwood. That gentleman looked somewhat
+perturbed at the interruption, but at a signal from Mr. Britton,
+followed the latter quietly across the room to where Darrell was
+standing. Here they stood, silently listening, while Darrell,
+unconscious of their presence, went rapidly through the specimens,
+classifying the different ores, stating the conditions which had
+contributed to their individual characteristics, giving the approximate
+value of each and the mode of treatment required for its reduction; all
+after the manner of a student rehearsing to himself a well-conned
+lesson.
+
+At last, catching sight of the astonished faces of his listeners, his
+own lighted with pleasure, as he exclaimed, joyously,--
+
+"I wanted to test myself and see if it would come back to me, and it
+has! I believed it would, and it has!"
+
+"What has come back to you?" queried Mr. Underwood, too bewildered
+himself to catch the drift of Darrell's meaning.
+
+"The knowledge of all this," Darrell answered, indicating the collection
+with a swift gesture; "it began to come to me as soon as I saw the rocks
+on our way up; it confused me at first, but it is all clear now. Take me
+to your mill, Mr. Underwood; I want to see what I can do with the ores
+there."
+
+At that moment Mr. Hathaway entered to summon the party to dinner, and
+seeing Darrell standing by the case, his hands filled with specimens, he
+said, addressing Mr. Underwood with a pleasant tone of inquiry,--
+
+"Mr. Darrell is a mining man?"
+
+But Mr. Underwood was still too confused to answer intelligibly, and it
+was Mr. Britton who replied, as he linked his arm within Darrell's on
+turning to leave the room,--
+
+"Mr. Darrell is a mineralogist."
+
+At dinner Darrell found himself too excited to eat, so overjoyed was he
+at the discovery of attainments he had not dreamed he possessed, and so
+eager to put them to every test possible.
+
+It had been Mr. Underwood's intention to visit the mines that afternoon,
+but at Darrell's urgent request, they went first to the mill. Here he
+found ample scope for his abilities. He fairly revelled in the various
+ores, separating, assorting, and classifying them with the rapidity and
+accuracy of an expert, and at once proceeded to assay some samples
+taken from a new lead recently struck, the report of which had
+occasioned this particular trip to the camp. He worked with a dexterity
+and skill surprising in one of his years, producing the most accurate
+results, to the astonishment and delight of both Mr. Underwood and Mr.
+Britton.
+
+After an extended inspection of the different departments of the large
+milling plant, he was taken into a small laboratory, where the assayer
+in charge was testing some of the recently discovered ore for the
+presence of certain metals. After watching for a while in silence
+Darrell said, turning to Mr. Underwood,--
+
+"I can give you a quicker and a surer test than that!"
+
+The assayer and himself at once exchanged places, and, unheeding the
+many eyes fixed upon him, Darrell seated himself before the long table
+and deftly began operations. Not a word broke the silence as by methods
+wholly new to his spectators he subjected the ore to successive chemical
+changes, until, within an incredibly short time, the presence of the
+suspected metals was demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt.
+
+"Mineralogist and metallurgist!" exclaimed Mr. Britton delightedly, as
+he congratulated Darrell upon his success.
+
+The short November day had now nearly drawn to a close, and after supper
+the gentlemen adjourned to the office building, where they spent an hour
+or more around the open fire. Darrell, who was quite wearied with the
+unusual exertion and excitement of the day, retired early, the
+superintendent and assayer had gone out on some business at the mill,
+and Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton were left together. No sooner were
+they by themselves than Mr. Britton, who was walking up and down the
+room, stopped beside his partner as he sat smoking and gazing
+abstractedly into the fire, and, laying a hand on his shoulder, said,--
+
+"Well, Dave, what do you think? After what we've seen to-day, can't you
+make a place over there at the mill for the boy?"
+
+"Hang it all!" answered the other, somewhat testily, secretly a little
+jealous of the growing intimacy between his partner and Darrell;
+"supposing I can, is there any need of your dipping in your oar about
+it? Do you think I need any suggestion from you in the way of
+befriending him or standing by him?"
+
+"No, Dave," said Mr. Britton, pleasantly, dropping into a chair by Mr.
+Underwood's side, "I did not put my question with a view of making any
+suggestions. I know, and Darrell knows, that he hasn't a better friend
+than you, and because I know this, and also because I am a friend to you
+both, I was interested to ask you what you intended doing for him."
+
+"What I intended doing for him and what I probably will actually do for
+him are two altogether different propositions--all on account of his own
+pig-headedness," was the rather surly response.
+
+"How's that?" Mr. Britton inquired.
+
+"Why, confound the fellow! I took a liking to him from the first, coming
+here the way he did, and after what he did for Harry there was nothing I
+wouldn't have done for him. Then, after his sickness, when we found his
+memory had gone back on him and left him helpless as a child in some
+ways, I knew he'd stand no show among strangers, and my idea was to take
+him in, in Harry's place, give him a small interest in the business
+until he got accustomed to it, and then after a while let him in as
+partner. But when I broached the subject to him, a week ago or so, he
+wouldn't hear to it; said he'd rather find some work for which he was
+adapted and stick to that, at a regular salary. I told him he was
+missing a good thing, but nothing that I could say would make any
+difference."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "I'm not sure but his is the wiser
+plan. You must remember, Dave, that his stay with us will probably be
+but temporary. Whenever that portion of his brain which is now dormant
+does awaken, you can rest assured he will not remain here long. He no
+doubt realizes this and wishes to be absolutely foot-loose, ready to
+leave at short notice. And as to the financial side of the question, if
+you give him the place in your mill for which he is eminently fitted, it
+will be fully as remunerative in the long run as the interest in the
+business which you intended giving him."
+
+"What place in the mill do you refer to?" Mr. Underwood asked, quickly.
+
+"Oh, I'm not making any 'suggestions,' Dave; you don't need them." And
+Mr. Britton smiled quietly into the fire.
+
+"Go ahead and say your say, Jack," said the other, his own face relaxing
+into a grim smile; "that was only a bit of my crankiness, and you know
+me well enough to know it."
+
+"Give him the position of assayer in charge."
+
+"Great Scott! and fire Benson, who's been there for five years?"
+
+"It makes no difference how long he's been there. Darrell is a better
+man every way,--quicker, more accurate, more scientific. You can put
+Benson to sorting and weighing ores down at the ore-bins."
+
+After a brief silence Mr. Britton continued, "You couldn't find a better
+man for the place or a better position for the man. The work is
+evidently right in the line of his profession, and therefore congenial;
+and even though you should pay him no more salary than Benson, that,
+with outside work in the way of assays for neighboring camps, will be
+better than any business interest you would give him short of twelve or
+eighteen months at least."
+
+"I guess you're right, and I'll give him the place; but hang it all! I
+did want to put him in Harry's place. You and I are getting along in
+years, Jack, and it's time we had some young man getting broke to the
+harness, so that after a while he could take the brunt of things and let
+us old fellows slack up a bit."
+
+"We could not expect that of Darrell," said Mr. Britton. "He is neither
+kith nor kin of ours, and when once Nature's ties begin to assert
+themselves in his mind, we may find our hold upon him very slight."
+
+Both men sighed deeply, as though the thought had in some way touched an
+unpleasant chord. After a pause, Mr. Britton inquired,--
+
+"You have no clue whatever as to Darrell's identity, have you?"
+
+Mr. Underwood shook his head. "Queerest case I ever saw! There wasn't a
+scrap of paper nor a pen-mark to show who he was. Parkinson, the mine
+expert who was on the same train, said he didn't remember seeing him
+until Harry introduced him; he said he supposed he was some friend of
+Harry's. Since his sickness I've looked up the conductor on that train
+and questioned him, but all he could remember was that he boarded the
+train a little this side of Galena and that he had a ticket through from
+St. Paul."
+
+"You say this Parkinson was a mine expert; what was he doing out here?"
+
+"He was one of three or four that were here at that time, looking up the
+Ajax for eastern parties."
+
+"In all probability," said Mr. Britton, musingly, "Darrell was here on
+the same business."
+
+"If that was his business, he said nothing about it to me, and I would
+have thought he would, under the circumstances."
+
+"I wonder whether we could ascertain from the owners of the Ajax what
+experts were out here or expected out here at that time?"
+
+Mr. Underwood smiled grimly. "Not from the former owners, for nobody
+knows where they are, though there are some people quite anxious to
+know; and not from the present owners, for they are too busy looking for
+their predecessors in interest to think of anything else."
+
+"Why, has the Ajax really changed owners? Did they find any one to buy
+it?"
+
+"Yes, a Scotch syndicate bought it. They sent over a man--one of their
+own number, I believe, and authorized to act for them--that I guess knew
+more about sampling liquors than ores. The Ajax people worked him
+accordingly, with the result that the mine was sold at the figure
+named,--one million, half down, you know. The man rushed back to New
+York, to meet a partner whom he had cabled to come over. About ten days
+later they arrived on the ground and began operations at the Ajax. The
+mill ran for just ten days when they discovered the condition of affairs
+and shut down, and they have been looking for the former owners ever
+since."
+
+Both men laughed, then relapsed into silence. A little later, as Mr.
+Britton stirred the fire to a brighter glow, he said, while the tender
+curves about his mouth deepened,--
+
+"I cannot help feeling that the coming to us of this young man, whose
+identity is wrapped in so much mystery, has some peculiar significance
+to each of us. I believe that in some way, whether for good or ill I
+cannot tell, his life is to be henceforth inseparably linked with our
+own lives. He already holds, as you know, a place in each of our hearts
+which no stranger has held before, and I have only this to say, David,
+old friend, that our mutual regard for him, our mutual efforts for his
+well-being, must never lead to any estrangement between ourselves. We
+have been stanch friends for too many years for any one at this late
+date to come between us; and you must never envy me my little share in
+the boy's friendship."
+
+The two men had risen and now stood before the fire with clasped hands.
+
+"I was an old fool to-night, Jack; that was all," said Mr. Underwood,
+rather gruffly. "I haven't the knack of saying things that you
+have,--never had,--but I'm with you all the time."
+
+On the forenoon of the following day Darrell was shown the underground
+workings of the various mines, not excepting the Bird Mine, located
+almost at the summit of the mountain. This was the newest mine in camp,
+but, in proportion to its development, the best producer of all.
+
+After an early dinner there was a private meeting in the reception-room
+beyond the office, at which were present only Mr. Underwood, Mr.
+Britton, and Darrell, and at which Mr. Underwood duly tendered to
+Darrell the position of assayer in charge at the Camp Bird mill, which
+the latter accepted with a frank and manly gratitude which more than
+ever endeared him to the hearts of his two friends. In this little
+proceeding Mr. Britton purposely took no part, standing before the
+grate, his back towards the others, gazing into the fire as though
+absorbed in his own thoughts. When all was over, however, he
+congratulated Darrell with a warmth and tenderness which filled both the
+heart and the eyes of the latter to overflowing. That night, after their
+arrival at The Pines, as Mr. Britton and Darrell took their accustomed
+stroll, the latter said,--
+
+"Mr. Britton, I feel that I have you to thank for my good fortune of
+to-day. You had nothing to say when Mr. Underwood offered me that
+position, but, nevertheless, I believe the offer was made at your
+suggestion. It was, in reality, your kindness, not his."
+
+"You are partly right and partly wrong," replied Mr. Britton, smiling.
+"Never doubt Mr. Underwood's kindness of heart towards yourself. If I
+had any part in that affair, it was only to indicate the channel in
+which that kindness should flow."
+
+Together they talked of the strange course of events which had finally
+brought him and the work for which he was especially adapted together.
+
+"Do you know," said Mr. Britton, as they paused on the veranda before
+entering the house, "I am no believer in accident. I believe that of the
+so-called 'happenings' in our lives, each has its appointed time and
+mission; and it is not for us to say which is trivial or which is
+important, until, knowing as we are known, we look back upon life as God
+sees it."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VIII_
+
+"UNTIL THE DAY BREAK"
+
+
+A week later Darrell was duly installed at the mining camp. Mr. Britton
+had already left, called on private business to another part of the
+State. After his departure, life at The Pines did not seem the same to
+Darrell. He sorely missed the companionship--amounting almost to
+comradeship, notwithstanding the disparity of their years--which had
+existed between them from their first meeting, and he was not sorry when
+the day came for him to exchange the comfort and luxury with which the
+kindness of Mr. Underwood and his sister had surrounded him for the
+rough fare and plain quarters of the mining camp.
+
+Mrs. Dean, when informed of Darrell's position at the camp, had most
+strenuously objected to his going, and had immediately stipulated that
+he was to return to The Pines every Saturday and remain until Monday.
+
+"Of course he's coming home every Saturday, and as much oftener as he
+likes," her brother had interposed. "This is his home, and he
+understands it without any words from us."
+
+On the morning of his departure he realized as never before the depth of
+the affection of his host and hostess for himself, manifesting itself as
+it did in silent, unobtrusive acts of homely but heartfelt kindness. As
+the storing of Darrell's belongings in the wagon which was to convey him
+to the camp was about completed, Mrs. Dean appeared, carrying a large,
+covered basket, with snow-white linen visible between the gaping edges
+of the lids. This she deposited within the wagon, saying, as she turned
+to Darrell,--
+
+"There's a few things to last you through the week, just so you don't
+forget how home cooking tastes."
+
+And at the last moment there was brought from the stables at Mr.
+Underwood's orders, for Darrell's use in going back and forth between
+The Pines and the camp, a beautiful bay mare which had belonged to Harry
+Whitcomb, and which, having sadly missed her young master, greeted
+Darrell with a low whinny, muzzling his cheek and nosing his pockets for
+sugar with the most affectionate familiarity.
+
+It was a cold, bleak morning. The ground had frozen after a heavy rain,
+and the wagon jolted roughly over the ruts in the canyon road, making
+slow progress. The sky was overcast and straggling snowflakes wandered
+aimlessly up and down in the still air.
+
+Darrell, from his seat beside the driver, turned occasionally to speak
+to Trix, the mare, fastened to the rear end of the wagon and daintily
+picking her way along the rough road. Sometimes he hummed a bit of
+half-remembered song, but for the most part he was silent. While not
+attempting any definite analysis of his feelings, he was distinctly
+conscious of conflicting emotions. He was deeply touched by the kindness
+of Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dean, and felt a sort of self-condemnation
+that he was not more responsive to their affection. He knew that their
+home and hearts were alike open to him; that he was as welcome as one of
+their own flesh and blood; yet he experienced a sense of relief at
+having escaped from the unvarying kindliness for which, at heart, he was
+profoundly grateful. Even late that night, in the solitude of his
+plainly furnished room, with the wind moaning outside and the snow
+tapping with muffled fingers against the window pane, he yet exulted in
+a sense of freedom and happiness hitherto unknown in the brief period
+which held all he recalled of life.
+
+The ensuing days and weeks passed pleasantly and swiftly for Darrell. He
+quickly familiarized himself with the work which he had in charge, and
+frequently found leisure, when his routine work was done, for
+experiments and tests of his own, as well as for outside work which came
+to him as his skill became known in neighboring camps. His evenings were
+well filled, as he had taken up his old studies along the lines of
+mineralogy and metallurgy, pushing ahead into new fields of research and
+discovery, studying by night and experimenting by day. Meanwhile, the
+rocky peaks around him seemed beckoning him with their talismanic signs,
+as though silently challenging him to learn the mighty secrets for ages
+hidden within their breasts, and he promised himself that with the
+return of lengthening days, he would start forth, a humble learner, to
+sit at the feet of those great teachers of the centuries. He had
+occasional letters from Mr. Britton, cheering, inspiring, helpful, much
+as his presence had been, and in return he wrote freely of his present
+work and his plans for future work.
+
+Sometimes, when books were closed or the plaintive tones of the violin
+had died away in silence, he would sit for hours pondering the strange
+problem of his own life; watching, listening for some sign from out the
+past; but neither ray of light nor wave of sound came to him. His
+physician had told him that some day the past would return, and that the
+intervening months or years as the case might be, would then doubtless
+be in turn forgotten, and as he revolved this in his mind he formed a
+plan which he at once proceeded to put into execution.
+
+On his return one night from a special trip to Ophir he went to his room
+with more than usual haste, and opening a package in which he seemed
+greatly interested, drew forth what appeared to be a book, about eleven
+by fifteen inches in size, bound in flexible morocco and containing some
+five or six hundred pages. The pages were blank, however, and bound
+according to an ingenious device which he had planned and given the
+binder, by which they could be removed and replaced at will, and, if
+necessary, extra pages could be added.
+
+For some time he stood by the light, turning the volume over and over
+with an expression of mingled pleasure and sadness; then removing some
+of the pages, he sat down and prepared to write. The new task to which
+he had set himself was the writing of a complete record, day by day, of
+this present life of his, beginning with the first glimmerings of
+memory, faint and confused, in the earliest days of his convalescence at
+The Pines. He dipped his pen, then hesitated; how should this strange
+volume be inscribed?
+
+Only for a moment; then his pen was gliding rapidly over the spotless
+surface, and the first page, when laid aside, bore the following
+inscription:
+
+     "To one from the outer world, whose identity is hidden among the
+     secrets of the past:
+
+     "With the hope that when the veil is lifted these pages may assist
+     him in uniting into one perfect whole the strangely disjointed
+     portions of his life, they are inscribed by
+
+                                            "JOHN DARRELL."
+
+Below was the date, and then followed the words,--
+
+     "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."
+
+After penning the last words he paused, repeating them, vainly trying to
+recall when or where he had heard them. They seemed to ring in his ears
+like a strain of melody wafted from some invisible shore, and blending
+with the minor undertone he caught a note of triumph. They had come to
+him like a voice from out the past, but ringing with joyful assurance
+for the future; the assurance that the night, however dark, must end in
+a glorious dawning, in which no haunting shadow would have an
+abiding-place.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IX_
+
+TWO PORTRAITS
+
+
+The winter proved to be mild and open, so that Darrell's weekly visits
+to The Pines were made with almost unbroken regularity, and to his
+surprise he discovered as the months slipped away that, instead of a
+mere obligation which he felt bound to perform, they were becoming a
+source of pleasure. After a week of unremitting toil and study and
+contact with the rough edges of human nature, there was something
+unspeakably restful in the atmosphere of that quiet home; something
+soothing in the silent, steadfast affection, the depth of which he was
+only beginning to fathom.
+
+One Saturday evening in the latter part of April Darrell was, as usual,
+descending the canyon road on his way to The Pines. For weeks the winter
+had lingered as though loath to leave, and Darrell, absorbed in work and
+study, had gone his way, hiding his loneliness and suffering so deeply
+as to be ofttimes forgotten even by himself, and at all times
+unsuspected by those about him. Then, in one night had come the warm
+breath of the west winds, and within a few hours the earth was
+transformed as though by magic, and the restless longing within his
+breast awoke with tenfold intensity.
+
+As he rode along he was astounded at the changes wrought in one week.
+From the southern slopes of the mountains the snow had almost
+disappeared and the sunny exposures of the ranges were fast brightening
+into vivid green. The mountain streams had burst their icy fetters and,
+augmented by the melting snows, were roaring tumultuously down their
+channels, tumbling and plunging over rocky ledges in sheets of
+shimmering silver or foaming cascades; then, their mad frolic ended,
+flowing peacefully through distant valleys onward to the rivers, ever
+chanting the song which would one day blend in the great ocean
+harmonies.
+
+The frail flowers, clinging to the rocks and smiling fearlessly up into
+the face of the sun, the silvery sheen of the willows along the distant
+water-courses, the softened outlines and pale green of budding
+cottonwoods in the valleys far below, all told of the newly released
+life currents bounding through the veins of every living thing. From the
+lower part of the canyon, the wild, ecstatic song of a robin came to him
+on the evening breeze, and in the slanting sunbeams myriads of tiny
+midges held high carnival. The whole earth seemed pulsating with new
+life, and tree and flower, bird and insect were filled anew with the
+unspeakable joy of living.
+
+Amid this universal baptism of life, what wonder that he felt his own
+pulse quicken and the warm life-blood leaping swiftly within his veins!
+His heart but throbbed in unison with the great heart of Nature, but its
+very beating stifled him as the sense of his own restrictions came back
+upon him with crushing weight. For one moment he paused, his spirit
+struggling wildly against the bars imprisoning it; then, with a look
+towards the skies of dumb, appealing anguish, he rode onward, his head
+bowed, his heart sick with unutterable longing.
+
+Arriving at The Pines, he received the usual welcome, but neither its
+undemonstrative affection nor the restful quiet of the old home could
+soothe or satisfy him that night. But if his host and hostess noted the
+gloom on his face or his restless manner they made no comments and asked
+no questions.
+
+On going upstairs at a late hour he went across the hall to the
+libraries in search of a book with which to pass away the time, as he
+was unable to sleep. He had no definite book in mind and wandered
+aimlessly through both rooms, reading titles in an abstracted manner,
+until he came at last face to face with the picture of Kate Underwood.
+
+He had seen it many times without especially observing it, but in his
+present mood it appealed to him as never before. The dark eyes seemed
+fixed upon his face with a look of entreaty from which he could not
+escape, and, drawing a chair in front of the easel, he sat down and
+became absorbed in a study of the picture. Heretofore he had considered
+it merely the portrait of a very young and somewhat plain girl. Now he
+was surprised to find that the more it was studied in detail, the more
+favorable was the impression produced. Though childish and immature,
+there was not a weak line in the face. The nose and mouth were
+especially fine, the former denoting distinct individuality, the latter
+marked strength and sweetness of character; and while the upper part of
+the face indicated keen perceptions and quick sympathies, the general
+contour showed a nature strong either to do or to endure. The eyes were
+large and beautiful, but it was not their beauty which riveted Darrell's
+attention; it was their look of wistful appeal, of unsatisfied longing,
+which led him at last to murmur, while his eyes moistened,--
+
+"You dear child! How is it that in your short life, surrounded by all
+that love can provide, you have come to know such heart hunger as that?"
+
+Long after he had returned to his room those eyes still haunted him,
+nor could he banish the conviction that some time, somewhere, in that
+young life there had been an unfilled void which in some degree, however
+slight, corresponded to the blank emptiness of his own.
+
+The next morning Darrell attended church with Mrs. Dean. The latter was
+a strict church-woman, and Darrell, by way of showing equal courtesy to
+host and hostess, usually accompanied her in the morning, devoting the
+afternoon to Mr. Underwood.
+
+After lunch he and Mr. Underwood seated themselves in one of the sunny
+bay-windows for their customary chat, Mrs. Dean having gone to her room
+for the afternoon nap which was as much a part of her Sunday programme
+as the morning sermon.
+
+For a while they talked of the latest developments at the mines, but Mr.
+Underwood seemed preoccupied, gazing out of the window and frowning
+heavily. At last, after a long silence, he said, slowly,--
+
+"I expect we're going to have trouble at the camp this season."
+
+"How is that?" Darrell asked quickly, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"Oh, it's some of this union business," the other answered, with a
+gesture of impatience, "and about the most foolish proposition I ever
+heard of, at that. But," he added, decidedly, "they know my position;
+they know they'll get no quarter from me. I've steered clear of them so
+far; they've let me alone and I've let them alone, but when it comes to
+a parcel of union bosses undertaking to run my business or make terms to
+me, I'll fight 'em to a finish, and they know it."
+
+Darrell, watching the face of the speaker, saw the lines about his mouth
+harden and his lips settle into a grim smile that boded no good to his
+opponents.
+
+"What do they want--higher wages or shorter hours?" he inquired.
+
+"Neither," said Mr. Underwood, shortly, as he re-lighted his pipe. After
+a few puffs he continued:
+
+"As I said before, it's the most foolish proposition I ever heard of.
+You see, there's five or six camps, all told, in the neighborhood of our
+camp up there. One or two of the lot, like the Buckeye group, for
+instance, are run by men that haven't much capital, and I suppose are
+working as economically as they can. Anyhow, there's been some kicking
+over there among the miners about the grub, and the upshot of the whole
+thing is that the union has taken the matter in hand and is going to
+open a union boarding-house and take in the men from all the camps at
+six bits a day for each man, instead of the regular rate of a dollar a
+day charged by the mining companies."
+
+"The scale of wages to remain the same, I suppose," said Darrell; "so
+that means a gain to each man of twenty-five cents a day?"
+
+"Exactly," said Mr. Underwood. "It means a gain of two bits a day to
+each man; it means loss and inconvenience to the companies, and it means
+a big pile of money in the pockets of the bosses who are running the
+thing."
+
+"There are not many of the owners up there that can stand that sort of
+thing," said Darrell, reflectively.
+
+"Of course they can't stand it, and they won't stand it if they've got
+any backbone! Take Dwight and Huntley; they've been to heavy expense in
+enlarging their mill and have just put up a new boarding-house, and
+they're in debt; they can't afford to have all that work and expenditure
+for nothing. Now, with us the loss wouldn't be so great as with the
+others, for we don't make so much out of our boarding-house. My motto
+has always been 'Live and let live,' and I give my men a good
+table,--just what I'd want for myself if I were in their places. It
+isn't the financial part that troubles me. What I object to is this: I
+won't have my men tramping three-quarters of a mile for meals that won't
+be as good as they can get right on their own grounds; more than that,
+I've got a good, likely set of men, and I won't have them demoralized by
+herding them in with the tough gangs from those other camps; and above
+all and once for all,"--here Mr. Underwood's tones became excited as he
+exclaimed, with an oath,--"I've always been capable of running my own
+business, and I'll run it yet, and no damned union boss will ever run it
+for me!"
+
+"How do the men feel about it? Have you talked with them?" Darrell
+inquired.
+
+"There isn't one of them that's dissatisfied or would leave of his own
+free will," Mr. Underwood replied, "but I don't suppose they would dare
+to stand out against the bosses. Why, man, if the workingmen only knew
+it, they are ten times worse slaves to the union bosses than ever they
+were to corporations. They have to pay over their wages to let those
+fellows live like nabobs; they have to come and go at their beck and
+call, and throw up good positions and live in enforced idleness because
+of some other fellows' grievances; they don't dare express an opinion or
+say their souls are their own. Humph!"
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, who had been smilingly listening to the
+other's tirade, "what will you do if this comes to a strike?"
+
+"Strike!" he exclaimed in tones of scathing contempt. "Strike? I'll
+strike too, and they'll find I can strike just as hard as they can, and
+a little harder!"
+
+"Will you close down?"
+
+The shrewd face grew a bit shrewder. "If it's necessary to close down,"
+he remarked, evasively, "I'll close down. I guess I can stand it as long
+as they can. Those mines have lain there in those rocks idle for
+centuries, for aught that I know; 'twon't hurt 'em to lie idle a few
+weeks or months now; nobody'll run off with 'em, I guess."
+
+Darrell laughed aloud. "Well, one thing is certain, Mr. Underwood; I,
+for one, wouldn't want to quarrel with you!"
+
+Mr. Underwood slowly shook his head. "You'd better not try it, my boy;
+you'd better not!"
+
+"When do you expect this trouble to come to a head?" Darrell asked at
+length.
+
+"Some time in the early part of July, probably; they expect to get their
+arrangements completed by that time."
+
+A long silence followed; Mrs. Dean came softly into the room and took
+her accustomed seat, and, as Mr. Underwood made it a point never to talk
+of business matters in his sister's presence, nothing more was said
+regarding the prospective disturbance at the mines.
+
+After dinner the beauty of the sunset brought them out upon the veranda.
+The air was warm and fragrant with the breath of spring. The buds were
+swelling on the lilacs near the house, and out on the lawn, beyond the
+driveway, millions of tiny spears of living green trembled in the light
+breeze.
+
+"David," said Mrs. Dean, presently, "have you shown Mr. Darrell that
+picture of Katherine that came yesterday?"
+
+"I declare! No; I had forgotten it!" Mr. Underwood exclaimed.
+
+"It's well for you she isn't here to hear you say that!" Mrs. Dean
+remarked, smiling.
+
+"Puss knows her old father well enough to know he wouldn't forget her
+very long. Bring the picture out, Marcia."
+
+Darrell heard Mrs. Dean approaching, and turned, with the glory of the
+sunset in his eyes.
+
+"Don't you want to see Katherine's new picture?" she inquired.
+
+Her words instantly recalled the portrait he had studied the preceding
+night, and with that in his mind he took the picture she handed him and
+silently compared the two.
+
+Ah, the beauty of the spring, everywhere confronting him, was in that
+face also; the joy of a life as yet pure, untainted, and untrammelled.
+It was like looking into the faces of the spring flowers which reflect
+only the sunshine, the purity and the sweetness of earth. There was a
+touch of womanly dignity, too, in the poise of the head, but the
+beautiful eyes, though lighted with the faint dawn of coming womanhood,
+were the same as those that had appealed to him the night before with
+their wistful longing.
+
+"It is a fine portrait, but as I do not remember her, I cannot judge
+whether it is like herself or not," he said, handing the picture to Mr.
+Underwood, who seemed almost to devour it with his eyes, though he spoke
+no word and not a muscle moved in his stern, immobile face.
+
+"She is getting to be such a young lady," remarked Mrs. Dean, "that I
+expect when she comes home we will feel as though she had grown away
+from us all."
+
+"She will never do that, Marcia, never!" said Mr. Underwood, brusquely,
+as he abruptly left the group and went into the house.
+
+There was a moment's silence, then Mrs. Dean said, in a low tone,--
+
+"She is getting to look just like her mother. I haven't seen David so
+affected since his wife died as he was when that picture came
+yesterday."
+
+Darrell bowed silently, in token that he understood.
+
+"She was a lovely woman, but she was very different from any of our
+folks," she added, with a sigh, "and I guess Katherine is going to be
+just like her."
+
+"When is Miss Underwood expected home?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"About the last of June," was the reply.
+
+Long after the sun had set Darrell paced up and down the veranda,
+pausing at intervals to gaze with unseeing eyes out over the peaceful
+scene below him, his only companions his own troubled thoughts. The
+young moon was shining, and in its pale radiance his set face gleamed
+white like marble.
+
+Like, and yet unlike, it was to the face of the sleeper journeying
+westward on that summer afternoon eight months before. Experience, the
+mighty sculptor, was doing his work, and doing it well; only a few lines
+as yet, here and there, and the face was already stronger, finer. But it
+was the face of one hardened by his own sufferings, not softened by the
+sufferings of others. The sculptor's work was as yet only begun.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter X_
+
+THE COMMUNION OF TWO SOULS
+
+
+Gradually the springtide crept upward into the heart of the mountains,
+quickening the pulses of the rocks themselves until even the mosses and
+lichens slumbering at their feet awakened to renewed life. Bits of green
+appeared wherever a grass root could push its way through the rocky
+soil, and fragile wild flowers gleamed, starlike, here and there, fed by
+tiny rivulets which trickled from slowly melting snows on the summits
+far above.
+
+With the earliest warm days Darrell had started forth to explore the
+surrounding mountains, eager to learn the secrets which they seemed ever
+challenging him to discover. New conditions confronted him, sometimes
+baffling him, but always inciting to renewed effort. His enthusiasm was
+so aroused that often, when his day's work was done, taking a light
+lunch with him, he pursued his studies while the daylight lasted,
+walking back in the long twilight, and in the solitude of his room
+making full notes of the results of that day's research before retiring
+for the night.
+
+Returning one evening from one of these expeditions he saw, pacing back
+and forth before the office building, a figure which he at once
+recognized as that of Mr. Britton. Instantly all thought of work or
+weariness was forgotten, and he hastened forward, while Mr. Britton,
+catching sight of Darrell rapidly approaching, turned and came down the
+road to meet him.
+
+"A thousand welcomes!" Darrell cried, as soon as they were within
+speaking distance; "say, but this is glorious to see you here! How long
+have I kept you waiting?"
+
+"A few hours, but that does not matter; it does us good to have to stop
+and call a halt on ourselves once in a while. How are you, my son?" And
+as the two grasped hands the elder man looked searchingly through the
+gathering dusk into the face of the younger. Even in the dim twilight,
+Darrell could feel that penetrating glance reading his inmost soul.
+
+"I am well and doing well," he answered; "my physical health is perfect;
+as for the rest--your coming is the very best thing that could have
+happened. Are you alone?" he asked, eagerly, "or did Mr. Underwood come
+with you?"
+
+"I came alone," Mr. Britton replied, with quiet emphasis, linking his
+arm within Darrell's as they ascended the road together.
+
+"How long have you been in town?"
+
+"But two days. I am on my way to the coast, and only stopped off for a
+few days. I shall spend to-morrow with you, go back with you Saturday to
+The Pines, and go on my way Monday."
+
+Having made his guest as comfortable as possible in his own room,
+Darrell laid aside his working paraphernalia, his hammer, and bag of
+rock specimens, and donning a house coat and pair of slippers seated
+himself near Mr. Britton, all the time conscious of the close but kindly
+scrutiny with which the latter was regarding him.
+
+"This is delightful!" he exclaimed; "but it is past my comprehension how
+Mr. Underwood ever let you slip off alone!"
+
+Mr. Britton looked amused. "I told him I was coming to see you, and I
+think he intended coming with me till he heard me order my saddle-horse
+for the trip. I think that settled the matter. I believe there can be no
+perfect interchange of confidence except between two. The presence of a
+third party--even though a mutual friend--breaks the magnetic circuit
+and weakens the current of sympathy. Our interviews are necessarily
+rare, and I want to make the most of them; therefore I would come to you
+alone or not at all."
+
+"Yes," Darrell replied; "your visits are so rare that every moment is
+precious to me, and think of the hours I lost by my absence to-day!"
+
+"Do you court Dame Nature so assiduously every day, subsisting on cold
+lunches and tramping the mountains till nightfall?"
+
+"Not every day, but as often as possible," Darrell replied, smiling.
+
+"And I suppose if I were not here you would now be burrowing into that
+pile over there?" Mr. Britton said, glancing significantly towards the
+table covered to a considerable depth with books of reference,
+note-books, writing-pads, and sheets of closely written manuscript.
+
+"Let me show you what I am doing; it will take but a moment," said
+Darrell, springing to his feet.
+
+He drew forth several sets of extensive notes on researches and
+experiments he was making along various lines of study, in which Mr.
+Britton became at once deeply interested.
+
+"You have a good thing here; stick to it!" he said at length, looking up
+from the perusal of Darrell's geological notes, gathered from his
+studies of the rock formations in that vicinity. "You have a fine field
+in which to pursue this branch, and with the knowledge you already have
+on this subject and the discoveries you are likely to make, you may be
+able to make some very valuable contributions to the science one of
+these days."
+
+"That is just what I hope to do!" exclaimed Darrell eagerly; "just what
+I am studying for day and night!"
+
+"But you must use moderation," said Mr. Britton, smiling at the younger
+man's enthusiasm; "you are young, you have years before you in which to
+do this work, and this constant study, night and day, added to your
+regular routine work, is too much for you. You are looking fagged
+already."
+
+"If I am, it is not the work that is fagging me," Darrell replied,
+quickly, his tones becoming excited; "Mr. Britton, I must work; I must
+accomplish all I can for two reasons. You say I have years before me in
+which to do this work. God knows I hope I haven't got to work years like
+this,--only half alive, you might say,--and when the change comes, if it
+ever does, you know, of course, I cannot and would not remain here."
+
+"I understand you would not remain here," said Mr. Britton slowly, and
+laying his hand soothingly on the arm of his agitated companion, "but
+you can readily see that not only your education, but your natural trend
+of thought, is along these lines; therefore, when you are fully restored
+to your normal self you will be the more--not the less--interested in
+these things, and I predict that no matter when the time comes for you
+to leave, you will, after a while, return to continue this same line of
+work amid the same surroundings, but, we hope, under far happier
+conditions."
+
+Darrell shook his head slowly. "It does not seem to me that I would ever
+wish to return to a place where I had suffered as I have here."
+
+Mr. Britton smiled, one of his slow, sad, sweet smiles that Darrell
+loved to watch, that seemed to dawn in his eyes and gradually to spread
+until every feature was irradiated with a tender, beneficent light.
+
+"I once thought as you do," he said, gently, "but after years of
+wandering, I find that the place most sacred to me now is that hallowed
+by the bitterest agony of my life."
+
+Without replying Darrell unconsciously drew nearer to his friend, and a
+brief silence followed, broken by Mr. Britton, who inquired, in a
+lighter tone,--
+
+"What is the other reason for your constant application to your work?
+You said there were two."
+
+Darrell bowed his head upon his hands as he answered in a low,
+despairing tone,--
+
+"To stop thinking, thinking, thinking; it will drive me mad!"
+
+"I have been there, my boy; I know," Mr. Britton responded; then, after
+a pause, he continued:
+
+"Something in the tenor of your last letter made me anxious to come to
+you. I thought I detected something of the old restlessness. Has the
+coming of spring, quickening the life forces all around you, stirred the
+life currents in your own veins till your spirit is again tugging at its
+fetters in its struggles for release?"
+
+With a startled movement Darrell raised his head, meeting the clear eyes
+fixed upon him.
+
+"How could you know?" he demanded.
+
+"Because, as Emerson says, 'the heart in thee is the heart of all.'
+There are few hearts whose pulses are not stirred by the magic influence
+of the springtide, and under its potent spell I knew you would feel your
+present limitations even more keenly than ever before."
+
+"Thank God, you understand!" Darrell exclaimed; then continued,
+passionately: "The last three weeks have been torture to me if I but
+allowed myself one moment's thought. Wherever I look I see life--life,
+perfect and complete in all its myriad forms--the life that is denied to
+me! This is not living,--this existence of mine,--with brain shackled,
+fettered, in many ways helpless as a child, knowing less than a child,
+and not even mercifully wrapped in oblivion, but compelled to feel the
+constant goading and galling of the fetters, to be reminded of them at
+every turn! My God! if it were not for constant work and study I would
+go mad!"
+
+In the silence which followed Darrell's mind reverted to that autumn day
+on which he had first met John Britton and confided to him his trouble;
+and now, as then, he was soothed and strengthened by the presence beside
+him, by the magnetism of that touch, although no word was spoken.
+
+As he reviewed their friendship of the past months he became conscious
+for the first time of its one-sidedness. He had often unburdened himself
+to his friend, confiding to him his griefs, and receiving in turn
+sympathy and counsel; but of the great, unknown sorrow that had wrought
+such havoc in his own life, what word had John Britton ever spoken? As
+Darrell recalled the bearing of his friend through all their
+acquaintance and his silence regarding his own sufferings, his eyes grew
+dim. The man at his side seemed, in the light of that revelation,
+stronger, grander, nobler than ever before; not unlike to the giant
+peaks whose hoary heads then loomed darkly against the starlit sky,
+calm, silent, majestic, giving no token of the throes of agony which,
+ages agone, had rent them asunder except in the mystic symbols graven on
+their furrowed brows. In that light his own complaints seemed puerile.
+At that moment Darrell was conscious of a new fortitude born within his
+soul; a new purpose, henceforth to dominate his life.
+
+A heavy sigh from Mr. Britton broke the silence. "I know the fetters are
+galling," he said, "but have patience and hope, for, at the time
+appointed, the shackles will be loosened, the fetters broken."
+
+Darrell faced his companion, a new light in his eyes but recently so
+dark with despair, as he asked, earnestly and tenderly,--
+
+"Dearest and best of friends, is there no time appointed for the lifting
+of the burden borne so nobly and uncomplainingly, 'lo, these many
+years?'"
+
+With a grave, sweet smile the elder man shook his head, and, rising,
+began pacing up and down the room. "There are some burdens, my son, that
+time cannot lift; they can only be laid down at the gates of eternity."
+
+With a strange, choking sensation in his throat Darrell rose, and, going
+to the window, stood looking out at the dim outlines of the neighboring
+peaks. Their vast solitude no longer oppressed him as at the first; it
+calmed and soothed him in his restless moods, and to-night those grim
+monarchs dwelling in silent fellowship seemed to him the embodiment of
+peace and rest.
+
+After a time Mr. Britton paused beside him, and, throwing his arm about
+his shoulders, asked,--
+
+"What are your thoughts, my son?"
+
+"Only a whim, a fancy that has taken possession of me the last few days,
+since my wanderings among the mountains," he answered, lightly; "a
+longing to bury myself in some sort of a retreat on one of these old
+peaks and devote myself to study."
+
+"And live a hermit's life?" Mr. Britton queried, with a peculiar smile.
+
+"For a while, yes," Darrell replied, more seriously; "until I have
+learned to fight these battles out by myself, and to conquer myself."
+
+"There are battles," said the other, speaking thoughtfully, "which are
+waged best in solitude, but self is conquered only by association with
+one's fellows. Solitude breeds selfishness."
+
+Mr. Britton had resumed his pacing up and down, but a few moments later,
+as he approached Darrell, the latter turned, suddenly confronting him.
+
+"My dear friend," he said, "you have been everything to me; you have
+done everything for me; I ask you to do one thing more,--forgive and
+answer this question: How have you conquered?"
+
+The look of pain that crossed his companion's face filled Darrell with
+regret for what he had said, but before he could speak again Mr. Britton
+replied gently, with his old smile,--
+
+"I doubt whether I have yet wholly conquered; but whatever victory is
+mine, I have won, not in solitude and seclusion, but in association with
+the sorrowing, the suffering, the sinning, and in sharing their burdens
+I found rest from my own."
+
+He paused a moment, then continued, his glowing eyes holding Darrell as
+though under a spell:
+
+"I know not why, but since our first meeting you have given me a new
+interest, a new joy in life. I have been drawn to you and I have loved
+you as I thought never again to love any human being, and some day I
+will tell you what I have told no other human being,--the story of my
+life."
+
+On Saturday Mr. Britton and Darrell returned to The Pines. The
+increasing intimacy between them was evident even there. For the last
+day or so Mr. Britton had fallen into the habit of addressing Darrell by
+his Christian name, much to the latter's delight. For this Mrs. Dean
+laughingly called him to account, compelling Mr. Britton to come to his
+own defence.
+
+"'John,'" he exclaimed; "of course I'll call him 'John.' It seems
+wonderfully pleasant to me. I've always wanted a namesake, and I can
+consider him one."
+
+"A namesake!" ejaculated Mrs. Dean, smiling broadly; "I wonder if
+there's a poor family or one that's seen trouble of any kind anywhere
+around here that hasn't a 'John Britton' among its children! I should
+think you had namesakes enough now!"
+
+"One might possibly like to have one of his own selection," he replied,
+dryly.
+
+As Darrell took leave of Mr. Britton the following Monday morning the
+latter said,--
+
+"By the way, John, whenever you are ready to enter upon that hermit life
+let me know; I'll provide the hermitage."
+
+"Are you joking?" Darrell queried, unable to catch his meaning.
+
+"Never more serious in my life," he replied, with such unusual gravity
+that Darrell forbore to question further.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XI_
+
+IMPENDING TROUBLE
+
+
+The five or six weeks following Mr. Britton's visit passed so swiftly
+that Darrell was scarcely conscious of their flight. His work at the
+mill, which had been increased by valuable strikes recently made in the
+mines, in addition to considerable outside work in the way of attests
+and assays, had left him little time for study or experiment. For nearly
+three weeks he had not left the mining camp, the last two Saturdays
+having found him too weary with the preceding week's work to undertake
+the long ride to Ophir.
+
+During this time Mr. Underwood had been a frequent visitor at the camp,
+led not only by his interest in the mining developments, but also by his
+curiosity regarding the progress made by the union in the construction
+of its boarding-house, and also to watch the effect on his own
+employees.
+
+Entering the laboratory one day after one of his rounds of the camp, he
+stood for some time silently watching Darrell at his work.
+
+"In case of a shut-down here," he said at length, speaking abruptly,
+"how would you like a clerical position in my office down there at
+Ophir,--book-keeping or something of the sort,--just temporarily, you
+know?"
+
+Darrell looked up from his work in surprise. "Do you regard a shut-down
+as imminent?" he inquired, smiling.
+
+"Well, yes; there's no half-way measures with me. No man that works for
+me will go off the grounds for his meals. But that isn't answering my
+question."
+
+Darrell's face grew serious. "You forget, Mr. Underwood, that until I am
+put to the test, I have no means of knowing whether or not I can do the
+work you wish done."
+
+"By George! I never once thought of that!" Mr. Underwood exclaimed,
+somewhat embarrassed, adding, hastily, "but then, I didn't mean
+book-keeping in particular, but clerical work generally; copying
+instruments, looking up records, and so on. You see, it's like this," he
+continued, seating himself near Darrell; "I'm thinking of taking in a
+partner--not in this mining business, it has nothing to do with that,
+but just in my mortgage-loan business down there; and in case I do,
+we'll need two or three additional clerks and book-keepers, and I
+thought you might like to come in just temporarily until we resume
+operations here. Of course, the salary wouldn't be so very much, but I
+thought it might be better than nothing to bridge over."
+
+"How long do you expect to be closed down here, Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"Until the men come to their senses or we find others to take their
+places," the elder man answered, decidedly; "it may be six weeks or it
+may be six months. I was talking with Dwight, from the Buckeye Camp,
+this morning. He says they've been to too much expense to put up with
+the proposition for a moment; they simply can't stand it, and won't;
+they'll shut down and pull out first. I don't believe that mine is
+paying very well, anyway."
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "if this were a question of
+accommodation to yourself, of coming into your office and helping you
+out personally, I would gladly do it; salary would be no object; but to
+take a merely clerical position for an indefinite time when I have a
+good, lucrative profession does not seem to me a very wise policy. There
+must be plenty of assaying to be done in Ophir; why couldn't I
+temporarily open an office there?"
+
+"I guess there's no reason why you couldn't if you want to," Mr.
+Underwood replied, evidently disappointed by Darrell's reply and eying
+him sharply, "and if you want to open up an office of your own there's
+plenty of room for you in our building. You know the building was
+formerly occupied by one of Ophir's wildcat banks that collapsed in the
+general crash six years ago, and there's a fine lot of private offices
+in the rear, opening on the side street; one of those rooms fitted up
+would be just the place for you."
+
+"Much obliged," said Darrell, smiling; "we'll see about it if the time
+comes that I need it. Possibly your prospective partner will have use
+for all the private offices."
+
+"I guess I'll have some say about that," Mr. Underwood returned,
+gruffly; then, after a short pause, he continued: "I haven't fully
+decided about this partnership business. I talked it over with Jack when
+he was here, but he didn't seem to favor the idea; told me that at my
+age I had better let well enough alone. I told him that I didn't see
+what my age had to do with it, that I was capable of looking after my
+own interests, partner or no partner, but that I'd no objection to
+having some one else take the brunt of the work while I looked on."
+
+"Is the man a stranger or an acquaintance?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"I'm not personally acquainted with him, but he's not exactly a
+stranger, for he's lived in Ophir, off and on, for the last five years.
+His name is Walcott. He says his father is an Englishman and very
+wealthy; he himself, I should judge, has some Spanish blood in his
+veins. He spends part of his time in Texas, where he has heavy cattle
+interests; in fact, has been there for the greater part of the past
+year. He wants to go into the mortgage-loan business, and offers to put
+in seventy-five thousand and give his personal attention to the business
+for thirty-three and a third per cent. of the profits."
+
+"What has been his business in Ophir all these years?"
+
+"Life insurance mostly, I believe; had two offices, one in Ophir and one
+at Galena, and has also done some private loan business."
+
+"What sort of a reputation has he?"
+
+"First-rate. I've made a number of inquiries about him in both places,
+and nobody has a word to say against him; very quiet, minds his own
+business, a man of few words; just about my sort of a man, I should
+judge," Mr. Underwood concluded as he rose from his chair.
+
+"Well, Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, "whatever arrangements you decide
+to make, I wish you success."
+
+"No more than I do you, my boy, in anything your pig-headedness leads
+you into," Mr. Underwood replied, brusquely, but with a humorous twinkle
+in his eyes. "Confound you!" he added; "I'd help you if you'd give me a
+chance, but maybe it's best to let you 'gang your ain gait.'" And he
+walked out of the room before Darrell could reply.
+
+A moment later he looked in at the door. "By the way, if you're not at
+The Pines by five o'clock sharp next Saturday afternoon, Marcia says
+she's going to send an officer up here after you with a writ of habeas
+corpus, or something of the sort."
+
+"All right; I'll be there," Darrell laughed.
+
+"You'll find the old place a bit brighter than you've seen it yet, for
+we had a letter from Puss this morning that she'll be home to-morrow."
+
+With the last words the door closed and Darrell was left alone with his
+thoughts, to which, however, he could then give little time. But when
+the day's work was done he went for a stroll, and, seating himself upon
+a large rock, carefully reviewed the situation.
+
+Hitherto he had given little thought to the impending trouble at the
+camp, supposing it would affect himself but slightly; but he now
+realized that a suspension of operations there would mean an entire
+change in his mode of living. The prospective change weighed on his
+sensitive spirits like an incubus. Even The Pines, he dismally
+reflected, would no longer seem the same quiet, homelike retreat, since
+it was to be invaded and dominated by a youthful presence between whom
+and himself there would probably be little congeniality.
+
+But finally telling himself that these reflections were childish, he
+rose as the last sunset rays were sinking behind the western ranges and
+the rosy flush on the summits was fading, and, walking swiftly to his
+room, resolutely buried himself in his studies.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XII_
+
+NEW LIFE IN THE OLD HOME
+
+
+On the following Saturday, as Darrell ascended the long driveway leading
+to The Pines, he was startled at the transformation which the place had
+undergone since last he was there. The rolling lawn seemed carpeted with
+green velvet, enlivened here and there with groups of beautiful foliage
+plants. Fountains were playing in the sunlight, their glistening spray
+tinted with rainbow lights. Flowers bloomed in profusion, their colors
+set off by the gray background of the stone walls of the house. The
+syringas by the bay-windows were bent to the ground with their burden of
+snowy blossoms, whose fragrance, mingled with that of the June roses,
+greeted him as he approached. He forgot his three weeks' absence and the
+rapid growth in that high altitude; the change seemed simply magical.
+Then, as he caught a glimpse through the pines of a slender, girlish
+figure, dressed in white, darting hither and thither, he wondered no
+longer; it was but the fit accompaniment of the young, joyous life which
+had come to the old place.
+
+As he came out into the open, he saw a young girl romping up and down
+before the house with a fine Scotch collie, and he could not restrain a
+smile as he recalled Mrs. Dean's oft-repeated declaration that there was
+one thing she would never tolerate, and that was a dog or a cat about
+the house. She had not yet seen him; but when she did, the frolic ceased
+and she started towards the house. Then suddenly she stopped, as though
+she recognized some one or something, and stood awaiting his approach,
+her lips parted in a smile, two small, shapely hands shading her eyes
+from the sun. As he came nearer, he had time to note the lithe, supple
+figure, just rounding into the graceful outlines of womanhood; the full,
+smiling lips, the flushed cheeks, and the glint of gold in her brown
+hair; and the light, the beauty, the fragrance surrounding her seemed an
+appropriate setting to the picture. She was a part of the scene.
+
+Darrell, of course, had no knowledge of his own age, but at that moment
+he felt very remote from the embodiment of youth before him; he seemed
+to himself to have been suddenly relegated to the background, among the
+elder members of the family.
+
+The collie had been standing beside his mistress with his head on one
+side, regarding Darrell with a sharp, inquisitive look, and he now broke
+the silence, which threatened to prove rather embarrassing, with a short
+bark.
+
+"Hush, Duke!" said the girl, in a low tone; then, as Darrell dismounted,
+she came swiftly towards him, extending her hand.
+
+"This is Mr. Darrell, I know," she said, speaking quite rapidly in a
+clear, musical voice, without a shade of affectation, "and you probably
+know who I am, so we will need no introduction."
+
+"Yes, Miss Underwood," said Darrell, smiling into the beautiful brown
+eyes, "I would have recognized you anywhere from your picture."
+
+"And you have Trix, haven't you?" she exclaimed, turning to caress the
+mare. "Dear old Trix! Just let her go, Mr. Darrell; she will go to the
+stables of her own accord and Bennett will take care of her; that was
+the way Harry taught her. Go find Bennett, Trix!"
+
+They watched Trix follow the driveway and disappear around the corner,
+then both turned towards the house.
+
+"Auntie is out just now," said the girl; "she had to go down town, but I
+am expecting her back every minute. Will you go into the house, Mr.
+Darrell, or do you prefer a seat on the veranda?"
+
+"The veranda looks inviting; suppose we sit here," Darrell suggested.
+
+They had reached the steps leading to the entrance. On the top step the
+collie had seated himself and was now awaiting their approach with the
+air of one expecting due recognition.
+
+"Mr. Darrell," said the young girl, with a merry little laugh, "allow me
+to present you to His Highness, the Duke of Argyle!"
+
+The collie gave his head a slight backward toss, and, with great
+dignity, extended his right paw to Darrell, which the latter, instantly
+entering into the spirit of the joke, took, saying, with much gravity,--
+
+"I am pleased to meet His Highness!"
+
+The girl's brown eyes danced with enjoyment.
+
+"You have made a friend of him for life, now," she said as they seated
+themselves, Duke stationing himself at her side in such a manner as to
+show his snow-white vest and great double ruff to the best possible
+advantage. "He is a very aristocratic dog, and if any one fails to show
+him what he considers proper respect, he is greatly affronted."
+
+"He certainly is a royal-looking fellow," said Darrell, "but I cannot
+imagine how you ever gained Mrs. Dean's consent to his presence here.
+You must possess even more than the ordinary powers of feminine
+persuasion."
+
+"Aunt Marcia?" laughed the girl; "oh, well, you see it was a case of
+'love me, love my dog.' Wherever I go, Duke must go, so auntie had to
+submit to the inevitable."
+
+Darrell found the situation far less embarrassing than he had expected.
+His young companion, with keen, womanly intuition, had divined something
+of his feeling, and tactfully avoiding any allusion to their previous
+meeting, of which he had no recollection, kept the conversation on
+subjects within the brief span of his memory. She seemed altogether
+unconscious of the peculiar conditions surrounding himself, and the
+brown eyes, meeting his own so frankly, had in their depths nothing of
+the curiosity or the pity he had so often encountered, and had grown to
+dread. She appeared so childlike and unaffected, and her joyous,
+rippling laughter proved so contagious, that unconsciously the extra
+years which a few moments before seemed to have been added to his life
+dropped away; the grave, tense lines of his face relaxed, and before he
+was aware he was laughing heartily at the account of some school-girl
+escapade or at some tricks performed by Duke for his especial
+entertainment.
+
+In the midst of their merriment they heard the sound of hoof-beats, and,
+turning, saw the family carriage approaching, containing both Mr.
+Underwood and his sister.
+
+"You two children seem to be enjoying yourselves!" was Mr. Underwood's
+comment as the carriage stopped.
+
+Darrell sprang to Mrs. Dean's assistance as she alighted, while Kate
+Underwood ran down the steps to meet her father. Both greeted Darrell
+warmly, but Mrs. Dean retained his hand a moment as she looked at him
+with genuine motherly interest.
+
+"I'm glad the truant has returned," she said, with her quiet smile; "I
+only hope it seems as good to you to come home as it does to us to have
+you here!"
+
+Darrell was touched by her unusual kindness. "You can rest assured that
+it does, mother," he said, earnestly. He was astonished at the effect of
+his words: her face flushed, her lips trembled, and as she passed on
+into the house her eyes glistened with tears.
+
+Darrell looked about him in bewilderment. "What have I said?" he
+questioned; "how did I wound her feelings?"
+
+"She lost a son years ago, and she's never got over it," Mr. Underwood
+explained, briefly.
+
+"You did not hurt her feelings--she was pleased," Kate hastened to
+reassure him; "but did she never speak to you about it?"
+
+"Never," Darrell replied.
+
+"Well, that is not to be wondered at, for she seldom alludes to it. He
+died years ago, before I can remember, but she always grieves for him;
+that was the reason," she added, reflectively, half to herself, "that
+she always loved Harry better than she did me."
+
+"Better than you, you jealous little Puss!" said her father, pinching
+her cheek; "don't you have love enough, I'd like to know?"
+
+"I can never have too much, you know, papa," she answered, very
+seriously, and Darrell, watching, saw in the brown eyes for the first
+time the wistful look he had seen in the two portraits.
+
+She soon followed her aunt, but her father and Darrell remained outside
+talking of business matters until summoned to dinner. On entering the
+house Darrell saw on every hand evidences of the young life in the old
+home. There was just a pleasant touch of disorder in the rooms he had
+always seen kept with such precision: here a bit of unfinished
+embroidery; there a book open, face down, just where the fair reader had
+left it; the piano was open and sheets of music lay scattered over it.
+From every side came the fragrance of flowers, and in the usually sombre
+dining-room Darrell noted the fireplace nearly concealed by palms and
+potted plants, the chandelier trimmed with trailing vines, the epergne
+of roses and ferns on the table, and the tiny boutonnieres at his plate
+and Mr. Underwood's. With a smile of thanks at the happy young face
+opposite, he appropriated the one intended for himself, but Mr.
+Underwood, picking up the one beside his plate, sat twirling it in his
+fingers with a look of mock perplexity.
+
+"Puss has introduced so many of her folderols I haven't got used to them
+yet," he said. "How is this to be taken,--before eating, or after?" he
+inquired, looking at her from under heavy, frowning brows.
+
+"To be taken! Oh, papa!" she ejaculated; "why don't you put it on as Mr.
+Darrell has his? Here, I'll fix it for you!"
+
+With an air of resignation he waited while she fastened the flowers in
+the lapel of his coat, giving the latter an approving little pat as she
+finished.
+
+"There!" she exclaimed; "you ought to see how nice you look!"
+
+"H'm! I'm glad to hear it," he grunted; "I feel like a prize steer at a
+county fair!"
+
+In the laughter which followed Kate joined as merrily as the rest, and
+no one but Darrell observed the deepening flush on her cheek or heard
+the tremulous sigh when the laughter was ended.
+
+After dinner they adjourned to the large sitting-room, Mr. Underwood
+with his pipe, Mrs. Dean with her knitting, and Darrell, while
+conversing with the former, watched with a new interest the latter's
+placid face, wondering at the depth of feeling concealed beneath that
+calm exterior.
+
+As the twilight deepened and conversation began to flag, there came from
+the piano a few sweet chords, followed by one of Chopin's dreamy
+nocturnes. Mr. Underwood began to doze in his chair, and Darrell sat
+silent, his eyes closed, his whole soul given up to the spell of the
+music. Unconscious of the pleasure she was giving, Kate played till the
+room was veiled in darkness; then going to the fireplace she lighted the
+fire already laid--for the nights were still somewhat chilly--and sat
+down on a low seat before the fire, while Duke came and lay at her feet.
+It was a pretty picture; the young girl in white, her eyes fixed
+dreamily on the glowing embers, the firelight dancing over her form and
+face and lighting up her hair with gleams of gold; the dog at her feet,
+his head thrown proudly back, and his eyes fastened on her face with a
+look of loyal devotion seldom seen even in human eyes.
+
+Happening to glance in Mr. Underwood's direction Darrell saw pride,
+pleasure, and pain struggling for the mastery in the father's face as he
+watched the picture in the firelight. Pain won, and with a sudden
+gesture of impatience he covered his eyes with his hand, as though to
+shut out the scene. It was but a little thing, but taken in connection
+with the incident before dinner, it appealed to Darrell, showing, as it
+did, the silent, stoical manner in which these people bore their grief.
+
+Mrs. Dean's quiet voice interrupted his musings and broke the spell
+which the music seemed to have thrown around them.
+
+"You will have some one now, Katherine, to accompany you on the violin,
+as you have always wanted; Mr. Darrell is a fine violinist."
+
+Kate was instantly all animation. "Oh, that will be delightful, Mr.
+Darrell!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "there is nothing I enjoy so much as a
+violin accompaniment; it adds so much expression to the music. I think a
+piano alone is so unsympathetic; you can't get any feeling out of it!"
+
+"I'm afraid, Miss Underwood, I will prove a disappointment to you,"
+Darrell replied; "I have never yet attempted any new music, or even to
+play by note, and don't know what success I would have, if any. So far I
+have only played what drifts to me--some way, I don't know how--from out
+of the past."
+
+The unconscious sadness in his voice stirred the depths of Kate's tender
+heart. "Oh, that is too bad!" she exclaimed, quickly, thinking, not of
+her own disappointment, but of his trouble of which she had unwittingly
+reminded him; then she added, gently, almost timidly,--
+
+"But you will, at any rate, let me hear you play, won't you?"
+
+"Certainly, if it will give you any pleasure," he replied, with a slight
+smile.
+
+"Very well; then we will arrange it this way," she continued, her
+cheerful manner restored; "you will play your music, and, if I am
+familiar with it, I will accompany you on the piano. I will get out
+Harry's violin to-morrow, and while auntie is taking her nap and papa is
+engaged, we will see what we can accomplish in a musical way."
+
+Before Darrell could reply, Mr. Underwood, who had started from his
+revery, demanded,--
+
+"What engagement are you talking about, you chatterbox?"
+
+"I can't say, papa," she replied, playfully seating herself on the arm
+of his chair; "I only know that when I asked your company for a walk
+to-morrow afternoon, you pleaded a very important engagement. Now, how
+is that?" she asked archly; "have you an engagement, really, or didn't
+you care for my society?"
+
+"Why, yes, to be sure; it had escaped my mind for the moment," her
+father answered, rather vaguely she thought; then, looking at Darrell,
+he said,--
+
+"Walcott is coming to-morrow for my final decision in that matter."
+
+Darrell bowed in token that he understood, but did not feel at liberty
+to inquire whether the decision was to be favorable to Mr. Walcott, or
+otherwise. Kate glanced quickly from one to the other, but before she
+could speak her father continued:
+
+"I rather think if he consents to two or three conditions which I shall
+insist upon, that my answer will be in the affirmative."
+
+"I thought that quite probable from your conversation the other day,"
+Darrell replied.
+
+"See here, papa!" Kate exclaimed, mischievously, "you needn't talk over
+my head! You used to do so when I was little, but you can't any longer,
+you know. Who is this 'Walcott,' and what is this important decision
+about?"
+
+Mr. Underwood, who did not believe in taking what he called the "women
+folks" into his confidence regarding business affairs, looked
+quizzically into the laughing face beside him.
+
+"Didn't I hear you arranging some sort of a musical programme with Mr.
+Darrell?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes; what has that to do with your engagement?" she queried.
+
+"Nothing whatever; only you carry out your engagement and I will mine,
+and we'll compare notes afterwards."
+
+For an instant her face sobered; then catching sight of her father's
+eyes twinkling under their beetling brows, she laughingly withdrew from
+his side, saying,--
+
+"That's all very well; you can score one this time, papa, but don't you
+think we won't come out pretty near even in the end!"
+
+Upon learning from Darrell that the violin she expected him to use was
+in his room at the mining camp, she then proposed a stroll to the summit
+of the pine-clad mountain for the following afternoon, and having
+secured his promise that he would bring the violin with him on his next
+visit, she waltzed gayly across the floor, turned on the light, and
+seating herself at the piano soon had the room ringing with music and
+laughter while she sang a number of college songs.
+
+To Darrell she seemed more child than woman, and he was constantly
+impressed with her unlikeness to her father or aunt. She seemed to have
+absolutely none of their self-repression. Warm-hearted, sympathetic, and
+demonstrative, every shade of feeling betrayed itself in her sensitive,
+mobile face and in the brown eyes, one moment pensive and wistful, the
+next luminous with sympathy or dancing with merriment.
+
+As Darrell took leave of Mrs. Dean that night, he said, looking frankly
+into her calm, kindly face,--
+
+"I am very sorry if I wounded your feelings this afternoon; it was
+wholly unintentional, I assure you."
+
+"You did not in the least," she answered; "it is so long since I have
+been called by that name it took me by surprise, but it sounded very
+pleasant to me. My boy, if he had lived, would have been just about your
+age."
+
+"It seemed pleasant to me to call you 'mother,'" said Darrell; "it made
+me feel less like an outsider."
+
+"You can call me so as often as you wish; you are no outsider here; we
+consider you one of ourselves," she responded, with more warmth in her
+tones than he had ever heard before.
+
+The following morning Darrell accompanied the ladies to church. After
+lunch he lounged for an hour or more in one of the hammocks on the
+veranda, listening alternately to Mr. Underwood's comments as he
+leisurely smoked his pipe, and to the faint tones of a mandolin coming
+from some remote part of the house. Mr. Underwood grew more and more
+abstracted, the mandolin ceased, and Darrell, soothed by his
+surroundings to a temporary forgetfulness of his troubles, swung gently
+back and forth in a sort of dreamy content. After a while, Kate
+Underwood appeared, dressed for a walk, and, accompanied by Duke, the
+two set forth for their mountain ramble, for the time as light-hearted
+as two children.
+
+Upon their return, two or three hours later, while still at a little
+distance from the house, they saw Mr. Underwood and a stranger standing
+together on the veranda. The latter, who was apparently about to take
+his departure, and whom Darrell at once assumed to be Mr. Walcott, was
+about thirty years of age, of medium height, with a finely proportioned
+and rather muscular form, erect and dignified in his bearing, with a
+lithe suppleness and grace in all his movements. He was standing with
+his hat in his hand, and Darrell, who had time to observe him closely,
+noting his jet-black hair, close cut excepting where it curled slightly
+over his forehead, his black, silky moustache, and the oval contour of
+his olive face, remembered Mr. Underwood's remark of the probability of
+Spanish blood in his veins.
+
+As they came near, Duke gave a low growl, but Kate instantly hushed him,
+chiding him for his rudeness. At the sound, the stranger turned towards
+them, and Mr. Underwood at once introduced Mr. Walcott to his daughter
+and Mr. Darrell. He greeted them both with the most punctilious
+courtesy, but as he faced Darrell, the latter saw for an instant in the
+half-closed, blue-black eyes, the pity tinged with contempt to which he
+had long since become accustomed, yet which, as often as he met it,
+thrilled him anew with pain. The look passed, however, and Mr. Walcott,
+in low, well-modulated tones, conversed pleasantly for a few moments
+with the new-comers, the three young people forming a striking trio as
+they stood there in the bright sunshine amid the June roses; then, with
+a graceful adieu, he walked swiftly away.
+
+As soon as he was out of hearing Mr. Underwood, turning to Darrell,
+said,--
+
+"It is decided; the papers will be drawn to-morrow."
+
+Then taking his daughter's flushed, perplexed face between his hands, he
+said,--
+
+"Mr. Walcott and I are going into partnership; how do you like the looks
+of my partner, Puss?"
+
+She looked incredulous. "That young man your partner!" she exclaimed;
+"why, he seems the very last man I should ever expect you to fancy!"
+Then she added, laughing,--
+
+"Oh, papa, I think he must have hypnotized you! Does Aunt Marcia know?
+May I tell her?" And, having gained his consent, she ran into the house
+to impart the news to Mrs. Dean.
+
+"That's the woman of it!" said Mr. Underwood, grimly; "they always want
+to immediately tell some other woman! But what do you think of my
+partner?" he asked, looking searchingly at Darrell, who had not yet
+spoken.
+
+Darrell did not reply at once; he felt in some way bewildered. All the
+content, the joy, the sunshine of the last few hours seemed to have been
+suddenly blotted out, though he could not have told why. The remembrance
+of that glance still stung him, but aside from that, he felt his whole
+soul filled with an inexplicable antagonism towards this man.
+
+"I hardly know yet just what I do think of him," he answered, slowly; "I
+have not formed a definite opinion of him, but I think, as your daughter
+says, he somehow seems the last man whom I would have expected you to
+associate yourself with."
+
+Mr. Underwood frowned. "I don't generally make mistakes in people," he
+said, rather gruffly; "if I'm mistaken in this man, it will be the first
+time."
+
+Nothing further was said on the subject, though it remained uppermost in
+the minds of both, with the result that their conversation was rather
+spasmodic and desultory. At the dinner-table, Kate was quick to observe
+the unusual silence, and, intuitively connecting it in some way with the
+new partnership, refrained alike from question or comment regarding
+either that subject or Mr. Walcott, while it was a rule with Mrs. Dean
+never to refer to her brother's business affairs unless he first alluded
+to them himself.
+
+The evening passed more pleasantly, as Kate coaxed her father into
+telling some reminiscences of his early western life, which greatly
+interested Darrell. Something of the old restlessness had returned to
+him, however. He spent a wakeful night, and was glad when morning came
+and he could return to his work.
+
+As he came out of the house at an early hour to set forth on his long
+ride he found Kate engaged in feeding Trix with lumps of sugar. She
+greeted him merrily, and as he started down the avenue he was followed
+by a rippling laugh and a shower of roses, one of which he caught and
+fastened in his buttonhole, but on looking back over his shoulder she
+had vanished, and only Duke was visible.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XIII_
+
+MR. UNDERWOOD "STRIKES" FIRST
+
+
+The ensuing days were filled with work demanding close attention and
+concentration of thought, but often in the long, cool twilight, while
+Darrell rested from his day's work before entering upon the night's
+study, he recalled his visit to The Pines with a degree of pleasure
+hitherto unknown. He had found Kate Underwood far different from his
+anticipations, though just what his anticipations had been he did not
+stop to define. There was at times a womanly grace and dignity in her
+bearing which he would have expected from her portrait and which he
+admired, but what especially attracted him was her utter lack of
+affectation or self-consciousness. She was as unconscious as a child;
+her sympathy towards himself and her pleasant familiarity with him were
+those of a warm-hearted, winsome child.
+
+He liked best to recall her as she looked that evening seated by the
+fireside: the childish pose, the graceful outlines of her form
+silhouetted against the light; the dreamy eyes, with their long golden
+lashes curling upward; the lips parted in a half smile, and the gleam of
+the firelight on her hair. But it was always as a child that he recalled
+her, and the thought that to himself, or to any other, she could be
+aught else never occurred to him. Of young Whitcomb's love for her, of
+course, he had no recollection, nor had it ever been mentioned in his
+hearing since his illness.
+
+Day by day the work at the camp increased, and there also began to be
+indications of an approaching outbreak among the men. The union
+boarding-house was nearing completion; it was rumored that it would be
+ready for occupancy within a week or ten days; the walking delegates
+from the union could be frequently seen loitering about the camp,
+especially when the changes in shifts were made, waiting to get word
+with the men, and it was nothing uncommon to see occasional groups of
+the men engaged in argument, which suddenly broke off at the appearance
+of Darrell, or of Hathaway, the superintendent.
+
+So engrossed was Mr. Underwood with the arrangement of details for the
+inauguration of the new firm of Underwood & Walcott that he was unable
+to be at the camp that week. On Saturday afternoon Darrell, having
+learned that Hathaway was to be gone over Sunday, and believing it best
+under existing circumstances not to leave the camp, sent Mr. Underwood a
+message to that effect, and also informing him of the status of affairs
+there.
+
+Early the following week Mr. Underwood made his appearance at the camp,
+and if the union bosses had entertained any hope of effecting a
+compromise with the owner of Camp Bird, as it was known, such hope must
+have been blasted upon mere sight of that gentleman's face upon his
+arrival. Darrell himself could scarcely restrain a smile of amusement as
+they met. Mr. Underwood fairly bristled with defiance, and, after the
+briefest kind of a greeting, started to make his usual rounds of the
+camp. He stopped abruptly, fumbled in his pocket for an instant, then,
+handing a dainty envelope to Darrell, hastened on without a word.
+Darrell saw smiles exchanged among the men, but he preserved the utmost
+gravity until, having reached his desk, he opened and read the little
+note. It contained merely a few pleasant lines from Kate, expressing
+disappointment at his failure to come to The Pines on the preceding
+Saturday, and reminding him of his promise concerning the violin; but
+the postscript, which in true feminine style comprised the real gist of
+the note, made him smile audibly. It ran:
+
+     "Papa has donned his paint and feathers this morning and is
+     evidently starting out on the war-path. I haven't an idea whose
+     scalps he intends taking, but hope you will at least preserve your
+     own intact."
+
+At dinner Mr. Underwood maintained an ominous silence, replying in
+monosyllables to any question or remark addressed to him. He soon left
+the table, and Darrell did not see him again till late in the afternoon,
+when he entered the laboratory. A glance at the set lines of his face
+told Darrell as plainly as words that his line of action was fully
+determined upon, and that it would be as fixed and unalterable as the
+laws of the Medes and Persians.
+
+"I am going home now," he announced briefly, in reply to Darrell's
+somewhat questioning look; "I'll be back here the last of the week."
+
+"What do you think of the outlook, Mr. Underwood?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"It is about what I expected. I have seen all the men. They are, as I
+supposed, under the thumb of the union bosses. A few of them realize
+that the whole proposition is unreasonable and absurd, and they don't
+want to go out, but they don't dare say so above their breath, and they
+don't dare disobey orders, because they are owned, body and soul, by the
+union."
+
+"Have any of the leaders tried to make terms?"
+
+"I met one of their 'walking delegates' this morning," said Mr.
+Underwood, with scornful emphasis; "I told him to 'walk' himself out of
+the camp or I'd boot him out; and he walked!"
+
+Darrell laughed. Mr. Underwood continued: "The boarding-house opens on
+Thursday; on next Monday every man not enrolled in that institution will
+be ordered out."
+
+"It's to be a strike then, sure thing, is it?" Darrell asked.
+
+"Yes, there'll be a strike," Mr. Underwood answered, grimly, while a
+quick gleam shot across his face; "but remember one thing," he added, as
+he turned to leave the room, "no man ever yet got the drop or the first
+blow on me!"
+
+Matters continued about the same at the camp. On Friday favorable
+reports concerning the new boarding-house began to be circulated,
+brought the preceding evening by miners from another camp. Some of the
+men looked sullen and defiant, others only painfully self-conscious, in
+the presence of Darrell and the superintendent, but it was evident that
+the crisis was approaching.
+
+Late Friday night a horseman dismounted silently before the door of the
+office building and Mr. Underwood walked quietly into Darrell's room.
+
+"How's the new hotel? Overrun with boarders?" he asked, as he seated
+himself, paying little attention to Darrell's exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Chapman's men--about fifty in all--are the only ones there at present."
+
+"Chapman!" ejaculated Mr. Underwood; "what is Chapman doing? He agreed
+to stand in with the rest of us on this thing!"
+
+"He told Hathaway this morning he was only doing it for experiment. The
+boarding-house is located near his claims, you know, and he has
+comparatively few men. So he said he didn't mind trying it for a month
+or so."
+
+"Confound him! I'll make it the dearest experiment ever he tried," said
+Mr. Underwood, wrathfully; "he was in our office the other day trying to
+negotiate a loan for twenty-five thousand dollars that he said he had
+got to have within ten days or go to the wall. I'll see that he doesn't
+get it anywhere about here unless he stands by his word with us."
+
+After further conversation Mr. Underwood went out, saying he had a
+little business about the camp to attend to. He returned in the course
+of an hour, and Darrell heard him holding a long consultation with
+Hathaway before he retired for the night.
+
+The following morning the mill men of the camp, on going to their work,
+were astonished to find the mill closed and silent, while fastened on
+the great doors was a large placard which read as follows:
+
+     NOTICE.
+
+     The entire mining and milling plant of Camp Bird is closed down for
+     an indefinite period. All employees are requested to call at the
+     superintendent's office and receive their wages up to and including
+     Saturday, the 10th inst.
+                                                  D. K. UNDERWOOD.
+
+The miners found the hoist-house and the various shaft-houses closed and
+deserted, with notices similar to the above posted on their doors.
+
+Darrell, upon going to breakfast, learned that Mr. Underwood and the
+superintendent had breakfasted at an early hour. A little later, on his
+way to the mill, he observed groups of men here and there, some
+standing, some moving in the direction of the office, but gave the
+matter no particular thought until he reached the mill and was himself
+confronted by the placard. As he read the notice and recalled the groups
+of idlers, certain remarks made by Mr. Underwood came to his mind, and
+he seemed struck by the humorous side of the situation.
+
+"The old gentleman seems to have got the 'drop' on them, all right!" he
+said to himself, as, with an amused smile, he walked past the mill and
+out in the direction of the hoist. The ore-bins were closed and locked,
+the tram-cars stood empty on their tracks, the hoisting engine was
+still, the hoist-house and shaft-houses deserted. After the ceaseless
+noise and activity to which he had become accustomed at the camp the
+silence seemed oppressive, and he turned and retraced his steps to the
+office.
+
+A crowd of men was gathered outside the office building. In single file
+they passed into the office to the superintendent's window, received
+their money silently, in almost every instance without comment or
+question, and passed out again. Once outside, however, there they
+remained, their number constantly augmented by new arrivals, for the men
+on the night shift had been aroused by their comrades and were now
+streaming down from the bunk-houses. A few laughed and joked, some
+looked sullen, some troubled and anxious, but all remained packed about
+the building, quiet, undemonstrative, and mute as dumb brutes as to
+their reason for staying there. They were all prepared to march boldly
+out of the mill and mines on the following Monday, on a strike, in
+obedience to orders; even to resort to violence in defence of their
+so-called "rights" if so ordered, but Mr. Underwood's sudden move had
+disarmed them; there had been no opportunity for a conference with their
+leaders, with the result that they acted more in accordance with their
+own individual instincts, and the loss of work for which they would have
+cared little in the event of a strike was now uppermost in their minds.
+
+They eyed Darrell furtively and curiously, making way for him as he
+entered the building, but still they waited. For a few moments Darrell
+watched the scene, then he passed through the office into the room
+beyond, where he found Mr. Underwood engaged in sorting and filing
+papers. The latter looked up with a grim smile:
+
+"Been down to the mill?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Darrell answered, laughing; "I went to work as usual, only to
+find the door shut in my face, the same as the rest."
+
+"H'm! What do you think of the 'strike' now?"
+
+"I think you are making them swallow their own medicine, but I don't see
+why you need give me a dose of it; I haven't threatened to strike."
+
+Mr. Underwood's eyes twinkled shrewdly as he replied, "You had better go
+out there and get your pay along with the rest, and then go to your room
+and pack up. You may not be needed at the mill again for the next six
+months."
+
+"Will it be as serious as that, do you think?" Darrell inquired.
+
+Before Mr. Underwood could reply the superintendent opened the office
+door hastily.
+
+"Mr. Underwood," he said, "will you come out and speak to the men? They
+are all waiting outside and I can't drive them away; they say they won't
+stir till they've seen you."
+
+With a look of annoyance Mr. Underwood rose and passed out into the
+office; Darrell, somewhat interested, followed.
+
+"Well, boys," said Mr. Underwood, as he appeared in the doorway, "what
+do you want of me?"
+
+"If you please, sir," said one man, evidently spokesman for the crowd,
+and whom Darrell at once recognized as Dan, the engineer,--"if you
+please, sir, we would like to know how long this shut-down is going to
+last."
+
+"Can't tell," Mr. Underwood replied, shortly; "can't tell anything about
+it at present; it's indefinite."
+
+"Well," persisted the man, "there's some of us as thought that mebbe
+'twould only be till this 'ere trouble about the meals is settled, one
+way or t'other; and there's some as thought mebbe it hadn't nothing to
+do with that."
+
+"Well?" said Mr. Underwood, impatiently.
+
+"Well, sir," said Dan, lowering his voice a little and edging nearer Mr.
+Underwood, "you know as how the most of us was satisfied with things as
+they was, and didn't want no change and wouldn't have made no kick,
+only, you see, we had to, and we felt kinder anxious to know whether if
+this thing got settled some way and the camp opened up again, whether we
+could get back in our old places?"
+
+"Dan," said Mr. Underwood, impressively, and speaking loudly enough for
+every man to hear, "there can be no settlement of this question except
+to have things go on under precisely the same terms and conditions as
+they've always gone; so none of your leaders need come to me for terms,
+for they won't get 'em. And as to opening up the mines and mill, I'll
+open them up whenever I get ready, not a day sooner or later; and when I
+do start up again, if you men have come to your senses by that time and
+are ready to come back on the same terms, all right; if not," he paused
+an instant, then added with emphasis, "just remember there'll be others,
+and plenty of 'em, too."
+
+"Yes, sir; thank ye, sir," Dan answered, somewhat dubiously; then one
+and all moved slowly and mechanically away.
+
+Mr. Underwood turned to Darrell. "Get your things together as soon as
+you can. I'm going to send down three or four of the teams after dinner,
+and they can take your things along. And here's the key to the mill; go
+over and pick out whatever you will want in the way of an assaying
+outfit, and have that taken down with the rest. There's no need of your
+going to the expense of buying an outfit just for temporary use."
+
+By two o'clock scarcely a man remained at the camp. Mr. Underwood and
+Darrell were among the last to leave. Two faithful servants of Mr.
+Underwood's had arrived an hour or so before, who were to act as
+watchmen during the shut-down. Having taken them around the camp and
+given them the necessary instructions, Mr. Underwood then gave them the
+keys of the various buildings, saying, as he took his departure,--
+
+"There's grub enough in the boarding-house to last you two for some
+time, but whenever there's anything needed, let me know. Bring over some
+beds from the bunk-house and make yourselves comfortable."
+
+He climbed to a seat on one of the wagons, and, as they started, turned
+back to the watchmen for his parting admonition:
+
+"Keep an eye on things, boys! You're both good shots; if you catch
+anybody prowling 'round here, day or night, wing him, boys, wing him!"
+
+The teams then rattled noisily down the canyon road, Darrell, with Trix,
+bringing up the rear, feeling himself a sort of shuttlecock tossed to
+and fro by antagonistic forces in whose conflicts he personally had no
+part and no interest. However, he wasted no moments in useless regrets,
+but rode along in deep thought, planning for the uninterrupted pursuit
+of his studies amid the new and less favorable surroundings. Thus far he
+had met with unlooked-for success along the line of his researches and
+experiments, and each success but stimulated him to more diligent study.
+
+On their arrival at Ophir, Mr. Underwood gave directions to have the
+assaying outfit taken to the rooms in the rear of his own offices, after
+which he and Darrell, with the remaining teams, proceeded in the
+direction of The Pines. Trix, on finding herself headed for home,
+quickened her steps to such a brisk pace that on reaching the long
+driveway Darrell was considerably in advance of the others. He had no
+sooner emerged from the pines into the open, in full view of the house,
+than Duke came bounding down the driveway to meet him, with every
+possible demonstration of joyous welcome. His loud barking brought the
+ladies to the door just as Darrell, having quickly dismounted and sent
+Trix to the stables, was running up the broad stairs to the veranda, the
+collie close at his side.
+
+"Just look at Duke!" Kate Underwood exclaimed, shaking hands with
+Darrell; "and this is only the second time he has met you! You surely
+have won his heart, Mr. Darrell."
+
+"You are the only person outside of Katherine he has ever condescended
+to notice," said Mrs. Dean, with a smile.
+
+"I assure you I feel immensely flattered by his friendship," Darrell
+replied, caressing the collie; "the more so because I know it to be
+genuine."
+
+"He won't so much as look at me," Mrs. Dean added.
+
+"That is because you objected at first to having him here," said Kate;
+"he knows it, and he'll not forget it. But, Mr. Darrell, where is papa?"
+
+"He will be here directly," Darrell answered, smiling as he suddenly
+recalled the little note within his pocket; "he is returning from the
+war-path with the trophies of victory."
+
+Kate laughed and colored slightly. "Your own scalp has not suffered, at
+any rate," she said.
+
+"But he has brought me back a captive; here he comes now!"
+
+The wagon loaded with Darrell's belongings was just coming slowly into
+view, with Mr. Underwood on the seat beside the driver, the other teams
+having been sent to the stables by another route.
+
+Darrell noted the surprise depicted on the faces beside him, and,
+turning to Mrs. Dean, who stood next him, he said, in a low tone,--
+
+"I have come back to the old home, mother, for a little while; is there
+room for me?"
+
+Mrs. Dean looked at him steadily for an instant, while Kate ran to meet
+her father; then she replied, earnestly,--
+
+"There will always be room in the old home for you. I only wish that I
+could hope it would always hold you."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XIV_
+
+DRIFTING
+
+
+Early the following week Darrell was established in his new office. The
+building containing the offices of the firm of Underwood & Walcott had,
+as Mr. Underwood informed Darrell, been formerly occupied by one of the
+leading banks of Ophir, and was situated on the corner of two of its
+principal streets. Of the three handsome private offices in the rear Mr.
+Underwood occupied the one immediately adjoining the general offices;
+the next, separated from the first by a narrow entrance way, had been
+appropriated by Mr. Walcott, while the third, communicating with the
+second and opening directly upon the street, was now fitted up for
+Darrell's occupancy. The carpets and much of the original furnishing of
+the rooms still remained, but in the preparation of Darrell's room Kate
+Underwood and her aunt made numerous trips in their carriage between the
+offices and The Pines, with the result that when Darrell took possession
+many changes had been effected. Heavy curtains separated that portion of
+the room in which the laboratory work was to be done from that to be
+used as a study, and to the latter there had been added a rug or two, a
+bookcase in which Darrell could arrange his small library of scientific
+works, a cabinet of mineralogical specimens, and a pair of paintings
+intended to conceal some of Time's ravages on the once finely decorated
+walls, while palms and blooming plants transformed the large plate-glass
+windows into bowers of fragrance and beauty, at the same time forming a
+screen from the too inquisitive eyes of passers-by.
+
+Just as Darrell was completing the arrangement of his effects, Mr.
+Underwood and his partner sauntered into the room from their apartments.
+Within a few feet of the door Mr. Underwood came to a stop, his hands
+deep in his trousers pockets, his square chin thrust aggressively
+forward, while, with a face unreadable as granite, his keen eyes scanned
+every detail in the room. Mr. Walcott, on the contrary, made the entire
+circuit of the room, his hands carelessly clasped behind him, his head
+thrown well back, his every step characterized by a graceful, undulatory
+motion, like the movements of the feline tribe.
+
+"H'm!" was Mr. Underwood's sole comment when he had finished his survey
+of the room.
+
+Mr. Walcott turned towards his partner with a smile. "Mr. Darrell is
+evidently a prime favorite with the ladies," he remarked, pleasantly.
+
+"Well, they don't want to try any of their prime favorite business on
+me," retorted Mr. Underwood, as he slowly turned and left the room.
+
+Both young men laughed, and Walcott, with an easy, nonchalant air,
+seated himself near Darrell.
+
+"I find the old gentleman has a keen sense of humor," he said, still
+smiling; "but some of his jokes are inclined to be a little ponderous at
+times."
+
+"His humor generally lies along the lines of sarcasm," Darrell replied.
+
+"Ah, something of a cynic, is he?"
+
+"No," said Darrell; "he has too kind a heart to be cynical, but he is
+very fond of concealing it by sarcasm and brusqueness."
+
+"He is quite original and unique in his way. I find him really a much
+more agreeable man than I anticipated. You have very pleasant quarters
+here, Mr. Darrell. I should judge you intended this as a sort of study
+as well as an office."
+
+"I do intend it so. Probably for a while I shall do more studying than
+anything else, as it may be some time before I get any assaying."
+
+"I think we can probably throw quite a bit of work your way, as we
+frequently have inquiries from some of our clients wanting something in
+that line."
+
+"Walcott," said Mr. Underwood, re-entering suddenly, "Chapman is out
+there; go and meet him. You can conduct negotiations with him on the
+terms we agreed upon, but I don't care to figure in the deal. If he asks
+for me, tell him I'm out."
+
+"I see; as the ladies say, you're 'not at home,'" said Walcott, smiling,
+as he sprang quickly to his feet. "Well, Mr. Darrell," he continued, "I
+consider myself fortunate in having you for so near a neighbor, and I
+trust that we shall prove good friends and our relations mutually
+agreeable."
+
+Darrell's dark, penetrating eyes looked squarely into the half-closed,
+smiling ones, which met his glance for an instant, then wavered and
+dropped.
+
+"I know of no reason why we should not be friends," he replied, quietly,
+knowing he could say that much with all candor, yet feeling that
+friendship between them was an utter impossibility, and that of this
+Walcott was as conscious as was he himself.
+
+"Well, my boy," said Mr. Underwood, seating himself before Darrell's
+desk, "I guess 'twas a good thing you took the old man's advice for
+once. I don't know where you would find better quarters than these."
+
+Darrell smiled. "As to following your advice, Mr. Underwood, you didn't
+even give me a chance. You suggested my taking one of these rooms, and
+then gave orders on your own responsibility for my paraphernalia to be
+deposited here, and there was nothing left for me to do but to settle
+down. However," he added, laying some money on the desk before Mr.
+Underwood, "I have no complaint to make. Just kindly receipt for that."
+
+"Receipt for this! What do you mean? What is it, anyway?" exclaimed Mr.
+Underwood, in a bewildered tone.
+
+"It is the month's rent in advance, according to your custom."
+
+"Rent!" Mr. Underwood ejaculated, now thoroughly angry; "what do I want
+of rent from you? Can't you let me be a friend to you? Time and time
+again I've tried to help you and you wouldn't have it. Now I'll give you
+warning, young man, that one of these days you'll go a little too far in
+this thing, and then you'll have to look somewhere else for friends, for
+when I'm done with a man, I'm done with him forever!"
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, with dignity, "you are yourself going too
+far at this moment. You know I do not refuse favors from you personally.
+Do I not consider your home mine? Have I ever offered you compensation
+for anything that you or your sister have done for me? But this is a
+different affair altogether."
+
+"Different! I'd like to know wherein."
+
+"Mr. Underwood, if, in addition to your other kindnesses, you personally
+offered me the use of this room gratis, I might accept it; but I will
+accept no favors from the firm of Underwood & Walcott."
+
+"Humph! I don't see what difference that need make!" Mr. Underwood
+retorted.
+
+He sat silently studying Darrell for a few moments, but the latter's
+face was as unreadable as his own.
+
+"What have you got against that fellow?" he asked at length, curiously.
+
+"I have nothing whatever against him, Mr. Underwood."
+
+"But you're not friendly to him."
+
+Darrell remained silent.
+
+"He is friendly to you," continued Mr. Underwood; "he has talked with me
+considerably about you and takes quite an interest in you and in your
+success."
+
+"Possibly," Darrell answered, dryly; "but you will oblige me by not
+talking of me to him. I have nothing against Mr. Walcott; I am neither
+friendly nor unfriendly to him, but he is a man to whom I do not wish to
+be under any obligations whatsoever."
+
+In vain Mr. Underwood argued; Darrell remained obdurate, and when he
+left the office a little later he carried with him the receipt of
+Underwood & Walcott for office rent.
+
+Darrell's reputation as an expert which he had already established at
+the mining camp soon reached Ophir, with the result that he was not long
+without work in the new office. For a time he devoted his leisure hours
+to unremitting study. The brief but intense summer season of the high
+altitudes was now well advanced, however, and in its stifling heat, amid
+the noise of the busy little city, and constantly subjected to
+interruptions, his scientific studies and researches lost half their
+charm.
+
+And in proportion as they lost their power to interest him the home on
+the mountain-side, beyond reach of the city's heat and dust and clamor,
+drew him with increasing and irresistible force. Never before had it
+seemed to him so attractive, so beautiful, so homelike as now. He did
+not stop to ask himself wherein its new charm consisted or to analyze
+the sense of relief and gladness with which he turned his face homeward
+when the day's work was ended. He only felt vaguely that the silent,
+undemonstrative love which the old place had so long held for him had
+suddenly found expression. It smiled to him from the flowers nodding
+gayly to him as he passed; it echoed in the tinkling music of the
+fountains; the murmuring pines whispered it to him as their fragrant
+breath fanned his cheek; but more than all he read it in the brown eyes
+which grew luminous with welcome at his approach and heard it in the
+low, sweet voice whose wonderful modulations were themselves more
+eloquent than words. And with this interpretation of the strange, new
+joy day by day permeating his whole life, he went his way in deep
+content.
+
+And to Kate Underwood this summer seemed the brightest and the fairest
+of all the summers of her young life; why, she could not have told,
+except that the skies were bluer, the sunlight more golden, and the
+birds sang more joyously than ever before.
+
+In a mining town like Ophir there was comparatively little society for
+her, so that most of her evenings were spent at home, and she and
+Darrell were of necessity thrown much together. Sometimes he joined her
+in a game of tennis, a ride or drive or a short mountain ramble;
+sometimes he sat on the veranda with the elder couple, listening while
+she played and sang; but more often their voices blended, while the
+wild, plaintive notes of the violin rose and fell on the evening air
+accompanied by the piano or by the guitar or mandolin. Together they
+watched the sunsets or walked up and down the mountain terrace in the
+moonlight, enjoying to the full the beauty around them, neither as yet
+dreaming that,--more than their joy in the bloom and beauty and
+fragrance, in the music of the fountains or the murmuring voices of the
+pines, in the sunset's glory, or the moonlight's mystical
+radiance,--above all, deeper than all, pervading all, was their joy in
+each other. Hers was a nature essentially childlike; his very infirmity
+rendered him in experience less than a child; and so, devoid of worldly
+wisdom,--like Earth's first pair of lovers, without knowledge of good or
+evil,--all unconsciously they entered their Eden.
+
+One sultry Sunday afternoon they sat within the vine-clad veranda, the
+strains of the violin and guitar blending on the languorous, perfumed
+air. As the last notes died away Kate exclaimed,--
+
+"I never had any one accompany me who played with so much expression.
+You give me an altogether different conception of a piece of music; you
+seem to make it full of new meaning."
+
+"And why not?" Darrell inquired. "Music is a language of itself, capable
+of infinitely more expression than our spoken language."
+
+"Who is speaking, then, when you play as you did just now--the soul of
+the musician or your own?"
+
+"The musician's; I am only the interpreter. The more perfect the harmony
+or sympathy between his soul, as expressed in the music, and mine, the
+truer will be the rendering I give. A fine elocutionist will reveal the
+beauties of a classic poem to hundreds who, of themselves, might never
+have understood it; but the poem is not his, he is only the poet's
+interpreter."
+
+"If you call that piece of music which you have just rendered only an
+interpretation," Kate answered, in a low tone, "I only wish that I could
+for once hear your own soul speaking through the violin!"
+
+Darrell smiled. "Do you really wish it?" he asked, after a pause,
+looking into the wistful brown eyes.
+
+"I do."
+
+She was seated in a low hammock, swinging gently to and fro. He sat at a
+little distance from her feet, on the topmost of the broad stairs, his
+back against one of the large, vine-wreathed columns, Duke stretched
+full length beside him.
+
+A slight breeze stirred the flower-scented air and set the pines
+whispering for a moment; then all was silent. With eyes half closed,
+Darrell raised the violin and, drawing the bow softly across the
+strings, began one of his own improvisos, the exquisite, piercing
+sweetness of the first notes swelling with an indescribable pathos until
+Kate could scarcely restrain a cry of pain. Higher and higher they
+soared, until above the clouds they poised lightly for an instant, then
+descended in a flood of liquid harmonies which alternately rose and
+fell, sometimes tremulous with hope, sometimes moaning in low undertones
+of grief, never despairing, but always with the same heart-rending
+pathos, always voicing the same unutterable longing.
+
+Unmindful of his surroundings, his whole soul absorbed in the music,
+Darrell played on, till, as the strains sank to a minor undertone, he
+heard a stifled sob, followed by a low whine from Duke. He glanced
+towards Kate, and the music ceased instantly. Unobserved by him she had
+left the hammock and was seated opposite himself, listening as though
+entranced, her lips quivering, her eyes shining with unshed tears, while
+Duke, alarmed by what he considered signs of evident distress, looked
+anxiously from her to Darrell as though entreating his help.
+
+"Why, my dear child, what is the matter?" Darrell exclaimed, moving
+quickly to her side.
+
+"Oh," she cried, piteously, "how could you stop so suddenly! It was
+like snapping a beautiful golden thread!" And burying her face in her
+hands, her whole frame shook with sobs.
+
+Darrell, somewhat alarmed himself, laid his hand on her shoulder in an
+attempt to soothe her. In a moment she raised her head, the tear-drops
+still glistening on her cheeks and her long golden lashes.
+
+"It was childish in me to give way like that," she said, with a smile
+that reminded Darrell of the sun shining through a summer shower; "but
+oh, that music! It was the saddest and the sweetest I ever heard! It was
+breaking my heart, and yet I could have listened to it forever!"
+
+"It was my fault," said Darrell, regretfully; "I should not have played
+so long, but I always forget myself when playing that way."
+
+Kate's face grew suddenly grave and serious. "Mr. Darrell," she said,
+hesitatingly, "I have thought very often about the sad side of your
+life--since your illness, you know; but I never realized till now the
+terrible loneliness of it all."
+
+She paused as though uncertain how to proceed. Darrell's face had in
+turn become grave.
+
+"Did the violin tell you that?" he asked, gently.
+
+She nodded silently.
+
+"Yes, it has been lonely, inexpressibly so," he said, unconsciously
+using the past tense; "but I had no right to cause you this suffering by
+inflicting my loneliness upon you."
+
+"Do not say that," she replied, quickly; "I am glad that you told
+me,--in the way you did; glad not only that I understand you better and
+can better sympathize with you, but also because I believe you can
+understand me as no one else has; for one reason why the music affected
+me so much was that it seemed the expression of my own feelings, of my
+hunger for sympathy all these years."
+
+"Have there been shadows in your life, then, too? It looked to be all
+sunshine," Darrell said, his face growing tender as he saw the
+tear-drops falling.
+
+"Yes, it would seem so, with this beautiful home and all that papa does
+for me, and sometimes I'm afraid I'm ungrateful. But oh, Mr. Darrell, if
+you could have known my mother, you would understand! She was so
+different from papa and auntie, and she loved me so! And it seems as
+though since she died I've had nobody to love me. I suppose papa does in
+a fashion, but he is too busy to show it, or else he doesn't know how;
+and Aunt Marcia! well, you know she's good as she can be, but if she
+loved you, you would never know it. I've wondered sometimes if poor
+mamma didn't die just for want of love; it has seemed lots of times as
+though I would!"
+
+"Poor little girl!" said Darrell, pityingly. He understood now the
+wistful, appealing look of the brown eyes. He intended to say something
+expressive of sympathy, but the right words would not come. He could
+think of nothing that did not sound stilted and formal. Almost
+unconsciously he laid his hand with a tender caress on the slender
+little white hand lying near him, much as he would have laid it on a
+wounded bird; and just as unconsciously, the little hand nestled
+contentedly, like a bird, within his clasp.
+
+A few days later Darrell heard from Walcott the story of Harry
+Whitcomb's love for his cousin. It had been reported, Walcott said, in
+low tones, as though imparting a secret, that young Whitcomb was
+hopelessly in love with Miss Underwood, but that she seemed rather
+indifferent to his attentions. It was thought, however, that the old
+gentleman had favored the match, as he had given his nephew an interest
+in his mining business, and had the latter lived and proved himself a
+good financier, it was believed that Mr. Underwood would in time have
+bestowed his daughter upon him.
+
+Darrell listened silently. Of young Whitcomb, of his death, and of his
+own part in that sad affair he had often heard, but no mention of
+anything of this nature. He sat lost in thought.
+
+"Of course, you know how sadly the romance ended," Walcott continued,
+wondering somewhat at Darrell's silence. "I have understood that you
+were a witness of young Whitcomb's tragic death."
+
+"I know from hearsay, that is all," Darrell replied, quietly; "I have
+heard the story a number of times."
+
+Walcott expressed great surprise. "Pardon me, Mr. Darrell, for referring
+to the matter. I had heard something regarding the peculiar nature of
+your malady, but I had no idea it was so marked as that. Is it possible
+that you have no recollection of that affair?"
+
+"None whatever," Darrell answered, briefly, as though he did not care to
+discuss the matter.
+
+"How strange! One would naturally have supposed that anything so
+terrible, so shocking to the sensibilities, would have left an
+impression on your mind never to have been effaced! But I fear the
+subject is unpleasant to you, Mr. Darrell; pardon me for having alluded
+to it."
+
+The conversation turned, but Darrell could not banish the subject from
+his thoughts. Kate had often spoken to him of her cousin, but never as a
+lover. He recalled his portrait at The Pines; the frank, boyish face
+with its winning smile--a bonnie lover surely! Had she, or had she not,
+he wondered, learned to reciprocate his love before the tragic ending
+came? And if not, did she now regret it?
+
+He watched her that evening, fearing to broach a subject so delicate,
+but pondering long and deeply, till at last she rallied him on his
+unusual seriousness, and he told her what he had heard.
+
+"Yes," she said, in reply; "Harry loved me, or thought he did; though he
+was like the others--he did not understand me any better than they. But
+he had always been just like a brother to me, and I could never have
+loved him in any other way, and I told him so. Papa said I would learn
+in time, and I think perhaps he would have insisted upon it if Harry had
+lived. I was sorry I couldn't care for him as he wished; he thought I
+would after a while, but I never could, for I think that kind of love is
+far different from all others; don't you, Mr. Darrell?"
+
+And Darrell, looking from the mountain-side where they were standing out
+into the deep blue spaces where the stars, one by one, were gliding into
+sight, answered, reverently,--
+
+"As far above all others 'as the heaven is high above the earth.'"
+
+To him at that instant love--the love that should exist between two who,
+out of earth's millions, have chosen each the other--seemed something as
+yet remote; a sacred temple whose golden dome, like some mystic shrine,
+gleamed from afar, but into which he might some day enter; unaware that
+he already stood within its outer court.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XV_
+
+THE AWAKENING
+
+
+As Darrell was returning home one evening, some ten days later, he heard
+Kate's rippling laughter and sounds of unusual merriment, and, on coming
+out into view of the house, beheld her engaged in executing a waltz on
+the veranda, with Duke as a partner. The latter, in his efforts to
+oblige his young mistress and at the same time preserve his own dignity,
+presented so ludicrous a spectacle that Darrell was unable to restrain
+his risibility. Hearing his peals of laughter and finding herself
+discovered, Kate rather hastily released her partner, and the collie,
+glad to be once more permitted the use of four feet, bounded down the
+steps to give Darrell his customary welcome, his mistress following
+slowly with somewhat heightened color.
+
+Darrell at once apologized for his hilarity, pleading as an excuse
+Duke's comical appearance.
+
+"We both must have made a ridiculous appearance," she replied, "but as
+Duke seems to have forgiven you, I suppose I must, and I think I had
+better explain such undignified conduct on my part. Auntie has just told
+me that she is going to give a grand reception for me two weeks from
+to-day, or, really, two of them, for there is to be an afternoon
+reception from three until six for her acquaintances, with a few young
+ladies to assist me in receiving; and then, in the evening, I am to have
+a reception of my own. We are going to send nearly two hundred
+invitations to Galena, besides our friends here. Papa is going to have
+the ball-room on the top floor fitted up for the occasion, and we are
+to have an orchestra from Galena, and altogether it will be quite 'the
+event of the season.' Now do you wonder," she added, archly, "that I
+seized hold of the first object that came in my way and started out for
+a waltz?"
+
+"Not in the least," Darrell answered, his dark eyes full of merriment.
+"I only wish I had been fortunate enough to have arrived a little
+earlier."
+
+A mischievous response to his challenge sparkled in Kate's eyes for a
+moment, but she only replied, demurely,--
+
+"You shall have your opportunity later."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Two weeks from to-night."
+
+"Ah! am I to be honored with an invitation?"
+
+"Most assuredly you will be invited," Kate replied, quietly; then added,
+shyly, "and I myself invite you personally, here and now, and that is
+honoring you as no other guest of mine will be honored."
+
+"Thank you," he replied, gently, with one of his tender smiles; "I
+accept the personal invitation for your sake."
+
+She was standing on the topmost stair, slightly above him, one hand
+toying with a spray of blossoms depending from the vines above her head.
+With a swift movement Darrell caught the little hand and was in the act
+of carrying it to his lips, when it suddenly slipped from his grasp and
+its owner as quickly turned and disappeared.
+
+Darrell seated himself with a curious expression. It was not the first
+time Kate had eluded him thus within the last few days. He had missed of
+late certain pleasant little familiarities and light, tender caresses,
+to which he had become accustomed, and he began to wonder at this
+change in his child companion, as he regarded her.
+
+"What has come over the child?" he soliloquized; "two weeks ago if I had
+given her a challenge for a waltz she would have taken me up, but lately
+she is as demure as a little nun! We will have to give it up, won't we,
+Duke, old boy?" he continued, addressing the collie, whose intelligent
+eyes were fastened on his face with a shrewd expression, as though,
+aware of the trend of Darrell's thoughts, he, too, considered his
+beloved young mistress rather incomprehensible.
+
+The ensuing days were so crowded with preparations for the coming event
+and with such constant demands upon Kate's time that Darrell seldom saw
+her except at meals, and opportunities for anything like their
+accustomed pleasant interchange of confidence were few and far between.
+On those rare occasions, however, when he succeeded in meeting her
+alone, Darrell could not but be impressed by the subtle and to him
+inexplicable change in her manner. She seemed in some way so remotely
+removed from the young girl who, but a few days before, in response to
+the violin's tale, had confided to him the loneliness of her own life. A
+shy, sweet, but impenetrable reserve seemed to have replaced the
+childlike familiarity. Her eyes still brightened with welcome at his
+approach, but their light was quickly veiled beneath drooping lids, and
+through the cadences of her low tones he caught at times the vibration
+of a new chord, to whose meaning his ear was as yet unattuned.
+
+He did not know, nor did any other, that within that short time she had
+learned her own heart's secret. Child that she was, she had met Love
+face to face, and in that one swift, burning glance of recognition the
+womanhood within her had expanded as the bud expands, bursting its
+imprisoning calyx under the ardent glance of the sun. But Darrell,
+seeing only the effect and knowing nothing of the cause, was vaguely
+troubled.
+
+On the day of the reception both Mr. Underwood and Darrell lunched and
+dined down town, returning together to The Pines in the interim between
+the afternoon and evening entertainments. As Darrell sprang from the
+carriage and ran up the stairs the servants were already turning on the
+lights temporarily suspended within the veranda and throughout the
+grounds, so that the place seemed transformed into a bit of fairyland.
+He heard chatter and laughter, and caught glimpses of young
+ladies--special guests from out of town--flitting from room to room, but
+Kate was nowhere to be seen.
+
+Going to his room, he quickly donned an evening suit, not omitting a
+dainty boutonniere awaiting him on his dressing-case, and betook himself
+to the libraries across the hall, where, by previous arrangement, Kate
+was to call for him when it was time to go downstairs.
+
+From below came the ceaseless hum of conversation, the constant ripple
+of laughter, mingled with bits of song, and the occasional strains of a
+waltz. Reading was out of the question. Sinking into the depths of a
+large arm-chair, Darrell was soon lost in dreamy reverie, from which he
+was roused by a slight sound.
+
+Looking up, he saw framed in the arched doorway between the two rooms a
+vision, like and yet so unlike the maiden for whom he waited and who had
+occupied his thoughts but a moment before that he gazed in silent
+astonishment, uncertain whether it were a reality or part of his dreams.
+For a moment the silence was unbroken; then,--
+
+"How do you like my gown?" said the Vision, demurely.
+
+Darrell sprang to his feet and approached slowly, a new consciousness
+dawning in his soul, a new light in his eyes. Of the style or texture of
+her gown, a filmy, gleaming mass of white, he knew absolutely nothing;
+he only knew that its clinging softness revealed in new beauty the
+rounded outlines of her form; that its snowy sheen set off the exquisite
+moulding of her neck and arms; that its long, shimmering folds
+accentuated the height and grace of her slender figure; but a knowledge
+had come to him in that moment like a revelation, stunning, bewildering
+him, thrilling his whole being, irradiating every lineament of his face.
+
+"I know very little about ladies' dress," he said apologetically, "and I
+fear I may express myself rather bunglingly, but to me the chief beauty
+of your gown consists in the fact that it reveals and enhances the
+beauty of the wearer; in that sense, I consider it very beautiful."
+
+"Thank you," Kate replied, with a low, sweeping courtesy to conceal the
+blushes which she felt mantling her cheeks, not so much at his words as
+at what she read in his eyes; "that is the most delicate compliment I
+ever heard. I know I shall not receive another so delicious this whole
+evening, and to think of prefacing it with an apology!"
+
+"I am glad to hear that voice," said Darrell, possessing himself of one
+little gloved hand and surveying his companion critically, from the
+charmingly coiffed head to the dainty white slipper peeping from beneath
+her skirt; "the voice and the eyes seem about all that is left of the
+little girl I had known and loved."
+
+She regarded him silently, with a gracious little smile, but with
+deepening color and quickening pulse.
+
+He continued: "She has seemed different of late, somehow; she has eluded
+me so often I have felt as though she were in some way slipping away
+from me, and now I fear I have lost her altogether. How is it?"
+
+Darrell gently raised the sweet face so that he looked into the clear
+depths of the brown eyes.
+
+"Tell me, Kathie dear, has she drifted away from me?"
+
+For an instant the eyes were hidden under the curling lashes; then they
+lifted as she replied, with an enigmatical smile,--
+
+"Not so far but that you may follow, if you choose."
+
+Darrell bowed his head and his lips touched the golden-brown hair.
+
+"Sweetheart," he said, in low tones, scarcely above a whisper, "I
+follow; if I overtake her, what then? Will I find her the same as in the
+past?"
+
+Her heart was beating wildly with a new, strange joy; she longed to get
+away by herself and taste its sweetness to the full.
+
+"The same, and yet not the same," she answered, slowly; then, before he
+could say more, she added, lightly, as a wave of laughter was borne
+upward from the parlors.
+
+"But I came to see if you were ready to go downstairs; ought we not to
+join the others?"
+
+"As you please," he replied, stooping to pick up the programme she had
+dropped; "are the guests arriving yet?"
+
+"No; it is still early, but I want to introduce you to my friends. Oh,
+yes, my programme; thanks! That reminds me, I am going to ask you to put
+your name down for two or three waltzes; you know," she added, smiling,
+"I promised you two weeks ago some waltzes for this evening, so take
+your choice."
+
+For an instant Darrell hesitated, and the old troubled look returned to
+his face.
+
+"You are very kind," he said, slowly, "and I appreciate the honor; but
+it has just occurred to me that really I am not at all certain regarding
+my proficiency in that line."
+
+Kate understood his dilemma. They had reached the hall; some one was at
+the piano below and the strains of a dreamy waltz floated through the
+rooms.
+
+"I haven't a doubt of your proficiency myself," she replied, with a
+confident smile, "but if you would like a test, here is a good
+opportunity," and she glanced up and down the vacant but brightly
+lighted corridor. Darrell needed no second hint, and almost before she
+was aware they were gliding over the floor.
+
+To Kate, intoxicated with her new-found joy, it seemed as though she
+were borne along on the waves of the music without effort or volition of
+her own. She dared not trust herself to speak. Once or twice she raised
+her eyes to meet the dark ones whose gaze she felt upon her face, but
+the love-light shining in their depths overpowered her glance and she
+turned her eyes away. She knew that he had seen and recognized the
+woman, and that as such--and not as a child--he loved her, and for the
+present this knowledge was happiness enough.
+
+And Darrell was silent, still bewildered by the twofold revelation which
+had so suddenly come to him; the revelation of the lovely womanhood at
+his side, to which he had, until now, been blind, and of the love within
+his own heart, of which, till now, he had been unconscious.
+
+Before they had completed two turns up and down the corridor the music
+ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
+
+"Oh, that was heavenly! It seemed like a dream!" Kate exclaimed, with a
+sigh.
+
+"It seemed a very blessed bit of reality to me," Darrell laughed in
+return, drawing her arm within his own as they proceeded towards the
+stairs.
+
+"You are a superb dancer; now you certainly can have no scruples about
+claiming some waltzes," Kate replied, withdrawing her arm and again
+placing her programme in his hands.
+
+As they paused at the head of the stairs while Darrell complied with her
+request, a chorus of voices was heard in the hall below.
+
+"Kate, are you never coming?" some one called, and a sprightly brunette
+appeared for an instant on the first landing, but vanished quickly at
+sight of Darrell.
+
+"Girls!" they heard her exclaim to the merry group below; "would you
+believe it? She is taking a base advantage of us; she has discovered
+what we did not suppose existed in this house--a young man--and is
+getting her programme filled in advance!"
+
+Cries of "Oh, Kate, that's not fair!" followed. Kate leaned laughingly
+over the balustrade.
+
+"He's an angel of a dancer, girls," she called, "but I'll promise not to
+monopolize him!"
+
+Darrell returned the programme, saying, as they passed down the stairs
+together,--
+
+"I didn't want to appear selfish, so I only selected three, but give me
+more if you can, later."
+
+Kate smiled. "I think," she replied, "you will speedily find yourself in
+such demand that I will consider myself fortunate to have secured those
+three; but," she added shyly, as her eyes met his, "my first waltz was
+with you, and that was just as I intended it should be!"
+
+Through the hours which followed so swiftly Darrell was in a sort of
+waking dream, a state of superlative happiness, unmarred as yet by
+phantoms from the shrouded past or misgivings as to the dim, uncertain
+future; past and future were for the time alike forgotten. One image
+dominated his mind,--the form and face of the fair young hostess moving
+among her guests as a queen amid her court, carrying her daintily poised
+head as though conscious of the twofold royal crown of womanhood and
+woman's love. One thought surged continuously through and through his
+brain,--that she was his, his by the sovereign right of love. Whatever
+courtesy he showed to others was for her sake, because they were her
+guests, her friends, and when unengaged he stationed himself in some
+quiet corner or dimly lighted alcove where, unobserved, he could watch
+her movements with their rhythmic grace or catch the music of her voice,
+the sight or sound thrilling him with joy so exquisite as to be akin to
+pain. The oft-repeated compliments of the crowd about him seemed to him
+empty, trite, meaningless; what could they know of her real beauty
+compared with himself who saw her through Love's eyes!
+
+As he stood thus alone in a deep bay-window, shaded by giant palms, some
+one paused beside him.
+
+"Our little debutante has surpassed herself to-night; she is fairest of
+the fair!"
+
+Darrell turned to see at his side Walcott, faultlessly attired, elegant,
+nonchalant; a half-smile playing about his lips as through half-closed
+eyes he watched the dancers. Instantly all the antagonism in Darrell's
+nature rose against the man; strive as he might, he was powerless to
+subdue it. There was no trace of it in his voice, however, as he
+answered, quietly,--
+
+"Miss Underwood certainly looks very beautiful to-night."
+
+"She has matured marvellously of late," continued the other, in low,
+pleasant tones; "her development within the past few weeks has been
+remarkable. But that is to be expected in women of her style, and this
+is but the beginning. Mark my words, Mr. Darrell," Walcott faced his
+auditor with a smile, "Miss Underwood's beauty to-night is but the pale
+shining of a taper beside one of those lights yonder, compared with what
+it will be a few years hence; are you aware of that?"
+
+"It had not occurred to me," Darrell replied, with studied calmness, for
+the conversation was becoming distasteful to him.
+
+"Look at her now!" said Walcott, bowing and smiling as Kate floated past
+them, but regarding her with a scrutiny that aroused Darrell's quick
+resentment; "very fair, very lovely, I admit, but a trifle too slender;
+a little too colorless, too neutral, as it were! A few years will change
+all that. You will see her a woman of magnificent proportions and with
+the cold, neutral tints replaced by warmth and color. I have made a
+study of women, and I know that class well. Five or ten years from now
+she will be simply superb, and at the age when ordinary women lose their
+power to charm she will only be in the zenith of her beauty."
+
+The look and tone accompanying the words filled Darrell with indignation
+and disgust.
+
+"You will have to excuse me," he said, coldly; "you seem, as you say, to
+have made a study of women from your own standpoint, but our standards
+of beauty differ so radically that further discussion of the subject is
+useless."
+
+"Ah, well, every man according to his taste, of course," Walcott
+remarked, indifferently, and, turning lightly, he walked away, a faint
+gleam of amusement lighting his dark features.
+
+Half an hour later, as Darrell glided over the floor with Kate, some
+irresistible force drew his glance towards the bay-window where within
+the shadow of the palms Walcott was now standing alone, suave as ever.
+Their eyes met for an instant only, and Walcott smiled. The dance went
+on, but the smile, like a poisoned shaft, entered Darrell's soul and
+rankled there.
+
+Both Darrell and Walcott were marked men that night and attracted
+universal attention and comment. Darrell's pale, intellectual face,
+penetrating eyes, and dark hair already streaked with gray would have
+attracted attention anywhere, as would also Walcott with his olive skin,
+his cynical smile, and graceful, sinuous movement. In addition,
+Darrell's peculiar mental condition and the fact that his identity was
+enveloped in a degree of mystery rendered him doubly interesting. In the
+case of each this was his introduction to the social life of Ophir. Each
+had been a resident of the town, the one as a student and recluse, the
+other as a business man, but each was a stranger to the stratum known as
+society. Each held himself aloof that evening from the throng: the one,
+through natural reserve, courteous but indifferent to the passing crowd;
+the other alert, watchful, studying the crowd; weighing, gauging this
+new element, speculating whether or not it were worth his while to court
+its favor, whether or not he could make of it an ally for his own future
+advantage.
+
+Soon after his arrival Walcott had begged of Kate Underwood the honor of
+a waltz, but her programme being then nearly filled she could only give
+him one well towards the end. As he intended to render himself
+conspicuous by dancing only once, and then with the belle of the
+evening, it was at quite a late hour when he first made his appearance
+on the floor. Kate was on his arm, and at that instant his criticism,
+made earlier in the evening, that she was too colorless, certainly could
+not have applied.
+
+As he led her out upon the floor he bent his gaze upon her with a look
+which brought the color swiftly to her face in crimson waves that
+flooded the full, snow-white throat and, surging upward, reached even to
+the blue-veined temples. Instinctively she shrank from him with a
+sensation almost of fear, but something in his gaze held her as though
+spell-bound. She looked into his eyes like one fascinated, scarcely
+knowing what he said or what reply she made. The waltz began, and as
+their fingers touched Kate's nerves tingled as though from an electric
+shock. She shivered slightly, then, angry with herself, used every
+exertion to overcome the strange spell. To a great extent she succeeded,
+but she felt benumbed, as though moving in a dream or in obedience to
+some will stronger than her own, while her temples throbbed painfully
+and her respiration grew hurried and difficult. She grew dizzy, but
+pride came to her rescue, and, except for the color which now ran riot
+in her cheeks and a slight tremor through her frame, there was no hint
+of her agitation. Her partner was all that could be desired, guiding her
+through the circling crowds, and supporting her in the swift turns with
+the utmost grace and courtesy, but it was a relief when it was over. At
+her request, Walcott escorted her to a seat near her aunt, then
+smilingly withdrew with much inward self-congratulation.
+
+At that moment Darrell, seeing Kate unengaged, hastened to her side.
+
+"You look warm and the air here is oppressive," he said, observing her
+flushed face and fanning her gently; "shall we go outside for a few
+moments?"
+
+"Yes, please; anywhere out of this heat and glare," she answered; "my
+temples throb as if they would burst and my face feels as though it were
+on fire!"
+
+Darrell hastened to the hall, returning an instant later with a light
+wrap which he proceeded to throw about Kate's shoulders.
+
+"You are tired, Katherine," said Mrs. Dean, "more tired than you realize
+now; you had better not dance any more to-night."
+
+"I have but two more dances, auntie," the young girl answered, smiling;
+"you surely would not wish me to forego those;" adding, in a lower tone,
+as she turned towards Darrell, "one of them is your waltz, and I would
+not miss that for anything!"
+
+They passed through the hall and out upon a broad balcony. They could
+hear the subdued laughter of couples strolling through the brightly
+lighted grounds below, while over the distant landscape shone the pale
+weird light of the waning moon, just rising in the east. None of the
+guests had discovered the balcony opening from the hall on the third
+floor, so they had it exclusively to themselves.
+
+As Darrell drew Kate's arm closer within his own he was surprised to
+feel her trembling slightly, while the hand lying on his own was cold as
+marble.
+
+"My dear child!" he exclaimed; "your hands are cold and you are
+trembling! What is the matter--are you cold?"
+
+"No, not cold exactly, only shivery," she answered, with a laugh. "My
+head was burning up in there, and I feel sort of hot flashes and then a
+creepy, shivery feeling by turns; but I am not cold out here, really,"
+she added, earnestly, as Darrell drew her wrap more closely about her.
+
+"Nevertheless, I cannot allow you to stay out here any longer," Darrell
+replied, finding his first taste of masculine authority very sweet.
+
+For an instant Kate felt a very feminine desire to put his authority to
+the test, but the sense of his protection and his solicitude for her
+welfare seemed particularly soothing just then, and so, with only a
+saucy little smile, she silently allowed him to lead her into the house.
+At his suggestion, however, they did not return to the ball-room, but
+passed around through an anteroom, coming out into a small, circular
+apartment, dimly lighted and cosily furnished, opening upon one corner
+of the ball-room.
+
+"It strikes me," said Darrell, as he drew aside the silken hangings
+dividing the two rooms and pushed a low divan before the open space,
+"this will be fully as pleasant as the balcony and much safer."
+
+"The very thing!" Kate exclaimed, sinking upon the divan with a sigh of
+relief; "we will have a fine view of the dancers and yet be quite
+secluded ourselves."
+
+A minuet was already in progress on the floor, and for a few moments
+Kate watched the stately, graceful dance, while Darrell, having adjusted
+her wrap lightly about her, seated himself beside her and silently
+watched her face with deep content.
+
+Gradually the throbbing in her temples subsided, the nervous tremor
+ceased, her color became natural, and she felt quite herself again. She
+leaned back against the divan and looked with laughing eyes into
+Darrell's face.
+
+"Mr. Darrell, do you believe in hypnotism?" she suddenly inquired.
+
+"In hypnotism? Yes; but not in many of those who claim to practise it.
+Most of them are mere impostors. But why do you ask?" he continued,
+drawing her head down upon his shoulder and looking playfully into her
+eyes; "are you trying to hypnotize me?"
+
+Kate laughed merrily and shook her head. "I'm afraid I wouldn't find you
+a good subject," she said; then added, slowly, as her face grew serious:
+
+"Do you know, I believe I was hypnotized to-night by that dreadful Mr.
+Walcott. He certainly cast a malign spell of some kind over me from the
+moment we went on the floor together till he left me."
+
+"Why do you say that?" Darrell asked, quickly; "you know I did not see
+you on the floor with him, for Miss Stockton asked me to go with her for
+a promenade. We came back just as the waltz had ended and Mr. Walcott
+was escorting you to your aunt. I noticed that you seemed greatly
+fatigued and excused myself to Miss Stockton and came over at once. What
+had happened?"
+
+Kate related what had occurred. "I can't give you any idea of it," she
+said, in conclusion; "it seemed unaccountable, but it was simply
+dreadful. You know his eyes are nearly always closed in that peculiar
+way of his, and really I don't think I had any idea how they looked; but
+to-night as he looked at me they were wide open; and, do you know, I
+can't describe them, but they looked so soft and melting they were
+beautiful, and yet there was something absolutely terrible in their
+depths. It seemed some way like looking down into a volcano! And the
+worst of it was, they seemed to hold me--I couldn't take my eyes from
+his. He was as kind and courteous as could be, I'll admit that, but even
+the touch of his fingers made me shiver."
+
+Darrell's face had darkened during Kate's recital, but he controlled his
+anger.
+
+"Now, was that due to my own imagination or to some uncanny spell of
+his?" Kate insisted.
+
+"To neither wholly, and yet perhaps a little of each," Darrell answered,
+lightly, not wishing to alarm her or lead her to attach undue importance
+to the occurrence. "I think Mr. Walcott has an abnormal amount of
+conceit, and that most of those little mannerisms of his are mainly to
+attract attention to himself. He was probably trying to produce some
+sort of an impression on your mind, and to that extent he certainly
+succeeded, only the impression does not seem to have been as favorable
+as he perhaps would have wished. No one but a conceited cad would have
+attempted such a thing, and with your supersensitive nature the effect
+on you was anything but pleasant, but don't allow yourself to think
+about it or be annoyed by it. At the same time I would advise you not to
+place yourself in his power or where he could have any advantage of you.
+By the way, this is our waltz, is it not?"
+
+"It is," Kate replied, rising and watching Darrell as he removed her
+wrap and prepared to escort her to the ball-room. His playful badinage
+had not deceived her. As she took his arm she said, in a low tone,--
+
+"You affect to treat this matter rather lightly, but, all the same, you
+have warned me against this man. 'Forewarned is forearmed,' you know,
+and no man can ever attempt to harm me or mine with impunity!"
+
+Darrell turned quickly in surprise; there was a quality in her tone
+wholly unfamiliar.
+
+"But I fear you exaggerate what I intended to convey," he said, hastily;
+"I do not know that he would ever deliberately seek to harm you, but he
+might render himself obnoxious in some way, as he did to-night."
+
+She shook her head. "I was taken off guard to-night," she said; "but he
+had best never attempt anything of the kind a second time!"
+
+They were now waiting for the waltz to begin; she continued, in the same
+low tone:
+
+"I have had a western girl's education. When I was a child this place
+was little more than a rough mining camp, with plenty of desperate
+characters. My father trained me as he would have trained a boy, and,"
+she added, significantly, with a bright, proud smile, "I am just as
+proficient now as I was then!"
+
+Darrell scarcely heeded the import of her words, so struck was he by the
+change in her face, which had suddenly grown wonderfully like her
+father's,--stern, impassive, unrelenting. She smiled, and the look
+vanished, and for the time he thought no more of it, but as the passing
+cloud sometimes reveals features in a landscape unnoticed in the
+sunlight, so it had disclosed a phase of character latent, unguessed
+even by those who knew her best.
+
+Two hours later the last carriage had gone; the guests from out of town
+who were to remain at The Pines for the night had retired, and darkness
+and silence had gradually settled over the house. A light still burned
+in Mr. Underwood's private room, where he paced back and forth, his
+brows knit in deep thought, but his stern face lighted with a smile of
+intense satisfaction. Darrell, who had remained below to assist Mrs.
+Dean in the performance of a few last duties, having accompanied her in
+a final tour of the deserted rooms to make sure that all was safe, bade
+her good-night and went upstairs. To his surprise, Kate's library was
+still lighted, and through the open door he could see her at her desk
+writing.
+
+She looked up on hearing his step, and, as he approached, rose and came
+to the door.
+
+She had exchanged her evening gown for a dainty robe de chambre of
+white cashmere and lace, and, standing there against the background of
+mellow light, her hair coiled low on her neck, while numerous
+intractable locks curled about her ears and temples, it was small wonder
+that Darrell's eyes bespoke his admiration and love, even if his lips
+did not.
+
+"Writing at this time of night!" he exclaimed; "we supposed you asleep
+long ago."
+
+"Sh! don't speak so loud," she protested. "You'll have Aunt Marcia up
+here! I have nearly finished my writing, so you needn't scold."
+
+Glancing at the large journal lying open on her desk, Darrell asked,
+with a quizzical smile,--
+
+"Couldn't that have been postponed for a few hours?"
+
+"Not to-night," she replied, with emphasis; "ordinarily, you know, it
+could and would have been postponed, perhaps indefinitely, but not
+to-night!"
+
+She glanced shyly into his eyes, and her own fell, as she added, in a
+lower tone,--
+
+"To-night has memories so golden I want to preserve them before they
+have been dimmed by even one hour's sleep!"
+
+Darrell's face grew marvellously tender; he drew her head down upon his
+breast while he caressed the rippling hair with its waves of light and
+shade.
+
+"This night will always have golden memories for me, Kathie," he said,
+"and neither days nor years can ever dim their lustre; of that I am
+sure."
+
+Kate raised her head, drawing herself slightly away from his embrace so
+that she could look him in the face.
+
+"'Kathie!'" she repeated, softly; "that is the second time you have
+called me by that name to-night. I never heard it before; where did you
+get it?"
+
+"Oh, it came to me," he said, smiling; "and somehow it seemed just the
+name for you; but I'll not call you so unless you like it."
+
+"I do like it immensely," she replied; "I am tired of 'Kate' and
+'Kittie' and Aunt Marcia's terrible 'Katherine;' I am glad you are
+original enough to call me by something different, but it sounds so odd;
+I wondered if there might have been a 'Kathie' in the past. But," she
+added, quickly, "I must not stay here. I just came out to say good-night
+to you."
+
+"We had better say good-morning," Darrell laughed, as the clock in the
+hall below chimed one of the "wee, sma' hours;" "promise me that you
+will go to rest at once, won't you?"
+
+"Very soon," she answered, smiling; then, a sudden impulsiveness
+conquering her reserve, she exclaimed, "Do you know, this has been the
+happiest night of my whole life. I hardly dare go to sleep for fear I
+will wake up and find it all a dream."
+
+For answer Darrell folded her close to his breast, kissing her hair and
+brow with passionate tenderness; then suddenly, neither knew just how,
+their lips met in long, lingering, rapturous kisses.
+
+"Will that make it seem more real, sweetheart?" he asked, in a low voice
+vibrating with emotion.
+
+"Yes, oh yes!" she panted, half frightened by his fervor; "but let me
+go; please do!"
+
+He released her, only retaining her hands for an instant, which he bent
+and kissed; then bidding her good-night, he hastened down the hall to
+his room.
+
+At the door, however, he looked back and saw her still standing where he
+had left her. She wafted him a kiss on her finger-tips and disappeared.
+Going to her desk, she read with shining eyes and smiling lips the last
+lines written in her journal, then dipped her pen as though to write
+further, hesitated, and, closing the book, whispered,--
+
+"That is too sacred to intrust even to you, you dear, old journal! I
+shall keep it locked in my own breast."
+
+Then, locking her desk and turning off the light, she stole noiselessly
+to her room.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XVI_
+
+THE AFTERMATH
+
+
+As Darrell entered his room its dim solitude seemed doubly grateful
+after the glare of the crowded rooms he had lately left. His brain
+whirled from the unusual excitement. He wanted to be alone with his own
+thoughts--alone with this new, overpowering joy, and assure himself of
+its reality. He seated himself by an open window till the air had cooled
+his brow, and his brain, under the mysterious, soothing influence of the
+night, grew less confused; then, partially disrobing, he threw himself
+upon his bed to rest, but not to sleep.
+
+Again he lived over the last few weeks at The Pines, comprehending at
+last the gracious influence which, entering into his barren, meagre
+life, had rendered it so inexpressibly rich and sweet and complete. Ah,
+how blind! to have walked day after day hand in hand with Love, not
+knowing that he entertained an angel unawares!
+
+And then had followed the revelation, when the scales had fallen from
+his eyes before the vision of lovely maiden-womanhood which had suddenly
+confronted him. He recalled her as she stood awaiting his tardy
+recognition--recalled her every word and look throughout the evening
+down to their parting, and again he seemed to hold her in his arms, to
+look into her eyes, to feel her head upon his breast, her kisses on his
+lips.
+
+But even with the remembrance of those moments, while yet he felt the
+pressure of her lips upon his own, pure and cool like the dewy petals
+of a rose at sunrise, there came to him the first consciousness of pain
+mingled with the rapture, the first dash of bitter in the sweet, as he
+recalled the question in her eyes and the half-whispered, "I wondered if
+there might have been a 'Kathie' in the past."
+
+The past! How could he for one moment have forgotten that awful shadow
+overhanging his life! As it suddenly loomed before him in its hideous
+blackness, Darrell started from his pillow in horror, a cold sweat
+bursting from every pore. Gradually the terrible significance of it all
+dawned upon him,--the realization of what he had done and of what he
+must, as best he might, undo. It meant the relinquishment of what was
+sweetest and holiest on earth just as it seemed within his grasp; the
+renunciation of all that had made life seem worth living! Darrell buried
+his face in his hands and groaned aloud. So it was only a mockery, a
+dream. He recalled Kate's words: "I hardly dare go to sleep for fear I
+will wake up and find it all a dream," and self-reproach and remorse
+added their bitterness to his agony. What right had he to bring that
+bright young life under the cloud overhanging his own, to wreck her
+happiness by contact with his own misfortune! What would it be for her
+when she came to know the truth, as she must know it; and how was he to
+tell her? In his anguish he groaned,--
+
+"God pity us both and be merciful to her!"
+
+For more than an hour he walked the room; then kneeling by the bed, just
+as a pale, silvery streak appeared along the eastern horizon, he
+cried,--
+
+"O God, leave me not in darkness; give me some clew to the vanished
+past, that I may know whether or not I have the right to this most
+precious of all thine earthly gifts!"
+
+And, burying his face, he strove as never before to pierce the darkness
+enveloping his brain. Long he knelt there, his hands clinching the
+bedclothes convulsively, even the muscles of his body tense and rigid
+under the terrible mental strain he was undergoing, while at times his
+powerful frame shook with agony.
+
+The silvery radiance crept upward over the deep blue dome; the stars
+dwindled to glimmering points of light, then faded one by one; a roseate
+flush tinged the eastern sky, growing and deepening, and the first
+golden rays were shooting upward from a sea of crimson flame as Darrell
+rose from his knees. He walked to the window, but even the sunlight
+seemed to mock him--there was no light for him, no rift in the cloud
+darkening his path, and with a heavy sigh he turned away. The struggle
+was not yet over; this was to be a day of battle with himself, and he
+nerved himself for the coming ordeal.
+
+After a cold bath he dressed and descended to the breakfast-room. It was
+still early, but Mr. Underwood was already at the table and Mrs. Dean
+entered a moment later from the kitchen, where she had been giving
+directions for breakfast for Kate and her guests. Both were shocked at
+Darrell's haggard face and heavy eyes, but by a forced cheerfulness he
+succeeded in diverting the scrutiny of the one and the anxious
+solicitude of the other. Mr. Underwood returned to his paper and his
+sister and Darrell had the conversation to themselves.
+
+"Last night's dissipation proved too much for me," Darrell said,
+playfully, in reply to some protest of Mrs. Dean's regarding his light
+appetite.
+
+"You don't look fit to go down town!" she exclaimed; "you had better
+stay at home and help Katherine entertain her guests. I noticed you
+seemed to be very popular with them last night."
+
+"I'm afraid I would prove a sorry entertainer," Darrell answered,
+lightly, as he rose from the table, "so you will kindly excuse me to
+Miss Underwood and her friends."
+
+"Aren't you going to wait and ride down?" Mr. Underwood inquired.
+
+"Not this morning," Darrell replied; "a brisk walk will do me good." And
+a moment later they heard his firm step on the gravelled driveway.
+
+Mr. Underwood having finished his reading of the morning paper passed it
+to his sister.
+
+"Pretty good write-up of last night's affair," he commented, as he
+replaced his spectacles in their case.
+
+"Is there? I'll look it up after breakfast; I haven't my glasses now,"
+Mrs. Dean replied. "I thought myself that everything passed off pretty
+well. What did you think of Katherine last night, David?"
+
+The lines about his mouth deepened as he answered, quietly,--
+
+"She'll do, if she is my child. I didn't see any finer than she; and old
+Stockton's daughter, with all her father's millions, couldn't touch
+her!"
+
+"I had no idea the child was so beautiful," Mrs. Dean continued; "she
+seemed to come out so unexpectedly some way, just like a flower
+unfolding. I never was so surprised in my life."
+
+"I guess the little girl took a good many of 'em by surprise, judging by
+appearances," Mr. Underwood remarked, a shrewd smile lighting his stern
+features.
+
+"Yes, she received a great deal of attention," rejoined his sister. "I
+suppose," she added thoughtfully, "she'll have lots of admirers 'round
+here now."
+
+"No, she won't," Mr. Underwood retorted, with decision, at the same
+time pushing back his chair and rising hastily; "I'll see to it that she
+doesn't. If the right man steps up and means business, all right; but
+I'll have no hangers-on or fortune-hunters dawdling about!"
+
+His sister watched him curiously with a faint smile. "You had better
+advertise for the kind of man you want," she said, dryly, "and state
+that 'none others need apply,' as a warning to applicants whom you might
+consider undesirable."
+
+Mr. Underwood turned quickly. "What are you driving at?" he demanded,
+impatiently. "I've no time for beating about the bush."
+
+"And I've no time for explanations," she replied, with exasperating
+calmness; "you can think it over at your leisure."
+
+With a contemptuous "Humph!" Mr. Underwood left the house. After he had
+gone his sister sat for a while in deep thought, then, with a sigh, rose
+and went about her accustomed duties. She had been far more keen than
+her brother to observe the growing intimacy between her niece and
+Darrell, and she had seen some indications on the previous evening which
+troubled her, as much on Darrell's account as Kate's, for she had become
+deeply attached to the young man, and she well knew that her brother
+would not look upon him with favor as a suitor for his daughter.
+
+Meanwhile, Darrell, on reaching the office, found work and study alike
+impossible. The room seemed narrow and stifling; the medley of sound
+from the adjoining offices and from the street was distracting. He
+recalled the companions of his earlier days of pain and conflict,--the
+mountains,--and his heart yearned for their restful silence, for the
+soothing and uplifting of their solemn presence.
+
+Having left a brief note on Mr. Underwood's desk he closed his office,
+and, leaving the city behind him, started on foot up the familiar canyon
+road. After a walk of an hour or more he left the road, and, striking
+into a steep, narrow trail, began the ascent of one of the mountains of
+the main range. It still lacked a little of midday when he at last found
+himself on a narrow bench, near the summit, in a small growth of pines
+and firs. He stopped from sheer exhaustion and looked about him. Not a
+sign of human life was visible; not a sound broke the stillness save an
+occasional breath of air murmuring through the pines and the trickling
+of a tiny rivulet over the rocks just above where he stood. Going to the
+little stream he caught the crystal drops as they fell, quenching his
+thirst and bathing his heated brow; then, somewhat refreshed, he braced
+himself for the inevitable conflict.
+
+Slowly he paced up and down the rocky ledge, giving no heed to the
+passage of time, all his faculties centred upon the struggle between the
+inexorable demands of conscience on the one hand and the insatiate
+cravings of a newly awakened passion on the other. Vainly he strove to
+find some middle ground. Gradually, as his brain grew calm, the various
+courses of action which had at first suggested themselves to his mind
+appeared weak and cowardly, and the only course open to him was that of
+renunciation and of self-immolation.
+
+With a bitter cry he threw himself, face downward, upon the ground. A
+long time he lay there, till at last the peace from the great pitying
+heart of Nature touched his heart, and he slept on the warm bosom of
+Mother Earth as a child on its mother's breast.
+
+The sun was sinking towards the western ranges and slowly lengthening
+shadows were creeping athwart the distant valleys when Darrell rose to
+his feet and, after silently drinking in the beauty of the scene about
+him, prepared to descend. His face bore traces of the recent struggle,
+but it was the face of one who had conquered, whose mastery of himself
+was beyond all doubt or question. He took the homeward trail with firm
+step, with head erect, with face set and determined, and there was in
+his bearing that which indicated that there would be no wavering, no
+swerving from his purpose. His own hand had closed and bolted the gates
+of the Eden whose sweets he had but just tasted, and his conscience held
+the flaming sword which was henceforth to guard those portals.
+
+A little later, as Darrell in the early twilight passed up the driveway
+to The Pines, he was conscious only of a dull, leaden weight within his
+breast; his very senses seemed benumbed and he almost believed himself
+incapable of further suffering, till, as he approached the house, the
+sight of Kate seated in the veranda with her father and aunt and the
+thought of the suffering yet in store for her thrilled him anew with
+most poignant pain.
+
+His face was in the shadow as he came up the steps, and only Kate,
+seated near him, saw its pallor. She started and would have uttered an
+exclamation, but something in its expression awed and restrained her.
+There was a grave tenderness in his eyes as they met hers, but the light
+and joy which had been there when last she looked into them had gone out
+and in their place were dark gloom and despair. She heard as in a dream
+his answers to the inquiries of her father and aunt; heard him pass into
+the house accompanied by her aunt, who had prepared a substantial lunch
+against his return, and, with a strange sinking at her heart, sat
+silently awaiting his coming out.
+
+It had been a trying day for her. On waking, her happiness had seemed
+complete, but Darrell's absence on that morning of all mornings had
+seemed to her inexplicable, and when her guests had taken their
+departure and the long day wore on without his return and with no
+message from him, an indefinable dread haunted her. She had watched
+eagerly for Darrell's return, believing that one look into his face
+would banish her forebodings, but, instead, she had read there only a
+confirmation of her fears. And now she waited in suspense, longing, yet
+dreading to hear his step.
+
+At last he came, and, as he faced the light, Kate was shocked at the
+change which so few hours had wrought. He, too, was touched by the
+piteous appeal in her eyes, and there was a rare tenderness in voice and
+smile as he suggested a stroll through the grounds according to their
+custom, which somewhat reassured her.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Underwood and his sister had observed the old shadow of
+gloom in Darrell's face, and surmised something of its cause, for their
+eyes followed the young people in their walk up and down under the pines
+and a softened look stole into their usually impassive faces. At last,
+as they passed out of sight on one of the mountain terraces, Mrs. Dean
+said, with slight hesitation,--
+
+"Did it ever occur to you, David, that Katherine and Mr. Darrell are
+thrown in each other's society a great deal?"
+
+Mr. Underwood shot a keen glance at his sister from under his heavy
+brows, as he replied,--
+
+"Come to think of it, I suppose they are, though I can't say as I've
+ever given the matter much thought."
+
+"Perhaps it's time you did think about it."
+
+"Come, Marcia," said her brother, good-humoredly, "come to the point;
+are you, woman-like, scenting a love-affair in that direction?"
+
+Mrs. Dean found herself unexpectedly cornered. "I don't say that there
+is, but I don't know what else you could expect of two young folks like
+them, thrown together constantly as they are."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Underwood, with an air of comic perplexity, "do you
+want me to send Darrell adrift, or shall I pack Puss off to a convent?"
+
+"Now, David, I'm serious," his sister remonstrated, mildly. "Of course,
+I don't know that anything will come of it; but if you don't want that
+anything should, I think it's your duty, for Katherine's sake and Mr.
+Darrell's also, to prevent it. I think too much of them both to see any
+trouble come to either of them."
+
+Mr. Underwood puffed at his pipe in silence, while the gleaming needles
+in his sister's fingers clicked with monotonous regularity. When he
+spoke his tones lacked their usual brusqueness and had an element almost
+of gentleness.
+
+"Was this what was in your mind this morning, Marcia?"
+
+"Well, maybe so," his sister assented.
+
+"I don't think, Marcia, that I need any one to tell me my duty,
+especially regarding my child. I have my own plans for her future, and I
+will allow nothing to interfere with them. And as for John Darrell, he
+has the good, sterling sense to know that anything more than friendship
+between him and Kate is not to be thought of for a moment, and I can
+trust to his honor as a gentleman that he will not go beyond it. So I
+rather think your anxieties are groundless."
+
+"Perhaps so," his sister answered, doubtfully, "but young folks are not
+generally governed much by common sense in things of this kind; and then
+you know, David, Katherine is different from us,--she grows more and
+more like her mother,--and if she once got her heart set on any one, I
+don't think anybody--even you--could make her change."
+
+The muscles of Mr. Underwood's face suddenly contracted as though by
+acute pain.
+
+"That will do, Marcia," he said, gravely, with a silencing wave of his
+hand; "there is no need to call up the past. I know Kate is like her
+mother, but she has my blood in her veins also,--enough that when the
+time comes she'll not let any childish sentimentality stand in the way
+of what I think is for her good."
+
+Mrs. Dean silently folded her knitting and rose to go into the house. At
+the door, however, she paused, and, looking back at her brother, said,
+in her low, even tones,--
+
+"I have said my last word of this affair, David, no matter what comes of
+it. You think you understand Katherine better than I, but you may find
+some day that it's better to prevent trouble than to try to cure it."
+
+Meanwhile, Darrell and Kate had reached their favorite seat beneath the
+pines and, after one or two futile attempts at talking, had lapsed into
+a constrained silence. To Kate there came a sudden realization that the
+merely friendly relations heretofore existing between them had been
+swept away; that henceforth she must either give the man at her side the
+concentrated affection of her whole being or, should he prove
+unworthy,--she glanced at his haggard face and could not complete the
+supposition even to herself. He was troubled, and her tender heart
+longed to comfort him, but his strange appearance held her back. At one
+word, one sign of love from him, she would have thrown herself upon his
+breast and begged to share his burden in true woman fashion; but he was
+so cold, so distant; he did not even take her hand as in the careless,
+happy days before either of them thought of love.
+
+Kate could endure the silence no longer, and ventured some timid word of
+loving sympathy.
+
+Darrell turned, facing her, his dark eyes strangely hollow and sunken.
+
+"Yes," he said, in a low voice, "God knows I have suffered since I saw
+you, but I deserve to suffer for having so far forgotten myself last
+night. That is not what is troubling me now; it is the thought of the
+sorrow and wretchedness I have brought into your pure, innocent
+life,--that you must suffer for my folly, my wrong-doing."
+
+"But," interposed Kate, "I don't understand; what wrong have you done?"
+
+"Kathie," he answered, brokenly, "it was all a mistake--a terrible
+mistake of mine! Can you forgive me? Can you forget? God grant you can!"
+
+"Forgive! Forget!" she exclaimed, in bewildered tones; "a mistake?" her
+voice faltered and she paused, her face growing deathly pale.
+
+"I cannot think," he continued, "how I came to so forget myself, the
+circumstances under which I am here, the kindness you and your people
+have shown me, and the trust they have reposed in me. I must have been
+beside myself. But I have no excuse to offer; I can only ask your
+forgiveness, and that I may, so far as possible, undo what has been
+done."
+
+While he was speaking she had drawn away from him, and, sitting proudly
+erect, she scanned his face in the waning light as though to read there
+the full significance of his meaning. Her cheeks blanched at his last
+words, but there was no tremor in her tones as she replied,--
+
+"I understand you to refer to what occurred last night; is that what you
+wish undone--what you would have me forget?"
+
+"I would give worlds if only it might be undone," he answered, "but that
+is an impossibility. Oh Kathie, I know how monstrous, how cruel this
+must seem to you, but it is the only honorable course left me after my
+stupidity, my cursed folly; and, believe me, it is far more of a
+kindness even to you to stop this wretched business right here than to
+carry it farther."
+
+"It is not necessary to consider my feelings in the matter, Mr. Darrell.
+If, as you say, you found yourself mistaken, to attempt after that to
+carry on what could only be a mere farce would be simply unpardonable. A
+mistake I could forgive; a deliberate deception, never!"
+
+The tones, so unlike Kate's, caused Darrell to turn in pained surprise.
+The deepening shadows hid the white, drawn face and quivering lips; he
+saw only the motionless, slender figure held so rigidly erect.
+
+"But, Kathie--Miss Underwood--you must have misunderstood me," he said,
+earnestly. "I have acted foolishly, but in no way falsely. You could
+not, under any circumstances, accuse me of deception----"
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Darrell," she interposed, more gently; "I did
+not intend to accuse you of deception. I only meant that, regardless of
+any personal feeling, it was, as you said, better to stop this; that to
+carry it farther after you had found you did not care for me as you
+supposed--or as I was led to suppose----" She paused an instant,
+uncertain how to proceed.
+
+"Kathie, Kathie! what are you saying?" Darrell exclaimed. "What have I
+said that you should so misunderstand me?"
+
+"But," she protested, piteously, struggling to control her voice, "did
+you not say that it was all a mistake on your part--that you wished it
+all undone? What else could I understand?"
+
+"My poor child!" said Darrell, tenderly; then reaching over and
+possessing himself of one of her hands, he continued, gravely:
+
+"The mistake was mine in that I ever allowed myself to think of loving
+you when love is not for me. I have no right, Kathie, to love you, or
+any other woman, as I am now. I did not know until last night that I did
+love you. Then it came upon me like a revelation,--a revelation so
+overwhelming that it swept all else before it. You, and you alone,
+filled my thoughts. Wherever I was, I saw you, heard you, and you only.
+Again and again in imagination I clasped you to my breast, I felt your
+kisses on my lips,--just as I afterwards felt them in reality."
+
+He paused a moment and dropped the hand he had taken. Under cover of the
+shadows Kate's tears were falling unchecked; one, falling on Darrell's
+hand, had warned him that there must be no weakening, no softening.
+
+His voice was almost stern as he resumed. "For those few hours I forgot
+that I was a being apart from the rest of the world, exiled to darkness
+and oblivion; forgot the obligations to myself and to others which my
+own condition imposes upon me. But the dream passed; I awoke to a
+realization of what I had done, and whatever I have suffered since is
+but the just penalty of my folly. The worst of all is that I have
+involved you in needless suffering; I have won your love only to have to
+put it aside--to renounce it. But even this is better--far better than
+to allow your young life to come one step farther within the clouds
+that envelop my own. Do you understand me now, Kathie?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, calmly; "I understand it from your view, as it looks
+to you."
+
+"But is not that the only view?"
+
+She did not speak at once, and when she did it was with a peculiar
+deliberation.
+
+"The clouds will lift one day; what then?"
+
+Darrell's voice trembled with emotion as he replied, "We cannot trust to
+that, for neither you nor I know what the light will reveal."
+
+She remained silent, and Darrell, after a pause, continued: "Don't make
+it harder for me, Kathie; there is but one course for us to follow in
+honor to ourselves or to each other."
+
+They sat in silence for a few moments; then both rose simultaneously to
+return to the house, and as they did so Darrell was conscious of a new
+bearing in Kate's manner,--an added dignity and womanliness. As they
+faced one another Darrell took both her hands in his, saying,--
+
+"What is it to be, Kathie? Can we return to the old friendship?"
+
+She stood for a moment with averted face, watching the stars brightening
+one by one in the evening sky.
+
+"No," she said, presently, "we can never return to that now; it would
+seem too bare, too meagre. There will always be something deeper and
+sweeter than mere friendship between us,--unless you fail me, and I know
+you will not."
+
+"And do you forgive me?" he asked.
+
+She turned then, looking him full in the eyes, and her own seemed to
+have caught the radiance of the stars themselves, as she answered,
+simply,--
+
+"No, John Darrell, for there is nothing to forgive."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XVII_
+
+"SHE KNOWS HER FATHER'S WILL IS LAW"
+
+
+Though the succeeding days and weeks dragged wearily for Darrell, he
+applied himself anew to work and study, and only the lurking shadows
+within his eyes, the deepening lines on his face, the fast multiplying
+gleams of silver in his dark hair, gave evidence of his suffering.
+
+And if to Kate the summer seemed suddenly to have lost its glory and
+music, if she found the round of social pleasures on which she had just
+entered grown strangely insipid, if it sometimes seemed to her that she
+had quaffed all the richness and sweetness of life on that wondrous
+first night till only the dregs remained, she gave no sign. With her
+sunny smile and lightsome ways she reigned supreme, both in society and
+in the home, and none but her aunt and Darrell missed the old-time
+rippling laughter or noted the deepening wistfulness and seriousness of
+the fair young face.
+
+Her father watched her with growing pride, and with a visible
+satisfaction which told of carefully laid plans known only to himself,
+whose consummation he deemed not far distant.
+
+Acting on the suggestion of his sister, he had been closely observant of
+both Kate and Darrell, but any conclusions which he formed he kept to
+himself and went his way apparently well satisfied.
+
+At the close of an unusually busy day late in the summer Darrell was
+seated alone in his office, reviewing his life in the West and vaguely
+wondering what would yet be the outcome of it all, when Mr. Underwood
+entered from the adjoining room. Exultation and elation were patent in
+his very step, but Darrell, lost in thought, was hardly conscious even
+of his presence.
+
+"Well, my boy, what are you mooning over?" Mr. Underwood asked,
+good-naturedly, noting Darrell's abstraction.
+
+"Only trying to find a solution for problems as yet insoluble," Darrell
+answered, with a smile that ended in a sigh.
+
+"Stick to the practical side of life, boy, and let the problems solve
+themselves."
+
+"A very good rule to follow, provided the problems would solve
+themselves," commented Darrell.
+
+"Those things generally work themselves out after a while," said Mr.
+Underwood, walking up and down the room. "I say, don't meddle with what
+you can't understand; take what you can understand and make a practical
+application of it. That's always been my motto, and if people would
+stick to that principle in commercial life, in religion, and everything
+else, there'd be fewer failures in business, less wrangling in the
+churches, and more good accomplished generally."
+
+"I guess you are about right there," Darrell admitted.
+
+"Been pretty busy to-day, haven't you?" Mr. Underwood asked, abruptly,
+after a short pause.
+
+"Yes, uncommonly so; work is increasing of late."
+
+"That's good. Well, it has been a busy day with us; rather an eventful
+one, in fact; one which Walcott and I will remember with pleasure, I
+trust, for a good many years to come."
+
+"How is that?" Darrell inquired, wondering at the pleasurable excitement
+in the elder man's tones.
+
+"We made a little change in the partnership to-day: Walcott is now an
+equal partner with myself."
+
+Darrell remained silent from sheer astonishment. Mr. Underwood evidently
+considered his silence an indication of disapproval, for he continued:
+
+"I know you don't like the man, Darrell, so there's no use of arguing
+that side of the question, but I tell you he has proved himself
+invaluable to me. You might not think it, but it's a fact that the
+business in this office has increased fifty per cent. since he came into
+it. He is thoroughly capable, responsible, honest,--just the sort of man
+that I can intrust the business to as I grow older and know that it will
+be carried on as well as though I was at the helm myself."
+
+"Still, a half-interest seems pretty large for a man with no more
+capital in the business than he has," said Darrell, determined to make
+no personal reference to Walcott.
+
+"He has put in fifty thousand additional since he came in," Mr.
+Underwood replied.
+
+Darrell whistled softly.
+
+"Oh, he has money all right; I'm satisfied of that. I'm satisfied that
+he could have furnished the money to begin with, only he was lying low."
+
+"Well, he certainly has nothing to complain of; you've done more than
+well by him."
+
+"No better proportionately than I would have done by you, my boy, if you
+had come in with me last spring when I asked you to. I had this thing in
+view then, and had made up my mind you'd make the right man for the
+place, but you wouldn't hear to it."
+
+"That's all right, Mr. Underwood," said Darrell; "I appreciate your kind
+intentions just the same, but I am more than ever satisfied that I
+wouldn't have been the right man for the place."
+
+Both men were silent for some little time, but neither showed any
+inclination to terminate the interview. Mr. Underwood was still pacing
+back and forth, while Darrell had risen and was standing by the window,
+looking out absently into the street.
+
+"That isn't all of it, and I may as well tell you the rest," said Mr.
+Underwood, suddenly pausing near Darrell, his manner much like a
+school-boy who has a confession to make and hardly knows how to begin.
+"Mr. Walcott to-day asked me--asked my permission to pay his addresses
+to my daughter--my little girl," he added, under his breath, and there
+was a strange note of tenderness in the usually brusque voice.
+
+If ever Darrell was thankful, it was that he could at that moment look
+the father squarely in the face. He turned, facing Mr. Underwood, his
+dark eyes fairly blazing.
+
+"And you gave your permission?" he asked, slowly, with terrible emphasis
+on each word.
+
+"Most assuredly," Mr. Underwood retorted, quickly, stung to self-defence
+by Darrell's look and tone. "I may add that I have had this thing in
+mind for some time--have felt that it was coming; in fact, this new
+partnership arrangement was made with a view to facilitate matters, and
+he was enough of a gentleman to come forward at once with his
+proposition."
+
+Darrell gazed out of the window again with unseeing eyes. "Mr.
+Underwood," he said, in a low tone, "I would never have believed it
+possible that your infatuation for that man would have led to this."
+
+"There is no infatuation about it," the elder man replied, hotly; "it is
+a matter of good, sound judgment and business calculation. I know of no
+man among our townspeople, or even in the State, to whom I would give my
+daughter as soon as I would to Walcott. There are others who may have
+larger means now, but they haven't got his business ability. With what I
+can give Puss, what he has now, and what he will make within the next
+few years, she will have a home and position equal to the best."
+
+"Is that all you think of, Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"Not all, by any means; but it's a mighty important consideration, just
+the same. But the man is all right morally; you, with all your prejudice
+against him, can't lay your finger on one flaw in his character."
+
+"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "I have studied that man, I have
+heard him talk. He has no conception of life beyond the sensual, the
+animal; he is a brute, a beast, in thought and act. He is no more fit to
+marry your daughter, or even to associate with her, than----"
+
+"Young man," interrupted Mr. Underwood, laughing good-humoredly, "I have
+only one thing against you: you are not exactly practical. You are, like
+my friend Britton, inclined to rather high ideals. We don't generally
+find men built according to those ideals, and we have to take 'em as we
+find 'em."
+
+"But you will, of course, allow your daughter to act according to her
+own judgment? You surely would not force her into any marriage
+distasteful to her?" Darrell asked, remembering Kate's aversion for
+Walcott.
+
+"A young girl's judgment in those matters is not often to be relied
+upon. Kate knows that I consider only her best interests, and I think
+her judgment could be brought to coincide with my own. At any rate, she
+knows her father's will is law."
+
+As Darrell, convinced that argument would be useless, made no reply, Mr.
+Underwood added, after a pause,--
+
+"I know I can trust to your honor that you will not influence her
+against Walcott?"
+
+"I shall not, of course, attempt to influence her one way or the other.
+I have no right; but if I had the right,--if she were my sister,--that
+man should never so much as touch the hem of her garment!"
+
+"My boy," said Mr. Underwood, rather brusquely, extending one hand and
+laying the other on Darrell's shoulder, "I understand, and you're all
+right. We all consider you one of ourselves, and," he added, somewhat
+awkwardly, "you understand, if conditions were not just as they are----"
+
+"But conditions are just as they are," Darrell interposed, quickly, "so
+there is no use discussing what might be were they different."
+
+The bitterness in his tones struck a chord of sympathy within the heart
+of the man beside him, but he knew not how to express it, and it is
+doubtful whether he would have voiced it had he known how. The two
+clasped hands silently; then, without a word, the elder man left the
+room.
+
+Not until now had Darrell realized how strong had been the hope within
+his breast that some crisis in his condition might yet reveal enough to
+make possible the fulfilment of his love. The pleasant relations between
+himself and Kate in many respects still remained practically unchanged.
+True, his sense of honor forbade any return to the tender familiarities
+of the past, but there yet existed between them a tacit, unspoken
+comradeship, beneath which flowed, deeply and silently, the undercurrent
+of love, not to be easily diverted or turned aside. But this he now felt
+would soon be changed, while all hope for the future must be abandoned.
+
+With a heavy heart Darrell awaited developments. He soon noted a marked
+increase in the frequency of Walcott's calls at The Pines, and, not
+caring to embarrass Kate by his presence, he absented himself from the
+house as often as possible on those occasions.
+
+Walcott himself must have been very soon aware that in his courtship Mr.
+Underwood was his sole partisan, but he bore himself with a confidence
+and assurance which would brook no thought of defeat. Mrs. Dean, knowing
+her brother as she did, was quick to understand the situation, and
+silently showed her disapproval; but Walcott politely ignored her
+disfavor as not worth his consideration.
+
+At first, Kate, considering him her father's guest, received him with
+the same frank, winning courtesy which she extended to others, and he,
+quick to make the most of every opportunity, exerted himself to the
+utmost in his efforts to entertain his young hostess and her friends. To
+a certain extent he succeeded, in that Kate was compelled to admit to
+herself that he could be far more agreeable than she had ever supposed.
+He had travelled extensively and was possessed of good descriptive
+powers; his voice was low and musical, and his eyes, limpid and tender
+whenever he fixed them upon her face, held her glance by some
+irresistible, magnetic force, and invariably brought the deepening color
+to her cheeks.
+
+With the first inkling, however, of the nature of his visits, all her
+old abhorrence of him returned with increased intensity, but her
+ill-concealed aversion only furnished him with a new incentive and
+spurred him to redouble his attentions.
+
+The only opposition encountered by him that appeared in the least to
+disturb his equanimity, was that of Duke, which was on all occasions
+most forcibly expressed, the latter never failing to greet him with a
+low growl, meeting all overtures of friendship with an ominous gleam in
+his intelligent eyes and a display of ivory that made Mr. Walcott only
+too willing to desist.
+
+"Really, Miss Underwood," Walcott remarked one evening when Duke had
+been more than usually demonstrative, "your pet's attentions to me are
+sometimes a trifle distracting. Could you not occasionally bestow the
+pleasure of his society upon some one else--Mr. Darrell, for instance? I
+imagine the two might prove quite congenial to each other."
+
+"Please remember, Mr. Walcott, you are speaking of a friend of mine,"
+Kate replied, coldly.
+
+"Mr. Darrell? I beg pardon, I meant no offence; but since he and Duke
+seem to share the same unaccountable antipathy towards myself, I
+naturally thought there would be a bond of sympathy between them."
+
+Kate had been playing, and was still seated at the piano, idly waiting
+for Walcott, who was turning the pages of a new music-book, to make
+another selection. She now rose rather wearily, and, leaving the piano,
+joined her father and aunt upon the veranda outside.
+
+Walcott pushed the music from him, and, taking Kate's mandolin from off
+the piano, followed. Throwing himself down upon the steps at Kate's feet
+in an attitude of genuine Spanish abandon and grace, he said, lightly,--
+
+"Since you will not favor us further, I will see what I can do."
+
+He possessed little technical knowledge of music, but had quite a
+repertoire of songs picked up in his travels in various countries, to
+which he could accompany himself upon the guitar or mandolin.
+
+He strummed the strings carelessly for a moment, then, in a low voice,
+began a Spanish love-song. There was no need of an interpreter to make
+known to Kate the meaning of the song. The low, sweet cadences were full
+of tender pleading, every note was tremulous with passion, while the
+dark eyes holding her own seemed burning into her very soul.
+
+But the spell of the music worked far differently from Walcott's hopes
+or anticipations. Even while angry at herself for listening, Kate could
+scarcely restrain the tears, for the tender love-strains brought back so
+vividly the memory of those hours--so brief and fleeting--in which she
+had known the pure, unalloyed joy of love, that her heart seemed near
+bursting. As the last lingering notes died away, the pain was more than
+she could endure, and, pleading a slight headache, she excused herself
+and went to her room. Throwing herself upon the bed, she gave way to her
+feelings, sobbing bitterly as she recalled the sudden, hopeless ending
+of the most perfect happiness her young life had ever known. Gradually
+the violence of her grief subsided and she grew more calm, but a dull
+pain was at her heart, for though unwilling to admit it even to herself,
+she was hurt at Darrell's absence on the occasions of Walcott's visits.
+
+"Why does he leave me when he knows I can't endure the sight of that
+man?" she soliloquized, sorrowfully. "If he would stay by me the
+creature would not dare make love to me. Oh, if we could only just be
+lovers until all this dreadful uncertainty is past! I'm sure it would
+come out all right, and I would gladly wait years for him, if only he
+would let me!"
+
+As she sat alone in her misery she heard Walcott take his departure. A
+little later Darrell returned and went to his room, and soon after she
+heard her aunt's step in the hall, followed by a quiet knock at her
+door.
+
+"Come in, auntie," she called, wondering what her errand might be.
+
+"Have you gone to bed, Katherine, or are you up?" Mrs. Dean inquired,
+for the room was dark.
+
+"I'm up; why, auntie?"
+
+"Your father said to tell you he wanted to see you, if you had not
+retired."
+
+Mrs. Dean stopped a moment to inquire for Kate's headache, and as she
+left the room Kate heard her sigh heavily.
+
+A happy thought occurred to Kate as she ran downstairs,--she would have
+her father put a stop to Walcott's attentions; if he knew how they
+annoyed her he would certainly do it. She entered the room where he
+waited with her sunniest smile, for the stern, gruff-voiced man was the
+idol of her heart and she believed implicitly in his love for her, even
+though it seldom found expression in words.
+
+But her smile faded before the displeasure in her father's face. He
+scrutinized her keenly from under his heavy brows, but if he noted the
+traces of tears upon her face, he made no comment.
+
+"I did not suppose, Kate," he said, slowly, for he could not bring
+himself to speak harshly to her,--"I did not suppose that a child of
+mine would treat any guest of this house as rudely as you treated Mr.
+Walcott to-night. I sent for you for an explanation."
+
+"I did not mean to be rude, papa," Kate replied, seating herself on her
+father's knee and laying one arm caressingly about his neck, "but he did
+annoy me so to-night,--he has annoyed me so often of late,--I just
+couldn't endure it any longer."
+
+"Has Mr. Walcott ever conducted himself other than as a gentleman?"
+
+"Why, no, papa, he is gentlemanly enough, so far as that is concerned."
+
+"I thought so," her father interposed; "I should say that he had laid
+himself out to entertain you and your friends and to make it pleasant
+for all of us whenever he has been here. It strikes me that his manners
+are very far from annoying; that he is a gentleman in every sense of the
+word; he certainly carried himself like one to-night in the face of the
+treatment you gave him."
+
+"Well, I'm sorry if I was rude. I have no objection to him as a
+gentleman or as an acquaintance, if he would not go beyond that; but I
+detest his attentions and his love-making, and he will not stop even
+when he sees that it annoys me."
+
+"No one has a better right to pay his attentions to you, for he has
+asked and received my permission to do so."
+
+Kate drew herself upright and gazed at her father with eyes full of
+horror.
+
+"You gave him permission to pay attention to me!" she exclaimed, slowly,
+as though scarcely comprehending his meaning; then, springing to her
+feet and drawing herself to her full height, she demanded,--
+
+"Do you mean, papa, that you intend me to marry him?"
+
+For an instant Mr. Underwood felt ill at ease; Kate's face was white and
+her eyes had the look of a creature brought to bay, that sees no escape
+from the death confronting it, for even in that brief time Kate, knowing
+her father's indomitable will, realized with a sense of despair the
+hopelessness of her situation.
+
+"I suppose your marriage will be the outcome,--at least, I hope so,"
+her father replied, quickly recovering his composure, "for I certainly
+know of no one to whom I would so willingly intrust your future
+happiness. Listen to me, Kate: have I not always planned and worked for
+your best interests?"
+
+"You always have, papa."
+
+"Have I not always chosen what was for your good and for your
+happiness?"
+
+Kate gave a silent assent.
+
+"Very well; then I think you can trust to my judgment in this case."
+
+"But, papa," she protested, "this is different. I never can love that
+man; I abhor him--loathe him! Do you think there can be any happiness or
+good in a marriage without love? Would you and mamma have been happy
+together if you had not loved each other?"
+
+No sooner had she spoken the words than she regretted them as she noted
+the look of pain that crossed her father's face. In his silent,
+undemonstrative way he had idolized his wife, and it was seldom that he
+would allow any allusion to her in his presence.
+
+"I don't know why you should call up the past," he said, after a pause,
+"but since you have I will tell you that your mother when a girl like
+yourself objected to our marriage; she thought that we were unsuited to
+each other and that we could never live happily together. She listened,
+however, to the advice of those older and wiser than she, and you know
+the result." The strong man's voice trembled slightly. "I think our
+married life was a happy one. It was for me, I know; I hope it was for
+her."
+
+A long silence followed. To Kate there came the memory of the frail,
+young mother lying, day after day, upon her couch in the solitude of her
+sick-room, often weeping silently, while she, a mere child, knelt sadly
+and wistfully beside her, as silently wiping the tear-drops as they fell
+and wondering at their cause. She understood now, but not for worlds
+would she have spoken one word to pain her father's heart.
+
+At last Mr. Underwood said, rising as though to end the interview, "I
+think I can depend upon you now, Kate, to carry out my wishes in this
+matter."
+
+Kate rose proudly. "I have never disobeyed you, papa; I will treat Mr.
+Walcott courteously; but even though you force me to marry him I will
+never, never love him, and I shall tell him so."
+
+Her father smiled. "Mr. Walcott, I think, has too much good sense to
+attach much weight to any girlish whims; that will pass, you will think
+differently by and by."
+
+As she stopped for her usual good-night kiss she threw her arms about
+her father's neck, and, looking appealingly into his face, said,--
+
+"Papa, it need not be very soon, need it? You are not in a hurry to be
+rid of your little girl?"
+
+"Don't talk foolishly, child," he answered, hastily; "you know I've no
+wish to be rid of you, but I do want to see you settled in a home of
+your own--equal to the best, and, as I said a while ago, and told Mr.
+Darrell in talking the matter over with him, I know of no one in whose
+hands I would so willingly place you and your happiness as Mr.
+Walcott's. As for the date and other matters of that sort," he added,
+playfully pinching her cheeks, "I suppose those will all be mutually
+arranged between the gentleman and yourself."
+
+Kate had started back slightly. "You have talked this over with Mr.
+Darrell?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, why not?"
+
+"What did he think of it?"
+
+"Well," said her father, slowly, "naturally he did not quite fall in
+with my views, for I think he is not just what you could call a
+disinterested party. I more than half suspect that Mr. Darrell would
+like to step into Mr. Walcott's place himself, if he were only eligible,
+but knowing that he is not, he is too much of a gentleman to commit
+himself in any way."
+
+Mr. Underwood scanned his daughter's face keenly as he spoke, but it was
+as impassive as his own. To Kate, Darrell's absences of late were now
+explained; he understood it all. She kissed her father silently.
+
+"You know, Puss, I am looking out for your best interests in all of
+this," said her father, a little troubled by her silence.
+
+"I know that is your intention, papa," she replied, with gentle gravity,
+and left the room.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XVIII_
+
+ON THE "DIVIDE"
+
+
+Summer had merged into autumn. Crisp, exhilarating mornings ushered in
+glorious days flooded with sunshine, followed by sparkling, frosty
+nights.
+
+The strike at the mining camp had been adjusted; the union
+boarding-house after two months was found a failure and abandoned, and
+the strikers gradually returned to their work. Mr. Underwood, during the
+shut-down, had improved the time to enlarge the mill and add
+considerable new machinery; this work was now nearly completed; in two
+weeks the mill would again be running, and he offered Darrell his old
+position as assayer in charge, which the latter, somewhat to Mr.
+Underwood's surprise, accepted.
+
+Although his city business was now quite well established, Darrell felt
+that life at The Pines was becoming unendurable. Walcott's visits were
+now so frequent it was impossible longer to avoid him. The latter's air
+of easy self-assurance, the terms of endearment which fell so flippantly
+from his lips, and his bold, passionate glances which never failed to
+bring the rich, warm blood to Kate's cheeks and brow, all to one
+possessing Darrell's fine chivalric nature and his delicacy of feeling
+were intolerable. In addition, the growing indications of Kate's
+unhappiness, the silent appeal in her eyes, the pathetic curves forming
+about her mouth, and the touch of pathos in the voice whose every tone
+was music to his ear, seemed at times more than he could bear.
+
+There were hours--silent, brooding hours of the night--when he was
+sorely tempted to defy past and future alike, and, despite the
+conditions surrounding himself, to rescue her from a life which could
+have in store for her nothing but bitterness and sorrow. But with the
+dawn his better judgment returned; conscience, inexorable as ever, still
+held sway; he kept his own counsel as in duty bound, going his way with
+a heart that grew heavier day by day, and was hence glad of an
+opportunity to return once more to the seclusion of the mountains.
+
+Kate, realizing that all further appeal to her father was useless, as a
+last resort trusted to Walcott's sense of honor, that, when he should
+fully understand her feelings towards himself, he would discontinue his
+attentions. But in this she found herself mistaken. Taking advantage of
+the courtesy which she extended to him in accordance with the promise
+given her father, he pressed his suit more ardently than ever.
+
+"Why do you persist in annoying me in this manner?" she demanded one
+day, indignantly withdrawing from his attempted caresses. "The fact that
+my father has given you his permission to pay attention to me does not
+warrant any such familiarity on your part."
+
+"Perhaps not," Walcott replied, in his low, musical tones, "but stolen
+waters are often sweetest. If I have offended, pardon. I supposed my
+love for you would justify me in offering any expression of it, but
+since you say I have no right to do so, I beg of you, my dear Miss
+Underwood, to give me that right."
+
+"That is impossible," Kate answered, firmly.
+
+"Why impossible?" he asked.
+
+"Because I will not accept any expressions of a love that I cannot
+reciprocate."
+
+"Love begets love," he argued, softly; "so long as you keep me at arm's
+length you have no means of knowing whether or not you could reciprocate
+my affection. Mr. Underwood has done me the great honor to consent to
+bestow his daughter's hand upon me, and I have no doubt of yet winning
+the consent of the lady herself if she will but give me a fair chance."
+
+"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, her eyes ablaze with indignation, "would you
+make a woman your wife who did not love you--who never could, under any
+circumstances, love you?"
+
+Walcott suddenly seized her hands in his, looking down into her eyes
+with his steady, dominant gaze.
+
+"If I loved her as I love you," he said, slowly, "I would make her my
+wife though she hated me,--and win her love afterwards! I can win it,
+and I will!"
+
+"Never!" Kate exclaimed, passionately, but he had kissed her hands and
+was gone before she could recover herself.
+
+In that look she had for the first time comprehended something of the
+man's real nature, of the powerful brute force concealed beneath the
+smooth, smiling exterior. Her heart seemed seized and held in a
+vise-like grip, while a cold, benumbing despair settled upon her like an
+incubus, which she was unable to throw off for days.
+
+It lacked only two days of the time set for Darrell's return to the
+mining camp when he and Kate set out one afternoon accompanied by Duke
+for a ride up the familiar canyon road. At first their ponies cantered
+briskly, but as the road grew more rough and steep they were finally
+content to walk quietly side by side.
+
+For a while neither Darrell nor Kate had much to say. Their hearts were
+too oppressed for words. Each realized that this little jaunt into the
+mountains was their last together; that it constituted a sort of
+farewell to their happy life of the past summer and to each other. Each
+was thinking of their first meeting under the pines on that evening
+gorgeous with the sunset rays and sweet with the breath of June roses.
+
+At last they turned into a trail which soon grew so steep and narrow
+that they dismounted, and, fastening their ponies, proceeded up the
+trail on foot. Slowly they wended their way upward, pausing at length on
+a broad, projecting ledge a little below the summit, where they seated
+themselves on the rocks to rest a while. Kate's eyes wandered afar over
+the wonderful scene before them, wrapped in unbroken silence, yet
+palpitating in the mellow, golden sunlight with a mysterious life and
+beauty all its own.
+
+But Darrell was for once oblivious to the scene; his eyes were fastened
+on Kate's face, a look in them of insatiable hunger, as though he were
+storing up the memory of every line and lineament against the barren
+days to come. He wondered if the silent, calm-faced, self-contained
+woman beside him could be the laughing, joyous maiden whom he had seen
+flitting among the trees and fountains at their first meeting little
+more than three months past. He recalled how he had then thought her
+unlike either her father or her aunt, and believed her to be wholly
+without their self-restraint and self-repression. Now he saw that the
+same stoical blood was in her veins. Already the sensitive, mobile face,
+which had mirrored every emotion of the impulsive, sympathetic soul
+within, bore something of the impassive calm of the rocks surrounding
+them; it might have been chiselled in marble, so devoid was it at that
+moment of any trace of feeling.
+
+A faint sigh seemed to break the spell, and she turned facing him with
+her old-time sunny smile.
+
+"What a regal day!" she exclaimed.
+
+"It is," he replied; "it was on such a day as this, about a year ago,
+that I first met Mr. Britton. He called it, I remember, one of the
+'coronation days' of the year. I have been reminded of the phrase and of
+him all day."
+
+"Dear Mr. Britton," said Kate, "I have not seen him for more than two
+years. He has always been like a second father to me; he used to have me
+call him 'papa' when I was little, and I've always loved him next to
+papa. You and he correspond, do you not?"
+
+"Yes; he writes rather irregularly, but his letters are precious to me.
+He was the first to make me feel that this cramped fettered life of mine
+held any good or anything worth living for. He made me ashamed of my
+selfish sorrow, and every message from him, no matter how brief, seems
+like an inspiration to something higher and nobler."
+
+"He makes us all conscious of our selfishness," Kate answered, "for if
+ever there was an unselfish life,--a life devoted to the alleviation of
+the sufferings and sorrows of others,--it is his. I wish he were here
+now," she added, with a sigh; "he has more influence with papa than all
+the rest of us combined, though perhaps nothing even he might say would
+be availing in this instance."
+
+In all their friendly intercourse of the last few weeks there had been
+one subject tacitly avoided by each, to which, although present in the
+mind of each, no reference was ever made. From Kate's last words Darrell
+knew that subject must now be met; he must know from her own lips the
+worst. He turned sick with dread and remained silent.
+
+A moment later Kate again faced him with a smile, but her eyes glistened
+with unshed tears.
+
+"Poor papa!" she said, softly, her lips quivering; "he thinks he is
+doing it all for my happiness, and no matter what wretchedness or misery
+I suffer, no knowledge of it shall ever pain his dear old heart!"
+
+"Kathie, must it be?" Darrell exclaimed, each word vibrating with
+anguish; "is there no hope--no chance of escape for you from such a
+fate?"
+
+"I cannot see the slightest reason to hope for escape," she replied,
+with the calmness born of despair. She clasped her small hands tightly
+and turned a pale, determined face towards Darrell.
+
+"You know, you understand it all, and I know that you do," she said, "so
+there is no use in our avoiding this any longer. I want to talk it over
+with you and tell you all the truth, so you will not think, by and by,
+that I have been false or fickle or weak; but first there is something I
+want you to tell me."
+
+She paused a moment, then, looking him full in the eyes, she asked,
+earnestly,--
+
+"John Darrell, do you still love me?"
+
+Startled out of his customary self-control, Darrell suddenly clasped her
+in his arms, exclaiming,--
+
+"Kathie darling, how can you ask such a question? Do you think my love
+for you could ever grow less?"
+
+For a moment her head nestled against his breast with a little movement
+of ineffable content, as she replied,--
+
+"No; it was not that I doubted your love, but I wanted an assurance of
+it to carry with me through the coming days."
+
+Then, gently withdrawing herself from his embrace, she continued, in the
+same calm, even tones:
+
+"You ask if there is no chance of escape; I can see absolutely none;
+but I want you to understand, if I am forced into this marriage which
+papa has planned for me, that it is not through any weakness or
+cowardice on my part; that if I yield, it will be simply because of the
+love and reverence I bear my father."
+
+Though her face was slightly averted, Darrell could see the tear-drops
+falling, but after a slight pause she proceeded as calmly as before:
+
+"In all these years he has tried to be both father and mother to me, and
+even in this he thinks he is acting for my good. I have never disobeyed
+him, and were I to do so now I believe it would break his heart. I am
+all that he has left, and after what he has suffered in his silent,
+Spartan way, I must bring joy--not sorrow--to his declining years. And
+this will be my only reason for yielding."
+
+"But, Kathie, dear child," Darrell interposed, "have you considered what
+such a life means to you--what is involved in such a sacrifice?"
+
+She met his troubled gaze with a smile. "Yes, I know," she replied;
+"there is not a phase of this affair which I have not considered. I am
+years older than when we met three months ago, and I have thought of
+everything that a woman can think of."
+
+She watched him a moment, the smile on her lips deepening. "Have you
+considered this?" she asked. "Only those whom we love have the power to
+wound us deeply; one whom I do not love will have little power to hurt
+me; he can never reach my heart; that will be safe in your keeping."
+
+Darrell bowed his head upon his hands with a low moan. Kate, laying her
+hand lightly upon his shoulder, continued:
+
+"What I particularly wanted you to know before our parting and to
+remember is this: that come what may, I shall never be false to my love
+for you. No matter what the future may bring to you or to me, my heart
+will be yours."
+
+Darrell raised his head, his face tense and rigid with emotion; she had
+risen and was standing beside him.
+
+"I can never forgive myself for having won your heart, Kathie," he said,
+gravely; "It is the most precious gift that I could ask or you could
+bestow, but one to which I have no right."
+
+"Then hold it in trust," she said, softly, "until such time as I have
+the right to bestow it upon you and you have the right to accept it."
+
+Startled not only by her words but by the gravity of her tone and
+manner, Darrell glanced swiftly towards Kate, but she had turned and was
+slowly climbing the mountain path. Springing to his feet he was quickly
+at her side. Drawing her arm within his own he assisted her up the rocky
+trail, scanning her face as he did so for some clew to the words she had
+just spoken. But, excepting a faint flush which deepened under his
+scrutiny, she gave no sign, and, the trail for the next half-hour being
+too difficult to admit of conversation, they made the ascent in silence.
+
+On reaching the summit an involuntary exclamation burst from Darrell at
+the grandeur of the scene. North, west, and south, far as the eye could
+reach, stretched the vast mountain ranges, unbroken, with here and there
+gigantic peaks, snow-crowned, standing in bold relief against the sky;
+while far to the eastward lay the valleys, threaded with silver streams,
+and beyond them in the purple distance outlines of other ranges scarcely
+distinguishable from the clouds against which they seemed to rest.
+
+Kate watched Darrell, silently enjoying his surprise. "This is my
+favorite resort,--on the summit of the 'divide,'" she said; "I thought
+you would appreciate it. It involves hard climbing, but it is worth the
+effort."
+
+"Worth the effort! Yes, a thousand times! What must it be to see the
+sunrise here!"
+
+Lifted out of themselves, they wandered over the rocks, picking the late
+flowers which still lingered in the crevices, watching the shifting
+beauty of the scene from various points, for a time forgetful of their
+trouble, till, looking in each other's eyes, they read the final
+farewell underlying all, and the old pain returned with tenfold
+intensity.
+
+Seating themselves on the highest point accessible, they talked of the
+future, ignoring so far as possible the one dreaded subject, speaking of
+Darrell's life in the mining camp, of his studies, and of what he hoped
+to accomplish, and of certain plans of her own.
+
+Duke, after an extended tour among the rocks, came and lay at their
+feet, watching their faces with anxious solicitude, quick to read their
+unspoken sorrow though unable to divine its cause.
+
+At last the little that could be said had been spoken; they paused,
+their hearts oppressed with the burden of what remained unsaid, which no
+words could express. Duke, perplexed by the long silence, rose and,
+coming to Kate's side, stood looking into her eyes with mute inquiry. As
+Kate caressed the noble head she turned suddenly to Darrell:
+
+"John, would you like to have Duke with you? Will you take him as a
+parting gift from me?"
+
+"I would like to have him above anything you could give me, Kathie," he
+replied; "but you must not think of giving him up to me."
+
+"I will have to give him up," she said, simply; "Papa dislikes him
+already, he is so unfriendly to Mr. Walcott, and he himself absolutely
+hates Duke; I believe he would kill him if he dared; so you understand I
+could not keep him much longer. He will be happy with you, for he loves
+you, and I will be happy in remembering that you have him."
+
+"In that case," said Darrell, "I shall be only too glad to take him, and
+you can rest assured I will never part with him."
+
+The sinking sun warned them that it was time to return, and, after one
+farewell look about them, they prepared to descend. As they picked their
+way back to the trail they came upon two tiny streams flowing from some
+secret spring above them. Side by side, separated by only a few inches,
+they rippled over their rocky bed, murmuring to each other in tones so
+low that only an attentive ear could catch them, sparkling in the
+sunlight as though for very joy. Suddenly, near the edge of the narrow
+plateau over which they ran, they turned, and, with a tinkling plash of
+farewell, plunged in opposite directions,--the one eastward, hastening
+on its way to the Great Father of Waters, the other westward bound,
+towards the land of the setting sun.
+
+Silently Kate and Darrell watched them; as their eyes met, his face had
+grown white, but Kate smiled, though the tears trembled on the golden
+lashes.
+
+"A fit emblem of our loves, Kathie!" Darrell said, sadly.
+
+"Yes," she replied, but her clear voice had a ring of triumph; "a fit
+emblem, dear, for though parted now, they will meet in the commingling
+of the oceans, just as by and by our loves will mingle in the great
+ocean of love. I can imagine how those two little streams will go on
+their way, as we must go, each joining in the labor and song of the
+rivers as they meet them, but each preserving its own individuality
+until they find one another in the ocean currents, as we shall find one
+another some day!"
+
+"Kathie," said Darrell, earnestly, drawing nearer to her, "have you such
+a hope as that?"
+
+"It is more than hope," she answered, "it is assurance; an assurance
+that came to me, I know not whence or how, out of the darkness of
+despair."
+
+They had reached the trail, and here Kate paused for a moment. It was a
+picture for an artist, the pair standing on that solitary height! The
+young girl, fair and slender as the wild flowers clinging to the rocks
+at their feet, yet with a poise of conscious strength; the man at her
+side, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, strong-limbed; his face dark with
+despair, hers lighted with hope.
+
+Suddenly a small white hand swept the horizon with a swift, undulatory
+motion that reminded Darrell of the flight of some white-winged bird,
+and Kate cried,--
+
+"Did we think of the roughness and steepness of the path below when we
+stood here two hours ago and looked on the glory of this scene? Did we
+stop to think of the bruises and scratches of the ascent, of how many
+times we had stumbled, or of the weariness of the way? No, it was all
+forgotten. And so, when we come to stand together, by and by, upon the
+heights of love,--such love as we have not even dreamed of yet,--will we
+then look back upon the tears, the pain, the heartache of to-day? Will
+we stop to recount the sorrows through which we climbed to the shining
+heights? No, they will be forgotten in the excess of joy!"
+
+Darrell gazed at Kate in astonishment; her head was uncovered and the
+rays of the sinking sun touched with gleams of gold the curling locks
+which the breeze had blown about her face, till they seemed like a
+golden halo; she had the look of one who sees within the veil which
+covers mortal faces; she seemed at that moment something apart from
+earth.
+
+Taking her hand in his, he asked, brokenly, "Sweetheart, will that day
+ever come, and when?"
+
+Her eyes, luminous with love and hope, rested tenderly upon his shadowed
+face as she replied,--
+
+"At the time appointed,
+
+     "'And that will be
+     God's own good time, for you and me.'"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XIX_
+
+THE RETURN TO CAMP BIRD
+
+
+The day preceding Darrell's departure found him busily engaged in
+"breaking camp," as he termed it. The assayer's outfit which he had
+brought from the mill was to be packed, as were also his books, and
+quantities of carefully written notes, the results of his explorations
+and experiments, to be embodied later in the work which he had in
+preparation, were to be sorted and filed.
+
+Late in the afternoon Kate and her aunt, down town on a shopping tour,
+looked in upon him.
+
+"Buried up to his ears!" Kate announced at the door, as she caught a
+glimpse of Darrell's head over a table piled high with books and
+manuscripts; "it's well we came when we did, auntie; a few minutes later
+and he would have been invisible!"
+
+"Don't take the trouble to look for seats, Mr. Darrell," she added, her
+eyes dancing with mischief as he hastily emerged and began a futile
+search for vacant chairs, "we only dropped in for a minute, and
+'standing room only' will be sufficient."
+
+"Yes, don't let us hinder you, Mr. Darrell," said Mrs. Dean; "we just
+came in to see how you were getting on, and to tell you not to trouble
+yourself about the things from the house; we will send and get them
+whenever we want them."
+
+"I was thinking of those a while ago," Darrell answered, glancing at the
+pictures and hangings which had not yet been removed; "I was wondering
+if I ought not to send them up to the house."
+
+"No," said Mrs. Dean, "we do not need them there at present, and any
+time we should want them we can send Bennett down after them."
+
+"We will not send for them at all, auntie," said Kate, in her impulsive
+way; "I shall keep the room looking as much as possible as when Mr.
+Darrell had it, and I shall use it as a waiting-room whenever I have to
+wait for papa; it will be much pleasanter than waiting in that dusty,
+musty old office of his."
+
+"My room at the camp will look very bare and plain now," said Darrell,
+"after all the luxuries with which you have surrounded me; though I
+will, of course, get accustomed to it in a few days."
+
+Kate and her aunt slyly exchanged smiles, which Darrell in his momentary
+abstraction failed to observe. They chatted pleasantly for a few
+moments, but underneath the light words and manner was a sadness that
+could not be disguised, and it was with a still heavier heart that
+Darrell returned to his work after Kate and her aunt had gone.
+
+At last all was done, the last package was stowed away in the large
+wagon which was to carry the goods to camp, and the team moved up the
+street in the direction of The Pines, where it was to remain over night
+ready for an early start the next morning. Darrell, after a farewell
+survey of the little room, followed on foot, heartsick and weary, going
+directly to the stables to see the wagon safely stored for the night. He
+was surprised to see a second wagon, loaded with furniture, rugs, and
+pictures, all of which looked strangely familiar, and which on closer
+inspection he recognized as belonging to the room which he had always
+occupied at The Pines. He turned to Bennett, who was standing at a
+little distance, ostensibly cleaning some harness, but quietly enjoying
+the scene.
+
+"Bennett, what does this mean?" he inquired. "Where are these goods
+going?"
+
+"To the camp, sir."
+
+"Surely not to the mining camp, Bennett; you must be mistaken."
+
+"No mistake about it, sir; they goes to Camp Bird to-morrow morning;
+them's Mrs. Dean's orders."
+
+Darrell was more touched than he cared to betray. He went at once to the
+house, and in the hall, dim with the early twilight, was met by Mrs.
+Dean herself.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Darrell," she began, "but you can't occupy your room
+to-night; you'll have to take the one adjoining on the south. Your room
+was torn up to-day, and we haven't got it put to rights yet."
+
+"Mrs. Dean," Darrell answered, his voice slightly unsteady, "you are too
+kind; it breaks a fellow all up and makes this sort of thing the
+harder!"
+
+Mrs. Dean turned on the light as though for a better understanding.
+
+"I don't see any special kindness in turning you out of your room on
+your last night here," she remarked, quietly, "but we couldn't get it
+settled."
+
+Darrell could not restrain a smile as he replied, "I'm afraid it will be
+some time before it is settled with the furniture packed out there in
+the stables."
+
+"Have you been to the stables?" she exclaimed, in dismay.
+
+A smile was sufficient answer.
+
+"If that isn't too bad!" she continued; "I was going to have that wagon
+sent ahead in the morning before you were up and have it for a surprise
+when you got there, and now it's all spoiled. I declare, I'm too
+disappointed to say a word!"
+
+"But, Mrs. Dean," Darrell interposed, hastily, as she turned to leave,
+"you need not feel like that; the surprise was just as genuine and as
+pleasant as though it had been as you intended; besides, I can thank you
+now, whereas I couldn't then."
+
+"That's just what I didn't want, and don't want now," she answered,
+quickly; "if there is anything I can do for you, God knows I'll do it
+the same as though you were my own son, and I want no thanks for it,
+either." And with these words she left the room before Darrell could
+reply.
+
+Everything that could be done to make the rooms look cheerful and
+homelike as possible had been done for that night. The dining-room was
+decorated with flowers, and when, after dinner, the family adjourned to
+the sitting-room, a fire was burning in the grate, and around it had
+been drawn the most comfortable seats in the room.
+
+But to Darrell the extra touches of brightness and beauty seemed only to
+emphasize the fact that this was the last night of anything like home
+life that he would know for some time to come.
+
+It had been agreed that he and Kate were to have some music that
+evening, and on the piano he saw the violin which he had not used since
+the summer's happy days. He lifted it with the tender, caressing manner
+with which he always handled it, as though it were something living and
+human. Turning it lovingly in his hands, he caught the gleam of
+something in the fire-light, and, bending over it, saw a richly engraved
+gold plate, on which he read the words:
+
+     TO JOHN DARRELL
+     A SOUVENIR OF "THE PINES"
+     FROM "KATHIE"
+
+A mist rose before his eyes--he could not see, he could not trust
+himself to speak, but, raising the violin, his pent-up feelings burst
+forth in a flood of liquid music of such commingled sweetness and
+sadness as to hold his listeners entranced. Mr. Underwood, for once
+forgetful of his pipe, looked into the fire with a troubled gaze; he
+understood little of the power of expression, but even he comprehended
+dimly the sorrow that surged and ebbed in those wild harmonies. Mrs.
+Dean, her hands folded idly above her work, sat with eyes closed, a
+solitary tear occasionally rolling down her cheek, while in the shadows
+Kate, her face buried on Duke's head and neck, was sobbing quietly.
+
+Gradually the wild strains subsided, as the summer tempest dies away
+till nothing is heard but the patter of the rain-drops, and, after a few
+bars from a love-song, a favorite of Kate's, the music glided into the
+simple strains of "Home, Sweet Home." And as the oppressed and
+overheated atmosphere is cleared by the brief storm, so the overwrought
+feelings of those present were relieved by this little outburst of
+emotion.
+
+A pleasant evening followed, and, except that the "good-nights"
+exchanged on parting were tenderer, more heartfelt than usual, there
+were no indications that this was their last night together as a family
+circle.
+
+Darrell had been in his room but a short time, however, when he heard a
+light tap at his door, and, opening it, Mrs. Dean entered.
+
+"You seem like a son to me, Mr. Darrell," she said, with quiet dignity,
+"so I have taken the liberty to come to your room for a few minutes the
+same as I would to a son's."
+
+"That is right, Mrs. Dean," Darrell replied, escorting her to a large
+arm-chair; "my own mother could not be more welcome."
+
+"You know us pretty well by this time, Mr. Darrell," she said, as she
+seated herself, "and you know that we're not given to expressing our
+feelings very much, but I felt that I couldn't let you go away without a
+few words with you first. I sometimes think that those who can't express
+themselves are the ones that feel the deepest, though I guess we often
+get the credit of not having any feelings at all."
+
+"If I ever had such an impression of you or your brother, I found out my
+error long ago," Darrell remarked, gravely, as she paused.
+
+"Yes, I think you understand us; I think you will understand me, Mr.
+Darrell, when I say to you that I haven't felt anything so deeply in
+years as I do your leaving us now--not so much the mere fact of your
+going away as the real reason of your going. I felt bad when you left
+for camp a year ago, but this is altogether different; then you felt,
+and we felt, that you were one of us, that your home was with us, and I
+hoped that as long as you remained in the West your home would be with
+us. Now, although there is no change in our love for you, or yours for
+us, I know that the place is no longer a home to you, that you do not
+care to stay; and about the hardest part of it all is, that, knowing the
+circumstances as I do, I myself would not ask you to stay."
+
+"You seem to understand the situation, Mrs. Dean; how did you learn the
+circumstances?" Darrell asked, wonderingly.
+
+She regarded him a moment with a motherly smile. "Did you think I was
+blind? I could see for myself. Katherine has told me nothing," she
+added, in answer to the unspoken inquiry which she read in his eyes;
+"she has told me no more than you, but I saw what was coming long before
+either you or she realized it."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Dean, why didn't you warn me in time?" Darrell exclaimed.
+
+"The time for warning was when you two first met," Mrs. Dean replied;
+"for two as congenial to be thrown together so constantly would
+naturally result just as it has; it is no more than was to be expected,
+and neither of you can be blamed. And," she added, slowly, "that is not
+the phase of the affair which I most regret. I think such love as you
+two bear each other would work little harm or sorrow to either of you in
+the end, if matters could only be left to take their own course. I may
+as well tell you that I think no good will come of this scheme of
+David's. Mr. Walcott is not a suitable man for Katherine, even if she
+were heart free, and loving you as she does--as she always will, for I
+understand the child--it would have been much better to have waited a
+year or two; I have no doubt that everything would come out all right.
+Of course, as I'm not her mother, I have no say in the matter and no
+right to interfere; but mark my words: David will regret this, and at no
+very distant day, either."
+
+"I know that nothing but unhappiness can come of it for Kate, and that
+is what troubles me far more than any sorrow of my own," said Darrell,
+in a low voice.
+
+"It will bring unhappiness and evil all around, but to no one so much as
+David Underwood himself," said Mrs. Dean, impressively, as she rose.
+
+"Mrs. Dean," said Darrell, springing quickly to his feet, "you don't
+know the good this little interview has done me! I thank you for it and
+for your sympathy from the bottom of my heart."
+
+"I wish I could give you something more practical than sympathy," said
+Mrs. Dean, with a smile, "and I will if I ever have the opportunity. And
+one thing in particular I want to say to you, Mr. Darrell: so long as
+you are in the West, whether your home is with us or not, I want you to
+feel that you have a mother in me, and should you ever be sick or in
+trouble and need a mother's care and love, no matter where you are, I
+will come to you as I would to my own son."
+
+They had reached the door; Darrell, too deeply moved for speech and
+knowing her aversion to many words, bent over her and kissed her on the
+forehead.
+
+"Thank you, mother; good-night!" he said.
+
+She turned and looked at him with glistening eyes, as she replied,
+calmly,--
+
+"Good-night, my son!"
+
+The household was astir at an early hour the next morning. There were
+forced smiles and some desultory conversation at the breakfast-table,
+but it was a silent group which gathered outside in the early morning
+sunlight as Darrell was about taking his departure. He dreaded the
+parting, and, as he glanced at the faces of the waiting group, he
+determined to make it as brief as possible for their sakes as well as
+his own.
+
+The heavy teams came slowly around from the stables, and behind them
+came Trix, daintily picking her steps along the driveway. With a word or
+two of instructions to the drivers Darrell sent the teams ahead; then,
+having adjusted saddle and bridle to his satisfaction, he turned to Mr.
+Underwood, who stood nearest.
+
+"My boy," said the latter, extending his hand, "we hate to spare you
+from the old home, but I don't know where I would have got a man to
+take your place; with you up there I feel just as safe as though I were
+there myself."
+
+"Much obliged, Mr. Underwood," Darrell replied, looking straight into
+the elder man's eyes; "I think you'll find me worthy of any trust you
+may repose in me--at the camp or elsewhere."
+
+"Every time, my boy, every time!" exclaimed the old gentleman, wringing
+his hand.
+
+Mrs. Dean's usually placid face was stern from her effort to repress her
+feelings, but there was a glance of mother-love in her eyes and a slight
+quivering of her lips as she bade him a quiet good-by.
+
+But it was Kate's pale, sweet face that nearly broke his own composure
+as he turned to her, last of all. Their hands clasped and they looked
+silently into each other's eyes for an instant.
+
+"Good-by, John; God bless you!" she said, in tones audible only to his
+ear.
+
+"God bless and help you, Kathie!" he replied, and turned quickly to Trix
+waiting at his side.
+
+"Look at Duke," said Kate, a moment later, as Darrell sprang into the
+saddle; "he doesn't know what to make of it that you haven't bade him
+good-by."
+
+Duke, who had shown considerable excitement over the unusual
+proceedings, had bounded to Kate's side as Darrell approached her,
+expecting his usual recognition; not having received it, he sat
+regarding Darrell with an evident sense of personal injury quite
+pathetic.
+
+Darrell looked at the drooping head and smiled. "Come, Duke," he said,
+slowly starting down the driveway.
+
+Kate bent quickly for a final caress. "Go on, Duke!" she whispered.
+
+Nothing loath to follow Darrell, he bounded forward, but after a few
+leaps, on discovering that his beloved mistress was not accompanying
+them, he stopped, looking back in great perplexity. At a signal from her
+and a word from Darrell he again started onward, but his backward
+glances were more than Kate could bear, and she turned to go into the
+house.
+
+"What are you sending the dog after him for, anyway?" inquired her
+father, himself somewhat puzzled.
+
+"I have given Duke to Mr. Darrell, papa," she replied.
+
+Something in the unnatural calmness of her tone startled him; he turned
+to question her. She had gone, but in the glimpse which he had of her
+face he read a little of the anguish which at that moment wrung her
+young heart, and happening at the same time to catch his sister's eye,
+he walked away, silent and uncomfortable.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XX_
+
+FORGING THE FETTERS
+
+
+During the weeks immediately following Darrell's departure the daily
+routine of life at The Pines continued in the accustomed channels, but
+there was not a member of the family, including Mr. Underwood himself,
+to whom it did not seem strangely empty, as though some essential
+element were missing.
+
+To Kate her present life, compared with the first months of her return
+home, was like the narrow current creeping sluggishly beneath the icy
+fetters of winter as compared with the same stream laughing and singing
+on its way under summer skies. But she was learning the lesson that all
+must learn; that the world sweeps relentlessly onward with no pause for
+individual woe, and each must keep step in its ceaseless march, no
+matter how weary the brain or how heavy the heart.
+
+Walcott's visits continued with the same frequency, but he was less
+annoying in his attentions than formerly. It had gradually dawned upon
+him that Kate was no longer a child, but a woman; and a woman with a
+will as indomitable as her father's once it was aroused. He was not
+displeased at the discovery; on the contrary, he looked forward with all
+the keener anticipation to the pleasure of what he mentally termed the
+"taming" process, once she was fairly within his power. Meantime, he was
+content to make a study of her, sitting evening after evening either in
+conversation with her father or listening while she played and sang,
+but always watching her every movement, scanning every play of her
+features.
+
+"A loose rein for the present," he would say to himself, with a smile;
+"but by and by, my lady, you will find whether or no I am master!"
+
+He seldom attempted now to draw her into a tete a tete conversation, but
+finding her one evening sitting upon a low divan in one of the
+bay-windows looking out into the moonlight, he seated himself beside her
+and began one of his entertaining tales of travel. An hour or more
+passed pleasantly, and Walcott inquired, casually,--
+
+"By the way, Miss Underwood, what has become of my four-footed friend? I
+have not seen him for three weeks or more, and his attentions to me were
+so marked I naturally miss them."
+
+"Duke is at the mining camp," Kate answered, with a faint smile.
+
+Walcott raised his eyebrows incredulously. "Possible! With my other
+admirer, Mr. Darrell?"
+
+"He is with Mr. Darrell."
+
+"Accept my gratitude, Miss Underwood, for having made my entree to your
+home much pleasanter, not to say safer."
+
+"I neither claim nor accept your gratitude, Mr. Walcott," Kate replied,
+with cool dignity, "since I did it simply out of regard for Duke's
+welfare and not out of any consideration whatever for your wishes in the
+matter."
+
+"I might have known as much," said Walcott, with a mock sigh of
+resignation, settling back comfortably among the pillows on the divan
+and fixing his eyes on Kate's face; "I might have known that
+consideration for any wish of mine could never by any chance be assigned
+as the motive for an act of yours."
+
+Kate made no reply, but the lines about her mouth deepened. For a moment
+he watched her silently; then he continued slowly, in low, nonchalant
+tones:
+
+"I am positive that when I at last gain your consent to marry me,"--he
+paused an instant to note the effect of his words, but there was not the
+quiver of an eyelash on her part,--"even then, you will have the
+audacity to tell me that you gave it for any other reason under heaven
+than consideration for me or my wishes."
+
+"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, facing him with sudden hauteur of tone and
+manner, "you are correct. If ever I consent to marry you I can tell you
+now as well as then my reason for doing so: it will be simply and solely
+for my dear father's sake, for the love I bear him, out of consideration
+for his wishes, and with no more thought of you than if you did not
+exist."
+
+Conflicting emotions filled Walcott's breast at these words, but he
+preserved a calm, smiling exterior. He could not but admire Kate's
+spirit; at the same time the thought flashed through his mind that this
+apparent slip of a girl might prove rather difficult to "tame;" but he
+reflected that the more difficult, the keener would be his enjoyment of
+the final victory.
+
+"A novel situation, surely!" he commented, with a low, musical laugh;
+"decidedly unique!"
+
+"But, my dear Miss Underwood," he continued, a moment later, "if your
+love for your father and regard for his wishes are to constitute your
+sole reasons for consenting to become my wife, why need you withhold
+that consent longer? I am sure his wishes in the matter will remain
+unchanged, as will also your love for him; why then should our marriage
+be further delayed?"
+
+"After what I have just told you, Mr. Walcott, do you still ask me to
+be your wife?" Kate demanded, indignantly.
+
+"I do, Miss Underwood; and, pardon me, I feel that you have trifled with
+me long enough; I must have your answer."
+
+She rose, drawing herself proudly to her full height.
+
+"Take me to my father," she said, imperiously.
+
+Walcott offered his arm, which she refused with a gesture of scorn, and
+they proceeded to the adjoining room, where Mr. Underwood and his sister
+were seated together before the fire. As Kate advanced towards her
+father both looked up simultaneously, and each read in her white face
+and proud bearing that a crisis was at hand. Mrs. Dean at once arose and
+noiselessly withdrew from the room.
+
+Walcott paused at a little distance from Mr. Underwood, assuming a
+graceful attitude as he leaned languidly over the large chair just
+vacated by Mrs. Dean, but Kate did not stop till she reached her
+father's side, where she bowed coldly to Walcott to proceed with what he
+had to say.
+
+"Some time ago, Mr. Underwood," he began, smoothly and easily, "I asked
+you for your daughter's hand in marriage, and you honored me with your
+consent. Since that time I have paid my addresses to Miss Underwood in
+so marked a manner as to leave her no room for doubt or misunderstanding
+regarding my intentions, although, finding that she was not inclined to
+look upon me with favor, I have hitherto refrained from pressing my
+suit. Feeling now that I have given her abundance of time I have this
+evening asked her to become my wife, and insisted that I was entitled to
+a decision. Instead, however, of giving me a direct answer, she has
+suggested that we refer the matter to yourself."
+
+"How is this, Kate?" her father asked, not unkindly; "I supposed you and
+I had settled this matter long ago."
+
+Her voice was clear, her tones unfaltering, as she replied: "Before
+giving my answer I wanted to ask you, papa, for the last time, whether,
+knowing the circumstances as you do and how I regard Mr. Walcott, it is
+still your wish that I marry him?"
+
+"It is; and I expect my child to be governed by my wishes in this matter
+rather than by her own feelings."
+
+"Have I ever gone contrary to your wishes, papa, or disobeyed you?"
+
+"No, my child, no!"
+
+"Then I shall not attempt it at this late day. I only wanted to be sure
+that this was still your wish."
+
+"I desire it above all things," said Mr. Underwood, delighted to find
+Kate so ready to accede to his wishes, rising and taking her hand in
+his; "and the day that I see my little girl settled in the home which
+she will receive as a wedding-gift from her old father will be the
+proudest and happiest day of my life."
+
+Kate smiled sadly. "No home can ever seem to me like The Pines, papa,
+but I appreciate your kindness, and I want you to know that I am taking
+this step solely for your happiness."
+
+She then turned, facing Walcott, who advanced slightly, while Mr.
+Underwood made a movement as though to place her hand in his.
+
+"Not yet, papa," she said, gently; then, addressing Walcott, she
+continued:
+
+"Mr. Walcott, this must be my answer, since you insist upon having one:
+Out of love for him who has been both father and mother to me, out of
+reverence for his gray hairs frosted by the sorrows of earlier years,
+out of regard for his wishes, which have always been my law,--for his
+sake only,--I consent to become your wife upon one condition."
+
+"Name it," Walcott replied.
+
+"There can be no love between us, either in our engagement or our
+marriage, for, as I have told you, I can never love you, and you
+yourself are incapable of love in its best sense; you have not even the
+slightest knowledge of what it is. For this reason any token of love
+between us would be only a mockery, a farce, and true wedded love is
+something too holy, too sacred, to be travestied in any such manner. I
+consent to our marriage, therefore, only upon this condition: that we
+henceforth treat each other simply with kindness and courtesy; that no
+expressions of affection or endearment are to be used by either of us to
+the other, and that no word or sign of love ever pass between us."
+
+"Kate," interposed her father, sternly, "this is preposterous! I cannot
+allow such absurdity;" but Walcott silenced him with a deprecatory wave
+of his hand, and, taking Kate's hand in his, replied, with smiling
+indifference,--
+
+"I accept the condition imposed by Miss Underwood, since it is no more
+unique than the entire situation, and I congratulate her upon her
+decided originality. I suppose," he added, addressing Kate, at the same
+time producing a superb diamond ring, "you will not object to wearing
+this?"
+
+"I yield that much to conventionality," she replied, allowing him to
+place it on her finger; "there is no need to advertise the situation
+publicly; besides, it is a fitting symbol of my future fetters."
+
+"Conventionality, I believe, would require that it be placed on your
+hand with a kiss and some appropriate bit of sentiment, but since that
+sort of thing is tabooed between us, we will have to dispense with that
+part of the ceremony."
+
+Then turning to Mr. Underwood, who stood looking on frowningly, somewhat
+troubled by the turn matters had taken, Walcott added, playfully,--
+
+"According to the usual custom, I believe the next thing on the
+programme is for you to embrace us and give us a father's blessing, but
+my lady might not approve of anything so commonplace."
+
+Before her father could reply Kate spoke for him, glancing at him with
+an affectionate smile:
+
+"Papa is not one of the demonstrative sort, and he and I need no
+demonstration of our love for each other; do we, dear?"
+
+"No, child, we understand each other," said her father, reseating
+himself, with Kate in her accustomed place on the arm of his chair,
+while Walcott took the large chair on the other side of the fire; "and
+you neither of you need any assurance of my good wishes or good
+intentions towards you; but," he continued, doubtfully, shaking his
+head, "I don't quite like the way you've gone about this business,
+Puss."
+
+"It was the only way for me, papa," Kate answered, gravely and
+decidedly.
+
+"I admit," said Walcott, "it will be quite a departure from the mode of
+procedure ordinarily laid down for newly engaged and newly wedded
+couples; but really, come to think it over, I am inclined to think that
+Miss Underwood's proposition will save us an immense amount of boredom
+which is the usual concomitant of engagements and honeymoons. That sort
+of thing, you know," he added, his lip curling just perceptibly, "is apt
+to get a little monotonous after a while."
+
+Kate, watching him from under level brows, saw the slight sneer and
+inwardly rejoiced at the stand she had taken.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Underwood, resignedly, "fix it up between you any way
+to suit yourselves; but for heaven's sake, don't do anything to cause
+comment or remarks!"
+
+"Papa, you can depend on me not to make myself conspicuous in any way,"
+Kate replied, with dignity. "What I have said to-night was said simply
+to let you and Mr. Walcott know just where I stand, and just what you
+may, and may not, expect of me; but this is only between us three, and
+you can rest assured that I shall never wear my heart upon my sleeve or
+take the public into my confidence regarding my home life."
+
+"I think myself you need have no fear on that score, Mr. Underwood,"
+Walcott remarked, with a smile of amusement; "I believe Miss Underwood
+is entirely capable of carrying out to perfection any role she may
+assume, and if she chooses to take the part of leading lady in the
+little comedy of 'The Model Husband and Wife, I shall be only too
+delighted to render her any assistance within my power."
+
+As Walcott bade Kate good-night at a late hour he inquired, "What do you
+think of the little comedy I suggested to-night for our future line of
+action? Does it meet with your approval?"
+
+She was quick to catch the significance of the question, and, looking
+him straight in the eyes, she replied, calmly,--
+
+"It will answer as well as any, I suppose; but it has in it more of the
+elements of tragedy than of comedy."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXI_
+
+TWO CRIMES BY THE SAME HAND
+
+
+At Walcott's request the date of the wedding was set early in January,
+he having announced that business would call him to the South the first
+week in December for about a month, and that he wished the wedding to
+take place immediately upon his return.
+
+The announcement of the engagement and speedily approaching marriage of
+the daughter of D. K. Underwood to his junior partner caused a ripple of
+excitement throughout the social circles of Ophir and Galena. Though
+little known, Walcott was quite popular. It was therefore generally
+conceded that the shrewd "mining king," as Mr. Underwood was denominated
+in that region, had selected a party in every way eligible as the future
+husband of the sole heiress of his fortune. Kate received the
+congratulations showered upon her with perfect equanimity, but with a
+shade of quiet reserve which effectually distanced all undue familiarity
+or curiosity.
+
+Through the daily paper which found its way to the mining camp Darrell
+received his first news of Kate's engagement. It did not come as a
+surprise, however; he knew it was inevitable; he even drew a sigh of
+relief that the blow had fallen, for a burden is far more easily borne
+as an actual reality than by anticipation, and applied himself with an
+almost dogged persistency to his work.
+
+The winter set in early and with unusual severity. The snowfall in the
+mountains was heavier than had been known in years. Much of the time
+the canyon road was impassable, making it impracticable for Darrell to
+visit The Pines with any frequency, even had he wished to do so.
+
+The weeks passed, and ere he was aware the holidays were at hand. By
+special messenger came a little note from Kate informing him of
+Walcott's absence and begging him to spend Christmas at the old home.
+There had been a lull of two or three days in the storm, the messenger
+reported the road somewhat broken, and early on the morning preceding
+Christmas the trio, Darrell, Duke, and Trix, started forth, and, after a
+twelve hours' siege, arrived at The Pines wet, cold, and thoroughly
+exhausted, but all joyfully responsive to the welcome awaiting them.
+
+Christmas dawned bright and clear; tokens of love and good will abounded
+on every side, but at an early hour news came over the wires which
+shocked and saddened all who heard, particularly the household at The
+Pines. There had been a hold-up on the west-bound express the preceding
+night, a few miles from Galena, in which the mail and express had been
+robbed, and the express clerk, a brave young fellow who stanchly refused
+to open the safe or give the combination, had been fatally stabbed. It
+was said to be without doubt the work of the same band that had
+conducted the hold-up in which Harry Whitcomb had lost his life, as it
+was characterized by the same boldness of plan and cleverness of
+execution.
+
+The affair brought back so vividly to Mr. Underwood and the family the
+details of Harry's death that it cast a shadow over the Christmas
+festivities, which seemed to deepen as the day wore on. Outside, too,
+gathering clouds, harbingers of coming storm, added to the general
+gloom.
+
+It was with a sense of relief that Darrell set out at an early hour the
+following morning for the camp. He realized as never before that the
+place teemed with painful memories whose very sweetness tortured his
+soul until he almost wished that the months since his coming to The
+Pines might be wrapped in the same oblivion which veiled his life up to
+that period. He was glad to escape from its depressing influence and to
+return to the camp with its routine of work and study.
+
+This second winter of Darrell's life at camp was far more normal and
+healthful than the first. His love and sympathy for Kate had
+unconsciously drawn him out of himself, making him less mindful of his
+own sorrow and more susceptible to the sufferings of others. To the men
+at the camp he was far different, interesting himself in their welfare
+in numerous ways where before he had ignored them. The unusual severity
+of the winter had caused some sickness among them, and it was nothing
+uncommon for Darrell to go of an evening to the miners' quarters with
+medicines, newspapers, and magazines for the sick and convalescent.
+
+He was returning from one of these expeditions late one evening about
+ten days after Christmas, accompanied by the collie. It had been snowing
+lightly and steadily all day and the snow was still falling. Darrell was
+whistling softly to himself, and Duke, who showed a marvellous
+adaptation to Darrell's varying moods, catching the cue for his own
+conduct, began to plunge into the freshly fallen snow, wheeling and
+darting swiftly towards Darrell as though challenging him to a
+wrestling-match. Darrell gratified his evident wish and they tumbled
+promiscuously in the snow, emerging at length from a big drift near the
+office, their coats white, Duke barking with delight, and Darrell
+laughing like a school-boy.
+
+Shaking themselves, they entered the office, but no sooner had they
+stepped within than the collie bounded to the door of the next room
+where he began a vigorous sniffing and scratching, accompanied by a
+series of short barks. As Darrell, somewhat puzzled by his actions,
+opened the door, he saw a figure seated by the fire, which rose and
+turned quickly, revealing to his astonished gaze the tall form and
+strong, sweet face of John Britton.
+
+For a moment the two men stood with clasped hands, looking into each
+other's eyes with a satisfaction too deep for words.
+
+After an affectionate scrutiny of his young friend Mr. Britton resumed
+his seat, remarking,--
+
+"You are looking well--better than I have ever seen you; and I was glad
+to hear that laughter outside; it had the right ring to it."
+
+"Duke was responsible for that," Darrell answered, with a smiling glance
+at the collie who had stationed himself by the fire and near Mr.
+Britton; "he challenged me to wrestle with him, and got rather the worst
+of it."
+
+A moment later, having divested himself of his great coat, he drew a
+second seat before the fire, saying,--
+
+"You evidently knew where to look for me?"
+
+"Yes, your last letter, which, by the way, followed me for nearly six
+weeks before reaching me, apprised me of your return to the camp. I was
+somewhat surprised, too, after you had established yourself so well in
+town."
+
+"It was best for me--and for others," Darrell answered; then, noting the
+inquiry in his friend's eyes, he added:
+
+"It is a long story, but it will keep; there will be plenty of time for
+that later. Tell me of yourself first. For two months I have hungered
+for word from you, and now I simply want to listen to you a while."
+
+Mr. Britton smiled. "I owe you an apology, but you know I am a poor
+correspondent at best, and of late business has called me here and there
+until I scarcely knew one day where I would be the next; consequently I
+have received my mail irregularly and have been irregular myself in
+writing."
+
+Darrell's face grew tender, for he knew it was not business alone which
+drove his friend from place to place, but the old pain which found
+relief only in ceaseless activity and an equally unceasing beneficence.
+He well knew that many of his friend's journeys were purely of a
+philanthropic nature, and he remarked, with a peculiar smile,--
+
+"Your travels always remind me very forcibly of the journey of the good
+Samaritan; when he met a case of suffering on the way he was not the one
+to 'pass by on the other side;' nor are you."
+
+"Perhaps," said Mr. Britton, gravely, "he had found, as others have
+since, that pouring oil and wine into his neighbor's wounds was the
+surest method of assuaging the pain in some secret wound of his own."
+
+Darrell watched his friend closely while he gave a brief account of his
+recent journeys along the western coast. Never before had he seen the
+lines of suffering so marked upon the face beside him as that night.
+Something evidently had reopened the old wound, causing it to throb
+anew.
+
+"I need not ask what has brought you back into the mountains at this
+time of year and in this storm," Darrell remarked, as his friend
+concluded.
+
+For answer Mr. Britton drew from his pocket an envelope which Darrell
+at once recognized as a counterpart of one which had come to him some
+weeks before, but which he had laid away unopened, knowing only too well
+its contents.
+
+"I am particularly glad, for Miss Underwood's sake, that you are here,"
+he said; "she feared you might not come, and it worried her."
+
+"Which accounts for the importunate little note which accompanied the
+invitation," said Mr. Britton, with a half-smile; "but I would have made
+it a point to be present in any event; why did she doubt my coming?"
+
+"Because of the season, I suppose, and the unusual storms; then, too,"
+Darrell spoke with some hesitation, "she told me she believed you had a
+sort of aversion to weddings."
+
+"She was partly right," Mr. Britton said, after a pause; "I have not
+been present at a wedding ceremony for more than twenty-five years--not
+since my own marriage," he added, slowly, in a low tone, as though
+making a confession.
+
+Darrell's heart throbbed painfully; it was the first allusion he had
+ever heard the other make to his own past, and from his tone and manner
+Darrell knew that he himself had unwittingly touched the great, hidden
+sorrow in his friend's life.
+
+"Forgive me!" he said, with the humility and simplicity of a child.
+
+"I have nothing to forgive," Mr. Britton replied, gently, fixing his
+eyes with a look of peculiar affection upon Darrell's face. "You know
+more now, my son, than the whole world knows or has known in all these
+years; and some day in the near future you shall know all, because, for
+some inexplicable reason, you, out of the whole world, seem nearest to
+me."
+
+A few moments later he resumed, with more of his usual manner, "I am not
+quite myself to-night. The events of the last few days have rather upset
+me, and," with one of his rare smiles, "I have come to you to get
+righted."
+
+"To me?" Darrell exclaimed.
+
+"Yes; why not?"
+
+"I am but your pupil,--one who is just beginning to look above his own
+selfish sorrows only through the lessons you have taught him."
+
+"You over-estimate the little I have tried to do for you; but were it
+even as you say, I would come to you and to no one else. To whom did the
+Divine Master himself turn for human sympathy in his last hours of grief
+and suffering but to his little band of pupils--his disciples? And in
+proportion as they had learned of Him and imbibed His spirit, in just
+that proportion could they enter into his feelings and minister to his
+soul."
+
+Mr. Britton had withdrawn the cards from the envelope and was regarding
+them thoughtfully.
+
+"The receipt of those bits of pasteboard," he said, slowly, "unmanned me
+more than anything that has occurred in nearly a score of years. They
+called up long-forgotten scenes,--little pathetic, heart-rending
+memories which I thought buried long ago. I don't mind confessing to
+you, my boy, that for a while I was unnerved. It did not seem as though
+I could ever bring myself to hear again the music of wedding-bells and
+wedding-marches, to listen to the old words of the marriage service. But
+for the sake of one who has seemed almost as my own child I throttled
+those feelings and started for the mountains, resolved that no
+selfishness of mine should cloud her happiness on her wedding day. I
+came, to find, what I would never have believed possible, that my old
+friend would sacrifice his child's happiness, all that is sweetest and
+holiest in her life, to gratify his own ambition. I cannot tell you the
+shock it was to me. D. K. Underwood and I have been friends for many
+years, but that did not prevent my talking plainly with him--so plainly
+that perhaps our friendship may never be the same again. But it was of
+no avail, and the worst is, he has persuaded himself that he is acting
+for her good, when it is simply for the gratification of his own pride.
+I could not stay there; the very atmosphere seemed oppressive; so I came
+up here for a day or two, as I told you, to get righted."
+
+"And you came to me to be righted," Darrell said, musingly; "'Can the
+blind lead the blind?'"
+
+Mr. Britton was quick to catch the significance of he other's query.
+
+"Yes, John," he answered, covering Darrell's hand with his own; "I came
+to you for the very reason that your hurt is far deeper than mine."
+
+Under the magnetism of that tone and touch Darrell calmly and in few
+words told his story and Kate's,--the story of their love and brief
+happiness, and of the wretchedness which followed.
+
+"For a while I constantly reproached myself for having spoken to her of
+love," he said, in conclusion; "for having awakened her love, as I
+thought, by my own; but gradually I came to see that she had loved me,
+as I had her, unconsciously, almost from our first meeting, and that the
+awakening must in any event have come sooner or later to each of us.
+Then it seemed as though my suffering all converged in sorrow for her,
+that her life, instead of being gladdened by love, should be saddened
+and marred, perhaps wrecked, by it."
+
+"Love works strange havoc with human lives sometimes," Mr. Britton
+remarked, reflectively, as Darrell paused.
+
+"I was tempted at times," Darrell continued, "as I thought of what was
+in store for her, to rescue her at any cost; tempted to take her and go
+with her to the ends of the earth, if necessary; anywhere, to save her
+from the life she dreads."
+
+"Thank God that you did not, my son!" Mr. Britton exclaimed, strangely
+agitated by Darrell's words; "you do not know what the cost might have
+been in the end; what bitter remorse, what agony of ceaseless regret!"
+
+He stopped abruptly, and again Darrell felt that he had looked for an
+instant into those depths so sacredly guarded from the eyes of the
+world.
+
+"You did well to leave as you did," Mr. Britton said, after a moment's
+silence, in which he had regained his composure.
+
+"I had to; I should have done something desperate if I had remained
+there much longer."
+
+Darrell spoke quietly, but it was the quiet of suppressed passion.
+
+"It was better so--better for you both," Mr. Britton continued; "when we
+find ourselves powerless to save our loved ones from impending trouble,
+all that is left us is to help them bear that trouble as best we may.
+The best help you can give Kate now is to take yourself as completely as
+possible out of her life. How you can best help her later time alone
+will show."
+
+A long silence followed, while both watched the flickering flames and
+listened to the crooning of the wind outside. When at length they spoke
+it was on topics of general interest; the outlook at the mining camp,
+the latest news in the town below, till their talk at last drifted to
+the recent hold-up.
+
+"A dastardly piece of work!" exclaimed Mr. Britton. "The death of that
+young express clerk was in some ways even sadder than that of Harry
+Whitcomb. I knew him well; the only child of a widowed mother; a poor
+boy who, by indomitable energy and unswerving integrity, had just
+succeeded in securing the position which cost him his life. Two such
+brutal, cowardly murders ought to arouse the people to such systematic,
+concerted action as would result in the final arrest and conviction of
+the murderer."
+
+"It is the general opinion that both were committed by one and the same
+party," Darrell remarked, as his friend paused.
+
+"Undoubtedly both were the work of the same hand, in all probability
+that of the leader himself. He is a man capable of any crime, probably
+guilty of nearly every crime that could be mentioned, and his men are
+mere tools in his hands. He exerts a strange power over them and they
+obey him, knowing that their lives would pay the forfeit for
+disobedience. Human life is nothing to him, and any one who stood in the
+way of the accomplishment of his purposes would simply go the way those
+two poor fellows have gone."
+
+"Why, do you know anything regarding this man?" Darrell asked in
+surprise.
+
+"Only so far as I have made a study of him and his methods, aided by
+whatever information I could gather from time to time concerning him."
+
+"Surely, you are not a detective!" Darrell exclaimed; "you spoke like
+one just now."
+
+"Not professionally," his friend answered, with a smile; "though I have
+often assisted in running down criminals. I have enough of the hound
+nature about me, however, that when a scent is given me I delight in
+following the trail till I run my game to cover, as I hope some day to
+run this man to cover," he added, with peculiar earnestness.
+
+"But how did you ever gain so much knowledge of him? To every one else
+he seems an utter mystery."
+
+"Partly, as I said, through a study of him and his methods, and partly
+from facts which I learned from one of the band who was fatally shot a
+few years ago in a skirmish between the brigands and a posse of
+officials. The man was deserted by his associates and was brought to
+town and placed in a hospital. I did what I could to make the poor
+fellow comfortable, with the result that he became quite communicative
+with me, and, while in no way betraying his confederates, he gave me
+much interesting information regarding the band and its leader. It is a
+thoroughly organized body of men, bound together by the most fearful
+oaths, possessing a perfect system of signals and passwords, and with a
+retreat in the mountains, known as the 'Pocket,' so inaccessible to any
+but themselves that no one as yet has been able even to definitely
+locate it--a sort of basin walled about by perpendicular rocks. The
+leader is a man of mixed blood, who has travelled in all countries and
+knows many dark secrets, and whose power lies mainly in the mystery with
+which he surrounds himself. No one knows who he is, but many of his men
+believe him to be the very devil personified."
+
+"But how can you or any one else hope to run down a man with such
+powerful followers and with a hiding-place so inaccessible?" Darrell
+inquired.
+
+"From a remark inadvertently dropped, I was led to infer that this man
+spends comparatively little time with the band. He communicates with
+them, directs them, and personally conducts any especially bold or
+difficult venture; but most of the time he is amid far different
+surroundings, leading an altogether different life."
+
+"One of those men with double lives," Darrell commented.
+
+Mr. Britton bowed in assent.
+
+"But if that were so," Darrell persisted, his interest thoroughly
+aroused, as much by Mr. Britton's manner as by his words, "in the event,
+say, of your meeting him, how would you be able to recognize or identify
+him? Have you any clew to his identity?"
+
+"Years ago," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "I formed the habit of studying
+people; at first as I met them; later as I heard or read of them. Facts
+gathered here and there concerning a person's life I put together, piece
+by piece, studying his actions and the probable motives governing those
+actions, until I had a mental picture of the real man, the 'ego' that
+constitutes the foundation of the character of every individual. Having
+that fixed in my mind I next strove to form an idea of the exterior
+which that particular 'ego' would gradually build about himself through
+his habits of thought and speech and action. In this way, by a careful
+study of a man's life, I can form something of an idea of his
+appearance. I have often put this to the test by visiting various
+penitentiaries in order to meet some of the noted criminals of whose
+careers I had made a study, and invariably, in expression, in voice and
+manner, in gait and bearing, in the hundred and one little indices by
+which the soul betrays itself, I have found them as I had mentally
+portrayed them."
+
+Mr. Britton had risen while speaking and was walking back and forth
+before the fire.
+
+"I see!" Darrell exclaimed; "and you have formed a mental portrait of
+this man by which you expect to recognize and identify him?"
+
+"I am satisfied that I would have no difficulty in recognizing him," Mr.
+Britton replied, with peculiar emphasis on the last words; "the work of
+identification,"--he paused in front of Darrell, looking him earnestly
+in the face,--"that, I hope, will one day be yours."
+
+"Mine!" exclaimed Darrell. "How so? I do not understand."
+
+"Mr. Underwood has told me that soon after your arrival at The Pines and
+just before you became delirious, there was something on your mind in
+connection with the robbery and Whitcomb's death which you wished to
+tell him but were unable to recall; and both he and his sister have said
+that often during your delirium you would mutter, 'That face! I can
+never forget it; it will haunt me as long as I live!' It has always been
+my belief that amidst the horrors of the scene you witnessed that night,
+you in some way got sight of the murderer's face, which impressed you so
+strongly that it haunted you even in your delirium. It is my hope that
+with the return of memory there will come a vision of that face
+sufficiently clear that you will be able to identify it should you meet
+it, as I believe you will."
+
+Darrell scrutinized his friend closely before replying, noting his
+evident agitation.
+
+"You have already met this man and recognized him!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Possibly!" was the only reply.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXII_
+
+THE FETTERS BROKEN
+
+
+Early on the morning of the third day after Mr. Britton's arrival at
+camp he and Darrell set forth for The Pines. But little snow had fallen
+within the last two days, and the trip was made without much difficulty,
+though progress was slow. Late in the day, as they neared The Pines, the
+clouds, which for hours had been more or less broken, suddenly
+dispersed, and the setting sun sank in a flood of gold and crimson light
+which gave promise of glorious weather for the morrow.
+
+Arriving at the house, they found it filled with guests invited to the
+wedding from different parts of the State, the rooms resounding with
+light badinage and laughter, the very atmosphere charged with excitement
+as messengers came and went and servants hurried to and fro, busied with
+preparations for the following day.
+
+Kate herself hastened forward to meet them, a trifle pale, but calm and
+wearing the faint, inscrutable smile which of late was becoming habitual
+with her. At sight of Darrell and his friend, however, her face lighted
+with the old-time, sunny smile and her cheeks flushed with pleasure. She
+bestowed upon Mr. Britton the same affectionate greeting with which she
+had been accustomed to meet him since her childhood's days. He was
+visibly affected, and though he returned her greeting, kissing her on
+brow and cheek, he was unable to speak. Her color deepened and her eyes
+grew luminous as she turned to welcome Darrell, but she only said,--
+
+"I am inexpressibly glad that you came. It will be good to feel there is
+one amid all the crowd who knows."
+
+"He knows also, Kathie," Darrell replied, in low tones, indicating Mr.
+Britton with a slight motion of his head.
+
+"Does he know all?" she asked, quickly.
+
+"Yes; I thought you could have no objection."
+
+"No," she answered, after a brief pause; "I am glad that it is so."
+
+There was no opportunity for further speech, as Mr. Underwood came
+forward to welcome his old friend and Darrell, and they were hurried off
+to their rooms to prepare for dinner.
+
+Mr. Underwood was not a man to do things by halves, and the elaborate
+but informal dinner to which he and his guests sat down was all that
+could be desired as a gastronomic success. He himself, despite his
+brusque manners, was a genial host, and Walcott speedily ingratiated
+himself into the favor of the guests by his quiet, unobtrusive
+attentions, his punctilious courtesy to each and all alike.
+
+Darrell and his friend felt ill at ease and out of place amid the gayety
+that filled the house that evening, and at an early hour they retired to
+their rooms.
+
+"It is awful!" Darrell exclaimed, as they stood for a moment together at
+the door of his room listening to the sounds of merriment from below;
+"it is all so hollow, such a mockery; it seems like dancing over a
+hidden sepulchre!"
+
+"And we are to stand by to-morrow and witness this farce carried out to
+the final culmination!" Mr. Britton commented, in low tones; "it is
+worse than a farce,--it is a crime! My boy, how will you be able to
+stand it?" he suddenly inquired.
+
+Darrell turned away abruptly. "I could not stand it; I would not attempt
+it, except that my presence will comfort and help her," he answered. And
+so they parted for the night.
+
+The following morning dawned clear and cloudless, the spotless, unbroken
+expanse of snow gleaming in the sunlight as though strewn with myriads
+of jewels; it seemed as if Earth herself had donned her bridal array in
+honor of the occasion.
+
+"An ideal wedding-day!" was the universal exclamation; and such it was.
+
+The wedding was to take place at noon. A little more than an hour before
+the bridal party was to leave the house Darrell was walking up and down
+the double libraries upstairs, whither he had been summoned by a note
+from Kate, begging him to await her there.
+
+His thoughts went back to that summer night less than six months gone,
+when he had waited her coming in those very rooms. Not yet six months,
+and he seemed to have lived years since then! He recalled her as she
+appeared before him that night in all the grace and witchery of lovely
+maidenhood just opening into womanhood. How beautiful, how joyous she
+had been! without a thought of sorrow, and now----
+
+A faint sound like the breath of the wind through the leaves roused him,
+and Kate stood before him once more. Kate in her bridal robes, their
+shimmering folds trailing behind her like the gleaming foam in the wake
+of a ship on a moonlit sea, while her veil, like a filmy cloud,
+enveloped her from head to foot.
+
+There was a moment of silence in which Darrell studied the face before
+him; the same, yet not the same, as on that summer night. The childlike
+naivete, the charming piquancy, had given place to a sweet seriousness,
+but it was more tender, more womanly, more beautiful.
+
+She came a step nearer, and, raising her clasped hands, placed them
+within Darrell's.
+
+"I felt that I must see you once more, John," she said, in the low,
+sweet tones that always thrilled his very soul; "there is something I
+wish to say to you, if I can only make my meaning clear, and I feel sure
+you will understand me. I want to pledge to you, John, for time and for
+eternity, my heart's best and purest love. Though forced into this union
+with a man whom I can never love, yet I will be true as a wife; God
+knows I would not be otherwise; that is farthest from my thoughts. But I
+have learned much within the past few months, and I have learned that
+there is a love far above all passion and sensuality; a love tender as a
+wife's, pure as a mother's, and lasting as eternity itself. Such love I
+pledge you, John Darrell. Do you understand me?"
+
+As she raised her eyes to his it seemed to Darrell that he was looking
+into the face of one of the saints whom the old masters loved to portray
+centuries ago, so spiritual was it, so devoid of everything of earth!
+
+"Kathie, darling," he said, clasping her hands tenderly, "I do
+understand, and, thank God, I believe I am able to reciprocate your love
+with one as chastened and pure. When I left The Pines last fall I did so
+because I could not any longer endure to be near you, loving you as I
+did. I felt in some blind, unreasoning way that it was wrong, and yet I
+knew that to cease to love you was an impossibility. But in the solitude
+of the mountains God showed me a better way. He showed me the true
+meaning of those words, 'In the resurrection they neither marry nor are
+given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.' Those words
+had always seemed to me austere and cold, as though they implied that
+our poor love would be superseded by higher attributes possessed by the
+angelic hosts, of which we knew nothing. Now I know that they mean that
+our human love shall be refined from all the dross of earthly passion,
+purified and exalted above mortal conception. I prayed that my love for
+you might be in some such measure refined and purified, and I know that
+prayer has been answered. I pledge you that love, Kathie; a love that
+will never wrong you even in thought; that you can trust in all the days
+to come as ready to defend or protect you if necessary, and as always
+seeking your best and highest happiness."
+
+"Thank you, John," she said, and bowed her head above their clasped
+hands for a moment.
+
+When she raised her head her eyes were glistening. "We need not be
+afraid or ashamed to acknowledge love such as ours," she said, proudly;
+"and with the assurance you have given me I shall have strength and
+courage, whatever may come. I must go," she added, lifting her face to
+his; "I want your kiss now, John, rather than amid all the meaningless
+kisses that will be given me after the ceremony."
+
+Their lips met in a lingering kiss, then she silently withdrew from the
+room.
+
+As she crossed the hall Walcott suddenly brushed past her breathlessly,
+without seeing her, and ran swiftly downstairs. His evident excitement
+caused her to pause for an instant; as she did, she heard him exclaim,
+in a low, angry tone and with an oath,--
+
+"You dog! What brings you here? How dare you come here?"
+
+There came a low reply in Spanish, followed by a few quick, sharp words
+from Walcott in the same tongue, but which by their inflection Kate
+understood to be an exclamation and a question.
+
+Her curiosity aroused, she noiselessly descended to the first landing,
+and, leaning over the balustrade, saw a small man, with dark olive skin,
+standing close to Walcott, with whom he was talking excitedly. He spoke
+rapidly in Spanish. Kate caught only one word, "Senora," as he handed a
+note to Walcott, at the same time pointing backward over his shoulder
+towards the entrance. Kate saw Walcott grow pale as he read the missive,
+then, with a muttered curse, he started for the door, followed by the
+other.
+
+Quickly descending to the next landing, where there was an alcove window
+looking out upon the driveway, Kate could see a closed carriage standing
+before the entrance, and Walcott, holding the door partially open,
+talking with some one inside. The colloquy was brief, and, as Walcott
+stepped back from the carriage, the smaller man, who had been standing
+at a little distance, sprang in hastily. As he swung the door open for
+an instant Kate had a glimpse of a woman on the rear seat, dressed in
+black and heavily veiled. As the man closed the door Walcott stepped to
+the window for a word or two, then turned towards the house, and the
+carriage rolled rapidly down the driveway. Kate slowly ascended the
+stairs, listening for Walcott, who entered the house, but, instead of
+coming upstairs, passed through the lower hall, going directly to a
+private room of Mr. Underwood's in which he received any who happened to
+call at the house on business.
+
+Kate went to her room, her pulse beating quickly. She felt intuitively
+that something was wrong; that here was revealed a phase of Walcott's
+personality which she in her innocence had not considered, had not even
+suspected. She knew that her father believed him to be a moral man, and
+hitherto she had regarded the lack of affinity between herself and him
+as due to a sort of mental disparity--a lack of affiliation in thought
+and taste. Now the conviction flashed upon her that the disparity was a
+moral one. She recalled the sense of loathing with which she
+instinctively shrank from his touch; she understood it now. And within
+two hours she was to have married this man! Never!
+
+Passing a large mirror, she paused and looked at the reflection there.
+Was her soul, its purity and beauty symbolized by her very dress, to be
+united to that other soul in its grossness and deformity? Her cheek
+blanched with horror at the thought. No! that fair body should perish
+first, rather than soul or body ever be contaminated by his touch!
+
+Her decision was taken from that moment, and it was irrevocable.
+Nothing--not even her father's love or anger, his wishes or his
+commands--could turn her now, for, as he himself boasted, his own blood
+flowed within her veins.
+
+Swiftly she disrobed, tearing the veil in her haste and throwing the
+shimmering white garments to one side as though she hated the sight of
+them. Taking from her jewel casket the engagement ring which had been
+laid aside for the wedding ceremony, she quickly shut it within its own
+case, to be returned as early as possible to the giver; it seemed to
+burn her fingers like living fire.
+
+A few moments later her aunt, entering her room, found her dressed in
+one of her favorite house gowns,--a camel's hair of creamy white. She
+looked at Kate, then at the discarded robes on a couch near by, and
+stopped speechless for an instant, then stammered,--
+
+"Katherine, child, what does this mean?"
+
+"It means, auntie," said Kate, putting her arms about her aunt's neck,
+"that there will be no wedding and no bride to-day."
+
+Then, looking her straight in the eyes, she added: "Really, auntie, deep
+down in your heart, aren't you glad of it?"
+
+Mrs. Dean gasped, then replied, slowly, "Yes; it will make me very glad
+if you do not have to marry that man; but, Katherine, I don't
+understand; what will your father say?"
+
+Before Kate could reply there was a heavy knock at the door, which Mrs.
+Dean answered. She came back looking rather frightened.
+
+"Your father wishes to see you, Katherine, in your library. Something
+must have happened; he looks excited and worried. I don't know what
+he'll say to you in that dress."
+
+"I'm not afraid," Kate replied, brightly.
+
+A moment later she entered the room where less than half an hour before
+she had left Darrell. Mr. Underwood was walking up and down. As Kate
+entered he turned towards her with a look of solicitude, which quickly
+changed to one of surprise, tinged with anger.
+
+"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, looking at his watch; "it is
+within an hour of the time set for your wedding; you don't look much
+like a bride. Do you expect to be married in that dress?"
+
+"I am not to be married to-day, papa; nor any other day to Mr. Walcott,"
+Kate answered, calmly.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, scarcely comprehending the full import of her
+words; "isn't the matter bad enough as it is without your making it
+worse by any foolish talk or actions?"
+
+"I don't understand you, papa; to what do you refer?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Walcott has just been called out of town by news that his
+father is lying at the point of death; it is doubtful whether he will
+live till his son can reach him. He has to take the first train south
+which leaves within half an hour; otherwise, he would have waited for
+the ceremony to be performed."
+
+"Did he tell you that?" Kate asked, with intense scorn.
+
+"Certainly, and he left his farewells for you, as he hadn't time even to
+stop to see you."
+
+"It is well that he didn't attempt it," Kate replied, with spirit; "I
+would have told him to his face that he lied."
+
+"What do you mean by such language?" her father demanded, angrily; "do
+you doubt his word to me?"
+
+"I haven't a doubt that he was called away suddenly, but I saw him when
+he received the message, and he didn't appear like a man called by
+sickness. He was terribly excited,--so excited he did not even see me
+when he passed me; and he was angry, for he cursed both the message and
+the man who brought it."
+
+"Excited? Naturally; he was excited in talking with me, and his anger,
+no doubt, was over the postponement of the wedding. You show yourself
+very foolish in getting angry in turn. This is a devilishly awkward
+affair, though, thank heaven, there's no disgrace or scandal attached to
+it, and we must make the best we can of it. I have already sent
+messengers to the church to disperse the guests as they arrive, and have
+also sent a statement of the facts to the different papers, so there
+will be no garbled accounts or misstatements to-morrow morning."
+
+"Father," said Kate, drawing herself up with new dignity as he paused,
+"I want you to understand that this is no childish anger or pique on my
+part. I have not told all that I saw, nor is it necessary at present;
+but I saw enough that my eyes are opened to his real character. I want
+you to understand that I will never marry him! I will die first!"
+
+Her father's face grew dark with anger at her words, but the eyes
+looking fearlessly into his own never quailed. Perhaps he recognized his
+own spirit, for he checked the wrathful words he was about to speak and
+merely inquired,--
+
+"Are you going to make a fool of yourself and involve this affair in a
+scandal, or will you allow it to pass quietly and with no unpleasant
+notoriety?"
+
+"You can dispose of it among outsiders as you please, papa, but I want
+you to understand my decision in this matter, and that it is
+irrevocable."
+
+"Until you come to your senses!" he retorted, and left the room.
+
+With comparatively little excitement the guests dispersed, and no one,
+not even Darrell or Mr. Britton, knew aught beyond the statement made by
+Mr. Underwood.
+
+Some particular friends of Kate's, living in a remote part of the State,
+thinking it might be rather embarrassing for her to remain in Ophir,
+invited her to their home for two or three months, and she, realizing
+that she had incurred her father's displeasure, gladly accepted.
+
+The next morning found Darrell on his way to the camp, looking longingly
+forward to his busy life amid the mountains, and firmly believing that
+it would be many a day before he again saw The Pines.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXIII_
+
+THE MASK LIFTED
+
+
+Three weeks of clear, cold weather followed, in which the snow became
+packed and frozen until the horses' hoofs on the mountain roads
+resounded as though on asphalt, and the steel shoes of the heavily laden
+sleds rang out a cheerful rhyme on the frosty air.
+
+These were weeks of strenuous application to work on Darrell's part. His
+evenings were now spent, far into the night, in writing. He still kept
+the journal begun during his first winter in camp, believing it would
+one day prove of inestimable value as a connecting link between past and
+future. The geological and mineralogical data which he had collected
+through more than twelve months' research and experiment was now nearly
+complete, and he had undertaken the work of arranging it, along with
+copious notes, in form for publication. It was an arduous but
+fascinating task and one to which he often wished he might devote his
+entire time.
+
+He was sitting before the fire at night, deeply engrossed in this work,
+when he was aroused by the sound of hoof-beats on the mountain road
+leading from the canyon to the camp. He listened; they came rapidly
+nearer; it was a horseman riding fast and furiously, and by the heavy
+pounding of the foot-falls Darrell knew the animal he rode was nearly
+exhausted. On they came past the miners' quarters towards the office
+building; it was then some messenger from The Pines, and at that
+hour--Darrell glanced at the clock, it was nearly midnight--it could be
+no message of trifling import.
+
+Darrell sprang to his feet and, rushing through the outer room, followed
+by Duke barking excitedly, opened the door just as the rider drew rein
+before it. What was his astonishment to see Bennett, one of the house
+servants, on a panting, foam-covered horse.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Darrell," the man cried, as the door opened, "it's a good thing
+that you keep late hours; right glad I was to see the light in your
+window, I can tell you, sir!"
+
+"But, Bennett, what brings you here at this time of night?" Darrell
+asked, hastily.
+
+"Mrs. Dean sent me, sir. Mr. Underwood, he's had a stroke and is as
+helpless as a baby, sir, and Mrs. Dean's alone, excepting for us
+servants. She sent me for you, sir; here's a note from her, and she said
+you was to ride right back with me, if you would, sir."
+
+"Certainly, I'll go with you," Darrell answered, taking the note; "but
+that horse must not stand in the cold another minute. Ride right over
+into the stables yonder; wake up the stable-men and tell them to rub him
+down and blanket him at once, and then to saddle Trix and Rob Roy as
+quickly as they can. And while they're looking after the horses, you go
+over to the boarding-house and wake up the cook and tell him to get us
+up a good, substantial hand-out; we'll need it before morning. I'll be
+ready in a few minutes, and I'll meet you over there."
+
+"All right, sir," Bennett responded, starting in the direction of the
+stables, while Darrell went back into his room. Opening the note, he
+read the following:
+
+     "MY DEAR JOHN: I am in trouble and look to you as to a son. David
+     has had a paralytic stroke; was brought home helpless about five
+     o'clock. I am alone, as you might say, as there is none of the
+     family here. Will you come at once?
+
+                               Yours in sorrow, but with love,
+                                                    MARCIA DEAN."
+
+Darrell's face grew thoughtful as he refolded the missive. He glanced
+regretfully at his notes and manuscript, then carefully gathered them
+together and locked them in his desk, little thinking that months would
+pass ere he would again resume the work thus interrupted. Then only
+stopping long enough to write a few lines of explanation to Hathaway,
+the superintendent, he seized his fur coat, cap, and gloves, and
+hastened over to the boarding-house where a lunch was already awaiting
+him. Half an hour later he and Bennett were riding rapidly down the
+road, Duke bounding on ahead.
+
+They reached The Pines between four and five o'clock. Darrell, leaving
+the horses in Bennett's care, went directly to the house. Before he
+could reach the door it was opened by Mrs. Dean.
+
+"I ought not to have sent for you on such a night as this!" she
+exclaimed, as Darrell entered the room, his clothes glistening with
+frost, the broad collar turned up about his face a mass of icicles from
+his frozen breath; "but I felt as though I didn't know what to do, and I
+wanted some one here who did. I was afraid to take the responsibility
+any longer."
+
+"You did just right," Darrell answered, dashing away the ice from his
+face; "I only wish you had sent for me earlier--as soon as this
+happened. How is Mr. Underwood?"
+
+"He is in pretty bad shape, but the doctors think he will pull through.
+They have been working over him all night, and he is getting so he can
+move the right hand a little, but the other side seems badly paralyzed."
+
+"Is he conscious?"
+
+"Yes, he moves his hand when we speak to him, but he looks so worried.
+That was one reason why I sent for you; I thought he would feel easier
+to know you were here."
+
+As Darrell approached the bedside he was shocked at the changes wrought
+in so short a time in the stern, but genial face. It had aged twenty
+years, and the features, partially drawn to one side, had, as Mrs. Dean
+remarked, a strained, worried expression. The eyes of the sick man
+brightened for an instant as Darrell bent over him, assuring him that he
+would attend to everything, but the anxious look still remained.
+
+"I don't know anything about David's business affairs," Mrs. Dean
+remarked, as she and Darrell left the room, "but I know as well as I
+want to that this was brought on by some business trouble. I am
+satisfied something was wrong at the office yesterday, though I wouldn't
+say so to any one but you."
+
+"Why do you think so?" Darrell queried, in surprise.
+
+"Because he was all right when he went away yesterday morning, but when
+he came home at noon he was different from what I had ever seen him
+before. He had just that worried look he has now, and he seemed
+absent-minded. He was in a great hurry to get back, and the head
+book-keeper tells me he called for the books to be brought into his
+private office, and that he spent most of the afternoon going through
+them. He says that about four o'clock he went through the office, and
+David was sitting before his desk with his head on his hands, and he
+didn't speak or look up. A little while afterwards they heard the sound
+of something heavy falling and ran to his room, and he had fallen on the
+floor."
+
+"It does look," Darrell admitted, thoughtfully, "as though this may have
+been caused by the discovery of some wrong condition of affairs."
+
+"Yes, and it must be pretty serious," Mrs. Dean rejoined, "to bring
+about such results as these."
+
+"Well," said Darrell, "we may not be able to arrive at the cause of this
+for some time. The first thing to be done is to see that you take a good
+rest; don't have any anxiety; I will look after everything. As soon as
+it is daylight it would be well to telegraph for Mr. Britton if you know
+his address, and possibly for Miss Underwood unless he should seem
+decidedly better."
+
+But Mrs. Dean did not know Mr. Britton's address, no word having been
+received from him since his departure, and with the return of daylight
+Mr. Underwood had gained so perceptibly it was thought best not to alarm
+Kate unnecessarily.
+
+For the first few days the improvement in Mr. Underwood's condition was
+slow, but gradually became quite pronounced. Nothing had been heard from
+Walcott since his sudden leave-taking, but about a week after Mr.
+Underwood's seizure word was received from him that he was on his way
+home. As an excuse for his prolonged absence and silence he stated that
+his father had died and that he had been delayed in the adjustment of
+business matters.
+
+It was noticeable that after receiving word from Walcott the look of
+anxiety in Mr. Underwood's face deepened, but his improvement was more
+marked than ever. It seemed as though the powerful brain and
+indomitable will dominated the body, forcing it to resume its former
+activity. By this time he was able to move about his room on crutches,
+and on the day of Walcott's return he insisted upon being placed in his
+carriage and taken to the office. At his request Darrell accompanied him
+and remained with him.
+
+Walcott, upon his arrival in the city, had heard of the illness of his
+senior partner, and was therefore greatly surprised on entering the
+offices to find him there. He quickly recovered himself and greeted Mr.
+Underwood with expressions of profound sympathy. To his words of
+condolence, however, Mr. Underwood deigned no reply, but his keen eyes
+bent a searching look upon the face of the younger man, under which the
+latter quailed visibly; then, without any preliminaries or any inquiries
+regarding his absence, Mr. Underwood at once proceeded to business
+affairs.
+
+His stay at the office was brief, as he soon found himself growing
+fatigued. As he was leaving Walcott inquired politely for Mrs. Dean,
+then with great particularity for Miss Underwood.
+
+"She is out of town at present," Mr. Underwood replied, watching
+Walcott.
+
+"Out of town? Indeed! Since when, may I inquire?"
+
+"You evidently have not been in correspondence with her," Mr. Underwood
+commented, ignoring the other's question.
+
+"Well, no," the latter stammered, slightly taken aback by his partner's
+manner; "I had absolutely no opportunity for writing, or I would have
+written you earlier, and then, really, you know, it was hardly to be
+expected that I would write Miss Underwood, considering her attitude
+towards myself. I am hoping that she will regard me with more favor
+after this little absence."
+
+"You will probably be able to judge of that on her return," the elder
+man answered, dryly.
+
+Kate, on being informed by letter of her father's condition, had wished
+to return home at once. She had been deterred from doing so by brief
+messages from him to the effect that she remain with her friends, but
+she was unable to determine whether those messages were prompted by
+kindness or anger. On the evening following Walcott's return, however,
+Mr. Underwood dictated to Darrell a letter to Kate, addressing her by
+her pet name, assuring her of his constant improvement, and that she
+need on no account shorten her visit but enjoy herself as long as
+possible, and enclosing a generous check as a present.
+
+To Darrell and to Mrs. Dean, who was sitting near by with her knitting,
+this letter seemed rather significant, and their eyes met in a glance of
+mutual inquiry. After Mr. Underwood had retired Darrell surprised that
+worthy lady by an account of her brother's reception of Walcott that
+day, while she in turn treated Darrell to a greater surprise by telling
+him of Kate's renunciation of Walcott at the last moment, before she
+knew anything of the postponement of the wedding.
+
+As they separated for the night Darrell remarked, "I may be wrong, but
+it looks to me as though the cause of Mr. Underwood's illness was the
+discovery of some evidence of bad faith on Walcott's part."
+
+"It looks that way," Mrs. Dean assented; "I've always felt that man
+would bring us trouble, and I hope David does find him out before it's
+too late."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXIV_
+
+FORESHADOWINGS
+
+
+During Mr. Underwood's illness and convalescence it was pathetic to
+watch his dependence upon Darrell. He seemed to regard him almost as a
+son, and when, as his health improved, Darrell spoke of returning to the
+camp, he would not hear of it.
+
+Every day after Walcott's return Mr. Underwood was taken to the office,
+where he gradually resumed charge, directing the business of the firm
+though able to do little himself. As he was still unable to write, he
+wished Darrell to act as his secretary, and the latter, glad of an
+opportunity to reciprocate Mr. Underwood's many kindnesses to himself,
+readily acceded to his wishes. When engaged in this work he used the
+room which had formerly been his own office and which of late had been
+unoccupied.
+
+Returning to his office after the transaction of some outside business,
+to await, as usual, the carriage to convey Mr. Underwood and himself to
+The Pines, he heard Walcott's voice in the adjoining room. A peculiar
+quality in his tones, as though he were pleading for favor, arrested
+Darrell's attention, and he could not then avoid hearing what followed.
+
+"But surely," he was saying, "an amount so trifling, and taking all the
+circumstances into consideration, that I regarded myself already one of
+your family and looked upon you as my father, you certainly cannot take
+so harsh a view of it!"
+
+"That makes no difference whatever," Mr. Underwood interposed sternly;
+"misappropriation of funds is misappropriation of funds, no matter what
+the amount or the circumstances under which it is taken, and as for your
+looking upon me as a father, I wouldn't allow my own son, if I had one,
+to appropriate one dollar of my money without my knowledge and consent.
+If you needed money you had only to say so, and I would have loaned you
+any amount necessary."
+
+"But I regarded this in the nature of a loan," Walcott protested, "only
+I was so limited for time I did not think it necessary to speak of it
+until my return."
+
+"You were not so limited but that you had time to tamper with the books
+and make false entries in them," Mr. Underwood retorted.
+
+"That was done simply to blind the employees, so they need not catch on
+that I was borrowing."
+
+"There is no use in further talk," the other interrupted, impatiently;
+"what you have done is done, and your talk will not smooth it over.
+Besides, I have already told you that I care far less for the money
+withdrawn from my personal account than for the way you are conducting
+business generally. There is not a client of mine who can say that I
+have ever wronged him or taken an unfair advantage of him, and I'll not
+have any underhanded work started here now. Everything has got to be
+open and above-board."
+
+"As I have said, Mr. Underwood, in the hurry and excitement of the last
+week or so before my going away I was forced to neglect some business
+matters; but if I will straighten everything into satisfactory shape and
+repay that small loan, as I still regard it, I hope then that our former
+pleasant relations will be resumed, and that no little misapprehension
+of this sort will make any difference between us."
+
+"Walcott," said Mr. Underwood, rising on his crutches and preparing to
+leave the room, "I had absolute confidence in you; I trusted you
+implicitly. Your own conduct has shaken that confidence, and it may be
+some time before it is wholly restored. We will continue business as
+before; but remember, you are on probation, sir--on probation!"
+
+When Kate Underwood received her father's letter, instead of prolonging
+her visit she at once prepared to return home. She understood that the
+barrier between her father and herself had been swept away, and nothing
+could then hold her back from him.
+
+Two days later, as Mr. Underwood was seated by the fire on his return
+from the office, there came a ring at the door which he took to be the
+postman's. Mrs. Dean answered the door.
+
+"Any letter from Kate?" he asked, as his sister returned.
+
+"Yes, there's a pretty good-sized one," she replied, with a broad smile,
+adding, as he glanced in surprise at her empty hands, "I didn't bring
+it; 'twas too heavy!"
+
+The next instant two arms were thrown about his neck, a slender figure
+was kneeling beside him, and a fair young face was pressed close to his,
+while words of endearment were murmured in his ear.
+
+Without a word he clasped her to his breast, holding her for a few
+moments as though he feared to let her go. Then, relaxing his hold, he
+playfully pinched her cheeks and stroked the brown hair, calling her by
+the familiar name "Puss," while his face lighted with the old genial
+smile for the first time since his illness. Each scanned the other's
+face, striving to gauge the other's feelings, but each read only that
+the old relations were re-established between them, and each was
+satisfied.
+
+Within a day or so of her return Kate despatched a messenger to Walcott
+with the ring, accompanied by a brief note to the effect that everything
+between them was at an end, but that it was useless for him to seek an
+explanation, as she would give none whatever.
+
+He at once took the note to his senior partner.
+
+"I understood, Mr. Underwood, that everything was amicably adjusted
+between us; I did not suppose that you had carried your suspicions
+against me to any such length as this!"
+
+Mr. Underwood read the note. "I know nothing whatever regarding my
+daughter's reasons for her decision, and have had nothing whatever to do
+with it. I knew that she had formed that decision at the last moment
+before the wedding ceremony was to be performed, before she was even
+aware of its postponement. She seemed to think she had sufficient
+reasons, but what those reasons were I have never asked and do not
+know."
+
+"But do you intend to allow her to play fast and loose with me in this
+way? Is she not to fulfil her engagement?" Walcott inquired, with
+difficulty concealing his anger.
+
+Mr. Underwood regarded him steadily for a moment. "Mr. Walcott, taking
+all things into consideration, I think perhaps we had better let things
+remain as they are, say, for a year or so. My daughter is young; there
+is no need of haste in the consummation of this marriage. I have found
+what she is worth to me, and I am in no haste to spare her from my home.
+If she is worth having as a wife, she is worth winning, and I shall not
+force her against her wishes a second time."
+
+Mr. Underwood spoke quietly, but Walcott understood that further
+discussion was useless.
+
+Meeting Kate a few days later in her father's office, he greeted her
+with marked politeness. After a few inquiries regarding her visit, he
+said,--
+
+"May I be allowed to inquire who is responsible for your sudden decision
+against me?"
+
+"You, and you alone, are responsible," she replied.
+
+"But I do not understand you," he said.
+
+"Explanations are unnecessary," she rejoined, coldly.
+
+Walcott grew angry. "I know very well that certain of your friends are
+no friends of mine. If I thought that either or both of them had had a
+hand in this I would make it a bitter piece of work for them!"
+
+"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, with dignity, "you only demean yourself by
+such threats. No one has influenced me in this matter but you yourself.
+You unwittingly afforded me, at the last moment, an insight into your
+real character. That is enough!"
+
+Walcott felt that he had gone too far. "Perhaps I spoke hastily, but
+surely it was pardonable considering my grievance. I hope you will
+overlook it and allow me to see you at The Pines, will you not, Miss
+Underwood?"
+
+"If my father sees fit to invite you to his house I will probably meet
+you as his guest, but not otherwise."
+
+Although Mr. Underwood had resumed charge of the downtown offices as
+before his illness, it soon became evident to all that his active
+business life was practically over, and that some of his varied
+interests, involving as they did a multiplicity of cares and
+responsibilities, must be curtailed. It was therefore decided to sell
+the mines at Camp Bird at as early a date as practicable, and Mr.
+Britton, Mr. Underwood's partner in the mining business, was summoned
+from a distant State to conduct negotiations for the sale. He arrived
+early in April, and from that time on he and Darrell were engaged in
+appraising and advertising the property embraced in the great mining and
+milling plant, in arranging the terms of sale, and in accompanying
+various prospective purchasers or their agents to and from the mines.
+
+Darrell's work as Mr. Underwood's secretary had been taken up by Kate,
+who now seldom left her father's side. Between herself and Darrell there
+was a comradeship similar to that which existed between them previous to
+her engagement with Walcott, only more healthful and normal, being
+unmixed with any regret for the past or dread of the future.
+
+"You will remain at The Pines when the mines are sold, will you not?"
+she inquired one day on his return from a trip to the camp.
+
+"Not unless I am needed," he replied; "your father will need me but
+little longer; then, unless you need me, I had better not remain."
+
+She was silent for a moment. "No," she said, slowly, "I do not need you;
+I have the assurance of your love; that is enough. I know you will be
+loyal to me as I to you, wherever you may be."
+
+"I will feel far less regret in going away now that I know you are free
+from that man Walcott," Darrell continued; "but I wish you would please
+answer me one question, Kathie: have you any fear of him?"
+
+"Not for myself," she answered; "but I believe he is a man to be feared,
+and," she added, significantly, "I do sometimes fear him for my friends;
+perhaps for that reason it is, as you say, better that you should not
+remain."
+
+"Have no fear for me, Kathie. I understand. That man has been my enemy
+from our first meeting; but have no fear; I am not afraid."
+
+By the latter part of May negotiations for the sale of the mines had
+been consummated, and Camp Bird passed into the possession of strangers.
+It was with a feeling of exile and homelessness that Darrell, riding for
+the last time down the canyon road, turned to bid the mountains
+farewell, looking back with lingering glances into the frowning faces he
+had learned to love.
+
+"What do you propose doing now?" Mr. Britton asked of him as they were
+walking together the evening after his return from camp.
+
+"That is just what I have been asking myself," Darrell replied.
+
+"Without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion?"
+
+"Not as yet."
+
+"What would you wish to do, were you given your choice?"
+
+"What I wish to do, and what I intend to do if possible, is to devote
+the next few months to the completion of my book. I can now afford to
+devote my entire time to it, but I could not do the work justice unless
+amid the right surroundings, and the question is, where to find them. I
+do not care to remain here, and yet I shrink from going among
+strangers."
+
+"There is no need of that," Mr. Britton interposed, quickly; after a
+pause he continued: "You once expressed a desire for a sort of hermit
+life. I think by this time you have grown sufficiently out of yourself
+that you could safely live alone with yourself for a while. How would
+that suit you for three or four months?"
+
+"I should like it above all things," Darrell answered enthusiastically;
+"it would be just the thing for my work, but where or how could I live
+in such a manner?"
+
+"I believe I agreed at that time to furnish the hermitage whenever you
+were ready for it."
+
+"Yes, you said something of the kind, but I never understood what you
+meant by it."
+
+"Settle up your business here, pack together what things you need for a
+few months' sojourn in the mountains, be ready to start with me next
+week, and you will soon understand."
+
+"What is this hermitage, as you call it, and where is it?" Darrell
+asked, curiously.
+
+The other only shook his head with a smile.
+
+"All right," said Darrell, laughing; "I only hope it is as secluded and
+beautiful as Camp Bird; I am homesick to-night for my old quarters."
+
+"You can spend your entire time, if you so desire, without a glimpse of
+a human being other than the man who will look after your needs, except
+as I may occasionally inflict myself upon you for a day or so."
+
+"Good!" Darrell ejaculated.
+
+"It is amid some of the grandest scenery ever created," Mr. Britton
+continued, adding, slowly, "and to me it is the most sacred spot on
+earth,--a veritable Holy of Holies; some day you will know why."
+
+"I thank you, and I beg pardon for my levity," said Darrell, touched by
+the other's manner. And the two men clasped hands and parted for the
+night.
+
+A few days later, as Darrell bade his friends at The Pines good-by, Kate
+whispered,--
+
+"You think this is a parting for three or four months; I feel that it is
+more. Something tells me that before we meet again there will be a
+change--I cannot tell what--that will involve a long separation; but I
+know that through it all our hearts will be true to each other and that
+out of it will come joy to each of us."
+
+"God grant it, Kathie!" Darrell murmured.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXV_
+
+THE "HERMITAGE"
+
+
+Deep within the heart of the Rockies a June day was drawing to its
+close. Behind a range of snow-crowned peaks the sun was sinking into a
+sea of fire which glowed and shimmered along the western horizon and in
+whose transfiguring radiance the bold outlines of the mountains,
+extending far as the eye could reach in endless ranks, were marvellously
+softened; the nearer cliffs and crags were wrapped in a golden glory,
+while the hoary peaks against the eastern sky wore tints of rose and
+amethyst, and over the whole brooded the silence of the ages.
+
+Less than a score of miles distant a busy city throbbed with ceaseless
+life and activity, but these royal monarchs, towering one above another,
+their hands joined in mystic fellowship, their heads white with eternal
+snows, dwelt in the same unbroken calm in which, with noiseless step,
+the centuries had come and gone, leaving their footprints in the granite
+rocks.
+
+Amid those vast distances only two signs of human handiwork were
+visible. Close clinging to the sides of a rugged mountain a narrow track
+of shining steel wound its way upward, marking the pathway of
+civilization in its march from sea to sea, while near the summit of a
+neighboring peak a quaint cabin of unhewn logs arranged in Gothic
+fashion was built into the granite ledge.
+
+On a small plateau before this unique dwelling stood John Britton and
+John Darrell, the latter absorbed in the wondrous scene, the other
+watching with intense satisfaction the surprise and rapture of his young
+companion. They stood thus till the sun dipped out of sight. The
+radiance faded, rose and amethyst deepened to purple; the mountains grew
+sombre and dun, their rugged outlines standing in bold relief against
+the evening sky. A nighthawk, circling above their heads, broke the
+silence with his shrill, plaintive cry, and with a sigh of deep content
+Darrell turned to his friend.
+
+"What do you think of it?" the latter asked.
+
+"It is unspeakably grand," was the reply, in awed tones.
+
+Beckoning Darrell to follow, Mr. Britton led the way to the cabin, which
+he unlocked and entered.
+
+"Welcome to the 'Hermitage!'" he said, smilingly, as Darrell paused on
+the threshold with an exclamation of delight.
+
+A huge fireplace, blasted from solid rock, extended nearly across one
+side of the room. Over it hung antlers of moose, elk, and deer, while
+skins of mountain lion, bear, and wolf covered the floor. A large
+writing-table stood in the centre of the room, and beside it a bookcase
+filled with the works of some of the world's greatest authors.
+
+Darrell lifted one book after another with the reverential touch of the
+true book-lover, while Mr. Britton hastily arranged the belongings of
+the room so as to render it as cosey and attractive as possible.
+
+"The evenings are so cool at this altitude that a fire will soon seem
+grateful," he remarked, lighting the fragrant boughs of spruce and
+hemlock which filled the fireplace and drawing chairs before the
+crackling, dancing flames.
+
+Duke, who had accompanied them, stretched himself in the firelight with
+a low growl of satisfaction, at which both men smiled.
+
+It was the first time Darrell had ever seen his friend in the role of
+host, but Mr. Britton proved himself a royal entertainer. His
+experiences of mountain life had been varied and thrilling, and the
+cabin contained many relics and trophies of his prowess as huntsman and
+trapper. As the evening wore on Mr. Britton opened a small store-room
+built in the rock, and took therefrom a tempting repast of venison and
+wild fowl which his forethought had ordered placed there for the
+occasion. To Darrell, sitting by the fragrant fire and listening to
+tales of adventure, the time passed only too swiftly, and he was sorry
+when the entrance of the man with his luggage recalled them to the
+lateness of the hour.
+
+"There is a genuine hermit for you," Mr. Britton remarked, as the man
+took his departure after agreeing to come to the cabin once a day to do
+whatever might be needed.
+
+"Who is he?" Darrell asked.
+
+"No one knows. He goes by the name of 'Peter,' but nothing is known of
+his real name or history. He has lived in these mountains for thirty
+years and has not visited a city or town of any size in that time. He is
+a trapper, but acts as guide during the summers. He is very popular with
+tourist and hunting parties that come to the mountains, but nothing will
+induce him to leave his haunts except as he occasionally goes to some
+small station for supplies."
+
+"Where does he live?"
+
+"In a cabin about half-way down the trail. He is a good cook, a faithful
+man every way, but you will find him very reticent. He is one of the
+many in this country whose past is buried out of sight."
+
+Mr. Britton then led the way to two smaller rooms,--a kitchen,
+equipped with a small stove, table, and cooking utensils, and a
+sleeping-apartment, its two bunks piled with soft blankets and
+wolf-skins.
+
+As Darrell proceeded to disrobe his attention was suddenly attracted by
+an object in one corner of the room which he was unable to distinguish
+clearly in the dim light. Upon going over to examine it more closely,
+what was his astonishment to see a large crucifix of exquisite design
+and workmanship. As he turned towards Mr. Britton the latter smiled to
+see the bewilderment depicted on his face.
+
+"You did not expect to find such a souvenir of old Rome in a mountain
+cabin, did you?" he asked.
+
+"Perhaps not," Darrell admitted; "but that of itself is not what so
+greatly surprises me. Are you a----" He paused abruptly, without
+finishing the question.
+
+"I will answer the question you hesitate to ask," the other replied;
+"no, I am not a Catholic; neither am I, in the strict sense of the word,
+a Protestant, or one who protests, since, if I were, I would protest no
+more earnestly against the errors of the Catholic Church than against
+the evils existing in other so-called Christian churches."
+
+Darrell's eyes returned to the crucifix.
+
+"That," continued Mr. Britton, "was given me years ago by a beloved
+friend of mine--a priest, now an archbishop--in return for a few
+services rendered some of his people. I keep it for the lessons it
+taught me in the years of my sorrow, and whenever my burden seems
+greater than I can bear, I come back here and look at that, and beside
+the suffering which it symbolizes my own is dwarfed to insignificance."
+
+A long silence followed; then, as they lay down in the darkness, Darrell
+said, in subdued tones,--
+
+"I have never heard you say, and it never before occurred to me to ask,
+what was your religion."
+
+"I don't know that I have any particular religion," Mr. Britton
+answered, slowly; "I have no formulated creed. I am a child of God and a
+disciple of Jesus, the Christ. Like Him, I am the child of a King, a son
+of the highest Royalty, yet a servant to my fellow-men; that is all."
+
+The following morning Mr. Britton awakened Darrell at an early hour.
+
+"Forgive me for disturbing your slumbers, but I want you to see the
+sunrise from these heights; I think you will feel repaid. You could not
+see it at the camp, you were so hemmed in by higher mountains."
+
+Darrell rose and, having dressed hastily, stepped out into the gray
+twilight of the early dawn. A faint flush tinged the eastern sky, which
+deepened to a roseate hue, growing moment by moment brighter and more
+vivid. Chain after chain of mountains, slumbering dark and grim against
+the horizon, suddenly awoke, blushing and smiling in the rosy light.
+Then, as rays of living flame shot upward, mingling with the crimson
+waves and changing them to molten gold, the snowy caps of the higher
+peaks were transformed to jewelled crowns. There was a moment of
+transcendent beauty, then, in a burst of glory, the sun appeared.
+
+"That is a sight I shall never forget, and one I shall try to see
+often," Darrell said, as they retraced their steps to the cabin.
+
+"You will never find it twice the same," Mr. Britton answered; "Nature
+varies her gifts so that to her true lovers they will not pall."
+
+After breakfast they again strolled out into the sunlight, Mr. Britton
+seating himself upon a projecting ledge of granite, while Darrell threw
+himself down upon the mountain grass, his head resting within his
+clasped hands.
+
+"What an ideal spot for my work!" he exclaimed.
+
+Mr. Britton smiled. "I fear you would never accomplish much with me
+here. I must return to the city soon, or you will degenerate into a
+confirmed idler."
+
+"I have often thought," said Darrell, reflectively, "that when I have
+completed this work I would like to attempt a novel. It seems as though
+there is plenty of material out here for a strong one. Think of the
+lives one comes in contact with almost daily--stranger than fiction,
+every one!"
+
+"Your own, for instance," Mr. Britton suggested.
+
+"Yours also," Darrell replied, in low tones; "the story of your life, if
+rightly told, would do more to uplift men's souls than nine-tenths of
+the sermons."
+
+"The story of my life, my son, will never be told to any ear other than
+your own, and I trust to your love for me that it will go no farther."
+
+"Of that you can rest assured," Darrell replied.
+
+As the sun climbed towards the zenith they returned to the cabin and
+seated themselves on a broad settee of rustic work under an overhanging
+vine near the cabin door.
+
+"I have been wondering ever since I came here," said Darrell, "how you
+ever discovered such a place as this. It is so unique and so appropriate
+to the surroundings."
+
+"I discovered," said Mr. Britton, with slight emphasis on the word,
+"only the 'surroundings.' The cabin is my own work."
+
+"What! do you mean to say that you built it?"
+
+"Yes, little by little. At first it was hardly more than a rude shelter,
+but I gradually enlarged it and beautified it, trying always, as you
+say, to keep it in harmony with its surroundings."
+
+"Then you are an artist and a genius."
+
+"But that is not the only work I did during the first months of my life
+here. Come with me and I will show you."
+
+He led the way along the trail, farther up the mountain, till a sharp
+turn hid him from view. Darrell, following closely, came upon the
+entrance of an incline shaft leading into the mountain. Just within he
+saw Mr. Britton lighting two candles which he had taken from a rocky
+ledge; one of these he handed to Darrell, and then proceeded down the
+shaft.
+
+"A mine!" Darrell exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, and a valuable one, were it only accessible so that it could be
+developed without enormous expense; but that is out of the question."
+
+The underground workings were not extensive, but the vein was one of
+exceptional richness. When they emerged later Darrell brought with him
+some specimens and a tiny nugget of gold as souvenirs.
+
+"The first season," said Mr. Britton, "I worked the mine and built the
+cabin as a shelter for the coming winter. The winter months I spent in
+hunting and trapping when I could go out in the mountains, and
+hibernated during the long storms. Early in the spring I began mining
+again and worked the following season. By that time I was ready to start
+forth into the world, so I gave Peter an interest in the mine, and he
+works it from time to time, doing little more than the representation
+each year."
+
+As they descended towards the cabin Mr. Britton continued: "I have shown
+you this that you may the better understand the story I have to tell you
+before I leave you as sole occupant of the Hermitage."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXVI_
+
+JOHN BRITTON'S STORY
+
+
+Evening found Darrell and his friend seated on the rocks watching the
+sunset. Mr. Britton was unusually silent, and Darrell, through a sort of
+intuitive sympathy, refrained from breaking the silence. At last, as the
+glow was fading from earth and sky, Mr. Britton said,--
+
+"I have chosen this day and this hour to tell you my story, because,
+being the anniversary of my wedding, it seemed peculiarly appropriate.
+Twenty-eight years ago, at sunset, on such a royal day as this, we were
+married--my love and I."
+
+He spoke with an unnatural calmness, as though it were another's story
+he was telling.
+
+"I was young, with a decided aptitude for commercial life, ambitious,
+determined to make my way in life, but with little capital besides sound
+health and a good education. She was the daughter of a wealthy man. We
+speak in this country of 'mining kings;' he might be denominated an
+'agricultural king.' He prided himself upon his hundreds of fertile
+acres, his miles of forest, his immense dairy, his blooded horses, his
+magnificent barns and granaries, his beautiful home. She was the younger
+daughter--his especial pet and pride. For a while, as a friend and
+acquaintance of his two daughters, I was welcome at his home; later, as
+a lover of the younger, I was banished and its doors closed against me.
+Our love was no foolish boy and girl romance, and we had no word of
+kindly counsel; only unreasoning, stubborn opposition. What followed
+was only what might have been expected. Strong in our love for and trust
+in each other, we went to a neighboring village, and, going to a little
+country parsonage, were married, without one thought of the madness, the
+folly of what we were doing. We found the minister and his family seated
+outside the house under a sort of arbor of flowering shrubs, and I
+remember it was her wish that the ceremony be performed there. Never can
+I forget her as she stood there, her hand trembling in mine at the
+strangeness of the situation, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her
+lips quivering as she made the responses, the slanting sunbeams kissing
+her hair and brow and the fragrant, snowy petals of the mock-orange
+falling about her.
+
+"A few weeks of unalloyed happiness followed; then gradually my eyes
+were opened to the wrong I had done her. My heart smote me as I saw her,
+day by day, performing household tasks to which she was unaccustomed,
+subjected to petty trials and privations, denying herself in many little
+ways in order to help me. She never murmured, but her very fortitude and
+cheerfulness were a constant reproach to me.
+
+"But a few months elapsed when we found that another was coming to share
+our home and our love. We rejoiced together, but my heart reproached me
+more bitterly than ever as I realized how ill prepared she was for what
+awaited her. Our trials and privations brought us only closer to each
+other, but my brain was racked with anxiety and my heart bled as day by
+day I saw the dawning motherhood in her eyes,--the growing tenderness,
+the look of sweet, wondering expectancy. I grew desperate.
+
+"From a booming western city came reports of marvellous openings for
+business men--of small investments bringing swift and large returns. I
+placed my wife in the care of a good, motherly woman and bade her
+good-by, while she, brave heart, without a tear, bade me God-speed. I
+went there determined to win, to make a home to which I would bring both
+wife and child later. For three months I made money, sending half to
+her, and investing every cent which I did not absolutely need of the
+other half. Then came tales from a mining district still farther west,
+of fabulous fortunes made in a month, a week, sometimes a day. What was
+the use of dallying where I was? I hastened to the mining camp. In less
+than a week I had 'struck it rich,' and knew that in all probability I
+would within a month draw out a fortune.
+
+"Just at this time the letters from home ceased. For seven days I heard
+nothing, and half mad with anxiety and suspense I awaited each night the
+incoming train to bring me tidings. One night, just as the train was
+about to leave, I caught sight of a former acquaintance from a
+neighboring village, bound for a camp yet farther west, and, as I
+greeted him, he told me in few words and pitying tones of the death of
+my wife and child."
+
+For a moment Mr. Britton paused, and Darrell drew instinctively nearer,
+though saying nothing.
+
+"I have no distinct recollection of what followed. I was told afterwards
+that friendly hands caught me as the train started, to save me from
+being crushed beneath the wheels. For three months I wandered from one
+mining camp to another, working mechanically, with no thought or care as
+to success or failure. An old miner from the first camp who had taken a
+liking to me followed me in my wanderings and worked beside me, caring
+for me and guarding my savings as though he had been a father. The old
+fellow never left me, nor I him, until his death three years later. He
+taught me many valuable points in practical mining, and I think his
+rough but kindly care was all that saved me from insanity during those
+years.
+
+"After his death I brooded over my grief till I became nearly frenzied.
+I could not banish the thought that but for my rashness and foolishness
+in taking her from her home my wife might still have been living. To
+myself I seemed little short of a murderer. I left the camp and
+wandered, night and day, afar into the mountains. I came to this
+mountain on which we are sitting and climbed nearly to the top. God was
+there, but, like Jacob of old, 'I knew it not.' But something seemed to
+speak to me out of the infinite silence, calming my frenzied brain and
+soothing my troubled soul. I sat there till the stars appeared, and then
+I sank into a deep, peaceful sleep--the first in years. When I awoke the
+sun was shining in my face, and, though the old pain still throbbed, I
+had a sense of new strength with which to bear it. I ate of the food I
+carried with me and drank from a mountain stream--the same that trickles
+past us now, only nearer its source. The place fascinated me; I dared
+not leave it, and I spent the day in wandering up and down the rocks. My
+steps were guided to the mine I showed you to-day. I saw the indications
+of richness there, and, overturning the earth with my pick, found gold
+among the very grassroots. Then followed the life of which I have
+already given you an outline.
+
+"For a while I worked in pain and anguish, but gradually, in the
+solitude of the mountains, my spirit found peace; against their infinity
+my life with its burden dwindled to an atom, and from the lesson of
+their centuries of silent waiting I gathered strength and fortitude to
+await my appointed time.
+
+"But after a time God spoke to me and bade me go forth from my solitude
+into the world, to comfort other sorrowing souls as I had been
+comforted. From that time I have travelled almost constantly. I have no
+home; I wish none. I want to bring comfort and help to as many of
+earth's sorrowing, sinning children as possible; but when the old wound
+bleeds afresh and the pain becomes more than I can bear I flee as a bird
+to my mountain for balm and healing. Do you wonder, my son, that the
+place is sacred to me? Do you understand my love for you in bringing you
+here?"
+
+Darrell sat with bowed head, speechless, but one hand went out to Mr.
+Britton, which the latter clasped in both his own.
+
+When at last he raised his head he exclaimed, "Strange! but your story
+has wrung my soul! It seems in some inexplicable way a part of my very
+life!"
+
+"Our souls seem united by some mystic tie--I cannot explain what, unless
+it be that in some respects our sufferings have been similar."
+
+"Mine have been as nothing to yours," Darrell replied. A moment later he
+added:
+
+"I feel as one in a dream; what you have told me has taken such hold
+upon me."
+
+Night had fallen when they returned to the cabin.
+
+"This seems hallowed ground to me now," Darrell remarked.
+
+"It has always seemed so to me," Mr. Britton replied; "but remember, so
+long as you have need of the place it is always open to you."
+
+"'Until the day break and the shadows flee away,'" Darrell responded, in
+low tones, as though to himself.
+
+Mr. Britton caught his meaning. "My son," he said, "when the day breaks
+for you do not forget those who still sit in darkness!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXVII_
+
+THE RENDING OF THE VEIL
+
+
+The story of Mr. Britton's life impressed Darrell deeply. In the days
+following his friend's departure he would sit for hours revolving it in
+his mind, unable to rid himself of the impression that it was in some
+way connected with his own life. Impelled by some motive he could
+scarcely explain, he recorded it in his journal as told by Mr. Britton
+as nearly as he could recall it.
+
+Left to himself he worked with unabated ardor, but his work soon grew
+unsatisfying. The inspiring nature of his surroundings seemed to
+stimulate him to higher effort and loftier work, which should call into
+play the imaginative faculties and in which the brain would be free to
+weave its own creations. Stronger within him grew the desire to write a
+novel which should have in it something of the power, the force, of the
+strenuous western life,--something which would seem, in a measure at
+least, worthy of his surroundings. His day's work ended, he would walk
+up and down the rocks, sometimes far into the night, the plot for this
+story forming within his brain, till at last its outlines grew distinct
+and he knew the thing that was to be, as the sculptor knows what will
+come forth at his bidding from the lifeless marble. He made a careful
+synopsis of the plot that nothing might escape him in the uncertain
+future, and then began to write.
+
+The order of his work was now reversed, the new undertaking being given
+his first and best thought; then, when imagination wearied and refused
+to rise above the realms of fact, he fell back upon his scientific work
+as a rest from the other. Thus employed the weeks passed with incredible
+swiftness, the monotony broken by an occasional visit from Mr. Britton,
+until August came, its hot breath turning the grasses sere and brown.
+
+One evening Darrell came forth from his work at a later hour than usual.
+His mind had been unusually active, his imagination vivid, but, wearied
+at last, he was compelled to stop short of the task he had set for
+himself.
+
+The heat had been intense that day, and the atmosphere seemed peculiarly
+oppressive. The sun was sinking amid light clouds of gorgeous tints, and
+as Darrell watched their changing outlines they seemed fit emblems of
+the thoughts at that moment baffling his weary brain,--elusive,
+intangible, presenting themselves in numberless forms, yet always beyond
+his grasp.
+
+Standing erect, with arms folded, his pose indicated conscious strength,
+and the face lifted to the evening sky was one which would have
+commanded attention amid a sea of human faces. Two years had wrought
+wondrous changes in it. Strength and firmness were there still, but
+sweetness was mingled with the strength, and the old, indomitable will
+was tempered with gentleness. All the finer susceptibilities had been
+awakened and had left their impress there. Introspection had done its
+work. It was the face of a man who knew himself and had conquered
+himself. The sculptor's work was almost complete.
+
+Not a breath stirred the air, which moment by moment grew more
+oppressive, presaging a coming storm. Darrell was suddenly filled with a
+strange unrest--a presentiment of some impending catastrophe. For a
+while he walked restlessly up and down the narrow plateau; then, seating
+himself in front of the cabin, he bowed his head upon his hands,
+shutting out all sight and thought of the present, for his mind seemed
+teeming with vague, shadowy forms of the past. Duke came near and laid
+his head against his master's shoulder, and the twilight deepened around
+them both.
+
+Far up the neighboring mountain a mighty engine loomed out from the
+gathering darkness--a fiery-headed monster--and with its long train of
+coaches crawled serpent-like around the rocky height, then vanished as
+it came. The clouds which had been roving indolently across the western
+horizon suddenly formed in line and moved steadily--a solid
+battalion--upward towards the zenith, while from the east another
+phalanx, black and threatening, advanced with low, wrathful mutterings.
+
+Unmindful of the approaching storm Darrell sat, silent and motionless,
+till a sudden peal of thunder--the first note of the impending
+battle--roused him from his revery. Springing to his feet he watched the
+rapidly advancing armies marshalling their forces upon the
+battle-ground. Another roll of thunder, and the conflict began. Up and
+down the mountain passes the winds rushed wildly, shrieking like demons.
+Around the lofty summits the lightnings played like the burnished swords
+of giants in mortal combat, while peal after peal resounded through the
+vast spaces, reverberated from peak to peak, echoed and re-echoed, till
+the rocks themselves seemed to tremble.
+
+With quickening pulse and bated breath Darrell watched the
+storm,--fascinated, entranced,--while emotions he could neither
+understand nor control surged through his breast. More and more fiercely
+the battle waged; more swift and brilliant grew the sword-play, while
+the roar of heaven's artillery grew louder and louder. His spirit rose
+with the strife, filling him with a strange sense of exaltation.
+
+Suddenly the universe seemed wrapped in flame, there was a deafening
+crash as though the eternal hills were being rent asunder, and
+then--oblivion!
+
+When that instant of blinding light and deafening sound had passed John
+Darrell lay prostrate, unconscious on the rocks.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXVIII_
+
+"AS A DREAM WHEN ONE AWAKETH"
+
+
+As the morning sun arose over the snowy summits of the Great Divide, the
+sleeper on the rocks stirred restlessly; then gradually awoke to
+consciousness--a delightful consciousness of renewed life and vigor, a
+subtle sense of revivification of body and mind. The racking pain, the
+burning fever, the legions of torturing phantoms, all were gone; his
+pulse was calm, his blood cool, his brain clear.
+
+With a sigh of deep content he opened his eyes; then suddenly rose to a
+sitting posture and gazed about him in utter bewilderment; above him
+only the boundless dome of heaven, around him only endless mountain
+ranges! Dazed by the strangeness, the isolation of the scene, he began
+for an instant to doubt his sanity; was this a reality or a chimera of
+his own imagination? But only for an instant, for with his first
+movement a large collie had bounded to his side and now began licking
+his hands and face with the most joyful demonstrations. There was
+something soothing and reassuring in the companionship even of the dumb
+brute, and he caressed the noble creature, confident that he would soon
+find some sign of human life in that strange region; but the dog,
+reading no look of recognition in the face beside him, drew back and
+began whining piteously.
+
+Perplexed, but with his faculties thoroughly aroused and active, the
+young man sprang to his feet, and, looking eagerly about him,
+discovered at a little distance the cabin against the mountain ledge.
+Hastening thither he found the door open, and, after vainly waiting for
+any response to his knocking, entered.
+
+The furnishings were mostly hand-made, but fashioned with considerable
+artistic skill, and contributed to give the interior a most attractive
+appearance, while etchings, books and papers, pages of written
+manuscript, and a violin indicated its occupants to be a man of refined
+tastes and studious habits. The dog had accompanied him, sometimes
+following closely, sometimes going on in advance as though to lead the
+way. Once within the cabin he led him to the store-room in the rock
+where was an abundance of food, which the latter proceeded to divide
+between himself and his dumb guide.
+
+Having satisfied his hunger, the young man took a newspaper from the
+table, and, going outside the cabin, seated himself to await the return
+of his unknown host. Sitting there, he discovered for the first time the
+railway winding around the sides of the lofty mountain opposite. The
+sight filled him with delight, for those slender rails, gleaming in the
+morning sunlight, seemed to connect him with the world which he
+remembered, but from which he appeared so strangely isolated.
+
+Unfolding the newspaper his attention was attracted by the date, at
+which he gazed in consternation, his eyes riveted to the page. For a
+moment his head swam, he was unable to believe his own senses. Dropping
+the sheet and bowing his head upon his hands he went carefully over the
+past as he now remembered it,--the business on which he had been
+commissioned to come west; his journey westward; the tragedy in the
+sleeping-car--he shuddered as the memory of the murderer's face flashed
+before him with terrible distinctness; his reception at The Pines,--all
+was as clear as though it had happened but yesterday; it was in August,
+and this was August, but two years later! Great God! had two years
+dropped out of his life? Again he recalled his illness, the long agony,
+the final sinking into oblivion, the strange awakening in perfect
+health; yes, surely there must be a missing link; but how? where?
+
+He rose to re-enter the cabin, and, passing the window, caught a glimpse
+of his face reflected there; a face like, and yet unlike, his own, and
+crowned with snow-white hair! In doubt and bewilderment he paced up and
+down within the cabin, vainly striving to connect these fragmentary
+parts, to reconcile the present with the past. As he passed and repassed
+the table covered with manuscript his attention was attracted by an
+odd-looking volume bound in flexible morocco and containing several
+hundred pages of written matter. It lay partly open in a conspicuous
+place, and upon the fly-leaf was written, in large, bold characters,--
+
+     "To my Other Self, should he awaken."
+
+He could not banish the words from his mind; they drew him with
+irresistible magnetism. Again and again he read them, until, impelled by
+some power he could not explain, he seized the volume and, seating
+himself in the doorway of the cabin, proceeded to examine it. Lifting
+the fly-leaf, he read the following inscription:
+
+     "To one from the outer world, whose identity is hidden among the
+     secrets of the past:
+
+     "With the hope that when the veil is lifted, these pages may assist
+     him in uniting into one perfect whole the strangely disjointed
+     portions of his life, they are inscribed by
+
+                                             "JOHN DARRELL."
+
+He smiled as he read the name and recalled the circumstances under which
+he had taken it, but he no longer felt any hesitation regarding the
+volume in his hands, and he began to read. It was written as a
+communication from one stranger to another, from the mountain recluse to
+one of whose life he had not the slightest knowledge; but he knew
+without doubt that it was addressed to himself, yet written by
+himself,--that writer and reader were one and the same.
+
+For more than two hours he read on and on, deeply absorbed in the tale
+of that solitary life, his own heart responding to each note of joy or
+sorrow, of hope or despair, and vibrating to the undertone of loneliness
+and longing running through it all.
+
+He strove vainly to recall the characters in the strange drama in which
+he had played his part but of which he had now no distinct recollection;
+dimly they passed before his vision like the shadowy phantoms of a dream
+from which one has just awakened. He started at the first mention of
+John Britton's name, eagerly following each outline of that noble
+character, his heart kindling with affection as he read his words of
+loving, helpful counsel. His face grew tender and his eyes filled at the
+love-story, so pathetically brief, faithfully transcribed on those
+pages, but of Kate Underwood he could only recall a slender girl with
+golden-brown hair and wistful, appealing brown eyes; he wondered at the
+strength of character shown by her speech and conduct, and his heart
+went out to this unknown love, notwithstanding that memory now showed
+him the picture of another and earlier love in the far East.
+
+But it was the story of John Britton's life which moved him most. With
+strained, eager eyes and bated breath he read that sad recital, and at
+its termination, buried his face in his hands and sobbed like a child.
+
+When he had grown calm he sat for some time reviewing the past and
+forming plans for future action. While thus absorbed in thought he heard
+a step, and, looking up, saw standing before him a man of apparently
+sixty years, with bronzed face and grizzled hair, whose small, piercing
+eyes regarded himself with keen scrutiny. In response to the younger
+man's greeting he only bowed silently.
+
+"You must be Peter, the hermit," the young man exclaimed; "but whoever
+you are, you are welcome; I am glad to see a human face."
+
+"And you," replied the other, slowly, "you are not the same man that you
+were yesterday; you have awakened, as he said you would some day."
+
+"As who said?" the young man questioned.
+
+"John Britton," the other replied.
+
+"Yes, I have awakened, and my life here is like a dream. Sit down,
+Peter; I want to ask you some questions."
+
+For half an hour they sat together, the younger man asking questions,
+the other answering in as few words as possible, his keen eyes never
+leaving the face of his interlocutor.
+
+"Where is this John Britton?" the young man finally inquired.
+
+"In Ophir--at a place called The Pines."
+
+"I know the place; I remember it. How far is it from here?"
+
+"Fifteen miles by rail from the station at the foot of the mountain."
+
+"I must go to him at once; you will show me the way. How soon can we get
+away from here?"
+
+Peter glanced at the sun. "We cannot get down the trail in season for
+to-day's train. We will start to-morrow morning."
+
+Without further speech he then went into the cabin and busied himself
+with his accustomed duties. When he reappeared he again stood silently
+regarding the younger man with his fixed, penetrating gaze.
+
+"What awakened you?" he asked, at length.
+
+The abruptness of the question, as well as its tenor, startled the
+other; that was a phase of the mystery surrounding himself of which he
+had not even thought.
+
+"I do not know," he replied, slowly; "that question had not occurred to
+me before. What do you think? Might it not have come about in the
+ordinary sequence of events?"
+
+Peter shook his head. "Not likely," he muttered; "there must have been a
+shock of some kind."
+
+The young man smiled brightly. "Well, I cannot answer for yesterday's
+events," he said, "having neither record nor recollection of the day;
+but I certainly sustained a shock this morning on awaking on the bare
+rocks at such an altitude as this and with no trace of a human being
+visible!"
+
+"On the rocks!" Peter repeated; "where?"
+
+"Yonder," said the young man, indicating the direction; "come, I will
+show you the exact spot."
+
+He led the way to his rocky bed, near one end of the plateau, then
+watched his companion's movements as he knelt down and carefully
+inspected the rock, then, rising to his feet, looked searchingly in
+every direction with his ferret-like glance.
+
+"Ah!" the latter suddenly exclaimed, with emphasis, at the same time
+pointing to a rock almost overhanging their heads.
+
+Following the direction indicated, the young man saw a pine-tree on the
+edge of the overhanging rock, the entire length of its trunk split open,
+its branches shrivelled and blackened as though by fire.
+
+Peter, notwithstanding his age, sprang up the rocks with the agility of
+a panther, the younger man following more slowly. As he came up Peter
+turned from an examination of the dead tree and looked at him
+significantly.
+
+"An electric shock!" he said; "that was a living tree yesterday. There
+was an electric storm last night, the worst in years; it brought death
+to the tree, but life to you."
+
+To the younger man the words of the old hermit seemed incredible, but
+that night brought him a strange confirmation of their truth. Upon
+disrobing for the night, what was his astonishment to discover upon his
+right shoulder and extending downward diagonally across the right breast
+a long, blue mark of irregular, zigzag form, while running parallel with
+it its entire length, perfect as though done in India ink with an
+artist's pen, was the outline of the very scene surrounding him where he
+lay that morning--cliff and crag and mountain peak--traced indelibly
+upon the living flesh, an indubitable evidence of the power which had
+finally aroused his dormant faculties and a souvenir of the lost years
+which he would carry with him to his dying day.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXIX_
+
+JOHN DARRELL'S STORY
+
+
+On the following morning the cabin on the mountain side was closed at an
+early hour, and its late occupant, accompanied by Peter and the collie,
+descended the trail to the small station near the base of the mountain,
+where he took leave of the old hermit. On his arrival at Ophir he
+ordered a carriage and drove directly to The Pines, for he was impatient
+to see John Britton at as early a date as possible, and was fearful lest
+the latter, with his migratory habits, might escape him.
+
+It was near noon when, having dismissed the carriage, he rang for
+admission. He recalled the house and grounds as they appeared to him on
+his first arrival, but he found it hard to realize that he was looking
+upon the scenes among which most of that strange drama of the last two
+years had been enacted. Mr. Underwood himself came to the door.
+
+"Why, Darrell, my boy, how do you do?" he exclaimed, shaking hands
+heartily; "thought you'd take us by surprise, eh? Got a little tired of
+living alone, I guess, and thought you'd come back to your friends.
+Well, it's mighty good to see you; come in; we'll have lunch in about an
+hour."
+
+To Mr. Underwood's surprise the young man did not immediately accept the
+invitation to come in, but seemed to hesitate for a moment.
+
+"I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Underwood," he responded, pleasantly,
+but with a shade of reserve in his manner; "I remember you very well,
+indeed, and probably yours is about the only face I will be able to
+recall."
+
+For a moment Mr. Underwood seemed staggered, unable to comprehend the
+meaning of the other's words.
+
+The young man continued: "I understand Mr. Britton is stopping with you;
+is he still here, or has he left?"
+
+"He is here," Mr. Underwood replied; "but, good God! Darrell, what does
+this mean?"
+
+Before the other could reply Mr. Britton, who was in an adjoining room
+and had overheard the colloquy, came quickly forward. He gave a swift,
+penetrating glance into the young man's face, then, turning to Mr.
+Underwood, said,--
+
+"It means, David, that our young friend has come to his own again. He is
+no longer of our world or of us."
+
+Then turning to the young man, he said, "I am John Britton; do you wish
+to see me?"
+
+The other looked earnestly into the face of the speaker, and his own
+features betrayed emotion as he replied,--
+
+"I do; I must see you on especially important business."
+
+"David, you will let us have the use of your private room for a while?"
+Mr. Britton inquired.
+
+Mr. Underwood nodded silently, his eyes fixed with a troubled expression
+upon the young man's face. The latter, observing his distress, said,--
+
+"Don't think, Mr. Underwood, that I am insensible to all your kindness
+to me since my coming here two years ago. I shall see you later and show
+you that I am not lacking in appreciation, though I can never express
+my gratitude to you; but before I can do that--before I can even tell
+you who I am--it is necessary that I see Mr. Britton."
+
+"Tut! tut!" said Mr. Underwood, gruffly; "don't talk to me of gratitude;
+I don't want any; but, my God! boy, I had come to look on you almost as
+my own son!" And, turning abruptly, he left the room before either of
+the others could speak.
+
+"He is a man of very strong feelings," said Mr. Britton, leading the way
+to Mr. Underwood's room; "and, to tell the truth, this is a pretty hard
+blow to each of us, although we should have prepared ourselves for it.
+Be seated, my son."
+
+Seating himself beside the young man and again looking into his face, he
+said,--
+
+"I see that the day has dawned; when did the light come, and how?"
+
+Briefly the other related his awakening on the rocks and the events
+which followed down to his finding and reading the journal which
+recorded so faithfully the history of the missing years, Mr. Britton
+listening with intense interest. At last the young man said,--
+
+"Of all the records of that journal, there was nothing that interested
+me so greatly or moved me so deeply as did the story of your own life.
+That is what brought me here to-day. I have come to tell you my
+story,--the story of John Darrell, as you have known him,--and possibly
+you may find it in some ways a counterpart to your own."
+
+"I was drawn towards you in some inexplicable way from our first
+meeting," Mr. Britton replied, slowly; "you became as dear to me as a
+son, so that I gave you in confidence the story that no other human
+being has ever heard. It is needless to say that I appreciate this mark
+of your confidence in return, and that you can rest assured of my
+deepest interest in anything concerning yourself."
+
+The younger man drew his chair nearer his companion. "As you already
+know," he said, "I am a mine expert. I came out here on a commission for
+a large eastern syndicate, and as there was likely to be lively
+competition and I wished to remain incognito, I took the name of John
+Darrell, which in reality was a part of my own name. My home is in New
+York State. I was a country-bred boy, brought up on one of those great
+farms which abound a little north of the central part of the State; but,
+though country-bred, I was not a rustic, for my mother, who was my
+principal instructor until I was about fourteen years of age, was a
+woman of refinement and culture. My mother and I lived at her father's
+house--a beautiful country home; but even while a mere child I became
+aware that there was some kind of an unpleasant secret in our family. My
+grandfather would never allow my father's name mentioned, and he had
+little love for me as his child; but my earliest recollections of my
+mother are of her kneeling with me night after night in prayer, teaching
+me to love and revere the father I had never known, who, she told me,
+was 'gone away,' and to pray always for his welfare and for his return.
+At fourteen I was sent away to a preparatory school, and afterwards to
+college. Then, as I developed a taste for mineralogy and metallurgy, I
+took a course in the Columbian School of Mines. By this time I had
+learned that while it was generally supposed my mother was a widow,
+there were those, my grandfather among them, who believed that my father
+had deserted her. My first intimation of this was an insinuation to that
+effect by my grandfather himself, soon after my graduation. I was an
+athlete and already had a good position at a fair salary, and so great
+was my love and reverence for my father's name that I told the old
+gentleman that nothing but his white hairs saved him from a sound
+thrashing, and that at the first repetition of any such insinuation I
+would take my mother from under his roof and provide a home for her
+myself. That sufficed to silence him effectually, for he idolized her.
+After this little episode I went to my mother and begged her to tell me
+the secret regarding my father."
+
+The young man paused for a moment, his dark eyes gazing earnestly into
+the clear gray eyes watching him intently; then, without shifting his
+gaze, he continued, in low tones:
+
+"She told me that about a year before my birth she and my father were
+married against her father's will, his only objection to the marriage
+being that my father was poor. She told me of their happy married life
+that followed, but that my father was ambitious, and the consciousness
+of poverty and the fact that he could not provide for her as he wished
+galled him. She told me how, when there was revealed to them the promise
+of a new love and life within their little home, he redoubled his
+efforts to do for her and hers, and then, dissatisfied with what he
+could accomplish there, went out into the new West to build a home for
+his little family. She told of the brave, loving letters that came so
+faithfully and the generous remittances to provide for every possible
+need in the coming emergency. Then Fortune beckoned him still farther
+west, and he obeyed, daring the dangers of that strange, wild country
+for the love he bore his wife and his unborn child. From that country
+only one letter ever was received from him. Just at that time I was
+born, and my life came near costing hers who bore me. For weeks she lay
+between life and death, so low that the report of her death reached her
+parents, bringing them broken-hearted and, as they supposed, too late to
+her humble home. They found her yet living and threw their love and
+their wealth into the battle against death. In all this time no news
+came from the great West. As soon as she could be moved my mother and
+her child were taken to her father's home. Her father forgave her, but
+he had no forgiveness for her husband and no love for his child. He
+tried to make my mother believe her husband had deserted her, but she
+was loyal in her trust in him as in her love for him. She named her
+child for his father, 'John,' but as her father would not allow the name
+repeated in his hearing she gave him the additional name of 'Darrell,'
+by which he was universally known; but in those sacred hours when she
+told me of my father and taught me to pray for him, she always called me
+by his name, 'John Britton.'"
+
+As he ceased speaking both men rose simultaneously to their feet. The
+elder man placed his hands upon the shoulders of the younger, and,
+standing thus face to face, they looked into each other's eyes as though
+each were reading the other's inmost soul.
+
+"What was your mother's name?" Mr. Britton asked, in low tones.
+
+"Patience--Patience Jewett," replied the other.
+
+Mr. Britton bowed his head with deep emotion, and father and son were
+clasped in each other's arms.
+
+When they had grown calm enough for speech Mr. Britton's first words
+were of his wife.
+
+"What of your mother, my son,--was she living when you came west?"
+
+"Yes, but her health was delicate, and I am fearful of the effects of my
+long absence; it must have been a terrible strain upon her. As soon as I
+reached the city this morning I telegraphed an old schoolmate for
+tidings of her, and I am expecting an answer any moment."
+
+They talked of the strange chain of circumstances which had brought them
+together and of the mysterious bond by which they had been so closely
+united while as yet unconscious of their relationship. The summons to
+lunch recalled them to the present. As they rose to leave the room Mr.
+Britton threw his arm affectionately about Darrell's shoulders,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"My son! Mine! and I have loved you as such from the first time I looked
+into your eyes! If God will now only permit me to see my beloved wife
+again, I can ask nothing more!"
+
+And as Darrell gazed at the noble form, towering slightly above his own,
+and looked into the depths of those gray eyes, penetrating, fearless,
+yet tender as a woman's, he felt that however sweet and sacred had been
+the friendship between them in the past, it was as naught compared with
+the infinitely sweeter and holier relationship of father and son.
+
+They passed into the dining-room where Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dean
+awaited them, a look of eager expectancy on both faces, the wistful
+expression of Mrs. Dean as she watched for the first token of
+recognition on Darrell's part being almost pathetic.
+
+Mr. Britton, who had entered slightly in advance, paused half-way across
+the room, and, placing his hand on Darrell's shoulder, said, in a voice
+which vibrated with emotion,--
+
+"My dear friends, Mrs. Dean and Mr. Underwood, allow me to introduce my
+son, John Darrell Britton!"
+
+There, was a moment of strained silence in which only the labored
+breathing of Mr. Underwood could be heard.
+
+"Do you mean that you have adopted him?" Mr. Underwood asked, slowly,
+seeming to speak with difficulty.
+
+"No, David; he is my own flesh and blood--my legitimate son; I will
+explain later."
+
+Mrs. Dean and Darrell had clasped hands and were scanning each other's
+faces.
+
+"John, do you remember me?" she asked, with trembling lips.
+
+Darrell bent his head and kissed her. "I do, Mrs. Dean," he replied.
+
+She smiled, at the same time wiping away a tear with the corner of her
+white apron.
+
+"I don't think I could have borne it if you hadn't," she remarked,
+simply; then, shaking hands with Mr. Britton, she added:
+
+"I congratulate you, Mr. Britton; I congratulate you both. If ever there
+were two who ought to be father and son, you are the two."
+
+Mr. Underwood wrung Darrell's hand. "I congratulate you, boy, and I'm
+mighty glad to find you're not a stranger to us, after all."
+
+Then, grasping his old-time partner's hand, he added: "Jack, you old
+fraud! You've always got the best of me on every bargain, but I forgive
+you this time. I wanted the boy myself, but you seem to have the best
+title, so there's no use to try to jump your claim."
+
+Lunch was just over as a messenger was announced, and a moment later a
+telegram was handed to Darrell. As he opened the missive his fingers
+trembled and Mr. Britton's face grew pale. Darrell hastily read the
+contents, then met his father's anxious glance with a reassuring smile.
+
+"She is living and in usual health, though my friend says she is much
+more delicate than when I left."
+
+"We must go to her at once, my boy," said Mr. Britton; "how soon can you
+leave?"
+
+"In a very few hours, father; when do you wish to start?"
+
+Mr. Britton consulted a time-table. "The east-bound express leaves at
+ten-thirty to-night; can we make that?"
+
+"Sure!" Darrell responded, with an enthusiasm new to his western
+friends; "you can't start too soon for me, and there isn't a train that
+travels fast enough to take me to that little mother of mine, especially
+with the good news I have for her."
+
+Half an hour later, as he was hastily gathering together his
+possessions, he came suddenly upon a picture, at sight of which he
+paused, then stood spellbound, all else for the time forgotten. It was a
+portrait of Kate Underwood, taken in the gown she had worn on that night
+of her first reception. It served as a connecting link between the past
+and present. Gazing at it he was able to understand how the young girl
+whom he faintly remembered had grown into the strong, sweet character
+delineated in the recorded story of his love. He was able to recall some
+of the scenes portrayed there; he recalled her as she stood that day on
+the "Divide," her head uncovered, her gleaming hair like a halo about
+her face, her eyes shining with a light that was not of earth.
+
+He kissed the picture reverently. "Sweet angel of my dream!" he
+murmured; "come what may, you hold, and always will, a place in my heart
+which no other can ever take from you. I will lay your sweet face away,
+never again to be lifted from its hiding-place until I can look upon it
+as the face of my betrothed."
+
+His trunk was packed, his preparations for departure nearly complete,
+when there came a gentle tap at his door, and Mrs. Dean entered.
+
+"I was afraid," she said, speaking with some hesitation, "that you might
+think it strange if you did not see Katherine, and I wanted to explain
+that she is away. She went out of town, to be gone for a few days. She
+will be very sorry when she returns to find that she has missed seeing
+you."
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Dean," said Darrell, slowly; "on some accounts I would
+have been very glad to meet Kate; but on the whole I think perhaps it is
+better as it is."
+
+"I don't suppose you remember her except as you saw her when you first
+came," Mrs. Dean added, wistfully; "I should like to have you see her as
+she is now. I think she has matured into a beautiful young woman."
+
+"Yes, I remember her, Mrs. Dean; she is beautiful."
+
+"Oh, do you? She will be glad to hear that!" Mrs. Dean exclaimed, with a
+happy smile.
+
+Darrell came nearer and took her hands within his own. "Will you give
+her a message from me, just as I give it to you? She will understand."
+
+"Oh, yes; gladly."
+
+"Tell her," said Darrell, and his voice trembled slightly, "I remember
+her. Tell her I will see her 'at the time appointed;' and that I never
+forget!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXX_
+
+AFTER MANY YEARS
+
+
+The evening train, as it was known,--a local from the south,--was
+approaching the little village of Ellisburg, winding its way over miles
+of rolling country dotted with farm-houses of snowy white; to the east,
+rough, rugged hills surmounted by a wall of forest, while far to the
+west could be seen the sandy beaches and blue waters of Lake Ontario.
+
+The arrival of this train formed one of the chief events in the daily
+life of the little town, and each summer evening found a group of from
+twenty to fifty of the village folk awaiting its incoming. To them it
+afforded a welcome break in the monotony of their lives, a fleeting
+glimpse of people and things from that vague world outside the horizon
+bounding their own.
+
+Amid the usual handful of passengers left at the station on this
+particular evening were two who immediately drew the attention of the
+crowd. Two men, one something over fifty years of age, tall, with erect
+form and dark hair well silvered, and with a grave, sweet face; the
+other not more than seven-and-twenty, but with hair as white as snow,
+while his face wore an inscrutable look, as though the dark, piercing
+eyes held within their depths secrets which the sphinx-like lips would
+not reveal. Closely following them was a splendid collie, trying in
+various ways to give expression to his delight at being released from
+the confinement of the baggage-car.
+
+There was a sudden, swift movement in the crowd as a young man stepped
+quickly forward and grasped the younger of the two by the hand.
+
+"Darrell, old boy! is this you?" he exclaimed; "Great Scott! what have
+you been doing to yourself these two years?"
+
+"Plenty of time for explanations later," said Darrell, shaking hands
+heartily; "Ned, I want you to know my father; father, this is my old
+chum, now Dr. Elliott."
+
+The young physician's face betrayed astonishment, but he shook hands
+with Mr. Britton with no remarks beyond the customary greeting.
+
+"Now, Ned," continued Darrell, "get us out of this mob as quickly as you
+can; I don't want to be recognized here."
+
+"Not much danger with that white pate of yours; but come this way, my
+carriage is waiting. I did not let out that you were coming back, for I
+thought you wouldn't want any demonstration from the crowd here, so I
+told no one but father; he's waiting for you in the carriage."
+
+"You're as level-headed as ever," Darrell remarked.
+
+They reached the carriage, greetings were exchanged with Mr. Elliott,
+and soon the party was driving rapidly towards the village.
+
+"We will go at once to my office," Dr. Elliott remarked to Darrell, who
+was seated beside himself; "we can make arrangements there as to the
+best method of breaking this news to your mother."
+
+"You have told her nothing, then?" Darrell inquired.
+
+"No; life has so many uncertainties and she has already suffered so
+much. You had a long journey before you; if anything had happened to
+detain you, it was better not to have her in suspense."
+
+"You were right," Darrell replied; "you know I left all that to your own
+judgment."
+
+"Darrell, old boy," said the doctor, inspecting his companion
+critically, "do satisfy my curiosity: is that white hair genuine or a
+wig donned for the occasion?"
+
+"What reason could I have for any such masquerading?" Darrell demanded;
+"when you come to know my experience for the past two years you will not
+wonder that my hair is white."
+
+"I beg your pardon, old fellow; I meant no offence. We had all given you
+up for dead--all but your mother; and your telegram nearly knocked me
+off my feet."
+
+Here the doctor drew rein, and, fastening the horses outside, they
+entered his office, a small, one-story building standing close to the
+street in one corner of the great dooryard of his father's home, and
+sheltered alike from sun and storm by giant maples.
+
+After brief consultation it was decided that as Dr. Elliott and his
+father were frequent callers at the Jewett home, the entire party would
+drive out there, and, in the probable event of not seeing Mrs. Britton,
+who was an invalid and retired at an early hour, Darrell and his father
+would spend the night at the old homestead, but their presence would not
+be known by the wife and mother until the following morning.
+
+"You see, sir," Dr. Elliott remarked to Mr. Britton, "your coming has
+complicated matters a little. I would not apprehend any danger from the
+meeting between Mrs. Britton and her son, for she has looked for his
+return every day; but I cannot say what might be the result of the shock
+her nervous system would sustain in meeting you. We are safe, however,
+in going out there this evening, for she always retires to her room
+before this time."
+
+Both Mr. Britton and Darrell grew silent as the old Jewett homestead
+came in view. It was a wide-spreading house of colonial build, snowy
+white with green shutters and overrun with climbing roses and
+honeysuckle vines. It stood back at a little distance from the street,
+and a broad walk, under interlacing boughs of oak, elm, and maple, led
+from the street to the lofty pillared veranda across its front. The full
+moon was rising opposite, its mellow light throwing every twig and
+flower into bold relief. Two figures could be seen seated within the
+veranda, and as the carriage stopped Dr. Elliott remarked,--
+
+"I was right; Mr. Jewett and his elder daughter are sitting outside, but
+Mrs. Britton has retired."
+
+As the four men alighted and proceeded up the walk towards the house
+strangely varied emotions surged through the breasts of Darrell and his
+father. To one this was his childhood's home, the only home of which he
+had any distinct memory; to the other it was the home to which long ago
+he had been welcomed as a friend, but from which he had been banished as
+a lover. But all reminiscent thoughts were suddenly put to flight.
+
+They had advanced only about half-way up the walk when one of the long,
+old-fashioned windows upon the veranda was hastily thrown open and a
+slender figure robed in a white dressing-gown came with swift but
+tremulous steps down the walk to meet them, crying, in glad accents,--
+
+"Oh, my son! my son! you have come, as I knew you would some day!"
+
+Darrell sprang forward and caught his mother in his arms, and then,
+unable to speak, held her close to his breast, his tears falling on her
+upturned face, while she caressed him and crooned fond words of
+endearment as in the days when she had held him in her arms. Dr.
+Elliott and his father stood near, nonplussed, uncertain what to do or
+what course to take. The old gentleman on the veranda left his seat and
+took a few steps towards the group, as though to assist his daughter to
+the house, but Dr. Elliott motioned him to remain where he was. Mr.
+Britton, scarcely able to restrain his feelings, yet fearful of
+agitating his wife, had withdrawn slightly to one side, but
+unconsciously was standing so that the moonlight fell full across his
+face.
+
+At that instant Mrs. Britton raised her head, and, seeing the familiar
+faces of Dr. Elliott and his father, looked at the solitary figure as
+though to see who it might be. Their eyes met, his shining with the
+old-time love with which he had looked on her as she stood a bride on
+that summer evening crowned with the sunset rays, only a thousand-fold
+more tender. She gave a startled glance, then raised her arms to him
+with one shrill, sweet cry,--the cry of the lone night-bird for its
+mate,--
+
+"John!"
+
+"Patience!" came the responsive note, deep, resonant, tender.
+
+He held her folded within his arms until he suddenly felt the fragile
+form grow limp in his clasp, then, lifting her, he bore her tenderly up
+the walk, past the bewildered father and sister, into the house, Dr.
+Elliott leading the way, and laid her on a couch in her own room.
+
+She was soon restored to consciousness, and, though able to say little,
+lay feasting her eyes alternately upon the face of husband and son, her
+glance, however, returning oftener and dwelling longer on the face of
+the lover, who, after more than twenty-seven years of absence, was a
+lover still.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXI_
+
+AN EASTERN HOME
+
+
+Within a few days Darrell and his father were domiciled in the Jewett
+homestead, the physicians pronouncing it unwise to attempt to remove
+Mrs. Britton to another home.
+
+To Experience Jewett, who reigned supreme in her father's house, it
+seemed as though two vandals had invaded her domain, so ruthlessly did
+they open up the rooms for years jealously guarded from sunshine and
+dust, while her cherished household gods were removed by sacrilegious
+hands from their time-honored niches and consigned to the ignominy of
+obscure back chambers or the oblivion of the garret.
+
+Under Mr. Britton's supervision, soon after his arrival, the great
+double parlors, which had not been used since the funeral of Mrs. Jewett
+some seven years before, were thrown wide open, Sally, the "help,"
+standing with open mouth and arms akimbo, aghast at such proceedings,
+while Miss Jewett executed a lively quick-step in pursuit of a moth,
+which, startled by the unusual light, was circling above her head.
+
+Not only were the gayly flowered Brussels carpet and the black haircloth
+furniture the same as when he had been a guest in those rooms nearly
+thirty years before, but each piece of furniture occupied the same
+position as then. He smiled as he noted the arm-chair by one of the
+front windows, to which he had been invariably assigned and in which he
+had slipped and slid throughout each evening to the detriment of the
+crocheted "tidy" pinned upon its back. The vases and candlesticks upon
+the mantel were arranged with the same mathematical precision. He could
+detect only one change, which was that to the collection of family
+photographs framed and hanging above the mantel, there had been added a
+portrait of the late Mrs. Jewett.
+
+Within a week the old furnishings had been relegated to other parts of
+the house and modern upholstery had taken their places, the soft subdued
+tints of which blended harmoniously, forming a general impression of
+warmth and light.
+
+Most of these innovations Miss Jewett viewed with disfavor, particularly
+the staining of the floors preparatory to laying down two Turkish rugs
+of exquisite coloring and design.
+
+"I don't see any use in being so skimping with the carpets," she
+remarked to Sally; "if I'd been in his place I'd have got enough to
+cover the whole floor while I was about it, even if I'd bought something
+a little cheaper. A carpet with bare floor showing all 'round it puts me
+in mind of Dick's hat-band that went part way 'round and stopped."
+
+"That's jest what it does!" Sally assented.
+
+"I wanted to lay down some strips of carpeting along the edges, but he
+wouldn't hear to it," Miss Jewett continued, regretfully.
+
+"I s'pose," Sally remarked, sagely, "it's all on account of livin' out
+west along with them wild Injuns and cow-boys so many years. Western
+folks 'most always has queer ideas about things."
+
+"I never would have believed it to see such overturnings in my house!"
+exclaimed Miss Jewett, with a sigh; "and if 'twas anybody but John
+Britton I wouldn't stand it. I wonder if he won't be telling me how to
+make butter and raise chickens and turkeys next!"
+
+"Mebbe he'll bring 'round one o' them new-fangled contrivances for
+hatchin' chickens without hens," Sally ventured, with a laugh; adding,
+reflectively, "I wonder why, when they was about it, they didn't invent
+a machine to lay aigs as well as hatch 'em; that would 'ave been a
+savin', for a hen's keep don't amount to much when she's settin', but
+they're powerful big eaters generally."
+
+Miss Jewett prided herself upon her thrift and economy; her well-kept
+house where nothing was allowed to go to waste; her spotless dairy-rooms
+and rolls of golden butter which never failed to bring a cent and a half
+more a pound than any other; her fine breeds of poultry which annually
+carried off the blue ribbons at the county fair. She had achieved a
+local reputation of which she was quite proud; she would brook no
+interference in her management of household affairs, and, as she said,
+no one but John Britton would ever have been allowed to infringe upon
+her established rules and regulations. There had been a time when she
+had shared equally with her sister John Britton's attentions. It had
+been the only bit of romance in her life, but a lingering sweetness from
+it still remained in her heart through all the commonplace years that
+had followed, like the faint perfume from rose-leaves, faded and
+shrivelled, but cherished as sacred mementos. She had not blamed him for
+choosing her younger and more attractive sister, and she had secretly
+admired her sister for braving their father's displeasure to marry him.
+And now she was glad that he had returned; glad for his own sake that
+the imputations cast upon him by her father and others were refuted; for
+her sister's sake, that her last days should be so brightened and
+glorified; but deep within her heart, glad for her own sake, because it
+was good to look upon his face and hear his voice again.
+
+Sally's strident tones broke in upon her retrospection:
+
+"There's one thing, Miss Jewett, I guess you needn't be afeard they'll
+meddle with, and that's your cookin'. Mr. Darrell, he was tellin' me
+about the prices people had to pay for meals on them
+eatin'-cars,--'diners' he called 'em,--and I told him there wasn't no
+vittles on earth worth any such price as that, and I up and asked him
+whether they was as good as the vittles he gets here, and he laughed and
+said there wasn't nobody could beat his Aunt Espey at cookin'."
+
+Miss Jewett's eyes brightened. "Bless the boy's heart!" she exclaimed;
+"I'm glad they're going to be here for Thanksgiving; I'll see that they
+get such a dinner as they neither of them ever dreamed of!"
+
+Darrell had won a warm place in her heart in his baby days with his
+earliest efforts to speak her name. "Espey" had been the result of his
+first attack on the formidable name of "Experience," and "Aunt Espey"
+she had been to him ever since.
+
+Her father, Hosea Jewett, was a hale, hearty man of upward of seventy,
+hard and unyielding as the granite ledges cropping out along the
+hill-sides of his farm, and with a face gnarled and weather-beaten as
+the oaks before his door. He was scrupulously honest, but exacting,
+relentless, unforgiving.
+
+He was not easily reconciled to the new order of things, but for his
+daughter's sake he held his peace. Then, too, though he never forgave
+John Britton for having married his daughter, yet John Britton as a man
+whose wealth exceeded even his own was an altogether different person
+from the ambitious but impecunious lover of thirty years before. He had
+never forgiven Darrell for being John Britton's son, but mingled with
+his long-cherished animosity was a secret pride in the splendid physical
+and intellectual manhood of this sole representative of his own line.
+
+Between the sisters there had been few points of resemblance. Patience
+Jewett had been of an ardent, emotional nature, passionately fond of
+music, a great reader, and with little taste for the household tasks in
+which her more practical sister delighted. Having a more delicate
+constitution, she had little share in the busy routine of farm life, but
+was allowed to follow her own inclinations. She was still absorbed in
+her music and studies when Love found her, and the woman within her
+awoke at his call.
+
+After Darrell's birth her health was seriously impaired. It seemed as
+though her faith in her husband, her belief that he would one day
+return, and her love for her son were the only ties holding soul and
+body together, and, with her natural religious tendencies, the spiritual
+nature developed at the expense of the physical. Since Darrell's strange
+disappearance she had failed rapidly.
+
+With the return of her husband and son she seemed temporarily to renew
+her hold on life, appearing stronger than for many months. For the first
+few days much of her time was spent at her piano, singing with her
+husband the old songs of their early love, but oftenest a favorite of
+his which she had sung during the years of his absence, and which
+Darrell had sung on that night at The Pines following his discovery of
+the violin,--"Loyal to Love and Thee."
+
+Her delight in the rooms newly fitted up for her was unbounded, and
+against the background of their subdued, warm tints she made a
+strikingly beautiful picture, with her sweet, spirituelle face crowned
+with waving silver hair.
+
+Either Darrell or his father, or both, were constantly with her, for
+they realized that the time was short in which to make amends for the
+missing years. She loved to listen to her husband's tales of the great
+West or to bits which Darrell read from his journal of that strange
+chapter of his own life.
+
+"You have not yet asked after your sweetheart, Darrell," his mother said
+one evening soon after his arrival, as they sat awaiting his father's
+return from a short stroll.
+
+"You are my sweetheart now, little mother," he replied, kissing the hand
+that lay within his own.
+
+"Does that mean that you care less for Marion than before you went
+away?" she queried.
+
+"No," Darrell answered, slowly; "I cannot say that my regard for her has
+decreased. I may have changed in some respects, but not in my feelings
+towards Marion. I will ask you a question, mother: Do you think she
+still cares for me as before I left home?"
+
+"I hardly know how to answer you, because, as you know, Marion is so
+silent and secretive. I never could understand the girl. To be candid,
+Darrell dear, I never could understand why you should care for her, and
+I never thought she cared for you as she ought."
+
+"You know, mother, how I came to be attracted to her in the first place;
+we were schoolmates, and you know she was an exceptionally brilliant
+girl, and different from most of the others. We were interested in the
+same subjects, and naturally there sprang up quite an intimacy between
+us. Then we corresponded while I was at college, and her letters were so
+bright and entertaining that my admiration for her increased. I thought
+her the most brilliant and the best girl, every way, in all my
+acquaintance, and I think so still."
+
+"But, my dear boy," his mother exclaimed, "admiration is not love; I
+don't believe you ever really loved her, and she always seemed to me to
+be all brains and no heart--one of those cold, silent natures incapable
+of loving."
+
+"I think you are wrong there, mother. Marion is silent, but I don't
+believe she is cold or incapable of loving. She may, or may not, be
+incapable of expressing it, but I believe she could love very deeply and
+sincerely were her love once awakened."
+
+"You know she has taken up the study of medicine?"
+
+"Ned Elliott told me she had been studying with Dr. Parker for about a
+year."
+
+"Dr. Parker tells me she is making remarkable progress."
+
+"I don't doubt it, mother; she will probably make a success of it; she
+is just the woman to do so."
+
+"There never was any mention of love between you two, was there, or any
+engagement?" Darrell's mother asked, with some hesitation, after a brief
+silence.
+
+"None whatever," he replied, then added, with a smile: "We considered
+ourselves in love at the time,--at least, I did; but as I look back now
+it seems a very Platonic affair; but I thought I loved her, and I think
+she loved me."
+
+"You say, Darrell, that your regard for her is unchanged?"
+
+"Yes; the same as ever."
+
+"But you do not think now that you love her or loved her then?"
+
+"No, mother; I know I do not, and did not."
+
+"Then, Darrell, my boy, some one else has taught you what love really
+is?"
+
+For answer Darrell bowed his head in assent over his mother's hand.
+
+For a few moments she silently stroked his hair as in his boyish days;
+then she said, in low tones,--
+
+"Answer me one question, Darrell: Was she a good, pure woman?"
+
+Darrell raised his head, his eyes looking straight into the searching
+dark eyes, so like his own.
+
+"My little mother," he replied, tenderly, "don't think that your
+teachings all the past years or the lessons of your own sweet life were
+lost in those two years; their influence lived even when memory had
+failed."
+
+He bent and kissed her, then added: "She was scarcely more than a child;
+not so brilliant, perhaps, as Marion, but beautiful, good, and pure as
+the driven snow."
+
+Hearing his father's voice outside, Darrell rose and, picking up his
+journal, opened it at the story of his love and Kate's. Then placing it
+open upon a table beside his mother, he said,--
+
+"There, mother, is the story of my Dream-Love, as I call her. Read it,
+and if you should wish to know anything further regarding it, ask my
+father, for he knows all."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXII_
+
+MARION HOLMES
+
+
+The following day when Darrell entered his mother's rooms he found her
+with his journal lying open before her. Looking up with a smile, she
+said,--
+
+"Darrell, my dear, I would like to meet your 'Kathie,' but that can
+never be in this world. But you will meet her again, and when you do,
+give her a mother's love and blessing from me."
+
+Then, laying her hand on his arm, she added: "I understand now your
+question regarding Marion. As I told you, it is difficult to judge
+anything about her real feelings. For the first year after you went away
+she came often to see me and frequently inquired for tidings of you, but
+this last year she has seemed different. She has come here less
+frequently and seldom referred to you, and appeared so engrossed in her
+studies I concluded she had little thought or care for you. I may have
+misjudged her, but even were that so and she did care for you still, you
+would not marry her now, loving another as you do, would you?"
+
+Darrell smiled as he met his mother's eager, questioning gaze. "If I had
+won the love of a girl like Marion Holmes," he said, "I would do nothing
+that would seem like trifling with that love; but, in justice to all
+parties concerned, herself in particular, I would never marry her
+without first giving her enough knowledge of the facts in the case that
+she would thoroughly understand the situation."
+
+His mother seemed satisfied. "Marion has brains, whether she has a
+heart or not," she replied, with quiet emphasis; "and a girl of brains
+would never marry a man under such circumstances."
+
+Handing him his journal she pointed with a smile to its inscription.
+
+"'Until the day break,'" she quoted; "that has been my daily watchword
+all these years; strange that you, too, should have chosen it as your
+own."
+
+Had Darrell gone to his aunt for a gauge of Marion Holmes's feelings
+towards himself she could have informed him more correctly than his
+mother. She, with an old love hidden so deeply in her heart that no one
+even suspected its existence, understood the silent, reticent girl far
+better than her emotional, demonstrative sister.
+
+A few days after moving into the rooms newly fitted up for her Mrs.
+Britton gave what she termed "a little house-warming," to which were
+invited a few old-time friends of her own and Mr. Britton's, together
+with some of Darrell's associates. Among the latter Marion was, of
+course, included, but happening at the time to be out of town, she did
+not receive the invitation until two days afterwards. Meantime, Darrell,
+who was anxious to meet the syndicate from whom he had received his
+western commission two years before, left on the following day for New
+York City. Consequently when Marion, upon her return, called on Mrs.
+Britton to explain her absence, Darrell was away.
+
+Marion Holmes was, as Mrs. Britton had said, a silent girl; not from any
+habitual self-repression, but from an inherent inability to express her
+deeper feelings. Hers was one of those dumb speechless souls, that,
+finding no means of communicating with others, unable to get in touch
+with those about them, go on their silent, lonely ways, no one dreaming
+of the depth of feeling or wealth of affection they really possess.
+
+The eldest child of a widowed mother, in moderate circumstances, her
+life had been one of constant restriction and self-denial. Her
+association with Darrell marked a new epoch in the dreary years. For the
+first time within her memory there was something each morning to which
+she could look forward with pleasant anticipation; something to look
+back upon with pleasure when the day was done. As their intimacy grew
+her happiness increased, and when he returned from college with high
+honors her joy was unbounded. Brought up in a home where there was
+little demonstration of affection, she did not look for it here; she
+loved and supposed herself loved in return, else how could there be such
+an affinity between them? The depth of her love for Darrell Britton she
+herself did not know until his strange disappearance; then she learned
+the place he had filled in her heart and life by the void that remained.
+As months passed without tidings of him she lost hope. Unable to endure
+the blank monotony of her home life she took up the study of medicine,
+partly to divert her mind and also as a means of future self-support
+more remunerative than teaching.
+
+With the news of Darrell's return, hope sprang into new life, and it was
+with a wild, sweet joy, which would not be stilled, pulsating through
+her heart, that she went to call on Mrs. Britton.
+
+She had a nature supersensitive, and as she entered Mrs. Britton's rooms
+her heart sank and her whole soul recoiled as from a blow. With her
+limited means and her multiplicity of home duties her outings had been
+confined to the small towns within a short distance of her native
+village. These rooms, in such marked contrast to everything to which
+she had been accustomed, were to her a revelation of something beyond
+her of which she had had no conception; a revelation also that her
+comrade of by-gone days had grown away from her, beyond her--beyond even
+her reach or ken.
+
+Quietly, with a strange, benumbing pain, she noted every detail as she
+answered Mrs. Britton's inquiries, but conscious of the lack of affinity
+between herself and Darrell's mother, it seemed to her that the dark
+eyes regarding her so searchingly must read with what hopes she had
+come, and how those hopes had died. She was glad Darrell was not at
+home; she could not have met him then and there. But so quiet were her
+words and manner, so like her usual demeanor, that Mrs. Britton said to
+herself, as Marion took leave,--
+
+"I was right; she cares for Darrell only as a mere acquaintance."
+
+On her return she entered the parlor of her own home and stood for some
+moments gazing silently about her. How shabby, how pitiably bare and
+meagre and colorless! An emblem of her own life! Throwing herself upon
+the threadbare little sofa where she and Darrell had spent so many happy
+hours reviewing their studies and talking of hopes and plans for the
+future, she burst into such bitter, passionate weeping as only natures
+like hers can know.
+
+Darrell's trip proved successful beyond his anticipations. He found the
+leading members of the syndicate, to whom he explained his two years'
+absence and into whose possession he gave the money intrusted to his
+keeping. So delighted were they to see him after having given him up for
+dead, and so pleased were they with his honesty and integrity that they
+tendered him his old position with them, offering to continue his
+salary from the date of his western commission. This offer he promptly
+declined, declaring that he would undertake no commissions or enter into
+no business agreements during his mother's present state of health.
+
+He had taken with him the completed manuscript of his geological work,
+and this, through the influence of one or two members of the syndicate,
+he succeeded in placing with a publishing house making a specialty of
+scientific works.
+
+These facts, communicated to his parents, soon reached Miss Jewett,
+filling her with a pride and delight that knew no bounds. Ellisburg had
+no daily paper, but it possessed a few individuals of the gentler sex
+who as advertising mediums answered almost as well, and whom Miss Jewett
+included among her acquaintance. She suddenly remembered a number of
+calls which her household duties had hitherto prevented her returning,
+and decided that this was the most opportune time for paying them.
+Ordering her carriage and donning her best black silk gown, she
+proceeded with due ceremony to make her round of calls, judiciously
+dropping a few words here and there, which, like the seed sown on good
+ground, brought forth fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold. As a
+result Darrell, upon his return, found himself a literary star of the
+first magnitude,--the cynosure of all eyes.
+
+These reports reaching Marion only widened the gulf which she felt now
+intervened between herself and Darrell.
+
+Almost immediately upon his return Darrell called upon her. She was at
+home, but sent a younger sister to admit him while she nerved herself
+for the dreaded interview. As he awaited her coming he looked around him
+with a sort of wonder. Each object seemed familiar, and yet, was it
+possible this was the room that used to seem so bright and pleasant as
+he and Marion conned their lessons together? Had it changed, he
+wondered, or had he?
+
+Marion's entrance put a stop to his musings. He sprang to meet her, she
+advanced slowly. She had changed very little. Her face, unless animated,
+was always serious, determined; it was a shade more determined, almost
+stern, but it had the same strong, intellectual look which had always
+distinguished it and for which he had admired it.
+
+Darrell, on the contrary, was greatly changed. Marion, gazing at the
+snow-white hair, the dark eyes with their piercing, inscrutable look,
+the firmly set mouth, and noting the bearing of conscious strength and
+power, was unable to recognize her quondam schoolmate until he spoke;
+the voice and smile were the same as of old!
+
+They clasped hands for an instant, then Darrell, as in the old days,
+dropped easily into one corner of the little sofa, supposing she would
+take her accustomed place in the other corner, but, instead, she drew a
+small rocker opposite and facing him, in which she seated herself. His
+manner was cordial and free as, after a few inquiries regarding herself,
+he spoke of his absence, touching lightly upon his illness and its
+strange consequences, and expressed his joy at finding himself at home
+once more.
+
+She was kind and sympathetic, but her manner was constrained. She could
+not banish the remembrance of her call upon his mother, of the contrast
+between his home and hers; and as he talked something indefinable in his
+language, in his very movements and gestures, revealed to her sensitive
+nature a contrast, a difference, between them; he had somehow reached
+ground to which she could not attain. He drew her out to speak of her
+new studies and congratulated her upon her progress; but the call was
+not a success, socially or otherwise.
+
+When Darrell left the house he believed more firmly than ever that
+Marion had loved him in the past. Whether she had ceased to love him he
+could not then determine; time would tell.
+
+During the weeks that followed there were numerous gatherings of a
+social and informal nature where Darrell and Marion were thrown in each
+other's society, but, though he still showed a preference for her over
+the girls of his acquaintance, she shrank from his attentions, avoiding
+him whenever she could do so without causing remark.
+
+Thanksgiving Day came, and Miss Jewett's guests were compelled to admit
+that she had surpassed herself. The dinner was one long to be
+remembered. Her prize turkey occupied the place of honor, flanked on one
+side by a roast duck, superbly browned, and on the other by an immense
+chicken pie, while savory vegetables, crisp pickles, and tempting
+relishes such as she only could concoct crowded the table in every
+direction. A huge plum-pudding headed the second course, with an almost
+endless retinue of pies,--mince, pumpkin, and apple,--while golden
+custards and jellies--red, purple, and amber, of currant, grape, and
+peach--brought up the rear. A third course of fruits and nuts followed,
+but by that time scarcely any one was able to do more than make a
+pretence of eating.
+
+To this dinner were invited the minister and his wife, one or two
+far-removed cousins who usually put in an appearance at this season of
+the year, Marion Holmes, and a decrepit old lady, a former friend of
+Mrs. Jewett's, who confided to the minister's wife that she had eaten a
+very light breakfast and no lunch whatever in order that she might be
+able to "do justice to Experience's dinner."
+
+Marion Holmes was not there, and Darrell, meeting her on the street the
+next day, playfully took her to task.
+
+"Why were you not at dinner yesterday?" he inquired; "have you no more
+regard for my feelings than to leave me to be sandwiched between the
+parson's wife and old Mrs. Pettigrew?"
+
+"I might have gone had I known such a fate as that awaited you," she
+replied, laughing; "but," she added with some spirit, thinking it best
+to come to the point at once, "I can see no reason for thrusting myself
+into your family gatherings simply because you and I were good comrades
+in the past."
+
+"Were we not something more than merely good comrades, Marion?" he
+asked, anxious to ascertain her real feelings towards himself; "it
+seemed to me we were, or at least that we thought we were."
+
+"That may be," she answered, her color rising slightly; "but if we
+thought so then, that is no reason for deceiving ourselves any longer."
+
+She intended to mislead him, and she did.
+
+"Very well," he replied; "we will not deceive ourselves; we will have a
+good understanding with ourselves and with each other. Is there any
+reason why we should not be at least good comrades now?"
+
+"I know of none," she answered, meeting his eyes without wavering.
+
+"Then let us act as such, and not like two silly children, afraid of
+each other. Is that a compact?" he asked, smiling and extending his
+hand.
+
+"It is," she replied, smiling brightly in return as their hands clasped,
+thus by word and act renouncing her dearest hopes without his dreaming
+of the sacrifice.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXIII_
+
+INTO THE FULNESS OF LIFE
+
+
+With the opening of cold weather the seeming betterment in Mrs.
+Britton's health proved but temporary. As the winter advanced she failed
+rapidly, until, unable to sit up, she lay on a low couch, wheeled from
+room to room to afford all the rest and change possible. Day by day her
+pallor grew more and more like the waxen petals of the lily, while the
+fatal rose flush in her cheek deepened, and her eyes, unnaturally large
+and lustrous, had in them the look of those who dwell in the borderland.
+
+She realized her condition as fully as those about her, but there was
+neither fear nor regret in the eyes, which, fixed on the glory invisible
+to them, caught and reflected the light of the other world, till, in the
+last days, those watching her saw her face "as it had been the face of
+an angel."
+
+No demonstration of sorrow marred the peace in which her soul dwelt the
+last days of its stay, for the very room seemed hallowed, a place too
+sacred for the intrusion of any personal grief.
+
+Turning one day to her husband, who seldom left her side, she said,--
+
+"My sorrow made me selfish; I see it now. Look at the good you have
+done, the many you have helped; what have I done, what have I to show
+for all these years?"
+
+Just then Darrell passed the window before which she was lying.
+
+"There is your work, Patience," Mr. Britton replied, tenderly; "you have
+that to show for those years of loneliness and suffering. Surely, love,
+you have done noble work there; work whose results will last for
+years--probably for generations--yet to come!"
+
+Her face lighted with a rapturous smile. "I had not thought of that,"
+she whispered; "I will not go empty-handed after all. Perhaps He will
+say of me, as of one of old, 'She hath done what she could.'"
+
+From that time she sank rapidly, sleeping lightly, waking occasionally
+with a child-like smile, then lapsing again into unconsciousness.
+
+One evening as the day was fading she awoke from a long sleep and looked
+intently into the faces gathered about her. Her pastor, who had known
+her through all the years of her sorrow, was beside her. Bending over
+her and looking into the eyes now dimmed by the approaching shadows, he
+said,--
+
+"You have not much longer to wait, my dear sister."
+
+With a significant gesture she pointed to the fading light.
+
+"'Until the day break,'" she murmured, with difficulty.
+
+He was quick to catch her meaning and bowed his head in token that he
+understood; then, raising his hand above her head, as though in
+benediction, in broken tones he slowly pronounced the words,--
+
+"'Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
+for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy
+mourning shall be ended.'"
+
+Her face brightened; a seraphic smile burst forth, irradiating every
+feature with a light which never faded, for, with a look of loving
+farewell into the faces of husband and son, she sank into a sleep from
+which she did not wake, and when, as the day was breaking over the
+eastern hill-tops, her soul took flight, the smile still lingered,
+deepening into such perfect peace as is seldom seen on mortal faces.
+
+As Darrell, a few moments later, stood at the window, watching the stars
+paling one by one in the light of the coming dawn, a bit of verse with
+which he had been familiar years before, but which he had not recalled
+until then, recurred to him with peculiar force:
+
+  "A soul passed out on its way toward Heaven
+  As soon as the word of release was given;
+  And the trail of the meteor swept around
+  The lovely form of the homeward-bound.
+  Glimmering, shimmering, there on high,
+  The stars grew dim as one passed them by;
+  And the earth was never again so bright,
+  For a soul had slipped from its place that night."
+
+After Mrs. Britton's death, deprived of her companionship and of the
+numberless little ministrations to her comfort in which they had
+delighted, both Mr. Britton and Darrell found life strangely empty. They
+also missed the strenuous western life to which they had been
+accustomed, with its ceaseless demands upon both muscle and brain. The
+life around them seemed narrow and restricted; the very monotony of the
+landscape wearied them; they longed for the freedom and activity of the
+West, the breadth and height of the mountains.
+
+As both were standing one day beside the resting-place of the wife and
+mother, which Mr. Britton had himself chosen for her, the latter said,--
+
+"John, there are no longer any ties to hold us here. You may have to
+remain here until affairs are settled, but I have no place, and want
+none, in Hosea Jewett's home. I am going back to the West; and I know
+that sooner or later you will return also, for your heart is among the
+mountains. But before we separate I want one promise from you, my son."
+
+"Name it," said Darrell; "you know, father, I would fulfil any and every
+wish of yours within my power."
+
+"It was my wish in the past, when my time should come to die, to be
+buried on the mountain-side, near the Hermitage. But life henceforth for
+me will be altogether different from what it has been heretofore; and I
+want your promise, John, if you outlive me, that when the end comes, no
+matter where I may be, you will bring me back to her, that when our
+souls are reunited our bodies may rest together here, within sound of
+the river's voice and shielded by the overhanging boughs from winter's
+storm and summer's heat."
+
+Father and son clasped hands above the newly made grave.
+
+"I promise you, father," Darrell replied; "but you did not need to ask
+the pledge."
+
+When John Britton left Ellisburg a few days later a crowd of friends
+were gathered at the little depot to extend their sympathy and bid him
+farewell. A few were old associates of his own, some were his wife's
+friends, and some Darrell's. To those who had known him in the past he
+was greatly changed, and none of them quite understood his quaint
+philosophizings, his broad views, or his seeming isolation from their
+work-a-day, business world in which he had formerly taken so active a
+part. They knew naught of his years of solitary life or of how lives
+spent in years of contemplation and reflection, of retrospection and
+introspection, become gradually lifted out of the ordinary channels of
+thought and out of touch with the more practical life of the world. But
+they had had abundant evidence of his love and devotion to his wife, and
+of his kindness and liberality towards many of their own number, and for
+these they loved him.
+
+There was not one, however, who mourned his departure so deeply as
+Experience Jewett, though she gave little expression to her sorrow. She
+had hoped that after her sister's death his home would still be with
+them. This, not from any weak sentimentality or any thought that he
+would ever be aught than as a brother to her, but because his very
+presence in the home was refreshing, helpful, comforting, and because it
+was a joy to be near him, to hear him talk, and to minister to his
+comfort. But he was going from them, as she well knew, never to return,
+and beneath the brave, smiling face she carried a sore and aching heart.
+
+Thus John Britton bade the East farewell and turned his face towards the
+great West, mindful only of the grave under the elms, to which the river
+murmured night and day, and with no thought of return until he, too,
+should come to share that peaceful resting place.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXIV_
+
+A WARNING
+
+
+Spring had come again and Walcott's probationary year with Mr. Underwood
+had nearly expired. For a while he had maintained his old suavity of
+manner and business had been conducted satisfactorily, but as months
+passed and Kate Underwood was unapproachable as ever and the prospect of
+reconciliation between them seemed more remote, he grew sullen and
+morose, and Mr. Underwood began to detect signs of mismanagement.
+Determined to wait until he had abundance of evidence with which to
+confront him, however, he said nothing, but continued to watch him with
+unceasing vigilance.
+
+Mr. Underwood, though able to attend to business, had never fully
+recovered from the illness of the preceding year. His physician advised
+him to retire from business, as any excitement or shock would be likely
+to cause a second attack far more serious than the first; but to this
+Mr. Underwood would not listen, clinging tenaciously to the old routine
+to which he had been accustomed. Kate, realizing her father's condition,
+guarded him with watchful solicitude from every possible worry and
+anxiety, spending much of her time with him, and even familiarizing
+herself with many details of his business in order to assist him.
+
+In the months since Darrell's return east Kate had matured in many ways.
+Her tall, slender form was beginning to round out in symmetrical
+proportions, and her voice, always sweet, had developed wonderfully in
+volume and range. She had taken up the study of music anew, both vocal
+and instrumental, devoting her leisure hours to arduous practice, her
+father having promised her a thorough course of study in Europe, for
+which she was preparing herself with great enthusiasm.
+
+Though no words were exchanged between Mr. Underwood and Walcott, the
+latter became conscious of the other's growing disfavor, and the
+conviction gradually forced itself upon him that all hope of gaining his
+partner's daughter in marriage was futile. For Kate Underwood he cared
+little, except as a means of securing a hold upon her father's wealth.
+As he found himself compelled to abandon this scheme and saw the prize
+he had thus hoped to gain slipping farther and farther from his grasp,
+his rage made him desperate, and he determined to gain all or lose all
+in one mad venture. To make ready for this would require weeks, perhaps
+months, but he set about his preparations with method and deliberation.
+Either the boldness of his plan or his absorption in the expected
+outcome made him negligent of details, however, and slowly, but surely,
+Mr. Underwood gathered the proofs of his guilt with which he intended to
+confront him when the opportune moment arrived. But even yet he did not
+dream the extent of his partner's frauds or the villany of which he was
+capable; he therefore took no one into his confidence and sought no
+assistance.
+
+Kate was quick to observe the change in Walcott's manner and to note the
+malignity lurking in the half-closed eyes whenever they encountered her
+own or her father's gaze, and, while saying nothing to excite or worry
+the latter, redoubled her vigilance, seldom leaving him alone.
+
+Affairs had reached this state when, with the early spring days, Mr.
+Britton returned from the East and stopped for a brief visit at The
+Pines. In a few days he divined enough of the situation to lead him to
+suspect that danger of some kind threatened his old friend. A hint from
+Kate confirmed his suspicion, and he resolved to prolong his stay and
+await developments.
+
+One afternoon soon after his arrival Kate, returning from a walk, while
+passing up the driveway met a woman coming from The Pines. The latter
+was tall, dressed in black, and closely veiled,--a stranger,--yet
+something in her appearance seemed familiar. Suddenly Kate recalled the
+"Senora" who sent the summons to Walcott on that day set for their
+marriage, more than a year before. Though she had caught only a brief
+glimpse of the black-robed and veiled figure within the carriage, she
+remembered a peculiarly graceful poise of the head as she had leaned
+forward for a final word with Walcott, and by that she identified the
+woman now approaching her. Each regarded the other closely as they met.
+To Kate it seemed as though the woman hesitated for the fraction of a
+second, as though about to speak, but she passed on silently. On
+reaching a turn in the driveway Kate, looking back, saw the woman
+standing near the large gates watching her, but the latter, finding
+herself observed, passed through the gates to the street and walked
+away.
+
+Perplexed and somewhat annoyed, Kate proceeded on her way to the house.
+She believed the woman to be in some way associated with Walcott, and
+that her presence there presaged evil of some sort. As she entered the
+sitting-room her aunt looked up with a smile from her seat before the
+fire.
+
+"You have just had rather a remarkable caller, Katherine."
+
+"That woman in black whom I just met?" Kate asked, betraying no
+surprise, for she felt none; she was prepared at that moment for almost
+any announcement.
+
+"Who was she, Aunt Marcia? and what did she want with me?"
+
+"She refused to give her name, but said to tell you 'a friend' called.
+She seemed disappointed at not seeing you, and as she was leaving she
+said, 'Say to her she has a friend where she least thinks it, and if
+she, or any one she loves, is in danger, I will come and warn her.' She
+was very quiet-appearing, notwithstanding her tragic language. You say
+you met her; what do you think of her?"
+
+Kate had been thinking rapidly. "I have seen her once before, auntie. I
+am positive she is in some way connected with Mr. Walcott, and equally
+positive that he has some evil designs against papa; but why she should
+warn me against him, if that is her intention, I cannot imagine."
+
+"Is there no way of warning your father, Katherine?" Mrs. Dean inquired,
+anxiously.
+
+"Mr. Britton and I have talked it over, auntie. We think papa suspects
+him and is watching him, but so long as he doesn't take either of us
+into his confidence we don't want to excite or worry him by suggesting
+any danger. This woman may or may not be friendly, as she claims, but in
+any event, if she comes again, I must see her. Whatever danger there may
+be I want to know it; then I'm not afraid but that I can defend papa or
+myself in case of trouble."
+
+For several days Kate scanned her horizon closely for portents of the
+coming storm. She saw nothing of the mysterious woman who had styled
+herself a friend, but on more than one occasion she had a fleeting
+glimpse of the man who on that memorable day brought the message from
+her to Walcott, and Kate felt that a denouement of some kind was near.
+
+Walcott's preparations were nearly perfected; another week would
+complete them. By that time the funds of the firm as well as large
+deposits held in trust, would be where he could lay his fingers on them
+at a moment's notice. At a given signal two trusted agents would be at
+the side entrance with fleet horses on which they would travel to a
+neighboring village, and there, where their appearance would excite no
+suspicion, they were to board the late express, which would carry them
+to a point whence they could easily reach a place of safety.
+
+But his well-laid plans were suddenly checked by a request one afternoon
+from his senior partner to meet him in his private office that evening
+at eight o'clock. The tone in which this request was preferred aroused
+Walcott's suspicions that an investigation might be pending, and,
+enraged at being thus checkmated, he determined to strike at once.
+
+At dinner Mr. Underwood mentioned an engagement which would, he said,
+detain him for an hour or so that evening, but having never since his
+illness gone to the offices in the evening, no one supposed it more than
+an ordinary business appointment with some friend.
+
+He had left the house only a few moments when a caller was announced for
+Miss Underwood.
+
+Kate's heart gave a sudden bound as, on entering the reception-hall, she
+saw again the woman whose coming was to be a warning of danger. She was,
+as usual, dressed in black and heavily veiled. Kate was conscious of no
+fear; rather a joy that the suspense was over, that there was at last
+something definite and tangible to face.
+
+"Senorita, may I see you in private?" The voice was sweet, but somewhat
+muffled by the veil, while the words had just enough of the Spanish
+accent to render them liquid and musical.
+
+Kate bowed in assent, and silently led the way to a small reception-room
+of her own. She motioned her caller to a seat, but the latter remained
+standing and turned swiftly, facing Kate, still veiled.
+
+"Senorita, you do not know me?" The words had the rising inflection of a
+question.
+
+"No," Kate replied, slowly; "I do not know you; but I know that this is
+not your first call at The Pines."
+
+"I called some ten days since to see you."
+
+"You called," Kate spoke deliberately, "more than a year since to see
+Mr. Walcott."
+
+The woman started and drew back slightly. "How could you know?" she
+exclaimed; "surely he did not tell you!"
+
+"I saw you."
+
+There was a moment's silence; when next she spoke her voice was lower
+and more musical.
+
+"Senorita, I come as your friend; do you believe me?"
+
+"I want to believe you," Kate answered, frankly, "but I can tell better
+whether I do or not when I know more of you and of your errands here."
+
+For answer the woman, with a sudden swift movement, threw back her veil,
+revealing a face of unusual beauty,--oval in contour, of a rich olive
+tint, with waving masses of jet-black hair, framing a low, broad
+forehead. But her eyes were what drew Kate's attention: large, lustrous,
+but dark and unfathomable as night, yet with a look in them of dumb,
+agonizing appeal. The two women formed a striking contrast as they
+stood face to face; they seemed to impersonate Hope and Despair.
+
+"Senorita," she said, in a low, passionless voice, "I am Senor Walcott's
+wife."
+
+Kate's very soul seemed to recoil at the words, but she did not start or
+shrink.
+
+"I have the certificate of our marriage here," she continued, producing
+a paper, "signed by the holy father who united us."
+
+Kate waved it back. "I do not wish to see it, nor do I doubt your word,"
+she replied, gently; "I understand now why you first came to this house.
+What brings you here to-night?"
+
+"I come to warn you that your father is in danger."
+
+"My father!" Kate exclaimed, quickly, her whole manner changed. "Where?
+How?"
+
+"Senor Walcott has an engagement with him at eight o'clock at their
+offices, and he means to do him harm, I know not just what; but he is
+angry with him, I know not why, and he is a dangerous man when he is
+angry."
+
+Kate touched a bell to summon a servant. "I will go to him at once;
+but," she added, looking keenly into the woman's face, "how do you know
+of this? How did you learn it? Did he tell you?"
+
+The other shook her head with a significant gesture. "He tells me
+nothing; he tells no one but Tony, and Tony tells me nothing; but I saw
+them talking together to-night, and he was very angry. I overheard some
+words. I heard him say he would see your father to-night and make him
+sorry he had not done as he agreed, and he showed Tony a little stiletto
+which he carries with him, and then he laughed."
+
+Kate shuddered slightly. "Who is Tony?" she asked.
+
+The woman smiled with another gesture. "Tony is--Tony; that is all I
+know. He and my husband know each other."
+
+A servant appeared; Kate ordered her own carriage brought to the door at
+once. Then, turning on a sudden impulse to the stranger, she said,--
+
+"Will you come with me? Or are you afraid of him--afraid to have him
+know you warned me?"
+
+The woman laughed bitterly. "I feared him once," she said; "but I fear
+him no longer; he fears me now. Yes, I will go with you."
+
+"Then wait here; I will be ready in a moment."
+
+At twenty minutes of eight Kate and the stranger passed down the hall
+together--the woman veiled, Kate attired in a trim walking suit. The
+latter stopped to look in at the sitting-room door.
+
+"Aunt Marcia, Mr. Britton said he would be out but a few minutes. When
+he comes in please tell him I want to see him at papa's office; my
+carriage will be waiting for him here."
+
+Her aunt looked her surprise, but she knew Kate to be enough like her
+father that it was useless to ask an explanation where she herself made
+none.
+
+Once seated in the carriage and driving rapidly down the street Kate
+laid her hand on the arm of her strange companion.
+
+"Senora," she said, "you say you are my friend; were you my friend the
+first time you came to the house? If not then, why are you now?"
+
+"No, I was not your friend;" for the first time there was a ring of
+passion in her voice; "I hated you, for I thought he loved you--that you
+had stolen his heart and made him forget me. I travelled many miles. I
+vowed to kill you both before you should marry him. Then I found he
+could not marry you while I was his wife; he had told me our marriage
+was void here because performed in another country. I found he had told
+me wrong, and I told him unless he came with me I would go to the church
+and tell them there I was his wife."
+
+"And he went away with you?" Kate questioned.
+
+"Yes, and he gave me money, and then he told me----" The woman
+hesitated.
+
+"Go on," said Kate.
+
+"He told me that he did not love you; that he only wanted to marry you
+that he might get money from your father, and then he would leave you.
+So when I found he wanted to make you suffer as he had me I began to
+pity you. I came back to Ophir to see what you were like. He does not
+know that I am here. I found he was angry because you would not marry
+him. Then I was glad. I saw you many times that you did not know. Your
+face was kind and good, as though you would pity me if you knew all, and
+I loved you. I heard something about a lover you had a few years ago who
+died, and I knew your heart must have been sad for him, and I vowed he
+should never harm you or any one you loved."
+
+They had reached the offices; the carriage stopped, but not before
+Kate's hand had sought and found the stranger's in silent token that she
+understood.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXV_
+
+A FIEND AT BAY
+
+
+Kate, on leaving her carriage, directed the driver to go back to The
+Pines to await Mr. Britton's return and bring him immediately to the
+office. She then unlocked the door to the room which had been Darrell's
+office and which opened directly upon the street, and she and her
+companion entered and seated themselves in the darkness. The room next
+adjoining was Walcott's private office, and beyond that was Mr.
+Underwood's private office, the two latter rooms being separated by a
+small entrance. They had waited but a few moments when Mr. Underwood's
+carriage stopped before this entrance, and an instant later Kate heard
+her father's voice directing the coachman to call for him in about an
+hour. As the key turned in the lock she heard Walcott's voice also. The
+two men entered and went at once into Mr. Underwood's private office.
+
+Mr. Underwood immediately proceeded to business in his usual abrupt
+fashion:
+
+"Mr. Walcott, there is no use dallying or beating about the bush; I want
+this partnership terminated at once. There's no use in an honest man and
+a thief trying to do business together, and this interview to-night is
+to find the shortest way of dissolving the partnership."
+
+"I think that can be very easily and quickly done, Mr. Underwood,"
+Walcott replied.
+
+Kate, who had stationed herself in the entrance where she had a view of
+both men, saw the cruel leer that accompanied Walcott's words and
+understood their significance as her father did not. Her hand sought the
+bosom of her dress for an instant, then dropped quietly at her side, but
+swift as the movement was, her companion had seen in the dim light the
+gleam of the weapon now partially concealed by the folds of her skirt.
+With noiseless, cat-like step she approached Kate and touched her arm.
+
+"You will not shoot? You will not kill him?" she breathed rather than
+whispered.
+
+Kate's only reply was to lay her finger on her lips, never removing her
+eyes from Walcott's face, but even then, in her absorption, she noted a
+peculiar quality in those scarcely audible tones, something that was
+neither fear nor love; there seemed somehow an element of savagery in
+them.
+
+Meanwhile, Mr. Underwood was going rapidly through the evidence which he
+had accumulated, showing mismanagement and fraud in the conduct of the
+business of the firm and misappropriation of some of the funds held in
+trust. Of the wholesale robbery, the plans for which Walcott had so
+nearly perfected, he knew absolutely nothing. As Walcott listened, the
+sneer on his face deepened.
+
+"You seem to have gone to a vast amount of labor for nothing," he
+remarked, as Mr. Underwood concluded. "I could have given you that much
+information off-hand. You have not lived up to your part of the
+contract, and I see no reason why I should be expected to fulfil mine.
+You promised me your daughter in marriage, and then simply because she
+saw fit----"
+
+"We will leave my daughter's name out of this controversy, sir," Mr.
+Underwood interposed, sternly. "Were it not for the fact that your name
+has been publicly associated with hers, I would prosecute you for the
+scoundrel and black-leg that you are."
+
+"But for the sake of your daughter's name you intend to deal leniently
+with me," Walcott sneered. "Supposing we come at once to the point of
+dissolving our partnership; it cannot be done any too quickly for me.
+May I inquire on what terms you propose to settle?"
+
+Mr. Underwood went briefly over the terms which he had outlined on a
+sheet of paper before him on his desk; Walcott, seated eight or ten feet
+distant, listened, his dark face paling with anger.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, at the conclusion; "I think I missed a few
+details; suppose we go over that again together."
+
+He rose and advanced towards Mr. Underwood's chair as though to look
+over his shoulder, at the same time thrusting his right hand within the
+inner pocket of his coat. Before he had covered half the space, however,
+a voice rang through the room with startling clearness,--
+
+"Not a step farther, or you are a dead man!"
+
+Both men turned, to see Kate Underwood standing in the doorway, holding
+a revolver levelled at Walcott with an aim which the latter's practised
+eye told him to be both sure and deadly. Astonishment and rage passed in
+quick succession over his countenance; he looked for an instant as
+though contemplating some desperate move.
+
+"Stir one hair's breadth, and you are a dead man!" she repeated. He
+remained motionless, and the hand just withdrawn from his coat disclosed
+to view a tiny, glittering stiletto.
+
+Kate's only anxious thought was for her father, who, too bewildered to
+move or speak, was for the time as motionless as Walcott himself; she
+feared lest the suddenness of the shock might prove too much for him. To
+her relief, she heard Mr. Britton entering. He took in the situation at
+a glance and sprang at once to her side.
+
+"I am all right," she cried, brightly; "look after papa, first; then we
+will attend to this creature."
+
+With the revolver still levelled at Walcott, Kate slowly advanced
+towards him.
+
+"Give me that weapon!" she demanded.
+
+He gave a sinister smile, but before she had taken another step, her
+companion sprang into the room with a piercing cry and intercepted her:
+
+"No, no, Senorita!" she exclaimed; "do not touch it! Mother of God! it
+is poisoned; a single scratch means death!"
+
+At sight of her, Walcott's face grew livid. "You fiend! You she-devil!"
+he hissed; "this is your doing, is it?" and he burst into a torrent of
+curses and imprecations.
+
+"Be silent!" Mr. Britton ordered, sternly, and Kate accompanied the
+command with an ominous click of her revolver. The wretch cowered into
+silence, but his eyes glowed with fairly demoniac fury.
+
+"Now," said Mr. Underwood, his faculties fully restored, "I want to know
+the meaning of this; let us sift this whole thing to the bottom."
+
+"Search your man, first, David," said Mr. Britton, and suiting the
+action to the word he approached Walcott, but was warded off by the
+woman standing near.
+
+"No, no, Senor, a little turn of the wrist, so slight you would not see,
+would cause death. I will take it from him; the viper dare not sting
+me!"
+
+As she extended her hand she tauntingly held her wrist close to the tiny
+point, scarcely larger than a good-sized pin.
+
+"Life and freedom are precious, Senor!" she said, in low, mocking tones,
+as she took the weapon from him and handed it to Mr. Britton, who laid
+it carefully on a table near by, and then proceeded to search Walcott's
+clothing, saying.--
+
+"I want you to see what you have been dealing with, David."
+
+To the stiletto already placed upon the table were added another of
+larger size, two loaded revolvers, several packages of valuable
+securities taken from the vaults of the firm that afternoon, and a
+nearly complete set of duplicate keys to the safes and deposit boxes of
+the offices.
+
+Mr. Britton then relieved Kate, congratulating her warmly, and stationed
+himself near Walcott, who glowered like a wild beast that, temporarily
+restrained by the keeper's lash, only awaits opportunity for a more
+furious onslaught later.
+
+Kate stepped at once to her father's side; he turned upon her a look of
+affectionate pride, but before he could speak, she had drawn forward her
+companion, saying,--
+
+"Here is one, papa, to whom we owe much. She has saved your life
+to-night, for I would not have known you were in danger if she had not
+warned me, and she saved me from worse than death in preventing the
+carrying out of the farce of an illegal marriage with that villain, by
+giving me a glimpse of his real character before it was too late."
+
+The change that passed over Mr. Underwood's countenance during Kate's
+words was fearful to see. From the kindliness and courtesy with which he
+had greeted the stranger his face seemed changed to granite, so hard
+and relentless it became.
+
+"An illegal marriage? What do you mean?" he demanded, and there was
+something in his voice that no one present had ever heard there before.
+
+"Illegal, papa, because this woman is his lawful wife." And Kate gave a
+brief explanation of the situation.
+
+"Is that so?" he appealed to the woman, his tones strangely quiet.
+
+"Yes, Senor; I have the papers to prove it."
+
+"Do you admit it?" he demanded of Walcott, with a glance which made the
+latter quail, while his hand sought one of the loaded revolvers lying on
+the table.
+
+"We were married years ago, but I did not know the woman was living; I
+swear I did not. I supposed she was dead until the day she came to me."
+
+"How about the past year? You have known all this time that she was
+living, yet you have dared to press your suit for my daughter, you dog!
+Not another word!" he exclaimed, as Walcott strove to form some excuse.
+
+He raised his hand and the revolver gleamed in the light. Mr. Britton
+grasped him by the arm.
+
+"David, old friend, calm yourself!" he exclaimed. "Don't be rash or
+foolish; let the law take its course."
+
+"The law!" interposed Mr. Underwood, fiercely; "do you think I'd take a
+case of this kind into the courts? Charges such as these against a man
+whose name has been publicly associated with my daughter's as her
+betrothed husband, and the principal witness against that man his own
+wife! Do you suppose for a moment I'll have my daughter's name dragged
+through such mire? No, by God! I'll blow the dog's brains out with my
+own hand first!"
+
+A fierce struggle ensued for a moment between the two men, which ended
+in John Britton's disarming his friend, Kate meanwhile keeping Walcott
+at bay as he sought in the momentary confusion to effect an escape.
+
+Once calmed, Mr. Underwood, notwithstanding Mr. Britton's protestations,
+sullenly refused to prosecute Walcott. Telephoning for an attorney who
+was an old-time and trusted friend, he had an agreement drawn and
+signed, whereby, upon the repayment of the funds belonging to him, after
+deducting an amount therefrom sufficient to replace what he had
+misappropriated, he was to leave the country altogether.
+
+"You have escaped this time," were Mr. Underwood's parting words; "but
+remember, if you ever again seek to injure me or mine, no power on earth
+can save you, and I'll not go into the courts either."
+
+As Kate and her strange companion parted, the former inquired, "Why did
+you ask me not to shoot him? You surely cannot love him!"
+
+"Love him?" she exclaimed, softly. "No, but I feared you would kill him.
+His time has not come yet, Senorita, but when it does, this must be the
+hand!" She lifted her own right hand with a significant movement as she
+said this, and glided out into the darkness and was gone ere Kate could
+recall her.
+
+When Kate and her father, with Mr. Britton's assistance, before
+returning home for the night, removed the articles taken from Walcott's
+pockets, the tiny, poisoned stiletto was nowhere to be found.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXVI_
+
+SENORA MARTINEZ
+
+
+Although Mr. Underwood escaped the stroke which it was feared might
+follow the excitement of his final interview with Walcott, it was soon
+apparent that his nervous system had suffered from the shock. His
+physician became insistent in his demands that he not only retire from
+business, but have an entire change of scene, to insure absolute
+relaxation and rest. This advice was earnestly seconded by Mr. Britton,
+not alone for the sake of his friend's health, but more especially
+because he believed it unsafe for Mr. Underwood or Kate to remain in
+that part of the country so long as Walcott had his liberty. Their
+combined counsel and entreaties at length prevailed. A responsible man
+was found to take charge, under Mr. Britton's supervision, of Mr.
+Underwood's business interests. The Pines was closed, two or three
+faithful servants being retained to guard and care for the property, and
+early in April Mr. Underwood, accompanied by his sister and daughter,
+left Ophir ostensibly for the South. They remained south, however, only
+until he had recuperated sufficiently for a longer journey, and then
+sailed for Europe, but of this fact no one in Ophir had knowledge save
+Mr. Britton.
+
+During the last days of Kate's stay in Ophir she watched in vain for
+another glimpse of her strange friend. On the morning of her departure,
+as the train was leaving the depot, she suddenly saw the olive-skinned
+messenger of former occasions running alongside the Pullman in which
+she was seated. Catching her eye, he motioned for her to raise the
+window; she did so, whereupon he tossed a little package into her lap,
+pointing at the same time farther down the platform, and lifting his
+ragged sombrero, vanished. An instant later the Senora came into view,
+standing at the extreme end of the platform, a lace mantilla thrown
+about her head and shoulders, the ends of which she now waved in token
+of farewell. Kate held up the little package with a smile; she responded
+with a deprecatory gesture indicative of its insignificance, then with
+another wave of the lace scarf and a flutter of Kate's handkerchief,
+they passed out of each other's sight.
+
+Kate hastily undid the package; a little box of ebony inlaid with pearl
+slipped from the wrappings, which, upon touching a secret spring,
+opened, disclosing a small cross of Etruscan gold of the most exquisite
+workmanship. In her first letter to Mr. Britton Kate related the
+incident, and begged him to look out for the woman and render her any
+assistance possible.
+
+To this Mr. Britton needed no urging. Since his first sight of her that
+night in Mr. Underwood's office he had been looking for her, for a
+twofold purpose. For a number of weeks he failed to get even a glimpse
+of her, nor could he obtain any clew to her whereabouts.
+
+One night, well into the summer, he came upon her, unexpectedly,
+standing in front of a cheap restaurant, looking at the edibles
+displayed in the window. She was not veiled, her face was pale and
+haggard, and there was no mistaking the expression in her eyes as she
+finally turned away.
+
+"My friend," said Mr. Britton, laying his hand gently on her shoulder,
+"are you hungry?"
+
+She shrank from him with a start till a glance in his face reassured
+her, and she answered, with an expressive gesture,--
+
+"Yes, Senor; I have had nothing to eat to-day, and but little
+yesterday."
+
+"This is no fit place; come with me," Mr. Britton replied, leading the
+way two or three blocks down the street, to a first-class restaurant. He
+conducted her through the ladies' entrance into a private box, where he
+ordered a substantial dinner for two.
+
+"Senor," she protested, as the waiter left the box, "I have no money, no
+way to repay you for this, you understand?"
+
+"I understand," he answered, quickly; "I want no return for this. Miss
+Underwood wished me to find you, and help you, if I could."
+
+"Yes, I know; you are the Senorita's friend."
+
+"And your friend also, if I can help you."
+
+"You saved his life that night, Senor; I do not forget," the woman said,
+with peculiar emphasis.
+
+"Yes, I undoubtedly saved the scoundrel from a summary vengeance;
+possibly I might not have done it, had I known what the alternative
+would be. Where is that man now?" he asked, with sudden directness.
+
+"I do not know, Senor; he tells me nothing, but I have heard he went
+south some time ago."
+
+The entrance of the waiter with their orders put a temporary stop to
+conversation. The woman ate silently, regarding Mr. Britton from time to
+time with an expression of childlike wonder. When her hunger was
+appeased, and she seemed inclined to talk, he said,--
+
+"Tell me something of yourself. When and where did you marry that man?"
+
+"We were married in Mexico, seven years ago."
+
+"Your home was in Mexico?"
+
+"No, Senor, my father owned a big cattle ranch in Texas. Senor Walcott,
+as you call him here, worked for him. He wanted to marry me, but my
+father opposed the marriage. We lived close to the line, so we went
+across one day and were married. My father was very angry, but I was his
+only child, and by and by he forgave and took us back."
+
+"Do I understand you that Walcott is not this man's real name?" Mr.
+Britton interposed.
+
+"His name is Jose Martinez, Senor."
+
+"But is he not a half-breed? I have understood his father was an
+Englishman."
+
+"His father was an Englishman, but no one ever knew who he was, you
+understand, Senor? Afterwards his mother married Pablo Martinez, and her
+child took his name. That was why my father opposed our marriage."
+
+"I understand," said Mr. Britton; "but he claims heavy cattle interests
+in the South; how did he come by them?"
+
+"My father's, all of them;" she replied. "He and my father quarrelled
+soon after we went there to live. Then we came away north; we lived for
+a while in this State,"--she paused and hesitated as though fearing she
+had said too much, but Mr. Britton's face betrayed nothing, and she
+continued: "Then, in a year or so, we went south and he and my father
+quarrelled again. My father was found dead on the plains, trampled by
+the cattle, but no one knew how it came about. Then Jose took everything
+and told me I had nothing. He went north again three years ago. A year
+later he came back and told me I was not his wife, that our marriage was
+void because it was not performed in this country. I became very ill. He
+took me away among strangers and left me there, to die, as he thought.
+But he was mistaken. I had something to live for,--to follow him, as I
+have followed him and will follow him to the end."
+
+The woman rose from the table; Mr. Britton rose also, and stood for a
+moment, facing her.
+
+"He is a dangerous man," he said; "how is it that you do not fear him?"
+
+She laughed softly. "He fears me, Senor; why should I fear him?"
+
+"I understand," Mr. Britton said; "he fears you because you know him to
+be a criminal; because his freedom--perhaps his very life--is in your
+hands. Why are you not in danger on that account? What is to hinder his
+taking a life so inimical to his own?"
+
+A cunning, treacherous smile crept over her face and a baleful light
+gleamed in her eyes, as she replied, "If I die at his hand my secret
+does not die with me. I have fixed that. If I die to-day, the world
+knows my secret to-morrow. He knows it, Senor, and I am safe."
+
+"Did it never occur to you," said Mr. Britton, slowly, "that for the
+safety of others your secret should be made known now?"
+
+The woman's whole appearance changed; she regarded Mr. Britton with a
+look of mingled anger and terror, as he continued:
+
+"That man's life and freedom are a constant menace to other lives. Are
+you willing to take the responsibility of the results which may follow
+your withholding that secret, keeping it locked within your own breast?"
+
+The woman looked quickly for a chance of escape, but Mr. Britton barred
+the only means of exit. Her expression was that of a creature brought to
+bay.
+
+"I understand the meaning of your kindness to-night," she cried,
+fiercely. "You are one of the 'fly' men, and you thought to buy my
+secret from me. Let me tell you, you will never buy it, nor can you
+force it from me! So long as he does me no harm I will never make it
+known, and if I die a natural death, it dies with me!"
+
+"You are mistaken," he replied, calmly; "I am no detective, no official
+of any sort. My bringing you here to-night was of itself wholly
+disinterested, done for the sake of a friend who wished me to help you.
+I have wished to meet you and talk with you, as I was interested to
+learn your story, out of sympathy for you and a desire to help you, and
+also to shed new light on your husband's character, of which I have made
+quite a study; but I am not seeking to force you into making any
+disclosures against your will."
+
+Her anger had subsided as quickly as it had been aroused.
+
+"Pardon me, Senor," she said; "I was wrong. Accept my gratitude for your
+kindness; I will not forget."
+
+"Don't mention it. If you need help at any time, let me know; I do not
+forget that you saved my friend's life. But one word in parting: don't
+think your secret will not become known. Those things always work
+themselves out, and justice will overtake that man yet. When it does,
+your own life may not be as safe as you now think it is. If you need a
+friend then, come to me."
+
+The woman regarded him silently for a moment. "Thank you, Senor," she
+said, gently; "I understand. Justice will yet overtake him, as you say;
+and when it does," she added, significantly, "I will need no help."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXVII_
+
+THE IDENTIFICATION
+
+
+The following September found Darrell again in Ophir and re-established
+in his old-time quarters. To his old office he had added the room
+formerly occupied by Walcott, his increasing business demanding more
+office room and the presence of an assistant.
+
+Before leaving the East he revisited the members of his old syndicate
+and informed them that he intended henceforth making his head-quarters
+in the West, and if they wished to employ him as their expert, he would
+execute commissions from that point. To this they readily agreed, and
+also gave him letters of introduction to a number of capitalists
+interested in western mining properties, who were only too glad to
+secure the services of a reliable expert who would be on the ground and
+familiar with existing conditions. As a result, Darrell had scarcely
+reopened business at his former quarters before he found himself with
+numerous eastern commissions to be executed, in addition to his old work
+as assayer.
+
+He was prepared for the changes which had taken place during the year of
+his absence, his father having kept him thoroughly informed of all that
+had occurred.
+
+Darrell was delighted at the story of Kate Underwood's coolness and
+bravery in saving her father's life, and sent her a note of hearty
+congratulation, which she kept among her cherished treasures. Since that
+time, occasional letters were exchanged between them; hers, bright,
+entertaining sketches of their travels here and there, with comments
+characteristic of herself regarding places and people; his, permeated
+with the fresh, exhilarating atmosphere of the mountains, and pervaded
+by a vigor and virility which roused Kate's admiration, yet led her to
+wonder if this could be the same lover who had won her childish heart in
+those idyllic days. Each realized the fact that notwithstanding their
+love, notwithstanding their stanch comradeship, at present they were
+little more than strangers. Darrell's love for Kate was a reality, but
+her personality, so far as he could recall it, was little more than a
+dream; each letter revealed some unexpected phase of her character; he
+found their correspondence an unfailing source of pleasure, and was
+content to await the time of their meeting, confident that he would find
+the real woman all and more than the ideal which he fondly cherished as
+his Dream-Love. And to Kate, each letter of Darrell's brought more and
+more forcibly the conviction that the lover whom she remembered was as a
+dream compared with the reality she was to meet some day.
+
+About six months had elapsed when Darrell received, early one morning,
+the following telegram from his father, summoning him to Galena:
+
+     "Come over on first train. Important."
+
+By the first train he would reach Galena a little before noon; he had
+not breakfasted, and had but twenty minutes in which to make it. Calling
+a carriage, he went directly to his office, where he left a brief
+explanatory note for the clerk, written on the way, then drove with all
+possible speed to the depot, arriving on time but without a minute to
+spare. He breakfasted on the train, and while running over the morning
+paper, his attention was caught by a despatch from Galena to the effect
+that one of the leading banks in that city had been entered and the safe
+opened and robbed on the preceding night. The robbers, of whom there
+were three, had been discovered by the police. A fight had ensued in
+which one officer and one of the robbers were killed, the second robber
+wounded, while the third had made his escape with most of the plunder.
+It was further stated that they were known to belong to the notorious
+band of outlaws so long the terror of that region, and it was believed
+the wounded man was none other than the leader himself, the murderer of
+Harry Whitcomb and the young express clerk, for whom there was a
+standing reward of twenty-five thousand dollars, dead or alive. The man
+was to have a preliminary examination that afternoon, and the greatest
+excitement prevailed in Galena, as it was rumored that others of the
+band would probably be present, scattered throughout the crowd, for the
+purpose of rescuing their leader.
+
+In a flash Darrell understood his father's summons. He let the paper
+fall and, unmindful of his breakfast, gazed abstractedly out of the
+window. His thoughts had reverted to that scene in the sleeper on his
+first trip west. He seemed to see it again in all its sickening detail,
+the face of the assassin standing out before him with such startling
+distinctness and realism that he involuntarily placed his hand over his
+eyes to shut out the hateful sight.
+
+At Galena he was met by his father, who took a closed carriage to his
+hotel, conducting Darrell immediately to his own room, where he ordered
+lunch served for both.
+
+"Do you know why I have sent for you?" Mr. Britton inquired, as soon as
+they were left alone together.
+
+"I had no idea when I started," Darrell replied, "but on reading the
+morning paper, on my way over, I concluded you wanted me at that trial
+this afternoon."
+
+"You are correct. Are you prepared to identify that face? Is your
+recollection of it as distinct as ever?"
+
+"Yes; after reading of that bank robbery this morning, the whole affair
+in the car that night came back to me so vividly I could see the man's
+face as clearly as any face on the train with me."
+
+"Good!" Mr. Britton ejaculated.
+
+"Do you think there is any likelihood of an attempt to rescue him, as
+stated by the paper?" Darrell inquired, rather incredulously.
+
+"If the leader of the band finds himself in need of help it will be
+forthcoming," Mr. Britton answered, with peculiar emphasis. "The
+citizens are expecting trouble and have sworn in about a dozen extra
+deputy sheriffs, myself among the number."
+
+When lunch was over Mr. Britton ordered a carriage at once, and they
+proceeded to the court-room.
+
+"What is your opinion of this man?" Darrell asked his father, while on
+the way. "Would you have selected him as the murderer, from your study
+of him?"
+
+"I reserve my opinions until later," Mr. Britton replied. "I want you to
+act from memory alone, unbiased by any outside influence."
+
+Arriving at the court-room, they found it already well filled. Darrell
+was about to enter, but his father took him into a small anteroom, while
+he himself went to look for seats. He had a little difficulty in finding
+the seats he wanted, which delayed them so that proceedings had begun as
+he and Darrell entered from a side door and took their places in rather
+an obscure part of the room.
+
+"You will have a good view here," Mr. Britton said to Darrell, as they
+seated themselves, "and there is little likelihood of your being
+recognized from this point."
+
+"There is little probability of the man's recognizing me, even if he is
+here," Darrell replied, "for he did not give me a second thought that
+night, and if he had, I am so changed he would not know me."
+
+"We cannot be too cautious," his father answered.
+
+In a few moments the prisoner was brought in, and there was a general
+craning of necks to see him, a number of men in Darrell's vicinity
+standing and thus obstructing his view.
+
+"Wait," said his father, as he was about to rise with the others; "don't
+make yourself conspicuous; when the man is called for examination you
+will have an excellent view from here."
+
+Curiosity gradually subsided, and the men sank back into their seats as
+proceedings went on. Then the prisoner was called and stood up for
+examination. Darrell drew a quick breath and leaned eagerly forward. The
+man was of medium height and size, but his movements seemed heavy and
+clumsy, whereas Darrell had been impressed by a litheness and agility in
+the movements of the other.
+
+He stood facing his interlocutor, affording Darrell a three-quarter view
+of his face, but soon he turned in Darrell's direction, scanning the
+crowd slowly, as though in search of some one.
+
+Darrell saw a squarely built, colorless face, surmounted by a shock of
+coarse, straight black hair, with heavy, repulsive features, and small,
+bullet-shaped, leaden eyes of rather light blue. The face was so utterly
+unlike what he had expected to see that he sank back into his seat with
+a smothered exclamation of disgust. His father, watching closely,
+smiled, seeming rather pleased than otherwise, but Darrell was half
+indignant.
+
+"The idea of a lout like that being taken for the leader!" he exclaimed.
+"He is nothing but a tool, and a pretty clumsy one at that."
+
+Notwithstanding his vexation, Darrell continued to watch the
+proceedings, and in a few moments began to grow interested, not so much
+in the examination as in the conduct of the prisoner. The latter
+evidently had found the face for which he was looking, for his eyes
+seemed glued to a certain spot. Occasionally he would shift them for a
+moment, but invariably, with each new interrogatory, they would turn to
+that particular spot, as the needle to the pole, not through any
+volition of his own, but drawn by some influence against which he was
+temporarily powerless.
+
+"That man is under a spell; he is being worked by some one in the
+crowd," Darrell exclaimed to his father, in a low tone.
+
+"Yes, and by some one not very far from us; I have spotted him, see if
+you cannot."
+
+Following the direction of the man's glance, Darrell began to scan the
+faces of the crowd. Suddenly his pulses gave a bound. Seated at a little
+distance and partially facing them was a man of the same size and height
+as the prisoner, but whose every move and poise suggested alertness. He
+was leaning his arms on the back of the seat before him; his head was
+lowered so that his chin rested lightly on one hand, while the other
+hand played nervously with the seat on which he leaned. His whole
+attitude was that of a wild beast crouched, ready to spring upon his
+prey. He had an oval face, with deep olive skin, wavy black hair, cut
+close except where it curled low over his forehead, and through the
+half-closed eyes, fixed upon the prisoner's face, Darrell caught a
+glint like that of burnished steel. For an instant Darrell gazed like
+one fascinated; he had not expected such an exact reproduction of the
+face as he had seen it on that night. His father touched him lightly; he
+nodded significantly in reply.
+
+"There is your man!" he exclaimed.
+
+"You are sure? You could swear to it?" queried his father.
+
+"Swear to it? Yes. I would have known him anywhere, but sitting there,
+watching that man, his face is precisely as I saw it that night. Wait a
+moment, look!"
+
+The man in his agitation at some word of the prisoner's, raised one hand
+and brushed his forehead with a nervous gesture, which lifted his hair
+slightly, disclosing one end of a scar.
+
+"Did you see that scar?" Darrell questioned, eagerly. "You will find it
+almost crescent shaped, rather jagged, and nearly three inches in
+length."
+
+"That is all I wanted," his father replied. "I have the warrant for his
+arrest with me, and the examination is so nearly over I shall serve it
+at once."
+
+"Can I help you?" Darrell asked, as his father moved away.
+
+"No; stay where you are; don't let him see you until after he is under
+arrest."
+
+The examination of the prisoner had just ended when Mr. Britton,
+accompanied by two deputies, re-entered the court-room. The man still
+maintained his crouching attitude, intently watching proceedings. Mr.
+Britton approached from the rear. Seizing the man suddenly by the arms,
+he pinioned him so that for an instant he was unable to move, and one of
+the deputies, leaning over, snapped the handcuffs on him before he
+fairly realized what had happened. Then, with a swift movement, Mr.
+Britton raised him to his feet and lifted him quickly out into the
+aisle, while his voice rang authoritatively through the court-room,--
+
+"Jose Martinez, alias Walcott, I arrest you in the name of the State!"
+
+The man shouted something in Spanish, evidently a signal, for it was
+repeated in different parts of the room. Instantly all was confusion. A
+shot fired from the rear wounded one of the deputies; a man seated near
+Darrell drew a revolver, but before he could level it Darrell knocked it
+from his hand and felled him to the floor. The officers rushed to the
+spot, and as the outbreak subsided Mr. Britton brought forward his
+prisoner.
+
+A murmur of consternation rose throughout the room, for Walcott had been
+known years before among the business men of Galena, and there were not
+a few citizens present who had known him as Mr. Underwood's partner.
+Walcott, taking advantage of the situation, began to protest his
+innocence. Mr. Britton, unmoved, at once beckoned Darrell to his side.
+Upon seeing him Walcott's face took on a ghastly hue and he seemed for a
+moment on the verge of collapse, but he quickly pulled himself together,
+regarding Darrell meanwhile with a venomous malignity seldom seen on a
+human face. Not the least surprised man in the crowd was Darrell
+himself.
+
+"Do you mean to say," he asked his father, "that this is the Walcott of
+whose villany you have been writing me, and that he and the murderer of
+Harry Whitcomb are one and the same?"
+
+"So it seems," Mr. Britton replied; "but that is no more than I have
+suspected all along."
+
+"Now I understand your fear of my being recognized; it seemed
+inexplicable to me," said Darrell.
+
+"If he had seen you," his father replied, "he would have suspected your
+errand here at once."
+
+Incredulity was apparent on many faces as Walcott's examination was
+begun. He was morose and silent, and nothing could be elicited from him.
+When Darrell was called upon, however, and gave his evidence,
+incredulity gave place to conviction. As he completed his testimony with
+a description of the scar, which, upon examination, was found correct,
+the crowd became angry and threats of lynching and personal violence
+were heard on various sides. The judge therefore ordered that the
+prisoners be removed from the court-room to the jail before any in the
+audience had left their places.
+
+In charge of the regular sheriff and four or five deputies the prisoners
+were led from the court-room. They had but just reached the street,
+however, when those inside heard shots fired in quick succession,
+followed by angry cries and shouts for help. The crowd surged to the
+doors, to see the officers surrounded by a band of the outlaws who had
+been lying in wait for their appearance, having been summoned by the
+signal given on the arrest of the leader. With the help of the citizens
+the fight was soon terminated, but when the melee was over it was
+discovered that the sheriff had been killed, a number of citizens and
+outlaws wounded, and Martinez, alias Walcott, had escaped.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXVIII_
+
+WITHIN THE "POCKET"
+
+
+The remainder of that day and the following night were spent in
+fruitless efforts to determine the whereabouts of the fugitive.
+Telegrams were sent along the various railway lines into every part of
+the State; messengers were despatched to neighboring towns and camps,
+but all in vain. For the first thirty-six hours it seemed as though the
+earth must have opened and swallowed him up; there was not even a clue
+as to the direction in which he had gone.
+
+The second morning after his disappearance reports began to come in from
+a dozen different quarters of as many different men, all answering the
+description given of the fugitive, who had been identified as the
+criminal. Four or five posses, averaging a dozen men each, all armed,
+set forth in various directions to follow the clews which seemed most
+worthy of credence. For the next few days reports were constantly
+received from one posse or another, to the effect that they were on the
+right trail, the fugitive had been seen only the preceding night at a
+miners' cabin where he had forced two men at the point of a revolver to
+surrender their supper of pork and beans; or some lonely ranchman and
+his wife had entertained him at dinner the day before. He was always
+reported as only about ten hours ahead, footsore and weary, but at the
+end of ten days they returned, disorganized, dilapidated, and disgusted,
+without even having had a sight of their man.
+
+Other bands were sent out with instructions to separate into squads of
+three or four and search the ground thoroughly. Some of them were more
+successful, in that they did, occasionally, get sight of the fugitive,
+but always under circumstances disadvantageous to themselves. Three of
+them stood one day talking with a rancher, who only two hours before had
+furnished the man, under protest, with a hearty dinner and a fine rifle.
+The rancher pointed out the direction in which he had gone, over a rocky
+road leading down a steep, rough ravine; as he did so, his guest
+appeared on the other side of the ravine, within good rifle range. A
+mutual recognition followed; the men started to raise their rifles, but
+the other was too quick for them. Covering them with the rifle which he
+carried, he walked backward a distance of about forty yards and then,
+with a mocking salute, disappeared. Bloodhounds were next employed, but
+the man swam and waded streams and doubled back on his own trail till
+men and dogs were alike baffled. This continued for about two months;
+then all reports regarding the man ceased; nothing was heard of him, it
+was surmised that he had reached the "Pocket," and all efforts at
+further search were for the time abandoned.
+
+Of all those concerned in the efforts for his capture there was not one
+more thoroughly disgusted with the outcome than Mr. Britton. For months
+he had had this man under surveillance, convinced that he was a criminal
+and planning to bring about his capture. Through his own efforts he had
+been identified, and by his coolness and presence of mind he had
+accomplished his arrest when nine out of ten others would have failed,
+and all seemed now to have been effort thrown away. He regretted the
+man's escape the more especially as he felt that his own life, as well
+as that of his son, was endangered so long as he was at liberty.
+
+About a month after the search was abandoned Mr. Britton was one day
+surprised by a call from the wife of Martinez. He had not seen her since
+his one interview with her months before.
+
+He was sitting in Mr. Underwood's office, looking over the books brought
+in for his inspection, when she entered, alone and unannounced.
+
+She seated herself in the chair indicated by Mr. Britton and proceeded
+at once to the object of her visit.
+
+"Senor, you told me when I last saw you that my secret would one day
+come out. You were right; it has. It is my secret no longer and Jose
+Martinez fears me no longer. You have been kind to me. You saved his
+life once; you fed me when I was hungry and asked no return. I will show
+you I do not forget. Senor, there is twenty-five thousand dollars reward
+for that man. The officers will never find him; but I will take you to
+him, the reward is then yours, and justice overtakes Jose Martinez, as
+you said it would. Do you accept?"
+
+"Do you know where he is?" Mr. Britton queried, somewhat surprised by
+the woman's proposition.
+
+"Yes, Senor; I have just come from there."
+
+"He is in the Pocket, is he not?"
+
+"Yes, Senor, but neither you nor your men could find the Pocket without
+a guide. I know it well; I have lived there."
+
+"What is your proposition?" Mr. Britton inquired, after a brief silence;
+"how do you propose to do this?"
+
+"I will start to-morrow for the Pocket. You come with me and bring the
+dogs. I will take you to a cabin where you can stay over night while I
+go on alone to the Pocket to see that all is right. I will leave you my
+veil for a scent. The next morning you will set the dogs on my trail
+and follow them till you come to a certain place I will tell you of.
+From there you will see me; I will watch for you and give you the signal
+that all is right. The dogs will bring you to the Pocket in half an
+hour. The rest will be easy work, Senor, I promise you."
+
+"But isn't the place constantly guarded?"
+
+"Not now, Senor; the men have gone away on another expedition, but Jose
+does not dare go out with them at present. Only one man is there beside
+Jose; I know him well; he will be asleep when you come."
+
+"I shall need men with me to help in bringing him back," said Mr.
+Britton.
+
+"Bring them, but I think he will give you little trouble, Senor."
+
+As Mr. Britton cared nothing for the reward himself, he chose five men
+to accompany him to whom he thought the money would be particularly
+acceptable, and the following morning, with two blood-hounds, they
+started forth in three separate detachments to attract as little
+attention as possible. The first part of their journey was by rail, the
+men taking the same train as the woman herself. On their arrival at the
+little station which she had designated, conveyances, for which Mr.
+Britton had privately wired a personal friend living in that vicinity,
+were waiting to take them to their next stopping-place.
+
+They reached the cabin of which the woman had spoken, late in the
+afternoon. Here they picketed their horses and prepared to stay over
+night, while she went on to the Pocket. Before leaving she gave Mr.
+Britton the lace scarf which she wore about her head.
+
+"I shall not go in there until night," she said; "then I can watch and
+find if all is right. You start early to-morrow morning on foot. Set the
+dogs on my trail and follow them to the fork; then turn to the left and
+follow them till you come to a small tree standing in the trail, on
+which I will tie this handkerchief. Straight ahead of you you will see
+the entrance to the Pocket. Wait by the tree till you see my signal. If
+everything is right I will wave a white signal. If I wave a black
+signal, wait till you see the white one, or till I come to you."
+
+Early the next morning Mr. Britton and his men set forth with the hounds
+in leash, leaving the horses in charge of their drivers. The dogs took
+the scent at once and started up the trail, the men following. They
+found it no easy task they had undertaken; the trail was rough and steep
+and in many places so narrow they were forced to go in single file. Some
+of the men, in order to be prepared for emergencies, were heavily armed,
+and progress was necessarily slow, but at last the fork was passed, and
+then the time seemed comparatively short ere a small tree confronted
+them, a white handkerchief fluttering among its branches.
+
+They paused and drew back the hounds, then looked about them. Less than
+ten feet ahead the trail ended. The rocks looked as though they had been
+cut in two, the half on which they were standing falling perpendicularly
+a distance of some eighty feet, while across a rocky ravine some forty
+feet in width, the other half rose, an almost perpendicular wall eighty
+or ninety feet in height. In this massive wall of rock there was one
+opening visible, resembling a gateway, and while the men speculated as
+to what it might be, the woman appeared, waving a white handkerchief,
+and they knew it to be the entrance to the Pocket.
+
+"She evidently expects us to come over there," said one of the men, "but
+blamed if I can see a trail wide enough for a cat!"
+
+"Send the dogs ahead!" ordered Mr. Britton.
+
+The dogs on taking the scent plunged downward through the brush on one
+side, bringing them out into a narrow trail leading down and across the
+ravine. Just above, on the other side, they could see the woman watching
+their every move.
+
+"I've always heard," said one of the men, "there was no getting into
+this place without you had a special invitation, and it looks like it.
+Just imagine one of those fellows up there with a gun! Holy Moses! he'd
+hold the place against all the men the State, or the United States, for
+that matter, could send down here!"
+
+The ascent of the other side was difficult, but the men put forth their
+best efforts, and ere they were aware found themselves before the
+gateway in the rocks, where the woman still awaited them. She silently
+beckoned them to enter.
+
+Emerging from a narrow pass some six feet in length, they found
+themselves in a circular basin, about two hundred feet in diameter,
+surrounded by perpendicular walls of rock from one hundred to five
+hundred feet in height. The bottom of the basin was level as a floor and
+covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, while in the centre a small
+lake, clear as crystal, reflecting the blue sky which seemed to rise
+like a dome from the rocky walls, gleamed like a sapphire in the
+sunlight. Sheer and dark the walls rose on all sides, but at one end of
+the basin, where the rocks were more rough and jagged, a silver stream
+fell in glistening cascades to the bottom, where it disappeared among
+the rocks.
+
+For a moment the men, lost in admiration of the scene, forgot that they
+were in the den of a notorious band of outlaws, but a second glance
+recalled them to the situation, for on all sides of the basin were
+caves leading into the walls of rock, and evidently used as dwellings.
+
+To one of these the woman now led the way. At the entrance a man lay on
+the ground, his heavy stertorous breathing proclaiming him a victim of
+some sleeping potion. The woman regarded him with a smile of amusement.
+
+"I made him sleep, Senor," she said, addressing Mr. Britton, "so he will
+not trouble you."
+
+Still leading the way into the farther part of the cave, she came to a
+low couch of skins at the foot of which she paused. Pointing to the
+figure outlined upon it, she said, calmly,--
+
+"He sleeps also, Senor, but sound; so sound you will need have no fear
+of waking him!"
+
+Her words aroused a strange suspicion in Mr. Britton's mind. The light
+was so dim he could not see the sleeper, but a lantern, burning low,
+hung on the wall above his head. Seizing the lantern, he turned on the
+light, holding it so it would strike the face of the sleeper. It was the
+face of Jose Martinez, but the features were drawn and ghastly. He bent
+lower, listening for his breath, but no sound came; he laid his hand
+upon his heart, but it was still.
+
+Raising himself quickly, he threw the rays of the lantern full upon the
+woman standing before him, a small crucifix clasped in her hands. Under
+his searching gaze her face grew pale and ghastly as that upon the
+couch.
+
+"You have killed him!" he said, slowly, with terrible emphasis.
+
+She made the sign of the cross. "Holy Mother, forgive!" she muttered;
+then, though she still quailed beneath his look, she exclaimed, half
+defiantly, "I have not wronged you; you have your reward, and justice
+has overtaken him, as you said it would!"
+
+"That is not justice," said Mr. Britton, pointing to the couch; "it is
+murder, and you are his murderer. You should have let the law take its
+course."
+
+"The law!" she laughed, mockingly; "would your law avenge my father's
+death, or the wrongs I have suffered? No! My father had no son to avenge
+him, I had no brother, but I have avenged him and myself. I have
+followed him all these years, waiting till the right time should come,
+waiting for this, dreaming of it night and day! I have had my revenge,
+and it was sweet! I did not kill him in his sleep, Senor; I wakened him,
+just to let him know he was in my power, just to hear him plead for
+mercy----"
+
+"Hush!" said Mr. Britton, firmly, for the woman seemed to have gone mad.
+"You do not know what you are saying. You must get ready to return with
+me."
+
+She grew calm at once and her face lighted with a strange smile.
+
+"I am ready to go with you, Senor," she said, at the same time clasping
+the crucifix suddenly to her breast.
+
+With the last word she fell to the ground and a slight tremor shook her
+frame for an instant. Quickly Mr. Britton lifted her and bore her to the
+light, but life was already extinct. Within her clasped hands,
+underneath the crucifix, they found the little poisoned stiletto.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter XXXIX_
+
+AT THE TIME APPOINTED
+
+
+For a year and a half Darrell worked uninterruptedly at Ophir, his
+constantly increasing commissions from eastern States testifying to his
+marked ability as a mining expert.
+
+Notwithstanding the incessant demands upon his time, he still adhered to
+his old rule, reserving a few hours out of each twenty-four, which he
+devoted to scientific or literary study, as his mood impelled. He soon
+found himself again drawn irresistibly towards the story begun during
+his stay at the Hermitage, but temporarily laid aside on his return
+east. He carefully reviewed the synopsis, which he had written in
+detail, and as he did, he felt himself entering into the spirit of the
+story till it seemed once more part of his own existence. He revised the
+work already done, eliminating, adding, making the outlines clearer,
+more defined; then, with steady, unfaltering hand, carried the work
+forward to completion.
+
+Eighteen months after his re-establishment at Ophir he was commissioned
+to go to Alaska to examine certain mining properties in a deal involving
+over a million dollars, and, anxious to be on the ground as early as
+possible, he took the first boat north that season. His story was
+published on the eve of his departure. He received a few copies, which
+he regarded with a half-fond, half-whimsical air. One he sent to Kate
+Underwood, having first written his initials on the fly-leaf underneath
+the brief petition, "Be merciful." He then went his way, his time and
+attention wholly occupied by his work, with little thought as to whether
+the newly launched craft was destined to ride the waves of popularity or
+be engulfed beneath the waters of oblivion.
+
+Months of constant travel, of hard work and rough fare, followed. His
+report on the mines was satisfactory, the deal was consummated, and he
+received a handsome percentage, but not content with this, determined to
+familiarize himself with the general situation in that country and the
+conditions obtaining, he pushed on into the interior, pursuing his
+explorations till the return of the cold season. Touching at British
+Columbia on his way home and finding tempting inducements there in the
+way of mining properties, he stopped to investigate, and remained during
+the winter and spring months.
+
+It was therefore not until the following June that he found himself
+really homeward bound and once more within the mountain ranges guarding
+the approach to the busy little town of Ophir.
+
+He had been gone considerably over a year; he had accumulated a vast
+amount of information invaluable for future work along his line, and he
+had succeeded financially beyond his anticipations. Occasionally during
+his absence, in papers picked up here and there, he had seen favorable
+mention of his story, from which he inferred that his first venture in
+the realms of fiction had not been quite a failure, and in this opinion
+he was confirmed by a letter just received from his publishers, which
+had followed him for months. But all thought of these things was for the
+time forgotten in an almost boyish delight that he was at last on his
+way home.
+
+As he came within sight of the familiar ranges his thoughts reverted
+again and again to Kate Underwood. His whole soul seemed to cry out for
+her with a sudden, insatiable longing. His mail had of necessity been
+irregular and infrequent; their letters had somehow miscarried, and he
+had not heard directly from her for months. Her last letter was from
+Germany; she was then still engrossed in her music, but her father's
+health was greatly improved and he was beginning to talk of home. His
+father's latest letter had stated that the Underwoods would probably
+return early in July. And this was June! Darrell felt a twinge of
+disappointment. He was now able to remember many incidents in their
+acquaintance. He recalled their first meeting at The Pines on that June
+day five years ago. How beautiful the old place must look now! But
+without Kate's presence the charm would be lost for him. He regretted he
+had started homeward quite so soon; the time would not have seemed so
+long among the mining camps of the great Northwest as here, where
+everything reminded him of her.
+
+The stopping of the train at a health resort far up among the mountains,
+a few miles from Ophir, roused Darrell from his revery. With a sigh he
+recalled his wandering thoughts and left the car for a walk up and down
+the platform. The town, perched saucily on the slopes of a heavily
+timbered mountain, looked very attractive in the gathering twilight.
+Though early in the season, the hotel and sanitarium seemed well filled,
+while numerous pleasure-seekers were promenading the walks leading to
+and from the springs which gave the place its popularity.
+
+Darrell felt a sudden, unaccountable desire to remain. Without waiting
+to analyze the impulse, as inexplicable as it was irresistible, which
+actuated him, he hastened into the sleeper and secured his grip and top
+coat. As the train pulled out he stepped into the station and sent a
+message to his father at Ophir, stating that he had decided to remain
+over a day or two at the Springs and asking him to look after his
+baggage on its arrival. He then took a carriage for the hotel. It was
+not without some compunctions of conscience that Darrell wired his
+father of his decision, and even as he rode swiftly along the winding
+streets he wondered what strange fancy possessed him that he should stop
+among strangers instead of continuing his journey home. To his father it
+would certainly seem unaccountable, as it did now to himself.
+
+Mr. Britton, however, on receiving his son's message, could not restrain
+a smile, for only the preceding day he had received a telegram from Kate
+Underwood, at the same place, in which she stated that they had started
+home earlier than at first intended, and as her father was somewhat
+fatigued by their long journey, they had decided to stop for two or
+three days' rest at the Springs.
+
+Darrell arrived at the hotel at a late hour for dinner; the dining-room
+was therefore nearly deserted when he took his place at the table.
+Dinner over, he went out for a stroll, and, glad to be alone with his
+thoughts, walked up and down the entire length of the little town. His
+mind was constantly on Kate. Again and again he seemed to see her, as he
+loved best to recall her, standing on the summit of the "Divide," her
+wind-tossed hair blown about her brow, her eyes shining, as she
+predicted their reunion and perfect love. Over and over he seemed to
+hear her words, and his heart burned with desire for their fulfilment.
+He had waited patiently, he had shown what he could achieve, how he
+could win, but all achievements, all victories, were worthless without
+her love and presence.
+
+The moon was just rising as he returned to the hotel, but it was still
+early. His decision was taken; he would go to Ophir by the morning
+train, learn Kate's whereabouts from his father, and go to meet her and
+accompany her home. He had chosen a path leading through a secluded
+portion of the grounds, and as he approached the hotel his attention was
+arrested by some one singing. Glancing in the direction whence the song
+came, he saw one of the private parlors brightly lighted, the long, low
+window open upon the veranda. Something in the song held him entranced,
+spell-bound. The voice was incomparably rich, possessing wonderful range
+and power of expression, but this alone was not what especially appealed
+to him. Through all and underlying all was a quality so strangely,
+sweetly familiar, which thrilled his soul to its very depths, whether
+with joy or pain he could not have told; it seemed akin to both.
+
+Still held as by a spell, he drew nearer the window, until he heard the
+closing words of the refrain,--words which had been ringing with strange
+persistency in his mind for the last two or three hours,--
+
+  "Some time, some time, and that will be
+  God's own good time for you and me."
+
+His heart leaped wildly. With a bound, swift and noiseless, he was on
+the veranda, just as the singer, with tender, lingering emphasis,
+repeated the words so low as to be barely audible to Darrell standing
+before the open window. But even while he listened he gazed in
+astonishment at the singer; could that magnificent woman be his
+girl-love? She was superbly formed, splendidly proportioned; the rich,
+warm blood glowed in her cheeks, and her hair gleamed in the light like
+spun gold. He stood motionless; he would not retreat, he dared not
+advance.
+
+As the last words of the song died away, a slight sound caused the
+singer to turn, facing him, and their eyes met. That was enough; in that
+one glance the memory of his love returned to him like an overwhelming
+flood. She was no longer his Dream-Love, but a splendid, living reality,
+only more beautiful than his dreams or his imagination had portrayed
+her.
+
+He stretched out his arms towards her with the one word, "Kathie!"
+
+She had already risen, a great, unspeakable joy illumining her face, but
+at the sound of that name, vibrating with the pent-up emotion, the
+concentrated love of all the years of their separation, she came swiftly
+forward, her bosom palpitating, her eyes shining with the love called
+forth by his cry. He stepped through the low window, within the room. In
+an instant his arms were clasped about her, and, holding her close to
+his breast, his dark eyes told her more eloquently than words of his
+heart's hunger for her, while in her eyes and in the blushes running
+riot in her cheeks he read his welcome.
+
+He kissed her hair and brow, with a sort of reverence; then, hearing
+voices in the corridor and rooms adjoining, he seized a light wrap from
+a chair near by and threw it about her shoulders.
+
+"Come outside, sweetheart," he whispered, and drawing her arm within his
+own led her out onto the veranda and down the path along which he had
+just come. In the first transport of their joy they were silent, each
+almost fearing to break the spell which seemed laid upon them. The moon
+had risen, transforming the sombre scene to one of beauty, but to them
+Love's radiance had suddenly made the world inexpressibly fair; the very
+flowers as they passed breathed perfume like incense in their path, and
+the trees whispered benedictions upon them.
+
+Darrell first broke the silence. "I would have been in Ophir to-night,
+but some mysterious, irresistible impulse led me to stop here. Did you
+weave a spell about me, you sweet sorceress?" he asked, gazing tenderly
+into her face.
+
+"I think it must have been some higher influence than mine," she
+replied, with sweet gravity, "for I was also under the spell. I supposed
+you many miles away, yet, as I sang to-night, it seemed as though you
+were close to me, as though if I turned I should see you--just as I
+did," she concluded, with a radiant smile. "But how did you find me?"
+
+"How does the night-bird find its mate?" he queried, in low, vibrant
+tones; then, as her color deepened, he continued, with passionate
+earnestness,--
+
+"I was here, where we are now, my very soul crying out for you, when I
+heard your song. It thrilled me; I felt as though waking from a dream,
+but I knew my love was near. Down through the years I heard her soul
+calling mine; following that call, I found my love, and listening, heard
+the very words which my own heart had been repeating over and over to
+itself, alone and in the darkness."
+
+Almost unconsciously they had stopped at a turn in the path. Darrell
+paused a moment, for tears were trembling on the golden lashes. Drawing
+her closer, he whispered,--
+
+"Kathie, do you remember our parting on the 'Divide'?"
+
+"Do you think I ever could forget?" she asked.
+
+"You predicted we would one day stand reunited on the heights of such
+love as we had not dreamed of then. I asked you when that day would be;
+do you remember your answer?"
+
+"I do."
+
+He continued, in impassioned tones: "Are not the conditions fulfilled,
+sweetheart? My love for you then was as a dream, a myth, compared with
+that I bring you to-day, and looking in your eyes I need no words to
+tell me that your love has broadened and deepened with the years.
+Kathie, is not this 'the time appointed'?"
+
+"It must be," she replied; "there could be none other like this!"
+
+Holding her head against his breast and raising her face to his, he
+said, "You gave me your heart that day, Kathie, to hold in trust. I have
+been faithful to that trust through all these years; do you give it me
+now for my very own?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, slowly, with sweet solemnity; "to have and to hold,
+forever!"
+
+He sealed the promise with a long, rapturous kiss; but what followed,
+the broken, disjointed phrases, the mutual pledges, the tokens of love
+given and received, are all among the secrets which the mountains never
+told.
+
+As they retraced their steps towards the hotel, Darrell said, "We have
+waited long, sweetheart."
+
+"Yes, but the waiting has brought us good of itself," she answered.
+"Think of all you have accomplished,--I know better than you think, for
+your father has kept me posted,--and better yet, what these years have
+fitted you for accomplishing in the future! To me, that was the best
+part of your work in your story. It was strong and cleverly told, but
+what pleased me most was the evidence that it was but the beginning, the
+promise of something better yet to come."
+
+"If only I could persuade all critics to see it through your eyes!"
+Darrell replied, with a smile.
+
+"Do you wish to know," she asked, with sudden seriousness, "what will
+always remain to me the noblest, most heroic act of your life?"
+
+"Most assuredly I do," he answered, her own gravity checking the
+laughing reply which rose to his lips.
+
+"The fight you made and won alone in the mountains the day that you
+renounced our love for honor's sake. I can see now that the stand you
+took and maintained so nobly formed the turning-point in both our lives.
+I did not look at it then as you did. I would have married you then and
+there and gone with you to the ends of the earth rather than sacrifice
+your love, but you upheld my honor with your own. You fought against
+heavy odds, and won, and to me no other victory will compare with it,
+since--
+
+     'greater they who on life's battle-field
+     With unseen foes and fierce temptations fight.'"
+
+Darrell silently drew her nearer himself, feeling that even in this
+foretaste of joy he had received ample compensation for the past.
+
+A few days later there was a quiet wedding at the Springs. The beautiful
+church on the mountain-side had been decorated for the occasion, and at
+an early hour, while yet the robins were singing their matins, the
+little wedding-party gathered about the altar where John Darrell Britton
+and Kate Underwood plighted their troth for life. Above the jubilant
+bird-songs, above the low, subdued tones of the organ, the words of the
+grand old marriage service rang out with impressiveness.
+
+Besides the rector and his wife, there were present only Mr. Underwood,
+Mrs. Dean, and Mr. Britton. It had been Kate's wish, with which Darrell
+had gladly coincided, thus to be quietly married, surrounded only by
+their immediate relatives.
+
+"Let our wedding be a fit consummation of our betrothal," she had said
+to him, "without publicity, unhampered by conventionalities, so it will
+always seem the sweeter and more sacred."
+
+That evening found them all at The Pines, assembled on the veranda
+watching the sunset, the old home seeming wonderfully restful and
+peaceful to the returned travellers.
+
+The years which had come and gone since Darrell first came to the Pines
+told heaviest on Mr. Underwood. His hair was nearly white and he had
+aged in many ways, appearing older than Mr. Britton, who was
+considerably his senior; but age had brought its compensations, for the
+stern, immobile face had softened and the deep-set eyes glowed with a
+kindly, beneficent light. Mr. Britton's hair was well silvered, but his
+face bore evidence of the great joy which had come into his life, and as
+his eyes rested upon his son he seemed to live anew in that glorious
+young life. To Mrs. Dean the years had brought only a few silver threads
+in the brown hair and an added serenity to the placid, unfurrowed brow.
+Calm and undemonstrative as ever, but with a smile of deep content, she
+sat in her accustomed place, her knitting-needles flashing and clicking
+with their old-time regularity. Duke, who had been left in Mr. Britton's
+care during Darren's absence, occupied his old place on the top stair,
+but even his five years of added dignity could not restrain him from
+occasional demonstrations of joy at finding himself again at The Pines
+and with his beloved master and mistress.
+
+As the twilight began to deepen Kate suggested that they go inside, and
+led the way, not to the family sitting-room, but to a spacious room on
+the eastern side, a room which had originally been intended as a
+library, but never furnished as such. It was beautifully decorated with
+palms and flowers, while the fireplace had been filled with light boughs
+of spruce and fir.
+
+As they entered the room, Kate, slipping her arm within Mr. Britton's,
+led him before the fireplace.
+
+"My dear father," she said, "we have chosen this evening as the one most
+appropriate for your formal installation in our family circle and our
+home. I say formal because you have really been one of ourselves for
+years; you have shared our joys and our sorrows; we have had no secrets
+from you; but from this time we want you to take your place in our home,
+as you did long ago in our hearts. We have prepared this room for you,
+to be your _sanctum sanctorum_, and have placed in it a few little
+tokens of our love for you and gratitude to you, which we beg you to
+accept as such."
+
+She bent towards the fireplace. "The hearthstone is ever an emblem of
+home. In lighting the fires upon this hearthstone, we dedicate it to
+your use and christen this 'our father's room.'"
+
+The flames burst upward as she finished speaking, sending a resinous
+fragrance into the air and revealing a room fitted with such loving
+thought and care that nothing which could add to his comfort had been
+omitted. Near the centre of the room stood a desk of solid oak, a gift
+from Mr. Underwood; beside it a reclining chair from Mrs. Dean, while on
+the wall opposite, occupying nearly a third of that side of the room,
+was a superb painting of the Hermitage,--standing out in the firelight
+with wonderful realism, perfect in its bold outlines and sombre
+coloring,--the united gift of his son and daughter, which Darrell had
+ordered executed before his departure for Alaska.
+
+With loving congratulations the rest of the group gathered about Mr.
+Britton, who was nearly speechless with emotion. As Mr. Underwood wrung
+his hand he exclaimed, with assumed gruffness,--
+
+"Jack, old partner, you thought you'd got a monopoly on that boy of
+yours, but I've got in on the deal at last!"
+
+"You haven't got any the best of me, Dave," Mr. Britton retorted,
+smiling through his tears, "for I've got a share now in the sweetest
+daughter on earth!"
+
+"Yes, papa," Kate laughingly rejoined, "there are three of us Brittons
+now; the Underwoods are in the minority."
+
+Which, though a new view of the situation to that gentleman, seemed
+eminently satisfactory.
+
+Later, as Kate found Darrell at a window, looking thoughtfully out into
+the moonlit night, she asked,--
+
+"Of what are you thinking, John?"
+
+"Of what the years have done for us, Kathie; of how much better fitted
+for each other we are now than when we first loved."
+
+"Yes," she whispered, as their eyes met, "'God's own good time' was the
+best."
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS
+IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS
+
+Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. Library size.
+Printed on excellent paper--most of them with illustrations of marked
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+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. By George Barr McCutcheon. With Color Frontispiece
+and other illustrations by Harrison Fisher. Beautiful inlay picture in
+colors of Beverly on the cover.
+
+     "The most fascinating, engrossing and picturesque of the season's
+     novels."--_Boston Herald._ "'Beverly' is altogether
+     charming--almost living flesh and blood."--_Louisville Times._
+     "Better than 'Graustark'."--_Mail and Express._ "A sequel quite as
+     impossible as 'Graustark' and quite as entertaining."--_Bookman._
+     "A charming love story well told."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+HALF A ROGUE. By Harold MacGrath. With illustrations and inlay cover
+picture by Harrison Fisher.
+
+     "Here are dexterity of plot, glancing play at witty talk,
+     characters really human and humanly real, spirit and gladness,
+     freshness and quick movement. 'Half a Rogue' is as brisk as a
+     horseback ride on a glorious morning. It is as varied as an April
+     day. It is as charming as two most charming girls can make it. Love
+     and honor and success and all the great things worth fighting for
+     and living for the involved in 'Half a Rogue.'"--_Phila. Press._
+
+THE GIRL FROM TIM'S PLACE. By Charles Clark Munn. With illustrations by
+Frank T. Merrill.
+
+     "Figuring in the pages of this story there are several strong
+     characters. Typical New England folk and an especially sturdy one,
+     old Cy Walker, through whose instrumentality Chip comes to
+     happiness and fortune. There is a chain of comedy, tragedy, pathos
+     and love, which makes a dramatic story."--_Boston Herald._
+
+THE LION AND THE MOUSE. A story of American Life. By Charles Klein, and
+Arthur Hornblow. With illustrations by Stuart Travis, and Scenes from
+the Play.
+
+     The novel duplicated the success of the play; in fact the book is
+     greater than the play. A portentous clash of dominant personalities
+     that form the essence of the play are necessarily touched upon but
+     briefly in the short space of four acts. All this is narrated in
+     the novel with a wealth of fascinating and absorbing detail, making
+     it one of the most powerfully written and exciting works of fiction
+     given to the world in years.
+
+BARBARA WINSLOW, REBEL. By Elizabeth Ellis. With illustrations by John
+Rae, and colored inlay cover.
+
+     The following, taken from story, will best describe the heroine: A
+     TOAST: "To the bravest comrade in misfortune, the sweetest
+     companion in peace and at all times the most courageous of
+     women."--_Barbara Winslow._ "A romantic story, buoyant, eventful,
+     and in matters of love exactly what the heart could desire."--_New
+     York Sun._
+
+SUSAN. By Ernest Oldmeadow. With a color frontispiece by Frank Haviland.
+Medallion in color on front cover.
+
+     Lord Ruddington falls helplessly in love with Miss Langley, whom he
+     sees in one of her walks accompanied by her maid, Susan. Through a
+     misapprehension of personalities his lordship addresses a love
+     missive to the maid. Susan accepts in perfect good faith, and an
+     epistolary love-making goes on till they are disillusioned. It
+     naturally makes a droll and delightful little comedy; and is a
+     story that is particularly clever in the telling.
+
+WHEN PATTY WENT TO COLLEGE. By Jean Webster. With illustrations by C. D.
+Williams.
+
+     "The book is a treasure."--_Chicago Daily News._ "Bright,
+     whimsical, and thoroughly entertaining."--_Buffalo Express._ "One
+     of the best stories of life in a girl's college that has ever been
+     written."--_N. Y. Press._ "To any woman who has enjoyed the
+     pleasures of a college life this book cannot fail to bring back
+     many sweet recollections; and to those who have not been to college
+     the wit, lightness, and charm of Patty are sure to be no less
+     delightful."--_Public Opinion._
+
+THE MASQUERADER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by
+Clarence F. Underwood.
+
+     "You can't drop it till you have turned the last page."--_Cleveland
+     Leader._ "Its very audacity of motive, of execution, of solution,
+     almost takes one's breath away. The boldness of its denouement is
+     sublime."--_Boston Transcript._ "The literary hit of a generation.
+     The best of it is the story deserves all its success. A masterly
+     story."--_St. Louis Dispatch._ "The story is ingeniously told, and
+     cleverly constructed."--_The Dial._
+
+THE GAMBLER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by John
+Campbell.
+
+     "Tells of a high strung young Irish woman who has a passion for
+     gambling, inherited from a long line of sporting ancestors. She has
+     a high sense of honor, too, and that causes complications. She is a
+     very human, lovable character, and love saves her."--_N. Y. Times._
+
+THE AFFAIR AT THE INN. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by
+Martin Justice.
+
+     "As superlatively clever in the writing as it is entertaining in
+     the reading. It is actual comedy of the most artistic sort, and it
+     is handled with a freshness and originality that is unquestionably
+     novel."--_Boston Transcript._ "A feast of humor and good cheer, yet
+     subtly pervaded by special shades of feeling, fancy, tenderness, or
+     whimsicality. A merry thing in prose."--_St. Louis Democrat._
+
+ROSE O' THE RIVER. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by George
+Wright.
+
+     "'Rose o' the River,' a charming bit of sentiment, gracefully
+     written and deftly touched with a gentle humor. It is a dainty
+     book--daintily illustrated."--_New York Tribune._ "A wholesome,
+     bright, refreshing story, an ideal book to give a young
+     girl."--_Chicago Record-Herald._ "An idyllic story, replete with
+     pathos and inimitable humor. As story-telling it is perfection, and
+     as portrait-painting it is true to the life."--_London Mail._
+
+TILLIE: A Mennonite Maid. By Helen R. Martin. With illustrations by
+Florence Scovel Shinn.
+
+     The little "Mennonite Maid" who wanders through these pages is
+     something quite new in fiction. Tillie is hungry for books and
+     beauty and love; and she comes into her inheritance at the end.
+     "Tillie is faulty, sensitive, big-hearted, eminently human, and
+     first, last and always lovable. Her charm glows warmly, the story
+     is well handled, the characters skilfully developed."--_The Book
+     Buyer._
+
+LADY ROSE'S DAUGHTER. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. With illustrations by Howard
+Chandler Christy.
+
+     "The most marvellous work of its wonderful author."--_New York
+     World._ "We touch regions and attain altitudes which it is not
+     given to the ordinary novelist even to approach."--_London Times._
+     "In no other story has Mrs. Ward approached the brilliancy and
+     vivacity of Lady Rose's Daughter."--_North American Review._
+
+THE BANKER AND THE BEAR. By Henry K. Webster.
+
+     "An exciting and absorbing story."--_New York Times._ "Intensely
+     thrilling in parts, but an unusually good story all through. There
+     is a love affair of real charm and most novel surroundings, there
+     is a run on the bank which is almost worth a year's growth, and
+     there is all manner of exhilarating men and deeds which should
+     bring the book into high and permanent favor."--_Chicago Evening
+     Post._
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP,    -    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+NATURE BOOKS
+
+With Colored Plates, and Photographs from Life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+BIRD NEIGHBORS. An Introductory Acquaintance with 150 Birds Commonly
+Found in the Woods, Fields and Gardens About Our Homes. By Neltje
+Blanchan. With an Introduction by John Burroughs, and many plates of
+birds in natural colors. Large Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8, Cloth.
+Formerly published at $2.00. Our special price, $1.00.
+
+     As an aid to the elementary study of bird life nothing has ever
+     been published more satisfactory than this most successful of
+     Nature Books. This book makes the identification of our birds
+     simple and positive, even to the uninitiated, through certain
+     unique features. I. All the birds are grouped according to color,
+     in the belief that a bird's coloring is the first and often the
+     only characteristic noticed. II. By another classification, the
+     birds are grouped according to their season. III. All the popular
+     names by which a bird is known are given both in the descriptions
+     and the index. The colored plates are the most beautiful and
+     accurate ever given in a moderate-priced and popular book. The most
+     successful and widely sold Nature Book yet published.
+
+BIRDS THAT HUNT AND ARE HUNTED. Life Histories of 170 Birds of Prey,
+Game Birds and Water-Fowls. By Neltje Blanchan. With Introduction by G.
+O. Shields (Coquina). 24 photographic illustrations in color. Large
+Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8. Formerly published at $2.00. Our special
+price, $1.00.
+
+     No work of its class has ever been issued that contains so much
+     valuable information, presented with such felicity and charm. The
+     colored plates are true to nature. By their aid alone any bird
+     illustrated may be readily identified. Sportsmen will especially
+     relish the twenty-four color plates which show the more important
+     birds in characteristic poses. They are probably the most valuable
+     and artistic pictures of the kind available to-day.
+
+NATURE'S GARDEN. An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their
+Insect Visitors. 24 colored plates, and many other illustrations
+photographed directly from nature. Text by Neltje Blanchan. Large
+Quarto, size 7-3/4x10-3/8. Cloth. Formerly published at $3.00 net. Our
+special price, $1.25.
+
+     Superb color portraits of many familiar flowers in their living
+     tints, and no less beautiful pictures in black and white of
+     others--each blossom photographed directly from nature--form an
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+     flowers met afield.
+
+     Intimate life-histories of over five hundred species of wild
+     flowers, written in untechnical, vivid language, emphasize the
+     marvelously interesting and vital relationship existing between
+     these flowers and the special insect to which each is adapted.
+
+     The flowers are divided into five color groups, because by this
+     arrangement any one with no knowledge of botany whatever can
+     readily identify the specimens met during a walk. The various
+     popular names by which each species is known, its preferred
+     dwelling-place, months of blooming and geographical distribution
+     follow its description. Lists of berry-bearing and other plants
+     most conspicuous after the flowering season, of such as grow
+     together in different kinds of soil, and finally of family groups
+     arranged by that method of scientific classification adopted by the
+     International Botanical Congress which has now superseded all
+     others, combine to make "Nature's Garden" an indispensable guide.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP,   -   NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS
+
+Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. Library size.
+Printed on excellent paper--most of them with illustrations of marked
+beauty--and handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents a volume,
+postpaid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. By Myrtle Reed.
+
+     A charming story of a quaint corner of New England where bygone
+     romance finds a modern parallel. One of the prettiest, sweetest,
+     and quaintest of old-fashioned love stories * * * A rare book,
+     exquisite in spirit and conception, full of delicate fancy, of
+     tenderness, of delightful humor and spontaneity. A dainty volume,
+     especially suitable for a gift.
+
+DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Norman Duncan. With a frontispiece and
+inlay cover.
+
+     How the doctor came to the bleak Labrador coast and there in saving
+     life made expiation. In dignity, simplicity, humor, in sympathetic
+     etching of a sturdy fisher people, and above all in the echoes of
+     the sea, _Doctor Luke_ is worthy of great praise. Character, humor,
+     poignant pathos, and the sad grotesque conjunctions of old and new
+     civilizations are expressed through the medium of a style that has
+     distinction and strikes a note of rare personality.
+
+THE DAY'S WORK. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated.
+
+     The _London Morning Post_ says: "It would be hard to find better
+     reading * * * the book is so varied, so full of color and life from
+     end to end, that few who read the first two or three stories will
+     lay it down till they have read the last--and the last is a
+     veritable gem * * * contains some of the best of his highly vivid
+     work * * * Kipling is a born story-teller and a man of humor into
+     the bargain."
+
+ELEANOR LEE. By Margaret E. Sangster. With a frontispiece.
+
+     A story of married life, and attractive picture of wedded bliss * *
+     an entertaining story of a man's redemption through a woman's
+     love * * * no one who knows anything of marriage or parenthood can
+     read this story with eyes that are always dry * * * goes straight
+     to the heart of every one who knows the meaning of "love" and
+     "home."
+
+THE COLONEL OF THE RED HUZZARS. By John Reed Scott. Illustrated by
+Clarence F. Underwood.
+
+     "Full of absorbing charm, sustained interest, and a wealth of
+     thrilling and romantic situations. "So naively fresh in its
+     handling, so plausible through its naturalness, that it comes like
+     a mountain breeze across the far-spreading desert of similar
+     romances."--_Gazette-Times, Pittsburg._ "A slap-dashing day
+     romance."--_New York Sun._
+
+THE FAIR GOD; OR, THE LAST OF THE TZINS. By Lew Wallace. With
+illustrations by Eric Pape.
+
+     "The story tells of the love of a native princess for Alvarado, and
+     it is worked out with all of Wallace's skill * * * it gives a fine
+     picture of the heroism of the Spanish conquerors and of the culture
+     and nobility of the Aztecs."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "Ben Hur sold enormously, but _The Fair God_ was the best of the
+     General's stories--a powerful and romantic treatment of the defeat
+     of Montezuma by Cortes."--_Athenaeum._
+
+THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. By Louis Tracy.
+
+     A story of love and the salt sea--of a helpless ship whirled into
+     the hands of cannibal Fuegians--of desperate fighting and tender
+     romance, enhanced by the art of a master of story telling who
+     describes with his wonted felicity and power of holding the
+     reader's attention * * * filled with the swing of adventure.
+
+A MIDNIGHT GUEST. A Detective Story. By Fred M. White. With a
+frontispiece.
+
+     The scene of the story centers in London and Italy. The book is
+     skilfully written and makes one of the most baffling, mystifying,
+     exciting detective stories ever written--cleverly keeping the
+     suspense and mystery intact until the surprising discoveries which
+     precede the end.
+
+THE HONOUR OF SAVELLI. A Romance. By S. Levett Yeats. With cover and
+wrapper in four colors.
+
+     Those who enjoyed Stanley Weyman's _A Gentleman of France_ will be
+     engrossed and captivated by this delightful romance of Italian
+     history. It is replete with exciting episodes, hair-breath escapes,
+     magnificent sword-play, and deals with the agitating times in
+     Italian history when Alexander II was Pope and the famous and
+     infamous Borgias were tottering to their fall.
+
+SISTER CARRIE. By Theodore Drieser. With a frontispiece, and wrapper in
+color.
+
+     In all fiction there is probably no more graphic and poignant study
+     of the way in which man loses his grip on life, lets his pride, his
+     courage, his self-respect slip from him, and, finally, even ceases
+     to struggle in the mire that has engulfed him. * * * There is more
+     tonic value in _Sister Carrie_ than in a whole shelfful of sermons.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP,   -    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+PRINCESS MARITZA
+A NOVEL OF RAPID ROMANCE.
+BY PERCY BREBNER
+With Harrison Fisher Illustrations in Color.
+
+     Offers more real entertainment and keen enjoyment than any book
+     since "Graustark." Full of picturesque life and color and a
+     delightful love-story. The scene of the story is Wallaria, one of
+     those mythical kingdoms in Southern Europe. Maritza is the rightful
+     heir to the throne, but is kept away from her own country. The hero
+     is a young Englishman of noble family. It is a pleasing book of
+     fiction. Large 12mo. size. Handsomely bound in
+     cloth. White coated wrapper, with Harrison Fisher portrait in
+     colors. Price 75 cents, postpaid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Books by George Barr McCutcheon
+
+BREWSTER'S MILLIONS
+
+Mr. Montgomery Brewster is required to spend a million dollars in one
+year in order to inherit seven millions. He must be absolutely penniless
+at that time, and yet have spent the million in a way that will commend
+him as fit to inherit the larger sum. How he does it forms the basis for
+one of the most crisp and breezy romances of recent years.
+
+CASTLE CRANEYCROW
+
+The story revolves around the abduction of a young American woman and
+the adventures created through her rescue. The title is taken from the
+name of an old castle on the Continent, the scene of her imprisonment.
+
+GRAUSTARK: A Story of a Love Behind a Throne.
+
+This work has been and is to-day one of the most popular works of
+fiction of this decade. The meeting of the Princess of Graustark with
+the hero, while travelling incognito in this country, his efforts to
+find her, his success, the defeat of conspiracies to dethrone her, and
+their happy marriage, provide entertainment which every type of reader
+will enjoy.
+
+THE SHERRODS. With illustrations by C. D. Williams
+
+A novel quite unlike Mr. McCutcheon's previous works in the field of
+romantic fiction and yet possessing the charm inseparable from anything
+he writes. The scene is laid in Indiana and the theme is best described
+in the words, "Whom God hath joined, let no man put asunder."
+
+Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Large 12mo. size. Price 75 cents
+per volume, postpaid.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+_NEW POPULAR EDITIONS OF_
+MARY JOHNSTON'S
+NOVELS
+
+TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
+
+It was something new and startling to see an author's first novel sell
+up into the hundreds of thousands, as did this one. The ablest critics
+spoke of it in such terms as "Breathless interest," "The high water mark
+of American fiction since Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Surpasses all," "Without
+a rival," "Tender and delicate," "As good a story of adventure as one
+can find," "The best style of love story, clean, pure and wholesome."
+
+AUDREY
+
+With the brilliant imagination and the splendid courage of youth, she
+has stormed the very citadel of adventure. Indeed it would be impossible
+to carry the romantic spirit any deeper into fiction.--_Agnes Repplier._
+
+PRISONERS OF HOPE
+
+Pronounced by the critics classical, accurate, interesting, American,
+original, vigorous, full of movement and life, dramatic and fascinating,
+instinct with life and passion, and preserving throughout a singularly
+even level of excellence.
+
+Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Large 12mo. size. Price, 75
+cents per volume, postpaid.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+_GET THE BEST OUT-DOOR STORIES_
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+Stewart Edward White's
+Great Novels of Western Life.
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+GROSSET & DUNLAP EDITIONS
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+THE BLAZED TRAIL
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+Mingles the romance of the forest with the romance of man's heart,
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+forest of the Northwest, permeated by out of door freshness, and the
+glory of the struggle with nature.
+
+THE SILENT PLACES
+
+A powerful story of strenuous endeavor and fateful privation in the
+frozen North, embodying also a detective story of much strength and
+skill. The author brings out with sure touch and deep understanding the
+mystery and poetry of the still, frost-bound forest.
+
+THE CLAIM JUMPERS
+
+A Tale of a Western mining camp and the making of a man, with which a
+charming young lady has much to do. The tenderfoot has a hard time of
+it, but meets the situation, shows the stuff he is made of, and "wins
+out."
+
+THE WESTERNERS
+
+A tale of the mining camp and the Indian country, full of color and
+thrilling incident.
+
+
+THE MAGIC FOREST: A Modern Fairy Story.
+
+"No better book could be put in a young boy's hands," says the New York
+_Sun_. It is a happy blend of knowledge of wood life with an
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+
+Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Price, seventy-five cents per
+volume, postpaid.
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+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+_THE GROSSET & DUNLAP EDITIONS OF STANDARD WORKS_
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+
+A FULL AND COMPLETE EDITION OF TENNYSON'S POEMS.
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+gilt top, $2.50, postpaid.
+
+THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON AND HER TIMES, by Mrs. Roger A. Pryor.
+
+The brilliant social life of the time passes before the reader, packed
+full of curious and delightful information. More kinds of interest enter
+into it than into any other volume on Colonial Virginia. Sixty
+illustrations. Price, seventy-five cents, postpaid.
+
+SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND, by William Winter
+
+A record of rambles in England, relating largely to Warwickshire and
+depicting not so much the England of fact, as the England created and
+hallowed by the spirit of her poetry, of which Shakespeare is the soul.
+Profusely illustrated. Price, seventy-five cents, postpaid.
+
+THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE CITIZEN, by Jacob A. Riis.
+
+Should be read by every man and boy in America. Because it sets forth an
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+him best. A large, handsomely illustrated cloth bound book. Price,
+postpaid, seventy-five cents.
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+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
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+
+
+
+_THE GROSSET AND DUNLAP SPECIAL EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS THAT HAVE
+BEEN DRAMATIZED._
+
+
+BREWSTER'S MILLIONS: By George Barr McCutcheon.
+
+A clever, fascinating tale, with a striking and unusual plot. With
+illustrations from the original New York production of the play.
+
+THE LITTLE MINISTER: By J. M. Barrie.
+
+With illustrations from the play as presented by Maude Adams, and a
+vignette in gold of Miss Adams on the cover.
+
+CHECKERS: By Henry M. Blossom, Jr.
+
+A story of the Race Track. Illustrated with scenes from the play as
+originally presented in New York by Thomas W. Ross who created the stage
+character.
+
+THE CHRISTIAN: By Hall Caine.
+THE ETERNAL CITY: By Hall Caine.
+
+Each has been elaborately and successfully staged.
+
+IN THE PALACE OF THE KING: By F. Marion Crawford.
+
+A love story of Old Madrid, with full page illustrations. Originally
+played with great success by Viola Allen.
+
+JANICE MEREDITH: By Paul Leicester Ford.
+
+New edition with an especially attractive cover, a really handsome book.
+Originally played by Mary Mannering, who created the title role.
+
+
+These books are handsomely bound in cloth, are well-made in every
+respect, and aside from their unusual merit as stories, are particularly
+interesting to those who like things theatrical. Price, postpaid,
+seventy-five cents each.
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS
+52 DUANE STREET  ::  NEW YORK
+
+
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