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Gage</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Fifth Ace</p> +<p>Author: Douglas Grant</p> +<p>Release Date: December 17, 2007 [eBook #23885]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIFTH ACE***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""Peach of a town," he repeated with added conviction" BORDER="2" WIDTH="427" HEIGHT="665"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 427px"> +"Peach of a town," he repeated with added conviction +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIFTH ACE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +DOUGLAS GRANT +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FRONTISPIECE BY +<BR> +GEORGE W. GAGE +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +<BR> +PUBLISHERS +<BR> +NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1918, by +<BR> +W. J. WATT & COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">GENTLEMAN GEOFF'S BILLIE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A SUPERFLUOUS KNIGHT-ERRANT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE COMING OF EL NEGRITO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">GENTLEMAN GEOFF PASSES THE DEAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">A GRINGO CINDERELLA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">TIA JUANA'S CAULDRON COOLS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">ALIEN KIN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">WILLA SITS IN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">BIRDS OF A FEATHER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">AN ACE IN THE HOLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A CHANGE OF FRONT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">COALS OF FIRE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE CHALLENGE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE KNIGHT-ERRANT ONCE MORE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">GONE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE POOL OF THE LOST SOULS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">ANGIE SCORES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">MIDNIGHT FOR CINDERELLA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">THE VENDER OF TOMALES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">WINNIE MASON STANDS BY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">THE RETURN OF TIA JUANA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">WHERE TRAILS MEET</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE SLIPPER OF CINDERELLA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">THE LOST SOULS' TREASURE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">INTO HER OWN</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIFTH ACE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GENTLEMAN GEOFF'S BILLIE +</H3> + +<P> +Kearn Thode mounted his pinto and rode out of the courtyard of the +Baggott Hotel and down the Calle Rivera under a seething tropic sun. +Limasito's principal street was well-nigh deserted in the lethargy of +the noon-day siesta, but the flower-market was a riotous blaze of color +in the glistening white plaza, from which radiated broad vistas of +fantastically painted adobe and soberer concrete, ending in a soft +green blur. +</P> + +<P> +The young petroleum engineer had pictured a ten-year-old boom town in +the Mexican oil belt as a wilderness of rough shacks and board +sidewalks, with possibly a dancehall or two and an open-air movie as +the only attractions, and the thriving little city had proved a welcome +surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Limasito," he mused. "That means 'Little Lemon.' Wonder who tacked +that name to this burg? Peach of a town, I call it." +</P> + +<P> +A long, low adobe house, tinted a screaming blue which rivaled the +skies, faced the southern end of the plaza, covering nearly an entire +block. As Thode jogged past, a door in the side wall opened, and a +girl appeared. She was tall with a lithe slenderness that betokened +well-poised strength rather than fragility. Masses of sloe-black hair +waved beneath the broad brim of her sombrero, but her skin was +unbelievably fair and the eyes she lifted to his in frank scrutiny were +the deep blue of a wood violet. +</P> + +<P> +The young man caught his breath as she turned and started across the +plaza, walking with long, free, swinging strides. +</P> + +<P> +"Peach of a town," he repeated, with added conviction. "All to the +good!" +</P> + +<P> +The Calle Rivera dwindled into a dusty, white, winding road, +straggling, flower-choked gardens replaced the city blocks and gave way +in turn to haciendas whose flat fertile acres teemed with the luscious +harvest. The pinto covered the ground at an easy lope which ate up the +miles, and Thode sat his high Mexican saddle, as easy as a +rocking-chair, scanning each turn of the road for landmarks. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was well upon its western course when he reined in at a low +stout gateway. A peon, lazily hoeing in the ditch, straightened his +bent back and eyed the stranger in mild curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"This Hallock's ranch?" Thode asked, laconically. +</P> + +<P> +The peon nodded and waved a brown hand toward the house half hidden +among the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"Señor Hallo', si, Señor." +</P> + +<P> +The engineer wheeled and cantered up the winding driveway, with the +serried rows of grapefruit trees spreading out endlessly on either side +of the little rising where the square white ranch-house squatted, its +broad wings outstretched like those of a brooding hen. +</P> + +<P> +In the shade of a mahogany tree, an excessively fat, excessively bald +person sprawled in a low chair by a rustic table, alternately sipping +from the tall glass at his elbow and mopping his ruddy glabrous brow +with a vivid bandanna. +</P> + +<P> +He rose to his short legs as Thode swung himself from the saddle and +advanced. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hallock?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's me, Stranger. Howdy!" He held out a pudgy hand, and noting +the fresh coat of sunburn on his visitor, he added: "Just come over the +border?" +</P> + +<P> +"Further than that, Sir; from New York. I'm Kearn Thode. Perhaps Mr. +Larkin mentioned me to you; Perry Larkin, of the Mexamer Oil Company." +</P> + +<P> +"To be sho'! I'm right glad to see you, Thode." +</P> + +<P> +Benjamin Hallock pumped his hand vigorously. "Been kinder expectin' +you down in these parts. We'll set a spell out here, it's hotter'n +blazes inside. Hey, Luis! Juan!" +</P> + +<P> +Two mozos scurried from the veranda in response to the bull-throated +roar, and Thode found himself seated opposite his host with another +tall glass before him and a slender black cigar between his fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"Great country for you folks, down here," Hallock remarked. "We've got +the largest producing oil wells in the world right in this leetle strip +of land along the Gulf and, at that, the undeveloped resources are a +damn' sight greater'n you can judge from what's been brought to light. +Yes, Sir, I shouldn't be surprised any day to strike a gusher right +here on my ranch! Rufe Terwilliger, twelve miles yonder at the Dos +Zapotes, spudded in only six months ago on a hunch, and now with the +valve-gate only part-way open, he's bringing in a thousand barrels a +day!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know that the development which has taken place here is, speaking +relatively to the possibilities, only a beginning," Thode assured the +heated enthusiast. "I'm down here to look after Mr. Larkin's +interests, and those of the Mexamer Company with a view to extending +their holdings if I can pick up anything promising. By the way, Mr. +Hallock, that was a curious yarn you told Mr. Larkin, about some +mysterious lost pool in a swamp with surface oil indications. He +happened to mention it one day. The Pool of the Lost Souls, wasn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Hallock nodded, grinning expansively. +</P> + +<P> +"You've got it right," he chuckled. "So Larkin bit, did he? It's +nothing but pure bunk, one of those old Mex' legends that run back to +the beginning of time. We pass it on to every green operator from over +the border, but I reckoned Larkin was too wise a bird to take any stock +in it." +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't," Thode returned carelessly. "Up in Oklahoma where I've +been locating some sections for the company there are any amount of +Indian myths and queer old traditions handed down from the first +settlers, and I made a collection of them. It's rather a hobby of +mine. I was discussing them with Mr. Larkin when he recalled this odd +tale. He had forgotten the particulars, but he said you would be able +to supply them. The pool was supposed to be located somewhere around +here, wasn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anywhere within a radius of two hundred miles." His host drained his +glass and settled back comfortably. "I judge it about that, for I've +been pretty much over this whole country and it's only around these +parts that you hear of the Lost Souls' Pool. I got the tale from a +hunchbacked half-breed and he got it from his grandmother. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems that away back in the times when the Spaniards were scrapping +with the Indians for a foothold, an old grandee named Del Reyes had +staked out a claim hereabout. Mighty poor judgment he showed, too, for +he wouldn't have known what to do with oil if he'd found it in those +days and by all accounts the land couldn't have been much good for +anything else; swampy and low-lying, without even timber. He had a +beautiful daughter, Dolores, of course. Funny how that gal Dolores +manages to get herself mixed up in every yarn below the border, ain't +it? There was a kid brother, José, too, but he don't figure much. +</P> + +<P> +"Dolores must have been some Jane for all the male population, what +there was of it, went plumb loco about her, among 'em a young Spanish +explorer and the son of the chief of the tribe, whose claims Del Reyes +and the rest had jumped. Dolores favored the explorer, but the young +chief had seen her first, and being a simple-hearted child of nature, +he decided that the way to get what he wanted was to go right out after +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Accordingly, he showed up unexpected at the Del Reyes hacienda with +his outfit one moonlight night and laid hands on the gal. Dolores was +packing a knife, though, and she let him have it, full to the hilt. +His outfit vamoosed, taking the corpse with them, and the settlement +got ready for trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing happened, howsomever, until the night of the fiesta for +Dolores' marriage to the explorer. Then the old chief dropped in, +informal like, and wiped out the whole wedding party. He macheted all +but the bride, throwing the bodies into a shallow pool on the claim. +Her he roped up, tied heavy weights to and stood up in the pool; the +water came about to her shoulders. Then he held the knife before her +eyes, the knife she'd stuck his son with, and waited for the weights to +drag her down. I reckon he waited some time, for Dolores must have +been a right-strong young woman, but she went under finally. The only +one that escaped the pool was the kid brother, José, and him the old +chief carried off. +</P> + +<P> +"According to the yarn, Dolores still breathes in the pool, the bubbles +rise to the surface and there's a murmuring from the other souls that +went down unshriven. What's more, the water is never ruffled but +smooth and glassy, with streaks that gleam in the moonlight. Of +course, that's oil, all right, or would be if the pool ever existed, +but nobody's found it yet." +</P> + +<P> +"It's got the punch to it, as a story." Thode paused to relight his +cigar. "Did your hunchbacked friend give you any further description +of the pool itself or its location?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing to work on, Son. This flat part of the country don't run much +to scenery. He did say something about a mahogany tree close by, that +grew up with two outstretched branches like a cross and then turned to +stone, but I'm not letting my peons loaf on the job while I go moseying +around looking for it." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a great little ranch you have here." Thode turned in his chair +to survey the close-packed avenues of low-hanging trees. "Any oil on +your land, Mr. Hallock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not here. Got two gushers over near Tuxpam, next to some property +that I reckon you'll want to look into for the Mexamer people. Larkin +told me himself that he thought of taking it over." +</P> + +<P> +The talk drifted into a discussion of relative values and prospects, +and when Thode cantered down the driveway an hour or so later he had +secured a good working knowledge of the surrounding country with which +to commence his labors. He had parted with some little difficulty from +his host, who insisted on sending in to Limasito for the young +engineer's baggage and wholeheartedly desired that he make the Hacienda +de Rosa his headquarters. +</P> + +<P> +Kearn Thode, however, had other intentions. He must be free to go and +come as he pleased on his mission and he determined to make the town +itself the center of his activities. Moreover, Hallock's hacienda was +a bachelor establishment and in Limasito there were girls; girls with +blue eyes and black hair and incredibly white skin, who looked a man +straight in the eyes and made him feel as if maybe he'd found a friend. +</P> + +<P> +That blue adobe house on the southern end of the square began to loom +large in the architecture of Limasito. Thode had caught a glimpse of +the patio as he swung past; it had looked cool and green and inviting, +with a fountain playing and little tables scattered about. What was +it, anyway, and how could one meet a girl who lived there? +</P> + +<P> +The curious old tale of the Lost Souls' Pool was temporarily forgotten +in speculations of a more warmly personal nature. Was she an +Americano? She seemed of too fair a type for a native daughter, in +spite of her dark hair, and that, together with her violet-blue eyes, +gave more than a hint of Irish ancestry. What could bring a girl of +her sort to a boom town below the border? +</P> + +<P> +So absorbed was the young engineer in his cogitations that he had +reached the outskirts of Limasito before he awoke from his reverie. +The swiftly falling curtain of twilight had wrapped the spreading +orchards and haciendas in fragrant gloom and a myriad of mysterious +chirpings and rustlings forecasted the coming night, when the harsh, +grating screech of a horn blared upon their monotone and a low roadster +appeared suddenly around a turn in the road, careening sharply on two +wheels, and bore down recklessly upon the lone rider. +</P> + +<P> +Thode's pony was quicker than he and leaped aside barely in time to +avoid disaster as the car shot past and hurtled on into the dusk. He +turned in his saddle and watched its unlighted shape swerve drunkenly +from side to side of the road, until a further turn hid it from view. +With a muttered imprecation, he gave the sure-footed pinto its head, +and as it floundered out of the ditch the white, jeering face of the +man at the wheel, as he had seen it in that flashing glimpse, rose +again before his consciousness. It seemed for a startling instant to +be grimly, portentously familiar, then the fancy faded before the fact +of its obvious absurdity, and he laughed contemptuously. The danger of +the moment had played tricks with his nerves. +</P> + +<P> +A long-drawn, tremulous moan from the roadside broke in upon his +thoughts and he halted the pinto abruptly. A small crumpled figure lay +face downward in the ditch, twisting and quivering like a shot rabbit, +and, bending over it, Thode saw a slender feminine form which made his +pulse miss a beat or two and then race on with unaccountable +acceleration. He flung himself from the saddle and reached the edge of +the ditch, hat in hand, just as a pair of soft violet eyes were raised +to his. It was the girl of the adobe house on the plaza. +</P> + +<P> +"There has been an accident?" he stammered. +</P> + +<P> +She nodded briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"Put on your hat and help me tote him. He lives in that shack just +over yonder." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was low and musically clear, but it bore a ring of authority +as well as of impatience at the obviousness of his question, and Thode +meekly obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +The prostrate figure was that of a boy, dark-skinned and thin to the +point of emaciation. He was clad only in a ragged shirt and trousers, +with a battered straw hat lying torn and crushed beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand aside, please. I can carry him," Thode directed, and as he +slung the inert form gently over his shoulder he saw that the boy's +shoulders were pathetically humped. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his assertion, he found it no easy matter to struggle up +from the steep ditch, cumbered by his helpless burden, but the girl +steadied it with a capable hand and leaped lightly up beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Put him across your galapago, I'll walk on the other side and hold him +up. It's only to that shack there, where the light is." +</P> + +<P> +Again Thode obeyed, but he could not forbear a further query. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not hurt yourself, are you? It was that maniac in the car who +ran him down?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came on him just now, lying that-a-way in the ditch. Poor little +José! I know who did it, though; he passed me a minute before, going +like hell. It was Wiley." +</P> + +<P> +Thode started as the forceful comparison fell artlessly from her lips, +but at the final word a hot wave as of rage swept through his veins and +receded, leaving him tense and cold. So his vision had not tricked +him, after all. The man in the car had been no stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"I know. He almost ran me down, too." Thode set his jaw firmly. "Is +this where we turn off?" +</P> + +<P> +"This" was a narrow rutted lane, half-obliterated in the encroaching +underbrush, at the end of which a weather-beaten shack squatted in a +clump of zapote trees. As they drew up in the little cleared space +before it the door opened and a shriveled, white-haired woman peered +out, a light held high in her trembling hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Madre de Dios!" she cried. "José!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl turned to her with a rapid flow of soft liquid Spanish and the +old crone, weeping and muttering, stood aside to let them enter. Thode +was forced to stoop under the low, sagging doorway and he stumbled as +he made his way to a rickety bed in the corner and laid his burden down. +</P> + +<P> +The girl took the light from the old shaking hands and together they +bent above the injured lad. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think there are any bones broken," Thode announced at last. +"But he's had a pretty bad shaking up for a cripple and that is rather +a nasty cut on his head. Can you find anything clean to tie it up +with?" +</P> + +<P> +Without reply the girl stooped, turned back her short khaki skirt and +tore a wide strip from a snowy petticoat. Then with a basin of water +dipped from the bucket upon a bench beside them she bathed and bandaged +the wound deftly. The old crone had lighted a flaring oil lamp and by +its leaping glow Thode saw to his surprise that the shack although old +and ramshackle was scrupulously, incredibly clean, and its chatelaine +bore herself not without a certain dignity, despite her agitation. +</P> + +<P> +She was tall and stiffly angular with piercing black eyes deep-set in +her wrinkled face, and there was a peculiar wild grace in the rapid +gestures of her withered claw-like hands. She hovered anxiously about +as between them Thode and the girl ministered to the stricken lad, and +dropped to her knees as his eyes opened at length. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment his startled gaze roved over them and then settled upon +the face of the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Señorita!" His voice was a mere convulsive whisper. "Señorita! It +was the Americano, Señor Wiley! He cursed me and laughed! I heard him +when he struck me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, José. You must rest and get well quickly and then we will +attend to Señor Wiley. I will come to you to-morrow. Tia Juana—" she +laid her hand gently on the old woman's bowed shoulder—"I will send +Margarita—" +</P> + +<P> +The rest was lost in a rapid patter of Spanish, but its purport was +unmistakable, for the woman seized her hand and kissed it, and even the +boy flashed a worshiping smile. +</P> + +<P> +As they turned to the door, Thode jingled some coins in his pocket +tentatively, but the girl stopped him with a decisive gesture, and when +the door closed behind them and they stood out in the starlit darkness, +she gave a little, soft, low gurgle of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon you're new to these parts!" she exclaimed. "Let her see one +wink o' gold, and you'd have been knifed good and proper. Tia Juana's +no beggar, to be insulted with alms. She's proud; some of the +half-breeds are, when the strain is strong enough." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know," Thode responded humbly. "I'd like to do something for +the kid. Shall I send a doctor out, if I can find one?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll do, all right. It was a wicked thing to run him down like that, +but Wiley hasn't got the decency of a coyote, and he had it in for +José." She broke off suddenly, and held her hand out to the young +engineer. "Adios, stranger, and thanks for your help." +</P> + +<P> +"But won't you let me take you home, or wherever you are going?" Thode +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks. I left my basket down in the ditch—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get it for you," he urged. "It isn't safe for a girl like you to +go about alone after nightfall in a place like this." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes sought his wonderingly in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Me?" she ejaculated. "Stranger, I came to this town when it was +nothing but four shacks and a gusher, and I know everyone in it, white, +yellow and Mex. Not safe? Why every dog knows Gentleman Geoff's +Billie!" +</P> + +<P> +"You?" he stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"That's me. My Dad is Gentleman Geoff," she explained proudly. "He +owns the Blue Chip, and it's the squarest gambling-house from Chihuahua +to Campeche. It's kind of you to offer to go with me, but I don't need +any protection. I sort of belong to Limasito, I reckon. Adios!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SUPERFLUOUS KNIGHT-ERRANT +</H3> + +<P> +Kearn Thode rode back to his hotel with his brain in a whirl. That +girl with the sweet, steady eyes and naïve, fearless manner, the +product of a gambling-house and associate of its habitués? The thought +filled him with repugnance akin to horror. He was in no sense a prig, +but although this was his first venture below the Rio Grande, he had +spent three years in the roughest corners of the West and he knew the +type of women who infested the dance-halls and gambling-joints; unclean +camp-followers of the army of Chance. +</P> + +<P> +How had she grown to budding womanhood without contamination in such an +atmosphere? Self-reliant she had shown herself to be, but tender in +her pitying care of the injured boy and innocently free from coquetry +or cynical suspicion in her frank acceptance of the stranger. There +had been open amusement in her tone at his suggestion of danger to her +from any in Limasito, and genuine love and pride when she spoke of her +father and his calling. How was it possible that the mire of her +surroundings had left her untouched? +</P> + +<P> +The huge, squat adobe house was ablaze with light as he urged his jaded +pony into a gallop to pass it quickly. Lights gleamed also in the +patio and Chinese servants flitted here and there among the crowded +tables. He felt a hot surge of resentment as the subdued murmur of +masculine voices and jarring laughter floated after him. What an +environment for such a girl! +</P> + +<P> +After a hasty wash-up and a meal he sought further enlightenment from +his landlord. It was promptly and enthusiastically forthcoming. +</P> + +<P> +"The Blue Chip?" Jim Baggott tilted his chair back restfully against +the wall. "Finest place in the country; square as a die and the sky's +the limit to a regular hombre. Gentleman Geoff's just about one +hundred per cent. man, and don't you forget it. Everything's on the +level at his place." +</P> + +<P> +"Got a daughter, hasn't he?" Thode asked, proffering a cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"You're on. Fine gal, too. Ain't afraid of nothing, Billie ain't. +When the Yellow Jack hit us, two years ago, and not another woman in +town—and damn' few o' the men, fur that matter—but cleared out, +Billie went right in under the flag with the old Doc, and stayed till +the fever was stamped out. Thin as a wisp o' cotton she was, when it +was all over; face no wider'n this——" he measured with a burly thumb +and forefinger—"and eyes clean gone into the back of her head, but she +only grinned and said it had been fun while it lasted, to fight the +thing. First day she was out o' quarantine, she rode thirty miles to +Dan Willoughby's 'cienda 'cause she heard he was on a tear and +mistreating his kids and she brought him to terms, too. There ain't an +hombre in town that don't worship her and even the women like her." +</P> + +<P> +"I saw her to-day," remarked Thode. "She's a remarkably pretty girl." +</P> + +<P> +Jim bit the end off his cigar and spat it forth with emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, we 'uns that've watched her grow up from a rangy, long-legged, +stringy-haired leetle colt think more o' what she is than what she +looks like, but now that you mention it, I'll lay there ain't a Jane +this side o' the border and mighty few above it that can give her odds +on looks. And there ain't a man in these parts but has his trigger set +for the guy that'd look cross-eyed at her." +</P> + +<P> +There was a friendly but unmistakable hint in the concluding words and +the young engineer went to bed in a curious reversal of sentiment. +Gentleman Geoff had evidently earned his title; and from the tawdry, +fevered atmosphere of the Blue Chip his daughter, miraculously enough, +seemed to have drawn only strength and a warm-hearted abiding faith in +human nature. +</P> + +<P> +The still heat of mid-afternoon lay like a stifling veil upon the +little weather-beaten shack among the zapote trees, when Gentleman +Geoff's Billie lifted the latch next day. The single room was empty +save for the boy who tossed restlessly upon his pallet, but the +movement ceased and the sunken eyes glowed in the thin brown face, as +she bent over him. +</P> + +<P> +"The pain is better, comment?" she asked gently. "See, José! I have +brought you broth and wine." +</P> + +<P> +He stammered his gratitude with weak but fervent voice, then the elfin +face darkened. +</P> + +<P> +"The Señor Wiley!" he muttered. "It was because I would not tell him +of the Pool! He is great and strong and he would crush me for that I +keep silencioso, but when I am cured of this hurt——" +</P> + +<P> +"We will pay back the score to the Señor Wiley." The girl spoke +quietly, but a swift ominous light gleamed for a fleeting moment in her +eyes, turning their blue to steel. "We'll teach him what fair play +means in Limasito! But where is thy grandmother, José?" +</P> + +<P> +The lad shivered in spite of the heat. +</P> + +<P> +"She stirs her cauldron," he whispered. "She crept in at the dawn and +since she has muttered of strange things. There must have been a +warning, Señorita." +</P> + +<P> +With a stifled exclamation, Billie straightened and crossed to the +door. A thin spiral of smoke rose like a gray wisp above the zapote +trees and a low-crooned, rhythmic chant was borne to her on the +stirless air. Without hesitation she followed the narrow, scarcely +discernible path toward the opening in the clump of trees. +</P> + +<P> +A battered pot was slung above a blaze of dried wood and before it Tia +Juana sat upon her heels, swaying from side to side with half-closed +eyes and outstretched tremulous hands. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the girl paused, and then stepped forward. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Tia Juana?" she asked softly in Spanish. "Would you brew +a cure for José or a curse for the evil which has befallen him?" +</P> + +<P> +The swaying ceased and the arms dropped as the old woman turned swiftly. +</P> + +<P> +"Neither, Señorita, but I would learn the truth," she responded +solemnly. "Last night I beheld a thing which passed my understanding, +but of it only evil can come, and I would know it now." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you see?" asked Billie, seating herself on a moss-grown log. +"What was this evil thing, Tia Juana?" +</P> + +<P> +"I went to the hacienda of the Señor Wiley." The old woman announced +simply. "He had harmed my José, child of my blood, and I would have +taken revenge upon him." +</P> + +<P> +"Tia Juana, that was wrong!" Billie cried. "I have told my father and +he will see that justice is done. You—you found him?" +</P> + +<P> +Tia Juana nodded and her thin lips compressed. +</P> + +<P> +"Behind the casito where the carro is stored I came upon him in the +shadow. Beside him was a figure I could not see, to whom he talked low +and quickly, with many gestures. Me he did not see, and I waited. +Then in a moment, Señorita, the figure moved so that the moonlight fell +upon him. It was that messenger of the Evil One, De Soria." +</P> + +<P> +"John Sawyer?" the girl repeated in a hushed tone. +</P> + +<P> +"So you know him, Señorita." The old woman's lip curled. "Before your +coming, or ever a rooftree was raised in Limasito, he was Juan De +Soria, son of thieves and black of heart as his master's skin." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shivered. +</P> + +<P> +"El Negrito!" she whispered. "You think he came from Alvarez? But +what dealings does the Americano Wiley have with El Negrito?" +</P> + +<P> +The old woman muttered and her withered, clenched hand struck her +breast. +</P> + +<P> +"It is that which I would see in the cauldron," she hissed. "Before El +Negrito, comes always his creature, De Soria, and with him come fire +and looting and death! The Señor Wiley turns all things to his purpose +and if he has sold himself to the Evil One and traffics with El +Negrito, I would be warned. I have seen one of his raids, Señorita; it +was as if the sky rained destruction and slaughter!" +</P> + +<P> +Her head sank on her breast and a brief, tense silence ensued. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not believe such evil of the Señor Wiley," Billie remarked at +last. "Cruel he is and like a madman in his anger, but between him and +El Negrito there could be no covenant. It may be that he came upon +Sawyer skulking about and was warning him off the hacienda. Sawyer has +been in Limasito for many days, and he plays high at my father's casa." +</P> + +<P> +"With what gold?" the old woman retorted. "He who has been beggar and +thief since the hour of his birth. Much gold he could not steal for he +has not the wit. For what evil compact has he been paid in riches?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +"Luck turns," she said laconically. "Once a man came to the Blue Chip +with pesos ciento and broke the faro bank. Fortune—buena suerte—has +smiled on as worthless ones as Sawyer. But you, Tia Juana; what did +you do last night when you saw?" +</P> + +<P> +"I crept away, silently, so that none knew of my presence and returned +to José." Tia Juana chuckled mirthlessly. "My vengeance can wait. +The Señor Wiley is a fool, and the son of fools! It was not to the boy +he should have gone for knowledge of the Pool; José knows no more than +the idle words he repeated one evil day to the Señor Hallock, for which +I beat him soundly! It is I who have seen the Pool of the Lost Souls, +only I who knows where Dolores and her lover sleep." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice died in an unintelligible murmur, and the rhythmic swaying +recommenced. The legend of the Lost Souls' Pool was no new one to +Billie; she had heard it often from the lips of the old crone, who +could never be persuaded to divulge its supposed location and the myth +had become an old settlers' joke around Limasito. +</P> + +<P> +She stole away presently, leaving Tia Juana to her incantations, and +returned to the shack, but José had fallen into uneasy slumber, and +after moistening the bandage about his head, she started for home. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman's account of her nocturnal adventure would not be +exorcised from Billie's thoughts. The Señor Wiley was a young Eastern +capitalist, who held vast oil and fruit-growing properties in the +surrounding countryside. It was incredible that he could hold any +communication with the rebel bandit and murderer, Alvarez, the "Little +Negro," whose name was enough to strike terror to native hearts. +</P> + +<P> +El Negrito had pillaged and burned, raped and killed unhindered until +he was glutted with blood and loot, but that was in the old days, only +a few years ago before the newest government was in power and the white +men came in force. Of late he had retired to the hills, the memory of +his atrocities had faded and only when news came of a burning village +far away, or the murder of a lone prospector was the sporadic attempt +to capture him renewed, and then in a half-hearted manner. +</P> + +<P> +It was rumored that the nomadic, down-at-heel half-breed, John Sawyer, +was an agent of the killer, but no proof could be brought to bear upon +him and he was allowed to go his cringing way unmolested. Billie +wondered now, with a cold, unaccustomed sense of dread, if rumor spoke +truly. What if Sawyer were indeed the forerunner of a visitation from +the bandit of the hills? +</P> + +<P> +The girl had turned mechanically into a side road, shadier than the +highway and leading by a short cut to the plaza and the heart of the +town. She was still in the open country, with orchards stretching out +interminably on either side and not even a peon within hailing +distance, when the chug and snort of a motor reached her reluctant +ears. Billie knew that irregular rattling hum, and insensibly +quickened her pace. +</P> + +<P> +Then as the car drew close behind her she slowed, a peculiar light +glinting in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Buenas tardes, Señorita Billie!" A merry, mocking voice called, and +she wheeled about. +</P> + +<P> +A sallow, sandy-haired young man, with pale protruding blue eyes and +thin curling lips, sprawled low behind the wheel of his roadster, +leering familiarly at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-afternoon," she responded formally. "You must be in a hurry, Mr. +Wiley, to have taken this short cut instead of keeping to the highway. +It was good of you not to run me down, but the way is clear now." +</P> + +<P> +She stepped aside into a mass of flowering low-grown bushes, but with a +light laugh the young man sprang from the car, hat in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I am never in a hurry to go when you are about, Billie! But you +always run away; you never will play with me. Why aren't you kind?" +</P> + +<P> +Involuntarily she stepped back still farther as he advanced upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you in need of kindness?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think I was." He paused before her, still laughing, but his +pale eyes glittered. "You're the only girl in this God-forsaken town +that I want to be friends with, and you won't play. Be a good sport +and come for a little ride now; I'll show you some speed." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," she drawled, her hand moving to rest lightly on her hip. +"Have you a few more old scores to settle to-day, with that tin +Juggernaut of yours?" +</P> + +<P> +A shadow had fallen across the dazzling white of the road, but neither +noted it. The girl stood straight as a sapling, smiling up fearlessly +into the twisted, sardonic face thrust close to hers. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that yellow dog I ran over yesterday?" The semblance of +mirth was gone from his voice. "The fool wouldn't move quick enough, +and if anyone stands in my way I get them, sooner or later. You're a +little queen, Billie, and you've been lording it over the roughnecks +around here so long that you think you can set your heel on the neck of +the universe. A little cave-man stuff would be good for you, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +"You being the cave-man?" Her clear laughter rang out scornfully. +"You aren't very well acquainted with us around here, Mr. Wiley, or +you'd realize that it isn't right healthy to appoint yourself to office +in these parts. The road is still clear, but you might find it barred +with something you couldn't run down if you don't move quick." +</P> + +<P> +"You little she-cat!" He sprang forward and seized the wrist which +swung at her side. "You'll take a ride with me, do you hear? And +you'll come now, or I'll pick you up and carry——" +</P> + +<P> +He got no farther. Something caught him sidewise and whirled him +headlong into the bushes, and a very calm, very resolute voice sounded +in almost forgotten tones. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll pick yourself up first, Starr Wiley, and come back for more if +you want it. You know what's coming to you!" +</P> + +<P> +Billie started in sheer amazement. There before her, sprung from +nowhere, was her companion of yesterday, the smug young man who had +wanted to play the chaperon, and who had seemed surprised and shocked +when she revealed her identity. Her eyes blazed. +</P> + +<P> +"How come you to butt in on this little argument?" There was an +ominous note in her slow drawl. "No one asked you to sit in, Señor +Duenna, I'm playing my own hand. You durn fool, don't you see I had +the coyote covered all the time?" +</P> + +<P> +Her hand moved from the hip pocket of her khaki skirt and he saw the +glint of the sun upon a small but business-like, blunt-nosed revolver. +</P> + +<P> +Kearn Thode stepped back, his face crimson at the name she had dubbed +him as well as at the unexpectedness of her attack, and at that moment +Starr Wiley leaped, snarling, from the undergrowth. +</P> + +<P> +The girl stood fascinated. She had seen many rough-and-tumble fights +in the history of Limasito, but the clean-cut scientific way the two +lean, lithe, well-matched figures sprang to combat thrilled her. +</P> + +<P> +Wiley was the heavier of the two, but indolence and dissipation had +softened him and Thode was in the pink of condition. After the first +blind onslaught he steadied himself and parried, waiting for the +opening his opponent's uncontrolled rage would give him. It was soon +forthcoming; a side-stepped lunge left Wiley's pallid face exposed and +Thode caught him fairly on the point of the jaw. He shot across the +road, crumpled into the ditch and lay quivering and still, as his +victim of the day before. +</P> + +<P> +Panting, Thode turned to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," he said stiffly. "I didn't mean to butt in on your game, +but, having started, I had to finish." +</P> + +<P> +She seemed not to have heard. Her eyes were shining and a little spot +of clear rose showed in her cheeks as she held out her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"A good, clean knock-out!" she cried. "I wish Dad could have seen it. +You're some fighter, Mr.——?" +</P> + +<P> +"Duenna," he supplied grimly. "Do you wish me to leave you here with +him now, or shall I wait until he comes to, and see if he wants a fresh +deal?" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed merrily. +</P> + +<P> +"Wiley won't be looking for anything but home and a stiff drink of +hooch when he gets back to the world," she remarked. "I reckon he's in +for quite a siesta." +</P> + +<P> +"We can't very well leave him there." Thode spoke reflectively. "Last +time, he had a buckboard and I dumped him back into it. The team took +him home, all right, but you can't very well expect that of a motor." +</P> + +<P> +Billie eyed him curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"But you've only just come, and he hasn't driven any team around here." +</P> + +<P> +"We've met before." Thode's face had darkened and his tone was terse. +"His car's drawn well up on the side of the road. I'll just put him in +it and he can find his way when he wakes." +</P> + +<P> +The girl watched as he hauled the limp body out of the ditch and thrust +it unceremoniously into the seat behind the wheel. Wiley stirred, +grunted and then slumped forward, his head resting upon his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll do." Billie gave the unconscious figure a last contemptuous +glance. "I like the way you play when you do get into a little game, +and unless you want the whole town to be calling you 'Mr. Duenna' +inside of three days, you'd better tell me your name." +</P> + +<P> +He complied, and quite naturally they swung off down the road together. +</P> + +<P> +Thode stole a glance at her in utter bewilderment. A girl who could +watch a fight without timidity or squeamishness but in impartial, +impersonal joy of the conflict was unique in his experience. She had +been angry, contemptuous of them both; would she as heartily have +congratulated his adversary, had the tables been turned? +</P> + +<P> +"You are still angry with me for my interference, Miss——?" he began, +but she stopped him with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been just 'Billie' to all Limasito since the first well was +spudded in; you don't want the boys to think you're putting notions +into my head, do you?" She smiled, frankly. "I hated you because I'd +bragged to you that I could take care of myself and nobody would molest +me in these parts, and then you had to come along just when it looked +as though I was a maiden in distress. You see, I hadn't reckoned on +Wiley showing yellow; we don't have many like him in Limasito; at least +not long." +</P> + +<P> +"If I thought you a maiden in distress, I proved to be a very +superfluous knight-errant," he retorted. "You were well able to take +care of yourself, so your boast was no idle one." +</P> + +<P> +"Dad taught me that," she responded simply. "He runs the Blue Chip on +the square, but there are times when an extra ace appears in the +show-down, and then it isn't a question of who produced it, but which +one is quickest on the draw. Five aces never grew in a straight deck, +and I sometimes think I can see the fifth ace in an hombre's eye. I +saw it in Señor Wiley's." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to look in at the Blue Chip, if I may." Thode sheered the +topic away from his late antagonist, and Billie followed his lead. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you must," she said cordially. "You'll find the whole works +going; monte, Fairbank, stud and blackjack. There's roulette and +craps, too, but it's mostly the women who go after them." +</P> + +<P> +"And you—do you play?" He could not forebear the question. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad says there never was a good bartender yet who drank." Billie +grimaced. "He even stopped me being mascot; it always raised a riot. +It isn't the winning hand or the stakes themselves that I care for, +it's the fun of the game, but Dad says gambling is a poor game for +women. They never count the odds they stack up against, and when they +over-play, they're bad losers. You'll like Dad, Mr. Thode; he's the +whitest hombre that ever crossed the Rio." +</P> + +<P> +Secretly, Thode was beginning to think that he should. The girl was an +anomaly and he was curious to see what manner of man her idol was and +learn how he had kept her so singularly free from the dross of his +world and managed to hold so unswervingly before her the real stakes of +the game, truth and honor and a high heart. +</P> + +<P> +When he left her at the side door of the Blue Chip, the young engineer +held her hand for an appreciable moment longer than the occasion +demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm coming to-night," he announced. "Will you—will I see you?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the patio," she dimpled swiftly. "Buena suerte!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good luck!" The phrase echoed in his brain, but oddly enough his +thoughts did not go forward to the hot, crowded, smoke-hung card-room, +or the girl waiting in the cool, fragrant darkness of the inner court, +but instead there arose before his mental eyes the vision of a +petrified wooden cross beside a glassy pool, and mingled incongruously +with it, the face of Starr Wiley, distorted as he had last seen it, +with the bruised lips twisted into a mocking leer. Would the lightly +expressed wish of Gentleman Geoff's Billie prove a presage of victory +in the great game they two were playing? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE COMING OF EL NEGRITO +</H3> + +<P> +When he entered the Blue Chip that night, Thode found play already in +full blast. The tables were crowded, smoke hung in low-banked clouds +below the flaring oil lamps, and the glittering bar at the far end of +the room was phalanxed three deep by a jostling, good-natured throng. +Soft-footed, wooden-faced Chinese mozos glided about, and the whining +monotone of the croupier came from a distant corner. +</P> + +<P> +The scene was not an unfamiliar one to the young engineer, but he +glanced about him with quickened interest. The walls of the huge room, +like the exterior, were painted a garish blue, the floor bare but +scrubbed clean, and the chairs and tables had been obviously selected +with a view to utility and strength rather than ornamentation. No +attempt had been made to render the place attractive and in this +Gentleman Geoff's psychology was sound; Limasito wanted its play, like +its liquor, without frills. +</P> + +<P> +Leisurely, Thode approached the roulette-table and stood looking over +the shoulder of a burly drill-shirted tool-dresser as the little ball +spun in the whirling wheel and dropped into seventeen. The +tool-dresser grunted with satisfaction and raked in the heap of silver +pushed toward him by the croupier, but one or two of the watchers +turned away. The play was evidently not yet high enough to hold their +interest, and Thode was on the point of following when a hand clapped +his arm. +</P> + +<P> +Turning, he found a tall, lean figure beside him clad in immaculate +white duck from top to toe, with a drooping gray mustache beneath a +high, thin nose, keen, twinkling eyes and a mass of grizzled, waving +hair. He might have been anywhere between forty-five and sixty, and in +a flash his identity was disclosed to the young engineer. +</P> + +<P> +"Howdy!" The hand which had rested on his arm clasped his in a hearty +grip. "Glad to see you here, Sir. My daughter told me to expect you." +</P> + +<P> +"You're Gentleman Geoff?" the younger man asked quickly, smiling in +return. "My name is Thode. I met your daughter yesterday——" +</P> + +<P> +"So she told me." The twinkle brightened in the genial eyes. "I'm +glad of a chance to thank you for helping her with that poor little +cuss, José. He's a special favorite of hers. Were you thinking of +sitting in right now, Mr. Thode?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not just yet. I was having a look around——" +</P> + +<P> +"Then come out where it's cool, and have a man-sized drink." +</P> + +<P> +His surprising host led the way to the patio where they found a little +table close by the plashing fountain and a hovering mozo attended to +their needs. When the servant had departed, Gentleman Geoff folded his +arms on the table and leaned forward. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a newcomer, Mr. Thode, and down here we don't ask a man where +he came from or the nature of his business, as long as he attends to it +strictly and doesn't interfere with others. There is no objection to +his playing a tight game providing he is on the level, but when he +makes a crooked move, it's time for the rest of us to take a hand. My +Billie tells me you are an old acquaintance of this man Wiley and I am +going to ask you one question straight, Sir. Do you know anything good +of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Thode temporized, "he's rated a millionaire in New York and his +father was one of the pioneer Pennsylvania oil men. He is a partner of +Harrington Chase, and together they hold some of the best leases in +this part of the country, I understand." +</P> + +<P> +"They do. But I was speaking of the man himself." Gentleman Geoff's +eyes smiled a perfect understanding. "I was wondering if there could +be some point in his favor that I'd overlooked." +</P> + +<P> +"In that case, we've been mutually blind," said Thode, frankly. "I met +him first out in Oklahoma two years ago, and I've run across him more +than once since, and I don't mind telling you candidly that each +meeting has given me less pleasure. I didn't expect to encounter him +down here, and I guess Limasito is big enough to hold us both, but if +he wants to see me after to-day he knows where to find me." +</P> + +<P> +The older man nodded, slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckoned as much. He hasn't been any favorite since he blew in +here, to draw it mild, but he's getting just a little bit too offensive +for the good of the community. I know his breed, but I didn't think +even he would snap at my Billie's heels. I would have looked you up at +the hotel to-night to shake hands with you for what you did this +afternoon, Mr. Thode, but Billie told me you intended to pay us a +little visit." +</P> + +<P> +"It was a pleasure," the other responded with sincerity. "It has been +coming to Wiley for a long time. But your daughter had the situation +well in hand. She is a remarkable young woman." +</P> + +<P> +"She is an honest one, honest with herself and the world. There wasn't +much else I could teach her and it hasn't been possible for her to have +regular schooling and the influence of women. I've always reckoned +fair play was about the biggest thing in life, and woman-like she's +gone further than my teachings and worked out an eye-for-an-eye creed +of justice for herself that would shame a vigilance committee, but +she's wholesome and sound in mind and limb." +</P> + +<P> +"I've learned a little of what they think of her in this town." Thode +hesitated, and then went on earnestly. "I know the strict code of even +the roughest mining camps up over the border, where good women are +concerned, but I'll own that it gave me a jolt to see how freely and +fearlessly she goes about down here. You may think, Sir, that I'm +exhibiting a lot of nerve, and it may be that I have a distorted +picture in my mind of the life in this part of the country for a young +girl like your daughter, but is she safe with all these low-caste +half-breeds about?" +</P> + +<P> +"As safe as in a convent." Gentleman Geoff's eyes had narrowed. "I +appreciate your interest, Mr. Thode, but let me remind you that it was +a man from the States, a New York swell, who molested her this +afternoon. There isn't a low-caste Mex' who would take a chance, for +he'd know that every gun from here to the Sierra Madre would be cocked +for him, and even the hills couldn't give him a hiding-place! But as +to Wiley. I had a reason apart from his little attentions to Billie, +for asking about him. Whatever lies between you two is your own game, +but I know you better than you think, Mr. Thode. Your chief, Perry +Larkin, told me he was sending you down, and what manner of hombre you +were. If Larkin can trust you, I'm going to take a chance. I thought +I had Wiley's number, but I learned something to-day, aside from that +little fracas, that makes me doubt I've given him credit for his limit +of crookedness. Mr. Thode, do you figure that Starr Wiley is enough of +a man to be a very big rascal?" +</P> + +<P> +Thode hesitated again. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," he began at last, "that it would depend wholly on the size +of the stakes. He's a coward when it comes to a show-down, but money +and place and power are his gods. If it was a tremendous piece of +villainy with a big incentive he mightn't have the courage to see it +through himself, but he is quite capable of aiding and abetting it, or +hiring others to do it for him." +</P> + +<P> +Gentleman Geoff's fists clenched and he drew a deep breath. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" he cried. "You've struck it, Mr. Thode! Unless I'm +mistaken, he's dealing the biggest, crookedest hand of his life right +now, but we'll get him, Sir. We'll show him what fair play is below +the border—" +</P> + +<P> +He broke off and for a minute the two men sat in silence, straining +their ears. +</P> + +<P> +Above the click of glasses and sound of many voices in the +gambling-rooms had come the sharp, staccato clatter of a horse's hoofs +upon the hard-packed road. It was not unusual in a land where hooch +was cheap and stimulating and every drunken roysterer celebrated in the +saddle, but there was an ominous, tragic suggestion in the irregularity +of the hoof-beats as of an exhausted, failing beast urged on by grim +and vital need. +</P> + +<P> +The young engineer leaped to his feet as the clatter ceased in a harsh +scraping thud, and with Gentleman Geoff beside him, he crossed the +patio and re-entered the gambling-room. The voices had hushed as if by +magic, and every motionless figure was turned toward the entrance door. +</P> + +<P> +It was flung open and a man staggered blindly over the sill, reeling +and clutching at his breast with both gnarled, sinewy hands. +</P> + +<P> +"El Negrito!" his voice rose in a smothered sob. "He's hit the trail +and coming fast. Look out for your——" +</P> + +<P> +The stranger choked, caught at his throat and crumpled slowly to the +floor, a thin scarlet stream pouring from his lips. The silence held +for one tense moment and then pandemonium broke loose. +</P> + +<P> +"A raid! A raid!" +</P> + +<P> +Hoarse cries filled the room and a mad stampede ensued, but somehow +through the rampant throng, Kearn Thode found himself before that +fallen figure. Gentleman Geoff was still at his side, but another had +been quicker than they. Soft hands raised the dying man's head and +Billie knelt beside him, her pallor intensified but her eyes steady and +calm. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam! can you speak to me? Where are the babies, and Mamie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gone!" The breath whistled through the tortured lips. +"Macheted—thank God, I saw them die. Tell Geoff—save you——" +</P> + +<P> +The whisper died in a rattle and the head slumped inert against her +knee. +</P> + +<P> +"It's over, Billie. Get on down to the cellar, quick——" Gentleman +Geoff's tones rang with command, but the girl shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Where the liquor is stored?" she smiled. "Alvarez's men won't leave a +cask unturned. No, Dad, I'd rather take a chance with you, here. If +it comes to a showdown, they won't get me." +</P> + +<P> +She made a significant gesture, and the lethargy of consternation fell +from Thode as he saw for the second time that day the glint of her +revolver. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" he exclaimed. "Isn't there something to be done? We're +only a handful! Are we going to wait here for that black devil to come +and slaughter us?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Son," Gentleman Geoff drawled. "We're going to put up the +stiffest fight we know how, but there's no help nearer than the +barracks at the oil refinery ten miles north, and El Negrito is on the +way." +</P> + +<P> +As if in corroboration of his words a new sound broke all at once upon +their ears, distant at first but drawing rapidly close, a fusillade of +shots, and the pounding of a multitude of hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +Gentleman Geoff drew one slim hand across his reeking forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"It's come. Boys! Steady now, to the finish!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Sir! I'm going to try for it." Thode caught his host by +the arm. "I can slip out before they have the house surrounded and +find a horse somewhere. If they down me, one man more or less here +won't make any difference, and it's a chance!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" Gentleman Geoff waved the young engineer to a narrow window +beside the entrance door. +</P> + +<P> +Down the straight level expanse of the Calle Rivera clattered an +unending stream of horsemen, their accoutrements jingling a sinister +diapason as they poured helter-skelter across the plaza in the waning +moonlight. Tatterdemalion as they were, the ragged army were +well-organized as Thode saw at a glance; no haphazard, leaderless crew +was this, for at their head rode a diminutive, jockey-like figure, his +face glistening and ebony in the eerie radiance, his teeth flashing +white as he turned in the saddle. The Little Nigger had come! +</P> + +<P> +His company halted in an irregular line against the eastern end of the +plaza, flung themselves from their horses and came on in a rushing, +yelling horde. A weak scattered volley rattled from the dwellings +about the square, but the raiders made unswervingly for what was +obviously their main objective, the Blue Chip, where most of the male +population, unlimited alcohol and a fabulous ransom in gold were theirs +for the taking. +</P> + +<P> +They had reached the center of the Calle, when Gentleman Geoff barked a +brief command and a withering blast of shots rang forth from the +besieged garrison. The advancing line crumpled, wavered, then at a +cat-like yowl from its dusky leader, closed in and came forward with an +answering roar. +</P> + +<P> +Kearn Thode sprang from his point of vantage and faced the other man +once more with undiminished determination in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to get to the barracks—it means death to us all if I stay +here! Isn't there a door on the other side of the house somewhere back +of the patio?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. It opens on a little alley that leads to the plaza." It was the +girl's eager voice which replied. +</P> + +<P> +"And the Carranzistas, the government troops, are ten miles away to the +north. I'm going to ride for it, Sir, it's the only chance. I can +slip out of that alley and around the edge of the plaza to where their +horses are picketed. There'll be interference there, and I may have a +running fight for it, but I'll take the odds." +</P> + +<P> +"Come then. You're a brave man, Mr. Thode!" Gentleman Geoff led the +way swiftly across the patio to a little door half hidden in the +creeping vines. But even as he laid his hand upon the rusty bolts, +there was a storm of feet in the alley and a rain of shot pattered +against the outer wall. +</P> + +<P> +Gentleman Geoff stepped back with a gesture of defeat, but Thode cried +desperately: +</P> + +<P> +"I can cut my way through them. I must, Man! Open the door!" +</P> + +<P> +Instead, his companion shot the hasp of a small oblong look-out on a +level with their eyes, and Thode beheld the alley choked with figures, +their carbines bristling and maniacal, distorted faces pressed close. +</P> + +<P> +"No use." Gentleman Geoff snapped the slide in place as a stray bullet +whistled past their ears. "It's too late. Even had you gone when Sam +first came, they would have cut you down in the plaza. You can only +lend a hand here." +</P> + +<P> +Wordlessly, Thode stumbled back beside him to the gambling-room. That +which but a moment before had seemed like a wild, purposeless stampede +had resolved itself into an unorganized but determined defensive. Few +of the men had departed, those few who had ridden in from nearby +haciendas where unwarned families waited in ignorance of the menace +sweeping down upon them from the hills. +</P> + +<P> +Thode worked with heaving chest and straining muscles, but his brain +was singularly clear and his observation acute. Gentleman Geoff seemed +to be everywhere at once, urging, exhorting, commanding. The mozos, +their yellow faces gray, were huddled in a corner, clucking like +dismayed fowl at the approach of a storm, but a word from Billie sent +them scurrying for the store of guns and ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +She, too, it was who opened the door of an inner room where a group of +disheveled women, their faces ghastly beneath the cheap paint, cowered +about a roulette-table, and ranged them behind the shelter of the stout +mahogany bar, seeing to it that each was armed. +</P> + +<P> +Her calm face in the tumult and smoke and dust seemed etherialized, +glorified to the wondering eyes of the young engineer; the marvel of +her strength and courage shone forth like a radiance, imbuing even the +panic-stricken Celestials with a spirit of defense. +</P> + +<P> +Thode's eyes were smarting, his veins on fire and in his nostrils the +reek of powder mingled with a strange, new, sweetish odor. The +table-top on which he stood was slippery where Rufe Terwilliger had +doubled up beside him and rolled to the floor. Others were falling, +too, stumbling and clutching vainly for support, but Billie's slim +white figure still stood unwavering beside her father and Thode turned +grimly to his task. +</P> + +<P> +Twice more the bandits charged, and twice they were beaten back, +leaving augmented blotches of huddled bodies in the road, but the toll +had been heavy within. Groans and curses filled the air as men pitched +headlong from their loophole posts to writhe upon the floor and once a +woman's shrill scream rang out as a tawdrily clothed shape dropped +across the bar. +</P> + +<P> +Thode's shoulder burned and a warm stream raced down his arm; his +forehead, too, was seared as if by a white-hot brand, but he dashed the +blood impatiently from his eyes that he might see what this sudden lull +in the hostilities portended. He was not long in doubt for a thin +skirmish line leaped across the road, yelling like demons and firing as +they ran, and close behind their protecting curtain of shot appeared a +double row of half-crouched forms, bearing a huge battering-ram. +</P> + +<P> +Heroically the little garrison sought to stem the tide of destruction, +but as quickly as a gap appeared in the on-coming wave it was filled +and the flood swept irresistibly on. More than one narrow window now +was unmanned against the attack and as the bullets pattered like hail +through the unobstructed apertures, Thode heard a sharp little cry +which turned his heart to lead within him. +</P> + +<P> +Wheeling, he saw through the murky reek that Gentleman Geoff was down +at last, his head cradled in Billie's arms, a spreading stain upon the +soft white silk of his shirt. Thrusting his rifle into the hands of a +neighbor, Thode leaped from the table, and as he reached the girl's +side a thunderous crash smote the heavy door. +</P> + +<P> +"He isn't——?" +</P> + +<P> +Billie shook her head and at the unfinished sentence Gentleman Geoff's +eyelids lifted and he gazed full and understandingly into the face of +the young engineer. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, but I'm done for. See that—Billie—cashes in before——" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Sir! Can you hear me? I'm going to make a break for it, do +you understand?" Thode's voice rang out clear above the strife. "How +long will that door hold?" +</P> + +<P> +"An hour, maybe. It's as solid as a rock, and the bolts are steel, but +nothing could withstand that ramming for long." Gentleman Geoff had +rallied his waning strength to meet that new note of quickened impulse. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the one chance left! They've found by this time that they +couldn't batter down that iron door at the back, set as it is in the +solid masonry, and it may be that they've concentrated all their +efforts here on this side. At least I'll have to try my luck and cut +through. We've got to have the troops! Ten level miles, and the dawn +is coming; I ought to make it and back in an hour, before the door +gives way." +</P> + +<P> +Gentleman Geoff raised himself on one elbow and extended his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right! It's the last chance, and maybe your luck will hold. +Go to it, Thode, I know you'll play—to win!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl was staring at him with shining eyes, and he paused only long +enough to lay his hand upon her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"You have your revolver—if they break through before I get back——?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be afraid for us." Her voice rang out steadily and clearly +above the roar of conflict. "I'll take care of myself and Dad until +you come! Hasta la vista!" +</P> + +<P> +Thode drew a deep breath, and, turning, made for the door and across +the patio, miraculously cool and calm beneath the dimming stars. The +little door at the farther end of the house wall was guarded now by a +dark-skinned youth whose teeth chattered in his head, and Thode, with a +hasty explanation, shot the bolts and slipped through into the +rubbish-heaped alley. +</P> + +<P> +Not a living thing was in sight but a yellow cur crouching under a +cask, and Thode reached the mouth of the narrow passage to see only the +backs of the mob clustered about the corner. +</P> + +<P> +The moonlight was gone, and slipping into the darker shadows of the +wall, he sped off in the opposite direction around the square to where +the moving bulk of the line of picketed horses showed at the end of an +intersecting street. +</P> + +<P> +Unnoted, he reached them and laid his hand upon the bridle of the +nearest. The beast plunged nervously and a dark figure sprang up with +a hoarse cry, which died in his throat as Thode brought his clubbed +rifle down upon his head. +</P> + +<P> +Other shouts arose above the distant crash of the battering-ram; other +figures advanced, and in the patter of stray shots a horse screamed and +fell kicking among his terrorized fellows, but Thode had twitched free +the knot which haltered his mount and was off and away up the narrow +street, in a thunder of hoof-beats which outran the fusillade and +pounded steadily on into the silence of the coming dawn. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GENTLEMAN GEOFF PASSES THE DEAL +</H3> + +<P> +With the departure of Kearn Thode on his mission Gentleman Geoff sank +into a stupor from which all Billie's efforts failed to arouse him. +She glanced at the little watch on her wrist. Twenty minutes past +four! One hour for the massive door to hold against those crashing +blows which seemed beating upon her brain. One hour for the young +engineer to ride ten miles on an already jaded horse, provided he had +succeeded in making his perilous start, and bring the Carranzistas to +the rescue! +</P> + +<P> +The din of the volley which had greeted him from the pickets could not +reach her ears above the roar of conflict surrounding her, much less +the receding hoof-beats of his mount. From the moment of his passing +into the darkness of the patio the girl could only wait, but her spirit +was staunch and unflagging. He would win through! He would return in +time! +</P> + +<P> +At her order, two mozos had dragged a couch from an inner room and the +insensible body of Gentleman Geoff was placed upon it. Billie bound +the hideous gaping wound and forced a few drops of brandy between the +set lips, but he only moaned faintly and drifted into a deeper oblivion. +</P> + +<P> +Twenty-five minutes of five! Unless he were lying stark and still in +the plaza, Thode must be well upon his way. +</P> + +<P> +But Billie had no time to nurse her suspense; she could not even linger +by her father's side, for there was grim and urgent work for her hands, +and one by one the women crept out from behind the comparative safety +of the bar and joined her. Barely a man of all those who had thronged +the gambling-rooms remained unscathed, and the cries of the wounded +rang in her ears with piteous insistence. +</P> + +<P> +As she passed from one fallen man to another, heedless of her own +exposure to stray bullets, administering brandy and water, improvising +rude bandages and comforting as best she might, one thought echoed like +a chant through her brain, solemn with its intensity. He would come. +Her head seemed bursting with each reverberating crash of the +battering-ram and her heart pulsed time to the slow march of the +interminable hour, but the thought remained. He would come. +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes to five. Thode must have reached the barracks at the +refinery by now, unless—— She set her small teeth firmly. Half of +the hour had passed, but already the door was sagging with each renewed +assault and the bolts were snapping beneath the strain. She dared not +look again toward that last failing defense, dared not consult the +little watch lest her self-control, her very reason give way. He would +come, of course, but would he be in time? +</P> + +<P> +All at once the hammering strokes ceased and the rattle of rifle fire +died out in a desultory spatter as stray bullets impinged against the +stout adobe wall. +</P> + +<P> +Jim Baggott from his perch upon a heap of chairs before the window +called out in amazement: +</P> + +<P> +"They've drawn back clear across the road! Reckon they've given it up +as a bad job at last! The dawn's almost here." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't fool yourself!" A burly gang foreman rested his rifle against +the wall and seized avidly upon the dipper of water held out to him by +one of the women. "Thanks, ma'am.—Maybe they're just taking a +breathing spell, but it's my opinion they're planning some new +devilment. Alvarez knows that once that door's down——" +</P> + +<P> +He glanced toward the woman and the sentence ended in a shrug. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with Geoff?" Baggott for the first time had noted +the inert form stretched upon the couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad's hit," Billie responded simply. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he bad?" The foreman's tone was hushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid so. He's dreadfully cold; he's—he's bleeding internally, +I think. Perhaps, if a surgeon comes in time——" +</P> + +<P> +"A what?" Baggott exploded. "Gosh almighty, where's a surgeon coming +from?" +</P> + +<P> +"From the barracks," explained Billie, naïvely. "Mr. Thode's gone for +the troops." +</P> + +<P> +"When? How? What do you think of that young—— Hurrah!" +</P> + +<P> +The eager questions from a dozen throats ended in a husky cheer, but it +died as swiftly as it was born. From across the road a huge dark blur +had detached itself and was moving forward stealthily to the attack. +The fusillade of shots recommenced, but a groan had started and spread +among the watchers at the windows. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" Billie's tone was still steady, but a chill had crept +into her veins. +</P> + +<P> +"They've got a new battering-ram; looks like a telegraph pole! No door +could hold against it," Baggott muttered. "It's all up with us now!" +</P> + +<P> +The rifles popped valiantly, but a thunderous impact fairly rocked the +house, and, fascinated, Billie watched the door bulge toward her, then +spring back into place as the topmost bolt snapped like a knife-blade. +One more onslaught, perhaps two—— +</P> + +<P> +Billie's hand closed on her revolver and she moved instinctively closer +to her father's couch. Then all at once she threw up her head, and her +voice rang out. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark! What is that? Don't you hear it?" +</P> + +<P> +None heeded as she stood with every muscle and nerve tense, straining +her ears. The night was no longer dark and a faint rosy light seeping +in at an easterly window reddened the glow of the swinging oil lamps +and transfigured her drawn blanched face. What sound, distant and far +away, had been borne to her on the wind of the dawn? +</P> + +<P> +Again the giant battering-ram stove at the door and the middle bolt +crashed. The flimsy impromptu barricade toppled, then swayed back into +place and a shuddering sigh went up from the handful of white-faced +men. One more drive, and the end would come. +</P> + +<P> +The other women had huddled again behind the bar, but Billie still +stood with uplifted face. And now she was smiling! Swift and sure the +rhythmic echo of galloping hoofs reached her consciousness and even as +the third shock came and the door crashed inward carrying the barricade +with it, a ringing shout burst upon the air and the staccato rattle of +a machine-gun sounded the final note in the symphony of battle. +</P> + +<P> +The ragged, wild-eyed horde, sweeping in at the shattered doorway, +brought up standing, then turned madly and scattered like chaff. In +their stead, through the aperture leaped a tall, unrecognizable figure +caked with dust and clotted blood which reeled to the couch and +collapsed beside it, labored breath hissing from tortured lungs and +blood-shot eyes filmed with exhaustion. +</P> + +<P> +Outside, the tide of conflict raged up and down the street and swept +out over the plaza, but neither the girl nor the man at her feet could +hear it. +</P> + +<P> +"You made it! Dad said you would play to win!" There was a new note +of which she was herself unconscious in Billie's tones, and she added +softly, "You were just bound and determined to take care of me right +from the start! Weren't you, Mr. Duenna?" +</P> + +<P> +The new day dawned and quiet was once more restored to Limasito. Those +of the bandits who escaped swift justice had fled toward the distant +hills with the troops in full pursuit and the plaza was a humming hive +of survivors, augmented, as the tidings spread, by all the countryside. +</P> + +<P> +The dismantled Blue Chip had been turned into a temporary hospital and +the wounded lay in rows upon the tables and hastily improvised cots, +but Gentleman Geoff was not among them. +</P> + +<P> +He had been moved by his own wish out to a shady corner of the patio +where he lay with a quiet, whimsical smile lifting the drooped ends of +his mustache and his genial eyes, with a curious questioning look in +their depths, stared straight before him. +</P> + +<P> +Billie, huddled on the ground, her head pillowed against the side of +his cot, slumbered deeply, and Gentleman Geoff's slim, delicate fingers +touched her hair in a wistful caress. On a nearby bench Thode, bathed +and freshly bandaged, slept also. Jim Baggott had tried in vain to +drag him back to the hotel, for the young engineer had read a mute +desire in the dying man's glance and refused to leave his side. +</P> + +<P> +The army surgeon had done his best, but the end was near and only the +superb vitality of the old gambler glowed still, like a living spark. +Now and then the surgeon paused in his busy round within to glance +speculatively from the doorway and each time Gentleman Geoff nodded +reassuringly to him. Not yet! +</P> + +<P> +The blaze of noon subsided, and as the shadows lengthened in the patio, +Billie stirred, and Thode stretched and opened his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Dad, I must have fallen asleep!" The girl's tones were filled +with contrition. "Do you want anything? Is the pain very bad?" +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to her that a shadow had crept into her father's eyes, but +his faint voice was steady. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Billie. No pain—just tired. Has young Thode gone home?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Sir, I'm here." He came eagerly forward. "Is there anything you +want me to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only shake hands with me. You rode well, last night. I reckoned +Perry Larkin knew a man when he saw one, but he didn't know all that +was in you. Billie, girl, go ask the Doc if I can have a drink or a +little shot to pull me together." As the girl flew to do his bidding, +Gentleman Geoff's thin fingers tightened their grip. "Thode, the boys +will all stand by her and play square, but I'm leaving her alone. She +isn't their kind; she doesn't know it, nobody does, but my little +girl's of different blood. There's no one around here in her class, +except you. Kind of—look out for her, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will, Sir." Thode's voice shook with the fervor of his vow. "You +want her away from Limasito, from this environment? I have a sister up +North——" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I mean." A spasm of pain contorted the pallid face and he +went on hurriedly as if fearful of the inevitable interruption. "I +couldn't take her myself and couldn't part from her, but the life +hasn't been right for her, though I did all I could. She's a lady and +she must go back to her own. I'd like to myself, for an hour, now. +That's a Harvard seal on your cigarette-case, if I'm not mistaken, Mr. +Thode." +</P> + +<P> +Thode leaned forward, a sudden exclamation half halted on his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Gentleman Geoff nodded slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Name Rendell," he said. "Class of '84. I haven't mentioned it this +quarter of a century and I'm going to ask you to forget it now, +but—you'll do what you can for my girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"On my honor, Sir," Thode reaffirmed solemnly. "It is a sacred charge." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Baggott will sell out the Blue Chip and give her the proceeds. It +ought to bring her a comfortable sum and the bank deposits are in her +name already. I'm not afraid she will throw it away; she has a level +head on her young shoulders, but I want to be sure she will have the +best of everything; all that she has missed. You'll see to it?" +</P> + +<P> +The reappearance of the doctor precluded other answer on Thode's part +than a long hearty handclasp, but Gentleman Geoff understood. +</P> + +<P> +Later his vigilant mind wandered and the watchers averted their faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Best I could for her, Vi! Kept her like you—clean and true and +God-Almighty sweet! Never knew—not my own.…" +</P> + +<P> +Still later, when the sun like a glowing ball of fire had sunk beneath +the wall of the patio, his lips moved again. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell the boys I'm not cashing in—just passing this deal. I'm in on +the next one.… Billie … square, always——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm here, Dad!" The girl's voice choked with sobs breathed close to +his ear, but Gentleman Geoff did not hear. He had slipped into the +silence. +</P> + +<P> +In the days that followed, Kearn Thode pondered long and deeply upon +his trust. The arrangement with his sister would be an easy matter to +adjust, he knew, but the immediate task confronting him was more +difficult of solution. The suggestion of a guardian thrust upon her +would meet with scant complacency in the girl's independent spirit and +secretly he quailed before the thought of her displeasure. Her +comrades of a lifetime, the rough, staunch men of Limasito, might well +resent the intrusion of a stranger, an alien, into what was evidently +to them a family affair; still less would they be able to understand +and appreciate the fact that Billie belonged to another world than +theirs. +</P> + +<P> +He decided at length to lay the matter before her frankly in detail, +eliminating only the admission of Gentleman Geoff's identity. He +respected the dead man's confidence, but it only precipitated him into +a fresh quandary. +</P> + +<P> +Billie's naïve surprise when the question of her surname arose brought +the matter to a crisis in his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I'm just 'Billie,' I suppose," she had stammered. "I—I never +heard any other name. Do I have to have one?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim Baggott settled the matter, for the moment at least. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not!" he announced, with emphasis. "Not around here, anyway. +You were Gentleman Geoff's Billie and that's name enough for us. When +you do need a handle to it, I reckon there ain't any law 'gainst you +pickin' out one to suit yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Baggott was the chief executor of the late gambler and mightily puffed +up with the pride and dignity of his office. Gentleman Geoff's private +papers were few and carefully indited, their instructions unmistakably +clear. Under them, Baggott sold the Blue Chip scrupulously to the +highest bidder, although it broke his heart to see Limasito's proudest +institution pass into the hands of a Tampico syndicate. He placed the +two hundred thousand, American, which the establishment brought, +unreservedly to Billie's account. +</P> + +<P> +"If you ain't of age, nobody knows the difference," he announced. +"Gentleman Geoff left word it was to go 'to my daughter, known as +Billie,' and there you are. The money's your'n, and it's up to you to +do what you like with it." +</P> + +<P> +Bewildered and numb in her first contact with poignant grief, the girl +had taken up her temporary abode at Henry Bailey's fruit ranch, a mile +or two out on the Calle Rivera, where his buxom wife, Sallie, mothered +her to her heart's content. +</P> + +<P> +Thode rode out each day to see her, but a new inexplicable shyness in +Billie's attitude toward him made his task still more difficult and he +deferred the question of her future in sheer funk. The magnitude of +her fortune, too, was a stumbling-block. The girl knew nothing of him +save what intuition had taught her. What if she assumed that his +object were to gain control of her estate? The thought maddened him +into action at length and one day as they cantered slowly back from a +visit to the little José, he forced the issue. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, have you thought of the future, of what you will do?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes." The reply was prompt and decisive. "I can't tell you, Mr. +Thode, or anyone, but I've got something to do, something big, and I've +made up my mind to see it through. It's just as much an inheritance +from Dad as the money and I mean to let nothing stand in my way." +</P> + +<P> +There was a grim earnestness in her tone which made him glance +curiously at her. +</P> + +<P> +"You are sure you can't tell me, and let me help, whatever it is?" he +asked gently. +</P> + +<P> +Billie shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"It's my job. I'll have my work cut out for me, I expect, but nobody +else can share it. I've got to play a lone hand, but when it's over, +I—I don't know. I haven't made any plans beyond that." +</P> + +<P> +"But surely you don't intend to remain here in Limasito all your life?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" She shot a swift glance at him. "It was good enough for +Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"But not for you. That's the point. I—I had a talk with your father +just before he died, and he wants you to go away; to travel and study +and mingle with people of your own kind." +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't these my kind?" Hot loyalty blazed in her tone. "They're all +the friends I have in the world, the folks right here in Limasito, and +all I want! What would I do among a lot of city people; stuck-up snobs +who don't know I'm alive? I wouldn't even know how to talk to them, or +what fork to eat with, and what's more, I wouldn't care. Why, I +haven't even got a second name! 'Gentleman Geoff's Billie' would look +well in the society papers, wouldn't it? No, thanks! I'll stick to +the folks I know and—and care for!" +</P> + +<P> +"But they're not all snobs, Billie, just because some of their ways are +different from yours. I have a sister who can play a stiff game of +poker and ride as well as you. Edna spends most of her time out in the +open, and nothing feazes her. You would get on beautifully with her +and I thought perhaps you would let me take you to her, sometime." +</P> + +<P> +Billie was silent. She was staring straight ahead of her, into the +vista above her pinto's ears, and had Thode looked at her he would have +seen a quick flush mantle her face, but he was occupied by his own +problem. +</P> + +<P> +"You are different, you know, from the people about here; or anywhere +else for that matter, Billie. I—I've never met a girl like you, so +brave and true and wonderful! I want to take you away from all this +and show you how different the world can be. What does it matter about +your name? You are you, and that's all that counts. Everyone will +love you, they couldn't help it!——" He rushed on heedlessly, +oblivious to any ulterior construction which might be put upon his +words, intent only on assuring her of her welcome in the place which +her father had said was her rightful one, and in convincing her of his +disinterested friendship. +</P> + +<P> +"I told your father that if you were willing I would gladly take you to +my sister, and we would all do our best to make you happy." He +reddened, in his turn. "Please, don't misunderstand; no one will ever +attempt to advise or suggest anything concerning the disposal of your +fortune, it is only that you must have, as your father said, the best +of everything; all that you have missed." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't talk of the money, please!" She stopped him with a swift +gesture. "I do understand, but I—I don't want to say anything now. +Maybe you'll change your mind. You were shocked, you remember, when I +told you Dad ran the Blue Chip, and you might be sorry you—you tried +to make your sister friends with a gambler's daughter, without a family +name. Besides, I've got a trust to perform, don't forget that. When +it's finished, perhaps—but let's wait until then." +</P> + +<P> +He was well content to acquiesce, relieved that she had taken his +suggestion in good faith without impugning his motive. Had he dreamed +of the meaning she had read into his offer, his awakening would have +been illuminating. +</P> + +<P> +On the following day Billie put her newly acquired wealth to its first +use. She cantered away from the Casa de Limas on her pinto without +taking the Baileys into her confidence, and at sundown careened in at +the gate in a battered touring car, the bewildered pony following on a +rope behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Land alive!" Sallie ran out in the yard with Chevalita, the criada, +at her heels. "I didn't know you could run an automobile, Billie!" +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't this morning," Billie responded through set lips as she +grazed the hitching-post and came to a stop with a grinding jerk which +all but precipitated her through the cracked wind shield. "I've got to +get the hang of this in a couple of days or die trying. I'm going on a +little trip." +</P> + +<P> +"Where to?" Sallie circled slowly around the dilapidated vehicle. +"Don't look as if this would carry you very far. Where on earth did +you get it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was poor Rufe Terwilliger's." The girl answered the last question +first. "I bought it from Mrs. Terwilliger for three hundred dollars. +Ben Hallock has got some tires to fit it that he'll let me have and if +the engine will only last for about four hundred miles I don't care +what happens to it after that." +</P> + +<P> +"'Four hundred miles!'" repeated Sallie. "What have you taken into +your head now? There's nothing within four hundred miles o' Limasito!" +</P> + +<P> +Billie regarded her with an enigmatic smile. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a dream to bring true!" she said slowly. "That is Tia +Juana's; she's going with me. And there's a start to be made on +something I've set out to do, and this journey is the first step of the +way. No one must go with me but Tia Juana, no one must even know where +I have gone. Someone owes me a debt, Sallie, and they're going to pay!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a grim note in her quiet tones which boded ill for the +debtor, and Sallie hastily changed the subject. +</P> + +<P> +"And Mr. Thode? What'll I tell him? Does he know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not where I'm going, but you can say that I've made the first move in +the game I'm playing; I've started on what I've got to do. He'll know +what I mean. I can't tell you or anyone, Sallie, because I want to see +it through alone." +</P> + +<P> +When next Thode rode up to the Casa de Limas, Sallie met him with +strange news. +</P> + +<P> +"She's gone. Went off this morning in a car she bought from Rufe +Terwilliger's widow, and she bundled old Tia Juana along with her. She +said to tell you she'd made a start on what she had to do, and you +would understand." +</P> + +<P> +But Kearn Thode didn't. What was this trust, this unknown inheritance +from Gentleman Geoff? There had been an ominous note in her voice when +she spoke of it, and he remembered what the gambler had told him of her +eye-for-an-eye creed of retributive justice. In her splendid, reckless +courage could she have pitted herself against El Negrito, the bandit of +the hills? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A GRINGO CINDERELLA +</H3> + +<P> +"Whether you're here for health, pleasure, or business there ain't a +more up-and-comin' town this side o' the Rio than Limasito," Jim +Baggott remarked with the air of publicity-promoter as he "set 'em up" +for a plump, white-mustached stranger, who had drawn up to the hotel an +hour before in an impressive car, and whose equally impressive array of +luggage was even then distributed about the best suite the +establishment afforded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm here on business, Mr. Baggott," the stranger replied promptly to +his host's tactfully implied question. "Did you ever hear of a gambler +known as 'Gentleman Geoff'? I understand he located somewhere about +here ten years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear of him?" Jim repeated gruffly, and turned his head away. "He was +one of our most prom'nent citizens; ran the Blue Chip over yonder." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed?" The stranger tasted his liquor and replaced the glass with a +fastidious shudder upon the bar. "He is not here now?" +</P> + +<P> +Baggott shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You may have heard that Alvarez—El Negrito, they call him—paid us a +little visit a few days ago." He added a profane and heartfelt +abjuration of the bandit. "Most of us were corraled in the Blue Chip, +and Geoff, he was shot down along with a lot of others." +</P> + +<P> +"Dead! How unfortunate! Can you tell me if he left any family; a +daughter, for instance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sa-ay!" Jim folded his arms on the bar and gazed levelly at his +guest. "What's it to you if he did? I happen to be Geoff's +executor——" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, that simplifies matters." The stranger drew a card-case from his +pocket. "I am Mason North, of the firm of North, Manning and +Gilchrist, attorneys. We are looking for a young woman known as the +daughter of this Gentleman Geoff, to notify her of something to her +advantage. Can you tell me where she may be found?" +</P> + +<P> +"Known as his daughter?" Jim stammered. "Billie <I>is</I> his daughter, +damn it! There ain't no other young woman——" +</P> + +<P> +"'Billie'?" repeated North sharply. "A derivative, no doubt. That is +significant. I should like very much to see this Miss 'Billie'——" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you've only got to turn your head!" A clear young voice sounded +from the doorway, and the attorney wheeled to confront the object of +his quest. +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, Billie, where'd you vamoose to? The whole town's been askin' +for you for the last three days!" Jim remembered his manners. "This +is Mr. North. He's a lawyer and he says he's got some news for you." +</P> + +<P> +Billie shook hands gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Pleased to meet you, Mr. North." +</P> + +<P> +"And I to meet you, my dear young lady. I have had a long search for +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean——" her eyes were wide—"that you've come all the way +down here just to see me?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been searching for you for more than two years. There are some +questions I must ask you. Can we talk here privately without +interruption, Mr. Baggott?—No, don't go!" as Jim started for the door. +"As the chief executor of—ah, Gentleman Geoff, you are presumably this +young lady's de-facto guardian and your presence is imperative." +</P> + +<P> +Considerably impressed, Jim turned a chair around and seated himself +astride it, folding his arms across the back. +</P> + +<P> +"Fire away. I'm listening," he said briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"Has this news anything to do with Dad?" asked Billie. +</P> + +<P> +"Partly, my dear. It concerns you, principally; you, and your +antecedents." North took a sheaf of papers from his pocket, and +produced a fountain pen. "Did you ever hear of a place called Topaz +Gulch?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Dad and I were there when I was a little girl. There was a big +fire; I can just remember seeing it. We left soon after, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"And then where did you go?" The lawyer made rapid notes as he quizzed +her, and Billie stared in growing wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we just traveled. I can recall a lot of places, but not their +names; mining camps, and cattle towns and farming centers. Then we +came here, when the boom first started, and Dad built the Blue Chip——" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer nodded as she faltered. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do, I think. We can go into the details more exhaustively +later, but I am convinced that you are indeed the young woman in the +case. But first, can you tell me anything of your mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dad said she died a long time ago." Billie's voice was very low. "I +don't remember her at all, unless——" +</P> + +<P> +"Unless what?" North urged her, not unkindly. "Think, please." +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to me there was someone, when I was very little, who sang +always. There was one song; I should know it again if I heard it, but +it won't come to me now." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha!" The lawyer cleared his throat. "That confirms it. I am going +to tell you, and your good friend here, a story. It goes rather far +back, but I shall ask you to be patient for it concerns you vitally. +Some twenty years ago there lived in New York City a noted financier, +Giles Murdaugh. You do not recall having heard the name?" +</P> + +<P> +Billie shook her head mutely and North went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Giles Murdaugh was a very wealthy man, a power in the world of +finance. He was a widower and his only living relatives were his son, +Ralph, and a niece. At the time I mention, Ralph was a young man, just +out of college. He fell in love with a—a young person who was not his +equal socially; in fact, she earned her living by singing and dancing +upon the stage of a music-hall. She was a most respectable, most +exemplary young woman," he added hastily, "but Giles Murdaugh was +violently opposed to the union. Her name was Violet Ashton." +</P> + +<P> +He paused, but the girl before him made no sign. +</P> + +<P> +"Young Ralph Murdaugh married her, and his father disowned him. The +boy had no income of his own, no profession, and his father's influence +prevented his obtaining any remunerative position. He was very bitter, +and hoped to starve his son into submission and force an annulment of +what he considered a disgraceful marriage, but Ralph was as determined +as his father. +</P> + +<P> +"The young couple left New York finally and went out West to make their +way, but it was a most disheartening experience. Giles Murdaugh's +influence was far-reaching and all doors were closed to them. They +changed their name and went on, but Ralph had been a student rather +than an athlete; he was not strong enough to attempt the rough work +which was all that presented itself, and their resources were gone. +</P> + +<P> +"They drifted at last into Topaz Gulch, Nevada, where Ralph obtained a +position as time-keeper at the Yellow Streak gold mine, and where a +little daughter was born to them, whom they named 'Willa'." +</P> + +<P> +Billie started, and her lips opened, but no words came. Jim Baggott, +too, was silent, his jaw agape and honest eyes almost popping from +their sockets. +</P> + +<P> +"When the baby was two years old, Ralph Murdaugh died, after a long +illness which ate up the little they had been able to save. His wife, +destitute and unable to support the child in any other fashion, turned +to her old profession; she became what was known as a song-and-dance +artiste at a hall named for its owner, 'Jake's'. +</P> + +<P> +"Two years later, the dance-hall burned and Violet Ashton, as she +called herself once more, was lost in the holocaust. As a thoroughly +good woman, she had always been held in the utmost esteem by the +community, rough as it was, and the child, Willa, had become a great +favorite, but on her mother's death the problem of caring for her +arose. There were no women in the town of the proper character to be +trusted with her future, and the camp was in a quandary. +</P> + +<P> +"Among what might be called the shifting population, was a +peripatetic—ah, gambler, who traveled under the sobriquet of +'Gentleman Geoff'. He had set up a shack where he operated a +roulette-wheel and faro-bank, and was very much attached to the child. +Can you not surmise the rest? He adopted her, without legal form, and +took her with him on his wanderings." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I—I——" Billie stammered, aghast. "I am not——" +</P> + +<P> +"You are Willa Murdaugh." +</P> + +<P> +"Holy Christopher!" Jim Baggott passed his hand across his dazed +forehead, and then all three were silent for a space. +</P> + +<P> +The girl sat as if in a dream, her face flushed, her eyes vacant and +fixed, and North forebore to intrude upon her reverie. At length she +roused herself and turned to him with quick decision. +</P> + +<P> +"If I am what you say, you must know my age. How old am I?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nineteen. You will be twenty on the sixth of January, next." +</P> + +<P> +"And now," she drew a deep breath, "will you tell me, please, why you +have taken the trouble to find me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was about to explain. Your grandfather, Giles Murdaugh, nursed his +resentment for a long time, but at last, finding himself in failing +health and alone, remorse came to him, and the desire for a +reconciliation with his son and daughter-in-law. This change in his +sentiments took place about five years ago. We had been Mr. Murdaugh's +attorneys for ten years or more and he instructed us to institute the +search. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a very difficult one, after the lapse of so long a period of +time. In three years, however, we were able to establish the fact of +Ralph Murdaugh's death, the supposition of his wife's and the fact that +the child had been taken away by the gambler known only as Gentleman +Geoff. +</P> + +<P> +"We were inaugurating a new investigation, when Mr. Murdaugh died very +suddenly. His will, which we had drawn up, directed that a large +reward be offered for trace of his granddaughter, but not through the +medium of the press. The entire search was conducted in a most +discreet manner, I can assure you, and none of your future associates +save the immediate family need know the details of this later episode, +my dear young lady. I refer, of course, to the—ah, adoption. +</P> + +<P> +"In the event of your being found, your late grandfather has made you +his chief beneficiary, but with an absolutely irrevocable condition; +that you make your home with your father's cousin—the niece whom I +mentioned previously—Mrs. Ripley Halstead, and submit to being +educated and trained befitting your station. A generous bequest is +made also to Mrs. Halstead, providing that she agrees to undertake this +charge. I may add that she has been most anxious for the conclusion of +our search, and will welcome you with all her heart. I must +congratulate you, my dear, on your great good fortune." +</P> + +<P> +The erstwhile Billie eyed him steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Mr. North. You were very kind to spend all that time +searching for me, and to have come this long journey to tell me the +truth about myself——" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, my dear Miss Murdaugh!" The lawyer beamed. "It was a +matter of business, you know, and I am gratified to have brought it to +a successful conclusion, but aside from that I assure you that I am +delighted to be of service." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't just believe it yet; it seems as if it must be someone else +that all this has happened to." She glanced at the still dumfounded +Jim in an instinctive appeal. "Mr. North, if I really am awake and +this is all true——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" he encouraged her, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Then—" her little teeth snapped together, and a cold light flashed in +her eyes—"I am sorry you have had your journey for nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"You—I'm afraid I don't understand." +</P> + +<P> +"Please go back, Mr. North, and tell them that Gentleman Geoff's Billie +refuses to become Miss Willa Murdaugh. I don't want that wicked old +man's money, I don't want anything to do with any of that breed! If +those two poor young folks you tell me about were really my father and +mother, he was as guilty of their deaths as if he'd shot them down in +cold blood! Of course, he did not need to help them if they defied his +wishes, but to starve them, to drive them from pillar to post and deny +them the right to earn the money with which to live, to force other +people to close their doors—oh, he wasn't square!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear young lady! All that was long ago, and he is dead. He +regretted the past, he tried to make restitution. As an evidence of +that he has made you his heiress——" +</P> + +<P> +"Not if I refuse." Her tone was still quiet, but her breast rose and +fell convulsively. "You said awhile ago that no one need know about my +being adopted. You meant no one need know about Dad, didn't you? That +I'd been brought up by a gambler in an oil-boom town? You thought I'd +be ashamed of Dad among all those fine people? Why, I'm proud of him! +Proud that I was known as his girl! He took me when nobody else cared +whether I lived or died, and he's loved me and been everything to me +ever since I can remember. And he was square! It's my own grandfather +that I'm ashamed of for his crookedness! He stacked the cards, and +that's all I need to know about him. Give that Mrs. Halstead what she +was going to get for making me over into a lady, and tell her she +needn't bother. I was raised Gentleman Geoff's Billie and that's good +enough for me. I'm going to stay right here." +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot realize what you are saying!" Mr. North betrayed symptoms +of imminent apoplexy. "You can have no conception now of what this +will mean to you in the future. Millions are involved, I tell you, +millions!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want them," she reiterated doggedly. "I don't want even the +name. If I've got to have another, I'll take my mother's—Ashton, +wasn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +The rotund little lawyer bounced from his chair and strode up and down +before the bar, his hands clenched behind his back and his mustache +bristling. The girl watched him curiously, after a brief glance at +Jim, who was sitting very straight, obviously fighting back the words +which choked him. +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause, and then North halted before her. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust that you will not complicate matters by adhering to this hasty +resolution, Miss Murdaugh. It is perhaps natural that you should +resent the treatment accorded your parents, but the past is dead and I +am convinced that when you will have had time for calm, sober +reflection you will realize the absurdity of attempting to maintain +your present attitude. Fortunately the decision does not rest with +you. You cannot know your own mind, you are still a minor——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." Billie acquiesced. "That was why I asked you, first off, just +how old I am. You'll have a tough time trying to get me out of Mexico +if I don't want to go, Mr. North. I've seen some law fights over oil +leases down here and I know how cases can be strung out. I'll be of +age in a year and four months and I reckon I can bluff you till then. +I don't know why you should be so anxious to force that money on me and +make me acknowledge myself the granddaughter of a man who didn't play +fair!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is entirely for your own benefit. Surely you can see that?" The +lawyer spoke almost pleadingly. "It would be idiocy, madness to throw +away such a fortune for a quixotic idea! You have never come into +contact with young people of the class to which you really belong or +you would realize all that circumstances have deprived you of +heretofore." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've met one or two." The girl's lip curled. "There's a rich +young New Yorker down here now, named Wiley——" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed? Starr Wiley?" Mr. North bit his mustache. "H'm! That is +awkward, for you will inevitably encounter him again in the circle to +which your cousins belong. I had hoped—ah, that you would not be +hampered by associations or reminders of your former circumstances, but +Mr. Wiley is a friend and I will see him——" +</P> + +<P> +"Not here, you won't!" growled Jim. "He's gone." +</P> + +<P> +The girl wheeled upon him, her face darkening. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone where?" she demanded. "What do you mean, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"How should I know where?" The hotel-keeper shrugged. "His hacienda +is shut up tight, except for the caretaker. Reckon he's gone home for +good. It wasn't none too healthy for him around here." +</P> + +<P> +Billie rose and stumbled to the window. Across the plaza beyond the +flower-market, the Blue Chip could be discerned in an unfamiliar aspect +of transformation. Scaffolding had been erected against its walls and +their cerulean expanse was being rapidly hidden beneath a coating of +brick red. Her eyes blurred for a moment, then a swift hardness came +into them and her small fists clenched at her sides. +</P> + +<P> +"We will not discuss the matter of your inheritance, further, for the +moment." The lawyer's voice, smooth as oil, came from just behind her. +"You will listen to reason, I know, when you have had time for +consideration. Mr. Baggott, here, will agree with me that you must +accept the conditions of your grandfather's will——" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Baggott will do nothing of the kind," vociferated that gentleman, +suddenly. "I've listened to all you had to say, and kept my mouth +shet, but since you're bringing me into this, you might as well know +where I stand. Billie's going to do just what she damn' pleases about +this. She don't need the old scoundrel's money—she's got plenty of +her own, and she's not going to be shanghaied across the border while +I'm here to prevent it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sir——!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Jim." The girl wheeled quickly. "I've changed my mind. +Mr. North, I'll go with you. I'll accept the conditions and whatever +goes with them. When do we start?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—ah, as soon as you can arrange your affairs here. Allow me to +say, my dear Miss Murdaugh, that I am delighted——" +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, Mr. North," she cut him short with a weary little +gesture. "I—I guess I was kind of hasty. I've got a lot to learn, +and a lot to do, and I may as well begin right away. If you don't +mind, I'll ride back to the Casa de Limas now, and I'll be ready to +start to-morrow morning. So long, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +Avoiding the bewildered reproach in Jim Baggott's honest eyes, and +unmindful of the lawyer's congratulatory hand, Gentleman Geoff's Billie +turned and went out of the door. A moment later, the wild scramble of +her pinto's hoofs echoed back to them from the hard-packed road. +</P> + +<P> +"Women, my dear Baggott!" North shrugged expressively. "They are the +curse of the law courts; they never know their own minds." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you believe it." Jim awoke from his stupor. "Billie knows +her'n, all right. She's got something up her sleeve, you can bank on +that, and its an ace card in whatever game she's playing. But what in +tarnation the stakes are that she's after is more'n I know. I don't +envy you, Mr. North, you and that lady that's going to make our Billie +over. You'd better take off your coat and spit on your hands, for +you've got the stiffest job ahead of you that you ever tackled. +There's a joker wild, somewhere, and she's playing to win!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TIA JUANA'S CAULDRON COOLS +</H3> + +<P> +Limasito received the tidings of the amazing turn in the affairs of +Gentleman Geoff's Billie with mingled emotions in which pride and +respectful awe predominated, but to Kearn Thode it came as an +uncomprehended disaster. +</P> + +<P> +In vain he told himself that he should rejoice at her change of +fortune; that he had divined from the moment of their first meeting the +subtle shade of difference in caste between the young girl and those +who surrounded her, and strove to exult that she had indeed come into +her own. +</P> + +<P> +A strange, unacknowledged depression assailed him. His proffered aid +had once more proved superfluous; the young relative of the Ripley +Halsteads and heiress of Giles Murdaugh would have no need of the good +offices of his sister, nor in their reversed positions would his +friendship be as instrumental in her future as he had hoped. +</P> + +<P> +She was quick-witted and adaptable; she would be a tremendous social +success with a little expert coaching, and he——? A petroleum +engineer, a mere cog in the wheel of a great corporation, without +prospects other than might lie in the success of his present doubtful +mission, could be of no future interest to Willa Murdaugh. +</P> + +<P> +Decency demanded that he congratulate her on her good fortune, he +assured himself as he rode out that evening to the Casa de Limas. But +decency did not explain or defend the fact that he roweled his willing +pinto all the way, and arrived in a state of mind that was the reverse +of felicitation. +</P> + +<P> +She received his forced greeting with the matter-of-fact directness +which was characteristic of her. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. It's a pretty big thing to have come to me all of a sudden," she +remarked, "but I reckon it isn't going to carry me off my feet. Dad +always told me never to start anything I couldn't finish, and although +this seems to have been kind of started for me before I was born, I +reckon I can see it through. I never guessed I wasn't Dad's own girl +and I'd just as lief never have known, but it's going to work in with +what I want to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course!" He essayed to speak lightly. "Your future is assured +now, the future your—Gentleman Geoff wanted you to have. It sounds +like presumption now; my offer to take you to my sister——" +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" Her clear eyes turned wonderingly on him in the moonlight, and +he mentally cursed his dog-in-the-manger mood. "I thought it was real +kind of you, kinder than anything that anyone except Dad has ever done. +I didn't even have a name, you know. I was just the daughter of—what +did that lawyer call him?—a 'peripatetic gambler', but you—you——" +</P> + +<P> +She broke off in sudden confusion, and he drew a swift breath. +</P> + +<P> +"You were yourself, and I told you that nothing else mattered." His +tone was very low. +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm something else, now." There was a note of shy, wistful +eagerness in her voice. "I—I'm Willa Murdaugh and that seems to mean +a lot, up in New York. I'm not just Gentleman Geoff's Billie, I'm +going to be a lady, like your sister——" +</P> + +<P> +"You will be a much more important one, with a highly exalted social +position and hosts of influential friends," he responded slowly. "You +will meet her, she is an acquaintance of the Halsteads and their set, +but you will find her a simple, unfashionable girl, compared to the +rest. If you had gone to make your home with her, as I suggested, you +would not have known the smart crowd that will flock about you now, but +clever people who have done or are doing big things. I wonder how the +social life will strike you?" +</P> + +<P> +"All of a heap, I expect," she replied, absently. Her voice was +colorless, stunned. "That was what you meant, that I should go and +live with your sister? And you, would you have been there, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"I?" he laughed with a trace of bitterness. "I am a rolling stone, +Miss Murdaugh. My work calls me to the ends of the earth, but I would +probably have looked in on you every few years to say 'hello.' +However, you would scarcely have been with my sister as long as that. +Some lucky fellow would have persuaded you to make him happy. You will +be a great social success——" +</P> + +<P> +"As if I cared!" She stopped him with her familiar little gesture. +"I—I didn't just understand what you meant. I thought—but it doesn't +matter anyway, does it? I've got to get in the game anyway, but you +don't suppose I want to, do you? You don't suppose I want the money of +that old man who stacked the cards against my poor father, or care +about these Halstead people that never knew I was alive? I am doing it +because I think Dad would want me to, and because it will help me in +something else I've set out to do." +</P> + +<P> +"The thing you spoke of, that you could not let me or anyone in on?" he +asked in surprise. "Haven't you relinquished it, whatever it was? +You'll be too much taken up with your new life to remember old plans +and ideas when you plunge into the society game." +</P> + +<P> +"'Relinquish'?" she repeated, and he saw her whole form grow tense and +rigid. "Why, it's what I'm living for—what I'm going through with +this inheritance outfit for! Dad said the Indians were right, they +never forget a kindness or an injury. I'm like them, in that. I'll +never forget, never, until the score is wiped clean!" +</P> + +<P> +"Someone has hurt you?" he demanded. "You have another trouble, aside +from your grief? The government will take care of El Negrito, it must +be something else. Won't you tell me? It may be that I can help, in +some way. I—I would do anything for you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody can help me." She shook her head gently. "I told you once, +Mr. Thode, that I must play a lone hand." +</P> + +<P> +"But you can trust me," he urged. "If I could only make you believe +that! If I could only make you see how much it would mean to me to be +of the slightest service——" +</P> + +<P> +He halted abruptly, and she waited, scarcely breathing, for there was +an impetuous fervent ring in his tones which made her heart leap +suddenly and then almost cease to beat. But the young man did not +continue. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said at last, very quietly. "I am sure that I could +trust you, Mr. Thode, but there is nothing you or anyone could do; it +is just that I owe a debt to someone, and I mean to pay it. But don't +let us talk of that any more. Shall I see you, sometime, up in New +York?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps, when my work here is finished." He turned his head away from +her. "You will have so many new friends that you will scarcely +remember those you leave behind down here." +</P> + +<P> +"How unjust you are!" She faced him hotly. "Do you think I could ever +forget what you did when El Negrito came; how you rode to the barracks +at the risk of your life?" +</P> + +<P> +"I had small choice," he reminded her. "Had I stayed I would have been +killed." +</P> + +<P> +"So would we all. But it was not for yourself you took the chance, it +was for us." She laid her hand upon his arm. "I—I don't want you to +think that I will ever forget and I hope that we shall be friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Always that!" He took her small hand in both of his. "It doesn't +seem likely, but if there is ever anything that I can do for you, any +service that I can render, I would like to feel, in spite of the little +time you have known me, that you would call on me before anyone else +you may meet. After all, Gentleman Geoff laid a charge upon me, you +know, and I want to be worthy of it. When I return, if I may, I will +come to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, will you?" She flushed and gently withdrew her hand. "That is, +unless you will be ashamed of me. I reckon I'll be kind of a shock to +city folks, the same as they'll be to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Now it is you who are unjust!" he cried. "I shall always be proud of +your friendship, and remember these days in Limasito as the most +wonderful I have ever known——" +</P> + +<P> +Thode checked himself once more. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Billie. When next I see you, it will be Miss Willa Murdaugh +who will greet me, but it is Gentleman Geoff's Billie who will linger +in my thoughts always. Will you say once again what you said to me in +the lane: 'Buena suerte'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good luck, with all my heart, but not good-bye." She hesitated. "I +sha'n't see you to-morrow before we start?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"The whole town will be on hand to give you a send-off. I would not +intrude on the leave-taking of all your old friends, and besides I must +ride far out to-morrow," he prevaricated. "There is a lease I must +look into for the company over near La Roda. So it must be good-bye, +now." +</P> + +<P> +"Not that, but hasta la vista!" She lifted her chin valiantly, +although her smile was a trifle wan. "That means 'until we meet +again', you know, and I feel somehow that it will be soon." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so, with all my heart!" With a swift, impetuous movement he +bent and kissed her hand. "Hasta la vista!" +</P> + +<P> +Billie watched him until he disappeared down the avenue of flowering +trees, then, brushing her hand across her eyes, she turned and went +into the house. +</P> + +<P> +Sallie Bailey looked up with a twinkle from the shirt she was patching. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, carita, did he?" she demanded with much interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Did he what?" Billie paused at the foot of the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Did he—say anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, a heap. I'm going to be a hit in society and forget all my +friends and everything down here and roll in that money like a pinto in +the pasture. I wish to goodness that I was dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you don't," Sallie retorted comfortably. "You're just beginning +to take notice, that's all, and so's he. He ain't saddle-broke yet and +he's gun-shy, but he'll get used to the report o' that money o' yours +in time. Men are a good deal like pintos; some you can coax and some +you can bully, but they all of 'em buck at the first gate. Don't you +worry your head about Mr. Kearn Thode, honey; wait till the next +round-up, and you'll have him roped, tied, and branded before he knows +where he's at." +</P> + +<P> +Billie mounted three steps and halted, her head held high. +</P> + +<P> +"Him?" she queried with infinite scorn. "I don't want him! Dad asked +him to look out for me, you see, and he thinks I'm kind of on his +hands, but I'll show him! I'm liable to make some big mistakes, and I +reckon that Mrs. Halstead will earn all the money my grandfather left +her to teach me the rules of the game, but I'll sit tight and learn if +it breaks me and when it comes my turn to play, I'll show them all I'm +not a piker, anyway!" +</P> + +<P> +"You wasn't ever that, Billie," the older woman observed gently, for +the girl's hurt heart was on her sleeve. "I reckon he only meant to be +kind." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want kindness!" the ungrateful Billie responded savagely. "I +don't want condescension and duty-friendship. I want, I want—oh, I +want Dad!" +</P> + +<P> +Limasito was indeed out in full force to speed her on her way the +following morning. The news had traveled quickly over the countryside +and every style of conveyance, from a mule-team to the latest improved +jitney, lined the plaza. White, Mex', and Mongolian, from the richest +oil operator to the lowliest peon, her friends had gathered to say +farewell. +</P> + +<P> +They stampeded her on the Calle Rivera and unceremoniously held up Mr. +North's impressive car before the hotel, while Jim Baggott, in an +ancient silk hat and bibulously primed for the occasion, read an +ungrammatical but fervent valediction. +</P> + +<P> +Billie could only throw both hands out to them, laughing and sobbing in +one breath as the car moved off down a lane of solidly packed humanity +and disappeared in a whirl of dust. +</P> + +<P> +"'S on the house!" Jim Baggott waved toward the bar with one hand and +openly wiped his eyes with the other. "Gonna make a gosh-almighty +swell of her, are they? Well, I wish'm luck, but they'll never change +her heart or break her spirit. She's our'n, an' she'll come back if I +have to go after her myself, so help me! What you-all have?" +</P> + +<P> +True to his word, Kearn Thode had ridden out at daybreak and ridden +hard, but only the pinto knew where they were going and he was too +jaded to care. A sleepless night of bewilderment and self-disgust at +his own surly, unaccountable mood had brought a revelation that stunned +and humbled him. +</P> + +<P> +He loved her! In a blinding flash of realization, he saw that from the +moment of their first meeting she had possessed him, body and soul. It +was that which had stirred his resentment to berserk rage when Starr +Wiley had laid insolent hands upon her in the lane; it was for her and +her alone that he had run the gantlet of El Negrito's forces and dared +the desperate ride. +</P> + +<P> +And she? Immeasurably removed from him now, impenetrably walled in +from his presumptuous gaze by the newly-gained inheritance, there was +yet a golden key which he might find here in this flower-grown +wilderness which would grant him entrance to her world on an equal +footing with all men. She could not have learned to care for him in +their few hours of companionship, but at least no one else held claim +to her. There was still a chance! +</P> + +<P> +It was characteristic of him that, having worked out his problem, he +wasted no thought on futile regret or selfish repining at the fortune +which had smiled on her. It should smile on him, too, and then, and +not till then, he would go to her. +</P> + +<P> +The Pool of the Lost Souls! That was the solution, that the golden key +to the future! That others had been before him in the fruitless search +of weary generations past was of no moment in the fire of his +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +The noontide blaze of heat found him many miles upon an unfamiliar +road, and, heedless of lurking enemies in the undergrowth, he flung +himself down in the shade of a mighty orchid-laden tree, while the +puzzled but equable pinto grazed nearby. +</P> + +<P> +Worn with the emotional conflict through which he had passed, and the +sleepless night preceding the hard-ridden hours, his day-dream faded +into deep slumber and the shadows were slanting across the road when he +awoke with a sudden start. No living thing was in sight save the pinto +tethered close at hand; the road ran level and white and deserted as +far as the eye could see and only the afternoon breeze rustled the +dense foliage above and about him, yet Thode could have sworn that he +was under observation. +</P> + +<P> +He flung the thought from him with a laugh as he picked himself up, but +it persisted in spite of his efforts to exorcise it. Something +unexplained but almost tangible rode at his shoulder on the homeward +way, and he caught himself more than once straining his ears for a +betraying sound behind him. So acute was the sensation of surveillance +that he pulled up abruptly around a sharp turn in the road and +listened, but no following hoof-beats broke the stillness, and mentally +deriding the notion, he cantered on into town. +</P> + +<P> +His mid-day reverie had carried him back over every detail of the +legend Ben Hallock had related of the Pool, and one chance remark +returned to him with the force of an inspiration. Hallock himself had +learned the story from a hunchbacked Mexican who had it from his +grandmother, and the little José, the crippled victim of Starr Wiley's +heedless brutality, had been hunchbacked; the old crone in the shack by +the zapote trees, his grandmother, looked as if many mysteries and +legends might be hidden behind her fierce, inscrutable eyes. +</P> + +<P> +This was slender foundation on which to build a theory, but how else +had the little lad awakened the vengeful antipathy of Wiley? What was +it that he refused to tell him? +</P> + +<P> +Thode had more than a suspicion that Wiley's objective in Limasito was +closely allied to his own. If José had indeed been Hallock's +informant, and the unscrupulous promoter had traced the legend to this +latest source, his anger at being unable to bully the boy into further +disclosures would be easily understood. +</P> + +<P> +That night, when the moon had risen, Thode crossed the plaza and +started out on foot for the shack. He would not allow himself a glance +in the direction of the metamorphosed Blue Chip, but resolutely held +his thoughts to the immediate issue. José had accepted him not only as +a benefactor but as the friend of his adored señorita; would he be +induced to speak? +</P> + +<P> +The shack was dark when he finally reached it and only silence greeted +his knock upon the sagging door. It yielded to his touch, and after a +moment's hesitation he stepped inside, and groping, found the lamp. +</P> + +<P> +Touching a match to the wick, he replaced the cracked chimney and +looked about him. Gone! +</P> + +<P> +The little one-room dwelling was in chaos, the chest of drawers +ransacked and even the two poor beds had been pulled violently apart. +Everything spoke of hasty and frenzied flight. What could it mean? +</P> + +<P> +As the young engineer stood bewildered at this unexpected scene, there +came over his senses once more the inexplicable intuition of the +afternoon. Someone, something was spying upon him! +</P> + +<P> +He thrust it into the back of his mind, however, striving to recall a +memory which eluded him. What had Billie told him of a witch's +cauldron in the grove of zapote trees, where the old crone had wrought +magic which to her, at least, was very real? Could the explanation of +this amazing evanescence be found there? +</P> + +<P> +Shading the lamp with his hand, he stumbled out the door and followed +the weed-choked path to the little clearing. A huge battered kettle +lay on its side in a heap of ashes which looked as though they had +recently been alight. Thode stirred them with his foot, then bent +hastily; they were still warm, and from their midst protruded a gleam +of something white. +</P> + +<P> +Kneeling, he set the lamp carefully upon the ground beside him and +pulled the scrap of paper from its hiding-place. It was partially +burned, but some freak of air-current or flame had left its destruction +incomplete, and he saw that a rude plan or map had been drawn upon it. +</P> + +<P> +He had only time to note that an irregular oval was traced in its +center, with a crooked, wavering cross at one end. Then as he bent +closer to the light a twig snapped treacherously behind him and a +crushing blow upon his head blotted out consciousness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ALIEN KIN +</H3> + +<P> +Mr. Mason North's elation at the culmination of his protracted search +gave way to vague but undeniable misgiving before the end of the return +journey. Miss Murdaugh was utterly unlike anything he could have +preconceived. His trained legal mind, unburdened with imagination, had +nevertheless presented possibilities, during the two years of his +previous investigation, from which his fastidious soul shrank. What +could a creature brought up by a wandering card-sharp in mining-camps +and frontier towns offer for rescue and redemption? +</P> + +<P> +His fears had vanished at first sight of her, however, Here was a girl, +untutored and unconventional, to be sure, but singularly free from any +corruption and with distinct social possibilities. +</P> + +<P> +He patronized her in bland condescension at their journey's start and +found her gratifyingly amenable, but they had scarcely crossed the +border, before he found to his stupefaction that he was confronted by a +will as serenely implacable as his own. +</P> + +<P> +Willa listened to his didactic suggestions with an open mind and a +direct unwavering gaze which he found mildly disconcerting, but she +acted upon them only after due and independent consideration and those +that did not meet with her approval she rejected in a quiet finality of +manner which, while it left their surface cordiality undisturbed, +nevertheless brooked no further argument. +</P> + +<P> +His idea of engaging a maid or chaperon for the trip she had vetoed +promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"I've always looked out for myself, and I reckon I can now, so long as +you're around to see that the train don't get uncoupled while you're in +the smoker or I'm in the observation car," she informed him. "I have +to kind of get on to myself, after all that's been happening to me, and +I couldn't with some nosey Jane at my heels every minute. I suppose +there will have to be someone to shine up my nails and fix my hair and +cinch my clothes on me, but that can wait till Mrs. Halstead picks one +out." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. North shrank from such unfeminine candor, but he made no further +reference to a duenna, although as the journey progressed he regretted +his weakness. Willa had an inexplicable penchant for disappearing at +intervals, suddenly and without warning. Where she could get to on a +train or station platform, from under his very eyes, and what errand +prompted her were beyond his comprehension; but she eluded him with the +utmost ease and sang-froid whenever the spirit moved her, and her +matter-of-fact explanations when she returned were obviously and +designedly open to question. +</P> + +<P> +He could feel himself aging beneath the strain and he heartily wished +his charge in Mrs. Halstead's capable hands. His wife had been dead so +long that the paths of feminine idiosyncrasies were an untrodden maze +to him, and his condescension turned to consternation and an awed +respect. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his anxiety, the girl proved a fascinating study. She +showed no interest in the outside world and rarely glanced from the car +window, but her naïve curiosity concerning their fellow passengers and +friendly familiarity toward them kept him constantly on the qui vive. +</P> + +<P> +It was only when at last their journey drew to a close that she evinced +the slightest desire for information concerning the family of which she +was to be a member. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Halstead is my father's cousin, isn't she?" she asked. "Has she +any children?" +</P> + +<P> +"A son and daughter." Mr. North laid aside the newspaper from behind +which he had been furtively watching her. "Vernon is twenty-three, and +a friend of my boy, Winthrop. Angelica is two years his junior, a most +accomplished young woman and quite a leader in the more youthful set. +You will be able to learn a great deal from her." +</P> + +<P> +Willa pondered this in silence for a minute or two. +</P> + +<P> +"What does she do?" she queried, finally. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—ah, she drives her own car, and goes in for all the latest fads +and diversions. I am not familiar with them myself. She sings and +dances——" +</P> + +<P> +"My mother did that," Willa remarked, with a quizzical glance at him. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. North reddened. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not——not in that fashion! I mean for charity; war relief and +that sort of thing. Quite respectable and praiseworthy." +</P> + +<P> +"I see," said Willa slowly. "It's only proper when you do it for +nothing, just because you like it. If it's work, it isn't nice." +</P> + +<P> +Her interlocutor writhed, but cannily forbore argument. He had learned +more valuable pointers in the past few days on the matter of rebuttal +than Blackstone ever revealed to him. +</P> + +<P> +"And the boy, Vernon. What does he do?" Willa resumed. +</P> + +<P> +"He motors and plays golf and tennis." Mr. North cast wildly about in +his mind for an inspiration. What did the young beggar do, anyway, +that would meet with the approval of this socialistic Amazon? "Cards, +too. He's an inveterate—I mean, enthusiastic, card-player." +</P> + +<P> +Willa rewarded his efforts with a wriggle of interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Monte, stud or blackjack?" she demanded. "What's his limit? Good +loser?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very!" The family lawyer was on solid ground here. "In fact I may +say the best and most consistent loser I have knowledge of. It has not +been decided yet what—ah, field of industry he will enter. He is just +out of the university." +</P> + +<P> +"There's a Mr. Halstead, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course. He is the first vice-president of the Vitality and +Casualty Insurance Company, and director in several banks and +corporations. A very busy man and an important, influential one." +</P> + +<P> +"What does he do that he likes?" Willa persisted, unimpressed. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless me, I haven't an idea! I've known him for a quarter of a +century, but I've never heard him discuss anything except finance." +</P> + +<P> +"And Mrs. Halstead?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, my dear, there is a character for you!" Mr. North beamed. "She's +chairman of a dozen charity organizations, leader in every new movement +that appears, and manages to find ample time for her social duties, +besides. A wonderful woman! You are fortunate in having her for your +sponsor and mentor, and I—ah, I trust that you will follow her +directions in all things. You must show your appreciation of her +kindness in taking you into her home and making you one of themselves +by obeying her without question. Her experience and knowledge of the +world will be invaluable to you." +</P> + +<P> +The swift roar of the train into the tunnel precluded comment from his +charge, and in the vast station she vanished once more. This time she +remained absent for so long that the distracted attorney was on the +point of despatching a battalion of porters to search for her when she +reappeared, slightly flushed but serene. +</P> + +<P> +"In heaven's name, where have you been?" Mr. North demanded testily. +"How many times have I instructed you to remain close at my side when +we alight!" +</P> + +<P> +"I knew where you were, you see," she exclaimed calmly. "There was +something I had to attend to." +</P> + +<P> +"Telegrams to your friends? Surely they might have waited until a more +suitable time! You have caused me great anxiety——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry if I worried you, Mr. North." Her tone was chastened, but +there was an undernote of warning. "I've been free so long that I kind +of forget I'm under extradition." +</P> + +<P> +A wave of contrition swept over his ill-humor as her slim-clad figure +preceded him out to the waiting motor. She had been coolly +insubordinate, of course, but she was young and very much alone in a +strange environment. She could be led, perhaps, but she would never be +driven. +</P> + +<P> +Cesare, the Halsteads' chauffeur, touched the brim of his cap smartly, +and Willa bestowed upon him a dazzling smile. Only the snap of the +limousine door prevented her shaking hands. +</P> + +<P> +"He looks like a right-nice boy," she remarked naïvely. "Do you +suppose he'll teach me how to drive a car of my own?" +</P> + +<P> +"If he is told to do so," Mr. North replied with dignity, "and it is +decided that you are to have a car." +</P> + +<P> +She darted an appraising glance at him, but he vaguely felt a certain +ambiguous quality in the silence which followed, and congratulated +himself that they had reached their journey's end. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Ripley Halstead awaited them in the drawing-room. She was a tall, +commanding woman in the indefinite forties, with a high, thin nose and +cold, slightly protruding eyes. Her dark hair, still untouched by +gray, was arranged in a modishly severe fashion and her smile extended +no farther than her straight lips. +</P> + +<P> +"So this is our little cousin?" She brushed the girl's cheek with a +light kiss. "My dear Willa, words cannot express our pleasure that you +have been found at last, we have doubted and feared for so long. I +hope that you will be very happy here with us, and I am sure that we +shall all manage famously." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," Willa murmured, through stiffened lips. "This situation +has been kind of thrust on both of us, but I reckon we can make the +best of it." +</P> + +<P> +The lady gasped and turned to the attorney, who was watching with a +gleam of speculation in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Mason, we have much to thank you for in restoring our young relative +to us, but I must defer that now. You will dine with us?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, no." He bowed over her hand. "To tell you the truth, I am +rather fagged out from my trip, and I am anxious to get on up-town. +Please, tell Ripley that I will see him to-morrow, and transfer the +necessary papers to him.—Au revoir, my dear. Try to remember what I +have told you." +</P> + +<P> +Willa stared with dazed eyes about the pretty room to which she was +ushered. The furniture was of ivory and dull gold, the walls, +draperies and floor a soft French blue, and delicate rose-shaded lights +glowed delicately in many brackets. +</P> + +<P> +The drawing-room she had taken as a matter of course; it impressed her +as being not unlike that of the big hotel at Tampico, but to be +expected to live and move around and sleep in this fragile, stifling, +cluttered doll's house of a room was unthinkable. It was hers, the +maid had said so; therefore, she would make the best of it, in her own +fashion. +</P> + +<P> +A half-hour later the house-maid presented herself at Mrs. Halstead's +door in a state bordering on hysteria. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, Madame, the young lady, Miss Murdaugh, has taken her +room all to pieces. The draperies' are down from the windows and piled +in a corner with the cushions from the chaise longue, and the bed is +moved over to the windows and stripped down to the blanket. All the +rose shades are off the lights and the furniture is pushed back against +the wall. Miss Murdaugh rang for me just now to take all the drapery +and things out of the room, and I thought I had better come to you." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead stepped forward, but stopped with a slight compression of +her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Katie. You may remove them, for the time being. I will +see Miss Murdaugh about it later." +</P> + +<P> +When the housemaid had withdrawn, her mistress dropped rather than +seated herself in the nearest chair. The mechanical smile had vanished +and her eyes narrowed. She foresaw friction ahead. +</P> + +<P> +Willa, serenely unconscious that she had offended, slipped into the one +thin black gown which she possessed, a mail-order purchase which had +given her immense satisfaction, but when dinner was announced and she +descended the stairs, she paused aghast at the splendor before her. +</P> + +<P> +A girl stood in the drawing-room door in a marvelous creation which +seemed made of diamond-tipped, rainbow-tinted mist. From it her +youthful shoulders and slim neck rose creamily, surmounted by a small +head banded boyishly with golden hair. Her wide eyes were china blue, +her nose piquantly retroussé and she was as vacuously pretty as a wax +doll. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do?" She came forward with a graceful fluttering movement. +"You are Willa, aren't you? I hope we are going to be terribly good +friends. I'm your cousin, Angelica." +</P> + +<P> +"Named after a dessert." A languid, teasing voice came from behind +her. "Welcome to our city, my dear cousin! Hope you won't find us too +peaceable after Mexico." +</P> + +<P> +"No fear!" The doll-like eyes snapped dangerously. "This is my +brother Vernon, Willa. Mother will be down in a moment." +</P> + +<P> +Willa had suffered herself to be pecked at by the other girl's perfumed +lips, and now she took the hand of the dapper youth who confronted her. +He was fair like his sister, but the resemblance ended there. His nose +was long and sharp, his forehead slanting, his close-set eyes a +greenish-gray. She wondered how anything human could look so like a +fox, as she returned his quizzical stare with a direct, level one, and +relinquished his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm pleased to meet you," she remarked simply, and noted the quick +flash of amusement which passed from brother to sister. "I reckon I +can stand a little peace and quiet, after what I've been through +lately. I don't hardly know where I'm at, yet." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon's mouth twisted suddenly as he turned away, and Angelica +responded in obvious haste. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I imagine you do feel rather upset. Mr. North must have seemed +like a fairy godfather when he appeared with his astounding news for +you." +</P> + +<P> +"A fairy godfather? He's kind of a hefty one, isn't he?" Willa +smiled, adding quickly: "He was real kind on the trip coming up; didn't +seem like he could do enough for me, but I reckon he was glad to get me +here at last." +</P> + +<P> +"As we are to have you, my dear." A mild, genial voice sounded from +the stairs' foot, and the three young people turned. "Let me welcome +you to your home. We hope to make up to you for being exiled for so +long from it." +</P> + +<P> +A tall, iron-gray head bent, and Willa found herself gazing into keen, +kindly eyes. Her own blurred as her hand rested between those of +Ripley Halstead and something seemed to grip her by the throat. +Gentleman Geoff's face swam for a moment before her in a mist of tears. +</P> + +<P> +She essayed an unintelligible phrase, and perceiving her emotion, he +tactfully covered it. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be starved; I know we are. Children, where's your mother? +After dinner we must have a little talk, eh? There will be so much for +you to do and see that we shall have to plan out a sort of +campaign.—Oh, there you are, Irene!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa's secret anxiety as to forks being allayed by the discovery that +service was laid for but one course at a time, she was able to give +herself up during the meal to a frank study of her new-found relatives. +She was going to like Ripley Halstead; already liked him, and each +passing moment confirmed her first opinion. Concerning the others, she +was not so sure. There was a mental reservation behind Mrs. Halstead's +surface cordiality, and the bewitching Angelica seemed too seraphically +sweet and gentle to ring quite true. Vernon was a type with which in a +more crude stratum of humanity she had become familiar in the +gaming-rooms of the Blue Chip. Weak without being absolutely vicious, +crafty without initiative, he would be a mere tool in dominant +unscrupulous hands or an average, decent fellow if his better instincts +were aroused. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner over, they repaired to the drawing-room, but the little family +gathering soon disintegrated, to Willa's profound relief. +</P> + +<P> +Angelica flitted away to a dance, Vernon betook himself to his club and +Mr. Halstead, forgetting his expressed intention of a talk with her, +shut himself in his study. When she found herself alone with her +hostess, Willa mentally braced her nerves for a cross-examination, but +the ordeal was deferred. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear, you must be quite worn out. We have much to talk over, for +we must all readjust ourselves, and become really acquainted, but you +must rest first, and accustom yourself to your new surroundings." Mrs. +Halstead smiled. "I am sorry you did not like your room! I had +planned it very carefully for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Willa cried, in quick dismay. "I didn't know! It was awfully +pretty, but I'm used to air and space and I didn't feel like I could +breathe in it. I'll put them back to-morrow, and try it, all those +hangings and things, if you say so." +</P> + +<P> +"No, you shall have your own room arranged as you please. You will +soon grow accustomed to pretty things. We must get rid of that somber +mourning at once, and plan a suitable wardrobe." +</P> + +<P> +"But——" Willa paused in dismay. "Maybe Mr. North didn't tell you. +I—I have lost someone who was all the world to me! I feel somehow +that I couldn't give up the black, not yet anyway. It would look as if +I wanted folks to think I'd forgotten——" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand. You refer to your former guardian? But, my dear, that +life is behind you now, and you must put everything from your thoughts +but the future and what we are all going to help you make of it." +</P> + +<P> +Willa rose. +</P> + +<P> +"You are all very kind," she said in a stifled voice. "I'm bound to be +a heap of nuisance to you, I'm afraid, though I made up my mind not to +buck the game strong till I'd learned the rules. But don't ask me to +be a piker and forget Dad! You don't know what he was to me! I +appreciate what you-all are trying to do, Mrs. Halstead, and I +sympathize with you, for it's going to be a tough job all around, no +matter how I try to follow your lead, but don't stack the cards on the +first deal, please. All I've got in the world now is my memory of the +best friend that ever lived!" +</P> + +<P> +"Your loyalty is very touching, dear child, and I would be the last to +impugn it." Mrs. Halstead put two rigid dutiful arms about her. "Your +clothes are a mere detail which we will take up later. You must go to +bed now, and sleep." +</P> + +<P> +Willa stumbled from the room with a sense of baffled defeat as if she +had incontinently butted against a wall of granite. Her aching heart +cried out for familiar things and faces, but she steeled herself +valiantly. She must play the game! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WILLA SITS IN +</H3> + +<P> +"Well, what do you think of her?" Mason North's eyes twinkled as he +put the question to the Ripley Halsteads in solemn conference on the +following evening. +</P> + +<P> +"A very interesting young woman," Halstead replied emphatically. +"She's refreshingly genuine and original, in this artificial, +cut-and-dried age." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"Aboriginal, I should say," she murmured. "And quite astonishingly +impervious to the social amenities." +</P> + +<P> +"I gathered that, myself," Mason North nodded. "I talked to her till I +was blue in the face, but unless she could see a direct reason for +doing a thing, or not doing it, she followed her own instinct." +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't lead her far wrong," declared Halstead. "She may lack the +minor hypocrisies, but she'll wall herself in with them soon enough, +the Lord knows. She's willing to listen to reason, that's something. +</P> + +<P> +"The life down there may have been rough, but it has not destroyed her +native fineness and high principle. I don't say that I should care to +have Angie go through such an experience, but it might have made a man +of Vernon to buck up against it. Look at young Thode!" +</P> + +<P> +"Kearn Thode?" The attorney glanced up quickly. "I thought he was out +West?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Larkin tells me he sent him to Mexico a few months ago. I wonder +if Willa happened to run across him? He's a splendid fellow and Larkin +banks on his judgment and efficiency. That's the sort of life to bring +out the best in a man, or a woman either, to judge from our small +cousin. I like her independence, I don't mind telling you. It shows +self-reliance and strength." +</P> + +<P> +"But Willa has not the slightest idea of obligation," his wife +remarked. "She seems rather to look on the situation as one for mutual +commiseration. Any other poor, neglected, friendless creature from the +backwoods would be transported into the seventh heaven at such great +good fortune, but she accepts it as a more or less onerous duty." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't call her exactly friendless if you had witnessed the +parting ovation she received; the whole town turned out. She's more +than a popular favorite down there, she's an idol. Everyone seems to +worship her, down to the lowest half-breed. If we handle her right, I +shouldn't wonder if she turns out to be a mighty-fine woman." +</P> + +<P> +"If we do?" Mrs. Halstead raised her eyebrows. "Perhaps you have some +method to suggest. I admit that for the moment I am baffled. She +refused flatly last night to go out of mourning, and I was really +thankful for it after reflection; we can at least keep her in the +background now, until I have succeeded in eliminating some of those +frightful gambling expressions from her vocabulary. She seems to have +been passionately fond of the impossible person who brought her up. I +shudder to think of the impression she would make now on our circle of +friends. She doesn't seem in the least ashamed of her past +environment, or desirous of concealing her connection with such a +character." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't advise you to tackle that subject for awhile," he said. +"You ought to have heard the flaying she gave me when I suggested that +no one but the immediate family need know about her foster father. Her +opinion of her respected grandfather, in comparison with Gentleman +Geoff, was illuminating." +</P> + +<P> +He gave them the gist of it, and Mrs. Halstead listened with tightened +lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall tell Willa quite plainly that we and our friends are not +interested in her past but only in what she is and may become. She +appears to have at least a glimmering of sense and she must soon +perceive for herself how disgraceful the whole unfortunate affair would +seem to outsiders." She paused. "There is something that I do not +quite understand about Willa. You are sure, Mason, that she has no +vulgar, clandestine affair on her hands?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good heavens, I should hope not! We've got enough to contend with as +things stand without that." The attorney bounced forward in his chair. +"What on earth put such an idea into your head, my dear Irene?" +</P> + +<P> +"She was already in the breakfast-room when I came down this morning, +and I thought she looked remarkably fresh, but with these naturally +pale people you never can tell." Mrs. Halstead, too, leaned forward +impressively. "Willa said nothing about having been out, and naturally +such a possibility never occurred to me, but Welsh tells me she drove +up in a taxi-cab at half-past nine. She must have slipped out very +early, for he did not see her go." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely you questioned her?" her husband asked. North was speechless. +</P> + +<P> +"'She had been out to take a look about the city.'" Mrs. Halstead +shrugged. "She hadn't thought it worth while mentioning; she had +always gone and come as she pleased." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly the same stall she gave me!" the attorney exploded. "We'd +better look into this, for she gave me the slip half a dozen times on +the train and in stations and I never could get any satisfaction out of +her." +</P> + +<P> +"I explained that young ladies did not go about alone in that fashion, +at least unless their families knew and sanctioned it, and I pointed +out the danger of losing her way. She promised to be more careful +another time, but her manner was ambiguous, to say the least. She may +have privately intended to be careful lest her future expeditions be +discovered, but I have arranged to circumvent that. Whatever we do, we +must have no breath of gossip until she is firmly established." +</P> + +<P> +If Willa was aware of the respectful surveillance to which she was +subjected thereafter she made no sign, possibly because she eluded it +whenever she felt inclined with the utmost ease, and no tales were +carried back. The servants beneath Mrs. Halstead's iron rule were too +fearful of losing their positions to admit a failure of duty unless +they were cornered and secretly they sympathized with the strange young +lady. Thus Willa came and went as her pleasure dictated in the +early-morning hours. +</P> + +<P> +Her first real clash came during a discussion of finances with the +attorney and Ripley Halstead. The latter had insisted on showing her +exactly how the fortune left her by her grandfather was being +manipulated for her interests, and she listened in grave attention. +When the matter was concluded, Mr. North cleared his throat with a +nervous but ingratiating smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my dear, I think we should come to an understanding about your +other inheritance; that left to you by—ah, Gentleman Geoff. Mr. +Baggott, the executor, informed me that the sale of your foster +father's establishment alone netted two hundred thousand dollars and +there are other securities and bank deposits, besides. He very +ill-advisedly turned them over to you, but you, of course, cannot think +of handling such a sum on your own initiative. It must be invested +under mature judgment, and you are still a minor. If you will place +the necessary deeds and memoranda in our hands——" +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a minor under Mexican law." Willa bent a steady gaze upon +him. "Dad trusted me with absolute control and I'm going to play a +lone hand as far as that money is concerned, Mr. North. You can tie as +many strings as you please to the Murdaugh fortune, I'm not worrying +about that; I have enough without it, and what I've got I'm going to +keep." +</P> + +<P> +"Little cousin, that would be impossible." Halstead shook his head. +"I would not interfere in any way with your personal liberty, but this +is a matter in which you must defer to your proper guardians. You are +incapable of managing it alone, and it is unthinkable that you should +try." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm very sorry, Cousin Ripley; I seem to be saying that all the time, +don't I?" She smiled faintly, but her little chin was set in +determined lines. "You may not have known it, but I've banked and +invested Dad's money—and speculated with it, too—for the last three +years, and he always said he would trust my judgment before any hombre +in Mexico. I know you don't like me to speak of Dad, but I only wanted +you to know that I'm really quite capable." +</P> + +<P> +"Willa, my dear—" began Halstead, but the lawyer stopped him with a +gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you realize that we can have the entire estate taken out of your +hands by process of law and turned over to us as your guardians? We +most certainly shall, if you persist, in order to protect you against +your own wilful recklessness. My dear, you will not force us to such a +disagreeable and expensive step? You are not going to disappoint us by +proving ungrateful for the interest we have taken in you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am not ungrateful!" she cried passionately. "I know you are all +trying to help me and look out for me, and I am thankful. I—I can't +give up the control of my own money, for I may have to use it. It's +really mine, Dad gave it to me, and I'm not going to have to ask for it +when I want it, or explain what I want it for. If you try to take it +from me, I'll have to fight for it. Everyone in Limasito will back me +up, and the law down there is on their side and mine, remember. +Everything else is in your hands and I am grateful to you for taking +care of it, but Dad's money isn't part of the Murdaugh outfit, and I +mean to keep it for myself." +</P> + +<P> +No further argument could avail to move her an iota from her position +and the matter perforce rested, but when the two men were alone +together, Ripley Halstead looked at his attorney with a troubled +question in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +North nodded solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's blackmail!" he announced. "She's paying hush-money to someone +and planning flight if the truth, whatever it may be, is discovered. +Why else would she insist on retaining control of the money she +considers peculiarly her own? I thought I had learned every detail of +the past, and that her life was an open book, but you never can tell. +There may have been some foolish romance or entanglement—" +</P> + +<P> +"No." Halsted shook his head. "You're on the wrong track there, I'm +sure of it. Willa is too high-minded to compromise herself, and +level-headed enough to be safe from sentimental folly under any +circumstances. If she had become involved in any difficulty, you can +bank on it that she would come out with the truth, straight from the +shoulder; she would be the last person in the world to allow herself to +be intimidated. She may be being bled through pity or a mistaken sense +of loyalty, but I don't see what we can do now to stop it." +</P> + +<P> +"The first step will be to discover what her game is." The attorney +chuckled ruefully. "To use her own parlance, Ripley, that young woman +called my bluff, and her cards are high. Litigation would be a +wearisome business and we couldn't buck her crowd down there. She'd +have the executor, Baggott, appointed as trustee of the old gambler's +estate, and he would be wax in her hands. We can only watch her, and +try to prevent her doing anything foolishly quixotic." +</P> + +<P> +The next day Willa paid her first visit to a famous modiste in Mrs. +Halstead's company, and returned exhausted but impressed. The latent +feminine instinct for adornment had taken possession of her and through +the long evening she dreamed in a hazy rapture. The motive which had +so far actuated her on her course was temporarily laid aside and in its +stead came vague scenes of the future, when she should have learned how +to carry those marvelous creations with the trained ease and elegance +of Angelica, and was wholly transformed from the plain, awkward +creature of the Limasito days. Perhaps, when Kearn Thode came to New +York— +</P> + +<P> +A sudden sound, subdued but unmistakably familiar, roused her from her +reverie. What could it mean? She sprang from her chair and stood +listening intently. The family were supposed to have gone to a +dinner-party, yet from somewhere above had come a chorus of male +laughter, and down the stairs to her opened door echoed the rattle and +clink of poker chips. +</P> + +<P> +Willa crept out to the hall wistfully, drawn by the well-remembered +sound as by a magnet, and step by step ascended the stairs. A door at +the left was ajar and through it came a warm ray of light and the odor +of cigarettes. +</P> + +<P> +"If that wasn't a hunch, I'll eat my shirt!" A buoyant voice exulted. +"Stuck two raises before the draw and then filled an inside straight! +What do you call it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lunacy, even if it did break for you," Vernon drawled. "You ought to +be shot at sunrise. No more post-mortems. Ante up there, Cal." +</P> + +<P> +Willa tiptoed to the door and peered within. Vernon and four strange +young men were seated about a table in the center of the room, which +was evidently a den or study. +</P> + +<P> +Vernon was dealing, and his neighbor at the left sat with his back +squarely to the door. Over his shoulder, Willa could see his cards as +he picked them up; an ace, king, ten, jack, and another king. He +refused to open, but the downy-mustached boy on his left, whose voice +Willa had first heard, performed that service. The other two strangers +stayed out, Vernon trailed and Willa eyed the slim, dark youth whose +hand she could see in fascinated suspense. +</P> + +<P> +"Mine are punk." He yawned indifferently, and threw his cards down +upon the table. +</P> + +<P> +The eavesdropper gasped, but watched with narrowed eyes as his tapering +fingers lingered, gathering up and sorting the discards with studied +listlessness. +</P> + +<P> +The opener checked, the boy next raised him two and Vernon dropped. +</P> + +<P> +"Brace of manicurists!" The first boy showed his openers ruefully. +"Couldn't better 'em. It's all yours, Art." +</P> + +<P> +The dark youth shuffled the cards twice dexterously and dealt. This +time he held four kings and a seven. +</P> + +<P> +"Go to it, Winnie," he said lazily. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks." Winnie shook his head. "The tall grass for mine." +</P> + +<P> +His neighbor refused likewise, but the lad with the tortoise-rimmed +glasses next Vernon straightened involuntarily. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll open it." His voice trembled. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night!" Vernon dropped his cards as if they burned him. "Sure +you're looking at 'em straight, Pete?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come again." The dealer shoved two blues out on the board. +</P> + +<P> +"Back to you." The opener's fingers twitched as he dropped four. +</P> + +<P> +"Once more." +</P> + +<P> +"And two." +</P> + +<P> +"That's enough for me." The dealer shrugged, and pushed forward two +chips more. +</P> + +<P> +The others sat in wordless enthralment as Pete stood pat and the +dealer, with a smile, laid down the pack untouched. The betting +proceeded cautiously at first, then by leaps and bounds as Pete lost +his head and plunged wildly. +</P> + +<P> +A small mountain of blue chips lay in the center of the table, and the +dark, smiling youth seemed prepared to raise it indefinitely, when Pete +sighed and drew his hand before his blurred eye-glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"Call you!" he squeaked. "What you got, Cal?" +</P> + +<P> +The dealer spread his hand out upon the board and his opponent emitted +a moan of anguish as the four kings were exposed. +</P> + +<P> +"And I opened—<I>opened</I> mind you, with four messenger boys, pat!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa did not wait for the buzz of excited comment. Instead she turned +and sped noiselessly down the stair to her room. When she reappeared a +few moments later she wore a corsage bunch of violets which stuck out +oddly from her black gown, and carried a jingling purse. +</P> + +<P> +Ascending once more, she tapped at the door and then slipped shyly in. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me!" she said to the open-mouthed group who rose as one man. +"I heard the game going on and I thought maybe you'd let me sit in for +a round or two. It isn't just regular, I know, but if you won't tell, +<I>I</I> won't." +</P> + +<P> +"Willa!" Vernon's face was crimson. "I—I'm quite sure mother +wouldn't approve of——" +</P> + +<P> +"Of the game?" she smiled. "Who's going to carry tales, if I don't? I +reckon you've forgotten to introduce your friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me." Vernon gathered his wits together with an obvious +effort, and complied. The loser of the last phenomenal hand, she +learned, was Peter Follinsbee, his right-hand neighbor Arthur Judson, +and "Winnie" proved to be the son whom Mason North had mentioned. His +was the voice she had first heard, and she shook hands cordially with +him, but merely bowed to the slim, dark youth, whose name was Calvert +Shirley. +</P> + +<P> +"My—my cousin, Miss Murdaugh." Vernon finished, adding desperately: +"Really, Willa, I'm sorry, but it's out of the question——" +</P> + +<P> +"Vernie, have a heart! We'd all be delighted if Miss Murdaugh will +join us!" Winnie's eyes twinkled with mischief. "We're only playing a +ten-cent limit. Miss Murdaugh, if you're familiar with the game——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm on speaking terms with it," Willa nodded. "Ten-<I>dollar</I> limit you +mean, don't you, Mr. North? I'm right here with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I say!" Follinsbee blinked deprecatingly. "We couldn't allow a +lady to play such a stiff game with all of us——" +</P> + +<P> +"Son," Willa admonished him, "I've bucked a game that hit the skies +more than once, so don't you worry about me. Who's banking?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, all right, if you really want to," Vernon capitulated, in deadly +fear of further revelations. "Only keep mum about it or there'll be +the very deuce to pay." +</P> + +<P> +Willa seated herself between "Pete" Follinsbee and "Art" Judson, +directly across the table from "Cal" Shirley, and the game recommenced. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie Mason looked upon her advent as a huge joke, but the others were +plainly ill at ease, until a hand or two showed them that they were in +the presence of a sure and expert player. +</P> + +<P> +If she realized their stupefaction at the unexpected materialization in +their midst of the mysterious and much heralded Miss Murdaugh she gave +no sign, but played conservatively, her eyes always upon the slim, +agile fingers of her vis-à-vis. +</P> + +<P> +His deal came and passed without incident, but when the round of the +table had been made once more, and Vernon dealt, Cal Shirley again +refused to open and dropped out. +</P> + +<P> +Willa, with a pair of aces, did likewise, and watched him gather up her +hand with his own and the other discards. +</P> + +<P> +Vernon crowed triumphantly as he raked in the pot, but Willa scarcely +heard. One hand had flown to the violets at her belt, and she waited, +tense and motionless, until Shirley had shuffled and lifted the top +card to deal. +</P> + +<P> +Then there came a sinuous, silken rustle; fingers like steel wires tore +the pack from his grasp and he found himself looking into the mouth of +a small but eminently practical revolver. +</P> + +<P> +"Hands up, you yellow son of a Greaser!" Willa's voice rang out above +the amazed gasp which ran around the table. "I saw you running up the +hands before when you cleaned Mr. Follinsbee on four planted jacks. +That's why I eased myself into the game." +</P> + +<P> +Shirley obeyed, with a sickly smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Really, this is most extraordinary!" he drawled. "Is your charming +cousin about to entertain us with a bit of wild-West melodrama, Vernie?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Willa interposed. "I'm going to show you what we do with a crook +below the border.—Mr. North, will you take this pack and deal face up +for Mr. Shirley? You'll find that somebody will have a hand to go the +limit on, but our friend over there will top him, pat." +</P> + +<P> +Mechanically, Winnie North complied, and, in a silence broken only by +the whispering fall of the cards, he dropped before Willa herself a +king full, and at the erstwhile dealer's place, four damning eights. +</P> + +<P> +"You infernal scoundrel!" They were all on their feet, but it was +Vernon's voice which rumbled in unexpected strength. "If my cousin +weren't here, I'd thrash you within an inch of your life!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't mind me!" The revolver wavered regretfully in Willa's fingers. +"I'd have winged him at the start, but I reckon shooting don't go in +New York. I'll take a chance, though, if he don't loosen up with every +peso he's stolen." +</P> + +<P> +The threat was wholly unnecessary. With shaking hands the cheat made +restitution, his sallow face gray-green and distorted with silent rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, vamoose!" Willa commanded. "If I don't hear the front door slam +in just thirty seconds, you'll be the deadest hombre this side of +Kingdom Come!" +</P> + +<P> +There were a few seconds to spare from her ultimatum when the scurry of +feet ceased in a thud which echoed through the silent house. +</P> + +<P> +Willa slipped the revolver back under her belt and turned with a little +rueful smile to her cousin. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I suppose it wasn't just what a lady ought to have done——" she +began, apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"It was wonderful!" Winthrop North's eyes shone. "You saw him stack up +the cards on Pete Follinsbee, and then dug up that revolver and came in +here to expose him! It's the gamest thing I ever heard of a girl +doing! Congratulations, Miss Murdaugh!" +</P> + +<P> +Vernon pulled himself together, and held out his hand. "I'm proud of +my cousin! Only—what in thunder will the mater say if this gets out?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know what Dad would have said." Willa flushed. "But I suppose I've +made a regular hash of—of my début!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BIRDS OF A FEATHER +</H3> + +<P> +"What in the world are you doing, Vernie?" Angie paused in the library +door, stifling a yawn daintily as she slipped her evening cloak from +her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +Vernon looked up from his book with raised eyebrows. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think that was self-evident," he observed. "What brings you +home so early?" +</P> + +<P> +"The dance was insufferably stupid." She dropped into a chair and +began stripping off her gloves. "The music was awful and you know what +the Erskine's ball-room floor is like; domestic champagne, too, with +frilly serviettes around the labels and half the boys drank quite too +much of it. Ghastly bore, the whole affair." +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to me everything is a bore nowadays, according to you." +Vernon grinned. "When is Starr Wiley coming back?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't the least idea." Angie flushed. "What has he to do with +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"A good bit, I imagine," responded her brother. "You were playing him +pretty strong before he left." +</P> + +<P> +"Heavens! I wish you wouldn't use such horrid coarse expressions! +That's Willa's influence, but I knew just how it would be. I warned +mother it was a hopeless job to try to make anything of her the very +night she came, and I'm simply dreading next Tuesday!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't worry on her account if I were you," Vernon returned. "She +may be a little green yet, but she's learning fast, and I wouldn't be +surprised if she were the hit of the season. That black hair and +dead-white skin and those deep blue eyes of hers are going to make a +sensation right off the bat. You'd better look to your laurels, my +dear sister." +</P> + +<P> +"Tommyrot!" retorted Angie, inelegantly. "She's as awkward as a calf, +and hasn't a word to say for herself, though if she'll only continue to +keep still, I'm sure we shall all be thankful. Mother is in despair +over her studies; she simply refused to go on with the tutor, you +know—said she could read all the history and literature she wanted, +and it was a waste of time to study geography until the war was over +and the map settled. Moreover, she told Mr. Timmins to his face that +she knew more about practical mathematics and executive finance than he +did, and the dead languages could stay dead as far as she was +concerned." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon chortled. +</P> + +<P> +"Bully for her! I think she's a corker. She dances like a dream +already, and old Gaudet is ready to weep with joy over her fencing." +</P> + +<P> +Angie compressed her lips, in the fashion she had inherited from her +mother. +</P> + +<P> +"She ought to come naturally by the dancing, I'm sure," she sneered. +"And she rides in rotten form, like a Western cow-girl. It was wise of +mother to introduce her first at a small dinner instead of giving her a +formal coming-out party, where she would be the center of observation." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Vernon teased. "It is rather awkward to engineer a second +début, while the first bud is still lingering on the parent stem. You +want to look out or she'll leave you at the post." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you!" Angie tossed her head. "I'm only afraid she will be a +laughing-stock and bring down ridicule on all of us. You and Father +are perfectly idiotic about her. You might be expected to make a fool +of yourself, but I am surprised at Father's interest in her." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't be if you'd heard them the other night, talking about the +oil business; she was actually advising him, and what's more, he took +it thankfully. I couldn't quite get the hang of it myself, but you can +bet I'm going to!" He flourished the book. "Little brother is going +into the oil game!" +</P> + +<P> +"For about two days, I suppose, until something else comes along." +Angie yawned openly. "Thank heaven, there won't be many people here +Tuesday night." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's coming, anyway?" Vernon demanded. "If I have to take in any +giggling idiot of a débutante, you and mother can just count me out!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell her your troubles then," Angie suggested lazily. "Mr. North and +Winnie will be here, of course; the Erskines, Harrington Chase, the +Judsons, Mrs. Beekman——" +</P> + +<P> +"Me for her!" interjected Vernon. "She's the best all-round sport in +the crowd, and the only girl who can win cups at tennis and polo and +yet manage to look pink-and-white in the evening. I'll ask mother to +let me take her in. What's become of her brother, Kearn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Thode?" Angie shrugged. "He's out West or down South, +prospecting about, I imagine. Awful bore, I thought him, and so silly +to spend most of his time in the wilds when he could stay in the New +York office and live like a gentleman if he chose." +</P> + +<P> +"A society hanger-on, grafting dinners and week-end parties because +he's good-looking and there with the family tree, but not rich enough +to marry? Thode's too much of a man for that, and I fancy he prefers +to lead a man's life. I'm getting jolly sick of the whole thing +myself, and I'd like to cut it as he has!" +</P> + +<P> +"By the way—" Angie's negligible thoughts had flown off at a +tangent—"isn't it funny about Cal Shirley?" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" Vernon frowned. "Haven't seen him for ages." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor has anyone else. He's simply dropped out of everything, and +to-night I overheard his mother tell Mrs. Erskine that he was going to +winter at Coronado, for the polo. It's odd, when he was rushing +Suzanne so violently. Perhaps she turned him down." +</P> + +<P> +"Lucky for her if she did," growled Vernon. "He's a pretty-average +cad, if you want to know; I don't believe he'll show up again in a +hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"Why——!" Angie's eyes gleamed. "What has he done, Vernie? Is there +going to be a scandal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to disappoint you, my dear girl." He rose. "The incident is +closed, and there won't be even a whisper to delight your ears. +However, you can take it from me that Suzanne has seen the last of one +little playmate. I'm going to bed; you have interrupted the flow +of—of oily meditation." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute, Vernie. You and Father are so prejudiced that it's +scarcely worth while trying to talk to you, but mother has enough to +worry about as it is, with Willa on her hands. Besides, I—I couldn't +very well explain how I happened to see her, but I should like to know +what Willa was doing in a horrid little frame house out on the Parkway +at five o'clock this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon stared. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't believe it. Someone's been stringing you. She doesn't know a +soul in town—er, that is, no one but the few she has run into +informally here." +</P> + +<P> +"But I tell you I saw her myself! She was just coming out as I motored +past." +</P> + +<P> +"I say, what were you doing out there yourself? I thought you went to +a matinée." +</P> + +<P> +Angie grimaced. +</P> + +<P> +"I went out to the Bumble Bee Inn for tea. You needn't be a prig about +it! Lots of really nice people go, and what's the harm?" She picked +up her gloves and trailed to the door. "I suppose you'll ask who I was +with next, and I sha'n't tell you, my dear. I'm bored to death doing +the same old proper thing all the time! Sweet dreams!" +</P> + +<P> +Vernon looked after her for a moment with real anxiety in his eyes. +One of them was enough to be kicking over the traces; it wouldn't do +for Angie to start. However, that was her own affair.… He +shrugged, and, picking up his book, switched off the light. +</P> + +<P> +Life was beginning to round out for Willa, if a multiplicity of demands +upon her time and interest could satisfy her eager impulses. There +were still moments of homesickness, and crises of unrest when she would +gladly have forsworn the stifling hot-house existence and gone back to +the joyous freedom of Limasito days, had it not been for her secret +project. That alone held her to her course and would so hold her until +her purpose was achieved. +</P> + +<P> +The eventful night which was to mark her first appearance in her +cousins' circle came at last, and she smiled whimsically at herself in +the mirror as her new maid added the finishing touches to her toilette. +She still clung stubbornly to black, but Mrs. Halstead had seen to it +that no awkward suggestion of mourning marred the effect of her +shimmering sable gown. It brought out her waxen, lily-like pallor and +the midnight luster of her hair, accentuating her height and slimness, +and her eyes glowed like sapphire stars. +</P> + +<P> +The reflection which met her eyes was a far cry from the khaki-clad +girl who rode man-fashion about the dusty white roads of the Limasito +country, and rallied the gamblers in the Blue Chip. Oblivious of the +maid's presence, Willa bowed solemnly in acknowledgment of the +transformation, and pinning on the orchids Ripley Halstead had +thoughtfully provided, she descended to her fate. +</P> + +<P> +At first she was conscious only of a great many people; very bored, +very languid people who touched her hand limply and then turned away as +if to pursue some interrupted conversation of their own. Then all at +once Willa was aware of a handclasp more vitalizing, and looked up into +a pair of familiar laughing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +She smiled infectiously. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do, Mr. North?" +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" Winnie beamed at her. "How do you girls manage it?—to +change your type, I mean. I thought you were wonderful that night, but +now you've eclipsed the memory of it, and I didn't believe anything +could ever do that. Somehow, you make me feel as if that girl never +existed, and I don't know that I like it. She might have been a real +pal, but you are much too stunning and gorgeous for one to dare such a +thought." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't quite know which the real girl is." Willa eyed him gravely. +"She seems like a stranger to me, sometimes, but I reck—I think the +one you met first is down underneath, just taking a siesta, and she's +apt to wake up any time. Who is the man with the lock of hair shot +away over his right ear?" +</P> + +<P> +Winnie started, and eyed her curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean Harrington Chase? He says his hair grew out that way after +an attack of yellow fever." +</P> + +<P> +Willa pursed her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only a bullet which leaves a scalded furrow like that, as clean +and clear as a line drawn on paper. Who is he, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"Funny you should have asked that. He's one of the biggest +oil-operators on the Exchange; owns a lot of leases somewhere in +Mexico. His partner is down there now, Starr Wiley. I don't suppose +you ever ran across him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I think I have." Willa's tone was quite colorless. "At any +rate, I've heard of him.—Oh, there's your father!" +</P> + +<P> +As it happened, the senior Mr. North had been just behind her when she +greeted his son and the latter's opening remarks had given him food for +lively conjecture. Dexterously, considering his bulk, he had +insinuated himself into and through a screening group of people and +rejoined his hostess near the door. Where and when could that boy of +his have encountered Willa Murdaugh? +</P> + +<P> +The man with the scarred forehead took her in to dinner and Willa +listened politely to his rather heavy pleasantries, studying him the +while through narrowed eyes. Of a type foreign to the frequenters of +the Blue Chip, he had not crossed her path in Limasito, but his +previous activities there were an open book to her. She knew that his +methods in acquiring more than one lease had been unscrupulous and his +reputation none too good, yet the man interested her. +</P> + +<P> +"Your cousin tells me that you've been in Mexico yourself." He turned +his small eyes, sleepily bright, upon her. "Says you've picked up an +uncommon lot of knowledge about the petroleum industries." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard them discussed, that is all," Willa deprecated. +"Naturally, they're the main subject down there, after government +upheavals, of course. It would be a good thing if the States took the +oil lands under protection, wouldn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"Good for us. It will come in time, too. A few more outrages——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." Willa interposed softly. "Even the less important disturbers, +like El Negrito for instance, have their uses." +</P> + +<P> +"El Negrito?" He laid down his knife and fork. "That's what they call +Alvarez, isn't it? I didn't know his fame had spread all over Mexico. +You were at school there, I understand." +</P> + +<P> +Willa shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Not lately. I happened to be among those present when El Negrito made +his last sortie from the hills." +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce you were!" The small eyes filmed craftily. "I beg your +pardon, Miss Murdaugh, but you astonish me! I had no idea——! Most +disastrous affair, that." +</P> + +<P> +"Very." Willa dropped her eyes. "That is the worst of the country +down there, those bandit raids. Creatures like El Negrito know no law +but their own; they can't be hired or bribed or coerced and no one +knows when they will take it into their heads to appear, murdering and +looting and burning. It's a picturesque country, but bad for the +nerves." +</P> + +<P> +She turned as the man on her right spoke to her, and apparently was +deaf to the sigh with which Harrington Chase drained his wine-glass. +She had piqued his curiosity, aroused his interest and disturbed by +just a pin-prick his pachydermatous equanimity; she would not raise +again before the draw. +</P> + +<P> +Later, Winnie found his way to her side in the music-room. +</P> + +<P> +"Chase has been telling us over the liqueurs that you've had some +exciting experiences down in Mexico. That's where you learned to play +poker, isn't it? Jove, I envy you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poker isn't so difficult!" she laughed. "If you'd stop betting your +head off on two pairs, Mr. North, you wouldn't find it so expensive." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you know I don't mean that! I was thinking of your adventures. +Father told me he found you living with some old friends on a big +fruit-growing estate near a small town, and I supposed it had been all +rather lonely and humdrum, until that quiet little game a few weeks ago +made me realize that you must have seen a bit of the strenuous side +down there. That would be the life for me!" +</P> + +<P> +She glanced at his round, innocuous face, with the downy mustache and +ruminative eyes, and smiled irrepressibly. Then her own face grew +grave. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder! You see, Mr. North, it isn't all like a movie; there's an +element of uncertainty that keeps a man quick on the trigger. I was +living with friends at the Casa de Limas, as your father told you. But +if he had arrived on a certain night just a week or so before, he would +have found me barricaded in a—a great hall in town, with men shot to +pieces and dying like flies all around me, and three hundred butchering +rebels from the hills battering in the door." +</P> + +<P> +"Great guns!" exclaimed Winnie. "Fancy your living through that! What +happened—did your friends manage to beat them off?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, the government troops came; the Carranzistas. But they were only +just in time." +</P> + +<P> +"Phew! No wonder you spoke of the movies! It sounds like a melodrama, +doesn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was a tragedy." Willa's voice was very low. "We would all have +been wiped out, if it had not been for one man. He was with us when +the raiders came, but he fought his way through them, took one of their +own horses and rode to the barracks for the troops; ten miles each way, +and he made the whole trip in an hour, wounded as he was. He reached +us just as the door went down, and I'll never forget him cutting his +way through that crowd of fiends to fall unconscious at my feet." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't think you could!" Winnie's breath came fast. "What a +magnificent stunt for a chap to do! Was he a Mexican?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, an American. His name is Kearn Thode." +</P> + +<P> +"What! Who?" Winnie exploded. "You can't mean——! For the love of +Pete!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa stared at him in dawning comprehension. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean that you know him?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Know him'?" he repeated, jubilantly. "I should rather think I do! +Classmate of mine at college and the best fellow that ever lived. So +old Kearn's been pulling off heroic stuff in Mexico! I never thought +he had it in him; he was always one of the quiet kind, but at that he +was right there when it came to a show-down. He's an engineer of some +sort and forever wandering over the face of the earth. I haven't seen +much of him consequently in the last three or four years, but I ran +into him about six months ago, and he told me he'd been out in +Oklahoma. I wonder what he's doing in Mexico!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me about him," Willa invited. "I'm interested after what he did, +although I really liked him before that; he is so strong and clean and +straightforward." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's all of that," replied Winnie. "There isn't very much to +tell about him, though. We were at St. Paul's together and then +college, and we were pretty thick in those days, although he never +cared much for the society racket. His sister is his only living +relative; that's she, Mrs. Beekman, in the gray gown over there." +</P> + +<P> +Willa eagerly followed his eyes. Why had she not guessed? He had +spoken only of "Edna" to her, but the likeness was unmistakable; the +same smooth brown hair, clear-cut profile with the firm, rounded chin +and frank, steady, laughing eyes. She remembered vaguely having been +presented, but the conventional tone of the other's greeting had +awakened no memories. Willa drew a deep breath. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to really know her," she said wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a rattling good sort; you'll like her, when you do.—I say, was +Wiley anywhere around when that raid took place?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." The eager light faded from Willa's eyes. "Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, I can't just imagine him doing what Thode did, that's all. +But perhaps I shouldn't have said that. Even if you haven't met him +yet, you will probably see a great deal of him when he returns." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you mean?" Her tone was oddly constrained, but Winnie was +impervious to subtleties. +</P> + +<P> +"I really haven't any right to discuss it since it hasn't been +announced, but I thought you knew." He nodded toward the group of +callow youths who surrounded Angelica. "It's an open secret that he's +going to marry your cousin." +</P> + +<P> +Still later, as the two Norths rode homeward, the older turned a +speculative eye on his son. +</P> + +<P> +"Win, how did you meet Miss Murdaugh?—Don't look at me like that, you +young pirate! I mean the first time. I overheard some of your +conversation before dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"I refuse to answer, not on the ground that it would incriminate either +the lady or myself, but merely because it is against the rules of the +game." Winnie responded glibly, throwing an affectionate arm across +his father's shoulders. "Governor, she's a peach of a girl!" +</P> + +<P> +"She is a most extraordinary young woman." Mason North agreed, with +conviction. "Fine-looking, too; I don't believe I noticed it before +to-night. You seemed to be getting on famously with her later in the +evening. Except when she is angry, I have never seen her so animated." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." Winnie sobered. "We were talking about another fellow." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ACE IN THE HOLE +</H3> + +<P> +November was well advanced, and the first snow of the season was +falling when Starr Wiley reappeared in New York. His coming was +unheralded, but Harrington Chase was on hand when the train crawled +into the station at midnight and the two partners repaired to the room +of the returned wanderer, where they held an absorbing conference until +the small hours. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, Wiley was stirring bright and early. He appeared thinner +than a month or two previous, and he was tanned as with much roughing +it on the open trail; his eyes, too, were clear, but there was an odd, +furtive droop to their lids which had not been noticeable before. +</P> + +<P> +Abstractedly he drank his coffee, and then, ignoring the tray piled +high with its accumulation of mail which his valet had placed on the +table, he drew his lounging-robe about him and picked up the telephone. +</P> + +<P> +When his number was connected a respectful male voice replied to the +summons. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Halstead. Mr. Vernon Halstead, please.… Well, wake him, +then.… I can't help that, it's important." +</P> + +<P> +There was a full minute's pause and then a querulous, sleepy voice +grumbled over the wire. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Vernie? This is Starr.… Just last night.… No, +you won't, either, you're not supposed to know I'm in town till someone +else tells you later in the day, do you understand?… The racket +is this: I've got to see you at once, privately. I'll wait here just +twenty minutes for you.… Yes, you can and you will! You seem to +forget, my friend, that I hold the whip hand.… No hard feelings, +Vernie, but you know what's in store for you if you don't do what +you're told… That's better! In twenty minutes? Right!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa, meantime, had plowed her way through the slush in the Park on +her early morning canter, and surrendered herself listlessly to the +hands of her hair-dresser. A morning musicale, a luncheon, four teas, +a dinner, opera and a dance formed the program of the day before her +and she quailed in spirit. The novelty of the first few weeks +following her initial dinner party had worn off, and greater ease and +familiarity with the social round brought with it only an added +restlessness and contempt. +</P> + +<P> +There had been no clash, of late, between her will and that of the wary +Mrs. Halstead, but the latter watched her every move with argus eyes +and directed each detail of the day so implacably that Willa had +followed the line of least resistance, save in one particular: she +still slipped away at odd moments and left no trail. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead was therefore suspicious when, after the luncheon, Willa +pleaded a headache, and announced flatly that she would take a siesta +in lieu of attending the receptions. +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear, surely you will make an effort to put in an appearance, +at least at the Allardyce's. I am particularly anxious that you make +an impression there; they are most exclusive, and if they take you up +your position is assured. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I can." The smooth, dominant voice roused Willa swiftly to +white heat. "I haven't seen anything about this outfit yet that comes +too high for Grandfather Murdaugh's money." +</P> + +<P> +It was the first cynical remark that had ever fallen from the girl's +lips, but she was learning fast, and Mrs. Halstead recognized the storm +signals and withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +In the hall, she encountered Willa's maid, a bright-eyed, hard-featured +Frenchwoman. +</P> + +<P> +"Liane, if Mademoiselle goes out before I return, you know what to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bien, Madame, pairfectly." The woman smiled quietly, and, turning, +reëntered her mistress' room. +</P> + +<P> +"Go away, Liane. I'm going to try to rest. No, don't pull the +curtains, I want the air. You may call me at six." +</P> + +<P> +Willa waited half an hour, then, dressing quickly in plain, dark +clothing, she slipped from the house. +</P> + +<P> +A taxi' stand was two blocks away on the Avenue, and as Willa stepped +into the first cab, a taller, portlier figure entered the second, and +followed slowly but persistently through the maze of traffic. The girl +glanced from the window at the back to make sure of her espionage, then +took up the speaking-tube. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind that address I gave you. Drive into the Park, to where you +can find a sharp turn in the road; get around it as fast as the law +will let you and then stop, but keep your engine going. There's a good +tip in it for you if you obey instructions." +</P> + +<P> +"Right, Miss." +</P> + +<P> +The car swerved into the Park entrance, and Willa sat back with a +peculiar light in her eyes. When it stopped abruptly she sprang out, +and, walking rapidly back to the turn in the driveway, waited beside a +screening clump of shrubbery. +</P> + +<P> +In a moment the second taxi' hummed about the corner. The girl stepped +forward with her arm thrown up and the chauffeur, bewildered, brought +his car to a stop with a grinding jar of the brakes. In a moment Willa +had the door open. +</P> + +<P> +"Get out, Liane," she commanded briefly, and with one look at her +blazing eyes the woman meekly obeyed. Willa turned to the chauffeur. +"How much does your meter register? Take it out of this, keep the rest +for yourself and go. Your fare will not need you any longer." +</P> + +<P> +The man hesitated, but his late passenger made no move, and the +proffered banknote was a tempting one. He took it and went. +</P> + +<P> +When the humming of his engine had died away Willa addressed herself to +the cowering maid. +</P> + +<P> +"You can walk back now, and tell your employer that you have failed. +Tell her, too, that your services are no longer required, and mind you +stay only long enough to pack your things, for if I find you there on +my return, I'll show you what we do to spies where I come from!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mademoiselle, I was obeying my instructions!" The maid +gesticulated vehemently. "Madame commanded that I follow and observe +who is at the rendez-vous. If Mademoiselle will be calm and tranquil +we may come to an understanding, is it not so? I would prefer to be +wholly in the service of Mademoiselle, and we might together arrange a +little story for Madame——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sell her out, would you, you treacherous Jane!" The old vernacular +returned unbidden to Willa's lips. "You'd play both ways from the ace +and take in the look-out? If I had you down in Mexico I'd shoot you +full of holes! You heard me! If I find you at the house when I get +back, look out for your wretched skin!" +</P> + +<P> +She sprang into her own taxi with a swift word to the chauffeur and +bowled away, leaving her erstwhile guard wringing her hands in the road. +</P> + +<P> +At the gate of the neat little frame house far up on the Parkway, her +driver hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me, Miss, but it's only fair to tell you this car can be traced +here from the stand. I wouldn't double-cross you, but if the police +get after me I'll have to come through." +</P> + +<P> +Willa smiled and then her face grew thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't a matter for the police. You look like a white man. +What's your job worth to you a week?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anywhere from fifty to seventy-five; depends on the fares I get," the +chauffeur returned promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I can use you. What is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Daniel Morrissey, Miss." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Willa Murdaugh." She gave no heed to the man's respectful stare. +"I'll give you a hundred a week flat. You throw up your job, meet me +to-morrow at the Circle at ten in the morning and we'll go and buy a +good car, light and strong and fast. Can you drive a racer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anything on wheels but a locomotive!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right. I'll pay you for six months, whether I use you that long +or not, and make you a present of the car when I'm through with you. +Is it a go, Dan?" +</P> + +<P> +Then ensued the spectacle of Miss Willa Murdaugh, most important +débutante of the season, and Daniel Morrissey, chauffeur, binding the +bargain with a solemn handshake. +</P> + +<P> +While her new ally waited, she mounted the steps of the porch and rang +the bell. Hurried footsteps thumped along the hall within, and a +weazened, hunch backed lad smiled eagerly in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"Greeting to thee, José." Willa spoke in soft, liquid Spanish. "I +have come to tell thee that we are safe here no longer. We must seek +another casa this very day." +</P> + +<P> +Dinner-time came and passed, and the Halstead family sat in strained +silence, their engagements forgotten in the new anxiety which +enshrouded them. Mason North, hastily summoned to the conference, +paced the floor restlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a mistake, Irene!" he said at last. "If you had told me I +would never have sanctioned it. You can't treat a girl of Willa's type +that way." +</P> + +<P> +"But something had to be done!" Mrs. Halstead cried. "You and Ripley +were both powerless to combat her, and we must know what scandal these +mysterious errands of hers are likely to portend. This is what comes +of putting a beggar on horseback!" +</P> + +<P> +"And there is nothing to prevent her riding straight back to Mexico, +renouncing the inheritance and daring us to go after her!" the lawyer +retorted. "Where would your share of your uncle's estate go then, my +dear Irene? The girl's never been too keen on this proposition, +anyhow, as I've tried to make you realize; drive her too hard, and +she'll throw the whole thing to the four winds." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll master her yet." Mrs. Halstead spoke through set teeth. "No +insolent chit of a girl can defy me! The conditions of the will give +me a certain amount of authority and I shall exercise it to the limit. +Willa must be controlled." +</P> + +<P> +"Then play fair!" A voice sounded from the doorway, and Willa herself +looked in on them. "Don't set your servants to spy on me and try to +interfere with affairs which are my concern alone." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear child! What a frightful hour you have given us!" Mason North +wrung her hand in hearty relief. "Come in and sit down, and we will +talk it all over. We are willing to admit that an injustice has been +done you, but we must clear the air once and for all." +</P> + +<P> +Willa complied. +</P> + +<P> +"I think it is about time for an understanding," she said. "I don't +want any admissions or recriminations, and I don't intend to submit to +a lot of questions. Let's get right down to business. Do you want to +start?" +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer hesitated, taken aback by her cool, matter-of-fact manner. +It bore no trace of insolence, yet conveyed a serene poise and grasp of +the situation which was disconcerting. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Willa." It was Ripley Halstead who replied mildly. The two +younger Halsteads merely stared. "Tell us just what is on your mind. +I want you to be happy here; that is the first consideration." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not thinking about that just now." Willa's calm, direct gaze +moved from one to the other of them. "I'm going to speak plainly; it's +the best thing for all of us. This thing is a business proposition, +pure and simple. If it were not for the terms of Grandfather +Murdaugh's will no one would ever have tried to find me; no one made +the least attempt to help my father and mother, on even see that they +were given a fair chance to help themselves. I'm not unmindful of the +kindness you've all shown me here, however. Cousin Irene has been very +conscientious in trying to make a lady of me, but that was a part of +her bargain, wasn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead glared, but made no comment, and after a moment the girl +went on wistfully: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, if we could have grown fond of each other it would have +made things easier, but I'm so different from you-all that I guess you +couldn't really like me. It looks to me as if we were all sort of in +partnership to carry out the terms of Grandfather's will, and whether +we like each other or not we've got to stick or get out of the game. +Whether we're civil to each other or not, too, depends on our own +decency, I expect, but we've got to play square." +</P> + +<P> +She paused, and the lawyer remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"We are all ready to, my dear Willa. We are only trying to safeguard +your interests, and yourself. You are very young and unsophisticated +and you know nothing of the city. We feel that you should be frank +with us and tell us where it is that you go by yourself and what errand +takes you. What are we to think if you do not explain?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," Willa replied simply. "Partners trust each other, +don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +Ripley Halstead smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Not always, Willa. But in this case we do not distrust your good +intent, only your impulsiveness and inexperience. We really need not +have made a family matter of this; do you wish to speak to your Cousin +Irene alone, or to Mr. North and me?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa opened wide eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I? I have nothing to tell anyone. I suppose I seem +awfully young and foolish to you, but I'm not afraid New York has much +danger for me; I've taken care of myself in all sorts of situations, +among the roughest hombres that ever crossed the border. You must +trust me now. I am not doing anything wrong, I give you my word; +anything that would create scandal in the way Cousin Irene fears. It's +just an affair of my own, that started before I ever knew I was Willa +Murdaugh; it's a kind of a trust laid on me, and I must fulfill it +alone." +</P> + +<P> +There was a ring in her tones that was almost solemn, and as the lawyer +looked into her clear, young face his former vague hypothesis that his +ward was being blackmailed faded forever from his mind. Whatever the +situation confronting her might be, she was the prime mover and the +initiative was hers. What strange motive could lurk behind her calm +surety and singleness of purpose? +</P> + +<P> +"I can tell you where she goes, if you want to know!" +</P> + +<P> +Angie said suddenly and turned with a mendacious inspiration on her +brother. "So could Vernie. He saw her! It's to a little frame +cottage away up on the Parkway." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> saw her!" ejaculated Vernon, glowering at her. "I like that! I +never said anything of the kind, and it isn't true, anyway!" +</P> + +<P> +"What does it matter?" Willa asked wearily. "I will not be shamed by +being spied upon by servants. Am I to be trusted on my word of honor +that I am doing nothing wrong, or shall I go away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not, my dear girl." Ripley Halstead rose and held out his +hand. "I'll apologize, if my wife does not, for the trick that was +attempted to-day. We will trust you absolutely, but I should like to +have your assurance that if you find yourself in any difficulty you +will come to either Mr. North or me." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll gladly promise that." Willa turned hesitatingly toward Mrs. +Halstead. "I am really very sorry if I have been insolent, but Liane's +behavior this afternoon aroused all my fighting blood." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead kissed her coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you realize that I thought I was doing only my duty. There is +one question I must ask you, though, and since you refuse to discuss +this with me privately you must take the consequences. In justice to +yourself I will say that I do not believe you capable of carrying on a +vulgar flirtation or intrigue, but remember we knew practically nothing +of you when we took you into our home. If you are interested in +anyone, if you are secretly engaged, you should tell us and your fiancé +must present himself here. Willa, is there a man in the case?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl smiled slowly and gazed off into space. Watching her, Mason +North drew a deep breath, for into her changing expression there came a +look of implacable, passionless vengeance which made her for the moment +the personification of Fate. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said at last. "There is a man in the case, Cousin Irene, +but not as you imagine. I have not seen him since I left Mexico and +personally he is nothing to me; in fact, I scarcely know him, as you +count knowing a person. I have a little matter of business to settle +with him, that is all." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead sighed and turned to the door as the butler appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Welsh?" +</P> + +<P> +"A gentleman, Madam." He extended the salver. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Halstead glanced at the card and then quickly toward her daughter, +and her face broke into an exultant smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, we are at home!" Then, as Welsh withdrew. "Fancy, we did +not even know he had returned! It's Starr Wiley!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CHANGE OF FRONT +</H3> + +<P> +The following morning, Willa and Dan Morrissey went motor shopping. +The latter was still slightly bewildered by his sudden change of +fortune, but it was plain to be seen that he regarded his new employer +with worshipful admiration and respect, and she in turn was satisfied, +from his discussion of technical details with the several automobile +salesmen, that he was sufficiently expert for her purposes. His +loyalty remained to be proven, but she had learned to read faces +swiftly and surely, and she had formed an instinctive belief that he +was worthy of trust. +</P> + +<P> +The car she decided upon was a gray roadster, light and high-powered +with long low lines like a racer and a multiplicity of cylinders which +made Dan fairly delirious with joy. This important matter settled, she +gave him his initial instructions. +</P> + +<P> +"You are simply to hold yourself in readiness for a call from me at any +hour of the day or night. You are to obey no summons unless you hear +my voice over the telephone, or a written order in my handwriting is +brought to you—unless a hunch backed boy about sixteen, a foreigner +with very dark skin, should come to you. In that case, you are to +accompany him wherever he directs. Do you drink, Dan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only beer, and not that when I'm on the job, Miss." He eyed her +straightforwardly. "I don't go joy-ridin', and I keep my mouth shut, +and ask no questions. I'll be on the spot when you want me, Miss, and +there till the finish." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure you will!" she smiled. "I sha'n't mind your asking questions +so much as answering them. There are apt to be quite a few people +interested in our doings, Dan; a young man and two older ones +particularly, and they will try all sorts of methods to get information +from you." +</P> + +<P> +"Let 'em," he responded, briefly. "It's precious-little dope they'll +get out of me! But have you forgotten the registry, Miss, and the +license?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." Willa drew a roll of bills from her purse. "It had better be +attended to at once, for I don't know how soon I may need you. That's +why I insisted upon having their exhibition car, without waiting for +delivery. Take this and get yourself an outfit; something dark and +neat, not noticeable so that it could be easily described. Then can't +you take out the license in your own name? You can refer to me if you +like, and say that I gave you the car." +</P> + +<P> +"As if you'd set me up in the renting business, maybe," he observed +shrewdly. "I guess I can put it over, Miss. I've got a good, clean +record in taxi'-driving, and I know most of the cops. You'll 'phone +when you want me?" +</P> + +<P> +Taking leave of her new henchman, Willa crossed the Park on foot and +swung down the Avenue, so intent upon her own thoughts that she all but +collided with Vernon, descending the steps of his club. He appeared +troubled and morose, but his brow cleared at sight of her. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! May I walk a bit of the way with you?" He fell into step +beside her. "I say, you aren't angry with me about last night, are +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed no, Vernon. Why should I be? You did nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just why." He reddened. "Perhaps you think I might have taken +your part after what a bully pal you proved yourself the night you +showed Cal Shirley up, and I did feel like telling the whole bunch to +stop hectoring you, the mater included, only—well, we can't do just +what we'd like, always!" +</P> + +<P> +"There wasn't anything you could have said, really," she assured him. +"I was the only one involved and I had to see it through." +</P> + +<P> +"At least, I want you to believe I never mentioned any house on the +Parkway, or saw you there. Angie made a mistake. Someone did say +something about it once, but I didn't repeat it." He gave her a +curious sidewise glance, but her face was inscrutable. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you, of course, but it doesn't matter anyway, Vernon. I'm +sorry everyone was so worried about my absence last evening, but it was +unavoidable. Don't let's discuss it any more." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," he sighed. "I only wish, though, that I'd learned to +stand up to the family the way you can. You're so different to the +girls up here, but I suppose that is the result of the wonderful, free +kind of a life you led in Mexico. You must have had some great +experiences down there." +</P> + +<P> +It was Willa's turn to glance curiously at him, for Vernon's tone was +oddly constrained and hesitant as if he were endeavoring, awkwardly +enough, to lead up to some point in his own mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she assented quietly, and waited. +</P> + +<P> +"Starr Wiley was disappointed last night at not seeing you," he +pursued. "I never knew you had met him down there." +</P> + +<P> +"You never asked." Her tone was serenely noncommittal. +</P> + +<P> +"He was telling us of some of the queer characters he has run across in +that part of the country." Vernon paused, and then plunged in +desperately. "He said you knew one old woman who was a wonder; a +half-caste hoodoo-worker who brewed magic potions in a big pot, and +knew all the legends of the countryside. 'Tia—' something, her name +is. Do you know what has become of her?" +</P> + +<P> +He blurted the question point-blank, and Willa smiled in spite of +herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Tia Juana, you mean? Did Mr. Wiley say she had left her home? I +never heard of her doing that before," she remarked innocently enough. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems she disappeared some time ago, and no one knows what happened +to her. She must have been a queer old bird." +</P> + +<P> +"Why are you so interested in her?" +</P> + +<P> +He started, blinking at the swift directness of the question. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I was thinking what a hit she'd make telling fortunes at some of +the charity bazaars, if she ever came up here. People are always so +nutty about anything new and a genuine witch would be a sensation." +</P> + +<P> +"Tia Juana is not a witch and she doesn't tell fortunes. She is a +little bit peculiar, perhaps, like many other very old people, but that +is all." Willa laughed lightly. "Mr. Wiley must have been stringing +you! What else did he tell you about Mexico?" +</P> + +<P> +But Vernon's mind was apparently hazy on the subject of his friend's +further reminiscences, and he left her at the door with ill-concealed +alacrity. She knew that the conversation had not been uninspired, and +his otherwise futile questions had served a useful purpose in +forewarning her. +</P> + +<P> +"You will go to the opera with us to-night?" It was more a query than +a command which Mrs. Halstead addressed to her. "We are going on +afterward to the Judsons', but we can drop you at home if you don't +care to accompany us." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, no," Willa responded. "If you don't mind I think I will +stay quietly at home this evening, but I'll try to keep my engagements +in future. I wish there were not quite so many of them!" +</P> + +<P> +"That can be arranged," Mrs. Halstead assured her stiffly. "I wish to +give you every opportunity to meet all the eligible people in our +circle and then you must select your own friends." +</P> + +<P> +The truce between them was evidently to be an armed one, but it was a +respite at least. Willa realized that her cousin would not soon +forgive defeat at her hands, but her attitude was more fortuitous than +open war. +</P> + +<P> +She had intended to write a long-delayed letter to Jim Baggott, but +after the family departed and she settled herself at her desk, the +words would not frame themselves in her thoughts. A spirit of unrest +took possession of her, a sensation of suspense which did not lighten +with the dragging minutes, and in despair she flung down her pen and +wandered into the music-room. +</P> + +<P> +Piano lessons had appeared to Willa to be a sheer waste of time and +patience in this era of mechanism, and she had not responded with any +degree of enthusiasm to Mrs. Halstead's suggestion made shortly after +her arrival, but now she touched the keys wistfully. Oh, for one of +Mestiza Bill's tinkley old tunes on the piano in the Blue Chip! +</P> + +<P> +She was turning blindly away, when the phonograph in the corner caught +her eye and on an idle impulse she started it. By chance, the record +left on the machine had been that of the latest tango, and as she +listened to the pulsing, languorous strains, Willa commenced +half-unconsciously to sway in rhythm with its lilting harmony. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute she was dancing, but not in the dull, mincing fashion +in which she had so recently been coached. The music caught at her +homesick heart-strings, the old familiar scent of blossoming gardenias +was in her nostrils and she was out under a Mexican night. Her pulses +leaped to the throbbing notes, and she flung herself sinuously into the +measures of the tango, snapping her fingers in lieu of castanets. +</P> + +<P> +All thought of her present environment had slipped away from her, but +she was recalled sharply to herself when the music stopped and she +halted, flushed and panting. +</P> + +<P> +"Brava!" a cool, slightly mocking voice called from the doorway, and +the soft pad of gloved hands sounded upon her startled ears. Whirling +about, she found herself face to face with Starr Wiley. +</P> + +<P> +"Brava!" he repeated. "Charming, Miss Murdaugh! I would not have +missed it for worlds!" +</P> + +<P> +"How did you come here?" she stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"By way of the front door, most conventionally, I assure you. I heard +the phonograph and told Welsh not to announce me." He shrugged, and +drew off his glove. "Aren't you going to greet me, Miss Murdaugh?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a covert sneer in the repetition of her name, and Willa made +no advance. +</P> + +<P> +"My cousin is not at home." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not come to see your cousin. I came to renew my acquaintance +and make my peace with you. Are you going to punish me still for my +temerity in Limasito?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." A little, quizzical smile hovered about her lips. "I think you +were quite sufficiently punished for that." +</P> + +<P> +Ignoring the dull red which swept up into his face, she led the way to +the drawing-room and dropped into a chair, motioning him to one on the +opposite side of the glowing hearth. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you would be at the opera to-night; I looked for you there, +but Mrs. Halstead said you did not feel quite up to it, so I came on +the chance that you would say 'How do you do?' to me. We have all +missed you in Limasito." +</P> + +<P> +"You have become quite a native, then?" She raised her eyebrows. "You +find the life there more congenial, perhaps, than at first." +</P> + +<P> +"Not since you left, my dear Billie. Or is that name forbidden?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is forgotten. Only my friends may recall it, and you were never of +their number, Mr. Wiley." +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon. I, too, had forgotten for the moment that it must +bring you tragic memories." His voice was lowered to the tones of +conventional condolence. "Believe me, I would not have grieved you, +Miss Murdaugh. I meant it for a jest, but it was lucklessly ill-timed." +</P> + +<P> +"I would rather not speak of what is past, Mr. Wiley. It is still too +fresh in my memory." Willa's eyes, fixed on the flames, were dry and +very bright. +</P> + +<P> +"But now that you are here, perhaps you will tell me something of my +friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Gladly, but there is little news," he responded hastily. "I have been +very busy and, as you know, nothing interests me below the border now +but my work. Your friend, Jim Baggott, is flourishing, the crowd that +bought out the Blue Chip are bringing new life to Limasito—but I have +hurt you again. I am sorry." +</P> + +<P> +Willa had winced uncontrollably, but she recovered herself and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"And Mr. Thode?" She voiced her query blandly, and Wiley flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen nothing of him," he responded. "To tell you the truth, +I've forgotten the very existence of the fellow. He took care to keep +out of my way after your departure until I myself went West." +</P> + +<P> +"You have not come, then, directly from Mexico?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. A little matter of business took me to Arizona. I may tell you +of it sometime, I am sure it would be of peculiar interest to you." He +smiled, with an odd light in his eyes. "As for Kearn Thode, if you'll +permit a little friendly advice, Miss Murdaugh, I wouldn't waste any +thoughts on him. I don't believe in discussing a chap's affairs behind +his back, but I can assure you his own memory is very short." +</P> + +<P> +"Still, I do not forget my friends, Mr. Wiley, nor my enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"There is much else that I would like to ask you to forget," he said +slowly. "I was a cad, I know, but I fancied that you were too broad +and generous to hold the madness of a moment against me. I hoped you +would be more kind to me when we met here in the environment in which +we both belong. I even dreamed that we might be friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Are we enemies, Mr. Wiley?" She raised her eyes to his. "I assure +you I have not given that little scene on the camino a second thought." +</P> + +<P> +"Then shall we start all over?" he asked eagerly. "Since you deny me a +former one, won't you let our friendship date from this hour? I cannot +tell you how delighted I was when I learned that your relatives had +found you and that you had taken your rightful place. I knew from the +first that you were different to the rest; you were the only one I +cared to know, and you would not——" +</P> + +<P> +"Play about with you?" She smiled dryly. "I don't think I have ever +learned how to play, and now I am more serious than ever. There are +responsibilities, I find, attached to my present situation of which +that other girl in Limasito never dreamed." +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally," he conceded, adding quickly: "But you are fortunately not +troubled with the details of your estate, while you have two such +efficient guardians as Mr. North and your cousin." +</P> + +<P> +The rising inflection in his tone seemed to demand a reply, but Willa +vouchsafed none and after a moment he went on: +</P> + +<P> +"You must find the social life very engrossing. I know that I am +always glad to get back to civilization after a few months in the +wilds. I would have returned earlier in the season, but my work was +not completed." +</P> + +<P> +"And is it now?" she asked with studied carelessness. +</P> + +<P> +"Almost. I came to consult my partner, Harrington Chase—I believe you +know him, by the way." +</P> + +<P> +"He dined here, but he said nothing about your return. My cousin was +quite agreeably surprised. She is going on to the Judsons' after the +opera, did she tell you?" +</P> + +<P> +The hint was unmistakable, but he shook his head, smilingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't remember. I only had a moment's chat with her after +the curtain fell on the first act. I saw that you were not in the box +with them, and I went to it merely to inquire about you. You were not +in evidence when I called last evening——" +</P> + +<P> +"You came to see Angie, did you not? At least, that was my impression." +</P> + +<P> +"I came to see the whole family, of course, but particularly you." He +smiled constrainedly. "Your cousin is a very charming girl, and we +were great pals before I left for Mexico, but I assure you she does not +regard me with any more warmly personal interest than she grants to a +host of her other friends." +</P> + +<P> +"My cousin does not discuss her affairs with me, but I have heard +rumors which led me to believe you were to be congratulated." +</P> + +<P> +Starr Wiley writhed. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not that good fortune," he said stonily. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps my remark was premature?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Your cousin is quite too clever and worldly to have misunderstood +my interest. We were congenial, and it happened that we were thrown +together a lot, but I am sure she never thought of any serious outcome +of our companionship. I would not have mentioned this to you, but you +seemed to be laboring under a false impression. Rumor is never at rest +in our set, and I want you to be assured of the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" Willa sat straight in her chair. "What possible difference +could it make to me? I am interested, naturally in anything pertaining +to my cousin, but her affairs are her own." +</P> + +<P> +"I want it to make a great deal of difference." He leaned toward her +with a swift, avid light in his eyes. "Ever since I first saw you in +Limasito I knew that you were the only girl I had ever really wanted, +the only girl who could hold me, who was worth working for and waiting +for. Gad! I loved everything about you, even that furious, blazing +temper of yours, and I determined then that I would make you care!" +</P> + +<P> +"You!" She shrank from him in horror and amazement. "You dare to +speak to me of such a thing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I not?" he cried eagerly. "These other girls, these pretty +stuffed dolls who preen themselves and go through their conventional +paces like marionettes on a string; they are fitted perhaps to preside +at a man's table and hold up the social end of the game, but it is +women like you who fire a man's soul as well and drive him to madness! +I knew there in Mexico that you were the one woman who would ever be my +wife!" +</P> + +<P> +"You were so sure?" Willa had regained her composure now, and her +quick brain was probing the possibilities of this unexpected situation. +"That is why, I suppose, you brought your cave-man method into play?" +</P> + +<P> +"I lost control of myself," he admitted. "Can you blame me, now that +you know the truth? Your scorn, your refusal to accept even my +friendship, drove me to desperation. I could not endure it that you +should turn from me——" +</P> + +<P> +"Was it not rather that you could not brook defeat at the hands of a +product of the Blue Chip, a mere gambler's daughter? It piqued you +that I did not faint with delight because I had found favor in your +eyes!" Her scorn bit deep. "Now that conditions are reversed, you +call it love!" +</P> + +<P> +"You are horribly unjust!" He sprang from his chair and towered over +her. "You have listened to the lies of that braggart, Thode, and +condemned me unheard! His grand-stand play at the time of the raid has +blinded you and you will not be fair. You do not even know what love +is, but I can teach you and I will! I offended you by my impetuosity +when you provoked me to madness, but now I will be in the dust before +you! Only tell me that you don't quite hate me, that I have a fighting +chance!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa realized the truth of his sudden change of front; the +granddaughter of Giles Murdaugh would be a more desirable asset as a +wife than Ripley Halstead's daughter. His audacity in attempting to +woo her in the very home of the girl he had so lately made love to, and +with his former conduct still fresh in the minds of both, filled her +with disgust and loathing, but she held herself with an iron hand. +</P> + +<P> +"What can I say to you, Mr. Wiley?" She forced a smile. "I can +scarcely believe you serious!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will prove it to you!" he exclaimed, bending until his impassioned +eyes were close to hers. "I will show you how patient I can be, and +devoted. I will wait, I will not try to rush you into a decision, but +you are going to care for me, Billie! You are going to be my wife." +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word!" A light voice, oddly shaken, came from behind them. +"You two look fearfully intense! Do I intrude?" +</P> + +<P> +Angie, her face aflame, stood in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary!" Wiley was the first to recover himself. "A +delightful surprise, my dear Angelica! Had I known you were coming +directly home from the opera I would have offered my services." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I thought you were going on to the Judsons' dance," Willa stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"Evidently." Angie sneered, looking from one to the other of them. "I +was mistaken also, it appears. I fancied you were indisposed, but that +was a mere façon de parler, no doubt.—My cousin is getting on, isn't +she, Starr?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa flushed, but Starr Wiley replied easily: +</P> + +<P> +"We were just renewing our acquaintanceship, Miss Murdaugh and I met in +Limasito, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"How unfortunate!" Angie tittered. "Just when Willa was so +successfully living down the past, too! It really wasn't tactful of +you, Starr—" +</P> + +<P> +"You are mistaken once more, Angelica!" Willa had risen and her very +lips were white. "I am not trying to live down the past, but to live +up to it! If you will excuse me now—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't let me interrupt your charming tête-à-tête," shrugged Angie. +"I only stopped on my way to the Judsons' for my vanity case. The car +is coming back for me." +</P> + +<P> +Wiley glanced quickly at Willa, then turned to her cousin. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going on also. Will you give me a lift? I really dropped in +just to say 'How-do-you-do'." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Mr. Wiley." Willa held out her hand to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night. Remember my prediction." His eyes rested upon her +daringly, their ardor for a fleeting instant unmasked as the other girl +turned away. "I am willing to stake my life that it will come true." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled, adopting his own light bantering tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it worth so high a stake? Good-night, Angie." +</P> + +<P> +Without waiting for a reply, she bowed, and, turning, left them +together. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +COALS OF FIRE +</H3> + +<P> +Willa paused in the vestibule of the shabby apartment-house and looked +carefully up and down the street before venturing forth. The early dusk +had fallen and the lamps were not yet alight, but the passers-by were +still clearly discernible in the gloom. The girl studied their movements +for a time, and noting that none loitered or retraced their steps, she +descended and made her way around the corner to where her car was waiting. +</P> + +<P> +Dan Morrissey touched his cap with alacrity. +</P> + +<P> +"One guy in a taxicab down the avenue there, Miss, and another across the +street. Where to, now?" +</P> + +<P> +"The little house on the Parkway, where you took me the first time," she +directed on a sudden impulse. "When you drop me there, go straight back +to the garage and wait until you get a call from me." +</P> + +<P> +"They're both stringing out behind us," he announced, when they had +traversed a mile or more in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"That is what I wanted them to do," Willa responded. "Don't look back +again, Dan; just go along as if you didn't know anyone was trailing. I'm +glad you lighted up while you were waiting for me." +</P> + +<P> +The long, low car seemed to stretch out over the road like a lean horse +in a speed that ate up the miles and more than one motor-cycle policeman +gazed appraisingly after them, but they drove steadily ahead and drew up +at length before the sagging gate. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness had come and the little house looked bleak and deserted. As +Willa sprang out of the car, Dan hesitated, and then volunteered: +</P> + +<P> +"Looks as if there wasn't anybody there. Sure you don't want me to wait, +Miss? The first taxi' is coming now." +</P> + +<P> +"No. Don't worry about me, Dan." She smiled understandingly. "I don't +think I'll need you any more to-night, but wait at the garage until ten. +Now go quickly, please." +</P> + +<P> +Without a backward glance, she mounted the path and inserted a key in the +door. All was silence and gloom within, but she fumbled her way to a +mantel in the small front room and found a box of matches. Lighting them +one after the other as they burned out, she made her way from room to +room on each of the two floors. They were bare of furniture, but the +debris of a hasty exodus was visible everywhere, and half the windows +were unfastened. +</P> + +<P> +Willa wasted no time in looking about, but made her way quickly to the +heat register let into the floor of each room, and opened them wide. +Then she fled down the creaking stairs to the cellar, heedless of the +mice which scurried in droves before her, and opened the door of the +cold, empty furnace. +</P> + +<P> +The chill dampness of the low, cramped vault no less than the animate +darkness made her shiver, but she resolutely crawled into the furnace and +pulled the door close behind her. She was scarcely settled in her place +when footsteps sounded on the porch above and an indistinguishable murmur +of male voices. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the footsteps retreated, there came the rasp of an opening +window and then the tramp of feet within the house. There were two +distinct treads; one light and springy as a cat's, the other dragging +heavily and in apparent reluctance from room to room in the wake of the +first. +</P> + +<P> +The voices reached her, now raised as the intruders called to each other, +now lowered in an earnest monotone, but to Willa's disappointment the +registers did not carry the sound to her as she had hoped and the tones +alone reached her ear in a confused rumble. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident that a complete search of the house was in progress, but +at last the two men came to a halt beside the register in the room +directly above that part of the cellar where the girl crouched and the +words floated down to her, sharp and distinct in the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"They've flown the coop, all right, whoever they were." It was Vernon's +voice. "I don't see why Willa came up here now, though, if she knew they +had gone. Where do you suppose she is?" +</P> + +<P> +"She may not have known." Starr Wiley replied thoughtfully. "Finding +the place deserted and hearing us on the porch in all probability, she +may have slipped out the back door and taken the subway down-town. +Remember that burnt match I found in the hall was still warm. I wonder +if it's worth while to have a look in the cellar?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the darkness, and filth, and rats, too, for all you know? No girl +would take a chance." Vernon's tone was lofty with contempt, but it +changed as he burst out: "Who are these people, anyway, and why are they +hiding and what are you so keen after them for? I hate fooling around +blindfold like this, and how do I know it's fair to Willa? What is her +connection with them?" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't have to know, my dear fellow!" Wiley spoke with the bland +mockery the listening girl remembered. "It's up to you to do what you +are told and ask no questions. Why this sudden chivalry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you know, Willa's one of the family now. Hang it, I like her, +anyway, and I'm not going a step farther in this till I find out what the +devil you are up to!" +</P> + +<P> +"A perfectly square business deal, if you must know. Your conscience is +waking up rather late in the day, don't you think?" The mockery changed +to a swift menace. "As to how far you will go, that will be as I direct, +or you, my dear Vernon, will find yourself in a position where the going +is distinctly not good." +</P> + +<P> +"Gad! I'd rather face it than stand any more of your domineering!" +Vernon's faltering tones belied his words and the other laughed shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"All right. The money is earning no interest for me. I'll put through +the check to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I say—!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then come along, you young puppy, and no more whining, or I'll——" +</P> + +<P> +The steps moved away and the voices again sank to an indistinguishable +murmur, but Willa had learned enough. Waiting only long enough to make +sure of their departure, she crept from her hiding-place, and, heedless +of the soot which clung to her boots and skirt, she acted upon Wiley's +inadvertent suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +From the subway station she took a taxicab and reached home just in time +to dress for dinner. A not wholly disinterested plan was forming itself +in her mind and gained added strength of purpose with each glance at +Vernon's pale, troubled face across the table. +</P> + +<P> +Angie, who had been cold and distant all day, departed for the theater; +the elder Halsteads went to a bridge party, but Vernon wandered aimlessly +into the library where Willa found him staring into the fire in profound +dejection. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter, Vernon?" she asked abruptly. "You haven't been at +all like yourself these last few days. We're pals, you know; tell me." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced up, hastily shifted his eyes, and then blurted out desperately. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'd ever been an absolute rotter and then got on to the fact when +it was too late, I guess you wouldn't be very much like yourself, either. +I'm a confounded cad, Willa, and worse!" He dropped his head on his +hands with a groan. "I ought to be shot!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's a healthy sign," Willa observed cheerfully. "Lots of +people are rotters and never find it out. It's like a disease; when you +know what is the matter, you can usually find a cure." +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes it's incurable." His voice was muffled. "I'm in a hole and +there's no way out." +</P> + +<P> +"Then climb up again." Willa paused and added deliberately: "Don't try +to burrow a passage-way through slime, Vernon. You'll only get in deeper +and deeper." +</P> + +<P> +That brought his head up with a suspicious start. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, what do you know about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +"You, Willa? You're the last person in the world—!" He broke off +hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"Why? If you are in a scrape perhaps I could help you out of it." +</P> + +<P> +"It's worse than a scrape! It's something beyond the pale; it's the sort +of thing they shoot a man for, down where you came from! Now you know!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," responded Willa slowly, "I do know. Now tell me what that check +is, which Starr Wiley is holding over your head." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon rose with blanching face. +</P> + +<P> +"You heard! Good Lord, where were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the furnace!" Willa dimpled irrepressibly. "Right in it, with the +ashes and all! And you stood talking straight down into the open +register, like a speaking tube." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon cringed away from her in bitter shame. +</P> + +<P> +"Then if you heard the whole thing, you know what a wretched cad I've +been, spying on you and trying to get information from you for that +bounder." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew about that before, Vernon. When I met you leaving the club +yesterday and you tried to question me about Tia Juana, you made a +dreadful mess of it. I saw right through you and I realized for whom you +must be acting, but not why, of course." She drew a deep breath and +added in a matter-of-fact tone: "What's the matter with that check Wiley +has? Is it a forgery?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded dumbly. +</P> + +<P> +"Whose name did you sign? I might as well know the rest, don't you +think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mason North's." His voice was a mere strained whisper. "I must have +been crazy to do such a thing!" +</P> + +<P> +"What sum did you make it out for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Four thousand dollars." He gazed at her as if hypnotized, replying +mechanically under the sheer dominance of her will. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it for speculation or in payment of some sort of debt?" +</P> + +<P> +"A debt of honor!" He laughed in measureless self-contempt. "Poker." +</P> + +<P> +"I see. But, Vernon, don't make me drag it out of you like this. Tell +me the whole story." +</P> + +<P> +"It was before Starr went to Mexico." Vernon hesitated and then the +words came with a rush from his overburdened breast. "He was playing up +strong to Angie, and he saw I didn't like it. Father is hipped about him +and so is old North; they think he's the coming man in the oil game, and +he may be for all I know, but I'd heard other things about him and I +wasn't keen on having him for a brother-in-law. He began to jolly me +along; made up parties and wanted me to pal around with him. He's older +and he goes with the swiftest bunch in town, and, like a regular saphead, +I was flattered. He put me up at his club, and I got into some pretty +high play, away over my head, but I wouldn't have him or his friends +think I was a piker, so I stuck. +</P> + +<P> +"He won usually, and I almost got writer's cramp making out I. O. U.'s +for him. Then his manner changed a bit and he began kidding me. He was +good-natured with it at first, but after a while he grew nasty, and one +night he taunted me before the whole crowd about my four-flushing. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd been drinking and it made me wild. I don't know what put the idea +in my head, but I brooded over it and I couldn't see any other way out. +Father had said when he paid my debts before that it was the last time, +and he meant it. I—I took a check from his desk—he and Mason North +have accounts in the same bank—and I made it out, copying the signature +from an old letter." +</P> + +<P> +His voice was getting lower and lower, and finally it halted, but Willa +prompted him firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"What happened after you gave it to Starr Wiley?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing. I realized what I had done when it was too late, of course, +and I lived in just plain hell for the next four weeks, waiting for the +blow to fall, but it didn't. At last I couldn't stand the strain any +longer; I went to Starr and asked him if he'd put it through, and he said +he hadn't. He knew when he accepted it from me that it was forged. I +had given him a song-and-dance about it being some money coming to me +from your grandfather's estate, but it hadn't fooled him for a minute. +</P> + +<P> +"I groveled at his feet and told him I'd work my fingers to the bone to +pay it back, but he said I could do that in his way, at his own time. +He's held me under his thumb ever since, and when he got in town a few +days ago he sent for me and forced me to try to get a line on this Tia +Juana woman through you. I hated it, Willa, but, God! what could I do?" +</P> + +<P> +"What you are going to do now." Willa rose with decision. "You're going +to Mason North at once, and make a clean breast of the whole thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't! I thought of that, but you don't know the old boy—" +</P> + +<P> +"I know he's square, and I guess I can handle him, if you can't. I'm +going with you and I'll reimburse him for the four thousand, to let the +check go through. Then you can tell Wiley to go—to go ahead and show +you up." +</P> + +<P> +"Willa!" Something very like a sob welled up in his throat. "You would +do that for me, after—after——" +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't do anything very dreadful to me, Vernon." +</P> + +<P> +"But I promised to spy on you." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. Wiley is in this affair simply on a business deal as +he told you to-day, although I doubt the squareness as far as he is +concerned. But I'm out for higher stakes—" She paused, clinching her +hands. "Never mind about that. I'm going to 'phone Mr. North, and see +if we can catch him at home." +</P> + +<P> +"Look here." There was a ring of strength in Vernon's tones. "I +appreciate, no end, what you've offered to do, Willa, but it can't be! +I'm pretty low, I'll admit, but I'm not such a rotter as to take that +kind of help from a girl!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" Willa asked quickly. "You said yourself this afternoon that I +was one of the family, and, besides, you can pay me back, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if you really believe that I would!" he remarked wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I know you <I>will</I>!" she retorted. "I'm putting up that money on a bet +with myself, and it's a sure thing. You'll make good, Vernon." +</P> + +<P> +Mason North was comfortably ensconced in his own library, with a Life of +Disraeli and a malodorous pipe, when Willa burst in upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. North, you told me to come to you if I was in any difficulty, +and—and I'm here!" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, my dear!" He was plainly startled. "I shall be delighted to +be of any service that I can. What is it that you wish my advice on?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want any advice! I want you to help me compound a felony." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Willa!" His rotund face paled. "Are you serious? You cannot +realize what you have said!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I can!" she affirmed. "A friend of mine signed a check with a +name that wasn't given to him in baptism, and I want you to see that it +goes through all right, and nothing happens. I'll give you my own check +out of Dad's money to cover the amount, and that'll be a comfort to you; +you'll know where some of it is, at any rate." +</P> + +<P> +"Forgery!" he groaned. "It is outrageous, Willa! Scandalous! A young +woman of your position consorting with a criminal! Oh, we have all been +too easy with you; we permitted you to defy us, and now you will disgrace +the name you bear! I knew that you had been associated with desperadoes +of the lowest type, but I thought that now—" +</P> + +<P> +"Just a minute, Mr. North!" Her tone was ominous. "We'll leave my old +friends out of this, if you don't mind." +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. North was far too agitated to take heed. +</P> + +<P> +"This will kill your Cousin Irene—!" +</P> + +<P> +"I expect it would," she interposed soberly. "But she will never know +it, Mr. North. What I tell you now must never go beyond this room." +</P> + +<P> +Forthwith, Willa related the whole story just as it had fallen from +Vernon's unhappy lips, and the attorney listened in consternation. She +eliminated, however, all mention of Wiley's knowledge that the check was +a forgery and his attempt to drive a bargain on the strength of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wiley meant to put the check through, of course, but he mislaid it," +she substituted. "When he returned a few days ago, he came upon it among +his papers and told Vernon this afternoon that he was going to turn it in +at his bank. Vernon couldn't tell him the truth, because—well, you +wouldn't want a thing like that to be known outside the family, would +you? You are different, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't that young whelp come to me?" North snorted. "It's a wonder +his sly wits didn't grasp the fact that I wouldn't prosecute, because of +his father, but I might have started something I couldn't stop short of a +scandal if the check had been put through and I not known he was at the +bottom of it." +</P> + +<P> +"He was afraid," Willa explained simply. "He isn't really bad, he's only +weak, and I guess you-all have hounded him so that he's just about ready +to stick up a train! He's out in the drawing-room now, and just as soon +as you let me write a check for you I'll bring him in." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll write no check!" thundered North. "Just you send him in here to +me." +</P> + +<P> +"But I must!" Willa pleaded. "Don't you see, it's the turning-point for +him. Let him realize he owes me that money and if he hasn't got a yellow +streak a mile wide, it'll be the making of him. If you just blow him up +and then forgive him, he'll be back where he was before it happened, and +liable to repeat it. I've known some pretty rough characters, as you +said a while ago; you learn a lot about human nature in a place like the +Blue Chip, Mr. North, and I've seen men going the way Vernon's headed +for, just because nobody believed there was anything in him to hold him +back. I'm trusting Vernon to pay it back and that's the very reason why +he will." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. North cleared his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a—a damn'-fine young woman, Willa Murdaugh—and an uncommonly +wise one! We'll give the boy a chance. I hope he will realize some day +what he owes to you." +</P> + +<P> +Willa hesitated and then her native honesty came uppermost. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't done this for him alone. I can't say that I wouldn't have, of +course, but I'm just freezing him out this hand." She smiled at the +other's bewilderment. "It's funny how everything reduces to poker terms, +isn't it? I'll send Vernon in." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait! Let me understand this." North put out a detaining hand. "If +you're not doing this for that young scapegrace in there I'd like to know +in whose interest it is. Is there something else back of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I tried to explain, Mr. North, you'd be in a worse muddle than ever," +Willa told him candidly. "Dad always said you could take care of the pat +hands against you if you froze out the four-flushers.—Don't scold +Vernon, please. Remember, he's just balancing; a push either way will +determine his course for the future. I'll wait for him." +</P> + +<P> +A long half-hour passed, but when she heard her name called in the +attorney's strangely subdued tones, Willa reëntered the library to find +the two standing with clasped hands. Both were flushed and seemed to +find difficulty in speech, but at length Vernon burst out: +</P> + +<P> +"Willa, he's a trump! I never realized what an utter beast I was until +now and it's just because he hasn't said anything that he might well +have! It isn't only the money, though I'll work like a dog to pay that +back——" +</P> + +<P> +"I know you will, my boy!" North found his voice, although it was +suspiciously husky. "Willa's sure of you, too." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, that's what counts! A fellow couldn't help but be straight +with two such friends believing in him!" Vernon choked, but he squared +his shoulders. "Will you shake hands with me, too, Willa? I'm not going +to talk, I'm not going to try to thank you, but I'm going to show you! I +know what friendship means now, and I mean to be worthy of it!" +</P> + +<P> +Their hands clasped, and, looking into his eyes, Willa said with +conviction: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bank on you, Vernon. Go in and win. It'll be a stiff game, but +you can't lose for you're on the square now." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHALLENGE +</H3> + +<P> +"What do you think about this?" Harrington Chase growled as his partner +entered the private office the next morning. "Somebody's getting after +us good and plenty!" +</P> + +<P> +"Let them come!" Starr Wiley shrugged. "We're on the right side of the +fence now, nobody can touch us. Anything from Cranmore?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Whoever it is that is trying to get a line on us isn't +overlooking any bets. Our men have been keeping me posted on the +inquiries up here, and they've got the dope so straight that it's my +opinion they have reached one of the inside staff." His tones lowered +and he glanced significantly toward the ground-glass partition which +separated them from the small army of clerks in the outer office. "It +doesn't matter, of course, but it would be just as well for the future +to know if we have an enemy in camp.—Now, Cranmore wires me in code +from Limasito that someone down there is mightily interested in our +titles and leases and particularly in what new fields we're opening up. +I tell you, if you don't get in touch with that old woman soon, +somebody will beat us to it as sure as you're alive." +</P> + +<P> +"I have got a line on her." Wiley paused to light a cigar. "I told +you I suspected she'd been brought up here, and I've verified it. I +know where she and that hunchbacked kid were living two days ago. +They've cleared out, but I've put a couple of men on the party that +will lead us straight to her. I'd like to know, though, who is so +devilishly interested in our affairs." +</P> + +<P> +"It is Larkin's outfit, of course. That young engineer they've got +down there has spudded in the Consuegra, that you passed up, and it's +producing seven hundred and fifty barrels a day as a starter." +</P> + +<P> +Wiley thrust out his jaw. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. I know Larkin's man; Kearn Thode, his name is. I +met him before out in Oklahoma, and I've no use for him. He's had +little use for me, either, and between you and me, he's got less now +than ever before, only he doesn't know it!" He laughed shortly. "You +might be surprised to know that Larkin himself was after the Lost +Souls." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" Chase swirled about in his chair to face his partner. +</P> + +<P> +"Fact. I don't know how he got wind of it, but as soon as Thode showed +up and began nosing about I knew what his game was." +</P> + +<P> +"No wonder they're butting in on our affairs! We'll have to do some +quick work——" +</P> + +<P> +Wiley laughed again. +</P> + +<P> +"No fear of trouble from Thode. I beat him to it and spiked his guns +at the same time. He's given it up as a bad job; that's why he tackled +the Consuegra. Wait till we pull off the big noise and he'll be +welcome to all the jitney gushers below the border." +</P> + +<P> +"When we do," Harrington Chase observed with emphasis. "We'll have to +get hold of the old dame first." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll land her." Wiley smote his desk. "There isn't a woman living, +young or old, who can cut the ground out from under my feet!" +</P> + +<P> +But a distinct shock awaited him when he entered the club that evening, +in the attitude of his erstwhile ally, Vernon Halstead. He had +difficulty in locating the young man at first; a survey of his usual +haunts, the bar and card-rooms, failed to disclose him, but Wiley ran +him to earth finally in the library, deep in a bulky and +serious-looking volume. +</P> + +<P> +"Improving your mind?" he sneered. +</P> + +<P> +Vernon raised his eyes serenely. +</P> + +<P> +"Never too late to learn, is it?" he observed. "I've found out a lot +in the last day or two." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean—?" Wiley dropped into a chair beside him. "Any new +developments? Did she go out alone to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"My cousin?" Vernon closed his book, and rose. "I haven't the least +idea, I assure you. I ran out to Mineola myself, with an aviator chap +I know." +</P> + +<P> +He had paused, looking down at his interrogator, and at the expression +in his eyes the latter half rose also, then sank back. +</P> + +<P> +"And just what am I to infer?" Wiley spoke through set teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything you like, my dear fellow. Help yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! You're going to renege, are you? You're prepared to take the +consequences?" +</P> + +<P> +"You've guessed it." Vernon nodded. "I'm off the dirty work, Starr. +You'll have to do your own sleuthing in future." +</P> + +<P> +"You realize what it means? I've never bluffed in my life, Vernon, and +I'll push this thing to the limit!" +</P> + +<P> +"Go as far as you like." Vernon waved his hand airily. Then his +expression hardened. "But whatever happens, leave my cousin out of +your future plans. Do you understand? Play your game with men if you +like, but leave the women of my family alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed?" This time Wiley rose, and the two looked levelly into each +other's eyes. "When you go up for forgery you won't be in a position +to interfere with any game I choose to play. I've told you this was a +straight business proposition, Vernon, there is no use getting +melodramatic about it. I've taken a lot of insolence from you, and I'm +prepared to teach you a lesson." +</P> + +<P> +"And I am always willing to learn, my dear Starr. It's up to you." He +bowed formally, and, turning on his heel, left the room. +</P> + +<P> +For a time Wiley communed with himself. The worm had turned, with a +vengeance, and the maneuver was beyond his comprehension. In spite of +his declaration anent a bluff, he was not prepared to push the matter +of the check to the end he had threatened. A scandal was farthest from +his desire and other considerations were involved; his matrimonial +ambitions not the least of them, if he antagonized the Halstead family. +Then, too, what could have been back of Vernon's sudden independence? +Was it an idle bluff, or had the young scamp managed in some way to +protect himself? +</P> + +<P> +The conclusion of his cogitations led him to the telephone and a half +hour later found him confronting Mason North in the latter's home, much +as Willa had done on the previous night. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to have disturbed you, Mr. North, but this is a strictly +confidential matter, and rather urgent. I have your assurance that it +will go no farther?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly!" Mason North was suspiciously affable. "Take a seat and +try one of these cigars. They're made especially for me in Porto Rico +and I know you to be a connoisseur. You were saying——?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have a check in my possession signed presumably by you." Wiley +chose his words with evident care. "It was made payable to bearer and +of course I do not know whether it changed hands or not before reaching +me. I wish to insinuate nothing, but I should like your assurance that +the signature is genuine before depositing it." +</P> + +<P> +"You have it with you?" the attorney asked crisply. +</P> + +<P> +Wiley nodded, and, taking an oblong slip of paper from his bill-case, +he presented it for the older man's inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"Um! Four thousand dollars, eh? The signature looks all right to me, +but I don't quite recall making it out. I have my old stubs here in +the desk, and if you will wait I'll look it up." +</P> + +<P> +Secure in the outcome, Wiley was more than willing to wait. He sat +with a half smile on his face, puffing at his fragrant cigar and +formulating his next move, when the storm should break. +</P> + +<P> +But the other's voice cut short his pleasant reflections and the words +themselves brought him up standing. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Here we are! I gave that check to young Halstead. It is quite +correct; 'four thousand'. Little matter of an inheritance. I—I trust +he hasn't been speculating, but I suppose I must not ask, eh? Sad +young dog, Vernon!" +</P> + +<P> +"It was a business transaction of rather a private nature, but I can +assure you that Vernon was not a loser by it." Wiley's tone was quiet, +but he had gone white to the lips "I would not have doubted the +signature, except for the fact that I thought it an unusually large sum +to be payable to bearer, and, as I said, I did not know to whom it had +been issued originally. I am sorry to have troubled you." +</P> + +<P> +He took his leave amid the other's cordial protestations, with outward +composure, but his expression changed savagely as he descended the +steps of the house and started up the Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +The attorney's attitude had not deceived him for a moment. Someone had +checkmated him, that was plain; had disclosed the truth and persuaded +North to shield Vernon. Could that young man have confessed +voluntarily and thrown himself on the attorney's mercy rather than play +the game? But such a step would have involved courage of a sort, and +he was sure Vernon did not possess enough of that commodity to carry +him so far. Someone must have interceded for him—but who? +</P> + +<P> +Then an inspiration came and under its goad Wiley almost cursed aloud. +That girl, again! He recalled Vernon's swift, unaccountable +championship of his cousin at the club an hour before. That was the +answer, of course! The young cub had double-crossed him and placed +himself in Willa's hands—and incidentally landed his erstwhile tyrant +in the same position. +</P> + +<P> +So be it. He would carry the game into the enemy's camp and then, if +necessary, arbitrate. Wiley had fought many duels with the fair sex, +but never a financial one before, and the prospect was not without an +element of sport. She had outwitted him at the start and borne off the +spoils, but he would wrest them from her, and tame her into the bargain. +</P> + +<P> +The morning dawned clear and crisply cold, and Willa started upon her +early gallop in the Park with every nerve a-tingle and the blood racing +in her veins. Her perplexities were forgotten, her slow, waiting game +put aside and she gave herself up joyously to the influences of the +hour. After all, it was good to be alive! +</P> + +<P> +Her mount was fresh, but she rode him hard until she had taken the edge +off his spirits and he was willing enough to drop into the easy, loping +canter for which she had originally chosen him from her cousins' stable. +</P> + +<P> +Her clear, pale cheeks bore an unwonted flush and her eyes were dancing +when she came face to face with Starr Wiley around a bend in the bridle +path. Willa would have passed him with a gay little nod, but he reined +in his horse and, wheeling, fell into pace beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"May I take the trail for a little way with you?" he asked. "Glorious +morning, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." She smiled, but the brightness had fled from her face and her +eyes narrowed as she gave him a side-long glance. "I didn't know you +were given to an appreciation of them, though. What brings you out so +early?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want a confession? It was with the hope of meeting you that I +came. One can see you alone so seldom in these crowded days, and I +want to grasp every opportunity. Can you blame me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your judgment, perhaps. My cousin is a far more attractive spectacle +than I, Mr. Wiley." +</P> + +<P> +"Still unkind!" he exclaimed ruefully. "I have told you, I have +explained and you will not believe me? Willa, you cannot have +forgotten the other evening, you know what I feel toward you. You +permitted me to tell you and you said that at least I might hope. +Don't taunt me, dear! It's scarcely fair, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I gave you no assurance, Mr. Wiley." Her eyes opened very wide upon +him. "You were well supplied with that. I was careful not to commit +myself in any way, if you remember. You were in my cousin's house and +I listened to learn just how far your effrontery would carry you. It +was scarcely an open game, I admit, but it was your deal and you +weren't playing exactly fair yourself, were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was sincere." His voice shook, but not with tenderness. "You led +me on; you played with me from the first!" +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, I refused to play with you at all, but you would not +be convinced. Let us understand each other, Mr. Wiley. Your +protestations are distasteful to me, and there is no longer need of +pretense between us. I will be civil when occasion requires, but +friendship between us would be an impossibility, and I beg that you +will not force me to be more rude to you than you have made necessary +now." +</P> + +<P> +"So," he remarked quietly. "We have done with pretense, have we? I +will meet your frankness, then. I have offered you all that a man can +offer a woman in devotion, but you have thrust it from you. Now I have +another kind of a proposition to discuss with you, and I am prepared to +offer terms. I want to know where you have secreted Tia Juana; I want +an interview with her. If she, of her own volition, refers me to you +as I anticipate and gives you power of attorney to act for her, we can +perhaps come to an agreement which will be to our mutual advantage." +</P> + +<P> +"That sounds interesting," Willa remarked. "What makes you think I +know where Tia Juana is?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought we had done with pretense?" he reminded her. "I know of the +little house on the Parkway, and the beautiful rich young lady who +hired it and installed the fierce old Spanish woman and the hunchback +there. I know, too, of their hasty departure, and all that happened +before in Mexico. You played a very shrewd game, my dear Miss +Murdaugh, but your disinterested charity toward Tia Juana is open to +question; a legal question, perhaps, if it comes to that, involving +undue influence and a dummy title." +</P> + +<P> +"Assuming that I know what you are talking about, don't you think you +are taking a great deal for granted?" asked Willa. "I do not admit +that I know where Tia Juana is, but in the event that you discover her, +what assurance have you that she will receive you? There is a strain +of Indian in her blood as well as Spanish. She does not forget, and do +you think your treatment of José would inspire her with any confidence +in your good faith or with any desire to deal with you except in +retribution?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nevertheless, she is the principal I intend to interview. You give me +no credentials as her authorized agent, and whether she cares to deal +with me or not is a matter I mean to put to the test. It lies between +her and me, and I fancy I shall have no difficulty in opening her eyes +to much that will be to her advantage, to which she has been kept +heretofore in the dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you, if you could? I doubt it. However, by all means make your +proposition to her when you have found her, Mr. Wiley. That's the +first thing, isn't it? You can't hazard your bet until you have picked +your number, can you?" Whimsically, she imitated the croupier's +sing-song whine "Make your play, gentlemen! The wheel is about to +spin!" +</P> + +<P> +"You vixen!" he muttered wrathfully. Then he controlled himself with +an almost visible effort and half turned in his saddle. "Will you +permit me to give you a bit of purely disinterested advice? Don't go +in for the financial game on your own; you are bound to lose. In your +proper sphere you are invincible, but it is a social one. When you pit +yourself against men in a contest for financial supremacy your chief +weapon, that of sex, is turned against you. Make no mistake! I shall +find Tia Juana, I shall obtain her order to treat with you, and you +will come to an agreement with me on my own terms. You cannot afford +to reject them if you would. You have not the slightest inkling of +their nature now, that is a card I am holding in reserve, but when you +learn what an indemnity you will be called upon to pay in the event of +a refusal, you will jump at the bargain, my dear Billie." +</P> + +<P> +He uttered the old name deliberately, and she flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Willa Murdaugh, if you don't mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you?" he asked significantly. "The clock struck twelve for +another Cinderella, you may remember, and all the jewels and gorgeous +apparel disappeared, as well as the pumpkin coach. I doubt if there +would be a fallen slipper or a fairy prince to put it on again if the +old story came to be rewritten to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" Willa turned to him, startled in spite of herself. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +"I will tell you when the time comes to drive our bargain, and I have +an idea that it will not be deferred long. You cannot conceal Tia +Juana indefinitely, and I shall have more able tools to aid me in my +search than the one you so cleverly removed a day or two ago." +</P> + +<P> +"I?" Willa's tone was mechanical, her thoughts centered on his implied +threat and what it might portend. "What tool?" +</P> + +<P> +"Vernon," he responded tersely. "He is to be congratulated on his +fortunate choice of a confidante. When he told you of our visit to the +empty house, close on your heels——" +</P> + +<P> +"You weren't; you were just over my head!" she retorted. "Vernon told +me nothing. It was unnecessary, because I heard it all. I scarcely +listened, though, for it reminded me so forcibly of another secret +interview of yours that my mind wandered. It was a much more +significant occasion, Mr. Wiley, with results so far-reaching that they +have not yet culminated." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed?" He frowned. "I must confess I don't recall——" +</P> + +<P> +"It was an interview at night, out in the open, beneath the stars!" +Her voice trembled with sudden passion. "It took place near a garage, +and you did not know a listener crouched in the shrubbery. The man you +met and bargained with there was Juan de Soria, agent of El Negrito, +and the next night El Negrito himself came down from the hills! What +price did you pay for that raid, Mr. Wiley; that raid which was to +force United States intervention and protection of the leases of its +citizens, yours in particular?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are mad!" he cried hoarsely, but she would not be silenced. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you pay in pesos for that slaughter? What will you yet be +called upon to pay in vengeance by those who were spared? Don't be too +confident of success in your bargaining, Mr. Wiley, until the final +reckoning!" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment there was silence, then with an obvious effort he laughed +harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are disposed to be highly melodramatic, my dear Billie, but +unfortunately your attitude is without justification. No such +interview as you describe took place. I suppose it is useless for me +to assure you of this, but it must have existed solely in the +imagination of your informant—if you had such an informant! I will +leave you now, but I beg that you will reflect upon the bargain I have +offered you. Wild accusations will not serve to turn the point at +issue, and for your own sake I advise you to think well. Au revoir!" +</P> + +<P> +He bent to the saddle in a mocking obeisance and his horse leaped +forward beneath the touch of the spurs. +</P> + +<P> +Willa watched until he had disappeared between the leafless trees, then +slowly moved off down a side-path. +</P> + +<P> +She had warned him now. Her cards were on the table and he knew the +strength of the hand she held against him. But what of his own? To +what length would he, could he go in the contest which from that moment +would be to the death between them? What did his vague threat mean? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE KNIGHT ERRANT ONCE MORE +</H3> + +<P> +"We'll be late," Angie observed as she and Willa waited in the +drawing-room for the rest of the family. It was the first remark she +had voluntarily addressed to her cousin since she had come upon the +tête-à-tête in the library. "Not that I care, of course, these dinners +are always stupid, but the Erskines are so horribly particular. I've +heard that the Bishop was late once and they went in without him." +</P> + +<P> +Willa smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder who will be there?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same old crowd, I suppose," Angie shrugged. "For heaven's sake, +Willa, if they send you in again with Harrington Chase, don't +monopolize him as you did at the Wadleighs'. It's horribly bad form; I +wonder that mother didn't tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Did I monopolize him? I wasn't conscious of it," Willa said +reflectively. "He interests me." +</P> + +<P> +"Evidently!" Angie sneered. "So do a few others, I imagine, but you +shouldn't show it so plainly. I admit that you've gotten on very well +so far, but your methods are horribly crude, still." +</P> + +<P> +"My methods?" Willa was honestly puzzled. "I wasn't aware that I had +any. When people bore me I let them alone; but those I find +interesting for one reason or another I listen to. Is it crude to +discriminate?" +</P> + +<P> +Angie bit her lip. +</P> + +<P> +"You can be very simple and naïve when you want to!" she burst out. +"But do reserve it for outsiders, and spare us! I know you for what +you are: sly and sneaking and mean! Your cheap, common little airs and +graces don't deceive me, they only disgust me more and more! I wish +Mr. North had left you where he found you, with your gamblers and +horse-thieves and roustabouts!" +</P> + +<P> +"So do I," Willa retorted frankly. "They were men, anyway. You are +unjust because you are hurt, and I am sorry for you. I wish you could +understand, but I am afraid you will not believe me. Mr. Wiley——" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you kindly leave his name out of this discussion?" demanded +Angie. "I am not in the least jealous, I assure you! He is nothing to +me, I merely object to the underhand way you maneuvered to receive him +alone. That sort of thing may be all right where you came from, but it +is a little bit too raw to put in practice here." +</P> + +<P> +The appearance of the others brought the quarrel to a close and they +went out to the waiting limousine in a constrained silence. Mrs. +Halstead glanced from her daughter's flushed face to Willa's pale one, +and her lips tightened. Had Angie been foolish enough to betray +herself to this interloper? +</P> + +<P> +Willa was sincerely distressed. There had never been any real +congeniality between the two girls, but her heart ached for the other's +evident suffering. Her own conscience was not quite clear for she had +permitted Wiley to show his hand without stopping to think of Angie, so +determined had she been to learn the depths to which this man would +descend in his ruthless self-seeking. She had weighed her cousin +shrewdly and she did not believe her capable of deep and lasting +affection, yet she shuddered at the thought of any girl's heart in +Starr Wiley's keeping. +</P> + +<P> +They were late, as Angie had prophesied. The Erskine drawing-room was +crowded, and Willa stared about blankly, her mind still burdened with +her cousin's resentment. Then all at once she became conscious of a +tall figure which disengaged itself from a nearby group and came +eagerly forward. +</P> + +<P> +Mechanically she held out her hand, and a voice sounded in her ears +which drove all else from her thoughts and sent the hot-blood flooding +her cheeks and neck in a crimson tide. +</P> + +<P> +"We meet again, Miss Murdaugh. I told you that it would be soon!" +</P> + +<P> +She found herself looking up into Kearn Thode's eyes, and the wonder of +it held her dumb. As unconscious as a child of the instinctive +movement, she extended both hands, and he caught and pressed them +tightly for a moment before releasing them. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Thode! I had almost given up hope." The words sprang to her +lips. "I thought you would come before and I used to look about for +you everywhere we went at first. It was silly, of course, for I knew +that you had your work to do down there, but it would have been nice to +see a really familiar face." +</P> + +<P> +The young engineer, too, flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I meant to come before, but I was delayed——" He broke off. "Was it +so awful then, the first plunge? May I remind you that you have +fulfilled my prophecy? Just to look at you now makes me half believe +those Limasito days were a dream!" +</P> + +<P> +"They're still real to me," Willa said gravely. "They are the only +real things and real people I have known. All this up here—oh! it's +very pleasant, of course, and new and amusing, but it doesn't reach +deep down. It doesn't seem to mean anything." +</P> + +<P> +"So soon?" He raised his eyebrows in whimsical dismay. "My sister +wrote me of your success and I was very glad. I knew it would not +change you, but I did not think the glamour would wear off so quickly." +</P> + +<P> +"Your sister?" Willa cried. "I'm so sorry that I only met her once. +She dined with us, but since then I have not seen her. I should like +to have known her better." +</P> + +<P> +"She called twice, but you were not at home. After that she went South +and she has only just returned. May I bring her to call to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be delighted," Willa paused, regarding him with a little, +puzzled frown. "Do you know you have changed, somehow, Mr. Thode? You +are ever so much thinner, and pale beneath your tan, and you look—oh, +almost as if you had been suffering! Am I imagining things, or have +you been ill?" +</P> + +<P> +"I had an accident just after you left Limasito. It was nothing +serious, just a slight concussion, but it laid me up for some weeks," +Thode replied easily. "That is what delayed my work and prevented my +return before." +</P> + +<P> +He looked beyond her as he spoke, and his face darkened swiftly. +Willa, noting the transition, glanced over her shoulder to see Starr +Wiley, smiling and urbane, standing just within the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"Another reminder of Limasito," she remarked. "A most unwelcome one. +But tell me about your accident. I am so sorry——" +</P> + +<P> +His hostess claimed Thode at that juncture and bore him away to fresh +introductions, and Willa started across the room to Mrs. Halstead when +Starr Wiley intercepted her coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do?" he asked. Then, without waiting for her reply, he +went on: "But that is a superfluous question, isn't it? You are +looking as distractingly charming as ever. So our knight errant has +put in an appearance once more! He looks a little the worse for wear." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Thode has been ill," Willa remarked through stiffened lips. +"There was an accident——" +</P> + +<P> +"A hootch bottle in the hands of a jealous Señorita becomes an +effective weapon, but I would call it more like fate than accident." +Wiley laughed unpleasantly. "There were some interesting rumors afloat +about our friend's conquests after your departure from Limasito. He'd +be an expert porch-climber if his practice in gaining access to certain +balconies on certain back streets counted for anything. I could have +told you before, but I did not want to shatter your illusions +concerning the local Paul Revere." +</P> + +<P> +"You are trying to now, however." Willa looked straight into his eyes +and then quickly away in immeasurable disdain. "I have no ears for +idle, malicious slander, Mr. Wiley. Please, let me pass." +</P> + +<P> +"It does rather jar on one, doesn't it? A reminder of the low, +primitive life down there is out of place in this highly esthetic +atmosphere." He made no move to step aside, and a shade of deeper +meaning crept into his tones. "It would be a pity if one were +compelled to return to it. The charms of Limasito would pall, I fancy, +after all this; yet such things sometimes happen." +</P> + +<P> +"I trust not, for your sake," Willa responded. "You would scarcely +find the climate of Limasito a healthy one, if your activities were +fully comprehended there." +</P> + +<P> +"I was not thinking of myself——" he smiled once more—"but of an old +fairy tale which I mentioned to you in the Park. You look a very +confident Cinderella, but midnight is not far off, and only you can +stop the hands of the clock, remember." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not fond of riddles." Willa shrugged and turned away to greet +her host, who came forward with one of the inevitable callow youths in +tow. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was announced almost immediately and Willa sat through it with +the food untouched before her. Wiley's insinuations against Kearn +Thode she had dismissed utterly from her thoughts, but his renewed +taunt of the morning filled her in spite of herself with dread +foreboding. Could fate have indeed been playing with her after all, +and was it possible that Wiley held within his hands the strings of her +future destiny? +</P> + +<P> +She was Willa Murdaugh, of course. Mason North and the Halsteads had +satisfied themselves of that beyond a shadow of a doubt. But what if +Wiley had really stumbled upon some facts unknown to them all which +might throw a shadow across her title? Was it an idle threat to coerce +her or a very tangible menace? +</P> + +<P> +She raised troubled eyes to meet Kearn Thode's smiling ones across the +table and her native courage came back in a swift rush. Surely she had +nothing to fear; she would meet Wiley and beat him at his own game, and +then … she smiled again into Thode's eyes. What did anything else +matter, now that he had returned? +</P> + +<P> +An informal dance was the order of the evening and Willa and the young +engineer gravitated to a seat on the stairs after a romping fox-trot. +Both were flushed and sparkling, but when they found themselves alone +together a diffident silence fell upon them. +</P> + +<P> +"It must seem good to you to get back," Willa ventured at last when the +pause had become oppressive. +</P> + +<P> +"It is." His glance rested upon her with a world of contentment. "I +can't begin to tell you how wonderful it seems!" +</P> + +<P> +"And your work down there?" she pursued hurriedly. "You have finished +it? You will not have to return again?" +</P> + +<P> +The contentment faded and in its place there came a look of bitterness +and dogged determination. +</P> + +<P> +"It has scarcely begun. I wonder if you ever heard an old legend +around Limasito concerning the lost location of a marvelous oil well?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa laughed nervously, a little taken aback by the abruptness of the +question. +</P> + +<P> +"One hears so many legends in every country of lost or buried or hidden +treasure," she parried. "Scarcely anyone pays attention to them except +the tenderfoots. You know up in the mining country one is forever +hearing such tales of vast deposits of ore, but nobody can ever find +the lead." +</P> + +<P> +"This particular one concerns a well in a mysterious pool of water +where a massacre is supposed to have taken place. It dates back to the +time of the Spaniards' coming." +</P> + +<P> +He paused, but Willa said nothing. She was striving to mask her +thoughts in continued composure lest his quick mind grasp the +significance of her interest. +</P> + +<P> +"The place is spoken of as the Pool of the Lost Souls," Thode went on. +"Surely you have heard of it? The people to whom you were so kind, old +Tia Juana and her grandson, knew more than anyone else about it. Did +they not mention it to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tia Juana?" Willa glanced up quickly, but she could not meet his +eyes. "She is very secretive, you know, and jealous of the old legends +which to her form the sacred history of her beloved country. Suppose +you tell me the legend yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Briefly he recounted it to her and, she listened until the end in a +dismayed chaos of mind which culminated in a staggering blow. +</P> + +<P> +"I have found it." There was no jubilation in his tone, but +paradoxically a note of defeat. +</P> + +<P> +"You!" she stammered breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. You seem surprised?" he added with a quick glance at her. "I +know these old legends are mostly regarded as bunk, but now and then +one proves to be a straight tip. Generations have searched vainly for +the Pool, as I thought you must have heard, but they did not know where +to look." +</P> + +<P> +"Then how did you, a newcomer, discover it?" Willa scarcely recognized +her own voice. +</P> + +<P> +"By the simple expedient of following someone else who had stolen a +march on me in a despicable fashion." His jaw set in the old +characteristic way she remembered. "I don't mind admitting that I +would have taken almost any means to locate it; that was my main +objective in Mexico and I was acting under instructions from my chief. +But I would scarcely have stooped to the method employed by the man of +whom I speak." +</P> + +<P> +"Starr Wiley?" The question was wrung from Willa's lips. +</P> + +<P> +He stared at her. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I guessed," she countered hurriedly. "I knew that you two were +enemies, of course, and it came to me that if anyone had played a false +trick upon you it must have been he. You say you found the Pool by +following him. How did he know where to search?" +</P> + +<P> +Thode hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I found a map of its location, but I had scarcely got my hands upon it +when I was struck down from behind and the paper stolen." +</P> + +<P> +Willa uttered a startled exclamation, but he continued, unheeding. +</P> + +<P> +"Someone found me, hours later, lying unconscious and carried me into +Limasito, where your good friend, Jim Baggott, took care of me. It was +weeks before I was able to be about again, but I had time to think it +all out, Of course, I had not seen my assailant, but I had had an +uncanny intuition all day that I was being shadowed—it was the very +day of your departure, by the way—and I knew of only one other beside +myself who had taken that legend seriously. Wiley was doing his best +to locate the Pool; he was aware that I was there for the same purpose +and he would have stopped at nothing to win out, for, as you know, +there was bad blood between us. If he did not actually strike the blow +that felled me I solemnly believe that he was instrumental in it in +some way. Please, don't think me ungenerous toward an enemy that I +tell you this, or even harbor such a thought, but events really seemed +to bear out my suspicions." +</P> + +<P> +"No." Willa was gazing moodily straight before her. "I do not think +you are ungenerous, and I am very glad that you are telling me. I +believe, too, that you are right; I feel sure that he must have been +responsible for your injury. But I am amazed about the map." +</P> + +<P> +"I found it in the ashes of Tia Juana's fire; the little fire in the +grove of zapote trees where she cooked her tortillas, and brewed her +strange concoctions. You had told me of it, do you remember? But +perhaps you have not heard: Tia Juana and the boy, José, have +disappeared. They must have gone on the very day you started for New +York, and no one has been able to discover a trace of them, except one. +That is a very significant trace indeed, though.—Have you no curiosity +about the Pool?" +</P> + +<P> +He turned to her suddenly, but Willa could not raise her eyes to meet +his now. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," she stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"It is located on a grapefruit ranch known as the Trevino hacienda, +about two hundred miles due north of Limasito. Wiley made the best of +his time while I was laid by the heels, but his treachery didn't do him +any good, in the end. He found the Pool, but another had been before +him; old Tia Juana, herself!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa's lips moved, but no sound came from them. She was praying that +he would not look at her again. +</P> + +<P> +"A few days before Tia Juana and the boy disappeared, the Trevino +hacienda changed hands. It was sold for twenty-five thousand dollars, +to one Juana Reyes.—Reyes, if you recall, was the name of the old +Spaniard who owned the Pool originally and whose daughter, Dolores, was +killed by the Indians on her wedding night. Reyes is also the almost +forgotten surname of Tia Juana, so it looks as if the old lady had come +into her own, at last. It is a mystery, of course, where she got the +money to purchase the hacienda, but it may have been hoarded in her +family for generations. It is possible, too, that she only then +succeeded in deciphering the map, and tracing the location of the Pool +from it." +</P> + +<P> +"So you and Starr Wiley both failed." Willa spoke as if to herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Not I!" Thode's eyes flashed with determination. "I told you I had +only just begun. I am going to find Tia Juana if she is above ground +and buy out her claim. To her it only means the ancestral estate. +That is much, to be sure, if she has gone through her long life in +poverty and want in order to hoard her riches for its purchase, but it +is only a sentimental consideration. When she learns that she has a +fortune in petroleum, worthless without the money to develop it, I +think she will agree to share her interest. The casa and the land +about it can still be hers, we only want to drain and develop the Pool, +and my chief will be strictly fair with her. The old lady will be rich +beyond her wildest dreams and we will have the greatest producer known +since the Dos Bocas gusher went up in flames!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa rose. +</P> + +<P> +"If you find Tia Juana, Mr. Thode, don't build your hopes too high. +Should she prove to be indeed the owner of the Pool of the Lost Souls, +I am confident that you can never gain possession of it." +</P> + +<P> +"I can try." He took the hand she held out to him. "You seem very +sure, Miss Murdaugh." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot imagine Tia Juana relinquishing anything which she could +claim, especially if, as you surmise, the property may once have +belonged to her ancestors. Cousin Irene is signaling me. I must go!" +she added. "You will come to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +Thode promised, but he watched her slender figure disappear with a +frown of troubled thought. How much did she know? Could it be that +she, too, was interested in the Pool of the Lost Souls? Instead of a +mere contest between himself and Wiley had it become a three-corner +affair, with Willa the apex of the triangle? +</P> + +<P> +Had he but known it, he was destined not to keep his promise of the +morrow, and once more it was Starr Wiley who intervened. +</P> + +<P> +It happened that Thode stopped in at the club after taking leave of the +Erskines, and arrived at a most opportune moment. He was emerging from +the coat-room when a familiar voice came to his ears through the +half-open door of one of the smaller card-rooms, and the words arrested +him like a command. +</P> + +<P> +"The little Murdaugh? Very naïve, very charming, but I knew her in the +Never-Never Land, you know, and I can assure you she's not as +unsophisticated as she seems." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come, Starr! You're tight!" a strange voice intervened. "Ladies' +names, you know——it's not done here." +</P> + +<P> +"'Lady'?" Wiley hiccoughed derisively. "Who mentioned a lady? I'm +speakin' of Willa Murdaugh. Gentleman Geoff's Billie they used to call +her; pet of an old card-sharp, and mascot of a gambling-hell——" +</P> + +<P> +He got no farther. Someone had seized him by the shoulders and spun +him around like a top and he found himself confronting Kearn Thode's +blazing eyes. His half-fuddled companions shrank back in consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"Take that back, you miserable cur!" Thode's voice was scarcely +recognizable. "Take back your damnable lies or I'll ram them down your +throat!" +</P> + +<P> +But an alcoholic courage possessed Wiley and he leered: "The +knight-errant, by Jove! You know whether it's true or not! You ought +to know better than anyone else——" +</P> + +<P> +A crashing blow straight on his maudlin mouth sent him reeling back +against the table. His wildly groping hand found a tall glass and with +an oath he hurled it full in the face of the man advancing upon him. A +moment later, he was lifted clear of the table by an impact that flung +him against the wall a sodden, inert heap with the last ray of dazed +consciousness gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GONE +</H3> + +<P> +A metamorphosis had taken place in Vernon Halstead. He was distrait +and mooned about the house, getting in people's way and apologizing +with an air of such profound abstraction that the family were moved to +comment. +</P> + +<P> +"I think Vernon must be ill." This from his mother. "The poor dear +boy seems very pale and hollow-eyed. Haven't you noticed it, Ripley?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've noticed that he looks as if someone had given him a jolt that he +hadn't yet recovered from," her husband retorted. "Maybe he's waking +up and getting on to himself at last. It's high time! It would give +anyone a shock to find they'd been wasting the best years of their +lives——" +</P> + +<P> +"You were never sympathetic with his sensitive highly-strung +temperament——" +</P> + +<P> +"'Temperament,' Irene? He's about as temperamental as an army tank!" +Ripley added more mildly: "I don't say there's no good in the boy, but +it needs waking up. He asked me last night about a course in petroleum +engineering, like young Thode, and that's a promising sign. I wish I +felt as easy in my mind about Willa." +</P> + +<P> +"I wash my hands of her." Mrs. Halstead shrugged coldly. "It was to +be supposed that she would be quite impossible, coming from such an +environment, but I fancied at least that she would want to advance +herself. She cares nothing for making acquaintances or getting in with +the right people and hasn't the slightest conception of the importance +of establishing herself. If I had the proper authority over her it +would be vastly different, but you and Mason——" +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't it ourselves," her husband reminded her. "We've got to +accept her on her own terms or not at all, it seems. She has too much +principle to get herself into disgrace, I am confident on that score, +but she has such ultra-democratic ideas that I am afraid she may lay +herself open to comment. Have you heard anything, Irene, about a—a +gray car?" +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" Mrs. Halstead sat up very straight. "I've been +expecting trouble from her absurd independence, but you know my +position. What about a gray car?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing much." Ripley looked decidedly uncomfortable. "You are not +to mention it to her, Irene, remember. Mason spoke of it and it's up +to him to take care of it, but I thought you might keep your eyes open. +Mason has an idea that he has seen her more than once running around +town in a fast little gray car with a mighty good-looking chauffeur. +He's near-sighted and he asked me to find out about it." +</P> + +<P> +"I know nothing of it!" his wife said bitterly. "An elopement with a +person of that sort is quite within the possibilities, Ripley. I will +watch, of course, but what good will it do? I have tried to guard her, +and been insulted for my pains. If I had my way, I should lock her in +her room until I brought her to terms.—A chauffeur, indeed! Really, +Uncle Giles' money is scarcely worth the strain, and now with poor +Vernon acting so strangely, and you so unsympathetic, it is a wonder I +am not down with nervous prostration!" +</P> + +<P> +On the morning after the Erskine affair, however, Vernon came in at +lunch time with a cheerful air of suppressed but pleasurable excitement +which nullified the effect of his former solemnity. +</P> + +<P> +After the meal was over, he drew Willa mysteriously into the library, +and shut the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Say! I've simply got to tell you! I don't peddle club gossip as a +rule, but this is to good to keep. Starr got his last night!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" Willa cried. "He's not——" +</P> + +<P> +"Not dead, you want to say? No, it isn't as good as that, but he got +the thrashing of his life and his beauty is pretty well spoiled. Gad, +if I'd only been there to see it!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa turned a shade more white. +</P> + +<P> +"Who—did it?" Her voice was a mere whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"Kearn Thode. He is pretty well cut up about the face himself, for of +course Starr didn't put up his fists like a man; he threw glassware." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is he badly hurt?" Willa caught at her surprised informant's arm +in sudden dread. "Is Mr. Thode——" +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! What's the tragic idea? Of course he's not; but you ought to +see Starr! The fellows say it was all over in about two seconds, but +it must have been great while it lasted!" +</P> + +<P> +"Where—where did it occur?" she asked faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"Right in the club, of all places in the world! The board of governors +got together this morning like ducks in a thunderstorm and held a +special meeting. Of course, they're both suspended until the board can +get hold of the facts, but it's a pretty general opinion that Starr +will be asked for his resignation. Nobody seems to know what the row +was about, or else they are all keeping mum, but Starr must have said +something rather average awful. The only name he called Thode, though, +as far as I can make out, was 'knight-errant'." +</P> + +<P> +Willa turned away to hide a sudden trembling. +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't so terrible, is it?" she stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"Silly word to start anything! But you never can tell what's back of +it with Starr——" +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me, Miss. Note for you by messenger." Welsh stood in the +doorway. +</P> + +<P> +Willa took the envelope from the salver the butler presented. The +superscription was in an unknown hand, but a swift intuition came to +her as she broke the seal. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"My dear Miss Murdaugh," she read silently. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you believe me when I tell you that I am more than sorry I shall +not be able to come to you to-day? I was caught in an annoying but +superficial motor smash-up last night and the broken windshield has +made a bizarre spectacle of me, but I shall be my normal self again in +a few days. My sister, Mrs. Beekman, will call to-morrow and I shall +present my apologies in person at the earliest possible moment, if I +may. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Very sincerely and regretfully,<BR> +<BR> + "KEARN THODE."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Willa mused so long that Welsh finally asked, with a deferential cough: +</P> + +<P> +"Any answer, Miss? The messenger is waiting to know." +</P> + +<P> +"No.—Yes! Just a moment!" +</P> + +<P> +She seated herself at the desk and wrote rapidly: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"My Dear Mr. Thode; +</P> + +<P> +"I am deeply sorry to learn of your motor accident. Knights-errant +rode on chargers in the old days, I believe, but the spirit remains the +same, doesn't it? I scorned it once to my shame, but it is a spirit +for which I am now profoundly grateful. Come to me when you can; I +shall be at home. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Hasta la vista,<BR> +<BR> + "WILLA MURDAUGH."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Well, for the love of Pete!" Vernon exploded, when the butler had +withdrawn. "You're blushing like a June rose! Willa, are you holding +out on us? Have you a steady you are keeping company with, +unbeknownst?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be absurd, Vernon!" She dimpled, in spite of herself. "That +was only from Mr. Thode. He was going to call this afternoon with his +sister, but he can't. He's had a slight motor accident." +</P> + +<P> +"Then Starr must have met a steam-roller!" Vernon stopped, and added +in sudden suspicion: "I say, you didn't give me away? You didn't +mention——?" +</P> + +<P> +"I?" Willa's eyes widened demurely. "I expressed polite regret, of +course. What have I to do with motor accidents?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, I hope, if you go slow," Vernon hesitated. "I don't want to +butt in, Willa, but I'd like to give you a hint, if you don't mind. +Gray cars are not invisible." +</P> + +<P> +She had paused at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what does that mean?" she demanded. "Of course I know you and +Starr Wiley followed me the other day, but how do you know where the +car came from?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," retorted Vernon quickly. "That's your own affair, Willa, +only I thought you ought to know that Art Judson and one or two others +spoke of the nifty little car they'd seen you about in, in the last two +or three days. I thought I had better tell you before Mason North gets +hold of it and asks questions." +</P> + +<P> +"Much obliged, Vernie, but if he does I sha'n't answer them." Willa +smiled. "I'll take you out some day if you like. The little car is a +wonder and you and Starr Wiley would never in the world have been able +to hang on the trail that time if I hadn't meant you to! If anyone +asks you about the car, however, you never heard of it. Understand?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned lightly and ran from the room, leaving her cousin chuckling. +The simple, formal little note was pressed tightly to her breast as a +most passionate avowal might have been, and her eyes were like +dew-drenched violets when she reached her room. Thode had come at the +moment of her unapprehended need, and he had fought for her once more, +asking no guerdon but the unalienable right of man to protect the women +of his world and kind from insult and contumely. +</P> + +<P> +And she? She must repay him by thwarting his ambition, dashing his +hopes, bringing to defeat his most cherished plan! What would he think +of her when he learned the truth and recalled how she had accepted his +confidence and given him in return only silence pregnant with deceit? +</P> + +<P> +Her head drooped and burning tears smarted in her eyes, but she held +them back grimly. If Willa Murdaugh was a self-pitying weakling, +Gentleman Geoff's Billie was not, and she would see the game through! +Because of all that the old name had meant she would not be a quitter, +though her own happiness be forever lost. What was her happiness? she +demanded wrathfully of herself. A side-bet, nothing more! She was out +for bigger stakes than mere happiness, and she was playing to win. +</P> + +<P> +Wrapping herself in her fur coat, with a tiny close-fitting cap upon +her head, she slipped out of doors and around the corner to where, +half-way through the block, Dan Morrissey waited with the gray car. +</P> + +<P> +It was commencing to snow; great, soft, feathery flakes which lighted +upon her as softly as thistledown and melted each in a single +glistening drop like a tear. The air was coldly still and the sky a +sheet of lead. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I kept you waiting long, Dan?" she asked as he tucked the robe +about her. "I'm sorry, I hope you've not been cold. It looks as +though we were in for a real storm, doesn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wisht it'd come down a regular blizzard, Miss," he responded dourly. +"Then maybe we could shake off the boys that have been hangin' on my +trail for dear life! It's not cold I've been, sitting here trying to +figure out how to stall them, but hot under the collar! Where to, +Miss? It don't make any partic'lar difference, they'll be right along +behind!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then around the Park, please, Dan. You can tell me about them as we +go." +</P> + +<P> +She snuggled down in the soft robes as the car leapt and fled like a +lithe gray cat through the storm. Her thoughts were busy with the new +problem; these followers were Wiley's men, of course. He had boasted +that he would have more able tools to aid him in the future than Vernon +had proved. Where had he obtained them? +</P> + +<P> +"Are they professional detectives, do you think, Dan?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He needed but the word to start him. +</P> + +<P> +"They are that! I was chauffeur once for a private detective agency, +and I know them and their ways, though these fellows seem to have a new +wrinkle or two. It started a couple of nights ago when I was waiting +in the garage for a call from you, Miss. A fine big, new touring car +was edged in beside mine and the chauffeur, a little dark feller, began +talkin' to me. I remembered what you'd told me, and keepin' my own +mouth shut, I let him rave. In just about ten minutes I knew it was +all bunk; he was tellin' too much, tryin' too hard to get thick with me +all of a sudden. His gentleman was a free-handed sport and what was +good enough for him was none too good for his driver; champagne, the +fellow wanted me to go out and have with him, and I couldn't tell you +what-all, Miss." +</P> + +<P> +"I rather expected that," Willa nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, when I got home to my boardin'-house, there was a new lodger in +the room next to mine, a long-legged, sandy-haired galoot. The same +thing began again; he came in to borry a match and stayed half the +night. I let him down easy, though if I hadn't remembered your +instructions I'd be after sendin' him home through his own transom! +Everywhere I've been for the last two days, barber shop and all, I've +been tailed. It's fun if you look at it in one way, but it gets my +goat, too. If you say the word, Miss, I'll sail in and lick the bunch +of them!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Dan; not yet," Willa smiled. "The man behind them is responsible +and he's been punished for the time being, anyway. How many men are +trailing us? I haven't looked back." +</P> + +<P> +"I made sure of three, but they may be strung out after us like an +Irish funeral, for all I know," replied Dan, gloomily. "My chauffeur +friend is on a motor cycle now, my red-headed neighbor is in a +runabout, and a strange feller in a big car. There's small chance of +losing them, I'm thinkin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Then drive straight to that apartment-house from which the two +taxicabs followed us the other day. They've spotted me there already, +you see, and I've no doubt they've investigated there, so another visit +won't do any harm. Wait around the corner for me, as you did the last +time." +</P> + +<P> +Willa alighted before the shabby vestibule and without a glance to +right or left made her way in and pressed a button marked "Lopez." The +front door clicked a prompt response and she ran lightly up two flights +of dark and dingy stairs. +</P> + +<P> +A thin, sallow little woman with soft, black eyes awaited her at an +opened door and ushered her into the stuffy garish front parlor where +she eyed her visitor in palpable nervousness. +</P> + +<P> +"How are my friends?" Willa asked without preamble. "They are quite +comfortable at your mother's house? You have heard from her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes!" The woman replied with the slightest trace of a Latin +accent. "The young lad has been suffering a little with his back, +pobrecito! It is the climate here, no doubt, but my mother rubs him +with a remedy of her own making and he is soothed." +</P> + +<P> +"And the Señora?" +</P> + +<P> +The woman hesitated visibly. +</P> + +<P> +"She—she sits all day by her fire and talks but seldom, yet she seems +well." +</P> + +<P> +"They understand why I have not been to see them?" Willa eyed her +narrowly, for the woman's agitation boded ill. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. They ask when you will come, but they know it must not be for a +time." The Señora Lopez paused, and then added in a swift rush: "My +mother bakes for them tortillas and they are pleased together. José +begs my mother to tell him of Spain, but the old Señora, she has not +the interest. It is always as if she waited, but she is content." +</P> + +<P> +Willa nodded. The description was such as she had anticipated, yet +despite the volubility of the other's assurance, the suggestion of +something odd and furtive remained. +</P> + +<P> +"Have there been any inquiries for them here?" +</P> + +<P> +The woman smiled in obvious relief, and spread out her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"But yes! You spoke truly, Señorita, when you warned me of those who +would seek them. In the evening just after you were here last a +gentleman—an Americano—came asking for the Señora Reyes. I knew +nothing of her." She drew down her eyelids, significantly. "Next +morning, there came a young man of our country. He said that he was +from Mexico, but he lied; the speech of the Basque was on his tongue. +The Señora Reyes was his aunt, and he came to tell her that he had +found her lost son, his cousin. He, too, departed. Yesterday it was a +boy. He was an amigo, a compañero of José; he desired to know where he +might be found, but he, also, was unsatisfied. We are the Lopez—what +have we to do with the Señora Reyes or José?" +</P> + +<P> +Her tone of bland candor was inimitable, but it did not eradicate the +consciousness of anxiety and unrest in her bearing at first. Nothing +more was to be learned from further parley, and Willa presently +departed, leaving behind her a substantial roll of banknotes. +</P> + +<P> +Her mind was far from easy, and as she descended the dark steep stairs +she came to an abrupt decision. Something was wrong and despite the +hirelings of Starr Wiley she must know. +</P> + +<P> +"Dan," she began when he sprang down to assist her into the car, "I +don't know how it is to be done, but we have got to lose those +trailers. I don't care how long it takes or how many miles we cover +doing it, but we must manage to get to Second Place, Brooklyn, without +being followed. Do you think you will be able to make it, or shall I +try to give them the slip by taking the subway?" +</P> + +<P> +Dan reflected. +</P> + +<P> +"There's more than one in the big car and you'd be trailed sure, Miss. +Better take a chance with me, and I'll get you there safely without +them knowing if we ride till morning!" +</P> + +<P> +Then began a strange and devious journey. To Willa, who, aside from +her infrequent visits to the cottage on the Parkway, had seen little of +New York and its environs save in the beaten path of the conventional +social round, it was a revelation. They tore through crooked teeming +side-streets whose squalor was veiled in the falling curtain of snow +and shot across broad avenues with gleaming vistas of light stretching +interminably in either direction, to dash sharply about a corner and +off through a lane of canyon-like factories and sweatshop hives. Once +they skirted huge railroad yards and twice they circled along the +river's edge between towering warehouses, with the tang of salt winds +swirling the flakes about them and a forest of tall masts looming up +ahead. +</P> + +<P> +Dan Morrissey knew the city as only one can who has grown up +practically on its streets and he was following a well-defined route in +his mind as he wove back and forth through the myriad threads which +held together the vast and varied pattern on the loom which was New +York, drawing ever nearer the great bridge. The runabout had been left +behind, but the larger car still trailed and the sharp exhaust of the +motor-cycle reached their ears tauntingly above the subdued rattle of +occasional traffic. +</P> + +<P> +All at once Dan commenced to chuckle and Willa could feel his shoulders +shake beside hers. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" she demanded with a quick glance at him. +</P> + +<P> +"I've just thought of something, Miss. If Delehanty is on his station +now, watch us lose the laddy-buck on the motor-cycle!" +</P> + +<P> +They had reached a corner on lower Broadway, whence the home-going +stream of humanity had long since disappeared like ants into the burrow +of subway entrances, but where a burly traffic policeman still loomed +bulkily in the middle of the thoroughfare. +</P> + +<P> +Dan drew the car up at the curb, leaped out and approached the minion +of the law. A short colloquy, and he had returned and the car shot +down Broadway. "You can look back now, Miss," suggested Dan. Willa +turned. The motor-cycle had been halted in mid-pursuit, its rider +gesticulating in futile rage and vexation while the obdurant bluecoat +held him fast. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you do it, Dan?" Willa asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Delehanty's death on motor-cyclists since one ran him down last +summer. I told him this feller was a chauffeur in the same garage as +me, and trailing me now on a bet, but that the license on his machine +was phony. We'll be there and back before he gets through explaining +at the station-house." +</P> + +<P> +Once across the bridge, Dan led the big car far out to a sparsely +built-up section of Flatbush and there at last his object was achieved. +A loud report echoed behind them and glancing over her shoulder Willa +saw the big car swerve and come to an abrupt halt in the ditch. +</P> + +<P> +"Tire burst!" she announced. "Luck is with us, Dan!" +</P> + +<P> +"It was, in the shape of some broken glass!" Her ally retorted +grinning. "I said a prayer myself as we went over it. The way is +clear now!" +</P> + +<P> +Second Place was a dull row of somber brick dwellings with prim muslin +curtains behind each window pane, and an air of bearing its indubitable +respectability self-consciously. +</P> + +<P> +The car halted before a house midway the block, and Willa was up the +steps in a flash and pealing the bell. +</P> + +<P> +A swarthy middle-aged woman, with a white apron over her ample silk +gown, presented herself and stammeringly bade the girl welcome. +</P> + +<P> +"The Señora Reyes and José? I must see them, Señora Rodriquez. I have +come from your daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"She did not tell you, then, Señorita?" The woman raised her fat hands +in expostulation. "Heaven is my witness, it was not my fault! I did +not think to watch her, she did not even glance toward the window! +Could I know what she meditated?" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" Willa seized the woman's arm and shook it convulsively. +"What has happened to Señora Reyes? Tell me!" +</P> + +<P> +All at once a frail, crooked little form catapulted itself down the +stairway and fell, sobbing, at the girl's feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Señorita! Señorita Billie! The grandmama has vanished! She rose and +went from the house in the dawn, when all were sleeping! She is gone!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE POOL OF THE LOST SOULS +</H3> + +<P> +Willa went home at last in a daze of consternation which took no note +of the heightened storm. The unexpected catastrophe was a death-blow +to her long-cherished plan, but even that faded for the moment before +the stern anxiety for Tia Juana's safety. +</P> + +<P> +The story which Willa succeeded in dragging from the Rodriguez woman +and José was simple on the face of it, yet many possible complexities +presented themselves to the girl's vivid imagining. Tia Juana had +seemed contented enough in her new abode for the first day, taking a +childish pleasure in the novelty of her surroundings, but later she had +become depressed and sunk into a moody silence save that now and then +she muttered ominously to herself and made strange gestures with her +claw-like hands. +</P> + +<P> +José she had driven from her harshly, only to seize and draw him close, +and on the previous day she had eaten nothing, but crouched through the +long hours before the glowing coals of her grate. At twilight she had +demanded a large cooking pot which she placed upon the fire, and with +an earthenware jar of liquid and sundry packets of herbs from the +conglomerate heap of her luggage, she had brewed a concoction that +piqued her landlady's curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +It had not pleased Tia Juana, however, and after glowering darkly into +its depths, she had flung it, pot and all, from the window down into +the back yard. +</P> + +<P> +She had retired passively enough, but when the Señora Rodriguez came +with her morning coffee, the room was empty. There were no signs of a +struggle, the silence had remained unbroken throughout the night, and +the front door was found to have been unfastened from the inside, +although the Señora Rodriguez asserted that she had locked and bolted +it before retiring. +</P> + +<P> +This argued that Tia Juana had of her own volition slipped away from +the house on some unknown mission, but to Willa such an hypothesis +seemed unlikely. In the first place, the old woman was heart and soul +in the plan in which Willa herself was the moving spirit, and well +content to leave all things to the guidance of her idolized young +friend. Then, too, she had the dread of the strange new city of one +who had followed a long and open trail and would scarcely in her right +mind have ventured forth to brave it on her own initiative. Had some +cajoling or threatening message reached her which induced her to play +into Wiley's hands, or could it be that Señora Rodriguez had been +bribed to aid in her abduction? +</P> + +<P> +Fierce and implacable as Tia Juana's will was, age had taken its toll +of her mental strength and resiliency, and Willa shuddered to think of +the coercion which might be brought to bear upon her bewildered and +shaken sensibilities. +</P> + +<P> +Dan noted his mistress' profound despondency, but ventured no remark +until she addressed him just as they reached the bridge once more. +</P> + +<P> +"Dan, you drove a car once for a detective agency, you told me. Did +you ever do any detective work yourself? Do you know anything of their +methods?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do, Miss!" he responded promptly, a sparkle dawning in his eyes. +"Not that I ever did any of it, but I used to watch the other fellers +at work and I'm thinking I could go them one better at it. I've seen +them make some bonehead plays, in my time, and some wonderful hits, +too, I'll admit that." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want to try a little of it for me?" Willa asked. "An old +Spanish woman disappeared early this morning from that house back on +Second Place, and I want her found without delay. It's she whom those +other men are after; she used to live with her grandson, a hunchback, +in that cottage upon the Parkway. There will be double wages in it for +you while you're working on it, and a thousand dollars reward if you +find her and bring her to me." +</P> + +<P> +She went on to describe Tia Juana, and Dan listened in rapt attention +to every detail, fired with instant enthusiasm for the new job. +</P> + +<P> +"You leave it to me, Miss!" he announced confidently when she had +finished. "I'll get into that house to-morrow, one way or another, and +have a talk with the landlady and the kid. I'll soon find out if they +know more than they've told. In the meantime, I'll make the round of +the hospitals to-night and have a look-in at headquarters to see if +she's turned up missing. Those fellers trailing us this afternoon +don't make it look as if they or the man they're workin' for could have +got hold of her already and there's a chance that she just wandered +off, like, on her own hook. I'll let you know the minute I've got a +line on her. Wish I spoke her lingo!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tia Juana understands English well enough when she wants to, and +speaks it, too, but only when necessity compels it. She hates +everything American but me. I—I could not bear to think of her +wandering about, destitute and dazed and freezing in this storm! Dan, +you must find her for me!" +</P> + +<P> +The erstwhile chauffeur promised, with extravagant protestations of +assurance, and it was evident that he was in thorough earnest, with +illimitable faith in his own powers. +</P> + +<P> +His attitude of mind was infectious and when Willa descended before the +Halstead house her own natural buoyancy of thought had reasserted +itself, although the mystery remained as black and sinister as ever. +</P> + +<P> +Wiley, still hors de combat from his thrashing at Thode's hands, could +scarcely have been a factor himself in this new development and if it +proved to be the result of any of his agents' activities, surely Dan +would be able to find some trace. +</P> + +<P> +She passed a sleepless night, however, and arose to find a foot of snow +glistening on the ground and the air keen and brittle with cold. No +word came from Dan, and in the afternoon she threw discretion to the +winds and went boldly to the Brooklyn house. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing had developed save that José had worried himself into a fever, +and the Señora Rodriguez's lamentations were tinged with a querulous +resentment. +</P> + +<P> +The young Señorita was paying handsomely for the hospitality to her +friends, and she herself would gladly do anything to aid her +country-people, even if they were but Mexican Spanish and not of the +blood. Nevertheless, she was not to blame for the old Señora's +departure, she had not agreed to stand guard over her and surely the +Evil Eye had descended upon her house! She would nurse the little José +as though he were her own, and the old Señora's room should be kept in +readiness for her return, but she, Conchita Rodriguez, would worry her +own head no longer! +</P> + +<P> +Willa placated the woman's displeasure with promises of more generous +pay, and arranged for extra care and comforts for José, whom the Señora +evidently regarded with a tenderness born of superstition; to aid a +jorobado brought luck to one's hearth-stone, even as the touch of his +humped shoulders gave promise of good fortune. +</P> + +<P> +Secure at least in the thought of his well-being, Willa was content to +leave José in the hands of his irascible but kind-hearted landlady, +stipulating that daily messages should be telephoned to her of his +condition. +</P> + +<P> +"And if anyone comes to inquire for him, remember that he is not here, +please," she added. "He and the Señora have both gone; that is, unless +a young American named Morrissey should appear. He is a friend of +mine, and trying to help me find the Señora." +</P> + +<P> +"'Morrissey?' I shall not forget." Señora Rodriguez repeated the name +thoughtfully. "No one has been here to-day but a plumber, who arrived +without my order. He said there was a leak in the cellar next door +which came from my house and he did strange things to my pipes so that +now I can draw no water in my kitchen. Now my neighbor tells me there +was no leak, and I cannot understand. They do singular things, these +Americanos." +</P> + +<P> +Willa returned to her home in a more despondent mood even than before, +and a telephone call from Dan late in the evening did not tend to raise +her spirits. +</P> + +<P> +"I've canvassed every hospital and institootion in the five boroughs!" +he announced. "I even tried the morgue, but there ain't hide nor hair +of the old lady. Looks like the earth might have opened and swallowed +her up. I take it you don't want me to report her missing at +headquarters, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only as the very last resort," Willa responded. "We must avoid +publicity if we can, although of course if she is ill or in any danger +I shall have to let every other consideration go." +</P> + +<P> +"You leave it to me, Miss!" The familiar slogan came as cheerfully as +ever over the wire. "I don't think the old lady's in bad, wherever she +is. Nobody'd dare do anything to her, would they? It ain't a +rough-house gang that's after her, from what you told me." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Dan. I am not afraid of any violence to her at their hands. They +will only worry and annoy her." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the chances are, if she just wandered off and lost herself, that +somebody's taken her in. I'm doin' fine, so far. I had a grand talk +with the dame over in Brooklyn to-day, and she never once got on to me." +</P> + +<P> +His tone was filled with such honest pride that Willa was loath to +disturb it, yet she could not forbear I remarking: +</P> + +<P> +"I did, though, Dan, when she told me what had been done to the +plumbing! What did you find out from her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Everything she knew and a lot that she threw in for good measure. I +didn't have to start her; she was just aching to tell the whole story; +how they came to her and all! If them other people get on to the +house, she'll spill the beans to them sure, Miss. She don't own that +house; she only rents it, and the next time I go I'll have an order +from the agent to put in weatherstrips or clean the chimneys and +grates. I want a talk with the lad as soon as he is well enough. I'll +report to you, Miss, just as quick as anything turns up." +</P> + +<P> +Willa gave him some final instructions and hung up the receiver, to +find Angie at her elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been an unconscionable time!" the latter complained, veiling +her eyes to conceal their gleam of awakened curiosity and interest. +"We're waiting for you to make up a rubber. Who was that message from? +Any of the crowd?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Willa replied directly. "It was from a friend of mine; you do +not know him, Angie." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm sure I didn't mean to intrude.—Dear me! to-morrow's +Thanksgiving, and this wretched season is scarcely begun!" +</P> + +<P> +It was a weary holiday for Willa and she sat through the elaborate +formal dinner with which the Halsteads celebrated it in an abstraction +of mood which gave two of her callow admirers much concern. +</P> + +<P> +The presence of Kearn Thode's sister, however, brought her out of her +reverie and later, when Mrs. Beekman sought her out in the +drawing-room, Willa left her problem to take care of itself for the +hour in her interest in the breezy clear-eyed woman so like Kearn +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I must apologize for not coming yesterday, as I assured my brother I +would. An epidemic of something or other has broken out at my kennels +and I spent a disheartening and doggy afternoon." She laughed, adding +with sudden seriousness: "My brother has told me so many interesting +things of you, Miss Murdaugh, that I have wanted to really know you, +but I suppose you have been submerged in a sea of festivity with your +cousins. I am a gregarious person but not a conventionally social one. +I suppose that is why we have not happened to meet since that first +dinner; I do not follow the beaten path, as a rule." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I, except when I am led by the nose!" Willa responded, laughing, +too. "But tell me, is Mr. Thode improving?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Beekman gave her a swift, keen glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes! He suffered a mere scratch or two; you know what babies men +are about such things.—Look at them trailing in now from the +dining-room, fed up on the newest stories and the oldest cognac! +There's something almost tragic in their boredom, isn't there?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa gasped, a little taken aback by her companion's cynical +frankness, and Mrs. Beekman laid an impulsive hand upon her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Come and lunch with me to-morrow; just we two. We'll have a nice +little chat and if Kearn comes bothering around I'll send him away. I +want you to tell me about Mexico." +</P> + +<P> +Willa promised with an odd little thrill of warmth at her heart. With +the exception of fat, comfortable Sallie Bailey and old Tia Juana, the +girl had had no intimates of her own sex, and the competition appeared +to be so keen among the members of the set in which she found herself +that friendship was eyed askance as a subterfuge to be wary of. +</P> + +<P> +The daily bulletins from Brooklyn were not encouraging, nor was Dan +Morrissey gaining ground in the search. Three days had passed since +the disappearance of Tia Juana, and Willa decided despairingly that +should a week go by without news, she must go to the police and brave +the storm of notoriety and questioning from Mason North and the +Halsteads, which would mean the end of her cherished secrecy and hem +her in with a multitude of complications. +</P> + +<P> +She lunched with Mrs. Beekman as she had promised, in the dingy +old-fashioned house on the Square which somehow gave the girl, +untutored as she was, an impression of aristocracy that the newer, more +ornate piles of stone farther up the Avenue had utterly failed to +convey. She was miserably aware that the other woman was making a +sympathetic effort to understand her and gain her friendship, yet the +thought of Tia Juana drove all else from her mind and she knew she was +creating a far from propitious impression. +</P> + +<P> +An unaccountable shyness, too, took possession of her at the +possibility of meeting Kearn Thode beneath his sister's discerning eye, +and as soon as she could courteously do so, she tore herself away from +her disappointed hostess and went over the bridge to José. +</P> + +<P> +The cripple's fever had abated, but he was still very weak. His little +hot hands clutched hers nervously and his big eyes seemed to burn into +hers as he asked in his own tongue: +</P> + +<P> +"The Señorita has a friend whom she trusts?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, José," responded Willa promptly. "Have you seen him?" +</P> + +<P> +"He came this morning, and told me his name. He said I was to ask it +of you, and you would tell me the same." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it 'Dan'?" She watched the thin face brighten. +</P> + +<P> +"That was it! And am I to trust him, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can tell him anything as you would me, amiguito, but remember, no +word of the Pool!" +</P> + +<P> +"That is written, Señorita Billie, on my heart!—But will the grandmama +ever return?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa soothed him as well as she was able, and, after a brief +conference with Señorita Rodriguez, took her departure. +</P> + +<P> +A man was standing near the bottom of the steps, lighting a cigarette. +Her eyes rested upon him with no flash of recognition until he glanced +up and then with a slow smile tossed his cigarette into the gutter. It +was Starr Wiley. +</P> + +<P> +His puffed, discolored lips stood out against the pasty whiteness of +his face with the grotesque effect of a mask and his eyes gleamed +malevolently, but he lifted his hat with the old airy insouciance. +</P> + +<P> +"We meet again, my dear Billie!" +</P> + +<P> +She bowed gravely, and made as if to pass him, but he barred her way. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you in such haste? I've come on purpose to escort you back over +the bridge and have a little chat with you. There is something almost +comic in the situation, don't you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"If there is, Mr. Wiley, it is discernible only to you." She shrugged. +"I will leave you to the enjoyment of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, my dear! Our bird has flown, I know, but I am curious to +learn why you haunt the empty cage." +</P> + +<P> +Willa paused, eying him steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it to you, as long as the Señora Reyes is not here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I believe that you will lead me to her more quickly than my +agents can!" Wiley's smile became a knowing leer. "Very clever, your +conversation over the telephone the other night, designed for Angie's +benefit! You knew that she would report it faithfully to me and you +counted on it to throw me off the track, but it didn't quite serve its +purpose." +</P> + +<P> +Willa's heart gave a leap, and then sank in a sick wave of fear for Tia +Juana. She did not realize until that moment how certain she had been +that the old woman was in the hands of those whose interest it would be +to keep her safe. +</P> + +<P> +Wiley's attitude betrayed the fact that he knew no more than the girl +herself where Tia Juana was. What, then, could have happened to her? +</P> + +<P> +"I really must congratulate you once more!" he went on, ironically. +"It was a master stroke, a flash of genius, to spirit the old lady away +from this latest retreat of hers, and pretend that you, too, were in +the dark as to her whereabouts. It was not your fault that the shot +fell short of its mark!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa hesitated. Should she tell him the truth? That would, of +course, give him equal ground with her and he would move heaven and +earth to beat her in the search, but in her hideous new anxiety she +would almost rather know that Tia Juana was in antagonistic hands than +face the vague but terrible possibilities confronting her. +</P> + +<P> +Starr Wiley accepted her silence as an admission and on the instant his +manner changed. +</P> + +<P> +"I have followed you here to tell you that the time is past for +quibbling, and no mere ruse will suffice longer to put me off!" He +moved close to her and glared down implacably into her unwavering eyes. +"You refused to meet me half way, and now you shall hear my ultimatum: +You will produce Tia Juana or take me to her within three days, or I +shall tell what I know!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wiley—" Willa drew herself up very straight and tall—"I have no +statement to make about Tia Juana, save that I cannot and will not take +you to her. I have listened to your threats and innuendoes until my +patience is exhausted and I warn you not to approach me again on this +or any other matter. What you know is immaterial to me, you must tell +it to whom you please. Will you leave me now, or permit me to depart +without a further scene?" +</P> + +<P> +He bowed and stepped back. +</P> + +<P> +"As you desire. Remember you have three days. Think it over well, my +dear Billie. It is your present position, the Murdaugh money, a +brilliant future and a name, against the Pool of the Lost Souls!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANGIE SCORES +</H3> + +<P> +"I was sorry to have missed you at my sister's, although I do not think +you would have welcomed my appearance!" laughed Kearn Thode. "I was +striped with plaster like a savage in war paint." +</P> + +<P> +"I had the pleasure of seeing the other victim of that motor accident," +Willa remarked demurely. "He was even less prepossessing than usual. +I—I knew something of what occurred as I think you could understand +from my note. I think that I have again to thank you for your +championship." +</P> + +<P> +They were sitting out a dance in the Allardyce's conservatory at their +first meeting the night of the Erskine dinner and for some reason +speech was difficult to them both. Her eyes, usually so candid, were +veiled from him, but Thode swept her with a hungrily wistful gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"You are mistaken. You have nothing to thank me for. I am sorry that +any idle gossip reached your ears, but believe me, no other course was +open to me. No man could have helped himself—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I understand, of course." Willa blundered helplessly in her +haste. "You would have done as much, under the same circumstances, for +any other girl, but it is good to feel that there are real men in the +world who will protect the name of a friend as though it were that of +an own sister." +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't exactly that, Willa." His voice was very low and his eyes +had dropped from her face. "A man would naturally resent any +insinuation against a good woman, whether she were his sister or not. +There is only one woman in the world for whom a man fights with the +primitive blind rage of a human creature for his mate: only, fool that +he is, he does not always recognize the feeling which consumes him for +what it really is." +</P> + +<P> +He paused, and Willa, too, was silent, but she feared that the very +beating of her heart would be audible to his ears. The dreamy waltz +had given way to the syncopation of a fox-trot, yet neither was aware +of the passing minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"I was blind in Limasito!" he went on. "No woman has come deeply into +my life except my sister and I did not know, I did not realize what you +had come to mean to me in our few meetings until you were going away +into this new existence which was awaiting you, and then I could not +speak. I did not follow you then because I had nothing to offer, but I +made up my mind to succeed in what I had set out to do, if honest +endeavor and the hardest kind of work could achieve it and then, if I +were not too late, I meant to come to you and ask you to be my wife." +</P> + +<P> +Willa stirred tremulously, but still her lips were dumb, and Thode +misinterpreted her silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, don't be afraid!" he assured her, bitterly. "I am not going +to ask you that now, for I have failed! I'm not even going to ask you +to wait for me, to give me any hope, for I am losing faith in myself; +not in my love for you, Willa, but in the success which alone would +make it possible for me to approach you. I only wanted you to know +that I had awakened to the truth. No girl was ever yet displeased at +one more victim bound to her chariot wheels." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not displeased, but I—I am distressed!" Willa stammered through +stiffened lips. "You think because I accepted the name and the fortune +of the grandfather I never knew, and apparently forgot the old life and +all that Dad had done for me, that I am just coldly mercenary! You +think I am that sort, ambitious and pushing and soulless! I thought +you knew and understood me, I thought that we were friends!" +</P> + +<P> +"That, I hope, we shall always be," he said gently. "It would have +been quixotic, absurd for you to refuse the golden opportunity when it +came. I did not think of that, nor did I believe you mercenary. I did +not mean to whine about my failure, either; it was the chance of +fortune and I have lost. You will forgive my having spoken—I had to +tell you! I could not keep silent any longer, it was as if you, all +unconsciously, were twisting the heart from my breast. You could not +help it if you wanted to, you are so sweet, so wonderful! Please, +don't be sorry for me, either, it is the greatest thing that ever +happened to me and I shall be glad of it, always, even when I have to +stand aside and see you turn to a better, bigger man. No matter what +happens I shall, all my life through, be at your service." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am not the least bit sorry for you!" Willa cried. "I am +exasperated with you! Do you suppose I am the sort of woman to care +what a man has, rather than what he is? Am I a painted pampered doll +that I must be approached with gifts and sweets and dangled before the +highest bidder? My mother married the man she loved and starved with +him and died working to take care of his child! Am I less a woman than +she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Willa!" He breathed her name in a fervent whisper and caught her two +hands in his. "Willa, look at me!" +</P> + +<P> +She raised her blazing eyes and the flame died to a soft luminous glow, +while the rich color mantled to her brow. +</P> + +<P> +"Willa, do you mean that you care, really?—Oh, I vowed I would not ask +you until I had proved myself worthy, and now, when everything is at a +standstill, an impasse, and you yourself have warned me of the +impossibility of winning out in my plan for the future, I—I forget all +my resolutions! It is unfair for me to speak now, it is not playing +the game, but will you tell me at least that you won't be displeased +with me if sometime I come to you, when I have won the right? I will +ask no promise now, I cannot, but if I could know that you cared ever +so little—" +</P> + +<P> +"How can you know if—if you don't ask?" Willa's downright honesty had +gotten the better of her timidity and with characteristic fearlessness +she disclosed all that was in her own wildly throbbing heart. "I don't +know how a man could prove himself more worthy of any woman than by +taking his life in his hands on a hundred-to-one chance of saving hers! +I don't know what difference the loss or finding of the Pool makes in +the happiness of you and me. Go ahead and make a martyr of yourself +over your silly pride if you want to! If I thought you didn't care, +that you were just trying to carry on the ghastly game they call +flirtation up here, I wouldn't be so angry with you. I'm not Willa +Murdaugh down inside of me, and you know it!—I'm just Gentleman +Geoff's Billie, a waif raised by the greatest-hearted man that ever +lived, but I've got some pride myself. I don't want any man who hasn't +s-spunk enough to ask me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Willa! Oh, my dearest, will you—!" +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes Winnie Mason!" She drew her hands from his and sprang up +with a nervous tinkle of laughter. "That means we've missed three +dances, and you were to have had two of them with Angie! You'll be in +for a dreadful panning—" +</P> + +<P> +"You wicked little—adorable little—girl o' mine!" he exclaimed +softly, as Winnie's mildly inquiring face appeared around a narrow +alley between the close-packed flowering plants. "I'm coming +to-morrow, before breakfast—" +</P> + +<P> +Willa shook her head, the light waning in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not to-morrow, Kearn. There is something that I must do, +something I cannot put aside even—even for you." +</P> + +<P> +"In the evening, then? I must see you to-morrow sometime! It's going +to be hard enough to live through to-night!" +</P> + +<P> +She nodded, and, not trusting herself to speak again, turned and +slipped away to meet Winnie Mason. +</P> + +<P> +That placidly dense young man was mightily pleased with the effusive +greeting with which she favored him, and had she vision enough to note +it, she might have read in his worshiping eyes a like message to that +which she had just heard. +</P> + +<P> +But she was blind, dazed in the light of her own swiftly gained +wondrous happiness. The music, the dancers, the little crystal-laden +supper-tables, the final romp all passed in a kaleidoscopic dream +before her, and only the wintry night wind beating upon her in a frigid +blast, as she stepped from the awninged passage-way to the limousine, +awakened her to a sense of reality. +</P> + +<P> +Just then, the flash of a street-lamp in at the window fell for a +passing moment on Angie's face as she sat half-turned from her cousin +and Willa caught her breath to stifle a sudden startled exclamation. +She had seen Angie in many fits of temper, sullen and raging, but never +had the girl's expression been so fiendish! The doll-like beauty was +gone in a distortion of anger, but there was a suggestion of malignant +triumph, too, which aroused Willa's apprehension. +</P> + +<P> +She knew that in her heart Angie despised her as an upstart and +bitterly resented her small success in the social world, beside blaming +her for the episode with Starr Wiley. She remembered, too, how Angie +had betrayed her to him. In her maddening anxiety for Tia Juana's +safety, Willa had given no thought to the means Wiley must have used to +reinstate himself once more in her cousin's willing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Was this evidence of fury directed against her because she had been the +unwitting cause of Kearn Thode's defection in the matter of the two +dances, or was something deeper and more significant in the wind? +</P> + +<P> +Willa was not left in doubt for long. She had scarcely finished her +preparations for the night and was braiding her long black hair into a +massive rope, when a light, brittle tapping came upon her door. +</P> + +<P> +Almost before the wondering assent had left her lips, Angie slipped in +and stood before her. She was still in her spangled dance frock and +her round blue eyes were snapping fire. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I have come on a thankless mission, Willa," she began. +"Every time I have tried to help you or teach you anything, you have +looked on it, in your spiteful way, as mere jealousy on my part, +although why I should be jealous of you, heaven only knows!" +</P> + +<P> +"Please, Angelica! We have had all this out before and I am very +tired. Would you mind if I asked you to wait until morning?" Willa +gave her hair a final twist and turned from the mirror. "I am honestly +sorry Kearn Thode missed those dances with you to-night, but it really +wasn't my fault—" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you suppose I wanted to dance with him?" Angie interrupted in +immense scorn. "I only permitted him to put his name down on my card +in ordinary courtesy because of his sister; she has such a caustic +tongue that one must keep on the right side of her. If he chose to +ignore his dances with me it was because he was playing a game which +you, you conceited little simpleton, couldn't see through. Oh, I heard +what he said to you in the conservatory—!" +</P> + +<P> +"You listened!" Willa turned on her at last. "Lord, what a miserable +specimen of a girl you are, anyhow! I knew you were spying about and +listening at my heels here at home to learn what you could and run with +it to the man who's making a tool of you and a fool besides, but I +didn't think you were so low down as to skulk about and pry into +affairs which are no concern of yours! Is nothing sacred to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was only doing my duty!" Angie returned loftily. Then her consuming +rage got the better of her once more. "You dare to speak of anyone +making a tool of me! It is you who are waiting for anyone's hand! +Starr Wiley made a fool of you, and you simpered and purred and thought +you were taking him from me, when he was only amusing himself for the +moment because he was jealous of me with Art. Judson! Now, in your +bursting conceit you think this impecunious fortune-hunter, Thode, is +in love with you. I listened because it was my duty to keep any member +of the family from throwing herself away and I wanted to see how far he +would dare to go. I'm here now to tell you the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not want to hear another word!" Willa cried hotly. "It is no +affair of yours and you shall not speak of Kearn Thode as a—a +fortune-hunter! He is the only real man in this whole spindling, +self-seeking, artificial crowd! If you listened, you know how proud +and independent he is!" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard, but that was only his cleverness; he knew how eager you were +and he simply led you on to almost propose to him yourself! That was +good stuff about not knowing he cared for you down in Mexico until you +were leaving. What would you say if I were to tell you that he made a +deliberate play for you from the moment he reached that town? Oh, he's +serious enough! He'll marry you if he can; that's what he meant to do +from the first." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you must be mad!" Willa stared at her cousin in sheer wonder. +"Why should he have wanted to marry me? There were lots of other girls +in town——" +</P> + +<P> +"Because he knew who you really were all the time! He knew before +Mason North ever found you, and he knew, too, what a fortune you were +coming into. You needn't look at me like that, I know what I am +talking about!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think you do," Willa remarked simply. "You must have taken +leave of your senses or else Starr Wiley has been making you believe +the silliest sort of lies. How could Kearn Thode have known who I was? +No one did but—but the man who had made me his own daughter, and he +would not tell me because he did not want to hurt me by letting me know +what mean, contemptible snobs my people were and how they had served my +own father for marrying my brave mother! Kearn Thode knew nothing!" +</P> + +<P> +"What if I were to show you proof? Here is a letter in his own hand, +telling all about you and what he meant to do." Angie pulled a +crumpled wad of paper from her bodice and held it out, her whole body +quivering in triumph. "Read it and then you'll know whether he cares +for you or not! Read it, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +"And I say to you that if you don't leave this room at once I will ring +and have you put out! Don't you imagine that I can see through a +scurvy trick of Starr Wiley's to get back at the man who beat him twice +to a mere pulp? I do not want to see the letter, I will not read it. +It is all a lie!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then listen!" Angie smoothed the sheet of paper and fairly danced in +her excitement. "You shall listen! You shall know what that man is +scheming to marry you for! There is only a part of it here, but it +ought to be enough to open your eyes, blinded with conceit as you are!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will not——!" Willa began indignantly, but Angie's voice silenced +her. +</P> + +<P> +"——'Except for him, of course, no one here knows her real name'," she +read, "'and it wouldn't mean anything to them if they did, but I +spotted her at once and later events have only proved the truth of my +suspicions. She is the undoubted owner of almost boundless wealth and +when I have gone after her and won her consent——'" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" Willa clapped her hands to her ears. "I will not listen to +one more word! It is a lie, I tell you! A lie!" +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't any more," Angie announced with a sly grimace. "That is +the bottom of the page, but it ought to be enough for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Kearn Thode never wrote a word of it!" exclaimed Willa passionately. +"I would not believe you if you swore it from now till you die! Go, +before I make you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm going." Angie shrugged, and the letter fluttered from her +fingers to the floor. "I've no desire for a disgraceful brawl, I +assure you! Of course, I am not familiar with Kearn Thode's +handwriting, but I have proof enough to satisfy me that the letter is +his. If you marry him now, you will have bought him with your eyes +open and have no one but yourself to blame if you're not pleased with +your bargain! I have done my duty anyway, my dear cousin. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +Her footsteps died away down the hall, and Willa dropped into a low +chair before the hearth, covering her face with her hands. It was Just +a trick of Wiley's, of course! She would not let her gaze stray to +that tell-tale sheet of white paper upon the floor, and yet something +seemed to draw her eyes to it with an almost physical strength. +</P> + +<P> +Wiley must have written it himself and put it in Angie's hands to work +what mischief she might with it. There could be no harm in one glance +at it; a glance which would prove instantly its falseness, just as she +knew it in her heart to be at best a forgery. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly Willa rose and step by step made her way to where the letter +lay. She made no effort to touch it at first, but it had fallen with +the written side uppermost and gradually as she stared down at it the +scorn in her face gave way to wonder and then despair. +</P> + +<P> +The brief note she had received from Kearn Thode, after he had thrashed +Wiley at the club, was engraved deep in her thoughts with every line +distinct and the characters on the paper before her eyes were so +similar in every detail that it seemed impossible for them not to have +been fashioned by the same hand. +</P> + +<P> +With grief and horror surging in her heart, Willa rushed to the little +drawer of her dressing-table where the first note had been treasured, +and drew it forth. Then, seizing the other paper from the floor, she +held them beneath the glow of the lamp with shaking hands and compared +them. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute she had crumpled them both fiercely and cast them from +her, flinging herself across her bed in a paroxysm of bitter grief and +disillusionment. +</P> + +<P> +Kearn Thode had written both letters; there could be no longer doubt. +He was like all the rest! Truth and chivalry departed from the world +and her shattered dream, and once more Willa found herself alone, but +in a depth of solitude she had never known before. Love had gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MIDNIGHT FOR CINDERELLA +</H3> + +<P> +When the late lowering dawn seeped in at the windows, Willa raised +herself wearily and crept to her desk. Her face with the tears dried +upon it was ghastly in the morning light, but her eyes held a look of +grim determination. Seating herself, she took up her pen and wrote +without hesitation: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"My Dear Mr. Thode: +</P> + +<P> +"I beg that you will not call this evening, that I may be spared the +painful necessity of having you shown the door. In the light of my +present full comprehension of your motives, I no longer wonder that +even you hesitated at the moment of your odious proposal. The only +possible reparation you can make for the humiliation you have brought +upon me in my inmost thoughts is to so arrange that I need never look +upon your face again. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"In all sincerity,<BR> +<BR> + "WILLA MURDAUGH."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The letter finished, she sealed and stamped it; then her worn-out body +slumped in the chair and her head bowed upon her folded arms on the +desk. +</P> + +<P> +The collapse lasted but a moment, however. The same dogged +determination which had forced her weary spirit to the pronouncement of +the verdict upon her love, drove her yet indomitably on. As she lifted +her head her gaze mechanically fell upon the calendar before her and a +slow, infinitely sad smile curled her lips. It was the beginning of +the third day since Starr Wiley had issued his ultimatum. He must +carry his threat into execution or admit it to have been sheer bluff. +Curiously, she looked upon the impending crisis with the impassivity of +a bystander. What did it matter now? +</P> + +<P> +Then realization came back in a full tide and she sprang to her feet. +The weary plodding search which had taken her half over the city in the +past few agonizing days had been fruitless, yet must it still continue +until definite news of Tia Juana could be learned. Dan Morrissey had +been faithful, but his ardent spirit outran his detective skill and his +initiative advanced no farther afield than a daily round of the +hospitals and temporary shelters of the city's driftwood, and a +hopeless concentration on the neighborhood from which the aged woman +had so mysteriously vanished. +</P> + +<P> +Willa herself had no more comprehensive plan; she had advertised +discreetly in Spanish in the "personal" column of a morning newspaper +and followed every tentative line of investigation which presented +itself to her, but messages to each stage of the journey back to +Limasito and exhaustive questioning of the few individuals with whom +Tia Juana had come in contact in New York were alike unproductive of +result. +</P> + +<P> +Hopelessness was stealthily enveloping her spirit, but she resolutely +fought it down. She must not give up, she would not until Tia Juana +was safe. She had been instrumental in bringing the aged woman to an +alien land, and she was responsible for whatever misfortune might have +come upon her. Then, too, there was her purpose still to be achieved; +that at least remained to her. +</P> + +<P> +At breakfast Angie addressed her in honeyed tones, scrutinizing her +hungrily meanwhile for evidence of the result of her maneuver, but +Willa was stonily noncommittal. The meal progressed in a constrained +silence which was broken only by the shrill summons of the telephone. +</P> + +<P> +Señora Rodriguez's staccato voice came over the wire in such an +outpouring of hysteria that at first Willa could make nothing of it, +but at length one phrase smote her ears: +</P> + +<P> +"It is the jorobadito, José, who has disappeared now!" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" Willa faltered. "You mean that José has gone also? It cannot +be, Señora Rodriguez! There must be a mistake! He would not go unless +he were abducted!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Señorita; there was no abduction!" the Spanish woman cried. "The +little José was all of yesterday most thoughtful. Scarcely could I +arouse him to eat, and as his fever abated I allowed him to sit in the +sun upon the glass-enclosed back porch and did not urge upon him the +medicine he hates. Last night as he went to bed he kissed my hand +quite suddenly, a thing he has not done before, though always was he +courteous. This morning he was gone as the old Señora went, without +warning.—Señorita, I am a poor woman, but I would give half I possess +to have the pobrecito back for he is frail and weak to be alone in this +great city and he has not a peso with him. Moreover, he brought me +luck. What can I do, Señorita, to find him once more?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa cut the woman's protestations short, and, calling up the +garage—their prearranged rendez-vous—instructed Dan to meet her at +the bridge. +</P> + +<P> +Intent on the new calamity, she gave no heed as to the probability of +having been overheard by Angie, but hurriedly departed. +</P> + +<P> +The deeply concerned Dan broke all records and narrowly escaped arrest +in getting her to the Rodriguez home, but nothing further could be +elicited from its dismayed chatelaine. Her sincerity, however, was +self-evident; she could have had no hand in the disappearance of the +little hunchback. +</P> + +<P> +The day was spent in a feverishly renewed search which brought no +surcease of anxiety and at its end Willa dragged herself with leaden +feet to her room. Her head seemed bursting and she shook as with an +ague as she dressed for the tedious dinner and the still more tedious +game of bridge which was the program of the evening. She dared not +absent herself, explanations enough would be demanded of her for the +day's broken engagements, but she looked forward to the hours ahead +with a dread foreboding which she could not name. +</P> + +<P> +It was merely nerves, she assured herself; she was worn-out mentally +and physically with the continued strain and ceaseless effort and she +forced her thoughts resolutely away from the false but ecstatic +happiness which might have been hers on that evening save for the +discovery of Kearn Thode's perfidy. +</P> + +<P> +The arrival of the expected guests commanded her descent to the +drawing-room, dinner somehow dragged through its almost interminable +length and the bridge-tables were made up, when a diversion occurred. +</P> + +<P> +The door-bell pealed, and Welch obeyed its summons, then came and +called Ripley Halstead quietly from his place. No premonition warned +Willa, even when her cousin returned visibly perturbed and excused +himself for the evening, pleading an unanticipated business conference. +</P> + +<P> +The tables were readjusted and the game went on to its close. Then +came supper, and when the last of the guests had departed the hands of +the clock were on the stroke of twelve and Willa turned with a sigh of +relief to ascend to her room. +</P> + +<P> +Midway the stairs, she was halted by hearing her name called in +strange, stunned accents, and, turning, saw Ripley Halstead standing in +the library door, regarding her with dazed, half-incredulous eyes, as +though she were a changeling. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the truth came to her, and with head held high and a slight +scornful smile upon her lips she descended and approached him. +</P> + +<P> +The long table in the center of the library was strewn with large +legal-looking documents, and beside it sat Mason North, his rotund body +sagged in the chair, his good-natured face drawn and haggard. Opposite +him stood Starr Wiley, his bruised lips twisted into a leer of triumph. +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked gravely from one to the other and then turning to her +cousin, waited submissively for him to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Willa, my dear——" he paused, clearing his throat nervously—"I have +something to tell you which will be a painful shock to you. It has +utterly unnerved me. I—I would not have dreamed that such an +astounding discovery could come to pass and at this late date it is +particularly distressing——" +</P> + +<P> +"Better permit me to tell her, Ripley." Mason North rose heavily to +his feet and stood with one pudgy hand braced upon the table as if for +support. "The mistake was mine in too eagerly grasping the obvious as +proof.—My dear Wil—my dear girl, I am profoundly grieved, but it has +been brought to our attention that—that there are grave doubts as to +your identity! In fact, belated but seemingly irrefutable documentary +evidence appears to prove that you—you are not Willa Murdaugh!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl stood like a statue, but from behind her Mrs. Halstead gasped +convulsively, and there came a little squeal in Angie's treble tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, my dear." Ripley Halstead drew forward a chair and Willa +sank obediently into it, her eyes never leaving those of the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +The others came in and seated themselves unbidden; all but Vernon. He +took up his stand behind Willa's chair and for a moment his hand +brushed her shoulder as if to assure her of his presence in case of +need. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only just that an immediate and detailed explanation be made to +you," North continued. "I am sure it is unnecessary for me to express +my regret and sympathy, but I want you to realize that I am as entirely +at your service in every way as I was prior to this discovery. +</P> + +<P> +"When I found you in Limasito and retraced your history from the time +the man known as 'Gentleman Geoff' adopted you supposedly in Topaz +Gulch, I overlooked one significant phase in his peregrinations. Willa +Murdaugh's parentage and the circumstances of her birth were in every +particular as I have told you; Ralph Murdaugh died when the baby was +two years old, his wife lost her life in a fire two years later and the +child was actually adopted by Gentleman Geoff and taken with him on his +wanderings. +</P> + +<P> +"Now it has transpired that the first heavy snow of the following +winter caught him midway between two mining camps far up in the +Rockies, near Flathead Lake, Montana. Does that name recall any +memories to you?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa shook her head, mutely, and the attorney after a moment's pause +went on: +</P> + +<P> +"It is scarcely likely that it would, for you yourself could have been +no more than five years old at the time. However, Gentleman Geoff and +the little Willa were lost in the blizzard, and, after suffering untold +horrors, he finally made his way to the cabin of a trapper, named——" +he hesitated and glanced down at the papers beneath his hand—"named +Frank Hillery. This trapper Hillery's wife had run away with another +man some years before, leaving him with a little daughter on his hands, +a child of about five years, called Louise." +</P> + +<P> +Again he paused, coughing. The Halsteads, mother and daughter, sat +spell-bound, but Willa was outwardly the coolest person in the room. +The story in its every detail was stamping itself indelibly upon her +mind and for the moment even the presence of Starr Wiley was forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +"When he reached the trapper's cabin, Gentleman Geoff was blinded by +the snow, delirious and half frozen. Hillery took him in, unwrapped +the fur pack he carried on his back and discovered the body of little +Willa. She had died from exposure." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon uttered a sharp exclamation, and the girl seated before him +clasped her hands tightly, but no other sign greeted Mason North's +announcement. He passed his hand across his brow and drew a deep +breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Hillery buried the child and nursed Gentleman Geoff through a long +illness. It was well into the following spring when he was able to +proceed on his journey, and when he did, he took the trapper's little +daughter, Louise, with him, and called her 'Billie' as he had nicknamed +the other. His future wanderings never took him back over the same +route or to any of the places where the real Willa had been known, +consequently the substitution was never discovered until these papers +came to light. No one had visited the trapper's lonely cabin during +the period of Gentleman Geoff's presence there. Hillery deserted it +the following summer and went southward to Arizona where he eventually +died six months ago. Undoubtedly, those who had known him and passed +the cabin clearing took it for granted that the little grave was that +of his daughter, Louise, but these documents, found among Frank +Hillery's private papers after his death, bear witness in crude but +unmistakable fashion to the agreement between the two men and the +adoption of little Louise by Gentleman Geoff." +</P> + +<P> +Mason North seated himself once more with a gesture of relief that the +bomb was exploded, and all eyes turned to Willa. +</P> + +<P> +"How is it, then, that I remember the fire in which my mother was +destroyed?" She was wholly innocent of an intention to defend her +position, but asked her question in the first bewildering shock, +unconscious of the fact which her form of speech betrayed, that she +could not all at once disassociate herself from the identity she had +accepted only a few short weeks before. "Why, I even recall vaguely a +song which the woman I supposed must have been my mother used to sing +all the time, though I cannot quite bring it back to my mind. I am +sure if I heard it once, I should remember!" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney visibly hesitated, and it was Ripley Halstead who replied +as gently as possible: +</P> + +<P> +"Often one believes that one can recall experiences of their very early +years which they have actually learned from hearsay, from countless +repetition in their presence." +</P> + +<P> +"But Dad never spoke of that time in Nevada; he never once referred to +it to the very hour of his death! I recall vaguely being lost in the +snow and I have often heard Dad speak of Hillery's kindness and care; +he used to say that the trapper had saved both our lives. A number of +people in Limasito have heard the story from his own lips, Jim Baggott +and Henry Bailey and Rufe Terwilliger—but Rufe is dead now, he was +killed in El Negrito's raid——" +</P> + +<P> +She paused as if a hand had closed suddenly about her throat, while a +tiny patch of color crept into each cheek and her eyes, large and +luminous and swiftly keen, sought Starr Wiley's. Her clasped hands +tightened, then relaxed and a little smile hovered about her lips once +more; a coolly calculating, somewhat grim little smile. The story had +engrossed her for the moment to the exclusion of all else, but mention +of the raid recalled her sharply to the presence of its instigator. +</P> + +<P> +Wiley's vague threats were plain to her now, his purpose practically +achieved. He had kept his word, he had exposed her, but was her early +memory indeed tricking her? Was this latest revelation true, and had +he actually stumbled upon authentic records, or manufactured them to +avenge himself upon her and eliminate her from his path? Willa's mind +still groped in a quandary, but every instinct within her arose to +combat. +</P> + +<P> +"Why would Dad have mentioned Hillery at all, if he did not intend that +I should ever learn the truth?" she asked quietly. "Indeed, why did he +adopt the trapper's little daughter and call her by the other's name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Ripley Halstead replied after a swift glance at the attorney as +if for help, "probably he had grown fond of the dead child and wanted +another to take her place." +</P> + +<P> +"He undoubtedly did!" It was the first time Starr Wiley spoke in the +girl's presence and a short ugly laugh accompanied the remark. "Not +wholly because he had taken a liking to Willa Murdaugh, however. Why +blink the facts, Mr. Halstead? It is plain on the face of it that he +must have looked up the real Willa's parentage and connections, and +realized that the storm had robbed him of a potential heiress in whose +probable inheritance he would sometime have shared——" +</P> + +<P> +"That is a lie." Willa's tones rang out without passion but clarion +clear in her absolute certitude. "Anyone who knew Dad ever so slightly +would testify to its falseness. Why did he not keep himself informed +of my grandfather's changing attitude and come forward and claim the +inheritance when the search for me began? Whether I am Willa Murdaugh +or not, there can be at least no reason why I should remain to hear the +memory of the finest man who ever lived defiled by such a base +imputation. If you will excuse me now——" +</P> + +<P> +She half rose from her chair, but Starr Wiley forestalled her. +</P> + +<P> +"Your pardon—I will go." He bowed with an undercurrent of mockery in +his suave manner. "Naturally, Miss Billie, you resent my interference +in your career and I deplore the fact that the onerous duty should have +fallen upon my shoulders. However, it was a duty, no matter how +repugnant, and I could do no less than place the facts before Mr. North +and Mr. Halstead. I am sure my attitude requires no defense and I +trust, when you will have had time to think matters over calmly, you +will not blame me too bitterly. Believe me, I would have spared you, +gladly, had it been compatible with my sense of the right. It is long +past midnight, and I will leave you, if you will permit me, Mr. North." +</P> + +<P> +He turned deferentially to the attorney, but not before Willa had +caught the significance with which he mentioned the hour. Twelve +o'clock had struck, indeed, as he had prophesied, for this latter-day +Cinderella, and the pumpkin coach had vanished. The story differed +only in that there was no fairy prince to find her once again; he had +vanished, too, stripped of his splendor, but before the magic hour. +Or, rather, he had never existed save in the exalted fancy of the girl +back there in Limasito! +</P> + +<P> +Cinderella must pick up her slipper herself, and go forth into the +world. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE VENDER OF TOMALES +</H3> + +<P> +After Starr Wiley's departure Mason North placed the documents in Willa's +hands, explaining each in turn and she forced herself to a stern +concentration on them that she might master every detail. Already she +was gathering her forces, although no definite purpose outlined itself in +the chaos of her thoughts. Only a blind, as yet unreasoning, repudiation +of the story to which she had just listened sprang full-grown to life +within her and the very strength of her conviction urged her to examine +well the evidence against herself. +</P> + +<P> +It consisted of the marriage-certificate of Frank Hillery and Louise +Henson, dated December 12, 1895; the birth-certificate of Louise Francis +Hillery, October 3, 1897, several maps of the Flathead Lake territory +with trails marked upon them in red ink, the death-certificate of Frank +Hillery, dated April 16, 1916, and a huge sheet of foolscap paper +scrawled with labored characters in wavering lines. At the bottom two +signatures were appended, the first in the same painstaking hand as the +body of the document, but at the second Willa's breath caught again in +her throat and her eyes blurred. +</P> + +<P> +The letters before her, in the same angular heavily down-stroked writing +she knew so well, formed the name of Gentleman Geoff, but a word had been +added; one that she had never seen or heard before. Abercrombie! +Gentleman Geoff Abercrombie! +</P> + +<P> +Had that been indeed the unmentioned surname of the man who had reared +her as his own? Why, then, had he, who had given her all else, not given +her, too, the name to bear? +</P> + +<P> +The document set forth in brief that Frank Hillery, being of sound mind +and sole guardian of his daughter, Louise Frances, did give her to +Geoffrey Abercrombie, known as "Gentleman Geoff," for absolute adoption; +the said Gentleman Geoff promising to bring her up in all ways as his own +child and to leave her whatever he might die possessed of. It was dated +March 12, 1902. +</P> + +<P> +"You will permit me to have photographic copies of each of these papers, +Mr. North?" Willa asked, when the last had been laid aside. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, my child." The attorney's voice was suspiciously husky. +"Allow me to assure you that there will be no hurry, of course. It will +take some weeks to verify and substantiate this evidence, and in the +meantime——" +</P> + +<P> +"Willa shall remain with us, of course," Ripley Halstead said with deep +feeling. "This is a most unwelcome revelation to me, I may say to all of +us. We have grown greatly attached to Willa and come to look upon her as +quite one of ourselves.—There is no reason, my dear, why you should not +stay on indefinitely. I am sure my wife will be glad to second me in +this." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course." Mrs. Halstead spoke through tightened lips. "This has been +a most regrettable mistake, and one which will entail a hideous amount of +notoriety, but that cannot be helped now. It is an almost overwhelming +shock, but it explains many things which I have found incomprehensible. +After all, this poor young girl is the worst sufferer, and she will be +welcome here as long as she cares to stay." +</P> + +<P> +Angie gasped, but made no comment and it was Vernon alone who echoed his +mother's assurance in sincere enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," Willa said simply. "You are all more than kind, but you +realize, of course, that I should feel like an interloper; my place is no +longer here." +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear, it will not do to be too hasty! Suppose that these +documents are not—suppose no mistake was made in the original +identification——?" The attorney was halted by her steady gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. North, you are convinced already. Why delay the inevitable?" She +rose. "However, we won't discuss it further now, if you don't mind. +I—I feel very tired." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, dear child! We have kept you up till an unconscionable +hour!" Mason North approached her with outstretched hand. "Remember +that you will always find a friend in me. Come to me at any time." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you. May I send for the photographic copies of the documents +to-morrow?" Willa turned to the others in a grave dignity not without +its pathos. "You have all been very good to me; whatever happens I shall +never forget that. I wish now that I had been more amenable to your +advice and suggestions, but it is too late to think of that. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +Her head was still high as she walked to the door, but when it had closed +behind her, she paused trembling as though suddenly bereft of her +strength. +</P> + +<P> +In the silence, Angie's querulous tones rose sharply from the other side +of the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I felt all along that something was wrong! I knew that wild uncouth +thing couldn't be a Murdaugh, in spite of the common mother——" +</P> + +<P> +Willa put her hands to her ears and fled madly up the stairs to her room +where she sank limply upon the couch. Exhausted in mind and body with +the storm of emotion which had swayed her and the strain of the +protracted effort of self-control, she fell asleep at last with one +determination firmly fixed in her mind. The roof which had reluctantly +sheltered her should do so no longer. +</P> + +<P> +She awakened in the early morning and lay for a moment in drowsy +bewilderment before full realization came. Then she sprang from her bed, +dressed hastily in her plainest clothes, and, packing a small bag with +necessities, stole softly down the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +She shivered as she let herself out into the cold, bleak morning. As yet +no plan had formed in her mind save to find a temporary abode in some +quiet neighborhood until the search for Tia Juana was ended in some +conclusive fashion. That was still the first of the duties confronting +her and the change in her fortunes did not swerve her an iota from the +charge she had laid upon herself. Later there would be two points to be +achieved; the one which had actuated her from the beginning, and another +which was even now beating upon her consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +When Dan Morrissey came whistling into the garage an hour later, he +stopped short in amazement at the sight of his employer seated just +inside the entrance with her bag at her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, Dan. Is the car in order?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Miss. Good-morning." He stared blankly, and then with a start he +recovered himself. "Just a minute, Miss! I'll have her out in no time." +</P> + +<P> +"I will wait for you at the Broadway corner. Bring my bag, please." +</P> + +<P> +Willa had scarcely reached the appointed place, however, when Dan came +chugging up behind her and in a moment they were speeding away from the +vicinity of the garage. +</P> + +<P> +"I have decided to leave home, Dan," she announced without preamble. "I +want to live quietly under cover until we have found Tia Juana and José. +It is important that none of the family nor their friends shall know +where I have gone. Do you know of any place where I can arrange to board +for a time? The more simple it is, the better." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Dan remarked, reflectively, "you wouldn't be wanting a plain, +poor kind of a home after all the grandeur you're used to, or I could +take you to my sister, Miss. She's married to a shipping clerk and lives +in a little two-family house up on Washington Heights. It's quiet and +clean and nobody'd think of looking for you there, but I guess maybe +you'd want something a bit more high-toned." +</P> + +<P> +"No, it sounds splendid! Just what I am looking for." Willa paused. +"But do you think she will take me in? You see, I can't explain very +well." +</P> + +<P> +"Explain nothin'!" Dan reddened swiftly. "Excuse me, Miss. Delia's no +more of a hand at askin' questions than me, and she's a good judge of +people. She can tell you're a lady in a minute, and she'll make you more +than welcome if you can put up with the plainness of everything. I'll +have you there in ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +Dan was as good as his word, and Willa found that he had spoken truly. +His sister proved to be a thin, pleasant-faced woman with a humorous +curve to her lips and alert twinkling brown eyes. She was ready and +willing to take Dan's employer as a lodger and the terms were quickly +arranged. +</P> + +<P> +Willa gave Dan his instructions, and then shut herself in the clean, +sunny room which had been allotted to her and looked the situation +collectedly in the face. +</P> + +<P> +The more she thought of the astounding tale of the previous night and +strove in vain to find the slightest corroboration of it in her memory, +the more deep sank the roots of her conviction of its fallacy. She had +not realized how desperate Wiley's determination was to oust her from his +path, nor dreamed that he would risk forged testimony, but now at length +she had measured the strength of her adversary and her own courage rose +in a dauntless tide to meet his challenge. +</P> + +<P> +In the beginning the Murdaugh name had meant nothing to her and the +inheritance merely a means to an end, but now with Angie's scornful words +heard through the closed door ringing in her ears, she made up her mind +to fight! Not for the sake of position or name or wealth, but for the +"common" brave-hearted mother whose child she felt herself to be beyond +peradventure of a doubt, and about whose memory all unconsciously a +worshiping love had sprung in her heart. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, pursuant to instructions, Dan had presented himself at the +imposing offices of North, Manning and Gilchrist, armed with the note +which Willa had written hastily in his sister's home. +</P> + +<P> +Mason North looked up after perusing it, and favored the messenger with a +keen scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm! This letter calls for the delivery to you of certain rather +important documents, young man. I should like to be sure of your +identification before placing them in your hands." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Sir, I've my bank-book here, and some letters——" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney waved them aside. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mean quite that. You have been long in Miss Murdaugh's employ?" +</P> + +<P> +Dan was conscious of a movement in the corner behind him and turned to +find a mild, round-faced young man rising from the safe he had been in +the act of closing and regarding him with vast interest. Dan returned +the compliment respectfully. +</P> + +<P> +"How long have you worked for Miss Murdaugh?" +</P> + +<P> +The question was reiterated with a touch of asperity. +</P> + +<P> +"For some time, Sir. Ever since she caught the French maid trying to spy +on her under the orders of Mrs. Halstead." Dan repeated carefully but +with evident satisfaction the message which had been given him. "Miss +Murdaugh told me to tell you, Sir, that I was one of the investments she +had made with Gentleman Geoff's money. She said you would understand." +</P> + +<P> +Mason North nipped at his mustache reflectively and turned to the younger +man. "Winthrop, I wish you'd go and attend to that Erskine matter for +me!" +</P> + +<P> +Winnie departed in obvious reluctance and only when the door had closed +behind him did his father resume: +</P> + +<P> +"In what capacity are you employed by Miss Murdaugh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Confidential agent, she said I was to tell you." Dan could scarcely +suppress a grin of importance. "She told me to remind you that she asked +you particular last night if she might send for the copies of the papers, +not call for them herself, and you said 'yes.' And you'll excuse me, +Sir, but I'm not to answer any more questions." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney shrugged and turned to the telephone, but Dan interposed +quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Murdaugh ain't at home, Sir. She's waiting for me and she says +she'll not set foot in the house until I bring her the copies of the +papers." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well." Mason North capitulated, and, opening a drawer in his desk, +handed over a rolled package. "Here you are. I shall want a receipt, of +course." +</P> + +<P> +He made out one, which Dan signed, and with a nod turned to leave, when +the attorney halted him on the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"Ask Miss Murdaugh if she can find it convenient to call here this +afternoon; tell her I would like to talk things over with her and will +expect her between four and five o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, Sir." +</P> + +<P> +Dan departed, colliding violently as he did so with an elderly gentleman +who entered the inner office and banged the door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mason, have you heard from her? Do you know where she has gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" North rose hurriedly. "What is it, Ripley? What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"Willa. She's gone!" Ripley Halstead dropped despondently into a chair +beside the desk. "Here's the note the poor, proud little thing left +behind her. Mason, I feel as if, between us, we've given her a beastly, +rotten deal." +</P> + +<P> +But the attorney did not heed the final observation. He pressed the +button in his desk excitedly and when a wondering clerk appeared he +barked: +</P> + +<P> +"That young man who just went out of here! Follow him, stop him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Too late, Sir. He went down in the express elevator as I stepped out of +the local." +</P> + +<P> +North seated himself again with a gesture of hopelessness. +</P> + +<P> +"All right; never mind, then. Ripley——" as the door closed once +more—"if you'd been five minutes sooner I could have located her. Why +under the sun didn't you telephone me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Her absence was only discovered as I was leaving the house and I came +straight to you." Halstead stared. "What young man were you speaking +of?" +</P> + +<P> +"Her messenger. He came with a note from Willa authorizing him to bring +her the photographic copies of those documents, and like a fool I gave +them to him! We've lost our chance of tracing her, and heaven only knows +what difficulties that headstrong wilful child will get into by herself," +groaned North. "I took her away from her home and friends in Mexico on +this mistaken matter of her inheritance and I feel responsible for her. +I'm fond of the child, too; I like her independent spirit even if it did +raise the deuce with us, and if any harm comes to her——" +</P> + +<P> +"I won't let myself think of that!" Ripley Halstead's kind face had +grown suddenly haggard. "I have a good deal of respect for her +clear-headed ability to take care of herself; nevertheless, I sha'n't +feel easy until she is found. I've taken more comfort in her than in my +own daughter, Mason. My wife doesn't need Willa's share of the Murdaugh +money and I wish young Wiley had never unearthed the truth!" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney had picked up the little note. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"'My dear Mrs. Halstead,' he read. +</P> + +<P> +"'I hope you will forgive me for leaving you so unceremoniously. I do +not mean to be rude or seem ungrateful, but I am afraid that in your +hospitality you would urge me to remain until the documents are verified +at least, and I really cannot do so. If I have been an impostor, it was +an unconscious one. Nevertheless, I could not endure a false position. +Will you permit me once more to thank you and your family for all your +kindness to me, and believe me to be, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"'Ever gratefully yours,<BR> +<BR> + "'BILLIE ABERCROMBIE.'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"——Poor little girl! I say, where did she get that 'Abercrombie' from?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see?" Ripley Halstead bent forward. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the name on that document; the name of the man who adopted her, +'Gentleman Geoff.' She won't claim 'Murdaugh' and doesn't accept +'Hillery,' so she's chosen the one name she's sure of. Do you suppose +that means she is going to contest the validity of this new claim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly." North shook his head. "It would be a losing fight for her, +though, Ripley. There isn't a chance in the world that Wiley's discovery +could be anything but authentic. No one profits by the affair except +your own family and no one could have any possible incentive for faking +the story. It's too bad the truth didn't come out before, and I'll +always blame myself for my negligence, but as long as a mistake was made, +it is lucky for us that Wiley stumbled on those records now instead of +later, when the fortune was in her hands." +</P> + +<P> +His mission accomplished, Dan was returning to the garage to put the car +up and proceed on foot to his daily round of the hospitals and bureaus of +inquiry, when half-way down the block a shrill voice piped at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hot tomales! Very fine hot tomales. Try one, Mister!" +</P> + +<P> +Idly he glanced toward the curb. A diminutive, ragged vender crouched +there beside a bright, new hand-cart which contained a huge pot simmering +above a charcoal fire, and bore a sign with the legend "Hot Tomales, 5 +cents," in obviously home-made lettering. +</P> + +<P> +His mind intent on his errand of the morning, Dan gave it but passing +heed and drove on into the garage, yet as he busied himself about the +car, the incident kept recurring to his mind. Hot tomales were a queer +commodity for a street-seller to deal in; Dan didn't know exactly what +they were, but he believed them to be some sort of Spanish or Mexican +concoction—— +</P> + +<P> +At this point in his cogitations he stopped work abruptly and stood +staring into vacancy. +</P> + +<P> +There had been something appealingly familiar even in that fleeting +glimpse of the tattered crouched figure, and could it be that it had been +hunchbacked? +</P> + +<P> +With an excited cry he dropped the wrench from his hand and sprang out +into the street. Cart and vender were gone, but in the gutter lay a +crushed, greasy mess which had been a tomale. It was still smoking and +as Dan stirred it with his foot, he saw that a wisp of sodden paper clung +to it. +</P> + +<P> +Seizing it, he smoothed it out and read the two jerkily penciled words: +</P> + +<P> +"Mañana. José." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WINNIE MASON STANDS BY +</H3> + +<P> +"I say, hello there! Wait a minute, Kearn!" Winnie Mason called as he +brought his roadster to a halt with a sudden grinding of brakes. It +was two days later and a cutting east wind skirled about the driveway +of the Park, rattling the naked branches of the trees like the +fleshless arms of a legion of skeletons. +</P> + +<P> +The tall figure on the path waited, but his face was averted and there +was a listless, dispirited droop to his whole form which was not lost +upon the quick, sympathetic gaze of his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll back her up… Now get in, old man, and we'll take a little +spin. Jolly glad I ran across you, but what brings you out on a +blustering rotten afternoon like this? You're not very fit yet, you +know, after that bout of fever you had in Mexico, in spite of the +lacing you managed to give Starr Wiley." +</P> + +<P> +"I came to try and walk off a brace of blue devils that have been +camping on my trail," Thode explained, climbing into the car with +manifest reluctance. "You won't find me very good company, Win, but +you've brought it on yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, anyhow?" the other demanded. "It's not like you to +load up with a grouch. Has one of those blasted oil wells sprung a +leak?" +</P> + +<P> +Thode shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't care if every gusher in Mexico went up in smoke!" he +affirmed, drearily. "I've had a nasty stab in the back, the kind of +thing a man doesn't get over in a hurry, that's all. Don't let's talk +about it." +</P> + +<P> +"You're not the only one. I say, you'll keep this to yourself, of +course, but I've got to tell some one, and you were her friend down +there. She told me about that magnificent ride of yours for the troops +at the time of the raid, and she just about thought you were ace high. +She's such a plucky little thing herself, confound it? That's what +makes it so devilish hard, now." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you talking about?" Thode looked up with the first gleam of +interest he had shown. "Not Miss Murdaugh?" +</P> + +<P> +Winnie nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Only she isn't Miss Murdaugh at all, according to Starr Wiley. He's +dug up proof that the real Willa Murdaugh died and she is just a +trapper's daughter from the wilds somewhere, whom that gambler adopted +in order to bilk the estate later. The governor told me all about it, +he was so wrought up he couldn't keep it to himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Not Willa Murdaugh!" repeated Thode in stunned accents. "And Starr +Wiley brought forward the proof? You'd better tell me all about it, +Win, now that you've started." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing loth, Winnie complied and the other heard him through in +silence, until he told of Willa's disappearance the morning after the +revelation, and the little note she had left behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"I swear I thought the governor would spill over when he read it to +me," Winnie concluded. "It was sort of fine for her to go away like +that. I don't care who she really is, she's the most wonderful girl I +know. She wouldn't even sign herself 'Murdaugh' after they questioned +her right; she used the name of the gambler chap who'd been so good to +her." +</P> + +<P> +"How did she learn it?" Thode asked quickly. "He was known only as +'Gentleman Geoff' in Limasito. I'm certain she herself never heard the +name there." +</P> + +<P> +"It was signed to the adoption agreement he and the trapper, Hillery, +made out when he took her in place of the real Willa. The governor +showed me the paper and there it was in black and white: Geoff +Abercrombie." +</P> + +<P> +"Abercrombie!" Kearn Thode seized the other's arm in a convulsive grip +which made the steering-wheel jerk. "You're sure—you're sure of the +name, Win?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dead sure! I'll get the governor to show you the document if you +like. But why the excitement? You nearly landed us up against that +rock, then." +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind the rock!" exclaimed Thode. "I'm going to take you up on +that; I'd give a good bit to see that paper and the signature." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll fix it." Winnie shot a quick glance at his companion. "I say, +you don't think it's phony, do you? The governor says it is absolutely +the straight goods." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't that," Thode hastened to explain cautiously. "But I knew +Gentleman Geoff personally, you know. It isn't etiquette to ask a man +for more of a name than he chooses to give below the border, but I had +a hazy idea of Gentleman Geoff's identity and the name in my mind was +not Abercrombie. It was just a suspicion of my own and I had nothing +to substantiate it, but the old chap interested me and I've always been +curious about him. I wonder if he could possibly have been related to +the Abercrombies of the Coast?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whoever he was, he must have been rather a fine old codger himself for +he brought Will—his adopted daughter up splendidly," Winnie observed +with enthusiasm. "There isn't a girl in our set that can come anywhere +near her, and I think it is a dashed shame that she's thrown out on her +own. She took the whole business like a thoroughbred, walking calmly +out like that and leaving them to haggle over the details." +</P> + +<P> +"And she has utterly disappeared?" asked Thode. "No one knows where +she is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody but your Uncle Sherlock!" Winnie grinned, and thumped himself +upon the chest. "I did a little detecting on my own and I found her +all right. She doesn't know yet that anyone has discovered her +whereabouts and I don't mean to pass it on to the Halsteads or the +governor, either. She's her own mistress now and if she wants to go +away by herself, it's no one's concern but hers." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't imagine you in the role of a gumshoe!" The other laughed +outright, and it was Winnie's turn to gape in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +The change which had come over his companion was too marked to go +unnoted; the listless, disheartened mood was gone and in its place the +old eager alertness manifested itself, intensified by a sort of +half-suppressed excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"I turned the trick, anyway," Winnie remarked complacently after a +pause. "You see, old man, I'd heard about the way she'd held on to the +money Gentleman Geoff left her and I've caught glimpses of her more +than once riding around town in a speedy gray car with a nifty +chauffeur. I knew the Halstead bunch didn't know anything about it so +I kept quiet. I recognized the chauffeur in the chap she sent to the +governor's office for photographic copies of the documents Wiley dug +up, but the governor sent me away just when things promised to be +interesting. +</P> + +<P> +"I scouted around outside the building and there, sure enough, drawn up +at the curb across the way, was the gray car. I slipped over and took +its number. Later, when we heard about her going away, I didn't say +anything, but I looked up the record of the car. The license had been +taken out under a man's name; the chauffeur's, maybe, but I traced it +to a garage up on the West Side. I took this car up there two days +ago, and whenever he took his own out I was right on the job after him. +</P> + +<P> +"He found out that I was shadowing him, of course, and he tried like +blazes to shake me off, but I was foxy and beat him at his own game +yesterday. He drove up to a certain house and she came out herself, as +if she'd been waiting for him. I jotted down the address, and beat it +as hard as I could. It's lucky I found her when I did, because the car +was moved to another garage this morning and I lost its trail." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do?" inquired the other. "Call on her to extend +your sympathy? That's about the last thing on earth that Gentleman +Geoff's Billie wants, under any circumstances." +</P> + +<P> +He uttered the name with an unconscious note of tenderness in his voice +which would have been illuminating to Winnie North, but that young man +was busied at the moment with embarrassing thoughts of his own. His +face at the other's abrupt question had turned a bright pink, but he +replied steadily: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to intrude upon her, but I'd like to tell her that I'm +standing by in case of need.—I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll drop her +a line and ask her if I may bring you up to call, shall I? She can +tell you all about this thing better than I——" +</P> + +<P> +Thode shook his head decisively. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I am an old friend, as you say, and if she should want to see me +she knows how to reach me. I'm going away in a few days, at any rate." +</P> + +<P> +"Away?" Winnie said impulsively. "Why, old man, you're not returning +to Mexico, are you? I thought you were going to stay around town for a +month or two." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" There was a determined ring, not without a touch of grimness, in +his tones. "I'm going to take Horace Greeley's advice once more: +'Young man, go West.' I'll hit the trail for the setting sun——" +</P> + +<P> +"And find your pot of gold, like the old fairy tale of the rainbow's +end? By Jove, but you fellows are dreamers!" Winnie laughed, then +touched his friend's shoulder persuasively. "Why don't you stay on +here where the money is and work this end of the game for a change? +You engineer chaps get out and do all the hard work, and the smug +brokers who sit tight in their offices down on the Street reap all the +profits. Get in on the ground floor, old man, and let the other fellow +do the prospecting." +</P> + +<P> +Thode laughed also. +</P> + +<P> +"Without a working capital? Besides, I know nothing and care less +about the manipulations of the financial end of it; the prospecting is +all I'm cut out for and it's more fascinating than the market game +could possibly be! However, I'm not going West for the elusive pot of +gold this trip; I'm going for something far more important, on a little +private hunch of my own. You'll wish me luck, I know, old man?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will indeed, whatever your hunch is," Winnie responded heartily. +"That stab in the back hasn't downed you, after all. I knew it +wouldn't, after you got your second wind! You look like a different +chap than you were an hour ago——" +</P> + +<P> +"I feel it!" laughed the other, but again that undernote of grimness +rang in his tone. "It's done me a lot of good, this little talk with +you, Win. You'll never realize just how you've bucked me up." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie puzzled over the significance of the last remark after he had +dropped his friend at the Park entrance and turned north again. Could +the stab in the back to which Thode referred have come from Starr +Wiley, and had their conversation given Thode a clue to a way of +striking back at his enemy? Not through Willa and the lost +inheritance, of course; that was a bona-fide discovery, even if Wiley +had been the instrument in bringing it to light. However, the fact +that Wiley had stumbled upon the documents while in Arizona might have +given Thode a lead on some ulterior project out there in which Wiley +was trying to cut the ground out from under his feet. +</P> + +<P> +In going over their conversation in retrospect, an idea came which +Winnie determined impulsively to act upon. Willa's car had been +removed from the garage to which he had traced it, but that did not +necessarily mean that it had been taken to another. What if she had +sold the car, in preparation for a return to Mexico? He felt that she +must not go before he had seen her. Heretofore he had not, as he said, +intruded upon her retreat, but he could not bear the thought of her +departure without at least her knowing what he had to tell her. +</P> + +<P> +He would go to her now, without giving her an opportunity to refuse to +see him! She might be angry, and Willa's anger was something to be +reckoned with, but he would make her hear him out! +</P> + +<P> +Darkness had already fallen as he drew up before the neat little house +with its twin front doors. He rang the bell of the one to the right +and when the tall pleasant-faced woman appeared in answer to his +summons, he asked without hesitation for Miss Abercrombie. +</P> + +<P> +The woman eyed him somewhat doubtfully, but ushered him into a tiny +immaculate parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, tell her it is Mr. Winthrop North. I haven't a card with me, +but be sure about the first name. Say that I have an important message +for her and no one knows that I have come." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sir." The woman hesitated. "I'm thinking you've made a mistake +and got hold of the wrong Miss Abercrombie, but I'll find out." +</P> + +<P> +In a moment, however, there was a rustle of silk on the narrow stairs +and Willa entered. Her eyes sought his in a defensive, questioning +stare as she held out her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Your visit is a surprise, Winnie. I thought—I was not aware that any +of my friends knew where I was." +</P> + +<P> +"No one does but me. I followed your chauffeur. Please, don't be +angry! I was so afraid I should lose you; that you would return to +Limasito before I had an opportunity to see you, that I was desperate." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you want to see me?" Willa demanded, frankly. "I don't +mean to be ungracious, Winnie, we've grown to be awfully good friends +in these two months, but I've been through so much just lately that the +Willa Murdaugh episode seems far away, and all the people I knew then +are like dream people. I—I'm starting in all over again, you see, and +I meant to do it with a clean, blank sheet." +</P> + +<P> +"But surely you don't mean to put us all behind you? Our friendship, +our admiration, all the happy times we've had together—oh, Willa, you +can't drop it all like this!" he stammered. "You can't go back now, +you belong to us!" +</P> + +<P> +She smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You're very good to say so, Winnie, but remember I'm not Willa any +more! My place is gone, or rather it never was mine. I do believe in +your friendship, but how many of the rest bothered with me because of +myself alone? It was the Murdaugh position they accepted, the Murdaugh +interests. I'm not cynical, but I try to look things squarely in the +face. How many would admit within their circle the waif adopted by a +gambler?" +</P> + +<P> +Winnie drew a deep breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Then why not make a place for yourself, or rather step into one which +is waiting for you? It doesn't carry the prestige of the Murdaugh name +or money, but it's solid and substantial and assured, and all that love +can bring to make for happiness goes with it, too. Why don't you marry +me, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa started up in unutterable amazement. The mild round face of the +boy before her seemed all at once to have taken on a deeper, more +mature expression, strengthening and ennobling it, and a wistful light +which there was no mistaking glowed in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Winnie!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know it sounds silly and presumptuous of me! You've known real +men in your life, men who have fought and accomplished things and I've +been just an idler. You couldn't care for me now, but if you'll give +me half a chance I'll prove myself! I know I could do big things, too, +if I had you with me, and I—I love you most tremendously, dear! I've +cared ever since that very first night when you broke into Vernon's +game in that splendid fearless way and drove Cal Shirley out as a +cheat. I never saw a girl with such spirit and I've worshiped you more +and more! Willa, won't you let me go to my father and tell him it's +all right, that you will stay? He may not have found the Murdaugh +heiress in Limasito, but I'd like to tell him that he found my wife!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa's eyes blurred and a rich color dyed her cheeks as she replied +softly: +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Winnie! I'll always love you for this, and respect you, too, +even though what you suggest is impossible.—'Presumptuous'? You don't +know what a big, fine thing you just proved yourself capable of!" Her +voice was not quite steady. "Willa Murdaugh was eligible, even a +catch, I suppose, but now, when I am stripped of everything that counts +in your world and nothing is left me but a past which would bar me from +polite society if I tried to batter down its prejudices alone, you +offer to brave its opinion, to give me the greatest thing a man can +give to a woman. It's splendid of you! I—I can't tell you how +wonderful it seems to feel that there are still men like you in the +world. But, Winnie, I couldn't marry you! I'm awfully fond of you, +but not in that way and one of the things I couldn't accept in the +creed of your world would be to marry a man I didn't love. Even if I +did care, I don't believe that I could bring myself to accept your +sacrifice, but I shall never forget your generosity." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, please!" Winnie thrust out his hand in a passionate gesture of +negation. "The generosity would have been on your part and the +sacrifice, too! What does it matter who your own people were? You are +yourself, the bravest, finest, truest girl in all the world! I knew +you couldn't care, but, oh, I hoped that if there was no one else you +would try to like me enough to give me an opportunity of proving to you +that I could make you happy anyway. I would be so awfully good to you, +and so proud! It is you who would be giving all, not me, and I should +try all the rest of my life to be worthy of you. Willa, dearest, won't +you think it over, and let me come again?" +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head with a sad little smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I am leaving to-night, Winnie, and going far away. I may return +sometime, quien sabe?—but I have played a lone hand ever since Dad was +killed and I've got to go on to the end. You're wonderfully kind, +wonderfully dear, but I have a long trail to follow and I must travel +it alone." +</P> + +<P> +"You're leaving to-night!" He turned and walked to the window where he +stood for some minutes gazing out at the blank darkness before him in +silence. When he broke it at length and turned again, his face was +very pale but composed. +</P> + +<P> +"You will write and let me know where you are and that all is well with +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps," Willa said gently. "At any rate you will know that I shall +think of you always and value your friendship as the one worth-while +thing in all this experience. I wish I could have cared for you, +Winnie, in that way, but it couldn't be." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand." His voice was very low. "Remember that I am your +friend, if I can be nothing more, and I shall be waiting. If you ever +want me, or need me, you will have only to send me a word and I shall +come if it is half across the world.—I'm going, now. Don't be afraid +that I shall tell anyone where I found you. I can't bear to say it, +but it is 'good-bye', Willa. I—I hope, wherever you are, that nothing +but happiness will come to you. Good-bye, best and sweetest and +dearest——" +</P> + +<P> +His voice broke, and Willa held out both her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Winnie. You're going to be happy, too, some day. I'll +always be proud of your friendship and what you have offered me. Our +trails may cross again some day, and if they do I shall be glad, +indeed. Till then, good luck and every wish of my heart to you, my +pal!" +</P> + +<P> +Winnie pressed her hands, then dropped them and stumbled from the room. +In the machine, he turned and waved. Willa stood in the window, her +slender form outlined against the light behind her, her small head +proudly erect, and it seemed to the boy's blurred, exalted gaze as if +an aura of golden haze like a halo surrounded it. A passing glance and +he was swept along into the darkness ahead, the vision and the memory +of her all that remained to him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RETURN OF TIA JUANA +</H3> + +<P> +"I tell you, Starr, it's all very well to play a waiting game, but +we've got to start something and start it soon, or we'll be up against +the worst fix we've ever struck in our lives, and that will be going +some!" Harrington Chase paused in his restless pacing of the private +office to regard his partner with troubled eyes. "We've got to make a +big killing or we're due to go under, and you know what that'll mean." +</P> + +<P> +Wiley flung himself around in his chair to face the other. +</P> + +<P> +"I've moved heaven and earth to find that old she-devil!" he exclaimed. +"The biggest obstacle is out of our path now, as you very well know, +and if Tia Juana would only turn up, we could put it all over her. +Gentleman Geoff's Billie is no longer in a position to interfere if she +wanted to, thanks to my fortunate discovery of the adoption papers in +Arizona, and when I get my hands on the old woman——" +</P> + +<P> +"You've been saying that for the last month," Chase observed, adding +with a sly smile: "I'm not undervaluing the lucky chance that put those +documents in your way, my dear fellow! What has happened, anyway, in +regard to that affair? Until the Halsteads and North have proved the +validity of the papers they won't make any premature announcement, of +course, and I'm only supposed to share the knowledge, common in their +circle, that Willa Murdaugh has gone to spend the winter in the South." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they'll spring the news about the beginning of Lent, I imagine, +when the social calendar is clear and they won't have so many +explanations to make," Wiley responded carelessly. "It's bound to be a +nine-days' wonder, but things move rapidly in this town and she'll be +almost forgotten by Easter." +</P> + +<P> +"What's become of the girl herself?" asked Chase. "Where did she go +when she took herself off in that high-handed fashion?" +</P> + +<P> +"Search me!" Wiley shrugged. "She's eliminated, anyway, from the +scene." +</P> + +<P> +"Not if we happen to shift the scene to Mexico!" retorted the other. +"What if she has gone back to Limasito?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she hasn't." Wiley announced briefly. "Our men down there have +their instructions to keep a lookout and let us know the minute she +appears, but there hasn't been a sign of her. Personally, I didn't +expect it." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not? Where else would she go?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Harrington, if you had made as close a study of feminine +psychology as I have, you would know that she would rather go anywhere +else in the world than return to Limasito in defeat. With her pride it +would be intolerable after the eclat of her departure as an heiress to +slink back as merely Gentleman Geoff's Billie once more." +</P> + +<P> +"That's some satisfaction," Chase muttered, resuming his nervous tread. +"But granted that she is finally eliminated, what good will it do us as +long as Tia Juana remains under cover? Do you understand the +situation? We're overcapitalized right now to the limit; we've watered +the stock until it would float a fleet of battle-ships and we're +dangerously near the line——" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what can I do?" Wiley ran his hands through his hair. "I've +banked everything on this Lost Souls venture, and God knows I've gone +the limit to put it through!" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you?" Chase turned at the window. "Just what did you mean to +do, if you had succeeded in locating Tia Juana?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think that would be obvious." Wiley laughed shortly. "We've +threshed that all out; I'd get her signature to a bill of sale of the +Trevino hacienda where the Lost Souls' Pool is situated, record the +deed with the Notary Public at Victoria, and then proceed to develop +and advertise the well. What on earth are you driving at, Harrington?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just this!" His partner strode quickly to the desk and bent down, +staring significantly into Wiley's eyes. "That's your program, is it? +Well, go ahead and carry it out!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds good!" Wiley chuckled, sneeringly. "Perhaps you'll be good +enough to produce Tia Juana, so that I can start the ball rolling!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will," Harrington Chase responded quietly. +</P> + +<P> +It was Wiley's turn to stare. +</P> + +<P> +"Hope you'll have better luck than I have had, that's all," he said at +last, shrugging. "When you find her——" +</P> + +<P> +Chase interrupted him with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>have</I> found her!" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" Wiley sprang from his chair. "When? Where? Good Lord, why +didn't you tell me before? How did you find her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait——!" +</P> + +<P> +Chase straightened and tiptoed to the door leading into the outer +office. The next instant he had flung it wide, but no eavesdropper was +in sight and the whole suite appeared deserted. He closed the door +once more and thereafter ensued an earnest and protracted conference. +</P> + +<P> +As a result, Starr Wiley failed to put in an appearance that night at a +dinner to which he had been invited and his excuse pleaded a sudden +business trip. Days lengthened into weeks, and when he did not return +there was a ripple of surprise and conjecture at his abrupt +evanescence, but the varied festivities of the approaching holiday +season ousted him from his rather negligible place in the thoughts of +his acquaintances. +</P> + +<P> +Christmas came and passed, and the New Year was nearing the end of its +first month when he reappeared in the city, and simultaneously a +sensational rumor spread like wildfire through the financial circles. +It concerned a marvelous new oil well, the "Almas Perderse," which had +just been discovered in the richest part of the Mexican petroleum +fields, and which was reputed to be the greatest potential producer +since the famous "Dos Bocas" itself. +</P> + +<P> +Excitement ran high and the offices of Chase and Company were besieged +by the curious and speculative among the smaller fry, but the moneyed +interests still held aloof in spite of the artfully conservative bait +dangled before them, and for a time developments were at a standstill. +</P> + +<P> +It was during this period that one day Winnie North and Vernon Halstead +found themselves compulsory room-mates at an overcrowded stag +house-party in Westchester. The events of the preceding autumn had +chastened and matured both of the genially irresponsible young men and +the resultant change edified their immediate relatives even while it +caused them to exhibit unflattering astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie was making a determined effort to learn the intricacies of the +brokerage game and Vernon had enrolled himself at the university on the +Heights for a post-graduate course in mining and petroleum engineering. +It was natural, therefore, that the subject which arose for discussion +between them over a night-cap and cigarette was that of the Almas +Perderse well. +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds mighty good, I admit," Vernon remarked. "If anybody but +Starr Wiley stood sponsor for it I should have more faith in its +possibilities, I suppose, but somehow I can't figure him in a bona-fide +deal." +</P> + +<P> +"The governor doesn't share your prejudice, nor does your own father," +Winnie remarked. "I've heard them talking and I've a hunch that +they're both going to invest pretty heavily in the Almas Perderse stock +when it is issued. They have faith in Wiley's knowledge of a good +thing when he sees it, and I fancy it's sound, at that. He's been more +than ordinarily successful in the past with other propositions, you +know, and whatever your opinions of him personally, you'll have to +admit that Wiley's reputation on the Exchange is second to none as far +as judgment and efficiency and a thorough comprehension of the oil game +are concerned." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet the big investors are holding off, I understand," Vernon observed +thoughtfully. "I wish my father wouldn't monkey with it. What's the +game, Winnie? What are Chase and Wiley doing to launch the Almas +Perderse?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they've recently increased their capitalization to twenty-five +million and they told the governor they want to raise ten million more +at once. They're offering a million shares at ten dollars, par value, +and they claim a jump to one hundred or better is inevitable within a +few months, as soon as the development starts. The governor thinks +he's being let in on the ground floor." +</P> + +<P> +"It would look like it, if the thing is on the level." Vernon shook his +head. "They're liable to bring in a gusher that'll send the price +soaring." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever that means!" Winnie laughed. "You'll be some little +petroleum engineer yourself one of these days! I don't know anything +about it myself, but it seems to me the figures that Wiley stated to +the governor as the initial cost of development were pretty steep; +twenty-five million, including an eight-inch pipe line to Limasito and +tankage equipment there." +</P> + +<P> +"No, that's not excessive," demurred Vernon. "The pumping stations +every ten miles will average fifty thousand alone, and every foot of +the pipe must be transported by peons—laborers, you know—on their +shoulders through the swamps. Moreover, now that it seems inevitable +that we shall get in the war ourselves, it's going to be next to +impossible to get tankers at any price to bring the oil up from +Mexico.—But I'm only a tyro yet; Kearn Thode can give you the details +far better than I can. What's become of him, by the way?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's out West, somewhere." Winnie ground out the stub of his +cigarette. "He went soon after your cousin——er——" +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" Vernon rose. "I'd give anything to see Willa again! +Wasn't she the most wonderful little thoroughbred that ever lived!" +</P> + +<P> +"She was," Winnie responded, his voice very low. "We'll never know a +girl just like her, Verne. There's not another in the world." +</P> + +<P> +Vernon glanced with unusual keenness at his friend and when he spoke +his tone was roughly sympathetic. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard hit, Winnie? Well, so was I, for that matter. Not that she +would ever have looked at me, of course, but if she'd stayed another +day I meant to ask her to stay always. She put me on the road to +making a man of myself; some day I'll tell you how, maybe. It has a +good deal to do with my distrust of Starr and his 'Almas Perderse'." +</P> + +<P> +At an ungodly hour the next morning Winnie North was summoned to the +telephone. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! What the deuce is it?" he demanded sleepily, but the voice +which came to him over the wire speedily dispelled his somnolence. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Win? This is Kearn Thode." +</P> + +<P> +"What! Gad, old man, it's good to hear your voice!" Winnie exclaimed. +"When did you get in?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just last night. I tried to get hold of you, but your father told me +you were up there at Stoney Crest——" +</P> + +<P> +"Come on out! Jim would have asked you if he'd known where you were. +I'll tell him——" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Thode interrupted tersely. "Sorry, but I can't waste a day! +I've got to see you at once, this morning if possible." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," Winnie responded. "Tell you what I'll do; I'll grab Jim's +speedster and meet you at the Bumble Bee Inn. I can make it in an hour +and so can you, as it's about half way out. Nobody'll be around in the +morning and it's deserted anyway this time of the year, so we can have +it to ourselves. I say, what's the racket, Kearn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell you when I see you. Don't fail me, Win. Good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +When Winnie drove up to the road-house an hour later, a lone taxi' +stood outside and a familiar figure was seated at one of the tables in +the otherwise empty restaurant. As it rose he saw that the two months +had brought Kearn Thode back to what he had been before the fever laid +him low in Mexico. He glowed with the old health and strength, and in +his eyes was the triumphant fire of achievement. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, old man! You're looking wonderfully fit again, thank the Lord! +Did you find that important something or other that was worth more than +the pot of gold?" +</P> + +<P> +Thode smiled as they shook hands. +</P> + +<P> +"I found what I went after," he replied quietly. "And you? I hear +you're settling into the harness in great shape." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"The governor would boast, I suppose, as long as I succeeded in keeping +out of jail," he observed. "It's a horrible responsibility to be an +only son! But what's the big idea? You didn't chivvie me out of bed +in the cold gray dawn for nothing!" +</P> + +<P> +Thode beckoned to the solitary waiter, hovering in the pantry doorway, +before responding. +</P> + +<P> +"We'd better have some coffee and a bite first. Then I want the news; +remember I've been out in the wild and woolly since before the +holidays." +</P> + +<P> +When their order had been given, Winnie observed: +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you've heard about Wiley. He's been down in Mexico and +grabbed off a new oil well, the Almas Perderse——" +</P> + +<P> +"The Lost Souls!" Thode's hands clenched, and he drew a deep breath +between set teeth. "So he pulled it off, did he? By Jove, I +wonder——" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked the other after a pause. "Did you know about the well, +too?" +</P> + +<P> +Kearn Thode laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd heard of it," he acknowledged. "I wish him joy of his discovery! +Is he making headway while the going is good?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather! I say, it isn't bunk, is it? I mean, this Almas Perderse is +the real thing, a good financial proposition?" +</P> + +<P> +"If it is really the Almas Perderse and he holds a clear title, it's +the greatest prize in the oil fields to-day." Thode's face sobered. +"Why do you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because the governor and Ripley Halstead are going into it heavily," +explained Winnie. "I don't know how much stock Halstead's subscribed +for, but the governor is going to take about fifty thousand shares at +par, ten dollars. He's bugs about it; thinks he's going to make his +everlasting fortune." +</P> + +<P> +"Win, tell him to drop it!" Thode said earnestly. "I can't explain now +for there's more at stake than the Lost Souls, but I know what I'm +talking about. He might as profitably sink his money in a bottomless +pit as in that oil well!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, I don't understand!" Winnie's voice shook. "You said just +now it was the greatest prize in the oil fields to-day. What's wrong +with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I told you I couldn't explain," Thode responded doggedly. "You've +simply got to take my word for it, that's all. I'm not sure enough of +my ground to make a definite statement yet or I would warn your father +myself, but I'm so far convinced of coming trouble that I wouldn't see +a friend of mine put a dollar in it if I could persuade him not to. I +don't mind admitting that my own trip to Mexico last fall was made in +the hope of locating that well myself, but it isn't sour grapes now +with me. I give you my word of honor, Win, that whatever your father +invests in the Almas Perderse well under the present conditions will be +irretrievably lost." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to the Lord you would go to the governor yourself!" exploded +Winnie. "He wouldn't listen to me in a million years, and even you +would have to show him! He has looked thoroughly into the proposition +according to his judgment and he has the utmost faith in it or he +wouldn't plan to back it at all. Are you sure, Kearn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Which means that you are not; I haven't succeeded in convincing you." +Thode shrugged. "What chance would I have of convincing your father? +I'm warning you, Win, I can't do any more. It's up to you now; +remember that I am as earnest in this as I have ever been in my life, +and it is only because of our old friendship that I have dropped you a +hint. Whether your father acts upon it or not, beg him to respect my +confidence, at any rate for the time being. I asked you to meet me +to-day——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" Winnie's tone was absent, his mind still grappling with the +quandary into which the other's warning had plunged him. "What is it, +Kearn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember our last meeting before I went away, when you picked +me up in the Park?" Thode pushed his cup aside and leaned forward over +the table. "You told me you knew where Miss Murdaugh went when she +left the Halsteads. I want you to take me to her at once, without +delay." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry, old man. I saw her within an hour after dropping you at the +Park entrance and found her on the eve of departure. She told me she +was leaving New York that night, but she wouldn't tell me her +destination. I called again the next day and found she had gone; I +haven't heard anything of her since." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a facer!" Thode groaned. "I had counted on finding her here. +Could she have returned to Limasito?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I've made inquiries. You see," Winnie explained hastily, "we'd +grown to be pretty-good friends and naturally the governor felt +responsible for her, in a way. He's been in constant communication +with Jim Baggott down there—the man who runs the hotel——" +</P> + +<P> +"I remember." +</P> + +<P> +"The governor located her first through him, you know, and he seems to +have been the one she trusted most after her foster father died, but +even he has heard nothing from her, or pretends he hasn't." Winnie +paused. "The governor has done everything possible to find her and +satisfy himself that she was all right, but she has dropped completely +from sight. He has aged over the whole thing, I can tell you! I think +he would give half he possesses to know that all was well with her." +</P> + +<P> +Thode beckoned once more to the waiter, and, throwing a bill upon the +table, rose. +</P> + +<P> +"If Miss Murdaugh has gone, I'm off to-night," he announced. "It was +to see her that I returned to New York, but since there's no chance of +that now I must take the trail again." +</P> + +<P> +"I say, you haven't stumbled upon anything that would be to her +advantage, have you?" Winnie demanded suddenly as he followed his +friend to the door. "Anything about the past, I mean——?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Win." Thode spoke without turning. "It was just a—a little +private matter." +</P> + +<P> +"And you're really off to-night? When are we going to see you again, +old man?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." He wheeled about swiftly, then held out his hand. +"Don't forget to repeat what I have told you to your father and make it +as strong as you can. I'm playing a game of my own, and when we meet +again it will be cards on the table. Good-bye, Win." +</P> + +<P> +"Good luck!" The other hesitated wistfully. "If—if you should happen +by any chance to run across Willa in your wanderings, will you tell her +for me that I'm still waiting, as I said I should be; that I am still, +as always, at her service?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHERE TRAILS MEET +</H3> + +<P> +A long, narrow valley between snow-capped mountains glistening under +the January sun; a cluster of ramshackle, weather-beaten wooden houses +elbowing each other on either side of a single straggling street, with +here and there a newer concrete building planted firmly like +respectable citizens in a disreputable mob. Stray dogs sniffing at +heaps of refuse, a group of tethered horses shivering under thin +blankets in the hotel shed, a battered jitney or two stalled before +shop and saloon. A Chinaman with a huge bundle upon his head, a +slatternly woman brushing the dry, powdered snow from the path, a +tawdry one pattering along, her rouged face pitiful in the clear +merciless light; red-shirted miners crawling like ants to the yawning +shaft-mouths half way up the mountainside.—This was Topaz Gulch on a +certain wintry morning. +</P> + +<P> +In the office of the Palace Hotel, the proprietor tossed aside his +week-old Chicago newspaper and rose with alacrity as a slender, girlish +figure, clad in a great fur coat, came lightly down the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything all right, Ma'am? Did the missus make you comfortable?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, thank you." The girl nodded, smiling. Then her face sobered. +"I wonder if you could tell me—may I ask how long you have been here +in Topaz Gulch?" +</P> + +<P> +"Five years, Ma'am," he returned promptly. "For a boom town that +didn't grow as was expected, nor yet peter out entirely, Topaz is +holding her own and business ain't so bad; besides, the air is good for +the missus. That's why we come in the first place." +</P> + +<P> +The girl had paused at the window, gazing up the western slope. +</P> + +<P> +"That is the Yellow Streak?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm, that's the mine. Folks thought at first that she was going to +pan out another bonanza, I guess, but now she's just about profitable +enough to make it worth while to keep her going. Great town, this must +have been when she was first opened up." +</P> + +<P> +The girl scarcely heard. She was thinking of the weary, consumptive +young time-keeper who had struggled up that gray slope with daily +weakening tread and of the girl who, with her baby in her arms, watched +him perhaps from the door of one of those dilapidated, weather-worn +shacks upon which she herself now gazed. With blurred eyes, the +erstwhile Willa Murdaugh turned to her informant. +</P> + +<P> +"Have there been many changes since you came?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no," he considered. "Once in a while some hustler from the +Coast lands here and runs up a concrete store, but usually he don't +stay long; there ain't enough doing. The population's always shifting; +there's been a whole new outfit up at the mine since we come, but +everything seems to go on just the same, so you couldn't rightly call +it much of a change. The moving-picture houses are about all that's +marked any difference in things here, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if there is anyone left in the town who was here fifteen +years ago." Willa spoke with ill-concealed eagerness. "Who is the +oldest inhabitant you know of?" +</P> + +<P> +The proprietor looked his surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he began at last, "there's Bill Ryder; he come in with the +first rush, they tell me, and he still runs the Red Dog Cafe. Then +there's Pete Haines, a half-witted old cuss—begging your pardon, +Ma'am!—that's got enough dust cached somewhere to keep himself drunk +perpetual; and the Widow Atkinson, and Big Olaf, and—and Klondike +Kate." +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated at the last name, and a brick-red flush suffused his +stolid face, but Willa paid no heed. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Widow Atkinson runs the eating-house for miners at the end of the +street; hard-shell temperance, she is, and they say Atkinson used to +wait on table with her apron tied round him and dassent even smoke +indoors." He paused. "Big Olaf is a Swede who got hurt in the mine +years ago and the company gives him an annuity. Kind of cracked he is, +too, but harmless. You see, Ma'am, when the big boom died down gradual +and the town settled into a one-horse gait, the young folks naturally +pushed on to the next strike that promised a fortune, and the old ones +drifted back to where they come from." +</P> + +<P> +"And Klondike Kate; who is she?" Willa persisted. +</P> + +<P> +Her host shifted from one foot to the other in an agony of +embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"She—she's just a woman that stays on here because there ain't any +other place for her to go, Ma'am. She does odd jobs when she can find +any to do and the missus helps her out now and then, but she ain't the +kind you'd want anything to do with. The missus'll tell you if you ask +her." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," said Willa quickly. "Is that the Red Dog over there, +where the man is sweeping sawdust out to the road?" +</P> + +<P> +She had crossed to the door and opened it, and her host approached, +peering over her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm, that's Bill Ryder himself." +</P> + +<P> +"I would like to talk to him," Willa announced. "I want to ask him +some questions about the early days here." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll fetch him for you!" her host offered, recovering hastily from his +astonishment. "You just wait here, he'll be right pleased to come——" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you. I will go over, myself." Willa fastened her cloak +with a decisive air. "He came with the first rush, you tell me? Then +he should be able to remember what I want to learn." +</P> + +<P> +She picked her way across the hummocks of frozen mud powdered with snow +in the road, and approached the rotund, jovial-faced little man who was +swinging his worn broom energetically in a cloud of sawdust. +</P> + +<P> +He paused as she neared him, his jaw sagging at the apparition of a +dainty, richly dressed, strange female alone on the street of Topaz. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning. You're Mr. Ryder, aren't you?" she smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"That's me, Ma'am." He pulled off his soft-brimmed hat, revealing a +wide expanse of shining pink scalp, fringed with a scanty growth of +grizzled hair. +</P> + +<P> +"The proprietor of the Palace Hotel tells me that you are one of the +oldest inhabitants left, Mr. Ryder, and I wonder if you would mind +telling me something of the people who used to live in Topaz Gulch +years ago. I am trying to locate some lost relatives." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be glad to tell you anything I can, Ma'am." His round face +quickened with interest. "I keep bachelor house, but if you don't +object to walking through the bar—it's empty now—there's a room back +where we can talk." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way and Willa followed him. Bare and ramshackle as it was, +the sight of the bar and the little tables fronting it brought acutely +to her memory a like room, larger and more resplendent, with +baize-covered tables and flaring oil lamps; a tall, spare figure +inexpressibly dear to her memory replaced for a moment the rotund one +before her and the veil of the past seemed lifted. She was back once +more in the Blue Chip. +</P> + +<P> +The vision was dispelled, however, when she found herself in the little +back room, scarcely more than a closet, with room enough only for the +rusty stove, table and chairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Private poker-room," Mr. Ryder announced with pride. "Enough coin's +changed hands here to buy the greatest gold-mine in Nevada! Make +yourself comfortable, Ma'am. Now, who was it you was looking for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you recall Jake's place, the dance-hall that was burned down?" +Willa began. +</P> + +<P> +"Like as if it was yesterday!" The little man seated himself in the +chair opposite and put his hat on the floor beside him. "Topaz was a +roaring gehenna in them days and one night Red-Eye Pete started in to +shoot out the lamps at Jake's. One of 'em exploded and it was all over +in no time. Red-Eye himself and Ray Clancy, the pianner-player, and +two o' the girls was lost. I got a busted arm and most o' my hair +singed off going in after 'em, but 'twarn't no use." +</P> + +<P> +"You knew the—the girls?" Willa had difficulty in controlling her +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I did! Blonde Annie and Miss Violet. Annie was just a—a girl +like you'd expect, Ma'am, but Miss Violet, she was a regular lady. +Young widder with a toddling baby and a voice like an angel.—Say, +that's funny!" He broke off, staring at her. "It ain't about her that +you've come, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa nodded, not trusting herself to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, don't that beat—beat everything!" Mr. Ryder recovered himself +in some confusion. "Two or three years ago a lawyer shark from New +York City—a man named North, I remember—come here asking an all-fired +lot o' questions, and only last fall another feller turned up on the +same game. I told 'em all I knew, which warn't much. They called +themselves Murphy, Miss Vi and her husband did, but I guess that warn't +their right name. Nice young feller he was, but quiet and sickly. +When he died we wanted to pass round the hat for the widder, like we +always do, but she wouldn't have it; she got work instead at Jake's, +singing and dancing, but she kept everyone in their place and there +warn't a man here that wouldn't have stood up for her till the last gun +fired." +</P> + +<P> +"And the baby—do you remember it at all?" +</P> + +<P> +"Little Billie?" Mr. Ryder laughed. "There ain't enough babies around +a mining camp to make you forget any one of 'em, and you couldn't +rightly forget Billie if you tried. Fat and curly-headed she was, and +the spunkiest little critter you ever see, always falling down hard and +scrambling up again by herself and laughing to beat four of a kind. +Her ma tried to keep her home, but there warn't a chance; she went +wherever her little legs would carry her, and the whole town looked out +for her. She must be a woman grown, now." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't suppose you would recognize her if you should see her," Willa +observed wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Me? Lord, no!" he exclaimed. "Babies grow up into most anything, as +far as looks go! She was about four when her ma was burned, and +Gentleman Geoff, the gambler, adopted her and took her away. The whole +town wanted to keep her, but in them days Topaz was no place for a girl +to grow up in and there wasn't a woman here of her mother's kind." +</P> + +<P> +"It is possible that a woman might remember her where a man wouldn't." +Willa was following her own train of thought. "The proprietor of the +Palace spoke of two women left who were here at that time; a Mrs. +Atkinson and Klondike Kate. Would they be able to tell me anything +more, do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not the widder!" Mr. Ryder responded with emphasis. "She put Miss Vi +to work in her hash-house for a week when young Murphy died; starved +her, slammed the kid around and drove her till she fainted. She warn't +used to hard work, Miss Vi warn't, and the Widder Atkinson would have +killed a horse. When Miss Vi took to doing turns at Jake's instead, +the Widder 'lowed she was no better than she'd ought to've been, and +near got lynched in consequence. You've only got to mention Miss Vi to +her even now to have her r'ar right up on her hind legs. She wouldn't +tell you nothing if she could." +</P> + +<P> +"The other one, Klondike Kate. Did she know this Miss Violet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. She was one o' the girls at Jake's, like Blonde Annie and the +rest. I guess you ain't ever come in contact with that kind, Ma'am, +but it wouldn't hurt you to talk to her once and if anyone could help +you maybe she could. That kind don't get much forbearance from other +women, but Miss Vi was good to her and nursed her through a spell o' +sickness and Klondike Kate just about worshiped her and the baby. +'Twas Kate saved little Billie when Jake's burned. She was the first +after poor Miss Violet to remember the baby and she turned back and got +her." +</P> + +<P> +"She—she saved the child!" Willa's voice trembled, and she rose +quickly. "Where can I find her? It is good of you to have told me +what you could, Mr. Ryder. You don't remember anything else about this +Miss Violet and her baby; she left no papers with anyone?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not that I know of. The lawyer asked me that, too, and the young +feller who came last fall. Riley, his name was, or something like +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Starr Wiley?" Willa smiled. "Did he ask you anything else, Mr. +Ryder?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was trying most particular to find out Gentleman Geoff's last name, +but nobody ever heard it here. You'll find Klondike Kate living in the +last shack on the west side o' the street before you come to the +coal-yard. She ain't a pleasant sight to look at, poor old Kate! The +fire caught her, too, when she rescued the baby, and though she was a +fine-appearing girl before then, her own mother wouldn't know her now, +or want to, I guess, for that matter. She's square, I'll say that for +her; whatever she tells you, you can bank on." +</P> + +<P> +Willa took leave of Mr. Ryder and departed upon her quest. He followed +to the café door and stood looking perplexedly after her as she made +her way down the rambling street. He was trying to fix in his mind the +vagrant, subtle sensation of familiarity which possessed him when he +had first caught sight of her face. Stolid and slow of wit as he was, +the conviction grew that she or someone very like her had crossed his +path before. Then the face of the song-and-dance artiste at Jake's +flashed across his memory and the next minute he was pounding heavily +after the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Ma'am! Wait a second!" he panted. +</P> + +<P> +Willa turned. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me, Ma'am, but it come to me that you might be little Billie, +yourself! Are you? I'd like powerful well to see her again!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me!" commanded Willa. "Could you swear, Mr. Ryder, that I was +the child you call 'Billie'? Could you take your oath on it?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked long and searchingly while she waited in breathless suspense. +At last he drew back, shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No'm, I couldn't. Meaning no disrespect, there's a look about you of +Miss Vi, but fifteen or sixteen years is a long time to trust your +memory and I couldn't swear to nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Willa sighed and turned away. +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Abercrombie," she said. "You are right, Mr. Ryder. +Fifteen years are a very long time." +</P> + +<P> +The shack next the coal-yard was more forlorn even than the others, +though the sagging porch was swept clean, and ineffectual attempts had +been made to mend the breaks in roof and walls with fresher slabs of +unpainted wood which stood out against the gray weathered boards like +patches on an old coat. +</P> + +<P> +There was no bell, but Willa knocked patiently on the panel until there +came a slow tread within and the door opened. A thin, angular woman +stood there, her dark hair streaked with gray, and Willa glanced at +her, then swiftly averted her gaze in pity. The face before her was +drawn and scarred as if the hot hand of wrath had clawed it, searing +and distorting it to the hideous, grinning semblance of a mask. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon." Willa's voice was very gentle. "I am looking for +someone known as Klondike Kate. If you are she, I have a great favor +to ask of you." +</P> + +<P> +She had sounded the right note; the woman, who for so long had been the +recipient of grudging, half-contemptuous favor herself, gasped and +flung wide the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, Miss. I'm Kate, right enough. Sit down close to the stove; +I ain't got much of a fire." The voice was singularly clear and sweet. +</P> + +<P> +Willa glanced about her and then back at the woman who had dropped into +a low rocker beside a table heaped with red flannels, which she had +evidently been mending. The room was tiny and pitifully bare, but +scrubbed clean, and pathetic bows of faded ribbon strove to conceal the +worn spots on the coarse snowy curtains. A small pot bubbled on the +stove and two cold potatoes and half a stale loaf on the shelf betrayed +the meagerness of the larder. +</P> + +<P> +The woman had given an impression of age at first, but Willa saw now +that she could be scarcely more than forty and her eyes were rather +fine despite their hint of tragedy. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm looking for someone who can tell me about Violet, the girl who +used to dance at Jake's." Willa chose her words deliberately. "Mr. +Ryder says you were a friend of hers, years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Bill Ryder said that?" Klondike Kate drew a deep breath. "A friend? +She was the best friend a body could ever have! But you could hardly +have known her; she died fifteen years past." +</P> + +<P> +"I know. I was wondering if you knew her story; if she left any papers +with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" the woman asked suddenly, bending forward. "If I knew +Vi's story, would I repay her for all her kindness by telling it to a +stranger? Why should I show you her papers if she did leave any with +me, when that lawyer could get nothing out of me two years ago, for all +his blustering?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would you do it if you could help her baby to claim what is her own?" +Willa asked earnestly. "My name is Abercrombie, but I happen to know +that the girl your friend left behind her is trying to prove her +identity. I thought that you would want to help." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if I could!" Klondike Kate clasped her toil-worn hands. "Vi told +me about the rich father-in-law who hadn't ever forgiven her. Where is +Billie, Miss Abercrombie? Is she well and happy? She was such a +pretty thing!" +</P> + +<P> +"She is well," Willa responded slowly. "She never knew that it was you +who saved her from the fire." +</P> + +<P> +The scarred face flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I forgot her first, that was the awful part. She'd been ailing and +her mother couldn't leave her home, so while she did her turn I sat in +her dressing-room, mending my skirt and talking to the kid. When I +heard the shots and the lamp exploded and the blaze flared up, I just +made a jump for the door. Then I remembered Billie and went back, and +the flames caught us both." +</P> + +<P> +"But—but she isn't scarred!" Willa cried. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I—I tore off my skirt and wrapped her in it. Only her little +bare feet stuck out and one of them got burned real bad." +</P> + +<P> +"One—of—her—feet!" repeated Willa breathlessly. "Did it leave a +scar? Oh, think—think!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I guess it must have, Miss Abercrombie." The woman stared at +her. "The right foot it was, and there was a bad burn on the inside of +the ankle right up from the heel, like a tongue of flame had licked it. +It wasn't hardly well when Gentleman Geoff took her away." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Willa sat as if stunned, then she bent swiftly, and, +whipping off her shoe and stocking, thrust out a slender pink foot. +The inner side was seared with a tiny forked red line, slight but +unmistakable. +</P> + +<P> +"You!" Klondike Kate rose slowly. "You are Billie!" +</P> + +<P> +With a little sob Willa went to meet her, and in an instant the two +were crying in each other's arms. +</P> + +<P> +The older woman was the first to recover herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my dear, to think that I didn't know you! I ought to have seen +from the first—your mother's hair and eyes——" +</P> + +<P> +"But you know me now!" Willa smiled through her tears. "You could +swear to me by that scar, couldn't you? You see, there is someone +trying to claim I'm not the girl you knew as Billie, and I have no +other proof. I never fancied that little scar meant anything; I +haven't thought of it in years. You saved my life once, at the risk of +your own—will you help me now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will I?" Klondike Kate wiped her eyes. "I'll go to the last ditch +for you! I've lived right for fifteen years, and I guess my word is as +good as the next one's. You just take me to whoever says you're not +little Billie and I'll prove their lie before any court on earth.—That +reminds me; I have something for you. It won't help make good your +claim, for they might say an impostor got it from me, but it's yours +and you ought to have it." +</P> + +<P> +She mounted the rickety stairs to the loft, and in her absence Willa +slowly put on her stocking and shoe once more. Her own inner +conviction had been justified and an elation almost solemn in its +intensity filled her heart. She was Willa Murdaugh! She could prove +her right to the name which had been wrested from her! +</P> + +<P> +When Klondike Kate descended she bore in her hands a folded paper, +yellowed and worn, and a tarnished locket on a bit of faded, scorched +blue ribbon. +</P> + +<P> +"I was sick when Gentleman Geoff left town with you or I'd have tied +the locket on you myself," she said. "It's got both their pictures in +it, mother and father. See!" +</P> + +<P> +She opened the case, and Willa gazed through renewed tears at the two +young faces vibrant with life which smiled back at her: the man's thin +and intellectual with the eyes of a dreamer and the chiseled lips of a +poet; the woman's stronger and more practical, her gaze sweet and +level, her dark hair in a soft cloud about her low, broad forehead. +</P> + +<P> +Willa pressed the locket convulsively to her breast in the first +overwhelming tide of possession which had ever swept over her. These +were her own people, flesh of her flesh! They had dared to love +against insuperable odds, and, succumbing at last, had left her as the +pledge of that love! She would prove worthy of them! +</P> + +<P> +"It was taken from her neck when they found her after the fire," +Klondike Kate said softly. "Jake gave it to me to keep for +you.—Here's what she prized most of anything she had; she put it in my +hands herself to keep for her." +</P> + +<P> +The yellowed paper, unfolded, proved to be the certificate of marriage +of Violet Ashton and Ralph Murdaugh, dated January 2, 1896. +</P> + +<P> +The two talked long within the little shack, and when Willa emerged at +last the sun had disappeared behind a bank of level, leaden cloud and +the still cold which precedes a snowfall had settled down upon the +valley. +</P> + +<P> +Since her arrival the night before Willa had fought resolutely against +the vague memories which seemed to assail her at every turn, fearing +the snare of mental suggestion, but now she strove wistfully to foster +a sense of nearness and familiarity with the dreary scene. +</P> + +<P> +The reaction from her triumphant hour had come, and with it a forlorn +hopelessness of spirit. What did it matter, after all? Outcast or +reinstated in the empty pomp and circumstance of society, no one had +really cared save Winnie, and he had not counted. +</P> + +<P> +The tragedy of utter isolation from all human ties descended upon her +and in the depths of her desolation she was oblivious to the sound of +footsteps approaching on the frosty, hard-packed road. It was only +when they halted that she glanced up—and found herself looking into +the eyes of Kearn Thode. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SLIPPER OF CINDERELLA +</H3> + +<P> +Forgetting for a moment all else but the joy of his presence, she held +out both hands with a glad little cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Kearn!" +</P> + +<P> +He took her hands in his, but released them after the merest touch, and +in the hungry wistfulness of his gaze there was no answering gladness. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Murdaugh, I have an explanation to make for my disobedience of +your injunction," he said stiffly. "I have deliberately followed you +here, but it is only that I may put you in possession of certain facts +which are of moment to you. Will you forgive me if I intrude upon you +for an hour?" +</P> + +<P> +The brightness faded, and she bowed her head in silence. She had +forgotten his duplicity and the cold-blooded mercenary game he had +played, but the memory of it returned with his first words. +Passionately she wished that she might never have learned the truth! +He would have played the game to the last round, he would have been +kind at least, and she might have lived on in her fool's paradise. +Then a wave of contempt swept over her for her own cowardice and she +straightened. +</P> + +<P> +"I am very glad to see you." Her tones were gravely conventional. "If +you have followed me out here, as you say, to render me a service it +must be one for which I shall be deeply grateful, Mr. Thode. I am +staying at the Palace Hotel and if you will walk there with me we can +talk, secure from intrusion. How did you know I was here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Winthrop North told me of the sudden change in your plans for the +future, and that he knew where you had gone when you left the +Halsteads. I made a hurried trip West and there discovered what I have +now to tell you." He spoke slowly as if weighing each word. "I went +back to New York to see you, but could only learn that you had +disappeared. However, since you had not gone to Limasito, it occurred +to me that you must be here, in an attempt possibly to prove your +identity." +</P> + +<P> +"And what you have to tell me bears on that?" Willa asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It does, most conclusively. Starr Wiley must have had a very vital +motive in getting you out of the way, for his story was a lie from +start to finish; his papers a deliberate forgery!" +</P> + +<P> +"If you have proof of that, Mr. Thode, you have indeed rendered me a +service I can never repay!" she cried. "Once more I am in your debt!" +</P> + +<P> +"My news does not surprise you?" he asked, with a quick glance at her +face. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I have suspected it from the moment Starr Wiley announced his +discovery, for he had threatened me with it in advance; had tried to +bargain with me, in fact." Willa paused. "I had intended to go on +from here to the Flathead Lake country in Montana and then to Arizona +in an effort to establish what you have discovered. I am anxious to +know how you stumbled upon the truth." +</P> + +<P> +It was only when they had reached the little hotel sitting-room and +established themselves before the replenished stove that Kearn Thode +enlightened her. +</P> + +<P> +"You may remember, Miss Murdaugh, that I knew Starr Wiley before I met +him again in Limasito, and that knowledge alone would have impelled me +to distrust at sight any claims which he might produce, no matter what +their nature," he began. "When Winthrop North told me that our friend +had been the means of proving you were not the granddaughter of Giles +Murdaugh, I doubted, and when I learned the name which Gentleman Geoff +was supposed to have signed to the adoption papers with the trapper, I +knew the whole thing was a frame-up. Gentleman Geoff's name was not +Abercrombie." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know that?" Willa asked, amazed. +</P> + +<P> +"He told me the truth himself, just a little while before he died," +Thode responded. "I gave him my word to keep his confidence, but now +in your interest I know that he would have me speak. He was Geoffrey +Rendell, of a fine old family, university bred and with a brilliant +future before him, if he had so chosen. I have traced as much of his +career as anyone can ever know now and I will never betray the reason +for his ultimate choice, but you may rest assured that his nickname was +no label of chance or whim. He was a gentleman always in the truest, +finest sense of the word." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing could ever make me doubt that for an instant," Willa said with +glowing eyes. "There could have been nothing discreditable in his past +and he was a clean sportsman in the life he chose, square and +philosophical; a game loser, a generous winner! Poor Dad! Mr. Thode, +tell me how you succeeded in learning the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"When I was convinced that trickery was at work I persuaded Winthrop to +let me see and photograph the adoption agreement. With that as a basis +I went straight to Pima, in Graham County, Arizona, where Frank +Hillery, the trapper, had died and Wiley professed to have run across +his papers. Hillery died only seven or eight months ago, you know, and +it wasn't difficult to find out all about him. +</P> + +<P> +"He landed there in the spring of nineteen four, and opened a little +store with general merchandise. He was still keeping it when he was +stricken with typhoid last year and died. I readily found the widow +who had kept house for him all those years and interviewed his friends. +His long sojourn in the wilds evidently had their reaction when he +settled down in civilization once more, for he became exceedingly +garrulous, and his friends were familiar with every detail of his past +life. His favorite narrative was of the coming of Gentleman Geoff with +you to his cabin; of the death of his own little daughter and of +Gentleman Geoff's long illness and subsequent gratitude and generosity +to him. Your foster father, in recognition of his hospitality and +care, had given him sufficient money to start in business, and Hillery +never forgot it. When he died he left no papers except a brief will, +and his old trunks and boxes remained undisturbed in the attic, until +about three months ago when a strange young man appeared in Pima." +</P> + +<P> +Thode paused and Willa caught her breath. She had momentarily +forgotten the narrator himself in her interest in his story, and the +quick color came and went in her cheeks. It seemed to the young +engineer that she bloomed like a splendid rose in the homely, bare +little room and the wistfulness deepened in his eyes, but he went on in +a sternly impersonal voice: +</P> + +<P> +"The man was Wiley, under an assumed name, of course. He posed as a +nephew of the dead man, and when the beneficiaries found he had no +intention of attempting to dispute the will, being wealthy himself, +they gladly made friends with him and told him all they knew of his +late uncle. +</P> + +<P> +"Wiley went to board with the widow, and it seemed only natural that he +should want to go through his uncle's effects. The widow gave him free +access to the attic, and it was there, in one of those boxes, that he +professed to find the packet of papers which he afterward produced. +Undoubtedly the marriage-certificate and the maps were genuine; only +the article of adoption had been added. He left soon after, and +nothing further was known of him there. +</P> + +<P> +"When I learned that much, I, too, went to board with the widow and +learned every detail of Wiley's stay. One of Hillery's oldest friends +had a son who had gone to the bad and was serving a term for highway +robbery in a prison near Phoenix. I found that Wiley had taken a great +interest in the lad and paid him more than one visit, promising to use +his influence to have him pardoned. I went to Phoenix, talked with +this prisoner and a few others, and incidentally looked over the +records. +</P> + +<P> +"I discovered that Wiley had interested himself particularly in an +ex-forger whose term had expired at about that period, and it was +understood that Wiley had provided him with a new start in life. I +hunted up this man—it wasn't hard for he had bought a ranch and was +trying to go straight—and under threat of arrest obtained his written +confession. +</P> + +<P> +"The money for the fresh start was the price Wiley had paid for the +execution of the false document. I have the confession here in my bag, +and I will show it to you later. It is absolutely conclusive proof. +Miss Murdaugh, I may be an accessory after the fact, but I felt sure +you would not want the forger punished, and I gave him time to sell out +his ranch and disappear. I am under the impression that he has gone to +Canada to enlist, and if so——" +</P> + +<P> +Willa shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I don't believe he had any idea of the purpose to which the +document would be put, or its far-reaching effects, and if he has gone +to war, his punishment is on the knees of the gods." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. He did not know. The name of Murdaugh wasn't mentioned in +it if you remember, only those of Hillery and the supposed Abercrombie." +</P> + +<P> +"'Abercrombie!'" repeated Willa meditatively. "I wonder how Wiley came +to add that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I finally solved that. Wiley wanted to add clinching verisimilitude +to the document and took a long shot. Like many another amateur +criminal, he overreached himself, and that one fact, you see, led to +the whole discovery. He must have followed Gentleman Geoff's trail +through his wanderings from Topaz Gulch, seeking a loop-hole to prove +you were not the baby originally adopted, and when he came upon the +story which was told to him in Missoula, Montana, of Gentleman Geoff's +illness in the trapper's cabin on Flathead Lake, one can easily see how +the whole scheme popped into his head. There were the two men and two +little girls of the same age, isolated far from civilization for a long +winter. One child dies, the other departs with Gentleman Geoff. What +more simple than to arrange for a plausible substitution of the +children? Gentleman Geoff being dead, the only possible obstacle could +be in the person of the other member of that lonely quartette, Frank +Hillery, the trapper. We know now how Wiley traced him and overcame +that difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +"Wiley's efforts culminated in Arizona, but mine only began there. I +traced him back step by step on the trail he had come, following +Hillery, and in Missoula I learned more of Gentleman Geoff. Wiley must +have learned there what I did, that Gentleman Geoff's last name was +known to be Abercrombie, but Wiley didn't investigate deeply enough. +</P> + +<P> +"I did. I found that Gentleman Geoff Abercrombie had a most unsavory +name there as a crooked gambler and card-sharp—— No, Miss Murdaugh, +please don't protest!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa had turned upon him with flashing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"He had operated several gambling-casinos for brief, abruptly +terminated periods in Idaho and Montana, keeping about two jumps ahead +of a lynching posse most of the time and was last heard of in New +Mexico five years ago, when the Blue Chip was in full blast in +Limasito. In other words, there were two Gentleman Geoffs! The second +must have been a cheap swindler and card-sharp, who learned of your +foster father's fame as a square gambler throughout the West and sought +to profit by it. His operations were on such a small, petty scale, +however, that it is no wonder the story of his exploits never reached +the ears of the real Gentleman Geoff. Your title to your name is +assured now, Miss Murdaugh." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have done all this for me!" Willa mused, then turned her level +direct gaze upon him. "Why, Mr. Thode?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I promised the man who brought you up and cared for you always +that I would do what I could to further the duty he had assumed and so +splendidly carried on," Thode responded simply. "When he lay dying, he +told me that, although you yourself did not know it, you were of +different blood and caste from your associates in Limasito. His own +words were that you were born a lady and must go back to your own." +</P> + +<P> +"Dad said that?" Willa's lips quivered. "I learned to-day that he was +in love with my mother always, and she had told him her whole story. I +have found a friend here, too, Mr. Thode, a poor woman who is +frightfully maimed from saving my life in the fire which killed my +mother. I—I have a scar from it which she recognized and so there is +another witness to my identity, but without the valuable proof you have +brought me I would still have found it almost impossible to offset the +evidence of that false document. I cannot thank you for all that you +have done and I still cannot quite understand——" +</P> + +<P> +"It was for Gentleman Geoff," he reminded her courteously but coldly. +"I had given him my word and I meant to keep it to the utmost of my +ability. My task, I think, is almost completed." +</P> + +<P> +Willa drew back, in wretched indecision. If only it had not been for +that hideously betraying letter which Angie had put in her hands how +clear the way would be before her! If the testimony offered of his +mercenary motives in making love to her had been verbal she would have +scorned it, no matter who swore to its truth, but his intent was made +plain in his own writing and could not be gainsaid. +</P> + +<P> +"You will not let me offer you my thanks," she murmured. "But I am +indeed grateful. Can we not at least be friends, Mr. Thode? I—I +regret that bitter, angry letter I sent to you, but I had learned +something which hurt me deeply. Won't you be magnanimous enough to +forget it and let us go on as if nothing had occurred?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be glad to be your friend and serve you in any way that I can, +Miss Murdaugh," he responded dryly. "I have something further to tell +you which I think concerns you closely. Are you aware that Starr Wiley +and his partner, Harrington Chase, have purchased from Tia Juana Reyes +the property known as the Lost Souls lease and are already issuing +stock and developing the well?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa rose slowly to her feet, staring at him as if she could not +believe the evidence of her own ears. +</P> + +<P> +"You—you cannot mean it!" she gasped. "It cannot be true; there is a +mistake somewhere! Please, say that again, Mr. Thode!" +</P> + +<P> +He told her all that he had learned in New York, and she listened +breathlessly, her varying color concentrated in two vivid burning spots +upon her cheeks. A steady light deepened, too, in her eyes, and when +he had finished his story he looked at her in unconcealed amazement. +Far from being down-cast and distressed, she seemed to his +half-incredulous gaze to be triumphant, but she only remarked quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"This is news indeed, Mr. Thode, but it simplifies everything. The +stakes I have played for since I left Limasito are in my hands at last. +I cannot explain now, but you will learn the whole truth very soon. +Starr Wiley and his partner are still in New York?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. They have both gone down to Limasito, to inspect developments on +the well. In the society column of a belated newspaper which reached +me yesterday, I read that two of the principal stock-holders, Mason +North and your cousin, Ripley Halstead, together with their families, +had gone also in a private car to Mexico. You will return to New York +now, will you not?" +</P> + +<P> +Willa's eyes sparkled dangerously and she clenched her little hands. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I have some arrangements to make here; I must provide for Klondike +Kate's future, and obtain her deposition. She was my mother's friend, +who recognized me. Then, Mr. Thode, I shall leave, but not for New +York. I, too, am going to Mexico! I want to see the Lost Souls well +and learn from Tia Juana's own lips the story of its transfer." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be down there myself," Thode announced, rising. "If you +recall our conversation when we met again in New York you will remember +that I told you of my own ambition to find Tia Juana and try to obtain +possession of the Lost Souls lease. You know how the map was stolen +from me in the beginning, but I am not sure yet that I have been +beaten?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" Willa asked. "And why do you think that your news +about the sale of the well concerns me closely?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have only one answer to both questions," rejoined Thode. "Knowing +Starr Wiley, I believe that trickery and fraud are at the bottom of his +acquisition of the well, and it concerns you because your cousin, +Ripley Halstead, has invested a large part of your inheritance in it. +If fraud is connected with the transaction by which Wiley gained +possession of it, I mean to expose him on this count as well as his +conspiracy against you. I had set my heart on the Lost Souls venture, +like an over-confident young fool! I even wrote to my employer after +you had gone and I discovered that Tia Juana was Juana Reyes, the owner +of the Pool, that I had only to find her to win her consent——" +</P> + +<P> +"You wrote——what?" Willa rose slowly to her feet, her rich color +ebbing. +</P> + +<P> +"I wrote that except for Trevino, the Mexican who sold her the lease, +no one there knew her real name, and it wouldn't matter to them if they +did.—They wouldn't have connected old Tia Juana, of that tumble-down +shack in the zapote grove, with the Juana Reyes who could afford to buy +the Trevino hacienda, you see. I also said, if I remember, that she +was the undoubted owner of almost boundless wealth and when I had gone +after her and won her consent to selling a half-interest in the Pool +itself——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Willa cried, wincing as if he had struck her a blow. "You wrote +that about Tia Juana! And I—I—oh, how blind I was! How wickedly, +cruelly blind!" +</P> + +<P> +"Now it is I who do not understand." He shrugged. "What does it +matter, anyway? I never succeeded in finding Tia Juana or in something +else which was of even more moment to me. Gentleman Geoff trusted me, +however, and I have fulfilled that trust. Now I am free to take up my +own fight again." +</P> + +<P> +Willa held out her hand timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"You will allow me to wish you luck, even if I may not thank you?" she +asked. "I—I have much to explain and you much to forgive, but we +shall meet again in Mexico." +</P> + +<P> +He bowed formally. +</P> + +<P> +"It appears to be inevitable. Fate seems to compel me to ignore your +request that I obliterate myself from the scene," he added whimsically. +"I will try not to intrude upon you more than I must, however, Miss +Murdaugh." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" she responded softly. "In spite of my blindness and your pride, +fate seems to have appointed you to the permanent job of knight-errant +to the maiden in distress, hasn't it, Mr. Duenna?" +</P> + +<P> +When the door had closed behind him, she stood quite still in the +middle of the floor where he had left her. That letter, that +portentous letter which Angie had spitefully put into her willing, +credulous hands had referred to Tia Juana, not to herself. How plain +it all was, now, and how ruthlessly, unjustly she had driven him from +her! And he? He had repaid her flouting of him by tireless devotion +and a measureless service! Ah, but she would make amends! +</P> + +<P> +Then a whimsical, tender light flooded her face. Cinderella had come +into her own again; the prince had found her and fitted on the slipper +just when she had been most sure that he had gone from her forever! He +was a very haughty and hurt and angry prince, to be sure, but there had +been that in his eyes which told her that she might win him back +despite the bitter misunderstanding. The old fairy tale was coming +true, after all! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LOST SOULS' TREASURE +</H3> + +<P> +On a certain bright February morning Ben Hallock puffed up the Calle +Rivera and across the plaza of Limasito as fast as his battered jitney +could carry him and rushed into Baggott's hotel with an anticipatory +gleam in his heavy eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Jim! I got your message and I come a-hummin'!" he announced. +"What is it? Vigilance Committee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sort of!" Jim Baggott fairly pranced from behind the bar, his round +face shining with excitement. "Here's a gentleman from New York, old +friend of yours." +</P> + +<P> +Ben Hallock turned to find himself facing an elderly personage with an +impressively pointed gray beard and keen eyes behind gold-rimmed +pince-nez. +</P> + +<P> +"Jumping Jehosaphet! If it ain't Perry Larkin!" Ben pumped the +stranger's hand energetically. "Mighty glad to see you, Sir! Your +engineer, Kearn Thode, called on me last fall; fine young feller he is, +too! You heard about what he did when El Negrito came?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Hallock, but I'm even more proud of him to-day!" The keen eyes +sparkled. "I want you to meet a—er—a confrère of mine, Mr. +Morrissey." +</P> + +<P> +Honest Dan, late taxi'-driver and amateur detective, purpled with +embarrassment as he rose and shook hands, but his eyes, too, were +dancing. +</P> + +<P> +Ben nodded to Henry Bailey, his ranch neighbor and the only other +occupant of the bar, and then turned again to Jim Baggott. +</P> + +<P> +"Now perhaps you'll tell me what in thunder the racket is about! I'd +have come to meet Mr. Larkin without you hinting at a lynchin' party!" +</P> + +<P> +"Just you say what you'll have and hold your horses!" Jim chuckled. +"I'm acting under instructions, the same that brought Mr. Larkin and +this-here young man down from New York, and Hen Bailey in from his +hacienda; the orders of Gentleman Geoff's Billie, by God!" +</P> + +<P> +"Billie! She ain't—you don't mean she's comin' back?" Ben cried +joyfully. "I told you she wasn't the kind to forget her old friends in +spite of the grand life she's walked into! I knew she'd come back to +see us——" +</P> + +<P> +"It is business which brings her now, Hallock, and grim business, too," +Mr. Larkin interposed. "She wanted you and Henry here as her friends +and witnesses, and there's apt to be a rather ugly scene." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean she's coming right now, that she's here?" Ben Hallock +touched his hip significantly. "I've come heeled for any kind of a +little party that's liable to be sprung, but I little thought Billie'd +be mixed up in it. What's the matter? Anybody been tryin' to stack +the cards on her?" +</P> + +<P> +"The dirtiest, crookedest game that was ever pulled!" Jim smote the +bar a blow which made the glasses tinkle. "But she'll beat 'em to it +yet, or she wouldn't be Gentleman Geoff's girl! She ain't here now, +but we expect her any minute and when she comes the fun'll start." +</P> + +<P> +As if in answer the hum and whirr of two high-powered motors chugging +in unison stole upon the air and rapidly increased in volume. Ben +craned his neck from the window and then turned disappointedly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's only that Lost Souls crowd!" he grunted. "Jim, if anything in +the line of a fracas starts here, you'll lose that passel of swell +boarders of yours! Can you see them women when the shootin' commences?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're in on it, too!" Jim grinned. "Not the women-folk, but the +men, and more especially our fine young friend, Starr Wiley." +</P> + +<P> +"Something to do with the Lost Souls——" +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up, quick!" Jim advanced from behind the bar with an almost +comic air of ceremony as the motor party trooped in at the door and +headed for the stairs. Perry Larkin squared his pince-nez and +recognized Mrs. Ripley Halstead and her daughter, Angelica, while +behind them appeared seven men; Halstead himself, his son, Vernon, +Starr Wiley, Harrington Chase, Mason North and his son, Winthrop, and a +stranger whom a second glance revealed as Cranmore, the Mexican +representative of the Chase-Wiley interests. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but we've been waiting for you!" Jim +Baggott began in the voice of a showman. "I'll have to ask you +gentlemen to step this way, all of you. It's a real-pressing little +matter of business you're all concerned in, and the ladies can come, +too, if they feel like it. There'll be more ladies present shortly." +</P> + +<P> +Wondering, the whole party crowded into the room, and, recognizing +Perry Larkin, greeted him with varying degrees of cordiality. Jim +bustled about, setting chairs for them, and in the general confusion +none noted that a little group of men in uniform had issued from a door +behind the bar and taken up their stations at the windows and entrance. +The last comers were in two divisions; the ornate ones, stocky and +swarthy for the most part, the soberly attired, taller and stalwart +with the paler hue of the North. +</P> + +<P> +Starr Wiley was the first to observe their presence, and he uttered a +stifled oath. +</P> + +<P> +"These are just extra witnesses," Jim explained blandly. "They're here +to represent the United States Federal Government and also Mexico. You +see, this-here little matter has what you might call an international +aspect.—Did you speak, Mr. Wiley?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to, when you've finished shooting off fireworks!" that +gentleman blustered. "What's the meaning of this, anyway? What sort +of trumped-up game are you——?" +</P> + +<P> +"Steady, Starr." Ripley Halstead interposed quietly, and turned to the +proprietor. "Will you state the nature of this meeting to which you +have called us, Mr. Baggott? We are waiting to learn." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm waiting, too!" confessed Jim. "I've got my orders—gosh almighty! +Here she comes!" +</P> + +<P> +Unheard, a single touring-car had slipped across the plaza and halted +before the entrance. A slim, girlish, heavily-veiled figure alighted, +and at sight of the men who accompanied her, Starr Wiley emitted a +second oath. +</P> + +<P> +They paused in the doorway and with a sudden movement the girl tore off +her veil. There was a moment of electrified silence, broken by a +little cry from Angie. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Willa!—That impostor, I mean——" +</P> + +<P> +"No!" Kearn Thode, the second of the newcomers, advanced to Mason +North. "You were appointed the guardian of Willa Murdaugh, were you +not, Mr. North? I have brought her back to you, with proof of her +absolute identity." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my soul!" The rotund little man advanced with shining eyes, and +seized the girl's hands. "I am overwhelmed, my dear girl, delighted! +And you have proof, you say? What an amazingly fortunate turn of +affairs!" +</P> + +<P> +No one echoed him for a moment. The Halsteads sat stunned, and +Harrington Chase, his face a greenish gray, had slumped in his chair. +Only Starr Wiley, his eyes glittering and a sinister sneer curling his +thin lips, looked on imperturbably. Winthrop North gasped. Then he +hurried forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Good work, Kearn! Oh, Willa!" His voice broke as he took her hands +from his father's and wrung them hard. "Our trails have crossed again, +and it has been 'good luck' indeed!" +</P> + +<P> +Ripley Halstead had risen, and his wife made a tentative movement to +follow his example. Vernon, too, recovered himself and advanced +eagerly, but Willa waved them back and took her place before the bar. +</P> + +<P> +"This is quite a reunion, isn't it?" She smiled, but there was a grim +menace behind it. "I'm glad you're all here, for I've got a story to +tell you that I shouldn't care to tell twice. It goes back to before a +lot of you ever knew me, but you'll find it interesting enough, for it +concerns you all as well as me; you, and the Pool of the Lost Souls." +</P> + +<P> +She leaned back with one elbow resting upon the bar and her other hand +in the pocket of her traveling-coat and surveyed them one by one, her +expression unchanging. No one stirred and after a moment she went on: +</P> + +<P> +"I have asked my old friends, my real friends, to meet me here that +they, too, may learn the truth. Most of you have heard the legend of +the Lost Souls' Pool; Mr. Larkin heard it from Ben Hallock and sent +Kearn Thode down here to find it, if he could. Mr. Chase also learned +it, and his partner came on the same errand, but I had the story from +the lineal descendant of the first Spanish owner, and the one person in +the world who knew where it was located, Juana Reyes. In her youth she +married a cousin of the same name, and her only relative living now is +her crippled grandson, José. My foster father scoffed at the truth of +the legend, but I had faith in Tia Juana's knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +"When El Negrito, the butcher, came down from the hills on his +murderous raid and killed Dad among the rest, I learned that his visit +had been prearranged and paid for by a white man. He had been hired to +burn and rape and slay in order to evoke United States intervention, by +a man in this room!" +</P> + +<P> +"By God——" Jim Baggott leaped to his feet, and Henry Bailey and Ben +Hallock emitted a simultaneous roar of rage; but she silenced them. +</P> + +<P> +"The government men are here as much to protect him as to see that he +does not escape, and hard as it is we must let the law take its +course." She spoke with frank regret, but her steady, significant +smile never wavered. "In Dad's name I dedicated my life to getting +that man. I had a witness to prove his conspiracy, but I wanted to +play a lone hand. Nothing else mattered, nothing else has ever +mattered! +</P> + +<P> +"When the Blue Chip was sold and Jim Baggott handed over the money to +me I knew it wouldn't be enough; if I was to beat the man at his own +game I must be able to match finances as well as wits. I thought then +of the Pool of the Lost Souls and the fabulous profits to be made from +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Three days before Mr. North came to Limasito I took Tia Juana away, +and she guided me to the Pool. It had been passed over by the +searchers for generations, but she possessed an old map of its true +location. I bought the Pool with the money from the sale of the Blue +Chip, recorded it in her name with the Notary at Victoria and gave her +a half interest. All she cared about, anyway, was the home of her +ancestors. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Mr. North brought the news of my inheritance. I didn't want it +at first, as he can tell you. The name and the money meant little to +me until I realized that they would be useful to my plan. They mean +less to me now that my purpose has been achieved, but since they are +mine and have been wrested from me by fraud I claim them—if only to +trample them under my feet, if I choose. +</P> + +<P> +"I realized that the name would carry me into the very inner circle of +the man I was after, the man who had murdered Dad, and the money would +help when I could exercise unlimited control of it. That was the only +reason I consented to go to New York, and my ultimate purpose never +wavered. +</P> + +<P> +"I had no detailed plan, but I meant to keep Tia Juana and the fact +that I possessed the Lost Souls' Pool under cover until I had come into +my full inheritance, when I would return and fight the man to the +finish. Mr. North never knew that Tia Juana and José accompanied us to +New York, although he did complain of my frequent disappearances en +route, I remember." +</P> + +<P> +Mason North sputtered. +</P> + +<P> +"So do I! But why did you not tell me all, my dear? I might have +helped you——" +</P> + +<P> +"And taken the whole thing out of my hands?" Willa shook her head, +still smiling. "The man was my meat, Mr. North! Vengeance may be the +Lord's, but it was sweet to me, too, and I meant to taste it to the +last morsel! +</P> + +<P> +"The man was one of those who were still searching for the Lost Souls' +Pool. After our departure he possessed himself by violence of the map +which Tia Juana had only partly destroyed, located the Pool, learned of +its new owner and started out to find her. He knew that I was her one +friend, and suspected that I was back of the purchase. Before +following me to New York, therefore, he made a journey West, of which +I'll tell you more later, or rather Mr. Thode will. +</P> + +<P> +"When he did finally appear in New York, he tried by every means in his +power to force me to a confession of my knowledge of Tia Juana's +whereabouts; he spied upon me and I removed her to new quarters just in +time. He flattered and cajoled me, and, when that failed, resorted to +vague threats. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Tia Juana disappeared. She vanished from the home I had found +for her, leaving no trace, and I feared that the man had abducted her, +to coerce her into making the Pool over to him, until I met him outside +the house from which she had gone. He accused me of having spirited +her away to keep her out of his reach and demanded that I produce her +in three days, or he would strip me of my position and name and +inheritance, seeing me driven forth as an impostor! That man is Starr +Wiley, and you know how he carried out his threat!" +</P> + +<P> +Wiley made a sudden convulsive leap for the window, but paused +transfixed at her significant gesture. The government officials had +closed in about him, but he saw only the girl before the bar and the +pointed bulge in her cloak, beneath her hidden hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Better not try it, Starr Wiley, although I almost wish you would!" +Her voice rang out in the suddenly stayed tumult. "I've had you +covered from the first, and I'll drop you with a shot through my pocket +if you make another move! The rest of you know only what he has done +to me, but you shall hear how he has served you, too! +</P> + +<P> +"I left the Halstead house, and then by a miracle Tia Juana was +restored to me. After her disappearance little José remembered her +interest in a conversation between her landlady and a friend concerning +some Spanish gypsies who had settled in squatters' cabins north of the +city, and conceiving the idea that she had joined them, he slipped away +to find her. He succeeded, although how she ever reached her +destination we cannot know, for she was bewildered and lost her mind, +temporarily enfeebled. José, as a vender of tomales, established +himself near the garage where I kept my car, hoping to attract the +attention of my chauffeur, Dan Morrissey here, who had helped me all +through that trying time and whom José knew he could trust. +</P> + +<P> +"Once he was frightened away, but the second time he succeeded and Dan +brought him to me. I took Tia Juana away to another city, but she was +ill for a long time. When I could leave her, I placed her and José in +the care of Dan's sister whom I summoned from New York, and went West +myself to disprove Starr Wiley's story if I could. +</P> + +<P> +"I found a witness who can swear to my identity as the daughter of +Ralph and Violet Murdaugh and prove it by a scar I bear from the fire +which cost my mother her life, but Mr. Thode, unknown to me, had gone +West also in my interest and his efforts were even more successful than +mine.—Will you show them, please, what you obtained in Arizona?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned to Kearn Thode, who drew forth a folded paper which he +handed to Mason North. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a confession, signed and witnessed, from the forger Starr Wiley +employed to manufacture that false article of adoption," he announced. +"The child who died in the trapper's cabin was his own daughter and it +was Willa Murdaugh who went on with Gentleman Geoff. I did not know +until this morning the whole story of the Lost Souls' Pool transaction, +but I suspected it. Starr Wiley had a strong motive for getting Miss +Murdaugh out of the way if she did not prove amenable to his schemes, +and he provided himself with a strong weapon, but he overlooked one +salient point. I happened to know Gentleman Geoff's last name, I +learned it from his own lips as he lay dying, and it was not +Abercrombie." +</P> + +<P> +"After I left New York," Willa took up the story, "Starr Wiley came +down here, registered a deed of sale, signed by Tia Juana, giving him +possession of the Lost Souls' Pool and proceeded with his partner to +develop it and float it on the market. I believe Mr. Thode tried to +warn Mr. North through his son not to go into it, but unfortunately for +him, Mr. North would not heed, and he and Mr. Halstead invested +heavily. I say 'unfortunately,' for the money is lost! Gentlemen, +Juana Reyes and I still own that property. Starr Wiley—and in this +his partner, Harrington Chase, is equally guilty with him—had induced +a poor ignorant old Mexican woman, Rosa Mendez, to sign the name of +Juana Reyes to the bill of sale, copying it from the original signature +in the registry. He thought the trick which had served him so well in +Arizona could be safely repeated, but I have Rosa Mendez upstairs at +this moment, together with the real Juana Reyes and José. Shall I call +them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!" shrieked Starr Wiley. "I will not face that old hag! What's +the use? You've got the goods on me! It's all true, all of it except +that I instigated El Negrito's raid! That I never——" +</P> + +<P> +"It was Tia Juana herself who witnessed your secret negotiations with +Juan de Soria, El Negrito's agent!" Willa interposed swiftly. "It's +been a fair fight, Starr Wiley, for I warned you once, but you have +played directly into my hands. I've paid my debt to Dad, but you have +yet to meet the penalty. For your crime against me, and those you have +victimized in the Lost Souls venture you will not live to make +restitution; you know what awaits you for summoning El Negrito down +from the hills!" +</P> + +<P> +For an instant Wiley cowered, shuddering. Then with a supreme effort +he straightened and turned to his guards. +</P> + +<P> +"Take me out of this!" he demanded hoarsely, through white lips. "I'm +through! Take me away!" +</P> + +<P> +With a scream Angie flung herself forward, but he put her aside as if +in a dream and marched out with his guards on either side and his eyes +fixed straight ahead over the abyss of the future. Muttering and +cursing, Harrington Chase was led after him from the room, and for a +space there was silence. +</P> + +<P> +Ripley Halstead sat as though turned to stone, his wife had collapsed +in her chair and Mason North's head was buried in his hands. Winthrop +with his arm across his father's shoulders met Vernon's dazed eyes and +with one accord they turned to Willa. +</P> + +<P> +Her quiet, set, terrible smile was unchanged, but her face had blanched +and with an effort she motioned to Jim Baggott. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim, do you remember what happened in Manzanillo away over on the West +Coast ten years ago when you were pay clerk for the Colima-Zamora +Company and a man stuck you up in broad daylight?" +</P> + +<P> +"I sure do!" Jim returned. "I shot him in the head!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in but across," observed Willa. "You left your mark on him from +brow to ear, only you didn't recognize it while he was here under your +own roof." +</P> + +<P> +"What!" Jim's eyes were fairly starting from his head. "That feller +was a swindling promoter down on his luck; he broke jail afterward, I +heard. His name was Harry Carter." +</P> + +<P> +"It used to be, but now it is Harrington Chase." +</P> + +<P> +The smile faded at last, and Willa swayed suddenly, catching at the bar +for support. Jim Baggott sprang for her, but Thode reached her side +first, and for a moment she clung to him. Then she raised herself +indomitably upright once more. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not easy to hate, after all!" she murmured. "If it were not for +the memory of Dad I could find it in my heart to forgive." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTO HER OWN +</H3> + +<P> +Spring was well advanced and the Casa de Limas was a veritable paradise +of tender virginal green and delicate mystically perfumed blossoms, +when Willa, a frail shadow of herself, ventured for the first time to +the veranda, on Sallie Bailey's sturdy arm. +</P> + +<P> +The protracted strain and final tragedy of her triumph had proved too +much for even her robust vitality, and when the news came that Starr +Wiley had killed himself in his garrison prison rather than face the +firing squad, the inevitable collapse occurred. +</P> + +<P> +For weeks she had lain helpless and inert with a low fever sapping her +last ounce of strength and no incentive to take up her life again, +until one day she had chanced to overhear a remark of Sallie Bailey's +which brought a new light and glow to her world. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare!" announced Sallie to her husband. "I don't know what to +say to that young Thode every day when he comes ridin' in with his +heart in his eyes to ask if she's better. I never see such devotion in +my born days! He's worn to a shadder with the worry over her, and it +hurts, I can tell you, to send him away lookin' like I'd hit him a blow +when I tell him there's no change. Love's a pretty-fierce thing +sometimes, ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Love! Willa buried her face in the pillow and a little creeping warmth +stole through her veins. It was good to be alive, after all. +</P> + +<P> +But he was still ignorant of the truth about that letter! At the +thought Willa's heart contracted and the quick, scalding tears of +weakness came to her eyes. He still believed that she had wantonly led +him on and trampled him beneath her feet in sheer joy of conquest. Oh, +she must become strong enough to tell him how sorry she was, to make +amends! +</P> + +<P> +Now as she lay back in her chair, awaiting his coming in the cool of +the soft spring evening, the events of the past few months seemed very +far away and unreal, almost as though they might have been a dream born +of her fever. She could scarcely believe that she had ever left +Limasito; the climacteric weeks in New York, the trip to Topaz Gulch +and the later scene in Jim Baggott's hotel had alike faded into a +vague, nebulous shadow without substance or coherence, and she herself +seemed drifting.… +</P> + +<P> +Again it was Sallie who brought her back to earth with a matter-of-fact +remark. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't s'pose you know, or care either, that the Lost Souls is +producin' thousands of barrels a day since they struck that gusher. +You'll never miss the stock now that you gave to Mr. North and them +Halsteads to make up for what they lost on their own hook in the fake +company, though I did think you were a little fool at the time, Billie. +Served 'em good and right after the way they treated you." +</P> + +<P> +Willa shook her head wearily. +</P> + +<P> +"They were pretty decent, Sallie, and both Ripley Halstead and Mr. +North were always kind. I couldn't have let them suffer for a +mistake.—How is Tia Juana? You must let me see her the next time she +comes." +</P> + +<P> +Sallie chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"She's buildin' a chapel to the lost souls who was drowned in that +pool, and she's bought a big, bright-yeller automobile! José's +learning from Dan how to drive it for her, when Dan gets time enough +off from his work with Mr. Thode. Since you gave him that stock in the +new Murdaugh-Reyes Company you can't hardly pry Dan Morrissey loose +from the oil business to eat.—Say, honey!" Her tone dropped +persuasively. "There's something that's not quite clear in my mind +yet. I've been bursting to ask you, but you were too sick. Where does +young Mr. Thode come in on this and how did you find out that old Rosa +Mendez was the one who signed Tia Juana's name to that false deed?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't. It was Mr. Thode who found that out for me," Willa +explained. "You see, when I met him out in Topaz Gulch I told him I +was coming down here and he said he'd be here, too; his presence would +have been necessary, anyway, to prove that I was really Willa Murdaugh. +Dan's sister was taking care of Tia Juana and José for me in +Philadelphia, where those who were fighting me wouldn't think of +searching. +</P> + +<P> +"When I settled up my affairs out West, I wired Dan, and he brought Tia +Juana and José down to Victoria to meet me. There I found Mr. Thode +again. He had suspected trickery and fraud in connection with the +making over of the lease, and when the Notary Public described the +woman who had appeared before him as Tia Juana with—with Starr +Wiley——" Her voice sank at mention of the name which had cast such a +shadow over her for many days. "Mr. Thode knew it was an impostor. He +realized that Wiley would not have selected a woman from either +Victoria or Limasito to play the part for she might have been +recognized, so he scouted around in the neighborhood of the Lost Souls' +Pool itself, and found that a poor, old, half-witted creature, who had +lived all her days in a wretched hovel near the Trevino hacienda, had +suddenly come into money from a mysterious source, and moved away. +That was Rosa Mendez. +</P> + +<P> +"When he talked to her closest associates in the poor quarter where she +lived, Mr. Thode found that Rosa had had a fair education, but all the +money she could earn or scrape together went for hootch." +</P> + +<P> +"I remember her from the time we lived out that way," Sallie remarked. +"I hired her to help in the cook-house when we had extra hands on for +the pickin', and she stole all the pots she could carry off." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Thode found out, too, that for the last few days before she went +away she shut herself up in her hut and wouldn't let anybody in, but +one of the neighbor women peeped in through a window, and saw her +writing something over and over on scraps of paper and burning them +carefully in the stove." Willa went on. "That must have been Tia +Juana's signature. Then when he heard that she was seen talking to a +man who answered to Wiley's description, he was sure. He traced her to +Palmillas and when he confronted her she broke down and confessed +without a show of fight. He brought her back to Victoria and was +waiting for me when I came." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a smart one!" Sallie vociferated admiringly. "You'd go far, +Billie, to find a regular he-man in all that crowd you've been +traveling with that could beat him! But you might have let me in on +that party over to Baggott's! He sent hot-foot for Hen, but little I +thought you was in it or I'd have come, invite or no! How'd you fix +that up?" +</P> + +<P> +"I sent Tia Juana and José and Rosa Mendez on ahead to confront the +others if necessary——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and they tried to kill each other all the way down——old Rosa +and Tia Juana, I mean," interrupted the other. "Them Federal officers +told Hen they'd rather have had charge o' two wild cats! Them and the +other government fellers got there while that bunch o' robbers was out +on a trip inspecting the oil well." +</P> + +<P> +Willa nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew they'd return that morning, and I arranged the affair with Jim +Baggott and the officials. It was a terrible business, Sallie, and I +wanted to get it all over with at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you did it!" Sallie chuckled. "You took the wind out o' the +sails o' them relatives o' your'n, too. They've been milling around +these parts like nothin' was good enough for 'em, and it give 'em a +pain to hear your name mentioned, but it was different after you showed +up with your powder-blast, I can fell you! When they found you was +goin' to let byegones be byegones, and give 'em a chance to get back +the money they'd lost, it would have done you good to see the way they +came around here, trying to do something for their dear young relation!" +</P> + +<P> +Willa smiled faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I might have seen my cousins before they went North." +</P> + +<P> +Sallie endeavored to maintain a discreet silence, but the effort proved +too much for her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you ask me, you're just as well off! The menfolks may be all +right, but that Mrs. Halstead wouldn't have let you call your soul your +own; wanted me to put ice-bags on you and all manner of outlandish +things, and told me to my face that my house wasn't sanitary! I soon +sent her about her business.—There! I declare if that +good-for-nothin' Chevalita isn't callin' me again!" +</P> + +<P> +She retired precipitately into the house, and her ruse was apparent; +her quick ears had caught, not the voice of her criada, but the sound +of a pinto's hoofs on the road, and she recognized its portent as did +the girl in the shadows. +</P> + +<P> +A pale young moon had risen, and in its light the drive lay like a +curving white ribbon, the approaching figures of pony and man melting +together, yet sharply distinct. Willa waited until the rider had +dismounted, then bolstered herself upright and held out a thin little +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Willa! It is really you, at last!" +</P> + +<P> +He sank down on the steps beside her and somehow forgot to relinquish +her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is really I!" she smiled. "Mrs. Bailey told me of your +never-failing calls and inquiries. You have been very kind——" +</P> + +<P> +"Kind? Did you think that I could help myself, that I could have +stayed away?" He broke off, his voice hoarse with pent-up feeling. +"Forgive me! I did not mean to annoy you again, but the sight of you +after so many days, lying here so white and frail and crushed——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not!" She laughed nervously. "But you don't annoy me! I love to +hear you say that you have wanted to see me, that you could not stay +away!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't, please!" He turned away with a gesture of pain. "Don't +play with me again, Willa, girl! I can't quite bear it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Kearn!" her voice thrilled, low and surpassingly sweet in his ears. +"I never played with you, never! I told you in Topaz Gulch that I had +much to explain and you much to forgive. I was deliberately misled, my +mind poisoned against you, but the fault was mine, in being so easily +influenced against the real truth. I knew it in my heart, but I was in +such a maze of difficulties and cross-purposes that I did not know +which way to turn, and I shut my ears to the dictates of my own belief. +Do you remember that night in the conservatory?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am not likely to forget it." His tones were shaking and he had +turned his head away. +</P> + +<P> +"Someone was listening, someone who hated us both, and acting under the +impulse of a blind infatuation, had become a tool in stronger, more +ruthless hands. When I reached home that night, a letter in your +handwriting was put before me; a letter which seemed to prove that +you—you had known before ever Mr. North came to Limasito who I was and +that you had planned to marry me.—Oh, can't you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"A letter in my handwriting?" he repeated slowly. "It could not be——" +</P> + +<P> +"But it was!" Willa laughed, but there was a little running sob +through her words. "You told me the truth about it yourself, out in +Topaz Gulch." +</P> + +<P> +"I?" Thode turned to her, amazed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Don't you remember the letter you wrote to Mr. Larkin, telling +him you had found Tia Juana, but nobody knew who she really was—her +last name, I mean—and it wouldn't matter if they did? A page of that +very letter with the top torn off was put in my hands and as you didn't +mention Tia Juana by name I thought it referred to me. That was the +inference I was supposed to gather from it, and like a credulous little +fool I believed! The bottom of the page ended with: 'She is the +undoubted owner of almost boundless wealth and when I have gone after +her, and won her consent——'" +</P> + +<P> +"Good heavens, of course!" Thode jumped to his feet. "I remember it +all now. That was one of the letters that was stolen from Larkin's +desk by a clerk we found to be in the secret employ of Chase and Wiley! +They'd corrupted him in an effort to keep tabs on the progress we were +making down here. We didn't prosecute him because of the notoriety, +but we made him leave the East when we discovered his operations. It +never occurred to me that any of the stolen letters could be put to +such a use!" +</P> + +<P> +"Or that I could be so ready to believe the worst of you?" she asked +sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"You! My poor little Willa!" He dropped on his knees beside her chair +and gathered her hands again in his. "I thought you were heartless, +intoxicated with admiration and trying your power wilfully on everyone +who came within your reach. Half the men in your set were at your +feet, and it drove me a little mad, I think! And all the time you were +beset by enemies, making your brave fight alone, and even our +friendship turned to something low and base! Oh, my dear, I have +nothing to forgive, but there is much that I must teach you to forget." +</P> + +<P> +"Unworthy things are soon forgotten!" She gazed with shining eyes into +his. "Only the real, true, beautiful things remain, Kearn, and +they—why, they are all before us!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked away, straight ahead of him into the moon-lit darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"When I come back," he said. "Much has happened while you lay ill, +dear. We've gone into the big fight at last, we're going to help set +the world free from barbarism, and I must do my share. I ran up to New +York long enough to get a commission again in my old regiment, and I'm +listed to sail for France with the first army the government sends. I +couldn't stay behind, Willa; I'm sure you wouldn't have me wait when +the call has come." +</P> + +<P> +"No," Willa responded quietly; "I wouldn't. Not for all the world must +you miss your chance to help. It's a sacred privilege, Kearn. I +shouldn't wonder if all of us, men and women, will have to put our +shoulder to the wheel, but if we can only help to get the world out of +this hideous rut of wholesale oppression and savagery it will be +gloriously worth it all. No, I wouldn't keep you back if I could, but +I'm glad, somehow, to feel that I couldn't, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"And you will be with my sister," he reminded her. "She's coming +to-morrow, you know, to take you back with her as soon as you are able +to travel. She liked you from the start, dear, and when I tell her +what is going to be, some day, she will take you quite to her heart." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be so glad to see her again!" Willa sighed happily. "It is +dear of her to offer to take me into her home. The Ripley Halsteads +suggested, of course, that I should go back to them, but I couldn't +think of it! It would recall too much that I must try to forget, and +poor Angie's face would give me no peace. I know that in her heart she +must blame me still for the tragic end of her romance." +</P> + +<P> +"Angie is no longer there," Kearn remarked. "She is taking a +nursing-course in some hospital, preparatory for work in France, and +Vernon writes me that she seems earnest and sincere for the first time +in her life. Verne himself is off for Plattsburg, and Winthrop North +is already across the water, driving an ambulance on the western front. +My sister will put you to rolling bandages as soon as you can lift your +hands. Life is getting pretty serious for all of us." +</P> + +<P> +"And wonderful, too," Willa amended. "It is as if we were all just +finding ourselves, isn't it? As if this supreme struggle were to bring +out all our hidden strength, the deepest, most-enduring, best part of +us!—And isn't it strange, too, that I should be going to make my home +with your sister, after all? That was what you first suggested to +me—do you remember?—when you thought me just Gentleman Geoff's +Billie, before ever Mr. North came." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear." He pressed his lips to her hand. "Everything works out +all right in time. And when I come back——" +</P> + +<P> +"There is every indication that I'll be over myself before then, +nursing or something. I'm not the kind to sit at home when there's +work to be done. But, Kearn——?" +</P> + +<P> +"What, Billie?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mean to complain, for everyone has been wonderfully good to me +since I was a wee bit of a thing, but do you suppose anyone was ever +more buffeted about by Fate than I? Orphaned and thrown out upon the +world at four, orphaned again last year, made an heiress, then an +outcast, and finally reinstated again! I—I'm getting awfully tired of +not really belonging to anyone!" She drew a deep breath. "Kearn, +dear, do you suppose you could manage to marry me before you go to war?" +</P> + +<P> +"You darling!" He hugged her close, pillows and all. "I didn't dare +ask you that now, but, oh, I wanted to! If I could feel that you +really did belong to me, dear, I'd go with a far-lighter heart and +surer courage to meet whatever comes, and with ten times the strength, +too, for I should go to fight for my own!—And then, you are such a +changeling, you know! I love Willa Murdaugh, but I have always loved +Gentleman Geoff's Billie since the day I met her coming from the Blue +Chip, and I think that I love her best, after all! Gentleman Geoff's +Billie, <I>my</I> Billie, will you be my wife, soon, <I>soon</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause, while a little breeze stirred the starry, +perfume-laden branches about them, shimmering mistily in the moon's +haze. Then, far away, a night bird called eagerly, tenderly to its +mate, and Willa lifted tired, happy arms and placed them about the head +bent above her, drawing it down. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you were never, in all the world, going to ask me!" she +sighed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIFTH ACE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23885-h.txt or 23885-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23885">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/8/8/23885</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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