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diff --git a/24910-h/24910-h.htm b/24910-h/24910-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1299311 --- /dev/null +++ b/24910-h/24910-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7513 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Last Woman, by Ross Beeckman</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + hr.c3 {width: 65%;} + hr.c7 {width: 45%;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .chapsec {font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps; text-align: center;} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} +.font110 {font-size: 110%;} +.small {font-size: 90%;} +.toc {margin-left: 15%;} +.left50 {margin-left: 50%;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Last Woman, by Ross Beeckman, Illustrated +by Howard Chandler Christy</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 Last Woman</p> +<p>Author: Ross Beeckman</p> +<p>Release Date: March 24, 2008 [eBook #24910]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST WOMAN***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Hélène de Mink,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2>THE LAST WOMAN</h2> + +<h3>COVER</h3> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" +height="630" alt="COVER" title="" /></div> + +<h3>FRONTISPIECE</h3> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="400" +height="604" alt="FRONTISPIECE" title="" /></div> + +<h1>THE LAST WOMAN</h1> +<p class="p4 center"><strong>by</strong></p> +<p class="p4 center font110"><strong>ROSS BEECKMAN</strong></p> +<p class="p4 center">AUTHOR OF<br /> +<strong>"Princess Zara"</strong></p> +<p class="p4 center small">FRONTISPIECE BY<br /> +<strong>HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY</strong></p> + +<p class="p4 center">NEW YORK<br /> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p class="p4 center small"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1909—by<br /> +W. J. WATT & COMPANY<br /> +<i>Published August</i></p> + +<p class="p6 center"><i>THE THEME</i></p> +<p class="p2 center"><i>If I could have my dearest wish fulfilled,</i><br /> +<i>And take my choice of all earth's treasures, too,</i><br /> +<i>And ask of Heaven whatsoe'er I willed—</i><br /> +<i>I'd ask for you.</i></p> +<p class="p2 center"><i>There is more joy to my true, loving heart,</i><br /> +<i>In everything you think, or say, or do,</i><br /> +<i>Than all the joys of Heaven could e'er impart,</i><br /> +<i>Because—it's YOU.</i></p> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a></h2> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p class="toc"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">THE PRICE</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">ONE WOMAN WHO DARED</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">A STRANGE BETROTHAL</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">THE BOX AT THE OPERA</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">BEATRICE BRUNSWICK'S PLOT</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">A REMARKABLE MEETING</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE BITTERNESS OF JEALOUSY</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">BETWEEN DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">PATRICIA'S COWBOY LOVER</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">MONDAY, THE THIRTEENTH</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">MORTON'S ULTIMATUM</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">THE QUARREL</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">SALLY'S GARDNER'S PLAN</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">PATRICIA'S WILD RIDE</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">ALMOST A TRAGEDY</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">THE AUTOMOBILE WRECK</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CROSS PURPOSES AT CEDARCREST</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">MYSTERIES BORN IN THE NIGHT</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">RODERICK DUNCAN SEES LIGHT</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">THE LAST WOMAN</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">THE REASON WHY</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">THE MYSTERY</a><br /> +<a href="#BOOKS1">BOOKS ON NATURE STUDY BY CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS</a><br /> +<a href="#BOOKS2">FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS</a><br /></p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr class="c3 p4" /> + +<h2>THE LAST WOMAN</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE PRICE</b></p> +<p class="p2">The old man, grim of visage, hard of feature and keen of eye, was seated +at one side of the table that occupied the middle of the floor in his +private office. He held the tips of his fingers together, and leaned +back in his chair, with an unlighted cigar gripped firmly in his jaws. +He seemed perturbed and troubled, if one could get behind that stoical +mask which a life in Wall street inevitably produces; but anyone who +knew the man and was aware of the great wealth he possessed would never +have supposed that any perturbation on the part of Stephen Langdon could +arise from financial difficulties. And could his most severe critics +have looked in upon the scene, and have seen it as it existed at that +moment, they would unhesitatingly have said that the source of his +discomfiture, if discomfiture there were, was the queenly young woman +who stood at the opposite side of the table, facing him.</p> + +<p>She was Patricia Langdon, sometimes, though rarely, addressed as Pat by +her father; but he alone dared make use of the cognomen, since she +invariably frowned upon such familiarities, even from him.</p> + +<p>In private, among the women with whom she associated, she was frequently +referred to as Juno; and when she was discussed by the gossips at the +clubs, as she frequently was (for there are no greater nests of gossip +in the world than the men's clubs of New York City), she was always +Juno. There was a double and subtle purpose in both cases; one felt it +rather a dangerous proceeding to speak criticizingly of Patricia +Langdon, lest somehow what was said should get to her ears. She was one +who knew how to retaliate, and to do so quickly. She was like a man in +that she feared nothing, and hesitated at nothing, so long as she knew +it to be right. A precedent had no force with her; if she desired to +act, and there was no precedent for what she wished to do, she +established one.</p> + +<p>All her life, Patricia had been her father's chum; ever since she could +remember, they had talked together of stocks and bonds, and puts and +calls, and opening and closing quotations, and she knew every slang +word that is uttered in "the street," that is used on the floor of the +stock-exchange, or that appears in the financial columns of the +newspapers.</p> + +<p>And these two, father and daughter, were as much alike in outward +bearing, in demeanor and in appearance, in gesture and in motion, as a +man and a woman can be when the man is approaching seventy and the woman +is only just past twenty.</p> + +<p>These two had been discussing an unprecedented circumstance. The +daughter was plainly annoyed, as her glowing cheeks and flashing eyes +evidenced. The man, if one could have read his innermost soul, was +afraid; for he knew his daughter as no other person did, and he feared +that he had gone, or was about to go, a step too far with her.</p> + +<p>The room was the typical private office of a present-day financial king, +who is banker as well as broker, and who speaks of millions, by fifties +and hundreds, as a farmer talks of potatoes by the bushel. It was a +large, square room, solidly but not luxuriantly furnished. The oblong +table at which Stephen Langdon was seated, and upon which his daughter +lightly rested the tips of the fingers of one hand, was one around which +directors of various great corporations gathered, almost daily, to be +told by "old Steve" what to do. Over in a far corner was a roll-top desk +with a swivel chair, at which Langdon usually seated himself when he was +attending to his correspondence, or looking over private papers; beside +it was a huge safe, and beyond that another, smaller one. Then, there +were several easy chairs upholstered in leather, a couch and two other +desks. There were three doors: one of these communicated with the main +office of Stephen Langdon & Company, Bankers and Brokers; another was a +private entrance from the street that ran along the side of the +building, which Langdon owned; the third communicated with a smaller +room, really the <i>sanctum sanctorum</i> of Stephen Langdon, into which it +was his habit to take any person with whom he wished to have an +absolutely confidential chat.</p> + +<p>This room was supposed never to be entered save by himself and those +whom he took with him—and by the cleaners who once a week attended to +it. These three doors were now closed.</p> + +<p>"Old Steve" moved nervously in his chair, shifted his feet uneasily, and +rolled the unlighted cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other, +biting savagely upon it as he did so.</p> + +<p>"Well, Pat," he said, with as much impatience as he ever showed, "have +you nothing to say?"</p> + +<p>"There seems to be nothing for me to say, dad," replied his daughter, +and the intonation of her voice was different from the one she was +accustomed to use in addressing her father, whom she adored. He +attributed it, doubtless, to his abbreviation of her name, for he smiled +grimly.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you heard what I said?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, you know the situation, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I am not quite sure as to that," she replied, meditatively. "You have +been somewhat ambiguous, and certainly quite enigmatical in your +statement. Am I to gather from what you have told me that you are really +facing failure?"</p> + +<p>"God knows I have made it plain enough," was the quick response and +Langdon pushed his chair away from the table, stretched his legs out +straight in front of him, and thrust his hands deep into his +trousers-pockets.</p> + +<p>"I had not supposed it possible for you to face failure," said Patricia, +with her eyes fixed upon her father's mask-like face; "but if it is so, +won't you tell me more about it?"</p> + +<p>"It all came about through those infernal bonds that I have just +described to you. The men who were to go into the deal with me withdrew +at the last moment; I have already explained that fully to you, and +now, this Saturday afternoon, I find myself in a position such as I have +never faced before—where there are demands upon me which I cannot meet; +and those demands, Patricia, must be met, somehow, at ten o'clock on +Monday morning, or Stephen Langdon must go to the wall."</p> + +<p>"It amazes me," she said, speaking more to herself than to him; and she +tapped lightly with her gloved fingers upon the table before her. "It +amazes me more than I can say. I thought myself closely familiar with +all the ins and outs of your business, dad, and I find now that I knew +nothing about it at all."</p> + +<p>"You have never known very much about it," he replied, with a +half-laugh, but with a kindly smile, which changed his iron face +wondrously, and which was reflected by a softened expression in his +daughter's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Is there no one to come to your aid?" she asked him.</p> + +<p>"No, Patricia, there is no one to whom I could apply without betraying +my condition and situation, and that would be fatal. Such a course would +be equivalent to going broke; for when once a man loses his credit, even +for an instant, in Wall Street, it is lost forever, never to be +regained. People will tell you that there are exceptions to this, but I +have been fifty years among the bulls and bears, and wolves, too, and I +know better. When a man who occupies the position that I have held, and +hold now, goes to the wall, it is the end."</p> + +<p>During this statement, she had walked to one of the windows and stood +silently looking out, for she wished to ask a question which her own +intuition had already answered. She knew what the answer would be, but +she did not quite know what form it would take. She felt that sort of +misgiving which belongs only to women, and she feared that there was +something beyond and behind, and perhaps beneath, all this present +circumstance, which was being kept from her. For Patricia Langdon did +know of one man who would go to her father's assistance, and she could +not understand why he had not already applied to that person.</p> + +<p>Presently, she returned to the table.</p> + +<p>"Patricia," said her father, with some impatience, "I wish to the Lord +you'd sit down. You make me nervous keeping on your feet all the while, +and with those big eyes of yours fixed on your old dad's face as if they +had discovered something new and strange in the lines of it."</p> + +<p>She paid no heed to this remark—one would have supposed she did not +hear it; but she asked:</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me why you sent for me? and why you wished to consult +with me?"</p> + +<p>Again, the cigar was whipped sharply to the opposite corner of the old +banker's mouth; and he replied quickly, almost savagely:</p> + +<p>"Because I have thought of a way by which you can help me out."</p> + +<p>His daughter caught her breath; it was a little gasp, barely audible; +but she uttered only one word in reply. It was:</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>For an instant, the banker hesitated at this abrupt question; then, with +a suggestion of doggedness in his manner, he thrust forward his +aggressive chin and shut his teeth so tightly together that the cigar, +bitten squarely off, dropped unheeded upon the rug where he stood. By +way of reply, he spoke a man's name.</p> + +<p>"Roderick Duncan," he said, sharply.</p> + +<p>Patricia did not seem to heed the strangeness of her father's reply, nor +did she alter the expression of her eyes or features. She seemed to have +anticipated what he would say. After a moment, she remarked quietly:</p> + +<p>"I should think it very likely that Roderick would assist you in your +extremity. I see no reason why he should not do so. His father was your +partner in business. Indeed, I should regard it as his duty to come to +your aid, in an extremity like this. But why, if I may venture to ask, +was it necessary to consult me in regard to any application you might +make to him?"</p> + +<p>The old man did not reply; he remained silent, and continued doggedly to +stare at his daughter. Presently, she asked him: "Have you already made +such a request of Mr. Duncan?"</p> + +<p>A smile took the place of the old man's frown; his face softened.</p> + +<p>"No; that is to say, not exactly so," he replied.</p> + +<p>"You have, perhaps, suggested the idea to him?"</p> + +<p>Old Steve shrugged his shoulders, and dropped back into the chair, +kicking away the half of the cigar in front of him as he did so.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I have suggested the idea to him, and he met the +suggestion more than half way, too. The reply he made to me is what +brings your name into the question. If it were not for the fact that I +know you to be fond of him, and that you are already half-promised—"</p> + +<p>"Is that why you have sent for me?" She interrupted him with quiet +dignity, although the expression of her eyes was suddenly stormy.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it is."</p> + +<p>"Would you please be more explicit? I am afraid that I do not clearly +understand."</p> + +<p>"Well, Pat, to put it in plain words, Roderick's answer implied that he +would be only too delighted to advance the sum I require—twenty-million +dollars—to his prospective father-in-law!"</p> + +<p>Patricia stiffened where she stood. Her eyes fairly blazed with the +sparks of anger they emitted. The hand that rested upon the table was +clenched tightly, until the glove upon it burst. Otherwise, she showed +no emotion.</p> + +<p>"So, that is it," she said, presently. "Roderick Duncan has made a bid +for me in the open market, has he? I am to be the collateral for a loan +which you are to secure from him. Is that the idea? He has made use of +your financial predicament to hasten matters with me. I +understand—now!"</p> + +<p>"Humph! Roderick would be very much astonished if he heard your +description of the situation. He thought, and I thought, also—"</p> + +<p>"But that is what it amounts to, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, child; no, that is not what it amounts to, at all. You ought +to know that. Roderick has loved you ever since you were boy and girl +together, and you were always fond of him. His father and I both +believed that some day you would marry. I know that Duncan has asked you +time and time again, and I know, too, that you have never refused him. +You have just put him off, again and again, that is all. You have played +fast and loose with him until he is—"</p> + +<p>"Wait, dad. There is one thing that you never knew; or, if you did know +it once, you have forgotten what little you knew about it then. I refer +to a woman's heart. You ignored that part of me when you made your +bargain. You forgot my pride, too. It is quite true that I have been +fond of Roderick Duncan, all my life. It is equally true that he has +asked me to be his wife, and that I have seriously considered his +proposals. It is even true that I have thought of myself as his wife, +that I have tried to believe that I loved him. All that is true, quite +true—too true, indeed. But now—How dared you two discuss <i>me</i>, in the +manner you have?" She blazed forth at her father suddenly, forgetting +her studied calm. "Oh, I read you correctly when I first entered this +room. I could see, even then, that some plot was afoot. But I never +guessed—good heaven! who could have guessed?—that it was anything +like this. Do you realize what you have done? Your words, thus far, have +only implied it, but I know! Shall I tell you?"</p> + +<p>"My dear—!"</p> + +<p>"You have found yourself in this financial muddle—if, indeed, it is +true that you are in one—and—"</p> + +<p>"It is quite true."</p> + +<p>"So much the worse for making me the victim of it. You have applied to +Roderick Duncan for some of his millions; and you two, together, have +discovered in the incident a means of coercing me. Oh, it is plain +enough. You are a poor dissembler in a matter of this kind, however +excellent you may be in others. I see it all, now, as clearly as if you +had expressed it in words. You have asked Roderick, by intimation, if +not in actual words, to go to your assistance to the amount of so many +millions; and he, the man who professes to love me, whom I have thought +I loved—he has, as bluntly, replied—oh, it is too terrible to +contemplate!—he has told you that if I will hasten my decision, if I +will give my consent at once to the wedding he proposes, he will supply +the cash you need. You offer your daughter, as security for the loan; he +accepts the collateral! That is the exact situation, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is about that, although you put it rather brutally," he +replied.</p> + +<p>"Brutally!" she laughed. "Why, dad, is not that the way to put it? +Horses and cattle are bought and sold at auction, knocked down to the +highest bidder, or purchased at a private sale. The stocks and bonds and +securities in which you deal are handled in precisely the same way. And +now, when you are in an extremity, when your back is to the wall, a man +whom I had always supposed to be at least a gentleman calmly makes a bid +for your daughter, and you, my father, are willing to sell! Is not +brutality the fitting word for you both? It seems so to me."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Pat—"</p> + +<p>"Stop, father; let me finish."</p> + +<p>The old man shrugged his shoulders, and the daughter continued:</p> + +<p>"It is a habit with people to say, 'If I were in your place I should' do +so-and-so. I tell you, had I been in your place when such a suggestion +as that one was made I should have struck the man in the face; but you +see in me a value which I did not know I possessed. My father, who has +been my chum since I was a child, is willing to dispose of his daughter +for dollars and cents. And a man whom I have infinitely respected, +calmly offers to make the purchase." Patricia clenched her hands and +glared stormily at her father. Then, when he made no reply, she turned +and walked to the window, staring out of it for a moment, while the old +man remained silently in his chair, knowing that it were better for him +not to speak, until the first violence of the storm had passed. He knew +this daughter of his, or thought he did; but he was presently to +discover that he was less wise than he had supposed. After a little, she +returned and stood beside him, leaning against the table with her hands +behind her, clenching it; but her words came calmly enough, when she +spoke.</p> + +<p>The old man raised his eyes to hers, as she approached him, and his own +widened with amazement when he studied his daughter's face with that +quick and penetrating glance which could read so unerringly the +operators of Wall street. He could not comprehend precisely what it was +that he saw in Patricia's face at this moment—only, he realized it to +be the expression of some kind of settled purpose. He had never seen her +thus before. Her strangely beautiful eyes had never blazed into his in +just this way. He had seen her tempers and had contended against them, +more or less, since she was left to his sole care, at her birth; but +this attitude assumed now was new to him. Stephen Langdon knew, by his +knowledge of himself, that Patricia was like him; but here was something +new, strange, almost unreal. He wondered at it, shrank from it, not +knowing what it was. Settled purpose was all that he was enabled to +recognize. But what sort of settled purpose? What was it that his +daughter had decided upon?</p> + +<p>He was not long in doubt. Her words were sufficiently direct, if the +hidden purpose behind their outward meaning was not.</p> + +<p>"Father," she said, with distinct calmness, "I will use a phrase that is +familiar to you. It seems to fit the occasion. You may tell Roderick +Duncan that you will deliver the goods! Tell him to have the twenty +millions ready for you to deposit in your bank at ten o'clock Monday +morning, and that you will be ready with the collateral he demands."</p> + +<p>"But, Patricia, my daughter, you take an unjust view of—"</p> + +<p>"Stop, father! He must be told still more: he must be told that the +collateral, having certain rights and values of its own, will insist +upon a few stated conditions; and when the bargain is concluded, at ten +o'clock Monday morning, Mr. Duncan must first have accepted those +conditions."</p> + +<p>She walked around to the other side of the table again and faced her +father across it; then she added, slowly and coolly:</p> + +<p>"There must be a legal form of document drawn, in this transaction, and +it must be signed, sealed and delivered exactly as would be done if the +collateral offered, and the thing ultimately to be sold in this +instance, were the stocks and bonds in which you usually deal. He must +agree, in this document, that on the wedding day the woman he buys must +receive an additional sum in her own name, of ten million dollars. One +as rich as he is known to be will not object to a pittance like that. +You can make your own arrangements with him concerning the loan of the +twenty millions to you, the interest it draws, and when the sum will be +due; but the consideration paid for me, to me, must be absolute, and in +cash, before the marriage-ceremony."</p> + +<p>She turned quickly and strode to the end of the room. There, she threw +open that door which has been described as communicating with the inner +sanctum of the banker, and standing at the threshold, she said, in the +cold, even tone in which she had pronounced the ultimatum to her father:</p> + +<p>"I have surmised that you are in this room, Roderick Duncan. If I am +correct, you may come out, now, and conclude the terms of your +purchase. Do not speak to me here, and now. It would not be wise to do +so. You have heard, doubtless, all that has been said in this room."</p> + +<p>She turned again, and before Stephen Langdon could intervene, had passed +him, going into the main office of the suite, and thence to the street.</p> + +<p>Outside the Langdon building was a waiting automobile which had taken +Patricia to the office of her father for that interview, the purport of +which she had not then even vaguely guessed. Under the steering-wheel of +the waiting car was seated a young man, smoothed-faced, keen of eye, +strong-limbed, and muscular in every motion that he made. A pair of +expressive hazel eyes that seemed to take in everything at a glance, +looked out from his handsome, clean-cut face, the attractiveness of +which was augmented rather than marred by the strong, almost square +chin, and the firm but perfectly formed lips, just thin enough to show +determination of character, yet sufficiently mobile to suggest that the +man himself, though young in years, had met with wide experiences. His +personality was that of a man prepared to face any emergency or danger +that might arise, and to meet it with a smile of entire self-confidence +in his ability to overcome it. The rear seats of the waiting car were +occupied by two young ladies, friends of Patricia; and the three were +laughing and talking together when Stephen Langdon's daughter approached +them. She did not wait to be assisted, but sprang lightly into the seat +beside the young man who has just been described; and she said rather +shortly, for she was still angry:</p> + +<p>"Please, take me home, now, Mr. Morton."</p> + +<p>He turned to face her, meeting her stormy eyes laughingly; and +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Gee! Miss Langdon, you sure do look as if you'd been having a run-in +with the governor. I'd hate mightily to meet up with you, if I were +alone and unprotected, and you were as plumb sore at me, as you are now +at somebody you have just left inside that building. I sure would. Yes, +indeed!"</p> + +<p>He chuckled audibly as the car started forward toward Broadway. For a +time, he gave his entire attention to the management of the car, +purposely ignoring the young woman who was seated beside him, for +notwithstanding the fact that he had chaffed her about the anger in her +eyes, he was fully aware that she had met with an unpleasant experience +of some sort, while he and the others were waiting outside the building.</p> + +<p>The hiatus offered sufficient time for Miss Langdon entirely to recover +her equanimity, and when at last Richard Morton's glance again sought +her, he met the same cold, calm, unflinching gaze from her beautiful +eyes that he had discovered there less than two weeks before, and, +since, had never been able to forget for a single moment.</p> + +<p>"Miss Langdon," he said, with his characteristic smile, "if you had been +raised out west, in the country where I come from, you sure would have +been bad medicine for anybody who tried your temper a little bit too +far."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" she asked him, quickly, but without offense. +She was smiling now, and Morton's colloquialisms always interested her.</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean a lot—and then some. If you'd been raised with a gun on +your hip, and had been born a man instead of a woman, I reckon you'd +have been an unsafe proposition to r'il. You certainly did look mad when +you came out of that office-building; and the only regret I feel about +it, is that I didn't stand within comfortable easy reach of the gazabo +that made you feel like that. One of us would—have gone out through the +window."</p> + +<p>"It was my father," she said, simply, but smilingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! was it? Well, even so, I'm afraid I wouldn't be much of a +respecter of persons, if you happened to be on the other side of the +scales. I reckon your dad wouldn't look bigger than any other man. Have +you forgotten what I said to you the second time I ever saw you?"</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, gently, "I haven't forgotten it, and I never will +forget it; but I must remind you of your promise to me, at that same +meeting."</p> + +<p>"Won't you call it off for just five minutes, Miss Langdon?" he asked in +a low tone which had begun to vibrate with emotion. "Just call it off +for one minute, if you won't let it go for five. It sure is hard to sit +here, alongside of you, and not only to keep my hands and eyes away from +you, but to keep my tongue cinched with a diamond hitch. I suppose I am +hasty, and a mighty sight too previous for your customs here in the +East, but I can't see why you won't take up with a chap like me; and, +besides—"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Morton!" She turned to him unsmilingly, her eyes cold and serious, +and she spoke in a tone so low that even the sound of it could not +extend to the young ladies who occupied the rear seats in the tonneau. +"It is my duty to tell you that I have just become a willing party—a +willing party, please understand—to a business transaction, by the +terms of which I am now the affianced wife of—" Patricia paused +abruptly. Morton, still guiding the machine delicately in and out +through the traffic of the street, turned a shade paler under his +sun-burned skin, and Patricia could see that his hand gripped almost +fiercely upon the steering-wheel. She realized that he had understood +the important part of what she had said, and she did not complete the +unfinished sentence. There was a considerable silence before either of +them spoke again, and then Morton asked calmly, but in a voice that was +so changed as to be scarcely recognizable:</p> + +<p>"Of whom, Patricia?" He made use of her given name unconsciously, and if +she noticed the slip, she did not heed it.</p> + +<p>"I need not mention the gentleman's name," she told him. "It is +unnecessary."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by referring to it as a business transaction?" he +demanded, turning his face toward hers for an instant, and showing an +angry glitter in his eyes. "If it is something that was forced upon +you—"</p> + +<p>"I meant—it doesn't matter what I meant, Mr. Morton."</p> + +<p>For just one instant, he flashed his eyes upon her again, and she saw +the lines of determination harden upon his face.</p> + +<p>"It sounded mighty strange to me," he said, quietly, but with studied +persistence. "I don't mind confessing that I can't quite savvy its +meaning. I didn't know that 'business transaction,' was a stock +expression here, in the East, in connection with an engagement party. +But I suppose I'm plumb ignorant. I feel so, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"You have forgotten one thing, Mr. Morton; you have forgotten that I +used the words, 'a willing party.'" She spoke calmly, half-smiling; but +he was still insistent.</p> + +<p>"Did you mean by their use that I am to understand that the circumstance +meets with your entire approval?" he asked, slowly and with +distinctness. A heavy frown was gathering on his brows.</p> + +<p>"Yes; quite so."</p> + +<p>"Do you love the man who is the other party to the—er—business +transaction?" This time, he turned his head and looked squarely at her, +gazed with his serious hazel eyes, deep into her darker ones—gazed +searchingly and longingly.</p> + +<p>"You have no right to ask me such a question as that," she told him.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Langdon." He turned his eyes to the front +again; "but I think I have a distinct right to do so, and I don't +believe it is your privilege to deny it. I have loved you from the +first moment I saw you. Please, don't interrupt me now, for I must say +the few words I have in mind. I'll not look at you. The others won't +hear me. By reason of my great love for you, even though there is no +response in your heart for me, I certainly have the right to ask that +question; and, also, I believe I have the right to demand an answer. If +you love that other man, and if you will tell me that you do, I shall +have nothing more to say; but if you do not love him, you shall not be +his wife so long as I have my two hands and can remember how to hold a +gun." It sounded theatrical, but he did not mean it so; and a "gun" and +its use, was the strongest form of expression he could think of, at that +moment. It had formed the court of last resort throughout his youth in +the great West, and just now he felt that the expression fitted the +present case admirably. What reply Patricia might have made to this +characteristic statement by the young Montana ranchman will never be +known, for at that instant they were interrupted by the other passengers +of the car, who sought to draw Patricia into conversation with them.</p> + +<p>She accepted the interruption gratefully as well as gracefully; it +offered an easy escape from a trying situation, and it was not until +the car was drawn up in front of the door of her own home and she was +about to leave it that she spoke again with Morton, save in a general +way. Now, he leaned quickly nearer to her and said, in a tone so low +that the others could not hear:</p> + +<p>"I shall call upon you to-morrow evening—Sunday—if I may." Then he +laughed and, with narrowed eyelids, added: "I'll come to the house +whether I may or not. But you will receive me, won't you? Say that you +will!" And Patricia nodded brightly, in reply, as she crossed the +pavement toward the front steps of her father's princely mansion. At the +door, she paused and looked after the car as it rolled up the avenue; +and, with a half-smile of troubled perplexity, she murmured:</p> + +<p>"I wish, now, that I had not given my word to that 'business +transaction.' Richard Morton might have offered a better solution of my +problem. Only, it would have been unfair—and cruel; and I have never +been either the one, or the other; never, yet!" Then, she passed into +the house.</p> + +<hr class="c7" /> + +<p>Downtown in the private office of Stephen Langdon, Roderick Duncan +stepped from the inner sanctum into the presence of the banker just as +the latter started to his feet after the sudden and unexpected +departure of his daughter. For an interval, the young man and the old +faced each other in silence, the latter with a cynical and satirical +smile on his strong face, the former with an unmistakable frown of +anger.</p> + +<p>"You're a darned old fool, Langdon!" Duncan exclaimed hotly, after that +pause; and he clenched his hands until his knuckles turned white under +the strain, half-raising the right one, until it seemed as if he +intended to strike a blow with it. But Patricia's father gave no heed to +the gesture. Instead, he dropped back upon his chair, and laughed aloud, +ere he replied:</p> + +<p>"I suspect, my boy, that there is a pair of us."</p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>ONE WOMAN WHO DARED</b></p> +<p class="p2">These two men, the banker who had weathered so many financial storms of +"the street" and had inevitably issued from the wreckage unscathed and +buoyant, and the young multi-millionaire who faced him with uplifted +hand even after the former returned to his chair, were exact opposites +in everything save wealth alone. Roderick Duncan, son and heir of +Stephen Langdon's former partner, was the possessor, by inheritance, of +one of those colossal fortunes which are expressed in so many figures +that the average man ceases to contemplate their meaning. Nevertheless, +Duncan had kept himself clean and straight. In person, he was tall, +handsome, distinguished in appearance, and genuinely a fine specimen of +young American manhood. The older man regarded him with undoubted +approval, and affection, too, while Duncan lowered the partly uplifted +arm, and permitted the anger to die out of his face slowly. But there +remained a decidedly troubled expression in his gray eyes, and there +were two straight lines between his brows—lines of anxiety which would +not disappear, wholly. He was plainly perplexed and, also, as plainly +frightened by the almost tragic climax that had just occurred.</p> + +<p>The elder man, whose face was always a mask save when he was alone with +his daughter, or with this young man who now stood before him, had been +at first angered by the words and conduct of Patricia. But the +exclamation uttered by the young Crœsus impressed him ludicrously, +notwithstanding the financial straits he was supposed to be in, and he +grinned broadly into the anxious face that glowered upon him. Langdon's +heart was not at stake; he had no woman's love to lose, or even to risk +losing; and so far as the financial character of his troubles was +concerned, he knew that Roderick Duncan would provide the millions he +needed, in any case. That fact was not dependant upon any whim of +Patricia's. Langdon could afford to laugh, believing that the rupture in +the relations of these young people would be healed quickly. The old man +did desire that the two should marry; he wished it more than anything +else, save possibly the winning of his "street" contests.</p> + +<p>It was the younger man who broke the silence. He did it first by +striking a match on the sole of his shoe and lighting a cigar; then by +crossing to one of the chairs at the oblong table, into which he +literally threw himself; and as he did this, he exclaimed, with an +expression of petulance that might have belonged to a boy better than to +a man:</p> + +<p>"Well, you've made a mess of it, haven't you? You have got us both into +a very devil of a fix. I ought to have shot you, or myself, before I +consented to such a fool plan as that one was. Oh, yes; we're in a fix +all right!"</p> + +<p>"How so?" asked the old man, rising and selecting a chair at the +opposite side of the table, and calmly lighting a fresh cigar, while he +swung one leg across the corner of the solid piece of furniture.</p> + +<p>"Patricia won't stand for that little scheme of yours, not for a minute; +and you know it, Uncle Steve." This was an affectionate term of +familiarity which Duncan sometimes used in addressing Patricia's father. +"I was afraid of it when you proposed it, but I allowed myself, like an +idiot, to be influenced by you. I tell you, Langdon, she won't stand for +it; not for a minute. I have made her angry, many times before now, but +I have never known her to be quite so contemptuously angered."</p> + +<p>"No," said Langdon, and he chuckled audibly. "I agree with you. I think +my little girl is going to make it hot for you before we are through +with this deal. In fact, I shouldn't wonder if she made it warm for both +of us. She is like her old dad about one thing—she won't be driven."</p> + +<p>The younger man said something under his breath which, because it was +not audible to his companion, need not be repeated here; but it was +probably not an expression that he would have used in polite society. He +drummed on the table with his fingertips, and smoked savagely.</p> + +<p>"You're mighty cheerful about it, aren't you?" he demanded, with +sarcastic emphasis. "What I want to know is, how are we going to fix it +up?"</p> + +<p>"Fix what up?"</p> + +<p>"Why, this business about collateral, and all that rot, with Patricia. +How are we going to square ourselves? That's what I'd like to know! +Maybe you can see a way out of it, but I'm darned if I can."</p> + +<p>The banker took the cigar from his mouth, flicked the ashes into the +cuspidor, removed his leg from the table, and replied calmly, with a +half-smile:</p> + +<p>"It looks to me as if it were all fixed up, now. Patricia has agreed to +marry you all right; she told me in plain English that I could deliver +the goods. You heard her, didn't you? As far as I can see, she has only +raised the ante just a little—a small matter of ten millions, which you +won't mind at all. What's the matter with you, anyhow? You get what you +wanted—Patricia's consent to an early marriage." The old man grinned +maddeningly at his companion.</p> + +<p>"Confound you!" shouted Duncan, starting to his feet, and he smashed one +hand down upon the top of the table, in the intensity of the resentment +he felt at this remark.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose—damn you!—that I want her like that? Can't you see how +the whole thing outraged her? She hates me now, with every fibre of her +being. She hates me, and you, too, for this day's work!"</p> + +<p>Langdon shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You want her, don't you?" he asked, placidly, as if he were inquiring +about a quotation on 'change.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I want her. God only knows how greatly I want her."</p> + +<p>"Well, you get her, don't you, by this transaction? She'll keep the +terms of the agreement. She's enough like me for that. She said I could +deliver the goods. She meant it, too. You get her, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—but how?" was the sulky reply. "How do I get her? What will she +do to me, after I do get her? Tell me that, confound you!"</p> + +<p>The old man chuckled again. "I am not a mind-reader," he said.</p> + +<p>"What will she do to me, Uncle Steve? What did she threaten? What am I +to expect from her, now?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. I confess that I don't. Sometimes, Patricia is a +little too much for the old man, Roderick," he added, wistfully. Then, +with another change of manner, he exclaimed: "But you get her! And I get +the twenty-millions credit. What more can either of us ask? Eh?"</p> + +<p>"The twenty millions have nothing to do with it, and you know it. They +never did have anything to do with it, and you know that, also. It was +only your cursed suggestion, that we should make her promise to marry me +the condition of keeping you from failure. You know as well as I do that +there is nothing belonging to me which you cannot have at any time, for +the asking; and that you do not stand, and have not stood, in any more +danger of failure than I do."</p> + +<p>"I would have failed if I had not known where to get the credit for the +twenty millions," the banker remarked, quietly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but—confound it—you did know. You only had to ask me. But +instead of doing it in a straight, business-like way, you set that +horrible fly to buzzing in my ears, that we could make use of the +circumstance to compel Patricia to an immediate consent. And I, like a +fool, listened to you. Patricia never meant not to marry me; but now—!"</p> + +<p>He strode across the floor, then back again to his chair and flung +himself into it. The old man watched him warily, keen-eyed, observant, +and with a certain expression of fondness that no one but his daughter +and this young man had ever compelled from him. But, presently, he +emitted another chuckling laugh; and said:</p> + +<p>"That was a sharp stroke of hers to have the ten millions paid over to +her. It was worthy of her old dad; eh? She is a bright one, all right. +She's a chip off the old block, my boy. I couldn't have done it better, +myself."</p> + +<p>"Damn you!" Duncan exclaimed, and he sprang to his feet, grasped his +hat, and rushed from the office to the street with much more apparent +excitement than Patricia herself had shown. He had the feeling that he +had allowed himself to be tricked into the commission of an unmanly act, +and he was thoroughly ashamed of it.</p> + +<p>Stephen Langdon, left alone, chuckled again, although his face quickly +fell into that reposeful, mask-like expression which was habitual to +it—an expression not to be changed by the loss or gain of millions. He +remained for a time quietly in the chair he had been occupying, but soon +he rose and crossed to his desk, throwing back the top of it. He pulled +a bundle of papers from one of the pigeonholes and calmly examined +certain portions of them. He glanced over three letters left there by +his stenographer for him to sign and post. These he signed, and after +enclosing them in their respective envelopes, dropped them lightly into +a side-pocket of his coat. Then, he pulled toward him the bracket that +held the telephone, and placed the receiver against his ear. Having +presently secured the desired number, he said:</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak with Mr. Melvin, personally."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Melvin is not in his office at the present moment," came the reply +over the telephone. "Who is it, please?"</p> + +<p>"This is Stephen Langdon, and I wanted to speak—"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by the person at the other end of the wire, who +uttered an exclamation of surprise, followed by these words:</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Langdon, Mr. Melvin has gone to your house to see you, as we +supposed. A telephone call came from your residence, and he departed at +once, saying that he would not return to the office to-day."</p> + +<p>"The devil he did!" exclaimed the banker, as he hung up the receiver. +Then, he leaned back in his chair and smoked hard for a moment, with the +nearest approach to a frown that had appeared on his face during all +that exciting afternoon; and he did another thing unusual with him: he +spoke aloud his thoughts, with no one but himself for listener.</p> + +<p>"I'll be blowed if I thought Patricia would go as far as that!" was what +he said. "If she hasn't sent for Malcolm Melvin to draw those papers she +hinted at, I'm a Dutchman! By Jove, I begin to think that Duncan was +right after all, and that he is up against it in this little play we +have had this afternoon. But I hadn't an idea that my girl would go +quite so far. H'm! It looks as if it is up to me to spoil her interview +with Melvin, if I can get there in time."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later, he left the banking-house, paused at a letter-box +long enough to drop in the correspondence he had signed, and then went +swiftly onward to the subway, by which he was conveyed rapidly to the +vicinity of his home. Somewhat later, when he entered the sumptuously +appointed library, he discovered precisely what he had expected to find: +his lawyer, Malcolm Melvin, and his daughter Patricia were facing each +other across the table, the former having before him several sheets of +paper, which were already covered with the penciled notes and memoranda +he had evidently been engaged in making.</p> + +<p>Langdon stopped in the middle of the floor and looked at them. For the +first time since the beginning of the interview with his daughter at the +office, he realized that she had been in deadly earnest at its close. He +understood, suddenly, how deeply her pride had been wounded, and he knew +that she was enough like himself to resent it with all the power she +could command.</p> + +<p>"Since when, Melvin, have you ceased to be my attorney!" he inquired +sharply, determined to put an end to the scene, at once.</p> + +<p>The elderly lawyer and the young woman had raised their heads from +earnest conversation when Stephen Langdon entered the room. The lawyer, +with a startled, although amused, expression on his professional face; +the daughter with a cold smile and an almost imperceptible nod of her +shapely, Junoesque head. But her black eyes snapped with something very +nearly approaching defiance, and she replied, before Melvin could do so:</p> + +<p>"Do not misunderstand the situation, please," she said, quickly. And her +father noticed with deep misgiving that she omitted the customary term +of endearment between them. "Mr. Melvin is here at my request, and +because he is your attorney. I have been instructing him how to draw the +papers that are to accompany the collateral offered for your loan, and +the bonus that goes with it; and just how those papers are to be used, +in accordance with the discussion between you and me, at the bank, this +afternoon. I told you, then, to inform Mr. Duncan that you would meet +his requirements. Later, when I realized that he had overheard us—"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with you, Pat?" demanded the father, interrupting her +with a touch of anger. "Have you lost your head, entirely?"</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, with utter calmness; "I have only lost my Dad. I went +down to his office this afternoon to see him, and I left him there. Just +now, I have been instructing Mr. Melvin concerning the particulars of +the agreement I want drawn and signed in the transaction that is to +take place between you and Roderick Duncan, in which I am, personally, +so deeply concerned, in which I am to figure as the collateral +security."</p> + +<p>The old man stared at his daughter, with an expression that had made +many a Wall-street financier turn pale with apprehension. It was a grim +visage that she saw then—hard and set, stern and unrelenting, and many +a strong man had surrendered to Stephen Langdon, frightened by the +aspect of it. Not so this daughter of his. She met his gaze +unflinchingly and calmly, without a change in her outward demeanor. +After a moment, Langdon turned with a shrug toward the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Melvin," he said, "how many years have you been my attorney?"</p> + +<p>"Fourteen, I think, Mr. Langdon," was the smiling reply. One would have +thought that the man of law found something highly amusing in this +incident.</p> + +<p>"About that—yes. Well, do you see that door?" He half-turned and +indicated the entrance he had just used. "Melvin, I want you to pick up +those papers and tell John, outside, to give you your hat; then I want +you to get out of here as quick as God'll let you. If you don't, our +relations are severed from this moment. And if you complete the draft +of those papers, without my permission, or submit them to any person +whatever, without my having seen them first, I will have another +attorney to replace you, Monday morning. Go right along now. You needn't +answer me. If you don't want my business, all you've got to do is to say +so. If you do want it, you'll come mighty near doing what I have told +you to do, just now."</p> + +<p>The lawyer, quietly, but with dignity, rose from his chair, folded the +papers, placed them in an inner pocket of his coat, bowed to Patricia +and then to her father, and without a word passed from the room, closing +the door quietly behind him; but before he quite accomplished this last +act, the clear even tones of the girl called after him:</p> + +<p>"I am sure, Mr. Melvin, that we had quite concluded our conference. I +will ask you please to draw those papers as I have directed. You may +submit copies to Mr. Langdon at the time you bring the originals to me."</p> + +<p>He did not answer, for there was no occasion to do so, and a second +later Stephen Langdon and his daughter were alone together for the +second time that afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Now, Patricia," he said, turning toward her, with his feet wide apart +and his hands thrust deep into his trousers-pockets, "what in blazes is +this all about?"</p> + +<p>His daughter replied coldly and precisely:</p> + +<p>"I have merely been dictating to your lawyer the substance of the +conditions I wish to have embodied in the papers that are to complete +the transaction we have discussed at your office. I selected Mr. Melvin +because I knew him to be in your confidence, and I surmised that you +would prefer that the condition of affairs under which you are now +struggling, which forces you to borrow twenty-million dollars, should +not be made known to an outsider."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you that I won't hear of it! It's got to stop right +now. I won't have those papers drawn at all. I won't have it. The whole +thing is preposterous, and you seem to be determined to make a fool of +yourself. I won't have it!"</p> + +<p>"But you must have it," she said, quietly.</p> + +<p>"Must have it? Patricia, there isn't a man in the city of New York who +dares to say that to me."</p> + +<p>"Possibly not, sir; but there is a woman in New York who dares to say it +to you, and who does say it, here and now. That woman is, unfortunately, +your daughter."</p> + +<p>"Patricia! Are you crazy?"</p> + +<p>"No; but I am more hurt and angry, more outraged and incensed, than I +believed it possible ever to be. I shall insist upon the drawing of +those papers, and the fulfillment of the stipulations I have directed. +If you are determined that Mr. Melvin shall not finish what he has begun +for me, I shall select another lawyer, and shall have the papers drawn +just the same."</p> + +<p>"But, my child, it is all foolishness. The papers are not necessary. +Roderick will supply what cash I need without anything of that sort, and +you know it!"</p> + +<p>"Am I to understand, sir, that you have lied to me?"</p> + +<p>Langdon dropped upon a chair, breathing an oath which his daughter did +not hear, and she continued, without awaiting a reply from him:</p> + +<p>"You have taught me, since I was a child, that in a business transaction +in the Street, where there is no time for the drawing of papers, a man +must live up to his word, absolutely. I took you seriously in what +occurred at your office this afternoon. I surmised, when we were near +the end of our interview,—nay, I assumed it—that Roderick Duncan was +inside the inner office. My surmise proved to be true, and now I have +only this to say: We shall carry out the transaction precisely as it +was stipulated between us, and according to the papers I have dictated +to Mr. Melvin, or I shall go to another lawyer and have those same +papers drawn and offered to you and to Mr. Duncan, for your signatures. +He overheard our conversation, and thus became a party to it. I was +forced into the situation without my consent, and I shall now insist +upon a certain recognition of my rights in the matter. If you choose to +deny me those rights, the fact will not deter me from proceeding in my +own way—a way which Mr. Melvin, your attorney, thoroughly understands. +I have explained it fully to him."</p> + +<p>The old man leaned back in his chair, glaring at his daughter, and yet +in that burning gaze of his there was undoubted admiration. He liked her +pluck, and deep down in his heart he gloried in her ability to maintain +the position she had assumed, where she literally held him helpless. For +it would never do that she should be permitted to go to another lawyer; +such a proceeding would betray to other parties the financial +embarrassment into which he had been drawn. The news would get out. +There would be a whisper here, a murmur there, and before noon on +Monday, all New York would know it. His daughter understood her +momentary power over him, and she was determined to make the most of +it.</p> + +<p>Patricia returned her father's gaze for a moment, then turned +negligently away and moved toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Wait," he called to her.</p> + +<p>"Well?" She stopped, and half-turned.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know, girl, that the whole business was tomfoolery?"</p> + +<p>"No; and I would not believe you, or Mr. Duncan—now."</p> + +<p>"Wait just a minute longer, Patricia; let me explain this thing to you, +fully. Let me make you understand just how it came about," her father +exclaimed. "It was all a mistake, you know, and I must confess that the +mistake was mostly mine. Of course, Roderick was ready to let me have +the twenty millions, or fifty if I had asked for them. There was never +any doubt about that, and could have been none. He has the money, and +there never has been a time, since he inherited it, when I could not use +it as if it were my own. You knew that. I have never hesitated to go to +him, either. That is why I went to him to-day. Before I had an +opportunity to explain the purpose of my call, he asked about you, and +the question suggested to my mind the idea of utilizing the desperate +situation I was in to hasten your marriage to him. You know how I have +looked forward to that. I have known, or at least I have supposed I +knew, for years, that you thought more of him than of anyone else. You +are twenty years old now; it is high time that you were married, and it +would break my old heart to see you take up with any of those +society-beaux who hover around you at every function where you appear. +On the other hand, I shall be very glad when you are Roderick Duncan's +wife. He is the son of the best friend I ever had, the only man I ever +trusted. And he is every bit as good a man as his father was. He is +square and on the level. He has wealth, and he doesn't go bumming around +town, giving champagne parties, and monkey dinners. He knows how to be a +good fellow without making a fool of himself, and that is more than you +can say of most young men who have money to burn. You have grown up +together, and why in the world you have kept putting him off is more +than I can guess. Besides all that, he is easily worth a hundred +millions. But this has nothing to do with the present question. I want +you to have him, and I want him to have you; and if he didn't have a +dollar in the world, I should feel just the same about it. All that +happened to-day was at my instigation; not at his. And now, daughter, +you must find it in your heart to forgive him—and me."</p> + +<p>She listened to him to the end, quietly and outwardly unmoved. When he +concluded, she replied in the same even tone she had used ever since her +father entered the library:</p> + +<p>"I don't know, and I don't care to know, any of the particulars +regarding how the arrangement came about between you and Mr. Duncan. +What I do know is this: the arrangement was made between you, and was +agreed upon between you. I was called in, to be consulted, at your +private office, with the third interested party concealed like a spy in +an inner room. I agreed to the transaction as I understood it. I will +carry it out as I agreed to do, while at your office, and in no other +way. If Roderick Duncan wishes to make me his wife, he must do it +according to the stipulations I have dictated to Mr. Melvin, this +afternoon, or he can never do it at all. That, sir, is all I have to +say."</p> + +<p>She turned and went from the room, closing the door behind her as softly +as the lawyer had done.</p> + +<p>The old man slipped down more deeply into his chair, covered his eyes +with one hand, and murmured, audibly:</p> + +<p>"I have had to live almost seventy years to find out that, after all, I +am nothing but an old fool."</p> + + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>A STRANGE BETROTHAL</b></p> +<p class="p2">When dinner was served at seven that Saturday evening, the banker and +his daughter faced each other in silence across the table. There was no +wife and mother in this money-king's family, for she had passed out of +life when Patricia came into the world. This, perhaps, may account for +the close intimacy that had always existed in the relations of father +and daughter, between whom there had never been any break or shadow, +until this particular Saturday afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Old Steve," iron-faced, heavy jawed, and steady of eye, wore his +Wall-street mask at this particular dinner; and he wore it as grimly as +ever he did when encountering a financial storm or a threatened panic. +He felt that he had more to conceal, just now, than any financial +problem could ever compel him to face. He was no longer "dad." Patricia +had practically omitted the use of even the less endearing term of +father; but whether intentionally or not, even the shrewd old banker +could not determine. For years, he had forgotten that he had a heart, +save when he and his daughter were alone together. The money whirlpool +of the financial section of the city had made him colder of aspect, +harder in nature, and less considerate of the feelings of others. It had +never even remotely occurred to him that there could be any rupture +between himself and Patricia, or that a yawning gulf, like this one was, +could separate them.</p> + +<p>But now there was one, and he recognized its breadth and its depth. He +knew that he could not cross it to her, and that it would never be +bridged, save by Patricia herself. He had offended her beyond +forgiveness, almost. He had not entirely realized that Patricia's nature +and characteristics were so like his own, save only where they were +feminine instead of masculine, that she would now adopt the course he +would have pursued under circumstances which might, by a stretch of the +imagination, be called parallel.</p> + +<p>Patricia's face was almost as mask-like as her father's, save that her +great, dark eyes were stormy in their depths, and would have suggested +to one who had sailed the Southern seas the brooding and far away +approach of a monsoon. Her olive-tinted skin had in it a suggestion of +pallor; but only a suggestion. When she spoke at all it was to John, +the butler who served them; and then it was always in her accustomed +low, evenly modulated tone. Not perceptibly different to the butler were +her tone and manner, and yet even the servant, wise in his generation, +sensed the unsettled condition of things, and moved about like a +phantom; perhaps also he was a trifle more assiduous than usual in his +efforts at perfect service.</p> + +<p>Patricia ate sparingly, but bravely. There was nothing of the shrinking +or pouting, or even of the petulant, in her character. Her father ate +nothing at all. He dawdled with his soup, turned his fish over and sent +it away, and sniffed contemptuously at everything else that was placed +before him. He made his dinner of coffee and cognac, and seemed to be +greatly interested while he burned the latter over three dominoes of +sugar.</p> + +<p>When the moment came to leave the table, there had been no word +exchanged between them; but then, with an effort, the banker assumed his +brightest and most kindly tone; and he asked, cheerily:</p> + +<p>"Well, what have you on for to-night, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all," she replied, indifferently, as if the question held no +interest for her—as, indeed, it did not, for the moment; but she +followed him from the dining-room into the library, as was their usual +custom whenever they had dined alone. Now, as they entered it, the +banker, with an assumption of high spirits he did not feel, remarked:</p> + +<p>"If you don't object to a Saturday-night opera, Garden is singing +'Salome' at the Manhattan to-night, and I should like to hear it. Will +you go, with your old dad?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," she replied, indifferently. "I shall remain at home."</p> + +<p>She was standing at the table, turning the leaves of a magazine, and her +father glanced keenly at her across the intervening space, while he +lighted a cigar. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders, and a sigh which +could not have been seen or heard, and which only he himself knew to +have existed, he crossed the floor. As he was passing from the room, he +said, as indifferently as she had spoken:</p> + +<p>"Then, I suppose, I will have to take it in, alone."</p> + +<p>"You might ask Roderick to go with you," she threw at him, as he passed +into the hallway; but Langdon pretended not to hear, for he called back +at her:</p> + +<p>"I'll get Beatrice, I think, and ask her to play daughter for me; eh?"</p> + +<p>Patricia made no comment upon this suggestion; but having awaited, +where she was, the sound of the closing outer door, she slowly crossed +the room.</p> + +<p>The drop-light at her favorite chair was adjusted, and she began the +reading of a new book which someone had placed on the table beside it. +She read on and on, apparently with interest, but really without knowing +at all what she did read, until more than an hour had passed; and then a +card was brought to her.</p> + +<p>She glanced at it, although she believed she knew perfectly well what +name it bore, before she did so. Her lips tightened for an instant, and +she frowned ever so little. But she said to the footman:</p> + +<p>"You may bring Mr. Duncan here, James."</p> + +<p>Patricia did not rise from her chair when her caller entered the +library. Duncan moved toward her eagerly, but meeting her eyes, which +she raised quite calmly to his as he crossed the floor, he paused, and +remained at about midway of the distance.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Patricia," he said. "I'm awfully glad to have found you +at home. I was afraid you might go out before I could get here."</p> + +<p>"I expected you," she told him, without returning his salute. "I have +been expecting you for an hour. In fact, I have been waiting for you."</p> + +<p>"That is very pleasant news, indeed, Patricia." Duncan was startled by +it, however. He had not expected it, and he did not quite like the tone +in which Patricia uttered it.</p> + +<p>"I am glad you take it so," she returned. "It was not pleasant for me to +wait for you, and it is not distinctly agreeable to me to receive you. +But I believed that you would think it necessary to call, in order to +make some effort at explaining the occurrences of this afternoon. Let me +tell you, before you begin, that there exists no necessity for any sort +of explanation. My father has fulfilled that duty quite fully, and I +listened to him, throughout. He has exonerated you—"</p> + +<p>Duncan took a hasty step toward her, but stopped again, even more +abruptly than before, repelled by the cold barrier that the expression +of her dark eyes built up between them. Whatever it was that he had in +mind to say remained unspoken. He turned away and sought a chair +opposite her, ten feet away, utterly repelled, for although these two +had grown to manhood and womanhood together, she had always had the +power to lift a sudden barrier between them. Though he believed he knew +every mood and characteristic of this proud young woman, just now, for +the first time within his recollection, there was a strangeness about +her that he could not fathom. Long habit had made him almost as much at +home in this house, as in his own. He had been, ever since he could +remember, considered and treated like a member of the family. And so, +now, before seating himself, he sought to put himself more at ease by +indulging in a liberty which had always been accorded to him. He +selected a cigar from Stephen Langdon's box, and lighted it. Then, +remembering that conditions were changed, he threw it down with an angry +gesture, upon a receptacle for ashes that was on the table. Patricia +watched all these proceedings, unmoved.</p> + +<p>"Patsy!" he exclaimed, abruptly, making use of an expression of their +childhood; and he would have continued with rapid speech, had she not +made a quick gesture of aversion that interrupted him. Then, she said, +quietly:</p> + +<p>"I would prefer, if you don't mind, that you should henceforth use my +full name in addressing me."</p> + +<p>"Patricia, you have just told me that your father has exonerated me; and +if that is so, why do you receive me in just this manner? I need +exoneration, all right; and I deserve it, too, for honestly, dear, I +never thought of offending you. I thought, until the last moment, that +you would take it all as a huge joke. It never occurred to me that you +would be so deeply wounded. I should never have agreed to the crazy +compact that your father and I made together, if I had realized the +seriousness of it."</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, quietly. "You should not have agreed to it. It was +the mistake of your life, and, perhaps, of mine."</p> + +<p>"You know how I love you, dear," he began, half-starting from his chair. +But the expression of her eyes, without the slightest motion otherwise, +made him pause again, without completing what he had started to say.</p> + +<p>"It is best that we should be quite frank with each other," she said, +calmly. "That is why I waited so patiently for you, to-night. Please do +not interrupt me; let me say what I have in mind to say to you."</p> + +<p>"I would like it much better if you would hit me over the head with one +of those bronze ornaments, as you would have done ten or twelve years +ago; or if you would fly into one of your tempers just as you used to +do, Patricia. I would like anything better than this cold calmness. It +makes me shudder; it freezes me; it fills me with apprehension. I love +you so, dear! and I have loved you all my life. You know it; I don't +need to tell you! And if I have made a mistake, surely you can find it +in your heart to forgive, because of my great love? No, I will not +stop," he ejaculated, when she made a gesture of impatience. "I will +finish what I have to say, even braving your anger to do so. I would +like to make you angry just now, Patricia. I would delight to see you in +one of those tantrums of fury that you used to have when you and I were +children together. Do you remember that I bear a scar now, inflicted by +a tennis-racket in your hand, when you were ten years old? I think more +of that scar than of any other possession I have, for even you cannot +take it away from me. I love you with all the manhood there is in me, +and I can't remember a time when I did not; and I have thought that I +knew, all these years, that you loved me; I believe it now, even though +the scorn in your eyes denies it. You may have convinced yourself that +you do not, but you are working from a wrong hypothesis. I know why you +have put me off, time and again, when I have besought you to name our +wedding-day. It has been because you were not quite ready. Isn't that +true, dear? You have not denied me because you did not love me; you have +put me off only because you were not ready to become a wife. But you +have loved me; I am sure of that. You have never said that you would +not be my wife; and in fact you have often shown me that some day you +would be; you have only declined to say when. I have come to you +to-night, Patricia, to tell you that I will wait, on and on, counting +only your own pleasure in the matter, until you are willing to appoint +the time, if only you will say that you forgive me for the apparently +despicable part I have played in the tragedy of this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"That is a very pretty speech you have just made. It sounds well, and is +quite characteristic," she replied to him, calmly. "I shall be as frank +with you in my reply."</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said, and waited. Her tone and manner startled him. There was +a suggestion of finality in her attitude that was alarming. She +continued, speaking almost gently:</p> + +<p>"I have believed in your love for me, as sincerely as I have believed in +my father's love for me; and I think now that you were more to me than I +realized. But, Roderick, have you ever watched a woodman in the forest +chopping down a tree? And have you ever seen that tree fall, when its +natural prop was stolen away by the sharp edge of the axe? It may have +taken that tree a hundred, or a thousand years to grow; but when it +crashes down, it is gone forever. A little, puny man has gone into the +forest with an axe upon his shoulder, and has ruthlessly attacked one of +God's greatest creations, a gorgeously abundant tree. He had no thought +of what he was doing, of what he was destroying. His only thought was of +a purpose he had in view; and it was somehow necessary to destroy that +tree in order to accomplish the purpose. The thing that nature created, +which had required years to bring to perfection; the thing that God made +beautiful was, in a few minutes, shorn of its splendor by this little, +ruthless creature, who went into the forest with the axe on his +shoulder. That is what you have done to whatever love I may have felt +for you, Roderick Duncan. It lies prostrate now, and it has borne down +with it, all the lesser verdure, all the little trees and bushes and +vines that grew about it, and has left only a bare spot—and the wounded +stump. You were the woodman with the axe."</p> + +<p>"My God, Patricia!" he cried out, appalled by the agony of his loss. He +understood, suddenly, that this proud young woman would have forgiven +downright disloyalty more readily than such hurt to her pride.</p> + +<p>She continued as if he had not spoken:</p> + +<p>"My father informed me, this afternoon, as you are aware, of certain +financial straits in which he has suddenly become involved. I know +enough about the methods and habits of 'the street,' to realize how +impossible it was for him to betray his condition to certain forces and +powers that are exerted there, lest, despite what he could do, he should +lose the great influence he now has over all the immense wealth of this +country. While he was telling me about his condition, I naturally +thought of you; and I wondered why he had not gone to you instantly; or, +if you knew of the circumstance, I wondered the more, why you had not as +instantly gone to him, and offered the assistance he needed. Then, +little by little by little, the plot which you two had concocted +together, was unveiled to me."</p> + +<p>"But, Patricia, dear, won't you—?"</p> + +<p>"Let me finish, please. I have not quite done so, as yet."</p> + +<p>"Well, dear?"</p> + +<p>"I have agreed to the terms that were adjusted between you and my +father, respecting the loan of a certain sum of money by you to him. Of +course, you may repudiate those terms if you please, and it is a matter +of indifference to me whether you do so, or not. You may loan the money +to my father without accepting me as the collateral for it; that also +is a matter of indifference to me. But I wish to tell you, and I wish +you thoroughly to understand, that, unless you carry out the terms of +this compact precisely as it was agreed upon between you and my father, +with the added stipulations which I have requested Mr. Melvin to draw +for me, I will never under any circumstances be your wife, or receive +you again. That, I think, concludes this interview. I shall be ready +Monday morning, at ten o'clock, to fulfill my part of the agreement. You +and Stephen Langdon may do as you please. And now, please, bid me +good-night—I prefer to be alone."</p> + +<p>Duncan started from his chair and took two steps toward her, where he +paused. His face was pale, but his finely chiseled features were set in +firm lines; and his tall, athletic figure, was drawn to its full height, +as he replied, with slow emphasis:</p> + +<p>"In that case, Patricia, we shall carry out the compact as agreed upon, +and I shall conform to whatever stipulations you have made," he said. +"Good-night."</p> + +<p>He turned and went swiftly from the room. He seized his coat and hat +before James, the footman, could assist him, and he went out at the +front door, with more bitterness and more anger in his soul than he +remembered ever to have felt before against any man or woman. But just +now the bitterness and the anger were directed chiefly against himself.</p> + +<p>For a moment, he stood on the bottom step at the entrance to the +mansion, undecided as to which way he should go or what he should do. +Then, he turned about and again rang the bell at Stephen Langdon's door; +and the instant it was opened, he brushed savagely past the astonished +James, and made his way to the library, unannounced. He pushed the door +ajar noiselessly, without intending to do so, and halted on the +threshold, amazed by what he saw there. He had not meant to intrude in +that silent fashion upon the privacy and grief of the woman he loved, +and as soon as he could master his emotions, he stepped quickly backward +into the hall, re-closing the door as softly as he had opened it. +Patricia had given way at last. She had thrown herself upon the couch, +and with her face buried among the pillows, she was sobbing as if her +heart would break. His first impulse, when he discovered her so, was to +rush to her side, to take her in his arms, and to tell her over and over +again of his love. But he knew instinctively that Patricia would +bitterly resent such an effort on his part, that he would again offend +her sense of pride if she should know that he had found her in tears.</p> + +<p>Outside the door, when he had closed it, he hesitated for a time; +finally he wrote rapidly on the back of one of his cards, as follows:</p> + +<p>"There will be little time on Monday morning to inspect the papers you +mentioned. I shall be glad if you will direct Mr. Melvin to submit them +to me at my rooms, between five and six o'clock to-morrow afternoon.</p> +<p class="left50">R. D."</p> + +<p>He gave this written message to James, instructing him not to deliver it +until Miss Langdon summoned him to her, or she should leave the library. +Then, he asked the footman:</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to know where Mr. Langdon has gone, to-night, James?"</p> + +<p>"To the opera, sir," replied the footman.</p> + +<p>"Alone?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so, sir, I believe."</p> + +<p>Duncan walked the distance, which was considerable, from the Langdon +mansion to the Opera House, where he went directly to Stephen Langdon's +box, believing that he would find the banker to be it's solitary +occupant, and there were reasons why he greatly desired a private +conference with Patricia's father. He entered the box without +announcement and came to a sudden pause when he discovered that the +banker was not alone. Beside him, with her white arm resting upon the +rail at the front of the box, was seated a young woman whom Duncan knew +well; and she happened to be the one person in New York who came nearest +to being on terms of intimacy with Patricia. For Miss Langdon was one +who had never permitted herself to be intimate with anybody. Others +might be intimate with her, as Beatrice Brunswick had been, but that +close and personal relation which so often exists between two young +women, and which is so beautiful in its character, was something +Patricia Langdon had never permitted herself to know. She was not even +aware that this was so. The condition arose from no lack of sympathy for +others, and from no want of affection for her friends; it was a +characteristic reserve of manner and method, inherited from her father, +which had been cultivated by and through her association with him, all +her life long.</p> + +<p>While Roderick Duncan halted for an instant, to consider whether, or +not, he should proceed with his original design, and while he still +stood there, holding the curtains apart and appearing much as if he were +a stealthy observer of the scene before him, the young woman turned her +head and discovered him. She smiled brightly and uttered an exclamation +of pleasure as she started to her feet and approached him with +out-stretched hand. One could have seen that the pleasure she +manifested, was very real. It was at once evident that she liked Duncan.</p> + +<p>"How good of you to come, and how fortunate!" she said, when he took her +hand and raised it to his lips, just as the banker turned about in his +chair, and with a grim smile also made Duncan welcome.</p> + +<p>"Hello," he said. "Glad you came! I have been wondering all the evening +where you were. Had an idea you would show up somewhere. Sit down and +keep still until this act is finished, for I don't want to lose it. +After that, we'll chat a little. There are things I wish to discuss with +you, Roderick."</p> + +<p>Roderick Duncan was in a mood that was strange to him. It affected him +to recklessness, though he could not have told why it was so, or in what +form of recklessness he might indulge. The discovery he had made when he +returned to the library and found Patricia in tears, was still having +its effects upon him, for he did not understand the cause for those +tears. He knew only that he had made her cry, that her abandonment of +grief was due to his acts, and her father's. By a strange paradox, he +pitied himself as deeply as he did the woman he loved. He felt that he +had been forced into a second false position by so readily accepting the +terms Patricia had insisted upon for their betrothal. She had told him +plainly that if she ever became his wife at all, the fact could be +accomplished only in the manner she dictated; that if he repudiated it, +he would not even be received at her home. Impulsively, he had accepted +her dictum, and now, at the end of his long and solitary walk to the +opera-house, he realized that the change from frying-pan to fire was a +simile true as to his present condition. Practically, the end so long +sought had been attained. In effect, he and Patricia were betrothed—but +such a betrothal! For the moment, he regretted his ready acquiescence to +Patricia's terms. He believed that it would be better to lose her +entirely than to take her under such conditions.</p> + +<p>The meeting with Beatrice Brunswick and her sincere welcome warmed him, +and he found a ready sympathy in her eyes and manner for his condition +of mind. He wanted company and he wanted sympathy; chiefly, he had +wished to discuss the present situation of affairs with old Steve; but +now, since his arrival at the box, he decided that it would be a +splendid opportunity to talk the matter over with Beatrice Brunswick. +She had always shown him great consideration. He had regarded her as +Patricia's dearest friend, and had ultimately placed her in that +relationship to himself, for she was one of those rare young women whom +men class as "good fellows." And Beatrice was as good as she was +beautiful. Her merry laugh and quick wit always acted upon Duncan like a +tonic. Just now, he was especially glad to find her there, and he showed +it.</p> + +<p>Beatrice Brunswick was unmistakably red-headed. Referring to her hair in +cold-blooded terms, no other hue could have described it. It was like +that old-fashioned kind of red copper, after it has been hammered into +sheets, in the manner in which it was treated before less arduous +methods were invented. It was remarkable hair, too—there was such a +wealth of it! It had always impressed Duncan with the idea that each +individual hair was in business for itself, refusing utterly to stay +where it was put. A young woman's crowning glory, always, this happened +to be particularly true in the case of Miss Brunswick, for, although her +features and her figure and her graceful motions left nothing to be +desired, it was her wonderful hair, emphasized by the saucy poise of her +head, that became her crowning glory, indeed. Duncan took a seat near to +her, so that she was between him and the banker; and presently Beatrice +inclined her head toward him, and whispered:</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Roderick? You look like a banquet of the Skull and +Bones, which my brother described to me once, when he was at Yale."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you about it later," was the response; and Duncan shut his +jaws, and bent his attention grimly upon the stage.</p> + +<p>"Why not now?" She asked.</p> + +<p>"There isn't time; and besides—"</p> + +<p>"Have you been quarreling with our Juno? Have you two been scrapping?" +She whispered, smiling bewitchingly, and bending still nearer to him. +Miss Brunswick was sometimes given to the milder uses of slang.</p> + +<p>Duncan nodded, without replying in words. He kept his eyes directly +toward the stage. But Miss Brunswick was insistent.</p> + +<p>"Is Patricia on her high horse to-night?" she asked, with a light laugh.</p> + +<p>Duncan replied to her with another nod, and a wry smile.</p> + +<p>"She wants to look out about that high horse of hers, Roderick, or +sometime it will hit the top rail and give her a fall that she won't get +over for a while. What our beautiful Juno needs most is what I used to +get oftenest when I was about three years old. Perhaps you can guess +what it was; if you can't, I won't tell you."</p> + +<p>"I expect you were a regular little devil then, weren't you?" he asked, +endeavoring to assume a cheerfulness he was far from experiencing at +that moment.</p> + +<p>"I expect I was; and the strange part of it is that there are lots and +lots of people who insist that I have never got over it. But I can read +you like a book. You and Mr. Langdon and Patricia have been having no +end of a row. He might just as well have told me that much when he came +after me and insisted that I should accompany him to the opera to-night. +He said that Patricia wouldn't, and he wanted me to take her place. I +wish you would tell me all about it." Then, with a slight toss of her +head, Beatrice added: "I suppose Patricia has refused you again?"</p> + +<p>"No. She has accepted me, this time," was the blunt reply.</p> + +<p>Beatrice stared straight in front of her for a moment, and there was a +suggestion of gathering pallor in her face. Then, she drew backward, +away from her companion, and her blue eyes widened. If there was a shock +to her in the knowledge she had just received, she accepted it with a +very clever little laugh which she always had ready at hand.</p> + +<p>"So," she said, "that is what makes you so glum, is it? Really, you are +a most amazing person. I had supposed that when Patricia accepted you, +finally, and set the day—"</p> + +<p>"The day hasn't been set. It may be a week, a month, or a year hence, +for all I know." This was said harshly, and while Duncan's eyes were +fixed steadily upon Mary Garden, on the stage.</p> + +<p>"How intensely interesting!" Beatrice exclaimed, under her breath. "I +shall insist upon your taking us to supper after the opera, and telling +me all about it."</p> + +<p>The loud bars of music which announce the finale of an act and the +entrance of the chorus precluded the possibility of further conversation +just then; and as soon as the curtain was down and the applause had +ceased, Stephen Langdon left his chair and reached for his coat and hat. +Then, he addressed the two young people who were his companions in the +box.</p> + +<p>"If you two youngsters care to see this out, I'll leave you here, +together," he said. "I have just remembered something I should have +attended to, to-night. I must see Melvin, my lawyer. You won't mind, +Beatrice, will you, if I leave you in Roderick's care? Possibly, I'll +return before the show is out."</p> + +<p>Before either of them could answer, Langdon had passed out into the +aisle, and hurried away, leaving Duncan and Miss Brunswick alone +together in the box. If Roderick Duncan had really desired an +opportunity to confide his troubles to Beatrice, it was afforded him +then; but now that it was at hand, he felt suddenly uncertain about the +wisdom of such a proceeding.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE BOX AT THE OPERA</b></p> +<p class="p2">Duncan stared helplessly at the spot where the curtains had fallen +together behind the departing figure of Stephen Langdon; then he turned +his eyes toward Beatrice, to discover that she was convulsed with +laughter. But whether her demeanor and her quick surrender to +expressions of levity had been excited by the departure of the banker, +or by Duncan's attitude of dismay, the young man could not have told. He +laughed with her, for there was a distinctly ludicrous side to the +situation, following, as it did, so closely upon the announcement of his +engagement to Patricia.</p> + +<p>By mutual consent, they withdrew to the rear of the box, and then +Beatrice, with a touch of teasing witchery in her voice and with +laughter still in her eyes, asked him:</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that this is rather a compromising situation, +particularly in view of the fact that you have only just become engaged +to Patricia? Really, you know, it is dreadful; isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I hadn't thought of that," he replied, quite truthfully. "I was +thinking of what Langdon said, when he left us. It recalled something—"</p> + +<p>"About leaving us two 'youngsters' alone together?" she asked him, with +a pretense of frightened expression in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"No, that wasn't the last thing he said."</p> + +<p>"What was it? I didn't hear it."</p> + +<p>"He said he was going to see Melvin. I suppose you know who Melvin is, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed. Mr. Melvin and I are great friends. I think he is +about the nicest old gentleman of my acquaintance; don't you? He is what +I should call the <i>arbiter elegantiarum</i> of the Langdon court, if one +could imagine Old Steve as a Cæsar, and Patricia as—" Beatrice paused, +and flushed hotly. She had not considered to what length her words were +reaching. She had almost cast a reflection upon her friend, which would +have been as unkind as it was unmerited. She added, quickly: "But why, +if I may ask, did the mention of Mr. Melvin's name interest you?"</p> + +<p>Duncan gazed at his companion rather stupidly, for a moment, for his +mind had suddenly become intent upon the complications of the day, and +he had forgotten for the time being, where he was, and with whom he was +talking. But Beatrice's smile and the mockery in her eyes brought him +back to the present.</p> + +<p>"I remembered that I should have gone, myself, to see Melvin, to-night," +he told her, quietly. "It really was quite important. I should have +sought him, instead of coming here."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" Beatrice laughed, brightly. "Mr. Melvin seems to be in great +demand. Are you and Patricia to follow the French fashion of drawing the +marriage-contract? and is Mr. Melvin to act the part of a French +notary?" There was a touch of irony in her question, a little shaft of +sarcasm that brought a quick flush to Duncan's face. He was reminded +instantly of the tentative betrothal with Patricia, and his misgivings +concerning it. Beside him was seated the one person who might aid them +both; and with sudden resolution, acted upon as quickly as it was +formed, he reached out and took one of Miss Brunswick's hands, holding +it between both his own.</p> + +<p>"Beatrice," he said, with quiet emphasis, "you have always been a good +fellow, if ever there was a girl born in the world who was one. I wonder +if you could be persuaded to give me the benefit of your advice, and, +possibly, your active assistance?"</p> + +<p>She flushed a little under the praise and the intimately personal +request that came with it, but he did not notice this as he went on: +"I've somehow got things into the biggest kind of a muddle to-day, and I +have a notion to tell you all about it; I have the impulse to take you +into my confidence and to ask you to help me out. I know you can do it. +By Jove, Beatrice, I think you are the only person in the world who can +do it! Will you?"</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders ever so little, and the flush left her +cheeks, rendering them paler than was their wont. It suddenly came home +to her that he was asking a favor that might prove extremely difficult +to grant.</p> + +<p>"I cannot say as to that until I hear what you wish me to do," she +replied.</p> + +<p>"I want you to help me square myself," he said, quickly.</p> + +<p>"To square yourself?" She raised her brows in assumed surprise. "With +whom?"</p> + +<p>"Why, with Patricia, of course."</p> + +<p>"Help you to square yourself with Patricia?" She laughed outright, but +without mirth. "I am afraid I don't at all understand you, Roderick. I +supposed you had already accomplished that much, for you told me—did +you not?—that Patricia has just accepted you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and that's the devil of it!" was the unexpected astounding reply. +Beatrice moved farther away from him, and took her hand from his grasp, +in well-simulated horror of what he had said.</p> + +<p>"Let us, at least, confine ourselves to the usages and language of +polite society;" she said, with mock severity. "We will leave the devil +out of it, if you please. Besides, you amaze me! Patricia has just +accepted you, and that is 'the devil of it.' Really, I can't guess what +you mean by such a paradoxical statement as that."</p> + +<p>"Forgive me. I am so wrought up that I scarcely know what I am talking +about, or what I am doing. As I said before, I have managed to get +things into a terrible mess, and I believe that you, Beatrice, are the +only person alive who can unravel the tangle for me. Will you help me +out? Will you?"</p> + +<p>"You must tell me what it is, before I commit myself. You are so very +aggravating, in words and manner, that I cannot even attempt to +understand you."</p> + +<p>For just a few moments, he hesitated. There was within him the feeling +that he would outrage Patricia's ideas of the fitness of things, if he +should take Beatrice Brunswick into his confidence and relate to her all +that had occurred this afternoon and evening. But, on the other hand, he +saw in this beautiful girl a personification of the straw at which a +drowning man grasps. He knew that she was, personally, closer to +Patricia than any other friend had been, and that she understood +Patricia better than did anyone else, save Stephen Langdon, perhaps. He +knew, also, that he could trust her, and that he could rely, implicitly, +upon her loyalty. He knew that she would never betray the secrets he +would be obliged to tell concerning Stephen Langdon's affairs. He had +tried her often, and he had never found her wanting. Therefore, he felt +that the greatest secret of all, concerning the financial extremity in +which Stephen Langdon had become involved, would be safe with Beatrice +Brunswick. Manlike, he began very stupidly and very strangely.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, Beatrice!" he exclaimed. "I wish I might have fallen in love +with you, instead of with Patricia! You would never have seen things in +the light she does!"</p> + +<p>Beatrice's eyes widened and deepened; then, they narrowed so that she +almost frowned. She bit her lips with vexation, and for an instant was +angry. At last, she laughed. She did not wish him to know how deeply he +had wounded her by that careless statement, so she uttered a care-free +ripple of laughter.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know whether I should take that as a compliment or not," +she replied. "It is more than likely that I would have conducted myself +very much worse than Patricia has done in this affair which you have not +as yet explained to me. Perhaps, it is a fortunate thing for both of us +that you did not fall in love with me, instead of her. I'm sure I don't +know what I should have done with you, in such a case. But I will help +you if I can; only, understand in the beginning that if you tell me the +story at all, you must tell me all of it. I don't want any +half-confidences, Roderick."</p> + +<p>Duncan did tell her all of it then, leaving nothing to be added, when he +had finished; and she listened to the end of his tale in utter silence, +with her head half-turned away and her chin supported by the palm of one +of her jeweled hands. They did not move to the front of the box again, +nor give any heed to the rise of the curtain or to what was taking place +on the stage, during the ensuing act. Duncan talked straight on, through +it all; and Beatrice listened with close attention. One might have +supposed that the music and the singing did not reach the ears of either +of them, and one would not have been very wrong in that surmise. The +tragic fate of John, the Baptist; the unholy, unnatural passion of a +depraved soul for the dead lips of a man who had spurned her while he +lived; the exquisite music of Strauss; the superb scenery and +stage-setting; the rich and gorgeous costumes—all remained unseen and +unheard by these two, one intent upon reëstablishing himself in the +esteem of Patricia Langdon, the other disturbed by emotions she could +not have named, which she would have declined to recognize, even had +they presented themselves frankly to her. She had known, of course, of +Duncan's love for her friend, but until this hour there had always +existed an unformed, unrecognized doubt in the mind of Beatrice that it +would ever be requited.</p> + +<p>When he had finished, she was still silent, and for so long a time that +at last, with some impatience, he bent nearer to her, and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Well, Beatrice? What do you think of it all?"</p> + +<p>She shuddered a little. There was still another interval before she +spoke, and then, with calm directness, she replied:</p> + +<p>"I think you are both exceedingly brave to be willing to face the +situation that exists."</p> + +<p>"Eh?" he asked her, not comprehending.</p> + +<p>"Why, if you carry out this compact that you have made, if Patricia +Langdon becomes your wife according to the terms she has dictated to +Melvin—for I can guess, now, what they are—you will both be casting +yourselves straight down into hell. I speak metaphorically, of course," +she added, with a whimsical smile. "I have been told that there isn't +any hell, really. But I mean it, Roderick. If there isn't a hell, you +two seem to be bent upon the arrangement of a correct imitation of one."</p> + +<p>"How is that?" he demanded, frowning. "I don't know what you mean."</p> + +<p>"Our friend has not been named 'Juno' for nothing. She is a strange +girl; but I love her, almost as much as you do," Beatrice continued, as +if she had not heard his question. "She possesses characteristics, the +depth of which I have never been able to sound, and I am her best and +closest friend. If you two live up to this agreement, in the spirit in +which it was made, and conclude it in the spirit in which she has +dictated her conditions to Melvin, I tremble for the consequences that +will ensue, for I can almost foresee them. Patricia is not one who +forgives easily, and she will resent a hurt to her pride with all the +force there is in her."</p> + +<p>Beatrice rose to her feet, standing before him, and he, also, stood up, +facing her. She reached out both her hands toward him, and he took them; +and there were tears in her big blue eyes, when she added, with a depth +of feeling that he did not understand:</p> + +<p>"Roderick Duncan, it would be better for you, and for Patricia as well, +if you never saw each other again. You might far better, and with much +greater hope of happiness, cast your future lot with some other woman +whom you have never thought of as a wife, than marry Patricia Langdon +upon such terms as you have outlined. Have you known her so intimately +all your life without understanding her at all? She might have forgiven +disloyalty, or unfaithfulness, or at least have condoned such—but an +offense against her pride? Never! You would be undergoing much less risk +if you should select an utterly unknown woman from one of these boxes, +and should take her out of this theatre now, and marry her instead!"</p> + +<p>Having delivered this remarkable statement, Beatrice burst into +laughter. Duncan, suddenly alive to her beauty and her nearness, deeply +impressed by what she had said, and fully alive to the truth of her +utterances, retained the grasp he had upon her hands, and drew her +toward him, quickly.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" he demanded, hotly. "I'll do it if you say the word! But not +a strange woman. You, Beatrice—you!! I'll dare you!!! We'll go to the +'Little Church Around the Corner.' I dare you! I dare you, Beatrice! +They always have a wedding ceremony on tap, there; if you've got the +sand, come on. It offers a solution of everything. Come on, Bee—marry +me!"</p> + +<p>She raised her eyes to his, and he understood, instantly, how he had +wounded her; he saw that her laughter had not been real, and that she +was very near to tears. But the fact that she shrank away from his +impetuous words and manner, only spurred him on anew. He caught her +hands again.</p> + +<p>"Let's do it, Beatrice," he said rapidly, bending forward with sudden +eagerness. "I hate all this mess and muddle of affairs. I hate it! Say +yes, Bee."</p> + +<p>He stood with his back toward the curtains at the rear of the box; she +was facing them. He saw her eyes dilate suddenly, and he had the +sensation that she had discovered another person near them, or in the +act of entering the box; and then, with more astonishment than he would +have believed himself capable of feeling, he realized that Beatrice +Brunswick had thrown herself forward and that her white arms were wound +clingingly about his neck; at the same time, with evident design, she +turned him still more, so that he could not see the curtains which +screened the entrance to the box.</p> + +<p>The last and final shock of that eventful day, came to him then, for he +did turn, in spite of Beatrice's restraining arms—he turned to find +that the curtains were drawn apart, and in the opening thus created +stood Patricia Langdon. Duncan knew that she had both seen and heard.</p> + +<p>He could not have moved, had he attempted to do so, although somewhere +deep down inside of him he felt that it was his duty to untwine those +clinging arms and somehow to account for the appalling situation. Beyond +where Patricia stood, he saw and recognized two other figures that were +moving steadily forward toward them, but he had the subconscious +assurance in his soul that neither Stephen Langdon nor his lawyer, +Melvin, had noticed the scene which Patricia had discovered. He could +not guess that it had been the consequence of sudden inspiration on the +part of Beatrice, who had thrown her arms around his neck at the very +instant when she had intended to administer a rebuff.</p> + +<p>He did not imagine that she had discovered the approach of Patricia +before she made this outward demonstration in acceptance of his mad +proposal. Duncan felt very guilty indeed, in that trying moment; +nevertheless, he was not one to attempt an ignominious escape from a +predicament in which he believed himself to be wholly at fault. But +Beatrice was not yet through with acting a part. She drew away from +Duncan quickly, with an exclamation of mingled disappointment, pleasure +and alarm. She cried out the single ejaculation, "Oh!" and dropped +backward upon the chair she had recently occupied. But there was a gleam +of mischief in her eyes, which belied the confusion otherwise expressed +upon her face.</p> + +<p>"So sorry to have interrupted you at such a critical moment," said +Patricia coolly, at once master of herself and of the situation. +"Good-evening, Beatrice. I hope you have enjoyed the opera. I decided to +come at the last moment, and met my father at the door of the theatre, +as I was entering. He insisted on seeing Mr. Melvin to-night, so we +drove to his house together and brought him here. I thought I would +enjoy the last act."</p> + +<p>One might have thought that Roderick Duncan did not exist. Patricia did +not so much as glance in his direction, but she moved forward to the +front of the box and took her accustomed seat, just as Stephen Langdon +and the lawyer, Melvin, entered it.</p> + +<p>All this had passed so quickly that the interval it occupied could be +reckoned only by seconds. Beatrice Brunswick's face was flushed, and her +eyes were alight with mischief, or with something deeper, as she greeted +the two gentlemen. Duncan's countenance was like marble; he realized +that the mess was bigger now, by far, than it had been before.</p> + +<p>Langdon and his lawyer perceived nothing unusual in the attitude of any +person in the box; both were preoccupied with the discussion upon which +they had just been engaged. Patricia's eyes were already fixed on the +stage, and evidently her entire attention was devoted to it. She +appeared to have forgotten the propinquity of other persons.</p> + +<p>There was a vacant chair beside her which Duncan should have taken, and, +doubtless, he would have done so, had not the lawyer stupidly preëmpted +it for his own use. The banker occupied the middle chair, and the +consequence was that Duncan was given no choice, but was literally +forced into the one next to Beatrice. Not that he would have preferred +it otherwise, at the moment. Not he. He was angered by Patricia's +conduct toward him; he resented the whole circumstance—and possibly, +too, he still felt something of the thrill induced by the clinging arms +of Beatrice Brunswick. He stared silently toward the stage, seeing +nothing upon it. He was endeavoring to arrange, in some comprehensive +form, the combination of circumstances and scenes which it had been his +misfortune to encounter, and in part enact, since noon that day. But the +more he tried, the more difficult became the task. The whole thing was +as exasperating as an attempt to put together, within an alloted time, a +puzzle-picture which has been cut into all sorts of sizes and shapes. It +was not a panorama of events, as he recounted them in his own mind; it +was a kaleidoscope, a jumble of colors and figures, of angles and +spaces—or to put it in his own words, it was literally a mess.</p> + +<p>He turned toward Beatrice, whose right hand was negligently waving a +fan. He reached out and claimed it, and she did not resent the act. He +drew it toward him, and she looked up and smiled into his eyes with an +expression he did not understand. She made no effort to withdraw her +hand, nor any attempt to resist his advances. He bent nearer.</p> + +<p>"Will you do it?" he asked her, whispering. "Will you do it, Beatrice?"</p> + +<p>She made no reply, and he bent still nearer, seizing her hand in both +his own, now.</p> + +<p>"Will you do it, dear?" he repeated, a third time. "I'm game, if you +are. It is a solution of the whole beastly muddle. Come on. I'll stump +you! That is what we used to say, when we were kids. By Jove, girl, +you're in as deep as I am, now; and, besides, you gave me your word that +you'd help me, didn't you? Turn your eyes toward me. Tell me you'll do +it. Say yes. Come on, Bee. I'll dare you. We can slip away from here +while their backs are turned. What do you say? Will you marry me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied, without moving or withdrawing her gaze from the +stage, and she repeated: "yes, if you wish it." He could not see her +face.</p> + +<p>"Will you do it now?" Duncan demanded, half-startled by her ready +acquiescence.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Good! I knew you were game!"</p> + +<p>He left his chair quickly and secured her wraps and his own coat and +hat. Then, he stepped to the opening between the curtains and turned +expectantly toward her.</p> + +<p>She had not moved; but now, as if she had seen his every act without +looking toward him, she turned her head slowly, observing him coolly, +and she gave a little nod of comprehension and assent. He returned the +nod, touched his fingers to his lips to enjoin silence, and passed +outside. In another moment, she had glided softly but swiftly from her +seat, and, unnoticed by the other occupants of the box, followed him, +dropping the curtains silently after her.</p> + +<p>He put her opera-cloak about her shoulders, and swiftly donned his own +coat and hat, and so without as much as "by your leave," they left the +theatre together and waited in the foyer while the special officer in +gray called a taxicab for their use.</p> + +<p>Duncan led her across the pavement to the cab, and assisted her inside.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where the Church of the Transfiguration is located?" he +asked the chauffeur.</p> + +<p>"I do, sir," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Drive us there, and be quick about it," said Duncan, and he sprang +inside and banged the door shut after him.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>BEATRICE BRUNSWICK'S PLOT</b></p> +<p class="p2">The chauffeur to whom the order was given that the taxicab be driven to +the Church of the Transfiguration, proved to be an adept and skillful +driver; one of those who can exceed the speed limit and then slow down +his machine so quickly and quietly at the sight of a bluecoat that he +inevitably escapes arrest for his transgression. As a consequence, there +was very little time for conversation between these two apparently mad +young persons during the journey between the opera-house and the church.</p> + +<p>Little as there was, the greater part of it was passed in silence. But +when they were quite near to their destination, Beatrice spoke up +quickly and rather sharply to her companion.</p> + +<p>"Roderick, have you for a moment supposed that I have taken you +seriously in this mad proposition you have made to me, to-night?" she +demanded. "Surely, you don't think that, do you?"</p> + +<p>Duncan stared at her, speechless. Then, with a vehemence that can +better be imagined than described he exclaimed, half-angrily, +half-resentfully:</p> + +<p>"Then, in God's name, Beatrice, why are we here? and why should we go to +the church at all?"</p> + +<p>"Were you serious about it?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I certainly was—and am, now!"</p> + +<p>"Foolish boy!" she exclaimed, laughing with nervous apprehension. What +more she might have said on this point was interrupted by the skidding +of the taxicab as they were whirled around the corner of Twenty-ninth +street.</p> + +<p>"Why, in heaven's name, are we here, then?" he demanded, just as they +were drawn swiftly to the curb, and the cab came to a stop in front of +the church.</p> + +<p>"You requested my help, did you not?" she replied.</p> + +<p>"I certainly did."</p> + +<p>The chauffeur, in the meantime, had leaped to the pavement and thrown +open the door of the cab.</p> + +<p>"You may close the door again, chauffeur, and wait where you are for +further orders," Beatrice told him, calmly. And when that was done, she +again addressed her companion. "You have called me a 'good fellow' +to-night," she said slowly, with quiet distinctness, "and I mean to be +one. I have always meant to be one, and to a great extent I think I have +succeeded. But I would have to be a much better fellow than I am to go +to the extent of marrying a man who does not love me, and who does love +another, simply to help him out of a mess in which his own stupidity has +involved him. Wouldn't I? Ask yourself the question!"</p> + +<p>Duncan shrugged his shoulders and parted his lips to reply, but she went +on rapidly:</p> + +<p>"That is asking me to go rather farther than I would care to venture, my +friend; or you, either, if you should stop to think about it. Your +proposition is utterly a selfish one. You must know that. You have +thought only of yourself and the mess you are in. You do not consider me +at all. You would cheerfully use me as a means of venting your spite—or +shall I call it, temper?—against Patricia. For the moment, you are +intensely angry at her. Not only that, you feel that you have been +out-done, at every point. That she has acted unreasonably, I will not +deny. But what a silly thing it would be for you and me to stand +together at the altar, and pledge ourselves to each other for life, or +until such time as the divorce-courts might intervene, just because of +the events of to-day!" She was smiling upon him now, as if he were, +indeed, a foolish boy who needed chiding.</p> + +<p>Duncan pulled himself together. For the first time since their exit from +the opera-house, and for perhaps the first time since the moment when +Patricia discovered him in the private office of her father, he was +capable of acting and thinking quite naturally.</p> + +<p>"Beatrice," he said, "if the sentiments you have just expressed are the +same as those you felt before you left the box at the opera-house, would +you mind telling me why in the world you have acted as you have done? +Why, in the name of all that's phenomenal and strange, are we here?"</p> + +<p>She turned her head away from him, and peered through the glass door at +the chauffeur, who was striding slowly up and down the pavement outside, +and who had taken the opportunity to indulge himself in a smoke.</p> + +<p>"I did it," she said, "because I thought I saw a way to help you and +Patricia out of your difficulties. I saw that we could leave the box +without her knowledge, and believed that neither she nor her companions +would discover our departure for some time afterward. I remembered just +then that Patricia had witnessed the tender and somewhat touching scene +in the box between you and me. My goodness, Roderick! I hope you didn't +think that I meant <i>that</i>! It was all done for Patricia's benefit, you +goose! Didn't you know that? Did you suppose that I had suddenly fallen +head over heels in love with you? You're not very complimentary, are +you? Or is it that you were throwing bouquets at yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me why you did it?" he asked, flushing hotly under the +jibe.</p> + +<p>"Because I wished Patricia to see it."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I thought it might bring her to her senses."</p> + +<p>"How, Beatrice?"</p> + +<p>"Jealousy, you dunce!"</p> + +<p>"But why the rest of your superb play-acting?"</p> + +<p>"It all works out toward the same end. Don't you suppose that Patricia +is in hot water, by this time? When she realized that we had sneaked +away, to put it plainly, don't you think she would put two and two +together, and make four out of it?"</p> + +<p>"It strikes me," he interrupted her, with a light laugh, "that this is a +case where two are supposed to make one."</p> + +<p>"We won't joke about it, if you please. Still, that isn't a bad idea. +But, at all events, I wish Patricia to believe that we left the +opera-house because, for the moment at least, you preferred my society +to hers. If we can convince her that we ran away to be married, so much +the better!"</p> + +<p>"You are deeper than I am, Bee. I confess that you've got me up a tree. +I haven't the least idea what you are driving at, but I am quite willing +to be taught. What is to be the next play in this little game of yours?"</p> + +<p>"You need not be nasty about it, when I'm trying to help you," she +retorted.</p> + +<p>"What's the next move, Bee? I couldn't induce you to give me another +hug, could I? There, now—don't get angry. I liked it, whether you did, +or not. You put a lot of ginger into it, too. Oh, yes, I liked it!"</p> + +<p>For a moment, it seemed as if she would resent his bantering tone; then +she shrugged her shoulders, and smiled.</p> + +<p>"I did it to help you—to make Patricia jealous." She laughed lightly, +still keeping her face turned away from him. "I saw the curtains part, +and recognized Patricia. With the recognition, there came also a +revelation as to how I could best help you both. If I had dreamed that +you would suppose for a moment I was in earnest, do you think I would +have done it? And when I told you that I would come here, to this +church, and would marry you like this—good heavens!—did you flatter +yourself I meant <i>that</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, I did."</p> + +<p>"Are you in earnest, Roderick Duncan? If I thought your selfishness, +your egotism, was as great as that, I—I don't know what I'd do! Have +you so little regard for me that you think I would become your wife, in +this manner, knowing as I do that you love another—and when that other +is my best friend—when I know that Patricia Langdon loves you? For I do +know it. Do you—did you think that of me—did you think that of me?" +She was a-tremble with indignation, now.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, Bee, I acted like a brute, didn't I? I didn't consider you; I +was selfish enough to think of no one but myself. But, all the same, my +girl, I was in dead earnest. If you've got the pluck and the spirit to +go through with it, now, we'll see the thing out, side by side, just as +we started, and I will make you, perhaps, a better husband than if the +circumstances were different. You say that Patricia loves me: I doubt +it. I thought so once, but I don't now. It doesn't matter, anyhow. I +shall ask you again calmly, with all humility and respect; with all +seriousness, too: will you be my wife, and will you marry me, now?"</p> + +<p>"I will reply with equal seriousness, Roderick," she retorted, +mockingly. "No."</p> + +<p>He uttered a sigh, and there was so much satisfied relief in it that she +laughed aloud, but without bitterness.</p> + +<p>"Then, what shall we do? Sit here in this cab, in front of the Church of +the Transfiguration, for the balance of the night? Or shall we go around +to Delmonico's and have some supper?" he asked her.</p> + +<p>"I think that last suggestion of yours is a very excellent one," she +replied, naïvely. "But we will wait yet a few moments before we start. +We haven't been at the Church of the Transfiguration quite long enough +to have been married, and to have come out of it again."</p> + +<p>Duncan stared at her. Then, slowly, a smile lighted up his eyes and +relaxed the lines of his face, so that after a moment he chuckled. +Presently, he laughed.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, Bee, you're a corker!" he said. "You can give me cards and +spades, and beat me hands down, when it comes to a matter of finesse. Is +it your idea to play out the other part of the game? What will it avail, +if we do?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind that," she replied. "In order to carry out the scheme, and +to make it work itself out, as it should, one thing more is necessary. +It will be great fun, too—if we don't carry it too far."</p> + +<p>"What is that?" he asked her. "What more is necessary?"</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell the chauffeur to stop for a moment at the +side-entrance to the Hotel Breslin; there I wish you to leave me alone +in the cab, while you go inside, and telephone to the opera-house, to +have Jack Gardner and his wife meet us as soon as they can, at +Delmonico's for supper. You may not have noticed, but they occupied +their box, which is directly opposite the Langdon's. One of the ushers +will carry the message to him, and Jack will come, if he has no previous +engagement."</p> + +<p>"But what in the name of—what in the world do you want of Jack Gardner +and his wife? what have they to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"I want them to take supper with us, that is all; and then I want a few +moments' conversation with Jack, while you talk with Sally."</p> + +<p>They were driven to the Breslin, and the telephone-message was sent. +Duncan waited for a reply, and received one, to the effect that Mr. and +Mrs. Gardner would come at once. And so, not long afterward, the four +occupied a conspicuous table of Beatrice's selection, at the famous +restaurant.</p> + +<p>Recalling the injunction put upon him to occupy himself with Sally +Gardner, Duncan began to get a glimmer of understanding regarding the +plot that Beatrice had concocted. He, therefore, gave all of his +attention to the spirited and charming wife of the young copper-king. +Jack Gardner was everybody's friend. He loved a joke better than anyone +else in the world, and a practical joke better than any other kind. He +was especially fond of Roderick Duncan, and both he and his wife were +intimate friends of Beatrice. Duncan noticed, while talking with Sally, +that Jack and Beatrice had drawn their chairs more closely together, +toward a corner of the table, and were now whispering together with +low-toned eagerness. He could hear no word of what Beatrice said, but an +occasional exclamation of Gardner's came to him. He saw that Beatrice +was talking rapidly, with intense earnestness, and that Gardner seemed +to be highly amused, even elated, by what she was saying. Such +expressions as, "By Jove, that's the best, ever!" "Sure, I can do it!" +and, "You just leave it to me!" came to his ears, from Gardner; and +presently the latter excused himself and left the table.</p> + +<p>If they had followed him, they would have seen that he went to the +telephone, where he called up several numbers before he obtained the +person he sought; but he presently returned, apparently in the best of +spirits, and with intense satisfaction written upon every line of his +smiling features.</p> + +<p>As he seated himself at the table, other guests were just assuming +places at another one, quite near to them, and he bent forward toward +Beatrice, saying in a tone which their companion could not hear:</p> + +<p>"I say, Beatrice, it's all working out to the queen's taste! When you +get a chance, look over your left shoulder. Gee! but this is funny! All +the same, though, I expect I'll get myself into a very devil of a stew. +When that reporter discovers that I've given him an out-and-out fake, +he'll go gunning for me as sure as you are alive."</p> + +<p>"Is he coming here to see you?" she asked him.</p> + +<p>"Sure. He will be here in about twenty minutes."</p> + +<p>"Now, tell me who it is at the table behind me. I don't care to look +around, to discover for myself."</p> + +<p>"Why, Old Steve and his Juno; and they've got Malcolm Melvin with them." +He leaned back in his chair, and laughed; then, he emptied the +champagne-glass he had been playing with. Presently, he chuckled again.</p> + +<p>"Tell you what, Beatrice," he said, in an undertone, "I almost wish that +you had taken Duncan at his word, and married him. You should have +called that bluff. Sure thing! Think of the millions he's got, and—"</p> + +<p>"Hush!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, all right. All the same—"</p> + +<p>"Hush, I tell you! Don't you see that Sally is trying to talk to you?"</p> + +<p>After that, the conversation became general among the four. During it, +Jack Gardner sought and found an opportunity to wave a greeting to the +late arrivals, whose names he had just mentioned to Beatrice. Duncan, +observing him, glanced also in that direction, and, meeting Patricia's +eyes fixed directly upon him, flushed hotly as he, also, bowed to her. +Then, Sally and Beatrice turned their heads and nodded, as another +course of the service was placed upon the table before them.</p> + +<p>It was not yet finished when the head-waiter brought a card to Jack +Gardner, who instantly left his seat for the second time that evening, +and, with a curt, "I'll be back in a moment," departed, without further +excuse. The person whose card he had received, was awaiting him in one +of the reception-rooms; and the two shook hands cordially, for they were +old acquaintances and on excellent terms with each other. It was not the +first time they had got their heads together concerning matters for +publication, although, in this instance, the newspaper man was to be +made a wholly innocent party in the affair.</p> + +<p>Burke Radnor was a newspaper man of prominence in New York. He was one +of the few men of his profession who have succeeded in attaining +sufficient distinction to establish themselves independently, and his +"stories" were eagerly sought by all of the great dailies.</p> + +<p>The two seated themselves in a corner of the room, and talked together +earnestly, although in whispers, for a considerable time. It was Gardner +who did most of the talking; Radnor only occasionally interjected a +questioning remark. When they parted, it was with a hearty hand-clasp, +and this remark from Radnor:</p> + +<p>"I'll fix it up all right, old man; don't you worry. Nobody shall know +that I got the story from you. But it is a jim dandy, and no mistake!"</p> + +<p>"Which of the papers will you use it in, do you think?" asked Gardner.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure as to that. To the one that will pay the best price for a +first-class 'beat,' for that's what it is. Anyhow, that part of it is +none of your business. Now that I've got the story, I shall handle it as +I think best, and you can bet your sweet life it will be used for all +it's worth!"</p> + +<p>Gardner returned to the dining-room, with vague misgivings concerning +what he had done; his smile was a bit less self-satisfied. Radnor, +apparently, left the building. But the shrewd news-gatherer went no +farther than the entrance, where he wheeled about and returned; and this +time he sent his card to Roderick Duncan. Having "nailed the story," the +proper thing now was to obtain an interview with one of the principals +concerned in it; with both, if possible.</p> + +<p>Duncan received the card, wonderingly. He knew Radnor, and liked him; +but he could not imagine what the newspaper man could want with him at +that particular time. The truth about it, did not even vaguely occur to +him.</p> + +<p>Excusing himself, he left the table and presently found Radnor in the +same room where the recent interview with Jack Gardner had taken place.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Radnor," said Duncan, cordially, extending his hand. "There must +be something doing when you call me away from a supper table, at Del's. +Make it as brief as possible—won't you?—because I am dining, and—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I won't keep you but a moment, Mr. Duncan," was the quick reply. "I +just want to ask you a question or two about the interesting ceremony +that took place this evening—that is all."</p> + +<p>"Eh? What's that? Ceremony? What the devil are you talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Look here, Mr. Duncan, you know perfectly well that I am your friend, +and that I'll use you as handsomely as possible in the columns of any +paper that gets this story. But I've got the straight tip, and I know +what I am talking about. I thought, possibly, you might wish to say a +few words in explanation—just to tone the thing down, to give it the +mark of authenticity, you know. I thought you'd like to be quoted, and +to know, from me, that the story'll be all right. On the level, now, +isn't that better?"</p> + +<p>Duncan laughed. He did not in the least understand. He had the idea that +Radnor had been drinking.</p> + +<p>"Burke," he said; "upon my life, this is the first time I ever saw you +when you had taken too much to drink."</p> + +<p>"Is that the way you are going to reply to me?" asked Radnor, with all +the insistence of a thoroughly trained newspaper man. "You'd best use me +right, you know. It's a great 'beat,' and I want all of it. I'd like to +talk with the bride, too, if you can fix—"</p> + +<p>"But I don't know what the blazes you are talking about, man."</p> + +<p>"I am talking about the little ceremony that took place this evening at +the Little Church Around the Corner, and was indulged in between you and +the former Miss Brunswick; as a sort of <i>entr'acte</i> to the opera of +Salome," said Radnor, with slow distinctness.</p> + +<p>Duncan stiffened where he stood. The smile left his face, and his eyes +narrowed, while his clean-cut features seemed to harden in every line of +them.</p> + +<p>"Radnor," he said with a slow drawl, which to those who knew him best +betrayed intense anger, "you will be good enough to explain to me, here +and now, in plain English and in as few words as possible, exactly what +you mean."</p> + +<p>"I mean," was the ready retort, "that you and Miss Beatrice Brunswick +were married to-night at the Little Church Around the Corner, between +two of the acts of Salome. I mean that I've got the straight tip, and I +know it to be true. I wish to quote you, if possible, in what I shall +write about it for the morning papers. I'd like to get a statement from +the bride, too."</p> + +<p>"Are you crazy, Radnor?" asked Duncan, bending forward, his face white +and set, and his eyes hard and cold; for Roderick Duncan, with all his +apparent quietude, was a man whom it was not safe to try too far.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not crazy. I'm just telling you what's what. I'll get the whole +story, and what's more, I'll print it in the morning papers! If you wish +to say anything in explanation of the incident, I shall be glad to quote +you; but, otherwise, I shall take the liberty of drawing my own +inferences, and assuming my own conclusions, from the story I have +heard. I tell you, Mr. Duncan, I've got it straight, and I know it to be +true."</p> + +<p>"It is not true," said Duncan, quietly. "The person who told you such a +story as that lied."</p> + +<p>Radnor shrugged his shoulders, and laughed, ironically.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I blame you for denying it," he said, "but I happen +to know differently. If you choose to deny it, I'll send my card inside +to Mrs. Duncan, and we'll see, then, what we shall see. You can't bluff +me, Mr. Duncan. I'm not that sort. If you won't talk, perhaps the former +Miss Brunswick, will, and—"</p> + +<p>Radnor got no further than that. Duncan's rage, the moment he understood +the situation and fully realized the possible consequences of it in the +hands of this ubiquitous newspaper man, overcame him, utterly. His right +arm shot out with terrific force, his clenched fist caught Radnor +squarely on the point of the chin, and the latter was knocked +half-senseless to the floor. Waiters, and attendants about the place +rushed toward them; but Duncan slowly drew a handkerchief from one of +his pockets, and, calmly wiping his hands upon it, said to the manager:</p> + +<p>"Kick the dog into the street; that is what he deserves. He probably +followed me when I came away from the opera-house, and now he is trying +to make capital out of a meaningless incident. Put him out, and don't +permit him to pass the door again to-night; otherwise, he will seek to +annoy a lady who is here."</p> + +<p>Then, he turned calmly about, and, although his features were still +pale, reëntered the dining-room as if nothing had happened. Duncan +confidently believed that he had correctly estimated the cause of +Radnor's quest for news. It never occurred to him that Beatrice +Brunswick was herself, through the agency of Jack Gardner, the cause of +it.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>A REMARKABLE MEETING</b></p> +<p class="p2">When Jack Gardner returned to the dining-room after his interview with +Radnor, he was vaguely troubled, notwithstanding the fact that he was +also highly amused. There were elements associated with the thing he had +just done that might stir up unpleasant consequences. His inordinate +love for a practical joke had led him into it willingly, and he had +thought he saw in this affair the best and greatest joke he had ever +attempted to perpetrate. But he began to understand that there was a +tragic element to it which he could not deny to himself; and, when he +was in the act of resuming his chair beside Beatrice, he was more than +half-inclined, even then, to rush from the building in the pursuit of +Burke Radnor, and to withdraw the whole story that he had given to the +newspaper man.</p> + +<p>When, a few moments later, Radnor's card was brought to Duncan, the +sense of impending disaster was stronger than ever upon Gardner, and he +watched the departure of the young millionaire with many misgivings, not +one of which he could have defined in words. But he watched the doorway +through which Duncan passed, and, during the interval that ensued, he +was very palpably disturbed and uneasy. He had recognized the card, +although he had been unable to see the name that was engraved upon it. +He had not supposed that Radnor would so quickly pursue his +investigation of the story, and it had not even remotely occurred to the +young copper-king, that the newspaper man would dare to go so far as to +seek an immediate interview with Duncan. Even had the man selected +Beatrice, it would not have been quite so bad.</p> + +<p>Nobody knew Duncan better than did Jack Gardner, and he realized what a +strong and stirring effect this fake-story, as made up between himself +and Beatrice, might have upon one who was such a stickler for certain +forms as he knew Duncan to be. His impulse was to follow his friend from +the room, but he resisted it, although he did keep his gaze +spasmodically fixed upon the door by which Roderick must reënter the +dining-room.</p> + +<p>Gardner was the first of the party to discover him, when he did return, +and was quick to see that something unusual had happened during the +interval outside, which had been all too short to have been fruitful of +any other result than violence of some sort. He saw, by the set +expression of his friend's face and by the pallor upon it, that +something had gone wrong, and he started to his feet and moved rapidly +forward, so that he met Duncan half-way between the entrance and the +table where Beatrice and Sally Gardner were now left alone together. He +grasped his friend by the arm, and drew him aside, saying rapidly, as he +did so:</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Dun, what has happened? Tell me quickly."</p> + +<p>Roderick Duncan looked down calmly, and without change of expression +upon Gardner, for he was considerably taller than his friend; and he +said, slowly, in reply:</p> + +<p>"Without answering your question, Jack, I wish to ask you one. Was it +Burke Radnor whom you were called out to meet, a little while ago, in +the reception-room?"</p> + +<p>Not thinking of the possible consequences of his response, Gardner +admitted, hastily, that it had been Radnor, and Duncan asked another +question.</p> + +<p>"Did Radnor question you about a marriage-ceremony that is supposed to +have taken place between Beatrice Brunswick and myself, to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see—"</p> + +<p>"Answer me yes, or no, Jack, if you please."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, he did."</p> + +<p>"Have you any idea, Jack, where he obtained the nucleus for such a +story?"</p> + +<p>Gardner hesitated, and Duncan from his greater height, bent forward +quickly, and with a strong grip, seized the young copper-king by the +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Jack Gardner," he demanded, "did you, at the instigation of Beatrice, +concoct that story? Have I you to thank for it? You need not answer, +Jack. I can read the reply in the expression of your face." He withdrew +his hand from its detaining grasp upon his friend, and took a half-step +backward; then, he added: "Jack, if we were anywhere else than in a +public dining-room, I should resent what you have done bitterly—and by +actions, not words. As it is, I demand that you instantly seek, and +find, Burke Radnor, and retract whatever you have said, or inferred, +during your conversation with him. I warn you, Gardner, that if one +single line appears in any of the papers to-morrow morning on this +subject I'll find a way to resent it, which will make you regret, all +your life, your nameless conduct of to-night."</p> + +<p>Gardner turned decidedly pale, not because of any physical fear he felt +of Duncan, but in dread of the possible consequences of what he had +permitted himself to do.</p> + +<p>"Where is Radnor, now?" he exclaimed, quickly.</p> + +<p>"I left him half-conscious, on the floor of the reception-room," replied +Duncan, calmly. "I knocked him down."</p> + +<p>"Good God!" exclaimed Gardner; and he turned and rushed away with +precipitate haste.</p> + +<p>Duncan went on toward the table at which Beatrice and Sally were seated, +but as he approached it, a desire to hear the sound of Patricia's voice +possessed him, and he turned abruptly toward that other table, occupied +by Stephen Langdon, with his daughter and the lawyer.</p> + +<p>Devoting a careless nod to the two men, Duncan addressed his fiancée, +speaking loudly enough so that her companions might hear.</p> + +<p>"Patricia," he said, "will you do me a very great favor? It is of vital +importance, otherwise I would not ask it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" she replied, raising her big, dark eyes to his. "Your question +and your manner as well imply something that is almost tragic, Roderick. +What is it that you wish me to do?"</p> + +<p>"A very little thing, Patricia. Will you, for a moment, accompany me to +the table where Beatrice and Sally Gardner are dining?"</p> + +<p>"Why, most certainly," she replied. "You give a very big reason for a +very small thing, don't you? Of course, I will go to them." She left her +seat instantly, and crossed to the other table; Duncan followed, +closely. Patricia accepted the chair that Jack Gardner had occupied, +which Duncan drew out for her. Then, he resumed his own. As soon as they +were seated, the young millionaire, drawing his chair a bit closer, +said, addressing them, generally:</p> + +<p>"I have something to say which I wish each of you to hear. To-night, a +rumor has been started, somehow, that Miss Brunswick and I were married +an hour or so ago, at the Church of the Transfiguration." Patricia gave +a slight start, but he continued, unheedingly: "A certain newspaper man, +Radnor by name, has already sought to interview me, and he went so far +as to insist that he was positive in his assertions as to such a +ceremony having taken place. Of course, Beatrice and I both know it to +be untrue, and I now make this statement in order to warn you all of +what may possibly appear in the morning papers; that is all I have to +say on the subject."</p> + +<p>Beatrice had flushed hotly at the beginning of his statement, and, +while he continued, she turned deadly pale. Sally, who it will be +remembered had not been taken into the confidence of the intriguers, +laughed. Patricia was the only one who appeared to be unmoved by the +announcement, but she kept her eyes fixed upon the face of her friend, +and she correctly interpreted the changing colors and expressions of +Beatrice Brunswick's face.</p> + +<p>Whatever might have been the consequences of Duncan's announcement and +Miss Brunswick's emotions, her conscious blushes and subsequent pallor, +it was interrupted by the sudden and swift return of Gardner, who +exclaimed, excitedly:</p> + +<p>"Sally, I want you right away; and you, too, Beatrice. It's almost a +matter of life and death. Never mind the supper—we can have one some +other time. Duncan, you won't mind, will you, if I take them away?" He +leaned forward and added, in a whisper: "I am carrying out what you +asked me to do, and I need their help." Then, straightening himself, he +addressed Patricia: "You will excuse us all, won't you? Come, Sally; for +heaven's sake, make haste! There isn't a moment of time to lose."</p> + +<p>Sally Gardner had never seen her husband in quite such a state of +excitement, but as she was one of the kind that is always ready for +anything in the shape of adventure, and scented one here, she lost no +time in complying with his request. Beatrice's expression was first of +amusement; then, of comprehension. Almost before any of the party fully +realized what had happened, Jack Gardner and his companions were gone. +Patricia and Roderick Duncan were alone at the table.</p> + +<p>She turned her expressive eyes toward him and regarded him closely, but +in silence, for a moment. Then, in a low tone, she inquired:</p> + +<p>"May I ask if you understand this amazing succession of incidents? To +me, it is entirely incomprehensible. If you can explain it, I wish you +would do so."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid, Patricia, that it cannot be explained—that is, any +farther than I've already done so," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Who is responsible for this remarkable story you say the newspaper man +asked you about?"</p> + +<p>Duncan hesitated. Then, he replied:</p> + +<p>"When Beatrice and I left the opera-house to-night, we entered a +taxicab, and we did drive as far as the iron gateway that admits one to +the Church of the Transfiguration. We did not enter; in fact, we did not +leave the cab at all. It is possible, though hardly probable, that we +were followed by some reporter."</p> + +<p>"But why did you drive to the Church of the Transfiguration, at all?" +she asked him, with a smile upon her face that had something of derision +in it, for she plainly saw that Duncan was floundering badly in his +effort to explain. When he hesitated for a suitable reply, she +continued: "Why, may I ask, did you leave the box at the opera-house, in +such a surreptitious manner? It seems to me that the Church of the +Transfiguration was an odd destination for you to have selected, when +you did leave it, with Beatrice for a companion. Or was there a +pre-arrangement between you. Was it her suggestion, or was it yours, +Roderick?"</p> + +<p>"It was mine," he replied; and he could not help smiling at the +recollection of it, even though the present moment was filled with +tragic possibilities.</p> + +<p>"It seems to amuse you," she told him.</p> + +<p>"It does—now."</p> + +<p>"Had you, for the moment, forgotten that you were under contract with +me, for Monday morning?"</p> + +<p>Instead of replying at once, he leaned forward half-across the table +toward her, and, fixing his gaze steadily upon her, said, with low +earnestness:</p> + +<p>"Patricia, for God's sake, let us cease all this fencing; let us put an +end to this succession of misunderstandings. You know how I love you! +You know—"</p> + +<p>"I know that this is a very badly chosen time and place for you to make +such declarations, or for me to listen to them. Will you come back with +me now to the other table, and join Mr. Melvin and my father? People +have begun to observe us. If these rumors bear any fruits, such a course +seems to me to be the best one to adopt, under the circumstances."</p> + +<p>She arose without awaiting his reply, and he followed her.</p> + +<p>"Melvin," he said to the lawyer, as soon as he was seated at the other +table, "Miss Langdon will agree with me, I think, that it is quite +necessary I should accompany you to your home when we leave this place, +in order to examine with you certain papers which you have drawn, or are +to draw, at her request. Have I your permission, Patricia?" he added.</p> + +<p>"I see no objection, if that is what you mean," Patricia replied; +"although I think it would be better that we should all drive together +to Mr. Melvin's house for the papers—"</p> + +<p>"I have them here, in my pocket," the lawyer interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"So much the better, then," Patricia continued, rapidly. "I think the +best arrangement, all circumstances considered, would be to go together +to my father's house, so that all the interested parties may be present +at the interview."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, this was agreed upon, and in +due time the four were grouped in the library of the Langdon home, where +Malcolm Melvin, with the notes he had made that afternoon before him, +began in a monotonous voice to read the stipulations of the document +upon which Patricia Langdon had decided that she could rely, to supply a +soothing balm for her wounded pride. It was a strange gathering to +assemble at two o'clock in the morning, but none of them, save possibly +the lawyer, seemed cognizant of the curious aspect of the meeting.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE BITTERNESS OF JEALOUSY</b></p> +<p class="p2">James, the footman, entered the library before Malcolm Melvin had +completed the first sentence of the reading of Patricia's stipulations, +and deferentially addressed himself to Roderick Duncan:</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, sir," he said, "but there is an urgent demand for you at the +telephone—so urgent that I thought it necessary to interrupt you."</p> + +<p>"For me? Are you sure?" asked Duncan, in surprise. For, at the moment, +he could not imagine who sought him at such an hour, or how his presence +at Langdon's house, was known.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Mr. Gardner is on the wire."</p> + +<p>Duncan started to his feet, and hurried from the room, while Patricia, +after a moment's hesitation, arose and followed him, glancing toward the +big clock in one corner of the library as she passed it, and observing +that it was already Sunday morning.</p> + +<p>She waited in the hallway, outside the library door, until Duncan +reappeared, after his talk with Jack Gardner over the telephone, and +she stopped him, by a gesture.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Roderick?" she asked. "I think I know what it must be. If +it is anything that concerns me, I should like to know about it at once. +It is something about the—the rumor of your marriage to Beatrice?"</p> + +<p>"It concerns you only indirectly, Patricia," he replied. "I am afraid +that I must defer the reading of those stipulations until another time. +Gardner is very anxious for me to go to him at once."</p> + +<p>"Why?" It was a simple, but a very direct question, which there was no +possibility of avoiding.</p> + +<p>"Gardner has kidnapped Radnor, and has him now at his own house. Radnor +is the newspaper man whom I—who sought to interview me. Beatrice is +there, with Sally. You know, they left Delmonico's together. My presence +is insisted upon in order properly to clear up this unfortunate +business. I really must go, you see. It is necessary for all concerned +that this matter go no farther."</p> + +<p>He would have said more, but she turned calmly away from him, and spoke +to the footman.</p> + +<p>"James," she said, "have Philip at the front door with the Packard, as +quickly as possible." Then, to Duncan, she added: "I'll go with you; I +shall be ready in a moment. You must wait for me, Roderick."</p> + +<p>"But, Patricia," exclaimed Duncan, startled and greatly dismayed by her +decision, reached so suddenly, "have you thought what time it is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she responded, moving toward the stairway. "I have just looked at +the clock. It is two o'clock, Sunday morning. I understand, also, that +the conventions would be shocked, if the conventions understood the +situation; but, fortunately, the conventions do not. You and I will +drive to Sally Gardner's home together. I shall bring Beatrice back with +me when we return. Please, make our apologies to my father and Mr. +Melvin. I shall rejoin you in a moment."</p> + +<p>There was no help for it, and Duncan waited, for he knew that, even if +he should hasten on alone, Patricia would follow in the automobile, as +soon as Philip brought it to the door. He sent James into the library +with the announcement, and a moment later assisted Patricia into the +hastily summoned car. The drive to the home of Jack Gardner was a short +one, and was made in utter silence between the two young persons so +deeply interested in each other, yet so widely separated by the +occurrences of that fateful Saturday afternoon. Duncan knew that it was +useless to expostulate with Patricia; and she, following her adopted +course of outward indifference to everything save her personal +interests, preferred to say nothing at all.</p> + +<p>When the automobile came to a stop before Gardner's door, Jack himself +rushed down the steps; but he paused midway between the bottom one and +the curb, when he discovered that Duncan was not alone in the car, and +he uttered a low whistle of consternation. He said something under his +breath, too, but neither of the occupants of the automobile could hear +it; and then, as he stepped forward to assist Patricia to alight, she +said to him, in her usual quiet manner:</p> + +<p>"Inasmuch as I am an interested party in this affair, Jack, I thought it +important that I should accompany Mr. Duncan. I hope you do not regret +that I have done so."</p> + +<p>"Why—er—certainly not; not at all, Patricia. I don't know but that it +is better—your having done so. You see—er—things have somehow got +into a most damna—terrific tangle, you know, and I suppose I am partly +responsible for it; if not wholly so. I—"</p> + +<p>"You need not explain; believe me, Jack," she interrupted him, and +passed on toward the steps, ascending them alone in advance of the two +men who had paused for a moment beside the automobile, facing each +other. Then, things happened, and they followed one another so swiftly +that it is almost impossible to give a comprehensive description of +them.</p> + +<p>Philip, the chauffeur, sprang out from under the steering-wheel and for +some reason unknown to anyone but himself, passed around to the rear of +the car. He had permitted the engine to run on, merely throwing out the +clutch when he came to a stop. The noise of the machinery interfered +with the low-toned conversation that Duncan wished to have with Jack +Gardner, and so the two stepped aside, moving a few paces away from the +car, and also beyond the steps leading to the entrance of Gardner's +home. Patricia passed through the open door, unannounced, for the owner +of the house had left it ajar when he ran down the steps to greet +Duncan. Miss Langdon had barely disappeared inside the doorway, when the +hatless figure of a man sprang through it. He ran down the steps, and +jumped into the driver's seat of the Packard car before either Duncan, +or Gardner, whose backs were half-turned in that direction, realized +what was taking place.</p> + +<p>The man was Radnor, of course. He had found an opportunity to escape +from his difficulties, and had taken advantage of it, without a +moment's hesitation. He had argued that there would still be time, +before the last edition of the newspapers should go to press, if he +could only get to a telephone and succeed in convincing the night editor +of the wisdom of holding the forms for this great story. Any newspaper +would answer his purpose, for he believed that he could hold back any +one of them a few moments, if only he could get to a telephone.</p> + +<p>Radnor had not reckoned on the automobile, but he knew how to operate a +Packard car as well as did the chauffeur himself, and he had barely +reached the seat under the wheel when the big machine shot forward with +rapidly increasing speed. He left the chauffeur, and the two young +millionaires gaping after it with unmitigated astonishment and chagrin. +Duncan and Gardner, both, realized that the newspaper man had escaped +them, and each of them understood only too well that at least one of the +city newspapers was now likely to print the hateful story of the +supposed marriage, beneath glaring and astonishing headlines, the +following morning.</p> + +<p>Duncan swore, softly and rapidly, but with emphasis; Jack Gardner, broke +into uproarous laughter, which he could not possibly repress or +control; the chauffeur started up the avenue on a run, in a fruitless +chase after the on-rushing car, which even at that moment whirled around +the corner toward Madison avenue, and disappeared. Gardner continued to +laugh on, until Duncan seized him by the shoulder, and shook him with +some violence.</p> + +<p>"Shut up your infernal clatter, Jack!" he exclaimed, momentarily +forgetful of his anger at his friend. "Help me to think what can be done +to head off that crazy fool, will you? It isn't half-past two o'clock, +yet, and he will succeed in catching at least one of the newspapers, +before it goes to press; God only knows how many others he will connect +with, by telephone. What shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"I can get out one of my own cars in ten minutes," began Gardner. But +his friend interrupted him:</p> + +<p>"Come with me," Duncan exclaimed; and, being almost as familiar with the +interior of the house as its owner was, he dashed up the steps through +the still open doorway, and ran onward up the stairs toward the +smoking-room on the second floor, closely followed by Gardner. There he +seized upon the telephone, and asked for the <i>New York Herald</i>, +fortunately knowing the number. While he awaited a response to his call +he put one hand over the transmitter, and said, rapidly, to his +companion:</p> + +<p>"Jack, I have just called up the night city editor of the <i>Herald</i>. +While I am talking with him, I wish you would make use of the +telephone-directory, and write down the numbers of the calls for the +other leading newspapers in town. This is the only way possible by which +we may succeed in getting ahead of Radnor."</p> + +<p>Any person who has ever had to do with newspaper life will understand +how futile such an attempt as this one would be to interfere with +interesting news, during the last moments before going to press. City +editors, and especially night city editors, have no time to devote to +complaints, unless those complaints possess news-value. Nothing short of +dynamite, can "kill" a "good story," once it has gone to the +composing-room. Whatever it was that Duncan said to the gentleman in +charge of the desk at the <i>Herald</i> office, and to the gentlemen in +charge of other desks, at other newspaper offices, need not be recorded +here. Each of the persons, so addressed, probably listened, with +apparent interest, to a small part of his statement, and as inevitably +interrupted him by inquiring if it were Mr. Duncan in person who was +talking; and, when an affirmative answer was given to this inquiry, +Roderick was not long in discovering that he had succeeded only in +supplying an additional value to the story, and in giving a personal +interview over a telephone-wire. He realized, too late, that instead of +interfering with whatever intention Burke Radnor might have had in +making the escape, he had materially aided this ubiquitous person in his +plans. The mere mention by him to each of the city editors that Radnor +was the man of whom he was complaining, gave assurance to those +gentlemen that some sort of important news was on the way to them, and +therefore Duncan succeeded only in accomplishing what Radnor most +desired—that is, in holding back the closing of the forms, as long as +possible, for Radnor's story, whatever it might prove to be.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, directly beneath the room where Duncan was so frantically +telephoning, a scene of quite a different character was taking place.</p> + +<p>When Patricia entered the house, she passed rapidly forward to the +spacious library, encountering no one. Entering it, she found Sally +Gardner seated upon one of the chairs, convulsed with laughter, while +directly before her stood Beatrice, her eyes flashing contemptuous +anger, and scorn upon the fun-loving and now half-hysterical young +matron, who seemed to be unduly amused. Neither of them was at the +moment, conscious of Patricia's presence. She had approached so quietly +and swiftly that her footsteps along the hallway had made no sound.</p> + +<p>"You helped Burke Radnor to escape from us, Sally!" Beatrice was +exclaiming, angrily. "I haven't a doubt that you put him up to it. I +believe you would be delighted to see that hateful story in the +newspapers. It was a despicable thing for you to do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Beatrice!" Sally exclaimed, when she could find breath to do so. +"It is all so very funny—"</p> + +<p>She discovered Patricia's presence, and stopped abruptly; then, she +started to her feet, and, passing around the table quickly, greeted Miss +Langdon with effusion.</p> + +<p>"Why, Patricia!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea that you were here."</p> + +<p>Beatrice turned quickly at the mention of Patricia's name, and her anger +at Sally Gardner was suddenly turned against Patricia Langdon, with +tenfold force and vehemence. It is an axiom that blue-eyed women have +more violent tempers than black-eyed ones, once they are thoroughly +aroused. Your brunette will flash and sputter, and say hasty things +impulsively, or emotionally, but her anger is likely to pass as quickly +as it arises, and it is almost sure to leave no lasting sting, behind +it. Your fair-haired, fair-skinned, man or woman, when thoroughly +aroused, is inclined to be implacable, unrelenting, even cruel.</p> + +<p>Beatrice Brunswick's eyes were flashing with passionate fury, and, +although she did not realize it, the greater part of her display of +temper, was really directed against herself, because deep down in her +sub-consciousness she knew that she alone was responsible for the +present predicament. But anger is unreasoning, and, when one is angry at +oneself, one is only too apt to seek for another person upon whom to +visit the consequences. Patricia made her appearance just in time to +offer herself as a target for Miss Brunswick's wrath; and Beatrice, +totally unmindful of Sally's presence, loosed her tongue, and permitted +words to flow, which, had she stopped to think, she never would have +uttered.</p> + +<p>"It is you! you! Patricia Langdon, who are responsible for this dreadful +state of affairs," she cried out, starting forward, and, with one hand +resting upon the corner of the library table, bending a little toward +the haughty, Junoesque young woman she was addressing. "It is you, who +dare to play with a man's love as a child would play with a doll, and +who think it can be made to conform to the spirit of your unholy pride +as readily. It is your fault that I am placed in this dreadful position, +so that now, with Sally's connivance, this dreadful tale is likely to +appear in every one of the morning papers. You ought to be ashamed of +yourself, Pat Langdon, for doing what you have done! You ought to get +down on your knees to Roderick Duncan, and beg his eternal pardon for +the agony you have caused him, since noon of yesterday. I know it all—I +know the whole story, from beginning to end! I know what your +unreasoning pride and your haughty willfulness, have accomplished: they +have driven almost to desperation the man who loves you better than he +loves anything else in the world! But you have no heart. The place +inside you where it should exist is an empty void. If it were not, you +would realize to what dreadful straits you have brought us all, and to +what degree of desperation you have driven me, who sought to help you. I +tell you, now, to your face, that Roderick Duncan is one man in ten +thousand; and that he has loved you for years, as a woman is rarely +loved. But you cast his love aside as if it were of no value—as if it +were a little thing, to be picked up anywhere, and to be played with, +as a child plays with a toy. Possibly it may please you now to hear one +thing more; but, whether it does or not, you shall hear it. Roderick was +in a desperate mood, to-night, because of your treatment of him, and he +did ask me to marry him. So there! He did ask me! And I—I was a fool +not to take him at his word. But he doesn't—he didn't—he—" She ceased +as abruptly as she had begun the tirade.</p> + +<p>Patricia had started backward a little before Beatrice's vehemence, and +her eyes had gradually widened and darkened, while she sought and +obtained her accustomed control over her own emotions. Now, with a +slight shrug of her shoulders and a smile that was maddening to the +young woman who faced her, she interrupted:</p> + +<p>"You should have accepted Mr. Duncan's proposal," she said, icily, "for, +if I read you correctly now, the fulfillment of it would have been most +agreeable to you. One might quite readily assume from your conduct and +the words you use that you love Roderick Duncan almost as madly as you +say he loves me."</p> + +<p>"Well?" Beatrice raised her chin, and stood erect and defiant before her +former friend. "Well?" she repeated. "And what if I do?"</p> + +<p>Patricia shrugged her shoulders again, and turned slowly away, but as +she did so, said slowly and distinctly:</p> + +<p>"Possibly, I am mistaken, after all. I had forgotten the attractive +qualities of Mr. Duncan's millions." Beatrice gasped; but Patricia +added, without perceptible pause: "I should warn you, however, that Mr. +Duncan is under a verbal agreement with me! We are to meet and sign a +contract, Monday morning. It seems to be my duty to remind you of that +much, Miss Brunswick."</p> + +<p>Patricia did not wait to see the effect of her words. Outwardly calm, +she was a seething furnace of wrath within. She turned away abruptly, +and passed through the open doorway into the hall. There, she stopped. +She had nearly collided with Duncan and Jack Gardner, who were both +standing where they must have heard all that had passed inside the +library. Both were plainly confused, for neither had meant to hear, but +there had been no way to escape. Patricia understood the situation +perfectly, and she kept her self possession, if they did not. For just +one instant, so short as to be almost imperceptible, she hesitated, +then, addressing Gardner, she said in her most conventional tones:</p> + +<p>"Jack, will you take me to my car, please?"</p> + +<p>"It's gone, Patricia," he replied, relieved by the calmness of her +manner. "Radnor took it, you know, when he made his escape. I suppose it +is standing in front of some newspaper office, at the present moment, +but God only knows which one it is. I'll tell you what I'll do, though: +I'll order one of my own cars around. It won't take five minutes, even +at this ungodly hour. I always keep one on tap, for emergencies."</p> + +<p>"I prefer not to wait," she replied. "It is only a short distance. I +shall ask you to walk home with me, if you will."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" exclaimed Gardner, glad of any method by which the present +predicament might be escaped; and he called aloud to one of the servants +to bring him his hat and coat.</p> + +<p>Duncan had moved forward quickly, toward Patricia, to offer his +services, but had paused with the words he would have said unuttered. He +understood that the trying scene through which Patricia had just passed, +had embittered her anew against him; and so he stood aside while she +went with Gardner from the house to the street. His impulse was to +follow, for he, also, wished to escape. Then, he was aware that he still +wore his hat. During the excitement, he had not removed it, since +entering the house. He started for the door, but was arrested before he +had taken two steps, by Sally Gardner's voice calling to him frantically +from the library.</p> + +<p>He turned and sprang into the room, to find that Beatrice was lying at +full length on the floor, with Sally sobbing and stroking her hands, and +calling upon her, in frightened tones, to speak. But Beatrice had only +fainted, and, when Duncan knelt down beside her, she opened her blue +eyes and looked up at him, trying to smile.</p> + +<p>In that instant of pity and remorse, he forgot all else save the +stricken Beatrice, and what, in her anger, she had confessed to +Patricia. The rapidly succeeding incidents of that day and night had +unnerved him, also. He was suddenly convinced of the futility of winning +the love and confidence of Patricia, and, with an impulse born, he could +not have told when, or how, or why, he bent forward quickly and touched +his lips to Beatrice's forehead.</p> + +<p>"Is it true, Beatrice? Is it true?" he asked her, in a low tone; and, +totally misunderstanding his question, entirely misconstruing it's +meaning, she replied:</p> + +<p>"God help me, yes. God help us all."</p> + +<p>Then, she lapsed again into unconsciousness.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>BETWEEN DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT</b></p> +<p class="p2">Sally Gardner had found time during this short scene to recover from her +moment of excitement. She had heard, and she thought she understood. +Being a many-sided young matron, the best one of all came to the surface +now—the one that even her best friends had never supposed her to +possess. Underneath her fun-and-laughter-loving nature, Sally was gifted +with more than her share of rugged common-sense, inherited, doubtless, +from her Montana ancestors.</p> + +<p>Even as Duncan bent above Beatrice's unconscious form, and before he +spoke to her, Sally had started to her feet and pressed the +electric-button in the wall, with the consequence that, at the instant +when Beatrice became unconscious the second time, two of the servants +entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Miss Brunswick has only fainted," she told them, rapidly. "Lift her, +and carry her to my room. Tell Pauline to care for her, and that I +shall be there, immediately." She stood aside while they carried out +her commands; then, she turned upon Duncan.</p> + +<p>"You are a great fool, Roderick!" she exclaimed, without stopping to +weigh her words. "I thought you had some sense; but it seems that you +have none at all. Leave the house at once; and don't you dare to seek +Beatrice Brunswick, until you have settled, in one way or another, your +affairs with Patricia Langdon. Now, go! Really, I thought I liked you, +immensely, but, for the present moment, I am not sure whether I hate +you, or despise you! Do go, there's a good fellow; and I'll send you +word, in the morning, how Beatrice is."</p> + +<p>"Sally, what a little trump you are!" he exclaimed. "I know I'm a fool; +I have certainly found it out during the last twelve or fourteen hours. +You'll have to help me out of this muddle, somehow; you seem to be the +only one in the lot of us who has any sense."</p> + +<p>"Then, help yourself out of the house, as quickly as you know how," she +retorted; and she ran past him up the stairs, toward the room where she +had directed that Beatrice should be taken.</p> + +<p>Duncan sighed. He looked around him for his hat, to find that it was +still crushed down on the back of his head, and, smiling grimly to +himself, he passed out of the house upon the street.</p> + +<hr class="c7" /> + +<p>Only one of the great dailies of New York City, published that Sunday +morning, contained any reference whatever to the supposed incident of +the wedding ceremony between Roderick Duncan and Miss Brunswick, at "The +Little Church Around the Corner." The editors had been afraid to use +Radnor's story, without verification. To them, it had seemed +preposterous and unnatural, and especially were they reluctant to print +anything concerning it when Radnor was forced to admit to them that Jack +Gardner had ultimately denied the truth of the story he had first told.</p> + +<p>But there is one paper in the city that is always eager for sensations, +and unfortunately it is not very particular concerning the use of them. +This paper published a "story," as a newspaper would call it, which was +told so ambiguously and with such skill as to preclude any possibility +of a libelous action, while the suggestions it contained were so +strongly made that the article was entertaining, at least, and it +supplied, in many quarters, an opportunity for discussion and gossip. It +hinted at scandal in association with Roderick Duncan and his millions. +What more could be desired of it?</p> + +<p>The story was merely a relation of the events as we know them, at the +outset. It told of the party in the box at the opera-house, of the +departure therefrom of Duncan and Miss Brunswick and of their +destination when they entered the taxicab; after that, everything +contained in the article, was surmise, but it was couched in such terms +that many who read it actually believed a marriage-ceremony had taken +place. During Sunday, Duncan was sought by reporters of various +newspapers. He readily admitted them to his presence, but would submit +to no interview further than to state that the rumor was absolutely +false, was utterly without foundation, and that he would prosecute any +newspaper daring to uphold it. Miss Brunswick could not be found by +these news-gatherers. Old Steve Langdon laughed when they sought him, +and assured them that there was no truth whatever in the rumor. +Patricia, naturally regarded as an interested party, declined to be +seen.</p> + +<p>Radnor himself sought out Jack Gardner, but it is not necessary that we +should relate the particulars of that interview. Suffice it to say that +no further reference was made to the supposed incident by any newspaper, +and that it was quickly forgotten, save by a very few individuals, who +made it a point to remember.</p> + +<p>During the day, Duncan sought to communicate with Sally Gardner over the +telephone, but succeeded only in obtaining a statement from one of the +footmen, to the effect that Mrs. Gardner presented her compliments to +Mr. Duncan, and wished it to be said that she would communicate with him +by letter; and that, in the meantime, there existed no cause whatever, +for anxiety on his part.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>PATRICIA'S COWBOY LOVER</b></p> +<p class="p2">On Sunday evening Patricia Langdon was alone in the library of her home, +occupying her favorite corner beneath the drop-light. For an hour she +had tried in vain to interest herself in the reading of the latest +novel. Try as she might, she could not center her mind upon the printed +words contained in the volume she held, for, inevitably, her thoughts +drifted away to the occurrences of the preceding day and evening. No +matter how assiduously she endeavored to put those thoughts aside, they +insisted upon looming up before her, and at last, with a sigh, she +closed her book and laid it aside. The hour was still early, it being +barely eight o'clock, when James, the footman, entered the room and +announced:</p> + +<p>"Miss Houston; Miss Frances Houston."</p> + +<p>Patricia had fully intended to instruct the servants that she was not to +be at home to anyone, that evening, but, absorbed by other thoughts, she +had forgotten to do so, and now it was too late; so she received the +two young ladies who were presently shown into the library. She greeted +them in her usual manner, which was neither cordial, nor repellant, but +which was entirely characteristic of this rather strange young woman. +She understood perfectly well why they had called upon her at this time. +They had not missed seeing that article in the one morning paper where +it appeared.</p> + +<p>"You see, Patricia," exclaimed Miss Houston, whose given name was Agnes, +"Frances and I happened to read that remarkable tale that was printed in +one of the papers this morning, about a marriage between Rod Duncan and +Beatrice. We thought it so absurd: We couldn't resist the temptation to +come over to see you, for a few minutes this very evening, and discuss +it; could we, Frances?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," replied her sister.</p> + +<p>"I have not seen any such article," said Patricia; and, indeed, she had +not. "But I don't know why either of you should wish to discuss it with +me; so, if you don't mind, we'll change the subject before we begin it."</p> + +<p>"Why, you see," began Agnes Houston, with some evidence of excitement; +but she was fortunately interrupted by the footman, who entered, and +announced in his automatic voice:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Nesbit Farnham."</p> + +<p>The workings of the human mind will forever remain a mystery. Had Nesbit +Farnham been announced before the arrival of the two young women, +Patricia would undoubtedly have denied herself to him; but, with the +announcement of his name, there came to her the sudden recollection of +the ultimatum pronounced by Richard Morton the preceding afternoon, when +he had brought her home from her father's office in his automobile, the +tonneau of which had been occupied by the two young women who were now +present with her in the room. Why the announcement of Farnham's name +should remind her of Morton's promise to call, this Sunday evening, +cannot be said; but it did so, and she nodded to James.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Patricia!" Farnham exclaimed, as he entered the room vigorously, +for this young society beau and cotillion-leader had long been on terms +of intimacy with the Langdon household, and was, in fact, a privileged +character throughout his social set. "I am mighty glad that you received +me. It's rather an off night, you know, and I wasn't sure, at all that +you would do so. Good-evening, Agnes. How are you, Frances? Jolly glad +to see you. I say, Patricia, what's all that nonsense I saw in the paper +this morning, about Duncan and Beatrice getting married last night? Do +you know anything about it?"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing whatever about it, Nesbit, save that it is untrue," +replied Patricia, calmly. "That much I do know; but I don't care to +discuss it."</p> + +<p>Farnham flirted his handkerchief from his pocket, and patted it softly +against his forehead, smiling gently as he did so. Then, he said:</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth, Patricia, the news was rather a facer, don't you +know; for my first impulse was to believe it. Oh, I won't discuss it; +you needn't frown like that; but I just want to tell you that I've been +looking all over town for Duncan, and I couldn't find him. Then, about +an hour ago, I called upon Beatrice, only to be informed that she was +not at home, and had not been, ever since yesterday evening. You see, I +didn't get out of bed till two this afternoon, and it was four by the +time I was dressed and on the street. I didn't take much stock, myself, +in the report I read in the paper, until I was told that Beatrice had +disappeared. But that got me guessing, and so I came to you, to find +out the truth about it. Please tell me again that it isn't true, and +I'll be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"It isn't true," replied Patricia, calmly.</p> + +<p>James, the footman, made another appearance on the scene at that moment, +and proclaimed the arrival of Mr. Richard Morton, who stepped passed him +into the library as soon as the announcement was made.</p> + +<p>He stopped just inside the threshold, and the chagrin pictured upon his +face when he found that Patricia was not alone was so plainly evident, +that even Patricia smiled, in recognition of it. Morton was known to +Patricia's other callers, having met them frequently since his coming to +New York, and, as soon as greetings had been exchanged, they all drifted +into a general conversation, which had no point to it whatever, but was, +for the most part, the small-talk of such impromptu social gatherings. +The subject of the supposed clandestine marriage-ceremony between Duncan +and Beatrice was not mentioned again, and fifteen minutes later Miss +Houston and her sister arose to take their departure. Farnham, also, got +upon his feet, and, stepping lightly and quickly across the room toward +Patricia, said to her in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"Won't you tell me where I can find Beatrice? I think you can do so, if +you will. Please, Patricia. You know why I ask."</p> + +<p>"If you should call upon Sally Gardner and ask her that question, I +think it would be answered satisfactorily," replied Patricia, smiling at +him. "Go and see her, Nesbit, by all means."</p> + +<p>A moment later, Miss Langdon found herself alone with Morton, who, true +to his promise of the preceding evening, had come to her. She had +forgotten him temporarily, but now she was not sorry that he had called. +Nevertheless, as she turned toward him, after bidding her friends +good-night, Patricia was conscious that the atmosphere had suddenly +became surcharged with portentous possibilities. She had recognized in +that expression of disappointment, so plainly depicted upon Morton's +face when he entered the room, that he had come to her with a +self-avowed determination to continue the conversation interrupted by +the Houston girls when he was bringing her home, the preceding +afternoon. On the instant, she was sorry that she had permitted the +others to leave her alone with this man. For some inexplicable reason, +she was suddenly afraid of him. She who had never acknowledged fear of +any person, who had always met every circumstance calmly as it arose, +found herself confronted now by a condition of affairs that rendered +her less self-reliant. Her mind was in a turmoil of a hundred doubts and +fears, and there was a vague sense of apprehension upon her, which she +could not dismiss, and which she found it difficult to control.</p> + +<p>"I told you that I would come, Patricia, and I am here," said Morton, +stepping forward quickly, and taking one of her hands, before she could +resume her seat. She attempted to withdraw it, but he held it firmly in +his own strong clasp; and that expression of unrelenting determination +was again in his face and eyes.</p> + +<p>"No, Patricia," he said calmly, but in a tone of finality which there +was no denying, "I will not release your hand, just yet." He was +half-smiling, but wholly insistent and determined. "You see," he went +on, "I am taking advantage of your known qualities of courage. I have +come to you, determined to say something—something that is very close +to me." Patricia's arm relaxed; she permitted her hand to lie limply +inside his larger one. Then, she raised her eyes to his, and looked +calmly up at him.</p> + +<p>As he gazed steadily and keenly into her dark eyes, Morton's face was +pale, under the tan of his skin, and he had the look of one who ventures +his all upon a single chance. In that moment, Patricia admired him more +than she had ever before, and, as he continued to gaze upon her, she +permitted her features slowly to relax, and, gradually, a winning smile, +which to Richard Morton was overwhelming, was revealed upon her lips and +in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You have no right to speak to me like that, Mr. Morton," she said. +"Still less have you the right to hold my hand, against my will. The men +of my acquaintance, with whom I have associated all my life, would not +do as you are doing now; but"—she shrugged her shoulders—"I suppose it +is a matter of training."</p> + +<p>The words were like a blow, although she smiled while she uttered them. +With a sharp exclamation that came very near to being an oath, he threw +her hand from him with such force that she was half-turned around where +she stood, and he started back two paces away from her, and folded his +arms.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Patricia, still smiling; and she crossed to the chair +she had previously occupied.</p> + +<p>Morton did not move from the position he had assumed. He stood with +folded arms in the middle of the room, staring at her with set face and +hard eyes, wondering for the moment why he had been fool enough to go +there at all, and trying to read in her face, what was the charm of her +that so fatally attracted him.</p> + +<p>"I do a great many things, Miss Langdon, that I have no right to do," he +said, after a pause. "That, also, is a matter of training, as you so +fittingly adjudged my conduct, just now. But I was trained in the open +country, where one can see the sky-line toward any point of the compass; +I was trained in the West, where a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, +and they are judged only by their conduct toward others, and toward +themselves. It is true that I know very little about this Eastern +training, to which you have just now called my attention, but from what +little I have seen of it, I can't believe that it is wholesome, or good. +I was trained to tell the truth, and to insist that the truth be told to +me; I find here, in the East, that the truth is the very last thing to +be uttered; that it is avoided as long as it possibly can be. In this +way, Miss Langdon, our trainings differ. Naturally, then, I am not like +the men of your knowledge."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Morton, I didn't mean to give offense by what I +said." The girl was more amazed than she cared to show by his +vehemence.</p> + +<p>"The fault is mine," he said to her. "I have no right to expect you to +meet me on the plane of my own past life, and with the freedom and +candor of the West, any more than you can demand from me, the usages and +customs of your social world in New York."</p> + +<p>"Won't you sit down?" she asked him. She was beginning to be a bit +uneasy, because of Morton's determined attitude, and because she +realized that nothing she could say or do would turn him from his set +purpose of saying what he had come there to tell her.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," he replied. "I can talk much better on my feet. I want you to +tell me what you meant by two expressions you used in your speech with +me yesterday, after you came from your father's office."</p> + +<p>"We will not return to that subject, if you please, Mr. Morton," she +replied to him, coldly.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Patricia, we must return to it—at least, I must. You don't +want me to kill anybody, do you?" He smiled grimly as he asked the +question, hesitatingly; "you need have no fear on that point, for I +probably won't have to."</p> + +<p>"Probably won't have to kill anyone?" She raised her eyes to his, but +there was no fear in them; there was only amazement in their depths, +astonishment that he should dare to say such a thing to her.</p> + +<p>"The qualification of my statement was made because I reserve the right +to do what I please, toward anyone who dares to bring pain upon you, +Patricia Langdon," he said, incisively; "but I tell you now that I +wouldn't trust myself not to kill—again my Western training is +uppermost, you see—if I were brought face to face with any man who had +dared to bring any sort of an affront upon you. Do you love this man to +whom you referred yesterday? Answer me!" The question came out sharply +and bluntly. It was totally unexpected, and it affected her with a sort +of shock she could not have described.</p> + +<p>"You are impertinent," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Impertinent, or not, I desire an answer. If you refuse an answer, I +shall find other means of ascertaining. Great God, girl, do you suppose +that, when my whole life is at stake, I am going to stand on ceremony +and surrender to a few petty conventions, just to please an element of +false pride that you have built around you, until there is only one way +of getting past it? I'm not the sort of man who stands outside, and +entreats. My training has taught me to get inside; and, if there isn't a +gate, or an opening of any sort, why, then I tear down the barrier, +just as I am doing now. Do you love that man?"</p> + +<p>"I will not answer the question."</p> + +<p>He laughed, shortly.</p> + +<p>"From any other woman than you, such an answer as that would be +tantamount to an affirmative; but you are a puzzle, Patricia. You are +not like anybody else. There is a depth to you that I cannot sound. +There is a breadth to you that is like the open country of the +Northwest, where one cannot see beyond the sky-line, ever, and where the +sky-line remains, always, just so far away."</p> + +<p>"I think I'll ask you to excuse me, Mr. Morton," she said, making as if +to rise. "This interview is not a pleasant one. You are not kind, or +considerate."</p> + +<p>He did not move from his position, as he replied, as calmly as she had +spoken:</p> + +<p>"I shall not go until I have finished. I came here to-night to tell you, +again, that I love you. You need not resent the telling of it, for it +can in no way offend you, or, at least, it should not. You told me, +yesterday, that you had agreed to some sort of business transaction, as +you called it, with some man whom you did not name, by which you are to +become his wife. I told you then, and I repeat now, that, if you will +but say you love this man, whoever he is, I'll hit the trail for Montana +without a moment's delay, and you shall never be annoyed again by my +Western training; so, answer me."</p> + +<p>"I will not answer you." She looked him steadily in the eyes, and, all +unconsciously to herself, she could not avoid giving expression to some +small part of the admiration she felt for this daring, intrepid +ranchman, who defied her so openly, in the library of her own home.</p> + +<p>"Who is the man?" he demanded, sharply.</p> + +<p>"Again, I will not answer you."</p> + +<p>"I shall find it out, then, and, when I have discovered who he is, I +shall go to him. Maybe, he will be able to answer the questions. If he +refuses, by God, I'll make him answer!"</p> + +<p>She started from her chair, appalled by the implied threat. She did not +doubt that he meant every word of it.</p> + +<p>"You would not dare do that!" she exclaimed. It was beyond her knowledge +that any man should have the courage so far to transgress conventional +usages. But he heard the word "dare," and applied to it the only meaning +he had ever known it to possess. He laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"Not dare?" he exclaimed; and he laughed again. "I would dare anything, +and all things, in the mood I am in, just now."</p> + +<p>Looking upon him, she believed what he said; and, strange to say, she +was more pleased than outraged by his determined demeanor. Nevertheless, +she realized that she was face to face with an emergency which must be +met promptly and finally, and so she left her chair, and drew herself to +her full height, directly in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Morton," she said, slowly, and coldly, "I have had occasion, once +before, to refer to your training and to mine. We are as far apart as if +we belonged to different races of mankind. If you have really loved me, +which I doubt, I am sorry because of it, for I tell you, plainly and +truly, that I do not, and cannot, respond to you. I have given my +promise to another, and very shortly I shall be married. This sudden +passion for me that has come upon you, is an affair of the moment, which +you will soon forget when you become convinced that it is impossible of +fruition. I am the promised wife of another man, and even your Western +training, which you have chosen sarcastically to refer to since I made +my unfortunate remark about it, will tell you that, no matter what +rights you believe you possess, you certainly have none whatever to +compel me to listen to your declaration of love." Her manner underwent a +sudden and marked change, as she continued rapidly, with a suggestion of +moisture in her eyes: "Believe me, I am intensely sorry for the +necessity of this scene between us. I do not, and I cannot, return the +affection you so generously offer me; and, whether I love another, or do +not—whether I have ever loved another, or have not—it would be the +same, so far as you are concerned. I am not for you, and I can never be +for you, no matter what may happen." She took a step nearer to him, and +reached out her hand, while she added, with her brightest smile: "But I +like you, very much, indeed. I should like to have you for a true, good +friend. It would be one of the proud moments of my life, if I could know +that I might rely upon you as such, and that you would not again +transgress in the way you have done to-night. Will you take my hand and +be my friend. Will you try and seek farther for someone who can +appreciate the love you have offered to me? I need a friend just now, +Richard Morton. Will you be that friend?"</p> + +<p>For a time, he did not answer her. He stood quite still, staring into +her eyes, and through them and seemingly beyond them, while his own face +was hard, and set, and paler than she had ever seen it, before. +Presently, his lips relaxed their tension; the expression of his eyes +softened, and he drew his right hand across his brow.</p> + +<p>He took the hand that was extended toward him, and held it between both +his own, and, for a full minute after that, he stood before her in +silence, while he fought the hardest battle of his life. When he did +speak, it was in an easy, careless drawl.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you roped and tied me that time, Patricia," he said, +smilingly. "You've got your brand on me, all right, but maybe the iron +hasn't burnt quite as deep as it does sometimes; and, as you say, +possibly there will come a day when we can burn another brand on top of +it, so that the first one will never be recognized. Will I be your +friend? Indeed, I will, and I'll ask you, if you please, to forgive and +forget all my bad manners, and the harsh things I've said."</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary to ask me that, Mr. Morton."</p> + +<p>"Patricia, if you'll just call me Dick, like all the boys do, out on +the ranch, and if you'll grant me the permission which I have never +asked before, of addressing you as I have just now, it will make the +whole thing a heap-sight easier. Will you do it?</p> + +<p>"I'd much rather call you Dick than anything else," she told him, still +permitting him to hold her hand clasped between his own.</p> + +<p>He bent forward, nearer to her; and, although she perfectly understood +what he intended to do, she did not flinch, or falter.</p> + +<p>He touched his lips lightly to her forehead, and then, with a muttered, +"God bless you, girl!" he turned quickly, and went out of the room, +leaving Patricia Langdon once again alone with her thoughts.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>MONDAY, THE THIRTEENTH</b></p> +<p class="p2">The monotonous, but not unpleasing voice of Malcolm Melvin began the +reading of the stipulations in the contract to the three persons who +were seated before him around the table in the lawyer's private office. +The time was Monday morning, shortly after ten o'clock.</p> + +<p>"This agreement, hereinafter made, between Roderick Duncan, of the City, +County, and State of New York, party of the first part; Stephen Langdon, +of the same place, party of the second part; and Patricia Langdon of the +same place, party of the third part, as follows: First, the party of the +first part—"</p> + +<p>"Just wait a moment, Mr. Melvin, if you please," Duncan interrupted him. +"If it is all the same to you, and to the other parties concerned in +this transaction, I don't care to hear all that dry rot, you have +written. If you will be so kind as simply to state in plain English what +the stipulations are, it will answer quite as well for the others, and +it will suit me a whole lot better."</p> + +<p>"It is customary, Mr. Duncan, to listen carefully to a legal document +one is about to sign with his name," said the lawyer, with a dry smile.</p> + +<p>"I don't care a rap about that, Melvin; and you know I don't. The others +know it, too."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Patricia, quietly, "that the papers should be read, from +beginning to end."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exclaimed her father; "and besides, Pat, I haven't time. I +ought to be down-town, right now. Let Melvin get over with this foolish +nonsense, as quickly as possible; and then, if you and Roderick will +only kiss, and make up—"</p> + +<p>Patricia interrupted him:</p> + +<p>"Very well, Mr. Melvin," she said. "You may state the substance of the +agreement."</p> + +<p>The lawyer turned toward Duncan. There was a twinkle of amusement in his +eyes, although his face remained perfectly calm and expressionless.</p> + +<p>"According to these papers as I have drawn them, Mr. Duncan," he said, +slowly, "you loan the sum of twenty million dollars to Stephen Langdon, +accepting as security therefor, and in lieu of other collateral, the +stated promise of Miss Langdon to become your wife. She reserves to +herself, the right to name the wedding-day, provided it be within a +reasonable time."</p> + +<p>"May I ask how Miss Langdon defines the words, a reasonable time?" asked +Duncan, speaking as deliberately as the lawyer had done. "As for the +loan to Mr. Langdon—he already has that. But, the reasonable time: just +what does that expression mean?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose, during the season; say, within three, or six, months from +date," replied the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"That will do very well, thank you. You may now go on." Duncan was +determined, that morning, to meet Patricia on her own ground.</p> + +<p>"The loan you make to the party of the second part, to Mr. Langdon, is +to be repaid to you at his convenience, and with the legal rate of +interest, within one year from date. At the church where the wedding +ceremony shall take place, and immediately before that event, you are to +give to Miss Langdon, a cashier's check for ten-million dollars, which +she will endorse and send to the bank, before the ceremony proceeds. It +is Miss Langdon's wish to have her maiden name appear as the endorsement +on that check. Later, she will have the account transferred from +Patricia Langdon to Patricia Duncan. You are—"</p> + +<p>"Just one moment, again, Mr. Melvin." Duncan reached forward and pulled +the papers toward him. "Will you please show me where I am to sign? What +remains of the stipulations, I can hear at another time. Unfortunately, +at the present moment, I am in haste, and I happen to know that Mr. +Langdon is very anxious to get away."</p> + +<p>"Is it your habit to sign legal papers without reading them?" demanded +Patricia, with just a little touch of resentment in her tone. She had +rather prided herself upon the wording of this document, which she had +so carefully dictated to Melvin, and it hurt her to think that her +stipulations were passed over so easily.</p> + +<p>But the lawyer, who saw in the whole circumstance nothing but a huge +joke, which would presently come to a pleasant end, had already pointed +out to Duncan the places on the three papers where he was to put his +signature, and the young man was signing them, rapidly. He did not reply +until he had written his name the third time. Then, he left his chair, +and with a low and somewhat derisive bow to his affianced wife, said:</p> + +<p>"No, Patricia, it is not; but these circumstances are different from +those in which one is usually called upon to sign documents. I certainly +should have no hesitation in accepting, without reserve, any conditions +which you chose to insist upon, so long as those conditions, in the end, +made you my wife. You may sign the papers at your leisure; but I shall +ask you to excuse me, now." He bowed smilingly to her, shook hands with +the lawyer, and called across the table to the banker:</p> + +<p>"So long, Uncle Steve; I'll see you later." A moment afterward the door +closed behind him.</p> + +<p>"The whole thing looks to me like tomfoolery!" ejaculated the banker, as +he drew the papers toward him, and signed them rapidly. "Patricia, you +are the party of the third part, here, and you can sign them at your +leisure. I've got to go, also. Melvin, you can send my copy of the +contract direct to me, when it is ready."</p> + +<p>"It is your turn now, Miss Langdon," said the lawyer, in his most +professional tone, as soon as her father had gone. But, instead of +signing, Patricia, for the first time since the beginning of this +confused condition of affairs, lost her pride and became the emotional +young woman that she really was.</p> + +<p>Without a word of warning, she burst into a passion of tears. Throwing +her arms upon the table, she buried her face in them, and sobbed on and +on, convulsively, vehemently, inconsolably.</p> + +<p>The lawyer, stirred out of his professional calm by this human side of +the cold and haughty young woman, placed one hand tenderly, if somewhat +tentatively, upon her shoulder. For a time, he patted her gently, while +he waited for her tempest to pass.</p> + +<p>"There, there, my dear. Don't let it affect you so," he said. "It is +nothing but a storm-cloud, that will quickly pass away. It is just like +a thunder-shower, very dark while it lasts, but making all the brighter +the sunshine that follows it. I know how you have been tried, and how +your pride has been hurt; but, child, there are two kinds of pride in +everybody, and it is never quite easy to determine which is which. I +strongly suspect, my dear, that you have been actuated by a feeling of +false pride, in the position you have taken as to this matter. I won't +attempt to advise you, now. Don't sob so, my dear. It will all come out +right."</p> + +<p>She raised her head from the table, and looked at him, pathetically.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry, Mr. Melvin," she said, slowly, with a catch in her +breath as she spoke. "I seem to have done everything wrong, in this +matter. I've made everybody unhappy." Again, she buried her face in her +arms, and sobbed on, with even more abandon than before.</p> + +<p>"My child," said the lawyer, "I've lived long enough in the world to +discover that it is never wise to permit ourselves to be actuated by +false motives. You will discover the truth of that statement, later on; +you are only just beginning to realize it, now."</p> + +<p>She made no reply to this, but a moment later she started to her feet, +and again became the haughty, self-contained, relentless, Juno.</p> + +<p>"Give me the pen," she said. "I will sign."</p> + +<p>"If you will take my advice," replied the lawyer, without moving, "you +will tear up those three documents, or direct me to do so, and leave +things as they are."</p> + +<p>"No," she replied. "I will sign."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Patricia." He pushed the documents toward her, and watched +her with a half-smile on his professional face, while she appended her +signature to each of them. A moment later, he escorted her from the +office, and assisted her into the waiting car. Then, he stood quite +still and watched it as it carried her away from the business-section of +the city. He shook his head and sighed, as he reëntered the building +where his office was located.</p> + +<p>"Poor child," he was thinking to himself; "she didn't tee-off well, in +the beginning of this game, and she encountered the worst hazard of her +life when she came up against her own unyielding pride. Poor child! So +beautiful, so good, so tender of heart, she hides every real emotion she +possesses behind an impenetrable barrier, barring the expressions of her +natural affections with an icy shield which she permits no one to +penetrate. For just a moment, she let me see her as she is; I wonder if +she has ever permitted others." He got out of the elevator, and walked +slowly toward his office-door, pausing midway along the corridor, and +still thinking on, in the same fashion. "I must find a way to help her, +somehow. Old Malcolm Melvin, whose heart is supposed to be like the +parchments he works upon, must make himself the champion of this +misguided girl. Ah, well, we shall see what can be done. We shall see; +we shall see." He passed inside his office then, and in a moment more +had forgotten, in the multitudinous affairs of his professional life, +that such a person as Patricia Langdon existed.</p> + +<hr class="c7" /> + +<p>That Monday, in the evening, at his rooms, Roderick Duncan received two +letters. One was delivered by messenger; the other came by post. He +recognized the handwriting on the envelope of each, and for a moment +hesitated as to which of the two he should read first. One, he knew, +was sent by Sally Gardner; the other was from Patricia.</p> + +<p>He laid them on the table in front of him, and stood beside it looking +down upon the two envelopes with a half-smile upon his face, which was +weary and troubled; then, with a broader smile, he took a coin from his +pocket and flipped it in the air.</p> + +<p>A glance at the coin decided him, and he took up Sally's letter and +broke the seal. He read:</p> + +<p>"My Dear Roderick:</p> + +<p>"I promised you, when you left me Saturday night, to communicate with +you at once. Beatrice is quite ill, although you are not to infer from +this statement that her indisposition it at all serious. I have merely +insisted that she should remain in bed at my house yesterday and to-day.</p> + +<p>"On no account should you seek her at present nor should you attempt to +communicate with her. I will keep you informed as to her condition +because I realize that you will be anxious, inasmuch as you doubtless +hold yourself responsible for the present state of affairs. Be satisfied +with that, and believe me,"</p> + +<p> +"Loyally your friend,<br /> +"<span class="smcap left50">Sally Gardner.</span> +</p> + +<p>"P. S. Doubtless you will see Jack at the club this evening. Let me +advise you not to discuss with him anything that happened Saturday night +after his departure with Patricia. I have thought it best to keep that +little foolish affair a secret between ourselves.</p> +<p class="left50">S. G."</p> + +<p>Duncan stood for a considerable time with the letter held before his +eyes, while he went over in his mind the chain of incidents that +followed upon his meeting with Beatrice Brunswick in the box at the +opera-house. Presently, he returned the letter to the envelope, and laid +it aside, while he took up the other one, addressed in the handwriting +of Patricia.</p> + +<p>He read it slowly, with widening eyes; and then he read it again, more +slowly, as if he were not certain that he had read it aright before. +Finally, with something very nearly approaching an oath, he crushed the +short document in his hand, and strode to the window, where he stood for +a long time, staring out into the darkness, without moving. His valet +entered the room and made some remark about dressing him for the +evening, but Duncan sharply ordered the man away, telling him to return +in half an hour. Afterward he went back to the table where there was +more light, and smoothed out the crumpled page of Patricia's letter, so +that he could read it a third time.</p> + +<p>It was very short and very much to the point; and it had brought with it +a greater shock than he could possibly have anticipated. The strange +part of it was that he did not comprehend the precise character of that +shock. He did not know whether he was pleased, or displeased; whether he +was amused, or angry—or only startled. Certainly, he had never thought +of expecting such a communication as this from Patricia Langdon. The +letter was as follows:</p> + +<p> +Four, P. M., Monday.<br /> +"Dear Roderick: +</p> + +<p>"According to the document signed jointly by you, my father and myself, +and witnessed by Mr. Malcolm Melvin at his office at ten o'clock this +morning, I was given the undisputed right to name the day for the +ceremony, which is to complete the transaction as agreed upon among us +three, but more particularly between you and me. I have thought the +matter over calmly and dispassionately, since I parted with you at the +lawyer's office, and have decided that, all things considered, it will +be best not to defer too long the conditions of that transaction.</p> + +<p>"I have decided that the ceremony—a quiet one—shall be performed by +the Rev. Dr. Moreley, at the Church of the Annunciation, at ten o'clock +in the morning, one week from to-day, which will be Monday, the +thirteenth.</p> + +<p>"If there should be any important reason why you prefer to change this +date, you may communicate the same to me at once, and I shall consider +it; but if not, I greatly prefer that matters should stand as I have +arranged them.</p> + +<p class="left50">"<span class="smcap">Patricia Langdon.</span>"</p> + + +<p> </p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>MORTON'S ULTIMATUM</b></p> +<p class="p2">Oddly enough, Roderick Duncan and Richard Morton had never met. Although +Morton, during the two weeks of his acquaintance with Patricia Langdon, +had been as constantly in her company as it was possible for him to be, +there had been no introduction between the two young men. They +frequented the same clubs, and Morton had made the acquaintance of many +of Duncan's friends; they knew each other by sight, and Duncan had +heard, vaguely and without particular interest, that Morton had fallen +under the spell of Patricia's stately loveliness. That was a +circumstance which had suggested no misgivings whatever to him. He had +long been accustomed to such conditions, for it was a rare thing that a +man should be presented to Patricia without being at once attracted and +charmed by her physical beauty, as well as by her brilliancy of wit.</p> + +<p>It was, therefore, with unmasked astonishment that, upon responding to a +summons at his door, still holding Patricia's letter in his hand, he +found himself face to face with the young Montana cattle-king.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Roderick Duncan, I believe?" said Morton, without advancing to +cross the threshold when Duncan threw open the door.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied. "Won't you come inside, Mr. Morton? I know you very +well, by sight and name, and, although it has not been my privilege to +meet you socially, you are quite welcome. Come inside, won't you?"</p> + +<p>The handsome young ranchman bowed, and passed into the room. He strode +across it until he was near one of the windows; then, he turned to face +Duncan, who had re-closed the door, and had followed as far as the +center-table where he now stood, gazing questioningly at his visitor.</p> + +<p>"Won't you be seated, Mr. Morton?" Duncan asked.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no. I intend to remain only a moment, and it is possible +that the question I have come to ask you may not be agreeable for you to +hear, or to answer. If you will repeat your request after I have asked +the question, I shall be glad to comply with it."</p> + +<p>"I haven't the least idea what you are talking about, Mr. Morton," said +Duncan, smiling, "and I can't conceive how any question you care to put +to me would be offensive. However, have it your own way. Will you tell +me, now, what that remarkable question is?"</p> + +<p>Morton was standing with his feet wide-apart, and with his back to the +window. His hands were thrust deep into his trousers-pockets. He looked +the athlete in every line of his muscular limbs and body, and the +frankness and openness of his expression at once interested Duncan.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Duncan," he said, "in the country I come from, we do things +differently from the way you do them here. I was born on a ranch in +Eastern Montana, and I have lived all my life in a wild country. I began +my career as a cow-puncher, when I was sixteen, and not until the last +two or three years of my life have I known anything at all of that phase +of existence which is expressed by the word 'society.' I indulge in this +preamble in order to apologize in advance, for any breaks I may make in +that mystical line of talk which you call, 'good form.'"</p> + +<p>Duncan nodded his head smilingly, and Morton continued:</p> + +<p>"Several years ago, I made my 'pile,' as we express it out there, and +since that time it has steadily increased in size, so that, lately, I +have indulged myself in an attempt to 'butt in' upon the people in +'polite society.' The question I have to ask you will amaze and astonish +you, but I shall explain it, in detail, if you desire me to do so."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Mr. Morton, what is the question?"</p> + +<p>"Are you engaged to marry Miss Patricia Langdon?" demanded Morton, +abruptly; and there was a tightening of his lips and a slight forward +thrust of his aggressive chin.</p> + +<p>Duncan received the question calmly. He thought, afterward, that he had +almost anticipated it, although he could not have told why he should do +so. He permitted nothing of the effect the question had upon him to +appear in the expression of his face, or eyes, and he continued to gaze +smilingly into the face of the young ranchman, while he replied:</p> + +<p>"I see no objection to answering your question, Mr. Morton, although I +do not in the least understand your reason for asking it. Miss Langdon +and I are engaged to be married, and the wedding-day is already fixed. +It is to be next Monday morning, at ten o'clock. I hope, sir, that you +are quite satisfied with the reply?"</p> + +<p>Morton did not speak for a moment, but he reached out one hand and +rested it on the back of a chair, near which he was standing. Duncan, +perceiving the gesture, asked again:</p> + +<p>"Won't you be seated, Mr. Morton?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, yes."</p> + +<p>He dropped his huge body upon the leather-upholstered chair beside him, +and crossed one leg over the other, while Duncan retained his attitude +beside the table, still with that questioning expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I ought to make some farther explanation," said Morton, +presently. He spoke with careful deliberation, choosing his words as he +did so and evidently striving hard to maintain complete composure of +demeanor under circumstances that rendered the task somewhat difficult.</p> + +<p>"I think one is due to me," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Duncan, when I hit the trail for this room, to have this talk with +you, I sure thought that I had mapped out pretty clearly what I had to +say to you. I find now that it's some difficult to express myself. If we +were seated together in a bunk-house on a ranch in Montana, I could +uncinch all that's on my mind, without any trouble. I hope you don't +mind my native lingo."</p> + +<p>"Not in the least," replied Duncan, still smiling. "I find it very +expressive, and quite to the point."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's this way: I arrived in the city about three weeks ago, and +one of the first persons I met up with, who interested me was Miss +Langdon. There isn't any reason that I know of why I shouldn't admit to +you that she interested me more, in about three seconds of time, than +anybody else has ever succeeded in doing, during the twenty-eight years +I have lived. I was roped, tied, and branded, quicker than it takes me +to tell you of it; and the odd part of the whole thing is that I enjoyed +the experience, instead of resenting it. I think it was the second time +I met up with her when I told her about it, and it is only fair to her, +and to you, to admit that she said 'No,' Johnny-on-the-spot. But, +somehow, it didn't strike me that it was a final 'no,' or that she had +anybody's brand on her; and so I didn't lose the hope that some day I +might induce her to accept mine. Last Saturday afternoon, I took her in +my car, in company with two other ladies, to her father's office, +down-town. She had an interview with her father and somebody else, I +suspect, while she was in the office, and whatever that interview was, I +am plumb certain that it didn't please her. She come out of the +building with her eyes blazing like two live coals, and she was mad +enough to shoot, if I am any judge."</p> + +<p>He paused, as if expecting some comment from Duncan, but the latter made +no remark at all; nor did he change his attitude or the smiling +expression of his face. Truth to tell, he was more amused than offended +by the other's confidences. Morton continued:</p> + +<p>"I had half-promised Miss Langdon that I wouldn't speak to her again of +love, but I sure couldn't hold in, that afternoon. I needn't tell you +what I said; but the consequence of it was that she told me she had just +concluded a business transaction—that was the expression she used—by +which she had promised to marry a man whom she would not name. Since +that time, I have studied the situation rather deeply, with the result +that I came to the conclusion you were the man to whom she referred. +That is why I have called upon you this evening, to ask you the question +you have just answered."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Duncan. His smile was more constrained, now.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure puzzled to know what Miss Langdon means by the 'business +transaction' part of it, Mr. Duncan, and I have come up here, to your +own room, to tell you that, if Patricia Langdon loves you—"</p> + +<p>"One moment, if you please, Mr. Morton. Don't you think you're going +rather too far, now?"</p> + +<p>"No sir, I don't."</p> + +<p>"Very well, I'll listen to you, to the end."</p> + +<p>"If Patricia Langdon loves you, Duncan, I'll hit the trail for Montana +and the sky-line this afternoon, and I'll ask you to pardon me for any +break I have made here, this evening; but, if she doesn't love you, and +if, as I suspect, you are coercing her in this matter—"</p> + +<p>Again, Duncan interrupted the ranchman. He did it this time by +straightening his tall figure, and raising one hand for silence.</p> + +<p>"I think, Mr. Morton," he said, coldly, "that you are presuming rather +too far. These are personal matters between Miss Langdon and myself, +which I may not discuss with you."</p> + +<p>Morton sprang to his feet, and faced Duncan across the table.</p> + +<p>"By God! you've got to discuss this with me!" he said; and his jaws +snapped together, while he bent forward, glaring into Duncan's eyes. +"I've got to know one thing from you, Mr. Roderick Duncan; and I've got +just one more thing to say to you!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?"</p> + +<p>The question was cold and very calm. Duncan's temper was rising.</p> + +<p>"I'll say it mighty quick and sudden. It is this: If you are forcing +Patricia Langdon into this marriage against her will, I'll kill you."</p> +<p> </p> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE QUARREL</b></p> +<p class="p2">Duncan's first impulse, begotten by the sudden anger that blazed within +him, was to resent most bitterly the threat thus made against him. But, +behind his anger, he was conscious of a certain feeling of respect and +admiration for this frank-faced, keen-eyed young Montana ranchman. He +saw plainly that Morton was in deadly earnest in what he had said; but +he realized, also, that Morton's resentment, as well as the threat he +had made, was due, not to any personal feeling harbored against the man +he now faced, but was entirely the result of the sense of chivalry which +the Western cowboy inevitably feels for every woman. Duncan understood, +thoroughly, that Morton's sole desire was to announce himself as +prepared to protect, to the last ditch, the young woman with whom he had +fallen so desperately in love; and for this Duncan respected and +esteemed the man.</p> + +<p>In this instance, Duncan was a good reader of character, and, before +venturing to reply to the last remark of Morton's, he compelled himself +to silence; he tried to put himself in this young man's place, wondering +the while if under like circumstances he would have had the courage to +do as Morton had done.</p> + +<p>"Sit down again, Mr. Morton," he said, presently, waving his hand toward +the chair the ranchman had previously occupied.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; not until you have answered me."</p> + +<p>Duncan smiled, now. He had entirely regained his composure, and was +thoroughly master of his own ugly temper, and of the situation, also, as +he believed.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Morton," he said, "when you entered this room, I did you the honor +to listen to your unprecedented statement, without interruption. I now +ask you to treat me as fairly as I treated you. Be seated, Mr. Morton, +and hear what I have to say."</p> + +<p>The ranchman flushed hotly, at once realizing that this young patrician +of the East, had, for the moment got the better of him. He resumed his +seat upon the chair, and absent-mindedly withdrew from one of his +pockets a book of cigarette-papers and a tobacco-pouch.</p> + +<p>"Morton," said Duncan, "I am going to speak to you as man to man; just +as I think you would like to have me do. I am going to meet you on your +own ground, that of perfect frankness; for I do you the honor to believe +that you are entirely sincere in your attitude, in your conduct, and in +what you have said to me."</p> + +<p>"You're sure right about that, Mr. Duncan. Whatever may be said about +Dick Morton, there is nobody—at least nobody that's now alive—who has +ever cast any doubts upon my sincerity, or my willingness to back up +whatever I may have to say."</p> + +<p>"You came here out of the West, Morton, and, as you express it, met up +with Patricia Langdon. In your impulsive way, you fell deeply in love +with her, almost at first sight."</p> + +<p>"That's no idle dream."</p> + +<p>"You conceived the idea that she wore nobody's brand, which is another +expression of your own, which I take to mean that you thought her +affections were disengaged."</p> + +<p>"That was the way I sized it up, Mr. Duncan."</p> + +<p>"Therefore, I will tell you that Patricia and I have been intimate +companions, since our earliest childhood. I can't remember when I have +not thought her superior to any other woman, and I have always believed, +as I now believe, that deep down in her inmost heart she loves me quite +as well as I love her. There was an unfortunate circumstance, connected +with our present engagement, which, unfortunately, I cannot explain to +you, since it is another's secret, and not mine. But I shall explain, so +far as to say that the circumstance deeply offended her; that when she +made the remark to you, in the automobile, which aroused your +resentment, she did it in anger; that, far from coercing her in this +matter, I have not done so, and have not thought of doing so; and, +lastly, I shall tell you, quite frankly, that the engagement between +Patricia and myself and the date of the wedding which is to follow are +both matters which she has had full power to arrange to her own +satisfaction."</p> + +<p>Duncan hesitated a moment, and then, as Morton made no response, he +suddenly extended Patricia's letter, which he still held in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Read that," he said. "I don't know why I show it to you, save that I +feel the impulse to do so. It is entirely a confidential communication, +and I call upon you to treat it as such. But read the letter from +Patricia Langdon, which I have just received, Mr. Morton; it will +probably make you wiser on many points that now confound you."</p> + +<p>Morton accepted the letter, but the lines of his face were hard and +unrelenting; his jaws and lips were shut tightly together; his +aggressive chin was thrust forward just a little bit, and his hazel +eyes were cold and uncompromising in their expression.</p> + +<p>He read the letter through to the end, without a change of expression; +then, he read it a second time, and a third. At last, he slowly left his +seat, and, stepping forward, placed the document, which he had refolded, +upon the table. He reached for his hat, and smoothed it tentatively with +the palm of one of his big hands. But all the while he kept his eyes +fixed sternly upon the face of the young Crœsus he had gone there to +interview.</p> + +<p>"Mister Roderick Duncan," he drawled, in a low, even tone, "I don't +savvy this business, a little bit. Just for the moment, I don't know +what to make of you, or of Miss Langdon, but I am going to work it out +to some sort of a conclusion; and, when I have found the answer to the +questions that puzzle me now, I'll let you know."</p> + +<p>He moved quickly toward the door, but with the lightness of a panther +Duncan sprang between it and him.</p> + +<p>"One moment, Morton," he said, coldly.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I have been very patient with you, and extremely considerate, I think, +of your importunities and your insolence; but you try my patience almost +too far. Take my advice, and don't meddle any farther in matters that +do not, and cannot, concern you."</p> + +<p>For a moment, the two men faced each other in silence, and both were +angry. Duncan was not less tall than Morton, but was slighter of build, +and very different—with the difference that will never cease to exist +between the well-groomed thoroughbred of many experiences and the +blooded young colt. Morton's wrath flamed to the surface, and, +forgetting for the moment that he was not upon his native heath, that he +was not dressed and accoutred as was his habit when riding the range, he +reached down for the place where his holster and cartridge-belt would +have been located had he been dressed in the cowboy costume of his +native Montana.</p> + +<p>It was a gesture as natural to the young ranchman as it was to breathe, +and he was ashamed of it the instant it was made. He would have +apologized had he been given time to do so. Indeed, he did flush hotly, +in his confusion. But Duncan, quite naturally, misinterpreted the act. +He thought, and with good reason, that Morton was reaching for his gun; +the flush of shame on Morton's cheeks served only to strengthen the +conviction. And so, with a cat-like swiftness, he took one step forward +and seized the wrist of Morton's right arm, twisting it sharply and +bending it backward with the same motion, whereby the ranchman was +thrown away from him, and was brought up sharply against the table, in +the middle of the room.</p> + +<p>Duncan was smiling again now; but it was the smile of intense anger, and +not pleasant to see. Without waiting for Morton to recover himself, +Duncan calmly turned his back upon the ranchman, and threw open the +door; then, stepping away from it, he said, with quiet dignity:</p> + +<p>"This is your way out, sir."</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>SALLY GARNER'S PLAN</b></p> +<p class="p2">What might have happened between those two fiery natures at that crisis +will never be known, because at the moment when Duncan threw the door +ajar, and uttered his dismissal, Jack Gardner appeared suddenly upon the +scene, having just stepped from the elevator. If he heard that +expression of dismissal, he showed no evidence of it, or he did not +comprehend its significance; and, if he saw in the attitude of the two +men anything out of the ordinary, he gave no sign that he did so. But +Jack Gardner, too, was from Montana; and he had learned, long ago, how +to conduct himself in emergencies. It was a fortunate interruption, all +around. Duncan, although apparently calm, was in a white rage. He would +not have hesitated to meet Morton more than half-way, in any manner by +which the latter might choose to show his resentment for the twisted +arm. As it was, Gardner was the savior of the situation.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Duncan! How are you?" he exclaimed, in his usual manner. "Why, +Dick! I didn't expect to find you here; didn't know that you and Dun +were acquainted." He shook hands with both the men, one after the other, +in his accustomed hearty and irresistible manner, grinning at them and +utterly refusing to see that there was restraint in the manner of +either.</p> + +<p>"It is my first acquaintance with Mr. Morton," replied Duncan easily, +and touched a lighted match to the cigar he had previously taken from +his case. He was, outwardly, entirely at ease. "He did me the honor to +call upon me, and we have been chatting together for more than half an +hour. Will you sit down, Jack? Mr. Morton, be seated again, won't you?"</p> + +<p>The ranchman looked upon his late antagonist with utter amazement. It +was an exhibition of a kind of self-control that was strange to him. It +angered him, too, because of his own inability to assume it. He was +suddenly ashamed. Patricia's reference to his "training," recurred to +him. He understood, now, exactly what she had meant—it had not been +plain to him before. Here before him was "the man of the East," at whom +he had so often scoffed, for the word "Tenderfoot" had, until now, been +synonymous with contempt. But Morton felt himself to be the tenderfoot, +in the present case. He replied, stiffly, to the invitation to be +seated.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said. "I find that I am neglecting an engagement." It +was the only excuse he could think of.</p> + +<p>"Wait just a minute, Dick, and I'll go along with you," said Gardner. "I +only stepped in a moment to give Duncan a message from my wife. She +says, Roderick, that she would like to have you drop around at the +house, for a moment, if you can make it. She is not going out. Now, +Dick, if you are ready, I'm with you. So long, Duncan; I'll see you +later, at the club."</p> + +<hr class="c7" /> + +<p>Just previous to Jack Gardner's interruption of the almost tragic scene +at Duncan's rooms, he had been having what he called "a heart-to-heart" +talk with his wife, and the message he now delivered to his friend from +Sally was, in part, the outcome of that interview.</p> + +<p>Sally Gardner had been greatly troubled since the occurrences of +Saturday night. Being herself intensely practical, she had sought +deeply, through her reasoning powers, to find a means whereby she might +be instrumental in helping out of their difficulties her several +friends whom she so dearly loved. She believed that she had succeeded in +hitting upon a scheme which would, at least, bring things to a focus. +She was sure that, if she could bring all the parties together under one +roof, matters would straighten themselves without much outside +assistance. Jack and Sally owned a beautiful country place, within easy +motoring distance of the city, and the young matron, having decided upon +what course she would adopt, had lost no time in summoning her husband +to her, taking him into her confidence, and convincing him of the wisdom +of her project.</p> + +<p>"Jack," she told him, when he was seated opposite her, "I don't suppose +you realize into what a terrible mess and muddle you got things last +Saturday night, by reason of your fondness for a joke?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, confound it, Sally, drop it!" he exclaimed, smiling, but annoyed +nevertheless.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "we can't drop it, Jack. You're responsible for the +whole affair. I have seen the necessity of finding a way out of it, for +all of us—although my heart bleeds for poor Beatrice."</p> + +<p>Jack shrugged his shoulders, and lighted a cigar. Then, he thrust his +feet far out in front of him, and studied the toes of his tan shoes +intently.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with Beatrice?" he asked, presently.</p> + +<p>"She is in love with Roderick Duncan," replied his wife, with an +emphatic nod of her blond head.</p> + +<p>"Eh? What's that? In love with Rod? Nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"She is, Jack; I know she is."</p> + +<p>"Gee, little girl, but it surely is a mix up! What are you going to do +about it? Why in blazes didn't she marry him, then, when she had the +chance?"</p> + +<p>"I've thought of a way Jack, if you will agree to it, and help me out—a +way by which things can be smoothed over. Will you help me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Could you tear yourself away from the city for two or three days, +beginning to-morrow morning?" she asked him.</p> + +<p>"I guess so, Sally."</p> + +<p>"Are you willing to go out to Cedarcrest for a few days, and entertain a +select party, there?"</p> + +<p>"Suit me to death, girl. Glad you thought of it. Whom will you ask? And +what is the game?"</p> + +<p>"I have made out a list," replied Sally, meditatively. "I shall read it +off to you, if you will listen."</p> + +<p>"Go ahead."</p> + +<p>"It includes Beatrice and Patricia, of course; Dick Morton and—"</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, Sally. I've got a sort of a notion in my head that +neither Beatrice nor Patricia, will care to go to Cedarcrest on such an +expedition as that, under the present circumstances."</p> + +<p>"My dear John"—she sometimes called him John when she was particularly +in earnest, and when she attempted to be especially dignified—"you may +leave all the details of this arrangement to me. I merely wished your +consent to the plan."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, if you can manage it, Sally, you've got my consent, all +right. What do you want me to do about it? You didn't have to consult +me, you know."</p> + +<p>"I want you, first, to listen to the list I have made out, and, after +that, to carry out my directions in regard to it."</p> + +<p>"Good girl; I can do that, too."</p> + +<p>"Patricia and Beatrice, Roderick Duncan and the Houston girls, Richard +Morton, Nesbit Farnham; and, to supply the other two men who will be +necessary to make up the party, you yourself may make the selection. I +only wish them to be the right sort."</p> + +<p>"What's the scheme, Sally?"</p> + +<p>"I want to get these warring elements together, under one roof."</p> + +<p>"Whew! You've got more pluck than I thought you had, Sally."</p> + +<p>"Listen, Jack: When you go out this evening, find Roderick, and send him +here, to me. I have written him not to come here, but that won't make +any difference. He'll come if you give him my message. Afterward, you +may look up Dick Morton, and the other two men you are to ask, and give +them the invitation."</p> + +<p>"For when?"</p> + +<p>"For to-morrow. Tell them all to be at Cedarcrest before dark, +to-morrow. That is all. As I said before, I'll attend to the details."</p> + +<p>Jack Gardner left his chair, and, having kissed his wife, was on the +point of departure when he paused a moment on the threshold, and, +looking back over his shoulder, said, laughingly:</p> + +<p>"Sally, I always gave you credit for having more sand than any three +ordinary women I've ever known, but, I'll give you my word, I never +supposed you had grit enough to undertake any such thing as this one. +Talk about me getting things into a mess! Great Scott! if you don't get +into one, out at Cedarcrest, with that sort of a mix-up to take care of, +I'm a sheep-herder. Maybe you haven't got on to the fact, my girl, but, +as sure as you're the best little woman in all New York, Dick Morton is +so dead stuck on Patricia Langdon that he can't forget it for a minute. +If you bring all that bunch together, you'll have Rod Duncan and Dick at +each other's throat, before you get through with it. And besides—"</p> + +<p>Sally sprang to her feet, clapped her hands and laughed, to her +husband's utter amazement.</p> + +<p>"Splendid!" she exclaimed. "No, I did not know that; but it simplifies +matters, wonderfully, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Oh, does it?"</p> + +<p>"Assuredly."</p> + +<p>"Huh! I'm glad you think so. It looks to me as if it were just the other +way around. Take my word for it, my girl, there'll be a 'will' in that +drive of yours—maybe a tragedy, as well. Duncan is quite capable of +committing one, in his present mood; and Dick Morton?—Well, you'll +see."</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully glad you told me. It's perfectly splendid," said Sally, +unmindful of, or indifferent to, the warning. "It's perfectly splendid!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is, eh? Well, I'm glad you think so. To me, it looks a good deal +like a mix-up, Sally. Rod is in love with Patricia; Beatrice is in love +with him; Nesbit Farnham is so dead stuck on Beatrice that he doesn't +know where he's at, more than half the time; and Patricia—Oh, well, I +give it up. I'll do what you told me to, and leave the rest to you;" and +Gardner laughed his way through the hall and out upon the street; and he +continued chuckling to himself, all the way to his club. But Sally ran +after him before he got quite away from her, and called to him from the +bottom of the steps.</p> + +<p>"One thing more, Jack," she said.</p> + +<p>"Well, my dear; what is it?"</p> + +<p>"We will take Beatrice with us, in our car, and you may include one of +the gentlemen I have given you permission to ask. When you ask Dick +Morton, tell him that he is to bring Patricia and the two Houston girls. +That's all."</p> + +<p>"How about the others, how are they going to get there?"</p> + +<p>"The others may walk, for all I care," said Sally, and she returned to +the library.</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>PATRICIA'S WILD RIDE</b></p> +<p class="p2">It was a gay party that assembled around the dinner-table at Cedarcrest, +shortly after eight o'clock on Tuesday evening, although, had one +possessed the ability to analyze deeply, it would have been discovered +that the gaiety was somewhat forced. Each person present at the +gathering was burdened by the intuitive perception of something ominous +in the atmosphere; there was a portentous quality about the environment +that had more or less a depressing effect upon Sally Gardner's guests, +and each one was conscious of a determined, but silent effort to +overcome this feeling, in the belief that he or she was the only one who +experienced it.</p> + +<p>Two of the expected guests had not arrived. They were Patricia and +Richard Morton; but, because no message of any sort had been received +from Morton, it was the generally accepted idea, that something had +happened on the road to delay his car, and they were expected to arrive +at any moment. The serving of the dinner was delayed as long as +possible in expectation of their coming, but at last the other guests +seated themselves around the table to enjoy the feast so carefully +prepared by Jack Gardner's high-salaried chef. Agnes and Frances +Houston, who were to have come out in Richard Morton's car with +Patricia, arrived on time, accompanied by an uninvited guest, although +he was one who was on such terms of intimacy with the Gardners that he +had not hesitated to attend this country party, when the idea was +suggested to him. It was the lawyer, Melvin; and the suggestion that he +should be present, and that he should take out the Houston girls, had, +strangely enough, been made by Morton. The young ranchman had gone to +the lawyer's office early in the day of that Tuesday, and the +conversation he held with Melvin will give a good idea of the drift of +his intentions, and of his hitherto latent talents for planning and +scheming. And the shrewd old lawyer quite readily fell in with the +suggestions that were made to him.</p> + +<p>The invitation extended to Morton, the preceding evening, by Jack +Gardner, and the directions given him at the time, as to whom he should +take with him to the party, had suggested to him a novel plan, which he +lost no time in taking measures to carry out. It is true, he was +delighted on learning that he was expected to take Patricia to +Cedarcrest, but he was just as greatly disappointed by the idea that +Agnes and Frances Houston were to occupy the tonneau of his car, and +therefore he planned to avoid the disturbing element. The presence of +the lawyer at the club where Gardner and Morton held their conversation, +suggested to the latter what he would do, for he knew of the intimate +friendly relations existing between Melvin and the Gardners, and did not +doubt that the great legal light would be an acceptable addition to the +party which Sally had planned. Had he known all of Sally's reasons for +the arrangements she had made, and had he realized exactly why the party +had been got up, he might have hesitated to do what he did; possibly, he +would have refused to attend at all—but developments will show how he +took the information, when at last it was given to him. It must be +remembered that Morton knew nothing at all of the real incidents of the +preceding Saturday, and was aware only of the fact that something was +wrong; that something had occurred to annoy and disturb Patricia Langdon +out of her customary self-repose. Nevertheless, Morton was convinced, +notwithstanding his interview with her and with Duncan, that she was +somehow being forced into a position abhorrent to her. He had promised +to be her friend, and Dick Morton knew of only one way to fulfill that +promise. Whatever he undertook to do, he did thoroughly, and always his +first impulse, whenever one of his friends needed aid of any sort, was +to fight for that friend.</p> + +<p>His initial occupation that Tuesday morning was to visit the garage +where his two automobiles were kept, and the instructions to his +chauffeur were given rapidly and to the point. An hour later, when he +called upon the lawyer, he said, after greetings had been exchanged:</p> + +<p>"Melvin, I don't know whether you are aware of it or not, but Jack +Gardner and his wife are having a little impromptu house-party, at their +place, Cedarcrest, beginning at dinner time, this evening. I believe it +is to continue till the week-end, and of course I know it is impossible +for you to leave your business for that length of time; but I—"</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about, Morton?" the lawyer interrupted him. +"Neither Jack nor Sally have thought to invite me to their gathering."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, that doesn't count, you know—not in this instance. I want +you to do me a favor. That's the size of it. The point is this: I was +told to take Miss Langdon and the Misses Houston, to Cedarcrest, in my +White Steamer. I have just discovered that the car is temporarily out +of commission, and so I am reduced to the necessity of using my +roadster. I came down here to ask you to take the Houston girls to +Cedarcrest, for me."</p> + +<p>The shrewd old lawyer threw back his head, and laughed, heartily.</p> + +<p>"You're not very deep, Morton," he said, presently. "I can see through +you as plainly as if you were a plate-glass window. You have come here +to induce me to relieve you of the necessity of taking Agnes and Frances +Houston to Cedarcrest, in order that you may have Patricia Langdon alone +with you in your roadster. And I'll wager that your chauffeur is out of +commission, too."</p> + +<p>"There will be my machinist in the rumble-seat," replied Morton, +blushing furiously. "You see, Melvin, I happen to know that you are +always an acceptable addition to any party at that house, and—and so—"</p> + +<p>The lawyer laughed again, and raised his hand for silence.</p> + +<p>"Don't try to explain," he said, still chuckling. "'Least said, soonest +mended,' you know. I'll help you out, for I don't think your suggestion +is a bad one, at all. You may leave it all to me, without even going so +far as to communicate with the two members of your party whom you wish +to rid yourself of. I'll attend to that, by telephoning; and I'll take +them to Cedarcrest for dinner, and remain for the night; but I shall +have to return early to-morrow morning. When the hour comes for you to +start, Morton, you have only to drive around after Miss Langdon." Thus, +it happened that, when the party was seated in the splendidly decorated +dining-room at Cedarcrest, there were two absentees; as there was, also, +one guest who had not been expected, and who, for once in his life, was +not entirely welcome at Sally Gardner's country home. For Sally had a +wholesome respect for, as well as an intuitive perception of, the old +lawyer's shrewdness. Quick to scent a plot of any sort, Mrs. Gardner saw +in this incident—the arrival of Melvin with the Houston girls, and the +absence of her star guest and escort—certain circumstances that smelled +strongly of pre-arrangement. She remembered what her husband had said to +her, the preceding day, when she suggested the party; she recalled +Jack's statement to the effect that Morton was in love with Patricia, +and, because her acquaintance with the young cattle-king had begun in +their childhood in Montana, she realized just what he was capable of +doing, if by any chance he had been made aware of the circumstances +which were the occasion of the gathering at Cedarcrest. Melvin had +explained, in as few words as possible, how it happened that he was +there; but his explanation only added to the foreboding in Sally +Gardner's mind, which grew and grew when daylight faded to twilight, and +then to darkness, and still Morton's roadster had not arrived.</p> + +<p>Nesbit Farnham was in the seventh heaven of bliss because he was seated +at the table beside Beatrice, who bore no outward evidence of having +been ill, and who, for the moment at least, was the life of the party; +for she compelled herself to a certain gaiety of manner which she did +not feel. Duncan had been told, by his host, to bring out the two men +who were to complete the party, and he had given little thought to the +arrangement made for him until after his arrival at Cedarcrest, when he +discovered that the young ranchman and Patricia were alone together, +somewhere on the road between the city and their destination. He felt +certain misgivings, then, although he could not have defined them; but +he recalled the scene that had occurred between himself and Morton, the +preceding evening, which had so nearly developed into an open quarrel, +and he wondered what the strenuous young ranchman might not attempt to +do, in making the most of the opportunity thus afforded him.</p> + +<p>Patricia Langdon had received her invitation to Sally's party, and had +given her reluctant acceptance, over the telephone, at a late hour the +preceding evening. Sally had also told Patricia of the arrangement made +for taking her to Cedarcrest. The girl had demurred, at first, and +expressed a desire to use her own car; but she had been argued into a +final acceptance of Sally's arrangement. It was, therefore, with some +amazement that she received Richard Morton, at four o'clock Tuesday +afternoon, when he went after her with his roadster, and discovered that +they were to ride alone together, to Cedarcrest; for Morton had decided +to do without the services of his machinist this afternoon. He was +determined to have no third person present, during the thirty miles +drive from the city. The lawyer's shrewd guess about the chauffeur being +put out of commission had certainly furnished a suggestion for Morton to +follow. Patricia hesitated to accompany him, in that manner, but finally +consented, though not without reluctance; and so, shortly before five +o'clock, they started. They should easily have arrived at Cedarcrest +between six and seven.</p> + +<p>We already know that they had not put in their appearance at half-past +eight. The reason for this delay, was somewhat startling.</p> + +<p>When Patricia was well ensconced in the bucket-seat of the roadster +beside Morton, he started the car forward at as rapid a pace as the city +ordinance would permit. Both were silent for a considerable time, but, +at last, Patricia asked him:</p> + +<p>"Will you be good enough to tell me why Mrs. Gardner's arrangement for +this afternoon, was not carried out?"</p> + +<p>Morton turned his face away from her, in order to conceal the smile of +amusement in which he indulged himself, and he replied, with apparent +carelessness:</p> + +<p>"My big car was out of commission, temporarily. I happened to see +Melvin, and he agreed to take Miss Houston and her sister to Cedarcrest, +for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed! What has happened to your White Steamer? It was only the +other day that you told me how proud you were of it because it never got +out of order."</p> + +<p>He turned his face toward her and replied slowly and with distinctness:</p> + +<p>"I won't lie to you about it, Patricia; that wouldn't be fair. I put the +car out of commission, myself; or, rather, it was done by my order, +because I wanted to take this ride alone with you."</p> + +<p>"You should have told me that before we started," she said to him.</p> + +<p>"Why? Would it have made any difference in your going?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly it would."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that you would have declined to come with me?"</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"But why?"</p> + +<p>"Chiefly, because I do not approve of plots and schemes, in any form. +Had you asked me, frankly and openly, to drive to Cedarcrest with you, I +should have felt no hesitation in accepting; as it is, you have given +offense, Mr. Morton."</p> + +<p>"So much so that you won't even call me Dick?" he said, with a light +laugh that was more forced than real.</p> + +<p>"Yes. You have not proven yourself quite the friend I hoped you would +be. Friends don't plot against each other."</p> + +<p>"Shall I turn the car about and take you home?" he asked shortly, with +tightening lips, angered unreasonably by the attitude she had assumed.</p> + +<p>"No; you may take me to our destination, Cedarcrest."</p> + +<p>They drove on in silence for a considerable time after that, and, as +soon as they were in the country, on less-frequented roads, Morton +increased the speed of his roadster until they were flying along the +highway in utter and absolute defiance of the statutes. When they +presently arrived at a turn within a few miles of their destination, a +turn that would have taken them directly to the house they sought, +Morton did not move the steering-wheel of the car, but kept on, straight +ahead, and with ever increasing speed.</p> + +<p>Patricia knew the road very well indeed; she had been over it many +times, and now she called out to her companion:</p> + +<p>"You have taken the wrong road. You should have gone around that last +turn."</p> + +<p>Morton did not reply, or attempt to do so. He seemed not to have heard +her.</p> + +<p>"Won't you please slow down a little?" she asked, after another moment; +and the question came somewhat tremulously, because, strange to say, +Patricia was just a little frightened by the circumstance that now +confronted her.</p> + +<p>Again, Morton made no reply, nor did he comply with her request, and +the car flew on and on, while Patricia tried to collect her thoughts, +and to determine what were best for her to do toward restraining this +head-strong companion of hers, who now seemed like a runaway colt that +has taken the bit in its teeth, and has found the strength to defy +opposition.</p> + +<p>"Richard Morton!" she exclaimed sharply, touching his arm, tentatively. +"Why don't you answer me? What are you trying to do? Where are you +taking me?"</p> + +<p>For just an instant, he flashed his eyes into hers; then he replied, +grimly:</p> + +<p>"I am taking you for a good ride. We'll steer around to Cedarcrest by +another road, presently."</p> + +<p>"But I wish to go there at once."</p> + +<p>"You can't."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that you refuse to do as I request?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, shortly; and shut his jaws together with a snap like +a nut-cracker.</p> + +<p>"You dare?"</p> + +<p>"I dare anything, Patricia, when I am brought to it. I would like to +keep this machine going, at this pace, for hours and days and weeks, +with you seated there beside me, and never thinking of a stop until I +had you out yonder, in the wild country, where I was born and raised."</p> + +<p>Again, she reached out and touched him on the arm, for she was more +frightened than she would have confessed to herself; but, before she +could speak, he called to her in a tone that was almost savage in its +intensity:</p> + +<p>"Be careful, please. Don't interfere with my steering, or you will ditch +us."</p> + +<p>"I demand that you bring this car to a stop," she said coldly, +controlling herself with an effort. "I insist that you turn it about, +and go back. I am amazed at your conduct, Mr. Morton—amazed and hurt. +You are offending me more deeply than you realize."</p> + +<p>Again, he did not answer her, and Patricia, now thoroughly alarmed, +sought vainly for a means of bringing this impetuous and dare-devil +young ranchman to his senses. She thought once, as they ascended a short +hill, of leaping from the car to the ground, but the speed was too great +for her to take such a risk. It even occurred to her to seize the +steering-wheel, and to give it a sharp turn, thus wrecking the machine; +but she shuddered with terror when she thought of the possibilities of +such an act.</p> + +<p>Half a mile farther on, Morton turned the car from the main highway +they had been following, and drove it at full speed along a narrow road, +where the going was somewhat rough, and where both had to give their +entire attention to retaining their seats.</p> + +<p>"Are you mad?" she cried out to him, at last. She did not remember ever +to have been so frightened before. Actual fear was a new sensation with +Patricia Langdon.</p> + +<p>Still, he did not answer her, and Patricia started to her feet, +determined to make the leap to the ground, risking broken limbs, or +worse, to escape from this situation, which was becoming more awful with +every moment that passed. A sudden terror lest the man beside her had +gone mad, seized her. But Morton grasped her with his left hand, and +pulled her back into the seat.</p> + +<p>"Don't do that!" he ordered her, crisply.</p> + +<p>"Then, stop the car," she replied. "Oh, please, do stop the car. You +have no idea how you frighten me. It is very dark, here, and this is a +terrible road. Please stop, Mr. Morton."</p> + +<p>"Call me Dick, and I'll stop."</p> + +<p>"Please stop the car—Dick!"</p> + +<p>He closed the throttle, and applied the brake. In another moment the +speedy roadster slowed down gradually, and came to a stop, just at the +edge of a wood, where there was no house, or evidence of one, visible +in any direction; and, then, Richard Morton and Patricia Langdon stared +into each other's eyes through the gathering darkness, the former with +set jaws and a defiant smile, and the latter with plainly revealed +terror.</p> +<p> </p> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>ALMOST A TRAGEDY</b></p> +<p class="p2">Morton's passion for the beautiful girl beside him had overcome his +discretion to such an extent that he was hardly responsible for what he +did. The exhilaration of this swift ride through the gathering darkness, +the sense of nearness to the woman he believed he loved with every force +in him, the certainty that they were alone, and that, for the moment at +least, she was his sole possession, stirred up within the young +ranchman's mind those elements of barbaric wildness which had grown and +thrived to riotousness and recklessness during the life he had lived on +the cattle-ranges of Montana, but which had been more or less dormant +during his Eastern experiences. He forgot, for the moment, the +Sunday-night scene wherein he had promised to be Patricia's friend, and +had ceased to be her lover; he remembered only that she was there beside +him, with her terror-stricken eyes peering into his beseechingly, and +that she looked more beautiful than ever she had before. But, more than +all else, the influence she had had over him was absent, and this was +so because her haughty defiance and the proud spirit she had hitherto +manifested in her attitude were gone. He had never seen her like this +before, with the courage taken out of her. It was a new and unknown +quality, alluringly feminine, wholly dependent, that possessed her now. +She was frightened. And so Morton forgot himself. He permitted the +innate wildness of his own nature to rule. He followed an impulse, as +wild as it was unkind. He seized her in his arms, and crushed her +against him, raining kisses upon her cheeks and brow, and upon even her +lips. Patrica strove bravely to fight him off; she struggled mightily to +prevent this greatest of all indignities. She cried out to him, +beseeching that he release her, but he seemed not to hear, or, if he +heard, he paid no heed, and, after a moment more of vain effort, +Patricia's figure suddenly relaxed. She realized the utter futility of +her effort to hold the man at bay, and she was suddenly inspired to +practise a subterfuge upon him. She permitted herself to sink down +helplessly, into his confining grasp, and she became, apparently, +unconscious.</p> + +<p>It was Richard Morton's turn to be frightened, then. On the instant, he +realized what he had done. The enormity of the offense he had committed +against her rushed upon him like a blow in the face, and he released +her, so that she sank back into the confining seat beside him.</p> + +<p>"Patricia! Patricia!" he called to her. He seized her hands, and rubbed +them; he turned them over and struck the palms of them sharply, for he +had somewhere heard that such action would bring a person out of a +swoon; but, although he struggled anxiously, doing whatsoever he could +to arouse her, and beseeching her in impassioned tones to speak to him, +she seemed to remain unconscious, with her head lying back against the +seat, her eyes closed, and her face paler than he had ever seen it +before.</p> + +<p>The car had stopped before the edge of a wood. Just beyond it, there was +a bridge over which they must have passed, had they continued on their +way. Morton raised his head and looked despairingly about him. He saw +the bridge, and experience taught him that there must be a stream of +water beneath it. With quick decision, he sprang from the car and ran +forward, believing that, if he could return with his cap filled with +water, he might restore his companion to consciousness. Then, strange to +relate, no sooner had he left the car than Patricia opened her eyes, +straightened her figure, and with a quick leap changed her seat to the +one beneath the steering-wheel. She accomplished this while Morton was +speeding away from her, toward the water.</p> + +<p>She saw him arrive at the bridge and disappear down the bank, beneath +it; and forthwith, she reversed the gear of the steamer, and opened the +throttle. The engine responded instantly, and at the imminent risk of +wrecking the car, she backed it, and turned it, reversing and going +forward several times, before she quite succeeded in bringing it around, +within the narrow space. But, at last, she did succeed, and, just at the +moment when the car was headed in the opposite direction, Richard Morton +reappeared. He saw, at a glance, what had happened during his short +absence. He understood that Patricia had outwitted him, and he ran +forward, shouting aloud as he did so.</p> + +<p>Patricia caught one glimpse of him over her shoulder, and saw that he +carried in his hands the cap he had filled with water to use in +restoring her to consciousness—a consciousness she had not for a moment +lost, which now was so alert and manifest in effecting her escape.</p> + +<p>She paid no heed to his shouts. She opened the throttle wider and wider, +and the steam roadster darted away through the darkness, with Patricia +Langdon under the wheel, leaving Richard Morton, cap in hand, standing +in the middle of the highway, gazing after her, speechless with +amazement and more than ever in love with the courageous young woman who +could dare, and do, so much.</p> + +<p>Patricia Langdon was thoroughly capable of operating any automobile, as +was demonstrated by this somewhat startling climax to the unpleasant +scene through which she had just passed. Beneath her customary repose of +manner, her outward self-restraint and her dignified if somewhat haughty +manner, there was a spirit of wildness, which, for years, had found no +expression, till now. But, the moment she turned the car about and +succeeded in heading it in the opposite direction, the instant she +realized that she was mistress of the situation, which, so short a time +before, had been replete with unknown terrors, she experienced all that +sense of exhilaration which the winner of any battle must feel, when it +is brought to a successful issue. She heard herself laugh aloud, +defiantly and with a touch of glee, although it did not seem to her as +if it were Patricia Langdon who laughed; it was, perhaps, some hitherto +undiscoverable spirit of recklessness within her, which called forth +that expression of defiant joy, which Richard Morton could not fail to +hear.</p> + +<p>The night was dark, by now, and there were only the stars to light the +narrow way along which Patricia was compelled to guide the flying car; +but she thought nothing of this, for she could dimly discern the +outlines of the roadway before her, and she believed she could follow it +to the main highway, without accident. Morton had not lighted his lamps. +There had been no opportunity to do so. But the road was an unfrequented +one; and Patricia, as she fled away from Morton, through the darkness, +thought only of making her escape, not at all of the dangers she might +encounter while doing so.</p> + +<p>Several times, she caught herself laughing softly at the recollection of +how she had triumphed over the daring young ranchman, and at the +predicament in which she had left him, standing there near the bridge, +in a locality that was entirely unknown to him, from which he must have +some difficulty in finding his way to a place where he could secure +another conveyance. He might know what it meant to be left horseless on +the ranges of the West, but this would be a new and a strange—perhaps a +wholesome—experience for him.</p> + +<p>Presently, she came to the turn of the road that would bring her upon +the main highway; and here she stopped the car, and got down from it, +long enough to light the lamps. This done, she went on again, as +swiftly as she dared, yet not too rapidly, because now she felt that she +was as free as the air singing past her. The highway she traversed was +almost as familiar to her as the streets of New York City.</p> + +<p>The exhilaration she had experienced when she triumphed over Richard +Morton and escaped from him, increased rather than diminished as she +sped onward, and when, almost an hour later, she guided the car between +the huge gate-posts which admitted it to the grounds of Cedarcrest, and +followed the winding driveway toward the entrance to the stone mansion, +she was altogether a different Patricia Langdon from the one who had +started out, in company with the young Westerner, shortly after five +o'clock that afternoon.</p> + +<p>She brought the car to a stop under the <i>porte-cochère</i>, and announced +her arrival by several loud blasts of the automobile-horn; a moment +later, the doors were thrown open, and Sally Gardner rushed out to +receive her.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I am late, Sally," Patricia called out, in a voice that was +wholly unlike her usual calm tones. "Will you call someone to care for +the car?" Without waiting for a reply, she sprang from beneath the +wheel, and with a light laugh returned the impetuous embrace with which +the young matron greeted her.</p> + +<p>In some mysterious manner, word had already been passed to the guests +that Patricia Langdon had arrived in Richard Morton's car, but alone; +and so, by the time Patricia had released herself from Sally's clinging +arms, Roderick Duncan, followed by the others of the party, appeared in +the open doorway. Duncan came forward swiftly, but his host forestalled +him in putting the question he would have asked.</p> + +<p>"I say, Patricia!" Jack Gardner called out. "What have you done with +Morton? Where is Dick?"</p> + +<p>"Really, Jack, I don't know," replied Patricia, standing quite still, +with her right arm around Sally's shoulders, and lifting her head like a +thoroughbred filly. Mrs. Gardner's left arm still clung around her +waist. "Mr. Morton is back there, somewhere, on the road. If he doesn't +change his plans, he should arrive here, presently." She laughed, as she +replied to the question, perceiving, at the moment, only the humorous +side of it. She was still under the influence of that swift ride alone; +still delighted by the thought of the predicament in which she had left +her escort, because of his outrageous conduct toward her.</p> + +<p>"Did you meet with an accident? Has anything happened to Mr. Morton?" +inquired Agnes Houston.</p> + +<p>Patricia shrugged her shoulders, and, again laughing softly, withdrew +from Sally's embrace and began to ascend the steps. One of the +Cedarcrest servants appeared at that moment, to take the car around to +the garage; and for some reason each member of the party stepped aside, +one way or another, so that Miss Langdon was the one who led the way +into the house, the others falling in behind her, and following. The +circumstance of her arrival in such a manner and the suggestion of +mystery conveyed in Patricia's answer to Jack Gardner's question +convinced all that something had happened which needed an explanation. +Patricia's demeanor was so different from her usual half-haughty +bearing, that it was, in a way, a revelation to them all. Each one there +had his or her own conception of the occasion, and probably no two +opinions were the same; but at least they were all agreed on one point: +that there had been a scene somewhere, and that Richard Morton had got +the worst of it.</p> + +<p>Patricia led the way to the dining-room. Her head was high, her eyes +were sparkling. Duncan hastened to her side, but she took no notice of +his nearness. As she entered the room, she called out:</p> + +<p>"Do order some dinner served to me, Sally. I am as hungry as the +proverbial bear. You see, I had anticipated a hearty dinner with you, +and the long ride I have had—particularly that part of it which I have +taken alone—has whetted my appetite."</p> + +<p>Sally nodded toward the butler, and waved him away, knowing that he had +overheard Patricia's words, and that she would speedily be served; the +others of the party resumed their former seats around the table, and the +practical Sally turned and faced Patricia, again, her eyes flashing some +of the indignation she felt because of her guest's evident reluctance to +explain the strange circumstance of her arrival at Cedarcrest alone.</p> + +<p>"Patricia Langdon," she said, "I think you might tell us what has +happened. We are all on edge with expectancy. Where is Dick Morton?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is somewhere back there on the highway, walking toward +Cedarcrest, I suppose," replied Patricia smilingly, dropping into a +chair beside the table.</p> + +<p>"Did you start out from New York together?" persisted Sally.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes."</p> + +<p>"Won't you please tell us what has happened?"</p> + +<p>Patricia's lips parted, while she hesitated for a reply. She had no +desire to tell these people of the incidents that had actually occurred. +Many another, in her position, would have revealed at once the whole +truth, and would have made these others acquainted with the conduct of +Richard Morton, during that wild ride she had been forced to take with +him through the gathering gloom. But Patricia was not that kind. She was +quite conscious of the strangeness of her arrival at Cedarcrest alone, +in Morton's car, and of the wrong constructions which might be given to +the incident. She knew that every man who was present in the room, would +bitterly resent the indignities Morton had put upon her, if she should +relate the facts. But she believed that Morton had been sufficiently +punished. She even doubted if he would appear there, at all, now; and +so, instead of replying to Sally's repeated request, she shrugged her +shoulders, and responded:</p> + +<p>"I think I'll leave the explanation to Mr. Morton, when he arrives."</p> + +<p>Food was placed before her at that moment and she transferred her +attention to it; while her friends, perceiving that she was not inclined +to take them into her confidence, started other subjects of +conversation, although the mind of each one of them was still intent +upon what might have happened during Patricia's journey from New York in +the company of Richard Morton.</p> + +<p>Roderick Duncan had not resumed his seat at the table; he had remained +in the background, and had maintained an utter silence. But his thoughts +had been busy, indeed. He knew and understood Patricia, better than +these others did—with the possible exception of Beatrice, who also was +silent. But, now, he passed around the table until he stood behind +Patricia's chair. Then, he dropped down upon a vacant one that was +beside her, and, resting one elbow on the table, peered inquiringly into +the girl's flushed face, more beautiful than ever in her excitement. +That strange feeling of exhilaration was still upon her, and there was +undoubted triumph and self-satisfaction depicted in her eyes and +demeanor.</p> + +<p>"What happened, Patricia?" he asked her, in a low tone, which the others +could not hear.</p> + +<p>"Nothing has happened that need concern you at all," she replied to him, +coldly.</p> + +<p>"But something must have happened, or you—"</p> + +<p>"If something did happen," she interrupted him, "rest assured that I +shall tell you nothing more about it, at the present time. If Mr. Morton +chooses to explain, when he arrives, that is his affair, and not mine. I +am here, and I am unharmed. Somewhere, back there on the road my escort +is probably walking toward Cedarcrest; or, perhaps, away from it. You +will have to be satisfied with that explanation, until he arrives—if he +does arrive." She spoke with such finality that Duncan changed the +character of his questioning.</p> + +<p>"I have not seen you, Patricia, since the receipt of your letter, fixing +our wedding-day for next Monday," he persisted. "It now occurs to me +that, in the light of the contents of your letter, I have a right to ask +you for an explanation of the incidents of to-night."</p> + +<p>Patricia turned her eyes for an instant upon him, and then withdrew +them, while she said, coldly:</p> + +<p>"If you have taken time to read carefully the stipulations in the +contract you signed yesterday morning, at Mr. Melvin's office, you will +understand why I deny your right to do so."</p> + +<p>"Has Morton affronted you in any way?"</p> + +<p>"Ask him. I have no doubt that he will answer you."</p> + +<p>"Patricia, are you going to persist in this attitude toward me, even +after we are married?" Duncan inquired, anxiously. But, instead of +replying, she raised her head in a listening attitude, and announced to +all who were present:</p> + +<p>"I hear the horn of an approaching automobile. Perhaps, Mr. Morton has +caught a ride."</p> + +<p>"Answer me, Patricia," Duncan insisted.</p> + +<p>"My conduct will be the answer to your question," she said, with her +face averted.</p> + +<p>Jack Gardner hurriedly left the room, accompanied by Sally. A moment +later, when the automobile horn sounded nearer, Duncan left his place +beside Patricia, and followed. Melvin, the lawyer, also went out, and +then one by one the others, until Patricia was the only guest who +remained at the table. She continued to occupy herself with the food +that had been placed before her, while the flush on her cheeks deepened, +her eyes shone with added brightness, and she smiled as if she were +rather pleased than otherwise by the predicament in which Morton would +find himself, when he should be closely questioned by Jack and Sally +Gardner and the guests as well, whose curiosity, she knew, would now far +exceed their discretion.</p> + +<p>It never once occurred to her that Dick Morton, having had time to +think over the occurrences of the afternoon and evening, and to realize +the enormity of the offense he had committed, would tell the truth about +it. Men within her knowledge, who belonged to the society with which she +was familiar, would temporize, under such circumstances, would seek, by +diplomatic speech to shield the woman in the case from the comment that +must follow a revelation, would make use of well-chosen words to escape +responsibility for what had occurred; would practise a studied reserve +until certain knowledge could be obtained of what the woman might have +said, upon her arrival.</p> + +<p>The doors had been left open, and Patricia was conscious of loud tones +proceeding from the veranda at the front of the house; of masculine +voices raised in anger; and then she heard the sound of a blow, followed +instantly by a heavy fall. Almost at the same instant, the sharp crack +of a pistol smote upon the air, for an instant stiffening her with +horror. She started to her feet in terror, her face gone white, her eyes +dilated with apprehension. Then, she somehow stumbled to her feet, and +stood there, trembling in every nerve, until she could gather strength +to run forward.</p> + +<p>A horrified and silent group of persons surrounded the principals in +the scene that had just occurred, for there had not yet been time for +any of them to recover from the paralyzing effect of what had happened.</p> + +<p>Richard Morton was on the floor of the veranda where he had raised +himself upon one elbow, and he still held in his right hand the small +revolver from which the shot that Patricia had overheard, had come. +Roderick Duncan was standing a few feet away, and he was holding in his +arms the limp form of Beatrice Brunswick, whose head had fallen +backward, as if she were unconscious, or dead. Just at the instant when +Patricia caught a view of this strange tableau, the other spectators +threw off the momentary lethargy that had overpowered them, and rushed +forward toward the principal actors in the scene that had passed, each +shouting a different exclamation, but all alike in their expressions of +horror and loathing for the man who was down—Richard Morton.</p> +<p> </p> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE AUTOMOBILE WRECK</b></p> +<p class="p2">Thirty minutes after the happening of the incidents just related, a +remarkable scene took place in Jack Gardner's smoking-room. There were +present only the men of Sally's impromptu week-end party.</p> + +<p>If the friends whom Jack Gardner had made since his sojourn in the East +could have seen him at that moment, they would not have recognized in +the coldly stern, keen-eyed copper magnate, the happy-go-lucky, +devil-may-care Jack, of their acquaintance. The almost tragic +occurrences of the evening had brought the real Jack Gardner to the +surface, and he was for the moment again the dauntless young miner who +had fought his way upward to the position he now held, by sheer force of +character; for it requires a whole man to lift himself from the pick and +shovel, and the drill and fuse, to the millionaire mine-owner and the +person of prominence in the world such as he had become. He stood beside +the small table at one end of the room; Morton occupied the center of +it, facing him. Grouped around them, in various attitudes, were the +others of that strange gathering. Duncan leaned idly against the mantel, +and smoked his cigar with deliberation, although his gray eyes were +coldly fierce in their expression, and his half-smile of utter contempt +for the man who occupied the center of the scene rendered his face less +handsome and attractive than usual. Malcolm Melvin was alert and +attentive, from the end of the room opposite Gardner, and the other +gentlemen of the party occupied chairs conveniently at hand.</p> + +<p>It would be hard to define Richard Morton's attitude from any outward +expression he manifested concerning it. He stood with folded arms, tall +and straight, facing unflinchingly the accusing eyes of his life-long +friend, Jack Gardner. His lips were shut tightly together, and he seemed +like one who awaits stoically a verdict that is inevitable.</p> + +<p>"Morton," said Gardner, speaking coldly and with studied deliberation, +"you have been a life-long friend of mine, and, until to-night, I have +looked upon you almost as a brother; but, to-night, by your own +confession and by your acts which have followed upon that confession, +you have destroyed every atom of the friendship I have felt for you. +You have made me wish that I had never known you. You have outraged +every sense of propriety, and every feeling of manhood that I thought +you possessed. Fortunately for us all, no one is much the worse for your +scoundrelism; I can call it by no other word. You have shown yourself to +be, at heart, an unspeakable scoundrel, as undeserving of consideration +as a coyote of the plains."</p> + +<p>Morton's face went white as death at these words, and his eyes blazed +with the fury of a wild animal that is being whipped while it is chained +down so that it cannot show resentment. He did not speak; he made no +effort to interrupt. Gardner continued:</p> + +<p>"When Miss Langdon arrived here alone, in your roadster, she gave us no +explanation whatever of what had happened, and, while we believed that +some unpleasant incident must have occurred, we did not press her for +the story of it. Then, you came, and without mincing your words you told +the whole brutal truth; and you uttered it with a spirit of brutality +and bravado that would be unbelievable under any other circumstances. +And when, in your own self-abasement for what you had done, you +confessed to the acts of which you were guilty toward Miss Langdon, you +received, at Duncan's hands, the blow you so thoroughly merited; I am +frank to say to you that, if he had held his hand one instant longer, +it would have been my fist, instead of his, that floored you. But that +is not all. You have been a gun-fighter for so many years, out there in +your own wild country, that, before you were fairly down after you +received the blow, you must needs pull your artillery, and use it. Do +you realize, I wonder, how near to committing a murder you have been, +to-night? If Miss Brunswick had not seen your act, if she had not +started forward and thrown herself between your weapon and its intended +victim, thus frightening you so that you sought at the last instant to +withhold your fire, I tremble for what the consequences might have been. +As it happened, no one has been harmed. You deflected your aim just in +time to avoid a tragedy; but it is not your fault that somebody does not +carry a serious wound as the consequence of your brutality. Were it not +for Miss Brunswick's act, there would be a dead man at this feast, and +you would be his murderer. But even that, horrible as it might have +been, is less a crime than the other one you have confessed. You, reared +in an atmosphere where all men infinitely respect woman-kind, +deliberately outrage every finer feeling of the one woman you have +professed to love. That, Richard Morton, is very nearly all that I have +to say to you. I have asked these gentlemen to come into the room, and +to be present during this scene, in order that we may all bind ourselves +to secrecy concerning what has happened to-night. I can assure you that +nothing of this affair will leak out to others. I have quite finished +now. One of the servants will bring your roadster around to the door. +Our acquaintance ends here."</p> + +<p>He turned and pressed a button in the wall behind him, and a moment +later the door opened; but it was Beatrice Brunswick who stood upon the +threshold, and not the servant who had been summoned.</p> + +<p>She hesitated an instant, then came forward swiftly, until she stood +beside Morton, facing his accusers. With one swift glance, she took in +the scene by which she was surrounded, and with a woman's intuition +understood it. Turning partly around, she permitted one hand to rest +lightly upon Morton's arm, and she said to him, ignoring the others:</p> + +<p>"It is really too bad, Mr. Morton. I know that you did not mean it; and +I am unharmed. See: the bullet did not touch me at all. It only +frightened me. I am sure that you were over-wrought by all that had +happened, and I'll forgive you, even if the others do not. I am sure, +too, that Patricia will forgive you, if you ask her. Come with me; I +will take you to her."</p> + +<p>She tightened her grasp upon his arm and sought to draw him toward the +door, but Jack Gardner interrupted, quickly and sharply.</p> + +<p>"Stop Beatrice!" he said. "Mr. Morton is about to take his departure. +This is an occasion for men to deal with. Morton cannot see Miss Langdon +again unless she seeks him, and that I don't think she will do."</p> + +<p>"I'll get her; I'll bring her here!" exclaimed Beatrice, starting toward +the door alone; but this time it was Morton's voice that arrested +her—the first time he had spoken since he entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Please, wait, Miss Brunswick," he said, and the quiet calmness of his +tone was a surprise to everyone present. It belied the expression of his +eyes and of his set jaws. "I thank you most heartily for what you have +said, and for what you would do now. Miss Langdon won't forgive me, nor, +indeed, do I think she ought to do so. I have not attempted to make any +explanation of my conduct to these gentlemen, but to you I will say +this: I realize the enormity of it, thoroughly, and, while I can find no +excuse for what I have done, I can offer the one explanation, that I +was, for the moment, gone mad—locoed, we call it, in the West. If Miss +Langdon will receive any message from me at all, tell her that I am +sorry."</p> + +<p>He bowed to her with a dignity that belied his training, and, stepping +past her, opened the door, holding it so until she had passed from the +room. Then, he turned toward the others.</p> + +<p>"I am quite ready to go now," he said. "Gardner, if you will have my car +brought around, I shall not trouble you further."</p> + +<p>With another slight inclination of his head, he passed out of the room +and along the hall to the front door, where he paused at the top of the +steps, waiting till his car should be brought to him; and no one +attempted to follow, or say another word to him.</p> + +<p>Standing alone at the top of the steps, while he waited for the car, +Morton was presently conscious of a slight movement near him, and he +turned quickly. Patricia Langdon slowly arose from one of the veranda +chairs, and approached him. She came quite close to him, and stopped. +For a moment, both were silent; he, with hard, unrelenting eyes, which +nevertheless expressed the exquisite pain he felt; she, with tear-dimmed +vision, in which pity, regret, sympathy and real liking strove for +dominant expression.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't let you go, Mr. Morton, without a few more words with you, +and I have purposely waited here, because I thought it likely you would +come from the house alone."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he replied, not knowing what else to say.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry for it all, Mr. Morton; and I cannot help wondering if I +am to blame, in any measure. I wanted you to know that I freely forgive +you for whatever offense you have committed against me. I think that is +all. Good-night."</p> + +<p>She was turning away, but he called to her, with infinite pain in his +voice:</p> + +<p>"Wait; please, wait," he said. "Give me just another moment, I beseech +you."</p> + +<p>She turned to face him again.</p> + +<p>"I have been a madman to-night, Miss Langdon, and I know it," he told +her rapidly. "There is no excuse for the acts I have committed; there +can be no palliation for them. I would not have dared to ask for your +forgiveness; I can only say that I am sorry. It was not I, but a madman, +who for a moment possessed me, who conducted himself so vilely toward +you. I shall go back to my ranch again. My only prayer to you is, that +you will forget me, utterly."</p> + +<p>Patricia came a step nearer to him, reaching out her hand, tentatively, +and said, in her softest tone, while tears moistened her eyes:</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, and God bless you."</p> + +<p>But Morton, ignoring her extended hand, cleared the steps of the veranda +at one leap, and disappeared in the darkness, toward the garage.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later, while Patricia yet remained at the top of the steps +where Morton had left her, the steam-roadster that had been so closely +related to her experiences of the night rushed past the house and +disappeared along the winding roadway toward the Cedarcrest gate. And +she remained there, in a listening attitude, as long as she could hear +the droning murmur of its mechanism. When that died away in the +distance, she sighed, and turned to reënter the house; but it was only +to find that she was no longer alone. Roderick Duncan appeared in the +doorway, and came through the entrance, to meet her.</p> + +<p>"Was it Morton's car that just went past the door?" he asked her.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied, shrinking away from him.</p> + +<p>"Did you see him, and talk with him, before he went away?" he asked, +partly reaching out one hand, but instantly withdrawing it.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered again, retreating still farther from him.</p> + +<p>"That was like you, Patricia. I am rather sorry for the poor chap, +despite what he did to you, to-night. You see, I know what it means, to +be so madly in love with you that it is barely possible for one to stand +or sit beside you, without crushing you in one's arms. Oh, Patricia, +won't you be kind to me? Won't you forgive me, too, as I know, just now, +you forgave that poor chap? Surely, my offense was not so great as his."</p> + +<p>"It has been infinitely greater," she told him, coldly; and, with head +erect, but with averted face, she went past him, through the doorway.</p> + +<p>Down the highway, half-way between Cedarcrest and the city, was a place +where building operations were in progress; where huge rocks had been +blasted out to make room for intended improvements; where derricks and +stone-crushers and other machinery were idly waiting the dawn of another +day, when the workmen would arrive and resume their several occupations.</p> + +<p>Richard Morton, dashing along this highway with ever-increasing speed, +utilizing the full power of his racing roadster, remembered that place +along the highway. With cold, set face and protruding chin, he set his +jaws sharply together, and wondered why his flying car would go no +faster. He did not realize that he was covering more than a mile with +every minute of time. The pace seemed slow to him, for he had suddenly +determined what he would do. He had thought of a plan to expiate his +follies of the night.</p> + +<p>At last, almost directly beneath an arc-light along the highway, he saw, +dimly, the spot where the stone was being quarried, and, as he +recognized it, he laughed aloud with a sort of desperate joy, because of +the plunge he intended to take. He threw the throttle wide open, and +after another moment he saw the derrick loom before him. With careful +deliberation, he turned the steering-wheel.</p> + +<p>There was a loud crash in the darkness; the roadster leaped into the air +like a live thing, and turned over, end for end, twice. Then, it seemed +to shoot high into the air, and fell again, in a confused heap of +wreckage, among the broken stones of the quarry. Morton was thrown from +it, like the projectile from a catapult, and he came down in a crumpled +heap, somewhere among that mass of rocks; and after that there was +silence.</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>CROSS-PURPOSES AT CEDARCREST</b></p> +<p class="p2">At Cedarcrest, the night was still young. Patricia, and then Morton, had +arrived at the country home of the Gardners while the several guests +were still at table, and the scenes which followed their coming had +passed with such stunning rapidity that every one of the party was more +or less affected by them, each one in his or her separate manner. The +men of the party were silent and preoccupied. The scene enacted just +before the departure of Morton weighed more or less heavily upon them, +and while each one felt that the young ranchman had "got what was coming +to him," there was not one among them who did not experience a thrill of +sympathy for the young fellow, who had been so well liked by the new +acquaintances he had made in the East.</p> + +<p>The two gentlemen strangers, who had brought Morton to the house in +their car, were the first to take their departure, after Morton's +dramatic exit, although they remained long enough to imbibe a +whisky-and-soda, and to hear what Jack Gardner still had to say. That +was not so very much, but, like all he had said that night, it was +straight to the point.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said to them, standing with his glass in hand and +addressing all, impersonally, "what I have to say now, is said to all, +alike. Two of you are strangers to me; the others are more or less +intimately my friends. It is my particular wish that we should all bind +ourselves to secrecy, concerning what has happened at Cedarcrest, and in +this vicinity, to-night. It happens that no real harm has been done; no +one has been injured; amends have been made to Miss Langdon, so far as +it has been possible to make them, and I am quite sure of her desire +never to hear the subject mentioned again."</p> + +<p>There was a generally affirmative nodding of heads about him as he +spoke, and after an instant, he continued:</p> + +<p>"In what has occurred in this room, I have had to assume a triple +obligation: that of host, that of self-appointed champion of the young +woman who received the affront from another of my guests, and that of a +life-long acquaintance with the man whom I was compelled, by +circumstances, to expel from my house. The last was the most difficult +of all to fill. There is not one of you who could not readily have +assumed two of the responsibilities; the last one I have named has been +distinctly unpleasant. I have known and liked Dick Morton, since we were +boys. We hail from the same state, and from a locality there where we +were near neighbors, during our youth. He is somewhat younger than +I—about two years, I think—and, until to-night, I have never known him +to be otherwise than a brave and chivalrous fellow, ready to fight at +the drop of the hat. We must agree that no matter what his conduct was, +prior to the scene in this room, he conducted himself, while here, in a +manner that was beyond reproach. He realized the enormity of the outrage +he had committed, and he took his medicine, I think, as a fighter +should. He is gone now, and I doubt if any of us see him again. That is +all, I think, that need be said." It was then that Roderick Duncan +silently put aside his glass, and went out of the room, unnoticed by the +others. He knew that a general discussion of the incidents of the +evening would follow, and he had no wish to take part in it. He +anticipated that the two gentlemen who had brought Morton to the house, +would be asked to remain, and that he would therefore see them again, +later on, and so he took the opportunity that was afforded him to escape +unseen and unnoticed.</p> + +<p>The whole affair weighed heavily upon him. He realized much better than +Patricia did that she alone was to blame for it all; and the fear lest +the responsibility of it should come home to her drove him to seek her +at once, even before Morton had had time to get beyond the gates of +Cedarcrest. Patricia was, of course, unaware of the scene that had taken +place at Duncan's rooms just before the informal invitations to +Cedarcrest were issued, but Duncan recalled that circumstance now, with +a deeper understanding of all that had happened as a sequel to it; and +he believed that the time was ripe for a better understanding between +himself and Patricia. Therefore, he left the room to seek her.</p> + +<p>Outside the door, he came to a pause, in doubt which direction to take. +From where he stood, he could see into a part of the dining-room, and +instinct told him that it was deserted, save by the butler, who was yet +at his post. He approached the music-room, and, screened by a Japanese +curtain that hung across the entrance, peered inside. Beatrice and Sally +were there, with the other ladies of the party, but Patricia was nowhere +to be seen. It occurred to him that she might have sought solitude in +some other part of the great house, and he had turned away, striving to +think where he might find her, when the whirr of an automobile engine +came to him through an open window from the rear of the building.</p> + +<p>He guessed, at once, that it would be Morton's roadster, ready to take +him away, and, impelled by a sudden spasm of pity for the man who was +now tabooed he hurried toward the front entrance—and fate willed it +that he should arrive at the threshold just at the very instant when +Patricia took that impulsive step nearer to Morton, reaching her arms +out toward him, as she did so, and Duncan plainly heard the words she +uttered, "Good bye, Dick; and God bless you." He had heard no word which +preceded them; he had seen nothing till that instant; but he did see the +tears in Patricia's eyes, and hear the pathos in her voice when she +spoke those last words to the man who was supposed to have offended her +past forgiveness: and he saw Morton leap into the roadway and start +toward the garage to meet his machine.</p> + +<p>Duncan waited a moment before he advanced farther; watching Patricia +from his sheltered place near the door. Then, he stepped forward to meet +the young woman to whom he was betrothed—stepped forward to plead with +her once more, and to be rebuffed in the manner we have seen.</p> + +<p>When she had left him, he dropped upon one of the veranda chairs, and +with his head upon his hand gave himself up to bitter thought—bitter, +because of his utter inadequacy to cope with the conditions by which he +was surrounded.</p> + +<p>Duncan was aroused, presently, by the approach of Beatrice and Sally. +They came through the door with their arms encircling each other's +waist, and walked forward together until they stood at the edge of the +top step, under the <i>porte cochère</i>.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame," Beatrice was saying, impulsively. "I feel that the whole +thing is more or less my fault, Sally, and—" a warning cough from +Duncan told them that they were not alone; and also, at that moment, the +other guests trooped out upon the broad veranda; all save Patricia, who +did not appear.</p> + +<p>The two gentlemen who had brought Morton to the house after he was +deserted by Patricia on the road, declined to remain, pleading other +engagements, and soon their car whirred itself away down the road, and +was gone. Nesbit Farnham contrived to secure a <i>solitude-à-deux</i> with +Beatrice, who, however, turned an indifferent shoulder to his eager +words; Agnes and Frances Houston strolled into obscurity with the two +"extras" who had been asked there to fill out Sally's original plan; +Sally disappeared into the house, evidently in search of Patricia; Jack +Gardner and the lawyer lighted cigars and betook themselves to an "S" +chair at a far corner of the veranda. Duncan remained where he was, +alone, screened from view by overhanging vines, as desolate in spirit as +any man can be, who is suddenly brought face to face with an unpleasant +truth.</p> + +<p>Nothing had mattered much, in a comparative sense, until this last scene +with Patricia. He had been convinced all along, until now, that Patricia +loved him and that her strange conduct during the last upheaval in their +relations had been the result of wounded pride, only; it had not even +remotely occurred to him that she did not love him. They had been +together all their lives; he had never known a time when he did not love +her; he believed that there had never been a time, since their +childhood, when she did not expect some day to become his wife.</p> + +<p>But that short scene he had witnessed on the veranda, when Patricia bade +Morton good-bye, had changed all this. He doubted the correctness of his +previous convictions. He saw another and an entirely different +explanation for Patricia's conduct toward him, for her attitude in the +matter of the engagement contract which Melvin had been compelled to +draw, and which he, himself, had likewise been compelled to sign. He +read in that last scene between the ranchman and Patricia a fondness on +her part for the young cattle-king which had been forced into the "open" +of her own convictions, by the principal episode of the evening. He saw +the utter wreck of his own hopes, of his entire scheme of life.</p> + +<p>While he sat there in the shadow of the vine, unseen and unseeing, he +made still another discovery, a grim one, which brought with it a better +realization of Morton's incentives, than anything else could have done. +He realized that he hated Morton; hated him wholly and absolutely—hated +him suddenly and vehemently. He knew, then, why Morton had attempted to +kill him, for, if Morton had made a reappearance at that moment, +Roderick Duncan would have taken the initiative, and would have been the +one to do the killing.</p> + +<p>Yet, he made no move. If you had been watching him from beyond the +screen of vines, no indication of what was passing in his thoughts would +have been noticeable. The fierce hatred he so suddenly experienced was +not made manifest by any act or expression, although it was none the +less pronounced, for all that. And, strangely enough, it did not lead +him to any greater consideration of Morton, or of his acts; rather the +contrary.</p> + +<p>Once, while he was preoccupied in this manner, he was again conscious of +the distant whirr of an automobile engine, but he gave it no thought, +till afterward. He did notice that Jack Gardner also heard it, and took +his cigar from his mouth while he listened to it; but at once resumed +his conversation with the lawyer. Soon afterward, Roderick left his +chair under the vine, and passed inside the house.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Rod," Jack called after him. "I didn't know you were there. +Won't you join Melvin and me, in our cozy corner?" to which Duncan +called back some casual reply, and passed on.</p> + +<p>He had made up his mind that he would seek out Patricia, at once, and +tell her of the discovery he had just made; that he had been a fool not +to realize before, that Morton was the man of her choice, and that she +could have the fellow if she wanted him; that he would not only release +her from the tentative engagement, but that he would repudiate the +contract entirely, and that, as soon as he could secure his own copy of +it from the strong-box where he had put it, he would tear it into ten +thousand pieces; that he would have no more of her, on any conditions, +and that—oh, well, he thought of many bitter and biting things that he +would say to her the moment he should find her—possibly in tears +because of Morton's enforced departure from Cedarcrest, or in the act of +weeping out the truth on Sally Gardner's shoulder. He thought he +understood the situation now, as he had not seen it before.</p> + +<p>Duncan searched in the drawing-room, the music-room, the dining-room; he +explored the snuggery, the library, and even Jack's own particular den; +he sought the side piazzas; he went outside among the trees to certain +hidden nooks he knew. But Patricia was nowhere to be discovered. Neither +had he been able to see Sally anywhere about, and the conviction became +stronger upon him that the two were somewhere together, and that +Patricia, her pride forgotten, was keeping the young hostess with her +while she told of the terrible predicament in which she now found +herself to be enmeshed; for it would be a most stupendous predicament +for Patricia to face—the realization that she was in love with Morton, +in spite of the contract in writing she had forced Roderick Duncan to +sign with her.</p> + +<p>Returning to the house, he found the butler, and was about to send him +in search of his mistress, when he discovered Sally, descending the +stairway.</p> + +<p>"Where is Patricia?" Each asked the question simultaneously, so that +the words were pronounced exactly together; and yet neither one smiled. +Each question was a reply to its mate.</p> + +<p>"I have been searching everywhere for her," said Duncan.</p> + +<p>"So have I," replied Sally. "Where can she be?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't an idea. Isn't she up-stairs?"</p> + +<p>"No. Couldn't you find her, outside?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen her since—since that dreadful scene on the veranda," +said Sally. "Have you seen her, Roderick?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"When? Where?"</p> + +<p>"I saw her taking leave of Morton, when he went away," he replied, with +such bitterness that Sally stared at him; but, wisely, she made no +comment; nor did she attempt to stay him when he turned abruptly away +from her, and walked rapidly toward one of the side entrances. But he +stopped and turned, before he left the room.</p> + +<p>"Sally," he said, "I am going to ask you to excuse me. I want to get +away. I would rather not explain to the others—I would rather not +attempt to explain to you. But I want to go. You will excuse me? and if +those who remain should happen to miss me, will you make whatever excuse +seems necessary?"</p> + +<p>"None will be necessary, Roderick. Oh, you men! You make me tired! You +do, really! It is inconceivable why you should all fall hopelessly in +love with one woman, and utterly ignore the others who are—" She +stopped suddenly. She had been on the point of saying too much, and she +did not wish to utter words she would be sorry for, afterward. Duncan +did not attempt any reply, and was turning away a second time, when she +called after him: "If you would only be really sensible, and—"</p> + +<p>"And what, Sally?" he asked her, when she again hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Nothing."</p> + +<p>"But you were about to make a suggestion. What was it?"</p> + +<p>"If it was anything at all, it was that you chase yourself out there +among the trees, find Beatrice and Nesbit Farnum, and take her away from +him," exclaimed this impetuous young woman, who found delight in +expressing herself in the slang of the day. Duncan shrugged his +shoulders, and uttered the one word:</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>But Sally did not vouchsafe any reply at all, to the question. She +tossed her head, and darted along the wide hall toward a rear door.</p> + +<p>Duncan gazed after her for a moment, and then, with another shrug of his +shoulders, he passed on out of the house, and made his way swiftly +toward the stables and the garage, for he was determined to get out his +car and to return to the city, forthwith.</p> + +<p>His surprise was great, when, on arriving at the door of the garage, he +found that Sally had preceded him, and, as he drew near, she turned a +white, scared face toward him, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Roderick! What do you think? Patricia has gone."</p> + +<p>"Gone!" he echoed. "Gone where? Gone, when? What do you mean, Sally?"</p> + +<p>"She has gone. She has taken one of Jack's cars, and gone home."</p> + +<p>"Alone?"</p> + +<p>"No. She took Patrick with her, to drive the car. They left here half an +hour ago, I am told. Why do you suppose she did such a thing, without +consulting me, Roderick? Why? Why?"</p> + +<p>"Why?" he echoed her question a second time. Then, he laughed, and it +was not a pleasant laugh to hear. All the bitterness of those moments +under the vine on the veranda was voiced in that laugh. "It isn't a +difficult question to answer, Sally. She has followed Morton—that is +why;" and, while Mrs. Gardner stared at him, uncomprehendingly, he +turned to one of the stablemen who was near, and who had been Sally's +informant about the movements of Patricia, and called out:</p> + +<p>"Tell my man to fetch my car to me, here. I shall go, at once, Sally." +His car was already moving toward him, and, as it stopped and he put one +foot upon the step, Sally replied:</p> + +<p>"I'll say that you and Patricia went away together. It will sound +better."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Sally, but you will say no such thing—with my permission. +Go ahead, Thompson." He sprang into the car, and it sped away with him, +leaving Sally staring after him, wide-eyed with the amazement she felt. +Already, she realized that her house-party, from which she had expected +such wholesome results, had proven disastrous all around. Her husband's +prophecy concerning it had been correct. But she did not know, and could +not know as yet, just how disastrous it had been, for there had been no +prophet to foretell the catastrophe at the stone quarry, toward which +Patricia Langdon had started, half an hour earlier, in one of Jack +Gardner's cars, guided by one of Jack's most trusted servants; and, +oddly enough, by one who had formerly been in the employ of Stephen +Langdon, and who, as a servant, had fallen under the spell of the +daughter of the house to such an extent that he had never ceased to +quote her as the criterion of all things in the way of excellence to be +attained by an employer. And toward this quarry Duncan was now hastening +at the full speed of his big Packard-sixty, with the trusted Thompson at +the wheel; and toward it, as the chief actor, Richard Morton had started +away from Cedarcrest with a broken heart, and with a brain crazed by the +calamities that had rushed so swiftly upon him.</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>MYSTERIES BORN IN THE NIGHT</b></p> +<p class="p2">When the car, driven by Thompson, drew near to the derrick which had +been to Morton the suggestion of an unholy impulse, he slowed the big +Packard and leaned ahead, far over the wheel, for his keen eyes had +already discerned something beside the road which had not been there +when he had passed earlier in the evening. He stopped the car, and that +fact awoke Duncan to a recollection of his surroundings.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Thompson?" he asked. "Why have you stopped?"</p> + +<p>Thompson was peering anxiously toward the jumbled mass of broken stone +ahead of him, and there was an instant of silence before he replied. +Then—</p> + +<p>"There has been a wreck here, sir," he told his employer.</p> + +<p>Instantly, Duncan thought of Patricia. He forgot Morton. He was out of +the car even before Thompson could slide from under the steering-wheel, +and started ahead at a run, toward the remnants of the wreck which he +could now see quite plainly.</p> + +<p>The roadster, in making its last leap, had literally climbed the rocky +place, and then, turning end for end twice, had finally alighted upon a +heap of stone, from which it could be seen from the roadway. It was now +a mass of iron, a twisted chaos of castings and machinery, recognizable +only as something that had once been an automobile; but the experienced +eyes of Thompson, trained to the quick and perfect recognition of all +cars that he had ever seen, identified the mass of wreckage as soon as +he got near enough to see it clearly. One comprehensive glance sufficed +for him. He straightened up after that quick search for identification +marks, which was his first instinct, and said, quietly:</p> + +<p>"It is Mr. Morton's roadster, sir."</p> + +<p>"My God!" cried Duncan, with a catch in his breath. The truth of the +matter seemed to rush upon him on the instant, although he afterward +refused to recognize it as truth. But, as Thompson made the statement, +Duncan saw again the despairing face of Richard Morton which had still +had in it a hidden determination to do something that Duncan had not +even tried to guess at the time. "Was this what he intended to do?" +Duncan asked himself, silently.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; it is Mr. Morton's roadster," Thompson repeated, with entire +conviction. "He must have been hitting up a great gait, when he struck, +too. I never saw such a wreck; never, sir. He must be somewhere about, +sir."</p> + +<p>"True. Look for him, Thompson; look everywhere."</p> + +<p>He started forward himself, leaping over the stones, and plunging into +every place where the body of a man might have fallen, after being +hurled from the wrecked car. They searched distances beyond where it was +possible that the body of a man might have been thrown, but they did not +find Morton.</p> + +<p>"It is possible that he escaped," said Duncan, at last, pausing and +wiping perspiration from his brow. "He might have alighted on his feet, +and—"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. Pardon me. It is not possible. No man could go through such a +wreck as that one, and in such a place, and escape alive. Besides, +sir—look here."</p> + +<p>The man struck a match, and held the blaze of it toward a pile of sharp +stones. Duncan bent forward, peered at the spot indicated by Thompson, +and drew back again with a sharp exclamation of horror.</p> + +<p>There was blood on the stones; quite a lot of it, partly dried. And near +it, half-hidden among the jagged stones, were Morton's watch and fob. +The fob was instantly recognizable for it was totally unlike any other +that Duncan had ever seen, formed of nuggets in the rough, linked +together with steel rings, instead of with gold, or silver. The watch +was smashed almost as badly as the automobile. Duncan took it in his +hand, held it so for a moment, and at last, with a shudder, dropped it +into one of his pockets.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean, Thompson? Where is he?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think it is likely, sir, that someone passed the spot, either at the +time of the accident or directly after it happened. Of course, sir, the +body would not have been left here under any circumstances."</p> + +<p>"The body? You think he must be dead?"</p> + +<p>"There can be no doubt of it, sir," said Thompson, with conviction. +"Shall we go on, sir? Nothing more can be done here."</p> + +<p>They returned to their own car, and the journey toward the city was +resumed. Not another word was spoken until they were in the city +streets, and then the only direction that Duncan gave his chauffeur was +that he be taken directly to his rooms, where, as soon as he entered, +he seized upon the telephone. One after another, he called up every +hospital in the city, and it was not until he found his search to be +entirely unavailing that it occurred to him Morton would have been taken +to some place nearer the scene of the accident. Then, he bethought +himself to communicate with police headquarters.</p> + +<p>"I will give," he said, "a thousand dollars for positive information +about the fate of Richard Morton, provided the same is brought to me +before daylight, and that my request be kept a secret. This is not a +bribe, but a spur to great effort. You have facilities for making such +inquiries. Find Morton for me, before morning, if you can, no matter +where he is. Keep it from the newspapers, too. Then, come to me for the +check." He explained fully the locality of the accident—and then he +waited.</p> + +<p>He did not occupy his bed that night, and he could not have explained +why he did not do so. He kept telling himself that Richard Morton was +nothing whatever to him; that it did not matter what had happened to the +fellow; that Morton deserved death for what he had done—and a lot of +other things of the same character. But all the while he paced the +floor, and waited for information; or, he seated himself in a corner of +the room and smoked like a furnace chimney. Just as daylight was +breaking, while gazing through his window toward the eastward, he +started, and asked himself, guiltily:</p> + +<p>"Am I hoping all the time that he is dead? Have I offered that thousand +dollars only for assurance of his death?"</p> + +<p>Fortunately, he was not compelled to reply to the self-accusing +question, for there came a summons at his door, and an officer from +headquarters entered to announce that, although diligent search and +inquiry had been made in every conceivable quarter, not a word of +information regarding Richard Morton could be obtained. Duncan listened +in silence to the report, and, when it was finished, said:</p> + +<p>"Very well; continue the search. Find the man, or find out what became +of him. I will defray all the expenses, and will pay the reward I +offered, too. But I must have the information at once, and everything +relative to this affair must be kept from the newspapers."</p> + +<p>The officer had just gone when a ring at Duncan's telephone took him +quickly to it—and the voice of Jack Gardner at the other end of the +wire alarmed him unduly, considering that there was no known reason to +feel alarm. Gardner, upon being assured that he was talking directly +with his friend, said:</p> + +<p>"You'll have to pardon me, old chap, for calling you out of bed at this +ungodly hour, but I just had to do it."</p> + +<p>"You needn't worry, Jack. I haven't been in bed. What's up?" Duncan +replied.</p> + +<p>"Why; you see there is a mystery developed, just now. If you haven't +been in bed, I have. I was called out of it by this confounded +telephone—twice. The first call was to tell me that some sort of an +accident had happened to Dick Morton. I couldn't gather what it was, and +didn't really take much stock in it, so far as that goes. Then, the +second call came. I was mad by that time, and didn't have very much to +say to the chap at the other end of the wire—till Sally put me up to +calling you."</p> + +<p>"What was the second call about?" asked Duncan, gritting his teeth and +almost fearing to hear what it might have been.</p> + +<p>"Why, my Thomas car—the one that took Patricia away, you know—has been +found somewhere in the streets of New York, deserted, apparently. I +can't understand it. They identified the car by the number, you know. +When I told Sally what had been said to me, she immediately had a spasm +of fear lest the accident reported to have happened to Morton might +have been Patricia, instead. I thought I'd ask you about it; that's +all."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, Jack. Just let me think, a minute; then I'll answer +you."</p> + +<p>Duncan put the receiver down on the table, and crossed the room. He +found it difficult to grasp the situation. Until that moment, it had not +occurred to him that Patricia might have been the one to find Morton, or +Morton's body, at the scene of the wreck. He had forgotten that she must +have passed that way within half an hour from the time of the piling of +the steamer upon the mass of sharp stones. Presently, he returned to the +telephone, and told his friend all that he knew about the circumstances, +and all that he had done since Thompson and he came away from the scene +of the wreck.</p> + +<p>"But I don't see what your Thomas car has got to do with it," he +concluded. "Your man Patrick was driving it, wasn't he? I know he was. +He used to be with Langdon, you know. He isn't a chauffeur, but he's a +lot more competent to be one than half the men who are. I say, Jack, +have Sally call up Patricia, right away. You—"</p> + +<p>He heard a click over the wire which told him that connection was cut +off; and after that he paced the floor again, wishing and hoping for the +ringing of his telephone-bell.</p> + +<p>"We are coming to the city at once," Gardner told him, when at last it +did ring, and Duncan had taken down the receiver. "What the devil is the +matter with everything, anyhow? You had better hump yourself, Duncan, +and get busy. I don't believe that Morton was hurt half so badly as you +and Thompson seemed to think. Anyhow, the only way I can see through it +all is that Patricia was the one who found him. But, even so—"</p> + +<p>"Hold on a minute, Jack. You are getting too swift for me. What did +Sally find out when she telephoned to Patricia?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Didn't I tell you that? Patricia hasn't been home, at all. They +thought, at Langdon's, that she was here. She certainly hasn't shown up +there. And you say that Dick has disappeared, after leaving his gore +spread all over the place where his car was smashed. And, then, my car +is found somewhere down there, abandoned. I can't make it out, at all. +Sally is sure that something dreadful has happened. We're starting now. +Sally won't wait another minute. I'll see you as soon as I get into +town."</p> + +<p>He did not delay to say good-bye, but hung up the receiver at his end.</p> + +<p>Duncan did not await the arrival of Gardner. He summoned his valet, and +gave him strict directions about the reception of any news concerning +the mysteries of the night. Then, he hurried to Stephen Langdon's home +where he was admitted at once to the old banker's sleeping apartment.</p> + +<p>"What in heaven's name is the matter now, Rod?" the financier demanded, +testily. "It is bad enough to have you and Patricia at sword's points, +but to rout out an old fellow like me from his bed at this hour, is +rubbing it in."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you haven't heard that Patricia did not come home last night, +have you?" Duncan said, by way of reply.</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't. I should have been surprised, if I had heard it. She +wasn't expected to come home. She went to the Gardners."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, there is a lot that you ought to know, before you step out +of this room, to face all sorts of statements and inquiries. That is why +I am here. I thought I was the best one to tell you."</p> + +<p>"To tell me what?"</p> + +<p>"It will be something of a shock, sir. Brace yourself for it. I don't +think that a soul in the world except me, guesses at the truth."</p> + +<p>"Guesses at what truth? What the devil is the matter with you? What are +you trying to tell me? Out with it, whatever it is!"</p> + +<p>"Patricia has run away with Richard Morton. He was hurt last night. She +was in love with him, and—"</p> + +<p>"Stop! Stop where you are, Rod. You're crazy. You're stark, staring, +raving crazy! Why in heaven's name should Patricia want to run away with +Morton? It is true that I have always wanted her to marry you, but, if +she wanted <i>him</i>, she knows mighty well she could have him. I wouldn't +put out a finger to stop her from marrying anybody of her choice, so +long as the man was morally and mentally fit. Sit down over there; take +a drink. You look as if you needed one. Don't utter a word for five +minutes, and then begin at the beginning and tell me all about it."</p> + +<p>But Duncan would listen to neither request. He began at once and told of +the occurrences of the night, from the moment when Patricia had arrived +at Cedarcrest alone, till the receipt of the telephonic messages from +Gardner; and he concluded by saying:</p> + +<p>"There is no mystery in the affair, at all, as I regard it. Patricia +left the house, at Cedarcrest, half an hour after Morton left it. She +found the wrecked car, near the derrick, as Thompson and I found it, +later on. But she found Morton, too. Patrick was with her, and Patrick +is devoted to Patricia. He wouldn't consider the fact that he is, or +was, in Jack's employ, if it came to a question of obedience to her +wishes; he would serve her. You see, Patricia found out that she loved +Morton, when he got his calling-down; only, I suppose, even then, she +wasn't quite sure. But, when the time came for him to go away entirely, +she had no more doubts about it! She didn't remain long at Cedarcrest, +after that; she followed him. She knew that Patrick was there, and that +he would go with her. Well, they found the wreck of Morton's car, along +the road; then, they found Morton. Probably, he wasn't much hurt; chaps +like him don't mind the loss of a little blood. Patricia and the man +helped him into the car. It was just the proper scene, with all the best +kind of setting for a mutual confession of their love, and—there you +are."</p> + +<p>"Go on, Roderick. Finish all you have to say, before I begin. What +next?"</p> + +<p>"Why—oh, what's the use? There isn't any more to say. Morton probably +asked her to go away with him, and she went. That's all. I thought you +ought to know it."</p> + +<p>"You don't know it yourself, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No—not positively, of course."</p> + +<p>"You have just guessed it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's true, too."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if your guessing has gone far enough to enlighten me on two +important points."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know why Morton would want her to run away with him at all, +and why she should think of consenting to such a thing, if he did. +Patricia isn't one of the run-away kind. I should think you would know +that. And they didn't have to run."</p> + +<p>"Why, Morton had just been virtually kicked out of Jack Gardner's house. +He was—"</p> + +<p>"Well? Well? Couldn't Stephen Langdon's daughter kick him into it again? +Or into any other house on God's green earth, for that matter, if she +tried to do so? Do you suppose he'd have to pay any attention to a +little, petty ostracism, on the part of such puppets of society as +gathered out there, if he became the husband of Patricia Langdon? Don't +be an ass, Roderick! You are just plain jealous, and I don't know that +I blame you—for that."</p> + +<p>"I'm not jealous."</p> + +<p>"Then, you're a fool, and that's a heap worse."</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>RODERICK DUNCAR SEES LIGHT</b></p> +<p class="p2">The police department of the city of New York did not earn the thousand +dollars reward offered by Roderick Duncan. The mystery of the abandoned +car, owned by Jack Gardner, was not explained. Patrick O'Toole did not +return to his duties at Cedarcrest. The story of the wreck of the White +Steamer on the rocks under the derrick remained untold. Patricia Langdon +did not reappear among her friends and acquaintances in the city. The +mysteries born of that party at Cedarcrest continued unsolved.</p> + +<p>Roderick Duncan, having arrived at a conclusion about all those matters +which was quite satisfactory to himself, declined to concern himself +farther about them; he believed that he perfectly understood the +situation, and he let it go at that—although he engaged the services of +every clipping-bureau in the city, in an effort to find announcement +somewhere of the marriage of Patricia Langdon to Richard Morton. But no +such record was discovered, nor was any evidence found that suggested +such a possibility. He withdrew very much into himself, shunned his +clubs, avoided his friends, and could not himself tell why he did not go +away somewhere, to the other side of the world, seeking to forget what +he had lost. He went so far in his studied aloofness as to keep entirely +away from Stephen Langdon, and was perhaps all the more surprised when, +as time elapsed, Patricia's father did not send for him. The utter +silence of Stephen Langdon, and his entire inactivity concerning the +absence of his daughter convinced Duncan, as it did also Patricia's, +friends, generally, that he knew perfectly well where she was. It was a +logical conclusion, too, for, if Stephen Langdon had not known, it is +safe to say that he would have moved heaven and earth to find his +daughter.</p> + +<p>Jack and Sally Gardner went to Europe and took Beatrice with them. +Nesbit Farnham followed them, on the next steamer. The Misses Houston, +also, disappeared. The newspapers had contained merely a mention of the +wreck, nothing more of consequence. The destruction of the machine was +told, and it was hinted that the chauffeur was slightly injured; nothing +was said to suggest that Richard Morton had been hurt at all. The +police, to whom Duncan had telephoned, made no bones of pooh-poohing +the entire matter, and laughing in their sleeves about it. The police +had their own ideas about the whole thing—and speedily forgot them all.</p> + +<p>Stephen Langdon was strangely grim and silent, those days; he was also +unusually dangerous to his rivals in "the street." Every energy that he +possessed seemed bent upon ruining somebody, anybody. It did not occur +to Duncan that the old man avoided him, because he was guilty of the +like avoidance himself; but, had he been less concerned with his own +sorrows, and given some thought to Stephen Langdon's, he would have been +quick enough to discover that the old financier dodged him, studiously.</p> + +<p>There was no gossip about the disappearance of Patricia, because nothing +was known about it. She was out of town, as were most of her associates; +traveling somewhere, doubtless, or was passing the time among her +numerous friends.</p> + +<p>The first week after the beginning of the mystery was lived through in a +state of unrest by Duncan, and the second and third weeks brought no +change to him. With the beginning of the fourth week, he encountered +Burke Radnor, and the mere sight of the newspaper man recalled to the +young millionaire that bitterly unpleasant episode in which his name +and that of Beatrice Brunswick were coupled. Radnor was seated in the +lobby of the Hotel Astor, when Duncan entered the place. The man had +been drinking just enough to render him a bit boisterous and a trifle +loud in his talk and demeanor, when Duncan saw him. He was seated with +several other men, and all of them were talking and laughing together at +the moment when Duncan passed them on his way to the desk to inquire for +a guest whom he desired to see. He took no notice whatever of Radnor, +and was passing on, when a remark dropped noisily by the newspaper +writer arrested him. It brought him to a halt so suddenly, that he sank +at once upon a chair near at hand, and remained there without realizing +that he did so, for the sole purpose of hearing what else Radnor might +have to say upon this particular subject. He would have passed on, even +then, had he not been convinced that Radnor had not seen him, and did +not suspect his nearness. As he listened, he gathered that Radnor was +boasting of a prospective news story which he had in prospect, and for +the publication of which he needed only a few additional facts.</p> + +<p>"—elopement in high life, with an automobile wreck, a broken head—a +broken heart also, only that was quickly mended—and a bunch of other +little details thrown in, you know," was the remark that was overheard +by Duncan, as he strolled past the group; was his reason for dropping +down upon a convenient chair and remaining there, to listen. "The lady +in the case is a swell who is away up in the top rank of the +'two-hundred-and-fifty;' and the man—well, he is up in high C, too, for +that matter. One of the newly-rich, you know, lately materialized out of +the wild and woolly. Fine stunt, that story; only, I can't seem to nail +the few additional facts I need," Radnor continued, while Duncan +listened with all his ears. "There are certain elements connected with +the story that make it especially attractive to me, for, in addition to +getting a clear scoop in the biggest sensation of the year, I can clean +up an old grudge of mine, bee-eautifully. And won't I clean it up, when +I get my hooks fairly into it! Well! You can take it from me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, go on, Radnor, and tell us about it!" urged one of his +companions—another newspaper writer, evidently. "How'd you get next to +it in the first place?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was an accident—a series of accidents, it might be called. I +don't mind telling you that part of it, without names. I mentioned a +broken head, just now. Well, I had a line on a dandy story that was +located out of town, and so I borrowed Tony Brokaw's automobile to go +after it, because the story was located some distance off of the main +line of travel. I was bowling along quite merrily, all alone in a car +that is made to carry seven. It was just in the shank of the evening, +and—"</p> + +<p>"All this happened out of town, didn't it, Radnor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—a little way out. I came to a place where there had been a wreck, +and—well—seated on the ground at the scene of the disaster, was the +lady in the case, holding the head of the man in the case, in her lap, +and moaning over it to beat the band. Standing beside them, like a big +dog on guard, was a 'faithful servant.' It made a picture that couldn't +be beaten, for suggestive points, provided the likenesses were made good +enough. I took the whole thing in, at a glance, and sized the situation +up rather correctly, too. The young woman was rattled clean out of her +senses, and kept moaning something about it's being all her fault—I +wasn't able to get just the gist of that part of it. She knew me by +sight, and remembered my name. I offered my assistance, and then fell to +examining the injured man. I discovered that he wasn't dead by a long +shot, although he had been hurt quite badly, and he'd bled a lot. But +I've been a war correspondent; I know all about first aid to the +injured; I have seen wounds of all kinds, and it didn't take me long to +estimate 'mister magusalem's' chances at about a thousand to one, for +recovery. I made the chauffeur help me, and together we toted the +wounded man to my car, and put him in the tonneau. The lady climbed in +beside him—and ordered her chauffeur to follow her, and help her with +the injured man. All the time, I was keeping up a devil of a thinking, +wondering what it was all about. You see, I knew who the man and the +woman were, but I couldn't fix the facts of the case sufficiently clear +to satisfy me. I knew it would be a dandy sensation for the morning +papers, but there was yet plenty of time to get it in, over a +wire—besides, I wanted it to go in late, so that other papers than the +one I gave it to, couldn't get a line on it. I got into my car—that is, +the one I had borrowed, you understand—wondering where I would take the +bunch, when another car stopped alongside of us, and a man, also alone, +asked what was the matter. I found out that he was a doctor, and got him +to take a look at the wounded man. To make a long story short, he +dressed the wound then and there, said there wasn't any immediate +danger—and a lot more—and went on his way. That decided me. I knew of +a place about twenty miles away where I could take them, where the man +would have the best of care, and—best of all—where I could fix things +up to keep everything quiet till I found out all the facts. You see, I +scented the greatest sensational story of my career—and I wasn't far +out, either, if ever I get all of it."</p> + +<p>"But, great Scott, man, didn't you have it then?"</p> + +<p>"You'd have had it, Sommers; but not I. I knew there was more to it. +When the doctor pulled his freight out of there, I didn't lose any time +in getting a move on me, too. And the girl never asked a question; not +one; I had told her that I would take them to a place where the man +could get well, and she seemed satisfied. The chauffeur never peeped a +word. I let the motor skim along at a good rate, and wasn't long in +bringing the bunch to the place I had thought of, which happens to be a +small, private sanatorium, which isn't known to be one at all, save by +those who patronize it and who want to put their loved ones away for a +time, secretly. But the doc who runs it, is a good fellow, a good friend +of mine, and when I told him that we didn't want a word said about the +affair—and particularly when he discovered who the parties were and +that there was a heap of dough in it for him—he fell into my plans +without a dissenting vote."</p> + +<p>"Say, Radnor, that's a long winded yarn, all right, but it's +interesting. I wish, though, that you'd open up with the names."</p> + +<p>"Not I, Sommers. I haven't got to the real mystery of the affair—yet."</p> + +<p>"You don't say! What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, when I had fixed things to suit me, and had received the thanks +of the lady, when I had also satisfied myself that she was just as +anxious for secrecy about the thing as I was, although I couldn't tell +exactly why she was so, I hiked it back for town. It was too late, then, +to get the other story I had been after, and I had ceased to care much +about it, anyhow; and then, when I was ready to leave, out came the +chauffeur, and he said, if I didn't mind, he'd ride part of the way back +with me. He and the woman had been whispering together, just before +that, and I sized it up that she had given him certain instructions to +carry out. Anyhow, when we arrived at the scene of the accident, the +chauffeur got down, and I came on, to the city, alone. I'm not going to +tell you why the chauffeur left me, at the scene of the accident, +because that would give you a pointer which I don't wish you to have. He +had a certain duty to perform which I did not guess at, just then, but +which was all plain to me the next A. M., if anybody should ask you. It +amazed me, and it added immensely to the mystery. And now, brace +yourself, fellows, for the real mystery—the one I am chasing at the +present time."</p> + +<p>"We're all ears, Radnor."</p> + +<p>"I telephoned to my friend the doc, the next morning. He reported that +the man was doing well, and that the lady was hanging over him like a +possum over a ripe persimmon. I telephoned again that afternoon, again +the next morning, and every day after that, but the doc kept telling me +that, although the man was doing well, and the lady was still there with +him, I had better not butt in until he tipped me the wink—and I'll give +you my word that he managed to keep me on the hooks for ten days before +I tumbled."</p> + +<p>"Tumbled to what?"</p> + +<p>"You shall hear. I got leary about things on the tenth day, for this +telephoning was getting monotonous, and borrowed Brokaw's car again, but +when I got to the little hidden sanatorium, my birds had flown, and—"</p> + +<p>"Your birds had flown! What do you mean, Radnor?"</p> + +<p>"Just what I say. The man and the woman had gone, and the doc wouldn't +tell me when they went away, or anything at all about them. He said he +had been well paid for keeping quiet, and I couldn't get any more +information out of him than you could dig out of a clam. What is more, +that chauffeur hadn't been seen by anybody since I dropped him out of +the machine, at the scene of the accident—and that is the story. I +don't know whether the doc lied to me, or not. He wouldn't let me go +through his place, and, for all I know, the man and the girl were both +there when I went back. On the other hand, they might have been gone a +week, already. I've been unearthing every clue I could think of, since +then, to get trace of them, but you might as well look for saw dust in +hades, as for clues about those two—or rather the three of them, for I +am satisfied that the chauffeur returned to the sanatorium after he had +performed the errand he was sent to do."</p> + +<p>"What gets me," said Sommers, "is how people as prominent as you say +they were could fade out of sight like that, and leave no trace behind +them. I should have thought there would be a hue and cry after them +that would have stirred every newspaper in town."</p> + +<p>"Well—all that rather gets me, too. Of course, I could make a big story +out of it, as it stands; but that isn't all of the story, and I want it +all."</p> + +<p>"There is a scandal in the thing, too, Radnor."</p> + +<p>"Of course, man! The fellow wasn't so badly hurt but what he must have +been around again, by the time I went back to the sanatorium. The girl +was certainly in her right senses. She remained there with him, hanging +over him and helping to take care of him—and there wasn't a thing said +about any marriage-ceremony. Oh, it's a big story all right, no matter +how it turns out. You see, there are some remarkable circumstances +associated with the case. For instance, there are two men in town now, +both of whom should be very greatly concerned over the mystery. I have +had them both watched, and, while both seem anxious about something, +neither one seems to give a hang about an affair which I know they would +have broken their necks to have prevented. There's a nigger in the +fence, somewhere; and those two men avoid each other as if one had the +smallpox and the other was down with yellow fever. Whenever I have asked +any of the intimate friends about the principals in the case, I have +been told enough to inform me that the intimate friends know as little +as I do, and don't guess anything about it, at all. Oh, it's a fine +mix-up! But just where the trouble is located, I can't make out."</p> + +<p>"Put me wise, Radnor, and let me help you. Then, we'll do the story +together," said the man called Sommers.</p> + +<p>"Not much. It's my story, and I'm going to hang to it. If you can make +anything out of what I have told you, you're welcome. You can't! The +young woman in the case has got more brains than half the business men, +down-town. The man and the woman have both got millions to burn; and +there you are. Come on; let's have something. I'm dry as a bone."</p> + +<p>The members of Radnor's party marched past Roderick Duncan without +seeing him; and he, totally forgetful of the errand that had taken him +to the hotel, passed swiftly out of it, hailed a taxi, and gave the +address of Malcolm Melvin, the lawyer; and then he was whirled away as +swiftly as the driver of the cab dared to take him through the streets +of the teeming city.</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE LAST WOMAN</b></p> +<p class="p2">Stephen Langdon was seated at one end of the table, Roderick Duncan was +at the opposite one. Melvin, the lawyer, was behind it. Duncan had just +related the story he had overheard told by Radnor, and he had brought +his recital to a close by making a remarkable statement, which had +brought at least one of his hearers to a mental stand-still.</p> + +<p>"I am a party to an agreement which was signed, sealed and delivered, in +this office, Mr. Langdon," he said. "You are also a party to that +document. Your daughter also signed it. By the terms of that document, +Patricia Langdon became my promised wife. Under the terms recited in +that document, she named a day when we were to be married. That day has +come and gone, and I have received no word of any kind from her. I am +convinced that you, her father, know where she is, where she can be +found, and now I demand of you that information, in order that I may +seek her. It is my wish to know from her own lips if she repudiates +that contract, or if it is still her intention to live up to it. I have +asked you, in Mr. Melvin's presence, twice, to give me the information I +wish for. I have asked you once on the ground of our mutual friendship: +you declined to answer. I have asked you, the second time, on the ground +of love and affection, for you and for your daughter: you have refused. +I ask you now on the ground of a commercial transaction, just as Miss +Langdon insisted upon viewing it, and with all personal considerations +put aside. If you again decline my request, I give you warning that I +shall make a call upon you within an hour, for the loan I have advanced. +I have that right, under the terms of the agreement, and I shall take +advantage of it. That is all I have to say. It is my last word."</p> + +<p>Stephen Langdon left his chair. His face was cold, stern, +expressionless. It wore the mask which long years in "the street," had +given it. He did not look toward Duncan, but turned his face to the +lawyer, and said, with cold preciseness:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Melvin, you may say for me, to all who may be concerned, that I +shall be prepared within an hour to meet all demands that may be made +upon me."</p> + +<p>With a slight inclination of his head, he left the office of the lawyer. +He walked as erect as ever; he carried himself no less proudly, although +he knew that he was going to his financial ruin unless the unexpected +should happen. Twenty millions is a large sum to pay at an hour's +notice. It was not a tithe of the fortune which Stephen Langdon was +supposed to possess; yet his circumstances at the moment were such that +terrible disaster would immediately follow upon the demand for its +payment. He knew it; Melvin knew it; Roderick Duncan knew it. But the +fighting blood of Roderick Duncan's father was surging in his son's +soul, just then; and, in his day, "Old Man Duncan" had been a harder and +a more relentless financier than ever his partner, Stephen Langdon, had +become.</p> + +<p>"You will not insist, will you, Roderick?" the lawyer asked, as soon as +they were alone.</p> + +<p>"I shall insist," replied Duncan, with decision.</p> + +<p>"Even in the event that I might give you the information you seek? Even +in that case, will you insist upon forcing your father's life-long friend +to the wall? For that is what it will amount to."</p> + +<p>"No. In that case I shall not insist upon calling in the loan. I seek +only the information. It doesn't matter where I get it, so long as I do +get it, and it proves to be correct. That is all I require."</p> + +<p>The lawyer drew a pad of paper toward him and hastily wrote a few lines +upon it. Then, tearing off the sheet, he rang a bell and gave the +written message into the hand of a clerk.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Langdon just left this office," he said. "Overtake him and give him +this message. See to it that you do not fail to place it in his hands at +once." He waited until the door had closed behind the retreating figure +of the clerk; then he turned toward Duncan again.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Langdon is only a very little wiser than yourself about what has +happened to his daughter, during the last few weeks," he said, with a +touch of coldness in his tones. "I am somewhat better informed than +either of you, and in order to save my old friend from utter ruin—in +order to save his life, for ruin would spell death to him—I shall tell +you what you wish to know, even though I have been implored not to do +so. Frankly, I believe it better that you should know the truth, +only"—he hesitated a moment—"I shall ask you to remember who you are +and what you are, and to govern yourself as your father's son should."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Melvin?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Langdon is at Three-Star ranch, in Montana. She has been there—"</p> + +<p>"One moment, Melvin!"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"You said, <i>Miss Langdon</i>. Do you wish to correct that statement by any +change of name? Was it a slip of the tongue, caused by momentary +forgetfulness?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"'Three-Star' is the name of a brand owned by Richard Morton, is it +not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Three-Star ranch is one of his many properties, I believe."</p> + +<p>"It is."</p> + +<p>"Go on, please."</p> + +<p>"I repeat: Miss Langdon is at Three-Star ranch, in Montana. She has been +there since a little more than a week after her disappearance. I was the +first to be informed of the fact. The information came to me through a +letter written by her to me. I have fulfilled the requests made to me in +that letter—until now, when I am revealing truths which she wished +untold. Through me, her father has settled one million dollars upon her. +She now enjoys the income of that amount. That is all."</p> + +<p>"The letter! May I see it?"</p> + +<p>The lawyer methodically took a red-leather pocketbook from his coat, +extracted an envelope therefrom, and passed it across the table to +Duncan.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mr. Melvin," the young man read, half-aloud, although to himself, +"I am at Three-Star ranch, one of the properties of Mr. Richard Morton, +in Montana. The full address is inclosed, written upon an additional +slip of paper which I trust you will destroy at once; also this letter. +I am with Mr. Morton; I am caring for him. More than that, you need not +know. I desire you to tell my father that it is my wish to forego any +inheritance I might have received from him, but that if he is disposed +to make any present settlement upon me, I shall cheerfully receive it. I +shall not communicate with him; I do not wish him to communicate with +me. I cannot command your silence, or his, concerning me; but I expect +it. Unless he should demand of you knowledge of my place of abode, I +prefer that you withhold it from him. Concerning others, I implore your +entire silence and discretion. I shall communicate with you again only +in the event that it should become necessary to do so.—Patricia +Langdon."</p> + +<p>The letter fluttered from Duncan's hands to the floor. He bent forward +and picked it up, his face white and drawn and set and suddenly haggard. +He folded the letter carefully, returned it to the envelope, and then, +with slow precision, tore it into bits, carried the mass of fragments to +the hearth, piled them into a heap and touched a lighted match to it. +The lawyer watched the proceeding without emotion, without a change of +expression. But he gave a slight nod of satisfaction when it was done.</p> + +<p>Duncan did not return to his chair. He stood for a moment before the +hearth, with his back turned toward the lawyer; then he wheeled about +and came forward three steps, until he could reach his hat which was on +the table.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Melvin," he said. "I shall entirely respect your confidence. +Good-day."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, Duncan?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I haven't thought of that—yet."</p> + +<p>The lawyer rose from his chair, and rested the tips of his fingers on +the table in front of him, bending slightly forward.</p> + +<p>"She was a good girl; and you loved her. Don't forget that," he said.</p> + +<p>"No; I won't forget it, Melvin."</p> + +<p>"And—there are others, just as good; don't forget that, either."</p> + +<p>"No. There are no others like her. She was the last woman—for me; the +last woman; and she is dead."</p> + +<p>"The last woman? Nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"The last woman, Melvin. You don't understand me."</p> + +<p>"No, I do not understand you."</p> + +<p>"Good God! Don't you see how it all came about? Don't you know Patricia +Langdon?"</p> + +<p>"I know that I won't hear a word against her, even now—even from you, +Duncan," said the lawyer, with a touch of savagery.</p> + +<p>"Don't you understand that, having put her name to a written contract +with me, she would not break that contract, or repudiate it? And don't +you see that she has intended, all along, to force me into a position +where I would be the one to repudiate its terms? You're a poor judge of +character, Melvin, if you don't see that. You have never known Patricia +Langdon, if you don't understand her, now. And"—he hesitated an +instant—"your association with me has taught you mighty little about my +character, if you haven't guessed what I will do—now!"</p> + +<p>"What will you do, Roderick? What do you mean?" asked the lawyer, +alarmed by the deep intensity with which Duncan spoke those last words.</p> + +<p>"I shall go to Montana. I shall start to-night. I shall find Patricia +Langdon. I shall live up to the terms of the contract I made with her, +and I shall compel her to do the same. I shall make her my wife. I shall +bring her back to New York, to her father, to her home, as Mrs. Roderick +Duncan. That is what I shall do. That is what I mean."</p> + +<p>"God bless you, boy! But—it can't be done."</p> + +<p>"It shall be done."</p> + +<p>"But, she will never consent to such an arrangement. She is the last +woman in the world to drag your name—"</p> + +<p>"The last woman; that is it. She is the last of the Langdon's; she shall +be the last of the Duncan's, too. She will keep to the letter of her +contract, if I force her to it. I know that. And I will force her to +it."</p> + +<p>"But the man! What will you do with him?"</p> + +<p>Duncan stared a moment. Then, he smiled, as he replied:</p> + +<p>"After Patricia Langdon has become Patricia Duncan, I will kill him. +Good-day, Melvin."</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE REASON WHY</b></p> +<p class="p2">Roderick Duncan traveled westward in a special train made up of his own +private car, a regular Pullman, and a diner. With his valet for company, +Duncan constituted the personnel of the first of these; the second was +occupied by the Reverend Doctor Moreley, his wife and two daughters. The +reverend gentleman was aware of a part of the purpose of that trip; the +members of his family were yet to be told of it. A lavish use of the +magician, Money, had prepared everything in advance for Duncan, and he +had now only to carry out the arrangements he had made. There was a +slight delay in making the start, but after that all things moved as +smoothly as possible. Ultimately, the special train was sidetracked at +a point that was within a few miles of the house and outbuildings of +Three-Star ranch.</p> + +<p>The state of Montana held no finer ranch and range, no better or more +up-to-date buildings, no better outfit in all respects, than Three-Star. +The house, set well up along the side of a hill, faced toward the +south, and commanded a view which had been the pride of its former +owners, before Richard Morton bought up all the rangeland in that +locality and converted it into one huge estate of his own. A broad +veranda extended from end to end, at the front, and from that vantage +point miles upon miles of rich pasture could be seen, dotted with +grazing thousands of cattle. Trees, set out with a view to the future, +by the creators of the ranch, imparted an aspect of homely comfort, of +seclusion, peace and contentment to it all.</p> + +<p>Just at sundown when Patricia Langdon came through the wide door and +stepped out upon the veranda toward the broad flight of steps which led +down to the flowered inclosure in front of the house, she stopped +suddenly, her right hand flew toward her throat, and her face, flushed +and angry until that instant, went as pale as death itself. She gasped +and caught her breath, swayed a second where she stood, and then drew +herself upright again; and she stood straight and tall and brave, face +to face with Roderick Duncan who appeared at the top step at the instant +when Patricia advanced toward it.</p> + +<p>For a space, neither one uttered a word, or made another gesture, save +that, in the first instant, Roderick raised his hat in silent +salutation, and now stood with it held in his hand.</p> + +<p>Patricia's first act was to cast a half-furtive and wholly apprehensive +glance over her shoulder, toward the doorway through which she had just +passed. Then, she sprang forward like a young fawn and darted down the +steps toward the pathway.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," she threw back at him. "There must be an interview, but +it cannot be held here. Follow me."</p> + +<p>Duncan obeyed her, but without haste; and she led him into a pathway +among the trees, soon emerging upon an open space in the center of which +a rustic pavilion had been erected. It was overgrown by a riot of +climbing vines; an inclosure with windows at every side of it, occupied +the center of the space beneath the roof, and inside the inclosure were +all the evidences of feminine occupancy. Wicker chairs and chairs of +willow, rugs, hassocks, cushions, pillows with embroidered covers, +littered the place. One could discern at a glance that it was a place of +retreat and rest for a woman of taste. In reality, it was Patricia +Langdon's place of refuge—at least, she so regarded it.</p> + +<p>She did not speak again until she had mounted the steps which led up to +it; nor did the man who followed her. But then, when they were beneath +the roof of the pavilion, she turned about and faced him.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, "why are you here? Why have you dared to come to this +place, in search of me?" She spoke without emphasis, but the very +absence of all emotion gave her words the more weight and power.</p> + +<p>Duncan stood tall and straight before her, calmly facing her. If her +face showed no emotion, now that she had regained control over herself, +neither did his. Before he replied to her question, he took a folded +paper from the breast-pocket of his coat, and held it in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I have a document here, which bears your signature, and mine," he said, +then. "It recites the terms of a certain contract which you have agreed +to fulfill. I am here to insist that you carry out the terms of this +agreement. It is time now, for action on your part."</p> + +<p>Patricia gasped. She took a single step backward, and rested one hand +upon the top of a willow armchair. Her composure seemed about to forsake +her utterly, but by a great effort she controlled herself, lifting her +free hand to her throat as if something were choking her.</p> + +<p>"It—is—impossible—now," she muttered, at last; and she swayed where +she stood, as if she might fall.</p> + +<p>"Be seated, Patricia," he said, using her name for the first time; and, +when she had complied, he passed around the chair until he stood behind +her. It was a delicate act on his part—a consideration for her feelings +which might not have been expected, under all the circumstances. He +thought he understood how terrible this interview must be to her, and he +did not wish to compel her to face him, while it endured. Patricia +shivered when he passed her; otherwise she gave no sign. "It is not +impossible," he went on, without perceptible pause. "It has never been +impossible; it can never be so. On the contrary, it is imperative; more +than ever imperative, now."</p> + +<p>She shivered again, and did not reply when he paused. He continued:</p> + +<p>"Patricia Langdon, you are not one to refuse the terms of a written +contract which you have signed and sealed with a full knowledge of its +meaning, particularly when the other party to it insists upon its +fulfillment. I am the other party to this contract, and I do insist +upon its complete fulfillment. You are the last woman in the world to—"</p> + +<p>"I am the last woman in the world—the very last!" she interrupted him, +vehemently, but she did not turn her head toward him. He continued as if +he had not heard her:</p> + +<p>"—to repudiate the distinct terms of an agreement you have knowingly +made."</p> + +<p>"I have already repudiated them."</p> + +<p>"No, you have not. And you shall not."</p> + +<p>"Shall not?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Do—do you mean that you would force me to a compliance with the +conditions of that agreement you hold in your hand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—if such a course is necessary."</p> + +<p>"But you cannot! You cannot!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can; and I will, Patricia."</p> + +<p>"Don't speak my name!" she cried out, hotly. "Don't utter it again! +Don't you dare to do so! Don't you dare!"</p> + +<p>"Very well."</p> + +<p>"How will you force me? You cannot do it."</p> + +<p>"There is a penalty attached to all legally drawn contracts," he lied, +glibly enough; and, realizing that she was startled by what he had +already said, he did not hesitate to add more to it. "I have come here +prepared to insist that you fulfill your obligation. You know that I am +not one to relent, once I have set my course. There are officers of the +law in this county and state, as well as within the county and state +where you made the contract." He stopped a moment when she shrank +visibly in her chair, for he was about to say a really cruel thing. He +would not have said it, had he not deemed it entirely necessary, in +order to coerce her to his will; but he went on, relentlessly: "If you +make it needful to do so, I shall not hesitate to send officers here, to +take you before a court, there to relate why you will not carry out the +conditions of your contract."</p> + +<p>Duncan expected that Patricia would fly into a rage, at this; he thought +she would leap to her feet, confront him, and defy him. He looked for a +tirade of rage, of abuse, or of despair; or, failing these, for an +outburst of pleading on her part that he would relent.</p> + +<p>There was no evidence of any of these emotions. Indeed, for a moment it +seemed as if she had not heard him, so still did she sit in her chair, +so utterly unmoved did she appear to be by the statement he had made.</p> + +<p>If, at that moment he had stepped around in front of her and looked +into her face, he would have been amazed by what he saw. He would have +seen great tears welling in her eyes, held in check by her long lashes; +he would have seen a near approach to a smile behind those tears, +although she was unconscious of that, herself; he would have noticed +that she caught her breath again, but not in the same manner, nor from +the same cause that had led to the like effort, earlier in their +interview. When, at last, she did reply to him, it was in a far-away, +uncertain voice, so soft, and so like the Patricia of quiet and +sympathetic moods, that Roderick was startled, and he found himself +compelled to hold his own spirit in check, lest he should forget the +studied deportment he had determined upon for the occasion.</p> + +<p>"Why do you insist upon it?" she asked him. He replied, without +hesitation—and coldly:</p> + +<p>"Because I love you."</p> + +<p>"Because ... you ... love ... me," she said, slowly, and so softly that +he barely heard the words. They did not form a question; they comprised +a statement, like his own.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said.</p> + +<p>"But"—she hesitated—"there is another reason."</p> + +<p>"Yes. We need not dwell upon that."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, I should like to hear it."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You will not tell me what it is?"</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary. It is begging the question."</p> + +<p>"You wish to give me the protection of your name. I think I understand."</p> + +<p>"Have it so, if you wish."</p> + +<p>"You wish to make me your wife. I am beginning to comprehend you, +Roderick." The name slipped out, unconsciously, on her part, although he +was tragically aware of it. "Have you remembered—have you thought +of—are you quite aware of what you are doing?"</p> + +<p>"Quite. I have remembered everything, thought of all things."</p> + +<p>"And your reason for all this is—what? Tell me again, please."</p> + +<p>"You make my task harder," he said, coldly. "My reason is that I love +you."</p> + +<p>Again, Patricia was silent for a time. Then:</p> + +<p>"How do you propose to carry out this chivalrous conduct? Who will marry +us, if I agree to your absurd proposal?"</p> + +<p>"It is not absurd. It is the only logical thing for you to do. Doctor +Moreley will marry us. He came with me, in my special train." She caught +at the arms of the chair, and clung to them. "Mrs. Moreley, with Evelyn +and Kate, accompany him. It is a short ride to where the cars are +sidetracked, waiting. You can ride there in the morning—or go there +with me this evening, if you will."</p> + +<p>"Do ... they ... know—?"</p> + +<p>"They know nothing save the one fact that we are to be married, that +Doctor Moreley is to perform the ceremony, and that the members of his +family are to act as witnesses. Nobody knows anything at all, save that. +Nobody ever shall know. Your absence from New York has occasioned no +suspicion—save only in the mind of one man, Radnor. The fact of our +marriage will be published and broadcast at once, and even his suspicions +will be stilled."</p> + +<p>"And ... afterward ... after we are married—what?"</p> + +<p>"We will discuss that question after the ceremony."</p> + +<p>"No. We will discuss it now. Afterward—what?"</p> + +<p>"You will be my wife, then. It is right and proper that you should +return to New York, that you should live in my house. I shall take you +there, and install you, properly. I shall insist upon that much. There +is no way for you to escape the fulfillment of your contract. When you +are my wife, you will have entered upon another contract which you will +also keep. The contract to honor and obey."</p> + +<p>"To love, honor, and obey," she corrected him.</p> + +<p>"I shall not insist upon the first of those terms. The second one I +shall endeavor to merit. The third one, I shall insist upon. Now, when +will you—"</p> + +<p>"Wait. You are sure that you do this because you love me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you are ready to sacrifice your name, your life, to a creature who, +according to your view of conditions, should be the very last woman to +bear your name—to become your wife? You do this because you love me? It +must be a great love, indeed, Roderick, to compel you to such an act—oh +it must have been a very great love, indeed."</p> + +<p>"It is a great love; and there will be no sacrifice: there will be +satisfaction."</p> + +<p>She arose from the chair, but stood as she was, with her back toward +him.</p> + +<p>"You have forgotten one thing," she said, gently.</p> + +<p>"I have forgotten nothing."</p> + +<p>She raised her right arm, and pointed toward the house, through the +trees.</p> + +<p>"You have forgotten the man, in there," she said, no less gently. It was +his turn to shudder, but he repeated with doggedness in his tone:</p> + +<p>"I have forgotten nothing."</p> + +<p>"You mean to deal with him—afterward?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"How? If I consent to all that you have asked, will you deal with +him—gently?"</p> + +<p>"Can you plead for him, even now, when—?"</p> + +<p>"Hush! Answer my question, if you please."</p> + +<p>"I will deal with him more gently than he deserves. I promise you that."</p> + +<p>"I shall be satisfied with that promise." She turned about and faced +him, and there was a smile on her lips, now, although Roderick entirely +misunderstood the cause of it. He drew backward, farther away from her. +But she followed after him, holding out one hand for him to take, and +persisting in the effort when he refused to see it. There were tears +under her lashes again, but she was smiling through them; and then, +while she followed him, and he still sought to avoid her, Patricia lost +all control over herself. She half-collapsed, half-threw herself upon +the chair again, and buried her face in her hands, sobbing.</p> + +<p>"Don't Patricia; please, don't," he said to her, brokenly. "You make it +much harder for both of us. This has been a terrible scene for you to +pass through, I know, but after a little you will realize its +wisdom—and the full justice of the cause I plead."</p> + +<p>She controlled herself. She started to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," she cried out to him; and then, before he could stop +her, she darted away out of his reach, flew down the steps, and along +the pathway, toward the house. He followed. There was nothing else for +him to do. She waited for him at the top of the steps where he had first +seen her; and, when he would have detained her, she eluded him a second +time, and fled through the doorway, into the wide hall of the house—of +Richard Morton's dwelling place.</p> + +<p>"Come," she called after him again; and again he followed.</p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h3> +<p class="chapsec"><b>THE MYSTERY</b></p> +<p class="p2">The house was a large one. It covered a great deal of ground although it +was only one story high. A wide hall ran through the center of the main +building, and there were doors to the right and the left. Through the +first doorway to the right, Patricia made her escape; and, through it, +Roderick Duncan followed her. But he brought up suddenly, the instant he +had crossed the threshold, and stood there, staring. Patricia had passed +swiftly ahead of him, and Roderick saw her drop upon her knees beside a +couch-bed, whereon a man was lying—and that man was Richard Morton.</p> + +<p>Duncan was too greatly amazed for connected thought, but he was +conscious of the fact that Morton's eyes sought him over the shoulder of +Patricia, who knelt beside the couch. He had never thought that Morton's +eyes were quite so expressive. They seemed almost to speak to him, to +wonder at his presence there; but, stranger than all else, to express +unquestionable pleasure because of his presence. He thought it +remarkable that Morton did not move; that the man made no effort to +rise, or to speak; that there was neither smile nor frown upon his +white, still face. Then, Patricia's voice broke the spell that was upon +him. She turned, and beckoned to him.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Roderick," she said, softly. "Come and speak to Richard. +Tell him that you have come all the way out here, by a special train, to +marry me, and that you have brought a minister along with you to perform +the ceremony. Come, Roderick, come. He will be made very happy by the +news." She turned toward the stricken man, again, and added: "Won't you, +Richard?"</p> + +<p>Slowly the lids dropped for an instant over those strangely brilliant +eyes, and, when they were raised again, the eyes seemed to smile at +Roderick; but there was no other emotion visible about the prostrate +man.</p> + +<p>"I have not told you about him, Roderick," Patricia said, rising to her +feet, "but I will do so now, in his presence. He wishes it so; do you +not, Richard?"</p> + +<p>Again, those eyes closed for an instant, and Roderick understood that +the gesture, if gesture it could be called, meant an affirmative.</p> + +<p>"Richard wishes you to know all the truth about him," she continued. "I +have promised him, many times, that some day I would tell you. He meant +to kill himself that night, when he drove his roadster away from +Cedarcrest. He guided his car, purposely, into the mass of rocks at the +roadside. I found him there. Patrick O'Toole, who is devoted to me, was +with me, you know. We saw the wreck, and stopped. Then, we found +Richard. Oh, it was awful. I thought he was dead, and I believed that I +was his murderer. I still think that I was the unconscious cause of it +all, although he will not have it so. I was moaning over him, when Mr. +Radnor—you remember him?—found us. He took us to a sanatorium that he +knew about, where he said there was a good doctor; and so it proved. I +forgot all about Jack Gardner's car, but later I sent Patrick back after +it."</p> + +<p>Morton's eyes began to wink rapidly, and Roderick called Patricia's +attention to the fact.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I know that I am getting ahead of my story," she said, as if she +perfectly understood what the winking meant. "Richard was like a dead +man when we arrived at the sanatorium—all save his eyes, and the fact +that he breathed. He was completely paralyzed; only his eyes, and the +lids over them, retained the power of motion. He was terribly injured. +The doctor said he would not die, but that he would never move a muscle +of his body again, no matter how long he might live. The power of speech +was gone, too. Only his eyes lived; the rest of him—all but his eyes +and his great heart—was dead."</p> + +<p>Morton's eyes began to wink rapidly, again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I shall tell it all; only, let me do it in my own way," Patricia +said to him. "Mr. Radnor told me that he had given fictitious names for +both of us to the doctor. At first, I was offended because of it, but +later, I was glad. The doctor permitted me to assist in the nursing—I +... I told him that I was Richard's wife. Mr. Radnor had already given +that impression. I did not deny it; I made it more emphatic, in order +that I might take the direction of affairs. When Mr. Radnor went away, +he said he would return the following day; but I did not want him to do +that, and so, when the next day came, I persuaded the doctor to +telephone to him that he must not come. Also, when Mr. Radnor took his +departure, I sent Patrick with him, to care for Jack's car. I told him +to deliver it at the garage, and then to return to me, at the +sanatorium, for further orders. But, when he came back, he told me he +had abandoned the car in the streets of New York, knowing that it would +be found and claimed, and wishing to avoid the necessity of answering +questions. Am I telling the story satisfactorily now, Richard?"</p> + +<p>Slowly, the speaking eyes drooped their assent, and she went on:</p> + +<p>"At the end of a few days, Richard was much better of his hurts. There +was no change in the other condition—the one that still holds him so +helpless. I seemed to have a positive genius for understanding him, and +he made me know—you see, I kept asking questions till he made the +positive or the negative sign. I hit upon that idea because once, +Roderick, you made me read 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' and I remembered +old Nortier—Well, Richard made me understand several things. One was +that he wished to come here, as soon as possible; another was that, most +emphatically, he did not wish to have any of the old friends and +acquaintances in New York know what had happened to him. Fortunately, he +had a large sum of money in his pockets—What are you insisting about +now, Richard?" she concluded, with a smile, perceiving that the eyelids +of the stricken man were working rapidly. He looked steadily at her, and +she shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Very well," she said, "I understand you. Roderick, he wishes me to tell +you that he had the money with him because he intended to run away with +me, that evening, and that he came very near to doing so. He wants me to +tell you that he was a brute, and everything bad and mean and low +and—there! I hope you are satisfied, Richard."</p> + +<p>The eyes slowly closed and opened again.</p> + +<p>"Richard had a large sum with him. I, also, had a considerable amount +with me. I had had some thought of running away from all of you, and had +prepared myself for such an emergency. Well, when I knew what Richard +wanted, I took command of things. I did not consult him at all, but went +directly ahead, in my own way. I always did that, you know, Roderick. I +engaged a private car and a special train to bring us here; engaged them +in the name of—in the assumed name, you know. One week from the day we +entered the sanatorium, we left it again, went aboard the special train, +and came here. Patrick came with us. He refused to leave.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I am forgetting something. You needn't wink so hard, Richard. +I shall tell all of it. Richard protested with his eyes against my +accompanying him. I do believe that he never once stopped blinking them, +all the way out here. He would have said horrid things to me, if he +could have spoken. I think that I was sometimes really glad he could not +do so, fearing what he might have said. But nobody else could understand +him; I could, and did. He was utterly helpless, and it was my fault that +he was so. Yes, it was, and is, Richard, so stop protesting. I bribed +the doctor at the sanatorium, to say nothing at all about us, and above +all to keep every bit of information away from Mr. Radnor. Then, we came +here.</p> + +<p>"At first, it did not occur to me that I should remain, but, when I +understood how entirely dependent Richard was upon me, I had to stay. +Think of what he had been, Roderick, and of the condition to which I had +brought him! It seemed a very little thing for me to do, to stay here +and be his wife—Yes, that is what I decided to do; only, he would not +let me. Just think of it! I have begged and pleaded with him to marry +me, and he has refused."</p> + +<p>Again, the eyes began a violent winking, and Patricia, smilingly, said:</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. He wants me to tell you that he has begged and pleaded, just +as hard, for me to return to New York, and leave him here, helpless and +alone, and that I have been just as contrary about this, as he was about +the other. There! Can you imagine our quarreling, Roderick? Well, just +before you appeared here, this evening, we had been having a violent +quarrel. I was really angry at Richard, when I went out upon the +veranda—and met you. He had ordered me out of the house. He had said, +as plainly as he could look it, that he didn't want me here; that I was +only a trouble to him; that I made him unhappy by remaining; that he +would be much better in every way if I were gone. He ... he made me +understand that my ... my good name was in question; that I would be +talked about. I confess that I had never thought of it in that light, +before. I asked him again to marry me, and let me remain; but he +refused. Then, I left him, in a huff, declaring that he couldn't drive +me away. And then"—she turned directly toward Roderick this time, and +held out both her hands—"I almost ran into your arms, Roderick."</p> + +<p>"Do it now, Patricia," he replied, taking her hands, and drawing her +closer.</p> + +<p>"I can't. You are much too near to me. But—"</p> + +<p>She did not finish what she was about to say; and Roderick held her +tightly in his embrace for just one glorious moment, while the eyes of +the stricken man glowed upon them with unspeakable joy in their living +depths.</p> + +<p>Patricia drew slowly and reluctantly away from Roderick's embrace, and +once more got upon her knees beside the couch.</p> + +<p>"You were right, Richard, after all," she said. "I think it would have +killed me if I had found Roderick again, after I was the wife of +another. You were right, dear one. You have always been right. But +everything is made clear, now. Roderick is here. He loves me. You are +pleased that he is here, and that he does love me, and my cup of +happiness is filled to the brim. Speak to him, Roderick."</p> + +<p>"Dick Morton, I think you are the bravest man I ever knew," said +Roderick, stepping forward and permitting his hand to rest for a moment +upon Morton's forehead. "I want you to be my friend, as long as you +live, and I want Patricia to continue to care for you, just as long as +you need her. We will go back East in a day or so, and you shall go with +us."</p> + +<p>The eyes winked a vehement negative, but Roderick continued:</p> + +<p>"Oh, you'll think differently about it, after a bit of thought. In the +meantime, how would it suit you to have a wedding, right here, in your +room, before your eyes? Eh? He says 'Yes' to that, Patricia."</p> + +<p>It was twenty-four hours later. Patricia and Roderick Duncan had just +been united in marriage by the Reverend Dr. Moreley, and had turned +about on the platform which projected from the front of the veranda to +receive the congratulations of their witnesses, who were made up of the +entire outfit of Three-Star ranch. The couch of the invalid was beside +them, a cheer was still ringing in the air, when two dust-covered +horsemen rode upon the scene.</p> + +<p>They came to a sudden halt when it was discovered what they had intruded +upon, but Burke Radnor, never at a loss for words, jumped from the +saddle and came swiftly forward. The bride saw him, recognized him +instantly, and smiled. Then, she beckoned to him.</p> + +<p>"Come up here, Mr. Radnor," she called. "You were very good to me when I +needed a friend, and I want to thank you for your silence, since then." +Radnor flushed. "Please shake hands with my husband, and remember that I +want both of you to forget your old differences. There shall be nothing +but happiness here, now. And this is our dear friend, Mr. Richard +Morton. He cannot shake hands with you, but he can look his pleasure at +greeting you."</p> + +<p>"How are you, Radnor?" said Roderick. "I think, we'd better follow Mrs. +Duncan's advice, and be friends; eh? I think I know why you came, and +now I'll see to it that you have a good story to wire to your paper, +to-night. It will beat the one you hoped to get, all hollow. I'll get +you to one side and alone, presently, and tell you all about it. Listen +to those cowpunchers cheer, will you! But, I'll tell you what, it isn't +a patch on the cheer that is in my heart."</p> + +<p>"You have won the first woman in the land, Duncan," said Radnor, shaking +hands heartily.</p> + +<p>"The first woman? No, the last. It takes the last woman to do things, +Radnor."</p> + +<p>"And the best; eh?"</p> + +<p>"Both, old chap."</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>THE END</h3> +<hr class="c3" /> +<p> </p> +<h2><a name="BOOKS1" +id="BOOKS1"> +</a>BOOKS ON NATURE STUDY BY CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS</h2> + +<div class="center"><b>Handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents per volume, postpaid.</b></div> +<p> </p> +<p><b>THE KINDRED OF THE WILD. A Book of Animal life. With illustrations by +Charles Livingston Bull.</b></p> + +<p>Appeals alike to the young and to the merely youthful-hearted. Close +observation. Graphic description. We get a sense of the great wild and +its denizens. Out of the common. Vigorous and full of character. The +book is one to be enjoyed; all the more because it smacks of the forest +instead of the museum. John Burroughs says: "The volume is in many ways +the most brilliant collection of Animal Stories that has appeared. It +reaches a high order of literary merit."</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>THE HEART OF THE ANCIENT WOOD. Illustrated.</b></p> + +<p>This book strikes a new note in literature. It is a realistic romance of +the folk of the forest—a romance of the alliance of peace between a +pioneer's daughter in the depths of the ancient wood and the wild beasts +who felt her spell and became her friends. It is not fanciful, with +talking beasts; nor is it merely an exquisite idyl of the beasts +themselves. It is an actual romance, in which the animal characters play +their parts as naturally as do the human. The atmosphere of the book is +enchanting. The reader feels the undulating, whimpering music of the +forest, the power of the shady silences, the dignity of the beasts who +live closest to the heart of the wood.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>THE WATCHERS OF THE TRAILS. A companion volume to the "Kindred of the +Wild." With 48 full page plates and decorations from drawings by Charles +Livingston Bull.</b></p> + +<p>These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust in their +appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. "This is a book +full of delight. An additional charm lies in Mr. Bull's faithful and +graphic illustrations, which in fashion all their own tell the story of +the wild life, illuminating and supplementing the pen pictures of the +authors."—<i>Literary Digest.</i></p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>RED FOX. The Story of His Adventurous Career in the Ringwaak Wilds, and +His Triumphs over the Enemies of His Kind. With 50 illustrations, +including frontispiece in color and cover design by Charles Livingston +Bull.</b></p> +<p> </p> +<p>A brilliant chapter in natural history. Infinitely more wholesome +reading than the average tale of sport, since it gives a glimpse of the +hunt from the point of view of the hunted. "True in substance but +fascinating as fiction. It will interest old and young, city-bound and +free-footed, those who know animals and those who do not."—<i>Chicago +Record-Herald.</i></p> +<p><b>GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York</b></p> +<hr class="c3" /> +<h2><a name="BOOKS2" id="BOOKS2"></a>FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS</h2> + +<div class="center"><b>IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS</b></div> + +<p>Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time, library size, +printed on excellent paper—most of them finely illustrated. Full and +handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents a volume, postpaid.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>NEDRA, by George Barr McCutcheon, with color frontispiece, and other +illustrations by Harrison Fisher.</b></p> + +<p>The story of an elopement of a young couple from Chicago, who decide to +go to London, travelling as brother and sister. Their difficulties +commence in New York and become greatly exaggerated when they are +shipwrecked in mid-ocean. The hero finds himself stranded on the island +of Nedra with another girl, whom he has rescued by mistake. The story +gives an account of their finding some of the other passengers, and the +circumstances which resulted from the strange mix-up.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>POWER LOT, by Sarah P. McLean Greene. Illustrated.</b></p> + +<p>The story of the reformation of a man and his restoration to +self-respect through the power of honest labor, the exercise of honest +independence, and the aid of clean, healthy, out-of-door life and +surroundings. The characters take hold of the heart and win sympathy. +The dear old story has never been more lovingly and artistically told.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>MY MAMIE ROSE. The History of My Regeneration, by Owen Kildare. +Illustrated.</b></p> + +<p>This <i>autobiography</i> is a powerful book of love and sociology. Reads +like the strangest fiction. Is the strongest truth and deals with the +story of a man's redemption through a woman's love and devotion.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>JOHN BURT, by Frederick Upham Adams, with illustrations.</b></p> + +<p>John Burt, a New England lad, goes West to seek his fortune and finds it +in gold mining. He becomes one of the financial factors and pitilessly +crushes his enemies. The story of the Stock Exchange manipulations was +never more vividly and engrossingly told. A love story runs through the +book, and is handled with infinite skill.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><b>THE HEART LINE, by Gelett Burgess, with halftone illustrations by Lester +Ralph, and inlay cover in colors.</b></p> + +<p>A great dramatic story of the city that was. A story of Bohemian life in +San Francisco, before the disaster, presented with mirror-like accuracy. +Compressed into it are all the sparkle, all the gayety, all the wild, +whirling life of the glad, mad, bad, and most delightful city of the +Golden Gate.</p> + +<p><b>GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York</b></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr class="c3" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> + +<p>Minor inconsistencies in spellings have been +corrected; the original spelling has been +retained.</p> +<p>page 303: In the sentence: "The fact of our marriage will be published +broadcast at once, and even his suspicions will be stilled." 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