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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Black Adonis, by Linn Boyd Porter
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: A Black Adonis
+
+
+Author: Linn Boyd Porter
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 12, 2008  [eBook #26599]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BLACK ADONIS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Linda McKeown, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
+   as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues at the
+   end of the text.
+
+
+
+
+
+A BLACK ADONIS.
+
+by
+
+ALBERT ROSS.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  THE
+  ALBATROSS NOVELS
+
+  By ALBERT ROSS
+
+  23 Volumes
+
+  May be had wherever books are sold at the price you paid for this volume
+
+    Black Adonis, A
+    Garston Bigamy, The
+    Her Husband's Friend
+    His Foster Sister
+    His Private Character
+    In Stella's Shadow
+    Love at Seventy
+    Love Gone Astray
+    Moulding a Maiden
+    Naked Truth, The
+    New Sensation, A
+    Original Sinner, An
+    Out of Wedlock
+    Speaking of Ellen
+    Stranger Than Fiction
+    Sugar Princess, A
+    That Gay Deceiver
+    Their Marriage Bond
+    Thou Shalt Not
+    Thy Neighbor's Wife
+    Why I'm Single
+    Young Fawcett's Mabel
+    Young Miss Giddy
+
+  G. W. DILLINGHAM CO.
+  Publishers  ::  ::   New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A BLACK ADONIS.
+
+by
+
+ALBERT ROSS.
+
+Author of
+ "Out of Wedlock," "Speaking of Ellen," "Thou Shalt Not,"
+ "Why I'm Single," "Love at Seventy," Etc., Etc.
+
+
+   "You see!" he answered, bitterly. "Because I am black I
+   cannot touch the hand of a woman that is white. And yet you
+   say the Almighty made of one blood all nations of the
+   earth!"--Page 212.
+
+
+
+
+
+New York:
+Copyright, 1896, by G. W. Dillingham.
+G. W. Dillingham Co., Publishers.
+[All rights reserved.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+ Chapter                                         Page
+
+      I. A Rejected Manuscript                      9
+
+     II. "Was my story too bold?"                  23
+
+    III. "Her feet were pink"                      35
+
+     IV. With Titian Tresses                       49
+
+      V. Studying Miss Millicent                   65
+
+     VI. "How the women stare!"                    79
+
+    VII. A Dinner at Midlands                      93
+
+   VIII. Holding Her Hand                          99
+
+     IX. "Daisy, my darling!"                     110
+
+      X. "Oh, so many, many maids!"               121
+
+     XI. Archie Pays Attention                    136
+
+    XII. Dining at Isaac's                        143
+
+   XIII. A Question of Color                      155
+
+    XIV. "Let us have a betrayal"                 166
+
+     XV. The Green-Eyed Monster                   177
+
+    XVI. "I've had such luck!"                    190
+
+   XVII. A Burglar in the House                   198
+
+  XVIII. Black and White                          204
+
+    XIX. "Play out your farce"                    215
+
+     XX. Like a Stuck Pig                         226
+
+    XXI. "We want Millie to understand"           238
+
+   XXII. Where Was Daisy?                         246
+
+  XXIII. An Awful Night                           254
+
+   XXIV. "This ends it, then?"                    263
+
+    XXV. An Undiscoverable Secret                 273
+
+   XXVI. "I played, and I lost"                   282
+
+  XXVII. Absolutely Blameless                     292
+
+ XXVIII. Trapping a Wolf                          301
+
+   XXIX. "The Greatest Novel"                     309
+
+
+
+
+TO MY READERS.
+
+
+I do not know how better to use the space that the printer always leaves
+me in this part of the book than to redeem the promise I made at the end
+of my last novel, and tell you in a few words what became of Blanche
+Brixton Fantelli and her husband.
+
+But, do you really need to be told?
+
+Could they have done anything else than live in connubial felicity,
+after the man had proved himself so noble and the woman had learned to
+appreciate him at his true worth?
+
+Well, whether they could or not, they didn't. Blanche is the happiest of
+wedded wives. She still holds to her theory that marriage is based on
+wrong principles, and that the contract as ordinarily made is
+frightfully immoral; but she says if all men were like "her Jules" there
+would be no trouble.
+
+In this she proves herself essentially feminine. She is learning, albeit
+a little late, that man was not made to live alone, and that the love a
+mother feels for her child is not the only one that brings joy to a
+woman's breast.
+
+Fantelli does not claim that Blanche is his property. He is her lover
+still, even though he has gained the law's permission to be her master.
+He recognizes that she has rights in herself that are inviolable. This
+is why they live together so contentedly. She would not be his mate on
+any other terms.
+
+If it is not the ideal existence, it is very near it. As near as a man
+and woman who care for the world's opinion can live it in these days.
+
+And now, with heartfelt thanks for the continued favor of the reading
+public, which I am conscious is far beyond my desert, I bid a temporary
+farewell to American shores. By the time this book is on the shelves of
+the dealers I shall be on European soil, there to remain, I trust, for
+the better part of a year. Wherever I am, my thoughts will always turn
+to you who have made these journeys possible, and there as here my pen
+will continue devoted to your service.
+
+  ALBERT ROSS.
+
+  Cambridge, Mass.,
+    _June 1, 1895._
+
+
+
+
+A BLACK ADONIS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A REJECTED MANUSCRIPT.
+
+
+"A letter for Mr. Roseleaf," he heard his landlady say to the
+chambermaid. And he was quite prepared to hear the girl reply, in a tone
+of surprise:
+
+"For Mr. Roseleaf! This is the first letter he has had since he came."
+
+The young man referred to stood just within his chamber door, waiting
+with some anxiety for the letter to be brought to him. He was about
+twenty years of age, of medium height, with rather dark complexion,
+curling hair and expressive eyes, and with a natural delicacy of manner
+that made him seem almost feminine at first view.
+
+He had the greatest possible interest in the letter that the postman had
+just brought, but he was far too polite to disturb the landlady or her
+servant, who were not yet through with it.
+
+"You can see that it is from a publishing house," commented Mrs.
+Ranning, inspecting the envelope with care. "It is from Cutt & Slashem,
+who bring out more novels than any other firm in the city. I told you he
+was some kind of a writer. Perhaps they are going to publish a book for
+him! If they do he will leave us for finer quarters. Novelists make a
+mint of money, I have heard. We must do our best to keep him as long as
+we can. Be very polite to him, Nellie. He appears to be an excellent
+young man."
+
+Shirley Roseleaf's anxiety to get possession of his letter was not
+lessened by this conversation. It seemed as if his entire future hung on
+the contents of that envelope tarrying so long in Nellie's hands. The
+great publishers, Cutt & Slashem, had had a manuscript of his in their
+hands for nearly a fortnight. When they had definitely accepted it, his
+path would be perfectly clear. If they rejected it--but he had not got
+so far as that.
+
+The manuscript was a romance--a romance of love! Its author had spent a
+great deal of time upon it. He had rewritten it with care, and finally
+made a neat copy, of which he was very proud. Then he had thought a long
+time over the question of a publishing firm. Cutt & Slashem stood at the
+top of their profession, and they finally received the preference. With
+the MSS. Roseleaf sent a pretty note, in which he included a delicate
+compliment on their success. The MSS. and the note were arranged
+tastefully in a neat white package and tied with pink twine.
+
+After all of those precautions it is no wonder that the novelist felt
+surprise when days passed and no reply was sent to him. But never at any
+time was he discouraged. Had they intended to reject the novel, he
+reasoned, they could as easily have done so in three days as ten.
+
+He pictured the members of the firm hugging themselves over their good
+fortune, passing the manuscript from one to the other, all eager for a
+taste of such a marvelous work. He did not think it egotism to believe
+they did not get stories like that every day.
+
+His thoughts flew rapidly as Nellie slowly climbed the stairs. Now he
+would be famous, he would be courted, he would be envied! He would also
+be very, very rich, though that was not of so much account.
+
+As Nellie handed him the letter he responded to her pleasant smile with
+one of his own, and even pressed a twenty-five cent piece into her hand.
+Then he closed his door behind him, bolting it in his eagerness to be
+alone. The morning was foggy, and he sank into a chair by the window,
+the only part of the room where he could see to read distinctly.
+
+There was an attraction about the envelope. It was light buff in color,
+bearing the address of Cutt & Slashem in large letter on one side of the
+front face, besides the names of several of the most famous authors
+whose publishers the firm had the happiness to be.
+
+"Shirley Roseleaf!" It would not look so badly in print.
+
+So lost was he in the pleasant pictures which these thoughts conjured
+up that it was some minutes before he tore open the envelope. Then his
+astounded eyes rested upon these lines:
+
+      "Messrs. Cutt & Slashem regret to be obliged to decline
+      with thanks the MSS. of M. Shirley Roseleaf, and request to
+      be informed what disposition he desires made of the same."
+
+Roseleaf read this dizzily. For some moments he could not understand
+what that sentence meant. "Obliged to decline" was plain enough; but his
+confused mind found some grains of comfort in the request of the firm to
+know what he wished done with his manuscript. They must, he reasoned,
+consider it of value, or they would not respond in that courteous
+manner. Still, he could not comprehend how they had had the asininity to
+"decline" it at all.
+
+Were they unwilling to add another star to their galaxy?
+
+Could they actually have read the tale?
+
+A firm of their reputation, too!
+
+When Roseleaf emerged from his temporary stupor it was into a state of
+great indignation. Why, the men were fools! He wished heartily he had
+never gone to them. They would yet see the day when, with tears in their
+eyes, they would regret their lack of judgment. His first act should be
+to go to their office and express his opinion of their stupidity, and
+then he would take his MSS. to some rival house. And never, never in the
+world--after he had become famous, and when every publisher on both
+sides of the Atlantic were besieging him--never, he said, should these
+ignorant fellows get a scrap of his writing, not even if they offered
+its weight in gold!
+
+He was too excited for delay, and donning his hat, he took his way with
+all speed to Cutt & Slashem's office. At that instant he had more faith
+in his novel than ever. As he walked rapidly along he compared it with
+some of the stories issued by the firm that had rejected it, to the
+great disadvantage of the latter.
+
+"I wish to see Mr. Cutt or Mr. Slashem," he said, imperiously, as he
+entered the counting room.
+
+"Both are in," said the office boy, imperturbably. "Which will you
+have?"
+
+"I will see them together."
+
+Had they been tigers, fresh from an Indian jungle, it would have made no
+difference to him.
+
+The boy asked for his card, vanished with it, returned and bade him
+follow. Up a flight of stairs they went, then to the left, then to the
+right, then across a little hall. A door with the name of the house and
+the additional word "Private" loomed before them.
+
+"Come in!" was heard in response to the knock of the office boy.
+
+Roseleaf entered, something slower than a cannon ball, and yet
+considerably faster than a snail. The two principal members of the firm
+were sitting together, with lighted cigars in their mouths, examining a
+lot of paper samples that lay upon a table. They did no more at first
+than glance up and nod, not having finished the business upon which
+they were engaged.
+
+"Is it any better than the last?" asked Mr. Slashem, referring to the
+sample his partner was examining.
+
+"It's just as good, at least," was the answer. "And an eighth of a cent
+a pound less. I think we had better order five hundred reams."
+
+"Five hundred reams," repeated the other, slowly, making a memorandum in
+a little book that he carried. "And the other lot we'll wait about, eh?
+Paper is not very steady. It's gone off a sixteenth since Thursday."
+
+This conversation only served to infuriate still more the visitor who
+stood waiting to pour out his wrath. Were these men wasting time over
+fractions of a cent in the price of stock, just after they had rejected
+one of the greatest romances of modern times!
+
+With the precision of a duplex machine both partners finally looked up
+from the table at the young man.
+
+"Mr. Shirley Roseleaf?" said Mr. Slashem, interrogatively, glancing at
+the card that the office boy had brought.
+
+"Yes, sir!" was the sharp and disdainful reply.
+
+"We need nothing in your line," interrupted Mr. Cutt. "I suppose Mr.
+Trimm has our other order well under way?"
+
+The look of indignant protest that appeared in Roseleaf's face caused
+Mr. Slashem to speak.
+
+"This is not Mr. Roseberg," he explained. "My partner took you for an
+agent of our bookbinder," he added.
+
+The novelist thought his skin would burst.
+
+"I am quite complimented," he said, in an icy tone. "Let me introduce
+myself. I am the author of 'Evelyn's Faith.'"
+
+The partners consulted each other.
+
+"The similarity of names confused me," said Mr. Cutt. "Is your book one
+that we have published?"
+
+Saints and angels!
+
+"It is one that was sent to you _for_ publication," replied Roseleaf,
+with much heat, "and has been returned this morning--_rejected_!"
+
+"Ah!" said Mr. Cutt.
+
+"We have nothing to do with that department," said Mr. Slashem, coming
+to the rescue. "You should see Mr. Gouger, on the second floor above;
+though if he has rejected your story a visit would be quite useless. He
+never decides a matter without sufficient reason."
+
+"Oh, dear, no!" added Mr. Cutt, feeling again of the paper samples.
+
+Shirley Roseleaf listened with wild incredulity.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," he said, "that you, the members of the firm of
+Cutt & Slashem, have rejected my story without even reading it?"
+
+The partners glanced at each other again.
+
+"We never read books," said Mr. Cutt.
+
+"Never," said Mr. Slashem, kindly. "We have things much more important
+to attend to. We pay Mr. Gouger a large salary. Why, my young friend,
+there are probably a dozen manuscripts received at our office every
+week. If we were to try to _read_ them, who do you think would attend
+to the _essential_ points of our business?"
+
+Roseleaf's contempt for the concern was increasing at lightning speed.
+He did not care to mince his words, for it could make no difference now.
+
+"I should imagine that the selection of the books you are to print would
+be at least as important as the paper you are to use," he retorted.
+
+Mr. Cutt looked at him in great astonishment.
+
+"You are much mistaken," said he.
+
+"Entirely mistaken," confirmed Mr. Slashem.
+
+The author had no desire to remain longer, as it was evident he was
+losing his temper to no purpose. If it was Mr. Gouger who had rejected
+his work, it was Mr. Gouger that he must see.
+
+Bowing with ironical grace to the examiners of printing paper, he took
+leave of them, and mounted to the sanctum of the man who he had been
+told was the arbiter of his fate. A girl with soiled hands pointed out
+the room, for there was nothing to indicate it upon the dingy panel of
+the door; and presently Roseleaf stood in the presence of the individual
+he believed at that moment his worst enemy.
+
+There were two men in the room. One of them indicated with a motion of
+his hand that the other was the one wanted, and with a second motion
+that the caller might be seated. Mr. Gouger was partly hidden behind a
+desk, engaged in turning over a heap of manuscript, and it appeared from
+the manner of his companion that he did not wish to be disturbed.
+
+Somewhat cooled down by this state of affairs, the young novelist took
+the chair indicated and waited several minutes.
+
+"What d--d nonsense they are sending me these days!" exclaimed Mr.
+Gouger at last, thrusting the sheets he had been scanning back into the
+wrapper in which they had come, without, however, raising his eyes from
+his desk. "Out of a hundred stories I read, not three are fit to build a
+fire with! This thing is written by a girl who ought to take a term in a
+grammar school. She has no more idea of syntax than a lapdog. Her father
+writes that he is willing to pay a reasonable sum to have it brought
+out. Why, Cutt & Slashem couldn't afford to put their imprint on that
+rot for fifty thousand dollars!"
+
+He had finished saying this before he learned that a third person was in
+the room. Upon making this discovery he lowered his voice, as if
+regretting having exhibited too great warmth before a stranger. The
+novelist rose and handed him a card, and as Mr. Gouger glanced at the
+name a gleam of recognition lit up his face.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Mr. Roseleaf," he said. "I had half a notion to
+ask you to call, when I felt obliged to send you that note yesterday.
+There are several things I would like to say to you. Archie, perhaps you
+would let us have the room for a few minutes."
+
+The last remark was addressed familiarly to the man who occupied the
+third chair, and who looked so disheartened at the prospect of having to
+rise therefrom that Roseleaf hastened to express a hope that he would
+not do so on his account.
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Gouger, abruptly. "You heard what I said about
+this copy I have just read, though it was not my intention that you
+should. I supposed I was talking only to Mr. Weil, who is not in the
+profession and does not expect to be. Now, let me say at once, Mr.
+Roseleaf, that your contribution is not open to any of the objections I
+have cited. You have evidently been well educated. Your English is pure
+and forcible. It is a real delight to read your pages. Every line shows
+the greatest care in construction. I did with your story what I have not
+done with another for a long time--I read it through. Why then did I
+reject it?"
+
+The question was too great for the one most interested to answer, but in
+the glow of pleasure that the compliment brought he forgot for the
+moment his bitter feelings.
+
+"Possibly," he suggested, "Cutt & Slashem have more novels on hand than
+they feel like producing at present."
+
+"No," responded Mr. Gouger, disposing of that theory in one breath. "A
+house like ours would never reject a really desirable manuscript. If you
+will reflect that only one or two of this description are produced each
+year you will the more readily understand me. Your story has a cardinal
+fault for which no excellence of style or finish can compensate. Shall I
+tell you what it is, and before this gentleman?"
+
+He indicated Mr. Weil as he spoke. Roseleaf's heart sank. For the first
+time he felt a deadly fear.
+
+"Tell me, by all means," he responded, faintly.
+
+Mr. Gouger's face bore its gentlest expression at that moment. He was
+taking valuable time, time that belonged to his employers, to say
+something that must temporarily disappoint, though in the end it might
+benefit his hearer.
+
+"Let me repeat," he said, "that your work is well written, and that I
+have read it with the greatest interest. Its fault--an insuperable
+one--is that it lacks fidelity to nature. Mr. Roseleaf, I think I could
+gauge your past life with tolerable accuracy merely from what that
+manuscript reveals."
+
+The novelist shook his head. There was not a line of autobiography in
+those pages, and he told his critic so.
+
+"Oh, I understand," replied Mr. Gouger. "But this I have learned: Your
+life has been marvelously colorless. Yet, in spite of that, you have
+undertaken to write of things of which you know nothing, and about
+which, I may add, you have made very poor guesses."
+
+Mr. Weil, leaning back in his chair, began to show a decided interest.
+Mr. Roseleaf, sitting upright, in an attitude of strained attention,
+inquired what Mr. Gouger meant.
+
+"Well, for instance, this," responded the critic: "You attempt to depict
+the sensations of love, though you have never had a passion. Can you
+expect to know how it feels to hold a beautiful girl in your arms, when
+you never had one there? You put words of temptation into the mouth of
+your villain which no real scamp would think of using, for their only
+effect would be to alarm your heroine. You talk of a planned seduction
+as if it were part of an oratorio. And you make your hero so
+superlatively pure and sweet that no woman formed of flesh and blood
+could endure him for an hour."
+
+The color mounted to Roseleaf's face. He felt that this criticism was
+not without foundation. But presently he rallied, and asked if it were
+necessary for a man to experience every sensation before he dared write
+about them.
+
+"Do you suppose," he asked, desperately, "that Jules Verne ever traveled
+sixty thousand leagues under the sea or made a journey to the moon?"
+
+Mr. Weil could not help uttering a little laugh. Mr. Gouger struck his
+hands together and clinched them.
+
+"No," said he. "But he could have written neither of those wonderful
+tales without a knowledge of the sciences of which they treat."
+
+"He has read, and I have read," responded Roseleaf. "What is the
+difference?"
+
+"He has studied, and you have not," retorted the critic. "That makes all
+the difference in the world. He has a correct idea of the structure of
+the moon and what should be found in the unexplored caverns of the
+ocean; while you, in total ignorance, have attempted to deal in a
+science to which these are the merest bagatelles! You know as little of
+the tides that control the heart of a girl as you do of the personal
+history of the inhabitants of Jupiter! Your powers of description are
+good; those of invention feeble. Either throw yourself into a love
+affair, till you have learned it root and branch, or never again try to
+depict one."
+
+Mr. Archie Weil smiled and nodded, as if he entirely agreed with the
+speaker.
+
+"What a novel _I_ could make, my dear fellow!" he exclaimed, "if I only
+had the talent. I have had experiences enough, but I could no more write
+them out than I could fly."
+
+"It is quite as well," was the response, "your women would all be
+Messalinas and fiction has too many now."
+
+"Not _all_ of them, Lawrence," was the quick and meaning reply.
+
+"In that case," said Gouger, "I wish heartily you could write. The world
+is famishing for a real love story, based on modern lines, brought up to
+date. I tell you, there has been nothing satisfactory in that line since
+Goethe's day."
+
+Mr. Weil suggested Balzac and Sand.
+
+"Why don't you include George William Reynolds?" inquired Gouger, with a
+sneer. "Neither of them wrote until they were depraved by contract with
+humanity. If we could get a young man of true literary talent to see
+life and write of it as he went along, what might we not secure? But I
+have no more time to spare, Mr. Roseleaf. I was sorry to be obliged to
+reject your story. Some day, when you have seen just a little of the
+world, begin again on the lines I have outlined, and come here with the
+result."
+
+Quite dispirited, now that the last plank had slipped from under him,
+the novelist walked slowly down the stairs. He did not even ask for his
+manuscript. After what he had heard, it did not seem worth carrying to
+his lodgings. His plans were shipwrecked. Instead of the fame and
+fortune he had hoped for, he felt the most bitter disappointment. All
+his bright dreams had vanished.
+
+A step behind him quicker than his own, made him aware that some one was
+following him, and presently a voice called his name. It was Mr. Archie
+Weil, who had put himself to unusual exertion, and required some seconds
+to recover his breath before he could speak further.
+
+"I want you to come over to my hotel and have a little talk with me," he
+said. "Gouger has interested me in you immensely. I believe, as he says,
+that you have the making of a distinguished author, and I want to
+arrange a plan by which you can carry out his scheme."
+
+Mr. Roseleaf stared doubtfully at his companion.
+
+"What scheme?" he said, briefly.
+
+"Why, of imparting to you that knowledge of the world which will enable
+you to draw truthful portraits. You have the art, he says, the talent,
+the capacity--whatever you choose to call it. All you lack is
+experience. Given that, you would make a reputation second to none. What
+can be plainer than that you should acquire the thing you need without
+delay?"
+
+"The 'thing I need'?" repeated Roseleaf, dolefully.
+
+Mr. Weil laughed, delightfully.
+
+"Yes!" he explained. "What you need is a friend able to interest you, to
+begin with. Pardon me if I say I may be described by that phrase. Come
+to my hotel a little while and let us talk it over."
+
+It was not an opportunity to be refused, in Roseleaf's depressed
+condition, and the two men walked together to the Hoffman House, where
+Mr. Weil at that time made his home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"WAS MY STORY TOO BOLD?"
+
+
+"Well, Millie, your letter has come," said Mr. Wilton Fern, as he
+entered the parlor of his pleasant residence, situated about twenty
+miles from the limits of New York City. "Open it as quick as you can,
+and learn your fate."
+
+His daughter started nervously from her seat near the window, where she
+had been spending the previous hour in speculations regarding the very
+missive that was now placed in her hands. She was a handsome girl,
+neither blonde nor brunette, with eyes of hazel gray and hair of that
+color that moderns call Titian red. She took the envelope that her
+father gave her, and though she wanted intensely to know the contents
+she hesitated to open it.
+
+"Read it, Millie," smiled Mr. Fern. "Let us learn whether we have an
+authoress in our house who is destined to become famous."
+
+But this remark made Miss Millicent less willing than before to open the
+letter in her father's presence. She slowly left the room without
+answering and did not break the seal of her communication till she was
+in the seclusion of her chamber.
+
+And it was quite a while, even then, before she summoned the necessary
+courage. Some days previous she had sent a MSS. to the great publishing
+house of Cutt & Slashem. The writing had taken up the best of her time
+for a year. She had high hopes that it was destined to lay the
+foundation of an artistic success. Her plot was novel, not to say
+startling. It was entirely out of the conventional order. It would be
+certain to arouse talk and provoke comment, if it got into print; and to
+make sure that it _would_ get into print she had persuaded her father to
+write a little note, which she enclosed with the MSS., saying that he
+would pay a cash bonus, if the firm demanded it, to guarantee them
+against possible loss.
+
+With this note in her mind, Miss Millicent had felt little doubt that
+her story would be accepted and printed. She only wondered how warmly
+they would praise her work. It was not enough to have them print it; she
+wanted something to justify her in saying to her father, "There, you see
+I was not wrong after all in thinking I could have a literary career!"
+
+At last the envelope was removed, and the girl's astonished eyes lit
+upon this cold, dry statement:
+
+      "Messrs. Cutt & Slashem regret to be obliged to decline
+      with thanks the MSS. of Miss M. Fern, and request to be
+      informed what disposition she desires made of the same."
+
+Millicent felt a ringing in her ears. Her hands grew clammy. A dull pain
+pressed on her forehead. She felt a faintness, a sinking at the heart.
+Was it possible she had read aright? Rejected, in this cruel way,
+without even a reference to her father's offer! It was atrocious, and,
+girl-like, she burst into a spasm of weeping.
+
+How could she ever face her father? The sacrifices she had made came
+back to her, sacrifices of which she had thought little at the time, but
+which now seemed gigantic. There had been nights when she had not gone
+to bed till three, other nights when she had been too full of her
+subject to sleep and had risen in the small hours to finish some
+particularly interesting chapter. Twelve hundred pages there were in
+all, note size, in her large, round, almost masculine hand. And this
+time was all lost! She had mistaken her vocation. The greatest
+publishing house in the country had decided against her.
+
+Gradually she dried her eyes. It would do no good to weep. She read the
+curt answer that had come in the mail, a dozen times. Why could not the
+firm have sent her a reason, an excuse that meant something? She wanted
+to know wherein her fault lay. It might be possible to correct it.
+Perhaps the state of business was to blame. The more she thought, the
+more determined she grew to investigate this strange affair, and within
+an hour she had donned her street clothes and started, without saying
+anything to the rest of the household of her intention, for the office
+of Cutt & Slashem in the city.
+
+She knew that each large concern had one or more "readers," on whose
+judgment they relied in such matters. She, therefore, paused only long
+enough at the counting-room to get directed to Mr. Gouger. Her knock on
+the critic's door brought forth a loud "Come in," and as she entered she
+saw two men standing with hats in their hand, as if about to take their
+departure.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she said, "but I wish to see Mr. Gouger."
+
+"That is my name," responded one of the men, stepping forward.
+
+"I am Miss Fern."
+
+Mr. Gouger did not seem very glad to hear it. The hour of one had just
+struck, and he was about to go to his lunch. He recognized the girl's
+name, as that of the author of the MSS. he had criticized so severely to
+his friend, Weil, who was, by-the-way, the third person in the room at
+this moment. Had she sent up her card, as is usual with women, he would
+have avoided seeing her at any hazard.
+
+Mr. Weil took a long survey of the young lady, and then retired to the
+vicinity of the front windows. He pretended to interest himself in the
+rush of traffic that was going on in the street below, but he missed
+nothing of what was said, and stole from time to time a glance at his
+two companions, particularly the younger one.
+
+"A mighty pretty girl," was his mental comment. "I hope Lawrence isn't
+going to be nasty with her."
+
+Mr. Gouger motioned Miss Fern rather stiffly to a seat.
+
+"I do not wish to detain you," she said, with feminine inconsistency, as
+she accepted it. "I only want to know, if you will be so kind as to tell
+me, what is the trouble with my story."
+
+The critic was pleased at one thing. Miss Fern's voice was reasonably
+clear. She had finished her weeping at home. There was to be no scene,
+something he dreaded, and in the course of his connection with this
+house he had experienced scores of them. He inspected his caller
+critically in the few seconds that elapsed while she was asking this
+question, and when she paused he decided to answer her with as much of
+the truth as he dared use.
+
+"The fact is," he began, "a firm like ours is unable to use more than
+one novel out of fifty that is submitted to it. Of our friends who send
+us manuscripts, the vast majority must, therefore, be disappointed. Now,
+your story--shall I be frank?"
+
+"By all means," answered Miss Fern.
+
+"Your story, though written with spirit and power, needs a great deal of
+revision from a--from a rhetorical standpoint. It is, in fact,
+carelessly put together. That is a cardinal fault in a literary
+production, and one for which no amount of talent, or even of genius,
+can compensate."
+
+The girl listened with deep interest. She tried to think where the
+blemishes alluded to could be, for she had read the story twenty times.
+To say nothing of several girl friends, who had listened with evident
+wonder and delight, to various parts of the tale, as it progressed.
+
+"If that is true," answered Miss Fern, slowly--, "could not the trouble
+be remedied by sending the MSS. to some very competent person and having
+the errors made right?"
+
+Mr. Gouger smiled.
+
+"Hardly," he said. "A novel is like a painting. The _ensemble_--do you
+understand?--is the thing. Can you conceive a painting being 'done
+over'? Your book would lose its quality if subjected to that process."
+
+A look of discouragement crossed the features of the young woman.
+
+"Of course, you know best," she stammered. "What would you advise
+me--try again?"
+
+Mr. Gouger raised both his hands.
+
+"It is difficult to say, in such a case," he replied. "But--if you want
+my best opinion--"
+
+"That is just what I want," said the girl, with ill-concealed
+impatience.
+
+"You are not dependent upon your exertions, I suppose, for a living?"
+
+Millicent shook her head, almost sorry at the moment that she could not
+reply in the affirmative.
+
+"Then--I should give up the idea of being an authoress."
+
+This was very unpalatable medicine, and the critic realized it as he
+looked at the sombre face before him.
+
+"Is your rejection of my story based at all," asked Miss Fern, after a
+pause, "on the--boldness of its subject?"
+
+Mr. Gouger smiled again.
+
+"We publish the works of Hall Caine and George Moore," he said. "I
+should not consider your story overbold, if there was nothing else
+against it. It is a wonder to me, and always will be, why such young
+girls as you choose _risqué_ themes, but if the work is well done the
+public will pay for it."
+
+There was a slight blush on Miss Fern's face, partly at the insinuation
+and partly at the adverse criticism that had crept thoughtlessly into
+the sentence.
+
+"For my part," she explained, "I wanted to write something that would
+attract attention--that would put my name prominently before the public
+and keep it there. The girls I read it to thought the scenes just
+lovely, though some said perhaps their mothers would not feel that way.
+And I told them that the mothers of to-day were very old-fashioned, and
+that the public taste was changing rapidly. If the story is too bold,
+there are things I could cut out of it, but if you say that would make
+no difference, I would rather let them stand. I intend to try some other
+concern before I give up."
+
+Mr. Archie Weil had abandoned all pretence of looking out the window. He
+stood with his eyes fastened on the pretty girl, as she made these
+statements in such a matter-of-fact way. He wondered what the dickens
+the story was about, and made up his mind that he would try to get
+possession of it.
+
+"All the same," responded Mr. Gouger, who had apparently forgotten his
+lunch in his growing interest in the conversation, "I don't see where
+girls like you obtain such an intimate knowledge of things. You are not
+over twenty--excuse me, I am old enough to tell you this without
+offence. It is not you alone, but a hundred others who have made me ask
+myself this question. As soon as the modern girl gets a bottle of ink
+and a pen and begins to let her thoughts flow over paper, it transpires
+that she knows everything--more than everything, almost. Why, I was
+twenty-five before I was as wise as the heroine of sixteen, in this
+story of yours!"
+
+Miss Fern reddened again, all the more because she had glanced up and
+encountered the bright eyes of Mr. Weil fixed upon her.
+
+"Why, Archie," pursued the literary man--he turned toward Mr. Weil--"you
+remember Lelia Danté, you have seen her here. Five or six years ago I
+got a letter from that young girl's mother asking me to come to their
+residence and hear a story she had written. It was her first one, and
+the child was not a day over seventeen. I couldn't believe it when she
+came into the room, with her hair tumbled about her shoulders, and began
+to read to me the first chapter of 'Zaros.' 'Did _she_ write that?' I
+asked her mother, incredulously. 'Certainly,' she replied. 'Without aid
+from any one?' 'Absolutely alone.' My hair stood on end. I could not
+keep it down for the next week with a brush. You know the story. We
+printed it, and it sold well, and that is all that C. & S. cared about
+it; but I never understood how that infant could conceive it. No more
+than I can understand your ability to write this story of yours, Miss
+Fern," he added, pointedly.
+
+The young woman bridled a little.
+
+"It does not matter much, if you are not going to print it," she said,
+raising her eyes to his.
+
+He bowed low to express whatever apology might be necessary.
+
+"I would have accepted it if I could," he said. "My entire life is spent
+in reading manuscripts in the hope of discovering one that will make a
+hit with the public to whom we cater. When successful I am as pleased as
+a South African who fishes a diamond of the first water out of the mine.
+Your story, Miss Fern, shows decided talent. You have a greater
+knowledge of some of the important things of life, I will wager, than
+your grandmother had at eighty, if she lived so long. As I am obliged to
+go now, let me add, without mincing matters, that you are very deficient
+in English grammar, and that nothing you can write will be acceptable to
+any first-class house until that fault is remedied. Are you ready,
+Archie?"
+
+Mr. Weil felt indignant. He could not have spoken to any girl as pretty
+as this one in such language, and he thought it quite inexcusable on the
+part of his friend to do so. Mr. Gouger, though feeling that it was best
+to use little circumlocution, had not meant to wound his caller. But
+her countenance showed that he _had_ wounded her, and the natural
+gallantry of his younger companion came to the rescue.
+
+"I am not ready yet," said Mr. Weil, telegraphing at the same time a
+series of signals with his eyes. "I want a few minutes' talk with Miss
+Fern, if you will introduce me. I think I can say something she will
+like to hear."
+
+Mr. Gouger, who now stood in such a position that Miss Fern could not
+see him, shook his head to imply that he did not fancy this arrangement;
+but he ended by saying, "Very well." He then abruptly made the
+presentation, put on his hat, said good-by, and vanished.
+
+Miss Millicent, who had risen, turned with an air of puzzled inquiry
+toward Mr. Weil.
+
+"Be seated again, for a moment," he said, politely. "I want your
+permission to read your story."
+
+"Why, I don't know," she answered. "Are you one of the employes of Cutt
+& Slashem?"
+
+He smilingly denied the imputation.
+
+"I have not that felicity," he added, "but I am much interested in
+things literary, and have a rather wide acquaintance in this line of
+business. If I could be allowed to read your MSS. perhaps I should form
+a milder opinion of its faults than my unbending friend. And in that
+case a word from me, to another house, would certainly do you no harm."
+
+A brighter light came into Miss Millicent's eyes.
+
+"I shall be only too glad to have you read it," she answered. "It is
+hard to believe that I have wasted almost a year in something entirely
+worthless. You may take it with pleasure."
+
+Mr. Weil went to Mr. Gouger's desk, from which he soon came with the
+parcel in question. He untied the string and for a moment his gaze
+rested on the handwriting.
+
+"Do you live far from here?" he began; and then added, as he noticed the
+address on an enclosed card, "Ah, I see! At Midlands."
+
+She explained herself rather more to him, giving the full address of her
+father, and some particulars about the manner in which she had been
+drawn into attempting literary work. He listened intently, all the time
+engaged in rapid thought.
+
+"The best way for me to get a thoroughly correct impression of this
+novel," he said, when she came to a pause, "is to hear you read it
+aloud. In that manner," he added, as he saw that she was about to
+interrupt, "a hundred meanings would come to the surface that a mere
+inspection of the pages might fail to show. Beside, there would be an
+opportunity for discussion. If convenient to you I would gladly come to
+your residence for this purpose."
+
+The eyes of the young girl brightened. She was greatly pleased at the
+idea and said so without delay.
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Weil, more than delighted with the success of his
+experiment. "To-day is Tuesday; shall I come for the first time, say,
+Thursday evening?"
+
+"That would suit me perfectly; or to-morrow, if you wish. I shall put
+aside everything and have my time free for you."
+
+Mr. Weil nodded.
+
+"Let it be Thursday then. And the hour--shall we call it eight?"
+
+The time was promptly agreed to.
+
+"In the meantime, I will take the MSS. and look it over, to form a
+general idea of the plot. Here is my card. By-the-way, you will of
+course arrange it so that we shall not be interrupted during our
+conference. It disturbs anything of that kind to have people coming in
+and out. We want to be entirely alone so as to give our full attention
+to the work in hand."
+
+Miss Fern smilingly acquiesced, saying that it was exactly what she
+would wish.
+
+"And do you think there may be hope for it yet--that poor little
+manuscript?" she asked, as she stood by the door ready to take her
+departure.
+
+"That is a question I can hardly answer," he replied. "I shall be better
+able to tell you in a week or two, I trust."
+
+She lingered, with her hand on the door knob.
+
+"My father is willing to take all the financial risks," she said. "That
+ought to make a difference, don't you think so?"
+
+"It would, with many houses," he admitted. "I am glad to know these
+things. Thursday, then, Miss--Miss Fern."
+
+He wanted to call her "Millicent," for he had read the name on the
+package he still held in his hand; but on the whole he concluded that
+this would be a little premature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+"HER FEET WERE PINK."
+
+
+When Miss Millicent Fern entered the office of Lawrence Gouger, as
+detailed in the preceding chapter, it will be remembered that she found
+that gentleman and his friend, Archie Weil, with their hats in their
+hands. The fact was that Mr. Weil had but just entered the room, and
+that Mr. Gouger had accepted an invitation to take lunch with him, an
+arrangement that was by no means an infrequent one between them. The
+entrance of Miss Fern, and the subsequent proceedings, compelled the
+literary critic to go out alone, as has been seen. When he returned he
+found Mr. Weil still there.
+
+"Haven't you been to lunch yet!" exclaimed Mr. Gouger.
+
+"I have not been out of this office," was the reply, "and all appetite
+for anything to eat has left me. Lawrence, that is one of the most
+interesting girls I ever met."
+
+Mr. Gouger pursed up his lips, and uttered an impatient, "Pah!" He then
+remarked that Mr. Weil had a habit of finding such a quality in the
+latest women of his acquaintance.
+
+"What does she amount to?" he asked. "An overgrown schoolgirl, who did
+not half learn her lessons. Read that MSS. she left here, and get
+disillusionized in short order. Why, she doesn't even know how to
+spell, and her periods and commas are in a hopeless tangle."
+
+His companion eyed him quizzically.
+
+"Are periods and commas, even a correct spelling of the English
+language, the only things you can see in a bright, handsome girl?" he
+demanded. "For shame, Lawrence! You are a dried-up old mummy. Your
+senses are numb. A lively wind will come in at the keyhole some day and
+blow you out of that chimney."
+
+Mr. Gouger heaved a sigh, as if to say that discussion with such a
+nonsensical fellow was useless, and took his seat at his desk, where an
+unfinished pile of MSS. awaited his reading.
+
+"She's given me leave to take her story home," said Mr. Weil, with a
+mischievous expression.
+
+The critic stared at his friend.
+
+"Given it to you?" he repeated. "How did that happen?"
+
+"I asked her for it, naturally. You were so severe on the poor child,
+that I couldn't help putting in a cheering word. We talked of the whole
+business, and she was willing I should see if my opinion agreed with
+yours."
+
+"_Your_ opinion!" echoed Gouger, testily. "What is that worth? But take
+the stuff, if you want it, and when you are done, send it to her; it
+will make less rubbish in this confounded hole. One thing I'll tell you,
+though, in advance. You'll never be able to make sense of it, unless you
+get some one to straighten it out."
+
+"That's all right," replied the other. "After I have read it through, I
+am going to Miss Fern's house, where she will read it to me."
+
+Mr. Gouger started from his chair.
+
+"You don't mean that!" he exclaimed.
+
+"But I do. She asked me, and I'm going. I understand that it's a rather
+bold tale, and I can conceive nothing more entertaining than to hear
+that kind of thing from the red lips of such a pretty piece of flesh and
+blood as has just left here."
+
+There was an uneasy expression on the face of the critic as he heard
+these words. He liked Weil, although they were as different in their
+natures as two men could well be. He wanted to please him, but the
+aspect of this affair was not agreeable.
+
+"Look here, Archie," he said, earnestly, "there are some things that I
+can't permit, you know. My office must not be made a starting-place for
+one of your lawless adventures. You met Miss Fern here. Now, I protest
+against your going to her house, pretending that you are interested in
+that novel, when your real purpose is of a much more questionable kind."
+
+Mr. Weil put on the air of one whose feelings are lacerated by an unjust
+suspicion.
+
+"My dear Lawrence--" he began.
+
+"That's all right," growled the critic. "I may or may not be your 'dear
+Lawrence,' but I know you like--like a book," he added, hitting by
+accident on a very excusable simile. "You are an old dog that is not
+likely to learn new tricks. I shall send this MSS. back to Miss Fern,
+myself, enclosing a letter warning her to have nothing to do with you."
+
+A laugh escaped the lips of Archie Weil at this proposition.
+
+"If you knew the feminine mind half as well as you do modern
+literature," he answered, "you would see how little that would avail. I
+have met Miss Fern and made a distinctly favorable impression. Her
+address is in my pocket, and I have received a pressing invitation to
+call. If you choose to send the MSS. by another messenger you will
+relieve me of the task of carrying a bundle, but you will accomplish
+nothing more."
+
+Mr. Gouger's mouth opened in astonishment at the evident advantage which
+his friend had gained in so short a time.
+
+"You must have convinced her that your literary opinions are of value,"
+he said, presently. "If I write that you are a charletan and entirely
+unworthy of attention, what will happen then?"
+
+The smiling gentleman opposite crossed his hands over his left knee, and
+did not delay his answer.
+
+"I will tell you," he said. "In the same mail she will receive a letter
+from me, warning her that a certain party, who has given an adverse
+judgment on her writings, may attempt to influence her against others
+more likely to decide in her favor. She will be told that, having
+rejected a book, this certain party does not wish any one else to print
+it. Send the severest note you can construct, Lawrence. I have few
+talents, but I know how to write letters."
+
+The critic could hardly believe that fate had thrown so many cords
+around his neck in the brief space of one hour, but the more he thought
+the more he became convinced that his best course was to shut his eyes.
+
+"Well, gang your gait," he said, after a long pause, during which the
+look of triumph deepened on his companion's face. "You will have to
+answer for your own sins. But I'll tell you one thing, that may save
+your time. Women who write racy novels are almost without exception
+remarkably correct in their own lives."
+
+Mr. Weil inquired if his friend was certain of this, and there was a
+suspicion of disappointment in his tone.
+
+"Absolutely," said Mr. Gouger, refreshing his memory. "I can think of a
+dozen instances to prove the point. There is Lelia Danté, for instance,
+who writes like a--like a--well, you know how she writes. She sticks to
+her mother's apron strings like a four-year-old child. They never are
+seen apart, I am told. Then there is Mrs. Helen Walker Wilbur, the
+poetess. We have a volume of her verse that is positively combustible
+from its own heat. The sheets had to be run off the press soaked in
+water to keep them from igniting. The room was full of steam all the
+time the work was going on. Warm! I should say so! Now, that woman is
+vain, and she dresses foolishly, and she does odd things for the sake of
+being talked about--but nobody questions her loyalty to her husband. You
+would think by some of her poems that an East Indian regiment would not
+suffice for her, and yet she is the straightest wife on Manhattan
+Island. Oh, I know so many cases. You remember that girl who wrote,
+'Love's Extremities,' a work as passionate as Sappho. She is a little
+Quaker-like maiden,[A] who dresses and talks like a sister of one of the
+Episcopal guilds. These women are on fire at the brain only. They would
+repel a physical advance with more indignation than those endowed with
+less esthetic perceptions. So, see Miss Fern as much as you like. Should
+you attempt anything improper you will prove the truth of my
+assertions."
+
+    [Footnote A: Now dead, alas!--A. R.]
+
+Mr. Weil changed the knee he had been nursing, but the quiet smile did
+not leave his countenance.
+
+"What an inconsistent fellow you are, Lawrence," he said. "I could
+convict you of a hundred errors of logic. Do you remember telling Mr.
+Roseleaf that a man should have a passion before he attempts to depict
+one."
+
+"And I say so still," retorted Gouger. "_You_ don't call the ravings of
+these poetesses and female novelists real life, do you? _You_ know the
+actual lover isn't content with kissing the hair and the feet of his
+divinity! There is more about women's _feet_ in these poems and novels
+than all the rest of their anatomy put together. And what is a woman's
+foot? Did you ever see one that was pretty--that you wanted to put to
+your lips?"
+
+"Yes," interrupted Archie, dreamily, "once. At Capri. She was fifteen.
+Her feet were pink, like a shell. She was walking along the shore in the
+early evening."
+
+"With the dirt of the soil on them!" exclaimed Mr. Gouger, in disgust.
+
+"No, she had just emerged from her bath. The sand there was clean as a
+carpet, cleaner, in fact. Gods! They were exquisite!"
+
+The critic uttered an exclamation.
+
+"I waste time talking to you," he said, sharply. "You are like the rest
+of the imaginative crowd. It is a pity you were not gifted with the
+divine afflatus, that you could have added your volumes to the nonsense
+they print."
+
+"And which you are always glad to get," interpolated Mr. Weil.
+
+"Because it will sell. Cutt & Slashem are in this business to make
+money, and my thoughts must be directed to the saleable quality of the
+manuscripts submitted. If _I_ was running the concern, though, I would
+touch the mooney, maundering mess. It makes my flesh creep, sometimes,
+to read it."
+
+Archie Weil uttered another of his winsome laughs.
+
+"How would you like to be a serpent," he asked, "and have your flesh
+creep all the time? But before we dismiss this matter of Miss Fern, I
+want you to clear your mind, if you can, of the haunting suspicions you
+always have when a woman is concerned. You know there are concerns in
+the city who would print her book, with a proper amount paid down, if it
+had neither sense, syntax nor orthography. If she wants it fixed up, I
+can find tailors to help her out; and if her papa wants it on the
+market, why shouldn't he be able to get it there? Now, let us talk a
+little about Roseleaf."
+
+Mr. Gouger brightened at the change of subject. His interest in Mr.
+Roseleaf was genuine, and he had already learned that Archie had formed
+a sort of copartnership with the novelist, in the hope of making his
+future work a success. While the critic could not be said to have any
+real faith in the arrangement, it certainly interested him.
+
+"What strange freak will you take to next?" he asked. "And do you really
+expect to make a novelist out of that young man?"
+
+Mr. Weil's eyes had a twinkle in them.
+
+"Didn't you say, yourself, that it could be done?" he inquired. "If I
+have made any mistake in my investment, I shall charge the loss to you."
+
+The critic reflected a minute.
+
+"I'm not so certain it _can't_ be done," he said. "But that's quite
+different from investing money in it, as you are doing. A man wants
+pretty near a certainty before he puts up the stuff."
+
+"You greedy fellow!" exclaimed Weil. "Will you never think of anything
+but gain? I have to spend about so much money every year, in a continual
+attempt to amuse myself, and it might as well be this way as another. I
+have a document, signed and solemnly sealed, by which I am to back him
+against the field in the interest of romantic and realistic literature,
+and in return he is to give me a third of the net profits of his
+writings. I don't know that I have done so badly. Perhaps you may live
+to see Cutt & Slashem pay us a handsome sum in royalties."
+
+Mr. Gouger looked oddly at his friend, whose face was perfectly serious.
+
+"What are you going to begin with?" he asked.
+
+"Love, of course. It is the A B C, as well as the X Y Z of the whole
+business."
+
+"What kind of love?"
+
+"The best that can be got," replied Weil, now laughing in spite of
+himself. "The very finest quality in the market. Oh, we shall do this up
+brown, I tell you."
+
+"What have you done so far?" asked Gouger.
+
+"You want to know it all, eh?" responded Mr. Weil. "I don't think I am
+justified in letting you too deeply into our secrets. However, you are
+too honorable to betray us, and so here goes: I have instructed my
+protegé that he must fall violently under the tender passion before next
+Saturday night."
+
+"With a lady whom you have selected, of course?"
+
+"By no means. He must catch his own sweethearts."
+
+Mr. Gouger played with his watchchain.
+
+"And this is Tuesday," he commented. "Do you think he will succeed?"
+
+"He must," laughed Weil. "It's like the case of the boy who was digging
+out the woodchuck. 'The minister's coming to dinner.'"
+
+"You might at least have got an introduction for him," said Gouger,
+reflectively.
+
+"Not I. There's nothing in our agreement that puts such a task on me.
+Besides, there's no romance in an introduction. He would write a story
+as prosy as one of Henry James' if he started off like that."
+
+Mr. Gouger nodded his head slowly.
+
+"That would be something to avoid at all hazards," he assented.
+
+And at this juncture, to the surprise of both the parties to this
+conversation, the young man of whom they were speaking entered the room.
+
+"I was telling Mr. Gouger of our agreement," said Mr. Weil, as soon as
+the greetings were over. "How do you get along? Have you discovered your
+heroine yet?"
+
+Mr. Roseleaf answered, with an air of timidity, in the negative.
+
+"I don't quite know where to find one," he said.
+
+Mr. Weil spread out his arms to their fullest capacity.
+
+"There are thirty millions of them in the United States alone," he
+exclaimed. "Out of that number you ought to find a few whom you can
+study. What a pity that _I_ cannot write! I would go out of that door
+and in ten minutes I would have a subject ready for vivisection."
+
+The younger man raised his eyebrows slightly.
+
+"But, that kind of a woman--would be what you would want--the kind that
+would let you talk to her on a mere street acquaintance!"
+
+Mr. Weil leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs.
+
+"Oh, yes," he said. "She would do for a beginning. Don't imagine that
+none of these easy going girls are worth the attention of a novelist.
+Sometimes they are vastly more interesting than the bread and butter
+product of the drawing rooms. It won't do, in your profession, to
+ignore any sort of human being."
+
+Roseleaf breathed a sigh as soft as his name.
+
+"You were right, Mr. Gouger," he said, turning to that gentleman. "I do
+not know anything. I have judged by appearances, and I now see that
+truth cannot be learned in that way."
+
+"All the better!" broke in Archie. "The surest progress is made by the
+man who has learned his deficiencies. You remember the hare and the
+tortoise. I have read somewhere that the race is not always to the
+swift. You must treat your fellow men and women as if you had just
+arrived on this earth from the planet Mars. You must dig through the
+strata of conventionality to the virgin soil beneath. The great human
+passions are lust and avarice, though they take a thousand forms, in
+many of which they have more polite names. For instance, the former,
+when kept within polite boundaries, is usually known as Love. As Avarice
+makes but a sorry theme for the romantic writer, Love is the subject
+that must principally claim your attention. All the world loves a lover,
+while the miser is despised even by those who cringe beneath the power
+of his gold. Study the women, my lad, and when you know them thoroughly
+begin your great novel in earnest."
+
+Roseleaf listened with rapt attention.
+
+"And the men?" he asked.
+
+"The men," was the quick reply, "are too transparent to require study.
+It is the women, with their ten million tricks to cajole and wheedle us,
+that afford the best field for your efforts."
+
+Mr. Gouger, who had never been known to take so much time from his work
+during business hours, tried to begin his reading, but without success.
+When at his usual occupation he would not have been disturbed by the
+conversation of a room full of people, so preoccupied was he with what
+he had to do; but on this occasion he was too much entertained with his
+companions to do anything but hear them through.
+
+"Is there no such thing as unselfish love--in a woman--love that
+sacrifices itself for its object?" asked Roseleaf, with a trace of
+anxiety in his tone.
+
+"M----m, possibly," drawled Mr. Weil. "A female animal with young
+sometimes evinces the possession of that sort of thing, and women may
+have touches of it on occasions. That will be a good point for you to
+remember when you are deeper in your investigations. However, I ought
+not to fill your head with ideas of my own. I think what we most desire
+in our friend," he added, turning to the critic, "is complete
+originality."
+
+The young man shifted his feet nervously.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, "would it not be well to talk with people and
+learn their impressions? Then I can compare these with my own
+experiences, when they come. You would not send a blind man out on the
+street unled."
+
+Archie Weil laughed deliciously.
+
+"You are ingenious, when you should only be ingenuous," he replied. "You
+do not act at all like the young man from Mars that I have in mind.
+Perhaps, nevertheless, you are not wholly wrong, for even my traveler
+from that planet might have to ask his way to the nearest town.
+Supposing you had just reached the earth, and had met me with a thousand
+questions. What could I answer that would be of any use?"
+
+Mr. Roseleaf reflected a moment.
+
+"You could tell me your idea of a perfect woman," he suggested.
+
+"Well, I will," said Weil, glancing meaningly at Mr. Gouger. "The
+perfect woman is about nineteen years of age. She is neither very light
+nor very dark. Her eyes are hazel, with a touch of gray in them. She
+measures, say, five feet, four inches in height, and--about--twenty-two
+inches around the waist. She has a plump arm, not too fleshy, a
+well-made leg, a head set on her shoulders with enough neck to give it
+freedom and grace of movement, but not sufficient to warrant comparison
+with a swan, or even a goose. Her hands match her feet, being not too
+slender nor too dainty. Her hips are medium, but not bulging. She weighs
+in the vicinity of a hundred and twenty-five pounds. And her hair--there
+is but one color for a woman's hair--is Titian red."
+
+The young man had taken out his note-book and rapidly sketched this list
+of attractions.
+
+"Every woman cannot have Titian hair," remarked Mr. Gouger. "Would you
+condemn one with all the other attributes on account of missing that?"
+
+"I would, decidedly," was the reply, "when it is obtained so easily. I
+think it only costs two dollars a bottle, for the finest shade. Have
+you written it all down, Mr. Roseleaf?"
+
+The young man ran over his notes.
+
+"I have it--all but the hair," he said. "Of course I could not forget
+that."
+
+"Very well. And this hair must be long enough, but not too long,
+remember, for everything unduly accentuated spoils a woman. It should
+hang about five inches below the waist, when unfastened, and be thick
+enough to make a noticeable coil. There should be sufficient to hide her
+face and her lover's when he takes her in his arms."
+
+Mr. Roseleaf started slightly.
+
+"Then she should have a lover?" he remarked, curiously.
+
+"Undoubtedly. Else why the hair and the arms, and the five feet four! It
+is a woman's business to be loved and to make herself lovable. When you
+have found this woman, if she has no lover, you will be expected to
+officiate in that capacity. If she has one, you must supplant him as
+soon as possible. And when you have fallen desperately, ravingly in love
+with such a creature, you will not have to come to me for further
+advice."
+
+The young man surveyed the speaker with the utmost gravity.
+
+"Have _you_ ever been in love?" he inquired.
+
+"Never."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It was not necessary; _I_ did not intend to write novels," said Archie,
+with a laugh. "But, come, we have bothered Lawrence enough. Let us go."
+
+He took the package containing Miss Fern's story, and sauntered out,
+paying no attention to the peculiar glances that his friend, the critic,
+threw at him as he was leaving.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+WITH TITIAN TRESSES.
+
+
+Mr. Weil deciphered the MSS. of Miss Fern with some difficulty. Not that
+the handwriting was particularly illegible, though it did not in the
+least resemble copperplate engraving; but, as Mr. Gouger had intimated,
+the sentences were so badly constructed, and the punctuation so
+different from that prescribed by the usual authorities, that he was
+continually obliged to go back over his tracks and hunt for meanings.
+Nevertheless, within an hour from the time when he sat down in his room
+at the Hoffman House and opened the package he had brought, he had to
+confess himself deeply interested.
+
+Miss Fern had conceived some entertaining characters, and some very
+unconventional situations. Her people were virile; her hero was strong
+if not always grammatical; her heroine did and said things not common in
+real life, and yet that were quite reasonable when her peculiar nature
+and environment were considered.
+
+Archie paused once in awhile to wonder how much of all this record was
+within the direct knowledge of the young authoress; which expressions
+conveyed her own ideas and which sentiments she would personally
+endorse. Gouger might be right as to the exceeding purity of most of the
+ladies who dealt in eroticism, but in this especial case Mr. Weil meant
+to make an investigation on his own account before he accepted as a
+universal rule the one his friend had laid down.
+
+He did not go to sleep that night until he had finished his story. Had
+it been arranged by a competent hand he could have read it in four
+hours, but as it was he consumed eight in the work. With all its faults,
+he liked it. There was something breezy about it, and it had a theme
+that he did not remember had been treated exactly in the same way
+before. Though, as he himself had said, without much talent for
+composition, Archie had read a great many books. It is no proof because
+a person cannot write that he would make a poor critic. Mr. Weil might
+almost have filled Lawrence Gouger's place at Cutt & Slashem's. He had
+written fugitive pieces in his time for the papers, in reference to his
+travels, which had been extensive, and had even contributed occasional
+book reviews to the magazines. His connection with Gouger enabled him to
+keep in touch with what was going on in the literary world, and the
+dozens of new volumes which passed through that office were always at
+his disposal.
+
+"She's not a fool, by any means," he remarked to himself, when he put
+down the last sheet of Miss Fern's work. "A fellow who understood his
+business might put that into such shape that it would be worth using. I
+mean to find some one who can do it, and suggest the idea to her, when I
+get to that stage in this affair. Let me see, who do I know that could
+undertake it?"
+
+He had begun to undress, and was in the act of taking off his collar as
+he spoke. His mind ran over a list of struggling literary men. Something
+seemed the matter with most of them. There was Hamlin, but he would be
+too exacting, and would want to suggest alterations in the story itself,
+which would never do. There was Insley, whose last three books had been
+flat failures, and for whom Cutt & Slashem had positively refused to
+print anything more; but Insley had gone into the country for the summer
+and nobody knew his address. Then there was--
+
+"_Roseleaf!_"
+
+Archie received this thought like an inspiration. He threw his cravat on
+the bureau and began tugging at his shoestrings to the imminent danger
+of getting them into hard knots that no one could unravel. Roseleaf! Why
+not? The boy would do almost anything he suggested, so great was his
+confidence that a road to literary preferment could be staked out over
+that path. Roseleaf would not undertake the work for the sake of
+pecuniary compensation, but the thing could be presented to him in quite
+another light. In Miss Fern's story there were living, breathing men and
+women. In his own there were beautifully drawn marionettes. He could be
+made to see that the study of the young lady's method was worth his
+while. And then!
+
+Mr. Weil's shoes lay on the floor, in the disorder of a bachelor who had
+never in his life taken pains to put anything in the place where it
+really belonged. He took out the studs of his shirt, pulled that garment
+over his head, and then sat for some minutes wrapped in active thought.
+
+"They must be introduced to each other!" he exclaimed, at last. "Between
+them they have every qualification for success; apart they are like the
+separated wheels of a watch. There is Shirley, with a style so sweetly
+subtle, a grace so perfect, every line a gem; and with it all not a sign
+of human emotion. There is Millicent, full of plot and daring and
+breathing characters, and bold conceptions, and no more able to write
+good English than an Esquimaux squaw. I have both these interesting
+persons on my hands, and I must combine them, for their mutual good.
+
+"I wonder what Gouger will say when I unfold my plan. Perhaps I had best
+not tell him. He actually came near threatening, to-day, to send a line
+to Miss Fern, warning her against me. He wouldn't have done it, though.
+Lawrence has a bark that is worse than his bite by a great deal. Yes,
+I'll bring these young folks together. I'll take them as Hermann does
+the rabbits, and press them gently but firmly into one. And then sha'n't
+we get a combination! And won't Mr. Lawrence Gouger hug himself when the
+product of their joint endeavor comes to him for a reading!"
+
+The muser finished disrobing and donned his night robes, but it was a
+long time before he felt like slumber. He could think of nothing but his
+scheme. As he revolved it over in his mind, it took many new forms. At
+first Roseleaf was to be asked to rewrite the story that Miss Fern had
+offered Cutt & Slashem. And afterwards there must be an entirely new
+novel, conceived together and worked out slowly, using the best of what
+was brightest in both of them.
+
+The last idea Mr. Weil had before he relapsed into unconsciousness
+contained two novels, worked out at the same time. Roseleaf was all
+right, if he could only get a glimpse of realism into his work. Miss
+Fern would have no trouble if her ideas could find a garb that suited
+them.
+
+There would be a way to make them of service to each other, and the time
+to cross a bridge is always when you come to it. So thought Archie Weil,
+as he fell asleep.
+
+In the morning he laughed to think of the description he had given to
+Shirley, in his offhand way, of "the perfect woman." It was a faithful
+list of Miss Millicent's charms, so far as they were apparent to him.
+Shirley had noted them down with great carefulness, and would be sure to
+notice how fully the authoress met the ideal he now had in mind. It only
+remained for the schemer to say something to Miss Fern that would
+suggest Roseleaf to her, whenever they were made acquainted.
+
+It must be plain to the reader that Mr. Weil's principal intention in
+this whole matter was to dispose of the _ennui_ which idleness brings
+even to its most adoring devotees. He had a fair fortune, accumulated
+by a father who had denied himself every luxury to amass it. Drifting to
+New York, he had found the vicinity of the Hoffman House very agreeable,
+and his companions, with the exception of Mr. Gouger, were of about as
+light views of life as himself. The critic was one of those strange
+exceptions with which most of us come in contact, where persons of
+entirely opposite tastes and inclinations become attached friends.
+
+Breakfast was served so late to Mr. Weil that he had not finished that
+repast when the young novelist made his appearance. Seating himself on
+the side of the table that faced his friend, Mr. Roseleaf responded to
+the latter's inquiries in regard to his health by saying that he was
+quite well. Indeed, he looked it. His eye was bright, his cheek rosy.
+His attire showed just enough of a negligent quality to be attractive.
+There was an air about him such as is often associated with an artist of
+the pencil and brush.
+
+"Never better in health," he said, "but very anxious to begin something
+definite in the way of work."
+
+Mr. Weil smiled his most affable smile.
+
+"What did I tell you to do, first?" he asked, playfully.
+
+"To fall in love."
+
+"Which you have not yet done!"
+
+The young man shook his head.
+
+"Good Heavens! And you have lost more than a week!"
+
+Roseleaf colored more than ever.
+
+"Isn't there something else--that I could--begin on?" he asked, humbly.
+
+"I don't know of anything. Love is the alphabet of the novelist. You'd
+best go straight. Aren't there any eligible young women at your lodging
+house?"
+
+The younger man thought a moment.
+
+"No; only the chambermaid."
+
+Mr. Weil sipped his coffee with a wise expression.
+
+"It may come to that," he said, putting down the cup, "but we'll hope
+not. We will hope not. What's the matter with Central Park? There are
+five hundred nice girls there every afternoon."
+
+"But I don't know them," said Roseleaf, desperately. "And--I have been
+there. Yesterday one of them looked at me and smiled. I walked toward
+her, and she slackened her speed. When I came within a few feet she
+almost stopped. Then--I could think of nothing to say to her, and I
+walked on, looking in the other direction."
+
+Several breakfasters in the vicinity turned their heads to note the
+couple at the table, from which a laugh that could be heard all over the
+room came musically.
+
+"Why didn't you say 'Good-morning?'"
+
+"Yes! And she might have said 'Good-morning.' And then it would be my
+turn, and what could I have done?"
+
+Mr. Weil folded up his napkin and laid it by his plate.
+
+"You coward," he replied, affably, "you could have done a thousand
+things. You could have remarked that the day was fair, or that you
+wondered if it would rain. And you could have asked her to stroll over
+to a restaurant and take a little refreshment. Once opposite to her, the
+rest would have come fast enough."
+
+The novelist took out a handkerchief and wiped the perspiration from his
+forehead. It all seemed very easy the way Archie described it, but he
+was sure it would be very different in practice. How could he know, he
+demanded, that the young lady would go to the restaurant with him? She
+might have declined, and then he would have been in a worse position
+than ever.
+
+"Declined!" echoed Archie. "Declined a lunch? Declined ice cream?
+Declined champagne frappé! Well, you _are_ ignorant of the sex. My dear
+boy, it is evident that I shall have to introduce you to the leading
+lady of your company, and if you will be patient for a very few days, I
+hope to be able to do so."
+
+Rousing himself with a show of genuine interest, Roseleaf inquired for
+further particulars.
+
+"Listen," replied the other. "I expect, to-morrow evening, to spend a
+few hours in the company of one of the most charming members of her sex.
+She, like you, has an ambition to become a successful writer. Like you,
+also, she lacks some of the prime qualities that are needed for that
+end. It happens, however, that the things wanting are entirely different
+in each of your cases--that you will, if you choose, be able to
+supplement and perfect each other. I shall tell her that I know a young
+man of literary taste who will give her advice on the points in which
+she is deficient. With such an opening you will be at once on Easy
+street, and if you cannot fall in love within forty-eight hours, I shall
+regard you as a case too hopeless to merit further attention at my
+hands."
+
+The young man's cheek glowed with pleasure.
+
+"That is more like it," he said. "When do you think I shall be able to
+meet this young lady?"
+
+"Within a week or two, at the latest. I must sound her before I trust
+you with her, for she is nearly as much a stranger to me, so far, as to
+you. Of course there is no objection--quite the contrary--to your
+falling in love elsewhere in the meantime, if opportunity serves."
+
+At this moment Mr. Weil called his companion's attention to a rather
+corpulent gentleman who had just entered the breakfast room and was
+stopping near the door to hold a brief conversation with some one he had
+met there.
+
+"You see that fellow?" he remarked. "Wait a minute, and I will get him
+over here. If you ever want to put a real character into one of your
+stories you will only need to take his photograph. In actual life he is
+as dull as a rusty meat axe, but for literary purposes he would be a
+godsend."
+
+Catching the eye of the person of whom he was speaking, Mr. Weil
+motioned to him to come to his part of the room, and as he approached
+arranged a chair for him invitingly.
+
+"Mr. Boggs, I want to present a young friend of mine to you," said
+Archie, rising. "Mr. Walker Boggs--Mr. Shirley Roseleaf."
+
+Mr. Boggs went through the usual ceremony, announcing that he was most
+happy, etc., in the perfunctory style that a million other men follow
+every day. Then he took the chair that was offered him, and gave an
+order for his breakfast to a waiter.
+
+"Are you a New Yorker, Mr. Roseleaf?" he asked, when this important
+matter was disposed of.
+
+"Mr. Roseleaf is staying here for the present," explained Mr. Weil. "He
+is a novelist by profession, and I tell him there is no better place to
+study the sensational than this vicinity."
+
+The young man's color deepened. He doubted if it was right to introduce
+the subject in exactly these terms. Mr. Boggs' next question did not
+detract from his uneasiness.
+
+"Excuse me--I am not altogether up in current literature, and I must ask
+what Mr. Roseleaf has written."
+
+Mr. Weil helped his young friend out of this dilemma as well as he
+could.
+
+"He has written nothing, as yet; at least nothing that has been
+printed," he said. "He is wise, I think, in laying a deep foundation for
+his romances, instead of rushing into print with the first thoughts that
+enter his head, as so many do, to their own subsequent regret and the
+distress of their readers. I want him to meet men and women who have
+known what life is by their own experiences. You ought to be worth
+something to a bright writer, Walker. You have had many an adventure in
+your day."
+
+Mr. Walker Boggs shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"In my 'day,' yes," he assented. "Enough to fill the Astor and Lenox
+libraries and leave enough for Charlie Dillingham and The American News
+Company. But that is nothing but history now. My 'day' is over and it
+will never return."
+
+He paused and ran his right hand dejectedly across his vest in the
+vicinity of the waist band. Though he knew perfectly what Mr. Boggs
+referred to, Archie Weil wanted him to express it in his own words to
+Shirley.
+
+"You wouldn't think," continued Mr. Boggs, after a pause which seemed
+filled with strange emotions, "that my figure was once the admiration of
+every lady who saw it, that they used to stop and gaze at me with eyes
+of positive envy. And now--look at this!"
+
+He indicated his embonpoint again, and shook his head wrathfully.
+
+"It is simply damnable," he continued, as neither of the others thought
+best to interrupt him. "When I was twenty-four I had a reputation that
+was as wide as the continent. When I walked down Broadway you would have
+supposed a procession was passing, the crowds gathered in such numbers.
+If it was mentioned that I would spend a week at Saratoga or Newport,
+the hotels had not a room to spare while I remained. The next year I
+married, and as one of the fashion journals put it, two thousand women
+went into mourning. For a decade I devoted myself entirely to my wife
+and to business. I made some money, and kept out of the public eye.
+Then my wife died, and I retired from the firm with which I had been
+connected. The next twelve months dragged terribly. I did not know what
+to do. Finally I decided that there was but one course open to me. I
+must resume again the position I had vacated as a leader of fashion."
+
+Mr. Weil bowed, as if to say that this was a very natural and
+praiseworthy conclusion; precisely as if he had not heard the story told
+in substantially the same way a dozen times before. He was watching
+Roseleaf's interested expression and had difficulty in repressing an
+inclination to laugh aloud.
+
+"I sought out the best tailor in the city," continued Mr. Boggs. "I went
+to the most fashionable hair dresser. I spent considerable time in
+selecting hats, cravats and gloves. When all was ready I took a stroll,
+as I had done in the old days, from Fiftieth street, down Fifth Avenue
+and Broadway to Union Square. I met a few acquaintances who stared at me
+slightly, but did not act in the least impressed. The women merely
+glanced up and glanced away again. What was the matter? I went home and
+took a long survey of myself in the mirror, a cheval glass that showed
+me from crown to toe. My costume was perfect. There was not a wrinkle in
+my face--this was several years ago, remember. There was not a gray hair
+in my head then--there are a few now, I admit. 'What is it?' I asked
+myself a hundred times as I stood there, studying out the cursed
+problem. My tie was all right, my shirt front of the latest cut, my
+watch chain straight from Tiffany's, my--ah! I saw it all in a moment!"
+
+Roseleaf, who did not see it even yet, wore such an astonished
+expression that Mr. Weil had to stuff his napkin into his mouth to
+prevent an explosion.
+
+"It was this devilish abdomen!" said Mr. Boggs, slapping that portion of
+his frame as if he had a special grudge against it and would be glad if
+he could hit it hard enough to bring it to a realizing sense of its
+turpitude. "My figure had gone to the devil! It was not as large as it
+is now, but it was large enough to cook my gruel. My waist had increased
+so gradually that I had never noticed it. I got a tape and took its
+measure. Forty-two inches, sir! The jig was up. With a heart as young as
+ever, with a face as good and a purse able to supply all reasonable
+demands, I was knocked out of the race on the first round by this
+adipose tissue that no ingenuity could hope to conceal!"
+
+Mr. Weil could wait no longer. His musical laugh rang out over the room.
+
+"Let this be a warning to you, Shirley," he said, "to wear corsets."
+
+"It is no joke," was the indignant comment of Mr. Walker Boggs, as he
+proceeded to add to his rotundity by devouring the hearty breakfast that
+the waiter had just brought him. "I am left like a marooned sailor on
+the sea of life. The only occupation that could have entertained me is
+gone. It is no time to enter business again, I couldn't have selected a
+wiser one to leave it. I don't want to marry, once was enough of that.
+The only women I can attract are those commercially inclined females
+that any other man could have as well as I. What is the result? My life
+is ruined. I take no pleasure in anything. I eat, walk about, go to a
+play, sleep. A _pig_ could do as much; and a pig would not have these
+memories to haunt him, these recollections of a time so different that I
+am almost driven wild."
+
+Roseleaf felt a sincere pity for the unfortunate gentleman, and did not
+see the slightest element of humor in his melancholy recital. But Archie
+Weil could not be restrained.
+
+"You're right about that pig business," he remarked. "You recall the
+incident in Mother Goose, where--
+
+    'A little pig found a fifty dollar note,
+    And purchased a hat and a very fine coat.'
+
+"There are strange parallels in history."
+
+Mr. Boggs would have replied to this remark in the terms it deserved had
+he not been too much engaged at the moment in masticating a particularly
+fine chop. As it was he growled over the meat like a mastiff in bad
+humor.
+
+"Are there no remedies for excessive accumulation of fat in the
+abdominal region?" asked Weil, taking his advantage. "It seems to me I
+have read advertisements of them in the newspapers."
+
+"Remedies!" retorted the other, having swallowed the food and
+supplemented it with a glass of ale. "There are a thousand, and I have
+tried them all. I have taken things by the gross. I have paid money to
+every quack I could find. For awhile I starved myself so nearly to death
+that I went to making my will. And every day I grew stouter. I don't
+know what I measure now, and I don't care. A few fathoms more or less,
+doesn't count, when one falls from a steamer in midocean."
+
+Mr. Weil took occasion to say that there was no need for this extreme
+discouragement. A little coin in the hand, or a new diamond ring, would
+still bring youth and beauty to his disconsolate friend.
+
+"That's just it," retorted Boggs. "It's the contrast that's killing me.
+The only women who would look at me to-day are mercenary ones that
+wouldn't care if I was black as Othello or big as George IV. Why, I
+could show you a trunkful of letters, written me by the finest women in
+this country, when I was at my best. They breathe but one thing--love,
+love, love! I lived on it! It was the air that kept my lungs in motion.
+And I thought to go back to it so easily! _Ah!_"
+
+Mr. Boggs commenced upon his fourth chop and emptied the last of the
+quart bottle into his glass.
+
+"Well, I'm sorry for you," said Weil. "I think the times must have
+changed, as well as yourself, though. Now, here's a young fellow, with
+all the qualifications of face, figure and address that you once had,
+and he claims to be unable to make the acquaintance of a single
+interesting woman between Brooklyn Bridge and Spuyten Duyvil."
+
+The heavy eyes of Mr. Walker Boggs rested upon the youthful face
+opposite to him. Under the scrutiny to which he was subjected Roseleaf
+reddened, in the way he had. He had never looked more handsome.
+
+"This is evidently a jest of yours," said Boggs, turning to Mr. Weil.
+
+"Not in the least, I assure you."
+
+"Then I say he can do what he likes, and I know it," replied the stout
+man. "If I had his form I'd have to ask the police to clear the way for
+me. I have seen circulation impeded in front of this very hotel because
+I was coming out to take my carriage. If he won't look at them, why, of
+course, the women can't do it all, but it lies with him."
+
+Roseleaf's eyes glistened with a strange mixture of hope and fear. He
+did not think he would care to be in such great demand as that, but he
+dearly wished to break through the iron bars that enclosed him. He
+glanced in a glass that paneled the wall near by. He was good-looking
+enough, it was no vanity to say so. What he lacked was confidence.
+
+"He is afraid of them, that's his trouble," smiled Weil. "We will cure
+him of that, and when he gets to know women as they are he will give us
+a novel that will set all creation by the ears. Gouger--you know
+Gouger--says he writes the purest English. All he needs is a taste of
+life."
+
+To this Mr. Boggs gave his unqualified assent. And he added that if he
+could be of any service in the matter he would only be too glad.
+
+"We thank you for the offer, and may be able later to make use of it,"
+said Mr. Weil. "And now good-morning, for we have important business to
+attend to."
+
+Roseleaf looked long and earnestly at the person they were leaving. He
+seemed to him a very ordinary individual. If such a man had won the
+love of scores of beautiful women, surely he himself could gain the
+affections of one. When he stood with Weil in front of the hotel, by
+which an unrivaled procession of ladies and gentleman was already
+beginning to pass, though it was only eleven o'clock, he felt much
+encouraged.
+
+"They are looking at you," whispered Archie, "plenty of them. Did you
+see those two girls in pink in that landau? Why, they nearly broke their
+necks to get the last glimpse of you. There is another lady who would
+stop if you asked her, pretty as any of them, though she must be nearly
+thirty. Your eyes are not open. Ah, here is something better! In that
+carriage, with the Titian tresses!"
+
+It was Miss Millicent Fern, and she bowed to Mr. Weil. Then her bright
+eyes lit up with a new lustre as they fell upon his companion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+STUDYING MISS MILLICENT.
+
+
+When Mr. Weil made his appearance at the residence of Mr. Wilton Fern,
+the door was opened for him by a young negro of such superb proportions
+that the caller could not help observing him with admiration. He thought
+he had never seen a man more perfectly formed. The face, though too dark
+to suggest the least admixture of Caucasian blood, was well featured.
+The lips were not thick nor was the nose flat, as is the case with so
+many of the African race. The voice, as the visitor heard it, was by no
+means unpleasant. Mr. Weil could not imagine a better model for an ebony
+statue than this butler, or footman, or whatever position, perhaps both,
+he might be engaged to fill.
+
+"Yes, sir, Miss Millicent is in, and she is expecting you," said the
+negro, in his pleasant and strong tones. "Let me take your hat and
+stick. Now, sir, this way."
+
+Miss Fern came in a few moments to the parlor, where Archie was left,
+and greeted him most cordially.
+
+"There is a sitting-room on the next floor," she said, "where we shall
+not be disturbed. I have given Hannibal orders to admit no one, saying
+that we shall want the evening entirely to ourselves."
+
+"Hannibal?" repeated the visitor. "Is that the name of the remarkable
+individual who received me just now?"
+
+"Yes," said Miss Fern, rather coldly. "Though I do not know why you call
+him 'remarkable.'"
+
+"He is so tall, so grand, so entirely overpowering," explained Mr. Weil.
+"One would think he might be the son of an African king. I never saw a
+black man that gave me such an impression of force and power."
+
+Millicent elevated her eyebrows a little, as if annoyed at these
+expressions. She answered, still frigidly, that she had noticed nothing
+unusual about Hannibal. She did not believe she had looked closely
+enough at his face to be able to identify him in a court.
+
+"He would make a fine character for a novel," said Mr. Weil, as they
+walked together up the broad staircase. "I could almost write one
+myself, around such a personality."
+
+The young lady looked disgusted.
+
+"A negro servant!" she exclaimed. "What kind of a novel could you write
+with such a central figure?"
+
+"Perhaps I should not put him in the centre," laughed Archie, determined
+to win her good nature. "Every story needs lights and shades. You can't
+deny that he would cast a magnificent shadow."
+
+The humor of this observation struck Miss Fern and she joined mildly in
+her companion's mirth. Then she remarked that the central figure of a
+novel--the main thing in it--to her mind, should be a being who could be
+given the attributes of beauty and grace. The minor characters were of
+less account, and would come into existence almost of their own accord.
+
+"And now, before we do anything more," she said, "I want you to tell me
+about that excessively handsome young man that I saw with you yesterday
+in Madison Square."
+
+Weil was delighted at this introduction of his young friend. He began a
+most flattering account of Shirley Roseleaf, describing him as a genuine
+paragon among men, both in talent and goodness. He drew heavily on his
+imagination as he proceeded, feeling that he was "in for it," and might
+as well do his best at once. And he could see the cheek of the young
+listener taking on a new and more enticing color as he went farther and
+farther into his subject.
+
+"If I have to rearrange my novel--the one Mr. Gouger rejected--I shall
+draw my hero after that model," she cried, when he paused for breath. "I
+never saw a man who came so near my ideal."
+
+"But--you would have to alter your hero's character, in that case?" he
+said. "I have read your MSS., and your description does not tally with
+my young friend at all."
+
+Miss Fern reddened.
+
+"You don't mean to claim, do you," she replied, "that physical beauty
+and moral goodness always go hand in hand?"
+
+"They should," he answered, in a tone that was meant to be impressive.
+
+"Ah, that is another question! _Do_ they? that is all the novelist needs
+to know. Did you ever read Ouida's 'Sigma?' There are the two sisters,
+one as pure as can be, the other quite the opposite, and the beauty
+belongs to the depraved one. I know Oscar Wilde takes a different view
+in 'Dorian Grey,' but he is wrong. I am sure that the worst man or woman
+in the world--reckoning by what are called the 'amiable vices'--might be
+the most lovely to look upon, the most delightful to associate with. Eve
+found the serpent attractive, remember."
+
+Where did she learn all these things? Weil looked at her with
+increasing astonishment. "Amiable vices." He liked the appellation.
+
+"Perhaps you are right," he assented, as if slowly convinced. "If you
+wish to be acquainted with Mr. Roseleaf, I will bring him here with
+pleasure. My only fear is that he will not interest you. He seems almost
+too perfect for earth. Think of a young man who knows nothing of women,
+who says he has no idea what it is to be in love, who does not
+understand why the ladies who pass down Fifth Avenue turn their heads to
+look at him! He, like yourself, is a novelist, but his characters are
+beautiful images that lack life. He carves marble figures and attempts
+to palm them off as flesh and blood. He really thinks they _are_,
+because he has never known the difference. If you could take him, Miss
+Fern, and teach him what love really is--"
+
+The young lady blushed more than before.
+
+"_I_--" she stammered.
+
+"In a strictly literary way," he explained. "But," he added, thinking he
+was getting upon the edge of a quicksand, "we must not forget the object
+of my visit."
+
+He took the parcel containing her MSS. that he had obtained from Mr.
+Gouger, and began to untie the string. Manlike he soon had it in a hard
+knot, and Miss Millicent, coming to his rescue, her young hands touched
+his and made his heart beat faster.
+
+"There," she said, when the knot had given way to their joint endeavors.
+"It is all right, now. But, before we begin on this, tell me a little
+more about Mr. Roseleaf. What has he written? Where was it published? I
+will send to-morrow morning and buy a copy."
+
+Her enthusiasm was agreeable under the circumstances, but the truth had
+to be explained to her.
+
+"What he has written I will let you see, one of these days," he replied.
+"As for publishing, he ran upon the same rock that you did--that of Mr.
+Lawrence Gouger."
+
+The beautiful eyes opened wider.
+
+"So he rejected his work, too! And yet you say that it was well done?"
+
+"Exquisitely. Shirley's lines are as symmetrical as his face and figure.
+His people are dead, that is all the trouble. Gouger scented the
+difficulty under which he labors, in a moment. 'Go and fall in love!' he
+said to him, 'and you will write a story at which the world will
+marvel!'"
+
+Miss Fern arranged one of her locks of Titian red that had fallen down.
+
+"And hasn't he taken the advice?" she inquired, in a low voice.
+
+"Not yet," smiled the other. "He says, like a very child, that 'he
+cannot find any one to love.' I walked up the avenue with him to-day,
+and afterwards rode in the Park. There were hundreds of the prettiest
+creatures, all looking their eyes out at him. And he hadn't the courage
+to return one glance, not one. Ah, Miss Fern, it will be genuine love
+with Shirley Roseleaf, if any. The imitations one finds in the
+fashionable world will never answer for him."
+
+The young lady breathed a gentle sigh, as her thoughts dwelt on the
+handsome figure she had seen in front of the Hoffman House.
+
+"You may bring him here--yes, I should be glad to have you," she said,
+slowly. "But I must ask one favor; do not tell him what I said so
+thoughtlessly about his being my ideal. Let me talk with him on fair
+terms. It may be, as you suggest, that we shall be of advantage to each
+other. When can you arrange it?"
+
+"Almost any day," smiled Weil. "I will let you know, by mail or
+otherwise. And now, this story of yours," he added, thinking it a shrewd
+plan to divert her attention from the other matter while it was still
+warm in her mind. "Though I have read it through, and think I understand
+it fairly well, I am all the more anxious to hear it from your lips. You
+will put into the text new meanings, I have no doubt, that have escaped
+my observation."
+
+Miss Fern flushed pleasantly and inquired with a show of anxiety whether
+Mr. Weil had found its construction as bad as his friend, Mr. Gouger,
+had intimated.
+
+"To be perfectly honest, it might be improved," he replied. "But the
+germ is there, Miss Fern--that necessary thing for a good novel--an
+interest that will hold the reader in spite of himself. I disagree with
+Lawrence in his essential point. I am sure that a good writer of English
+with a taste for fiction could make all the necessary alterations
+without in the least detracting from the value of the story. For
+instance, I believe if Mr. Roseleaf would take hold of it I could
+guarantee to get you a publisher this winter."
+
+"And do you think he would?" she cried.
+
+"I think so."
+
+The authoress was so delighted with this announcement that she conquered
+the slight wound to her pride. It would be herself still who had drawn
+the picture, who had put the coloring into it; all that the other would
+have to do might be described as varnishing. She took up the first sheet
+of her writing, and turned up an oil lamp that stood upon the table at
+her elbow, the better to see the lines.
+
+"Are you ready?" she asked.
+
+"Quite ready," smiled Mr. Weil.
+
+In a voice that trembled a little, and yet not unpleasantly to the
+listener, Miss Fern began to read her manuscript. The opening chapter
+introduced the heroine and two gentlemen, either one of whom might be
+the hero. As the book is now so well known it is needless to transfer
+its features to these pages.
+
+Presently the authoress paused and seemed to wait for her guest's
+criticism.
+
+"That is one chapter," she said.
+
+"Yes. I remember. And the second one is where Algernon begins to
+disclose a very little of his true nature. Shall we not have that now?"
+
+"As you like. I thought perhaps you would give me advice as we
+proceeded, some fault-finding here and there, a suggestion of
+alterations."
+
+He shook his head affably.
+
+"Not yet," he answered. "Up to this point I see nothing that requires
+condemnation."
+
+"Nor praise, perhaps?" she said, in a low tone.
+
+"That might be true, also," he replied. "The first chapter of a novel is
+only the laying of the cloth and the placing of a few dishes. The viands
+that form the meal are still in the kitchen."
+
+She smiled at the simile.
+
+"But even the laying of the cloth is important," she said.
+
+"Your cloth is laid most admirably," he answered. "And now we will have
+the castor, which in this case, I believe, contains a certain quantity
+of mustard and red pepper."
+
+At this she laughed the more, and glanced through a few of the sheets in
+her hands before she spoke again.
+
+"Did you form any opinion about--about _me_--from this story?" she
+asked, constrainedly. "Did you, in brief, think it had taken a bold girl
+to write it?"
+
+He hesitated a moment.
+
+"Yes," he said, at last. "A bold girl, a daring girl, a brave girl. Not
+one, however, whose own conduct would necessarily be like that of the
+woman she has delineated."
+
+She was so pleased that she put down the MSS. and leaned toward him with
+both hands clasped together.
+
+"You are very, very kind," she said, impressively.
+
+"No, merely truthful," he replied. "With your permission I want to
+retain that last quality in all my conversations with you. When you ask
+me a question I wish to be perfectly free to answer according to my
+honest convictions."
+
+"It is what I especially desire," she said, brightening. "No one able to
+judge has heard anything of this story except your friend, Mr. Gouger. I
+know it is bold, sometimes I think it is brazen. I can conceive that
+there are excellent people who would say it never should have been
+written. To my mind, the moral I have drawn more than justifies the
+plainness of my speech. You can tell better than I where I have
+overstepped the proper bounds, if there be such places. You are, of
+course, a man of the world--"
+
+The protesting expression on the face of her companion arrested her at
+this point.
+
+"That depends on what you mean by 'a man of the world?'"
+
+"It is a common expression."
+
+"And has many definitions. Before I plead guilty to it, I want to know
+just how much you intend by it."
+
+Miss Fern put down the page she had taken up and a puzzled look crossed
+her pretty face.
+
+"You make it hard for me to explain myself," she said. "I suppose I
+meant--"
+
+"Now, be as honest as you asked me to be," he interrupted.
+
+"Well, then, I suppose you are a man like--like other men."
+
+"But there are many kinds of other men."
+
+The young lady tried several times to make herself clearer, and then
+asked, with a very pathetic pout, that she might be permitted to
+proceed with her reading, as the hour was growing later. It was not a
+very important point, any way, she said.
+
+"I cannot entirely agree with you," replied Archie. "If you are to be a
+writer of fiction, you should not consider any time wasted which informs
+you in reference to your fellow creatures. It is from them that you must
+draw your inspiration; it is their figures you must put, correctly or
+incorrectly, on your canvas. Don't understand me as dictating to you, my
+dear Miss Fern. I only wish, as long as you have referred to me, to know
+of what I am accused."
+
+To this Miss Fern answered, with many pauses, that she had not intended
+to accuse her visitor of anything. And once more--with evident
+distress--she begged to be permitted to drop the matter and return to
+her reading.
+
+"Very well," he assented, thinking he had annoyed her as much as was
+advisable for the present. "As they say in parliamentary bodies, we will
+lay the question on the table, from which it can be taken at some more
+fitting time. I am as anxious as you can be to get into Chapter II."
+
+She read this chapter to the end, and paused a few seconds to see if he
+had any comments to make, but he shook his head without breaking
+silence, and she went on with the story. He pursued the same plan till
+the end of the fifth chapter.
+
+"It is interesting, exciting and true," he remarked, referring to the
+closing scene. "And I cannot help feeling arise in my brain the question
+that Mr. Gouger put when he read it: How could a young, innocent girl
+like you depict that situation with such absolute fidelity."
+
+He had come to the point with a vengeance. But to Miss Fern his manner
+was far more agreeable than if he had approached it by stealth, or in an
+insinuating way. She had anticipated something of the sort and had tried
+to prepare herself to meet it.
+
+"Does not nature teach us some things?" she asked, speaking
+straightforwardly, though her color heightened in spite of her efforts.
+"Given a certain condition, an intelligent mind can prophesy results."
+
+He shook his head in mild disagreement with her.
+
+"Gouger is an expert, and he denies this, as a regular rule, at least.
+You should have heard him argue it with Roseleaf. 'Either throw yourself
+into a love affair,' he said, 'or never try to depict one.' Excuse me,
+Miss Fern, you bade me be frank--"
+
+She assented, with a grave nod of her shapely head.
+
+"You may have been in love--I do not ask you whether you have or
+not--but you cannot have known personally of the sort of love that you
+have depicted in these pages. I call it little less than miraculous that
+you should draw the scene so accurately."
+
+She colored again, this time partly with pleasure, for she was very
+susceptible to compliments.
+
+"Perhaps your statement may explain to you," she said, pointedly, "what
+I meant a few minutes ago by calling you 'a man of the world.' You
+recognize at a glance what I had to construct from my imagination."
+
+Archie Weil's face changed as he realized how deftly he had been caught.
+He had meant to pretend to this girl that he was more than usually
+ignorant of the nether side of life.
+
+"Don't think too badly of me because I happen to know what is clear to
+every man," he said, impressively.
+
+"To every one?" she answered. "To your friend, Mr. Roseleaf?"
+
+"Ah! He is an exception to all rules. And yet, Gouger says he can never
+write a successful book till he is more conversant with life than he is
+at present."
+
+She looked troubled.
+
+"With life?" she echoed. "With sin, do you mean?"
+
+"With the ordinary things that men know, and that most of them at some
+time experience."
+
+Her bright eyes were temporarily clouded.
+
+"What a pity!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," he said, for it was his humor to agree with her. "It is a pity."
+
+There was a pause of a minute, and then she asked if she had read enough
+for one evening. He answered that as it was now past ten o'clock it
+would not be easy to get much farther and that he would come again
+whenever she chose to set the time.
+
+"You do not say much about my work," she said, anxiously, as he prepared
+to go.
+
+"Silence is approval," he responded. "I can talk it over with you
+better when you have reached the end. I have things to say, and I shall
+not hesitate to say them then."
+
+"When is it most convenient to you to come?" she inquired.
+
+"Any time," he answered. "I don't do much that is really useful. But
+wait till you see Shirley. He will atone for the shortcomings you find
+in me."
+
+She repeated the word "Shirley," as if to test its sound.
+
+"You are your father's only child, are you not?" he asked, thoughtfully.
+
+"No. I have a sister, Daisy, a little younger than I."
+
+"And has she a literary turn, also?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+Archie arose, and Miss Millicent accompanied him to the front door. The
+tall negro came to open the portal, but Miss Fern told him, with the
+same quality of dislike in her tone which Weil had noticed before, that
+he need not wait.
+
+"He is really a magnificent piece of humanity," said Archie, when the
+man had disappeared. "I never saw anything quite like him."
+
+"You admire negroes, then?" said the young lady, almost impolitely.
+
+"I like representatives of every race," he answered, as if not noticing
+her. "There are interesting specimens in all. I number among my
+acquaintances several Chinamen, a Moor, a Mexican, Jews, Portuguese and
+Russians innumerable. If that fellow was not in your employ I would
+engage him to-morrow, merely as a study."
+
+Miss Fern took the hand he held out to her and set the next meeting for
+Saturday evening. Then she said:
+
+"If you want Hannibal, perhaps papa would oblige you. I certainly would
+do all I could to persuade him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+"HOW THE WOMEN STARE!"
+
+
+The next day Archie Weil lunched with Lawrence Gouger. He wanted to talk
+with his friend about the young author and authoress. Gouger listened
+with interest to the story he had to relate, and nodded approval when it
+appeared that Archie had behaved admirably thus far in relation to Miss
+Millicent.
+
+"Do you know anything about Mr. Fern?" he asked, when the other had
+reached a period.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Well, neither did I, a week ago, but I have taken pains to inform
+myself. He is a highly respectable elderly party, who deals in wool. He
+married a very beautiful lady, who has now been dead eight or ten years
+and he lives altogether in the society of his two daughters. If you
+succeed in getting Millicent's book on the counters you will earn his
+everlasting gratitude. They say he is not literary enough himself to be
+a judge of its merits, and if she has fifty copies to present to the
+family friends it will probably be all he will ask."
+
+Mr. Weil uttered a low whistle.
+
+"I don't know what the family friends will say of it," he replied, "but
+I call it pretty warm stuff. If the list includes many prudes they will
+hardly thank the girl for sending such a firebrand into their houses."
+
+"Pshaw!" said Gouger. "The world is getting used to that sort of thing,
+and they won't mind it a bit. Besides, they will be so lost in
+admiration of their cousin's name on the cover that they will think of
+nothing else. What did you make out of her? Is she as innocent as I
+predicted?"
+
+Archie poured out a glass of Bass' ale and sipped it slowly.
+
+"Quite," he said, as he put it down on the table. "And she's no dunce,
+either." He went on to tell of the trap he had fallen into. "I'm dying
+with impatience to get her and Roseleaf together. They'd make an idealic
+couple."
+
+Mr. Gouger inquired what he was waiting for.
+
+"Oh, I want to do the thing right," said Weil. "I want to learn her as
+thoroughly as I can, before I bring him upon the stage. It will take
+three or four evenings more to hear the rest of her novel, and another
+to discuss it. I shall get around to him in about a fortnight, at the
+rate things are going. He will keep. What do you suppose he is doing
+now? Writing poetry! He sent a piece a few days ago to the _Century_,
+and they accepted it."
+
+"He will be gray when it appears," said the critic. "It takes a long
+time for anything to see the light in that publication."
+
+"But in this case an exception will be made," said Weil. "They have
+assured him that it will come out in their very next issue. He will be
+so proud to see his name in print that I expect to find difficulty in
+holding him back. A poet who appears in the Century has certainly
+stepped a little higher on the ladder."
+
+The critic agreed to this, and remarked that such a man as Roseleaf
+should give his whole attention to poetry.
+
+"Wait!" cried Archie. "Give him time. See him after he has fallen head
+over ears in love with charming Millicent Fern. There is something in
+him, I feel sure, and between that dear girl and myself we will bring it
+out. By-the-way, there is a character I want you to meet," he added, as
+Mr. Walker Boggs came into the room. "You have never had the pleasure, I
+think, though you have heard me speak of him."
+
+Mr. Boggs had his attention attracted by a waiter who was sent for the
+purpose and came with great willingness to occupy a seat with Mr. Weil
+and his friend.
+
+"We were talking of a New York merchant just now," said Archie, when the
+introductions were over, "and it occurs to me that you, who know almost
+everybody, may have some knowledge of him. He is in the wool business,
+I hear, and I think you once told me you had done something in that way.
+His name is Wilton Fern, and he lives at Midlands."
+
+"Do I know anything about him?" echoed Mr. Boggs. "I should say so. He
+was my partner for seven years, and I still have a little stake left in
+the concern, on which I am drawing interest."
+
+Mr. Weil showed his astonishment at this statement. What a very small
+world it was, after all! Then, after pledging his friend not to mention
+that he had ever discussed the matter with him, he went guardedly into
+the particulars of Miss Millicent's book, and of his having called at
+the house for the purpose of passing judgment upon it.
+
+"I didn't know that was in your line," replied Boggs.
+
+"Well, it was this way," answered Archie. "Mr. Gouger's decision didn't
+exactly suit the young lady, as it was not very favorable. Mine will be
+quite to her taste, as I view her abilities in a more favorable light.
+Now tell us all about the family, as the only one of them I have met is
+Miss Millicent. Why, this is a regular find, old man! You should have
+told me a week ago that you possessed all this information that I have
+been aching to get hold of."
+
+Thus adjured, Mr. Boggs entered upon his story. From which it appeared
+that he knew the Ferns, root and branch, and had dined with them dozens
+of times.
+
+"What sort of a chap is the pater?" asked Weil.
+
+"A very well-kept man of nearly seventy, with a great deal of what is
+called 'breeding' in his manner, and a face like the portrait of a
+French marquis cut out of a seventeenth century frame. He doesn't look
+like a business man at all, and between ourselves he's not much of a
+one. All the money he ever made--saving my apparent egotism--was when I
+was in the concern. I've heard he's got a big mortgage on his residence
+and is going down hill generally. Too bad; nice fellow; sorry for him;
+such is life."
+
+Archie asked if Boggs would do him a personal and particular favor, if
+it would not cause him much trouble; and on being answered in the
+affirmative, said he would esteem it a great honor if he could be
+introduced to Mr. Fern by that gentleman's former business associate.
+
+"I suppose I shall run across him at Midlands, some evening," he said,
+"and get one of those presentations that are the most aggravating things
+in the world. I don't want that to happen, and the best way, to use an
+elegant phrase, is to take the bull by the horns, or in this case, the
+sheep by the tail. Will you make an accidental call on him to-morrow
+afternoon and let me be of the party?"
+
+Mr. Boggs responded that he would be delighted. And this matter being
+settled, all parties could give more direct attention to their lunch
+than they had been doing for the preceding ten minutes.
+
+"You must have heard of my friend Boggs, in the days when he was a
+figure on the streets of this town," said Weil, presently, returning to
+what he knew was the favorite subject of that personage. "You've lived
+here for twenty years, and of course the name of Walker Boggs is
+familiar to you."
+
+Mr. Gouger looked a good counterfeit of complete mystification for some
+seconds, and then a gleam as of sudden recollection shot across his
+face.
+
+"Certainly, certainly!" he said. "Mr. Boggs was what is popularly known
+as a lady killer, if I am not mistaken. You got married, did you not,
+Mr. Boggs, some ten or eleven years ago?"
+
+The party addressed acknowledged the practical correctness of the date.
+
+"Why, it comes back as plain as day," said the critic. "The _Herald_ had
+a page about you, including your portrait and some verses by a well
+known poet. It said your marriage had cast a gloom over Manhattan Island
+and some of the up-river counties."
+
+Mr. Boggs gloomily nodded, to show that the statement was true. Then he
+touched his most rotund portion with a significant look.
+
+"I'm a widower now," he said, "and nothing but this--_this_--stands in
+my way. As Shakespeare says, ''Tis not as deep as a well, nor as wide as
+a church door, but--' The ladies never look at me now, and all on
+account of this d--d flesh, which hangs like a millstone around my
+neck."
+
+Cutt & Slashem's critic, ignoring the peculiar character of the metaphor
+used, remarked politely that he thought no lady of sense would put great
+stress on such an insignificant matter.
+
+"Insignificant!" echoed Boggs. "I'll bet it's fifty inches around,
+come! And it's not the 'ladies of sense' I'm after. Quite the contrary."
+
+One of Archie Weil's explosive laughs followed this statement, which
+caused an expression of mild injury to settle over the countenance of
+Mr. Boggs.
+
+"You're getting on toward forty, and you ought to quit," said Weil.
+"Confound the women! Let them go."
+
+"That's well enough to talk about," replied Boggs, gruffly. "How would
+you like to follow your own advice?"
+
+Weil uttered an exclamation.
+
+"I? I have precious little to do with them, I assure you. For a man of
+my correct habits I have the worst name of any one I know. Everybody
+insinuates things about me, and they can prove nothing."
+
+"We'll ask Isaac Leveson about that," sneered Boggs. "By-the-way, that
+wouldn't be a bad place to take young Roseleaf to, when you get to
+instructing him in earnest. I met the young fellow on the avenue last
+night and walked around with him for a couple of hours. He's a darling!"
+
+"Roseleaf?" cried both the other gentlemen, in one breath.
+
+"To be sure. How the women stared at him! I couldn't blame them; his
+waist isn't over thirty, and he's as handsome as--as I was at his age. I
+told him he could have all the loveliness in New York at his feet, if he
+liked."
+
+Weil smiled significantly at Gouger.
+
+"What did he reply to that?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, he had an ideal in his head, and none of those we saw quite came up
+to it; for I did get him to raise his eyes and look at the prettiest
+ones. I drew out of him slowly that he would have nothing to do with a
+girl unless she had red hair; that--"
+
+Mr. Weil uttered a laugh so hearty that it attracted the attention of
+everybody in the room. Mr. Boggs paused to inquire the cause of this
+outbreak, but Archie assured him that something entirely out of the
+present discussion had just occurred to him, which was to blame for his
+impoliteness.
+
+"A girl must have _Titian_ hair," repeated Mr. Boggs, accepting the
+explanation, "or he would not consider her. He ruled out all the
+striking blondes and brunettes, saying that he liked only those of a
+medium shade. We came across one that answered these descriptions, an
+exquisite little creature who looked as if she would swallow him could
+she get the chance. And then there came out another idea. He would not
+think of this fairy because she was so short. 'I want a woman five feet,
+four inches tall,' he said, as if the article could be made to order, in
+case the size did not happen to be in stock. Then, would you believe it,
+he found a girl embracing every attribute he had mentioned. Her hair was
+just the right shade, her height must have hit the mark exactly, her
+complexion was medium. But no. She was too heavy. She would weigh a
+hundred and forty-five, he said, quite twenty pounds too much. If we had
+found a girl that filled all his description he would have invented
+something new to bar her out of the race."
+
+Mr. Weil remarked that he was not so sure of Roseleaf's insincerity. He
+believed the right woman would yet be discovered, and that a case of the
+most intense affection would then spontaneously develop.
+
+"In fact," he added, "I have the identical creature in mind. It is clear
+to us--to myself and Mr. Gouger here--that Shirley will never write a
+thrilling romance till he has fallen wildly, passionately in love."
+
+Mr. Boggs smiled slightly, and then sobered again.
+
+"Shall you have him marry, also?" he inquired, pointedly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because it will finish him; that's why. The romance in a modern
+marriage lasts six weeks. At the end of that time he will be useless for
+literary purposes, or anything else."
+
+Mr. Weil shook his head in opposition to this rash statement.
+
+"My theory is," said he, "that a novelist should know everything. To
+write of love he should have been in love; to tell of marriage he should
+have had a wife--a real one, no mere imitation; to talk of fatherhood
+intelligently he should become a father. How can he know his subjects
+otherwise?"
+
+The stout man smiled significantly.
+
+"And if he wishes to write of murder, he must kill some one. And if he
+wants to depict the sensations of a robber he must take a pistol and ask
+people to stand, on the highway."
+
+"Now you are becoming absurd," said Archie.
+
+"No more than you," said Boggs. "You go too far, and you will find it
+out. Let your novelist fall in love. That will do him good. But don't
+let him marry, or you will lose him, mark my word. Let him contemplate
+matrimony at a distance. Let him reflect on the glory of seeing his
+children about his knees. So far, so good. But when you have shelved him
+with a wife of the present era, when you have kept him up nights for a
+month with a baby that screams--his literary capacity will be gone. Make
+no mistake!"
+
+Mr. Weil, half convinced, and much surprised to hear such wisdom from
+this unexpected source, made an effort to maintain his ground.
+
+"Nearly all the modern novelists _are_ married," he remarked.
+
+"Yes, and nice stuff they write, don't they? Namby-pamby, silly-billy
+stories, misleading in every line! They are the most unsafe pilots on
+the shores of human life. They start, without exception, from false
+premises. Their chart is wrong, their compass unreliable, their
+reckoning ridiculous from beginning to end. Where did you ever see a bit
+of real life that resembled these abortions? Do lovers usually fall on
+their knees when they propose? Is the modern girl an idiot, knowing less
+of the facts of nature than an oyster? Is the conversation between men
+and women filled exclusively with twaddle? You would think so, from
+reading these books; and why? They are written by married people, most
+of them, people who don't dare step over the line of the commonplace any
+more than a woman would dare order her dressmaker to put pockets in her
+gown!"
+
+Archie looked at Mr. Gouger, who nodded a partial approval of these
+statements. Mr. Boggs betook himself with more interest to his chops.
+And the other two gentlemen, remarking that time pressed, bade him
+good-by for the day.
+
+"I see you agree with him that I shouldn't marry Roseleaf?" said Archie,
+with a rising inflection.
+
+"There is certainly point in what he says," replied Mr. Gouger.
+
+"But--confound it! With the boy's disposition, it will be a delicate
+business," retorted Weil. "I don't know as I can carry him to the point
+of passionate love for pretty Miss Fern, and then shut off the steam
+when it suits me."
+
+This matter was discussed for the next ten minutes, as the friends
+walked along toward the office of Cutt & Slashem.
+
+"I think you are foolish to delay so long introducing him to her," said
+Gouger, finally. "I don't see that you are making any progress
+whatever."
+
+"Ah, but I am," replied Weil. "I am making both of them more and more
+anxious for the meeting. Shirley walks the street feverishly impatient,
+and I have no doubt mutters her name in his dreams. Millicent talks
+about her ideal of manly beauty. When they get together failure will be
+impossible."
+
+Mr. Gouger laughed at the idea that Roseleaf was "feverishly impatient"
+to meet any girl, and ventured to predict that the young man would have
+to be put in irons to get him to the residence of the Ferns when the
+time came; or at least to keep him there.
+
+"Just the point I am working on," replied Weil. "Under ordinary
+circumstances I would have to handcuff his wrists to mine, but I am
+making such a strong impression on his imagination that he is crazy to
+go. And once she gets him under her influence--I tell you, Lawrence, she
+is no ordinary girl."
+
+"She certainly does not write like one," smiled the critic, "either in
+her subject or her English. You may make something of him--I rather
+think you will--but not of her. Her ideas are wild, and her realism a
+little too pronounced even for the present age."
+
+"She has truth on her side, you admit," said Archie.
+
+"Yes, to a remarkable degree."
+
+"Well, that ought to be something, if Boggs' estimate of the modern liar
+is correct. Shirley will help her to style, give her his own, if
+necessary. I am going to land both of these fish, if only to spite you,
+Lawrence. You tossed them away with that fine contempt of yours, and you
+will weep hot tears for it before you die."
+
+At the door of Cutt & Slashem's they met the two members of that firm,
+who paused to say a word to Mr. Gouger. They were anxious for a new book
+to bring out as soon as possible, and were regretting with him that
+nothing worth publishing seemed to present itself.
+
+"You may strain matters, it necessary," said Mr. Cutt. "We can't keep
+up on reprints forever. I hope you made no mistake in rejecting that
+book of Mrs. Hotbox. I hear it is selling well."
+
+Mr. Gouger's face was, as ever, immovable before his employers.
+
+"What 'Fire and Brimstone?'" he inquired. "The authorities seized the
+entire edition this morning."
+
+Mr. Cutt looked at Mr. Slashem, with a startled expression.
+
+"In that case, I am glad we escaped it," he said. "We shouldn't like
+that sort of an affair, of course."
+
+Mr. Weil, who knew both the gentlemen well, inquired what they thought
+of Mrs. Hotbox's production.
+
+"I have never seen it," said Mr. Slashem.
+
+"Nor I," said Mr. Cutt.
+
+The partners disappeared into the counting-room, where they had an
+interview with a binder who had offered to do their work at one-tenth of
+a cent a hundred copies less than the concern with which they were then
+dealing. Archie said good-by to Gouger, and went off to find Roseleaf,
+with whom he had engaged to take, later in the day, a ride through the
+Park.
+
+"How soon am I to see your paragon?" sighed the young man, as they were
+making the grand round of that famous drive.
+
+"Within a week, I hope. Are you getting uneasy?"
+
+"I am getting lonesome," was the gloomy reply. "And I want to begin
+work."
+
+"Well, it will soon pass now. To-morrow evening I am to hear another
+installment of her novel. Two more sittings after that will finish it, I
+should say. And the next thing will be--you. But have you seen no one
+else in all this time that you care for?"
+
+The young man looked aimlessly at the fleecy clouds that hung low on the
+horizon.
+
+"No," he answered.
+
+"And you think you are ready for a passionate affection, if the right
+person is found?"
+
+"I will try," he said, simply.
+
+Mr. Weil roused himself and touched his horse with the whip.
+
+"Try!" he echoed. "You will not have to try. She will carry you off your
+feet, at the first go. Shirley, I have found you a superb woman, that
+you _must_ love. All I want to feel sure of is, that you can control
+yourself enough to behave in a reasonable manner."
+
+Roseleaf looked up inquiringly.
+
+"She belongs to an eminently respectable family," explained Archie. "Her
+father is a gentleman of the most honorable type. She has a young
+sister, who--"
+
+Roseleaf, slow at all times, had at last begun to comprehend.
+
+"You surely don't think--" he began.
+
+"Ah, that is the question! A novelist must learn so very much--a
+novelist who is to depict the truth, as you are to do. Where should he
+stop? What experience should he refuse, provided it may be utilized in
+his work? A responsibility that is no light one will rest on me, my dear
+boy, when I have introduced you to this family, and left you to your
+own devices."
+
+Roseleaf's eyes opened wider at these mysterious suggestions, but he did
+not like to make any more inquiries. Weil changed the conversation,
+calling attention to the women they met, who turned their handsome heads
+to look at the young man, as their equipages almost touched his.
+
+"What an awfully wide swath you are cutting!" was Archie's exclamation,
+as the throng increased.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A DINNER AT MIDLANDS.
+
+
+True to his appointment Walker Boggs met Mr. Weil on the following
+afternoon, and set out with him for Wilton Fern's office. Though
+engaged, as has been already stated, in the wool trade, Mr. Fern did not
+have on the premises to which these worthies repaired a very large
+assortment of that product. His warehouses were in another part of the
+city, and all the wool that was visible to his customers was arranged in
+sample lots that would easily have gone into a barrel. Mr. Weil,
+notwithstanding the description that Boggs had given of his ex-partner,
+was not prepared to see such an exceedingly fine specimen of humanity as
+the one introduced to him. The word "gentleman" was written in large
+characters on his broad forehead and in every word he spoke. It
+certainly was not often, said Archie to himself, that one encountered
+that sort of man in business.
+
+"I have already heard something of you, sir," said Mr. Fern, affably,
+but with the dignity that was a part of his nature, no more to be
+discarded than his eyes. "That is, if you are the same gentleman that
+has kindly offered to assist my daughter in arranging a story she has
+written."
+
+Mr. Weil admitted the correctness of the supposition, but disclaimed any
+special credit for what he had done. He explained briefly how he was
+drawn into the case. The visit lasted upwards of an hour, during which
+the conversation wandered from literature to business and politics, and
+all sorts of things.
+
+Mr. Weil could not tell from Mr. Fern's manner of alluding to his
+daughter's work whether he had a very high idea of its value or not.
+Indeed, there was very little to be learned from this grave gentleman
+that was not expressed in the language he used. He was inclined, Archie
+thought, to reticence, for when there was a lull in the conversation it
+was always one of the others who had to start it going. The thing that
+might be counted a substantial gain, out of the whole affair, was an
+invitation to dinner for the following Wednesday, in which Mr. Roseleaf
+was included, and Mr. Boggs also.
+
+Before the Wednesday set for the formal dinner at the Ferns', Mr. Weil
+had heard the whole of Miss Millicent's novel read by the lips of that
+charming young woman. There was certainly something very strong in it,
+in spite of its grammatical faults. It would be a very good story when
+"Dr." Roseleaf had put it into a little better English.
+
+The meeting between Roseleaf and Millicent was most interesting to the
+one who had been the means of bringing them together. The girl put out
+her hand with a straightforward motion of welcome, and it was accepted
+with something resembling timidity by the young man, who did not even
+raise his eyes to hers. The talk that followed was nearly all her own,
+Shirley's part in it being largely monosyllabic replies to her
+statements and suggestions.
+
+When Miss Daisy was presented to both the gentlemen, for the first
+time--Mr. Boggs she remembered very well--she drew their attention for a
+few moments from her sister, but soon relapsed into the more
+insignificant place which she seemed to prefer. She was not as large in
+any way, as Millicent, and did not seem likely to become so. Her hair
+was of a soft shade of light brown, and her eyes a decided blue. In the
+presence of her sister she did not expect to shine, and was evidently
+relieved when she could go into a corner and talk over times long past
+with Walker Boggs.
+
+Mr. Fern came in rather late, but still before the hour announced for
+dinner. He had his habitual look of quiet elegance, but withal an
+expression of care about his face, that Weil attributed to the business
+troubles of which Boggs had spoken. The manner of the daughters toward
+him was marked by the watchful eyes of the chief conspirator. Millicent
+merely looked up and said, "Papa, this is Mr. Roseleaf, of whom we have
+spoken," and then when the greetings that followed were exchanged, went
+on talking with those about her as if there had been no interruption.
+Daisy, on the other hand, crept softly to her father's side, and putting
+an arm around his neck, kissed him when she thought no one observed her.
+
+"You are tired, papa," she whispered.
+
+"No, no!" he said, brightening. "I am very well."
+
+It was at the table that Mr. Fern had his first conversation with
+Roseleaf, and the two men got along nicely together. Shirley acquitted
+himself creditably. Weil, who saw everything, noticed that the negro,
+Hannibal, in superintending the service in the dining-room, lingered
+more about Miss Daisy's chair than any other, and took extra pains to
+see that her wants were anticipated. In spite of this, however, Mr. Fern
+frequently asked his younger daughter to have more of certain dishes, as
+if his mind was constantly turned in that direction.
+
+"How long do you think it will require to do the work you have so
+generously undertaken?" asked Mr. Fern of Roseleaf, when the dessert was
+reached.
+
+"It is impossible to say," stammered the young man. "Some weeks, at
+least."
+
+"So I supposed," said Mr. Fern. "That being the case I wish to tender
+you the hospitality of my home. It would be a great deal of trouble for
+you to come every day from the city, and I know we could make you
+comfortable here."
+
+Roseleaf was about to decline the offer with thanks, when Mr. Weil spoke
+to him in a low tone.
+
+"Take it, by all means," he said. "It's a chance in a lifetime. You know
+nothing of family life. Don't dream of refusing."
+
+The delay allowed Miss Millicent to add her request to that of her
+father, and fearing to let his protegé answer, Mr. Weil boldly spoke for
+him.
+
+"It is a good idea," he said. "He will have his baggage brought up
+to-morrow. There's nothing like being on the ground, when there's work
+to be done. And, with the general permission, I am going to run out
+pretty often myself, to see how things progress."
+
+The bright, off-hand way of the last speaker seemed to please Mr. Fern,
+for he heartily seconded this suggestion. When the table was vacated,
+Mr. Fern asked if he might be excused for a few minutes, while he wrote
+a couple of important letters, and requested Walker Boggs to show the
+guests through the grounds, where they could smoke their cigars till he
+returned.
+
+Accordingly Weil and Roseleaf accompanied their new guide out of doors
+and across an extensive lawn to an arbor at the further end, where a
+handsome prospect of the Hudson unfolded itself. As Archie was wishing
+for some feasible way of getting rid of Boggs, temporarily, that
+gentleman espied an acquaintance in the adjacent road and went off to
+speak to him.
+
+"Are you in love yet, you dog?" asked Archie, as soon as he and his
+young friend were alone. "What! You're not! Don't let an hour pass,
+then, before you are. The best of all proverbs is, 'Never put off till
+to-morrow what you can do to-day.'"
+
+"How can I do this to-day?" was the doleful response.
+
+"How can you help it, you mean? There she was at the table--Titian hair,
+hazel-grey eyes, lovely waist--everything. Love! _I_ could fall in love
+with that girl, marry her, get a divorce and commit suicide, within
+forty-eight hours."
+
+Even Roseleaf had to smile at this extravagant statement.
+
+"Do you want me to do all of those things?" he asked.
+
+"Only the first one, at present. If you can't do that, give up all ideas
+of being a novelist and secure a place in some factory or counting-room.
+Everything is ready for you. You are _persona grata_ here. Nothing can
+come in your way. Oh, don't exasperate me!"
+
+Roseleaf haltingly said he would do his best; and the next day he came
+to Midlands, prepared to spend a month or longer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HOLDING HER HAND.
+
+
+For the first three days Roseleaf gave most of his time to reading the
+MSS. that Miss Fern had written. He could not say that he liked it,
+exactly, but that was not necessary. To fill in the time, he consented
+to let the girl read his own story that Gouger had rejected, though he
+did this with trepidation, having a dread that she would think it
+insipid. When she had finished it, however, her delight was unbounded.
+
+"It is lovely!" she exclaimed, in response to his inquiring eyes. "I
+cannot see why they refused it. I haven't been so interested in a story
+in years."
+
+When he had read _her_ story through he began to rewrite it, departing
+as little as possible from the original. As soon as he had a chapter
+finished he would give it to her, for comparison, and criticism, if she
+chose to make any. She proved, however, a most charming critic, her
+shafts falling mainly upon herself, for she declared that her novel
+seemed unworthy of its elegant new dress. She conceived a shyness toward
+this quiet youth, and blushed when the striking situations and bold
+language of her tale came into the conversation. It was so different
+from his own work!
+
+"It is too bold. I am sure it is," she said, repeatedly. "I ought to
+begin again. My plot has too much freedom, too little conventionality.
+People will say a very strange girl must have written it."
+
+And he would tell her that he did not think so; that the strength of her
+ideas was very great, and that the public would find excuses enough for
+anything that interested and entertained it. He even added that he
+wished he possessed her knowledge, her insight into life, her
+fearlessness to tread on any ground that her subject made desirable.
+
+Between them they were doing very good work, without doubt. Mr. Weil
+took some of the completed chapters to Lawrence Gouger, who returned
+them with a smile that spoke volumes. Cutt & Slashem would take the
+story when it was ready, if the subsequent pages kept up to the mark of
+the first ones.
+
+"Don't forget your own book," said Gouger, in a note he enclosed for
+Roseleaf.
+
+Mr. Weil was not backward in accepting the cordial invitation he had had
+to join the Ferns at dinner whenever he could make it convenient.
+Besides this he called frequently at the wool office, and ingratiated
+himself into Mr. Fern's good graces in many ways. Within a fortnight he
+knew all there was to be known about wool, in which he seemed to have
+conceived a great interest. In his talks with Roseleaf he spoke
+learnedly on this subject, referring to the foreign and domestic
+staples, like one who had made the matter a life study.
+
+"What a queer thing trade is!" he exclaimed, on one of these occasions.
+"Here we find a man who ought to adorn an atelier, or a seat in
+Congress, and yet is obliged to guide his entire existence by the price
+of such a confoundedly dull thing as the hair on a sheep's back. He
+votes a certain political ticket on account of the attitude of the party
+on Wool; he dines off mutton and lambs' tongues; he casts his lot with
+the Sheep at church. I don't know but he would feel a genuine pleasure
+in having Wool pulled over his eyes. And still I am convinced that he
+never ought to have been in the Wool business at all, and that
+Boggs--what a drop--is right in his impression that it will eventually
+swamp him."
+
+Roseleaf asked how Mr. Fern got into the trade in the first place.
+
+"Well, as I understand it, Boggs was looking for a partner. Mrs. Fern
+had some cash and her husband wanted to put it into a good thing, from a
+financial standpoint. They did well while they were together. When Boggs
+pulled out they had a clear $200,000 apiece. Boggs--confound him!--has
+his yet; Fern hasn't. He's proud as the devil, and didn't tell me this,
+by any means. It would break him up completely to have to go into
+bankruptcy. Really, I wish I could do something for him."
+
+Roseleaf looked up inquiringly.
+
+"Why, I've got a fair amount of money," explained Archie, "and perhaps a
+lift over these hard times might be the making of him. I'm not
+particularly a philanthropist, but I like this fellow wonderfully well
+for such a new acquaintance. I shall give him a delicate hint in a day
+or two, and if I can fix things without too much risk--we have to
+protect ourselves, you know--I am willing to do so."
+
+This struck Shirley Roseleaf as rather odd. He had never thought about
+Mr. Weil in that way. Whether he was rich or poor had never entered his
+head. He began to wonder if he was very wealthy. He certainly lived
+well, and had no visible occupation of the sort the census takers call
+"gainful."
+
+"It is an interesting family, though," pursued Archie, in his rambling
+way. "I wish I could get into it as you did, you rascal, and observe it
+at shorter range. Even the servants are worth studying. Look at that
+Hannibal; who can say that the African race is inferior when it produces
+such marvels! I can hardly take my eyes off the black paragon when he is
+present. How he passes the soup--as if it were some heavenly decoction,
+made by the gods themselves and sent to earth by their favorite
+messenger! With what grace he opens the carriage door! with what majesty
+he mounts to his seat by the driver! I wonder if he has a sister. She
+would be worth a journey to see. I have met such women on their native
+soil, statuesque, slender, full-breasted, square-shouldered, with jars
+of water on their heads and clinking silver anklets. What a cursed thing
+is our American prejudice against color! No other people carries it to
+such an extent. In the Latin Quarter the West India blacks are prime
+favorites with the pretty grisettes."
+
+The young man could not help a slight shiver at this information. He did
+not in the least agree with the sentiments his friend was advancing, but
+neither did he think it wise to contradict him.
+
+"Then there is the little one--Miss Daisy"--continued Weil, branching
+suddenly into that topic. "So quiet, so self-abased, as if she would not
+for the world attract one glance that might be claimed by her elder
+sister, who is perfectly willing to be a monopolist of attention. A nice
+girl, sweet as a fresh-plucked lily. There must be treasures hidden
+under all that reticence. Still waters run deep, the silent swine devour
+the milk. I think I ought to investigate the child. If you are to have
+that aggregation of beauty known as Millicent, what prevents me from
+securing a slight hold in the affections of the junior?"
+
+Roseleaf shook his head in a way that might have meant almost anything.
+He never could tell how much in earnest his friend was when he took up a
+vein like this. Neither could he imagine little Daisy in the role of an
+entertainer for such a very wise man as Archie, not only much her senior
+but a thousand times her superior in knowledge and acquaintance with
+things that people talk about.
+
+"Keep your eye on her--she will be worth watching," said Weil, with one
+of his laughs at the sober face before him. "She is worth almost as much
+to a rising author as the negro--not quite, but nearly. Then there is
+the pater-familias; is there anything in him? No, he will be of no
+service to you. And that brings us back to our superb Millicent, with
+whom you must now be wildly infatuated."
+
+Roseleaf shook his head again.
+
+"No--not yet," he said.
+
+"But, what do you do all the time? How can you sit by the side of a
+pretty girl, and kiss her cheeks, and put your arm around her, and yet
+keep from falling in love?"
+
+The younger man gasped at each of these suggestions, like one who has
+stepped into icy water and feels it gradually creeping upward.
+
+"I have done none of those things," he faltered.
+
+"None of them! Then I shall not let you stay here!" cried Archie. "What
+does the girl expect? That we are going to make her reputation in the
+literary world and get nothing for ourselves? I never heard such
+effrontery! She refuses to give you the least opportunity, does she--the
+jade!"
+
+More and more confused grew the other at these expressions.
+
+"You don't understand--you are quite in error," he articulated.
+"She--she has refused me nothing, because--because I have asked
+nothing."
+
+Mr. Weil uttered a disheartened groan.
+
+"But this will not do, my dear fellow!" he said. "How can you accomplish
+anything unless you make a beginning? Rewriting the story that she has
+written will not advance you one step on the path you profess such
+anxiety to tread. That is only an excuse--a make-believe--a pretence
+under which you have been given quarters in this house and allowed every
+chance in creation to learn your lesson. Are you afraid of her, or what
+is the matter? Does she overpower you with her beauty? Tell me where
+your difficulty lies."
+
+But Shirley could hardly answer these apparently simple questions. He
+said he feared the trouble might be in the formality of the situation.
+How could Mr. Weil expect, he asked, that a spontaneous case of
+love-making would develop from such a condition of things.
+
+"Stuff!" cried Archie, with a grimace. "If you and she were members of a
+theatrical company, and were cast as a pair of lovers, you wouldn't find
+so many pitfalls. You would go ahead and repeat the lines of your part,
+wouldn't you? All you want is to do the same now."
+
+"But what _are_ the 'lines of my part?'" inquired the other, dolefully.
+
+"Take her hand once in yours and they will come to you," retorted Weil.
+
+Roseleaf reddened so much that Archie regretted the severity of his
+tone, and hastened to turn the conversation to something more agreeable.
+He made up his mind, however, to have a talk with Miss Fern, and at the
+first opportunity he did so. It was on an afternoon when he knew
+Roseleaf was in the city, and he came to the point at once, after his
+own fashion.
+
+"How are you and my young friend getting along?" he asked her.
+
+"Oh, as well as possible," she responded. "I am learning to like him
+more and more. I really shall be sorry when his task is done."
+
+Mr. Weil shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"There's a bit of selfishness in your words, Miss Fern," he said. "Have
+you forgotten that he is not here to be useful to _you_ alone; that you
+agreed to do what you could for _him_, as well?"
+
+The girl cast down her pretty eyes in confusion.
+
+"I am sure I have tried to be agreeable," she replied, gently.
+
+"That is not enough," replied Archie, gravely. "What he needs is
+something--some one--to stir his blood, to awaken his fancy. I told you
+in the first place that you ought to make him fall in love with you--for
+literary reasons. He must feel a sensation stronger than mere friendship
+for a woman before he can write such a story as will bring him fame."
+
+Miss Millicent did not grow more comfortable under this suggestion. She
+remarked, after a long wait, that she did not see how the end sought was
+to be accomplished. Love, she said, was not a mere expression, it was a
+deep, actual entity. Two people, playing at love with each other, might
+afterwards find that they were experimenting with fire.
+
+"I have heard," she continued, her fair cheeks growing crimson, "that
+there are women--"
+
+Then she paused and could go no further. But he understood.
+
+"There are women--thousands of them," he admitted, "who would willingly
+do what I ask. If it is necessary, he must go to them."
+
+She wanted to say that she hoped it would not come to that--she wanted
+to convey to her companion the horror she felt for what she supposed his
+words implied--but she could not. It was so much easier to write of
+things than to talk of them to a man like him.
+
+"Do you call it quite fair," he asked, "to claim all and give nothing?
+He does not require much. Could you not let him take your hand, and--"
+
+"And--"
+
+"Possibly, touch your lips with his?"
+
+Miss Fern rose to her feet with a fierce gesture.
+
+"Sir!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Very well," replied Mr. Weil, shortly, turning away.
+
+The girl resumed her seat, with rapidly rising and falling bosom. She
+was in a quandary. The suggestion she had heard would have sounded from
+any other lips like a premeditated insult. Coming from this man the
+venom seemed to have vanished.
+
+Roseleaf felt somewhat discouraged after his latest talk with Weil. He
+wanted to make a start, to do something, no matter how little, toward
+the object he fully believed was to be attained. That evening while
+walking with Miss Fern (for it was their frequent habit to go out of
+doors unchaperoned) he found himself unconsciously taking her hand--that
+hand for which he had until now felt a genuine fright. And she, after
+all her resolutions never to permit anything of the sort, gave it to
+him, as they strolled together along an unfrequented byway.
+
+"I want so much to make a Name," he was saying fervently. "I have tried
+and tried to begin such a book as Mr. Gouger wants, but I cannot. Won't
+you help me, dear Miss Fern? Won't you show me what I lack? I know you
+can, if you will. They tell me I have had no experiences, and that I
+must have--not a real affair, you know, but an inkling of what it is
+like. I have tried to say things to you and have been in fear that you
+would not like them, and have held my peace. But now, I can wait no
+longer."
+
+In his exuberance Roseleaf spoke at last with ardor, and even went so
+far as to attempt to put one of his arms around the waist of the fair
+creature by his side. On her part Miss Fern was nearly overcome by
+surprise.
+
+In one instant the timid young gentleman had changed into the similitude
+of a most ardent swain; but in the next he became again his natural
+self, with the added confusion resulting from his excited and mortified
+state.
+
+"Let me take you home," he said, when he saw that she could find no
+words even to chide him. "Let me take you home; and to-morrow I will go
+away."
+
+Go away! She did not like that idea! Her book was not yet finished, for
+one thing; and besides he was a nice young fellow, and had meant no
+offense.
+
+"There is no reason why you should go," she stammered. "I forgive you, I
+am sure."
+
+"Do you!" cried Roseleaf, grasping her hand again in his joy. "You are
+kindness itself to say so. I must appear very stupid" (here he half put
+his arm around her again, checking himself with difficulty from
+completeing the movement) "and dull, and wanting in manners, but you are
+the only young lady I have ever known on terms of the least intimacy."
+
+Miss Fern replied that she did not mind what had occurred, and hoped he
+would forget it. She added that she would do anything she could for
+him, and had the most earnest wish that they should be friends.
+
+At the gate they paused, and in some way their eyes were looking into
+each other. The girl laughed, a relief to feelings that had been for the
+past ten minutes somewhat overcharged.
+
+"Well, you have made a beginning," she said, mischievously, for she
+wanted to drive the sober expression from his clouded face.
+
+"A beginning?" he echoed.
+
+"Yes," she said. "You have held my hand."
+
+He crimsoned.
+
+"You said you would forgive me," he murmured.
+
+"With all my heart," she responded, putting the hand in his again.
+
+He felt a thrill go through him, but it was a pleasant sensation.
+
+"I came very near putting my arm around you," said he, looking away from
+her. "Do you forgive that, too?"
+
+She took the hand away and struck him playfully on the cheek with the
+palm of it.
+
+Then, before he surmised what she intended, she ran brightly up the
+steps of the house and vanished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"DAISY, MY DARLING!"
+
+
+It was Roseleaf's full intention to say something about this adventure
+to his instructor in the art of love, Mr. Archie Weil, but somehow he
+was not able to summon the requisite courage. He had a delicate sense
+that such a thing ought not to be repeated, where it might by any
+possibility bring a laugh. And about this time the novelist's attention
+began to be attracted toward the younger sister, who had till then
+almost entirely escaped his observation.
+
+He noticed particularly the ceaseless devotion that the black servant of
+the family exhibited toward her. She might have been a goddess and he a
+devotee; a queen and he her slave. Hannibal moved about the girl like
+her very shadow, ready to anticipate her slightest wants, while Daisy
+seemed to take this excess of attention as a matter of course.
+
+Millicent constantly showed her dislike for the servant.
+
+"I don't see how you can endure to have him touch you," she said to
+Daisy. "He knows better than to lay his hands on me. I have told papa
+often that I want him discharged, and he ought to consider my wishes a
+little."
+
+To this Daisy answered that the boy, as she persisted in calling the
+giant, meant well and was certainly intelligent. Her father did not like
+to change servants, for it took him a long time to get used to new
+ones. So Millicent tossed her head, returned to her collaboration with
+Mr. Roseleaf, and things went on as usual.
+
+Imperceptibly Shirley began to take an interest in Daisy. She did not
+run away from him, and he discovered, much to his surprise, that she was
+worth talking to. She was not exactly the child he had supposed, and she
+had the full value of her eighteen years in her pretty head. He got into
+the habit of taking short strolls with her, on evenings when Millicent
+was occupied with Archie, and when, as often happened, Mr. Fern was away
+with Hannibal in the city. There was a sequestered nook at the far end
+of the lawn, in which the pair found retreat. Before he realized it,
+Roseleaf had developed a genuine liking for these rambles, and was
+pleased when the evenings came that brought Mr. Weil to dinner.
+
+Daisy was ingenuous, to a degree, if surface indications counted for
+anything. The words that flowed from her red lips were as unstudied as
+the pretty attitudes she assumed, or the exceedingly plain but very
+becoming dresses that she wore. After she once got "used" to Roseleaf
+she treated him quite as if she had been five years his senior.
+
+"Are you a rich man?" she asked him, on one of those early autumn
+evenings that they passed together.
+
+Her manner was as simple as if she had said that it looked like rain,
+and his answer was hardly less so.
+
+"No, Daisy. I have not much property, but I intend to earn more,
+by-and-by. Did you think, because I seem so idle, that I was a
+millionaire?"
+
+"No," she answered, a shade of disappointment in her face. "I only
+wanted, in case you had plenty of money, to get you to lend me some."
+
+He stared at her through the half-light. Her features were turned in a
+direction that did not reveal them very well. What did she want of
+money!
+
+"How much do you need?" he inquired, wondering if it was within his
+power to oblige her.
+
+"Oh, too much, I am afraid. And I cannot answer any questions, because
+the object I have is a secret. I don't think my plan very feasible, for
+it might be years and years before I could pay it back. You won't mind
+my speaking of it, will you?"
+
+Curiosity grew stronger, and as politely as possible he renewed his
+question as to how much the girl needed to carry out her plan.
+
+"I don't know, exactly," she said, thoughtfully. "Perhaps a thousand
+dollars a year for five or six years; it might take less."
+
+"It is a great deal," he admitted. "Does your father know what you
+contemplate?"
+
+The girl changed color at once.
+
+"Oh, no. I should not like to have him, either. He would say it was very
+foolish. And yet I am sure it would not be. The money would do much
+good--yes, ever so much."
+
+The young man thought hard for a few moments. A desire to see a brighter
+light flash into those young eyes possessed him. He debated seriously
+the idea of handing her his patrimony, as he would have given her a
+pound of candy if she had wanted it.
+
+"I might give you part," he said, after a pause. "Perhaps your thousand
+for the first year or two."
+
+She looked him full in the face, and put both her hands in his
+impulsively.
+
+"You are too good," she exclaimed, with fervor. "But you cannot afford
+so large a gift. No, I would only take it if you had a very large sum,
+and could not possibly miss it. I asked carelessly. I should not have
+done so--I was selfish to think of such a thing."
+
+"I want to speak to you about something, also," said Roseleaf, after a
+strained pause. "I have noticed of late that your father has some
+trouble on his mind."
+
+She started suddenly.
+
+"Ah!" was all she said.
+
+"And I have wondered if there was anything I could do to--to aid
+_him_--to relieve him. Because, I would like it very much if I could, on
+account of--of--"
+
+She looked up inquiringly.
+
+"I have been so much a member of your family, in a certain way, that a
+grief like this appeals strongly to me," he said, haltingly.
+
+She paled slightly as she repeated his words.
+
+"A grief?"
+
+"Well, distress, annoyance, whatever it may be called. If there is
+anything I can do, I shall be more than happy."
+
+The girl sat for some moments with her eyes on the ground.
+
+"He _is_ troubled," she said, finally. "I am glad to talk with you, for
+I cannot get him to tell me anything. He is greatly troubled, and I am
+worried beyond expression. I can't understand it. He has always confided
+in me so thoroughly, but now he shakes his head and says it is nothing,
+trying to look brighter even when the tears are almost ready to fall.
+What can it be, Mr. Roseleaf? He has no companions outside of his office
+and this house? He sits by himself, and isn't a bit like he used to be
+and every day I think he grows worse."
+
+Roseleaf asked if Daisy had talked much with her sister about it.
+
+"No," she said, with a headshake. "I don't believe Millie has noticed
+anything. She is so occupied with her literary matters"--there was a
+sarcastic touch upon the word, that did not escape the listener--"she
+has no time for such things. I hope you won't think I mean to criticise
+her," added the young girl, with a blush. "I know you care a great deal
+for my sister, and--"
+
+She stopped in the midst of the sentence, leaving it unfinished. And
+Roseleaf thought how interesting this girl had become.
+
+"Let me confide in you, Daisy," he said, in his softest tone. "I do not
+care 'a great deal,' nor even a very little for your sister. You see,"
+he went on, in response to the startled look that greeted him, "I am to
+be a novelist. To be successful in writing fiction, I have been told
+that I ought to be in love--just once--myself. And I came here and tried
+very hard to fall in love with Miss Millicent; and I simply cannot."
+
+Daisy's fresh young laugh rang out on the air of the evening.
+
+"Poor man!" she cried, with mock pity. "And hasn't she tried to help
+you?"
+
+"No. She hasn't. And as soon as I get the work done I have commenced for
+her, I am going away."
+
+The child--she was scarcely more than that--grew whiter, but the shadows
+of the evening hid the fact from her companion.
+
+"You ought not to go," she said, slowly, and rather faintly, "until you
+have made another trial."
+
+"Oh! It is useless!" he replied.
+
+"Is it that you cannot love--Millie--or that you cannot love--any one?"
+
+He hesitated, puzzled, himself, at the question.
+
+"I never did love any one--any woman," he confessed, "and perhaps I
+never shall. But your sister seems peculiarly hard to love. Yet she is a
+very handsome girl and equipped with a mind of unusual calibre."
+
+Daisy acknowledged this description of her sister's charms. She remarked
+that it was strange that such a combination did not suffice to
+accomplish the desired result.
+
+"There are people who do find her entertaining," she added. "Mr. Weil is
+one of them."
+
+"Oh, Archie!" said Roseleaf. "He finds everything entertaining. It is
+nothing worth remarking. She is the exact description of his ideal in
+feminine face and form. He once gave me the list of the excellencies of
+a 'perfect woman,' and your sister has them all."
+
+The younger Miss Fern had her own opinions about this matter. She
+thought the innocent man at her side had not quite gauged the interest
+that Mr. Weil took in her family.
+
+"I will make a proposition," she said, with a light laugh, when they had
+talked longer upon the subject. "I am afraid it won't seem worth much to
+you, and perhaps you can do better; but why can't you stay here, and--if
+Millie won't do--make love to _me_?"
+
+Darkness is responsible for many things. In the light, Daisy could not
+have uttered those words, even in jest. There, when the sun had set and
+the stars were not yet on duty, she found the courage to make that
+suggestion.
+
+"You are very kind," he stammered, when he grasped her meaning. "But I
+do not think it will answer. I am afraid love cannot be pushed to any
+point without its own initiative."
+
+"That is probably the case with _real_ love," replied the girl, "but an
+imitation that would serve your purpose might be evolved in the way I
+have indicated. For instance, you could take my hand in yours--like
+this--and I could lean toward you in--this way. And then, if you had
+sufficient courage--"
+
+Before he dreamed of doing it, it was done! He had kissed her on her
+tempting lips, placed within an inch of his own.
+
+"You are too good a scholar," she pouted, rising to her feet in some
+confusion. "I did not give you leave to do that."
+
+"I beg your pardon most humbly," he answered, with intense contrition.
+"May I assure you that the act was wholly involuntary and that I am very
+sorry for it?"
+
+She turned and surveyed him in the shadow.
+
+"Are--you--_very_--sorry?" she repeated.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I have made you angry."
+
+"Do I seem angry?"
+
+"At least, I have injured your feelings."
+
+Her face was close to his again.
+
+"Well, I forgive you. There, let us make up."
+
+She raised herself on the tips of her toes and kissed him twice.
+
+All the blood in this young man's body seemed to rush to his head and
+then back with violence to his heart.
+
+"_Daisy!_" he stammered. "_Daisy!_"
+
+But she sprang away as he tried to embrace her, and standing two yards
+off, tauntingly cried that he did not know what love was, and that no
+one could ever teach him. Taking up the challenge he started toward her.
+She ran away, he in pursuit. She had gone but a few steps when she
+tripped over an object in the path and went down. In trying to stop
+himself Roseleaf fell by her side.
+
+"Daisy!" he cried. "Are you injured?"
+
+She did not answer. In the darkness he saw her lying there so still that
+he was frightened. He caught her passionately in his arms, and knew no
+better way to bring her to consciousness than to rain kisses on her
+cheeks. As might be expected this only served to prolong her swoon,
+which was not a very genuine one, if the truth must be told, and it was
+some seconds before she opened her eyes and caught him, as one might
+say, in the act.
+
+"How dare you!" she demanded, shrinking away from him.
+
+"Daisy, my darling!" he answered, his voice tremulous. "I thought you
+were dead, and I knew for the first time how dearly, how truly I loved
+you!"
+
+She laughed, not very heartily. She had hurt herself truly in her fall,
+and her feminine nerves were jarred.
+
+"You are doing nicely," she said. "For a beginner, one could ask nothing
+better. And now, if you will help to rise, I think it would be more
+proper."
+
+"No." He spoke with force and passion. "You must not think I am
+trifling. _I love you!_ Yes, I love you! _I worship you!_"
+
+"I do not see," she remarked, insisting in spite of him that she must
+assume a standing position, "how you differ in your expressions from the
+lovers I have read of in novels. It is quite time that we returned to
+the house. To-morrow, if you like, I will give you another lesson."
+
+Shirley was a picture of utter despair. His new sensations almost
+overwhelmed him. In one second the dead arteries in his body had leaped
+into the fullest life. The touch of that young maiden's lips had
+galvanized him. He could not bear to leave her with those mocking words.
+But at that moment a voice was heard in the direction of the residence.
+
+"Miss--Dai-sy! Miss--Dai-sy!"
+
+It was Hannibal, who had returned from a drive with Mr. Fern. They could
+see him dimly coming across the lawn with the girl's cloak in his hand.
+Daisy, with one quick grasp of the fingers that hung close to hers, said
+good-night to her companion, and started in the direction of the
+servant. If she intended--as seemed probable--to pretend she was out
+alone, Roseleaf did not mean to share in that deception, and he followed
+close behind her.
+
+"Here I am, Hannibal," called Daisy. "Ah, you have my coat. It was very
+kind of you. Has papa come home? I am coming in. I did not think how
+late it was."
+
+The negro stopped as he saw the strollers, and knew that they had
+undoubtedly been together. What more he suspected no one can say with
+certainty. But he threw the cloak upon the grass that bordered the
+pathway and turned on his heel without a word.
+
+"Confound his impudence!" exclaimed Roseleaf, when he had recovered
+sufficiently from his surprise to speak. "I have a good notion to
+follow him and box his ears."
+
+The soft hand of the girl was on his sleeve in a moment.
+
+"Say nothing to him--_please!_" she answered. "He--he is very thoughtful
+for me--of my health--and I was careless. Papa must have sent him."
+
+The touch on his arm mollified the young man at once. He tried to make
+out the lines of the pretty face that was so near him and yet so far
+away.
+
+"We are to study again to-morrow, then," he said, taking up her
+statement with an assumed air of gayety. "At what hour?"
+
+But she broke away from him abruptly, and ran into the house without a
+word. Hannibal stood in the doorway and Roseleaf thought he
+distinguished harsh sounds from the negro's lips; but this seemed so
+incredible that he conceived his senses at fault.
+
+Looking at his watch the novelist saw that it was still early enough to
+take a stroll by himself and ponder over his new happiness--or misery,
+which was it?--under the open sky. It was two hours later that his
+latchkey turned in the door, and in that time he had resolved either to
+make Daisy Fern his wife or commit suicide in the most expeditious
+fashion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"OH, SO MANY, MANY MAIDS!"
+
+
+The only disagreeable thing about falling in love with Daisy was that
+Roseleaf felt compelled to reveal the truth to Archie Weil. He believed
+he was bound to do this by a solemn contract which he had no moral right
+to ignore. Perhaps Weil might claim that he had no business to fall in
+love with one sister when his "manager" had picked out the other for
+this operation. Be that as it may, there was no use in evading the
+question. It must be talked over, be the result what it might.
+
+"Well, I know what love is now," was the abrupt way in which the young
+man opened the subject on the following afternoon.
+
+He had ridden to the city, as Weil was not expected at the residence of
+Mr. Fern that day. The hope he had formed the previous evening of
+getting another interview with Daisy had not materialized, she having
+gone on some short journey before he could intercept her.
+
+"You do!" was the equally abrupt reply, uttered in a tone that betrayed
+undoubted astonishment. "What do you mean?"
+
+Roseleaf reddened.
+
+"It came to me all at once, last evening," he said, avoiding the gaze of
+his companion. "We were down at the end of the lawn, you know--"
+
+Archie interrupted him with a sudden shout.
+
+"Not _Daisy_!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You are in love with _Daisy_!"
+
+Roseleaf bowed.
+
+"Upon my word!"
+
+There was nothing in any of these expressions that conveyed the
+information which the younger man craved, namely, whether his friend
+approved what he had announced, but he stole a look at him and saw that
+he appeared more astounded than angry.
+
+"You dear boy," he said, "I don't know what to say to you. You blush
+like a maiden over the acknowledgment. I am half inclined to believe you
+are the girl in the case, and your partner in love some great, strapping
+fellow on whose bosom you intend to pillow your coy head. So it is
+Daisy, eh? And last night it came to you? Tell me how it happened."
+
+Comforted in a measure by the good nature of his friend, Roseleaf
+proceeded to give the outlines of what had occurred, suppressing the
+more intimate facts with which the luckier reader is acquainted. He
+admitted the touch of hands, but did not mention the pressure of lips to
+lips. He told of the girl's swoon, but said nothing of the extraordinary
+measures adopted to bring her to her senses. But, while he made no
+insinuations, nor pretended to see through the meshes in this net, the
+experience of Mr. Weil served him in good stead. He could fill in the
+vacant places in the story with substantial correctness.
+
+"I don't know what Miss Millicent will say to all this," he remarked,
+when the recital came to a pause.
+
+"I think she was just beginning to like you a little herself. Most of
+our talk last evening was about you, and when I mentioned, as I took my
+leave, that you were probably out walking with Daisy, I could see
+distinct traces of jealousy. I want to be fair with my client. I told
+her that you came there to learn love from her, not from her little
+sister. If all this should result in breaking her heart, I don't see how
+I could excuse myself. And the other one, she seems such a child, I
+never thought of her in that connection. Why, how old is she--not over
+eighteen, I think."
+
+Roseleaf answered that Daisy would be nineteen on her next birthday, an
+ingenious way of stating age that was not original with him.
+
+"All right," said Archie, digesting this statement slowly. "And now,
+what is your programme?"
+
+Roseleaf looked surprised at the business-like nature of the question.
+
+"I mean to secure her consent to marry me, as soon as possible," he
+said.
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Why, see her father, I suppose. Isn't that the most important thing to
+do?"
+
+Mr. Weil shook his head decidedly.
+
+"Not by any means. You must not act with undue haste. Mr. Fern would say
+she was too young to think of matrimony, a proposition you could not
+successfully dispute. Besides, should he happen to give his consent and
+appoint a week from Wednesday for the happy occasion, see what a mess
+it would put you in."
+
+The suggestion caused the brightest of smiles to illumine the
+countenance of the listener.
+
+"It would make me the happiest of mortals!" he cried. "There is nothing
+that could prevent my summoning the clergyman and securing the prize I
+desire."
+
+Mr. Weil grunted.
+
+"H--m! And in the meanwhile what would become of your great novel?"
+
+This question brought a sober pause to the young novelist.
+
+"I could write it after my wedding," he answered, finally.
+
+"Could you? You could write nothing at all then--nothing that any one
+would pay a cent to read. I have told you from the start that what you
+want is a _grande passion_, something to stir your soul to its depths.
+You are on the verge of that experience. Already you have had a glimpse
+of what it will be like. For the first time the touch of a woman's
+fingers has driven sleep from your eyelids. No, you didn't tell me you
+laid awake all night, but I saw it by looking at you. You can shut
+yourself up in your room now, and rhapsodize over the dear face, the
+lovely mouth, the soft voice of your beloved. In another week, if this
+keeps on, you can write like a combination of George Eliot (after she
+met Lewes) and Amelie Rives (before her marriage). A month later, Gouger
+might rave over your productions, for you will be on the Matterhorn of
+bliss unsatisfied."
+
+A slight laugh, at his own excess of description, issued from the lips
+of Mr. Weil, but the countenance of his companion was as firm as a rock.
+
+"You are right," said Roseleaf, gravely. "Already I see the vast
+difference between this sensation of love and the thing I imagined it to
+be when I wrote those silly pages that Cutt & Slashem did so well to
+reject. But I am torn between two desires. I want to write my
+novel--until yesterday I thought no wish could be so great. And I also
+want my wife." He breathed the word with a simple reverence that
+affected even the flinty heart of his hearer. "I shall never rest easy
+until I find her wholly mine, to love, honor and cherish while God gives
+me breath!"
+
+The hand of the elder man dropped heavily on the table by his side.
+
+"_Good!_" he exclaimed. "_Very_ good! You could not have said it better.
+There is an opportunity before you to accomplish both of these things. I
+only wish to impress upon you the fact that they must come in the order
+I have indicated, or one of them will never come at all. Write your
+story while the fever of passion is on you. The dead calm of married
+life would only bring the sort of novel that the shelves are already
+piled with, nauseating to the public and a drug in the hands of the
+publishers."
+
+Roseleaf doubted the full correctness of these conclusions. He thought,
+with that dear girl by his side, he could write with all the fervor of a
+sweetheart, for his affection was to have no boundary, no limit, no end.
+But he had a high opinion of the abilities of Mr. Weil, and he had no
+idea of disputing the conclusions of that wise guide.
+
+"Do you think she will accept me?" he asked, wistfully, returning to the
+main question. "It came so sudden, and there was very little said, and
+it was late; and then Hannibal came after her, and she went into the
+house. Everything was left in a state of uncertainty."
+
+"Did nothing show whether you were indifferent to her?" was the wily
+interrogation that followed. "Usually I believe something conveys the
+sweet word 'hope' to the waiting one. And what do you say about
+Hannibal? That he came to call your charmer and took her away from you?"
+
+Without reserve the young man repeated what had happened. Archie seemed
+deeply interested, but whatever his thoughts he did not express them at
+the time.
+
+"And that reminds me of another thing," said Roseleaf. "Have you noticed
+anything strange about Mr. Fern?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Weil, "I have noticed. I wondered if you had done the
+same. Have you discovered what the trouble is?"
+
+"No, and Daisy doesn't know, either. Indeed, she is much distressed
+about it. Remember, this is a secret between us, for perhaps I had no
+right to talk of their affairs. He is in a state of great depression,
+and as he is so regular in his habits I can't imagine what to lay it to.
+You are so shrewd, couldn't you find out?"
+
+Mr. Weil rose and took a few paces up and down the room.
+
+"You are the fellow to do that, not I," he said, presently. "Yes, hear
+me out. You are in a sense a member of his family, and would have a
+natural right to allude to the state of his health. Then, if you were to
+put in a word about Miss Daisy--why, you might kill several birds with
+one stone."
+
+Roseleaf looked much puzzled.
+
+"I thought," he said, "that you wanted me to postpone the matter of my
+marriage as long as possible."
+
+"Your marriage, yes. But not the preliminaries. They may require a dozen
+bouts with the old gentleman. The first time he will probably laugh you
+out of the room as a silly young noodle; the second he will say that he
+has nothing against you personally, but that his 'baby' is too infantile
+to think of such things for ten years yet; the third he will begin to
+see the situation in its right light, and after that it will be only a
+matter of detail. All these things will be of the greatest value to you
+in the novel you are going to write, and you must not on your life miss
+a single one of them.
+
+"Drop into the wool shop, catch his royal highness there, and for the
+first thing express solicitude for his health. Unless he is on his guard
+more than is likely you ought to catch some slight straw to show what
+ails him. Then follow it up with a word or two about Miss Daisy, and you
+will have spent a good afternoon, even if he doesn't smile on your suit
+at first hand, and take you to his manly breast as his long-lost
+son-in-law."
+
+The reasonings set forth in these propositions were so evidently correct
+that Roseleaf resolved to adopt them just as soon as he could bring
+himself into the proper mood. In the meantime, however, he wanted to
+have a little further talk with Daisy, for he could hardly ask her
+father for her hand without the semblance of permission on her part. He
+tried to remember all she had said to him at the foot of the lawn, and
+was compelled to admit that it was very little indeed. The only things
+he was certain of were the kisses, but his experiences were so slight
+that he could not tell how much weight to give even these.
+
+That evening he tried his best to get a word with her alone, but she
+eluded him, and he was obliged to go to the boudoir of her sister and
+read over that young lady's MSS. as it stood revised by his careful
+hands.
+
+"Well, another chapter will finish it," said Miss Fern, when he put down
+the pages. "And then Mr. Gouger will decide whether Cult & Slashem
+consider it worth printing."
+
+"Yes," he answered, gravely. "They will print _your_ story now, without
+doubt. But _I_ am as far as ever from satisfying their requirements."
+
+Millicent thought how supremely selfish she must seem, talking always of
+her own hopes and doing nothing to help the one who had made her success
+possible. She saw that he wore a dejected look, and she began to
+sincerely pity him. When our own ships are safely in sight of the
+harbor we have more time to dwell on the derelicts in which the property
+of our friends is embarked.
+
+"Perhaps, when we get this disposed of, I can help you," she suggested.
+
+It was nearly a week before Roseleaf could get another talk with Daisy,
+a week that tried him to the utmost, for he could think of nothing but
+her, and could not understand her reasons for treating him so strangely.
+At last he wrote her a letter, giving it to Hannibal to deliver, in
+which he said that he was about to return to his city lodging and wanted
+to know if she meant him to leave without a kind word at parting. He
+thought the negro looked peculiar as he took the note, half as if he did
+not intend to accept the commission to deliver it; but he concluded that
+this must be imagination. He wondered why Archie Weil took such a fancy
+to Hannibal. If Roseleaf was lucky enough to claim Daisy as his wife, he
+would never have that figure darken his door.
+
+The letter must have been taken to its destination without delay, for an
+answer was brought in the course of an hour, stating in the briefest
+language that Miss Daisy would await him in the parlor, after lunch.
+
+At the table Miss Fern was present, as usual, but not her father, his
+business in the city keeping him away at that hour. At meals it was
+Daisy's habit to say little, leaving the conversation to her sister and
+whoever else happened to be there. At the end of this particular lunch
+Millicent went up stairs to her chamber and Daisy betook herself to the
+parlor, followed a few minutes later by the young man.
+
+"Why have you treated me so coldly?" were his first words, when he found
+himself alone with her.
+
+"Oh, dear, that is a very bad beginning!" she said, smiling. "I shall
+have to instruct you in some of the simplest things, I see already. When
+you wish to make friends with a woman, don't begin by scolding her. I am
+here because you wrote that you wished a kind word. Don't give me too
+many cross ones, please."
+
+He sighed impatiently.
+
+"Daisy," he exclaimed. "I hope you are not going to make fun of me! I
+have passed a most miserable week. After the glimpse of heaven you gave
+me, that evening--"
+
+She put on an air of mock surprise.
+
+"Did I do that! It was much more than I intended, then. I fear you are
+inclined to use extravagant metaphors, Mr. Roseleaf. But, never mind.
+You are going away, and I am very, very sorry. However, as you came here
+on Millie's account, and not on mine, I suppose I have no right to say
+so."
+
+The fair brow of the young man was a mass of wrinkles.
+
+"I can't understand why you speak so lightly," he answered. "You know--I
+told you--that I love you--that there is nothing in all the world so
+dear to me--that I want your promise to be my wife. I can't go from here
+without that consolation. Daisy, I ask you, in all sincerity, to say
+that as soon as your father's consent is obtained, you will name a day
+when you will marry me."
+
+The smile faded from the girl's lips. Something brought to her mind a
+very sad reflection.
+
+"You ask a great deal," she said. "Much more, I think, than you realize.
+Until a week ago I was nothing to you. We lived under the same roof, we
+took our evening strolls together, we talked like the commonest
+acquaintances, and that was all. Then, in a moment, you discovered that
+your heart was on fire. I have not ascertained what made the marvellous
+change. I am sure you cannot tell yet if it be a genuine and lasting
+one. Were I inclined to believe I ever should be willing to go to the
+lengths of which you speak, I should assuredly want time for the
+maturest reflection. In the first place, I know almost nothing about
+you. One would not engage a--a coachman--without more inquiry. How can a
+girl promise to trust her entire future to a man with whom she has but a
+casual acquaintance? Such things need consideration. I know my father
+would say so. And if he heard only the nicest things about you, I doubt
+if he would like to have you take me from him--especially now, when his
+heart is heavy and he leans so much on my love and care. No, you are in
+too great haste."
+
+His impatience grew to boiling heat as he listened. How could she find
+so many reasons, and (he was obliged to confess) such sensible ones, to
+bring against him?
+
+"There is one thing you _can_ do," he said, with an attitude of deep
+dejection. "You can tell me if you love me."
+
+She tossed her head with a feminine movement that was wholly charming.
+
+"Yes, I could tell you that, but it would be a very improper thing,
+under the circumstances, provided I was able to give you the answer you
+seem to wish. If I did care for you, would I like to say so in definite
+words when anything further might turn out to be impossible? A girl
+would not wish to have a man that she was never to marry going about
+with the recollection that she said, 'I love you.'"
+
+"Then you can say nothing at all?" he asked sadly. "Shall I be uncertain
+whether at the end of my term in purgatory I am to be raised to a state
+of bliss or dashed into the Inferno?"
+
+She laughed; a delicious little laugh.
+
+"You are getting hyperbolical," she answered. "There are ten thousand
+better women than I."
+
+"But I don't want them," pleaded the young man. "Did you ever read the
+lines of Jean Ingelow:
+
+    "'Oh so many, many, many
+    Maids and yet my heart undone.
+    What to me are all or any?
+    I have lost--my--one.'"
+
+Daisy replied that the sentiment was very sweet, and added that when a
+lover could quote such admirable poetry with accuracy, there was hope
+for him. Do what he would, Roseleaf could not make her see that
+everything in his future life depended on "one little word" from her.
+She persisted that he was misled by the violence of his first
+affection, and that if he would only let a month or two pass he would
+discover that his pulse would fall off a number of beats to the minute.
+
+"And is that what you want?" he asked, reproachfully. "Would you like to
+have me come back two months later, and tell you my love had ceased?"
+
+"Yes, if it was the truth. How much better than to learn it after my
+vows had been pledged and I was bound to you for the rest of my days!"
+
+He rose and went with quick steps to her side, catching up her hand and
+covering it with kisses. She did her best to stop him, whispering, with
+a glance toward the door, that they might be interrupted at any minute.
+
+"By whom!" he retorted, stung at her coldness. "Your sister has gone up
+stairs, and there is no one else in the house."
+
+"Hannibal might come in," she said, in a low tone. "He has no way of
+knowing that I do not wish to be interrupted."
+
+He grew angry at the mention of that name. But the warning had its
+effect and he sat down, nearer to her than before, his heart beating
+rapidly.
+
+"I hate the fellow!" he exclaimed bitterly. "It is a good thing I am
+going away, or I should strike him some day for his insolence!"
+
+Daisy paled at the vehemence of her companion.
+
+"Has he been insolent to you?" she murmured.
+
+"To me? He would not dare! What angers me is the way he speaks to the
+rest of you. He came with your cloak that night, acting as if he was
+your master, instead of your servant. I have heard him speak to Mr.
+Fern in a way that made me want to kick him! Why does your father bear
+it? Why do you? Has Hannibal some mysterious hold on his situation?"
+
+The girl heard him patiently, though the roses did not come at once to
+her white cheek.
+
+"I am afraid," she said, when he had finished his tirade, "that you
+despise him for his color. It is a prejudice that seems to me--and to my
+father--unchristian and uncharitable. Perhaps, in the anxiety to make
+Hannibal forget that God gave him a darker skin than ours, we may have
+gone to the other extreme, and treated him with too great consideration.
+But I think you overstate the case."
+
+Her gentle words smote upon the ears that heard them, and in a moment
+Roseleaf was affected by the most lively contrition. Without attempting
+to excuse himself he begged her pardon, which she readily granted.
+
+"When do you leave us?" she asked.
+
+"To-morrow morning."
+
+"But you will call--occasionally?"
+
+"If I may."
+
+His tone was so sad that Daisy assured him he ought to have no doubt of
+that.
+
+"I understand," she added, "that you have probably helped Millie to a
+reputation that she craves above everything, and she ought not to prove
+entirely ungrateful. We have enjoyed your stay here, and shall be most
+sorry to have you go. I should be glad to think you would honor us with
+your company to dinner not less often than once each week."
+
+For the first time a ray of light came into his face.
+
+"Oh, may I?" he cried. "Then I shall not be shut off entirely from
+seeing you?"
+
+"No, indeed," she answered. "Father likes you and Mr. Weil too well--you
+will bring him, of course. Once a week, at least--if it were twice it
+wouldn't do any harm; and if it were three times--"
+
+His face was now one bright beam of light.
+
+"Daisy," he cried. "I believe you do not hate me after all!"
+
+"I hope you never thought I did," she responded. "Why is it that a man
+can see no middle ground between positive dislike and marriage? I expect
+to like a good many men in the course of my life, but I can only marry a
+very few of them."
+
+He was obliged to laugh at this, and to say that she would only marry
+_one_, if he had _his_ way. Before they had finished with this subject
+Roseleaf was in a state of high good nature, though he had little
+apparently upon which to base the rise in his spirits.
+
+"Can't I say something--just a hint, if no more, to your father?" he
+asked, getting down again to business.
+
+"Pretty risky!" she answered, sententiously. "He wouldn't give you much
+encouragement I fear."
+
+The young man caught eagerly at the word.
+
+"You _fear_!" he echoed. "God bless you, Daisy!"
+
+Bearing in mind what she had previously said about the unlocked doors,
+he did not attempt to suit the action to the phrase. But his happy face
+spoke volumes.
+
+"You had best say very little to father at present," said Daisy,
+soberly. "He is most unhappy."
+
+"I wish I knew what troubled him!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I wish so, too, if you could aid him," she answered, earnestly.
+
+"Who knows but I may?" he asked, with a smile that she hoped would prove
+prophetic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ARCHIE PAYS ATTENTION.
+
+
+Roseleaf took rooms at his old lodgings in the city, and set in earnest
+about the work of beginning his great novel. He had interviews with Mr.
+Gouger, at which he detailed the slight thread of plot which he already
+had in mind, profiting by the critic's shrewd suggestions. It was
+decided that he should portray, at the beginning, a youth much like
+himself, who was to fall in love with an angelically pure maiden. The
+outline of their respective characters were to be sketched with care,
+and sundry obstacles to their union were to be developed as the story
+progressed. Gouger warned his young friend not to write too fast, and to
+content himself for the present with delineating the phase of love with
+which he had become familiar.
+
+"Later on," he said, "when your hero finds that this girl is not all his
+bright fancy painted her--when it is proved beyond a doubt that she has
+played him false, that she has another lover--"
+
+Roseleaf turned pale.
+
+"But that will never be!" he interrupted.
+
+"It will, of course--in the story," corrected Gouger. "She will lead him
+a race that will make him an enemy to the entire sex, if she is used for
+all the dramatic effect possible. People expect to find immaculate
+purity in the earlier chapters of a story, as they do in small children.
+With the progress of the action they look for something more exciting.
+To sketch a seraph who remains one would only be to repeat the failure
+you made in your other effort--the one you brought to me the day I met
+you first. It is not the glory of heaven that attracts audiences to our
+churches, but the dramatic quality of hell. A sermon without a large
+spice of the devil in it would be much worse than a rendition of Hamlet
+minus the Prince. Put your heroine in the clouds, if you will, at the
+beginning. The higher she goes, the greater will be her fall, and the
+greater, consequently, your triumph."
+
+The young novelist shivered as he listened to these expressions. How
+could he build a heroine on the model of Daisy Fern, and conceive the
+possibility that she would ever allow her white robes to touch the
+earth? He might have constructed such a plot with Millicent as the
+central figure, though that would be by no means easy; but Daisy!
+Impossible! He asked the critic if it would not do to send the hero of
+the tale to perdition, while leaving his sweetheart immaculate to the
+close.
+
+"No," said Gouger, decidedly. "A man's fall is not much of a fall, any
+way you put it. The public is not interested in such matters. It demands
+a female sacrifice, like some of the ancient gods, and it will not be
+appeased with less. I expect you to be new and original in your
+treatment of the theme, but the subject itself is as old as fiction. You
+have too little imagination, as I have told you before. You must
+cultivate that talent. Having conceived your paragon, imagine her placed
+under temptations she cannot resist; surround her with an environment
+from which she cannot break; place her in situations that leave her no
+escape."
+
+Roseleaf shook his head.
+
+"I am afraid I never shall be able to do it," he said.
+
+"Pshaw! Don't talk of failure at this stage of the game. All you have to
+do is to introduce upon the scene a thoroughly unprincipled man of good
+address, who is fertile in expedients. You will find your model for that
+among a dozen of your acquaintances. Why, take Archie Weil, and hold him
+in your mind till you are saturated with him."
+
+What did Mr. Gouger mean? That Mr. Weil would actually do these dreadful
+things, would in his own person perpetrate the outrage of winning a pure
+girl to shame. It seemed childish to ask such a question, and yet such a
+meaning could easily be taken from what the critic had said. No, no! All
+he could have meant was that Mr. Weil might serve as a figure on which
+to lay these sins--that he could be carried in the writer's mind, as a
+costumer uses a stuffed frame to hang garments on while in the process
+of manufacture.
+
+"Then there is Boggs," added Gouger, with a laugh. "You ought to find
+some place for a fellow like him, if only for the comic parts of your
+novel, and there must be a little humor in a book that is to suit the
+mass. A writer for a magazine said recently with much truth, 'He who
+would hit the popular taste must aim low.' I think Boggs could furnish
+the cheap fun for an ordinary novel, without too great a wear on the
+writer. Go ahead, my boy. Write a half dozen chapters in your own
+idyllic way, and then get Archie to take you to a few places where your
+mind will be turned to opposite scenes. It takes all sorts of edibles to
+suit the modern palate."
+
+So Roseleaf wrote, slowly, patiently, with devotion to his art, until he
+had completed five chapters of his story. And Gouger read it and went
+into ecstacies, declaring it the best foundation he had ever seen for a
+most entrancing romance.
+
+"He has wrought his people up to such a superlative height," said the
+critic to Mr. Weil, "that the _chute_ will be simply tremendous! How
+simply, how elegantly his sentences flow! If he can handle the necessary
+wickedness that must follow, the sale of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' or 'Thou
+Shalt Not,' will be eclipsed without the least doubt. But, the question
+still is, _can_ he?"
+
+"There's no such question," was the response. "He must, that's the way
+to put it. Confound it, he shall! And the next thing for him to do is
+to take a few visits with me to the underground regions, where he can
+get such slight shocks to his literary system as will enable him to take
+up the vein he must work."
+
+During this time Roseleaf did not forget the invitation he had received
+to dine with the Ferns. It did him good to see Daisy, although he could
+not now get her for a moment to himself. He sighed to her over the
+table, and across the parlor, after the party had retired to that part
+of the house, and she answered him with little bright smiles that acted
+like an emollient on his hurt spirit. He had never found the courage to
+beard her father in his den--of wool--and was not even sure that the
+affair had reached a stage where anything could be gained by taking such
+a step. What he wanted was a word of assurance from Daisy that she would
+wait for him till he had made a Name in literature, or proved his
+ability in some definite manner. There was no indication that any one
+else was in the way; everything pointed to a contrary probability. But
+there is nothing so desolate as the heart of a lover whose fair one is
+just beyond his reach.
+
+Mr. Weil accompanied Shirley on most of these visits, and knew very well
+what was going on. None of the glances exchanged between the young
+people were so much their exclusive property as they believed. Had
+Archie possessed eyes in the back and sides of his head, he could have
+seen little more than he did. While appearing to devote his entire
+attention to Mr. Fern and Millicent--principally the former, he found
+time to watch Roseleaf and Daisy, and even the negro Hannibal.
+
+He noticed that the servant was no less devoted than formerly to the
+youngest member of the household. He saw him hover around her at the
+table like a protecting spirit, letting her want for nothing that
+thoughtfulness could procure. And he noticed that Daisy seemed as
+oblivious of this as she had always been. She accepted these
+extraordinary attentions quite as if Hannibal were some automaton,
+acting with a set of concealed springs--a mechanism in which there was
+nothing of human life or intelligence.
+
+Mr. Fern was the same gentlemanly host as of yore, with the same dark
+cloud hanging over him, whatever might be its cause. Courteous by nature
+to an exceptional degree he could not assume a gayety he did not feel.
+There was some terrible weight bearing him down, some awful incubus of
+which he was unable to rid himself. The only person who did not notice
+it was Millicent, and the one it troubled most was Daisy, on whose sweet
+young face the share she had in her parent's griefs had already begun to
+leave its impressions.
+
+Millicent's novel was soon placed in Mr. Gouger's hands, completed. The
+original theme was unaltered, but in its new garb of perfect English no
+one would have recognized the rejected work. The combination of the
+girl's strength of mind and the man's elegance of diction was
+successful. The critic recommended its acceptance without a word of
+dissent, and Cutt & Slashem even consented, on his suggestion, to
+forego the guarantee against loss which they had of late demanded from
+all authors whose names were unknown to the reading public.
+
+"I have fixed it for you, Archie," he said, when that gentleman next
+made his appearance at the sanctum. "No deposit or guarantee, and ten
+per cent. of the retail price for royalty. So take a train to your
+inamorata's house and tell her the news."
+
+Mr. Weil did not seem to wholly relish the announcement.
+
+"In the first place," he remarked, "you have no business to speak of
+Miss Fern as my inamorata; and in the second you will pay her more than
+ten per cent. or you won't get the book to print."
+
+At this, Mr. Gouger, after the manner of all publishers and their
+agents, proceeded to show to Mr. Weil that it was perfectly impossible
+to pay another cent more than the figure he had named; and before he had
+finished he agreed to see the firm and get the amount raised
+considerably, provided the sales should exceed five thousand copies. In
+short, Mr. Weil secured a very respectable contract for a new author,
+and one that was sure to please Miss Fern, if she was in the least
+degree reasonable.
+
+"I wish you would hurry up Roseleaf," remarked Gouger, when this matter
+was disposed of. "When will you take him down into the depths and let
+him see that side of life?"
+
+"I have arranged a journey for to-morrow night," said Weil. "We shall go
+to Isaac Leveson's and make an evening of it. Unless things are
+different there from usual, he will lay the foundation for all the
+wickedness he needs to put into his story."
+
+The critic nodded approval.
+
+"He will probably have a Jew in it, then--a modernized Fagan."
+
+"Yes," said Weil. "And a negro. A tall, well-built negro, who has a
+white man for his slave!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DINING AT ISAAC'S.
+
+
+On the following day, when Shirley Roseleaf presented himself at the
+Hoffman House, he found Mr. Weil awaiting him in a state of great good
+nature.
+
+"Go home and make yourself ready for a dive into the infernal regions,"
+he said, merrily. "I am going to take you to a place where the devil
+spends his vacation, and show you a set of women as different from those
+you have lately met as chalk is from indigo. Be here at nine o'clock
+this evening, prepared for the descent."
+
+A vision of subterranean passages crossed the mind of the listener, and
+he thought of tall boots and a tarpaulin.
+
+"How shall I dress--roughly, I suppose?" he inquired.
+
+"Certainly not. Put on your swallow tail, and white tie. Vice in these
+days wears its best garments. You cannot tell a gambler from a
+clergyman by his attire. Dress exactly as if you were going to the
+swellest party on Fifth Avenue. The only addition to your toilet will be
+a revolver, if you happen to have one handy. If you do not, I have
+several and will lend you one."
+
+If he expected to startle the young man he was in error. Roseleaf merely
+nodded and said he would take one of the weapons owned by Mr. Weil.
+
+"We shall not use them--there are a thousand chances to one," said
+Archie. "New York is like Montana. You remember what the resident said
+to the tenderfoot, 'You may be a long time without wantin' a we'p'n in
+these parts, but when you do you'll want it d--d sudden.'"
+
+When Roseleaf returned, the hands of his watch indicated the time at
+which he had been asked to make his appearance, but Mr. Weil did not
+take him immediately to the point of destination. Instead he walked over
+to a variety theatre that was then in operation on Twenty-third street,
+and after spending a short time in the auditorium guided the young man
+into the "wineroom." Here the ladies of the ballet were in the habit of
+going when off the stage, for the sake of entertaining the patrons with
+their light and frivolous conversation, and inducing them if possible,
+to invest in champagne at five dollars the bottle.
+
+Archie was, it appeared, not unknown to the throng that filled this
+place, for his name was spoken by several of both sexes as soon as he
+entered. He nodded coolly to those who addressed him, and took a seat
+at a table with his companion. With a shake of his head he declined the
+offers of two or three fairies of the ballet to share the table, and
+ordered a bottle of Mumm with the evident intention of drinking it alone
+with his friend.
+
+Roseleaf slowly sipped the sparkling beverage. He was cautioned in a
+whisper to drink but one glass, as it was necessary that he should keep
+a perfectly clear head. Weil remarked in an undertone that he had only
+ordered the wine as an excuse for remaining a few minutes.
+
+"I call this 'the slaughter house,'" he added, in a voice still lower.
+"Girls are brought here to be murdered. Not to have their throats cut,"
+he explained, "but to be killed just as surely, if more slowly. I have
+seen them come here for the first time, with good health shining out of
+their rosy cheeks, delighted at the unwonted excitement and the amount
+of attention the frequenters of the place bestowed. I have watched them
+growing steadily paler, having recourse to rouge, the eyes getting
+dimmer, the voice growing harsher, the temper becoming more variable.
+And then--other fresh faces came in their stead. There are killed, on an
+average, twenty girls a year here, I should say; killed to satisfy the
+appetites of men, as beeves are killed in Chicago, but not so
+mercifully."
+
+The novelist looked into the faces that were nearest to him and thought
+he could discern the various grades of which his friend spoke--the new,
+the older, the ones whose turn to give way to others would soon come.
+All of them were drinking. Most had on the stage dresses they had just
+worn or were about to wear in the performance. Some had finished their
+parts and were enveloped in street clothes, ready to take their
+departure with the first male who asked them. And they were drinking,
+drinking, either in little sips or in feverish gulps, as they would at a
+later day, when the five-dollar wine would be replaced by five cent beer
+or perhaps the drainings of a keg on the sidewalk.
+
+Mr. Walker Boggs soon came into the wine-room and joined the pair at Mr.
+Weil's table. He called for a whiskey straight, pushing the champagne
+aside with an impatient movement.
+
+"I won't punish my stomach with such stuff, even if it _has_ gone back
+on me," he exclaimed. "That will knock out any man who drinks it between
+meals."
+
+Mr. Weil assented to this proposition, and to show his full belief in it
+filled his own glass again and tossed its contents down his throat.
+
+"What brings you here?" he asked, quizzically.
+
+"Those creatures," replied Boggs, with a motion of his hand toward the
+members of the ballet. "They're all that's left me now. _They_ don't
+mind the size of my waist. My hold on _them_ is as strong as ever. But
+_you_ ought not to be here," he broke in, turning to Roseleaf. "It will
+be years before you get to this stage, I hope."
+
+Mr. Weil hastened to explain.
+
+"Shirley is merely observing," said he. "He came at my request. We are
+going next to Isaac Leveson's."
+
+Mr. Boggs grew interested.
+
+"So, so! You intend to show him Isaac's to-night?"
+
+"Yes. Isn't it a good idea?"
+
+The stout man shrugged his shoulders as if he had nothing to say on that
+point. The movement was essentially a Frenchy one and might have meant
+anything.
+
+"Perhaps you would like to go with us," said Archie.
+
+"What do you intend to do there?"
+
+"Tell Mr. Roseleaf all the secrets."
+
+Mr. Boggs stared at the speaker.
+
+"Isaac won't let you," he answered, grimly.
+
+"Won't he? He'll have to. Why, what's the odds? The boy won't give him
+away. And if he should--" His voice sank to a whisper.
+
+Mr. Weil then proceeded to explain to his young friend that "Isaac's"
+was a peculiar affair, even for Gotham. It had entrances on two streets.
+Into one door went the most respectable of people, intent on getting an
+exceptionably good dinner, which was always to be had there, cooked in
+the French style and elegantly served. At that end of the house there
+were several dining-rooms that would hold forty or fifty guests, and
+several others made to accommodate family parties of six to twelve. If a
+couple happened to stray in and inquire for a room to themselves the
+head waiter informed them that it was against the rule of the house to
+serve a private dinner to less than four people.
+
+It was evident that the establishment was conducted on the most moral
+principles, and in a way to prevent the possibility of scandal. For
+though a great many couples undoubtedly take dinners in private rooms
+with the utmost propriety, it must be admitted that such a course is
+open to suspicion and might be used as a basis for unpleasant rumors.
+Mr. Leveson, who kept this hotel, took great pride in saying that
+nothing in all New York bore a better name, and no amount of bribery
+would have induced one of his employes--on _that_ side of the house--to
+vary the rules laid down.
+
+But on the _other_ side of the building--at the entrance on the other
+street--ah, that was different!
+
+If only the most respectable customers entered the first door it was
+almost equally true that none but those who lacked that quality used the
+second. Mr. Leveson sometimes remarked with glee, at twelve o'clock at
+night, that he would give a hundred dollar bill for an honest man or
+woman in any of the rooms up-stairs. The waiters had instructions to
+"size up" all comers with care, and to admit no accidental parties who
+might apply for entrance under a misapprehension as to the character of
+the place.
+
+"We are all full, sorry to say," was the established formula. "There is
+a very good restaurant just around the corner, on ----th street." And in
+this manner the shrewd restaurateur got all the custom he wanted, while
+preserving the natural atmosphere in each part of his dominions.
+
+The meals served in these two places were prepared by one chef, and
+served from one kitchen. Thus the virtuous and vicious patrons were
+supplied with exactly the same dishes. But on what may be called the
+Good side nothing stronger than wines were found on the bill of fare. On
+the Wicked side every decoction known to the modern drinker was to be
+had for the asking. Then, again, the doors of the Good side were closed
+at eleven o'clock, while it was often daylight before the last patron of
+the Sinful side reeled into his carriage.
+
+After a little more talk Mr. Boggs seemed satisfied and consented to
+join the party.
+
+Mr. Leveson was notified of the presence of the newcomers and met them
+at the door. Isaac was of a decidedly Jewish cast of countenance,
+slightly gray, not very tall, and quite round shouldered. He put out a
+lank hand toward Roseleaf, when that young gentleman was named as a
+matter of introduction, but put it down again when Mr. Weil curtly said
+handshaking was out of date. Archie had seen a disinclination in the eye
+of his friend to touch the fingers of the Hebrew, and with his usual
+quickness had solved the difficulty. The party entered a private office
+at the left of the entrance, where Mr. Leveson inquired what he should
+order for them to drink.
+
+"You will order nothing, at present," said Weil, in a contemptuous way
+that excited the astonishment of Mr. Roseleaf. "When I wish for anything
+I will ring. Who is there in the house?"
+
+The manager of the establishment bowed humbly, and proceeded to run over
+the list of his customers.
+
+"There is Major Waters and his wife--"
+
+"Together!" exclaimed the questioner.
+
+"Oh, no! The Major has the little blonde that he has brought for the
+last month; his wife has Mr. Nikles of the Planet. Then--"
+
+But Mr. Weil interrupted him again.
+
+"You'll let them run into each other some day and there'll be a nice
+time."
+
+"Never fear that. The boys understand thoroughly. He comes earlier and
+stays later than she. Besides, we never let anybody meet on the stairs.
+The waiters cry out, 'You must go back; it is bad luck!' if any of them
+seem in danger of running into each other. They are as safe from
+discovery here as if they were in places a mile apart."
+
+Some one descended the stairs at this moment and Leveson tiptoed to the
+door and opened it half an inch to peer at them.
+
+"You know I have no object in saying these things," said Weil, "except
+to save your precious self from trouble. Who is that going out?"
+
+"Some new people; it is the third time they have been here."
+
+"Well," asked Weil, impatiently, "who are they?"
+
+Leveson held up both his hands as if to beg a moment to answer.
+
+"They come from Brooklyn. I don't know their names. I think neither is
+married."
+
+"I have a curiosity about things," explained Weil to his friends, "that
+I cannot account for. You remember how Silas Wegg used to talk about
+'Aunt Jane' and 'Uncle Parker.' Well, I have the same way of studying
+the men that wander in here of an evening, with other people's wives and
+daughters. There is so little really entertaining in this confounded
+world that I seize upon anything promising a change with avidity. Isaac
+tells me all the secrets of his queer ranch, and they prove wonderfully
+interesting, sometimes. You see," he added, addressing himself
+particularly to Roseleaf, "not a couple comes into this place that would
+like to have it known."
+
+Roseleaf bowed constrainedly.
+
+"And how does Mr. Leveson know them?" he inquired. "They surely do not
+register, or if they do their names must be fictitious."
+
+Mr. Weil laughed.
+
+"He has ways of finding out," said he. "There are little birds that fly
+in at the window and tell him."
+
+"I should not think he would wish to know," commented Roseleaf.
+"Especially when it is evident they would not like to have him."
+
+Archie laughed again.
+
+"Let me explain, then," he said. "I need not mind Boggs here, who is
+discretion itself. Leveson's reason--of course, I can rely on your
+silence?"
+
+The young face reddened at the insinuation that he might betray a
+secret.
+
+"I was sure of it," said Archie, so quickly that Roseleaf felt at ease
+again. "Well, the reason why Isaac wants to know what is going on is, he
+is connected with the police."
+
+Roseleaf said "Ah!" and opened his eyes wider.
+
+"People who go to places like this," continued Mr. Weil, "are of great
+interest to the guardians of the peace. And by the police I do not mean
+the members of the regular force so much as the special service. It is
+to the latter that we go when a confidential clerk has robbed us or we
+become suspicious that our wives are unfaithful. Nine times out of ten
+the chief of the private detective office knows in advance all we wish
+him to ferret out. When he has told us that we will set investigations
+on foot, and that he hopes to learn something of the matter within a few
+days, he bows us out of his bureau with an air that implies that we have
+not come to the wrong party. And as soon as we are gone he turns to a
+ledger, and in a few minutes has found an abstract that tells him
+everything.
+
+"Let us suppose," said Mr. Weil, "that a jeweler misses twenty valuable
+pieces of _bijouterie_ from his stock. The circumstances prove that they
+were taken by some one in his employ. He thinks of his clerks, and
+cannot find the heart to accuse any of them of such a grave crime. He
+goes to the detective office and states his case. When he is gone the
+chief turns to the book and finds this:
+
+"'L. M. Jenkins, clerk at Abram Cohen's, Sixth Avenue; about
+twenty-three, medium height, dark, dresses well. Rooms at No. --
+Twenty-Ninth street. Has been giving expensive suppers as well as
+valuable jewelry to Mamie Sanders, No. so-and-so, Such-a-street. They
+dined together at Isaac Leveson's on such-and-such dates.' Etc., etc.,
+etc.
+
+"Now, he can recover the jewelry and get that clerk into quod in three
+hours, if he likes. Naturally he won't expedite things in that way,
+because he wants some excuse for running up a large bill, unless it be
+a bank case, where he prefers to make a great impression and get himself
+solid with the directors. But he will collar the fellow and recover the
+stuff, and all because he knew about it long before any one in the store
+had a suspicion."
+
+Mr. Leveson returned. Mr. Weil asked that one of the private rooms on
+the second floor be put in order at once, for himself and friends. He
+then inquired what ladies were in the house unoccupied by escorts.
+
+"Miss Pelham has been waiting an hour for the Judge," replied Isaac,
+"but I don't think he'll come. He disappoints her half the time now. And
+Mrs. Delavan, who has just come in, found a note from Col. Lamorest,
+asking her to excuse him to-night."
+
+Archie looked pleased.
+
+"They'll do," he said. "Tell them to come and dine with us. But," he
+paused, and looked at Roseleaf, "we need still another."
+
+The color mounted to the cheeks of the young novelist, as he understood
+the thought that prompted this statement.
+
+"Not on my account--I would much rather not," he stammered.
+
+"You will kindly leave that to my judgment," replied Archie,
+impressively. "Remember, you are not the instructor here, but the pupil.
+There must be some one else, Isaac."
+
+Mr. Leveson hesitated. He was mentally going over the rooms upstairs and
+taking stock of what was in them.
+
+"There are two girls," he said, at last, "who used to work in one of
+the dry goods stores, but you wouldn't want them. They are very strict,
+and they dress plainly,--and I am afraid the other ladies wouldn't like
+to associate with them."
+
+Mr. Weil grew vastly irritated by this statement. He brought his hand
+down on the table with a bang.
+
+"The other ladies!" he echoed, angrily. "When you tell Mrs. Delavan and
+Jenny Pelham that you want them to dine with us, you know that ends it!
+As to these shop girls, what do you mean by calling them _strict_? What
+would a _strict_ girl be doing in _this_ house?"
+
+Mr. Leveson cringed before his interrogator and made the old, imploring
+movement with his hands.
+
+"Let me explain," he said. "These girls came here a few weeks ago with
+some traveling men. They took dinner, but Adolf says neither drank a
+drop of wine. A few days later they came again, with other escorts, and
+the same thing occurred."
+
+"Why did you let them in?" demanded Weil.
+
+"Because I knew the gentlemen."
+
+Archie started to say something, but checked himself.
+
+"And after that they came alone and asked to see me," pursued Isaac,
+humbly. "They said they had been thrown out of work, and thought there
+might be an opportunity to do something here, like waiting on the
+guests. And while we were talking, two old customers of the house called
+to dine, alone, and asked me if they could get some one to share the
+meal with them. And, it seemed quite providential--"
+
+Archie stopped the voluble speech by striking his hands sharply
+together.
+
+"Enough!" he said. "When the dinner is ready send one of them in. That
+will make the three we need."
+
+In half an hour the dinner was ready to be served. Then Isaac came with
+the information that the girls refused to be separated.
+
+"What a nuisance!" exclaimed Weil. "Well, send both of them, then. We'll
+take care of them, somehow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A QUESTION OF COLOR.
+
+
+The next morning, when Roseleaf awoke, he was for some time in a sort of
+stupor. Through the bright sunlight that filled his room he seemed to
+scent the fumes of tobacco and of liquor. The place was filled, he
+imagined, with that indefinable aroma that proceeds from a convivial
+company made up of both sexes. He half believed that Jennie Pelham and
+Mrs. Delavan were sitting by his bed, more brazen than the bell which,
+from a neighboring steeple, told him the hour was ten. And surely, by
+those curtains there, hiding the flame that filled their cheeks, were
+the two "shop-girls," their pinched faces denoting slow starvation.
+Boggs, and Isaac Leveson, and Archie Weil were there, all of them; and
+the young man tossed uneasily on his pillow, struggling with the
+remnant of nightmare that remained to cloud his brain.
+
+When he was able to think and see clearly he sat up and rang for a
+pitcher of ice water. He was consumed by thirst, and his forehead ached
+blindly. When he had bathed his head and throat he turned, by a sudden
+impulse, to his table, and took out the MSS. of the story he had begun.
+Slowly he read over the pages, to the last one. Then, seizing his pen,
+he devoted himself to the next chapter, without dressing, without
+breakfasting.
+
+It was four o'clock when he ceased work. He realized all at once that he
+was feeling ill. The fact dawned upon him that he needed food, and
+donning his garments, he took his way listlessly to a restaurant and
+ordered something to eat. As he swallowed the morsels, he fell to
+wondering how much temptation _he_ would be able to bear, with hunger as
+a background.
+
+He passed a good part of the evening in walking the streets, selecting,
+instinctively, sections where he was least likely to meet any one he
+knew. When he returned to his room he read over the MSS. he had written
+that day, and into his troubled brain there came a sense of pleasure.
+Gouger was right. To tell of such matters in a novel, one should know
+them himself. Roseleaf could never have written of vice before he saw
+Leveson's. Now, it was as plain to him as print, almost as easy to use
+in fiction as virtue. What was to follow? He pondered over the plot he
+had mapped out, and it grew clearer.
+
+Daisy had given him no further encouragement--at least in words--since
+that day she had said it was "risky" to ask her father, but he felt
+certain that she regarded him with favor, and that if Mr. Fern put no
+obstacles in the way she would not refuse to wed him when the right time
+came. He thought it would be wise to obtain one more brief interview
+with her, before proceeding to extremities, and determined to do his
+best to draw her aside, when he made his next visit to her house. This
+settled, he went to bed again and slept soundly.
+
+When the day to go to Midlands arrived Shirley's courage began to ooze a
+little. So much depended upon the attitude of his dear one's mind,
+which, for all he knew, had changed since he talked with her, that he
+fairly trembled with apprehension. He avoided Mr. Weil, with whom he
+usually took the train, and went out early. Alighting at a station a
+mile or two away from the right one, he walked through the woods, trying
+to think how to act in case matters did not turn out as he hoped. Under
+the branches he strolled along, until he came within sight of the roofs
+of Midlands; and then he threw himself at the foot of a tree close to
+Mr. Fern's grounds, and gave himself up to reverie.
+
+When he laid down here it was only five o'clock, and he was not expected
+at the house for a full hour. It pleased him to be so near the one he
+loved, and to lie where he could dream of her sweet face and see the
+outlines of the house that sheltered her, while she had no knowledge of
+his presence. Just over there was the arbor, where he had first had the
+supreme bliss of touching her lips with his own. If he could get her to
+come there with him again--to-night--when the others were occupied with
+their talk of earthly things, and if she would only tell him frankly
+that he might go to her father, and that her prayers would go with him!
+A soft languor came over his body at the deliciousness of these
+reflections, but it was dissipated by the sound of voices which
+presently came to him from the other side of the hedge.
+
+"I can't exactly understand, Miss Daisy," said one of the voices, which
+he had no difficulty in recognizing as that of Hannibal, "why you wish
+me to go away?"
+
+There was an assurance in the tone that Roseleaf did not like. He had
+noticed it before in the intercourse of this negro with his employers.
+There was something which intimated that he was on the most complete
+level with them.
+
+"I want you to go," said Daisy, in her quiet way, "because education is
+the only thing that will make you what you ought to be. There are a
+hundred chances open to you, in the professions, if you can take a
+college course. Unless you do, you can hope for nothing better than such
+employment as you have now."
+
+It made the listener's blood boil to think that these people should be
+consulting in that way, like friends. Daisy ought to have a better sense
+of her position.
+
+"I will not refuse your offer, at least not yet," replied Hannibal,
+after a slight pause. "It may be as you say--if I graduate as a doctor
+or a lawyer. But I know that I live in a country where my color is
+despised--and all that could possibly come to me here as a professional
+man is work among my own race. I should be a black lawyer with black
+clients; or a black physician, with black patients. To really succeed I
+should go across the ocean to some land where the shade of my skin would
+not be counted a crime."
+
+Daisy's face could not be seen by the listener, but he was sure it was a
+kindly one, and this made him fume. The situation was atrocious.
+
+"It should not be considered so anywhere," said the girl, gently.
+
+"It is an outrage!" responded the black. "Having stolen our ancestors
+and brought them here from their native country, the Americans hate us
+for the injury they have done. In France, they tell me, it is not so.
+Oh, if I _could_ gain an education, and become what God meant to make
+me--a man!" He paused as if the thought was too great to be conceived in
+its fullness, and then said, abruptly: "Where can you get this money?"
+
+Roseleaf's suspicions were now keenly aroused and he dreaded lest she
+should bring his name into the conversation.
+
+"Your father would not give it to you--without an explanation," pursued
+the negro. "And you have no fortune of your own."
+
+"I will get it--let that suffice," interrupted the girl. "I can give you
+$1000 a year for two years, at least, and I hope for two or three more,
+if you will go to Paris and put yourself under instruction. Can you
+hesitate to accept a proposal of that kind? I thought you would seize it
+with avidity."
+
+As Daisy said this she arose, and started slowly toward the house.
+Hannibal walked by her side talking in a tone so low that nothing more
+was intelligible to the eavesdropper she little suspected was so near.
+But suddenly the girl stopped, and Roseleaf heard her cry with startling
+distinctness:
+
+"_How dare you!_"
+
+The voice that uttered these words was filled with rage, and the girl's
+attitude, as Roseleaf could see--for he had risen hastily to his
+feet--was one of intense excitement. Then she added:
+
+"If you ever speak of that again, they will be the last words I will
+ever exchange with you. My offer is still open--you can have the money
+if you wish it--but never another syllable like this! Understand me,
+Hannibal, never!"
+
+Miss Daisy passed on toward the house, alone. The negro stood where she
+had left him, his head bowed on his breast, as if completely cowed by
+the rebuke. Roseleaf's heart beat rapidly. What gave this fellow such
+power over these people? How could he say things to call out such an
+exclamation as that of Daisy's, and yet hold her promise to pay him a
+large sum of money, instead of getting the prompt discharge he merited?
+
+And this was what the girl wanted to do with the $1,000, she had asked
+him to lend her! Should he still give it to her? Yes, if it would rid
+the country of that insolent knave who, from whatever cause, occupied a
+position that must be growing unendurable to those who had to bear with
+him.
+
+What had Hannibal said, that made her turn as if grossly insulted, and
+speak with a vehemence so foreign to her nature? Roseleaf would have
+enjoyed following the negro and giving him a severe trouncing. Though
+Hannibal was twenty pounds heavier and considerably taller than he, the
+novelist had not the least doubt of his ability to master him. He
+believed the courage of an African would give way when confronted by one
+of the superior race; and at any rate, righteous indignation would count
+for something in so just a contest.
+
+There were no traces of excitement on Daisy's pretty face as she
+welcomed the guests of the family. Weil arrived at about the same time
+as Roseleaf, coming directly from the station, and Mr. Fern arrived a
+little later. Millicent looked her best, which is saying no less than
+that she was a beauty, and Archie told her politely that she ought to
+sit for a painting. When the dinner was served, Hannibal took charge as
+usual. Shirley watched him with an interest he had never felt before,
+and nodded assent when Weil whispered behind his napkin, "Good material
+for a novel in that fellow, eh?"
+
+The opportunity for a word alone with Daisy came earlier than Roseleaf
+expected. In fact she herself proposed it, while passing out of the
+dining room. She said she had something particular to tell him.
+
+"It is about that money you were so kind as to say I could have," she
+explained, when they were far down the lawn, and out of hearing of the
+others. "I want it very much and very soon. It--it will be all right, I
+hope, and--and not cause you any inconvenience."
+
+"I will bring it, or send it to-morrow," he replied, instantly. "But I
+still wonder what you intend to do with it."
+
+She smiled archly.
+
+"A good act, I assure you," she replied. "Something of which you would
+certainly approve, if you knew all the circumstances. You are very kind,
+and if it was darker here I should be--almost--tempted to kiss you."
+
+He replied that it was growing darker rapidly, and that the requisite
+shadow could be obtained if they stayed out long enough; but she said
+she could remain but a few moments, and turned in the direction of the
+house.
+
+"But, Daisy!" he cried, and then paused. "You--you know there is
+something of very great importance that I want to talk about. I get so
+little chance, and I want so much to tell you things. I have been trying
+to go to your father's office, and I can't find courage."
+
+"I didn't know you were thinking of buying wool," she said,
+mischievously.
+
+"I want one little lamb, to be my own," he answered, "to love and
+cherish all my life long. Am I never to have it?"
+
+She sobered before the earnestness of his sad face.
+
+"You are a dear boy," she said, "and I love you. There! Don't say
+anything more to me to-night. I have made a foolish confession, for
+which I may yet repent. We must go in. They will be looking for us."
+
+She looked at his countenance and saw that it was radiant.
+
+"I can endure anything now," he said. "You love me, Daisy--can it be
+true? I will go in with you--and I will wait. But not too long, my
+sweetheart; do not make me wait too long. Repent your confession,
+indeed! If you do, it will be from no fault of mine. _Daisy!_"
+
+As he said these things they were gradually nearing the piazza, where
+the negro was taking in the chairs.
+
+"I have something pleasant to tell you," whispered Daisy. "You don't
+like Hannibal. Well, he is going away soon."
+
+Roseleaf assumed surprise.
+
+"Has your father discharged him?" he asked.
+
+"No, he intends to leave of his own accord. He believes himself fitted
+for better work. Hush! He may hear you."
+
+As they passed the servant, Daisy said, "Good-evening, Hannibal." It was
+her invariable custom, and she spoke with the greatest courtesy. But in
+this case the negro did not raise his eyes, nor turn his head toward
+her, nor make the slightest sign to show that he heard.
+
+It was too much for Roseleaf, and he stopped.
+
+"Did you hear Miss Daisy address you?" he demanded, sharply.
+
+Hannibal looked up, with a curious mixture of amusement, contempt and
+hate in his dark face.
+
+"I did," he answered.
+
+"Why did you not answer?"
+
+"Because I did not choose."
+
+Daisy threw herself in front of Roseleaf, just in time to prevent
+Hannibal's receiving a blow.
+
+"Oh, stop!" she exclaimed, "I beg you!"
+
+The noise and the sound of raised voices brought Mr. Fern and his other
+daughter, with Archie Weil, to the door. Mr. Fern took in the situation
+at a glance, and his troubled face grew more distressed.
+
+"Mr. Roseleaf," he said, speaking as if the words choked him, "I am
+surprised--that you should--hold an altercation like this--in my
+daughter's presence."
+
+Roseleaf did not know what to do or say. Daisy's pleading eyes decided
+him, much against his judgment, to drop the matter where it was, galling
+to his pride though it might be. He escorted his sweetheart into the
+parlor, where the entire party followed, in a most uncomfortable state
+of mind.
+
+"How can you permit that negro to insult your guests?" demanded
+Millicent, as soon as the door was closed. "It is beyond belief. If he
+is master of this house it is time the rest of us left it. I am certain
+Mr. Roseleaf did not act without great provocation."
+
+Before Mr. Fern could answer, Daisy had spoken.
+
+"It is over now, and there is nothing to be said. Hannibal is going away
+in a few days, and that will end your trouble."
+
+The father turned such an incredulous look toward his daughter that it
+was evident he had heard nothing of this.
+
+"Going?" he echoed, faintly. "Going?"
+
+"Yes," said Daisy. "He told me to-day. He is going to some country where
+his color will not be counted a misdemeanor."
+
+Roseleaf had difficulty in maintaining the silence with which he had
+determined to encase himself. But Daisy did not wish him to speak, and
+her will was law.
+
+"Well, I am glad of that!" exclaimed Millicent. "In a country where they
+consider such people their equals, he will not meet the pity and
+consideration he has so abused here. Still, I do think, father, that you
+ought to apologize to Mr. Roseleaf for the way in which you have
+addressed him."
+
+This freed the young man's tongue.
+
+"By no means," he said. "Very likely I was wrong to say anything."
+
+"You were not wrong!" retorted Millicent. "You were entirely right. You
+would have been justified in punishing the fellow as he deserved. It is
+others who are wrong. If he were not going, I would never stay to see
+repeated what I have witnessed in the last six months."
+
+Mr. Fern seemed to have lost all ambition for controversy. His elder
+daughter's cutting words evidently hurt, but he would not reply.
+
+Mr. Weil came to the rescue by introducing a new topic of conversation,
+that of a European tenor that was soon expected to startle New York.
+Daisy went to the piano, and played softly, talking in whispers to
+Roseleaf, who leaned feverishly over her shoulder. But she made no
+allusion to Hannibal, and he did his best to forget him.
+
+"What do you make of that?" asked Mr. Weil, when he was in a railway
+car, on the way back to the city with his young friend. "A glorious
+chance for a novelist to find the reason that black Adonis is allowed
+such latitude."
+
+But Roseleaf was not listening. He was thinking of a sweet voice that
+had said: "You are a dear boy and I love you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+"LET US HAVE A BETRAYAL."
+
+
+Mr. Archie Weil had become quite intimate with Mr. Wilton Fern; so much
+so that he called at his office every few days, took walks with him on
+business errands, went with him to lunch (to the annoyance of Lawrence
+Gouger, who did not like to eat alone) and sometimes took the train home
+with him at night, on evenings when Shirley Roseleaf was not of the
+party. Everybody in the Fern family liked Archie. Even Hannibal, who had
+conceived a veritable hatred for Roseleaf, brightened at the entrance of
+Mr. Weil either at the house or office, the negro seeming to alternate
+between the two places very much as he pleased. Millicent liked him
+because he was so "facile," as she expressed it; a man with whom one
+could talk without feeling it necessary to pick each step. Daisy liked
+him because her father did, and because Roseleaf did, and because he
+treated her with marked politeness that had apparently no double
+meaning.
+
+And they all got confidential with him, which was exactly what he wanted
+them to do; only the one he most wanted to give him confidence gave him
+the least. This was Mr. Fern, himself.
+
+Try as he might, Archie could not discover what clouded the brow of the
+wool merchant, what made him act like a person who fears each knock at
+the door, each sound of a human voice in the hallway of his office. He
+could find no reason for Mr. Fern's attitude toward Hannibal, whose
+manners were as far removed as possible from those supposed to belong to
+a personal servant. There must be a cause of no ordinary character when
+this polished gentleman permitted a negro to insult him and his
+daughter, in a way to excite comment. What it was Mr. Weil was bent on
+discovering, but as yet he had made little progress.
+
+It was on account of this plan that Mr. Weil affected to like Hannibal
+so well. He used to spend hours in devising ways for securing the truth
+from that source. Hannibal, however, gave no signs of intending to
+reveal his secret, and if he was going abroad to study, it seemed
+unlikely that the investigator would get at many facts in that quarter.
+
+One day, Mr. Weil happened to call at the office of the merchant at an
+hour when the latter was out, and found Hannibal in possession. As this
+was an opportunity seldom available, Archie entered into a lively
+conversation with the fellow.
+
+"They tell me you are soon going to leave us," he said, as a beginning.
+"I hear that you are going to Europe."
+
+"Yes," said Hannibal, with a certain wariness.
+
+"If I can tell you anything about the country I shall be glad," said
+Weil, affably. "I have spent considerable time there. You don't
+understand the language, I believe?"
+
+The negro simply shook his head.
+
+"It's easy enough to acquire. Get right into a hotel with a lot of
+students, and pitch in. Though they _do_ say," added the speaker,
+archly, "that the best method is to engage a pretty grisette. The poet
+was right:
+
+    "'Tis pleasing to be schooled in a strange tongue
+    By female eyes and lips; that is, I mean,
+    When both the teacher and the taught are young--
+
+"You know the rest."
+
+The answering smile that he expected, did not come into the negro's
+face. If possible, it grew still more reserved and earnest.
+
+"There's one good thing, if you'll excuse my mentioning it," pursued
+Archie, "and that is, the French have no prejudice whatever against
+color. Indeed, a colored student gets a little better attention in Paris
+than a white one."
+
+Then the silent lips were unlocked.
+
+"Could a black man--_marry_--a white woman, of the upper or middle
+classes?" asked Hannibal, slowly.
+
+"To be sure. There was the elder Dumas, and a dozen others. I tell you
+there's absolutely no color line there. They judge a man by what he is,
+not by the accident of race or skin. You'll see such a difference you'll
+be sorry you didn't go years before."
+
+Hannibal sat as if lost in thought.
+
+"Mr. Fern will miss you, though," continued Archie. "Yes, and the
+family. You seem almost indispensable."
+
+A suspicious glance was shot at the speaker, but his face bore such an
+ingenuous look that the suggestion was dismissed. What could he know?
+
+"They will get some one else," said the negro, quietly.
+
+"Yes, but in these days it is not easy to get people one can trust. Mr.
+Fern will not find any one to take your place in a moment. And just now,
+when he evidently has a great deal of trouble on his mind, it will be
+unpleasant to make a change."
+
+Hannibal was completely deceived by the apparently honest character of
+these observations. He could not resist the temptation to boast a
+little, that peculiar trait of a menial.
+
+"I know all about Mr. Fern's affairs," he agreed. "Both here and at the
+house. He would not trust the next man as he has me."
+
+Mr. Weil nodded wisely.
+
+"I see, I see," he answered. "You know then what has annoyed him of
+late--that which has puzzled all the rest of us so much. You know, but
+having the knowledge in a sort of confidential capacity, you would, of
+course, have no right to reveal it."
+
+Hannibal straightened himself up in an exasperating way.
+
+"You will not find what troubles Mr. Fern," he said, loftily. "And now,
+may I ask _you_ something. Do you expect to marry his eldest daughter?"
+
+An inclination to kick the fellow for his impudence came so strong upon
+Mr. Weil that it required all of his powers to suppress the sentiment.
+But through his indignation there struggled his old admiration for this
+elegant physical specimen. He wished he could get a statue modeled from
+him, before the original left the country.
+
+"That is a delicate question," he managed to say.
+
+"I know it," replied Hannibal. "But I have observed some things which
+may have escaped you. Shall I tell you what I mean?"
+
+Not at all easy under this strain, the curiosity of Mr. Weil was so
+great that he could only reply in the affirmative.
+
+"Miss Millicent," explained Hannibal, slowly, "is in love--very much in
+love--with another person."
+
+A stare that could not be concealed answered him.
+
+"You have not seen anything to indicate it?" asked the negro. "I thought
+as much. She has done her best to cover it, and yet I can swear it is
+true. She _likes_ you, as a friend. But she _loves_ him, passionately."
+
+He was in for it now and might as well follow this strange matter to the
+end.
+
+"Do I know this individual?" asked Archie.
+
+"Yes. You brought him to the house and introduced him to her."
+
+The man gave a slight cry, in spite of himself.
+
+"Not Roseleaf!"
+
+Hannibal bowed impressively; and at the moment Mr. Fern's footsteps were
+heard in the entry.
+
+Mr. Weil did not know, when he tried to think about it afterwards,
+whether the wool merchant noticed particularly that he and Hannibal had
+been talking together, or suspected that they might have confidences.
+His head was too full of the startling statement he had heard, and when
+he was again upon the street he wandered aimlessly for an hour trying to
+reconcile this view with the facts as they had presented themselves to
+his mind previously.
+
+Millicent in love with Roseleaf! She had said very little to the young
+man, so far as he had observed. Her younger sister--sweet little
+Daisy--had monopolized his attention. If it were true, what an instance
+it was of the odd qualities in the feminine mind, that leave men to
+wonder more and more of what material it is constructed. But _was_ it
+true? Was Hannibal a better judge, a closer student, than the rest of
+them? He did not like Millicent, any better than she liked him. Was he
+trying a game of mischief, with some ulterior purpose that was not
+apparent on the surface?
+
+Out of it all, Archie Weil emerged, sure of but one thing. He must use
+his eyes. If Millicent loved Roseleaf, she could not hide it
+successfully from him, now that he had this clue.
+
+The girl's novel was selling fairly well. Weil had made a bargain with
+Cutt & Slashem that was very favorable. It gave him an excuse to talk
+with the authoress as much as he pleased, and he used his advantage. He
+brought her the comments of the press--not that they amounted to
+anything, for it was evident that most of the critics had merely skimmed
+through the pages. He came to tell her the latest things that Gouger had
+said, what proportion of cloth and paper covers were being ordered, and
+the other gossip of the printing house. And now he talked about the work
+that Shirley was engaged on, and grew enthusiastic, declaring that the
+young man would yet make a place for himself beside the Stevensons and
+Weymans.
+
+Millicent struck him as caring much more for news of her own production
+than that of the young man who had been represented as the object of her
+adoration. If she was half as fond of Roseleaf as Hannibal intimated,
+she was certainly successful in concealing her sentiments from the
+shrewd observer. The result of a fortnight's investigation convinced
+Weil that the negro had made a complete mistake, and all the hypotheses
+that had arisen were allowed to dissipate into thin air and fly away.
+
+Another two weeks passed and Hannibal still remained with the Ferns. An
+inquiry of Daisy produced the answer that he thought of remaining in
+America till spring. The girl tried to act as if it made not the
+slightest consequence to her whether he went or stayed, but she did not
+succeed. Mr. Weil knew that she wished most heartily for the time when
+the negro would take his departure. She was bound up in her father, and
+Hannibal was worrying him to death--from whatever cause. She wanted the
+tie between him and this black man broken, and hated every day that
+stood between them and his hour of sailing.
+
+Roseleaf was almost as uneasy as Daisy over the delay. He had given her
+the money she asked for, though no allusion to its purpose had been
+made.
+
+She still had it, somewhere, unless she had given it to the one for whom
+it was intended. When she took the package from his hand she rose on her
+tiptoes and kissed him with the most affectionate of gestures. It was
+the second occasion on which he had been permitted to touch her lips,
+and he appreciated it fully. He realized from her action how deeply she
+felt his kindness in providing her with the funds that were to relieve
+her father of an incubus that was sapping his very life.
+
+"You don't find much use for our black Adonis yet, I see," said Weil, as
+he laid down the latest page of the slowly building novel. "I had hoped
+you would penetrate the secret of his power over your heroine's father,
+by this time."
+
+"No, I cannot understand it at all," replied Roseleaf. "And if you, with
+your superior quickness of perception, have found nothing, I don't see
+how you could expect me to."
+
+"You have greater opportunities," said Weil, with a smile that was not
+quite natural. "You have the ear of the fair Miss Daisy, remember," he
+explained, in reply to the inquiring look that was raised to him.
+
+"Ah, but she knows nothing, either," exclaimed Roseleaf. "I am sure of
+that."
+
+Mr. Weil was silent for some moments.
+
+"Well, if you cannot find the true cause," he said, "you will have to
+invent a hypothetical one. Your novel cannot stand still forever.
+Imagine something--a crime, for instance, of which this black fellow is
+cognizant. A murder--that he peeped in at a keyhole and saw. How would
+that do?"
+
+Roseleaf turned pale.
+
+"You know," he said, "that you are talking of impossibilities."
+
+"On the contrary, nothing is impossible," responded the other,
+impatiently. "College professors, delicate ladies, children not yet in
+their teens, have committed homicide, why not this handsome gentleman in
+the wool business? Or if you _won't_ have murder--and I agree that blood
+is rather tiresome, it has been overdone so much--bring a woman into the
+case. Let us have a betrayal, a wronged virgin, and that sort of thing."
+
+The color did not return to the young man's cheek.
+
+"Which is still more incredible in the present case," he said. "Do you
+think Wilton Fern could do evil to a woman? Look in his face once and
+dismiss that libel within the second."
+
+A desperate expression crossed the countenance of the elder man.
+
+"You must agree that he has done something!" he cried. "He wouldn't
+allow a darkey to annoy him like this for fun, would he? He wouldn't
+wear that deathly look, and let his child grow thin with worriment, just
+as a matter of amusement!"
+
+To this Roseleaf could not formulate a suitable answer. He felt the
+force of the suggestions, but he would not associate crime with the
+sedate gentleman who was the object of these suspicions. He simply could
+not think of anything disreputable in connection with Daisy's father,
+and it seemed almost as bad to invent an offense for the character in
+his novel whose photograph he had thus far taken from Mr. Fern.
+
+Daisy was surprised, a month after this, to have Mr. Weil stop her in
+the hallway, and speak with a new abruptness.
+
+"Why don't that cursed nigger start for Europe?" he asked.
+
+She glanced around her with a frightened look. She feared ears that
+should not might hear them. But she rallied as she reflected that
+Hannibal was miles away, in fact in the city with her father.
+
+"He is going soon," she replied. "But why do you allude to him by that
+harsh term? I thought you rather liked him."
+
+"I do," he answered. "I like him so well that if he continues to talk
+to--to your father--as I heard him the other day, I will throw him into
+the Hudson: I can't stand by and see him insult an--an old man--much
+longer."
+
+The girl looked at him with sad eyes.
+
+"I thought I had succeeded in silencing that kind of talk," she said.
+"Mr. Roseleaf used to speak very violently of Hannibal, but he has
+listened to reason of late. Let me beg you to see nothing and hear
+nothing, if you are the friend of this family you have given us reason
+to believe."
+
+She extended her hand, as if to ask a promise of him, but he affected
+not to see it.
+
+"When does he intend to go?" he demanded.
+
+"Before the 1st of April."
+
+"I will give him till that date," he answered, "but not an hour beyond.
+He will sail out of this country for some port or other, or there will
+be a collision. You must not, you shall not defend him!" he added, as
+she was about to speak. "I know the harm he is doing, and it must have
+an end!"
+
+Turning from her suddenly he went out of doors. Far down the road he
+stopped to look around, pressing his hand to his forehead, like one who
+would make sure he is awake, and not the victim of some fearful dream.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER.
+
+
+Before the first of April came, Hannibal sailed. During the winter he
+had taken lessons in French of a city teacher, until he believed he
+could get along after a fashion with that language. He announced to
+Daisy that he would go on the third of March, then he changed it to the
+tenth, and again to the seventeenth. Each time, when the date
+approached, he seemed to have a weakening of purpose, a dread of
+actually plunging into the tide that set toward foreign shores. The girl
+had interviews with him on each of these occasions, at which what passed
+was known only to themselves. And each time, when she had reached her
+own room, she threw herself on her bed and wept bitterly.
+
+But, at last, on the twenty-fourth, he went. With his overcoat on his
+arm, his satchel and umbrella in his hands, he said "Good-by" to the
+little party that gathered at the door. He had been treated with great
+consideration in that home. Perhaps he realized this to some extent as
+he was about to turn his back upon it. Certain it is that he could not
+hide the choking in his throat, as he said the words of farewell. Archie
+Weil, who stood there with the rest, thought he saw a strange look in
+those black orbs as they dwelt a moment on the younger daughter; but it
+passed so quickly he could not be sure.
+
+Mr. Fern was there, and Roseleaf. Millicent had responded, when a
+servant went to inform her that Hannibal was going, that she was very
+glad. Did she wish to go down? By no means. She hoped she was not such a
+fool.
+
+Weil, who watched everybody, saw an unmistakable relief in the careworn
+countenance of Mr. Fern, when the tall form of his late servant
+disappeared at the gate.
+
+"I hope you will do well," had been the last words of the merchant, and
+Daisy had added, "So do we all, I am sure." Roseleaf had not spoken. He
+had stood a little apart from the others, his mind filled with varying
+emotions. It was he who had furnished the money to carry out this plan,
+and if it made one hour of Daisy's life happier he would be content.
+
+Within an hour it was evident that a cloud had been lifted from the
+entire household. Everybody felt brighter and better. Roseleaf eyed Mr.
+Fern with surprise, and had half a mind to go to his office the next day
+and tell him how dearly he loved his daughter. It was the first time
+anything like a smile had been upon that face since he had known its
+lineaments.
+
+Archie Weil devoted his attention, as usual, to Millicent. He did not
+talk to her about Hannibal, knowing how distasteful was the subject. He
+discussed her novel, of which she never seemed to tire, and asked her
+about another, which she had begun to map out. She told him she was sure
+she could do better the next time, and spoke of the assistance Mr.
+Roseleaf would furnish if needed, quite as if that was a matter already
+arranged between her and the young novelist.
+
+Archie wondered if Millicent knew the extent of the attachment that had
+grown up between Shirley and her sister. She seemed to feel sure that he
+would be at hand when wanted. Could it be that she believed he would
+ultimately become her brother-in-law? The negro's guess had almost been
+blotted out of his mind. There had been absolutely nothing in his
+observation to confirm it.
+
+A day or two after the departure of Hannibal, Mr. Fern had a
+conversation with Daisy, in which he dwelt with more stress than she
+could account for on a special theme. He was talking of Walter Boggs and
+Archie Weil, and he cautioned her earnestly to treat both gentlemen with
+the greatest consideration. The girl detected something strange in his
+voice, and she stole apprehensive glances at him, hoping to read the
+cause in his eyes.
+
+"Why, papa, I never see Mr. Boggs," she said. "It is weeks and weeks
+since he came here. As for Mr. Weil, we all treat him nicely, I am sure,
+and are glad to have him come."
+
+"Yes," he admitted. "You use him quite right, my child. I am not
+complaining; only, if you could show him _particular_ attention,
+something more than the ordinary--" He paused, trying to finish what he
+wished to say. "There may be a time when he will be of great value to
+me--and--I want him to feel--you observe things so cleverly--do you
+think Millicent cares for him?"
+
+Daisy looked up astonished.
+
+"Cares--for--Mr. Weil?"
+
+Her father nodded.
+
+"He has been here several times a week for months, and most of his time
+here has been spent with her. I thought--I hoped that she cared for
+him."
+
+He thought! He hoped! Daisy had never had such an idea in her head until
+that moment. She had a dim idea that her father would give up either of
+his daughters with great regret, although she could not help knowing
+that the relations between him and Millicent were not as cordial as
+those between him and herself. And he "hoped" that Millie would marry,
+and that she would marry Mr. Weil! Her mind dwelt upon this strange
+thought. She tried to find a reason for it. Was there any stronger
+incentive in her father's mind than a desire to see Millie well settled
+in life, with a good husband?
+
+Had he a fear that the time might soon come when he could not provide
+for her?
+
+Or was there a worse fear--the kind of fear that had haunted him in
+relation to Hannibal?
+
+Every time Mr. Weil came to the house after that the young girl watched
+him as closely as he had ever watched her. He did not exchange a word
+with her father that did not engage her attention. And the conclusion
+she came to was that, whatever the object of Mr. Fern in this matter,
+Mr. Weil was honor itself.
+
+Daisy had never made much of a confidant of Millicent, and the latter
+had the habit of keeping her affairs pretty closely to herself. It was
+no easy task, then, that the young sister had in view when she came to
+a decision to talk with Millie about Mr. Weil.
+
+Her father had expressed a hope that Millie and Weil would marry. Mr.
+Fern had some strong reason for his wish. Whatever it was, Daisy, with
+her strong filial love, wanted it gratified.
+
+"Millie, what do you think of marriage?" she asked, one day, when the
+opportunity presented itself.
+
+"I suppose it's the manifest destiny of a woman," replied her sister,
+quietly.
+
+Much encouraged, Daisy proceeded to allude to Mr. Weil, praising him in
+the highest terms, and saying that any girl might be proud to be honored
+with his addresses. Millie answered with confirmatory nods of the head,
+as if she fully agreed with all she uttered. But when her sister spoke,
+the words struck Daisy like a blow.
+
+"I am glad to hear this," she said, in a voice more tender than usual.
+"I think Mr. Weil would have proposed to you long ago, but that he
+feared the result."
+
+Daisy gasped for breath.
+
+"Millie!" she cried. "Do you mean that Mr. Weil--that--why, I do not
+understand! He has hardly spoken to me, while he has spent nearly every
+minute he has been here, with you!"
+
+"Of course he has," responded the other. "What could be more like a case
+of true love? If ever a man lost his head over a woman he has lost his
+over you, Daisy. And, at any rate, you must know that _I_ care nothing
+for him. You certainly could see where _my_ affections were engaged."
+
+Daisy pressed her hand dreamily to her forehead. She had never known her
+sister to show the least partiality to any other man.
+
+"I understand you less than ever," she faltered.
+
+"Are you so blind?" exclaimed Millicent, with superior wisdom. "Did you
+think Mr. Roseleaf had been so closely engaged all this time in my
+literary work without learning to care for me? I presume you will think
+I ought to blush, but that is not my way. The strangest thing is that I
+should have to explain what I thought every one knew."
+
+Poor little Daisy! She was so crushed by these statements that she did
+not know what reply to make, which way to turn for consolation.
+
+"He has told you that he loves you?" she managed to articulate.
+
+"He has shown it, at least," was the answer. "He had not been here a
+week before he tried to put his arms around me. I had to let him hold my
+hand to avoid an absolute quarrel. He is not an ordinary man, Daisy, and
+does not act like others, but we understand each other. He is waiting
+for something better in his business prospects, and as I am so busy on
+my new book I am glad to be left to myself for the present."
+
+It was the old story. Daisy could not doubt her sister's version of her
+relations with Mr. Roseleaf. When he called the next time there was a
+red spot in both her cheeks. He told her with happy eyes that he had at
+last secured something which made it possible to speak to her father.
+He had been offered a position on the Pacific Quarterly, at a good
+salary, and another periodical had engaged him to write a series of
+articles.
+
+"They tell me I have no imagination," he explained, "but that I do very
+good work on anything that contains matters of fact. I have some money
+of my own, but I did not want to tell your father I was an idle fellow,
+without brains enough to make myself useful in the world. The novel on
+which I base such great hopes might not seem to him worth considering
+seriously, you know. So I can go with a better account of myself, and I
+am going this very week."
+
+The bright light that shone from the face at which she looked made her
+waver for a moment, but she found strength to answer that he must not
+speak to Mr. Fern about her--now, or at any other time. She did not want
+to marry, or to be engaged. She wanted to live with her father, and take
+care of him, and she wanted nothing else.
+
+"Millie will marry," she added, as a parting thrust, meant to be very
+direct and bitter. "One of us ought to stay with papa."
+
+For a while he was too overwhelmed by her changed attitude to make a
+sensible reply. When it dawned on him that she meant what she said, he
+appealed to her to take it back. He could not bear the thought of giving
+her up, or even of waiting much longer for the fulfillment of his hopes.
+He spoke in the most passionate tone, and his whole being seemed wrought
+up by his earnestness. The girl was constantly thinking, however, that
+this was the same way he had addressed Millicent, and that there was no
+trust to be placed in him.
+
+"Calm yourself," she said, when he grew violent. "I have tried to be
+honest with you. I have thought of this matter a great deal. You will
+admit that it is of some importance to me."
+
+"To you!" he echoed. "Yes, and to me! I do not care whether I live or
+die, if I am to lose you!"
+
+She wanted to ask him if he had told Millie the same thing, but she
+could not without making an explanation she did not like to give.
+
+"There are others," was all she said. "Others, who will make you
+happier, and be better fitted for you--in your career as a writer."
+
+He never thought her allusion had reference to any particular person,
+and he answered that there was no one, there never could be any one, for
+him, but her. He had never loved before, he never should love again. And
+she listened, thinking what a capacity for falsehood and tragic acting
+he had developed.
+
+After two hours of this most disagreeable scene, Roseleaf left the
+house, moody and despondent. It would have taken little at that moment
+to make him throw himself into the bosom of the Hudson, or send a bullet
+through his brain.
+
+On the way to the station he met Mr. Weil, who could not help asking
+what was the matter.
+
+"Oh, it's all up!" he answered. "She has refused me, and I am going to
+the devil as quick as I can."
+
+"What are you talking about?" exclaimed the other, staring at him. "You
+don't mean--Daisy!"
+
+"That's just what I mean. I went there to tell her of my good luck, and
+to say I was going to ask her father's consent; and she met me as cold
+as an iceberg, and said she had decided not to marry. So I'm going back
+to town without a single reason left for living."
+
+Mr. Weil stood silent and nonplussed for a few seconds. Then a bright
+idea came into his head.
+
+"Look here, Mr. Impetuousness," said he. "I know this can be arranged,
+and I'm going to see that it's done. My God, the same thing happens in
+half the love affairs the universe over! Give me a few days to
+straighten it out. Go home and go to work, and I'll fix this, I promise
+you."
+
+It took some time to persuade Roseleaf to follow this advice, but he
+yielded at last. Weil pleaded his warm friendship, begged the young man
+to do what he asked if only to please him, and finally succeeded. A few
+minutes later Archie had secured an audience with Daisy.
+
+Too shrewd to risk the danger of plunging directly into the subject he
+had in mind, Mr. Weil talked on almost everything else. It happened that
+Millicent was away, which enabled him to devote his attention to the
+younger sister without appearing unduly to seek her. But Daisy, only
+half listening to what he said, was pondering the strange revelation her
+sister had made, and thinking at each moment that a declaration of love
+might be forthcoming.
+
+She remembered her father's injunction to treat this man with
+particular courtesy, and was in a quandary what to do in case he came to
+the crucial point. But to her surprise, instead of pressing his own
+suit, Mr. Weil began to support in a mild manner the cause of Mr.
+Roseleaf.
+
+"I met Shirley leaving here," he said, in a sober tone, "and he was in a
+dreadful state. You didn't say anything cross to him, I hope."
+
+With these words there seemed to come to Daisy a new revelation of the
+true character of this man. Loving her himself, he was yet loyal to his
+friend, who he believed had a prior claim. As this thought took root it
+raised and glorified its object, until admiration became paramount to
+all other feelings.
+
+"Why should I be cross to him?" she asked, evading the point. "There are
+no relations between us that would justify me in acting as his monitor
+or mentor."
+
+Mr. Weil shook his head.
+
+"He loves you," he said. "You cannot afford, my child, to trifle with a
+heart as noble as his."
+
+The expression, "my child," touched the girl deeply. It had a protective
+sound, mingled with a tinge of personal affection.
+
+"I hope you do not think I would trifle with the feelings of any
+person," she said. "Still, I cannot marry every man who may happen to
+ask me. You know so much about this matter that I feel justified in
+saying this; and I earnestly beg that you will ask no more."
+
+But this Mr. Weil said gently he could not promise. He said further that
+Roseleaf was one of his dearest friends, and that he could not without
+emotion see him in such distress as he had recently witnessed.
+
+"You don't know how fond I am of that boy," he added. "I would do
+anything in my power to make him happy. He loves you. He will make you a
+good husband. You must give me some message that will console him."
+
+He could not get it, try as he might; and he said, with a forced smile,
+that he should renew the attack at an early date, for the cause was a
+righteous one, that he could not give over unsatisfied. He took her arm
+and strolled up and down the veranda, in such a way that any visitor
+might have taken them to be lovers, if not already married. She liked
+him better and better. The touch of his sleeve was pleasant. His low
+tones soothed the ache in her bosom, severe enough, God knows! When her
+father came from the city he smiled brightly to see them together, and
+after hearing that Millicent was away, came to the dinner table with the
+gayest air he had worn for months.
+
+Another week passed, during which Mr. Weil went nearly every day to
+Midlands, and communicated to Roseleaf on each return the result of his
+labors, coloring them with the roseate hues of hope, though there was
+little that could legitimately be drawn from the words or actions of
+Miss Daisy. The critic for Cutt & Slashem had also been given more than
+an inkling of the state of affairs, and had perused with delight the
+chapters last written on the famous romance. He saw that the next
+experience needed by the author was a severe attack of jealousy, and as
+there was no one else to play the part of Iago he himself undertook the
+rôle.
+
+"Archie Weil is pretty popular with the Fern family, isn't he?" was the
+way he began, when he called on Roseleaf. "I met the old gentleman the
+other day and he seemed absolutely 'gone on' him, as the saying is. They
+tell me he's out at Midlands every day. Got his eye on the younger
+daughter, too, they intimate."
+
+It takes but little to unnerve a mind already driven to the verge of
+distraction. The next time that Weil saw Roseleaf, the latter received
+him with a coolness that could not be ignored. When he pressed for a
+reason, the young man broke out into invective.
+
+"Don't pretend!" he cried. "You've heard of the case of John Alden.
+What's been worked once may go again. I'm not entirely blind."
+
+Mr. Weil, with pained eyes, begged his friend to explain.
+
+"Tell me this," shouted Roseleaf. "Do you love that girl, yourself?"
+
+Unprepared for the question, Archie shrank as from a flash of lightning,
+and could not reply.
+
+"I know you _do_!" came the next sentence, sharply. "And I know that it
+is owing to the inroads you have made--not only with her but with her
+father--that I have been pushed out. Well, go ahead. I've no objection.
+Only don't come here every day, with your cock and bull stories of
+pleading _my_ cause, for I've had enough of them!"
+
+The novelist turned aside, and Mr. Weil, too hurt to say a word, arose
+and silently left the room. His brain whirled so that he was actually
+giddy. Not knowing where else to turn he went to see Mr. Gouger, to whom
+he unbosomed the result of his call.
+
+"Don't be too serious about it," said Gouger, soothingly. "It's a good
+thing for the lad to get his sluggish blood stirred a little. In a day
+or two he'll be all right. That novel of his is coming on grandly!"
+
+Weil was in no mood to talk about novels, and finding that he could get
+no consolation of the kind he craved, he soon left the office. The
+critic laughed silently to himself at the idea of the biter having at
+last been bitten, and then took his way to Roseleaf's rooms.
+
+No answer being returned to his knock, he opened the door and entered.
+At first he thought the place was vacant, but presently he espied a
+still form on the bed. The novelist was stretched out in an attitude
+which at first suggested death rather than sleep, and alarmed the
+visitor not a little. Investigation, however, showed that he was simply
+in a tired sleep, worn out with worry and restless nights.
+
+"What a beauty!" whispered Gouger. "A very dramatic scene could be
+worked up if that sweetheart of his were brought here and made to stand
+beside the couch when he awakes. Yes, it would be grand, but it would
+need his own pen to trace the words!"
+
+The hardly dry pages of the great manuscript that lay on an adjacent
+desk caught the eyes of the critic, and he sat down to scan them
+closer. As he turned the leaves he grew so delighted as to become almost
+uncontrollable.
+
+"He's a genius, nothing less!" he said, rapturously, and then tiptoed
+softly from the chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+"I'VE HAD SUCH LUCK!"
+
+
+One day Mr. Fern came home in a state of great excitement. He had not
+acted naturally for a long time and Daisy, who met him at the door,
+wondered what could be the cause of his strange manner. He caught his
+daughter in his arms and kissed her like a lover. Tears came to his
+eyes, but they were tears of joy. He laughed hysterically as he wiped
+them away and told her not to mind him, for he was the happiest man in
+New York.
+
+"I've had such luck!" he exclaimed, when she stared at him. "Oh, Daisy,
+I've had such grand luck!"
+
+She led him to a seat on a sofa and waited for him to tell her more.
+
+"You can't imagine the relief I feel," he continued, when he had caught
+sufficient breath. "I've had an awful time in business for years, but
+to-day everything is all cleared up. The house over our heads was
+mortgaged; the notes I owed Boggs were almost due; I had given out
+paper that I could see no way of meeting. And now it is all provided
+for, I am out of financial danger, and I have enough to quit business
+and live in ease and comfort with my family the rest of my days!"
+
+Daisy could only look her surprise. She could not understand such a
+transformation. But she loved her father dearly, and seeing that he was
+happy made her happy, too; though she had had her own sorrows of late.
+
+"Tell me about it, father," she said, putting an arm around his neck.
+
+"You couldn't understand, no matter how much I tried to make it clear,"
+he answered, excitedly. "There was a combination that meant ruin or
+success, depending on the cast of a die, as one might say. Wool has been
+in a bad way. Congress had the tariff bill before it. If higher
+protection was put on, the stocks in the American market would rise. If
+the tariff rate was lowered they would fall. I took the right side. I
+bought an immense quantity of options. The bill passed to-day and the
+President signed it. Wool went up, and I am richer by two hundred and
+fifty thousand dollars than I was yesterday!"
+
+For answer the girl kissed him affectionately, and for a few moments
+neither of them spoke.
+
+"I don't wonder you say I can't understand business," said Daisy,
+presently. "It would puzzle most feminine brains, I think, to know how a
+man could purchase quantities of wool when he had nothing to buy with."
+
+The father drew himself suddenly away from her, and gazed in a sort of
+alarm into her wide-opened eyes.
+
+"That is a secret," he said, hoarsely. "It is one of the things business
+men do not talk about. When stocks are rising it is easy to buy a great
+deal, if one only has something to give him a start."
+
+"And you _had_ something?" asked Daisy, trying to utter the words that
+she thought would please him best.
+
+"Yes, yes!" he answered, hurriedly. "I--had--something! And to-morrow I
+shall free myself of Boggs, and of--of all my troubles. I shall pay the
+mortgage on the house, and we can have anything we want. Ah! What a
+relief it is! What a relief!"
+
+He panted like a man who had run a race with wolves and had just time to
+close the door before they caught him.
+
+"May I tell Millie?" asked the girl. "She has worried about the house,
+fearing it would be sold."
+
+He shook his head as if the subject was disagreeable.
+
+"She will find it out," he said. "There is no need of haste. And at any
+rate I don't want you to give her any particulars. I don't want her to
+know how successful I have been. You can say that I have made
+money--enough to free the home. Don't tell any more than that to any
+one. It--it is not a public matter. I was so full of happiness that I
+had to tell you, but no one else is to know."
+
+Daisy promised, though she asked almost immediately if the prohibition
+extended to Mr. Weil. He was such a friend of the family, she said, he
+would be very much gratified.
+
+She had reached thus far in her innocent suggestion, when she happened
+to glance at her father's face. He was deathly pale. His body was limp
+and his chin sunken to his breast.
+
+"Father!" she exclaimed. And then, seized with a nameless fear, was
+about to summon other help, when he opened his eyes slowly and touched
+her hand with his.
+
+"You are ill! Shall I call the servants?" she asked, anxiously.
+
+He intimated that she should not, and presently rallied enough to say he
+was better, and required nothing.
+
+"What were we speaking of?" he asked, in a strained voice.
+
+"We were talking of your grand fortune, and I asked if I might not tell
+Mr.--"
+
+He stopped her with a movement, and another spasm crossed his face.
+
+"You will make no exception," he whispered. "None whatever. My affairs
+will interest no one else. If you are interrogated, you must know
+nothing. Nothing," he added, impressively, "nothing whatever!"
+
+Mr. Fern's recovery was almost as quick as his attack, although he did
+not resume the gaiety of manner with which he had opened the subject.
+After dinner he talked with Daisy, declaring over and over that she had
+been on short allowance long enough, and asserting that she must be
+positively in a state of want. She answered laughingly that she needed
+very little, and then suddenly bethought herself of something and grew
+sober.
+
+"Do you feel rich enough to let me exercise a little generosity for
+others?" she inquired.
+
+He replied with alacrity that she could do exactly as she pleased with
+whatever sum he gave her, and that the amount should be for her to name.
+
+"You don't know how big it will be," she replied, timidly.
+
+"I'll risk that. Out with it," he said, smiling.
+
+"Supposing," she said, slowly, "that I should ask for a thousand
+dollars?"
+
+"You would get it," he laughed. "In fact I was going to propose that you
+accept several thousand, and have it put in the bank in your name, so
+you would be quite an independent young woman. You must have your own
+checkbook and get used to keeping accounts. I will bring you a
+certificate of deposit for three thousand dollars, and each six months
+afterwards I will put a thousand more to your credit, out of which you
+can take your pin money."
+
+It seemed too good to be true, and the girl's face brightened until it
+shone with a light that the father thought the most beautiful on earth.
+Now she could return the thousand dollars she had borrowed of Mr.
+Roseleaf, a sum that had given her much uneasiness since she broke off
+her intimate relations with the young novelist. More than this, she
+would have sufficient on hand to send the future amounts that Hannibal
+would need to keep him abroad. It was such a strange and delightful
+thing to see smiles on her father's face that she did not want anything
+to disturb them. She was quite as happy as Mr. Fern, now that this cloud
+had been lifted from her mind.
+
+The next day was a bright one for the wool merchant. By noon he had sent
+for Walker Boggs and astonished that gentleman by handing him a check in
+full for the entire amount of his indebtedness. In answer to a question
+he merely said he had been on the right side of the market. Mr. Fern
+also settled with his mortgage creditor, and went home at night happy
+that his head would again lie under a roof actually as well as in name
+his own. Notes which he had given came back to him soon after, and he
+burned them with a glee that was almost saturnine. Burned them, after
+looking at their faces and backs, after scanning the endorsements;
+burned them with his office door locked, using the flame of a gas-jet
+for the purpose.
+
+The ashes lay on the floor, when a knock was heard and Archie Weil's
+voice answered to the resultant question. Mr. Fern lost color at the
+familiar sound, but he mustered courage.
+
+"I've come to congratulate you," said Archie, warmly. "They say you have
+made a mint of money out of the rise in wool."
+
+"Who says so?" asked Mr. Fern, warily.
+
+"Everybody. Don't tell me it's not true."
+
+"I've done pretty well," was the evasive reply. "And I'm going out of
+business, too. It seems a good time to quit."
+
+Mr. Weil made a suitable answer to this statement and the two men talked
+together for some time. After awhile the conversation took a wider turn.
+
+"Where's your young friend, Roseleaf?" asked Mr. Fern, to whom the
+matter did not seem to have occurred before. "I don't believe I have
+seen him at Midlands for a month."
+
+"No, he doesn't come," replied Archie, growing darker. "If you wish a
+particular reason, you will have to ask it of your daughter."
+
+Mr. Fern looked as if he did not understand.
+
+"He became very fond of her," explained Archie, "and for some reason, he
+does not know what, she has evinced a sudden dislike to him."
+
+Mr. Fern looked still more astonished.
+
+"Millie is a strange girl," he ventured to remark. "But I supposed--I
+was almost sure, her affections were engaged elsewhere; and, really, I
+thought he knew it."
+
+Mr. Weil stared now, for it was evident his companion was far from the
+right road. He was also interested to hear that Miss Fern had anything
+like a love affair in mind, for he had supposed such a thing quite
+impossible.
+
+"I was not speaking of Miss Millicent, but of Miss Daisy," he said.
+
+The wool merchant rose from his chair in the extremity of his
+astonishment.
+
+"You meant that--that Mr. Roseleaf--was in love with Daisy!" he said.
+"And that she seemed to reciprocate his attachment?"
+
+"I did. And also that a few weeks ago she asked him to cease his
+visits, giving no explanation of the cause of her altered demeanor. He
+is a most excellent young gentleman," continued Weil, "and one for whom
+I entertain a sincere affection. Her conduct is a great blow to him,
+especially as he does not know what he has done to deserve it. I trust
+the estrangement will not be permanent, as they are eminently suited to
+each other."
+
+The face of Mr. Fern was a study as he heard this explanation.
+
+"If he was an honorable man, why did he not come to _me_?" he asked,
+pointedly.
+
+"He was constantly seeking Miss Daisy's permission to do so," replied
+Archie. "Which she never seemed quite willing to give him."
+
+"She is too young to think of marriage," mused Mr. Fern, after a long
+pause.
+
+"He is willing to wait; but her present attitude, giving him no hope
+whatever, has thrown him into the deepest dejection."
+
+From this Mr. Weil proceeded to tell Mr. Fern all he knew about
+Roseleaf. He said the young man was at present engaged on literary work
+that promised to yield him good returns. He had a small fortune of his
+own beside. Everything that could be thought of in his favor was dilated
+upon to the fullest extent.
+
+"I don't believe I can spare my 'baby,'" said Mr. Fern, kindly, "for any
+man. You plead with much force, Mr. Weil, for your friend. How is it
+that _you_ have never married. Are you blind to the charms of the sex?"
+
+For an instant Archie was at loss how to reply.
+
+"On the contrary," he said, at last, "I appreciate them fully. I have
+had my heart's affair, too; but," he paused a long time, "she loved
+another, and there was but one woman for me. Perhaps this leads me to
+sympathize all the more with my unfortunate young friend."
+
+Mr. Fern said he would have a talk with Daisy, and learn what he could
+without bringing in the name of his informant.
+
+"We fathers are always the last to see these things," he added. "It
+would be terrible to give her up, but I want her to be happy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A BURGLAR IN THE HOUSE.
+
+
+Millicent Fern lay wide awake a few nights later, at Midlands, when the
+clock struck two. She was thinking of her second novel, now nearly ready
+for Mr. Roseleaf's hand. There was a hitch in the plot that she could
+best unravel in the silence. As she lay there she heard a slight noise,
+as of some one moving about. At first she paid little attention to it,
+but later she grew curious, for she had never known the least motion in
+that house after its occupants were once abed. She thought of each of
+them in succession, and decided that the matter ought to be
+investigated.
+
+Millicent had no fear. If there was a burglar present, she wanted to
+know. She arose, therefore, and slipped on a dress and slippers. Guided
+only by the uncertain light that came in at the windows, she tiptoed
+across the hall, and in the direction in which she had heard the noise.
+She soon located it as being on the lower floor where there were no
+bedrooms, and a thrill of excitement passed over her. She crept as
+silently as possible down the back stairs, and toward the sound, which
+she was now sure was in the library.
+
+What was the sound? It was the rustling of papers. It might be made by a
+mouse, but Millicent was not even afraid of mice. She was afraid of
+nothing, so far as she knew. If there was a robber there, he would
+certainly run when discovered. At the worst she could give a loud
+outcry, and the servants would come.
+
+She tiptoed along the lower hall. A man sat at her father's desk,
+examining his private papers so carefully, that he seemed wholly lost in
+the occupation.
+
+The room was quite light. In fact, the gas was lit, and the intruder was
+taking his utmost ease. His face was half turned toward the girl, and
+she recognized him without difficulty.
+
+It was Hannibal!
+
+Hannibal, whom she supposed at that moment in France!
+
+Without pausing to form any plan, Millicent stepped into the presence of
+the negro.
+
+"Thief," she said, sharply, "what do you want?"
+
+They had hated each other cordially for a long time, and neither had
+changed their opinion in the slightest degree. Hannibal looked up
+quietly at the figure in the doorway.
+
+"I have a good mind to tell you," he said, smiling.
+
+"You will _have_ to tell me, and give a pretty good reason, too, if you
+mean to keep out of the hands of the police," she retorted. "Come!"
+
+He laughed silently, resting his head on his hands, his elbows on the
+desk. Millicent's hair hung in a loose coil, her shoulders were but
+imperfectly covered by her half buttoned gown, the feet that filled her
+slippers had no hosiery on them. She was as fair a sight as one might
+find in a year.
+
+"Do you remember the time I saw you in this guise before?" he asked, in
+a low voice.
+
+A convulsion seized the girl's countenance. She looked as if she would
+willingly have killed him, had she a weapon in her hand. But she could
+not speak at first.
+
+"It was you who sought me then," said the negro. "And because I bade you
+go back to your chamber, you never forgave me. Have you forgotten?"
+
+Gasping for breath, like one severely wounded, Millicent roused herself.
+
+"Will you go," she demanded, hotly, "or shall I summon help?"
+
+"Neither," replied Hannibal. "If you inform any person that I am here, I
+will tell the story I hinted at just now. Besides, I would only have to
+wait until your father came down, when he would order them to release
+me, and say I came here by his request."
+
+Millicent chafed horribly at his coolness.
+
+"Came here by my father's request!" she echoed. "In the middle of the
+night! A likely story. Do you think any one would believe it?"
+
+"I do not think they would. It would not even be true. But he would say
+it was, if I told him to, and that would answer. Don't you know by this
+time that I have Wilton Fern in a vise?"
+
+Yes, she did know it. Everything had pointed in that direction.
+Millicent could not dispute the insinuation.
+
+"What has he done, in God's name, that makes him the slave of such a
+thing as you?" she cried.
+
+"I will answer that question by asking another," said the negro, after a
+pause. "Do you know that Shirley Roseleaf hopes to wed your sister?"
+
+The shot struck home. With pale lips Millicent found herself trembling
+before this fellow.
+
+"You love him," pursued the man, relentlessly. "You do not need to
+affirm or deny this, for I know. He loves Daisy, and unless prevented,
+will marry her. I hold a secret over your father's head which can send
+him to the State prison for twenty years. If I confide it to you, will
+you swear to let no one but him know until I give you leave?"
+
+The girl bowed quickly. She could hardly bear the strain of delay.
+
+"Then listen," said the negro. "To save himself in business he has
+committed numerous forgeries upon the names of two men. One of them is
+Walker Boggs and the other Archie Weil. Very recently he has been
+successful in his speculations, and has called in many notes with these
+forged endorsements. But the proofs of his crimes are ample, and I
+possess them. If he ever proposes to let Roseleaf marry Daisy, hint to
+him of what you know, and he will obey your will. I shall be in the
+city. Here is my address. If you need me I am at your service.
+Understand, I shall not harm your father unless he makes it necessary. I
+only mean to use the fear of what might await him, and you can do the
+same. It is time I was going. I have found all I want here, though I had
+enough before."
+
+He handed Millicent a card on which was the address he had mentioned,
+and she allowed herself to take it from his hand. Then he started to
+pick up a package of papers that lay where he had put them on the table,
+when a third figure, to the consternation of both, brushed Millicent
+aside, and stepped into the room. It was the younger sister.
+
+"Give that to me!" she demanded, imperiously, reaching out her hand for
+the package.
+
+The apparition was so unexpected that the previous occupants of the
+library stood for a few seconds staring at it without moving a step.
+Daisy was dressed in much the same manner as Millicent, but she thought
+only of the danger that threatened one she loved better than life--her
+father.
+
+"Give that to me!" she repeated, approaching Hannibal closer.
+
+Without a word the negro, his head bowed, handed it to her.
+
+"And now," she said, in the same quick, sharp tone, "the others!"
+
+"They are not here," he answered, huskily.
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"At my lodgings in the city."
+
+Instantly Daisy snatched the card from her sister's hand.
+
+"At this place?" she asked, hastily scanning the writing.
+
+"Yes," said Hannibal, in a voice that was scarcely audible.
+
+"I will be there this morning at ten o'clock. See that they are ready."
+
+The negro bowed, while his chest heaved rapidly.
+
+"And now," said the girl, pointing to the door, "go!"
+
+He hesitated, as if he wanted to say more to her, but recollecting that
+she would meet him so soon, he turned and obeyed her. At the threshold
+he only paused to say, "You must come alone; otherwise it will be of no
+use." And she answered that she understood.
+
+She followed some paces behind and closed the door after him, pushing a
+bolt that she did not remember had ever been used before.
+
+Then she turned to encounter her sister; but Millicent had disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+BLACK AND WHITE.
+
+
+When Daisy reached her own room again, she felt assured that no one but
+herself and Millicent knew what had occurred. This was something. Had
+her father awakened, she did not know what might have followed. She had
+seen him too often, pale and distraught, in the presence of his
+relentless enemy, not to entertain the greatest thankfulness that he had
+slept through this terrible experience. At any cost it must be kept from
+him. She would beg, pray, entreat Millicent to seal her lips. And in the
+morning she would go to the address Hannibal had given her and obtain
+his proofs of her father's guilt, removing the frightful nightmare that
+had so long hung over that dear head.
+
+Would Hannibal surrender his documents? He had made a tacit promise to
+do so, and she had faith that she could make him keep his word. She knew
+the negro had a liking for her that was very strong.
+
+She had made it possible for him to become a man--by giving him the
+money that took him to France. Why had he returned so suddenly? What new
+fancy had caused him to give up his studies and recross the sea to enter
+her doors at night, to plunder still further secrets from her father's
+private desk? There were a thousand reasons for fear, but the devoted
+daughter only thought of saving the one she loved at all risks. She
+would dare anything in his behalf.
+
+And this father of hers--that she had revered from babyhood--was a
+forger! He had made himself liable to a term of imprisonment in the
+common jail! He was a criminal, for whom the law would stretch out its
+hand as soon as his guilt was revealed! His previous high standing in
+the community could not save him; nor the love of his children; nor his
+new fortune--won by such means as this. Nothing could make his liberty
+secure but the silencing of the witness to his fault, the negro who had
+carefully possessed himself of certain facts with which to ruin his
+benefactor.
+
+What did Hannibal want? Surely he had no revenge to gratify, as against
+her or her father! They had treated him with the greatest consideration.
+Only once--that day on the lawn--had Daisy spoken to him in a sharp
+tone, and then the provocation was very great. Since then she had raised
+the money that was to make a man of him. What did he require now? An
+increased bribe to keep him away? Well, she would get it for him. She
+would spend one, two, three thousand dollars if necessary to purchase
+his silence; if it needed more she could borrow of--of Mr. Weil.
+
+Yes, Mr. Weil was the friend to whom she would turn in this emergency.
+He had lost nothing, apparently, by the unwarranted use of his name. The
+notes on which his endorsement had been forged were all paid. When she
+met Hannibal she would ascertain his price and then the rest would be
+easy. Her father need not even know the danger to which he had been
+exposed.
+
+In the morning she went to Millicent's room early, in order to have a
+conversation with her undisturbed. Millicent was sleeping soundly and
+was awakened with some difficulty.
+
+"I've only been unconscious a little while," she said, in explanation.
+"I thought I never should sleep again. Oh, what a disgrace! My father a
+forger! Liable to go to prison with common criminals, to wear the
+stripes of a convict! It seems as if my degradation could go no lower."
+
+Reddening with surprise at the attitude of her sister, Daisy answered
+that the thing to be thought of now was how to save Mr. Fern from the
+consequences of his errors.
+
+"You're a strange girl," was Millicent's reply. "You don't think of me
+at all! Won't it be nice to have people point after me in the street and
+say, 'There goes one of the Fern girls, whose father is in Sing Sing!' I
+never thought I should come to this. There's no knowing how far it will
+follow me. I doubt if any reputable man will marry me, when the facts
+are known."
+
+Thoroughly disgusted with her sister's selfishness, Daisy cried out that
+the facts must _not_ be known--that they must be covered up and kept
+from the world, and that she was going to bring this about. She reminded
+Millicent of the evident suffering their father had undergone for the
+past two years, changed from a light-hearted man into the easily alarmed
+mood they had known so well.
+
+"If he deserved punishment, God knows he has had enough!" she added.
+"And there is another thing you and I ought not to forget, Millie.
+Whatever he did was in the hope of saving this home and enough to live
+on, for us! During the last week he has had an improvement in business.
+He has paid all of those people whose claims distressed him. You have
+seen how much brighter it has made him. Now, when he had a fair prospect
+of a few happy days, comes this terrible danger. Surely you and I will
+use our utmost endeavors to shield him from harm. Even if he were the
+worst of sinners he is still our father!"
+
+But Millicent did not seem at all convinced. She could only see that her
+reputation had been put in jeopardy, and that a dreadful fear would
+constantly hang over her on account of it.
+
+"It is your fault, as much as his, too!" she exclaimed, angrily. "You
+both made as much of that negro as if he were a prince in disguise. I've
+told you a hundred times that he ought to be discharged. I hope you'll
+admit I was right, at last."
+
+There was little use in reminding her sister that Hannibal had shown
+himself the possessor of some information that endangered Mr. Fern
+before either he or Daisy began to cultivate his good will; for she knew
+it well enough. What Daisy did say was more to the point.
+
+"Have you _always_ hated him?" she asked, meaningly. "What did he mean
+last night by his reference to a time when you _sought_ him, _en
+dishabille_?"
+
+Millicent sprang up in bed, with flashing eyes.
+
+"He is a lying scoundrel!" she cried, vehemently. "I never did anything
+of the kind, and I do not see how you can stand there and repeat such a
+calumny!"
+
+"The strange thing about it," replied Daisy, quietly, "is that you did
+not dispute him. But then, you did not know a third person was present.
+When I meet him this morning I shall ask for further particulars."
+
+Millicent sprang from the bed and threw herself at her sister's feet.
+
+"Would you drive me mad!" she exclaimed. "I am distracted already with
+the troubles of this house, and now you wish to hear the lying
+inventions of one you know to be a blackmailer and a robber! Don't
+mention my name to him, I entreat you. He is capable of any slander. You
+can't intend to listen to tales about your sister from such a low, base
+thing!"
+
+Having Millicent at her feet, Daisy was pleased to relent a little.
+
+"Very well," she said. "I will not let him tell me anything about you.
+But I want you to promise in return that you will do all you can to
+protect father from the slightest knowledge of what happened last night.
+I am afraid it would kill him. So far he believes us ignorant of his
+troubles. If I can make an arrangement to send Hannibal back to France
+he will remain so. Be sure you do not arouse his suspicions in any way,
+and we may come out all right yet."
+
+The promise was made, and, as nothing could be gained by prolonging the
+conversation, Daisy withdrew. In the lower hall she met her father, and
+his bright smile proved to her that he was still in blissful ignorance
+that any new cloud had crossed his sky. Millicent did not appear at
+breakfast, for which neither of the others were sorry. It enabled Mr.
+Fern to talk over some of his plans with his younger daughter. Among
+them was a possible trip abroad, for he said he felt the need of a long
+rest after his troubled business career.
+
+The last suggestion opened a new hope for Daisy. If worse came to worst,
+and there was no other way to escape the jail, flight in a European
+steamer could be resorted to. It would mean expatriation for life, as
+far as he was concerned, but that would be a thousand times better than
+a lingering death inside of stone walls. He could raise a large sum of
+ready money, and they would want for nothing. Millie would not wish to
+go with them, probably. She would stay and marry--how the thought choked
+Daisy--marry Mr. Roseleaf; unless indeed, the young novelist did what
+she had foreshadowed, repudiated the thought of allying himself with a
+tainted name.
+
+Roseleaf! The bright, happy love she had given him came back to the
+child like a wave of agony.
+
+Making an excuse that she had shopping to do, Daisy took the train to
+the city with her father, and parted from him at a point where the
+downtown and uptown street cars separated. Then she took a cab and drove
+to the address given her.
+
+It was not the finest quarter in the city, and she would have hesitated
+at any other time before taking such a risk as going there alone. At
+present she thought of nothing but the object of her visit. Inquiry at
+the door brought the information that the lady was expected and that she
+was to go upstairs and wait. The woman who let her in was a pleasant
+faced mullatress, and several young children of varying shades were
+playing on the stairs she had to ascend. Daisy mounted to the room
+designated, which proved to be a small parlor, with an alcove, behind
+the curtains of which was presumably a bed.
+
+As the weather was quite warm, the girl went to the front windows and
+opened them, in order to admit the fresh air. Then she sat down and
+waited impatiently. There was a scent in the room which she associated
+with the Ethiopian race, a subtle aroma that she found decidedly
+unpleasant. It gave her an indefinable uneasiness, and she mentally
+remarked that she would be glad when the ordeal was over. Her nerves
+were already beginning to suffer.
+
+After the lapse of fifteen minutes, Hannibal entered. He had the look of
+one who had passed a sleepless night, and despite the blackness of his
+complexion, his cheeks seemed pale.
+
+"Good-morning," said Daisy, rising.
+
+"Good-morning," he replied.
+
+And then there was a brief space of silence, each waiting for the other.
+
+"I am here, you see," said the girl, finally, with an attempt at a
+smile. "And now will you give me the things I came for, as I cannot stay
+long?"
+
+The negro tried to look at her, tried many times, but failed. His eyes
+shifted uneasily to all the other objects in the room, resting on none
+of them more than a second at a time.
+
+"You wonder," he said, after another pause, "why I returned to America,
+why I came to your house last night. I thought I could tell you--this
+morning--and I have been trying to prepare myself to do so--but I
+cannot. You blame me a great deal, that is evident in every line of your
+face, but you do not know what I have suffered. Were your father to go
+to jail for the term the law prescribes, he would not endure the agony
+that has been mine."
+
+He looked every word he spoke and more.
+
+"I am sorry, truly sorry for you," she replied. "But why could you not
+leave all your troubles, when you went to France, and begin an entirely
+new life? You found it true what I told you, I am sure, about the lack
+of prejudice--on account of your--race."
+
+He nodded and cleared his throat before he spoke again.
+
+"Oh, yes; but it is not the prejudice _there_ that worries me. It is the
+prejudice _here_. It is the barrier my color brings between me and the
+only being whose regard I crave!"
+
+The girl's cheeks grew rosier than ever, but she affected not to
+understand, and once more reverted to the errand that had brought her
+thither.
+
+"You promised me the documents with which my poor father has been
+tortured," she said, reproachfully; "let us not talk of other things
+until you have given them to me."
+
+The negro drew from a pocket of his coat a fair-sized package tied with
+a ribbon.
+
+"They are all there," he said. "Every scrap, every particle of proof,
+everything that could bring the breath of suspicion upon your father's
+honesty. All there, in that little envelope."
+
+She reached for it, but instead of giving it to her, Hannibal caught her
+hand, and before she dreamed what he intended, pressed a kiss upon it.
+The next moment the girl, with a look of outraged womanhood, was rubbing
+the spot with her handkerchief, as if he had covered it with poison.
+
+"You brute!" she exclaimed. "You--you--"
+
+She could not find the word she wanted; nothing in the language she
+spoke seemed detestable enough to fill the measure of her wrong.
+
+"You see!" he answered, bitterly. "Because I am black I cannot touch the
+hand of a woman that is white. You have claimed to be without the hatred
+of the African so ingrained among Americans; you have talked about the
+Almighty making of one blood all the nations of the earth; and yet you
+are like the rest! A viper's bite could not have aroused deeper disgust
+in you than my lips. And all because the sun shone more vertically on my
+ancestors than it did on yours!"
+
+Daisy was divided between her horror of the act he had committed and her
+anxiety to do something to free her father from his danger. She
+suppressed the hateful epithets that rose to her tongue and once more
+entreated the negro to give her the packet he held in his possession.
+
+"You can do nothing with it but injure a man who has been kind to you,"
+she pleaded. "And if you use the information you have, and afterwards
+repent, it will be too late to remedy your error. Give it to me, and
+return to France with the proud consciousness that you are worthy the
+position you wish to occupy."
+
+Hannibal shook his head with decision.
+
+"That would be very well if I ever could be considered a man by the one
+for whose opinion I care most. But while I am to her a creature
+something below the ape, a mere crawling viper whose touch is pollution,
+I will act like the thing she thinks me. To-day I possess the power to
+make a high-born gentleman dance whenever I pull the string. You ask me
+to give up this power, and in return you offer--nothing."
+
+"One would suppose," remarked Daisy, struggling with herself in this
+dilemma, "that the ability to inflict pain was one a true nature would
+delight to surrender. My father has done no harm to you."
+
+The negro bent toward her and spoke with vehemence.
+
+"But his daughter has! She has made my life wretched. Whatever position
+I may attain will be worthless to me, without the love I had hoped might
+be mine."
+
+"_Love!_" cried the girl, recoiling. "_Love!_"
+
+"Love and marriage," he replied. "In France we could live without the
+hateful prejudices that prevail in America. I have natural ability
+enough, you have told me so a thousand times, and I could make myself
+worthy of you. As my wife--"
+
+Daisy rose and interrupted him fiercely.
+
+"Cease!" she exclaimed. "There is a limit to what I can endure. If you
+mean to make any promise of that kind a prelude to my father's freedom
+from persecution, we may as well end this conversation now as later. He
+would rather rot in prison than have his child sacrifice herself in such
+a manner!"
+
+She started toward the door, and he did not interrupt her passage, as
+she half expected he would do; but he spoke again.
+
+"All this because I am black," he said.
+
+"Because you are a cruel, heartless wretch!" she answered, her eyes
+flashing. "Because you have abused the goodwill of a generous family;
+because you have tortured a kind old man and a loving daughter. If you
+were as white as any person on earth, I would not marry you. Worse than
+all outward semblance is a dark and vile mind. Do what you like! I defy
+you!"
+
+The door opened and closed behind her. Hannibal heard her retreating
+footsteps grow fainter on the stairs, and then there was silence.
+
+"I might have known it," he said, aloud. "I did know it, but I kept
+hoping against hope. She would wed a Newfoundland dog sooner than me.
+Nothing is left but to make her repent her action. I will bring that
+father of hers to the dust, if only to revenge the long list of injuries
+his race has inflicted on mine!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+"PLAY OUT YOUR FARCE."
+
+
+When Daisy left the house where she had the interview with Hannibal, she
+walked for some minutes aimlessly along the street. Her mind was in a
+state of great excitement. She realized that she had defied a man who
+could inflict the deepest injury on the father she dearly loved. How she
+could have done otherwise was not at all clear, but the terror which
+hung over her was none the less keen. The proposal of the negro--to
+marry her--filled her with a nameless dread that made her teeth chatter,
+though it was a warm day. Rather would she have cast her body into the
+tides that wash the shores of Manhattan Island. Even to save her father
+from prison--if it came to that--she could not make this sacrifice. She
+now felt for Hannibal a horrible detestation, a feeling akin to that she
+might entertain for a rattlesnake. Whatever good she had seen in him in
+other days had vanished under the revelations of his true character.
+
+What to do next was the absorbing question. A great danger hung over her
+father. A dim idea of seeking the mayor--or the chief of police--and
+imploring their mercy, entered her brain. Then she thought of Roseleaf,
+whose aid she might have secured, if he had not proved himself a
+double-dealer, capable of making love to herself and Millicent at the
+same time. And then came the resolve to seek out Mr. Weil, the one
+person in all this trouble that seemed clear of wrong. Her sister had
+told her that he loved her. Well, if necessary she would marry him. At
+least he was a man of honor, and white. Yes, she would go to him and
+throw herself upon his mercy.
+
+Daisy knew that Archie made his headquarters at the Hoffman House, and
+summoning a cab she asked to be taken to that hotel. Ensconced in the
+ladies' parlor she awaited the coming of the man she wanted and yet
+dreaded so much to see. Luckily he was in the house, and in a few
+moments responded in person to her card.
+
+"Why, Miss Daisy," he stammered. "What is the matter? Nothing wrong, I
+trust. You look quite pale. Is it anything--about--your father?"
+
+The girl was pale indeed. Now that Mr. Weil was so close, the danger
+that he might not be willing to help her rose like a mountain in her
+path. She did not know exactly how grave a matter forgery was--whether
+it was something that the injured party would be able or likely to
+forgive. If she should tell him everything, and he should refuse to be
+placated--what could she do then?
+
+There was no one else in the parlor, but seeing that she wanted as much
+seclusion as possible, Mr. Weil motioned the girl to follow him to a
+remote corner, where the curtains of a recessed window partially
+concealed them. He felt that she had come on a momentous errand. His
+suspicions concerning Mr. Fern were apparently about to be verified, and
+if so, he did not mean that other ears should hear the tale.
+
+"Mr. Weil," began Daisy, tremblingly, "I don't know what to say to you.
+I am in great distress. Would you--will you--help me?"
+
+He responded gently that he would do anything in his power. He bade her
+calm herself, and promised to be the most attentive of listeners.
+
+Reassured by his kind words and manner, the girl began again; but she
+could not tell her story connectedly, and after making several attempts
+to do so, she broke out in a new direction.
+
+"I want so very much of you, dear Mr. Weil. And I am nervous and afraid
+to ask what I would like. I will give you anything you please in return.
+Yes, yes, anything."
+
+He smiled down upon her face, on which the tears were making stains in
+spite of her.
+
+"You are promising a great deal, little girl," he said.
+
+"I know it; I realize it fully," she responded quickly. "But I mean all
+I say. I did not think I could, once, but I am quite resolved now.
+Millie told me you were in love with me, and feared I would refuse you.
+But I won't. No, no, I will marry you--indeed I will--if you will only
+save my darling father!"
+
+The concluding words were spoken in the midst of a torrent of sobs that
+shook the girlish frame and affected powerfully the strong man that
+witnessed them.
+
+"Daisy, dear child, don't speak like this," he answered. "If I can do
+anything for your father I will most gladly, and the price of your sweet
+little heart shall not be demanded in payment, either. Leave that matter
+entirely out of the question, and tell me at once what you desire."
+
+She heard him with infinite delight, and wiping her eyes she began, in
+broken tones, to relate the history of Hannibal's revelations. As she
+proceeded his brow darkened, and when she had finished he muttered
+something that sounded very much like a curse.
+
+"And what do you wish of me?" he asked, when she had ended.
+
+"To keep him from having my father put in prison; to give us time to
+escape, if there is no other way; and to forgive the harm to yourself. I
+know," she added earnestly, "it is a great deal to ask, but I have no
+one else to go to. He has paid every cent, and you will lose nothing.
+Tell me, dear Mr. Weil, is there anything you can do?"
+
+He had the greatest struggle of his life to keep from bending over that
+trembling mouth and pressing upon it the kiss he knew she would not
+refuse; that mouth he had coveted so long and which must never be
+touched by his lips!
+
+"Can I do anything?" he repeated. "Certainly. I can stop that fellow so
+quickly he won't know what ails him. Have no fear Miss Daisy. Go home
+and rest in peace. Before the sun sets I will remove the last particle
+of danger from your father's path."
+
+The girl sprang to her feet and would have thrown her arms around his
+neck had he not prevented her.
+
+"You are certain you can do this?" she cried, beaming with happy eyes
+upon him.
+
+"There is not the least question of it. But--I must demand payment for
+my trouble. I shall not do this work for nothing."
+
+With a hot blush Daisy lowered her eyes to the carpet.
+
+"I have already told you what I will do," she said, trembling. "If you
+accomplish what you say, have no fear but I shall keep my word."
+
+There was an element of pride and truth in the way she spoke that struck
+the hearer strongly. The reverent smile on his face grew yet deeper.
+
+"I am placed in a peculiar situation," he said, after a slight pause.
+"Your sister has, unintentionally, no doubt, misrepresented matters in a
+way that may be embarrassing for us both. When I have removed the
+troubles that stand in your way, I will talk this over with you."
+
+Daisy looked up quickly. What could he mean?
+
+"I beg you to explain," she stammered. "If there has been any mistake no
+time can be better to set it right than now."
+
+The man toyed with the lace of the window curtain. He had no intention
+of evading his duty, and yet he did not find it agreeable as he
+proceeded.
+
+"Your sister told me," he said, finally, "that--you loved me. She was
+wrong. I knew all the time she was wrong. You have just offered to give
+yourself to me in marriage in exchange for the efforts that I am to make
+on your father's behalf. But I would not marry a woman who did not love
+me--who only became mine from gratitude. No, I could not accept you
+under such circumstances."
+
+The young girl glanced at him timidly.
+
+"I wish you knew how much I liked you," she said. "I never knew a man I
+respected more."
+
+"That is most gratifying," he answered, "for I hold your good opinion
+very highly. You must think I speak in riddles, for I have said that I
+demand payment for my services, and yet that I would not accept the
+greatest gift it is in your power to bestow upon me. Let me wait no
+longer in my explanation. When I have put your father out of all danger
+from this blackmailer--and I can easily do it, never fear--you must do
+justice to Shirley Roseleaf."
+
+She shivered at the name, as if the east wind blew upon her.
+
+"He is not a true man," she replied, in a whisper. "He has forfeited all
+claim to my consideration."
+
+"Why do you say that? I am afraid there is another misunderstanding
+here, my child."
+
+Then he drew out of her, slowly at first, the revelations that Millicent
+had made. And he disposed of the charges, one by one, until there was
+nothing left of them.
+
+"Could you--would you--only go with me to his rooms," he added, "and see
+him lying there, wan and pale, disheartened at the present, hopeless for
+the future, you would change your mind. He has never in his life loved
+but one woman, and that one is yourself. I will not undertake to say why
+you have been told differently, though I could guess. Shirley Roseleaf
+loves you, Miss Daisy, and you love him. When I have made good my
+promise, I shall ask you to come to my friend's side and bring him back
+to health with the sunshine of your presence."
+
+Daisy was more than half convinced, for the strong affection she had had
+for the young man plead for him in every drop of her blood.
+
+"Is he so very ill?" she asked, dreamily.
+
+"He has not left his room for a week," was the answer. "Nothing his
+friends can say will move him. He is in such a state of mind that he
+even refuses to have me with him; me, until very lately, his closest
+friend. But if I tell him you have relented, there is no medicine on
+earth will have such an instant effect."
+
+The girl thought for some moments without speaking.
+
+"It is my father first, of course," she said at last. "But while you are
+arranging matters concerning him, I do not see any reason to keep me
+from helping a sick boy. I--yes, I will go with you now."
+
+He looked the gratitude he could not speak, and fearful that in her
+mercurial mood she might change her mind, he accompanied her without
+delay to the street, and procured a cab, in which they were driven
+rapidly to Roseleaf's lodgings. On the way, with that loved form so near
+him, Archie Weil had a constant struggle. She might be his, if he would
+forget duty.
+
+And he loved her! God, how he loved her! He could marry her, and perhaps
+after a fashion make her happy. The perspiration stood on his forehead
+as he dwelt on the bliss that he had resolutely cast aside.
+
+Roseleaf's landlady came to the door in person and informed the callers
+that her guest was in about the same condition as he had been for some
+days. He was not ill in bed, but he did not leave his room. When she
+sent up his meals he received them mechanically, and they were often
+untouched when the domestic went for the dishes. He wrote several hours
+a day, though he was undoubtedly feeble. Did he have any visitors? Only
+one, Mr. Gouger, who was with him at the present moment. Should she go
+up and announce them? Very well, if it was not necessary. Mr. Weil could
+show the lady into the adjoining room, which was empty, until he had
+announced her presence in the house to his friend.
+
+Archie whispered to Daisy when he left her at Roseleaf's door, that he
+would come for her as soon as possible. He did not enter the sick boy's
+chamber at once, for something in the conversation that came to his ears
+arrested his steps at the threshold. Mr. Gouger's voice was heard, and
+Archie's ears caught the sound of his own name.
+
+"You should let me send to Mr. Weil," said Gouger. "I am sure he can
+explain everything. You have written all you ought for the present. He
+would take you to ride and bring the color to those white cheeks of
+yours."
+
+"But he cannot bring me the girl I love," responded Roseleaf, with a
+profound sigh. "Even if I have done him injustice, she is lost to me
+now. You know appearances were against him. Why, you agreed with me
+about it. I don't want to see any one. I want to go away from here, and
+forget my sorrows as best I can in some far distant place."
+
+There was a sadness in the tone that went to the listener's heart. The
+door was slightly ajar and Archie took the liberty of looking into the
+room. Roseleaf lay stretched out in a great chair, and Gouger leaned
+over him, appearing for all the world like some sinister bird of prey.
+Mr. Weil felt for the first time in his life that there was something
+uncanny in the aspect of the book reviewer. He did not think he could
+ever be close friends with him again. And what did Shirley mean by
+saying that Lawrence had "agreed" with him when he heard such base
+opinions?
+
+The critic was fingering with apparent satisfaction a pile of MSS. that
+lay on the table. It had grown vastly since Archie saw it the last time,
+and must be fifteen or twenty chapters in extent now.
+
+"You must not go away until you have finished this wonderful work,"
+replied Gouger, with concern. "A few more months--a little further
+experience in life--and your reputation will be made! Ah, it is
+wonderful! It is magnificent! The world will ring with your praises
+before the year is ended. Such fidelity to nature! Such perfection of
+detail! In all my career I have never seen anything to approach it!"
+
+Shirley moved uneasily in his chair.
+
+"Do you ever think at what cost I have done this?" he asked. "I know the
+pain of a burn because I have held my hands in the fire. I know the
+agony of asphyxiation, because I have dangled at the end of a rope. I
+can write of the miner buried beneath a hundred feet of clay, because I
+have had the load fall on my own head. To love and find myself beloved;
+then to see happiness snatched without explanation from my grasp; to
+feel that my best friend has been the one to betray me! That is what I
+have passed through, and from the drops of misery thus distilled, I have
+penned those lines you so much admire. I have written all I can of these
+horrors. I will not begin again till I have caught somewhere in the
+great sky a glimpse of sunlight!"
+
+Mr. Weil could wait no longer. He pushed open the door and went to the
+speaker's side.
+
+"The sunlight is awaiting you," he said, gazing down upon the figure in
+the armchair. "You have only to raise your curtain."
+
+Mr. Gouger sprang up in astonishment at the sudden arrival, and perhaps
+a little in alarm also; for he could not tell how long the visitor had
+been eavesdropping at the portal. But Roseleaf turned his languid eyes
+toward his old friend, and was silent.
+
+"Shirley, my boy," pursued Weil, with the utmost earnestness, "I can
+prove to you now that Daisy Fern loves you and you alone."
+
+Roseleaf did not move. His lips opened and the words came stiffly.
+
+"You can promise many things," he said, "but can you fulfill any of
+them?"
+
+So cold, so unlike himself!
+
+"What will convince you?" demanded Weil. "Shall I bring a letter from
+her? Or would you rather she came in person, to tell you I speak the
+truth?"
+
+The shadow of a smile, a smile that was not agreeable, hovered around
+the corners of the pale mouth.
+
+"I shall write no more," said the lips, when they opened, "until I have
+seen her and heard the reason for my rejection. I will discover who my
+enemy is. I will unmask the man or the woman that has done me this
+injury. Till then, I shall write no more. No, not one line."
+
+Mr. Gouger was nonplussed by the new turn in affairs. He knew that Weil
+had some basis for what he said, that he was not the man to come with
+pretence on his tongue. Neither of the other persons in the room paid
+the least attention to him, any more than if he had not been present. It
+was like a play, at which Gouger was the only spectator.
+
+"Could you bear it if I brought her to you to-day, if I brought her here
+now?" asked Archie, beseechingly. "If I go and get her, and she comes
+with me, will the shock harm you?"
+
+The ironical smile deepened on the face of the younger man.
+
+"Play out your farce," he said.
+
+Casting one look of apprehension at Roseleaf, Mr. Weil turned toward
+the door that entered the hallway. Before he could reach it, a female
+form came into the room and caught his arm. Together they faced the
+recumbent figure in the chair. This lasted but a moment. Then Daisy
+broke from her escort and threw herself at her lover's feet.
+
+"Come," whispered Archie, to the critic. "Let us leave them alone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+LIKE A STUCK PIG.
+
+
+Hannibal was neither better nor worse, morally, because his color was
+black. There are men with white complexions who would have done exactly
+as he did. There are others as dark as Erebus who would have done
+nothing of the sort.
+
+He was no ordinary negro. His intelligence was above the average. When
+he first entered the employ of Mr. Fern, that gentleman took every pains
+to encourage the aptitude for learning that he found in him. Hannibal
+accompanied his employer to his office, where he was entrusted with
+important commissions, which he seemed for a long time to execute with
+faithfulness and discrimination. At home he performed his duties in a
+way that gave great satisfaction. At the end of the first six months Mr.
+Fern would have hated to part with a servant that he believed difficult
+to replace.
+
+But the great source of trouble arose gradually. Hannibal began to
+entertain a sentiment for his master's younger daughter that was
+impossible of fruition. Daisy treated him in the most considerate
+manner, never dreaming what was going on behind his serious brow.
+Millicent, ungovernable in all things, began early to show the bitterest
+enmity toward the negro, while her sister, seeing that her father liked
+and appreciated him, tried by her own kindness to compensate for the
+other's rudeness. What caused Millicent's feelings Daisy had no means of
+knowing, and she had not the least suspicion until she heard the
+conversation in the library the night the house was entered. Even then
+she did not take the subject much to heart, for she did not comprehend
+all that Hannibal had meant to convey in the brief and sarcastic
+expression he used. Daisy had a mind too pure to believe anything so
+heinous of her own sister as Hannibal had intimated.
+
+The passion of love is a thing that grows in curious ways. What made it
+seem to Hannibal that there was hope for him was the discovery that Mr.
+Fern was committing forgeries and that the proofs might be his for the
+taking. If he could hold such a power as that over this gentleman, who
+could say that even so great a mésalliance as his daughter's marriage to
+an African might not be arranged?
+
+The negro proceeded cautiously. He secured the proofs he wished, and let
+Mr. Fern know tacitly that he had them. The terror, the undisguised fear
+that followed, the admittance of the menial to a totally different
+position in the household and the office, showed that the servant had
+not underrated the importance of his acquisition.
+
+Not one word bearing directly on the subject passed between them. The
+condition of the merchant was more horrible than it would have been had
+his employé said outright, "I have the proof that you are a forger--I
+can send you to prison for twenty years, and I will do so unless you do
+so-and-so for me." He did not know how Hannibal meant to use his
+information. He was afraid to broach the matter to him. He could only
+wait and suffer; and suffer he did, as a proud-spirited, high-minded man
+who has made an error must suffer, when such a sword hangs over his
+head, ready at any moment to fall.
+
+As Walker Boggs had said, Mr. Fern was not by nature a business man.
+After the former's retirement from active participation in the concern
+there was a series of losses. When Mr. Fern took his pen and began to
+imitate the signature of his late partner on a sheet of paper, nothing
+but some such course stood between him and bankruptcy. He felt certain
+that if he could tide over twenty-four hours he would be saved. Before
+he left his office he had made a note, written Mr. Boggs name across the
+back of it, and raised money thereon.
+
+He did this many times afterwards, but finally, when he again wanted a
+name to save himself with, he dared not use this one. Boggs had called
+in to remark that he should withdraw the capital he had lent as soon as
+the term arranged for had expired. The sum was already infringed upon,
+had the investor known it. The next name used was that of Archie Weil.
+Archie had been to the house a good deal to see Millicent. Mr. Fern
+believed there was a love affair between them, and he caught at the
+straw of possible protection in case of discovery. The forgeries became
+numerous, and the total amount on that day when the passage of a new
+tariff saved the venturesome speculator, was very large. Hannibal was at
+this time in foreign parts, or at least so the merchant supposed. He
+soothed his conscience with the reflection that this additional wrong
+act would enable him to right the others that preceded it. And things
+might have gone well had not the negro returned, consumed with the love
+he bore the younger daughter, and had not his love turned to vinegar by
+her contemptuous rejection of his advances.
+
+An hour after Daisy left him, Hannibal had made up his mind to be
+revenged. He had faltered a little in the meantime, asking himself what
+good it would do to bring disgrace on the head of this poor old man, but
+his injuries were too strong for mercy. He was despised by them all; he
+would show them that, black as he was, his ability to hurt was no less
+strong than theirs. Roseleaf had made the first impression on that young
+heart he himself had craved. It remained to be seen whether he would wed
+the daughter of a convict. There would be something pleasant, too, in
+disgracing Millicent, who had once placed herself in a position where he
+could have blasted her reputation forever, and had afterwards dared to
+treat him as if he were the dirt beneath her shoes. Yes, Hannibal
+decided, he would go to Mr. Weil and Mr. Boggs, and show them the way
+this man had used their names, hawking them in the public market without
+their knowledge.
+
+When Hannibal reached the Hoffman House and inquired for Mr. Weil, he
+was told that he was absent. An hour later he received the same answer.
+A visit to the residence of Mr. Boggs elicited a reply precisely
+similar. In fact, the day wore away and evening arrived before he found
+them.
+
+In the meantime, Mr. Weil had not been idle. While Daisy and Shirley
+Roseleaf were tearfully exchanging their explanations, he sent a
+messenger to Mr. Boggs, asking that gentleman to come to him without
+delay. An hour later the messenger arrived with the gentleman, and
+having engaged a room for temporary use, and seen to it that Roseleaf
+wanted nothing at present but his fair nurse, Archie pulled Boggs in and
+locked the door securely.
+
+"What's all this?" exclaimed Boggs. "You look and act as if there was
+the devil to pay."
+
+"There is," was the short answer. "I want you to do one of the most
+creditable acts of your life. I want it as a personal favor, and I'm
+going to have it, too."
+
+Mr. Boggs crossed his hands over his paunch and waited for further
+information.
+
+"Are you a first-class liar?" was Mr. Weil's next question. "Could you,
+in an emergency, do yourself justice as an eminent prevaricator? Are you
+able, for a certain time, to banish truth from your vicinity?"
+
+Mr. Boggs remarked, in response to these astonishing suggestions, that
+he could tell much better what his friend was about if he would drop
+metaphor.
+
+Mr. Weil hesitated. He saw no way but to trust this man with the facts,
+and yet he dreaded the possibility that he might prove obstinate.
+
+"By-the-way," he said, as if to change the subject temporarily, "have
+you been out to see Fern lately?"
+
+Mr. Boggs shook his head.
+
+"You ought to," said Weil. "He's improved a thousand per cent. in the
+last few weeks. His financial luck has made a new man of him."
+
+"I'm glad of that," responded the other. "And I'm glad too that I've got
+my money out of his firm, for I had a strong suspicion at one time that
+he was running pretty close to the wall."
+
+Mr. Weil nodded to show that he believed this statement, and then grew
+sober.
+
+"Sometimes, when men get into a tight place financially," he said, "they
+do queer things. Supposing I should tell you that Mr. Fern had endorsed
+checks and notes in a way he was not authorized to do?"
+
+The stout man opened his eyes wider.
+
+"That would be a piece of news," he answered. "But, if he did, he's made
+it all right by this time, of course, and nobody is the loser."
+
+Mr. Weil drew himself up in his chair, as if righteously indignant.
+
+"Do you think that is enough?" he demanded, raising his voice. "By Gad,
+supposing I tell you my name was one of those he monkeyed with!"
+
+The other did not seem much perturbed.
+
+"If the paper is all in, I wouldn't make a fuss about it, if I were
+you," he replied. "Fern is a good fellow. He has gone out of business,
+and I hope he'll never go in again. Take my advice, if you have learned
+anything to his discredit, and keep it to yourself."
+
+Weil could hardly control himself.
+
+"Do you think I intend to let him forge my name on his notes and checks
+and not put him under arrest!" he cried; "when the proofs are beyond
+question?"
+
+Mr. Boggs bowed and said he meant that, exactly. He further remarked
+that he was astonished that his friend had any other idea in his mind.
+The Fern family was one in which he had been favorably received and he
+ought to do everything possible to prevent harm to any of its members.
+As he proceeded in this vein, Mr. Boggs grew so earnest that he did not
+notice the broad smile of happiness that was creeping over the face of
+his companion, and was not prepared to find a pair of manly arms clasped
+around his neck.
+
+"You--you!" Archie Weil was trying to say. "You dear, kind, sensible
+fellow. You've made me the happiest man on earth! Of course _I_ wouldn't
+trouble Fern, but I was afraid _you_ would. He used your name as well as
+mine, the rascal! Everything is paid up, and all the trouble now is that
+a miserable scamp has got hold of some of the paper and wants to
+blackmail him. And what I called you here to-day for is to get you to
+agree--with me--to acknowledge every scrap of that paper as being our
+own!"
+
+The sudden change was more than Mr. Boggs could bear for a moment. He
+sat, to use a common expression, "like a stuck pig," staring at Archie.
+
+"You remember the nigger that worked for Fern," explained Mr. Weil. "He
+got hold of some of these notes and checks, in Fern's office, and is
+coming to look us up to-day, for the purpose of having his employer
+arrested. A nice game, eh? But we will foil him, won't we? We'll show
+him a trick worth several of his! He's probably gone to the Hoffman
+House and he'll hang round till he finds me. I'll send word that I am to
+be home this afternoon at five. You will be there with me. We'll tackle
+him together. When he tells us that he has some forged paper in his
+possession we'll act astonished and enraged; we'll ask him to show it to
+us; and when we've got it all in our hands we'll say the signatures are
+our own, and kick him down stairs. Are you with me, Walker? Is it a go,
+old boy?"
+
+The agreement was made without more ado. Mr. Boggs began to see the
+humorous element in the affair, and actually came nearer laughing than
+he had done since the day he discovered that the size of his waist
+placed him out of the list of eligible "mashers."
+
+When everything was settled, Mr. Weil excused himself for a few moments,
+while he tiptoed to Roseleaf's door and knocked. Daisy came to open it,
+and when she saw who the visitor was she blushed charmingly.
+
+"Come in," she said. "I am sure both of us are glad to see you."
+
+Shirley's eyes met those of his friend with a strange expression. He
+knew now that all his suspicions were unfounded, that Weil had proved
+himself noble and true. But the apologies that he owed could not be
+suitably made in the presence of a third person, and he made no
+reference to them. His changed appearance was enough, however, for
+Archie. The reconciliation with the girl of his heart was perfect, and
+the happiness that shone from their faces repaid their good friend for
+his sacrifice.
+
+"I think I ought to take Miss Daisy to her train now," said Archie,
+after the exchange of a few ordinary remarks. "She can come to see you
+to-morrow again, and before many days we will have matters arranged with
+pater familias, so that Shirley can go out to Midlands in his proper
+capacity. Oh, you need not redden, little woman! The love you two have
+for each other does both of you credit."
+
+Returning to Mr. Boggs, for the sake of allowing the young couple a few
+minutes for their good-bys, Archie dismissed that gentleman with the
+understanding that not later than half-past four he would join him in
+his room at the Hoffman House. Soon after he escorted Miss Fern to her
+station, and before he left the building Archie sent a dispatch to her
+father, asking him to come to the city and meet him at his hotel at four
+that afternoon.
+
+Everything worked to a charm. Mr. Fern arrived at the time designated
+and went promptly to Mr. Weil's apartments. A brief explanation of what
+was about to occur threw the wool merchant into a state of extreme
+agitation, but he was assured that the last particle of danger to
+himself would be removed before he left the Hoffman House. He was asked
+to step into an inner room of the suite, the door of which was to be
+left ajar, and to make no move unless he was called.
+
+Mr. Boggs came at his appointed hour, and Hannibal soon after. Delighted
+to find both gentlemen--accidentally, as he supposed--the negro began
+without delay to explain the cause of his visit. He stated the manner in
+which he had discovered the forgeries, and said he thought it only his
+duty to let the facts be known.
+
+Messrs. Weil and Boggs exchanged glances of well-simulated surprise as
+the discoverer proceeded.
+
+"How long is it since you first knew of this matter?" asked Mr. Weil,
+when Hannibal came to a pause.
+
+"Something like eighteen months."
+
+"And you allowed this swindle to go on all that time without saying a
+word!" said the questioner. "I am surprised, when I remember that for a
+long time you saw me almost daily."
+
+"That is true," was the quiet response. "I could not easily bring myself
+to disgrace one whose bread I was eating. But that does not matter now.
+I have here a number of notes on which Mr. Fern has forged both of your
+names. The law will hold him just as strongly as if I had exposed him at
+the time."
+
+He exhibited a package of papers, and unsuspiciously passed them to the
+two gentlemen. Undoing the band Archie Weil spread the documents on the
+centre table and went over them carefully with Mr. Boggs, separating
+those which bore their several names. A close perusal of all the notes
+followed, and finally Mr. Weil looked up and asked if there were any
+more.
+
+"No, those are all," said Hannibal. "I believe there are thirty-six of
+them."
+
+Mr. Weil consulted in a low tone with Mr. Boggs. They seemed puzzled
+over something.
+
+"If these are really all the notes you have," said Archie, "there has
+been a great mistake on your part. These endorsements are genuine in
+every case. Where are the forged papers of which you spoke?"
+
+The negro stared with all his might at the speaker.
+
+"Genuine!" he repeated.
+
+"Undoubtedly, as far as my name is concerned. I have lent my credit to
+Mr. Fern for a long time."
+
+"That is equally true of myself," spoke up Boggs, slowly. "I wrote every
+one of these signatures and I am willing to swear to them."
+
+Hannibal's eyes flashed with baffled rage. He had been trapped. These
+men had conspired to save his late employer from his clutches. They had
+lied, deliberately, and he was powerless against their combined
+assertions, although he knew the falsity of all they said.
+
+"You will be as glad as we to learn the truth," said Archie, in a softly
+modulated voice. "It would have grieved you to know that your kind
+employer had made himself amenable to the criminal law. Your only
+object in this matter was to ease your conscience, and do justice. There
+is nothing, now, to prevent your returning at your earliest convenience
+to France."
+
+The negro rose and took up his hat.
+
+"This is very nice," he growled, "but I want to tell you that you are
+not through with me yet."
+
+Mr. Weil rose also.
+
+"I trust," he said, "that you are not going to be impolite. I certainly
+would not be guilty of discourtesy to you. But let me assure you of one
+thing: If you ever, hereafter, annoy in the slightest degree my friend,
+Mr. Fern, or any member of his family, you will wish heartily that you
+had never been born. We can spare you now, Mr. Hannibal."
+
+With the last words, Archie waved his hand toward the door, and without
+further reply than a glare from his now blood-shot eyes, the African
+strode from the apartment.
+
+"I want you to take a ride in the Park with me, for an hour or so, and
+then we will return here for dinner," said Mr. Weil to Mr. Boggs.
+
+He did this to allow Mr. Fern to leave the house without Boggs' knowing
+he was there, and also to avoid a meeting that he felt would be too full
+of gratitude to suit his temperament just then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+"WE WANT MILLIE TO UNDERSTAND."
+
+
+Millicent Fern had been so busy on her second novel that she had hardly
+noticed the prolonged absence of Shirley Roseleaf from her father's
+house. Her first story was selling fairly well and she had received a
+goodly number of reviews in which it was alluded to with more or less
+favor. Not the least welcome of the things her mail brought was a check
+bearing the autograph of Cutt & Slashem, that tangible evidence which
+all authors admire that her efforts had not been wholly in vain. She had
+put a great deal of hard work into her new novel, and felt that, when
+Mr. Roseleaf added his polish to the plot she had woven, it would make a
+success far greater than the other.
+
+Millicent thought she understood the young man perfectly. To her mind he
+was merely awaiting the moment when she was ready to name the day for
+their marriage. To be sure he had not asked her to wed him, but his
+actions were not to be misunderstood. She would accept him, for business
+reasons, and the romance could come later. Together they would
+constitute a strong partnership in fiction. While she was wrapped up in
+her writing it was quite as well that he remained at a respectful
+distance. Between her second and her third story she would have time to
+arrange the ceremony.
+
+When Roseleaf made his next appearance at dinner, in the house at
+Midlands, Miss Fern smiled on him pleasantly. She remarked that he
+lacked color, and he replied that he had been suffering from a slight
+illness. Then she spoke of her new story, revealing the plot to a
+limited extent, and said it would be ready for him in about two weeks.
+The astonished young man saw that she considered his services entirely
+at her disposal, without question, whenever she saw fit to call upon
+them. He talked it over with Daisy.
+
+"You know," stammered the girl, "that Millie thought you were in love
+with her. That would account for everything, wouldn't it?"
+
+"But where did she ever get that idea!" he exclaimed, desperately.
+
+"She says you tried to put your arm around her."
+
+"Just to practice. Just to learn what love was like. I told you how
+ignorant I was, the same as I did her. Archie said she would show me,
+but it didn't amount to anything. It was only when I asked you, Daisy,
+that I began to understand. Do you remember how you stood on your toes
+and kissed me?"
+
+The girl bade him be quiet and not get too reminiscent, but he would
+not.
+
+"It taught me all I needed to know, in one instant," he persisted. "Ah,
+sweetheart, how much happiness and suffering I have had on your
+account!"
+
+He stooped and kissed her tenderly as he spoke.
+
+"And after this it will be happiness only," she whispered.
+
+Another kiss answered this prediction.
+
+"What can I do if she asks me to rewrite the whole of another novel?"
+asked Roseleaf, with a groan.
+
+"I think you might find time to oblige her," said Daisy. "But you ought
+to explain things--you ought not to let her misunderstand your position
+any longer."
+
+He said that this was true, and that he would act upon the suggestion.
+He had her father's consent, and nothing could stand in the way of his
+marriage to Daisy before the year ended. It was not right, of course, to
+go on with the implication of being engaged to both the sisters.
+
+"But I wish I could escape doing that writing," he added. "I hate
+fiction, any way; I have been at work on one of my own that I fear I
+never shall finish. There is much sadness in novels, and I like joy so
+much better. I believe I shall abandon the whole field."
+
+This she would not listen to. She said her husband that was to be must
+become a famous writer, for she wanted to be very proud of him. And Mr.
+Fern came in to the room, and having the question put to him, decided it
+in the same manner, as he was sure to do when he learned that his
+younger daughter held that opinion.
+
+The retired merchant bore the appearance of a man from whose shoulders
+the severe burden of a great weight had fallen. The tiger that had
+crouched so long in his path, ready at any moment to spring, had been
+vanquished. Beyond the profound humiliation of knowing that his sin was
+exposed to the gaze of two of his intimate friends, he had no cause for
+present grief. Both of them had proved friends indeed, and nothing was
+to be feared from any quarter. Hannibal had disappeared immediately
+after the interview at the Hoffman House, and it was supposed had gone
+back to France.
+
+There was to be no haste about the wedding, after all. Now that the
+young couple felt perfectly sure of each other they were more willing
+than they had been to wait. The freedom that an understood engagement
+brings to Americans was theirs. If Millicent had only known the true
+condition of affairs, and was content with them, they would have been
+perfectly satisfied.
+
+An old story tells how a certain colony of mice came to the unanimous
+conclusion that a bell should be hung around the neck of a cat for which
+they had a well-defined fear; and it also relates that none of the
+rodents were willing to undertake the task of placing the warning signal
+in the desired position. Both Shirley and Daisy wished heartily that
+Millicent could be told the exact condition of their hopes and
+expectations, but neither had the courage to inform her. Many of their
+long conversations referred to this matter, and one day, when they had
+discussed it as usual, Daisy hit upon a bright idea.
+
+"You don't suppose, do you, that Mr. Weil would tell Millie for us? He
+has done so many nice things, he might do one more."
+
+Roseleaf wore a thoughtful expression. He realized how much Archie had
+already done for him--realized it more fully than Daisy did; but he said
+the matter was worth thinking of. He wanted very much to have it
+settled.
+
+"Would--would you--ask him?" he stammered. "He would do anything for
+you."
+
+"Yes," she responded, softly, "I will ask him. But we had best be
+together. I do not want to broach the matter unless you are there."
+
+In a few days the opportunity came. Mr. Weil heard the voice he loved
+best explaining the situation.
+
+"We want Millie to understand," said Daisy. "If she--if she still likes
+Shirley herself, there may be an unpleasant scene, and you will see how
+difficult it is for either of us to tell her. But you, who have done so
+many kindnesses for us, could convey the information to her without the
+diffidence we should feel. Will you, dear Mr. Weil?"
+
+And Archie said he would, and that it would be a pleasure to him. And a
+bright light illumined the faces of the young people, as another stone
+was rolled out of the pathway their feet were to tread.
+
+Mr. Weil did not know how to approach his subject except by a more or
+less direct route. One day he was talking with Miss Fern about her new
+novel, and she spoke of Mr. Roseleaf in connection with its nearness to
+the required revision.
+
+"I don't know as Shirley will find time to help you out," he replied.
+"He is so busy just now with Miss Daisy."
+
+She did not seem to comprehend him in the least.
+
+"Oh, he is merely filling in the time, as a matter of amusement," she
+answered. "When I am ready he will be."
+
+He looked at her earnestly.
+
+"Is it fair to speak of love-making as a matter of amusement, Miss
+Fern?"
+
+"Love-making? Is he, then, practicing for his novel with Daisy, also?"
+she inquired. "I am afraid he will get erroneous views of love in that
+quarter. She is such a child that she can have little knowledge of the
+subject."
+
+She had evidently no suspicion of the truth, and he determined to become
+more explicit.
+
+"Perhaps that is exactly what he wishes," said he. "The virgin heart of
+a young girl certainly affords tempting ground for the explorations of a
+novelist."
+
+For the first time she showed a slightly startled face.
+
+"I trust you do not mean that Mr. Roseleaf is deceiving my sister with
+pretended affection?" she said. "I did not think him that kind of man.
+If he is making love to her, as you call it, surely she understands that
+it is only for the purposes of his forthcoming novel?"
+
+Mr. Weil drew a long breath.
+
+"Is it possible," he asked, "that you do not know him better than even
+to hint that suspicion? Shirley Roseleaf is honor personified. He would
+not lead any woman to believe him her lover unless he truly felt the
+sentiments he expressed."
+
+Miss Fern looked much relieved.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," she replied.
+
+Archie was plunged into a new quandary. He had evidently made no
+progress whatever thus far.
+
+"No," he continued, slowly, "he has not deceived Miss Daisy. His love
+for her is as true as steel. I understand their engagement is to be
+announced in a few days."
+
+If he had known the pain that these words would bring to their
+hearer--if he had foreseen the anguish that was portrayed on that brow
+and in those eyes--friend as he was of the young couple who had set him
+to this errand, he would have shrunk from it. Millicent made no verbal
+reply. Spasms chased each other over her white face. She seemed stricken
+dumb. Her hands, lifted to her forehead, trembled visibly. And Mr. Weil
+sat there, uncertain what to do, as silent as herself.
+
+Gradually the force of the storm passed, and Miss Fern staggered faintly
+to her feet. Mr. Weil offered to support her with his arms, but she
+refused his aid with a motion that was unmistakable. She was making
+every effort to conceal her agitation, and she dared not trust herself
+with words. After taking a weak step or two, and finding that she could
+not walk unassisted, she rested herself upon the arm of a large chair,
+and signed to him to leave her. Much mortified, but knowing no other
+course, he bowed profoundly and obeyed the signal.
+
+The next morning he received the following letter at his hotel:
+
+      "MR. A. WEIL:--SIR: If you are in any respect a
+      gentleman--which I may be excused for doubting--you will
+      not allude in the presence of any one to the exhibition I
+      made to-day. Had I had the least preparation I could have
+      controlled myself. You adroitly took me at a complete
+      disadvantage, and you saw the result.
+
+      "I leave to-morrow for a new home. Never again shall I live
+      under the roof of those who have betrayed me. Do not think
+      I shall succumb to grief because of my sister's conduct.
+      She is welcome to her victory. No answer to this is
+      expected.     Yours,      M. A. F."
+
+Luckily Archie had escaped from Midlands without meeting either Daisy or
+Roseleaf, and he obeyed as strictly as possible the injunction he
+received from the elder sister. All he would say was that he had
+informed her of the engagement and that she had made no reply. When he
+was told a day or two later that Millicent had left the house, he merely
+remarked that he was not much surprised, as she was a girl of strong
+will and usually did about as she pleased.
+
+Mr. Fern, at first much distressed over his daughter's action, grew
+reconciled when he thought of it more at length. He sent a liberal
+allowance to her, which she did not return, and made arrangements by
+which she could draw the same sum at her convenience at a bank in the
+city.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+WHERE WAS DAISY?
+
+
+The wedding was arranged to occur in the month of October, and the
+preparations, so dear to the hearts of all young women, were pushed with
+dispatch. There were to be no ceremonials beyond the ones necessary, and
+the company to visit the nuptials was limited to a dozen of the family's
+most intimate friends. When the evening came, Walker Boggs was on hand,
+wearing an extra large waistcoat, and a countenance such as would have
+best befitted a funeral. Lawrence Gouger came, his keen eye alert,
+foreseeing several chapters in the great novel that Roseleaf was
+writing, based on the experiences of the next few weeks. But Archie Weil
+wrote a note at the last minute, regretting that a business engagement
+that could not be postponed had called him to a distant point, and
+sending a magnificent ornament in large pearls for the bride, to whom he
+wished, with her husband, all health and happiness.
+
+Mr. Gouger had had many arguments with Mr. Weil, in opposition to the
+early date set for the wedding. He had shown that, according to the best
+models, the hero of Roseleaf's novel--which was practically the young
+man himself, ought to pass through some very harrowing scenes yet before
+his wedded happiness began. He feared an anti-climax, and was
+apprehensive that the wonderful romance would lie untouched for long
+months while Roseleaf sipped honey from the lips of his beloved. And he
+acted as if these things were entirely at the disposal of Mr. Weil--as
+if the young couple were mere marionettes whose actions he could
+control.
+
+"You could put it off if you liked," Gouger said, complainingly. "You
+could introduce other elements that would be the making of the novel,
+and you ought to do it. They should not marry before next spring, at the
+earliest. You run the risk of spoiling everything."
+
+"Good God!" cried Archie. "You talk like a fool. I would have postponed
+it forever, if I could, and you know it. But she loves him, and there is
+nothing to be gained by delay. Confound you and your old novel! With the
+happiness of two human beings at stake you talk about a piece of fiction
+as if it was worth more than a blissful life!"
+
+Gouger straightened himself up in his chair.
+
+"It is worth a hundred times more!" he answered, boldly. "A novel such
+as Roseleaf's ought to be would give pleasure to millions. But I see you
+are bound to have your way. The only hope left is that there will be
+trouble enough after marriage to spice the story to the end. A milk and
+water, nursing-bottle existence for them would make all the work already
+done on this manuscript mere wasted time!"
+
+Weil turned from his friend in disgust. Could the man talk nothing,
+think nothing, but shop?
+
+But Archie did not come to the wedding. He knew the final strain would
+be more than he could bear. It was one thing to sacrifice the woman he
+loved and quite another to see her given into the arms of the rival he
+had encouraged. One may do the noblest things, at a respectful distance,
+and find himself physically unable to view them at greater proximity.
+
+Of course Shirley Roseleaf was almost too happy to breathe. But even the
+happiest of lovers somehow manage to inhale a sufficiency of oxygen to
+keep life in them, though they have no knowledge of the process by which
+this is accomplished. He had seen several of his productions in type,
+some in the leading magazines, and he had a permanent position now on
+the staff of a great periodical. When the month he had allowed himself
+as necessary for a wedding journey was ended, he would settle down to
+work, and he knew no reason why he might not make a success in his
+chosen field. And there was Daisy--always Daisy--he would never again be
+separated from Daisy! Who that has loved and been loved can doubt the
+perfect content of this young man?
+
+The saddest face at Midlands was that of Mr. Fern, who failed in his
+best attempts to appear cheerful. He was not sorry that his daughter was
+to be married, he would not have put a single obstacle in her way; but
+she was going from him, and the very, very dear relations they had so
+long sustained would never be exactly the same again. It was the destiny
+of a woman to cleave to her husband. He found no fault with the law of
+nature, but he had clung to Daisy so devotedly that he could not welcome
+very sincerely the hour that was to take her away.
+
+The marriage was to be early in the evening. Everything was ready, even
+to the trunks, filled with traveling and other dresses. The night was to
+be passed at the Imperial Hotel in the city, and the journey proper to
+be begun some time on the following day.
+
+On the most momentous morning of her life, Daisy Fern announced that she
+had an errand to do in the city and would return shortly after twelve
+o'clock. As she was so thoroughly her own mistress nobody thought of
+questioning her more particularly. But twelve o'clock came, and one
+o'clock, and three, and five, and she neither was seen at Midlands nor
+was any message received from her.
+
+By the latter hour Mr. Fern was in a state of excitement. The entire
+house was in an uproar. The servants were catechised, one by one, to see
+if perchance any of them could guess the young lady's destination. Word
+was sent by telephone to various places in the city, asking information,
+but none was received. She had left the house, ostensibly to go to New
+York, and nothing could be learned of her from that moment.
+
+As Mr. Roseleaf was not expected until some time later, Mr. Fern went at
+last to the city and sought the young man at his rooms. He found him in
+the company of Lawrence Gouger, dressed for the ceremony, and impatient
+for the arrival of the hour when he should start for his bride's abode.
+It may be conceived that the news Mr. Fern brought was not the
+pleasantest for him.
+
+"You--you have not seen Daisy?" came the stammering question, as the
+father paused on the threshold of Roseleaf's room.
+
+"To-day? Why, certainly not!" was the stupefied answer. "I was just
+about to start for your house."
+
+Mr. Fern sank upon a sofa just inside the door.
+
+"Something--has--happened!" he groaned. "Ah, my boy, something has
+happened to my child!"
+
+Roseleaf looked at Mr. Gouger, who in turn looked at Mr. Fern.
+
+"She--went away--this morning--on an errand," enunciated the father,
+slowly, "saying--she would return--at noon. And--that is the last
+we--have seen--of her. Oh, it seems as if I should go mad!"
+
+It seemed as if Shirley Roseleaf would go mad, too. He looked like one
+bereft of sense, as he stood there without uttering a word.
+
+"Perhaps she has returned since you left home," suggested Mr. Gouger, on
+the spur of the instant. "Don't lose heart yet. Let me send to a
+telephone office and have them inquire. You have a 'phone in your house,
+have you not, Mr. Fern?"
+
+The father bowed in reply. He was too crushed to say anything
+unnecessary. Touching a button, Mr. Gouger soon had a messenger
+dispatched for the information desired, and in the meantime he tried, by
+suggesting possibilities, to soothe the two men.
+
+"You shouldn't get so excited," he protested. "There are a hundred
+slight accidents that might be responsible for Miss Daisy's delay.
+Perhaps she has met with an insignificant accident, and the word she
+has sent to her father has gone astray--as happens very often in these
+days. That would account for everything. Or she may have taken the wrong
+train--an express--that did not stop this side of Bridgeport, and
+hesitated to telegraph for fear of alarming you. 'Don't cry till you're
+hurt' is an old proverb. Why, neither of you act much better than as if
+her dead body had been brought home!"
+
+They heard him, but neither replied. They waited--it seemed an hour--for
+an answer to the telephonic message, and it came, simply this: "Nothing
+has been heard as yet of Miss Fern."
+
+The thoroughly distressed and disheartened father shrank before the gaze
+of the lover, when this news was promulgated by Mr. Gouger.
+
+"What swindle is this?" were the bitter words he heard. "Have you
+decided on another husband for your daughter, and come to break the news
+to me in this fashion?"
+
+Mr. Gouger interfered, to protect the old man whose suffering was
+evidently already too acute.
+
+"Hush!" he exclaimed. "Can't you see that you are killing him? Be
+careful!"
+
+Roseleaf waved him back with a sweep of his arm.
+
+"Your advice has not been asked," he replied, gutturally. "I can see
+some things, if I _am_ blind. That girl has gone to the man she
+loves--the man he," indicating the father, "wanted her to marry. He is
+rich, and I am poor, and he has won! It is plain enough! And he
+pretended, day by day, to my face, that he had given her up for my sake;
+and she put her arms around me, and beguiled me into confidence, in
+order to strike me the harder at the end. Well, let him have her! I
+wouldn't take her from him. But there's an account between us that he
+may not like to settle. When you see your friend, tell him that!"
+
+Mr. Fern heard these terrible sentences like a man in a dream. It could
+not be Roseleaf that was uttering them--the man to whom his young
+daughter had given the full affection of her innocent heart! He was mad
+to talk that way. Mad! mad!
+
+"You will repent these rash statements," said the old gentleman, rising
+faintly from his seat. "You will repent them, sir, in sackcloth. I wish
+with all my heart that Mr. Weil was here, for he would at least try to
+help me find my child."
+
+Mr. Gouger suggested that Mr. Weil would be at Midlands soon, as he had
+an invitation to the wedding.
+
+"No," replied Mr. Fern, chokingly. "I received word from him to-day that
+he could not attend. He is out of the city."
+
+Roseleaf gave vent to an expression of nausea.
+
+"Are you yourself deceived?" he exclaimed. "He will not attend _my_
+wedding; certainly not! He is attending _his own_. If, indeed, he does
+not compass his ends without that preliminary."
+
+Weak and old as Mr. Fern was he would have struck the speaker had not
+the third person in the room interfered.
+
+"Do you dare to speak in that manner of my daughter!" he cried. "Must
+you attack the character not only of my best friend but of my child as
+well? I thank God at this moment, whatever be her fate, that she did not
+join her life to yours!"
+
+With a majestic step he strode from the presence of his late prospective
+son-in-law. Gouger, with a feeling that some one should accompany him,
+followed. But first he turned to speak in a low key to the novelist.
+
+"Do not go out to-night, unless you hear from me," he said,
+impressively. "This may not be as bad as you think, after all. I will go
+to Midlands and return with what news I can get. Don't act until you are
+certain of your premises."
+
+The young man was removing his wedding suit, already.
+
+"I shall not go out," he responded, aimlessly.
+
+"You might write a few pages--on your novel," suggested the critic, as
+he stood in the hallway. "There will never be a better--"
+
+A vigorous movement slammed the door in his face before he could
+complete his sentence.
+
+Hastening after Mr. Fern, Gouger accompanied him home, where the first
+thing he heard was that there was still no news of the missing one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+AN AWFUL NIGHT.
+
+
+It was an awful night for Wilton Fern. The presence in the house of Mr.
+Gouger and Mr. Boggs aided him but little to bear the weight that
+pressed upon his heart. It was better than being entirely alone, but not
+a great deal. Together they listened whenever their ears caught an
+unusual sound. Twenty times they went together to the street door and
+opened it to find nothing animate before them.
+
+Morning came and still no tidings. The earliest trains from the city
+were visited by servants, for the master of the house was too exhausted
+to make the journey. And at nine o'clock the gentlemen who had passed
+the night at Midlands took the railway back to New York, with no
+solution of the great problem.
+
+Mr. Gouger had not been in his office an hour before the door opened and
+in walked Archie Weil. The critic started from his chair at the
+unexpected sight, and remarked that he had not expected to see his
+visitor so early.
+
+"I presume you heard the news and came home at once," he added,
+meaningly.
+
+Mr. Weil was pale, and wore the look of one whose rest has been
+disturbed.
+
+"I don't know what you mean," he replied. "I was called away on business
+that I could not evade, and came back as soon as I could. I fear the
+Ferns thought it rather rough of me to stay away from the wedding, but I
+could not very well help it. You were there, of course. Everything went
+off well, I trust."
+
+The speaker had the air of a man who tries to appear at ease when he is
+not. His voice trembled slightly and his hands roamed from one portion
+of his apparel to another.
+
+"Then you have heard nothing!" repeated Gouger, gravely. "Prepare
+yourself for a shock. There was no wedding last night at the Ferns'.
+Miss Daisy disappeared yesterday morning, and has not been seen since."
+
+If Mr. Weil had been pale before, his face was like a dead man's now.
+With many expressions of incredulity he listened to the explanations
+that followed. He declared that the occurrence was past belief, and that
+he could see no way to account for it. Clearly something had happened
+that the girl could not prevent. She would never have absented herself
+of her own accord. She loved the man who was to be her husband, and if
+she had wished to postpone her marriage she could have easily arranged
+it.
+
+"I can think of nothing but a fit of temporary insanity," he added, with
+a sigh. "And Shirley--poor fellow--how does he take it? Completely
+broken up, I suppose?"
+
+When he heard the attitude that Mr. Roseleaf had assumed, Mr. Weil
+seemed stupefied. Little by little Mr. Gouger revealed to him the
+answers that the young man had made to Mr. Fern, finally referring to
+the charge that he (Mr. Weil) had eloped with the bride. Archie's face
+grew more and more rigid as he listened, but the anger that the relator
+had anticipated did not show there.
+
+"He is crazy," was the mild reply. "I will go and see him, at once, and
+enlist his assistance in the thorough search that must be undertaken.
+Come, Lawrence, leave your work for an hour and go with me."
+
+Remembering his promise to return in the morning with the latest
+tidings, Mr. Gouger put on his hat and coat and entered the cab which
+his friend summoned. He felt that he was about to witness another
+chapter that would make most dramatic reading in that great novel!
+
+"You had best let me go in first," he whispered, when they stood at
+Roseleaf's door. "He is in an excitable frame of mind, I fear."
+
+For answer, Archie brushed the speaker aside and preceded him into the
+chamber, without the formality of a knock. Roseleaf lay before them in
+his easy chair, bearing evidence in his attire that he had not disrobed
+during the night. He greeted his visitors with nothing more than a look
+of inquiry.
+
+"I only heard of your terrible disaster a few moments ago," said Mr.
+Weil. "I learn that Miss Daisy had not been heard from up to nine
+o'clock this morning. We must bring all our energies to bear on this
+matter, Shirley. Her father is unable to help us much. For all we know
+she may be in the most awful danger. Rouse yourself and let us consult
+what is best to do."
+
+Incredulousness was written on the quiet face that looked up at him from
+the armchair.
+
+"Why don't you tell us what you have done with her?" said the bloodless
+lips, slowly.
+
+Mr. Weil trembled with suppressed emotion.
+
+"This is no time for recriminations," he replied, "or I might answer
+that in a different way. We must find this girl. Before we go to the
+police let us consider all the possibilities, for they will deluge us
+with questions. Did any one think," he asked, suddenly, turning to
+Gouger, "of sending word to her sister Millicent?"
+
+Mr. Gouger replied that they had done so. A servant had been dispatched
+early in the evening to Millicent's residence and had returned with the
+answer that she had heard nothing of Miss Daisy and did not wish to. She
+had previously sent a sarcastic reply to an invitation to attend the
+wedding.
+
+"And she never came to comfort her father in his distress!" exclaimed
+Mr. Weil. "What a daughter!"
+
+They could get nothing out of Roseleaf. He answered a dozen times that
+it would be much easier for Mr. Weil to send Daisy home or to write to
+her father that she was in his keeping, than to attempt the difficult
+task of deceiving the police, who would have enough shrewdness to unmask
+him.
+
+"Then you will do nothing to help us?" demanded Archie, his patience
+becoming exhausted, though he kept his temper very well. "In that case
+we must lose no more time. Ah, Shirley! I thought you worthy of that
+angelic creature, but now--"
+
+He checked himself before finishing the sentence, and went out into the
+hall.
+
+"I think I had best go to Midlands and consult with Mr. Fern," he said
+to Gouger in a low tone. "There is a possibility that his daughter has
+returned since you came away. What an awful list of horrible thoughts
+crowd on one! If you can help me any I will send you word later."
+
+When Mr. Weil was gone, Mr. Gouger opened the door and looked again into
+Roseleaf's room. The young man had not changed his position in the
+least.
+
+"He has started for Midlands," he said. "What do you think of his
+explanation in regard to his absence last night?"
+
+"I think--I know--it is a lie!" was the quick reply.
+
+"You really believe she went away to meet him--and that he has passed
+the last twenty-four hours with her."
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+The critic waited a minute.
+
+"Do you think they are married?" he asked.
+
+Roseleaf closed his eyes, as a terrible pain shot across them. He
+wondered dimly why this fellow should delight in uttering things that
+must cause suffering. Gouger deliberated whether to say more, but
+thinking that he had left the right idea in the young man's mind for the
+purpose he had in view, he softly withdrew from the chamber and left the
+house. When Roseleaf looked up again, some minutes later, he was alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Weil's hand was grasped feebly by the owner of Midlands, when he
+came into the presence of the gentleman. Though completely exhausted Mr.
+Fern had not been able to sleep. He listened wearily while his caller
+suggested possibilities to account for his daughter's absence, but could
+not agree that any of them were probable. When the idea was broached of
+communicating with the police he shrank from that course, but finally
+admitted that it must be adopted, if all else failed. In answer to a
+hundred questions he could only say that he had no idea of anything that
+could make her absence voluntary.
+
+"She loved her chosen husband devotedly," said the old man. "When she
+hears what I have to tell her she will hold a different opinion."
+
+"Then," said Archie, ignoring the latter expression, "she must either be
+the victim of an accident, a fit of aberration, or--"
+
+He could not bear to finish the sentence, but the father bowed in
+acquiescence.
+
+Lunch was served and Mr. Weil sat down to it, trying by his example to
+persuade Mr. Fern to take a few mouthfuls. Neither of them had any
+appetite, and the attempt was a dismal failure.
+
+"I leave everything to you," said the host, as Mr. Weil prepared to take
+his departure. "You are the truest friend I ever had, and whatever you
+decide upon I will endorse. But I have an awful sinking at the heart, a
+feeling that I shall never see my child alive. Do you believe in
+premonitions? I have felt for weeks that some misfortune hung over me."
+
+Before Mr. Weil could reply a servant entered with a telegraphic message
+that had just been received. Tearing it open hastily Mr. Fern uttered a
+cry and handed it to his companion:
+
+      "I am alive and uninjured. Look for me to-morrow.--Daisy."
+
+A gush of tears drowned the exclamations of joy that the father began to
+utter.
+
+"Alive!" he exclaimed. "And will be home to-morrow! Ah, Mr. Weil, hope
+is not lost, after all. But why, _why_ does she leave me in my
+loneliness another night? Is there any way in which you can explain this
+mystery?"
+
+Mr. Weil confessed his inability to do so. He tried, however, to show
+the father the bright side of the affair, and bade him rest tranquil in
+the certainty that only a few hours separated him from the child he
+adored. When Daisy came home she would explain everything to his
+satisfaction. In the meantime he ought to indulge in thankfulness for
+what he had learned rather than in regrets.
+
+"Go to bed and get a good rest," he added. "I will make a journey to the
+telegraph office in the city and see if it is possible to trace this
+message. If I learn anything I will ring you up on the telephone at
+once. And remember, if you do not hear from me, there is a proverb that
+no news is good news. Daisy has promised to come home to-morrow. This
+is something definite. An hour ago we were plunged in despair. Now we
+have a certainty that should buoy us up to the highest hope."
+
+Catching at this view of the case, Mr. Fern consented to seek rest and
+Mr. Weil took the next train to the city. Engaging a carriage he bade
+the driver take him with all speed to Mr. Roseleaf's residence.
+Notwithstanding the harsh manner in which he had been treated by his
+late friend, he wanted to be the first to inform him that Daisy had been
+heard from. He was smarting, naturally, under the imputation upon his
+own honor, and felt that the telegram in his hand would at least remove
+that suspicion.
+
+"I couldn't help coming again, Shirley," he said, when he was in the
+presence of the novelist. "I know, despite the cruel manner you have
+assumed, that you still love Daisy Fern and will be glad to hear that
+she is safe from harm. Here is a telegram that her father has just
+received, stating that she is well and will be at home to-morrow."
+
+His face glowed with pleasure as he held out the missive, but darkened
+again when Roseleaf declined to take it in his hand. The young man had
+not moved, apparently, from the chair in which he had been seen three
+hours before, and his expression of countenance was unchanged.
+
+"Does she say where she passed the night--_and with whom_?" he inquired.
+
+"No. But she says she is well and will return. Is not that a great deal,
+when we have feared some accident, perhaps a fatal one?"
+
+The novelist uttered a sneering laugh.
+
+"My God, Shirley, why do you treat me like this!" exclaimed Mr. Weil,
+excitedly. "I have been your friend in everything, as true to you as man
+could be! If I had done the dastardly thing of which you accuse me, why
+should I come to you at all? I could have taken my bride and gone to the
+other end of the earth. We need not have adopted these contemptible
+measures. But although I _did_ care for this girl--more than I ever
+cared or ever shall care for another--I knew it was _you_ she loved and
+I did all I could to aid you in your suit. Have you forgotten how I
+brought her here, as you lay in that very chair, and removed the
+misunderstandings that had grown up between you? As God hears me, I have
+no idea what caused her absence last night! I am going now to the
+telegraph office to trace, if possible, the message and find where she
+is at present, for I want to relieve her father's mind still more."
+
+Roseleaf seemed partially convinced by this outburst. He left his chair,
+and began slowly to arrange his attire before the mirror.
+
+"If you are sincere," he said, "I will accompany you. I will also do my
+best to discover the resting-place of this young woman. You must remain
+with me till she is found. If we do not see her before to-morrow
+morning, we will walk into her presence at Midlands together. Do you
+agree to this?"
+
+"With all my heart!" was the joyous reply.
+
+In ten minutes they entered the carriage at the door, and were driven to
+the station from which the telegram had been sent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+"THIS ENDS IT, THEN?"
+
+
+There was nothing to be learned at the telegraph office. As near as
+could be remembered a boy had brought the message, paid for it and
+vanished. Only one discovery amounted to anything. The original dispatch
+was produced and proved to be in Daisy's handwriting. Roseleaf attested
+to this, and he knew the characters too well to be mistaken.
+
+It was not advisable, in Mr. Weil's opinion, to go to the police, after
+the receipt of this word from the missing girl. It would only add to the
+notoriety of the family in case the press got hold of the news. But he
+did think it wise to go to see Isaac Leveson and find a man named Hazen,
+whose reputation as a detective was great. He could rely on the absolute
+silence of both of them. The ride to Isaac's was consequently made next,
+and by good fortune Hazen happened to be in. He listened gravely to the
+situation as it was outlined by Mr. Weil, but expressed his opinion that
+nothing would be gained by doing anything before the next day.
+
+"That telegram is genuine," he said. "It follows that, unless she is
+detained forcibly, she will be at home to-morrow. The writing in this
+message is not like that of a person under threats, like one compelled
+to send a false statement. Your best way is to wait till she comes home,
+providing it is not later than she indicates, and hear her story.
+Perhaps it will explain the mystery. If she declines to do this, I will
+undertake to probe it to the bottom, if you wish."
+
+Mr. Roseleaf took no part in this discussion. He was becoming convinced
+that Archie Weil was innocent of any complicity in this affair, but he
+was still disinclined to talk much.
+
+"Where shall we go now?" he asked, when they came out of the restaurant.
+
+"To the Hoffman House?" said Weil, interrogatively. "I believe with
+Hazen that we can do nothing to-night."
+
+Very well, to the Hoffman House they would go. But they had not been in
+Weil's room five minutes when a boy came up with a telephonic message
+from Mr. Fern, stating that Daisy was safe at Midlands.
+
+"Let us return without delay," said Weil, enthusiastically. "We should
+not lose a moment in removing this terrible cloud! Come, Shirley, we can
+catch the six o'clock train if we hasten."
+
+Mechanically the younger man followed his companion through the hall,
+down the elevator and into a carriage at the door. Forty minutes later
+they alighted from the train at Midlands and were soon in the familiar
+parlor at Mr. Fern's. A servant who had admitted them, stated that Miss
+Daisy had been home about two hours but that she was now lying down. He
+would inquire whether she would receive the visitors.
+
+What seemed an interminable time followed before the appearance of Mr.
+Fern and his daughter. When at last they came in together, leaning on
+each other, they were two as forlorn objects as one can imagine. The
+sight of his sweetheart's woe-begone face smote Roseleaf like a blow. He
+regretted to the bottom of his heart the cruel things he had thought and
+said of her.
+
+"Daisy!" he exclaimed, stepping forward. "Daisy--my--"
+
+He could get no further, for Mr. Fern, with a majestic motion of his
+hand, waved him back. The presence of the intended bridegroom was
+evidently not agreeable to the old gentleman.
+
+"Sit down," said Mr. Fern, in a quavering voice, addressing himself
+wholly to Weil. "I telephoned _to you_ that my daughter had returned,
+for I knew _you_ would be anxious." He bore with special stress on the
+word "you." "I--I did not know that you intended to bring--any other
+person."
+
+The allusion to Roseleaf was so direct, that he could not help
+attempting some kind of a reply.
+
+"Who could be more anxious than I?" he asked, in a tone that was very
+sweet and tender; in vivid contrast, the old man thought, to his manner
+of the preceding evening. "No one has a greater interest to learn where
+she has been these long, desolate hours."
+
+Mr. Fern abandoned his intention not to recognize the fact that Roseleaf
+was present, and turned upon him with a fierce glare in his sunken eyes.
+
+"What right have _you_ to ask questions?" he demanded, pressing the
+trembling form of his daughter to his own. "You were the first to doubt
+her--even her innocence--this lamb that would have given her life for
+you only yesterday! She has returned to _me_, and henceforth she is
+_mine_! You could not have her though you came on your knees! You wish
+to know where she has been! Well, you never _will_! She will not tell
+you! It is her own affair. I am speaking for _her_ when I say that we
+desire no more of your visits to this house; we are through with you,
+thank God!"
+
+It would be hard to tell which of the two men who listened to this was
+the more surprised. Mr. Weil felt his heart sink as well as did
+Roseleaf. Daisy clung to her father, without raising her eyes, and there
+was nothing to indicate that she disputed his assertions.
+
+All was over between her and Roseleaf! Nothing could bring them together
+again! And she did not mean to divulge the cause of her remaining away a
+day and a night--that day and night that had been expected to precede
+and succeed her marriage.
+
+Shirley rose slowly. He bent his eyes earnestly on the father and
+daughter, and his voice was firm.
+
+"When one is dismissed, there is nothing for him but to go. I regret
+sincerely what I said last night, when the horror of this thing came
+suddenly upon me. I love you, Daisy, and I know by what you have told me
+so often that you love me. Are the foolish utterances of a distracted
+man to separate us forever? Conceive the agony I was in when at the very
+moment I was to start for my wedding I heard that my bride could not be
+found! If I had not adored you passionately would I have been on the
+verge of madness, saying and doing things without reason and excuse? I
+am ordered to leave you, my sweetheart, and if you do not bid me stay I
+can only obey the mandate. But I love you more at this moment than ever.
+All I ask to know is why you made this flight. If your answer is
+satisfactory there will be nothing on my part to prevent our marriage."
+
+Archie Weil wished that he could have led this young man aside for just
+a moment, to show him that this was no time to make demands or exact
+conditions. He had no doubt that Daisy would explain everything, a
+little later. All that was wanted now was a revocation of the dismissal
+that Mr. Fern had pronounced. But he could not control the stormy ocean
+upon which they rode.
+
+"You seem singularly obtuse," came the shaking voice of the old
+gentleman. "It is not for _you_ to dictate terms. We want to see you no
+more. Is not that clear enough?"
+
+It certainly did not seem to be. Roseleaf lingered, wondering if these
+were really to be the last phrases he would hear in that house--in that
+very room where he had expected to hear the words that would make this
+sweet girl his for life.
+
+"Daisy," he said, addressing himself once more to the silent figure, "I
+cannot believe you have so soon learned to hate me!"
+
+She looked up at the solemn face and then dropped her eyes again.
+
+"You will tell me where you were?" he pleaded. "It is my right to
+know."
+
+She looked up again, with a wild horror in her features.
+
+"Oh, I _cannot_!" she cried. "I _never_ can tell you. I never _can_!"
+
+This statement shocked more than one person in that room. Up to this
+moment Mr. Fern had only understood, from the disjointed expressions of
+his daughter when she entered the house, that she did not wish to be
+questioned at that time. She had also explained to him that she had sent
+the telegram to make the coast clear of all except her parent, as she
+did not wish to meet others on her first arrival. When he had urged the
+duty of informing Mr. Weil she had acquiesced, not dreaming that Mr.
+Roseleaf would be in his company.
+
+And now the old man felt that there was more in the answer she had given
+than he had suspected--something very like a confession of wrong. Mr.
+Weil felt this also, though he could not believe Daisy meant anything
+very heinous, and Shirley Roseleaf had a dagger in his breast as he
+reflected what interpretation might be given to her words.
+
+"You _cannot_!" he repeated, ignoring the position in which he stood,
+and the presence of the others. "_You must!_"
+
+Mr. Weil made haste to allay the storm that he saw was still rising.
+
+"Let us be considerate," he said. "Miss Fern is not well. She is tired
+and nervous. To-morrow, when she has rested, she will be only too glad
+to tell us the history of her strange disappearance."
+
+Mr. Fern looked uneasily from his daughter to the gentlemen and back
+again. He loved her dearly, and in this new danger that seemed to
+threaten her--danger perhaps even to her reputation--he wanted more than
+ever to shield her from all harm. Whatever had happened she was his
+child. She should not be baited and badgered by any one. But Daisy did
+not give him time to speak in her defense. She answered Mr. Weil almost
+as soon as the question left his lips.
+
+"It cannot be. Not to-morrow, nor at any other time, can I tell you--or
+any person--anything. You must never ask me. It would merely give me
+pain, and heaven knows I shall suffer enough without it. Let me say a
+little more, for this is the last time I shall ever speak of these
+things. To you, Mr. Weil, I want to give my warmest thanks. You have
+been a true friend to me and mine. I do not mean to seem ungrateful, but
+I can tell you no more. And as for you, Shirley," she turned with set
+eyes to the novelist, "you know what we were to each other. It is all
+ended now. Even if you had expressed no disbelief in me when you heard I
+had disappeared, it would be just the same. I hold no hard feelings
+against you, whatever my father may say. It is simply good-by. I shall
+not remain here much longer. Do not let this make you unhappy any longer
+than you can help. Now, you must excuse me, for my strength is gone."
+
+Daisy had been much longer saying these things than the reader will be
+in perusing them. They had come in gasps, as from one in severe pain,
+and there were pauses of many seconds. When she had finished she rose,
+and leaning heavily on the feeble old man who escorted her, walked
+slowly out of the room.
+
+"Well, this ends it, then," said Roseleaf, gloomily, following the fair
+figure with heavy eyes.
+
+"No, Shirley, it does not; it _shall_ not!" replied Weil. "There is some
+dreadful mistake here, and a little time will clear it away. Have
+patience."
+
+The novelist gazed at the speaker with a strange look.
+
+"I have treated you like a brute," he said, slowly. "And I have treated
+Mr. Fern just as badly. My punishment is well deserved. But how can this
+puzzle of her absence be accounted for! Of course she would have had to
+satisfy me on that point before I could have married her."
+
+The listener turned giddily toward a window.
+
+"And yet you talk of love!" he said, recovering. "If that girl had done
+me the honor she did you I would not have _asked_ her such a question--I
+would have refused to _listen_ if it gave her the slightest pain to
+tell."
+
+"I wonder she did not love you instead of me--for she did love me once,"
+was the sober reply. "You would be a thousand times better, more
+suitable, than I."
+
+There was no reply to this, but the two men walked slowly out of the
+house and to the station, where they took the next train for the city.
+On the way they talked little, and at the Grand Central Depot they
+separated.
+
+Lawrence Gouger, who had in some strange way learned the news of Miss
+Fern's return, was awaiting Roseleaf in his rooms.
+
+"Well, I hear the missing one is found," he said, as the novelist came
+in.
+
+"Yes. She is with her father. But the peculiar thing is that she closes
+her lips absolutely about her absence. She not only refuses to speak
+now, but announces that her refusal is final."
+
+Mr. Gouger hesitated what card to play.
+
+"When does the marriage take place?" he asked, finally.
+
+"With me? Never. I have been thrown over. Unless she had explained I
+could not have married her, any way; could I?"
+
+The critic said he did not know. It would certainly have been awkward.
+
+"And what is your theory?" he added. "Do you still lay anything to
+Weil?"
+
+"No. I am completely nonplussed. But, never mind. It is over."
+
+Roseleaf stretched himself, and yawned.
+
+"Do you know, Gouger, I almost doubt if I have really been in love at
+all. I feel a queer sense of relief at being out of it, though there is
+a dull pain, too, that isn't exactly comfortable. I told Archie coming
+in that she should have married _him_. Upon my soul I wish she would.
+She's an awful nice little thing, and he has a heart that is genuine
+enough for her. Well, it's odd, anyway."
+
+Astonishment was written on the face of the other gentleman as he heard
+these statements.
+
+"You have at least gained one point," he said, impressively. "You have
+done the best part of the greatest novel that ever was written. Sit down
+as soon as you can and finish it, and we shall see your name so high up
+on the temple of fame that no contemporary of this generation can reach
+it."
+
+"So high the letters will be indistinguishable, I fear," responded
+Roseleaf, with a laugh. "Where do you think I can get the heartiest
+supper in New York? I am positively starved. I don't believe I've eaten
+a thing since yesterday. If you can help me any to clear the board, let
+us go together."
+
+This invitation was accepted, and Roseleaf began making a more
+particular toilet, taking great pains with the set of his cravat and
+spending at least ten minutes extra on his hair when he had finished
+shaving himself. He never had allowed a barber to touch his face.
+
+"You won't lose any time on the novel, will you?" asked Gouger,
+anxiously, while these preparations were in progress. "You must take
+hold of it while the events are fresh in your mind."
+
+"All right. I'll begin again to-morrow morning, and stick to the work
+till it's done. Where shall we go to supper? I'll tell you--Isaac
+Leveson's."
+
+The critic could not conceal his surprise at the overturn that had taken
+place so suddenly in the young man's conduct. He stared at him with a
+look that approached consternation.
+
+"You want to go there!" he exclaimed, unable to control himself. "You
+wish to dine with some pretty girl, eh?"
+
+Roseleaf started violently.
+
+"No, no! Not--yet!" he answered. "We can get a supper room without that
+appendix. I wish to be among men as mean as myself. I want to dine in a
+house full of people who would cut a woman's throat--or break her
+heart--and sleep soundly when they had done it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+AN UNDISCOVERABLE SECRET.
+
+
+The Ferns did not stay much longer at Midlands. Crushed by their
+misfortunes neither cared to remain near the scenes that had made them
+so unhappy, nor where they would be likely to meet faces which kept
+alive their grief. The father knew no more than at first concerning the
+strange conduct of his daughter. She had told him nothing, and he had
+not asked her a single question. It was enough for him that she was
+bowed with a great trouble. His only thought was to mitigate her
+distress in every possible way. He was old--how old he had not realized
+until that week when she changed from a happy, laughing girl, standing
+at the threshold of a marriage she longed for, to a sombre shadow that
+walked silently by his side. He was the one who under ordinary
+circumstances should have received the care and the thoughtfulness--but
+everything was altered now. He guided and directed the younger feet,
+even though his own were faltering and slow.
+
+Where they had gone no one seemed to know. Archie Weil received one
+brief note from Mr. Fern thanking him again in touching phrase for his
+many kindnesses, and saying that Daisy wished to add her most earnest
+wish for his happiness. The letter said they were going away for some
+time; but no more. He went one day to Midlands, hoping to learn
+something from the servants, and found the home entirely deserted. A
+neighbor told him a real estate agent near by had the keys, but that the
+place was neither for sale nor to rent. The agent, when found, could add
+nothing to his stock of information. Mr. Fern had merely mentioned that
+he was going on a journey and asked to have a man sleep at the house
+during his absence, as a precaution against robbery.
+
+Mr. Weil saw Roseleaf two or three times, but the interviews were so
+unsatisfactory that he felt them not worth repeating. The novelist told
+him, as he had told Gouger, that he did not believe he had ever really
+loved Daisy, and was actually relieved now that the strain was ended. No
+persuasion could turn him from this statement, which he made rather in
+explanation of his present course than as a defense of it. Gouger had
+persuaded him that a love affair was necessary to develop his talents as
+a writer. Before he knew what he was about, such an affair had been
+precipitated upon him. He had felt its pleasures and pains to the
+uttermost, and now it was ended. All that was left as a result was a
+pile of MSS. which the critic pronounced wonderful. It was as if he had
+been in a trance, or mesmerized. Henceforth he would confine his
+writings to actualities or to poetic imaginings.
+
+Talking with a man who held these views was not inspiring, to put it
+mildly, and Archie reluctantly gave up all hopes of making Daisy Fern a
+happy woman through this source. He had dreamed of unraveling the
+mystery that surrounded her and placing the young couple again in the
+position which, by some horrible mischance, had been so vitally changed
+in the short space of one day. Though he still loved Daisy with all the
+warmth of his nature, Archie had no thought of trying to win her for
+himself. She had given the fullness of her innocent heart to Roseleaf
+and he did not believe she was one to change her affections to another
+so soon as this.
+
+What had happened! What had happened! He thought it over day by day, and
+night by night.
+
+Among the things he did before leaving New York--for he felt that a
+journey was necessary for him--was to seek out Millicent. He found the
+elder sister adamant to every suggestion of love for her family. She
+believed herself injured by them, and would have nothing more to do with
+either. As to the strange affair regarding Daisy she declared she had no
+theory. She did not think it sufficiently interesting even to try to
+formulate one. Her time was given to writing, and she had found another
+assistant that quite filled Roseleaf's place. The firm of Scratch &
+Bytum had accepted her latest novel, as she did not care to have
+anything more to do with Mr. Gouger.
+
+When she mentioned the name of Roseleaf, Mr. Weil looked at her
+intently, and saw that she uttered it with the utmost calmness. She had
+hardened. Her fancied grievances had made her a different woman. She was
+cynical before, but now she was bitter. He would not have believed that
+such an alteration could have taken place in so short a time.
+
+"What is your new book about?" he asked, trying to be polite.
+
+"Crime!" she answered briefly. "It deals with the lowest of the low. It
+suits the mood I am in. I am writing of things so terrible that they
+will hardly be credited. To get at my facts I have to go into the most
+depraved quarters, and associate with the _canaille_. But I am going to
+make a hit that has not been equaled in recent years!"
+
+He smiled sadly.
+
+"Roseleaf had the same expectation," he said. "And yet he tells me that
+he is doing nothing on that wonderful tale over which I have heard
+Gouger rave so often. He has reached a point where he can go no farther,
+and unless he rouses himself, all he has done is merely wasted time."
+
+Millicent closed her eyes till they resembled those of a cat at noonday.
+
+"Keep watch for mine," she said. "It will be all I claim for it."
+
+During the winter Mr. Weil was in California. As spring approached he
+returned to the East and visited a well known resort in North Carolina,
+where by one of those curious coincidences that happen to travelers, he
+found himself placed at table exactly opposite to Mr. Walker Boggs. The
+ordinary salutations and explanations followed, and then Mr. Boggs
+alluded to a more interesting subject.
+
+"I think I can surprise you," he remarked, "by something that I learned
+the other day. Mr. Fern and Miss Daisy are living within five miles of
+here."
+
+It was certainly news, and entirely unexpected at that. Those people
+might be in Greenland, for all Archie had known, and indeed he had
+supposed they were on the other side of the ocean. He listened with
+interest while Boggs went on to say that they had hired an old
+plantation house and grounds and were living a strictly secluded life.
+The narrator had seen them in one of his drives through the country, and
+had talked a few minutes with Mr. Fern; but--and he said it with a touch
+of pique--he had not been invited to visit them, nor had any apology
+been made for the neglect.
+
+"By George, I thought it rather tough!" he added, "considering the way
+you and I got him out of that nigger's clutches."
+
+"But you must remember what he has since endured," replied Archie,
+mildly.
+
+"And there's been no explanation, of any sort?"
+
+"Not the slightest. I'd give half I'm worth if I could get a clue. It
+worries me all the time. A life like that girl's ruined--simply
+ruined--in twenty-four hours, and nobody able to tell why! It's enough
+to drive a man frantic!"
+
+Mr. Weil did not drive immediately to Oakhurst, which he learned was the
+name of the estate that Mr. Fern rented, but he enclosed his card in a
+hotel envelope and sent it there by mail, without a word of comment. If
+they thought it best to see him he would be glad to go, otherwise he
+would not intrude on their privacy.
+
+Several days after--mails were slow in the South--an answer came. It
+briefly requested that Mr. Weil and Mr. Boggs, if the latter were still
+in town, would come to lunch on the following Wednesday. Boggs fumed
+slightly at the apparent difference made between him and Weil, but ended
+by going with his friend to Oakhurst.
+
+Mr. Fern did not look any worse than when Archie had last seen
+him--indeed, if anything, he had improved in appearance. Time helps most
+griefs to put on a better face, and though the marks of what he had
+passed through would not be likely to leave his countenance, the utter
+hopelessness had in a measure disappeared. When Daisy came into the
+parlor, she also wore a mien not quite so crushed as when she left the
+room at Midlands with her words of farewell. Whatever her trouble was,
+it had not left her without something to live for. Her youth was doing
+its work, and it seemed to the anxious eyes of the onlooker that time
+would restore her nearly, if not quite, to her former radiance.
+
+In the presence of Mr. Boggs, neither father nor daughter cared to
+discuss the past. They talked of the plantation on which they resided,
+of the pleasant drives in the vicinity, and of matters connected with
+the world in general, of which they had learned through the newspapers.
+But after the lunch was finished Archie found himself alone with Daisy,
+wandering through the extensive oak forest that gave the place its
+name.
+
+"How long shall you stay here?" he asked her, as a prelude to the other
+questions he wanted to follow it.
+
+"I don't know," she replied. "We shall probably go north during the warm
+weather, perhaps to the White Mountains."
+
+He suggested that it must be rather lonesome at Oakhurst.
+
+"Not for us," she said, quickly. "We are all in all to each other, and
+require no thickly settled community to satisfy us."
+
+"Daisy," he said, after a pause, "there are things I must say to you,
+and I hope--with all my heart--you will find a way to answer them. In
+the first place, do you believe me, really, truly, your friend?"
+
+She placed her hand in his for answer. The action meant more than any
+form of words.
+
+"Then, tell me--tell me as freely as if I were your brother, your
+priest--why you stayed from home that night."
+
+She withdrew the hand he held, to place it with the other over her eyes.
+
+"It is impossible," she responded, with a gasp. "I told you that I never
+could explain, and I never can."
+
+He looked sorely disappointed.
+
+"I know no person on earth--not even my father," she proceeded, giving
+him back the clasp she had loosened, "that I would tell it to sooner
+than you. I have not given him the least hint. I know it leaves you to
+think a thousand things, and I can only throw myself on your mercy; I
+can only ask you to remember all you knew of me before that day, and
+decide whether a girl can change her whole mental and moral attitude in
+a moment."
+
+He drew her arm caressingly through his, and breathed a sigh on her
+forehead.
+
+"Not for one second have I doubted your truth!" he replied. "Believe
+that, Daisy, through everything. But I hoped for an explanation, for
+something that might assist me to punish the guilty ones, for such there
+must have been."
+
+The face that she turned toward him was full of terror.
+
+"Why do you say that?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Because--"
+
+"No, no!" she cried, interrupting him. "I do not want to hear you! We
+must not talk on the subject! There is nothing to be told, nothing to be
+guessed. This must be alluded to no more between us. It must end here
+and now!"
+
+Thoroughly disappointed, he could do no more than acquiesce in the
+decision, and he indicated as much by a profound bow. Then she changed
+the conversation by an abrupt allusion to Roseleaf. When he told her, as
+he thought it wisest to do, how well the young man had borne his loss,
+she said she was very thankful. She had feared that he would suffer when
+he came to his senses, and it was a mercy that this reflection had been
+spared her.
+
+He spoke of her sister, and of the call he had made upon her,
+suppressing, however, the disagreeable features of her remarks. Daisy
+said she had written twice and received no reply. It was evident that
+the separation in the family was final.
+
+Toward evening the visitors drove back to their hotel, discussing the
+strange events that had occurred. Archie Weil did not close his eyes
+that night. The love he had tried to suppress broke forth in all its
+original fervor. He could not sleep with the object of his adoration
+five miles away, so lonely and so desolate.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The next day Mr. Boggs went away, and the next after this, a new visitor
+carried from the north. On coming out upon the veranda to smoke, Mr.
+Weil found Shirley Roseleaf there.
+
+The surprise was mutual. Dying of ennui, Archie was glad even to meet
+the novelist. They talked for hours and afterward went to ride together.
+It appeared that Roseleaf had come south to get material for an article
+in the interest of the magazine on which he was employed.
+
+One night, a week later, Roseleaf came into Weil's room and asked if he
+would like to take a moonlight canter with him. Glad of any means to
+vary the awful monotony Archie accepted, and the horses were soon
+mounted. Weil noticed that the route was in the direction of Oakhurst,
+but as he supposed Roseleaf knew nothing of the presence of the Ferns
+there, and as the family were doubtless abed at this time, he made no
+attempt to induce him to take an opposite course. It was a sad pleasure
+to pass within so short a distance of the roof that sheltered the one he
+loved best. On they rode, until they were within a mile of Oakhurst,
+and then Roseleaf drew his animal down to a walk. A little further he
+turned sharply into a by-path and alighted.
+
+"What's all this?" asked Archie, stupefied with astonishment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+"I PLAYED AND I LOST."
+
+
+Roseleaf did not immediately reply. He busied himself by tying his horse
+to a tree, taking particular pains to make the knot good and strong. He
+apparently wanted a little time to think what form of words to use.
+
+"I want you to see something that will interest you," he said, finally,
+in the lowest tone that could well be heard. "If you will follow my
+example and accompany me some distance further I think you will be paid
+for your trouble."
+
+Mr. Weil was pale. He felt certain that this strange visit had been
+premeditated, and that some revelation regarding the Fern family was
+about to be made. The dread of an unknown possibility for which he had
+no preparation--affecting the girl for whom he had so deep a
+love--unmanned him.
+
+"I have a right to ask you to explain," he responded. "If your statement
+is satisfactory I will accompany you gladly. I do not see the need of
+any mystery in the matter."
+
+The younger man drew a long breath and looked abstractedly at the ground
+for some moments. Then he spoke again:
+
+"There are subjects," he said, "that one does not like to discuss. There
+are names that one hesitates to pronounce. If you will tie your horse
+and go with me, your eyes and ears will make questions unnecessary."
+
+A momentary suspicion flashed through the mind of the other--a suspicion
+that he was being beguiled to this lonely spot from a sinister motive
+that boded his safety no good. But it was immediately dismissed, and
+after another second of delay, Archie slipped from his saddle and
+followed the example of his companion.
+
+"Lead on," he said, laconically.
+
+Without waiting for a second invitation, Roseleaf began to penetrate the
+wood. He found a footpath, after going a short distance, and crept along
+it slowly, taking evident pains not to make unnecessary noise. They were
+going in the direction of Oakhurst, and in less than ten minutes the
+chimneys of that residence could be seen in front of them. A little
+further and Roseleaf stopped, placing himself in the attitude of an
+attentive listener.
+
+The silence was profound. A slight chill permeated the atmosphere, but
+neither of the prowlers felt cold. On the contrary, perspiration covered
+the bodies of both of them. Roseleaf went, very slowly, along the path,
+till he came near a fence, and then, diverging from it, drew himself
+quietly into a thick copse, motioning Weil to follow. Here the leader
+sank to the ground, with a motion which indicated that the journey was
+temporarily, at least, at an end, and the second member of the party
+followed his example.
+
+Half an hour passed with nothing to indicate the reason for these most
+peculiar actions. Half an hour that was interminable to Mr. Weil, torn
+with a thousand fears as to what it might all portend. At last, however,
+a faint sound broke the stillness. Some one was approaching. Roseleaf
+touched the shoulder of his companion to indicate the necessity of
+absolute silence.
+
+Hardly ten feet away there passed a tall, athletic form, walking with a
+quick stride, as of one who has no suspicion that he is watched by
+unfriendly eyes. As the man's face became visible in the moonlight it
+was well that Roseleaf had a pressure of warning on his companion's
+shoulder. It was almost impossible for the latter to restrain an
+exclamation that would have ruined everything.
+
+It was the face of Hannibal, the negro!
+
+Horrified, Archie turned his bloodshot eyes toward Roseleaf. What could
+this strange visit of Hannibal's to that vicinity presage? Did he intend
+to murder the master of the house and abduct the daughter? What was he
+doing there, at an hour not much short of midnight? The terrors of his
+previous imaginings gave way to yet more horrible ones.
+
+But the mute appeal that he shot at his companion produced no answer,
+except a resolute shake of the head--an absolute prohibition against
+the least sound or movement.
+
+Hannibal reached the fence and, without any attempt at concealment,
+climbed over it into the enclosure where were situated the house and
+outbuildings of the Oakhurst estate. He acted like one who knows his
+ground and has no occasion to pick his way. He went, however, but a
+little farther in the direction of the residence. In a place where the
+shadow of a smokehouse hid him from the possible view of any one looking
+from the windows, he waited in an attitude of expectation.
+
+The difficulty of controlling himself grew stronger and stronger for
+Archie Weil. He wanted to end this terrible doubt--to spring over that
+fence, pinion this fellow by the throat and demand what business he had
+on those premises at that hour. Roseleaf realized all that was passing
+in his mind, and kept his hand still on his shoulder, at the same time
+warning him by signs that the least movement would ruin everything. It
+seemed to Archie, when he thought it over afterward, that he had never
+endured such pain. He knew beyond reasonable doubt that Hannibal was
+awaiting some one by appointment. Who could it be? That was the
+stupendous question that Roseleaf might have answered in a whisper, but
+that he preferred for some mysterious reason his friend should discover
+in the natural course of events. And that course was horribly,
+torturously slow!
+
+Everything has an end, and the dread of the watcher changed to another
+feeling as he saw distinctly one of the outer doors of the residence
+open and Daisy Fern's form come out. Without glancing to the right or
+the left she walked in the direction where the negro was waiting. For an
+instant, overcome by his apprehensions, Archie closed both his eyes in
+despair. The voice of Roseleaf was at last heard in his ear, a whisper
+nearly inaudible, conjuring him not to betray his presence whatever the
+provocation.
+
+When Archie opened his eyes again he saw that Hannibal stood in an
+attitude of respect. When the girl approached he bowed, without offering
+any more intimate courtesy. Daisy had the look of one who has made up
+her mind to endure an unpleasant interview and desires to end it as
+quickly as possible.
+
+"Well?" she said, in a low tone.
+
+"I am going to-morrow," he replied, in a voice that shook with emotion.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And, as I told you, I want to say good-by once more."
+
+Archie breathed a trifle easier. He could not tell what fears had
+crowded upon him--they were indistinct in their horribleness--but some
+of them had already flown.
+
+"You are as cold as ever," continued the rich voice of the negro, in a
+cadence that was meant to be reproachful.
+
+"Do you think I could be anything else?" was the quick reply, as if
+forced from lips that had meant to remain silent. "Has your conduct been
+such as to make me like or respect you?"
+
+The negro's eyes fell before her indignant gaze.
+
+"No," he answered, humbly. "I expect nothing; I ask nothing. I can see
+my mistakes now. And yet, it would have been no different had I played
+the part of an angel toward you. The entire question with you was
+settled in advance by the fact that my skin was black."
+
+The pressure on Weil's shoulder grew heavier, from time to time, as his
+companion realized his temptation to break from his covert.
+
+"If it had been as white as any man's who ever lived," replied Daisy,
+boldly, "your conduct would have earned the contempt of a
+self-respecting person! A blackmailer, an abductor, a conspirator
+against the peace of mind of an old man and a young girl who never
+harmed you! I wonder you can talk of other reasons when you created so
+many by your wicked acts!"
+
+Hannibal shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It is true, nevertheless," he replied. "I am a negro. In a moment of
+insanity I dreamed I was a Man! I dreamed I might gain for my wife a
+woman whose ancestors had been born in a more northerly clime than my
+own. To gain that end I took the only course that seemed open. I
+possessed myself of an influence that would make her father fear me.
+Well, I played and I lost--and then, like other players and losers, even
+white ones, I was desperate. You were to be married to another--a man I
+hated. Life had lost its only charm, I could not bear that you should be
+his bride. My torture was intense. I asked but for death."
+
+These revelations, so novel to at least one of the listeners, smote him
+with terrific force.
+
+"You asked for more!" said the girl, hoarsely. "You asked for my death
+as well as your own. And you wanted me to die in such a situation that
+all the world would say I had perished willingly with you. Could
+anything more cowardly be conceived! Was anything more dastardly ever
+devised! It was the morning of my wedding day; my father was waiting for
+me at home; my promised husband was preparing for the bridal; my friends
+were invited to the ceremony. What were all these to you? With
+Mephistophelian cunning you sent me a letter in another person's
+handwriting, saying that, if I would come to a certain address, and pay
+fifty dollars, several forged notes given by my father would be returned
+to me. You knew I would respond. You knew I would tell no one where I
+was going, as I did not expect to be detained more than an hour, and
+there was apparently the strongest reasons for secrecy. And when I was
+completely in your clutches you gave me the alternative of _marrying_
+you--ugh!--or of taking the poison you had so carefully prepared. Oh,
+how _could_ you! how _could_ you, when you professed to _like_ me!"
+
+There was a low gurgle in Archie Weil's throat, that he could not
+suppress. Fearful that it might be heard in that dead silence, Roseleaf
+shook his companion slightly. Mingled with his other emotions there now
+came to Weil a stupefied wonder at the apparent coolness of the
+novelist.
+
+"When one is willing to die for his love, it should not be questioned,"
+said the negro. "I could not have you in life--I wanted you in death. I
+wanted the world, which had despised me, to think a beautiful woman had
+preferred to die with me rather than marry a man she did not wish to
+wed. But why should we recall that dreadful day and night? You won the
+victory. You, with your superior finesse, triumphed over the African as
+your race has always triumphed over mine. I demanded love or death. You
+dissuaded me from both. And the next day I permitted you to depart, and
+saw vanish with you the last hope of happiness I shall ever feel."
+
+The rich voice of the speaker broke completely at the close, but the
+girl who heard him seemed to feel no sympathy for his distress.
+
+"Always yourself!" she exclaimed. "Do you ever think of the life you
+left to _me_--a life hardly more kind than the murder you contemplated.
+Before you opened the portals that you had meant for my tomb you made me
+swear never to reveal where I had passed those hours. Never, no matter
+what the provocation, was I to utter one word to implicate you in the
+tragedy that had ruined two households. _You_ were the one to be
+protected--_I_ the one to suffer! Had it not been for the sacrifice to
+my reputation in being found there with you dead--no explanation being
+possible from my closed lips--I would have accepted the alternative and
+swallowed the poison rather than live to bear what I do to-day!"
+
+Weil closed his eyes again. His brain was swimming.
+
+"And you are sure," asked the negro, after a pause, "that you have not
+violated that promise? You can still swear that you have never, even by
+a hint, given the least cause of suspicion against me?"
+
+"Never!" said the girl. "I consider my oath binding, notwithstanding the
+manner in which it was obtained. You may live in what peace your
+conscience allows you, free at least from that fear."
+
+The negro evidently believed her, for he heaved a sigh of relief.
+
+"Well, good-by," he said.
+
+"Good-by," she replied. "And--you are not to come again, remember. There
+is nothing to be gained from another meeting between us. If--if you want
+money--I can send it to you."
+
+He lifted his head rather proudly at the last suggestion.
+
+"I do not want any," he said. "I am not low enough for that. I took the
+sum from you to go to France, because I hoped--in my infatuation--that I
+could make myself something that you would not despise. If I had wanted
+money I could have got thousands out of your father, and I could still,
+notwithstanding the pretence of those men that they wrote the signatures
+I saw him forge. No, I mean to give you back what I had from you, if
+ever I can compose my mind enough to go to work and earn it. I have no
+ambition. I stay in my mother's cabin, day after day, unable to make the
+least effort. Perhaps I can do something--in time."
+
+The negro took a step away, and then turned, as if unable to go so
+abruptly.
+
+"Good-by," he said, again.
+
+"Good-by," answered Daisy, impassively. "I want to tell you, now I think
+of it, where I got that $1,000 I gave you. It was lent to me by the man
+you hated so, Mr. Roseleaf."
+
+Hannibal did not seem to care for this information.
+
+"He did not lend it for any good-will to me," he replied. "I have heard,
+by-the-way, that he did not mind losing you--this man for whom you
+spurned a heart that worshiped your very footprints. I believe some day
+I'll take a shot at him."
+
+The girl shuddered.
+
+"It would be like you," she said, "if no one was looking, and he did not
+know of your presence. I don't believe, with all your claims, there is a
+manly trait in you."
+
+The tall form drew itself up and the athletic arms were folded firmly.
+
+"Take care!" said the red lips, sharply, and the ivory white teeth
+gleamed.
+
+"Oh, I am not afraid," replied Daisy. "My maid is watching us from
+behind the blinds of my room. I told her my own story about why I was to
+meet you, but should harm happen to me the alarm bell would ring out."
+
+Startled visibly at this information, Hannibal glanced in the direction
+indicated, and then began to take his departure in earnest.
+
+"All right," he said, as he mounted the fence. "Keep your word and I'll
+keep mine. But if you play any tricks, remember that's a game for two."
+
+The men could not arise without startling Daisy, who would undoubtedly
+have uttered a loud scream had they suddenly appeared before her vision.
+They saw her stand there for at least ten minutes, before she went into
+the house. When she was out of sight, Weil crawled into a safer place
+and rose to his feet.
+
+"I am going to follow that cur!" he muttered, between his teeth.
+
+"To-morrow is soon enough," was the calm reply of his friend. "I know
+where he lives."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ABSOLUTELY BLAMELESS.
+
+
+Most men who are by nature excitable surprise their friends on occasions
+by exhibiting great calmness. Shirley Roseleaf, who had often been
+thrown into the greatest heat by far less important happenings than the
+one just narrated, seemed a picture of repose as he walked through the
+wood with his friend in the direction of the horses they had tethered.
+
+"How did you discover they were going to have this meeting?" asked Weil,
+nervously. "I am all at sea."
+
+"I have been on his track ever since the day I was to have been
+married," was the reply. "I didn't intend to leave a mystery like that
+unsolved. I discovered that the Ferns were living here, and that
+Hannibal originated a few miles further on. I found that Miss Daisy was
+still a little afraid of him, that he was using an influence over her
+which was to say the least strange. Before I got at the truth I had some
+queer misgivings, you may believe."
+
+Mr. Weil stared at his companion.
+
+"But how did you learn all this?" he demanded.
+
+"Oh," said Roseleaf, with a slight laugh, "I've been in this
+neighborhood for two months. They haven't met once but I heard every
+word they said. Little by little I gained the truth of the matter. And
+to-night, as it was perhaps the last time they would be together, I
+wanted you to understand it perfectly."
+
+Archie frowned at the thoughts that crept in upon his brain.
+
+"Excuse me for saying that you don't appear to mind it much," he
+muttered. "If you have heard many conversations like the one to which I
+just listened, and could go away without expressing the thoughts you
+ought to feel, you are made up differently from me."
+
+"That may be so, too," smiled the other, good-humoredly. "But remember
+that things are changed. I once was a man in love--now I am simply a
+writer of romance."
+
+The elder man shivered.
+
+"Could one be actually in love with a girl like that and then recover
+from it?" he asked, half to himself.
+
+"I don't think I ever was very much in love," was the quick reply. "But
+never mind that. Let us talk of Hannibal. You spoke of going after him.
+What would you have done had you carried out that intention?"
+
+Weil had not thought of the matter in this concrete form. He had wanted
+to punish the negro for his crimes against the woman he so dearly loved,
+against the old man for whom he had such a warm affection. How he would
+have accomplished this he had not decided. The first thing was to follow
+and tax the wretch with his offense. Subsequent events would have
+depended on the way Hannibal met the accusation. Certainly the temper of
+the pursuer would have been warm, and his conduct might have been
+severe.
+
+"I don't know," he said. "I should have told him for one thing that he
+would have to reckon with something more than a weak girl or a poor old
+man if he annoyed that family again. In case he had been impertinent I
+cannot say what I might have been tempted to do."
+
+"All the more reason for congratulating yourself," replied Roseleaf, as
+they reached the horses, "that you did not follow him. He has promised
+to keep away from the Ferns, and I think they have seen the last of him.
+What is done can't be undone, ugly as it is. Now," he continued,
+vaulting into his saddle, "your course is reasonably plain. You must
+visit Miss Daisy soon, let her know that the extent of her misfortune is
+in your possession, and after a reasonable time, ask her to marry you."
+
+Archie Weil, who had also mounted his horse, came near falling from the
+back of the animal at this very abrupt suggestion.
+
+"That is just what you should do," continued Roseleaf, without allowing
+him to speak. "You are desperately in love. Daisy likes you very well,
+and it would take but little effort on your part to induce even a warmer
+sentiment. Her father thinks you one of the angels that came down to
+earth and forgot to return to heaven. She ought not to go through life
+alone. Her only trouble is the suspicion that rests on her name--a
+suspicion she considers herself bound in honor to do nothing to lift.
+Show her that you know how innocent she is, and you will bring a new
+light to her eyes, a new smile to her lips."
+
+"But," asked Archie, catching at the straw, "how can I tell her--how can
+I explain the source of my information?"
+
+Roseleaf laughed.
+
+"By the novel method of using the truth, or at least a part of it," he
+said. "Tell her you were out riding and saw Hannibal, and followed him.
+You needn't count me into it. Why, you've got to let her know, or else I
+have. It's a thing she would almost give her life to have revealed
+without her aid. Go like a man and take that heavy weight off her young
+soul."
+
+Finally Weil consented. He would not discuss the question of whether he
+would afterwards speak of the hope that lay nearest his heart. But he
+would go to her, as Roseleaf suggested, and relieve her of the strain
+that had worn so deeply. He would go the very next day. The sooner it
+was accomplished the better. The more he thought of it the more
+delighted he grew that he could carry such tidings. He could make Daisy
+happier. That was enough for him--at present. If he could make himself
+happy at a future date--but there was time enough for that.
+
+He sat upright in his saddle and exulted as his horse bounded nimbly
+over the ground. Why was it not already day, that he might turn the
+beast in the opposite direction! The hours would be very long before the
+sun rose and he could start on his joyful errand. The sombre hue of his
+countenance disappeared before the contentment that began to fill his
+breast.
+
+He slept well, notwithstanding the fact that he expected to lie awake
+all night when he retired. In the morning, on going down to breakfast,
+he found that Shirley had left still earlier, leaving word that he had
+started on a quest for game. Weil did not mind. He had enough before him
+for one day. He was going to see Daisy, and he had that to tell which
+would lighten the load she had so long felt compelled to carry.
+
+He waited until after nine o'clock, feeling that some regard must be
+paid to _les convenances_, even on such an important occasion as this.
+When he was in the saddle he rode as slowly as he could bring himself to
+do, to make his arrival still later. At last he reached the gate of
+Oakhurst, and when he had summoned the porter he sent him for Mr. Fern,
+stating that he had happened to ride in that direction and wanted merely
+to make a short call.
+
+It was but a few minutes before the servant returned, and the
+hospitable master of the premises came with him. Mr. Fern upbraided Weil
+for using so much ceremony, remarking that although he was living in a
+retired way, there was always one friend he was glad to see. Giving up
+the horse, Archie accompanied his host to the house, where the latter
+said he would send at once for Daisy.
+
+"A minute," interpolated Archie. "I want a little talk with you first,
+alone."
+
+Mr. Fern looked up curiously. He believed he knew what his visitor was
+about to say. He had long suspected the feelings which Archie
+entertained for Daisy. He knew also that his daughter would consent to
+wed no man, no matter who, while there hung over her fair fame the
+terrible mystery of her wedding night.
+
+"I want to tell you," pursued Archie, before his host could interrupt,
+"that I have made a great discovery--one of the utmost moment to your
+family. I know what happened on that day so sad to all of us,
+and--listen to me, Mr. Fern!--I know that your child is absolutely
+blameless in the matter."
+
+The listener's face grew very white. He understood imperfectly, but it
+seemed to him that a tale he could not bear to hear was about to be
+forced upon him.
+
+"Mr. Weil," he said, earnestly, "I hope you will not continue this
+subject. I do not know what occurred--I do not wish to know. I have
+consulted my daughter's sentiments entirely. She prefers to have the
+veil unlifted, and I respect her wish."
+
+The visitor could hardly contain himself for impatience.
+
+"That has been true hitherto," he replied. "But Miss Daisy herself will
+be more than delighted when she knows I am aware of the entire
+facts--which she has been prevented, by a promise extracted from her,
+from revealing. Call her, let me tell her that I know everything, and
+how I know it, and you will see the happiest girl in America."
+
+Mr. Fern shook his head doubtfully. He was much afraid of doing
+something to injure Daisy's feelings. He could not believe she wanted to
+have the trouble that had crushed her raked up by any one. Archie
+persisted, however, and his arguments at last won the day.
+
+"You do not think I would come here with any tidings I did not believe
+agreeable?" he said, interrogatively. "You know I care too much for--for
+both of you--to do that."
+
+When Miss Daisy was summoned, which she was at last, and Mr. Weil gently
+let drop a hint of what he had to tell, the girl was hardly less
+agitated than her father had been. Instead, however, as the visitor
+expected, of relying on her natural protector during the expected
+recital, she whispered to Mr. Fern, who obediently rose and let her lead
+him out of the room. Presently she returned, and took a chair opposite
+to Mr. Weil. Her face was so pathetic, her attitude so entreating, that
+he quite forgot what he had come to tell, and leaning toward her, took
+her hands in his.
+
+"Daisy," he said, "I--I--" and he could go no further.
+
+"Yes, I know," she answered, in a low voice. "But there is a reason why
+I cannot listen to you. I have told you that before. I ought not even to
+say as much as this. I should not even remain in the room while you
+explain the least thing."
+
+He choked down the rising in his throat and hastened, lest she should
+follow literally the sentiment she had outlined and leave him to
+himself.
+
+"This has all been true, until now," he said. "You were under a promise,
+an oath. But--Daisy, last night I heard all that passed between you and
+your persecutor, and there is no longer any need for mystery between
+us."
+
+She gasped, as if her breath was going.
+
+"You--you heard!"
+
+"Everything. I was within forty feet of you. Are you sorry that the
+awful cloud is blown away--that your perfect innocence is proved without
+a violation of your plighted word?"
+
+For the girl was crying, slowly, without hysteria, crying with both her
+hands tightly clasped over her eyes.
+
+"_I_ did not need it, not I," continued the man, earnestly. "I knew you
+had done nothing of your free will that the whole world might not know.
+But I knew, too, that you would be pleased to have your innocence
+established. And I was glad for another reason. I love you, Daisy. I
+have loved you a very long time. Your sister was right in that. Had you
+not shown such a marked preference for my friend I would have done my
+best to win you, months and months ago. While you felt that you were an
+object of suspicion I knew you would not consent to be my wife. Now,
+that obstacle is gone and--Daisy--I want you."
+
+The hands were withdrawn from the tear-stained face, a handkerchief was
+hastily passed over it, and Daisy turned half away from the speaker.
+
+"You will not refuse, my love," he murmured, bending again toward her.
+"You will promise?"
+
+One of her hands strayed toward him, and was clasped joyfully in his
+own.
+
+"But, in relation to that other matter," said Daisy, some moments later,
+when the sweet tokens of love had been given and taken, "I must be as
+silent as before. I have listened to you, but I have not replied. You
+can understand the reason. Never speak of it to me again, if you do not
+wish to inflict pain. It is something I cannot discuss."
+
+"I may tell your father, though," he whispered.
+
+"It would be best not. He is content now. No, I beg you, say nothing to
+any one."
+
+And he promised, like the lover he was, and sealed it with another kiss
+on her pure mouth.
+
+"I may tell him of--of our love?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes; we will tell him of that together."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+TRAPPING A WOLF.
+
+
+When Shirley Roseleaf left the hotel that morning he carried a fishing
+rod, a rifle, a gamebag and other acoutrements of the sportsman. In his
+earlier years, before he ever came to the city, he had been accounted
+something of an expert with these implements. Since being in this
+country where there was so much to tempt a Nimrod he had made a number
+of similar excursions. Although it was some distance to the locality
+where he intended to go the young man did not take a conveyance of any
+kind. He walked briskly over the road, breathing the pure air of that
+early hour, and whistling in a low tone to himself as he went along.
+
+Among the other things he carried was a light lunch, for he did not care
+to break his fast so early in the day. He had, besides, a contrivance
+for making coffee and for broiling the fish he expected to catch. Even
+if his jaunt lasted till night his physical needs were well provided
+for. One would not have imagined, to see his free and easy swing over
+the road, that he had anything of greater moment on his mind than to
+watch for some stray rabbit, or a possible deer track.
+
+Not less than six miles from his starting point, he came to a small
+lake, to reach which he had followed a narrow path that led through the
+wood. On the shore was a primitive rowboat, or rather canoe, which he
+had purchased on another occasion from a native for an insignificant
+price. Into this boat the novelist stepped, and after safely depositing
+his traps, took up the paddle and used it skillfully. When he had
+reached approximately the centre of the lake, he sat down, prepared his
+fishing tackle and began to angle for the denizens of the water below.
+
+With the patience of a true fisherman Roseleaf sat quietly for two
+hours, during which time he had drawn out but few specimens. The long
+walk had, however, given him the appetite he needed, and he now pulled
+his frail craft toward the shore, with the intention of lighting a fire
+and preparing a meal. But even when he had nearly reached land he saw
+splinters flying beneath his feet, and immediately after heard a dull
+sound which showed what had caused the trouble.
+
+A stray bullet, from some careless hunter, had penetrated his canoe. The
+hole was large enough to render the boat useless, for the water began to
+come in rapidly. With two more stout movements of the paddle Roseleaf
+forced his craft against the shore and sprang upon dry land. Then he
+quietly picked up the things he had brought with him, and walked a
+little away from the scene.
+
+"These fellows are getting altogether too careless," he muttered, as he
+inspected his damp belongings. "A little more and that thing would have
+been tearing splinters in me."
+
+Scraping some dead wood together, he soon had a fire started, and the
+cooking of his breakfast was begun. He went about the work
+methodically, whistling again in that low key he had used when on the
+way from his hotel, and stopping now and then as the noise of a woodbird
+or some wild quadruped of the smaller kind came to his ears. He sniffed
+the coffee that was boiling furiously and the freshly caught fish that
+sent out an appetizing aroma. No meal served at the Hoffman, the
+Imperial or the far-famed Delmonico restaurant, could equal this
+primitive repast, for him.
+
+Finally, all was ready. Helping himself to a large plateful of the
+delicious food, and pouring out a huge tin cup of the coffee, Roseleaf
+sat down as if to take his ease while breakfasting. But, instead of
+touching the viands he had been at such pains to prepare, the next thing
+he did was to fall prone on the ground. And at the same instant a second
+bullet whizzed past him and buried itself with a tearing of bark and
+wood in the tree just behind him.
+
+If Roseleaf had laid down with suddenness he rose with no less speed. As
+he sprang to his feet he picked up his rifle. He made a dozen steps
+forward, and then, bringing the weapon to his shoulder, cried to some
+one in front of him:
+
+"Halt, or I fire!"
+
+A human form that had been creeping away on its hands and knees, now
+stood upright. It was perhaps thirty yards from the speaker, and when it
+faced him he saw that the countenance was black.
+
+"Don't come any nearer and don't go any farther off," said the novelist,
+gravely. "You are at a convenient distance. I can shoot you best where
+you stand."
+
+The negro looked considerably crestfallen. He seemed doubtful whether to
+break and run or stay and try to face it out.
+
+"I can't help an accident," he said, at last, when the other remained
+covering him with the rifle.
+
+"No," was the answer. "An accident is liable to happen to any one, they
+say. But two accidents, of the same kind, on the same day--accidents
+that might either of them have been fatal if you were not such an
+awfully bad marksman--are too many. When _I_ get ready to fire, there
+will be no accident."
+
+The negro was plainly uneasy. He cast his eyes on the ground and
+writhed.
+
+"You have dropped your gun," said Roseleaf. "That was right. It would
+have incommoded your flight, and its only cartridge was used. You would
+have had no time to reload. I know that gun very well; I have heard it
+many times in the last six weeks. I knew the sound of it to-day when you
+fired the first time. A rifle has a voice, like a man; did you know
+that? I knew it was your gun and that you were at the end of it. With
+that information in my possession, of course you couldn't catch me
+napping twice. I pretended to watch my cooking, but in reality I watched
+nothing but you. There is no need that you should say anything,
+Hannibal. You could not tell me much, if you tried."
+
+The speaker examined his rifle carefully, still keeping the muzzle
+turned toward the person he was addressing. The latter did not seem to
+grow less uneasy.
+
+"I spent some time last evening," continued Roseleaf, presently, "in
+listening to a little conversation you had with a certain young lady
+living a mile or so from this spot. That surprises you, does it? I
+thought it might. I learned how you had ruined her peace of mind, how
+you had artfully contrived to make her appear the opposite of what she
+really was. Now, you have tried twice within the last hour to murder me.
+For this I could have forgiven you. What you did to that young woman is,
+however, a more serious matter. I don't think anything less than pulling
+this trigger will expiate that."
+
+He placed the rifle to his shoulder again, as he spoke, and glanced
+along the sight. The negro half turned, as if of a mind to attempt an
+escape, and then, realizing the hopelessness of such a move, sank on his
+knees and raised his hands piteously.
+
+"If you have anything to say, be quick!" said the hard voice of the man
+who held the rifle.
+
+Then Hannibal blurted out his story. He told how he had been led, step
+by step, to hope that he might rise above his station, until the wild
+idea entered his brain that he could even make Daisy Fern love and marry
+him. He pleaded the disappointments he had suffered, the terrible
+revulsion of feeling he had undergone, the broken life he had been
+obliged to take up. He did not want to be killed. If allowed to go he
+would swear by all that was good never to cross the path of the Ferns,
+or Roseleaf, or any of their friends again. When his treaties brought
+no verbal response he grew louder in his tone, feeling that something
+must be done to move the deaf ears to which he addressed his petition.
+
+"If I allowed you to leave here, you would try to shoot me the next time
+you had a chance," said the novelist. "I should merely be giving my life
+in exchange for yours, which I do not consider a good bargain."
+
+"No, I swear it before God!" came the trembling words in reply.
+
+"I cannot trust you."
+
+A slight sound attracted the attention of Roseleaf as he uttered the
+latter words. It was the sound that oars make when dipped in water. With
+a quick glance to one side he beheld a rowboat, in which were seated
+Archie Weil and Daisy Fern, and they were coming directly toward him.
+
+"Here are some of the others you have wronged," he said, pointing. "I
+will wait to see if their opinions agree with mine."
+
+Daisy saw him first, as Weil was handling the oars, and she called her
+companion's attention to him. Archie called his name.
+
+"Come here!" was Roseleaf's reply. "I have winged a black duck and I
+cannot leave."
+
+A few more movements of the oars brought the boat to the shore, and the
+surprise of its occupants can be imagined when they saw the tableau that
+awaited them. Hannibal was still groveling on the earth, and the
+attitude of Roseleaf plainly showed the cause of the negro's terror.
+
+"What has he done?" was the first question, and it was Daisy's voice
+that asked it.
+
+"Let him tell," replied Roseleaf, nonchalantly. "Tell the lady what you
+did, Hannibal."
+
+With a courage born of his knowledge of the young lady's kind heart,
+Hannibal now turned his attention toward her. He begged her to plead
+with his would-be executioner to give him one more chance for his life,
+and reiterated his promises to cease meddling with all of their affairs
+if this was granted. As he spoke Daisy crept nearer to Roseleaf's side,
+and when he paused for a moment to gain breath, she laid her fair hand
+on the rifle.
+
+"You would not kill a fellow creature?" she said, gently.
+
+"A fellow creature?" he retorted. "No! But a wolf, a snake, a
+vulture--yes."
+
+She shook her head slowly, while Mr. Weil looked on, uncertain what to
+do or say. He wanted more than anything else in his life to lay hands
+upon the cause of all her woes.
+
+"You have not told me yet what he has done," she said.
+
+"He shall tell you," replied Roseleaf, sharply. "Stand up, Hannibal, and
+answer truly the questions I am about to propound to you."
+
+The crouching figure tottered to his feet. The negro was weak from fear.
+
+"Did you try twice this morning to murder me?"
+
+"Yes," replied the shaking voice. "But I was insane with my troubles--I
+did not realize what I was doing--I--"
+
+Daisy's slight hand, still on the barrel of the rifle, was bearing it
+steadily to the ground.
+
+"Once," she said to Roseleaf, impressively, "you told me you loved me!
+Have you regard enough left to grant me a favor?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"There are favors," he said, "that are crimes. It is one's duty to
+exterminate vermin, in the interest of the human race."
+
+But, even as he spoke, she was having her way. Her slight strength had
+taken the weapon from him.
+
+Then, with the face of a forgiving angel she turned toward the negro and
+uttered very softly one word, "Go!"
+
+Glancing at the others to see if he might safely follow this direction,
+Hannibal disappeared in the thick woods behind him. He walked with an
+unsteady step. There was a strange lightness in his brain. Some distance
+away he found the boat in which he had come, and entered it,
+staggeringly. Pushing from the shore with a feeble touch on his paddle
+he set out for his home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The negroes who found his body, a week later, could not decide whether
+he had perished by accident or by deliberate intention. The boat was not
+capsized, but it was partially filled with water, indicating either that
+he had tried to sink the craft or had leaned too heavily to one side in
+something like a stupor. When his gun was discovered on the shore, new
+speculations were set in motion.
+
+Those who knew him recalled that he had been moody for a long time--in
+fact, ever since he came from the north. They remembered him as a young
+fellow, four or five years previous, not very different from his mates;
+and they had stared in wonder when he returned with fine clothes and
+money in his pocket. The dislike between him and his old acquaintances
+was mutual. They could not understand him; and what an inferior mind
+does not comprehend it always views with suspicion.
+
+A grave was made near the border of the lake, and the single word
+"HANNIBAL" was written on the board that marked the spot. But later some
+envious hand scrawled beneath it:
+
+"HE WANTED TO BE A GENTLEMAN!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+"THE GREATEST NOVEL."
+
+
+Archie Weil and Daisy Fern were married in June. There was no need of
+waiting longer. It was a case of true love sanctified by suffering and
+devotion. The bright eyes and ruddy cheeks of the bride testified to her
+renewed health and spirits. The news of Hannibal's death--albeit it
+brought a tear to her eyes, had removed the only shadow that stretched
+across her pathway.
+
+Shirley Roseleaf did not come to the wedding, to which he was the only
+invited guest. He wrote that an important mission from his magazine made
+it impossible to accept the invitation, but he sent a handsome present
+and a letter to Archie, congratulating him in the warmest manner.
+
+For some time Lawrence Gouger had been urging the novelist to hasten the
+wonderful story that was to make his fortune and give a new impetus to
+the house of Cutt & Slashem. They had consulted together a hundred
+times, and the thirty chapters already finished seemed to leave but a
+few weeks' steady work to be accomplished. Shortly after the wedding
+Gouger went to Roseleaf's rooms, one evening, and begged him to lose no
+further time.
+
+"What is there to wait for now?" he asked. "All the dramatic incidents
+have occurred. You only need to wind up with a glory of fireworks,
+showing virtue triumphant and vice buried under a North Carolina
+sycamore. Come, my dear boy, when may I expect to see the work
+completed?"
+
+Roseleaf did not answer for some seconds.
+
+"There is a part of this story that you do not comprehend," he said,
+finally. "A chapter is yet to be written at which you have not guessed."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed the listener.
+
+"Yes," nodded the other. "So far the character that is supposed to
+represent myself appears that of a heartless, cold, unfeeling wretch. Do
+you think I shall be satisfied to leave it that way?"
+
+The critic stared at the speaker in astonishment.
+
+"I--I do not understand," he replied.
+
+"I thought not," said Roseleaf, soberly. "Well, this story, to be
+truthful, must do justice to the one who is supposed to personate its
+author. And, in the first place, to avoid all circumlocution, let me
+tell you there has never been a moment since I first loved Daisy Fern
+that she has not been the dearest thing on this earth to me!"
+
+Mr. Gouger could not reconcile this statement with the events that had
+taken place, and his puzzled countenance said as much.
+
+"I acted like a villain, did I not," continued Roseleaf, after a slight
+pause, "when the news was brought that she had disappeared? I seemed to
+have no faith in her, no confidence in Archie, no trust in that poor old
+man, her father. Why? I was so madly, insanely in love that every
+possible phantasy got possession of my excited brain. To lose her was to
+deprive me of all hope, all ambition, all care for life. So far, I acted
+my real self. If what I supposed true had been proven I think there
+would have been a murder. Not of Daisy; ah, no! but of the man who had
+robbed me of my treasure. Then I went to Midlands with Archie and I saw
+her. I heard her speak, and like a lightning flash it came to me. He was
+as honorable as a man could be and she cared more for him than for my
+unworthy self. She had contrasted us and discovered how much he was my
+superior. And I said to myself at that moment, 'I will give her up! If
+it costs me my happiness as long as I live I will give her up! No matter
+what happens, I will unite these people, who have been so faithful to me
+and toward whom I have acted the part of a cur and a coward!'"
+
+The young man was speaking with perfect composure, but with intense
+earnestness.
+
+"The first thing to be done," he continued, "was to take myself out of
+their way. The next was to unravel the mystery that had made the
+trouble. I knew, when my mind had resumed its natural state, that,
+whatever had occurred, Daisy was blameless. I knew that something far
+out of the common line had caused her to commit the act which had cast a
+blight over her reputation. For weeks I could find no clue. Then, one
+day, in the street, I saw Hannibal, the negro for whom she had borrowed
+my money and who I supposed was still in France. I cannot help the quick
+temper I have inherited, and I confess that the sight of that fellow
+aroused my suspicions against this girl, only they took a new and more
+horrible form.
+
+"I remembered distinctly what a strong hold Hannibal had on the Fern
+family. I recalled, with frightful distinctness, the manner in which he
+attended Daisy at table, his interest in her health, the $1,000 she had
+given him, her quick movement to prevent my striking him when his
+answers insulted us both. Perhaps--but I will not dilate on the things
+that came to my distorted imagination. It was enough for me to put a
+detective on his track. I engaged Hazen, and in three days he came to
+tell me that a white woman had passed the night with Hannibal at a house
+on Seventh Avenue, the date corresponding with the one on which I was to
+have been married!"
+
+Gouger listened spellbound. It seemed to him that the most exciting
+chapter of this weird tale was yet to be written.
+
+"If I had lost control of my senses before," pursued Roseleaf, "what do
+you suppose happened when this information was brought to me? But then I
+found an excuse for my beloved one. I considered her the victim of one
+of those forms of hypnotism of which there can no longer be any doubt.
+She could not have gone there without the demoniac influence of a
+stronger personality. He had charmed her from her home by the exercise
+of diabolic arts. My fury was entirely for him. I sought him at once,
+only to learn that he had left the city a few days before, leaving
+absolutely no trace. I could not give over the hunt, however. If he was
+on the earth I must find him and be avenged for the wrong he had done.
+It occurred to me that an influence so strong as he had exerted would
+not be given up. Wherever the Ferns had gone, he would probably be
+found. I discovered the whereabouts of the family, after a great deal of
+effort, and went to North Carolina. With the patience of a dog and the
+cunning of a fox I laid in wait for weeks, and one night I saw and heard
+Daisy Fern and Hannibal in conversation!"
+
+There was no movement on the part of the critic. He sat as still as a
+block of stone.
+
+"When they began to speak I could have sworn that my recent guesses were
+correct ones. It was at about the hour of midnight, and she had crept
+quietly and alone out of her house to meet this African. But the first
+dozen sentences that were uttered gave me a new version of the affair.
+It was by no mesmeric power, but by a threat of injury to her father
+that this fellow held her under bond. I learned that Mr. Fern had done
+something--I could not then tell what--which rendered him liable to
+imprisonment. I learned, also, beyond question--for they spoke without
+restraint, supposing themselves alone--that, whatever the purpose of
+Hannibal when Daisy came to his rooms on the day she was to have been
+married, it had not been accomplished. She was afraid of him, but only
+for her father's sake. And I discovered beside, though not with perfect
+clearness, that a promise of secrecy accounted for her refusal to
+explain the cause of that absence which had altered the whole course of
+our lives.
+
+"I have said I had watched with patience. I determined to continue my
+watch till I understood the entire situation. About once a week they met
+in the way I have described, and as the next date was always arranged in
+my hearing there was no difficulty in my keeping the appointment. In the
+meantime I learned that Hannibal was born in the vicinity, that he was
+living a hermit life, and that nobody knew of the surreptitious visits
+he was paying to Oakhurst. Then one day I heard that Archie was at the
+hotel, and thinking it time that I let him into the secret I went there,
+pretending I had just arrived from the north, when in reality I had been
+boarding for months five miles away. The rest you know. I was enabled to
+prove to him as well as to myself what had actually happened. Since
+then justice has been done to us all."
+
+Mr. Gouger had to speak at last.
+
+"To _you_?" he asked. "Do you admit that all this is just to you?"
+
+"Without doubt," said Roseleaf. "I forfeited every right to the woman I
+had insulted by my suspicions. There are certain metals that can only be
+tried by fire. I was placed in the crucible, and found wanting."
+
+The critic shook his head sagely.
+
+"You are a regular Roman father to your own delinquencies," he answered.
+"But tell me another thing. Would you have shot Hannibal if Mr. Weil and
+Miss Fern had not made their appearance?"
+
+"I have not the least doubt of it. He was in my eyes at that moment a
+crawling adder, whose fangs were liable to penetrate the flesh of some
+one if he was not put out of the way. But I am more than glad I was
+spared the infliction of his punishment."
+
+Gouger wore a strange look.
+
+"And yet he had one most human quality," said he.
+
+"Yes, I admit that now," was the reply. "In his passionate, barbaric
+way, he certainly loved. When I revise my novel I shall try to deal
+fairly with him."
+
+"And you will finish it very soon now?"
+
+"As soon as possible."
+
+A month later Lawrence Gouger received at his office a package marked on
+the outside, "From Shirley Roseleaf." He could hardly control his
+excitement until he had untied the strings, taken off the wrappings and
+disclosed the tin box inside. It was a square box, just the right size
+for manuscript paper such as he had seen Roseleaf use, and the heart of
+the enthusiast beat high as he took it in his hands. A jewel case filled
+with the costliest stones would not have seemed to him more precious.
+The fame of a new author would soon resound through the world! Cutt &
+Slashem would have the greatest work of fiction of recent years in their
+next catalogue! And he, Lawrence Gouger, would be given the credit of
+discovering--one might almost say of inventing--this wonder!
+
+Opening the box, the critic looked at its contents and then dropped it
+with an exclamation. It contained nothing but a small sealed envelope
+and _a heap of ashes_!
+
+Ashes! Ashes made from recently burned paper!
+
+When he recovered enough to open the envelope, this note was found
+within:
+
+      "TO LAWRENCE GOUGER, ESQ:--DEAR SIR: Enclosed herewith you
+      will find the novel for which you have waited so long. I
+      hope it will please you in all respects, as I certainly
+      have taken the greatest pains with it.
+
+      "On reading it over I thought it best to more thoroughly
+      disguise the personality of the characters, lest any of
+      them might be injured by its publication. There was the
+      happiness of a newly-made bride to be considered; her
+      husband's ease of mind; her father's serene old age; her
+      sister's feelings. There was even a black man who had
+      perhaps suffered enough, and a critic employed by a large
+      publishing firm who would not like his true character made
+      manifest in type. In order to protect these people I have
+      applied a match to the pages. You can best tell whether I
+      have performed the work too well.
+
+      "If this novel does not bring me the fame you anticipate I
+      shall not much care; I have lost some of my ambitions. If
+      it fails to add to my fortune, never mind; a single man has
+      no great need of wealth.
+
+      "I go to-night on board a steamer which sails for Europe at
+      daybreak. When you read this I shall be on the sea. I have
+      secured a position as resident correspondent abroad for one
+      of the great newspapers. Perhaps I never shall return.
+      Truly your friend, S. R."
+
+"_The idiot!_" cried the reader, as he finished perusing this letter.
+"_The imbecile!_ Was there ever such a fool born on this earth!"
+
+Then he apostrophised the heap of ashes that lay in the box before him.
+
+"There never was and never will be so great a work of fiction as you
+were yesterday! And yet a little touch of flame, and all was
+extinguished! How like you were to man! Let him have the brain of a
+Shakespeare, and a pound weight falling on his skull ends everything.
+
+"There was a flood in Hungary last week, in which a thousand people were
+drowned. There was an earthquake in Peru where five hundred perished. A
+vessel went down off the Caroline Islands. Taken all together, they did
+not equal to this world your loss.
+
+"The poet knew what he was saying: 'Great wits are sure to madness near
+allied.' Oh, to think that a mind that could execute your thrilling
+pages knew no more than to destroy them!
+
+"I will not cast you, sublime ashes, to the winds of heaven! I will keep
+you reverently, as one preserves the cloak of a great man, or the bones
+of a mastodon. Behold, I close you again in your covers, where the eye
+of no mortal shall henceforth behold you."
+
+With the words the disappointed critic performed the action. And to this
+day visitors to his room read with wonder the inscription he has placed
+on the box:
+
+"_The greatest novel that ever was written._"
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
+as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious
+typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the
+like) have been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are
+noted below:
+
+Table of Contents: typographical error corrected
+
+    I. A Rejected Manuscript      1[9]
+
+page 41: possible typographical error queried (not changed in
+         the text)
+
+    would[wouldn't] touch the mooney, maundering mess. It makes
+    my flesh creep, sometimes, to read it." v
+
+page 106: duplicate word removed
+
+    playing at love with each other, might afterwards find that
+    [that] they were experimenting with fire.
+
+page 108: possible typographical error queried (not changed in
+          the text)
+
+    arm around her again, checking himself with difficulty from
+    completeing[completing] the movement) "and dull, and wanting
+    in manners, but you are the only young
+
+page 116: typographical errors corrected
+
+    about this matter. She shought[thought] the innocent man at
+    her side had not quite guaged[gauged] the interest that Mr.
+
+page 118: typographical error corrected
+
+    caught her passionately in his arms, and knew no better way
+    to bring her to consiousness[consciousness] than to rain
+    kisses on her cheeks. As might be expected this
+
+page 126: typographical error corrected
+
+    abilities of Mr. Weil, and he had no idea of
+    dispuing[disputing] the conclusions of that wise guide.
+
+page 133: typographical error corrected
+
+    "To me? He would not dare?[!] What angers me is the way he
+    speaks to the rest of you. He
+
+page 149: typographical errors corrected
+
+    called the Good side nothing stronger that[than] wines were
+    found on the bill of fare. On the Wicked side every decoction
+    know[known] to the modern drinker was to
+
+page 155: typographical error corrected
+
+    sexes. He half believed that Jennie Pelham and Mrs.
+    Delevan[Delavan] were sitting by his bed, more brazen
+
+page 194: typographical error corrected
+
+    young novelist. More than this, she would have
+    sufficent[sufficient] on hand to send the future amounts that
+
+page 251: typographical error corrected
+
+    Roseleaf waved him back with a sweeep[sweep] of his arm.
+
+page 278: typographical error corrected
+
+    countenance, the utter hopelessness had in a measure
+    diappeared[disappeared]. When Daisy came into the parlor, she
+
+page 297: typographical error corrected
+
+    came with him. Mr. Fern upraided[upbraided] Weil for using so
+    much ceremony, remarking that although he was
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BLACK ADONIS***
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